ERE unbeatable faction

[rebelscum]

ERE is the best faction in BI ~:handball: . I've only been playing for 3 hours but they just are.
I've held on to ever city and I am making a grand profit. My horse archers kick so much barbarian ass that I don't think any other faction has got a chance. Most of my cities are walled and I have enough spare troops to keep a roving troubleshooting stack.
Hmmm, am I supposed to go out and conquer something? Why, I've spent the last 500 years doing it. I think I'll sit in my nice cosy provinces and bounce the rebels and hordes around.
Come ahead if you think you're hard enough!
Bring on the hordes of GRAAL Knights and head hunters, I am invincible.

[Viking]

Sounds like you`re ready for a WRE campaign..

[Doug-Thompson]

I think I'll ride my Huns through the ERE before settling down somewhere.

Seriously, though, I haven't played the ERE yet, but they do have a lot of rich provinces and some seriously good units, and a good mix.

[Colovion]

Sounds like the Byzantines in vanilla MTW... hmmm?

[Kraxis]

Just wait... Your cities will soon devolve into a chaotic revolution. And your money will also begin to dry up as you train more troops.

Oh, just try to take other provinces and you will see how hard it can be to hold on to them. Have you enforced christianity or paganism, or just continued as it is when you start?

But, yeah they are pretty much the Byzantines of MTW. They just have a better army. You have superb infantry and archers, and access to good mercs throughout the empire. And if that wasn't enough, if you manage to build a Circus Maximus then you have access to Cataphractii and Clibanarii.

[econ21]

Sounds like the Byzantines in vanilla MTW... hmmm?

Or even the Byzantines of BI. Plus ca change...

[PseRamesses]

Hmm, I play the Sass now and ERE are a walk in the park. The main prob is unrest due to religion. Can´t enslave so I played a game with just extermination but it´s just not me so now, with a new Sass-game I simply occupy and take the unrest with stacks of peasants.

@rebelscum,
If you want a challenge - try WRE, it´s tough! War on all fronts, huge unrest and no economy what so ever. He he, no wonder WRE succumbed to "unwashed" barbarians.

[rebelscum]

Just wait... Your cities will soon devolve into a chaotic revolution. And your money will also begin to dry up as you train more troops.

Oh, just try to take other provinces and you will see how hard it can be to hold on to them. Have you enforced christianity or paganism, or just continued as it is when you start?

But, yeah they are pretty much the Byzantines of MTW. They just have a better army. You have superb infantry and archers, and access to good mercs throughout the empire. And if that wasn't enough, if you manage to build a Circus Maximus then you have access to Cataphractii and Clibanarii.
I mixed and matached religion as required. Moved generals around a lot.
A few citys revolted but I quelled the rebellion asap.
ERE are the seedlings of the Byzantines, and they were still around in the 1400's. So I guess they should be strong enough to withstand a little unrest.
I can't wait to get the heavy cav, but the horse archers will do for now. Where Egypt was a great faction to play in RTW even though the unit types had no basis in reality. I think ERE are the guys to play in BI.

[edyzmedieval]

ERE are the Byzantines.

My favourite. I love them. :smitten:

[rebelscum]

Ok lets match BI factions to MTW factions.
ERE - Byzantines
WRE - HRE
Franks - French
...

[hotingzilla]

Why would West Roman Empire be MTW's Holy Roman Empire?

Anyway, the East Romans are great and their cities do make a lot of profit. The unrests are pretty easy to deal with and I'd just built a Circus Maximus in Antioch. I better start training some of the elite units!

[rebelscum]

Why indeed,
In short,
Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned emperor by Pope Leo III and founds the Holy Roman Empire
811: the eastern Roman emperor recognized Charlemagne as emperor of Roma
812: a peace treaty between Charlemagne and the Eastern Roman Empire surrenders Venezia to the Eastern empire but grants Venezia the right to trade with the Holy Roman Empire


In long,

The Holy Roman Empire is usually considered to have been founded in 962 by Otto I the Great, at the latest.

Although some date the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire from the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans in 800, Charlemagne himself more typically used the title king of the Franks. This title also makes clearer that the Frankish Kingdom covered an area that included modern-day France and Germany and was thus the kernel of both countries.

Most historians therefore consider the establishment of the Empire to be a process that started with the split of the Frankish realm in the Treaty of Verdun in 843, continuing the Carolingian dynasty independently in all three sections. The eastern part fell to Louis the German, who was followed by several leaders until the death of Louis IV, called "the Child", the last Carolingian in the eastern part
The Holy Roman Empire is usually considered to have been founded in 962 by Otto I the Great, at the latest.

Although some date the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire from the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans in 800, Charlemagne himself more typically used the title king of the Franks. This title also makes clearer that the Frankish Kingdom covered an area that included modern-day France and Germany and was thus the kernel of both countries.

Most historians therefore consider the establishment of the Empire to be a process that started with the split of the Frankish realm in the Treaty of Verdun in 843, continuing the Carolingian dynasty independently in all three sections. The eastern part fell to Louis the German, who was followed by several leaders until the death of Louis IV, called "the Child", the last Carolingian in the eastern part

753 BC: Roma (Rome) is founded by Romulus
750 BC: Greeks establish a colony at Cuma
750 BC: first Etruscan inscriptions
616 BC: Tarquinius I becomes an Etruscan king of Roma
600 BC: Etruscans build the colossal tombs of Cerveteri
600 BC: the Forum is built
600 BC: oldest Latin inscriptions
578 BC: Tarquinius Priscus builds the Cloaca Maxima, the first sewer
550 BC: Servius Tullius builds city walls
474 BC: the Greeks defeat the Etruscans at Cuma
509 BC: the last king is expelled and Roma becomes a republic
450 BC: the Twelve Tables of the Roman law
396 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Veii
390 BC: the Gauls/Celts sack Roma
326 BC: the Circus Maximus is built
313 BC: the Basilica of Maxentius is completed
312 BC: the Via Appia is opened
312 BC: the first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, is built
308 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Tarquinia
295 BC: Roma defeats the Gauls/Celts in northern Italy
287 BC: the Lex Hortensia makes plebiscites binding
280 BC: Roma issues coins
275 BC: Roma conquers southern Italy (Greek colonies)
272 BC: a second aqueduct, the Anio Vetus, is built
264 BC: Roma and Carthage fight the first Punic war
264 BC: the Romans destroy the last vestiges of the Etruscan civilization (Volsinies)
222 BC: the Gauls are defeated
221 BC: the Circus Flaminius
218 BC: Hannibal invades Italy
214 BC: war machines designed by Greek mathematician Archimedes save the city of Syracuse, an ally of Carthage, from a Roman naval attack
202 BC: Scipio defeats Hannibal and Roma annexes Spain
196 BC: the Romans defeat the Macedonian king Philip V at Cynoscephalae
189 BC: Antiochus III, king of the Seleucids, is defeated at the battle of Magnesia and surrenders his possessions in Europe and Asia Minor
184 BC: the Basilica Porcia
149 BC: Roma destroys Carthage
149 BC: Roma conquers Greece with the battle of Corinth (and destroys Corinth)
133 BC: Attalus III of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Roma and the whole Mediterranean Sea is under Roman control ("mare nostrum")
106 BC: the Romans defeat Jugurtha, king of Numidia
88 BC: Italians are granted full citizenship
83 BC: Sulla becomes dictator
74 BC: Cicero enters the senate
73 BC: Spartacus leads the revolt of the gladiators
71 BC: Mithridates VI of Pontus is conquered by Roman general Lucius Lucullus
71 BC: Crassus puts down Spartacus' revolt
70 BC: Crassus and Pompey are elected consuls
69 BC: Rome invades Tigranes' Armenian kingdom and edstroys its capital, Tigranocerta
64 BC: Syria becomes a Roman province under general Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius)
63 BC: Pompeus captures Jerusalem and annexes Palestine to Roma
60 BC: Crassus, Pompey and Caesar form a "triumvirate"
59 BC: Caesar is elected consul
57 BC: Caesar conquers all of Gaul
53 BC: in the first war against Persia, Crassus is defeated and killed by the Parthians at Carrhae (Syria)
51 BC: Caesar crushes revolt of Vercingetorix in Gaul
50 BC: Roma introduces the gold coin "aureus"
49 BC: Ceasar crosses the Rubicon, defeats Pompey and becomes sole dictator of Rome, calling himself "imperator"
47 BC: Ceasar invades Egypt and proclaims Cleopatra queen
45 BC: Julius Caesar employs the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes to work out a new 12-month calendar (Julian calendar)
44 BC: Ceasar is killed.
36 BC: Rome tries to invade Persia
31 BC: Octavianus (Augustus) becomes the first emperor after defeating Mark Anthony at the battle of Actium
30 BC: Cleopatra commits suicide and Egypt is annexed to Roma
20 BC: a treaty between Roma and Persia (Parthians) fixes the boundary between the two empires along the Euphrates river (Iraq)
17 BC: the theater of Marcellus
13 BC: Augustus expands the borders to the region of the Danube
6 BC: Jesus is born in Palestine
1 AD: Roma has about one million people
2 AD: the Forum of Augustus
5 AD: Roma acknowledges Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni, as king of Britain
6 AD: Augustus expands the borders to the Balkans
12 AD: The last Etruscan inscription is carved
14 AD: Augustus dies and Tiberius becomes emperor
14 AD: five million people live in the Roman empire
25 AD: Agrippa builds the Pantheon
37 AD: Tiberius dies and the mad Caligula succeeds him
41 AD: Caligula is assassinated and is succeeded by Claudius
43 AD: Claudius invades Britain
46 AD: Thracia becomes a Roman province
50 AD: the Romans found Londinium in Britain
54 AD: Claudius is succeeded by Nero
58 AD: the Romans conquer Armenia
64 AD: Nero sets fire to Roma and blames the Christians for it
68 AD: Nero commits suicide and is succeeded by Vespasianus
79 AD: Vespasianus is succeeded by Tito
70 AD: Tito destroys Jerusalem and Jews spread in Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Greece
77 AD: the Romans conquer Wales
79 AD: the Vesuvius erupts and Pompeii is buried under ash
79 AD: the Colosseum is completed
80 AD: the Romans invade Caledonia (Scotland)
81 AD: the Arch of Titus
84 AD: British rebels are defeated by the Romans at the battle of Mons Graupius
97 AD: Rome forbids human sacrifice throughout the Roman empire
97 AD: Chinese general Pan Chao sends an embassy to the Roman Empire
98 AD: Trajan becomes emperor
100: the city of Roma has one million inhabitants
106: Trajan defeats Dacia that becomes a Roman province
106: Trajan captures the Nabataean capital Petra (Jordan) and turns Nabataea into the province of Arabia
107: The Roman Empire sends an embassy to India
110: the Basilica of Trajano is completed
112: the Forum of Trajanus
113: Colonna Traiana
116: Trajan conquers Mesopotamia and the Parthian capital Ctesiphon
117: Trajan dies on his way to the Persian Gulf and Hadrian becomes emperor
122: Hadrian's Wall is built along the northern frontier to protect from the Barbarians
132: Jews, led by Bar-Cochba, whom some identify as the Messiah, revolt against Roma
134: Villa Hadriana
136: emperor Hadrian definitely crushes the Jewish resistance, forbids Jews from ever entering Jerusalem, and changes the name of the city to Aelia Capitolina
138: Hadrian is succeeded by Antoninus Pius, who repels Hadrian's anti-Jewish laws
139: Hadrian's mausoleum (Castel Sant'Angelo)
161: Marcus Aurelius becomes Roman emperor
164: the plague spreads throughout the Roman empire
193: Septimius Severus, from Libya, becomes emperor
194: Rome annexes Palmyra to the province of Syria
212: Caracalla grants Roman citizenship on all free people who live in the Roman Empire
214: Caracalla murders King Abgar IX of Edessa and declares Edessa a Roman colony
216: the thermae of Caracalla
217: the Baths of Caracalla are inaugurated
217: Caracalla is murdered in Edessa
218: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the last of the Antonines, becomes emperor and promoties the cult of Elegabalus, a Syriac sun god
244: Shapur I becomes king of the Sassanids and attacks Roma
250: emperor Decius orders the first emperor-wide persecution of Christians
256: the Persians/Sassanids defeat the Romans and conquer Dura Europus in Mesopotamia
273: the Romans destroy the rebellious city of Palmyra in Syria
284: Diocletian becomes emperor but rules from Nicomedia in the East
298: Roma captures Nisibis and the Sassanids sign a peace treaty with Roma
300: the population of the Roman Empire is 60 million (about 15 million Christians)
303: Diocletian orders a general persecution of the Christians
303: the thermae of Diocletian
312: Constantine becomes emperor
313: Constantine ends the persecution of the Christians (edict of Milano)
313: Constantine recognizes the Christian church
330: Constantine I builds a new city, Constantinople (Byzantium)
337: after Constantine's death, his sons split the empire: Constantine II (Spain, Britain, Gaul), Constans I (Italy, Africa, Illyricum, Macedon, Achaea) and Constantius II (the East)
356: Roma has 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks)
359: Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman empire
360: pagan (Mithraist) general Julian (the "apostate") defeats an invasion of Barbarians and is declared emperor by his German troops
363: Julian dies attempting to invade the Sassanid kingdom of Persia, which recaptures Nisibis and Armenia, and general Valentinian becomes emperor
363: an earthquake destroys Petra
364: Valentinian delegates Valens as emperor of the East
376: Valens allows Visigoths to settle within the empire
378: the Visigoths defeat the Roman army at Hadrianopolis
380: Theodosius I proclaims Christianity as the sole religion of the Roman Empire
393: Theodosius forbids the Olympic Games because pagans and shuts down the temple of Zeus at Olympia
395: Theodosius divides the Roman empire in the Western and Eastern Empires, with Milano and Constantinople as their capitals
402: the western Roman empire moves the capital from Milano to Ravenna
406: Barbarians invade France from the north
410: the Visigots sack Roma
410: Roma withdraws from Britannia
418: the emperor grants Wallia's Visigoths to settle in Aquitaine (Atlantic coast of France)
425: the eastern emperor Theodosius II installs Valentinian III as emperor of the west
427: Gensenric's Vandals crosses the strait of Gibraltar and lands in Africa
443: the emperor grants Burgundi to settle in Savoy
450: Theodosius II dies and Marcian succeeds him, the first Roman emperor to be crowned by a religious leader (the patriarch of Constantinople)
452: the Huns invade Italy
455: the Vandals sack Roma
476: Odoacer, a mercenary in the service of Roma, leader of the Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, deposes the western Roman emperor and thereby terminates the western Roman empire
488: emperor Zeno sends Theodoric's Ostrogoths (still settled in Pannonia) to conquer Italy
500: Roma's population has declined to less than 100,000 people
526: Antioch in Syria is destroyed by an earthquake
527: Justinian becomes eastern Roman emperor
527: Byzantium enforces anti-Jewish laws and the Jews all but disappear from the eastern Roman Empire
529: Roman emperor Justinian shuts down the Academia of Plato
533: Justinian's code of law ("Corpus Juri Civilis") is published
537: Justinian's general Belisarius deposes pope Silverius and replaces him with pope Vigilius
534: Justinian's general Belisarius destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals and reconquers southern Spain and northern Africa
536: the Ostrogoths surrender and Belisarius reconquers Rome (beginning of the Barbar wars)
537: Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
540: Justinian's general Belisarius takes Ravenna from the last Ostrogothic resistance and thus reconquers Italy to the empire
542: the plague decimates the Empire
546: Visigothic rebels led by Totila sack Roma
551: imperial troops reconquer Rome
552: Nestorian monks smuggle silkworm eggs from China to Byzanthium
554: Rome is reduced to a camp of about 30,000 people, while Constantinople has about one million people
554: the new king of the Visigoths, Athanagild, accepts the emperor's sovereignity over Spain
554: the empire reorganizes Italy as an imperial province (end of the Barbar wars)
565: Justinian dies
568: Alboin's Lombards invade northern Italy
600: Constantinople has 500,000 inhabitants
602: the Persians (Sassanids) attack the eastern Roman empire in Asia Minor
610: Heraclius I overthrows the tyrant Phocas and becomes emperor
614: the Persians (Sassanids) capture Jerusalem
614: the Visigoths reconquer all of Spain from the Roman empire
619: the Persians capture Egypt
620: the Visigoths conquer the last Roman possession in Spain
626: the Sassanids besiege Constantinople
627: the Sassanid king Khusrau II is defeated by Roman emperor Heraclius at Niniveh
628: the Romans retake Syria from the Sassanids
636: Arabs capture Syria and Palestine
639: the Arabs invade the southern provinces of the Empire
673: the Arabs besiege Constantinople
714: the Arabs besiege Constantinople
718: Leo III repels the Arabs from Constantinople
726: Emperor Leo III orders the destruction of all icons (iconoclasm)
739: emperor Leo III issues the Ecloga that introduces Christian principles into law
800: Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned emperor by Pope Leo III and founds the Holy Roman Empire
811: the eastern Roman emperor recognized Charlemagne as emperor of Roma
812: a peace treaty between Charlemagne and the Eastern Roman Empire surrenders Venezia to the Eastern empire but grants Venezia the right to trade with the Holy Roman Empire
813: an Armenian general becomes eastern Roman emperor Leo V
840: Basil's fleet retakes Bari from the Muslims
843: Icons are restored
846: the city of Roma has 17,000 inhabitants
860: the Rus attack Constantinople
867: Basil I becomes the Byzantine emperor and founds the Macedonian dynasty
879: Basil I defeats the Arabs and reconquers Cappadocia
896: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the first time
922: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the fourth and last time
934: Magyars raid Constantinople
968: Nicephorus II defeats the Arabs and reconquers Syria
969: Nicephorus II defeats the Bulgars
976: Basil II becomes the Byzantine emperor
1018: Basil II annexes Bulgaria and the Byzantine empire reaches its zenith
1025: Basil II dies
1054: The patriarch of Constantinople and the pope in Roma excommunicate each other (the Great Schism)
1057: end of the Macedonian dynasty
1064: the Seljuks invade Armenia
1071: the Byzantine army of Romanus IV Diogenes is defeated by the Seljuks at Manzikert in Armenia, and establish a sultanate in Anatolia
1071: Normans led by Robert Guiscard conquer southern Italy from the eastern Roman empire
1081: Alexius I Komnenos establishes the Komnenos dynasty
1099: the first Crusade captures Jerusalem
1187: Saladin defeats the crusaders
1204: the Crusaders, led by the Doge of Venezia, sack Constantinople, expel the Greek emperor Alexius III and set up a Latin kingdom, led by Baldwin I of the Flanders, while Venezia acquires territories in the Mediterranean and Black Seas
1204: Theodore I Lascaris, son-in-law od Alexius III, flees from Constantinople to Nicaea (Bithynia), where he founds a the empire, whereas Alexius founds the empire of Trebizond further east
1211: Nicaea emperor Theodore I Lascaris conquers most of Anatolia
1261: Constantinople is liberated by the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Paleologus and Greek becomes the official language of the ever smaller eastern Roman empire
1291: the Moslems expel the Crusaders from the Middle East
1345: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Macedonia and Thrace
1347: the plague (Black Death) strikes Constantinople and it will kill half the population of the city
1348: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Thessaly and Epirus
1453: the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II capture Constantinople
1461: the Ottomans conquer the empire of Trebizond, the last Greek state

[SwordsMaster]

Yup, WRE is the way to go for a challenge.... It´s been 20 turns before I started having positive treasury apart from extermination of rebel towns... I had to abandon 3 ungarrisonable provinces (took another 2 to compensate) and still I have 2-3 regions that are in constant revolt as I cant afford to upgrade the cities and the population keeps growing because taxes are low....

[rebelscum]

Well I've allied with the goths, the sassanids are dogs without a bite, the vandals are threatening but after a few prolonged seiges they should be down to a few stragglers. Obviously your best protection is to have a lot of archer units. Make swiss cheese out of the general asap, and the so called horde will retire.

[Doug-Thompson]

Deleted every pagan temple in the ERE in my first term. Didn't have any rebellions after that.

Also, am I crazy, or are peasants only $18(!) upkeep per turn in this game? Is that all peasants, or just Byz ones?

[rebelscum]

Well peasants is as peasants does. The only reason to have them as you know is to keep a garrison in a city.

[Doug-Thompson]

True, rebelscum _ but an 82 percent drop in garrison cost would be nice.

[rebelscum]

Well that would be nice. Its sort of getting something for nothing though.

[Grifman]

Yeah, peasants are too cheap, I think they make the game too easy in that respect.

[rebelscum]

In RTR peasants are removed. How many armies feilded peasants? Was a peasant a better fighter than a man with a trade, or just expendible.

[rebelscum]

An actual peasant army victory.
Battle of Stiklestad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiklestad