Carthage overpowered?

[nemesisvsbrad]

My forces has been fighting Carthaginians for like 30 years but seems like neverending action. My only hope was to disrupt their Iberian recruitments which wouldn't be so easy. What I thought was that early in the game Carthage conquered Iberians, so now they have a strong base to wage war for so long. Another thing was they are able to train pretty tough guys and they are balancing their forces with Iberian hardy warriors to make a good fighting force. It seemed like I had better pull out of North Africa and return with Polybian legionnaires. Carthaginian assaults come wave after wave and their navy is busy transporting these would be dead army nonstop. Since Makedon declared war on me and I can't afford to fight on two fronts I was gonna abandon Carthago, Adrumeto and 2 other cities but after installing v0.7.4 that game work no more. That's good because Romans never retreat and I have a plan for Carthage on my next new campaign. Here it is.

As soon as I get Massaila, I am gonna support Iberians to terrorise Carthage cities in the area. When I have Sicily, I will blockade every Carthage ports to cut their income plus destroy their navy. Send spies to every Carthage cities to monitor their troop movements. When they are away to subdue some rebels my armies would land every coastal cities and take their major cities as quickly as they can. I dont want long wars with a particular nation so I need a good plan.

I think Carthage needs some tunedowns. I felt like doing the same thing forever. Sometimes I couldn't believe that they were sending 2 stacks at a time. Their generals need some tunedowns I think. Only 20 or 22 years old but they had 3 or 4 command stars.

Probably I am not a good player or it is supposed to be this though. Or Iberians can have 4 cities to start. That would help them to fight Carthage longer. Iberians were surrounded by Rebels and very difficult to expand.

When Sacred band shows up I guess Roman might find her true challenge. Or maybe Carthage needs more mercs instead of Iberian units. Those Iberian unit and Carthage spearmen combination is so effective that Romans having so much casualties.:wall: :wall:

Never been fighting a single faction this long since I had RTW. What other players think is interesting.

[stufer]

I am playing as the Romans too and am currently fighting the Second Punic war. The first war was easy - just captured Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and made peace. They didn't put up much of a fight.

But now I'm fighting in Iberia its a different matter. They have loads of good quality infantry - Elite African Pikes and Infantry plus those nasty little Iberian Assault guys.

So yeah I agree with you, Carthage are tough. However I don't think they are overpowered. This is the first time I have ever been challenged by Carthage in any mod. In RTR I would pick and choose what parts of the Carthaginian Empire I wanted then take them as I saw fit. Now Its about what I *can* take and when. And I have suffered some nasty defeats from them.

Remember that in the first 2 Punic wars in real life, it took Rome the best part of 20 years in both instances to achieve victory.

I think for the first time in RTW, EB has got it just about right.

I think your plan sounds fine. It should work. Definatley take as much as possible at once - don't give them a chance to recover (there's nothing more dangerous than a wounded Carthaginian!).

In my game I decided to leave Africa altogether for the time being. The reason is that the last time I went there I got into all kinds of difficulty with the Ptolemaic Empire along with a front in Iberia and Gaul. Plus the Carthaginian towns in North Africa I did capture kept on rebelling back to their former masters. It was too much for my poor legions.

This time round I'm going to pursue them out of Iberia then make peace. Maybe attack Greece next.

Good luck and good hunting to you.

[orwell]

The fact that carthage sounds over powered is interesting. In playing RTR, I've never lost, a few setbacks, but I was never punished for a defeat or tactical blunder. Are other factions overpowered as well?

[Trithemius]

The fact that carthage sounds over powered is interesting. In playing RTR, I've never lost, a few setbacks, but I was never punished for a defeat or tactical blunder. Are other factions overpowered as well?

If all the factions are powerful, then they are balanced. :)

Note that I don't think that the EB factions are "overpowered" or even "powerful" compared to their neighbours since people on M/M have reported being given problems by Eleutheroi (independent/rebel) stacks and settlements.

[abou]

Right now in the game I just started, which is also my first in EB, Carthage is most certainly a powerhouse; one that I do not know how to defeat. As the Romani, I am having a very hard time building the powerhouse economy other players have talked about and the need to rotate troops for retraining is hurting me. I just managed to defeat a very large Carthaginian force at Syracuse and Messana, but I cannot afford to expand to the north past Segesta or into Lilibeo.

Despite all of this, Carthage has expaned all the way south into the Sahara and a little into the independent pronvinces of Egypt. Furthermore, I am the only faction they are at war with in contradiction to what I thought would be an expansionist Ptolomaioi (somehow with the Seleukids as a protectorate).



PS - Oh yeah, first post. The mod is really cool by the way. :2thumbsup:

[john289]

I beat Carthage pretty easily just by doing some quick raids against them. Since nearly all of their important settlements are coastal, I just took an undefended settlement, exterminated it down to 400, destroyed all the buildings, and gave it to pontos or some other insignificant Eastern nation, they would hold onto it long enough so that when i actually WANTED to take it, i would stroll in with the city undefended and set up shop.

[abou]

Well crap, I just won a major heroic victory in Siciliy, which left Lilbeo almost undefended, and once I return to the campaign map it crashed... twice - so two heroic victories in a row wasted. I also managed to kill two Carthaginian family members.:furious3:

I think my campaign is done since I cannot get past this battle without the crash and I don't really feel like not having the battle since it is too critical to further improvement in Sicily. Oh well, lessons learned can just be applied to the next campaign.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Was it a crash that occurred while you had a reinforcing army? If it did (I would suspect it did) then just merge your troops and attack with just one army. That will probably solve the problem.

[the_handsome_viking]

I personally like the factions being tough, I've recently been holding on for dear life fighting against the Arverni and the Romans after I lost my main army in a really bad siege that went totally wrong and resulted in my 1000+ army getting decimated.

Big overly long drawn out wars are what makes this mod worth while, everyone enjoys getting their asses semi-kicked in games.

I'm just about to destroy the Arverni, the Romans are invading, I quite like this situation because the Romans are extremely tough.

I hope that Carthage is as tough as you say it is.

[Gealai]

On their hometurf in Northern Africa and in Iberia, where they can rely heavily on their finest units they pose a challange. Finally.

[abou]

Was it a crash that occurred while you had a reinforcing army? If it did (I would suspect it did) then just merge your troops and attack with just one army. That will probably solve the problem.Actually, it was the Carthaginians who had the reinforcments. Does that cause the same crash that I've been reading about?

Edit: Apparently, it can. If it also helps, I had no family members/generals, but there was one Carthaginian family member for each army - two stacks against my one.

[GodEmperorLeto]

I think the Carthaginians are absolutely perfect!

I have never had such a strategic challenge in a wargame in my life. In previous Total War games, I would cheat often either out of boredom, or because it was on such a hard setting, I felt I needed half a chance.

Now, I don't cheat at all (God, I must sound like a TV advertisement: "Thanks EB! You changed my life!").

Carthage got the drop on me, nearly grabbing Rhegion. But I rallied, and wiped out two huge Carthaginian armies in two epic battles that left me on the edge of my seat! Now I've grabbed Lilybaeum, Corsica and Sardinia, and have a massive Carthaginian army bottled up in Messana (Syracuse is still independent). My army is exhausted and in need of replenishment, and the war at sea is costing me a great deal of money.

But I'm winning! And its on VH/H. Nevertheless, I don't feel overwhelmed. Just challenged! After winning an incredible battle on a hill in central Sicily, slaughtering 3500 Carthaginians and mercenaries while outnumbered 3:1, and only losing about 150 Romans, I felt like The Man. I had won a terrific victory, and I had been forced to devise a darn good plan, and my timing had to be perfect with everything.

Wow, all this talking about my little Punic War has got me in the mood to play some more.

[Spartiate]

Not over-powered but defineately a challenge.

In my game as the Romani i eventually captured all the settlements of Carthage with the exception of 3 provinces they control in the sahara region.I felt the effort wasn't worth it and besides the Avernii have now started attacking northern Italy and Macedon have just stabbed me in the back.

See........i made a fatal mistake it seems.I didn't realise that Macedon was as powerful as it in fact is.I have a long supply line down the Adriatic coast to my all the former Epirote cities of Greece and Macedon have just decided it was too tempting a target what with my having just one family member with a full stack in the whole area.A dozen battles later and the family member is dead and despite the huge casualties inflicted on the Macedonians they still have maybe 6 full stacks in the area and are now rolling up the coast towards nothern Italy.

Now for my truely big mistake.I pull my veteran stacks bar one out of Africa and head for Italy and Greece and no sooner am i embroiled in a monster war with Macedon(where ARE those stacks coming from) than Egypt decides to attack Lepki.

Oh..........and what is this i see?Could this be 3 stacks of Carthagenian troops coming out of the Sahara?................oh it is.

Great mod and great challenge.Just at the point in a vanilla campaign when you would be quiting from boredom EB kicks you in the crotch.Now i'm off to get ice........

[Urnamma]

I beat Carthage pretty easily just by doing some quick raids against them. Since nearly all of their important settlements are coastal, I just took an undefended settlement, exterminated it down to 400, destroyed all the buildings, and gave it to pontos or some other insignificant Eastern nation, they would hold onto it long enough so that when i actually WANTED to take it, i would stroll in with the city undefended and set up shop.

This is, I think, a rather silly way to play. Try roleplaying a little bit, and try to make the game behave like real civilizations. Nobdody takes something over and then says 'well, you guys, from 2,000 miles away, you take it for a bit'.

[Urnamma]

Not over-powered but defineately a challenge.

In my game as the Romani i eventually captured all the settlements of Carthage with the exception of 3 provinces they control in the sahara region.I felt the effort wasn't worth it and besides the Avernii have now started attacking northern Italy and Macedon have just stabbed me in the back.

See........i made a fatal mistake it seems.I didn't realise that Macedon was as powerful as it in fact is.I have a long supply line down the Adriatic coast to my all the former Epirote cities of Greece and Macedon have just decided it was too tempting a target what with my having just one family member with a full stack in the whole area.A dozen battles later and the family member is dead and despite the huge casualties inflicted on the Macedonians they still have maybe 6 full stacks in the area and are now rolling up the coast towards nothern Italy.

Now for my truely big mistake.I pull my veteran stacks bar one out of Africa and head for Italy and Greece and no sooner am i embroiled in a monster war with Macedon(where ARE those stacks coming from) than Egypt decides to attack Lepki.

Oh..........and what is this i see?Could this be 3 stacks of Carthagenian troops coming out of the Sahara?................oh it is.

Great mod and great challenge.Just at the point in a vanilla campaign when you would be quiting from boredom EB kicks you in the crotch.Now i'm off to get ice........

You're making me want to play it and stop modding it for a while. Don't do that ;)

[Samurai Waki]

Carthage rocks in EB, and gives them the deserved credit of being a true superpower like they were IRL. I have had sooo many battles against Carthage its unbelievable, taking Carthage controlled parts of Spain was definantly no easy task, and I only defeated them there because of my Iberian Allies.

[GodEmperorLeto]

This is, I think, a rather silly way to play. Try roleplaying a little bit, and try to make the game behave like real civilizations. Nobdody takes something over and then says 'well, you guys, from 2,000 miles away, you take it for a bit'.

Actually, I was honestly thinking of doing that with Syracuse. I've been considering giving it to the allied Greeks as an alliance bargaining chip or something, then grabbing it back when I decide the time is right to whomp them. But that's not quite the same as giving it to the landlocked Yuezhi or the Britons. The Greeks were navally capable, and since Athens made a try for Syracuse, it's not unbelievable.

It's all about plans within plans, as Piter deVries might have said.

[BigTex]

Well crap, I just won a major heroic victory in Siciliy, which left Lilbeo almost undefended, and once I return to the campaign map it crashed... twice - so two heroic victories in a row wasted. I also managed to kill two Carthaginian family members.

This is what has happened to me in any battle like that. Whenever I win a battle near a city, one that would normally leave the city undefended and allow you to just stroll in. I crash, but only when its against a faction and not eluthorio. Its never failed to crash for me. Its caused some real problems, many wasted heroic victorys on VH to that bug. Its one of those grit your teath and play some America's Army bugs.

Carthage isnt overpowered, the places were you can recruit our solid troops are small. Africans in africa, iberian in spain, it poses huge logistical problems. Makes for an interesting game as them. When playing as them their quick powerful armies pose interesting situations.

[john289]

This is, I think, a rather silly way to play. Try roleplaying a little bit, and try to make the game behave like real civilizations. Nobdody takes something over and then says 'well, you guys, from 2,000 miles away, you take it for a bit'.

I don't think so. I roleplayed it just fine, my general raided in coordination with orders from his father, the Verrix who set us up for victory through diplomatic intrigue

Really I didn't think that taking Spain/Sicily/Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage and giving the city itself to the Ptolemies(who also happened to be at war with Carthage) to be that unrealistic, when the Allies conquered Germany they did divide it up into four zones

[stufer]

Its really nice to see that most people are finding them to be a challenge to fight. I was thinking that maybe my generalship was not as good as I had thought.

Someone mentioned the troubles they have had fighting them in Iberia and I have to concur with that. Big armies full of elite troops and some really well defended strong-holds. Seriously, they have all of their Iberian cities with stone walls and at least 1000 defenders. Absolutely no way am I going to assault these places. Mainly because I'm role-playing my general down there and after his last epic battle he's become a recluse. I like to think of him as having seen too much horror and now he can't bare to waste his troops on pointless attacks.
I was trying to get a triumph for this guy but now I think he may not have enough Influence (recluse gives a minus 3 influence hit i think). But that's cool because I can't see him wanting to be paraded around Rome now. I think when the war ends I'll have him become the Governor of Iberia and end his days there. I was really impressed about the Recluse thing kicking in directly after the most decisive and bloody battle of the war (I beleive thanks should go to Malrubius for the amazing traits - Cheers mate).

Anyway I digress. Like someone above me pointed out, I couldn't have been successful without the help from my Iberian allies.

Without a doubt this is the best campaign I have played.

[pezhetairoi]

Qarthadast has not come close to being a challenge yet to me, because while tactically and qualitatively their units are awesome to face, strategically on M/M they are babies. The only army that stood a chance of actually annihilating me, a fullstack of iberian assault, general's cav, curisii, elite africans pikes and leebifeenikim, split itself up three ways to defend Baikor, Sucummurgi and Gader after my very vengeful Roman fullstack threatened all three simultaneously during my Second Punic War, and so they got thrashed in three piecemeal battles. I haven't touched Africa yet, but I foresee some challenges.

[GodEmperorLeto]

Making peace with Carthage was a horror. After I grabbed Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica from them, they decided to starve me out of Italy by blockading all of my ports. Considering my fleet was really small, it was annihilated quickly. I had to sit and watch my treasury melt away and my cities riot for two full years before they would finally accept the loss of the three islands and accept my terms (which had been whittled down to simply "Ceasefire").

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Wow, that actually sounds really cool. :grin: Nice to see posts like these - not that long, but with something interesting the AI did.

[hsimoorb]

I have to say, going up against a strong carthage is generaly pleasing. But I think they're Elite African troops are overpowered. They'd be fine by themselves, but the AI spams them into armies of nothing but uber legionary infantry. They should cost alot more if they're going to be as powerful as they are.

But of coarse, not too weak that carthage folds like it always does in other mods.

[QwertyMIDX]

They already cost over 2200 for a unit of 80...

[hsimoorb]

That didn't stop carthage raising 3 full stacks of them in my campaign.

[Keba]

Try playing against Rome ... I had to fight my way through five or so stacks of Early Triarii ... an absolute nightmare.

It is a shame there is no way to encourage the AI to field proper armies, not the RTS style all elite.

[Chuffy]

Carthage are definately powerful in EB, I think it mainly stems from the Numidians not being in. In RTR I found playing as Carthage extremely challenging and hard, mainly because Rome was overpowered and Iberia controlled lots of cities but also because there was the unpredictable Numidian element. In EB, Iberia does not control that many cities and the Carthies don't have to worry about being backstabbed by the Numidians while fighting the Romans.

Plus they have overpowered generals cavalry.:eyebrows:

[Slider6977]

General's bodyguards overpowered?(yeah probably:laugh4: ) But first, I just think that reflects how vastly superior Carthaginian cavalry is compared to Roman cavalry. In fact, I feel Iberian heavy cavalry are a little underpowered considering their historical toughness. The problem is not the units though, it is, as has been stated already, the AI. They will spam certain units, which is virtually the same for every faction. If you attack a powerful faction, expect to come up against full stacks of very good troops. Of course, you would like to see variety, but that is the limit of this game.

Personally I love playing Carthage. Powerful units, but expensive. You must spend wisely, but once the money starts flowing, it gets a little easier. Which is the same as Rome for the most part. Expect a fight, no matter which faction you chose. Cause you must remember that these two nations were the most powerful at the time this game is set. With the successor states fighting each other, and northern tribes historically not expanding, the mediterranean belonged to Rome and Carthage. And they fought for many years. So from a historical standpoint (and this is supposed to be a historical/realistic game), and a game standpoint, neither one of these factions should be pushovers. Not overpowered, but a challenge, just like most of the factions.

On a side note, a quick questions: anyone playing as carthage every have Rome attack Corsica and Sardinia. It seems in my games that their fleet is broken, and virtually never attack my islands in the north, only (occasionally) in Sicily.

[abou]

I have found that Carthage does little to develop her navy, but the military yards at Qart-hadast are well developed - so there is your chance. After quickly taking it and defending it with a solid garrison, start building ships and blockade their ports, every other one, all the way to Iberia. Make sure you follow those trade routes on the map to get the right ones to maximize the efficiency rather than hitting every port - this also means you have adequate ships for defense in case any enemy fleet is around that you missed.

Due to unit upkeep costs such as elephants, Elite African Infantry, etc. after a few years of blockade, Carthage's finances are in the negative and their possession of the Sahara only hurts them, which means no retraining of beat-up units. With time and troop cycling you can beat them down or better yet, grab Ippone and start training elephants to smash them.

[Moros]

Due to unit upkeep costs such as elephants, Elite African Infantry, etc. after a few years of blockade, Carthage's finances are in the negative and their possession of the Sahara only hurts them, which means no retraining of beat-up units. With time and troop cycling you can beat them down or better yet, grab Ippone and start training elephants to smash them.
yeah but your money will melt like snow in the sun if you're going to recruit that many fleets. You do know tat they are verry expesive in EB?

[abou]

I only needed about 7 ship units to pull it off with another for troop ferrying. When I had done this though, I had taken Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily and therefore had the trade that I needed on that side of the Mediterranean.

[Dayve]

I'm fighting Carthage as the Romani in Sicily right now... I had just taken Rhegion when they sieged it for a turn then left... I tried to make peace and they said they saw no need, so i thought i should send my best general, who is also faction heir, into Sicily with a well balanced realistic army and make them wish they had accepted my ceasefire...

So i went in and could move no further than the fishing village just in front of the land bridge, so i stopped and ended turn. Next turn i was attacked by a fully stacked Cartheginian army... I noticed that the odds were 4:3 in their favour, so i looked at their troops... 3 quarters of their army were mercenaries... I was astonished... All those mercs must have costed well over 35k Minai... And what a battle it was! They had phalangites, thureophoroi, peltasts, Iphrikate hoplites, mercenary cavalry... I won, but it was a challenge... I lost most of my front line of hastati and samnite spearmen, half of my principes, some of my triarii, my cavalry unit down to 1/4 strength... I retreated back to a fort just outside Rhegion while i retrained.

I went back in and got attacked again, this time by an army mostly of Akontastai(sp) the skirmishers... Easy win. Took Messana and have just wiped out another stack of mostly skirmishers and poeni citizen levies... Lilybaeum is defended only by a lot of levies but they should be no match for my now experienced army and great general... An invasion of Carthy homeland is unthinkable for me at the moment... Their troops are superior to the early Roman ones and they are obviously rich as hell... I'll go in with my legionaires much later in the game.

[Elthore]

During a campaign as pontus, carthage made protrectors of both iberia and rome. Currently they're allied with all their neighboors and not expanding, even though they're exponentially richer than everyone. They own all of sicily, africa west of egypt, but only their starting pronvices in spain. Not sure what to make of it

[nemesisvsbrad]

I'm fighting Carthage as the Romani in Sicily right now... I had just taken Rhegion when they sieged it for a turn then left... I tried to make peace and they said they saw no need, so i thought i should send my best general, who is also faction heir, into Sicily with a well balanced realistic army and make them wish they had accepted my ceasefire...

So i went in and could move no further than the fishing village just in front of the land bridge, so i stopped and ended turn. Next turn i was attacked by a fully stacked Cartheginian army... I noticed that the odds were 4:3 in their favour, so i looked at their troops... 3 quarters of their army were mercenaries... I was astonished... All those mercs must have costed well over 35k Minai... And what a battle it was! They had phalangites, thureophoroi, peltasts, Iphrikate hoplites, mercenary cavalry... I won, but it was a challenge... I lost most of my front line of hastati and samnite spearmen, half of my principes, some of my triarii, my cavalry unit down to 1/4 strength... I retreated back to a fort just outside Rhegion while i retrained.

I went back in and got attacked again, this time by an army mostly of Akontastai(sp) the skirmishers... Easy win. Took Messana and have just wiped out another stack of mostly skirmishers and poeni citizen levies... Lilybaeum is defended only by a lot of levies but they should be no match for my now experienced army and great general... An invasion of Carthy homeland is unthinkable for me at the moment... Their troops are superior to the early Roman ones and they are obviously rich as hell... I'll go in with my legionaires much later in the game.

In Rhegion you can't retrain I think

[Homo Sapiens]

In my campaign as the KH, it's about 240 BC and Carthage and the Ptolemaioi are locked in a bitter war over the control of North Africa. So far, Carthage controls every African province west of Augila and Kyrenaia, while the Ptolemaioi have every province east. As well, the Seleucids have taken all of Egypt's provinces in Asia and the Levant and are now crossing the Nile to siege Alexandria. Nice to see the Ptolemaioi actually losing for once.

[Mujalumbo]

I'm suffering a bit from the Carthaginian problem now, as the Aedui. I've forced the Romans from Northern Italy, even sacked Roma itself!

Carthage has declared war on me, and managed to take a couple of towns. (They were lightly garrisoned, since I didn't figure there'd be any attacks coming up from Iberia). They've revolted back, so I guess that's OK. The problem is their super-duper general's bodyguard cavalry, and the piles of Iberian Assault Infantry, Liby-Phoenician Heavy Infantry, and Elite African Infantry.

The answer, obviously, are Solduri, Mori Gaesum, and Gaesetae. The problem is money; I have none of it!

[john289]

Don't try to match Carthage stack for stack as a Barbaric faction, especially if you're not fighting in Iberia. Try to raid their cities, exterminate population down to 400, destroy all the buildings, then just pull totally out of the city. It's worthless to Carthage, and if it's a fairly large city you'll get a fairly large boost of money.

If you're at war with Carthage, take Iberia at all costs, no matter how long it takes. Then take all of the islands they hold in the Med. After that, defeating them is easy, just take cities, never engage their armies if possible. All those good units they have will send them scrambling into a debt they wont get out of.

[Simmons]

In Rhegion you can't retrain I think
Wouldnt that depend on what type if government building is there?

[QwertyMIDX]

And if the Polybian reform has kicked in yet.

[Dayve]

Sorry i should have explained further. At the time it was still early in the game before the polybian reforms. I lost so much of my army but there were still a lot of Carthie units in Sicily, so i retreated into a fort blocking the landbridge so they couldn't get into Italy and sent my troops north bit by bit to retrain and also sent fresh troops down from my legion in the north seeing as nothing was happening there.

I won Sicily in the end anyway, Syrakusai was a tough nut though... 10 units of peltasts and a lot of phalanx units... When you think that peltasts own early Hastati and give early principes a serious challenge due to the peltasts having a sword and principes only a shield... After the battle i had about 200 men left. Good job i hired all those phalanx units as wall fodder. :laugh4:

I'm still playing the same campaign - You can see screenshots of it in the expansion thread.

[Tanit]

well, I wouldn't say that carthage is overpowered. In a game as them oh VH/VH I am expanding, but only barely, spain is on defense and my african forces are being slowly whittled away while messana is under siege from Rome.

I just started as the Romans and the first punic war was very short indeed. a banner of carthaginians moved up by rhegium which I had just conquered and i thought, 'OK". Then they moved towards my almost undefended towns further up and I had to corner and annihilate them in a decisive battle before gaining a ceasefire with them. this campaign is on M/M

[Orb]

I think that, whichever faction you play as, EB is one Hell of a challenge.

ON my .72 Aedui campaign, the Sweboz and Romani were both sadistic. I could barely hold on.

Now, on my wonderful .74 Haikaikan campaign, I'm fighting masses of pezhetaroi and hetaroi. I have been forced to use forts to guard against Seleukid attacks while I never used them on vanilla. I've only just finished a 12-year war against Seleucia - and then took 2 years to wipe out Pontos.

And the outside world has taken a completely different turn without my help.

Whoever you are, someone will be tough.

[soibean]

I honestly never had a huge problem with Carthage
I was playing on .72 and a little on .74. They would try to take sicily and then back out of a war with rome and expand over the rest of western africa. For whatever reason they would never attack egypt in my games, even when egypt was involved in a huge war against the Seleucids.
I'm waiting until version .8 to play EB again. New units, more fixes, hopefully the reinforcement bug is set, and Ive also been told that naval invasions are coded into some factions so they will attack from the seas more often.
How sweet would that be. Im looking forward to fighting a few super powers.