39 provinces by 260BC (VH/VH)

[longbowmen]

Ok i have decided to write this guide to clarify any doubts as to whether i can really capture 39 provinces by 260BC on VH/VH RTW Gold.

Faction Used: Roman Brutii

To hit 39 provinces by 260BC on VH/VH RTW Gold, you need to strike extremely fast and furious. The roman army is the strongest at the beginning and towards the end. Hastati rapes any 3rd tier infantry with a little tactics, while princples and triarii dont have the same advantage against same tier units.

Also, Brutii's opponents are the weakest at the start. Greek units are powerful but very expensive, so they can only field a few units at the start, easily overpowered by a couple of hastati units and equites. The greeks also hold some of the richest cities and best wonders in the world, so taking over this early means you dominate the game right from the start.

IMPT Campaign Tips:
1)Do NOT garrison units in your cities at the start unless they will rebel. You need every single unit, be it peasant, velites, hastati, family member to conduct a blitzkrieg on the Greeks.
2)Only garrison conquered cities with peasants, which are equally useless in a battle as town watch but much cheaper and have more people to add to garrison troop size.
3)RUSH AND RUSH AND RUSH. The moment your army can leave the conquered town (quelled some rebellion or peasants are available to garrison), rush the next town immdiately. Build spies, one for each army so that you can conquer the town on the same turn.
4)Tax your people as much as you can at the start. The pop growth reduction is negligible at the beginning, but the gold increase is significant.
5)Scrimp and save every bit you can. Do NOT build velites(hastati much more worth it), all hastati and equites. Do NOT build any extra building or unit that is not necessary, you only need one or two hastati barracks at the start, no walls, no ships. Spend all your money FIRST on SPAMMING out hastati and equites (4:1 ratio), 2ND on economy buildings. Spam peasants to garrison, make sure you have absolutely NO hastati and equites used as garrison troops, an utter waste of resources.
6)Later on, when your empire becomes bigger and your main army moves to the borders, for every 4 towns, garrison the centre/larger/more important town with 3 hastati and 1 equites as a quick response unit and make sure the town can train more in case of an emergency. The rest just put peasants.
7)Pump out diplomats and get trading rights to increase your gold right from the start.
8)It is crucial to hit fast during the early game, the AI is either still asleep or cannot muster enough resources to defend.


Campaign Strategy:
1)Build one hastati barracks in your capital, spam peasants on the first turn. This is a main troop producing town for your early game.
2)Hit Apollonia on the 2nd turn.
3)Ally with Macedon. Hit Thermon on the 4th/5th turn with ALL your family members except the best management guy who stays in capital (change your heir to the highest rank general to get more bodyguard cavalry), all your hastati and equites. This battle is crucial, your forces will be evenly matched or even outnumbered, you will need to crush the enemy while losing minimal troops. Build a hastati barracks immediately, this will be your main troops producing town on the greek continent before you capture sparta or Thessalonica (according to my experience).
4)Hit Athens immediately after you hit Thermon, it should be a rebel town so you shouldnt have any problems. Its a rich city, which means more money for more hastati. Use your velites and peasants to garrison Thermon.
5)Make peace with greeks, by now the greeks and macedons should have some in-fighting. Use this 3-4 turns of peace to SPAM out hastati and equites, developing 2 10-unit armies one in Thermon, one in Athens.
6)Macedon is weakened, hit Corinth and Larissa IMMEDIATELY on the same turn.
7)By now you should have some spare cash from pillaging towns, income etc. What i did was to bribe the main greek army for about 10k gold, and hit the town of Sparta 2 turns after I hit Corinth.
8)From here you should have conquered the main greek cities, just move on and kill off macedon to secure your lands. You can now develop some of your towns, Sparta had a greek temple +2 to unit experience so it became my main troop producing town. Build 1-2 fleets (4 triemes) to defend your coasts.
9)Try to hit town on crete(put a family member there to buy cretan archers whenever you can, they crucial). Hit the colossus town ASAP, it gives your economy such a great boost that i instantly switched all my tax rates to low.
10)From now on, fight on multiple fronts. Hit, pontus followed by selucids, egyptians and armenians in the that order. Hit thrace, followed by Dacia in the north (try not to hit scythians coz their lands are too large, hard to traverse). Hit greeks on syracuse and carthage on libya(i didnt get libya, Scpii got it first). Try to hit carthage as well.

Battle Strategy:
1)Manually resolve every battle, arrange your troops and engage in the MOST orderly fashion to minimise casualties and maximise your kills(i take around 30 mins to 1 hour to fight a battle). A typical 1000 vs 1000 strong army in city siege, my casualties are around 50-100 after healing. For a field engagement casualties may be much higher due to the presence of chariots (pontus, selucids, and egypt), 200 after healing half hastati half equites. You can mow through enemy towns turn after turn without the need to replace your troops.
2)Try to force a city siege if possible, it takes longer(at least 1 hour) but can reduce your casualties to as low as 50 in a 1000 vs 1000 batte.
2A)WOODEN WALLS - build 4 rams, spread your forces over all 4 gates with a little bit more emphasize on one particular entrance (more infantry, general, cavalry). THIS ENTRANCE SHOULD NOT BE THE ONE YOUR ARMY IS FACING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE. This is because the com tends to concentrate its forces at the gate your army is facing at the start. It is impt not to over-emphasize troop placement on one gate or else the com will shift most of its troops there in VH/VH mode. The basic strat is to pepper troops standing at the entrace with archers, they will move away for a short while. Use this opportunity to rush your general(or a cavalry unit) in quickly, to a point away from the gate to one side. The defending troops now march to your general, pass the gate. Rush one hastati unit thru the gate now, pincer the defending troops. (note that the one bearing the brunt of the defending troops should be infantry, or you will lose preciouse cavalry in a frontal assault) In the event one gate is heavily guarded, you will do this strat on other adjacent gates. After that, march one unit of cavalry thru these gates to the heavily guarded gate, defending troops now move to this unit to counter the new threat. Again, rush your infantry in, pincer the enemy.
2B)STONE WALLS - if gates are open and enemy troops are minimal(meaning they will not be guarding all the walls), rush one infantry unit in thru an unguarded gate, take the gateway, march around the whole wall around the town to remove hostile towers. Even if you meet any infantry guarding along the way, your hastati and principle can handle them with ease.
2C)STONE WALLS - if gates are locked, huge enemy army defending. use siege towers (game too early to build onagers, siege ladders are useless, saps makes some hostile towers unreachable, sustain lots of casaulties) at least 2 for each gate. time your siege towers, make sure your 1st tower reaches about 20 secs before your 2nd one. Your first unit of hastati should ideally not be flanked on both sides, it will draw all enemy units on the wall towards it. Now, the 2nd unit drops behind the enemy line 20 secs later, pincer the enemy.
2D)For some reason after you break thru the stone/wooden walls and defeat the immediate defenders, the AI stupidly sends individual or poorly protected units at the breach(if they have enough to spare, if they dont they just camp at the city square). Just use the city layout to flank these troops with cavalry and you should kill most of the defenders.
2E)This one is the best trick of all. If the AI finds that it has insufficient troops to put up a fight, it sends all its units to camp at the city square. Your job will be to lure these troops out of the square, into a trap, and then annihilate them. Cavalry will be your first targets, since they will chase you all the way(being fast units) if you reach within their zone. Choose a long straight street from the square to the walls, preferably with side tracks as well. At the wall end of the street, position your infantry on the 2 flanks, your cavalry at the centre back, directly infront of the wall.


CITY SQUARE
(enemy cavalry)


I I
I I
I I
I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
I (equites)
I
I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
(hastati) (hastati)
(general)
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
WALLS


Now, send your general to lure the enemy cavalry, Take note NOT to get them engaged. Just walk near them, the moment they move, double-click your general to return the the position above. If they engage just keep double-clicking to run back. The enemy cavalry, often the enemy general will chase your general all the way until the end of the street. When they reach the end, let them charge into your general (or if your timing is gd, charge your general such that they engage right at the end of the street). Then spring the trap, flank the enemy cavalry on the sides with hastati, move your equites from the sidetrack and charge them from the back. If the remaining troops are infantry, line up your hastati near them, in range to throw their pilum, then charge them and flank them from the back with cavalry. Infantry cannot be lured using this strategy unless they are missile troops. This strategy will ensure the total annihilation of enemy generals, faction leaders/heirs, enemy cavalry with almost no loss on your side.
2F)For city sieges, try to use up all your ammo, archers stand outside wall shoot until no ammo, hastati stand directly outside gate and throw pilum in thru the gate, or right before engaging. This will be your only chance to do so as during field engagements, the enemy will close in on your troops before a few volleys are fired.
3)For field engagements, its much simpler. Just line up your troops, 4 ranks deep (5-6 ranks for engaging enemy chariots or elephants, this will ensure they do not break thru your lines, turn around and charge your troops from the back, because they get bogged down during the first charge). Heavy infantry in front, archers behind them, cavalry behind them at the sides. Flank with cavalry. Try to stretch your lines so that your line is longer, use any extra infantry to flank the enemy sides, while your cavalry flank from directly behind. Try to engage flanking enemy cavalry with your infantry instead of your horses.
3A)If you meet any elephants, chariots, target your archers to shoot them with fire on sight. Keep firing and firing until they run amok. If they do come, use 5-6 rank deep infantry and just tank. Or if you have mercenary hoplites, they are the ideal for dealing with such threats.
3B)If you are fighting multiple armies (AI reinforcements), look at the campaign map before hand, find out where they will appear on the battle map, move your troops closest to where a reinforcing army appear. Rush them to that spot and engage before the enemy armies can unite. I normally do not have my own reinforcing armies( i dont trust the AI to control my armies at all).

Yup thats all. Those who like it just say something to encourage me. Spent 2 hours doing this.

[Telys]

It's a good strategy. I prefer drawing out my campaigns, using diplomacy to wage wars, and building my settlements to support the best of the best. Whenever I do play as the romans I usually wait until the marian reforms happen before expanding past greece. This way I don't have to weed out all the left over hastati and what not and I dont spend 5 years training new armies to replace the old since they are not retrainable at that point.

[Garvanko]

Impressive strategy. Still very quick! Fair play to you though, longbowmen.

Like Telys, I tend to use a slower strategy focusing first on initial expansion to consolidate my borders, then focus on the economic side. Middle and later stages of the game allow me to make use of those economic gains to launch a more aggresive campaign.

I tend to keep one or two Alliances from other factions, but its not really something I look for. Trade is more than enough.

[longbowmen]

most of the guides i've seen focused on camping until mid-late game before expanding...thats the main reason why i posted this guide(every campaign i play i'm at war right from the beginning till all my enemies drop dead). The basic principle in war is to strike fast and strike hard, c'mon guys wats with the camping? hope to see more aggressive players out there =)

ROAR!!!

[Avicenna]

Download EB and try to use that strategy :laugh4:

[Severous]

Hi

Im on my second ever Imperial Campaign. H/H on RTW V1.5 No Mods.

By 260BC I had 22 provinces as Brutii. I am expanding fast but not as fast as possible. Certainly not as fast as the incredible expansion longbowman has achieved. :2thumbsup: I want to go east to meet factions I have never encountered before. (First campaign was as Julii). So im not expanding in all directions on purpose.

Apollonia can be taken on the first turn.

I would not try to attack reinforcing armies as they entered the battlefield..but killing one enemy before they can join up is good tactics...divide and rule. Just love winning those type of battles.

One tactic not mentioned that may speed up conquest...hire mercenaries as a leader gets near the end of his move. Those mercenaries can move forward or be your leaders support. At the very least it allows your leader to move without slower infantry which he picks up at the end of his move rather than lugging it along.

https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5091/brutii259s57ff.th.jpg (https://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brutii259s57ff.jpg)

[limitedwhole]

This is very interesting longbowman although I must doubt the truth of the matter for several reasons.

"Ok i have decided to write this guide to clarify any doubts as to whether i can really capture 39 provinces by 260BC on VH/VH RTW Gold. "

The fastest I managed by 260 B.C. is 35 regions. While that in itself is not a reason for the doubt, the disparity in tactics and straetgy is.

"Faction Used: Roman Brutii

To hit 39 provinces by 260BC on VH/VH RTW Gold, you need to strike extremely fast and furious. The roman army is the strongest at the beginning and towards the end. Hastati rapes any 3rd tier infantry with a little tactics, while princples and triarii dont have the same advantage against same tier units."

I would agree.

"Also, Brutii's opponents are the weakest at the start. Greek units are powerful but very expensive, so they can only field a few units at the start, easily overpowered by a couple of hastati units and equites. The greeks also hold some of the richest cities and best wonders in the world, so taking over this early means you dominate the game right from the start."

This is simply not true. i will elaborate when I comment on your ability to stair down macedonian phalanxes fitted with 6 cav units while losing only 50 casualties.?!?

"IMPT Campaign Tips:
1)Do NOT garrison units in your cities at the start unless they will rebel. You need every single unit, be it peasant, velites, hastati, family member to conduct a blitzkrieg on the Greeks."

This is would be sound advice unless splitting your forces you attack on multiple fronts wasn't faster.

"2)Only garrison conquered cities with peasants, which are equally useless in a battle as town watch but much cheaper and have more people to add to garrison troop size."

PEasnats are a sound garrison given that the territory is in no danger of counterattack. Since you simply cannot leave a newly conquered settlement garrisonless while your armies move on, I take it you bring peasants with you to garrison? Or you save load every turn to make sure you have no revolts?

"3)RUSH AND RUSH AND RUSH. The moment your army can leave the conquered town (quelled some rebellion or peasants are available to garrison), rush the next town immdiately. Build spies, one for each army so that you can conquer the town on the same turn."

I always rush,rush, rush too. However spies only only the gates rarely. That is unles you save/load everytime you assault to make sure they open the gates.

"4)Tax your people as much as you can at the start. The pop growth reduction is negligible at the beginning, but the gold increase is significant."

It isn't when you are "Spamming" Hastati. You sound like you say you fund your spamming with high taxes, but then again this leads to more garrison and still again this decreases your growth which decreases your "tax base" all the while "spamming hastati" which decreses your "tax base". i myself have trouble keeping payment up for my armies and I bet I have a third of the military pressence you have, while having three times the tax base, while building all finace building from teh get go instead of barracks. I simply find it impossible to imagine you paying for such a strategy without building aggressively financially. Moreover, I ship peasnats to small towns to get ports up and running which you never mention, meaning you are lacking severly in finances, furthermore. Meanwhile, you continue to "Spam", decreasing your "Tax base", yet some how pay for all this.

"5)Scrimp and save every bit you can. Do NOT build velites(hastati much more worth it), all hastati and equites. Do NOT build any extra building or unit that is not necessary, you only need one or two hastati barracks at the start, no walls, no ships. Spend all your money FIRST on SPAMMING out hastati and equites (4:1 ratio), 2ND on economy buildings. Spam peasants to garrison, make sure you have absolutely NO hastati and equites used as garrison troops, an utter waste of resources."

:No ships", this is how I know you are lying. Moving armies by ship is fastre than land unless you have every single ancilliary that increases movemnt rate. Furthermore, you might say, I only use a few ships to get that movement rate. Unfortunately rebel fleets exist and will not let you get to wher you are going and will drive you off course. One needs a much larger fleet on VH just to get past the rebels let alone the enemy nations.

"6)Later on, when your empire becomes bigger and your main army moves to the borders, for every 4 towns, garrison the centre/larger/more important town with 3 hastati and 1 equites as a quick response unit and make sure the town can train more in case of an emergency. The rest just put peasants."

Heck I don't even do this. If there is no danger of attack, there is no need for garrison. I wonder wher you get all that money?

"7)Pump out diplomats and get trading rights to increase your gold right from the start."

I pump out diplomats as well. Trading rights are good.

"8)It is crucial to hit fast during the early game, the AI is either still asleep or cannot muster enough resources to defend. "

True with the exception that a MEcedonian phalanx with 6 Cav units will whip your ass unless unless you have allot of cav which you don't.


Campaign Strategy:
"1)Build one hastati barracks in your capital, spam peasants on the first turn. This is a main troop producing town for your early game."

Spend several turns building abuilding to get started building hastati. Not a fast start.

"2)Hit Apollonia on the 2nd turn."

ahem.


"3)Ally with Macedon. Hit Thermon on the 4th/5th turn with ALL your family members except the best management guy who stays in capital (change your heir to the highest rank general to get more bodyguard cavalry), all your hastati and equites. This battle is crucial, your forces will be evenly matched or even outnumbered, you will need to crush the enemy while losing minimal troops. Build a hastati barracks immediately, this will be your main troops producing town on the greek continent before you capture sparta or Thessalonica (according to my experience)."

Throw everything at thermon on turn4-5? You can take it with light forces on turn3. Cough. Once again, spend several tu8rns building abuilding in order to build units.

"4)Hit Athens immediately after you hit Thermon, it should be a rebel town so you shouldnt have any problems. Its a rich city, which means more money for more hastati. Use your velites and peasants to garrison Thermon."

Athens can be taken on turn5. I am guessing you took in on turn 6 after save/loading your spy?

"5)Make peace with greeks, by now the greeks and macedons should have some in-fighting. Use this 3-4 turns of peace to SPAM out hastati and equites, developing 2 10-unit armies one in Thermon, one in Athens. "

The Greeks and Macedons do not just infight his early. Actually it is pretty much unheard of for them to go to war this early. I had to bribe a Maceonian army in order to give Greece the upper hand when I created a war between them. Yes! Sit around for 3-4 turns! It is now turn ten and you have 4 regions! Only 12 more turns to get to 39 and you have no ships! Need I say more.

"6)Macedon is weakened, hit Corinth and Larissa IMMEDIATELY on the same turn. "

Actually, even if the Greeks and MAcedonians went to war which is highly doubtful, it is also doubtful that either are wekaened. Most likely they just set a siege and tried to starve each other out, that is no losses.

"7)By now you should have some spare cash from pillaging towns, income etc. What i did was to bribe the main greek army for about 10k gold, and hit the town of Sparta 2 turns after I hit Corinth."

The main Greek army this late in the game would cost about 20k. You waited two turns to hit sparta after corinth? You now have 7 regions and only 8 more turns to get to 39.

"8)From here you should have conquered the main greek cities, just move on and kill off macedon to secure your lands. You can now develop some of your towns, Sparta had a greek temple +2 to unit experience so it became my main troop producing town. Build 1-2 fleets (4 triemes) to defend your coasts. "

Great ships! You should now have atiny fleet by turn 18.

"9)Try to hit town on crete(put a family member there to buy cretan archers whenever you can, they crucial). Hit the colossus town ASAP, it gives your economy such a great boost that i instantly switched all my tax rates to low."

I took this town 11 turns ago. Did I mention I am also fighting on two extra fronts you don't even mention?

10)From now on, fight on multiple fronts. Hit, pontus followed by selucids, egyptians and armenians in the that order. Hit thrace, followed by Dacia in the north (try not to hit scythians coz their lands are too large, hard to traverse). Hit greeks on syracuse and carthage on libya(i didnt get libya, Scpii got it first). Try to hit carthage as well.

Goo dluck doing this with your 8 ships. I'm guesing Sicily is already Scipii. Thrace, DAcia? That's allot of walking. Wouldn't hitting cities by hte sea be faster? Armenia? Are you serious?

"Battle Strategy:
1)Manually resolve every battle, arrange your troops and engage in the MOST orderly fashion to minimise casualties and maximise your kills(i take around 30 mins to 1 hour to fight a battle). A typical 1000 vs 1000 strong army in city siege, my casualties are around 50-100 after healing. For a field engagement casualties may be much higher due to the presence of chariots (pontus, selucids, and egypt), 200 after healing half hastati half equites. You can mow through enemy towns turn after turn without the need to replace your troops."

Yep 50-100 casualties versus archers and archer towers!

"Try to force a city siege if possible, it takes longer(at least 1 hour) but can reduce your casualties to as low as 50 in a 1000 vs 1000 batte. "

Ahem.

"2A)WOODEN WALLS - build 4 rams, spread your forces over all 4 gates with a little bit more emphasize on one particular entrance (more infantry, general, cavalry). THIS ENTRANCE SHOULD NOT BE THE ONE YOUR ARMY IS FACING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE. This is because the com tends to concentrate its forces at the gate your army is facing at the start. It is impt not to over-emphasize troop placement on one gate or else the com will shift most of its troops there in VH/VH mode. The basic strat is to pepper troops standing at the entrace with archers, they will move away for a short while. Use this opportunity to rush your general(or a cavalry unit) in quickly, to a point away from the gate to one side. The defending troops now march to your general, pass the gate. Rush one hastati unit thru the gate now, pincer the defending troops. (note that the one bearing the brunt of the defending troops should be infantry, or you will lose preciouse cavalry in a frontal assault) In the event one gate is heavily guarded, you will do this strat on other adjacent gates. After that, march one unit of cavalry thru these gates to the heavily guarded gate, defending troops now move to this unit to counter the new threat. Again, rush your infantry in, pincer the enemy."

Desecent strategy here. 4 Rams is allot of man power though. Don't you think you would be better off, splitting tha rmy in two and taking two towns in the same time you took one? Or are you just waiting multiple turns to build four rams. I assault 2nd turn every time and can't even match your speed. I've gone as far as using Rams twice in the same conflict.

"2B)STONE WALLS - if gates are open and enemy troops are minimal(meaning they will not be guarding all the walls), rush one infantry unit in thru an unguarded gate, take the gateway, march around the whole wall around the town to remove hostile towers. Even if you meet any infantry guarding along the way, your hastati and principle can handle them with ease."

Marching around the entire perimeter of stone walls, while getting shot by the towers, while getting shot by enemy archers, while meeting infantry on the walls. 50 casualties huh?

"2C)STONE WALLS - if gates are locked, huge enemy army defending. use siege towers (game too early to build onagers, siege ladders are useless, saps makes some hostile towers unreachable, sustain lots of casaulties) at least 2 for each gate. time your siege towers, make sure your 1st tower reaches about 20 secs before your 2nd one. Your first unit of hastati should ideally not be flanked on both sides, it will draw all enemy units on the wall towards it. Now, the 2nd unit drops behind the enemy line 20 secs later, pincer the enemy."

It will not draw all enemy units towards it. Period. If they are hardened in, you have to land some siege towers on the "face". Period.

"2D)For some reason after you break thru the stone/wooden walls and defeat the immediate defenders, the AI stupidly sends individual or poorly protected units at the breach(if they have enough to spare, if they dont they just camp at the city square). Just use the city layout to flank these troops with cavalry and you should kill most of the defenders."

Yes sending a hoplites marching down the main street to kepe you cav from pooring into the town square to kill their achers which somehow never kill your troops is foolish.

"2E)This one is the best trick of all. If the AI finds that it has insufficient troops to put up a fight, it sends all its units to camp at the city square. Your job will be to lure these troops out of the square, into a trap, and then annihilate them. Cavalry will be your first targets, since they will chase you all the way(being fast units) if you reach within their zone. Choose a long straight street from the square to the walls, preferably with side tracks as well. At the wall end of the street, position your infantry on the 2 flanks, your cavalry at the centre back, directly infront of the wall. "

So what happens when thye move that hoplite up to guard the entrance? Your fighting the GReeks, MAcedonians, Pontus, Egypt, and whoelse?


" CITY SQUARE
(enemy cavalry)


I I
I I
I I
I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
I (equites)
I
I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
(hastati) (hastati)
(general)
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
WALLS


Now, send your general to lure the enemy cavalry, Take note NOT to get them engaged. Just walk near them, the moment they move, double-click your general to return the the position above. If they engage just keep double-clicking to run back. The enemy cavalry, often the enemy general will chase your general all the way until the end of the street. When they reach the end, let them charge into your general (or if your timing is gd, charge your general such that they engage right at the end of the street). Then spring the trap, flank the enemy cavalry on the sides with hastati, move your equites from the sidetrack and charge them from the back. If the remaining troops are infantry, line up your hastati near them, in range to throw their pilum, then charge them and flank them from the back with cavalry. Infantry cannot be lured using this strategy unless they are missile troops. This strategy will ensure the total annihilation of enemy generals, faction leaders/heirs, enemy cavalry with almost no loss on your side."

Oh yeah I just realised something. Enemies don't rout in the town square they fight to the death. Pretty smart tfor the AI to put his insufficient forces which would just rout in a place they won't rout huh? 50 casualties huh. Let's see usually the town square has building so that you can only approach it form two sides, furthermore your units always take a strange pattren when attacking not allowing them to immediately envelope the enemy, leading to a prolonged period of ven pitched battle until the press occurs. 50 casualties huh?

"2F)For city sieges, try to use up all your ammo, archers stand outside wall shoot until no ammo, hastati stand directly outside gate and throw pilum in thru the gate, or right before engaging. This will be your only chance to do so as during field engagements, the enemy will close in on your troops before a few volleys are fired."

i always use up most of my ammo in field engagements and take more than 50 casualties. I wonder why that is? I also like to save some pilum volleys for the hoplits in the square as when they fight to the death even when surrounded they pump out mass casualties. Let's see...you just charge your cal right in there huh? 50? I'm assuming the Greeks, MAcedonians, Pontus, and Egyptians do build spearman when you play?

"3)For field engagements, its much simpler. Just line up your troops, 4 ranks deep (5-6 ranks for engaging enemy chariots or elephants, this will ensure they do not break thru your lines, turn around and charge your troops from the back, because they get bogged down during the first charge). Heavy infantry in front, archers behind them, cavalry behind them at the sides. Flank with cavalry. Try to stretch your lines so that your line is longer, use any extra infantry to flank the enemy sides, while your cavalry flank from directly behind. Try to engage flanking enemy cavalry with your infantry instead of your horses."

A suicide AI general dishes out more than 50 casualties.

"3A)If you meet any elephants, chariots, target your archers to shoot them with fire on sight. Keep firing and firing until they run amok. If they do come, use 5-6 rank deep infantry and just tank. Or if you have mercenary hoplites, they are the ideal for dealing with such threats."

The early game archers don't do squat against elephants.

"3B)If you are fighting multiple armies (AI reinforcements), look at the campaign map before hand, find out where they will appear on the battle map, move your troops closest to where a reinforcing army appear. Rush them to that spot and engage before the enemy armies can unite. I normally do not have my own reinforcing armies( i dont trust the AI to control my armies at all)."

I usually choose the high ground regardless of where the enemy reinforcements arrive.

"Yup thats all. Those who like it just say something to encourage me. Spent 2 hours doing this."

While I like the idea of moving fast, I fail to see how your spies work every time and how you picked up 32 regions in 8 turns with only 8 ships. Also there is the economic reality of this not working.

I attack on three different fronts at the outset. you only attack on one. You spent 4 turns doing nothing. I don't. You have no navy. You march rather than move by the more speadily fleets. You wander into the gaping maw that is barbarian territory. I took Kyodonia 11 turns before you did, I took the collosus on turn 8, not to mention in the meantime I was conquering on other fronts, and I am still slower than you. Doesn't make much sense?

[Severous]

Interesting analysis. Theres a lot of good tips for campaign and battlefield in the above posts.

My own Brutii Imperial campaign was H/H and completed in 249BC. It was my second ever campaign and was the first time over the eastern end of the map against the eastern factions. Members on another forum didnt believe me. Saying I must have been on easy. I believe faster is possible, and on vh/vh, as stated in the messages above.

Here was my progression up to 260BC:

1 : 270S Apollonia
2 : 269W Thermon
3 : 268W Athens
4 : 267W Corinth (Diplomacy)
5 : 267W Salona
6 : 266S Sparta (Famous Battle marker)
7 : 265W Larissa
8 : 265W Thessolonica
9 : 264S Bylazora
10 :263W Pergamum
11 :262W Porrolissum
12 :261S Byzantium
13 :261S Campus Lazyges
14: 260S Rhodes
15: 260S Tylis
16: 260S Segestica
17: 260S Aquincum (Diplomacy)
18: 260S Kydonia
19: 260W Halicarnassus
20: 260W Lovosice

This was the capture of Thermon
https://img125.imageshack.us/img125/3290/brutii269w24na.th.jpg (https://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brutii269w24na.jpg)

[AwesomeArcher]

wow, that is pretty good, 39 provinces in 260 BC on very hard/ very hard. I play on hard/hard and am in 220 and only have 27 provinces. Although i never focus on one campaign at a time, i skip around with different campaigns.

[Dutch_guy]

longbowmen, if you did manage to do this, then it is quite an achievement.

It may be wise to post a screenie of the map, plus the amount of provinces, plus the date, just to take away all the doubt ~:). Which has probably only grown since limitedwhole posted his view on the matter.

:balloon2:

[Garvanko]

I agree. limitedwhole has provided a fairly solid counter-arguement.

[limitedwhole]

Interesting analysis. Theres a lot of good tips for campaign and battlefield in the above posts.

My own Brutii Imperial campaign was H/H and completed in 249BC. It was my second ever campaign and was the first time over the eastern end of the map against the eastern factions. Members on another forum didnt believe me. Saying I must have been on easy. I believe faster is possible, and on vh/vh, as stated in the messages above.

Here was my progression up to 260BC:

1 : 270S Apollonia
2 : 269W Thermon
3 : 268W Athens
4 : 267W Corinth (Diplomacy)
5 : 267W Salona
6 : 266S Sparta (Famous Battle marker)
7 : 265W Larissa
8 : 265W Thessolonica
9 : 264S Bylazora
10 :263W Pergamum
11 :262W Porrolissum
12 :261S Byzantium
13 :261S Campus Lazyges
14: 260S Rhodes
15: 260S Tylis
16: 260S Segestica
17: 260S Aquincum (Diplomacy)
18: 260S Kydonia
19: 260W Halicarnassus
20: 260W Lovosice

This was the capture of Thermon
https://img125.imageshack.us/img125/3290/brutii269w24na.th.jpg (https://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brutii269w24na.jpg)

Hey Severous, your doing real well there. My compliments. I do doubt this guys post about 39 although I do think 39 is possible. I got 35 and I am sure I didn't go as fast as possible. The key though is in the setup of the first 5 turns though, which this guy didn't do at all. Check out my posts in the Brutii guide section if you want to know more, but my breakthrough really came when I took the time to focus really hard on what was possible in the first five turns. Nice pick up of Corinth via diplomacy. Lucky guy:wall: My experience with this city was much more messy.

If anything the best advice I would give you to go faster is to attack on all three roman fronts. You simply must take Syracuse on turn 3. It is easy and possible and has way to many benefits to be ignored. Lilybauem, Carthage, Thapsis, adn Lepcis Magni all follow as natural stepping stones. Carthage and Thapsis themselves rpovide production to extend that front with the Numidians.

This post was actually old but I found it when brousing about the MArius reforms and just had to reply. I don't think the strategy is soudn to get to 39 by 260 B.C. I do think having a spy when possible would have giving me a couple territory boost up to 37-38 and using a new trick I figured out about CAV range and forts would have picked upa few more quicker. I am guessing 40 by 260 B.C. would be close to the limit.

The main reason I posted on this topic was because the author seemingly wasted 10 turns yet was somehow faster than I was which didin't seem feasible at all. Notice that you, Severous, are moving faster than he was and ended up way slower than him. That should tell you something.

The spy idea is nice though, although I would lack any amalgimum of patience to save/load a spy, but over the course of a game it would probably pick up 3-4 territories faster on par.

Also, my main battle armies, have both physicians and Priestesses of Juno to lower casualties, there is no way you march a Hastati around stone walls and only take 50 casualties. His propensity to claim exteremly low casualty ratings made me further doubt his claims.

Finally, he had no fleet. You cannot move this fast without working hard to create a fleet at the outset. I thought this post was a bit deceptive at best. The brutii more than any other roman faction have to have a fleet build up at the outset to be fast. This of course would entail not building HAstati.

For spies, I would guess that buildinga market first thing in thermon, might work although having a port their is really critical. This would allow 3 DIP, @ SPY, Bireme... for building here. That would give you three spies on the GReek mainland by turn 8 although by turn 8 AMulius should be at Rhodes after taking Kydonia on turn 7. You might be able to add a spy to Tiberious army at Carthage although in practice you need to build a HAstati there to buff up his line for the impending massive battles versus Carthage. There is no time to add a spy to Cassius army, as you need you capital to pump out three equites for his army and Biremes the rest of the time. This is one reason I am a bit spectical of the spy stragey is that it doesn't always work and doing so means you cant cue the units you really need. EVery turn of building is critical and it is hard to find anyplace you could afford to cue spies this early with the exception of Thermon. I suppose you could use the spy you have at the outset with Amulius but then again, this is only one army and you really need a fort at each pass and a spy can occupy one of those forts without loss of troops. Perhaps this was one of my mistakes. The ability to "Crank out" 10 unit armies though is not possible in a speed game. Doing so means you are waiting around doing nothing. You have to do five thing sto move fast in this game none of which the author mentions and many of which he blatantly contradicts.

1) Have a navy to move rapidly. This navy cannot be small either as it will just be toosed about the sea randomly as it gets attacked and loses every turn on autoresolve.
2) Split your forces and fight with weaker armies on multiple fronts.
3) Not lose romans in battle, lose mercs instead.
4) Make extensive use of mercenary forces. Hire everyone you find.
5) Focus on economy rather than troop production. Spamming hastati does not lead to a quick game, it leads to financial ruin.

[edyzmedieval]

I miss the Senate. Going back to normal RTW.

Or maybe SPQR TW, which is basically the same thing. ~D

[Severous]

I wasnt going for any record. My objective was the eastern end of the map. I had never played at that end of the map before. I ignored western targets and allowed cities captured from Gaul (senate missions) to rebel.

One way to display progress is the graph of territories owned. Here was mine at Brutii campaign end.
https://img299.imageshack.us/img299/8793/brutii249wend3gv.th.jpg (https://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brutii249wend3gv.jpg)

[limitedwhole]

Hey severous, how do you take screen shots? I post one of my campaign when I get a chance. I've always liked the screen shots I see here. Do you need a seperate program or something? Anyways, My game is a bit bogged down nowm but I am currently moving towards the civil war. Armies are moving from the Greek mainland towards Capua and Rome. Forces in Gaulish territories are receeding back hoping they can hold the lines with fewer forces to attack the Julii. Having a bit o trouble with those Gauls though, and I had to bribe a Numidian army for major cash which I hated doing. They just love marching armies 10 turns acrost the desert to my undefended territories. Then again a diplomat bribe would be cheaper than keeping an army there for ten turns, no? Anyways It's turn 22 and I need to take Alexandria and Memphis. I had an army in place but he had to double bakc to Jerusaleum via ship costing me time. I have to said that northern Pontus territory that starts with an S. Army is curretnly moving in place, shouldn't be a problem by the time I get everything else done. I need to betray the Selucids and take the four territories of theres close to the coast. Two armies cuurently on the way. Good timimg too. The PArthian have a stack of 20 Seleucids holed up a Hatra under siege. I love the Parthians now! Makes my job allot easier. I don't know why the Seleucids sent so many troops out in the middle of the desert. Evidently they didn't think I would break my word.:laugh4: Need to grab the Gibraltar territiries, armies on the way. Have the civil war, that should take more than 5 turns once it starts.

If I hold the line with the Gauls I might be able to make it in close to 30 turns. Not sure if getting 40 by 260 would matter though as you will bogged down in Egypt anyways and waste time their. I have killed over 10000 Egyptians at Jeruslaeum over three turns. WOW! they got allot of people.

[Dutch_guy]

I'll help you with this problem


Hey severous, how do you take screen shots? I post one of my campaign when I get a chance. I've always liked the screen shots I see here. Do you need a seperate program or something?

You can do it with a programm called fraps :

http://www.fraps.com/

Or you can do it a little different, a slightly more tedious way:


During a battle press printscrn
alt-tab out of the game.
open paint
press paste ( ctrl V )
save as a .jpg file.


Then you can host your image at :

http://www.imageshack.us/

:balloon2:

[AwesomeArcher]

Hey severous, how do you take screen shots? I post one of my campaign when I get a chance. I've always liked the screen shots I see here. Do you need a seperate program or something? Anyways, My game is a bit bogged down nowm but I am currently moving towards the civil war. Armies are moving from the Greek mainland towards Capua and Rome. Forces in Gaulish territories are receeding back hoping they can hold the lines with fewer forces to attack the Julii. Having a bit o trouble with those Gauls though, and I had to bribe a Numidian army for major cash which I hated doing. They just love marching armies 10 turns acrost the desert to my undefended territories. Then again a diplomat bribe would be cheaper than keeping an army there for ten turns, no? Anyways It's turn 22 and I need to take Alexandria and Memphis. I had an army in place but he had to double bakc to Jerusaleum via ship costing me time. I have to said that northern Pontus territory that starts with an S. Army is curretnly moving in place, shouldn't be a problem by the time I get everything else done. I need to betray the Selucids and take the four territories of theres close to the coast. Two armies cuurently on the way. Good timimg too. The PArthian have a stack of 20 Seleucids holed up a Hatra under siege. I love the Parthians now! Makes my job allot easier. I don't know why the Seleucids sent so many troops out in the middle of the desert. Evidently they didn't think I would break my word.:laugh4: Need to grab the Gibraltar territiries, armies on the way. Have the civil war, that should take more than 5 turns once it starts.

If I hold the line with the Gauls I might be able to make it in close to 30 turns. Not sure if getting 40 by 260 would matter though as you will bogged down in Egypt anyways and waste time their. I have killed over 10000 Egyptians at Jeruslaeum over three turns. WOW! they got allot of people.

all you have to do to post shots in get the image you want to save on the screen and hit the PRINT SCREEN button which should be on the top right of the keyboard. Then minimize the game and go to paint or so photoshop and paste the image. Then save the image as a JPEG file. Go to photobucket.com and open an account for free. Browse your images and select the one you want and hit submit. It will take a few moments and then you should have a thumbnail image on the screen. Under that, copy the Image URL and then post the url on this site. And you should have a screen shot for all to see.

[Garvanko]

Alternatively, hit print screen.

When you've finished playing, go to the Activision/RTW/tga's folder. Open it, the pics are there.. you can then save them in JPEG.

[Avicenna]

You know, playing the campaign exactly by someone else's way without thinking just seems a bit.. tedious and pointless.

Has anyone tried this yet? Apart from longbowman.

[AwesomeArcher]

Alternatively, hit print screen.

When you've finished playing, go to the Activision/RTW/tga's folder. Open it, the pics are there.. you can then save them in JPEG.

O, that does save alot of time. Thanks.

[Severous]

How to screenshot.

Been well answered above. I play my games vanilla and keep my computer vanilla. So MSPaint is what I use and host via Imageshack. Got hundreds of pictures.

TGA'S files dont do anything for me. Cant open them in any application. I regulary delete the lot as they are 2.5meg each and take up a lot of space...especially when I take a dozen or so pictures of every battle. :inquisitive:

A bit back on topic. The graphs of territory should put beyond doubt the expansion progress of any claimant.

Heres my current Egypt campaign....not yet played winter 260...so should claim another region before 260 is up. No where near 39 but I am pleased with it. Each to their own.
https://img467.imageshack.us/img467/2165/egypt260w1regions7ou.th.jpg (https://img467.imageshack.us/my.php?image=egypt260w1regions7ou.jpg)

[Avicenna]

This strategy would work best with Carthage, with their elephants reducing siege time to nought. This would be easy conquest of Europe if you just abandon Sicily.

[limitedwhole]

Hey Tiberious. Nevr played with Carthage. I know they start with sizable navy. Can they make elephants right at the start? How many units of elephants do they start with? While they might able to conquer europe fast, it seems they would have to take on the romans sooner than later to get to 40 fast. Would your strategy be to blitz europe, then have your rear armies take on the romans?