Campaign report

[Sygrod]

My Qart Hadastim campaign has now arrived at 246BC. A few observations:
Casse have conquered half of Britain
Sweboz are supreme in Northern Europe
Aedui are in full control of Gaul and have stopped Rome dead in that direction. They are trying to expand into Iberia, but got a nasty surprise when I whipped their naked butts (Gesatae don't like slingers)
Arvernii have one region: Galatia with Ankyra. How they managed to get posession of that far flung area is a mystery to me.
Lusotann have not moved at all, but still managed to pick up northern Iberia when the two towns there rebelled against ME!
Rome is expanding into central Europe.
Epiros have control over southern Italy and a large part of the Balkans
Makedonia is all but wiped by Koinon Hellenon
Koinon Hellenon have control over all of Greece, except Makedonia plus a couple of regions in southwestern Anatolia
Pontos has expanded into Byzantium
Ptolemaioi and Seleukeia are trading regions like hockey cards.
What is happening out East is not known at this point, since I have not bothered with them since got the trade agreements.

So as can be seen in the list above, most factions are expanding alarmingly fast. In less than 30 years, each faction is in control of quite a bit of territory. Perhaps Eleutheroi need a boost in units to make expansion more costly and slow it down a bit?

As for the Aedui, as Qart Hadastim, my units have more or less swept the floor with them. A weak detachment of less than 205 Iberian skirmishers were attacked by a force of three full complement Celtic spear levies, 367 men.
After some running around, my units managed to rout the enemy units one by one. My losses were 10 against their 367. Every battle after that against the Aedui have had the same result. I love these cheap Iberian skirmishers. The Aedui can't touch them. Add some slingers and some heavy infantry to protect the missile units and Aedui don't stand a chance against Qart Hadastim.

I still think EB is the best I have EVER played.

/Sygrod

[Dooz]

You should post this in the Guides forum, and if you could please provide a screenshot. I'd love to see Sweboz doing anything besides nothing.

[Gazius]

You should post this in the Guides forum, and if you could please provide a screenshot. I'd love to see Sweboz doing anything besides nothing.

Eh? Every game I've played while testing and in .81, the Sweboz pwn northern europe every time. I just wish they would expand east more.

Also, patavium should be given to one of the gaul factions to halt expansion into central europe, I gave it to the arvernii in one game and they went back, finished off the peninsula and then expanded along the coast and into Iberia.

[Dooz]

Oh wow, I've never seen them do anything. Current 0.81 campain they just have their traditional stack by their traditional starting town. I play on M campaign, maybe that has something to do with it... although other factions aren't really like that. What difficulty were you playing on that they go wild?

[Tellos Athenaios]

Playing VH campaign & M battle difficulty - I don't see the Sweboz move very much either. Though in my playtesting campaigns they went a lot faster. I think this is due to the fact that the Sweboz lost their most promising (young & rising) general at attempt 1 to take a settlement from the Eleutheroi. Since then they're only capable of sending 4 units a time stacks - which get slaughtered each turn by the sallying forces of the Eleutheroi.

So, it probably really depends on the first few battles with an FM in it when it comes to such small factions...

[Boyar Son]

Hellenon are supreme?

What about the odds against them? howd they do it?

And people say the AI iz (is) bad...it's a miracle!

[Teleklos Archelaou]

It's clear from reading the public forum that a lot of people feel differently about the eleutheroi provinces. Some want them to be aggressive and strong, others want them to pose a challenge but not a serious one, some want them to be total pushovers and the areas they start with taken by factions quickly. We do want to balance things generally I think in regards to them. It's hard to do it though considering we have many more units that are not in the game and lots of things that still are in the works. It's good to hear that there are lots of different experiences with them at the very least.

[Boyar Son]

Independent kingdoms should pose a challange; to make a good defensive fight

[Sygrod]

Update:

Playing on M/M (I'm too inexperienced yet to try a harder setting...)

Aedui keep sending the flower of their civilization into northern Iberia and I am just as happily wiping them off the map. It is an easy way to build veteran units. Slingers and skirmishers are the way to go. Elite African Swordsmen and Libyan Heavy Spearmen do wonders on Gesatae, btw. Hold them and shower them with missiles. They break every time. Got my first Heavy Iberian Cavalry unit. Very nice.

I sent a couple of spies up into Europe and it is pretty much split between Aedui,Sweboz, Rome and Epiros. They are currently expanding into what is now Poland and Romania. Epiros became protectorate of Rome. Arvernii are hanging on by a thread. Sauromatae are not doing too badly. They have expanded somewhat.

Teleklos: You guys have done a [insert appropriate superlative here] job. EB is absolutely breathtaking. As I mentioned regarding Eleutheroi and faction expansion, it is now game year 240BC and Eleutheroi are all but wiped out. Well, not quite, but in Europe they have ceased to exist. The romans are expanding rapidly eastward. In my humble opinion, I would like to see Eleutheroi garrisons beefed up a bit and perhaps a few stronger field armies as well. I recall from my recent reading that the Helvetii came into Gaul with quite a number of people, which prompted Caesar to intervene.

/Sygrod (hoping not to get the same shock tonight as I did last night: I had no idea it was 3:30AM. Only 4 hours past my bedtime... blasted EB)

[Thaatu]

Eleutheroi are weak with medium campaign difficulty. I tried a Seleukid campaign with VH and in two years the Eleutheroi conquered Seleukeia... Needless to say I was truly, truly F****D.

[Dooz]

Man, I've never even played an EB campaign above M. I'm scared! I've been planning on one forever, I think I'll make my next one H/M. Actually the main reason is diplomacy. I don't like the idea of automatic war with neighbors and no peace treaties... however in my current M Romani campaign, Carthage hasn't accepted peace for years, even though we no longer share borders. What does it mean when they say "We can't meet the offer and must refuse". Sounds like they want to make peace, but feel inadequate? I offered for them to give me some money or something, even offered some to them but no cigar. Maybe there have been some diplomacy changes in the mod. I wish there was the M2TW system where you could see what they're thinking, would make things a bit easier. Eh, maybe H won't make that big a difference then, if peace isn't happening now anyways...... Next campaign!


-edit-
Hey, what'dya know, I changed the campaign difficulty mid-game right now with Romesage... I hope the effect isn't too dramatic, 4 legions just invaded Gaul....

[Sygrod]

Update:

I poked around in South East Europe. Makedonians have been kicked out of Pella and are currently campaigning in Thracia. Koinon Hellenon has expanded north and did the kicking.

Baktria is giving the Seleuicids a run for their money.

Romans are expanding int Sweboz territory. At this rate, the Roman Empire will be a reality before 200BC

/Sygrod