Is anyone tired of constant war?

[fatsweets]

Has anyone heard of battle fatigue? I have currently been at war with the seleucids in my Ptolemai campaign for 46 years. I am f****** tired of constant war! Is there anything we can do with diplomacy? I'm pretty sure there is nothing we can do, but I am so f****** frustrated! I now have the carthaginians coming from the west and the green f****** west of the Macedonians, that means 3 ememies who are attacking me constantly. I am so tired of constant war! I am sure there is others who feel the same way. Please respond with your personal viewpoints, and I'm sure there will be many.

[bovi]

There are unofficial mods that try to balance this, check the various money scripts. Also, you can use the force diplomacy mod to make peace (although I can't see why they would really let up now that they're three to one).

[PenguinLobster]

Its annoying being constantly attacked by anyone you share a border with. Seems they called the series Total War for a reason.

[stupac]

Sometimes I feel the same way, I'm so tired of fighting seleukid stacks myself in my Baktria campaign. It wouldn't be so bad if they would stop spamming weak cannon fodder units.

[kalkwerk]

auto_win

[fatsweets]

Explain auto_win, I know it is a cheat but explain your reasoning? I don't like to cheat to win.

[bovi]

"auto_win attacker" if you are attacking, "auto_win defender" if you are defending. It's not cheating if you know you're going to clearly win on the battle map, in fact you'll likely lose more men using auto_win.

[fatsweets]

I'm am already weak against the f****** seleucids why would I auto win and make myself weaker when the f****** Seleucids have 5 stacks coming at me at almost every turn? I have to fight every battle to win or else I will be decimated with heavy casualties! That is why I am in Battle Fatigue! I don't mean to be crazy pissed off dude but it just seems there is no way out and I'm tired of quiting after 60 turns, I would like to actually get to 50 BCE before I quit and it seemed I might do it with the Ptolemai's but the F****** Seleucids just won't let me. Sorry, don't mean to sound like a crazy idiot, just tired of fighting 2 to 5 battles every turn.

I love this game, just a little frustrated.

I'm sorry I meant 60 years, not turns, I have only reached 150 BCE maybe 3 times. Then quit soon afterwards either because it was to easy or just was bored.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The game has actually been designed so that you are always at war. (IIRC, in M2TW, if you are at peace long enough the game will automatically script a war against you.)

If you get to a situation that you would amagine, in reality, the other side would accept peace or even being your protectorate, you can try the forced diplomacy minimod. I have it, but don't use it often.

If you are tired of too many stacks, try one of the new money script minimods and the new merc file minimod.

If you are tired of constant battles, but don't want to add a minimod, do as said and use auto_win. You could also 'raid' your enemy and destroy their infrastructure. Or try to hold onto as much as you can after your raid, in an effort to build an economy big enough to finish them off or at least force them into a place where you can defend easier.

[Juvenal]

From what you have said, it sounds like you play cautiously the same way I do.

The answer is to make an expeditionary force, stoke up that berserker rage, and go slash-and-burn.

Bypass the Selucid stacks and go for their cities. Storm, exterminate, sell all of the buildings, then move on and repeat. After a decade or two the Grey Hordes will be cut down to size and you will be able to start a general advance.

If you are having trouble holding off the queue of stacks, then find a bridge to defend, or failing that prepare a city for Selucid-slaughtering. Or if you can't be bothered,just use auto-win on the main front while you fight your expedition battles.

[LorDBulA]

From what I understand You are in tough spot.
All things mentioned above are very useful. I use auto_win very often.
It really helps out to fight battle fatigue.
But if every battle is decisive You shouldnt use it. I use it only when result is certain. And actually casualties produced by auto_win are pretty realistic.

In one of mine campaignes I was fighting 2 front war.
It was extremely fierce and was basically one step forward one step back.
But hit on my economy was enormous. After many Years It was obvious that although I can drag it for 10 maybe 15 Years more, I already lost.
This was war of attrition and I was loosing it badly.
So basically I had only 2 choices. Acept defeat and End campaign or do something crazy.
I went for crazy and since I played "barbarian" faction I migrated ( pretty historical actualy, many tribes was forced to choose between stay and die or go and find better home ).

So my advise to You is try to change You strategic situation.
Devise some cunning plan and try to execute it.
Something that You wouldnt normally do, something crazy, very risky ...etc.
You can have a blast this way.

And If enemy really is killing You just accept defeat.
There is no reason to drag it for Years if You know You will lose at the end.

[NeoSpartan]

hum... I though the title Rome TOTAL WAR would give u a hint.

I don't care what campain u play u will ALWAYS be in war with somebody unless u use the force diplomacy mod.

What should you do?
well... before doing anything else in ur current campain, you should play a few turns with a DIFFERENT faction. That way u do something different, see different units, fight different people, etc.
THEN...

1-Restart ur campain
2-Unterstand the fact that any faction that is bordering you will attack you. If not early, they will later.
3-Also understand, that this is NOT Sim City Europa Barbarorum. So don't expect to run a campain were u focus of making ur cities bigger, making trade agreements, having ur spies "explore" the map, seeing ships sail from one port to the next one, etc...
4-KILL those factions you are at war with. Don't just sit there waiting for them to send stack after stack to ur lands. GO AFTER THEM!!!

good luck

[Grey_Fox]

Well in this period of time there was almost always constant warfare, from the odd bit of raiding to landgrabs to dynastic struggles.

Why do you keep using "f******" though, either use the full word or don't bother because it's just kinda childish.

I don't mind large battles, in fact I own the TW games purely for the battles and I view the campaign map as the vehicle to get me from one to the next. All that diplomacy stuff and ceasefires are just delaying tactics.

[Michaelis]

Yeah, the game's called Total War for a reason. But the constant fighting can get tiresome.

It's less tiresome if you fight when YOU want to fight, rather than when your opponent wants to fight. So, I think the best thing to do is to go on an all-out offensive right from turn 1. The AI is called artificial intelligence for a reason, too - it cannot counter your moves skillfully. Net result: you won't have to deal with so many stacks per turn, because the AI simply won't be able to keep up with you. Net result: fewer battles.

One stratagem you might also want to consider is capturing a province or two well away from your frontline, and then giving the newly captured territory to another faction that's also fighting whoever you're at war with. Takes the pressure off a little. If it's your enemy's core province, the other faction doesn't even have to be at war with your enemy when they get the province from you. They will be soon enough, after that.

[blank]

You'll be at war with everybody you share a border with.

In my last Epirus campaign i was fighting Rome, KH, Macedon, Pontus and Seleucids at the same time :dizzy2: And by ''fighting'', i mean they actively besieged my cities, not just the port blockading fare.

Odd thing is, most people favor the ''slow'' play style, but you actually have to blitz your enemies if you don't want them sieging your cities every turn with their merc stacks (Rome with their armies of supermen Samnite Milites *shudder* ) :juggle2:

[Zarax]

Hopefully EB2 will deal with diplomacy in such a way that it will fit with slower playing styles...

[Imperator]

In a way, your situation can be viewed as historical. Many ancient nations eventually collapsed from what could be called "War Fatigue". Rome had HUGE problems with it, and one of the reasons the Romans were so great is that they were among the only civilizations who proved able to manage and overcome that. The Seleucids also fought nearly constantly on one front or another, while many smaller nations had to fight daily just to survive. That's why the Pax Romana was such a big deal, because at that time, having stable peace for any prolonged period of time seemed too good to be true.

Try to role-play a bit. You need to end the war, and fast since your people, soldiers, and generals are getting sick of the constant war. So devise a new strategem to cripple those nasty Seleucids. A network of alliances might help- it makes it so the computer is less willing to attack you or declare war lest they lose their allies. Or try attacking their soft underbellies (see above posts).

[Gizmo04]

I have a problem with the provincial campiagn, what is up with that? Its blank!

I have to admit, if your army is constantly being engaged they would be fatigued into the next fight, that is something modders may consider for the next update, I don't know but I hope they do!

[fatsweets]

When I posted this thread last night I had been boozing it up a little, but thanks for the posts I actually have 15 to 20 cities and am not in any way going to lose this war with the Seleucids it is just as posted above I probably like to play a little less aggressive and build cities and fight a battle on my terms once every 2 or 3 turns instead 2 to 5 times every turn. Yes you are all right I need to devise a plan to weaken the enemies but my financial situation is not good. Since the new build finances are much tighter so it is not easy to build a big army let alone a decent navy to be able to send an expeditionary force to attack at another location. I only have two ships in my navy and they lose 90% of all naval battles they face.

A little off topic: Is there any axe weilding units the Ptolemais can recruit? I have been trying to build up my African cities in hopes of finding a cool unit down there, but no luck yet. Can anyone tell me what cities if any and what level I have to build to to get any cool unique units?

Thanks

[Lysander13]

The answer is to make an expeditionary force, stoke up that berserker rage, and go slash-and-burn.

Bypass the Selucid stacks and go for their cities. Storm, exterminate, sell all of the buildings, then move on and repeat. After a decade or two the Grey Hordes will be cut down to size and you will be able to start a general advance.

Ahh a strategy after my own heart. This is exactly what i do when the AI gets on my nerves because of their aggresiveness. I'm a very slow and methodical player. I hate to blitz but it seems the AI pushes most players into using blitz tactics but i refuse to comply. I do exactly as the gentleman i'm qouting does. I'll go straight for a big city or two raze them to the ground and then retreat back to my own borders. It seems to slow the AI down a bit as it now attempts to get back their cities from the rebels that take control after my forces leave. As i said i'm a very slow player and do not want to use blitz tactics and keep all these cities. I enjoy very long campaigns and this is the tactic i use to get the AI off my back for a little while...while i'm concentrating on building economy, infrastructure or perhaps i have a full out war on another border i want to deal with before i turn my attention their way.

[snevets]

Sorry, but auto_win is definately cheating. Unless you can spend the time to trick the ai into doing stupid thinks on the battlemap, even if you know it inevitably will, you have to use auto_resolve (I even think that's cheating). Auto-resolve is what happens when the general decides to abandon his men to their suffering while he has a nap, so mostly you should realistically lose in equal situations. Sea battles are the only possible exception, since the results are usually ridiculous. I just compensate for that with ridiculous navies, and don't bother with the thalossocracy until I can afford upkeeping them.

Auto_win is bad.

[Principe Alessandro]

In my Koinon Hellenon campaign I haven't this situation, yes in one turn I had Macedonia, Seleukia and Ptolemy enemy but with some turns the invasions finished because Macedon face also Epiro and Seleukia declare war to Ptolemy and for this reason ask the peace, and in case of Macedonia after many years of neutrality I declare war against Macedonia and take Pella and from Seleukia I take Sardis before the peace and I was in peace from decades of turns from the ceasefire and also I made an Anti-Ptolemy alliance!!!!!!!!!!!

I have also Reign of Ares and Money fix installed and use BI.exe

[Warmaster Horus]

May I remind people that EB is a mod of RTW. And that AI Diplomacy is hard coded. Meaning the team can't do anything against stupid decisions of the AI, diplomacy wise. I often play with the Romani, and several times have destroyed Epeiros completely at the start - uniting Italy, then conquering Illirya. Those times, I have allied with Makedon. Guess what they do, once Epeiros is destroyed, even though they are at war with the KH, the Getai, Pontus, whoever? They betray ME. The AI is stupid, at least diplomacy wise.

Another time, I was playing more historically with Rome, and the Koinon Hellenon suddenly decided to get Southern Italy from me. Despite the fact that they were still at war with Makedon, and that I hadn't offended them at all.


On the subject of auto-win, I don't always think of it as cheating. When facing endless stacks, I use it, because my computer takes five to ten minutes to load a battle. Hey, my laptop is 3 years old! It's hard work, even on low/medium settings.
auto_win is good, if you pace yourself. And I don't think it's required, if you use one of the various money scripts.

[The Errant]

You seriously need to take a look at the altered money script and merc. file minimods. They AI becomes a lot more tolerable when you don't have to fight 8 stacks a turn. Plus having them send "Stack Parades" against you is not realistic on any level.

Money scripts:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=83349

Altered merc. file:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=85790

[Magister Militum Titus Pullo]

Has anyone heard of battle fatigue? I have currently been at war with the seleucids in my Ptolemai campaign for 46 years. I am f****** tired of constant war! Is there anything we can do with diplomacy? I'm pretty sure there is nothing we can do, but I am so f****** frustrated! I now have the carthaginians coming from the west and the green f****** west of the Macedonians, that means 3 ememies who are attacking me constantly. I am so tired of constant war! I am sure there is others who feel the same way. Please respond with your personal viewpoints, and I'm sure there will be many.


I do sympathize in a way. I have saved games as both the Averni and the Ptolemaoi, and the arch enemy in both are the Seleucid Empire (although I am playing as the Seleucids in a third one). Especially with factions where you're expecting a major military reform years from now, and you don't want to annihilate the competition before you can field the more advanced troops, and yet the opposition is just provoking you to conquer them, its a pain in the arse isn't it?

[NeoSpartan]

When I posted this thread last night I had been boozing it up a little, but thanks for the posts I actually have 15 to 20 cities and am not in any way going to lose this war with the Seleucids it is just as posted above I probably like to play a little less aggressive and build cities and fight a battle on my terms once every 2 or 3 turns instead 2 to 5 times every turn. Yes you are all right I need to devise a plan to weaken the enemies but my financial situation is not good. Since the new build finances are much tighter so it is not easy to build a big army let alone a decent navy to be able to send an expeditionary force to attack at another location. I only have two ships in my navy and they lose 90% of all naval battles they face.

A little off topic: Is there any axe weilding units the Ptolemais can recruit? I have been trying to build up my African cities in hopes of finding a cool unit down there, but no luck yet. Can anyone tell me what cities if any and what level I have to build to to get any cool unique units?

Thanks

Don't worry too much about getting ur econ up. Just field a full stack of soldiers with a second 1/2 stack of reinforcements and go after thier BIG cities. Exterminating the population and razing the buildings is what will give u the $$ to build new markets and stuff back home.

Thats how I am able to finanse most my economic infrastructure in my Aedui campain. Gaul is poor but its neighbors g

[Redmeth]

You should definitely check this, fresh out the oven!
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1589440#post1589440

[fatsweets]

Thanks Redmeth, I just downloaded and will give it a try.

[The Internet]

Tired.... of war? Could you re-phrase that?

[paullus]

I play slowly myself, but move quickly once wars start. In the Second Syrian War, Ptolemy III bought himself more than a good bit of time for consolidation operations in the Aegean and Asia Minor after launching a lightning assault upon Antioch, then moving on to Seleukeia and Babylon. While I can't move that fast myself, I do find that mobilizing an army quickly, seizing the initiative, slamming the enemy, then going back home is a relatively effective tactic, even for a slow player. The force diplomacy cheats help a bit too...

[CrownOfSwords]

ive had that problem in other mods, not this one though. When i start a war with another faction I blitzkrieg the hell out of them ill take cities and exterminate them and allow them to retake the city I dont care I win through slaughter of their populations. Also dont waste your time with little stupid cities go after the big army pumping cities and exterminate them you can also destroy their barracks and any other building possible to just wreak havoc.

[stupac]

Another strategy that has worked well for me in my Baktria campaign is helping uprisings in Seleukid settlements. It's a great way to get them off your back while you build up. Saved my butt too after they took Baktra, I just planted 4 spy's and harrassed them with my forces drawing more of the garrison out of the city till Baktra went back over to me. Worked great on many of their peripheral settlements, such as the ones that bordered me, and with a network of spies I managed to cause revolts in every Seleukid settlement bordering me. Again, good way to keep your larger enemy empires occupied if you need more time to build up economically and militarily.

[NeoSpartan]

Another strategy that has worked well for me in my Baktria campaign is helping uprisings in Seleukid settlements. It's a great way to get them off your back while you build up. Saved my butt too after they took Baktra, I just planted 4 spy's and harrassed them with my forces drawing more of the garrison out of the city till Baktra went back over to me. Worked great on many of their peripheral settlements, such as the ones that bordered me, and with a network of spies I managed to cause revolts in every Seleukid settlement bordering me. Again, good way to keep your larger enemy empires occupied if you need more time to build up economically and militarily.

hum... I should try this strategy...

[LusitanianWolf]

I was suffering the same problem as you os wanted to slow donw an little...
I've just started an campain with Cartage and didnt wanted to start in Total war so early, wanted to grow up an little.... So I payed the Lusotannan small gifts to make them happy and started to work in the romani with spies and assassins, keeping an rebeld province between me and they... Now I'm at their doors with an stack made mostly of medium african spearmens (Libians and Libio-Phoenician) and some Cartaginian medium cavalry but also with one unit of elephants (i just love them, much more than in vannilla :2thumbsup: , and desesperating while waiting for the new skins), other unit of Iberian Lancearii (yay, Iberian catrafacts :beam: ), other unit of Iberian assault infantry... And an 1/4 stack of numidian cavalry coming to annoy, ambush and harrass them as Hannibal did with them.
And they werent expecting this, even if they already were at war with me (due to their war declaration on my Auedi allies and an assassin's failure), and most of their armyes are in gaul so they're toasted (no AI army ever beated me in an field battle in EB when there's elephants in play, no mater the side, I always makes them to favor me and to give me victoy) :2thumbsup:

[pockettank]

im kinda havin this problem right now to.. i mean im doing fine but im as KH and have selucid, ptolmaio, and Romani on me ive taken all of Selucids major cities but they keep sending stack after stack and ive takin the key settelments for ptolmaio and rome but the stacks are non-ending and soon ill end up fighting Carthage also =/ im playing defensive with Arche and offensive on Rome/ptolmaio so i can grab the required settelments from them, but grrr it gets kinda frustrating.. :furious3:

(P.S. i havent used any cheats yet or money scripts)

(P.P.S. it sucks having the Saka as only ally cuz i had rome and hai but when rome attacked me hai supported them not me =/ (the'll regret that :laugh4:) and saka are gettin woped by Backtria and Saurmatae)

[Ezephkiel]

Im playing as the KH and early on had the massive war with the selucides. The money script help cripple them, but early on I launched as massive offensive, and gifted many of their cities to pontus, who were my protectorate. The problem was when pontus betrayed me for the romans, and now had a substantial empire of their own. But its better then fighting the selucides, as their stacks are mainly full of crap.

It works quite well, but make sure you keep the nation your using as a shield weak otherwise they'll turn on you eventually.

[gran_guitarra]

I think the best you can do is like those guys said, deep raids sustained by Mercs to maintain your numbers, and remember to use the Mercs as fodder, your own units (even midling ones) are far more important.

btw, Its generally better if you blitz say, ten provinces at once, and then leave a few big armies to safeguard your conquests while you consolidate. Worked wonders in my Romanii campaign after some Mak dweebnicks attacked my without provocation. Managed to take Demetrias, Pellas, Athens, and Chalkis (The Peloponese was in possesion of the KH), and left them impotent.

The real trick is to take as much as you can, then sacrifice whatever you cannot comfortably hold. Say you take two lines of cities that you would be very hard pressed to defend with your few stacks? The solution is to burn down everything there and leave it to rebel. When it rebels there will be several nasty mercs for the enemy to deal with, and you'll have breathing room to bring in your Reinforcements and consolidate your holdings.

The key to winning a war is to seem weak where you are strong, strong where you are weak, choose battle only when you know you have already won, and always make sure that you are in a comfortable position while your oponent is tired/overextended. All from Sun Tzu's Art of War.

[Chris1959]

Play on M/M seems to slow the AI up and allows you to bribe of enemies. Playing as Romani I can get to 170BC playing slowly before I hit uber war I have to fight a big battle about every 3 moves.

Works well for Romani don't know about other factions.

The ultimate solution would be a merging of the TW games and Paradox's EU games/