Stomp out Gaul early or establish rich provinces

[bigmilt16]

I know that it is fairly typical in a Roman campaign to establish Sicily, N. Italy, and Corsica/Sardinia first to provide essential trade and mining economy and to get the polybian legions.

Do you guys usually march into gaul after this, or do you guys try to establish other historical provinces. I ask because the gauls always turn on me, but I don't want to waste time early on storming the barbarian wastelands without a bigger economy and military.

What should I do? thanks

[anubis88]

I for always follow a historical approach with the factions i play. When playing with rome I kept a legion in the po valley to repell the Aedui attacks( i conquered sicily, corsica and sardinia in a historycall order), and then i went to Iberia and greece.

It depends on what you like. I suggest you ally yourself with one gaulish faction, and help them a little if they need it(money, manpower) to leave the 2 factions in a status quo. They surely won't come after you if they have their hands full with themselves

[Gugus]

I always take Massilia and garrison it haevilly - it is a good choke point and it seems to deter gauls from attacking. Same with Mediolanum and any other province that borders Arverni\Aedui. It is also handy to keep one or two legions in the Po Valley.
G

[Disciple of Tacitus]

I also take a historical approach. There are threads somewhere in here about that. I too play the Gaulish factions against each other. Currently allied with the Averni and "paying them tribute", as the Aedui have all of western France. They are happily being historically accurate by bashing each other's heads in whilst I take Greece. Very accomidating of them.
I keep a minimal force in Massilia and Mediolunm (sp?), and extra mnai in the bank. Much like the Romans in their time, if the barbarians invade, stay, and seige my towns, I spit a 1/2 legion out in no time at all and march them to lift the seige. Northern Italy - b/c the cities are so close - can do that. It's very annoying when you are fighting Rome, but great fun when you ARE Rome.
Keeping the extra mnai in the bank takes some disciplne, but I prefer it to keeping a full legion standing around the Po Valley staring longingly at the sheep.

To concur with Gugus and Anubis88, Northern Italy offers some wonderful natural borders/chokepoints. Press north til you hold them, then hold.
That's my two bits. Hope it helps.

ps. Is anybody else expanding historically using the Provinces as their guide on which territories to take?

[beatoangelico]

the best thing to do is probably to take Massalia and Tolosa and then keep a defensive behaviour. This is both historical and convenient, since in RTW engine sea trade brings much more wealth than land trade.

[Dubius Cato]

I find myself doing a punic war and when I conquered Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia, I always see Carthage soo undefended, so I did go into Africa after that immediately, just because I could. Carthage is a really fat target. Then I need to kill the rest of the Carthies, and then the Ptolies come around and attack me. Happened in two campaigns now. I just can't resist to get Carthage early.

[soibean]

Yea i hate how the capital of most factions is always basically empty except for one or two levy units. Only thing is it seems pretty historical... while the armies of Hannibal were on Italy ravaging the peninsula, Scipio Africanus went and tore up the Africa coast... Seems like the player is the only one with sense in mind to realize that his capital is a juicy target

[pezhetairoi]

I always took Gaul in previous Romani campaigns but decided instead to let them grow strong and enter the Time of Soldiers this time, so I manipulated my way till Gaul, Belgaea and Celtiberia were dominated by the Arverni and the Aedui were extinct.

I've taken an approach of dominating the Balkans with a war against Makedonia with shifting alliances as Epeiros and KH side with one or the other at some time. Currently the KH are allied with me, and the Epeiros are uncomfortably (but deterrently) neutral, and sandwiched. Soon, after I've wiped out the Makedonians in Europe, I'll beat down the Epeirotes.

[Apgad]

I always took Gaul in previous Romani campaigns but decided instead to let them grow strong and enter the Time of Soldiers this time.

I'm doing the same, and also leaving Carthage alone too. They've almost taken all of Iberia, except for a couple of Greek towns (since I kicked the Greeks out of Greece, as you do), while the Aedui have most of Gaul. The Lusotanaans and Averni won't last long, and the Sweboz and Getai have eaten up most of the territory north of the Alps and Danube.

I'm looking forward to getting hammered by 4 really strong factions pretty soon, so am busy getting all my territory south of the Danube and all of modern Turkey secure and profitable, and praying that I hit Marian reforms before the tsunami(s) hit(s)!

But back to topic - I think it's more fun to establish choke points (Massalia and the Alps) and build your economy before blitzing the Gauls. They'll have better troops then, and so will you, and your satisfaction rating will be much higher :beam:

[pezhetairoi]

Satisfaction rating will be even higher when you hurl your Polybian troops against endless Black, Yellow and Grey pikes, heh. :D

[CaesarAugustus]

Usual strategy for me is to take Iberia and Greece first, along with a few North African provinces before I contemplate moving into Gaul. Even then, I will usually just settle for Massalia and Tolosa. The only campaign in which I went for Gaul first ended in disaster, with my economy in ruins, fighting an endless war with the Sweboz, and low public order. My advice, ally with one of the Gallic factions, and intervene to give them all the settlement bordering yours so the other faction can't touch you. Oh yes, make sure that you ally yourself with the weaker of the two factions, so they absolutely depend on your military intervention and re-taking a settlement every once in a while, and would not be able to turn on you and threaten your possessions. This is working quite well in my campaign, with the Arverni being reduced to relying on Romani welfare, but doing their job in holding the Sweboz and Arverni back.

[Emperor Mithdrates]

Being a Carthaginian fanatic myself it kills me to say....DESTROY the one other civilization that will match Roman discipline and Technology. Carthage (Northern Africa, Modern Tunisia)!

http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/541/541790/rome-total-war-20040824101621646.jpg

Here is an image i put on the internet of what my carthaginian army did to legions of Romans. Trust me destroy them before they get a foothold.