Being Rich

How do you amuse yourselves when being rich in RTW, i love to bribe everybody around me, it just feels great to lose 20,000 gold and get a group of peasants, well maybe they dont cost that much, but still...

In my campaign as Britannia, i am turtling, the only settlements i have taken as tara and the new Rennes (in M2TW its called Rennes) My economy is going through the roof, im raking in more than 7000 gold per turn, at the sime time building every building possible, bribing just about everybody, and preparing my borders for invasion.

As i said above, i like Bribing people, i think i bribed a group of 4 units, 2 warlords, a skirmisher and some peasants 20,000 gold to disband, and then a second later bribing a group twice as large 2000 gold to disband, it just gives me a sense of achievement to see my enemies annoyed by the fact that i have just stolen there attacking armies, i have bribed diplomats, family members, cities, armies, just about everything i can find, and my money keeps going up...

So how do you amuse yourself when being one of the richest and most powerful factions in the world????

Bribing is a definitly on the menu, I don't mind bribing cheap units. But every time I see a family member I just have to bribe it. Also giving away money by the bulks, it's like a charity. I really like the faction Pontus so I gave them an annual tribute of 5,000 denarii for 10 turns, and the money increased and decreased over time.

I don't enjoy bribing. It weakens the AI too much and it is weak enough for me, despite the fact I'm playing H/H.
Instead I prefer sending hordes of assassins on missions... I am in love with the "assassination mission success" announcement and that grrrrrmlahkhmmdrrr sound:bounce:
I also tend to give away money to factions I sympathize to - to make them stronger ( and let them build an army worthy enough to counter MY forces:sunny: ) or just so.
And as a whole I spend the money on new recruits, field new powerful armies in order to finish the game faster - when I become so powerful as to throw money away, it starts being a little boring...

When I was so rich I used Urban Cohorts as city garrisons, this was historically accurte, but the Urban cohorts was not quite the same.

Hee... when I get too rich and I'm turtling, I assemble a stack of elite-like troops, give it to an up-and-coming general, and have him sail/trek to the other side of the map and start playing with the fortunes of faraway nations. Say maybe I'm Germania, and the Seleucids are in trouble, I bring my stack to Syria and dismantle a few Egyptian armies, just for fun. Can be a challenge to see how long I can last before I have to go home to retrain, the map ends up slightly different, and my young general gets to pick up a few nice command stars.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quirinus

Hee... when I get too rich and I'm turtling, I assemble a stack of elite-like troops, give it to an up-and-coming general, and have him sail/trek to the other side of the map and start playing with the fortunes of faraway nations. Say maybe I'm Germania, and the Seleucids are in trouble, I bring my stack to Syria and dismantle a few Egyptian armies, just for fun. Can be a challenge to see how long I can last before I have to go home to retrain, the map ends up slightly different, and my young general gets to pick up a few nice command stars.

---

That's an interesting idea I never thought of. But by the time Germania could get their elites Seleucids are normally dead and buried long time ago. Anyway gotta watch the treasury. Too poor and you're stink poor, too rich and you're fabulously rich........and corrupt:sweatdrop: .

True dat. Just an example. When I played as the Seleucids myself, I sent a stack to Gaul against the Julii.

How about Mercenary collecting?

Go round buying up every merc unit available in anywhere accessible, just to deny them to the opposition?

For some reason, i now seem to enjoy being rich and fielding small armys against huge stacks to see how i can improve my tactics for the next battle, like what infantry will give me the right amount of time for flanking a phalanx etc

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RLucid

How about Mercenary collecting?

Go round buying up every merc unit available in anywhere accessible, just to deny them to the opposition?

---

Yeah, I do that too. But often the mercenary pool isn't quite so large, even with the excellent MercenaryX Pack add-on. Does the AI recruit mercenaries? I was under the impression that they don't.

When I'm rich I occasionally defeat enemies with bribes - see any force approaching my border, bribe it. See any rebels nearby, bribe them. I didn't really even need to maintain an army to defend myself, just a bunch of diplomats and a treasury at over the seven figure mark. Conquest is a little more difficult, but possible anyhow.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quirinus

Yeah, I do that too. But often the mercenary pool isn't quite so large, even with the excellent MercenaryX Pack add-on. Does the AI recruit mercenaries? I was under the impression that they don't.

---

They do recruit them, but not as frequently or tactically as they should do.

~:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Omanes Alexandrapolites

When I'm rich I occasionally defeat enemies with bribes - see any force approaching my border, bribe it. See any rebels nearby, bribe them. I didn't really even need to maintain an army to defend myself, just a bunch of diplomats and a treasury at over the seven figure mark. Conquest is a little more difficult, but possible anyhow.

---

Yep, that's exactly what I did in my first game using VBM, as the Seleucids. Having dismantled Parthia, Pontus and Armenia pretty early, a whole clutch of core cash-cow cities and (by virtue of an annual cash tribute) no war with Egypt, I started bribing armies in the Levant, and bribed new armies arriving from Egypt Proper as well. Soon I was progressing to brbing up-and-coming family members. But when I bribed Salamis I think the AI had enough and declared war on me. It was too easy. Jerusalem and the faction leader fell to his own son (I think, not sure), and Egypt itself was conquered entirely by bribed family members and mercenaries. Way too easy. :no:

When I'm turtling, I also like to bribe the armies of similar factions (Seleucid-Macedon, Parthia-Armenia-Pontus), just for kicks. Especially gratifying when bribing Pontus, IMO, since they always seem to dominate Asia Minor. They get delayed, and I get some handy garrison troops.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quirinus

Yeah, I do that too. But often the mercenary pool isn't quite so large, even with the excellent MercenaryX Pack add-on. Does the AI recruit mercenaries? I was under the impression that they don't.

---

The AI does against me, until it runs low on money, not soaking up the mercs has lead to temporary setbacks on occasion, where opposition armies have been grown suddenly, and been able to overwhelm a previously sufficient force.