Using Saba and Casse as 'replacement Eleutheroi' to hinder the big empires

Just wanted to know if anyone else was doing this.

In all my campaigns, I use Saba and Casse, through Force Diplomacy, to make life harder for Carthage, Ptolemies and Lusotann, who have few enemies near their homeland.

Saba especially are well suited for the role, many African and Arabian towns have Saba barracks pre-built, so it's easy for Saba to recruit troops there.

So when Carthage takes Kirtan, Garama, Tuat or Sala from the Eleutheroi, I use FD to give them to Saba. Carthage normally accepts this without attacking Saba, at least for a while. This is a good simulation of a Numidian faction.

The Ptolemies will take Petra, Bostra, Meroe and Axum. Giving these to Saba simulates a Nabatean faction in Bostra and Petra and an Ethiopian faction south of Egypt. The same with Palmyra when the Seleucids take it, Palmyra remained independent until Rome reached it.

Casse make a good simulation of a Celto-Iberian faction, after Lusotann take Numantia, Pallantia and Vellika from the Eleutheroi I give those towns to the Casse. I do the same with the two Belgic towns between the Gallic factions and the Sweboz.

The way I do the Force Diplomacy is this:
Wait until the conquering army moves out of the town concerned, leaving only a couple of garrison units behind, then use FD to make the AI give the town to me, usually giving 200 mnai to the occupying faction so they don't get too upset at being kicked out. Before giving it away to Saba or Casse, I destroy all existing government buildings in the town (including damaged ones), any barracks (MIC) affiliated to the conquering faction, and also any temples or monuments created by them. Also I disband the entire army of freed slaves in the town, to restore population lost when it was conquered. Then I use Force Diplomacy again to give it away to Saba/Casse, with a 200 mnai sweetner to make them happy and cover the costs of their own military occupation.

This makes my campaigns feel more historical.

:smart: Now that......is a smart idea. I like it. One problem: In every campaign where I came in contact with the Saba, they betray me within 20 turns of sharing borders. I have never had this not happen. The only other group like that is Ptollie. I would think of FD'ing settlements to Sauro or Saka, considering they build their factional units anywhere on the map. Plus it would be funny to see Saka Cataphracts storming the Gaul. That might prove very effective in slowing down CeltiBerian development, considering most celtic units early on have no Armour.

Thats not a bad idea actually. I generally do similarly in campaigns that I play, but I usually just try to use defeated enemies depending on who I'm playing as. Generally its KH, Pontos, and one of the Gallic factions.

In my last game as Epirus I got to the point of being a super power with a navy and army large enough to interdict peace between my enemies and the KH who i had decided to use to represent neutral and allied independents. Since I knocked KH out early they were perfect for "secondary eleutheroi", especially after I destroyed most of the Ptolemaic armies, but didn't want to eliminate the faction completely. I more or less pinned them in, then got to sort of rp reasons for protecting the KH, Ptolemaic rebellions, Pax Epirus etc. Even though I wasn't allied with the KH, they still worked as buffer states quite well, since the 6 or so cities they had weren't really connected they never seemed capable of mounting an offensive.