The Sardinian Question

I've just started a new campaign with Julii, and I've come across a question concerning Sardinia. It is an isolated, sparsely populated province that is not in the general push of the Julii campaign, at least not in the beginning. It has some trading resources, but because there is no port there is no way to export them. It produces a bit of money (around 450 if you're Carthaginian, more than what the Julii would make eventually), but the few extra town watch it takes to guard would dampen the revenues, not to mention that if you enslave the population, which I always do for enemy towns to keep them under control, there are not enough people in Caralis to recruit. This means that you have to keep mainland troops there until it "matures" enough to be able to provide for its own defense. I offered the province to the Brutii, and they gave me a very nice sum for it (6000 denarii), and would probably have given even more to me had I pressed them for it.

So, the question boils down to; do I sell this rebellious, distant island off for vital cash, or do I hang on to it, spending money to construct pacifying buildings and garrisoning Italian forces in the hope that I will profit from its trade resources and use it as a naval base in the long run? Or is there an alternative to either of the two?

$6K? You'd have to loot a major city to get that kind of cash. I'd sell it.

try selling it but keep an army nearby for a couple of turns,
not right next to it, move your army so it can reach the city in one move,

if it rebels from the brutii then take it back, more slaves and loot and then sell it again...

I kept it throughout the Julii campaign, but mostly because it helped me take Carthage and what not. I don't remember it ever making me much money, but it did turn a profit.... in the long run, you'll make money off of it, even if it is producing around 250 denarii a turn...you're still making money. It just depends on whether or not you need the cash right away.

I do recall that in MTW I used to drop provinces that cost too much to hold and produced too little income, but in RTW with the garrison costs spread across several cities, it would just offset the cost to another city.

It made more than 2k for me per turn at the end of my Julii campaign. Caralis is Arretium's best export destination while also being one of the better export destinations of both Segesta and Massilia.

I'd garrison it with peasants and try to sink the Carthaginian ships. You can manuever the other Roman factions into helping you. It helps immensely mid to late game in naval superiority battles. You can retrain and build ships there. If you want to sell it, sell it to somebody you can easily make war on when you are prepared to keep it.

I kept it and specialized it into a quick response naval base. I always kept a couple of ships there and a standby army that was really nothing more then a load of numbers, townwatch, peasants and some velites plus a family member. This army would cover all the coast in the Western Med and protect against sudden invasions. I mainly used them to sally besieged cities.

I also keep Caralis, partly because I don't like giving up any territory that my troops have shed their blood to gain and partly because long-term it does make money.

When I capture the city, I take along a couple of Town Watch and one or two Peasants to garrison while my assaulting army returns to the mainland. I've never had Carthage counter-invade, but that's probably because the Senate often seem to task me to go after Carthage itself soon after.

Once I have my temples built up and a few years have passed, I disband the Peasants. Later still, assuming I'm flush with cash, I disband the Town Watch as well, replacing them with Auxilia and Archer Auxilia.

I was actually considering taking it if the Senate forces me to a war with Carthage, just to get a naval base for operations in the Western Mediterranean in my current game as the Brutii. Sure, it's not a big money maker but it does tend to make a profit. Just stick a governor in there, let it run on auto for a while and then go back and see if he's turned into a lewd deranged drunkard yet.

I made money with it as Carthage...and it was the honeypot that kept the Julii and Scipii occupied while I defeated other factions and eventually invaded Italy proper. It grew slowly because I did a fair bit of retraining there.