All Your Base Are Belong to Us (image intensive)

Do stories regarding exploits in campaigns go in here? If not, please move it to the relevant area. I normally don't regale anyone with tales about my eminent dopeness, but I had to share this one. A number of players have done handicap matches, so to speak. I remember one guy doing a campaign with all peasants. Well my premise for this campaign was to counquer the world without allowing my fellow Romans to conquer a single province.

As a chance discovery I found that this was possible with the Scipii, and then of course I just had to try to do it. I'm currently in year 259 BC I believe, (my first leader is still alive and burning and pillaging in eastern Numidia currently) And well... I just had to brag a little. I'm not sure - but I think I've expanded rather quickly... maybe even a record of sorts? Feel free to bask in my prescence or insult my poor decisions equally... or don't respond at all - which is probably the most likely result. Here it is: (vanilla game by the way)

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...Z/89d26a6a.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...6-38-42-50.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...6-38-19-64.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...6-38-34-34.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...Z/51d17314.jpg

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If anyone is interested I'll add my various strategies and procedures along with engaging stories to this thread. If, as is more likely, nobody cares... well... yeah...

Wow, you conquer quickly indeed. I'm not much of a rusher, so I don't know how fast it's possible to do that in.

Good work. ~:cheers:

How much did you bribe? That is really impressive... even my Greek 40 provinces in 30 turns can't beat yours since you seem to have built up critical mass early on. How busy were you? I remember one turn I had 5 settlements to assault at once.

Impressive. I don't think I've ever duplicated that with any faction, except perhaps the Greeks which seemed more fluke than anything, because it involved a lot of bribing of rebel hoplite armies to create massive new stacks of troops.

I only bribed one settlement, Kydonia (Crete), and that was a critical situation when the Brutii landed an army there and my army (in Sparta) couldn't get there to take it before them. So I sent a diplomat and bribed it. Fortunately I had enough cash (I was strapped at the time) and secondly it stayed loyal. That was the closest I came to losing my objective of keeping them from gaining a single province.

Mostly, I find bribing to be too expensive with the patch, and annoying also. My general policy is to exterminate cities where the casualities will be more than 2000. That way I don't have to worry about rebellion as much. Plus, you have to have an army nearby to control your new city, which means you might as well just conquer it. As far as bribing troops, haven't done it yet. Cheaper to buy mercenaries and that's been my supplemental troop source so far.

Very, very busy - lol. I was moving as quickly as I could across all coasts, since I wanted to make sure the Julii and the Brutii didn't one up me and land a fleet somewhere. Every time I got a new general I was splitting him off and sending him out to attack in a new direction. Most of my "armies" were only 2-4 units at the core (sometimes just the general) and I picked up mercenaries along the way to flesh them out. So I was outnumbered a LOT.

The four defeats there are however all sea battles. I had a Senate mission to blockade the Spanish and not enough ships to do it. I ended up trying twice with what I could get there and suffered double defeats both times. (Losing in my attack, and then the AI would follow my fleeing ships on it's turn and inflict a second defeat) I have unfortunatedly loaded game after a few defeats, but I could count them on one hand. Other then one case, they've all been situations where the computer has bungled my orders. That is of course particularly destructive when you're outnumbered 3-1 or more and everything has to be "just so".

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woo hoo! pez is impressed - I'm pretty sure you're a long time member - seen you around a bit ~:)

EDIT: I first had the screenshots from 260. But in the next one or two turns (I forget) I was able to boost my empire from 34 to 39 provinces, with 3 more from my Spanish protectorate and my ratings shot to the top - which was much more impressive, so I took new screenies of the new very pretty numbers and the two are mixed together up there^ (I'm keeping the Gauls and the Spainards around so hopefully I can get temples to Epona)

Oh - and the blue coloration in Britain is the Britons. I've only just kicked them off the mainland.

So do you keep any generals in the cities as governors?

Only very recently. In the last five to ten turns I've begun retiring my experienced generals to govern and letting the younger men get some good character by leading the campaigns. I finally have enough men to do this, additionally some of my forces have reached their final objectives. For instance the army in Spain has gone as far as I wish it to. The army in the Sahara is about to reach this point also. So as these men fulfill their tours, I'm able to retire them to city management.

I've scattered a couple generals around my empire as governors to act as spawning points also. Since new generals now pop up in the same cities as their sponsors/fathers. This also helps give me someone who can respond to local crisis such as rebels, etc. I only had two or three of these men however until recently.

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Oh and as a note - I'm playing on Hard Campaign difficulty, because the Very Hard's rate of rebel pop-ups annoys the crap out of me. On Hard there's enough to give my governors a chance to get off of the couch occasionally and not so many as to be a permanent nuisance.

And on Medium Battle difficulty because I saw a run-down on the difficulties that said the values (post-patch) were screwed and "Very Hard" wasn't actually "Very Hard"... the consensus seemed to be that the bonuses were applied to both sides - thus essentially just making faster battles - the recommendation was to play on Medium so that the AI can react a bit better

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oh and the game keeps track of your province to family member ratio... so since my ratio is skewed about 2-1 in favor of provinces - I notice a much greater Birth rate than normal, Adoptions have become a regular occurence and virtually any time I fight a battle without a General leading it, I get a Man of the Hour... so if I was to sit still for ten years or so - everything would prolly even out...

That happened to me in the Greek campaign too. Yes, I'm impressed. :) But no, I'm not really long-time in the sense of veteran and experienced... I'm just really talkative, ergo the post count ;-P I just happen to have read some books.

wow - that's fast....how'd you stop the brutii in greece? speed, i guess...

edit: Check pez's join date and compare it to his posts before you say that ~:eek:

lol, what's with the shocked face? :-P

yeah very fast, i could never do it like that i'm a perfectionist......i dont like loosing many men....a battle in wich i lost over 3% is considered a failure. i siege cities but i almost never assault i wait for them to attack me and then i kill to armies at once and take a city. that means a steady but slow advance. nonetheless i once mounted a full invasion with 10 half stacks along the cous of spain and north africa (carthage's side) in 10 years i added 20 provinces to my empire. all objectives but on were a succes and spain and carthage were history. later i mounted another invasion in Egyp (along the coast of eypt, israel and turkey) after 50 years of fighting i added the 20 regions i needed and killed 75000 egyptians. when i was done i had 5 stacks decimated but what was left were the true elite all 9 chevrons......in one battle i fought 20000 egyptians in waves of three and won....the price was high from the 2500 legionares 800 were lost, mainly due missile fire.

Wow! Very impressive SMZ ~:cheers:

You did expand quickly indeed and I think the rules you are playing with are very interesting. :bow:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sapi

wow - that's fast....how'd you stop the brutii in greece? speed, i guess...

edit: Check pez's join date and compare it to his posts before you say that ~:eek:

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Yeah, I saw the dates after I posted :embarassed: , I just knew I'd seen his name a lot and usually saying something worthwhile... so I assumed...

As far as stoping the Julii from grabbing Segesta and the Brutii from getting Apollonia: That's why this can only be done with the Scipii. On the first turn I sent my Faction Heir with the ancillary that boosts Movement Points north towards Segesta. He was able to reach it on his second turn. Thru expermintation I found that on their second turn the Julii would attack it, but as long as I took it first on my second turn... everything's gravy

The same with Apollonia. I sent one of my boats down towards it and picked up a Family Member as I went by Messana. The ship was able to reach the Greek shore on it's second turn, although it ran out of movement right against the shore. Since your Family Members are cavalry however, and have a few extra Movement Points, I was able to unload him and attack Apollonia in the second turn also.

After those two cities fell it's been just a matter of conquering faster than the Julii and Brutii AI can make plans. As long as you move quickly, it's not too bad. The AI likes to set up its plans. So they'll spend a couple turns setting up to attack Patavium maybe, and then -boom- you take it. Rather than just pick a new target and go for say Mediolanium, the AI runs home and replans. By the time it's decided to go for Mediolanium, I'm there first again. etc, etc.

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Believe me Stranger, I don't like losing men either. Although I do sometimes because I don't have completely balanced forces and I have to make do. ie using Skirmishers as light infantry, etc

But by and large I keep the casualty rate low. When you're outnubmered in almost all battles, it makes you really appreciate every soldier.

yeah it sure does.....that campaign i was talking about i think that i was outnumbered greatly in all important battles.

STATUS REPORT:

Year is 257 BC. The Gauls have been forced into a Protectorate status also, allowing me to add their three provinces to my total. A new force has been sent to attack the remaining Germans while the various veteran remnants from my campaigns against Iberia, Gaul and Germania combine to prepare for a push into Britannia, Hibernia and from there modern day Denmark or the Amazons if the German force has already progressed that far. Another new army has attacked the Dacians and pushed into their heartland, where a new problem has arisen that will quite possibly change the way I prosecute campaigns from now on.

The Dacians have had enough time to build an army comprised of more than their initial riff-raff. It is the first more professional force I have faced and my hastily thrown together invasion force was able to take their first province but stalled upon assaulting their capital. The first land defeat I have suffered thus far. I managed to slay a great deal of them, but I will need to fall back and allow reinforcements to catch up before I can press the assault once more. I attacked with 2 units of Bastarnae, 3 units of Illyrians, 1 unit of Sarmatians and my General (2 stars). Their capital held their Faction Leader (7 stars), an Archer Warband, a Spear Warband and a unit of Falxmen. The relieving force attacked me with three Family Members (1 Star), 2 Barbarian Cavalry, 1 Archer Warband, and a host of probably 6 Spear Warbands and 3 Falxmen. Nevertheless, contrary to what you would think, I was able to defeat the mammoth main attack and send that army fleeing for the hills. At that point I had about 1/2 of my Illyrians and Sarmatians left, 2/3's of my Bastarnae, and minimal losses to my General, although this put him at 14 soldiers seeing as he entered the battle with very little experience.

The fresh troops, bolstered by their Faction Leaders high Command rating however broke my remaining men like chafe. The general himself had 46 soldiers I believe and with my men already engaged, his charge broke their backs. My counter charge proved largely ineffective even though it came from the rear... my horses were just too tired. In the end only a scattered remnant survived but over a thousand of the enemy lay upon the field. Probably almost another 1000 escaped since I could not slay them as they fled with the new force bearing down upon me.

My forces in Numidia have completed their objective and my empire now stretches into the Sahara, from the western coast unto Egypt... which my Faction Leader approaches even now. Due to my recent experiences in Dacia, it has become clear to me that I will nead a true "army" to undertake this campaign and my Leader may have to wait until sufficient force can reach him. Egypt is never to be taken lightly.

The soldiers in Asia Minor move towards an amphibous attack on Byzantium and the troops in Macedon prepare for the final assault on Bylazora. If neccessary, afterwards they will move upwards to assist in the destruction of Dacia and Thrace. An offensive against the Pontics and Armenians will accompany a parellel push against the Selucids. I anticipate the endgame to comprise fierce struggles with Egypt, and mop-up actions involving large armies of archers campaigning thru Parthia and Scythia.

No Julii in Segesta, no Brutii in Epirus. No conquering by Parthia, Armenia or Pontus. Not a single provinces exchanged between Seleucia and Egypt. That can only mean one thing: You re-loaded some turns. Try it again, saving you may, but loading none. I'd like to see if you can get 42 regions by conquest.

On the map i count 33-35 provinces, but you have 42 regions controlled. Spain is 3 provinces, but i'm still missing 4 regions controlled?

I once played with the Seleucids unit 210 BC, and only conquered rebels. I was a perfectionist each turn, saving, loading. To my dismay, by the time i was going to conquer (when all cities at level 5), nobody had moved! They were all still in their starting places!

But this sets the bar regardless. Conquering 1.5 provinces/turn or 3/year, is quite a feat. You'll need all the mercs you can get!

I wonder how quick one can do this without mercs, bribing, protectorates or re-loading. If you can pull off something similar with those 4 rules, i'd be truly amazed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sunsmountain

No Julii in Segesta, no Brutii in Epirus. No conquering by Parthia, Armenia or Pontus. Not a single provinces exchanged between Seleucia and Egypt. That can only mean one thing: You re-loaded some turns. Try it again, saving you may, but loading none. I'd like to see if you can get 42 regions by conquest.

On the map i count 33-35 provinces, but you have 42 regions controlled. Spain is 3 provinces, but i'm still missing 4 regions controlled?

I once played with the Seleucids unit 210 BC, and only conquered rebels. I was a perfectionist each turn, saving, loading. To my dismay, by the time i was going to conquer (when all cities at level 5), nobody had moved! They were all still in their starting places!

But this sets the bar regardless. Conquering 1.5 provinces/turn or 3/year, is quite a feat. You'll need all the mercs you can get!

I wonder how quick one can do this without mercs, bribing, protectorates or re-loading. If you can pull off something similar with those 4 rules, i'd be truly amazed.

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Read what I wrote... :book:

Yes, I loaded game about 5 times so far. As I mentioned, once I bungled a battle and a few other times battles were lost due to the computer deciding to wait a few minutes before processing a critical command. I explained already how I managed to cut the Brutii and Julii off from the get go. That was the whole point of this campaign! I can't see how you just ignored that.

Quite frankly, nobody's had time to do any conquering... at the time of those screenies only 10 years had gone by and I was already in Asia Minor. I very rarely see Armenia or Pontus conquer much anyway. Sometimes Pontus grabs the rebels in Turkey, sometimes it doesn't move quickly enough. Armenia hardly ever makes any progress. I've only rarely seen Parthia grab anything quickly either... basically you're deductions are flawed.

I cut everyone off. It's not because I was glitching the game - I was conquering too quickly for the AI to react. Faced with a behemoth looming closer and closer the computer factions fortified instead of clashing with me.

And what do you mean by "you may save but not load"???

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I dunno about the count, I have too many provinces to keep track of, it's up to 60 now (6 from protectorate) (3 more under siege), year's 254 BC I believe... starting to slow down a bit as I have few enemies left to fight... mopping up Britons, Germans and Pontics... skirmishes with Selucids and Egyptians and Parthia and Scythia untouched.

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Your point about mercenaries is a good one. I would probably be another 10 years behind if I hadn't used mercs, and my cities would be poorly defended as well. Right now, I've been able to garrison each city pretty well with Town Watch, but if I had been building Hastatis instead... that would leave me with minimal manpower to put into city defense. As it is, my empire is severely under-populated. The neccessary policies of Extermination and hasty troop production have left me largely low tech. Only Capua and Carthage are lvl3 cities.

The protectorates haven't been a benefit really. One cost me 30,000 and the other 50,000. I got them merely as a whim because I wanted to get the temples to Epona, seeing as I've only heard about that feature and never seen it. I've considered allowing Scythia to be an ally, pretty much a desolate, far-flung wasteland anyway...

Bribing hasn't been done at all, other than the one occasion I mentioned on Crete.

Re-loading has been minimal, other than when I quit the game and of course return later... that can't really be helped however... Regardless it wouldn't have made much difference, if the AI had been fighting amongst themselves more that would've just made my task even easier...

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Basically, I don't want to come off rough - but there's no trickery involved here. Anybody can do it, just have to be willing to push and push hard from the first instant. Vanilla game with Player1's bug fixer and the latin voice mod. 'Tis it.

My cut-off date for this rate of expansion is 250 BC. Once that hits, I plan to rest on my laurels for a bit, consolidate and tech up. Any more conquering will be done slowly and safely.

EDIT: Oh, and... Cornelius the Clever has died. May we drink to his memory. Romulas reborn, he carried the dream of Rome upon his shoulders. May his sons honor his memory and complete the course.

I think the question is, how did you get troops into Segesta before the end of the first or second turn. Since the city is not defended, the Julii usually just walk right in after you click 'next turn'. I can't see how you do it unless you exploit the save/load bug so the Julii forget that Segesta is there, but maybe I'm missing something; I've not played the Scipii yet so that well could be the case.

I thought I explained... maybe I forgot - I'm sure I detailed it somewhere, may have been another thread - nevertheless - here goes:

Of the three Roman factions only the Scipii can do this, because they can get to both of the other factions intitial targets in the second turn. By sending your general who starts with the Movement Point boosting ancillary north, you can reach Segesta on your second turn. You can take the city with only your general. I believe all it has is a Town Watch and a Peasant. Keep charging and disengaging... they'll go down eventually.

On the other side - send one of your two boats toward Salona. Pick up a General and maybe a couple troops as you go by Messana. Your ship will run out of Movement against the coast. However, your General will be able to hop out off the boat and reach Salona. Once again, you can take the town with just your General.

From there, the AI has to continually reaccess its goals. When you cut it off from a mission, it doesn't just march on the next nearest town. It goes back home and waits for the next mission. THEN, it starts moving towards that new goal. However, if you keep pushing hard, you'll be at the NEW goal before it can get there once again. Like before, they will go back home and wait for new Senate orders. Etc, etc...

Just keep pushing, if you let up for one instant, they WILL manage to get a foothold. As I detailed, I almost took too long on the Greek mainland, and the Brutii very nearly got a colony on Crete. Only some very lucky play avoided that.