The WRE Early Game Analysis

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=599687

Here it is.

I'm losing the Issue titles, it wont' make any sense because Jacobus Maximus posted for me on Issue 9. Each tent article will have its own name and individual subject. Updates should come much more often.

The WRE Early Game Analysis:

The Western Roman Empire starts at an apparently dangerous situation. You have three fronts to defend, Africa, Britian, and Gaul. Meanwhile, several African, Hispanic, and Gallic states are on the verge of rebellion.

A look at your overall troops and happiness level tells you that some states much be left to the rats of the rebels. A wider analysis at your economic charts tells you that you have a huge army, creating a huge economic drain.

The first order of business is preventing your most important cities from revolt, then to bring yourself back financially. Meanwhile, you prepare for the Hun assault.

The analysis is this, there are four key areas of the empire that must be addressed.

1. The troops – There are an extremely large number of them, crazy large. This is causing the most of your monetary drain.
2. The rebels- Many provinces are rebelling, discontent because of religion and squalor. The key point here is that the rebels will steal your army. That’s right, your general will become rebel generals. What to do to fix this? Keep your low loyalty generals on the field.
3. The enemies - Early game the enemies are few. The Celts up north isn’t very active. Ignore for as long as possible. Alemanni is easy picking. Berbers are dangerous, defend as long as possible.
4. The cities- Several are very rebellious, several are very poor. Abandon those with the highest rebellion/money ratio.

The first thing you must do is to get your cash back into the positives, which will definitely be in the negatives after you lower taxes and lift entertainment.

To this do, first identify which provinces to abandon. Destroy all buildings in those provinces. After this is complete, remove all troops from said provinces to enemy fronts. This will be primarily the Alemanni and the Berbers. You should be capable of taking one province from each. This (loss of troops, building destruction, extermination) should immediately put you back into the positives and set you up for the rest of the game.

While you’re doing this, do not neglect trade rights and diplomacy, the old ideas of selling maps and trade rights still apply.