RTW- first "experimental" campaign experience

Any TW game I play a first "learning" campaign about halfway through, and then ditch that campaign and start a new second one "for real" and play it through to the end.

I am about 5 turns through that second campaign now.

The first campaign I quit last night, here is how it went:

At the end it was about 172 BC, a dozen or so turns after the reforms. The cities that once had the worst deficeit in income were finally turning around to show near 1000 profit each turn. Squalor was not nearly as much of a problem as it was originaly. I learned to not build farming improvements, to execute upon taking a new settlement and to build health, financial, and cultural buildings in that order of importance.

I had about 15 provinces- 10 between gaul and italy, two in northern europe, all the single-settlement island provinces with the exception of the one furthest east, and three of the original greek cities. My next move was to take over all of spain, the remaining gaulic provinces and the former brutii provinces in germania as they rebeled.

I had 4 land armies composed mainly of the following:
A full stack of mostly praetorian cohorts supported by early legionaries, war dogs, archers, and two onager units, one or two partial stacks of reinforcements for the main force and garissions for new cities (the garrsion troops being experienced pre-reform units from pre-reform armies and cities). Also three navys, each being 6 units of mixed types- not nescessarily all in the main stack. More like for each navy- one main power stack to escort troops/hunt-kill enemy ships, a couple small stacks to shuttle troops around.

My strategy at the end had been to put an army in enemy land near their strongest concentration of troops, allow them to attack, put up a whithering defence for a few turns, reinforce the main stack then launch a devastating counter-attack and take any nearby cities in a few turns, leaving the garrsion troops in new cities so as not to hold back the momentum.

This new campaign, rather than just fell my way through, my overall srategy is to limit the other roman factions while
gaining as much territory of my own as possible.

5 Turns into it and I already have three gaulic towns and 4th coming this next turn, am working on the senate mission to take that first carthage island settlement. I want to develop three main armies to start- 1. To move east and take the western rebel/macedonian towns along the coast directly across the sea from italy 2. To take as much of carthage as I possibly can, and 3. To take as many of the closer greek cities as I possibly can.

All the while allowing the brutti to slug it out in the land locked bits of germania and gaul while I gobble up as many close coastal towns as possible.

Sound good?

Yes, coastal towns will be able to generate much more income, especially if you can get into and conquer the southern Greek cities. Athens is the cash crop of the northern Med.

Two suggestions: first, watch out for the Gauls on your northern border. Unless you are playing with the campaign set at Easy, they will fairly soon be fielding hordes of warband and will throw them at Arretium and Ariminum as soon as they can. Block up the mountain passes with forts, and then consider whether you want to build a fourth army simply as a defensive "wall" in the Po river valley.

Second, check out the Julii section in the guides forum. Lots and lots of good information there on strategies and planning.

Good luck!

Well, I've already taken Mediolanium and Segesta and was starting on Patavium when the hordes began flooding in from the west. They've done a nice job of disrupting that seige. Every turn there is an attack or they walk into an ambush. The Brutii have already gone 3/4 up the coast opposite italy, leaving me with one rebel town to consume only. I was hoping to take the other larger town to its south and link up both armies outside Patavium, get them sailing and go to wreak havok on the greeks but those damn gauls!

Looks like I'll be doing some fort building. Now I am thinking of just taking the small rebel town + Patavium and then going after Carthage.

Mountain passes? Block the bridges! The one east of Massilia is ideal. Keep an eye on the passes, though, sometimes the Gauls try to sneak an army into your back.