Romani Question

All right so I'm developing along fine - year 265 and I've taken Segesta, Rhegion, and Taras - successfully kicking the Epirotes off my heel. Now I have a conundrum, should I focus on Sicily and take it to Carthage after getting a godo hold there or head North take Patavium and Bononia and hit the Aedui hard with the help of the Arveni, OR as a third option head over the Adriatic and take Segestica while working my way down to kill more Epirotes? Thus is my problem. Right now I'm planning on taking Messina and Syracuse then Jumping across the Adriatic to kick some Epirote ass while trying to grab Patavium and Bononia. Any suggestions?

Also - another question - in Roma I have the option of building a "colonia" what's going on twith that? Can someone please explain the "colonia" for me and why it would be available in Roma.

I'm in somewhat of the same spot--263, with the heel and rebel Sicily conquered and moving north. Personally, I'm going to grab Segesta and Bonona to trigger the reforms, then head for the Epirotes. KH is beating back my Makedonian allies, so this is a great chance to grab Greek money after I finish off the Epirotes. However, Carthage just broke the starting alliance, so if they start making aggressive moves on Sicily I'll probably hold off on Greece; the last thing I want is elephants chasing me around the Adriatic.

The Colonia is a departure point for "colonists" from the city--it's there purely to control population growth.

Coloniae are very nice to have. Historically, if a city starting growing too much, colonies would be established. Greece would do them overseas (Syracuse and Tarentum for example) and Rome would do them in conquered territory. While there isn't any changes to the map and you cannot make new cities, it is an excellent way to slowdown growth and increase law in the city.

If you are at war with Carthage, go ahead and send two small armies to take Sardinia and Corsica. Sicily is another matter. Generally, such large stacks show up there that Carthage can never take Syracuse, but the money you would get from there is always nice.

For some reason I have the strangest desire to send a fully stocked (with men) fleet down to Crete and take it to use as a launching point for any future problems with the Seleukids or Ptolemaioi or even Makedonians. As for now I'm headed over the Adriatic, took Segestica and Dalminion, took Messina and have armies outside Syracuse and Bononia. We'll see how it goes. Good luck to you TowwB with those Carthaginians.

well im on the year 244, (2 years before the reforms :beam: and i decided after i took all of sicily (without invoking war with carthage, gota love bribery.... :2thumbsup: ) i decided to head north, i control all territory south of the alps, and ive basically broken the backs of both gaul nations :whip: :smash: now ive decided to let my warring general rest, and maybe have some kids :laugh4: untill the reforms, then ill remake my army, and then we'll continue our conquest of modern day France, the move south and conquore the iberian penensula!

Sorry, but the first Reforms don't happen until 209-207 BC...

Personally, I kicked the Epirotes out of Italy, then declared a ceasefire. I then kicked the Aedui out of my side of the Alps, and made a series of Forts to cover chokepoints between the mountains. I then declared a ceasefire with them, and wiped out almost all of Carthage, reducing them to one Spanish province.

What best unit did you find to combat their elephant units, Caledonian? Also, did you first strike right at their heart or did you dally with their Mediterranean holdings then to hit the Northern African coast? I'm debating both ways because I feel that hitting them at home with a large force could possibly devastate them and cause extreme rebuilding whereas hitting their Mediterranean islands will only invoke their wrath and they will have time to build up their mainland forces before I am able to consolidate my gains and hit 'em at home. Basically I'm asking what strategy you used (and also how the hell you got Epirote to ceasefire, because they won't for all the world with me).

[QUOTE=Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]Sorry, but the first Reforms don't happen until 209-207 BC...
....QUOTE]

HAHA not in .8! Once u take all of italy and Scisily and do something else by 240some the reforms will take place! (if I am correct)

I've found that Javelins were the most effective for me for taking down elephants.

Are any more reforms planned that have yet to be implemented? It keeps the game interesting as you go on for the Romans to have access to new units.

I'm saying this a lot but if you want to know about the reforms you can find them in the faq. It might be more fun however if they come as a surprise.

A funny thing happened to me - I moved into Sicily, took Messina and began besieging Syracuse and sent a diplomat over to the carthaginians just to scout a bit and once I saw they had 3 rather large armies stationed in Sicily I decided it was time for a gift - I offered them map information as a gift and their response was something along the lines of "Enough of this profitless alliance." So I lost the beginning alliance by simply trying to give a gift. So Hasdrubal (Heir) and a full 15 unit army came over to take my besieging army, I get a solid victory and kill Hasdrubal in the fight - now they've launched full out assaults everywhere, I think killing Hasdrubal was a very, very bad thing to do.

Has anyone else received similar responses? They sent an army at my Syracuse-besieging army, my Messina garrison, and have landed an army near Tarentum and now have half a dozen fleets around me. I'm panicking and they won't hear a word my diplomat has to say. What's the best reaction do you guys think?

Retreat to the peninsula to consolidate your forces. Hold Rhegion (and the strait) to keep the Sicilian armies there, and keep powerful enough garrisons on the mainland for when they try a naval invasion; Triarii with a Greek-style defense is a good idea. Once you're sure you can hold what you have, start cranking out armies of your own; start with retaking Sicily. They're already cranking out Sacred Band-level units on my game, which are tough without going for a Triarii swarm. You need to halt that initial advance and then strike hard at Carthage. If you can take Carthage, you should be okay--it's still their main economic center. Raze everything you can there, leave a couple units for a token defense, retreat to Sicily, then offer them a ceasefire. If they don't accept or they retake Carthage, hit them again, this time Carthage and Adrumeto. Ippone's also a possibility. If you have enough spare units at this time, try for Sardinia too. That'll give you a strong economic center and leave them with some crappy southern-Iberia and African desert provinces. Then leave enough units there for defense and move on to Greece.

Well, I drove them out of everywhere, held Sicily and toko Corsica and Sardinia then sent a nice large army into mainland Carthage - needless to say the sued for peace. I granted it to them (pulling about 7k mnai out of 'em because of desperation) then moved back to the Epirotes and tookc are of them. They are no longer! Now I have a strong base, sending an army to the Iberian to act as a shield against Carthaginian growth and we'll see where it goes from here.