Roman: Julii

Don't give up the ship, Julius. :2thumbsup:
I play on the RTW Gold Edition which is patched to 1.6. It's good if you can keep the campaign fronts under control, but I've found with some factions that's nearly impossible. I do like to expand at the Carthaginian's expense early to Caralis and Palma whether I'm the Julii or Scipii. There easy pickings and you can make them reasonably profitable. I'm wondering if anyone has ever experienced an effort from Carthage to retake those two island burgs once they were captured by the Roma faction?

I usually have not moved my Julii capital too far from it's origin since I tend to expand both ways - east & west. I've used Massilia once as a capital, but then had to move it eastward again as my campaign progressed.

The greatest challenge, to me, about the late game (civil war period) is the manageability of your faction's empire. I find it difficult to remember checking everything I need to check. So many cities, so many family members, lots of administrative logistics. I have tended not to finish games I was winning, just wanting to start over and play the game in the early stages again and going through the building process. Guess I'm quirky that way.

I love the pilae throwing infantry. I always set them on "fire at will" before a combat so that they're sure to throw their pilae at the enemy whether it's a siege or a face-to-face open field combat. If you set your hastati or principes to "fire at will" when they've secured a stone wall in a siege and there are enemy hoplites below waiting for you to come through the gate, they will shower the enemy with their missiles. Nice to have if you're short of velites.
Yes, the wealthy Brutii are a pain in the arse. :sweatdrop: If you can steal Corinth from them, you'll take some of the wind out of their sails. That, and Rhodes.
Best wishes,
guyus

Early on in my Julii campaigns the Senate would always send me after Caralis. I would then take the place, only to find the major Carthaginian army (the other real forces of Carthage are way off in Spain) coming after me. So after the first few times I always made sure to have a decent fleet around to intercept the Carthaginians from Sicily, without having to battle against Elephants + Bodyguard + Slingers + Numidian Mercenaries.

I guess that Carthage wasn't properly taken care of by the Scipii family yet.

On the Civil War:

Most likely you aren't going to lose from the Scipii as they are probably stuck in Africa - with a proper enemy fleet nearly impossible to take, but also nearly impossible to get out of.

The Romans tend to build vast armies of expensive troups: this effectively drains there treasury - so the best way to defeat any Roman faction is to exhaust them. Have strong navy good garrisons and a few stacks of good troops to raid poorly defended settlements will do fine, use your spies to spot those places. Let the raided settlements rebel ASAP, by destroying everything you can, enslave them and pull out your army. Sail to your next target. This way I have playing as Carthage effectively taken care of the Brutii (nearly done in) and the Scipii (done in), and now it's time to hit the Julii (one settlement raided, and with a little patience...).

This strategy disrupts the plans of the AI, and gives you not only the benefit of surprise but also of initiative. And it throws the AI back to Early Campaign levels of development, while giving your treasury a great boost.

After all: this game is called Total War!

The infantry of Gaul and Briton are easy pickings for the Julii.

This is odds of 3:10 against. It is on Medium difficulty.

There will be lots of dead Britons at the end of this.

https://img83.imageshack.us/img83/99...8w25jo2.th.jpg

I like to weather down Spartans/phalanx infantry with several volleys of arrows, perhaps make them run around and tire themselves out a bit with a light cav unit, then charge head-on with some good, veteran hastati/principes. Then, assuming that I have defeated most of the enemy army, I like to flank them with a unit of heavy cav (Roman Cav are great for this as they cost relatively little $$) and rout them.

hello I am genaral Julis
here is my campgain as the Juli so far

I have managed to crave out a nice empire for myself. So far I total control of all fromerly Gaul territries and I am waging war against britain and spain. The spainsih are on their last legs I am not expectiny any credible restince from them know seeing as they ony have on city left. The Brits however they are basicly the only threat to me right now they have pushed my fromer allies the germans out of most of their cities but slowly but surly my roman leigons are beating them I beleive that the death of their king was a major morale blow to them. soon they to will fall....then the germaens wil fall.
:charge: :charge:

see you on the frontlines:hmg:

err sorry just remmebered that game was deleted during an PC mess up sorry for the DP I had to do just now.

The way I dealt with the Civil War was simply sheer numbers. I managed to quiet down most of my fronts and halted expansion prior to its outbreak. I then concentrated most of my units in the Italian peninsula, and just outside key Brutii cities in the Balkans, while building dozens of fleets to blockade each and every enemy port the day the war broke out.

Now, the blockades and minor sieges ought to go easily enough - there'll be a few fleet battles early on, but eventually they run out of ships. The tricky part is the full stack armies you face in Italy and Greece. That I solved by simple basis of having 3 armies face the enemy's one each time. I controlled the main assault, luring them to me, while my AI generals on the flanks each time surrounded and crushed them. Lots of cavalry was effective, as I could rout one unit, destroy them, then find another isolated one and crush it. In this way I proceeded down the entire enemy army.

The cavalry-heavy armies ensure that your foes are wiped off the map each time, draining their armies fast. While they can rebuild them fairly quickly early on, within a few turns the blockades will begin to bite and their finances will bottom out, while you can keep replacing losses and wearing them down. Within 4 years of the start of the civil war you ought to have the Italian peninsula completely secured. Once that's done, the rest is effectively mop up, as you use your naval superiority to bring far greater numbers to bear again and again against each enemy concentration.

Thats where im at in my game. Ive conquered all of central europe, spain (except for the settlement in between the valley), and most of eastern europe. The ppl love me and the senate hates me and I can attack anytime I want but im starting to hit financial problems. Its money thats tearing me down.

I'd suggest only keeping minimal garrisons (as few townwatch/peasants as possible), I know this can be hard especially in spain with high distance and cultural penalties. To combat this I've tried moving my Capital to Messana for the duration of the Civil War. On that note, start the civil war ASAP. Italy and greece are both VERY rich areas (sea trade) which should help your Financial situation. Also you'll probably take significant losses (legion v legion is a bloody battle) which will reduce your upkeep.

If you can take Rome and Capua first, that takes the Scipii out of the equasion early (depending on the diffaculty level naval invasions are rare), Letting you focus on the Brutii and greece which brings in the $$$. Also you will probably get a temple of Mars or 3 which gives Nice exp bonus.

Good news. Ive started the civil war and have captured Rome, Capua, and about to conquer the Italian penisula. Just as the civil war broke out, i made a ceasefire w/ the scipii so i wouldnt have to worry about naval forces and could have some friendly trade. So now im real rich, ive lost two cities so far to the Brutii, but there Greek cities barely have any defenders so ill attack those and bring in some cash.

~:( Damn, wrote such big post about campaign ,and then close it! damn...

Poor Charge. I've had that happen.

Three times in a row.



Anyways, I'm having trouble with the Gaul and Briton, and etc.
I'm Roman! I'm organized! Chaos scares me!



Any tips on how to handle the Gauls and Brits? Due to the fact that their units are twice the size of yours?




And specifically, how the hell do I get rid of Chosen ones?

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Originally Posted by Sonicdahedgie

Any tips on how to handle the Gauls and Brits? Due to the fact that their units are twice the size of yours?

And specifically, how the hell do I get rid of Chosen ones?

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All of their units are poorly armored except for the Generals and the Chosens. This makes missile fire your "friendly" choice.

Chosen swords are best handled by pila as they pause before charging, followed by hammering them in the flank with a cavalry unit once they're engaging your infantry. You WILL take casualties -- no avoiding it -- but they should be manageable in number.

Do not attack light chariots or heavy chariots with cavalry -- the scythes kill all your horses quickly.

Chariots can be shot or swamped with infantry. When they pause they are very vulnerable, since they are largely unarmored.

Forresters are a pain, but as with any archer unit, a good cavalry group can see them off before they kill too many of your folks.

Have no fear, Egypt has made me skilled at affairs involving Chariots.


I was under the impression that Calvary sucked at charging Chosen Ones, but I was wrong. Thank you!




And as for using arrows to cut down the Gauls, what abolut the beggining when all you have are Velites?

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Originally Posted by Sonicdahedgie

I was under the impression that Calvary sucked at charging Chosen Ones, but I was wrong. Thank you!

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Charging them frontally will get too many horsies killed-ed. Flanking while pinned is another matter.:devilish:

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Originally Posted by 'hedgie

And as for using arrows to cut down the Gauls, what abolut the beggining when all you have are Velites?

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I usually field quite a few Velites as a second line of infantry. They get off quite a few shots on f-a-w. Then switch to chosen shots and fire at sharp angles down the line (or at enemy second line troops feeding in to the back of a scrum) -- this minimizes fratricide but lets you keep shooting.

Early on the Gauls don't have their chosens, so they're under-armored against the velites. Only tough part is the (usually) short time period where they have chosens being generated in several cities while you are still short of the Marian reforms -- but that is what the PBI is for anyway.

Once you're fielding legios backed by AA, even the chosens will have trouble taking you down, and the rest of the Gauls are wheat before the scythe.

Ah, thank you SO much. I honestly never use velites at all, at any given point in time, EXCEPT in the unlikely event that I have my recruitment of a city on auto-manage and it happens to make some velites.




Hell, I never even played even 1/4 of the way to the Marius Reforms on a Julii campaign because I handle barbarians so badly. I didn't want to use horses because I remembered when I was playing the M2TW demo and the horses got slaughtered by trying to charge the heavy british knights from behind and tripped.




And by the way, it you're going to abreviate my name, by al means, please call me "Sonic."

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Originally Posted by Sonicdahedgie

Ah, thank you SO much. I honestly never use velites at all, at any given point in time, EXCEPT in the unlikely event that I have my recruitment of a city on auto-manage and it happens to make some velites.

Hell, I never even played even 1/4 of the way to the Marius Reforms on a Julii campaign because I handle barbarians so badly. I didn't want to use horses because I remembered when I was playing the M2TW demo and the horses got slaughtered by trying to charge the heavy british knights from behind and tripped.

And by the way, it you're going to abreviate my name, by al means, please call me "Sonic."

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Welcome. I was only so-so with the velites before trying the XGM mod. There, archers were so ruinously expensive that I had to learn to fight entirely without them (took me 40+ years to build up the economy to support them). Velites do surprising damage; they're better at hand-to-hand than they get credit for; they're dirt cheap and easily replaced; and they're quick enough to chase many routing infantry units.

Horses are very effective in RTW, but the Romans start with light units only (aside from family). BTW, I rarely charge them at an enemy unit's "six." The butt-spike on spear units actually are dangerous and most of the other units seem to recover better from a rear attack than a bias (4:30 or 7:30 clock) attack -- which I favor.

I am playing my first RTW campaign as Julii.

A short campaign on M/M difficulty.

The year is 243BC and I hold 7 provinces. Arminium, Arretium, Segesta, Mediolanum, Patavium, Luvavium and Massilia. I have Narbo Martius under siege.

I imagine that to veteran posters I have been going very slowly. But I wanted to take my time and build up a good economy, I am also a new player, so I have had a few setbacks. I lost a couple of large battles early on against Gaul when forces were evenly matched. The Gauls also recaptured Patavium and Massilia the first time I took them, which caused a few problems.

I put most of this down to inexperience.

I now have two large armies invading Gaul. The first is besieging Nearby Martius, while the second is in a fort just outside of Massilia, preparing to head north and attack the city to the north of Massilia.

I don't think the Gauls are going to be in a position to launch any more counteroffensives now. I am at war only with Gaul and Britannia. An uneasy truce exists between me and Germania. They begged me for a ceasefire, which I accepted only if they handed over Luvavium, which they agreed to.

I am enjoying this campaign immensely.

@Incontineta Buttox

Sounds like you're having fun, A tip if you want to maintain a healthy economy; focus on taking cities that have ports, they make you much more money than other cities. The Islands in the Mediterrianan make good port cities cause that get attacked so rarely.

When playing as the Julii DO NOT accept an alliance with Spain which they will most certainly throw your way with map information and trade rights. It sounds like a good idea but you need spain. It is a wealthy province when played by a Roman Faction, you can upgrade ports and mines plus roads, pretty much anything which increases trade. You need this economy later in the game when you are planning to take on greece or Carthaginian provinces.

Unless of course your plan is to beat the Brutii into Greece, which is far richer than Spain. Then the Spanish alliance could be useful in helping fend off the Gallic menace.

There's nothing wrong with allying with Spain first AND conquering them later, is it?:beam:

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Originally Posted by I of the Storm

There's nothing wrong with allying with Spain first AND conquering them later, is it?:beam:

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nothing at all really, although I find that fighting FS's of bull warriors/scutarii/slingers to be a pain sometimes, with pre marian units anyways.

Yep!

It was an enjoyable campaign.

I managred to finish the short campaign (15 provinces) without ever going to war with the Germans. I just wiped out the Gauls, then headed east into Dacia to get the last few territories that I needed. I finished in 227BC.

I am now into a long Brutii campaign.

Hey, I could use some advice if anyone can help. BTW I am using the Mundus Magnus big map

I just started my first VH/VH campaign (I ususally just do M/H), and I have to say its been pretty challenging so far and could use a few pointers.

Firstly, I am stuck in a war that is seemingly too big for me to handle, regardless of me winning very good victories. I initiated war with Gaul to expand north. However, after the next turn, their ally Germania, which is now a large empire also since in MM Britania never leaves Briton, attacked me.

Dacia and Scythia make up the eastern part of Europe except for the empire Greece has and the struggling few provinces Brutii has gotten. Dacia also declared war on me, and have allied with Scythia. Basically, its me vs. all of Europe, a weakened Spain being my only help in distracting the Gauls hopefully. There is only one rebel province left in Europe, everything else is these 4 factions.

None of these factions will cease-fire.

However, I am doing decently financially because early game I took the Carthage capitol along with the small islands to the left of Italy, all of which have ports trading.

With 3 full legions in the feild, I cannot build troops fast enouph and mercenaries are running low. Several of my northern cities have gotten into the red and are soon to rebel.... is purging them a good idea? (letting the rebel then recapturing and slaughtereing):

Long ways to go for Maruis Reforms, im not sure the exact year im in right now.

:wall:

I'd Try:

1. Set up forts in all the passes and at the top of the Adriatic. Garrison these with broken leftovers from merc units or peasants -- they'll change hands with some regularity and you don't want real troops involved.

2. Set up one army to defend these forts, re-taking them as necessary and smashing the enemy who slowly leak through.

3. Set up your second army (hopefully with a little artillery) to defend the bridge between your terrain and Massilia. Let the Gauls increase the fluid level in the river with army after army.

4. Demobilize most of the third army as replacements for the first two. Some of the troops can be taken right out of service as a cost saver.

5. Don't use peasants as city garrison. They count as half value for garrison points and end up not working as well. Vigiles are better, despite the cost.

6. Purging may be necessary -- especially at Patavium -- and DON'T build up the farms at Pat or Media (they breed like rabbits if you do).

Thanks Seamus, your advice helped me.

Marius Reforms kicked in early, thank god. Now its just a matter of retraining my legions with better troops. I took 2 more provinces from Germania, but again with heavy losses.

I'm trying to use bridges to my fullest, and they have brought me many crushing victories.

Gaul and Dacia have simmered down for the time being, they arent bothering me and I'm not messing with them, all attention is on disabling Germania, who still has 4/5 full stacks roaming around somehow.


Only problem I have now is my lack of generals, I wish there was a way to simply promote people to get a general.

Question.... do you think I should head west after defeating Germania, taking Gaul then Spain? Or east, taking Dacia, Scythia, and south into the Greek territory, which rises to Byzantinum now.

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Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh

5. Don't use peasants as city garrison. They count as half value for garrison points and end up not working as well. Vigiles are better, despite the cost.

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I thought that was only in BI?

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Originally Posted by foleys1

Only problem I have now is my lack of generals, I wish there was a way to simply promote people to get a general.

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IIRC the game tries to to keep a balance of 1 general per settlement. Try conquering a few, also win a battle with a captian led army and there's a chance, they'll be promoted to General, and the better the victory, the better the General.

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Originally Posted by Benandorf

I thought that was only in BI?

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Same rule applies to straight RTW after the 1.5 patch. Better rule, really, as peasants for garrison did make it a little too easy.


Sev':

Going either East or West from Germany is tough, economically. Of the two, Britain and the Channel coast at least have enough sea trade to pay for themselves after a while -- but you lose money until the polutations build up to port level.

The really lucrative portions of the map are Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Egypt. They combine more cities in a tighter area with a lot of sea routes. This is always your best funding source.

In XGM (same map as yours more or less) I try to grab all of the Med islands as this quickly generates multiple trade routes and a good income.