Arent you able to do this on your own? I am a school right now in Speech class and am done with my speech so i am messing around on here and cant really play the game right now. :book:Quote:
Originally Posted by diablodelmar
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Arent you able to do this on your own? I am a school right now in Speech class and am done with my speech so i am messing around on here and cant really play the game right now. :book:Quote:
Originally Posted by diablodelmar
Sorry, but I am also in school! I can't play it either, as it happens. Whats more I haven't even unlocked the Gauls yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by AwesomeArcher
I'm starting a Gaul campaign on RTR Gold (as soon as I can get a mouse with a scroll button) so maybe we could have another forum-wide campaign where everyone plays the same faction and shares their tactics and strategies.
Anyway, I'll update soon.
You could just go and tweak the game a bit to unlock gaul without conquering them.Quote:
Originally Posted by diablodelmar
Naaa I want to do it the fair way.Quote:
Originally Posted by AwesomeArcher
Take the simple route and complete a short Roman campaign to unlock all factions.
So I've heard, but I am soon going to complete the real campaign. Will this also unlock all factions?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiberius
Well, for one thing: scythed ones can run amok. British won't: they rout like any ordinary unit. Otherwise, British generals and heavy chariots are pretty similar to scythed chariots, but the British light chariots are an excellent skirmisher unit, the western equivalent of the horse archer.Quote:
Originally Posted by AwesomeArcher
All the unlockable factions, including Gaul; to get the nonplayable factions you'll have to do a mod.Quote:
Originally Posted by diablodelmar
@Craterus: If you're interested in a forum-wide mod, why not join the new PBeM led by econ, here.
Hi everyone, I've just started playing as Gaul in RTW and I've noticed that whilst all my other settlements are making money or have a + income, both Patavium and Mediolanum seem to be hemorraghing money with as much as -1200 a turn. Has anyone else had this and is there any way to fix it?
I'm currently not at war with anyone due to playing M/H but since I lowered my taxes to promote growth to get those lovely forrester warbands my economy has stunted so I'm slowly loosing a few 100 denarii a turn and not gaining any.
Is there any way to boost the income from both Alpine cities?
Dominii.
IIRC Patavium and Mediolanum are the biggest cities of the Gauls. This means that they pay the lion's share of your unit and agent upkeep. The cost for supporting your units and agents is divided over the cities on a population basis, with the bigger cities paying the most. So these cities are not actually costing you money (no city ever does) and attempts to bring in more cash need not be limited to these cities.
The best way of making money in this game is by trade, especially sea trade. Ports should therefore be your first priority, followed by traders. Patavium is a real money spinner when developed. Do keep in mind though that there has to be something valuable in the province to make trade worthwile: check potential benefits in the city detail screen before deciding. A second option to gain more cash is by building farm upgrades, but I would stay clear of those except in provinces with a low growth rate. You cannot demolish them once built and in an already fast-growing city like Mediolanum this leads to massive squalor. The third option is obvious: get your best manager to manage you high income cities. Don't be guide by what is says on the campaign-map: go to the city detail to see which city is really making the most cash. Also, pay attention to traits and ancillaries: traders are more useful in Patavium than in Mediolanum. Lastly, see if you can reduce your expenses to army upkeep by disbanding a few useless units.
Welcome to the Org, BTW ~:wave: .
What Ludens said. Essentially, the numbers under each city are just an accounting figure and not anything to get concerned about. You're not actually losing money in that city. People=more tax income=more expense of armies allocated to them. On the whole, you're better off with more people, especially early in the game.
Having read a few others posts on here, I thought I'd contribute with my Gaul campaign so far.....
Having taken all advice from Ludens and other posts on here, I started again on M/M with a few surprising results. Having captured the rebel provinces of Lugdunum, Massilia and Segestica and parked stacks on all the bridges in Northern Italy to deter the Julii I set about making trade agreements with the Britons, Germans, Spanish, Carthiginians, Roman Factions bar the Brutii and most of the other barbarian factions in northern Europe. That was in addition to dropping the taxes in Patavium and Mediolanum to get access to the forresters quicker. I spent the next few turns adding to the stacks on the bridges and training more units in Alesia for the inevitable attack by the brits.
By this point I'd allied with Rome, the Julii and the Scipii in the hopes of seeing off war for a bit longer, Spain to protect my border and Germania, Dacia and Thrace in order to create a barbarian alliance to combat and/or distract the Romans once they attacked. Then the strangest thing happened.......the Spanish attacked the Julii. Of course I had to side with the Romans as they were a more pressing concern on my southern border, and with the Spanish busy against the Romans they wouldn't cause me much concern. By now I had 2 3/4 full stacks on the bridges and another one hovering around Alesia as a deterrent against the strangely quiet Brits.
Using spies and diplomats, I saw the Julii's territory strangely devoid of troops so seized my chance, sent one stack to Segesta, one to Arinimum and one to Arretium. They all soon fell, bar Arinimum which the triple chevroned 1/2 stack SPQR army helped to relieve the siege of. I decided to fight them one army at a time. Suffice to say, the Senate army quickly folded against my army's warcry, druids and surprise appearance from hiding in the forest. This was greatly helped by them having to march all the way across the battlefield and up a steep hill to get to me. No more than a handful survived.
Having dealt with that threat, I laid siege to Arinimum again and had the 1/2 stack garrison vanish upon the sally turn. After exterminating the populace I set about retraining my troops ready for the assault on a now detrementally weakened Rome. At around this time the Britons declared war against Germany, but with not enough troops in that area, and a menacing Briton full stack hanging around Samarabrinova I decided against striking the British exposed backside.
Sending out a silver weaponed, triple bronze chevron, bronze armoured army of warbands, swordsmen, some barbarian cavalry and 6 forrester warbands against Rome, I had to retreat when I came under attack from two sides from beseiging their fort just south of the mountains south west or Arinimum. This allowed me to destroy the captained army that followed and attacked again. This left all but one Senate family members in the fort and just 3 units in Rome itself. After starving the fort into sallying, it was an absolute delight watching the forrester warbands tear apart the Romans before they even reached my line. I did suffer casualties as I had to attack into the fort due to the arrows running out. But with the fort gone, 4 out of 5 Senate family dead and only a small army left in Rome, it was a simple matter of beseiging the city with siege towers to send troops around capturing the towers which would be in my path to the square. Rome quickly fell.
I then retrained that army, and just in time as the Scipii had nicely recalled probably all their armies to Capua and decided to lay seige to Rome with one of them. Fortunately, I sallied forth, keeping my forresters on top of the walls to drive the Romans back (there's nothing better than gold weaponed forresters ~D ) By the time my army was deployed the chorus of retreat was heard and I sped my cavalry and fresh troops straight towards the retreat point of the enemy, cutting down half their army on the way. The same thing happened a few turns later. At last count, the Scipii have about 4 full stacks sat West of Capua, threatening any further expansion by my forces.
In the mean time, I had a diplomat make an Alliance with the Spanish to re-protect my borders there and discovered to my horror, a Julii captured Osca along with a full stack garrison. Unfortunately, the stupid Spanish had been sending weak and small detatchments of troops to try to recapture it, allowing even the town watch and peasants to gain units of valour. Raising an army urgently in Numantia I sent them to join with my other army of recruits from Lemonum, Narbo Martius, Massilia and Alesia. Unfortunately the Julii caught my small contingent sneaking North around Osca and proceeded to annihilate it, although fortunately my family member survived. Licking my wounds I retreated back to Numantia to continue raising a bigger army, in the meantime my large army of warbands and swordsmen parked themselves on the mountains north of Osca for a terrain bonus. Unfortunately, the Julii attacked in force with wardogs. I was pretty much thoroughly whooped as their generals tore through my left flank whilst my cavalry was busy supporting my right. They then proceeded to mop up the rest of my army and left me with only remnants of 1500 men.
Whilst this was going on, the Dacians decided they wanted a piece and promptly attacked me at Segestica, fortunately I re-loaded the game early enough to get a sizeable force up to help the seige, but it was too late. I lost the town but gained the advantage as I beseiged it immediately afterwards, trapping the Dacian king inside. I assaulted the next turn and annihilated the attacking army, killing their king. I've not seen any further signs of a fight in the mean time. Immediately after this the Brutii decided to show up to reclaim the Julii land and grab some glory for themselves. After despatching both armies they sent up, my current army is undergoing retraining in Patavium whilst the Brutii remnants sit in the mountain wondering what to do next.
As it stands now, I'm allied with Thrace, Spain and Britain (the Germans cancelled the alliance when Dacia attacked, allowing me to ally with the Brits), at war with all of Rome and Dacia and have trade rights and map information from almost everyone else. The Brutii have halted their expansion as they have to deal with me, this means they have Appolonia, Salona, Thessalonica and Byzantium, with a very powerful Greece controlling everything below that line. The Scipii have 4 armies camped outside Capua waiting for my next move and thanks to my failed attacks and the Spanish incompetence, the single Julii city which sits in my unprotected heartland has a full stack of experience troops just waiting for an opportunity, including a 2 silver chevroned wardog unit ~:eek:
I have another army marching from Numantia to try and take Osca with reinforcements from more experienced and better armoured units coming by land from Northern Italy. The Britons have taken Trier which gives me a nice buffer between myself and the Germans, should they decide to help the Dacians, and Thrace are at war with the Dacians thanks to my request. The Brutii have an army camped just at the edge of their territory west of Rome, unfortunately my Julii conquests are unprotected against such a force and they're a considerable source of worry.
I think my next step is to annihilate the Julii utterly in Osca, and train a few more armies in Northern Italy to take care of the Scipii (I've no money to bribe). Watch this space..........
The Gauls are a very interesting faction. They are incredibly easy to destroy when you're fighting them, but they have some crack units like the Foresters and Chosen Swordsmen. I think they are cool, but not as good as the Britons.
Here is my Barbarian faction ranking:
1. Germania
2. Britons
3. Gaul
4. Scythia
5. Spain
6. The Rest
7. Dacia
I found an easy way to take Rome with the Gauls.
First build a sacred grove to teutalis in Mediolonium and a meeting hall in Patavium as soon as possible
Second let the Julii have Segesta. They will leave a small force there and will annoy them when you attack it later. Get a stack of Fanatics and Swords plus a good general and take segesta.
Third make two more stacks of good units. One to guard the bridges and the other to get on the boats.(your going to need a fleet of at least 5 ships for saftey)
Keep beating the Crap out the julii and the Senate army will attack you. Retreat and stay close.
sail your army down to the opposite of Rome and march army to attack a small force in Rome and the senate is destroyed you can now conqer the rest of the Julii. make sure to keep a large garrison in Rome for the Scipii will come.
The Gauls, after beating them with ease with the Julii, are quite fun to play!
Rome: Total Slayer, that is a good strategy but I prefer to wait until I have about loads of swordsmen (make the Hastatii choke) and Forester warbands. Also, I find War Hounds very effective!
Make sure to get forester warband. They are some of the best units avalable to the Gauls, and some of the best Western archers too.
Yes forrester warbands are great and are probably the best archers in the early and middle parts the of the game. They can cut even roman units to pieces.
I had a little practice before starting my Gaul campaign.
The British faction heir has a big unit of chariots. But walking into hidden Gaul in a forest was not a good move by the AI. Warcries, druid chant, Gaul general blowing his horn and forest advantage is really pumping up the Gaul. Meanwhile the Brits are distraught with the number of enemy and surprised by emerging enemy. Lost 7 Gaul taking down the big chariot unit.
https://img67.imageshack.us/img67/4139/gaul11ok.th.jpg
I noticed that cavalry chasing routing chariots sufferred losses. Boo.
Any idea if the power for Druids chanting is influenced by the number of Druids ? Will full strength Druid chant the same as a weakened unit ?
Last night I had the most epic victory I have ever had in RTW. I had 3 warbands, 1 skirmisher, 2 generals and 2 barb cav vs the Rome monster stack in turn 5. It was actually an accident what happened was that I sieged rome because I couldn't see the SPQR monster stack any place. ( It must of been hiding in some woods). Any way the monster stack attacked me at rome and then I retreated and ended up in the roman port square. They attacked me again and I had no retreat option left so I had to fight or reload.
Ordering for battle I placed the warbands all in a tiny copse of woods in the corner of the map. ( PS I do not corner camp even in these dire situations, I 'forest' camp because thats where warbands rock).
I deployed my cav in a group a fair distance away on one side of the map.
Then began the giant roman horde heads towards my hidden warbands. I ordered my cav to the far side of the map intending to draw off enemies and take them piece meal with cav. 6 enemies followed my cav while the rest of the enemy headed in to fight my warbands.
As usual cav vs infantry I make them chase one unit then smash the rear. Then smash the new rear as the enemy turns rinse and repeat lost a few cav at this stage but managed to rout all 6 enemy units using lots of microing on the cav. By this time the enemy reached my warbands and started fighting them.
I realised there would be no chance for my warbands so I left them as they where and rested my cav on the other side of the map.
In the warband struggle in the woods the enemy general died in there by chance woods + spears give cav a nasty headache the enemy pelted my warbands with javalins and routed the lot. The enemy turned and headed to me.
It was a giant line of over 800-1000 + 4 enemy generals men vs about 100 veteran men so I sat still taking advantage of the rest to freshen my men.I identified a weak spot in the enemy line ( for some reason he deployed a straight line heading towards me guess he really wanted to catch my cav) It was a number of velite units. I smashed straight through the line and didn't stop I carried on going this time the 4 generals where on my case. Fortunately I managed to lead them all into rather messy ambushes. I was now down to perhaps 70 men. I then took the remnants of the enemy apart piece meal leaving one triarii till last lead him on a merry chase until my men freshened up significantly to take him in a massive rear charge. At the end I ahd perhaps 50 men. But I ahd killed all of the enemy bar about 40.
I do think from this experience there is a strong argument to take the SPQR army early on in the came if you know how to use cavalry well and have maintained a the 5 cav armies well that you started with. Leading armies on a merry chase resting and smashing them works wonders.
sounds cool Nepereta, but one question. What difficulty level were you playing on? just wondering.
If you deploy the warbands fully in the trees they should be hidden. Rome should not march on hidden troops. Once the AI enemy is tired of chasing your visible cavalry thats when you lead them towards your hidden troops. Then as you say, combat in the woods will give combat advantages to your Gaul infantry..especialy against cavalry.
This was the big battle against SPQR in my current Gaul campaign.(vh/vh)
http://rtw.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/f...81&st=9#post10
It was just a short experiment on v hard(campaign) medium(combat). But since I beleive I have mostly got the combat AI bested I might crank things up in the combat department. FYI continuing from this point I had rome in turn 6. By turn 8 I have defeated most signficant forces on the italian penisula. Once rome wins I thinks its all straight forward. I find with most blitz strats you sucker punch the enemies nerby quick and you have more or less won.Quote:
Originally Posted by roman_man#3
hey. started a gaul campaign, following nepereta's mention of "blitzing".
ITALIAN THEATRE:
i got all troops from patvium and field army of patavium and assaulted arretium. i sent my troops from mediolanium to segesta and took it. after that, i kept on sending my armies at rome, wittling down their army each time, and each time i lost only to retrain everyone at arretium. i finally had a full stack, and divied it up so half attacked ariminum and half attacked rome. won both cities and destroyed julii.
SPANISH THEATRE:
send the field army of narbo martius to osca. on the way, got balearics and spanish mercs, including some barb mercs. got the city, then moved onto Carthago. hoping to take the rest of the peninsula once my army has been restabilized.
NORTHERN/CENTRAL EUROPE THEATRE:
Sent the garrison of alesia to trier which i took. after a while and after some warbands had been trained at alesia, i sent 4+ a General to lugdunum. took it. taking massilia right now.
<foot note> once i unify europe under the banner of the Gauls, i will cross from the Iberian P into north africa, while simeultaniously invading greece.
once question though. i want to show you guys some screenshots, but dont know anything about it. could some one plz help?:help:
good show roman_man the only thing that bothers me about blitzing is the fact that I fight with what I have as opposed to what I'd like to have. I go in heavy with cav + infantry to hold. The fall of rome means chosen swords however I'd love to have forester warbands upgraded by an epnoba + abnoba temples. By the time I see those Romans will be a footnote of gauls history.
I had denigrated the barbarian factions in another post saying that I was not yet interested in playing them since they tended not to have good cavalry. [The Germans aren't that bad actually.] But I took the Gauls for a test drive this week. It has been a lot of fun. The Gauls, unfortunately, don't have as deep a tech tree as the other major factions, i.e., Carthage, Rome, Greek Cities, etc., but I haven't found this to be a real drawback as far as enjoying the campaign. They reach their best units sooner, and the barbarian cavalry can hold its own for the most part.
Of course, with Gaul your combat strategy tends to revolve around mass infantry attacks. You still have war dogs and cavalry. Economic development tends to progress more slowly. There are no public works building projects to speak of to help with squalor/public order issues. But it's been a kick. I have 35 regions subdued in my game so far. An army has just invaded Britain. I have two armies moving on the Greek peninsula. Spain, the Julii, Scipii, and Rome are caput. I own Numidian Tingi. The Germans are on the ropes, Dacia and Carthage seem cowed, and Macedonia is quiet. I have probably overexpanded my military, but I'm not in a serious cash bind. And since the tech tree is much reduced, I've already maxed out the development of some cities. It seems my cities tend to grow more slowly than when I'm playing the other factions. Don't know if that's my imagination or not.
I have found that I depend on mercenaries far less with the Gauls. Spearmen, wardogs, a few skirmishers and some flanking cavalry and I have a solid strike force for the most part. I defeated Rome/SPQR at a river crossing with mass infantry acting as a stopper at the ford. Then used barbarian cav to hit the flanks. I learned something, too, about fighting a large enemy infantry army in the forest. I pulled an Alexander tactic - I fanned my infantry out in a frontal assault on the enemy line to make a bow then charged 5-6 cavalry units into the center of their line. They broke and fragmented. It was then a mop up of the fragments. Lost a few wardogs in the process and took some heavy cavalry casualties, but it worked.
Gaul has been fun.
Finished my first Gallic campaign. Eliminated Germany and Britain and the Brutii. Conquered Corinth, and then Macedonia and Carthage decided I was too dangerous to leave alone so I ended up having to deal with them. I finished the game by taking the city of Carthage and a rebel city in eastern Europe. I am coming to believe holding Corinth is very important in any long campaign. It's not that you can't win the game without possessing Corinth. But it sure helps from a public order standpoint. Patavium was the only city that posed a serious public order problem. But after taking Corinth and then posting a highly influential faction member as governor, I got over the public order "hump" there. I've already started a new Gallic campaign. Guess I'm hooked on barbarians now. :help:
I'm trying a Gallic campaign at the moment with 1.6 .exe, night battles enabled and it's great. I'll be modding it a bit more to add a spearmen unit (since presently the warbands are no good as anti-cavalry) and probably a few fun traits for my next one.
Gaul is such an annoying faction. I started a campaign on m/m and have been quite successful at not dieing. I was quick to gather as many rebel cities as possible, but could not get Salona or Segesta in time. This includes me taking Ireland. I was slow in going to war with anyone, but when it hit I was fighting against all the romans, well not the scipii or the senate, I am also fighting both the brits and the Germans, which is a quite a difficult, because I never knocked the Britons off of the mainland. Instead, I have taken 2 of there 3 isle territories.
They also have no boats to ferry men to the mainland, but still have a flag and a half breathing down my neck. The germans are pesky little stacks, but still tough to fend off.
My main fighting is against the romans. I have just started making forester war bands in hopes of easing the conquering of the Italian peninsula. Oh yes I forgot to mention I quickly mopped up Osca and Carthago from the Spaniards and ceasefired with them. I am allied with Carthage and Greece, but the Brutii are not focusing on Thermon, and are attacking me instead.
Well I am certainly off to an odd start, and would like some advice on where to go.
The A.I. gives priority to attacking the player above any other factions, so when you are playing a central faction like Gaul, you will always be at war with at least two factions. Personally, I would focus on establishing easily defendable borders with the Britons and the Germans. In your case, this probably means taking the remaining Briton towns. Germania is poor however, so it is not a good target, unless you can take out the Germans fast. A better option would be to establish a defendable front line and set up spies/watchtowers to preempt German attacks.
The Italian peninsula is rich, so the current owners can afford to send stack after stack of high-quality troops at you. Getting into a war of attrition with them is a bad idea. You need to take them out quickly. Don't be afraid of the exterminate button when taking their cities: you may not be able to spare the garrisons, and large populations are a bad idea for the barbarians anyway. From what I remember, Gaul foresters were not that good. I would recommend teching up to Noble Cavalry: before the Marian reforms the Romans don't have a proper counter to this unit, apart from their bodyguards.
Forresters were the ultimate range unit though..., and would it be wise to give up a certain profit to make a smaller border against the germans, and should I conquer the other side of spain?
I agree that Gaul can be a bit vexing.
First, I agree with Ludens about Britain. Remove the Blue Stag Flag entirely from the game even if you have to give ground to the Romani for a year or three to do it. Payoffs:
1. British Isles do not normally get attacked by any non-Roman AI faction -- except Gaul. You have a very secure rear area.
2. British Isles, though slow developing, are among the richest Northern Barb provinces with natural port trade dichots in Ireland/Lancashire and London/Flanders -- quite lucrative for the Barbarian world.
3. No chariots to faff around with once they're done. This leaves you with no immediate opponents who have a natural counter to your cavalry -- Germany is in the same boat as you and Rome and Spain a notch behind.
Second, I'd reccomend launching a spoiler attack into Germany while defending against the Romans. Send in a tough stack, smash and loot as much as you can in 5 years or so and kill lots of Germans. Then fall back to the Rhine and defend the most of the crossings with forts and towers for visibility. Leave one bridge with no fort to be defended by an army -- this will draw the Germans, as they rebuild, into a series of frontal attacks on your bridge defense army -- and they will present a bunched and largely under-armored target for your forresters as they try to pound through your swords on your side of the bridge. Throw in a unit of druids to keep the sword lads "ki-d" up and you should have Germany on hold for quite some time.
Third, decision time.
Choice A = Build two armies and strike the Italian Peninsula (one from the North the other by Sea). As Ludens notes, DO NOT ATTRIT WITH THEM, Make any fight with them either them attacking you at a bridge or fighting with a city as the prize. Field action after field action will cause you to take too many casualties to do anything but slowly bleed while they get stronger. You'll win 24 out of 25 battles and still lose because the AI can afford to chum the waters until you run into debt and lose.
Choice B = Keep a defensive posture against the Romans as in the Second phase above and Hammer Spain. This is slower than going after Italy (distance and bad roads), and less lucrative, but it is the more "conservative" choice in that you should be able to best the Spanish and thus close another theatre of action more or less permanently (allowing you to concentrate). You'll also pick up nice trade money in the Spanish Riviera. Narrowing the front, for Gaul, is always an important consideration.
Fourth, do whichever Choice you didn't already do in Step Three.
Fifth, Defend Italy from Roman counterattacks -- the Romans tend to fixate on a city and you can make it a place to bleed them dry -- and conquer North Africa from whoever's holding it (Numida/Carthage/Scipii). Remember to be careful facing hefalumps -- they do inordinately well against your Northern barbs, especially on Sand. Leave (for now) a one province buffer between you and the Egyptians --even if it means letting the Scipii live.
Sixth, Conquer the Balearics, Sardinia, and Sicily if you haven't done so already. These all tend to interact well with the rest of the Western Med ports and you want a lucrative trading lake before taking on the Eggies or the Brutes (who'll probably own the Aegean by this point and be making a mint and constantly sending Romans to die at Tarentum and Patavium as you defend these two bastions).
You'll want to build up powerful armies to take Greece and or Egypt for the win. The Brutes will be Marian armies and the Eggies are always tough, so you'll need to train up. Take advantage of your position to purchase Balaerics, Merc Hoplites for defensive blocking forces, Numid cavalry for harassing, and a War Elephant if you can get them. This will refine your Barb army for the harder tasks of the end game.
Other than that, I can't think of anything.:smartass:
Yeah, i want to get to greece, It isn't that far in turn wise, and if I can get italy and sicily I'll just exterminate so imperial doesn't come. Ok, thanks, I really like the idea for dealing with briton and germany, and I am going to go straight down the Italian peninsula, 2 stacks, and just destroy cities, don't even hold them the first time through...
Imperial will come. Even if you own all of Italy, once one of the FORMERLY italian citys hits the right level, the reforms still take place.Quote:
Originally Posted by whtdoesitmatta
I meant I was going to exterminate all those cities to push back the reforms, until I can take care of the Italians.
If you have Italy, you don't have to worry about the Marian Reforms because the barbarians can't build to Huge City. So you don't really have to worry about it,
Good luck,
RM3
Stats from my completed Gaul campaign.
https://img102.imageshack.us/img102/...tatsoh3.th.png
Its a pity the victory movie was of Gauls dressed as Britons.
https://img518.imageshack.us/img518/...8s12dh0.th.jpg
How do you find out your stats? Is it something you compiled?
Hi. Yes those stats were captured on pen and paper as I went along. Then typed onto an excel spreadsheet and a pivot table gave me the summary tables shown above.
Took a lot of effort. So dont that level of detail in my current campaigns.
Well, I just finished my first Gaul campaign on H/H. It is the year 247 BC and all my enemies, well except Brutii who are reduced to one settlement, are crushed and lie six feet under.
FACTIONS ERADICATED: Spain, Britain, Germania, Julii, Scipii, SPQR, Macedon.
ALLIES: Dacia, Carthage
No, I'm not an agressive player, it's just that Gaul gets attacked by all his neighbours pretty much from the getgo. I'll try not to repeat the advice that was given by the previous posters. I'll just say that you need to use the strengths of Gallic armies (war cry, druid chant, advantage during the winter, forest advantage, amazing generals) and avoid their weaknesses (some poor provinces, lack of good cavalry support - although Barbarian Noble Cavalry does a decent job, especially after being trained in a city with a Sacred Circle of Epona).
All in all, I must say that, after unifying my lands, I got attacked by Spanish, British and Julii off the bat. Fight on three fronts was difficult, however, luckily the Germans did not attack me yet. British were pushed off the continent and then Vindex with half a stack was sent to conquer England, after which he became known as Vindex the Conqueror. Well, at the end of the game I had about 4 Conquerors, one of them being Conan the Conqueror :beam:
The war with Spain was the war of attrition - I couldn't afford to send a lot of troops to Spain as other theaters of war were more important. After being pushed off the continent, British were pushovers. Julii were promptly defeated after a few unsuccessful attacks on the bridges in northern italy near Patavium and Mediolanium. At this point Germania entered the war. Their Spear Warbands are a nightmare when all you have is swordsmen, skirmishers and warbands. However, it was a good practice in defeating the phalanx-like armies. I must say that Germans took a chunk out of me, kill ratios of 2 enemies for every one of my soldier were not uncommon, whereas against other factions my kill ratios are usually 5 - 10 to 1.
After I was able to train the Chosen Swordsmen, Forester Warbands, Barbarian Nobles - the game became easier. The good thing with Gaul is that you hit the top of the tech tree pretty soon, so settlement management becomes really easy. The usual late period army consisted of 6-8 Forester Warbands, 6 - 8 Chosen Swordsmen, 1 General and the rest - Barbarian Noble Cavalry.
All that practice against the Germans paid off when fighting the Macedonian phalangites. MAcedonians wiped out Thracians and were sitting with 7 or 8 stacks on my now expanded border. I called it the "Black Plague". Took me lots of turns to crush these armies - my supply lines were overextended as most troop production was concentrated in Italy.
CONCLUSION: A very fun and challenging faction to play. A definite must try for someone who hasn't played a Barbarian faction.
y:yes: ou guys got it all wrong,take britain!send every armie to briatan,whipp there buts!then head south to rome and sicily,and if your crazy,then germany.
im having trouble playing as gaul,julii and germania have full bannered armies and attacking samarobriva and massilia,so i think im going to have to wait on invading italy.:help:
I've actually favored a two-prong "retreat" as Gaul. Conquer Spain and defend the Pyrenees (nice narrow front) and conquer the UK (which never seems to get counter-invaded. Loss of original provinces is not too bad.
Eventually, the Jollies and Krauts begin to tangle, and then you can push back.
I used to love it when you ended up with a province to defend in Asia Minor in some games -- always a hoot!
english please:furious3:
:thumbsdown: dude im telling you,you need to understand me,if you just do what i did,erase rome and sicily,my bad,then take spain,sail to caralis,capua,then at last...mighty rome,thats how you win as gauls:idea2:
in my gaul campaign the first move is to destroy the julii as fast as you can, and then reunite your land. Create a solid fortress in center of spain. After you can train chosen swordsman head to rome and kill all those old bitches :whip:
dont worry about britons and germans they need time to train forces to crush you. Just focus on your southeast borders. after julii destroyed theres no threat in that regions and you can concentrate to dominate spain or that big island in north. i crushed julii in 4 turn just with two army full of warbands. i play on vh/h.
i think repelling german invaders is esseintal to a gallic victory
hello i am new here
i play a gaul campaign and i took italy but the rest of france is taken by the britons what can i do now shall i fight against the britons or shall i take greece
Booting the Britons off we be good, you need that money for a war with factions like greece, they all use phalanx, you don't, so Strongly suggest you take out the britons, and then germany, dacia, basically take out all the other barabarian factions, then start thundering down on thrace, then macedonia or Greeks (sometimes the greeks will do better than macedonia and elimate them, or the other way round) then smash out pontus, if Selucid hasnt already, once there out, it shouldnt be too dificult, with the exception of egpyt who you may want to get rid for certain, armenia won't be too hard, it should be easy from then on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morgoth-NL
im sorry to burst bubbles but i couldnt help point out that last post from the guy in the spartan avatar(sorry i didnt read your name) played as gaul(ancient france) and called gaul france.lol and confused:laugh4: :inquisitive:
Quote:
hello i am new here
i play a gaul campaign and i took italy but the rest of france is taken by the britons what can i do now shall i fight against the britons or shall i take greece
???Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzman1O1
thanks man i shall take the britons but i have much money because i take italyQuote:
Originally Posted by Abokasee
ozzman i am sorry but i don't know what you try to say
Dont let the Greeks grow. Just take sure that you fight against both of them. Brittons are esential, because they will be good and powerful some day, and that will be a pain in your *insertpartofyourbody*Quote:
thanks man i shall take the britons but i have much money because i take italy
ok but the only roman famaly who is alive is brutii and they are in greece so i think greece will soon be gone
OK,i think after taking briton you should take spain,there units are defenslis against flaming arrows,and live in a very wealthy country,(whas that too hard to understand!):no:
no i mean thisQuote:
Originally Posted by Ozzman1O1
now im confused.....:dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2:
Ok.. Ozzman said that "Spartan Guy" said "Ancient France" not "Gaul" but Ozzman is wrong.
Let us get back on the topic of Gauls... thankyou.
whatever,once you take rome,better yet before....you sould have a full bannerd army in capua(the capuans will attack rome if the senate loses it)I suggest using the family member eperodix to attack capua....hes a skilled roman turncoat,so oneless you whant to spend millions of denaria to take a city that you will lose....take capua first or instantly after rome.:charge:
Yes, assuming you've destroyed the Julii getting to Rome, you'll still have the Scipii in Capua and the Brutii (a little later usually) to worry about. This is why you should bring reinforcements to repelish your Rome siege loses.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzman1O1
Lose? Um... a Roman Turncoat (+1 bonus to fighting Romans) is just a useful Ancillary. You'll find Ancilliaries are determined by what your General goes through and what you build, etc. If you lose because of a +1 bonus or lack of, your doing it wrong.Quote:
I suggest using the family member eperodix to attack capua....hes a skilled roman turncoat,so oneless you whant to spend millions of denaria to take a city that you will lose
I find open Battles easier than city Battles using Gauls (and other Barbs), let the Romans sally forth and crush 'em :smash:
When invading italy one thing you should do is never do is head into sicily and attack carthage,you should sail to greece instead and take sparta,with a character that has good TRAITS
In general, Greece is more lucrative than Sicily, but after swallowing Italy, your money problems are probably over anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzman1O1
Part of the directional decision depends on who's still playing. Greece and Macedon, in particular, are tough for a barbarian force to attack well. The walls of spears can give you fits unless you have lots of javelin troops. Remember, you don't really have much in the way of heavy cavalry, and lights do not fare well against spears even on the flank.
well...im a specialist on attacking phalanxes,i have a lot of costum battles when i experiance how to kill them,buy mercinaries.....duh...
I'd take Sicily before going East, simply due to it (usually) being Scipii controlled. Never let an enemy behind you!Quote:
Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh
messana is fine,what i meant was dont wage war on carthage,if you destroy the scipii,carthage will become richer by invading spain,and that includes numantia!
By the time you're hitting the phalanx troops of Greece/Macedon, you should have control of Rome---which means Forester Warbands, which means pincushioned phalanx. Nothing like targets that intentionally move as slowly as possible.:smash: :smash:
However,a few elephants from the south can take care of some foresters,but you shouldint have to worry about that
The range on foresters is enough that the elephants should be out of control long before they hit the Gallic lines.
Hm, just started a Gallic campaign tonight and it's proving a wee bit tricky.
As per my usual procedure, I didna read any of the advice here before I went in, so I started completely cold. Dunno if any of the following advice is repetitive or not, but I warrant there's some new information here.
The Alps inconveniently divide your empire into two right off the bat. Even once Massilia and Lugdunum fall (took a bit later in my game than I expected), Mediolanium and Patavium are both essentially isolated from outside reinforcement. With this in mind, and the fact that I knew how much of a juggernaught Roman factions tend to be if they're given time to develop, I decided on an aggressive strategy.
First turn, I gathered all my forces in northern Italy and put them in striking range of Arretium. The forces in France were gathered into two armies (one from the two southern provinces, one from the northern). I meant to link those up to make assaults on the rebel provinces, but circumstance meant that was impossible for the first few years. In the meantime, I started training another army at Alesia and one in Patavium, to deal with the Britons and to serve as reinforcements for the coming war with the Julii.
That war went surprisingly well. The Romans took Segesta first turn, as usual, nicely exposing their capital to me. Gallic hordes swept down behind them and snatched Arretium from their over-large noses. The Julii field army scrambled to deal with this incursion, most of it bypassing Arretium to the north to bolster the defenses around Ariminium. The faction leader, however, remained at Segesta, so I dispatched part of the army to take it and kill him. This mission done, I hurried back to Arretium, my forward base, and rebuilt the army and bolstered it with some swordsmen.
A year or so later, I advanced against the main field army, and in a series of battles drove them into Ariminium. The siege commenced, I reluctant to assault due to the large number of family members in the city and my lack of spearmen - with a massive SPQR army less than a turn's march to the south I didn't want to deal with large numbers of heavy cavalry and get my army mauled. I delayed too long, hwoever, and a Scipii diplomat appeared, offering alliance. It'd be nice to quiet the Roman front due to developments elsewhere, so I agreed, ending the first Romano-Gallic war.
Other fronts were faring less well. In Numantia, the garrison devastated a large Spanish stack sent to sack it, whilst around Narbo Martius my southern field army relieved a Spanish siege of the town and destroyed that, before marching east, rendezvousing with the northern field army (which had taken Lugdunum), and storming Massilia. I then turned and began marching for Osca.
As I fought through the mountain passes, disaster struck. I had trained yet another army in Numantia (my 5th sizable force), and had just marched it out to take the westernmost Spanish provinces. The very turn I marched it out, Numantia was attakced by a massive Carthaginian army that used war elephants to batter down the gates. The two warbands and general inside were unable to stem the white advance, and all of a sudden my field army was outnumbered and stranded in enemy territory. I hastily withdrew to a river crossing and have destroyed several Spanish armies from this position.
I couldna send reinforcements to the area, hwoever, as the Germans had declared war and marched on Lugdunum. A moderate-strength field army at Alesia, of maybe halfa dozen warbands, 3 swordsmen, and 2 barbarian cavalry units, plus a general, had just been completed, however, so I swung down on the Krauts' rear and destroyed them. While I was away, however, a massive British stack descended on Alesia.
It was here that the defensive system I had concieved of some years before proved its worth. Strapped for cash, I simply kept a few warbands in each province as a garrison, hoping to use them to quickly concentrate in an emergency. That's exactly what happened as the British attacked. 3 warbands from Condate Redonum, plus 2 from Lugdunum, the small army that had beat the Germans, and the Alesian garrison were all within reinforcement range of each other within a turn of the British attack. I immediately attacked, despite being outnumbered, hoping to drive them away from my capital.
I'm quite proud of that battle. Due to a misclick, I wound up only controlling 3 warbands, with a host of AI reinforcements, against the entire British army. I managed to use those 3, however, with brilliant effect, defeating personally 8 enemy warbands, a skirmisher warband, a light chariot unit, and the warlord - over half the army. This was done by staying tightly together and lots of swift movement - flanking two or three enemy warbands at a time, fading back when my own flanks were threatened, and exploiting whatever openings appeared. By the time the British were fleeing over the border, over half my little army was dead, but the main force hadn't even suffered.
Oh, and in the meantime a second war broke out in Italy and I exterminated the Julii after one last great field battle (they had rebuilt their army in the peacetime). That's where I stopped for the night and swung over here.
So, learn what lessons you will from this tale. I'll let y'all knwo how the wars go - they've only just begun, after all! Still have 5 Roman cities, 3 Spanish, and the Carthaginian Empire to fight!
I recommend conceding the Po valley (Mediolandum etc) to the Julii and setting up two all cavalry armies around Massilia. As the pre-Marius Roman infantry (even Triarii) can't handle cav that well, you can fight a holding action with the Julii in southern Gaul while sending your better infantry into either Spain or Britannia. Don't try to fight against all three of your neighbors simultanously, though, as you will be sandwiched by Spainards and Julii. It becomes a whole differant ballgame when the Marian reforms kick in. As I never got that far with Gaul (re-installs, mods, life getting in the way) I really can't tell you how to take on the elite legions with Gaul.
the po valley is a highley strategic spot,if you spot a forester warband just at the top of the valley,the roman cavalry and infantry will falter,weile a good charge with generals bodygaurd down the valley will do wonders also,and experienced warbands and samnnite mercenaries will make a ROCK SOLID line of defense...why did you you think Hannibal reccomended it?(just place your army very specificaly
I always hold, if I can help it.
I must report victory on all three fronts today! I only played for about an hour - all I had time for - so not much was achieved, except the destruction of two major enemy armies.
First, around Alesia, I resolved to kick the Britons off of the continent so I could fight a holding action against the Germans (I, perhaps unwisely, after playing so many civilized factions, hold no respect for barbarians, so I thought they'd be the easiest to hold). A near-full stack marched north after retraining from the great battle to my border. There, I was attacked by a second British full-stack.
The battle was easily won, however. I concealed both my flanks in forests, and held further units in ambush behind THOSE, so that as the British overlapped my outnumbered line, they found themselves flanked, and when they threw in the reserves to counter that, the reserves were flanked as welll. One heroic victory later, there are no more significant forces between me and Samorobrivia (whatever the British continental town is).
In Spain, one of my armies, marching to liberate Numantia after linking up with the one that escaped the city, was surprised by a Carthaginian force. It was perfect - the great Carthaginian army was split in two, one guarding Numantia, one that had just found my army. I immediatly moved the other army (which was on the other side of the city) up and besieged one force, isolating the other for my attentions.
The two armies were fairly evenly matched - their numerical superiority in cavalry (5 Rounshield units to 2 Barbarian and a General) being balanced by my superior infantry (Warbands and a few Swordsmen against Spanish mercs, Iberians, Townwatch, and Peasants). My cavalry hung back, simply covering my flanks as the infantry slammed into the enemy line, the superior quality of the Gallic warriors soon prevailing. The Roundshield units attempted to flank, but were forced to break off each time by a threatened counter-flank by one of my two cavarly units. In this way I neutralized their cavalry advantage and crushed the Carthaginian field force. Their five Roundshield units escaped, however, intact to Numantia.
Finally, in Italy, I combined my two armies into one full-stack, and defeated two seperate Brutii forces before they could unite into a full stack. Now they have one more full stack that stands between me and southern Italy. The plan is to flank Rome and eliminate its Brutii support in the south. The Scipii, oddly enough, are nuetral towards me and have broken their alliances with the Roman factions - I'll ignore Capua, if possible. Once Rome is cut off from land support, I'll come at that big ol' SPQR army with at least 2 stacks, if not more.
So, overall strategic plan is: Finish off the Carthaginians and Spanish in Iberia, securing that front. Drive the British off the mainland and hold against the Germans until Spain and Italy are settled. In Italy, drive south, and destroy the Brutii. No plans beyond that - I'll see how things develop.
The reason I always conceded Northern Italy is because the terrain is not very defensiable and the fact the Gauls don't have very good units when the game starts. As Massilia is right at the entrance to Gaul from Italy via the Alps, and the pass is very narrow, all you have to do is hold the pass with fort full of good cav and have that stationary unit backed up by a wholly mobile cav unit and a large garrison in Massilia, to keep the Julii honest while you kick the tar out of Britiannia and Spain. Making alliances with Macedonia and the Greek Cities also helps too.
I dunno - the warband has proven most excellent so far. They absorb the shock of cavalry well, they can handle any infantry I've met so far, save hastati, and even hastati are always overwhelmed with numbers, so cheap are the warbands.
In any case, I, too, noted the difficulty of defending Northern Italy - all I had were a pair of bridges over the Po, and that would require stationing a fullstack army there, to fight off constant Roman invasions. I got around the problem of defense by siezing the initiative and forcing the Julii onto the defensive, and the results of that are listed above.
Didn't have a lot of time, but here are the results of about an hour of playing.
In Italy, there was little action, as the last Brutii full stack fell back towards Tarentum. I shadowed them closely with my own army, trying to entice them to battle on terms favorable to me - I ended every turn on a mountain slope, but so far they haven't taken the bait. Tarentum will be in sight soon, however, so they'll fight soon enough, I have no doubt.
In Britannia, Samorobrivia was heavily fortified with 4 family members and innumerable warbands, swordsmen, and slingers. I opened three breaches in the wall, sending in mercenaries through the leftmost, as bait, and swordsmen through the rightmost, to get a foothold and let my numbers flank and swamp the British. The gate, however, proved an oddity - two warbands sallied out as soon as it was destroyed. Despite quickly being outflanked by two of my own warbands, plus a pair of sword units, the British fought stubbornly, holding off my advance there for several minutes.
The mercenaries, going in on the left of the gate, predictably attracted a heavy response, being met with the full weight of the defenders. I sent a warband unit as reinforcements, to stiffen the merc's resolve, and further posted my general and a skirmisher unit just off the breach, pouring in rallies and javelins in equal measure. A massive, chaotic fight soon developed there, as they pushed me out of the breach, my units forced their way back in, and were in turn thrown out. Chariots, spearmen, horsemen, and swordsmen mixed in to a great morass, with no clear advantage to either side.
On the other side of the gate, however, my swordsmen, backed up with yet another warband, were slowly but surely hacking through the lone British warband blocking their way. It took longer than expected, but at last they broke, and I sent my 4 cavalry, plus my spare general, flooding into the city and into the rear of the gate defenders. They quickly crumbled, as well, and all unengaged units slammed into the back of the enormous brawl at the left breach. The British fought back briefly, then collapsed. Their 3 surviving generals (one had already died in the confusion) were killed one by one as they attemped to flee or rally the defenders, and my army pursued the still massive British force up the hill to the town square, where the survivors were surrounded and destroyed. It had been a tough battle, costing me nearly 20% of my army, but well worth the cost - my losses were all in easily retrainable warbands, while the British lost a third fullstack army and 4! family members.
Finally, in Spain, I liberated Numantia. Here, I had only built two rams, rather foolishly, against a city defended by a handful of infantry units, but 5 Roundshields, a general, and those Elephants! I attempted to lure the defenders to the breach in the wall, as usual, but the elephants were the only ones committed and slowly began chewing through my forces. An attempt to push a warband through the gate was met with the full weight of their cavalry. Frustruted by this first wave, I backed off.
This time, I led the charge on the Elephants with wardogs, followed by as many Warcried warbands as I could cram in, whilst a unit of swordsmen pinned down the cavalry at the gate. After hard fighting, the 4 surviving elephants fled back towards the town square, and my army swung into the flank of the gate defenders. The intact units made one last attempt at a stand at the square, but 2 amok elephants, plus 4 fresh barbarian cavalry units, ended those hopes.
So, results for today were 2 enemy stacks destroyed, one shadowed, 1 city retaken, 1 captured, and the British off the continent. I now have enough surplus funds each turn to begin developing my cities a lil' bit! An archery range is laid down in Patavium and in 4 turns I can churn out these fabled 'foresters' I've heard so much about!
Also, if you haven't noticed, I'm not too subtle or skilled at assaults. Meh.
Any faction facing the britons, and especially gaul because of the low morale of the warbands finds friends in assassins and skirmishers. Let assassins practice a bit on diplomats, spies and rebel captains/generals and then target briton family members. It takes out their best shock unit.
Gaul's main asset is their cavalry though, but don't ignore the warbands and swordsmen. You need something to pin your enemies so your horsemen can sweep round the flanks.
I'm absolutely against ceding any territory with any faction. What I did was this (I won't mention selling maps and trade rights, it's and obvious course of action):
- try to ally with all neighbouring factions. Especially the germans, if you can beat Briton incursions they'll remain your allies untill you need to attack them.
- Kick the britons out of samarobriva quickly and build a few ships to keep them from coming back.
- capture Lugudnum and massilia before the Germans do it (they will try, so use bribes) so you have a link to italy.
- Beat the Julii invading army (take position on the bridge, when they attack, use the ford to sweep around and attack them in the rear). And take either ariminum or arratium. That will keep them from mediolanium and patavium. Segesta is easy game as well
- make alesia and at least (one of) the Italian towns training locations at the start (especially build stables and practice ranges), fortify condate rendonum and make the rest economic.
- After you've beaten off the Britons and Julii, take over the whole of italy.
- Spain will attack you sooner or later, be prepared. make numamtia a generic settlement and you should be able to hold on to it. The spanish don't seem to want Narbo Martius as bad compared to what they do when you take it playing the julii. and Iberian infantry is inferior to your warbands.
When you have posession of the peninsulas (that is, Spain and Italy), Germany should begin to get troublesome. I've managed to massacre most of their armies, and after such defeats they seem inclined to accept ceasefires on your terms (Threaten them with attack and demand money and settlements... if they've taken Noricum, get that one).
I'm not really eager however, to destroy the germans and take their lands. I'd rather move into greece 'cause it's richer. I can keep them from my lands with military might or by taking batavodorum and trier and have them rebel.
Actually, your tactics on siege assault are solid. Using a Barbarian-tech force against city walls, there are few (zero) ways to be subtle. Your choice -- open 2+ breaches for a little initial mis-direction and swamp them as they commit -- is the best approach available. Dogs are always a nice lead, since you send in the puppies but run the handlers to safety. In RTW, doggies are the ultimate missile weapon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vitellus
You have no fun at bridge defense, right now, because your units aren't suited to it. Holding a bridge with non-phalanx spears and no missile support is tough, and likely to kill more of you than of him even if it works. Get those forresters cranked up and try this:
Two warbands at 45deg angles forming a "V" at the end of the bridge -- open part of "V" faces the enemy. Have a couple/three of sword units close to support the warbands when it gets to the scrum.
Have 4-6 forrester units and 1-2 skirmishers positioned to shoot onto the bridge and far approaches -- do not use fire at will.
Send 3 units of doggies over the bridge attacking just as the enemy starts over.
Dogs form solid wall with all of the enemy packed onto the same small piece of bridge and ground at the far end. Target with forresters and shoot away. Most misses will hit something (and the doggies, being shorter, take few hits).
This dog wall will hold for 1-3 minutes, allowing you to really thin the opposing ranks.
When they finally engage, their cavalry should be pushing into your spears at slow speed :devilish: and you should be able to block the far end for a while. Your forresters and skirms should target the back of this formation so as to miss your guys, but still keep killing the bad 'uns.
As leaders go and casualties climb, they break. If there is a ford, your cavalry can cross after they break the dog line and commit to a frontal, and then you can ride up and attack their rear on the packed bridge. If there is no ford, you can still use the cavalry to kill routers as per usual.
More news from the front.
In Italy, my strategy of shadowing the Brutii army worked brilliantly. I was able to quickly get ahead of them and set up on a mountain between them and Tarentum. They gathered their forces and attacked my army, Gallic full stack against Brutii stack and a half.
The battle was little more than a massacre. Gallic forces held a high ridge, overlooking the green Romans. Their pila were useless, as, after struggling up the slope for fifteen minutes, the exhausted troopers were slammed into by a wave of screaming warriors, never giving them a chance to throw. Swordsmen quickly lapped around the Roman flanks, and their general attempted to save the situation by charging the Gallic center. He became bogged down in the warbands, then was countercharged by my own general once his momentum had disappated, along with 2 reserve units of swordsmen. It was also at this time that the 3 gallic cavalry units finished routing the Roman Equites and slammed into the rear of the Roman center. In a re-enactment of Cannae (40 years before Cannae), the Roman army was annihilated, save 3 equites and 2 generals that managed to escape to Tarentum.
The Brutii having no more major military forces visible (and I can see both their cities), I have besieged Tarentum. I shall storm it next turn and sweep on to Croton before the garrison can be built up, removing the second Roman family from the board.
In Gaul, a tough battle was fought at my capital. Whilst I was besieging Samarobrivia, the Germans sent a tiny stack at my near-undefended Alesia (I had stripped the garrison to supplement the numbers of the field army). I ignored it, gambling I could take the city and return to drive off the Krauts before they attacked.
I lost. The 2 spear warbands and 1 wardog unit assaulted the same turn I stormed the British city, being opposed by only my faction leader, and 48 bodyguards. I hit the first spear warband and the dogs at the gate, before they could get their phalanx up. Caught in close quarters, most switched to swords, and I wiped them out, losing 1/4 of my army in the process.
Now the captain and the last spear war band came in. I attempted the same manuever, but enough men made it through that the phalanx pushed my cavalry back. I escaped with barely 20 men. With no other option, I lured them deeper into the city, constantly teasing and circling them with my lone cavalry unit to pull them out of formation. At last, seizing an opportunity, I charged. 3, 4, 5 of my handful of bodyguards died in the impact, on German spears, but my desperate gamble had worked - the cavalry punched through the disorganized spearmen and got in amongst them, so they pulled out swords. After that, it was a simple hacking contest, my general's superior armor and hitpoints eventually prevailing against Germannic numbers. That army was wiped out and Alesia saved, though only 8 men survived of the 50 that started the battle.
Apparently the heavy fighting gave my faction leader a heart attack, for he perished of old age that winter, after celebrating his victory. Alesia was briefly ungarrisoned, but I was already rushing my army back from Samarobrivia and recruiting mroe defensive units. Close call.
In Iberia, no change, as my army continued retraining for an assault on Cordoba.
So, strategic projections for the next few turns:
One consistent problem plagues my army, that was demonstrated at Numantia nad with near disastrous consequences at Alesia: I don't have enough men. I only have 3 major field armies for 3 fronts, and each front has 2 enemies. This means I can choose either offense, or defense, not both. Either way, wherever my army is not, that is where the enemy is.
In Iberia, I marched the main army out of Numantia to crush the Spaniards, only to lose the city to a surprise Carthaginian assault.
In Gaul, I moved the field army to relieve Lugdunum from German siege. Alesia was attacked by the British. I marched back north, defeated them, and followed up the victory by an offensive. The Germans then attacked my rear at Alesia and were only just beaten.
In Italy, I have bypassed the Senate and am rampaging through Southern Italy, but my 4 major Italian cities are completely vulnerable to invasion, with only minor garrisons.
In short, I'm stretched so thinly that to have any offensive capability at all I must operate with virtually no defensive garrison. So, here's the situation, as I see it.
In Italy, I need to finish the Brutii swiftly, and then swing around back to the north of Rome. If the Scipii join in the war on me, and isolate me in southern Italy, I could lose all my northern Italian possessions. A move back to the other side would avoid this, and I could begin my assault on the city on the Tiber itself.
My plan for that is to use the Tiber river to lure the Senate army into open battle, where my superior numbers will have full weight. Once they are slaughtered at the river crossing, I can build up plenty of siege towers and take the walls of Rome with few casualties. If I attempt to lure the army away from the city and then steal the city, I think I will suffer heavy losses as I fight all those family members at the gates, losing men to horses, arrow fire, and boiling oil. Furthermore, on the narrow walls and in the streets superior Roman quality with have full advantage. No, I shall meet them in the open field, where I have the upper hand.
In Gaul, I debated taking the offensive against the Germans and driving them over the Rhine. I cannot yet, however - my rear is still vulnerable to the British, and any campaign against the Germans will inevitably uncover my coastal cities to Briton attack. My preferred solution would be to build a navy and lock them up on their island, but I can't afford one right now. Even if I COULD maintain a navy large enough for the task, it'd be ripped apart by the rampant piracy in the Channel and North Sea, and would be swiftly destroyed if I didn't keep investing denari into it. So, my plan is to use the field army as a mobile defensive force, swiftly concentrating to repel enemy incursions while I build up a second force for this front. I will then attack in both directions at once, landing on England and driving for the Germanic heartland.
This task will be made easier if I can free up the Iberian army. Here, I have the same defensive situation, but I face weaker opponents. The fight seems to have gone out of the Spanish after I took Osca and annihilated their field army. So, to take full advantage of this, I plan to march south on Corduba, and kick the Carthaginians out of Spain. From there, a detachment will strike to the east and take Carthago Nova, securing my rear in Iberia. The reunited army will then proceed to locate and destroy the Spaniard main army, while taking the final two cities as swiftly as possible.
With victory in Italy and Iberia, my problems will be over, as I finally get the income from some Mediterranean sea trade. I'll be able to afford a minor navy to take the island territories off Carthage's hands, and to shuttle a force into Britain. With that nation destroyed at last, all my foes will lie to the east and I can at last present a united front to them.
More next time.
Best laid plans often go amiss.
My plan to use my two field armies outside Italy as mobile defensive forces quickly fell apart. In Spain, a minor stack launched an attack on Osca. I quickly made for it with my main army, but while I was away, a second stack besieged Numantia! I did not expect such canny manuevering on the AI's part. That plan failed, as I had left sufficient troops behind to repel the Spanish assault, whilst the brown barbarians suffered another loss at Osca at the hands of my main army there. I marched back to Numantia and drove off another powerful Spanish stack, then quickly stormed Asturicas, relieving the pressure slightly. Couldn't rest my on my heels, however, as the next turn a full Carthaginian stack besieged Numantia yet again!
The Germans were even more clever. One army penetrated by border between Alesia and Lugdunum. I expected them to quickly strike one or the other, but instead they marched around the mountains on the other side of Lugdunum, approaching the city from the south. I destroyed them there, but I was now more than a full turn's move from Alesia.
While the army was away, TWO full German stacks besieged Samarobrivia and Alesia at the same time! I brought up my army at Alesia and attacked a turn before the rams were finished, but unfortunately my losses from the previous battle prevented a decisive win, as nearly half the German force escaped intact in what was essentially a drawn battle.
Meanwhile, I rushed all the reserves I had available - 4 warbands in Condate Redonum - to Samarobrivia. They arrived in the town square barely thirty seconds ahead of the advancing German hordes. The Germans, already tired after a sharp fight with the city's defenders at the walls, were surrounded by the reinforcements and destroyed, but my general died repelling them.
Finally, in Italy, the Scipii declared war and blocked my passage northward. I had reinforced my army with these Foresters, however, and now I fully agree with everyone who posted previously: Absolutley indispensable. I attacked the Scipii army full on, shooting them to pieces just before I swamped their lines of hastati with my warbands. When Chosen Swordsmen began to roll up their flanks, the entire army collapsed, and I must have killed more than a thousand routers. Two generals and some cavalry escaped into Capua, which fell the next turn. I now face only Rome on the peninsula.
Except for Greece. I got map information from the Hellenes a few turns ago or so. It turns out, with no Brutii pressure on their eastern flank, they can do quite well. They dominate the Balkans and own the entire Adriatic coast up to Patavium. That, apparently, was their next target. A Greek force besieged the city unexpectedly, taking it a mere turn before my hastily scraped-together relief force arrived. They barely had time to bar the gates, however, before my men kicked them back down, kicked the Greeks' asses, and then kicked them back out of town. I retrained what I could of the army, but another full stack is visible. They're a turn's march from the city, so I'm setting an ambush on the road to the north...
Analysis and revised strategy: Rome will soon no longer be a threat, and that will free up a full stack army to use against any one of my other three foes: Greece, Carthage/Spain, or Britain/Gaul. This is also my most advanced army, so I feel confident of victory wherever it goes. With another near-full stack army defending Venetia from Hellenic incursions, I feel reasonably safe on that front for now. However, hoplites are difficult foes while I have few Foresters, so I'm going to hold off attacking until I've built up a sizable force of them.
The Germans have proven an uncanny ability to come up with hordes of troops again and again, and have shown some strategic ability. Despite the danger to my home provinces, I have resolved to attack into Alemania - they have sent so many troops to die in Gallic fields that their garrisons must be weaker than mine! If I can seize the initiative there, I will be able to draw off what men they have remaining and protect my provinces indirectly that way. Britian has been contained by means of a watchtower across the straits of Dover - if they build any ships, I'll soon know about it and be ready to prepare a response.
Finally, Spain. With the fall of Asturicas, the Spanish have no remaining settlemetns near Numantia. Carthage is the main threat now. I shall march to Numantia and crush their field army between my own and the city's garrison. From there, it's an offensive south, to Corduba, before the garrison can be reinforced. Assuming I have met success thus far and there is little threat to my 3 Iberian territories, I'll march south along the coast and take Carthago Nova, as well. That means the final Spanish province, in the far north, will be able to threaten only 2 cities and can be easily held at no less than 3 river lines and several mountain passes. I don't intend to stay on the defensive for long, however. I want this frotn secured and the troops shifted elsewhere.
So, plans: Defensive in Venetia, offensive in Latium, Germania, and Iberia, with the intent of finally destroying these threats to Gallic indepedence once and for all!
Germany is a long slog without two armies on two different axes of advance. I'd suggest a very slow "spoiler" offensive in that direction while you neutralize Spain and consolidate Italy. Upon completion, this will leave you better funded and in posession of more full stacks than threats. Glad you enjoy the Forresters.