Your army looks like Parthia in RTW. I try to keep a balanced force. The situation looks tough. How many fronts are you fighting on?
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Your army looks like Parthia in RTW. I try to keep a balanced force. The situation looks tough. How many fronts are you fighting on?
I know the Sarmatian spam is an exploit, but it's just an emergency measure. Aquincum can train them from turn 1, and with a nightbattle capable character, they are the ultimate horde and general killers. I nearly managed to send the Vandal royal family to their ancestors, but didn't have enough movement points left for the last stack, so they had time to adopt a captain.Quote:
Originally Posted by QuintusJulius-Cicero
I'm currently training my first regular legion in Rome that will stay in northern Italy until the horde threat is gone. It consists of the Magister Peditum, 1 unit of priests, 1 First Cohort, 4 Plumbatarii, 4 Auxilia Palatina, 2 Archers, 2 Equites Sagittarii, 4 Sarmatian Auxilia and 1 of these amazing carriage ballistae. That last unit is another exploit by its own...
It will take some time, but I'm confident I'll wear the hordes down. I'll keep a constant pressure on them, attacking each and every turn, and my economy can provide a steady flow of reinforcements. Anyway, Rome wasn't built in a day...
I got a ceasefire with the Alemanni - they seem to be more interested in the rebel settlements and sneak around Vicus Franki. I got trade rights with the other Germans and they behave until now.
The Celts have a strong army near Dal Riada, but didn't attack yet. However, my assassin does a good job killing their agents and family members. The Saxons came over for some sight-seeing in Edinburgh and are now at war with the Scots (Celts). Probably an argument about who has the better beer. This is very good for us wine-drinking Romans...
I send the army from Sicily to Tingi, and the Berbers are now officially crippled with only the desert village left. The ERE has its own problems and hasn't even thought about breaking the alliance yet. So the only serious threat are the hordes.
I went all Christian (except Eburacum) on turn one and it's starting to pay off as I got a homogenous Empire and a strong economy by now. One problem remains: the unstoppable population growth. But there I use a third exploit, population control by riots. If a town grows too fast, pull out your garrison and set taxes to very high. This will raise your income and decrease population. Stalinistic methods, but hey, it's a game and the late Roman empire was a military dictatorship anyway. Don't forget to reclaim control the next turn however.
When this campaign starts to get boring, I'll try to reconvert and found the Holy Roman Empire of Mithras...
The Magister Peditum is quite superb, though I do miss Eastern archers. and I rather have Commitantes than Plums. I'm just sorta of fond of them. the Iberian penisular is the first of the purges, all town masscred. destroying all military building will bring little income, but this will insure future riots will end up with no more than peasants garrison. which is easily taken out by generals. Christianity should be the state religion, it was easier with the East. you're getting along well with the Germans states. In my campaign The Franks were hard to deal with, with hordeble ability. while I was prepared to abandon Britain to the Celts, but the invading army was not as formidable as i first thought. Felix did a good job. The Saxons are in a mega war with the Burgadians. The Lambords are nowhere to be seen. The long feared steppes eventually came. But I had good armies in Ravenna, taking hordes out 1 step a time and also I had superb assassins preying on unprotected horde family members. The East had it’s own problems but the Berbers were really annoying. Had to use the Carthaginian wall to ensure my control in Africa. Haven’t though as Tingi, probably should of taken it and ended the African trouble. I liked the Pavarturii. They were the Arcanis of the late Empire. I also had 1 unit of Scholae Palatina. Carriage ballistae were useful, being equivalent of Horse archers with more fire power. Never noticed what advantage pagan temples bring, what advantage do they bring………………….
Hey I was wondering what people use to defeat Hordes? Only thing I do now is autoresolve battles with them which I feel is gamey as it gives me victories I can't gain on my own. Also were is the Berber city deep in Africa? I bought the game on Trademe and it didn't have a map :inquisitive:
Not being that good at the game, I use a nifty combination of bridges, carriage ballista, heavy onagers, archers and plumbatarii. Also a few units of Auxlia Palitinae to hold off any cavalry that get through.
It's the only way I can come up with of not being annihalated by massed horse archers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jalex
The best way to defeat hordes is loads of cavalry charges. Sarmatian auxiliary is key to your victory. Commentanteis are more than enough to handle any infantry the hordes can throw at you, Auxilia Palatina might be needed in case if the enemy have strong cavalry presence, Carriage ballista is also very effective. Also night attack really helps; as it separates one single horde army from their reinforcement army, so your soldiers don’t have to fight more than one army at once.
I believe the Berbers have a city (Dimmidi) right in the heart of the Sahara, and also another city, Tingi in modern Morocco. Can’t find a map for BI at the movement.
My strategy for the WRE was simple. Everything outside of Italy and Carthage was demolished and/or disbanded. All those govonors got to sit around in settlements with taxes set on high until they revolted or were killed by barbarians/rebels. I also threw in a Christian church in each settlement to ensure that any barbarians who happened along would be faced with a very unhappy population.
My next move was to stabilize Italy. This meant lowering taxes (unfourtunatly), bringing in a few surviving legions from outside to stabilize the more rebellious cities, and exterminating the population of a couple of cities that just didnt want to stay calm.
This is probably the most difficult part, as the financial problems brought on by maintaining the army mean that I'm 20k in debt and only gaining 700 or so per turn. This is rectified by a wandering stack which is sacking cities left and right, but its starting to get worn down.
As my main targets for disbandments were cavalry and comestinates, my military isnt up to much in the way of expansion as of yet.
But Rome will rise again! And there will be proper Roman-style orgies for all! None of that barbarian drunking carousing!
Perhaps the problem is partly due to a lack of detailed historical accounts and sources. There needs to be a lot more solid info, than "battle of X where Y were defeated", to make a plausible "model" battle. According to the mil. history book I've got on period even included famous battle like "Chalons" is short on solid info, probably the game version includes more cavalry than actually fought at time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quintus.J.Cicero
Historically, massed light infantry archers defensively dominated horse archers, through greater range and fire density. The HC would actually be lured away, and then find themselves in huge trouble isolated, tiring; facing more maneuvrable missile LC with fresh HC coming in for the kill later. The game may distort things, by not making LC faster, and higher movement stamina than HC.
But the problem was of course, that very strategically mobile cavalry armies, could not be pinned down and destroyed decisively. Later in history, raiding armies could only be tackled once they were encumbered by booty.
the game is supposed to make you lose as this faction.
when i tried my cards at this faction i pretty much hung all the rioters :hanged:
and tried to find some area to consolidate in, and let my borders collapse so i would have a somewhat strong position. i eventually gave up tho... found out you could mod the factions so i could play as the celts :P :ireland:
Adrianople !Quote:
Originally Posted by RLucid
Well the Wiki write up kind of illustrates my point, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople
There are fewer well documented battles to choose from, and we don't know the criteria for choosing them. Then again perhaps the success of the campaign game, mean less emphasis on historical battles. They may have been partly developed for RTW, because of the Time Commanders / Decisive Battle TV usage, and if marketing didn't think they'd be a selling point, then less effort goes in.
When I installed BI, it was historic battles I looked at, for a quick try out; so actually I do agree with your main point, and only a CA spokesman could give official reasons, and would we believe PR statements anyway?
List of Roman battles.
There so many to choose from 365A.D-476. Plus you can have some outside that time-frame (Asculum was in 279B.C while Badon Hill was after the BI have official finished as well).
Nice long list, but there often seems not to be any meat on the bones.
Surely some are good enough to make it to the historical battles. Of course not all of them are worth of a place.Quote:
Originally Posted by RLucid
Suppose you design a mod offering the battles. Aren't you going to worry about quibbles about historical accuracy and such like? Market an evolutionary update to RTW. You think it's the historic battles that sell the game, or the campaign?
Compare with the ease of doing the minimum possible...
All of the original historically battles are barely 80% historically accurate, but at least it’s there.
And what response did they have?
What was the expected market for RTW v RTW BI?
I agree with you it'd be nice to have historic battles, just doubt anyone hard nosed think they are what sells the game and especially an upgrade to a less sexy decline of empire time.
My Strategy as the WRE (playing with Vanilla Balance Mod/Bugfixer mod) was to christianize the empire on the first turn by destroying all shrines and replacing, i also destroyed all milatary buildings except inand try to stop as many cities as possible from rebelling whilst trying not to disband my whole army. Obvious All light cav copped it but i kept sarmatians since i think there was only 2-3 units, most other units stayed, even the boats (previously i always sunk) as this helped my plan. Capital bacame Masillia.
I formed an army in Iberia, Northern Italy, Africa and Gaul and money was sound for the first few turns until rebelions in The Balkans, Northern Italy, Iberia, Britianna, Sicily and Gaul and i briefly dipped into the red. In Africa the army consisted of a few family members, comms and archers about 9 strong, so i crossed the ocean and sacked Sicily and headed back to Carthage to keep building this army was very small but sicily got me closer to the black. In Iberia the army again was family and this time archers and spears and sacked Cathago Nova and then Salamanca and got into the black. The Africa and Iberia armies then joined there strenght to give 3/4 stack of troops and proceeded to sack Tingi and Dimiddi and take out the Berbers. Treasury starting to function for the Border Cities, Lepcis Magna in Africa got a semblance of a garrison rather than peasants. Whilst forming this army for Iberia/Africa i dumped a heap of Pagan Family members and some christian embezzlers in a single navy and deposited them to the bottom of the ocean.
Meanwhile the Northern Italy Army (fully buffed from rome)Sacked its way thru the North and the Balkans building exp garrisons at Mediolanium, Raetia, Pannonia and Salona. The Vandals came knocking and where repulsed with the Goths which both are in Dacia now with one settlement each and no armies(job done). Although Aquicum is a rebel buffer state until i gain more strength. More family members down the ocean floor.
Gaul had the most trouble, Lomabards and Burgadians were set free by the Franks and Saxons who both hold Germania( and still haven't bothered with Gaul - thank god) Burgadians destroyed by franks and i destroyed the Lomabards after they retook Avaricum and regained there strength. I destroyed the Almanni early to gain another buffer state (rebel due to the Huns sacking) I only just built up enough cash to properly garrison and equip 2 Gaul armies to destroy the Huns on their way thru and now the Celts in brittania.
As its stands the west is mine the east is the ERE since they have dominated the persians i took all the hordes out (sarmatians/Roxlani doing nothing yet) and the ERE has just declared war again and then Pax Romana once they are gone!!
My first try with the WRE is surprisingly easy on VH/VH, no mods and huge units. I eliminated most of the troop producing buildings and a lot of the troops on the first turn, which kept me out of debt from that point on. I moved the capital to Massila and queued up as many peasants as it took to keep at least blue faces everywhere. I specialized the settlements in Italy for HA’s and crossbow infantry types. This allowed me to make cavalry heavy armies with silver weapons and armor from Rome. I had two riots on turn two and a few thereafter, but not one settlement has actually rebelled.
I quickly fortified my frontier with the east along the Rhine and Danube which helped a lot. I put together a group of pagan Family Members and used them to smash rebels in Spain and Gaul. Their bodyguard regenerate and heavy cavalry rocks. I targeted the Berbers and the Celts for extinction which simplified my borders strategically. I send the troops I produce in Italy to the Army of the Rhine or the Danube each of which has a six star commander. I use the initial troops with lots of mercenaries elsewhere. The ERE declared war almost immediately, but have only run from my armies. I have taken Athens and the only problem they pose is a stack of nine large ships that defy destruction. The Vandals have arrived but are mostly just wandering between the ERE and Salona. I was able to make a team of Christian FM’s and agents that convert a completely pagan settlement in about two turns. After more than a decade the WRE leads in every category.
My first experience with it was to just march out of a number of the disgruntled town, allowing them to rebel. Once they did so, I simply crushed the rebels and then massacred the town. For towns like Carthage and Rome herself, this quickly provided a huge amount of cash, and the locals soon learn that to defy is to die. Overextension = bad. I gave up on Britannia immediately and consolidated my hold on mainland Europe (after selling everything, of course) - basically following the real WRE's footsteps there. The additional troops from Britannia were merged with my Gallic forces and sent to crush some nearby Barbarian scum. Hordes are a problem, but are a problem best met head-on; even victories can be costly to them, and while they may gain a bit of ground and your army may suffer defeats at the hands of loads of full stacks, the long odds are in your favour; you can replenish your ranks. They can't. Once crippled, leave them to waste out in the forests and find another victim. The WRE's problem is it's surrounded by a lot of people who really don't like them, and a lot of towns eager to rebel against you too.
But Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was her Empire. If you war, war mercilessly and do not stop your campaign until they are destroyed utterly. If you are at peace, you might want to let a big settlement well within your borders (e.g., Rome) rebel, reconquer and massacre to strengthen your coffers a bit to prepare for your next conquest.
Beyond the obligatory trade rights, map sells and alliances of convenience to be reneged on later, sod diplomacy. It's called Total War for a reason. :P
Yes of course, but there is no need to slaughter your own citizens. As I have shown, you can actually govern them instead. I have plenty of money and my settlements don’t rebel. They are converting to Christianity and all is well. It’s that easy. I save extermination for my enemies.
If you want slaughter and Paganism:
So in my game I went opposite of alot of the advice. I wanted a big long bloody civil war. So first turn I destroyed all christian buildings, built all pagans, and watched the chaos ensue.
I mean WRE is a hard faction, and I want them as a hard faction.
Anyway here is what happened.
So first fifty turns were spent battling the disloyal, christians, and regaining lost lands. The benefit is while pagan traits were bad my general got some very nice retinue members for being pagan.
I went directly against Eastern Rome while battling the hordes. The hordes provided good combat experience and in general I did not find Eastern Rome that hard to push back/take. This was on medium but bare in mind I did this example twice and each time your general out towards eastern rome with all the command and relics usually joins eastern rome.
Once you have a good chunk of eastern Rome and the hordes beaten back it's just a matter of chosing what to conquer.
The horde battles were difficult with smaller strating armies but not impossible. As hard as this was I found Lithuania in MTW2 Kingdoms a fair bit harder.
The key to going pagan (with no mods and no city give aways or destroyed) is to just keep in mind most of your starting sons will rebel, I found the grandsons more useful though anyway.
I found the WRE to be the easiest faction.
This is my WRE blitz strategy (VH/VH, no mods and huge units). You don't have to abandon any of your settlements or butcher any of your own citizens or change anyone's religion. You start with 25 of the 34 settlements you need to win (as well as 3 of the 4 specific settlements). So do whatever you must to get at least blue faces everywhere. Move the capital to Masilia. Use urban renewal to scrape some cash together. Build forts blocking all crossing points into the WRE from the Rhine and the Danube and garrison them with a peasant unit. You can beat the Celts with what you have in England (hire mercenaries or add some local infantry if you must). Send the units in Syracuse to Carthage and the units in Spain to North Africa. You can easily crush the Berbers (again hire mercs). Disband most of the other units, except for an army on the Rhine and in Salona led by a loyal general. The Army of the Rhine takes out the Alemanni (who don't horde and aren't difficult to crush) and the rebel settlement to the north. Thessalonica and Constantinople are weakly held and can easily be taken by your other force at Salona. If you use spies to open the gates or onagers to batter them down, then you should be done before you can say eastern hordes. Victory after 16 turns in A.D. 370!
https://s132.photobucket.com/albums/...370Victory.jpg
I noticed in the picture that you have what appears to be 2 units combined into 1 card, how do you do stack multiple units?
As I mentioned, I play with huge units. If that is what you mean.:yes:
Yep, I wasnt sure what huge units was, I thought it had something to do with the scale that the units are rendered. Reason I ask is that I'm having alot of trouble with the hordes as WRE, not so much defending my lands from them but not being able to destroy the horde after Ive taken their last settlement.
Now the slavs have invaded and its kinda disheartening as there are huns, lombardis, slavs and goth hordes roaming everywhere and I seem to spend most of my money per turn keeping revolts down and recruiting peasants to keep up with the population growth. I'm playing on M/M and cant make enough money to create enough armies in order to expand past the hordes. I've been following a few of the strategies listed here, including trying to convert everyone to christianity(which led to nothing but a volatile mix of religions in pagan cities) and disbading units/demolishing military buildings. Also somebody wrote that if you leave a settlement to revolt and have destroyed all the military buildings the western rebels that appear will only be equipped with peasants, this is true but a general will also spawn in that settlement and they will have heavy cavalry bodyguards. How are you supposed to take these towns back so quickly if you've disbanded half your army??
I will keep trying to build econ buildings and defend more, until i can get a decent amount of cash to raise a proper army, bridge defense works well but if your really outnumbered with cavalry they can just smash through your defensive line and trying to bottleneck them at the bridge wont work since you will get routes. Right now I have all the original settlements plus a few more that ive managed to capture but still dont have a clear idea on how to deal with hordes, especially after you capture their final settlement and they spawn 4 large armies.
I did this and my empire was under control from the first turn without even one riot. First go through and eliminate all of your military buildings except in Italy, Carthage and England. If a settlement is mostly Christian (like Lepcis Magna) then build a Christian church and get rid of the pagan governor. Move the capital to Mesilia. Then go through one by one and lower taxes, or add to the garrison, or queue up as many peasants as it takes to get a blue face for each settlement. Send Spurius Flavius to Carnuntum. I think that Salona and Avaricum still were red, but had no riots and were under control by the beginning of the second turn. Eliminate most of your navy and most of the high priced units. If you don’t want to win quickly as I did, then you should fortify the crossings over the Rhine and Danube, and the eastern passes into Italy. If you are good at fighting your own battles, then put an army on a bridge or ford in the path of a horde. It's like a meat grinder. I slaughtered five stacks of Huns in two turns with minor losses. I hope this helps.
Amazing, moved capital to Masillia and it stopped all the settelments from rebelling, that freed up money to build econ buildings which created enough money to properly fund my armies, crushed two hordes, the huns and the goths after that. The goths horded twice because they had one settlement before i destroyed it and then again after they captured a rebel town. I thought if the faction had the wheel under their banner it meant they were hording and could be eliminated from the game, but i guess they cant have any settlements either because they will "settle in" and horde again after their last town is destroyed. Can anyone clear this up? Anyway thanks for the tips its definatley made this faction alot easier to play.
I've never tried blitzing, sounds interesting. I get rid of my eastern provinces up to Patavium to serve as a buffer against Vandals and Huns. I use that general with the christian retinue and traits (marcella and splinter of the holy cross) and take him around the empire converting everything which helps public order a lot. I get rid of my expensive troops and by then start making 3000 a turn, which is enough to start building the traders and economic development.
eventually your economy picks up right in time to fight back the huns. it's a more defensive strategy but that's my play style. and I find it a lot more historic than invading constantinope :sweatdrop:
This is the hardest faction that I've played. I started out by setting taxes to low everywhere and disbanding all the foederati cavalry units (useless overpriced bugggers that they are). I built a christian shrine in Lepcis Magna but left the others alone. My empire is mixed pagan/christian. I consolidated the remaining troops into five army groups. Africa, Gaul, England, Italy and Salona. In the first round of revolts I lost most of spain and much of gaul. General Publius sold himself out to the rebels so I lost Cartago Nova as well. I then reqounquered the rebellious provinces, exterminating the populace in all. I managed to expand a bit in central europe and took vicus franki. I built up the army some more. I was making 6-7k per turn when the second round of rebellions hit, including London. I have now retaken the rebellious provinces again. The gallant Nero Flavius managed to reduce the Franks down to a harmless level and kicked the Alemanni out.
The first horde to arrive was the vandals. I've reduced four of their stacks but had two armies decimated by doing it. The Goths took a couple of central european provinces while I killed off one stack before the ERE stabbed me in the back. I had to retake Salona and reform the army of Salona/central Europe. For a long time I kept a full stack standing like a scarecrow along the bridge by Ravenna waiting for the Huns who have yet to show up. The Sarmatians settled into Constantinople. The Octrogoths died and the Slavs have yet to show up. After going negative income during the second round of rebellions I am now generating 6-7k per turn again and am funneling all troops north to fight the vandals. The army of England retook London and is now heading north to fight the celts.
To fight the hordes with HA I make a full stack with 1-2 gemerals, 1-2 Sarmatians, 6 foot archers and the rest commitenses. I whittle away at the HAs with the cavalry and the archers then turn the archers onto the main horde and send in the commitenses to win the battle. Once I've dealt with the vandals I'll head East to take out the Goths, ERE and the Sarmatians, in that order. This has been hard.
Icewolf
After seeing everything, I could say that
THE EAST IS MUCH BETTER!!!!:furious3:
I finished a WRE campaign on M/M a few days ago. It was.... okay. I enjoyed myself, but it's not something I have a keen desire to revisit, and I abandoned the game after attaining the victory conditions.
In regular RTW games, where the motive is, almost invariably, expansion and conquest. Even somewhat large factions like the Seleucids follow this basic modus operandi. These games tend to still challenge me, as I am naturally cautious and inclined to turtle. So sometimes factions which have grown too strong may still give me a nasty surprise and send me scrambling. This style of play, however, suits the WRE to a tee. The WRE starts with the most territories by far -some 20-30 of the most advanced cities. So to dominate the campaign one basically needs to consolidate the empire, build up, and withstand the barbarian invasions. If you're not too badly-mauled after the Huns, etc, you basically win by overwhelming control of the campaign map.
Which is exactly what happened to me. I blitzed the Alemanni and Saxons early on and wiped them out. At a later date I sacked the Frankish capital while it was lightly defended. Avaricum and Salmentica (sp?) rebelled, and many other settlements were always hovering around 70-80% public order, but otherwise the WRE rebels were not as large an issue as I expected. The Huns went straight for the jugular with their thrust to Italia, but I camped a hastily recruited small army of comitanses on the bridge northeast of Ravenna and held them there for a bit. I took huge casualties in my victories, to the tune of 40-50% losses per battle, and there were a few times when the bridge army threatened to rout, but as time went on and reinforcements arrived the Hunnic horde was shattered. They continued being nuisances in Italy/Apls for a few more years, but after the intense three turns or so they were no longer a serious threat. The only other horde I encountered was the Goths. I lost a city to them, but they were so badly-decimated by the siege-assault that a few more medium-sized battles with middling results ended them as an effective force.
The ERE declared war by port blockade around the time of the Huns reached Italy, but they never launched any attacks, even towards Salona. toggle_fow tells me that they were probably crippled by the loss of Tarsus, Caesarea and Antioch to the Sassanids. The Franks, Burgundii and Lombardi were too busy slugging it out with one another to pose a serious threat to me, while the Berbers are no match for Roman legions.
I never did fully convert my empire-- Spurius Flavius went on an evangelical spree, starting from Carnatum (sp?) to Ravenna, and then moving north alongthe string of cities starting from Mediolanum all the way up to Colonia Agrippina. And then he got himself killed in a riot in Samarobriva in the process of converting it. >.< I allowed it to rebel and then exterminated the... so-and-so's in retaliation.
My campaign really just sort of fizzled out after breaking the hordes-- neither I nor the veteran defenders of Rome from the Hunnic and Gothic hordes had much trouble with the ERE and the northern barbarians.
Indeed the WRE, the Sassanids and the ERE can be anticlimactic campaigns... with the vanilla victory conditions.
I set both the Romans at 44 settlements, that encompass from Baetica to Antioch and Armenia and Egypt to Eburacum as victory conditions, and the Sassanids at 34, including Rome, Ravenna, Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople.
Then it gets far more interesting, and the Romans would do well to convert to Christianity in the long run as it gives the most bonuses in total in terms of happeness and law.
By the way, the Monastery line of buildings provides with many relics of the kind Spurius has in the beginning of the game, and soon one can have more than one preachers spreading the word around.
I am seeing something of a contradiction there. I agree with your observations, but find the WRE campaign can be fun if you adopt a "no conquest" policy. Don't take any settlements beyond your frontier. That allows the non-horde barbarians to be grow and be a pain. Re-unification can be a long term aim, although again I don't start that fight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quirinus
You might want to try the God mod for some extra detail and flavour, although to be honest it makes things even easier for WRE as they soon start to roll in cash.
Maybe 'turtle' isn't quite correct, more like.... 'slow opportunistic expander'? I dunno. I meant I didn't go on a manic expansion spree, but if I see a lightly defended settlement and the faction doesn't horde... :charge:Quote:
Originally Posted by econ21
I recently downloaded professorspatula's More Hordes mini-mod, which probably makes the WRE harder to play, as the Alemanni and Saxons now do also horde. Might try staying pagan too the next time... though that might actually make the campaign easier. Hm.Quote:
Originally Posted by econ21
Where do I get this mod?Quote:
Originally Posted by econ21
maybe econ was talking about the good mod:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=49504
I just started my first serious WRE campaign (because I wanted to know the sensation of losing). I took a very unique approach. Here it is.
Turn 1
1. Convert all settlements by force to Christianity (besides Britannia and Syracuse, because you can't afford to lose too much of your empire)
2. Then play around with the taxes in each settlement. If there is a 100% chance of rioting (aka 70% or lower public order) then raise taxes and cancel as much games as much as possible. This way, you will at least get a nice amount of money (for a turn). This is a risk, but you have to be very bold during this campaign. Then have your armies and generals step out of the revolting settlements. Therefore you'll have more strength for more important missions.
3. Use the navy near southern Spain. Take the diplomat in Southern Spain to the Berbers. Fleece them by selling map information for 1-2k denarii.
4. Do the same to the Alemanni with the Diplomat in Ger. Superior
5. Send your third diplomat towards the Eastern Romans in Sirmium.
6. Train a Diplomat in Augusta Trevorum, Aquincum, and Londinium (therefore you can fleece more Barbarian factions before they spend their war chest)
7. Public order in Augusta Trevorum is going to be a problem. Take all Christian Family members close to the settlement and have then stand in the territory. It's tough to hold that settlement, but if you can resist attacking the Alemanni for a few turns, its worth it.
8. Disband all navies but the one between Caralis and Rome, Syracuse and Africa, and the one west of Bordeaux. The others can be broken down.
9. Use the southern fleet to remove the governor from Lepcis Magna and its territory, as you will lose the settlement if you keep him as governor or in the territory. Start moving him towards Syracuse.
10. Speaking of Family members, your faction heir sucks. The governor of Corduba, Aquincum, and Caralis are better choices for faction heir. Either one is fine but there are drawbacks to each.
11. Move the capital to Massilla
12. Move the governor of Caralis to Rome with the fleet between each cities.
13. Move the Emperor to Ravenna to help convert the place.
14. Burn all military infrastructure in Spain to the ground.
15. Burn all military infrastructure in Burdigala, Avaricum, Carnuntum, and Salona to the ground. Potentially Lepcis Magna as well.
16. Do not move a single unit in Britain. Otherwise you risk Eburacum getting bribed. Wait for your diplomat to get trained.
17. Send Marcus the Gambler close to the Alemanni capital with his army.
18. Build ports/economic buildings with the rest of your money in settlements with nothing in the build queue.
(i'll add turn 2 tomorrow)
There is another way. Cheat. You can bring up the cheat screen with the ~ key, then type "add_money 99999" repeatedly about 25 times and you will have a few million dinarii to begin with. Then you can move incompatible or very corrupt governors out of their cities. I usually move the Emperor and a couple of others out to form a basis for armies at battle sites I predict will occur. (I usually play the Western Empire, but occasionally the Eastern too.) The second cheat you should use is ~ then "process_cq" "city name" and it will build all the buildings you have in queue. Be careful to see what religion the majority of people have in each city and demolish the opposing religion's temples or churches and replace them with the popular religion's buildings of worship. If you don't use, "process_cq" cheat, your game will take forever since you will only build a few buildings each turn. Since I am 73 years old, I would be dead before I built all the buildings I needed for income, peace and military development. Forget the actual game rules and cheat. It is the only way to really work the chaos into some sense of order. But hey, if you want to destroy your cities in an attempt to survive, be my guest. Be warned though, I am an Italian and descended from the Roman tribe "Aemilia," the first tribe of Rome, and my ancestors, the Aurunci, who lived south of Rome, were given citizenship. So, I will frown upon any lost cities and provinces in the game!
bah!
cheating takes away all the fun. I do not recommend it.