0.8x AI Faction Progression

So, how are the AI factions behaving and expanding in your game? This is something we quite honestly have very little direct control over, but we do have indirect control. Evidence:

-We were having a bad problem with Baktria expanding directly into the steppe to the northwest after we gave them those two new provinces, but by making the road from Baktra go east on the south side of the river instead of the north, and by making Mazsakata and Bin-kath's provinces touch each other above Sogdiane, we have pretty much stopped this, or at least greatly lessened it.

-We've also kept Hayasdan from heading north so much by allowing passages out of the mountains north towards Uspe, but by not allowing roads, and by altering the province boundaries there too.

So, how is the AI behaving in your games? Minimaps with dates are *particulary* welcome here. I'll start you off with mine. (I'd recommend folks make theirs 200% normal size for ease of reading, but 100% is ok if need be):

https://img150.imageshack.us/img150/2257/ai08255jm0.jpg

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This is in 255, and I've been playing as the Sweboz.

Highlights:
-I'm really loving how Qarthadastim are expanding. Moving along the Mediterranean seaboard in Iberia is just perfect.
-Baktria is moving slowly, but we also are very happy that they have gone after Kophen first and are moving towards India. They have armies on the road to Taxilia right now, but haven't taken it yet.
-Romans had a tough time with Aedui at first, but have recently defeated them in north Italy. In the south they are sieging Syracuse now with a mixed army and a number of Greek units in tow.
-Koinon Hellenon were destroyed.
-Pontos is moving along very nicely. They haven't been too strong in other games I've played, so this is a nice change. Note that Pontos has taken Byzantion too, as well as Ankyra and Sinope and Trapezous and Nikaia.
-Sabaeans have taken two cities and when Gerrha rebelled from the Seleukids, it rebelled to them. Pretty good overall I'd say. No parthians here! :grin:
-Nomads aren't faring well it seems. We've talked about doing something to help them out more, but for now they are pretty weak it seems.
-Seleukids have been too strong for Pontos, Hayasdan, Pahlava, or Baktria to make inroads, but of course the Ptolemies are hard to stop, and they've taken Antiocheia from Seleukos.
-Maks and Epeiros are doing ok, but I doubt Epeiros can survive like that. They have to expand or they get crushed.

In my 0.8 campaign (will post a pic later) the romans started a conquer spree in the north. They have the south of gaul and some provinces in the east of Italy too. Some other factions seem to be kind of sleeping. Lusotanann only recruits a unit every turn and that's it. Same for the casse. The saba have conquered one settlement and are now building up an army as the rebels are damn strong. The Seleukids seem to have the upperhand in the seleukids vs ptolemaioi war. Karthadashtim don't do much but they are so rich. Sauromatae, haven't done to much as they are still to weak to expand. Saka have conquered 2 settlement and are doing it nic and slowly. Baktria has a lot of armies but look like they're going for a verry slow expansion. Pontus has made only one town theirs but face quite strong rebels. Macedon took athens but lost Korinth. Epirus hasn't done much except for conquering dalmatia and trying to fight of the romans. Getae are doing quite well, they have conquered 2 settlements and have build up a full stack to take sarmiszegetusa (spelling). Pahlava haven't done much. I'm Hayasdan and I'm understanding why they wanted to go north, that's what I'm doing as it is to soon for fighting the seluekids. And the rebels in the south are damn strong. So first some settlements in the north untill I have enough power to take those rebel powerhouses and turn my attention to the seleukids.

Edit: forgot the Aedui, Arverni and Sweboz.
Aedui, they are having the upperhand in the arverni aedui war. They conquered one or two rebel settlemetns (not sure) and one arverni. But the Romans are blitzing the rebels and will soon be knocking on some Aedui gates.

Edit2: oh yeah the Sweboz: they are doing good, powerfull armies and are conquering one rebel settlement at a time. They are going to be quite a rival for the blitzing Romans.

how do you make it so you can see everything on the campaign map?

hit the tilde key (~) and then type toggle_fow

I ran an -ai game as ptolemies last night as I was going to bed. It made it to 221 without crashing. Now, that's not really 221 though, as the scripts don't load on the -ai games, and so there aren't four turns a year, just two.

Anyway, here it is, a little wackier than my first one:
https://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4418/ai08221rt7.jpg

-Unfortunately the romans headed into the one direction there was no other factions: northeast. Very odd there, but you can see the Arverni are pretty strong in southern Gaul, so they are avoiding them. RTW itself is to blame otherwise as the Romans aren't hopping on boats and going anywhere yet. Sicily is still there too though.
-Baktrian expansion is ok, though not as ideal as I'd like it.
-Saka are doing pretty well, but Sarmatians are sitting still.
-KH is still alive just on Rhodes, but Casse are wiped out.
-Bye bye Getai.
-Pontos has taken Byzantion now two games in a row that I've seen.
-Seleukids and Ptolemies aren't monsters, which is nice.

The casse, pahlava, Lusotanann and sauromatae worry me. And saba might need some extra power too.

Well, casse shouldn't really expand. Much. Every so often taking the british isles is what I think we hope for. ANd it just needs some tweaking up there. Casse should be damned hard for the player. Hardest of all probably.

Saba will get better as more units get in. Sorta the same with lusotannan. We'll work on them.

Pahlava is the tough spot. They are encroached all around. We need to weaken the seleukids more maybe somehow. Or give the pahlava more spies in those seleukid towns to compel them to revolt. Something like that.

Yeah, you're right. I hope that the spies work for Pahlava or some other trick.

What about making the Parthians the founder of most of the eastern seleucid towns? To make it easier for Palav to take and to represent them being more loyal to a Persian-like group rather than a Greek-like group.

they are. Check the culture/creator/owner maps of that area and you'll see most of those provinces have parthian creators. And indeed, if the Seleukids lose a city to rebellion sometimes it will go parthian, which really helps them. That's what we have to keep working on though, making it awfully hard for Seleukids to maintain those places.

My Seleukidos campaign.

http://abou.heliologue.com/uploads/ai_mid265.jpg

I first started playing on H/M, but everything fell apart on me so I restarted on M/M. Their position is much more difficult than in 0.74, but I am glad to see that build times for buildings has been much reduced.

AI hasn't expanded that much, but that may be because it isn't getting the money it would on harder settings. Regardless, Pahlava attacked me as early as 269 BC, which irritated me and it took some very hard-fought battles to take only one of their settlements.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Teleklos Archelaou

they are. Check the culture/creator/owner maps of that area and you'll see most of those provinces have parthian creators. And indeed, if the Seleukids lose a city to rebellion sometimes it will go parthian, which really helps them. That's what we have to keep working on though, making it awfully hard for Seleukids to maintain those places.

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A couple are, I meant all of them east of Susa. :2thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abou

My Seleukidos campaign.

http://abou.heliologue.com/uploads/ai_mid265.jpg

I first started playing on H/M, but everything fell apart on me so I restarted on M/M. Their position is much more difficult than in 0.74, but I am glad to see that build times for buildings has been much reduced.

AI hasn't expanded that much, but that may be because it isn't getting the money it would on harder settings. Regardless, Pahlava attacked me as early as 269 BC, which irritated me and it took some very hard-fought battles to take only one of their settlements.

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EDIT: Nevermind, didn't read the title...

Casse campaign 250 BC

https://img128.imageshack.us/img128/...xp250bcrj3.jpg

Oleo's Casse: Glad to see saka moving. Pontos too. Looks like Makedonia is doing well in all of these - they will be somewhat reduced in power in the next patch btw. Good to see Lusotannan expanding too. And saba in a cohesive group.

Abou's Seleukid: only seven years in, but look at the casse! :grin: Saka getting binkath is good too. And lusotannan is growing. All of that is good. Romans too strong early on it seems. Sweboz looks good. Only thing I'm consistently seeing that is bad is Sarmatian stagnation.

I'll add a picture and some more info later, but from what I can tell in my Baktria campaign, things are kinda wierd. Haysadan, Pontos, and Pahlava all declared war on Seleukid around 279 BC, but I stayed allied to Seleukid. Saka have taken one settlement and have parked an army close to Alexandreia-Esc-something (can't remember spelling) I've been able to take Kophen, but the town north of Kophen and the towns in the Indus Valley have very strong armies. From what I can tell, Rome chased Epeiros out of Italy very fast, and everyone has been signing ceasefires except Seleukid and their rivals. I'll put up a map pic in a bit.

If I use toggle_fow, can I turn it off again and have everything go back to normal, or will everything be permanently visible?

Just re-type it.

https://img228.imageshack.us/img228/28/wowdh7.th.jpg

I was decidely pleased with what I saw when I turned off FoW that I just left the entire picture, not to mention I don't know how to use paint and photoshop hates me today. To see them not only expanding and dominating in greece, but to have launched a invasion of crete is a exciting improvement, at least to me anyhow.

It seems like a lot of factions, Lusotannan and Sabeans took one province, and now just mill around, while surrounded by large rebel stacks. The Getai are so surrounded by them that I think it's the main reason they have done nothing but create a fortress out of their only city. Carthage landed two armies in Italy, and then I ousted them out of Lilibeo easily with a rather cheap seeming bribe, until I was distracted elsewhere and they brought the hammer down on my head. Was quite worried there for a while, especially since I didn't want to give up my current operations in the north and south. Seems rather tame for the stage of the game. I'll post more as I go along. Also note, I'm playing M/M so maybe that has something to do with it.

20 years later: 230BC:

Although they fight a lot, Carthage and Ptolemies arent really progressing. Macedon however is well insane is the word I guess. Rome allies with Macedon, Epeiros protectorate of Rome.

https://img138.imageshack.us/img138/6761/230bczl3.jpg

By the way 5 years later, Sauromatae decimated, all sweboz towns captured, although some are revolting and again, so sweboz is still alive.

My single belgian province is almost bordering Macedon :sweatdrop:

Casse on H/H 250bc Gave myself a cash injection at the start btw, dont like slow starts. Wouldnt be anywhere without Barae though, mans practically a god at this stage.
https://img293.imageshack.us/img293/6118/image1po2.jpg
Only town I captured that actually produced any units was Attuaca, rest all had the units they started with, Ivernis for example was only defended by two ordmhornaghta. Noticed as well some of the rebel cities on the continent are churning out lugoae every turn while others dont produce anything, some large stacks roaming around composed solely of them. Even the romans seem to favour them for whatever reason, have large groups of them with a few triari fighting their aedui kin.

In the east seleucid is at war with everyone around it, who seem to be all allied to each other. Saka are a protectorate of Bactria, doesnt really like they're up to much, two towns and about 250 horsemen to their name. Same with the Sauromatae, small armies and hemmed in by cities with huge rebel garrisons, doesnt look like they're going to get anywhere fast. Saba's got some extra provinces by rebellion by the looks of it, doesnt look like they're at much in their home provinces though.

Europes a bit more lively, Aedui getting hammered by the Romans and Averni, Casse are about to jump on their backs. Makedonias been banished to a couple of islands, Getai and Epiros expanding northwards, though the romans seem to be curbing the epirotes a bit. Sweboz not doing a whole pile, some devastation around one of the neighbouring rebel cities though.

Btw noticed a couple of things, dont seem to be able to recruit mala gaeroas or archers, had a gawk at the edb and see theres 3 seperate barrack threads. There 3 seperate reforms for celts? If so whats the conditions for them? Also seems to be a major pirate problem around the british isles, this intentional?

Top work btw, enjoying it far more than .7s

Look at Baktria go! And they still haven't taking that one rebel town that I'm stuck on!:laugh4:

Edit: Referring to Oleo's game.

About the gallic reforms it's in the FAQ.

Bactrian Campaign, 250 BCE, H\H with BI-exe.

https://img295.imageshack.us/img295/...aliert1bk2.png

One of the best campaigns i ever had(surely the most immersive one), seleukids are really strong, had a nice fight for alexandria-something (city under Bactra) for 5 years.

The most amazing thing is that Koinon Hellenon managed to send a full stack to Hallikarnassos and conquer it.

Edit: OMG!!! Had a look at the posts above, i´m doing worse than the AI Bactria in Casuir´s campaign! Grmmpf....

Wow, that's nice parthian, saka, and sarmatian expansion in your campaign BB. Plus Casse took a province, and lusotannan a couple more.

Holy crap, the romans sent ships with troops and took corsica and sardinia!

A cohesive sabaean empire too. Static Ptolemies. That's a great map!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bavarian Barbarian

Edit: OMG!!! Had a look at the posts above, i´m doing worse than the AI Bactria in Casuir´s campaign! Grmmpf....

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:laugh4:

Its good to see some Getic expansion in these. And that's the best Saba expansion I've seen in just 22 years. could running off bi be helping?

Quote:

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Holy crap, the romans sent ships with troops and took corsica and sardinia!

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Well, Qart Hadasht sent the faction heir + a full stack to reconquer it. :laugh4:
poor romans...


But i´m quite used to the Battle Of Sardinia ( i´m a RTRPE convert), the fact that KH took Hallikarnasos was the real surprise to me.

Will give you guys an update tomorrow.


***off to kick some seleukid butt***

I'd post my map if I could figure out how...

http://abou.heliologue.com/uploads/ai_early256BC.jpg

Continuing my campaign. I did a full-screen shot so you could see what Casse was up to, TA. They are definitely on the move and doing much better than some factions with easier starting positions - Makedonia for example.

Speaking of which, I may have to go to war with Pontos to secure Anatolia for a solid base of attack into Hellas. Politically, intervention would be necessary to prevent the homeland from falling into the hands of improper successors.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Constantine the Great

I'd post my map if I could figure out how...

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I´m using Fraps and Gimp2. Download both and run fraps together with RTW then press ~, type toggle_fow, press enter, take a screen shot (default key is F10) and edit it with Gimp (cut out the campaign map overview and resize it to 200%), upload it (imageshack is quite good). Voilá!

Hope that helps!

Or you could just press printscreen and alt tab to your prefered graphics prog and paste new image.

https://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7389/image1ip7.jpg
240 BC, not a whole of movement, kept my own to a minimum.

Saka, Sauromatae, Sweboz, Saba, Makedonia and Hayasadan are all stagnant. Worst is Sauromatae who seem to have severe financial difficulties, their financial rating is a flat line from the start and their 3 cities are generating negative income. Military ranking is a slow climb so I'm guessing they have money problems from the start.

Hayasadan seem to have probs getting going as well.

Saba do quite well financially by the looks of things, though a rebellion in Kush brought 17 Ethiopian axemen guys into their camp who at 400 each per turn quickly drained their coffers. Dont seem to make any shapes at the neighbouring provinces.

On Naval stuff Cartage had large stacks on the Balearics and Corsica/Sardinia which it moved to spain and sicily respectively, also shipping stacks from North Africa this turn by the looks of it. North Sea is absolutly littered with pirates, counted at least 10 fleets, all with multiple ships. Given the prohibitive costs of navys you might want to tone this down.

Rebel AI seems to be ok, twice I've had cities laid seige to by spawned rebels and lost Ivernis to a band of goidils who assaulted it before I could get reinforcements there. Langers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gertgregoor

About the gallic reforms it's in the FAQ.

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It says Aedui/Averni get them at 251bc, I'm at Casse at 240 bc without seeing them which is why I asked. N/m though I looked in the script and they dont happen for anyone till much later.

Here is mine (Playing as the Romani)

https://img182.imageshack.us/img182/...ampaignko2.jpg

A very intresting campaign and it looks like the year 262 will be the start of some great wars and expansion and i had a couple of nasty suprises in the
form of naval Landings near Taras in 271 and the other one was near Lilibeo in 264 the year that Scipio took Lilibeo but he was forced out by a full stack.


Arverni - Not done much but they have some full stacks

Aedui - Also not done much. But they also gatherd their banners and are marching to the Arverni

Baktria - Has not done much, but i can see two full stacks marching in India so they have plans

Casse - Same story, Full stack marching to rebel provinces

Epeiros - Afther i had beaten them near Taras in 271 they focused together with Konion Hellenon against Macedon they took Pella in 267 (Was following the war with one of my spies)

Getai - Full stack story again

Hayasdan - Not much to tell, just sitting in there settelments doing nothing

Karthadastim - Well one of the most powerfull factions in game i think. Got some full stacks, One in Iberia, Sicily on Two on the mainland. But since they are in war with me i don't got any high hopes for them. Also they did suprise me when they landed a full stack in Sicily

Konion Hellenon - Took Conrith in 269 and then together with Epeiros fought a hard fought war against Macedon

Lusotannan - Allmost no activity

Makedonia - Is fighting a hard fought war with Epeiros and Konion Hellenon it looks like they are preparing a counter offensive on Athens and Pella


Pontus - Well the Full stack story one more marching to Seleukia

Potomalic - Well very intresting, they are fighting a war with Seleukia. Mainly in Asia Minor. They are winning but i think that will soon change because one of the great Generals of Seleukia: Sarpardon Syriados (This guy has great stats) has assembeld a army.

Sweboz/Saka Rauka/Sauromatea - Are building op their forces slowly

All with all.. Very intresting and i'm looking forward to some expansion

https://img186.imageshack.us/img186/...twbi240cd6.png


update of my bactrian campaign.

lots of nice things happening, after reconquering Sardinia Qart Hadasht invaded Italy and is currently laying siege to capua. Epirote took Rhegium and is heading north while 4-5 roman full stacks are trying to fight off the Aedui and Averni.

The Sauromatae went west and are sieging Gelonus atm.

One casse full stack is laying siege to Attuaca.

But my absolute favourite are the Sabeae. They conquered Petra and sent two(!) full stacks to Alexandria in a head to head race with one Seleukid army (greedy bastards :laugh4:).

Oh, and after 30 years Pahlava and Saka Raukae broke their alliances with me and allied up with the Seleukids so the next years are going to be a challenge.


I LOVE THIS GAME!

btw, 32 years and not a single ctd! great job guys!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Casuir

It says Aedui/Averni get them at 251bc, I'm at Casse at 240 bc without seeing them which is why I asked. N/m though I looked in the script and they dont happen for anyone till much later.

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You are right, I must have been drunk when I wrote that. Correct dates are 220BC and 120BC.

I'm in year 263 and a very interesting series of alliances has occurred, well interesting in my opinion. To combat the Makedonian advances the Getai, Koinon Hellenon, and Epeiros have a three way alliance. As I type this Epeiros is sending two large armies into the heart of Macedon, Getai have an army on the way to Tylis to cut off their expansion there, and Koinon Hellenon Well... they're driving back the forces headed for Sparte which I think is admirable enough. I'm really excited to see where this is going, but I'm afraid it's going to result in Makedonian dominance of the area since I am about to interfere with Epeiros.

Edit:

Year 260 and the "Anti-Mak" League, as I have so fondly begun to call it, has grown from just Getai, the Hellenes, and Epeiros to include Pontus and the Seleukids. Despite this now five-way alliance they have only caused a stall in Makedonian growth because they can't seem to coordinate attacks. Each will send one in at a time and be wiped out. Hellenes still hold Sparte, Epeiros has lost one province to Makedonia and are down to only two. Getai have expanded nicely, creating a long border to the south with Makedonia. Seleukids are trying to fight back some Makedonian incursions into the Agaean coast. Pontos is holding them on their eastward spread. Can't wait to see how this turns out - hope they'll work together and rid the Makedonians of their territories!

I wonder what the key is for Sarmatians, Saka, and Casse? In some campaigns all three can do great. In others they just stagnate.

My Romani campaign:

https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/7179/256bcum7.jpg

The campaign is running smooth, but I have one problem:
The Polybian reform hasn't happened,
now I've read the faq and conquered all the settlements that are needed, but nothing happened...
Do I have to wait longer before it is triggered or is it some kind of bug :help:

Well, the nomads burn through the 30,000 they get at the start in about 5 turns, after that I'm guessing if they dont move fairly quickly they're just in too deep a hole to pull themselves out of. Maybe move their armies closer to enemy cities, they seem to mill about the steppes a lot.
https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/...age1fb3.th.jpg
Just checked the sauromatae cities and their combined income is -5900 a year, not nice.

Yo,

Here is my Carthage campaign: 251

https://img184.imageshack.us/img184/...pansionwb1.jpg

Not much expansion from the Gauls, Sweboz or Iberia. Greece is a stalemate eventhough the Maks are down to Pella, the Greeks have been seiging it for the last decade but can't capture it.

Baktria went to the north and the Ptolomies have most of Asia Minor. I'm not at war with them yet, but having just taken Cyrene will change that soon.

I also thought this was interesting:
https://img184.imageshack.us/img184/...protecthw1.jpg

Rome has three protectorates and is now at war with the getai. Maybe they will be #4?

Spring 257 of my Romani campaign.

https://img133.imageshack.us/img133/...pansionpi3.jpg

Posted full-size because, well, I've never seen KH push Makedon this hard, this early. Demetrias has changed hands half a dozen times already. Instead of facing the Ptolemaics head-on, the Seleukids are letting themselves be pushed into the steppes. Carthage just declared on me two turns ago despite numerous large stacks in the west securing the edge and the riches of Iberia being much more lightly guarded than the fields of Sicily. The Ptolemaics and Carthaginians skirmished some over Kyrene, but the central desert has been oddly quiet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Janius

My Romani campaign:

The campaign is running smooth, but I have one problem:
The Polybian reform hasn't happened,
now I've read the faq and conquered all the settlements that are needed, but nothing happened...
Do I have to wait longer before it is triggered or is it some kind of bug :help:

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They seem to have a condition of +- 30 years played -> they should be triggered approx. 240 BC.

Shot of my Selucid campaign Getting quite a bit from my mines. :)
Messed up the image compression a little bit.
[URL=https://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8592/romeyn2.jpg]

https://img470.imageshack.us/img470/7449/qh238eo8.jpg

This is my Kart-Hadast campaign, 238 BC. The Ptolemaioi have become a massive superpower. Baktrians forced some of the steppe factions to protectorates and the resulting expansion is... interesting. Seleukids are getting beat bad. In Europe, the Epeirotes have become a green monster. The only reason why Romans have Capua is because my spies & assassins made the city rebel to them. Kh seem stuck where they are, they have some powerful armies but they seem totally incompetent in using them. They don't make any real effort to finish the weakened Makedonians. All the barb factions seem passive.

One thing I've noticed that appears in pretty much all of the screenshots posted so far: The Lusotannan always seem to sit still and not expand. I think they should be made more aggressive, at the very least they should make an attempt to grab most of Iberia from the rebels.

I'm really excited to the see the Epeirote expansion. Great stuff in the campaign.

https://img293.imageshack.us/img293/...twbi228az1.png


Update of my bactrian campaign, 228 BC.


The Macs invaded Asia minor and are at war with Seleukids, Pontus, Epirote, Rome, KH, Quart Hadasht (dunno how that happened) and the Sauromatae. :inquisitive:

Casse is coming along nicely and sent a full stack to northern France.

Qart Hadasht is finally moving into Iberia and invading italy and sicily from time to time.

Arche Seleukeia is a royal pain in the arse, fighting full stacks of Thorakitai Argyraspidai, Hypaspistai and Kataphraktoi every turn isnt much fun. :help:

I need 3-4 armies to defend my borders and after drowning in money at the beginning i´m pretty broke now.

It seems that whoever conquers the Greek peninsula becomes a superpower and heads north; in any case it looks like the baltic and area north of there need some more powerful rebels to prevent excessive hellenic and roman expansion there.

Getai and Lusitanians seem weak in most campaigns.

Nice map you've got there, Bavarian Barbarian!

Here's the first 20 years of my Carthage campaign. Overall, not a lot of AI expansion going on, especially by the barbarian factions. I'm glad however to see that the Maks aren't a superpower already and the Greeks and Epirotes are keeping them in check. The surprise here were the Saby'n who are giving the Ptolemies a run for their mnai.

https://img167.imageshack.us/img167/...hage272om6.jpg

https://img243.imageshack.us/img243/...hage262af8.jpg

https://img167.imageshack.us/img167/...hage252uo5.jpg

First 20 years of a Casse campaign using BI exe
https://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7761/267cs4.jpg
https://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9822/262fi6.jpg
https://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5223/257ue2.jpg
https://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2780/252tv5.jpg
Lot of naval invasions going on, interestingly rome shipped an army across the Adriatic and attacked epiros in the balkans. they also went for crete the same time as the greeks:
https://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5940/kydoniags3.jpg
All 3 armies there are enemys. Crete's greek now
Lot of the factions that dont look like they're doing anything are, but some seem to freeze for years at a time. Getai havent moved an inch since the start in this one though.

Interesting to see:
-Casse aren't doing as poorly as we all first thought. It's supposed to be difficult. Sometimes they expand, sometimes they die out, sometimes they just sit with their one province. Pretty good to me.
-Baktria has made it to the steppe a few times here, but not too often.
-We've put more troops in Segestica to start the game off, hopefully Roman expansion into central Europe won't always funnel through there so quickly.
-Bi.exe sure does seem to give a lot more interesting naval results. I might start playing that myself.
-Greece being conquered by one faction would result in a superpower, but many of these powers in that area don't control all of it, just part.
-Seeing Rome almost destroyed by the AI once was pretty nice.
-Carthage expansion is doing a lot better now that they aren't having to send armies to Kyrene and Augila all the time. Seaboard expansion in Iberia is great.

Here's how things are coming along in my Sweboz campaign

https://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f...Map500x325.jpg

I'm strong allies with the Arverni and together we've more or less completely spent the Aedui, I'm now moving in to take over Northwestern Gaul.

The Seleucid are a friggen beast, after their catastrophic defeats at the hand of the Ptolemies pushing them out of Asia Minor they moved east and turned their fates completely around.

The Ptolemies for their part are becoming 'the' force in the Eastern Mediterranean and have nearly conquered all of Anatolia after completely seizing the Phoenician coast from the Seleucid's.

Kart-Hadast has totally wiped out the Lustiania after nearly half a century of fighting, and now control almost all of Iberia.

Epieros has been a significant thorn in Rome's side hampering their southern and eastern expansion considerably, and although Rome has taken part of southern Italy, they still have a foothold with some troops and are about to conquer all of Sicily.

Konion Hellan has surprised everyone and came out of nowhere, crushing both Makedonia and Pontos.

The Getai are expansing in a strange way sort of going 'around' the Carpathians but not venturing inside.

The Sabeans have managed to grab Kush from the Ptolemies somehow, and after putting up a fight the Ptolemies more or less let them have it.

The Casse are expanding on the British isles, slowly but surely.

The Parthians did nothing for the entire game and the Sarmatians are expanding a little.

The south of Egypt has Saba as the faction creator so when those areas rebel they go to them. It is why we used to see Parthian territory in the middle of Africa in the .7x builds.

Saka taking Sogdiane and Dayuan? Supersweet! Haven't seen that yet. But it's good. Combined with interesting Sarmatian expansion is a good thing. Very nice Getic expansion too. And a totally different type of Ptolemaic expansion.

Wow, that really is some nice expansion. What year is that Zero, and what difficulty are you playing on? Also, is it with the BI.exe or RTW?

I think what we're seeing here really is very interesting and varied expansion from the different campaigns people have posted. It's really nice to see. There are of course tweaks that remain to be made, but the potential is great. You almost don't see the same thing twice, except where expected. Good stuff.

VH/M, 231bc and using EB.exe

Okay since the last time I posted the ai somewhat fell a sleep. Almost all expansions halted. The only exeption is Pontus and the Ptolemaioi who got the upperhand again. Thanks to my financing however and possibly because of my conquering too. But it seems like a few of those settlements will rebel tough. Currently there's no real superpower. Rome has halted almost all conquering and is now sieging Patavium which has a...err surprising selection of units. That's all I have to say except that Pontus is verry fun to play, but is easier than I tought. Should have played VH instead of H.

https://img299.imageshack.us/img299/...yasdan1cp6.jpg

Here is my KH campaign, 242 BC (using EB.exe):

https://img185.imageshack.us/img185/...kh242bcso0.jpg

It's been a very interesting campaign so far, and things are about to get a whole lot more interesting. I started out fairly weak, but after a decade I took out Makedonia. Before I started taking out Epeiros, their kingdom stretched from the Italy to the southwestern coasts of the Black Sea. Of course, you can see I took care of that.

They have been a huge thorn in Rome's side for most of the game, have beseiged Rome and Capua on numerous occassions. However, Rome and Carthage have been the most loyal allies I have ever seen, and Carthage has sent numerous stacks into Italy to help fight back the Epeirotes. However, in the past couple turns, a peace treaty has been signed. Now, Rome has taken Aeudi lands, and are now left with a decision. I wonder if this bodes well for me, since after taking Segestica, I now share a border with Roman lands.

Carthage was quiet for the first couple decades, but now are steadily progressing up the seaboard, and are now at war with the Aeudi and the Lusotannians, who have done little themselves. They are, however, allied with the Arverni, which makes me wonder what will come to pass. Will Rome declare war on the Arverni, triggering a war with their BFF? Or will they turn northeast, toward the Sweboz? Or will they turn against me???

The Sweboz were on a little rampage a few years ago, but a few setbacks have slowed that down. They are at war with the Arverni, but have yet to engage them in battle. The Casse are slowly, gradually building up armies and beseiging settlements.

Pontos, Armenia, Sauromatae, and the Getai have done absolutely nothing.

The Ptolemies are the beast in the east I'm worried about. They have nearly taken all of Anatolia, are currently beseing the Seleukids' last stronghold there (Ipsos), and have laid seige to my city of Halicarnassus numerous times. Luckily, my walls have yet been breached, but each stack they send keeps getting bigger, so my focus may shift there soon. If Rome lets me....

As for the Seleukids, after getting pushed out of the Levant and Anatolia, they are about to wipe out Pahlava. And after the Sabeans got out to a great start, taking most of Arabia, they are losing the war with the Seleukids, and a few of their settlements rebelled.

Bactria has yet to wage war on the Seleukids, but have waged war on the Saka, taking one settlement, and sending armies north. They are also venturing toward India, but a war with the Seleukids cannot be far off.

Lastly, a war between the Ptolemies and Carthage recently incited over Kyrene. Carthage took it first, but the Ptolemies quickly seized it. Now, though Carthage seems to be focusing on Europe, they have the richest treasuries in all the lands, so they may start a two-front war of their own soon.

All in all, looks like I'm in the beginnings of World War 0 here! :2thumbsup: Awesome game, guys!

Romani.

https://img66.imageshack.us/img66/7482/ebkm4.jpg

***Seleukids are pretty much holding: losing on the levant, and gaining on the arabian peninsula.

***Saba has only 2 provinces, en route to conquer their third.

***Both gallic factions are pretty active, specially the aeduii, which have full stacks on Massillia and Mediolanum. It will be thrilling to conquer gaul.

***Carthage have gained domain over a lot of african provinces, and it won`t be long before I see a mayor clash between Carthage and the Ptolies.

***Lusitanii are progressing VERY well, they have 3 provinces and are sieging a fourth, with great chances to succeed.

***Britons are progressing slowly but steady.

***Koinon Hellenon is giving the Maks a pounding!!! They have a lot of sh** heading for the maks...

***Sweboz are just sitting there :shrug:

***Sarmatae have conquered a caucasian province, but haven`t went farther ahead.

***Saka are looking good, but they haven`t got many units... dunno, perhaps a population problem?

***Parthians have lost their southern province... what`s going on with them that in every game they got their arses kicked??????

***And I strongly suggest that something should be done about the getai, they rarely expand, and I think that my campaign is a very rare exception.



Despite some expansion problems, I love this game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by k_raso

***Parthians have lost their southern province... what`s going on with them that in every game they got their arses kicked??????

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Everyone except this one :2thumbsup: , Getai not doing so bad here either.

Macedon campaign 250 BC, I had to drop my casse campaign, cause of a unpassable ctd in the macedonAI-turn, so I figured I start fresh as Macedon.

https://img471.imageshack.us/img471/...on250bcon2.jpg

p.s. I edited the Sahara region, though I prefer not to, I just really wanted to be sure to have had one game without Carthage-Ptolemy full scale wars. :sweatdrop: :yes:

Me Epiros camping
https://img186.imageshack.us/img186/1184/eb267zb9.jpg

I am curently in war whit Rome, which are besieging my Capua whit their last strong army full of Sarmatians:dizzy2: I have accepted to becom their Protctorat 2*times but they have atecet me at in the same turn (so it busted me treasury for free:laugh4: )
Probly an war whit th KH because there is nothing between us exept Theremon. They took Korinthos and are besieging Chalkis (is it allright that from Athen tu Chalkis, send armies whit out a boat??:dizzy2: , the same from sicily to itally)

The AS and the Ptolemayos are pounding one another again.
Saba has 2 provinces and heading for their 3.
Pontus took Nicodemia, Saka took one setelment, Bactria advances east(curentli besieging kophen), but has some stacks ready on the border Whit AS wich is in war whit Pahlava, Hayasdan (after tacking Kotais) has a full stack but doing nothing after one smal stack has been beaten at Kabalaka

Sauromate and Casse ain´t doing nothing. As the Getai after grabing the province west from them.

Lusotan marches a full stack to Numantia.
The Arweni are besieging Lemonum and Burdigala, while the Adui are pounding hard on the Arveni (but with no succes).
Carthage advances slowly in africa, has 2 full stacks in iberia rhat are doing nothing:no:.
The Sweboz are trying to take the rebels whit tiny stacks, while their full stack army just sits at their capital.

Nother 20 years as Casse.
https://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2673/24732bc9.jpg
Lusotan started off good then froze, same with Hayasdan, think they have a problem.
Getai still havent budged.
Macedon and pontus both wiped out by the greeks, Epirotes heading for the steppes.
Pahlava, Bactria and Saba all seem to be going well.
Saka looked out of it then briefly retook one of the provinces Baktria had taken from them.
Sarmatians look better than they are, two of their provinces were picked up through rebellion, the last of which left them at war with Epiros.
Sweboz started heading east soon as I took both belgian provinces,
Aedui headed north and hit me with a lot of stuff including a good few massilian hoplites, came at me in waves every couple of years, looked real dodgy at times but they look spent now. Averni are moving in to pick up the pieces.
Cartage and Rome still squabbling over islands.
Ptolomies have the seleucids on the ropes, they're getting real scary looking.

if you actually observe closely, the macedonians are losing or wiped out on almost everyone's campaign!! And you guys want to nerf them even more in the upcoming version!?

I observered it to, I played some test campaings (casse, pahlav, hayasdan) and they were always losing.

Could someone tell me how I can change to hotkey for bringing up the command screen (currently ~ ), because I can't type that character ingame (I have a different keyboard, not querty) so I can't get the fow down to post my campaign-progress so far.

I don't know if you can change the hotkeys, I think not. What keyboard do you have?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucasiewicz

Could someone tell me how I can change to hotkey for bringing up the command screen (currently ~ ), because I can't type that character ingame (I have a different keyboard, not querty) so I can't get the fow down to post my campaign-progress so far.

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Edit: THIS below doesn't seem to work for savegames. Sry.

You could try the long way, if you can't use the dropdown menu through ~

- Go to C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome1.5 - EB\EB\preferences (or your custom install folder)
- backup preferences.txt
- open up preferences.txt
- change FOG_OF_WAR:TRUE in FOG_OF_WAR:FALSE
- save and exit
- Start up EB, load your game, take a screenshot
- exit EB
- open up preferences.txt and change back FALSE in TRUE or restore the backup of point 2.

https://img169.imageshack.us/img169/6613/250bcir4.gif

250BC - Me is Romani.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Casuir

Nother 20 years as Casse.
https://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2673/24732bc9.jpg

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Haha! Pontos got sucker punched. They tried to take Sinope, failed to hold it, then those KH troops that they created took Amaseia and destroyed Pontos as a faction. First time I've seen that happen.

Love to see these really longer term campaigns. We see a ton of 262 and 252 ones, but the longer folks play, the more interested we are in seeing what happens.

Were you playing on bi.exe Casuir? Seeing the romans put ashore at Thermon makes me think so.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucasiewicz

Could someone tell me how I can change to hotkey for bringing up the command screen (currently ~ ), because I can't type that character ingame (I have a different keyboard, not querty) so I can't get the fow down to post my campaign-progress so far.

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Try the key under your esc button.

My Romani campaign - year 255. No substantial movement, though I'm now in year 252 and will make a post at 250 B.C. because there has been quite a bit of movement over the past three years and it seems like a lot more is going to happen soon. Well, at least in my part of the world.

https://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6696/rom255rq9.jpg

Here's an update on my Carthy campaign.

https://img167.imageshack.us/img167/...hage272om6.jpg

https://img243.imageshack.us/img243/...hage262af8.jpg

https://img167.imageshack.us/img167/...hage252uo5.jpg

https://img98.imageshack.us/img98/94...hage242yy3.jpg

The coolest story here is the defense of Demetrias by the Maks. Wow is it epic. It's been under siege for over a decade, constantly, by both the Greek Cities and the Epirotes who are allies in the war. And against all odds, it held everytime. Countless battles, countless lives lost on both sides. Their faction leader was in there for the majority of the fighting, however he did try to flee a couple of times up north. He was always intercepted by Epirote armies and came back. At one point, the Maks brought in some reinforcement from Mytilene via ships; a general and a couple of units. Now the two fought together for a few years and defended well. Then before I know it, the faction leader makes another run for it and this time escapes. He went up north and back around to get to their other remaining city. The other general was left alone, but he proved to be able to defend well himself. The story has a sad ending for the Maks though. Shortly after this screenshot was taken in the Spring of 242, the city fell to a large Epirote army. A valiant effort by all concerned, fighting off the relentless attackers, year after year, battle after battle. It was awesome.

You know, for an unfinished faction, Saba kicks some major Arsé. Also, I'm pleased to report that there have been no sand wars in this campaign and my alliance with the Ptolemies has held strong for over 30 years now. Of course, the 500 mnai/turn tribute I offer them regularly for 5 year periods at a time doesn't hurt either. In fact, the only time alliances were broken were by me, when I cancelled them to take out the Lusotanan and kick out the Epirotes from Italy. That, by the way, was an epic battle as they had built up over two full stack armies around Taras. My faction leader Hamalcar with his main army, reinforced by his son Hamalcar (should be fixed to be Hamilcar) with his mercenary army took on the Epirote warriors. Great stuff. Here's a screen of the stats just to get an idea.

https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/...arasnb9.th.jpg
Battle of Taras

Interesting that with the reduced Sand Wars (as far as I've seen), the Ptolemies are always doing really well against the Seleucids. In my Roman campaign, the Sels are almost completely wiped out; the Ptolemies took all of their Western lands while Baktria picked off the lands that revolt in the East. Will post a pic soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Teleklos Archelaou

Were you playing on bi.exe Casuir? Seeing the romans put ashore at Thermon makes me think so.

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Yep, lot of fighting for the islands going on. I'll try and keep updating, but the turns are getting longer and spare time is getting shorter

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cheexsta

Interesting that with the reduced Sand Wars (as far as I've seen), the Ptolemies are always doing really well against the Seleucids. In my Roman campaign, the Sels are almost completely wiped out; the Ptolemies took all of their Western lands while Baktria picked off the lands that revolt in the East. Will post a pic soon.

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but what's really cool is the Seleukid counter-attack, which we can see in Wonderland's. I'm really happy to see that, its like the Syrian Wars.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gertgregoor

Try the key under your esc button.

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That did the magical trick. What wonders a fellow Belgian can do, because I'm using the all Belgian azerty-keyboard, but as it seems, that doesn't even matter as the game treats my keybaord as a regular querty-board. Only I didn't know where the ~ was on such a keyboard. Anyways...

https://img176.imageshack.us/img176/6341/minimapts6.png

This image is taken the fall of 244 BC. and shows some nice devellopments. Worth saying is that I'm playing the Parthians, so you might now want to look to much at the Bactrians, because I'm being their pain in the arse, but, on the other hand, I'm whiping them out because they were becoming to strong! Really, Bactria showed some nice expansion early on in the game.

The biggest noticeable thing, is the Seleucid expansion (or is that because I, as their enemy focus to much on them? :yes: ). They're defenitely whiping the Ptolemies their butts, only look at their expansion in Asia Minor and Syria :egypt: . They also gained a footstep in the Indus-delta and the Arabian desert, which they didn't have at the beginning.

Other nice thing worth noticing, is the Sweboz expansion. They've conquered a fair amount of provinces, almost all of them in the western direction.

Other expanding factions are the Romani and Khart-Hadasht, but we've come to expect nothing less of them. The Romani kicked Epeiros out of Italicum and are now trying to secure their northern Italian border, but is facing a strong Aedui their, who are giving the Arverni a very hard time. Further more the Khart-Hadasht (but that also what we expect of them) are also giving the Romani a hard time, as well on Sicily as in the mainland of Italy.

https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/...mekhartmz0.png

What next? It looks like Macedonia found a way to pull itself together and survive the first decades and has been expanding slowly in last ones, with a nice firm hold of one side of the Bosporus. Epeiros recently started a new expansion northwarhts, since they've been expelled from Italy and allready gained some territory. The Sarmatians also gained some provinces, which is something I find very pleasing. It beats my expectations.

Pontus, Casse, Lusotana, Sabateans, Daha Rauka and the Getai are seemingly at more or less status-quo positions. Lusotana seemed to have a expansion problem EB is allready aware of, some goes for some extend to the Daha Rauka. I don't know what about Pontus and the Getai. As for the Sabateans, they're facing a very powerfull Seleucid nation in their borderland in my game, but the gave what it seems still enough rebel-provinces left, though I don't know lots about the rebel strengt in that region.

The only faction I left out till now, are the Armenians, but only because I'm ignorant of their starting positions. Have they expanded yet?

Some review:

https://img176.imageshack.us/img176/6062/turnszk7.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucasiewicz

That did the magical trick. What wonders a fellow Belgian can do, because I'm using the all Belgian azerty-keyboard, but as it seems, that doesn't even matter as the game treats my keybaord as a regular querty-board. Only I didn't know where the ~ was on such a keyboard. Anyways...

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That's why I asked. I tought it might have been an azerty. I have one to, it took me ages to find the bloody key. Btw: nce shots.

Your armenians look to have taken one city: Kotais.
Your Seleukids look scary. By the looks of it you are probably the only regional power capable of stopping them!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kugutsu

Your armenians look to have taken one city: Kotais.
Your Seleukids look scary. By the looks of it you are probably the only regional power capable of stopping them!

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Well, let's repeat history! :whip:
If only there phalanxes didn't pose such great danger for my Pahla shivatir. There armor is still too impenetrable at the moment. It takes to much horse-archers to bring them down. I'm still waiting for better units to come available first. Have gotten much time to devellop my cities fully yet, with the war against Bactria, but by taking their former homeland provinces, money from their mines is strolling into my pockets :laugh4:

http://xs410.xs.to/xs410/06503/250.jpg
Here is year 250 BC of my Lusotannan campaign.

Been struggling for years with Celtiberia. Two spawned rebel generals have decimated almost 3 stacks of mine in piece meal.

Notes:
Carthago has lost it's provinces in Iberia to rebels! Wild!
Seleucids are big in arabia.
Getai and Casse haven't expanded at all.
Makedonia is down to Lesbos.
Arverni has been protectorate of Rome for a long time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Puupertti Ruma

http://xs410.xs.to/xs410/06503/250.jpg
Here is year 250 BC of my Lusotannan campaign.

Been struggling for years with Celtiberia. Two spawned rebel generals have decimated almost 3 stacks of mine in piece meal.

Notes:
Carthago has lost it's provinces in Iberia to rebels! Wild!
Seleucids are big in arabia.
Getai and Casse haven't expanded at all.
Makedonia is down to Lesbos.
Arverni has been protectorate of Rome for a long time.

---

Wow indeed! Carthage being kicked out of Iberia by the rebels is great. Romans being bottlenecked in north Italy by Aedui and Epeiros is wonderful too. Pontos taking Byz and Tylis too is pretty cool. Don't be fooled by Arabia - seleukids have Gerrhaia and Dumatha, but they are crappy - two of the worst provinces in the game. The seleucids lost Syria and Babylon among others, so they will be hurting badly.

Actually, about three years earlier, Romans had Mediolanium, but apparently they lost it, probably due to revolt, right?

Hey how come you still have the ''vanilla-style'' cities in your screenshots? Mine are quite different (the new models they added) ~:confused: