1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Tellos Athenaios]

Ok first of all the only reason why the Aedui own Liguria, Aemilia and Ventia is that the SPQR caused a ctd. And a quite repeatable one to boot. So I teleported my diplomat, used some cheat money and bought the Romani out of those territories. Built the most apporpiate govt levels I could, and then gifted these regions to the Aedui. (Forced, actually.)

Restored the money balance -> CTD gone (?).

In this small span of time between the 'acquisition' of these territories and our war, the Aedui might just have inflicted the most humiliating string of defeats on the Romani. The Romani did have full stacks with elite and regular infatry and generals and whatnot in the region, the Aedui had to manage with levies and whatever military they had in Mediolanum and Massalia. The result is that the Romani no longer have elite stacks, and that when they chased the Aedui faction heir and another general the old king escaped. In fact, the Romani who attacked him with one of the elite armies lost by far more men than the Aedui did. And the Celtic world finally hit the first reforms. (250 BC, actually)

Anyways I'll make up for that by conquering some Aedui towns: when I gifted those regions I got a transgression warning, and I figure I be the first to start this war, while the Sweboz are more or less brain-dead.


In Mikra Asia a stalemate exists; but in the Fertile Crescent the Seleukeis are about to collapse. But perhaps Palmyra & Saba will divert Ptolemaic forces long enough...

The town of Palmyra has seen quite a bit of action: originally conquered by the Seleukeis, then conquered by the Ptolemaioi they had had enough. So they decided to call themselves Saba. Neither the Saba (who lost their single biggest customer in the process) nor the Ptolemaioi were too happy with that. The Saba made it absolutely clear to the ursurpers in Palmyra they were not amused, and hence Palmyra now counts as Eleuthera again.

However this saw some vulture-like diplomacy here as well:
1) The Saba lost their biggest client which happens to be the most feared Empire of the World.
2) The Seleukids offer an alliance, so the Saba gladly accept (one potential problem less for them)
3) The Merchants in white, plotting for world domination by means of proxies (the Carthies who lost bad against the Eleutheroi on numerous occasions) offered an alliance also. This means that the Saba are now an official member of the grand Seleukid-Carthaginian anti-Ptolemaioi coalition. Officially the Carthies still abide the peace-treaty signed after the fall of Kyrene to the Ptolemaioi; but it seems that is only because they lack serious armies which aren't stuck chasing desert jinns.

In the Far East the Baktrians declared war upon the Seleukeis, this very turn actually. I guess that's pretty accurate, actually.
The villages/towns of Xiyu and Sogdiane are hotly disputed: Xiyu was taken by the Saka who lost it to the Baktrians only to take it back and lose it yet again. Sogdiane rebelled early on from the Seleukeis, only to be taken by the Baktrians who subsequently lost it to the Saka who lost it to the Baktrians again. But then the Saka retook the region, and ever since they have been busy defending it from Seleukid wanderers, Baktrian agressors...

However these few years definitely were the years of the Hellenic Leagues. The Epeirotai and the Koinon declared an alliance, and are now busy kicking the Makedonians out of Thermon. About one full stack of eager Hellenes from the south await their turn; two more from the north are marching at Thermon also.

Finally there's the little succes story of the Parthians who are currently besieging Sousa.

[Fondor_Yards]

My 1.1 EB campaign, on 1.5 RTW with no other changes but the few I made myself. Forgot/too lazy to take pictures before this.


222 BC


200 BC


190 BC


181 BC


Casse: Have just kinda sat there, very slowly taking all the british isles.

Aedui: Took half of Gaul, made peace with the Averni and became Rome's protectorate. Just kinda sat there till the Lusitannans curb stomped them. Currenly about 5 years past this last SS, they are gone.

Averni: Made peace with the Aedui and took forever taking the other half of Gaul. Was able to hold their against Rome's limited attacks, but were weaked so weren't able to hold off their allies the Lusitannans forever. Just like the Aedui they were wiped out and the Iberians control all of Gaul now too.

Lusitannan: Slow start, but once their won their war with Carthage they became very strong and very agressive. With their allies Rome, Carthage, and Macedon they rule the Western half of the world in what I like to call the "Informal Anti-Me Alliance."

Sweboz: As you can see, did nothing for 20 years, then took all of Central Europe. Slowly losing a war to the Romans now.

Getai: Their Empire topped off around 208 BC, which is when they happened to go to war with the Romans. At one point they reached from to Ak-Ink to Nikaia. Were slowly losing ground to them whem Macedon came back from the grave, took back their lands, and attacks from the south. They collasped quite quickly. After a few years of stupid AI diplomancy, have decided to hide in their last 2 cities as roman protectorates and hope no one notices them again.

Romans: Their usual powerhouse self, have won wars with both gallic tribes, the Getai, Carthage, Macedon, and Epeiros twice. We were trading partners untill my very last turn, when they decided to seige Tylis.

Epeiros: Took Macedon, but then kinda sat there forever. When Macedon got their balls back and attacked they were saved as Taras conviently rebelled to them from Carthage. Took Arpi from Carthage before Rome took it back. Now lives as another Roman protectorate.

Macedon: Lost Pella to Pyrrhos, but were able to take south greece Byzantium, and Pergamon. Used that to retake Pella and crush Epeiros. Took cities from the Getai with easy till they bordered the Romans. After that war ended for some reason, they allied with them. Probably since they not bordered me. So I kicked them out of Asia Minor, Thrace, and Byzantium.

Koinon-Hellenon: Got kicked out of Greece by the Maks, and did their normal llive off of Rhodos and city rebellions. Controlled Chersonesos, Halikarnassos, Emporion, Massalia and Rhodos at one point. Till they lost them each to being dead, Me, Iberians, Averni, and Me.

Carthage: Pretty meh so far. Took half of Iberia, lost it. Took Sicily after Rome weakened it and South Italy. Lost South Italy. Apparently content to sit around chasing my 2 navies around and send full stack after full stack to die outside of Kyrene's walls.

Seleucids: Actually pretty decent as enemies go, much better then the Ptolemaics anyway. Only attacked me once between 272 and 250, despite me taking Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate from them then. Almost feel bad about crushing them under a horde of cavalry. Almost.

Baktria: Made the mistake of attacking me with their starting full stack the turn we boardered in 271 or so. It's loss hurt them badly, as they never attacked my lands again and had only taken Gava-Haomavarga by the time they died in 260 or so.

Parthia: Other then the Seleucids and Saba, one of only three wars I ever started ever started. They had taken and lost a bunch of cities from the Seleucids, and that was about it. but seeing how most of their armies were just full stacks of *much better then my* cataphracts, I decided they had to die now. Finished them off in 251 after some nasty fights.

Ptolematics: Once I took Seleucia, they had Bablyon on the other side of the river. As is their credo, they attacked the next turn, despite our 50 or so year old alliance. Decided the Seleucids could wait in Asia Minor as I drove them into the Nile.

Pontus: They seiged Ipsos. It didn't go well for them.

Hai: Have wisely decided not to attack the most powerful nation in the world. Pontus should have followed their lead. They keep sending spies into my cities and their dipolmates keep doing their little attempt to bribe thing that normally means they will attack, but apparently my massive armies and garrisons are staying their attack.

Sarmatians: Still my ally. Haven't attacked me at all surprisingly, which makes me want to wipe out the Hai to help them out. Don't feel like invading further into Europe yet, so I might go help my nomad brothers.

Saba: They just sat down there in Arabia minding their own business, till I decided to launch a surprise attack at Alexandreia from the south. On the way there my general took all their lands. I've learned two things from this. 1. Saba units suck and die very easily to arrows and/or cataphracts and 2. Their cities are really rebellious.


Currently at war with Rome, Macedon, and Carthage. Rome and Macedon ended their war and allied, probably so now they can both attack me. Rome and Carthage are still techinally at war since Carthage invaded Italy and took 4 cities there, but once Rome took them back they havn't even looked at each other hard. And since Iberia is allied to Rome, it means basicly once the germans fold they will all have nothing to do but build up to fight me at some point.

[Shadowwalker]

Wow! You rule a very impressive Saka empire, Fondor_Yards. At which difficulty level you are playing? And how do you prevent distant cities from rebelling?

[Fondor_Yards]

VH/M iirc. Keeping cities in line has been my biggest problem, since 99% of my towns are of greek culture+80% captial distance thing, mostly just huge garrisons and using the add_population cheat to reduce population to stimulate slaughtering them or moving loyal greeks/indians west or disloyal guys east.

[Olaf The Great]

VH/M iirc. Keeping cities in line has been my biggest problem, since 99% of my towns are of greek culture+80% captial distance thing, mostly just huge garrisons and using the add_population cheat to reduce population to stimulate slaughtering them or moving loyal greeks/indians west or disloyal guys east.

Me want savegame

[Tellos Athenaios]

It's 241 BC and those 8 years (the last update was 249 BC) have seen some massive warfare.

The Aedui quickly lost Amorica and after a lengthy siege their relief forces + the quite massive garrison of Bibracte proved unable to change the course of events --> Bibracte was sacked for some needed cash. (Actually ~6000 Mnai ....) Which means that the Aedui confederation is now without the Aedui tribe...

The Arverni took the opportunity to mount a campaign against Lemonum/Burdigalla and so far have succeeded against Lemonum. Burdigalla might prove a bit thougher challenge than expected, though. However, the Arverni managed to capture Massalia with a surprise attack, and despit initial riots in the city - the region is still in Lime Green hands.

The Aedui became/argeed to becoming a (dissapointing) Roman protectorate. But the Romani couldn't keep their hands off the Mamertines, and a *true* first Punic War was a fact. The Aedui obviously chose the side of the Qartadastim allies, and so, recently the Romani have set out for a punishment expedition. (Currently besieging Bononia, while virtually all Aedui forces are located around Aventicos/ the passes to Mediolanium. Clever AI there...)

If I had a more strict roleplaying going on in my campaign I would've said that the Arverni invited me (because they profited most as they were about to collapse against the Aedui but now seem to have fully recovered) to aid them against the Aedui; and the Aedui in turn invited the Swebozez to attack me from accross the Oder. (Because the Aedui were just about fully removed from the Transalpine Gaul theatre; however since the Swebozez 'intervened' the Aedui had enough time to consolidate their borders. So they retain a northern stronghold: Aventicos.) I wasn't caught entirely off guard and a forced march towards the Elbe + a few crushing defeats inflicted on Swebozez invaders ensured I kept my regions....

After some more manoeuvres I was enabled to go on a quick punishment campaign against Denmark & Sweden. Then I took some risk and conquered Gawjam~Rugoz. Another large battle, and now the Swebozez military is in shambles... Currently besieging the capital with ~35% of my forces in the region; the rest is to march South, be refitted and conquer that one rebel settlement next to Bibracte... (And keep an eye on my allies, the Arverni...)

===================================================

On Sicily a real Punic War took place; but the Qartadastim lost the battle for Messana in the end. Not surprising actually, as the Qartadastim forces were vastly outnumbered (the entire Roman war machine was marching south at the time...) With Messana secured the Romani signed a treaty with the Qartadastim and are now free to molest Syrakosai with the (approving) consent of the Merchants in white.

The Merchants in white seem to prefer grand-scheming against the Ptolemaioi and minor campaigns against desert jinns.

============================

In Spain the Lusotannan discovered what a devastating effect old age has on Eleutheroi generals: they don't have kids to take over their duties! So the crafty Portuguese resorted to a long-term strategy: waiting till the enemy dies of old age and their people is left leaderless... But just for fun, only the city of Emporion is constantly harrased by bands of Lusitanian party-goers...

================================

Makedonia held out against all expectations; and now seem to be a bit more than just a nuisance for the grand Koinon of the Koina... Both Epeiros and KH have dispatched forces to deal with the intrusions of Makedonike forces. On the other hand the Makedonians constantly try to subjugate Pergamon, and if they don't then the KH gives it a try from Sardis. So far no luck, though.

Epeiros is a powerhouse; using rather blunt but effective tools nonetheless agains the garrison of Ak-Ink to conquer it. Will be a while before they manage, because the governor is still alive and kicking Thracian Tribal Levies whenever he gets a chance to. But he's got to do that with fewer men each time the Thracian Subjects of the Epeirote throne get back....

In Mikra Asia, Pontos is on the rise - and quite possibly about to fall very far, very far indeed. Not content with warring against Seleukids, and barely managing to contain Ankyra's lust for Pontic gold and silver -- they decided to attack Tarsos. That might be a bad idea, a very bad idea...

Because further East the Ptolemaioi may have been unable to crush 'so-called Saba' - they have been able to finally squash Damaskos once and for all; as well as to reconquer Palmyra and grab Babylon to boot. And the Seleukids don't seem a match for the Ptolemaic forces marching at Edessa either...

===============
Further east, the Pahlava have finally reconquered Ekbatana. And they seem eager to oust Theorodoros Syriakos from his Hyrkanian throne too...

[General Appo]

252 Qarthadastim M/M RTW exe. Some FD.


Been playing a bit behind the back of my AAR readers (mohahaha) and things are getting quite interesting.



Romans: After quickly taking Taras they´ve utterly failed to take Rhegion despite probably about 10 attempts. Its garrison is now so low I almost feel bad about not just sending in a Hoplitai to take the city.
But while Rhegion remains independent, the Romans are doing crazy stuff further north. They took Segesta and Massalia early on, and a few years later Tolosa.
Attacked the Aedui 258 though almost nothing actually seems to have happened in that war yet. While besieging Emporion I (like it befits a true ally) aided them with an army under Hamalcar (yes, Hannibals daddy) and they would never have taken the city without my help. Even when I removed my army from Lacetania after the battle, they still declared war on me for some stupid reason. Now I will make the threacherous dogs pay.

Lusotannan: Took Tyde, Sucum-Murgi, Carpetania and defeated Moskons Celtiberian army all in the first 5 years. Then besieged Mastia and came damn close to taking it, before I robbed them of half their cities in a lightening 1 year campaign. After defeating all their armies, blockading all their ports and all entrances to my territory plus stationing an army outside their almost unguarded capital I FD´d them to become my protectorate, they´ve remained as such since 265 and are behaving nicely, only taking Pallantia.

Arverni: Got Galatia through revolt at turn 3, have been holding on to it with a vengeance, defeating many Pontos armies. Lost Viennos to Aedui, have mostly been occupied with defending against attacks upon Gergovia by the Dark Greens.

Aedui: Going good, took Vesontio and Lemonum, are very close to taking Bratosporios and Bononia (though the Romans might snatch the later one).

Sweboz: These guys are really worrying me. Not only uniting Germania, they´ve now crossed the Rhine. Hopefully the zombie generals with their armies of the undead in Veldideno and Ebouronum will keep them occupied.

Casse: Best progression I´ve ever seen by them (including when I played them). Not much to say except that they´re kicking ass. Hoping for a Casse Naval Invasion within this century.

Getai: Have done very little after taking Kallatis and Getia Koile apart from a one time attempt to take Tylis.

Epeiros: Kicking ass big time. After kicking the Makedonians out of Makedonia they´ve been teaching a lesson to the Illyrians and Thracians, a lesson about the unfairness of life. Recently took Bysantion and are besieging Tylis.

KH: Nothing special. Liberated Korinthos and have tried to do the same to Demetrias and Chalkis, but no luck so far, though they are getting closer.

Makedonia: I really should rename them and maybe give them a new colour, for these guys aren´t the Maks anymore, they´re the Pergamon Antigonids, they´ve even moved their capital to Pergamon.
Maybe Kalos Argeades should do like Seleukos Nikator and Ptolemaios Soter did, and name his kingdom after himself.
Arche Kalos. Argeadoi. Arche Argeados. Arche Argeadeia. Arche Kaloi. Arche Kalosoi. Nah, all sounds stupid.
Anyway, these guys have taken Nikaia and Ipsos, and are threatening Sardis. However back home in the old country things are looking bad, it´s only a matter of time before the KH or Epeiros takes Demetrias and Chalkis.

Pontos: Big dissapointment. Took Galatia early but of course lost it. Tried to take Sinope and Nikaia, but utterly failed. Kinda dead now, apart from occasional forages against the ex-Maks.

Seleukids: Doing okay. Despite losing Antiocheia early they managed to hold on, and only recently lost Damaskos and Palmyra, but doesn´t look like they´re about to break. Might lose Sardis to ex-Maks but Mazaka´s got a bigass garrison that´ll likely hold of any ex-Mak, Pontos and Ptolemaic attacks.
Holding nicely against Pahlava, even nearly took them out. After losing both Asaak and Hekatompylos they retook them and had a big army marching against Nisa when the Pahlavans defeated it, earning a Famous Battle marker. Few turns later Asaak revolted, and they´be been pretty stuck like that for a while now, with small time skirmishing.
Still allied to Baktria but Saka-Rauka declared war last turn after early ceasfire, yet to see what the Red Nomads will do.

Hayasdan: Getting their asses kicked by my absolute favourite in this campaign, the Sauromatae.

Ptolemaioi: Read Seleukids. Nothing real exiting going on otherwise, the usual Sinai war against Sab´yn, but that´s it.

Sab´yn: Quite good progression. After I raided Kirtan I gave it to them just so I could get in some minor trade from there (inspired by Quintus Sertorius).
Will probably do the same with any other African regions I take.

Pahlava: Read Seleukids, they´ve done nothing but fighting them.

Baktria: Was doing good ´till Saka-Rauka took Marakanda, now seem kinda lost with no real direction.

Saka-Rauka: Been mostly passive to suddenly get creative outburst like the taking of Marakanda and Gava-Saka in one turn.

Sauromatae: Holy geez, I love these suckers. Not only conquering the Slavs and Balts, they´ve moved into Armenia, and are right now besieging Kotais. Have almost taken Olbia, hopefully will soon. Also besieging Gava-Thissakata.

Carthage: Well, I´m playing it slow (or trying to). Slowly took Sicily and Arsé, then blitzed the Brown Shepherds when they betrayed me.
I´m staying away from the African towns, except to raid some and give them to the Sab´yn. Since the Romans betrayed me I might have to attack them. Don´t know what I´ll do, I don´t want to take Italy yet but I don´t think the Romans would accept defeat unless I did something really bad, and I don´t think taking Emporion and sinking their fleet is enough.

[Ravenfeeder]

Continuation of my Romani game (see upthread)

210bc


204bc


I think I'll give this one up now. Fighting two or three battles against the Ptollies per turn is getting dull.

KH are about to die.

Baktria look like they have the upper hand over Pahlava. Probably due to being able to use AS regional barracks and spam Klerouch Phalangitai from them.

Makedon only survived so long due to the cold war of assassins and spies that I waged for 30 years in Asia Minor. Eventually all the Ptolemaic cities had family members and I had to turn the war hot.

A shame the Yellow Fever became so strong so early. I put it down to the sharing of barracks and the high availability of Klerouch Phalangitai accross the region.

[Tyrfingr]

Romani campaign, EB on Alex.exe, VH/H

262BC

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

252BC

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

242BC

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

232BC

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

222BC

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

212BC (previous update)


202BC


The last ten years have been very, very busy. In about 210BC the long anticipated World War between me and the Arche Seleucia finally broke out into full scale warfare, and unable to secure any ceasefire, I grabbed what I could and prepared for war.

Short after the last update, I defeated the Makedonians, rushing my faction leader to every battle and when I conquered their last city of Pergamon, the AS decided to challenge me.

Now, the western Anatolia is the scene of several huge battles every turn. As I have conquered a couple of AS cities, they are constantly besieging and me constantly sallying out to face them. Little by little, I gain land however.

The war against AS could have ended in disaster for me, had not the Marian Reforms kicked in summer 209BC. I held out with my Polybian armies in Anatolia, while recruiting fresh Marian armies in Italy and sent them by ship to the theatre of war. Their arrival really turned the tide, and as I'm sending two additional armies I expect to conquer all of Anatolia within the next 10 years.

In the northwest, my armies in Germany have been shipped over to Britain and is slowly eating the Casse Kingdom up from the south. The trip to Britain have not been an easy one, and the Casse are controlled by a fierce AI, much more clever than I anticipated.

Meanwhile the war between Rome and AS raged on in the east, three ambitious family members conquered all but one carthaginians settlemen in North Africa. Just recently, they have conquered their way east towards Egypt to finally get rid of the carthaginian nemesis. A dull but vigorous son is currently marching for the last carthaginian stronghold in west Africa.

In eastern Europe, the Getai was swept aside by my HA armies, now making the Sarmatians my neighbour, who is currently massing up armies along our border.

Arche Seleucia

This game has really become a powerstruggle between me and the Arche, and almost every faction is involved somehow, only the Casse is unaffected by the war, every other faction is either allied to me, or to AS.

AS is such a powerhouse, they conquered the Pahlava and is chasing the Baktrians into the mountains. They was however unexpectedly thrown out of both Egypt and India, but they have fully-stacked armies in nearby allied territory, ready to take them back. Although their expansion has slowed down, they are nowhere near exhaustion.

[General Appo]

Wow, that´s one heck of a war you got going there. Just 8 factions left after just 70 years. I wonder what will have happened after another 70 years.

[QuintusSertorius]

Totally augmented and tinkered with through lots of Force Diplomacy, console-added (and depleted) money and selective wars in defense of certain factions, but this is my H/M Romani game in 172BC:

[Fondor_Yards]

Heh it's been a busy 20 years. I put the save up in the 1.1 game saves thread.

170 BC


160 BC


Casse: Nothing new

Averni: Dead

Aedui: Super Dead

Lusitannan: I still don't know how they did that. I've been looking at their armies, they are stacks of celtic and iberian levy troops, and that's it.

Sweboz: Welp, they fell fast didn't they?

Getai: Still Rome's bitch

Romans: Other then their first few attacks with decent armies, they are been strangly unagressive in our war. Took Rome and Capua from them on a whim after taking the islands.

Epeiros: A green Getai

Macedon: The last of the Greek Nations,*Epeiros doesn't count* annoying me with their full stack after stack of thracian, greek,and illyrian coastal levies, so I finished them off. No more pikemen to slaughter, huzza!

Carthage: Sent a few more, actually decent armies with elite and heavy troops, before stopping for most of 170-160. Took their island holdings from them.

Hai: Has continued their foreign policy of "Don't piss off your superpower neighbor that surrounds you on 3 sides" and live for it.

Sarmatians: Wasn't planning on attacking them, but when my war with the Romans broke out, they sided with the Romans. So I went and united my eastern Scythian brothers under my banner.

These last few years have been pretty meh. Both the roman and macedonians didn't give me too much resistance. In the winter of 160, the Romans offered a ceasefire but asked for 92k. I offered them 92k, Capua back, map info, and threatened to attack if they didn't become my protectorate. Funny enough they accepted. So I'm sending my Indian and my Greek army to take Africa from Carthage while my Nomad one watched the Roman boarder in Dacia. I don't know if I'm happy or sad that the Romans took up to Denmark, meaning the Iberians don't have a chance to go any further east. I'll find out when I take the rest of Europe and meet them in Gaul I guess then.

[Olaf The Great]

Continuation of my Romani game (see upthread)

210bc


204bc


I think I'll give this one up now. Fighting two or three battles against the Ptollies per turn is getting dull.

KH are about to die.

Baktria look like they have the upper hand over Pahlava. Probably due to being able to use AS regional barracks and spam Klerouch Phalangitai from them.

Makedon only survived so long due to the cold war of assassins and spies that I waged for 30 years in Asia Minor. Eventually all the Ptolemaic cities had family members and I had to turn the war hot.

A shame the Yellow Fever became so strong so early. I put it down to the sharing of barracks and the high availability of Klerouch Phalangitai accross the region.

Baktria shares barracks with Macedon, not AS, but they have the best mines in the game, and access to somewhat better units than AS.
Ptolemaics have that advantage however...

[Folgore]

Here's my AI progression from my 1.1 KartHadastim campaign. I'm using 1.5 RTW.exe, no mods, no Force Diplomacy (or giving any financial aid to AI factions myself) and all the bugfixes in Bovi's thread. (I can't remember the difficulty setting...)



As you can see, the first ten years have passed in peace. I managed to get a peace treaty with Epiros, so I had no enemies. I disbanded most of my army and navy and raised a force to take over Spain. As you can see Arsé has already fallen to my brave soldiers and a puppet leader was installed.



But things didn't stay peaceful. After I had taken Emporion and Syracuse the Romans decided to invade Messana. Because I have these nice people my support, a state of war existed between Rome and me from that day on. As I was not prepared for this move I did not have Lilibeo properly guarded, so I immediately raised a strong army that was going to defeat the Romans soundly. They did very well and even managed to take Rhegion. Meanwhile in Spain, I also managed to grab Sucum Murgi right with a Lusitanian army standing next to it. They were not pleased.



By now I have taken Tarsos, but keeping it has been a difficult task. The Romans managed to raise a huge army every year and while I keep defeating them, I have to go through the arguous process of shipping my troops back to Kart Hadast for retraining every few years. To keep the defence of my two Italian cities going I have had to raise another army, that can keep the Romans at bay for a year while my main army is retrained. I've also enlisted the help of some 600 Hoplites from Syracuse, which are easier to retrain and they've been of great help. Around 250 BCE I got into a war with the Lusitana, but I've managed to take their capital, so it's going alright. In 245 BCE though, the Ptolemaioi violently broke our alliance by attacking my Libyan settlement. Although this came as a complete surprise and I did lose the city I managed to recapture it a year later. Unfortunately the Ptolemaioi had sold most of its citizens into slavery.



The war in Iberia is harsh, but I've managed to keep going. However, I do not have enough money to support armies fighting on three fronts, so I decided to get rid of the Lusitana by taking both their remaining settlements in the same turn. A few years later I sadly lost my Libyan settlement again, which was rather embarrasing, but I did take it back a year later. By now I was getting tired of Rome harrasing me, so I decided to teach them a lesson they would not soon forget. I assembled the finest troops from my Italian armies and went rampaging all the way up to Rome. I enslaved all Roman men, women and children from Rhegion to the very city of Rome itself. First I took Apri and enslaved the population. Because I did not have the manpower to keep the city, I set fire to it, destroying all buildings, making sure it would not soon send troops to fight me again. Then the next year I did the same to Capua and Rome. There is one more large Roman army wandering around in Italy, but I think those are the last Romans I'll see for a while...

[XSamatan]

@Fondor_Yards:

Holy Shit!!! you are crazy!! do you plan to conquer the hole map?


btw: Do you have a savegame before the yhuezi arrive??


XSamatan

[Fondor_Yards]

Heh I think I will, simply to say that I did it once *same reason I did it in my first vanilla campaign.* As for the save, no. The 170 bc save is right after I beat almost all of their armies. The invasion was pretty lame. All that happened was the AI spawn 4 full stacks of HA near the town, and kicked out my garrison. They wouldn't even take the ungarrisoned town, I just let it rebel before taking it back with the army I put up there for the invasion.

[Tyrfingr]

Folgore, don't you think it's time to conquer the rest of North Africa?

[General Appo]

Perhaps he´s like me and feels it wrong to take control over regions that there´s no way Carthage could ever have controlled.
Besides, what is there to gain by taking those regions? Gigantic deserts? Let the camels rule them. Dry plains? Let the lions and elephants call themselves king over those.
A few pitiful huts near a small oasis? Let the Numidians fight over that.

[Folgore]

Exactly, besides, those provinces are not part of my victory conditions, so there's really no use in wasting soldiers and money trying to take them.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Perhaps he´s like me and feels it wrong to take control over regions that there´s no way Carthage could ever have controlled.

It doesn't feel really wrong. These province have very attractive mines, that alone is worth the few buggers to take them. The Numidians are too easy to defeat, I concur on that. I had really lots of rebellions in that area for a long time in my own 1.0 Carthage campaign, which I could perfectly roleplay as constant local uprisings and rebellions of the local populace. I had two or three generals who spent twenty years or more just with travelling through Numidia and putting down rebellions, some of these even with nellies...

The Romans controlled that territory and fought hard wars over it, so could have done the Carthies. But I think everyone has to find his own preference when it come to balancing between totally sticking to what really happened in history, and absolutely free roaming. Sometimes I think the EB-team is too much stuck with history (think of Makedonian recruitment options in Seleukid territory which could easily be exactly the same), but that's perhaps only me and not intended as critique.

[Tyrfingr]

Exactly, besides, those provinces are not part of my victory conditions, so there's really no use in wasting soldiers and money trying to take them.

Well, as you can see here, the merchants in white held coastal cities pretty much all over North Africa, so conquering at least the Pillars of Heracles would be appropriate.

[Folgore]

Well, I do have a reserve army of 8 units (2 Sacred Band Infantry, 2 Elite Liby-Phoenician Infantry and 4 Liby-Phoenician Infantry) in Kart Hadast, which I only have around because they have so much experience that it would be a waste to disband them. I guess I could recruit some cheap African cavalry and slingers and turn them into a small army. If I do, I'll only take the two coastal provinces though, I'm not interested in the inland provinces.

By the way, I've finally started constucting my 5th level 5 Local MIC in Iberia (228 BCE). In 4 years I'll finally have my Elite African Infantry I've been looking forward to so much. It's about time too, the Romans have just had their Polybian reforms.

[Fondor_Yards]

Heh things have been busy.

150 BC


140 BC


130 BC


Casse: Nothing new

Lusitannan: Jesus wow. When I saw them dominating the Romans, I decided to sit back and see how big they could get. That was a bad idea.

Sweboz: Made peace with the Lusitannan, just got their reform finally, and hiding in their last towns.

Getai: Almost dead, but actually took a town from the Sweboz.

Romans: Deads!

Epeiros: Some reason the Iberians haven't attacked them yet.

Carthage: Reduced them to Numidia, Sicily, and their Iberian holdings that rebelled back to them. Attacked a few times, and have given up in the last 25 years.

Hai: Started losing to the Sarmatians, now officially my ally.

Sarmatians: After getting pushed up to a single province, they have slowly started taking back their lands from the armenians.

A few turns after my last report, apparently the Iberians and Romans broke their alliance. I apparently didn't see the message, so I was quite surprised when I saw the board for the North Italian cities turn brown. They just steamrolled the fuck out of the Romans, which as a Rome hater made me smile, and as the Saka made me scared. I was looking forward to an epic war with Rome for Europe, but they will do. Kinda funny if you think of it, that all the Saka, the barbaric nomads from the frozen north, are the only real civilized force remaining. I wanted to see how big they could get, so I decided to hold in Dacia and at Rome while that happened. While my men in dacia easily destroyed the massed levy armies they sent, Rome was in trouble. It would be literally sieged 24/7, for years at a time. I was pretty lucky, for whatever reason they would only siege Rome with a single stack at a time, which meant basically no matter what it was I could beat it. When I beat the stack attacking, another would come. I'd get lucky after 5-6 stacks they would forget to send another, or do a 1 turn ceasefire so I could retrain my troops. At first I used Sardinian archers, but when my client rulers died I used saka since I changed to pastorallism. After about 25 years of solid sieging, I figured Rome was going to fall. So I sent a big army of sardinians, broke the siege during my turn, and evacuated everyone to Kart-Hadast. All that could out was the 2 generals, and about 16 tiny units of archers and hastai, that merged into a half strength archer unit and near full strength hastai unit. I put in a tiny garrison of about 8 units, which were able to hold until 128.

I've readied my 3 armies again, and I am about to go on the offensive for once in this war.

[Gaivs]

Holy crap thats insane! Are you actually going for the whole map?

[General Appo]

I can only agree with Gaivs, that´s fu*king insane! ThelLuso´s driving you out of Italia? Just holy shit!

[Leviathan DarklyCute]

Awesome. Do it. Go for the whole map, it would be the most awesome report ever.

[Fondor_Yards]

118 BC


110 BC


106 BC


Casse: Dead

Lusitannan: Fuck these guys, seriously, bleh

Sweboz: Made peace with the Iberians, attacked the turn we boarded. How could they think that was a good idea, I'll never know.

Getai: Keep sending stupid little armies to siege my towns, killed them off.

Epeiros: Yea I killed them.

Carthage: Took Sicily from them, then their Spanish holdings. Hunting them down in Numidia after a while.

Hai: Was pushed back to Armenia, even lost Kotais, but came back and took a few from me, and in the middle of the war decided to attack me around 108 BC. Yea, that worked out perfectly for them. Was already sending armies towards their cities anyways, but it's the principle of the thing.

Sarmatians: Start kicking the Armenian's ass all around the place, then starting losing again. Wins the medal for the last faction killed.

God dam was that a freaking pain in the ass. I was literally wading neck deep through all the Lusitannan's shit full stacks. First turn my nomad army spends in their land, has to fight off 7 full stacks. Yea like I was going to do that BS. So I formed a few other armies, and sent them to hit Gaul and Iberia, where they had zero defenses, unlike central europe and it's hundreds. By the time I had taken their lands, most cities had been drained pretty badly by the pure numbers. They were constantly pulling the number of stacks from their ass like you see in the 150 BC SS.



Yes that's 1176 total battles. Maybe 150 were naval battles, if I'm lucky. I really don't recommend doing that unless your Rome or can/will mod for you own quasi reforms.

[General Appo]

Holy crapshit! From 118 to 110 you took all that? Fu*king incredible.

[Leviathan DarklyCute]

Best report ever. Amazing.
I shat a wall of bricks.
Excellent job

[Fondor_Yards]

Heh considering I had about 10 full stacks in Germany, Gaul, Brition, and the Baltics by the time I beat the Germans/Britons/Getai/Iberians, I'd like to hope so. Not counting the armies I sent against Armenia, which where mostly just the large garrisons in the boarder towns. It really wasn't much a fight, more mass slaughters then anything.They had nothing that could counter my better archers, which would kill 200-300 a piece, or my much better infantry, thats they couldn't touch, much less my cataphracts. Using my cataphract archers felt like cheating they were so effective versus them. I'd always assault their towns the 2nd turn of the seige instead of waiting. Plus a lot of towns in general had wod walls still *elephants!* and in germany/east europe didn't have walls at all, which means instant town taking.