1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Tellos Athenaios]

@Fondor Yards: Wow man!
@Tellos Athenaios: Nice looking campaign, but why don't you unit the British isles?

That has both an early and a mid (I am not in late-game stage yet) game reason:

Early game:

I went to the mainland because those provinces aren't as strongly guarded by Eleutheroi. Consequence: should the Sweboz decide to have a go at you --> you are dead in the water. Should the Aedui get too agressive too early --> you're screwed too.

But in case you can manage to maintain good relations with the Sweboz & Aedui as long as you need to; you can exploit these regions as a very viable & resilient powerbase. Milnaht? Duguntiz? Iosatae? Mercs in abundance? Belgae Spearmen (forgot how to spell them) ? Hell yeah!

The Eleutheroi & Sweboz cavalry is an easy meal for your generals; and you can actually risk a charge or two in the enemy ranks without getting slaughtered right away. The units I mention are, with a little strategy & tactics a truly powerful & yet very cheap force. Living off trade + sacking Eleutheroi settlements got me going. As a matter of fact, I could exploit the fact that the Sweboz (after a diplomat offered it to them + tribute)/Aedui/Arverni were both allies & targeting the same general region (Arctaunon, Vindelcoppidos, Batasporios) to take them with little losses. (I took Arctaunon without losing a single man on my side...)

However by that time the Eleutheroi on the other side of the sea are still very much alive and kicking: full stacks in *every* town surrounding me + highly developped civic & mic structures... And Eleutheroi half-stacks roaming the boarders isn't happy conquering either, considering I can't afford a full stack just for the explicit purpose of mopping them up -- at least not without seriously weakening my mainland strategic positions. Also the fact I only have a navy ferry since what 2 or 3 turns now didn't make it much easier, eh?

Mid game:
But there's more: the Sweboz intervened, and boy they pack some serious manpower. OK, granted nothing able to actually stand up against my Milnaht + Iosatae + Belgae Spearmen + General; and little capable of dispatching the mercs thrown in for additional numbers... Still, enough to keep my full military occupied for about 6 or 7 years now? (The war is over, the Sweboz are dead now, btw.)

But there also was a much more devious part to it:
a) The Eleutheroi are of my own culture. That means: free civic development, if I but wait till I take those towns!
b) The Eleutheroi are stupid like other AI: once their family members die the movement restrictions vanish. By 237 BC; that's not a long way to go anymore (considering most of them are by now in their end 50's or mid 60's). So that means the cities are much easier targets (just one unit) after those rulers are gone. After that I still have to wade through the masses of Briton Midlander Heroes, Spearmen, Axemen, Skirmishers, Gaeroas, and what not... But at least I'll have the towns quickly.

Last game-reason: also upgraded towns with lotsa population are worth more and will be rich targets. Also these will contribute much more significantly to reaching the last Celtic reforms (which require x large cities ) if I let them grow. And quite a few of them are bordering that size already... That's a whole lot different from, say, the Germanic forests which after continuous warfare are largely inhabited by populations not exceeding 1500 people. And most of my other settlements are less than 6000 as well. I guess I have only 3 cities which are actually inhabited by more than 6000 people; though I have many of such Cities occupied. (Just that the people are no more there...)

Finally there's a purely practical reason: yes I have only 1 year ago embarked on an assault against the Dummones. But a CTD prevents me from ending the one turn before the battle...

And without a war (the war against the Sweboz managed to halt my civic developments considerably) I can make much more money. Which I'll need later on as the Arverni are getting powerful, and the Romani are way too filthy rich and way too overly ambitious to be content with just Italy.