1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[General Appo]

Wow, Saka-Rauka is kicking ass. Lets hope they manage to bring down the Sele´s too.

[Hax]

Makedonia campaign. No FD (yet), BI.exe

232 BC



222 BC.



So I've been playing as Makedonia, with the plan to conquer up to the Indus valley. I'll highlight the factions for a bit.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Koinon Hellenon: Dead. Utterly dead.

Epeiros: Actually, after I conquered both Ambrakia and Epidamnos, I moved all their stacks to the Italian mainland. From there, they have been going insane. They immediately conquered Capua and Arpi, then they did Rhegion, and Roma and Ariminum shortly thereafter. So I figured the Romani were kinda in a bad situation. More on that later. As of now, they look a bit like a Sikilian faction (with Taras)

Arche Seleukeia: They are fending off against all attackers (except me), pretty good. Even though the Pahlava conquered a few of their cities, and they lost Antiocheia, they did manage to capture Hierosolyma and hold it. Since they've lost all of their main cities now (Seleukeia, Babylon, Ekbatana and Susa), I figure they won't be able to keep up much longer. And I'm waiting on the betrayal by Baktria.

Ptolemaioi: My friends. Even though we share a border, they haven't been acting in a bad way at all. They are currently pre-occupied with Carthage and the Saba'en, and I have seen nothing bad.

Baktria: Baktria has been expanding pretty good, nothing out of the ordinary. Currently fighting a bitter war against the Saka, that could pretty much go either way. We'll see how it ends.

Saka: See Baktria.

Pahlava: Instead of cutting a bloody swathe through the Seleucid lands, they've figured they should start a steppe empire. They are currently ganging up on the Sauromatae with their Hai friends.

Sauromatae:Even though they expanded pretty well in early game, they are losing a three-front war against the Getai, Hayasdan and Pahlava.

Hayasdan: Killing steppe riders. Sending a lot of spies into my lands. After I capture Charax, and notice another spy, I will march up to their mountain kingdom and kick them out of there.

Getai: As Quirinus put it, they are truly the Dwarves behind the mountains. They are kinda quiet, expanding west and north mostly. I hope they will get into a war with the Romans soon.

Romani: They were my friends at first. After I saw how horrible their state was, I bribed a Carthaginian general and made a mercenary army. From their, I started to conquer back the old Romani cities and gifted them back. However, they suddenly betrayed me about 225 BC, capturing Dalminion and laying siege to Ambrakia. However, I had a Galato-Thraike army ready on a fleet, so I quickly transported them there and a big battle for Dalminion is upcoming.

Aedui: They were first winning the war against the Arverni, but ever since the Sweboz started expanding southwards, and the Romani conquered Mediolanum they have been losing the war for Gaul. They are currently under siege in Dariatorium, so I guess it's bye-bye Aedui pretty soon.

Arverni: As they lost the war against the Aedui, and the Sweboz and Romani rushed to their aid, they took the opportunity by conquering like madmen. At one point, they controlled all of what they have now plus Massilia, Velika and Numantia. I think they'll get killed anyways by the Romani and Lusotannan.

Lusotannan: Nothing extraordinary, just expanding in Iberia -shrug-

Karthadast: Lovely expansion there. Conquering the coastal holdings of Iberia and raising naval attacks on the Italian mainland (they controlled Kapua and Segesta both at one point. We'll see what happens.

Sweboz: The mightiest faction, on the side of military. They have some 10 fullstacks running around Germania and Gallia, and I expect great things of them!

Anyways, that was my AI progression for now. I'll update again in 202 BC.

[Maion Maroneios]

Wow Hax, you're certainly conquering much faster than I am! Say, what kind of armies where you actually fielding during your Anabasis?

[Hax]

1/2 General(s).
2 Argyraspides
4 Pezhetairoi
2 Agrianikoi Pelekuphoroi/Thureophoroi
2 Thraikoi Rhomphaiaphoroi
2 Eastern Archers (sharblahrdarh or something)
2 Eastern Slingers (the same)
2 Hippeis Thessalikoi/Hetairoi
2 Prodromoi/Leuce Epos

I'll also make a screenshot of my 1337 Galato-Thraike army.

[Maion Maroneios]

Interesting, I use the exact same bulk; 2 Argyraspides and 4 Pezhetairoi

[Tyrfingr]

That´s some scary germans. They even took Noricum, impressive! I rarely see an AI do that...

[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.

[Hax]

232 BC



222 BC.

Makedonia campaign. FD activated, BI.exe

212 BC


202 BC



Highlights:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Romani: Awesome. Actually, they were a bit too fast in their expansion, so I gave Singidunum, Ak-Ink and Naissos to the Getai. Still involved in a very hard struggle with the Epeirotai.

Epeiros: Man, oh man, they just deny to die. They have conquered Sicilia, as you can see, and still cling on to Taras and Kapua, while still having the power to invade Corsica and Sardinia numerous times, along with Arpi and Rhegion. They also field an interesting army, mostly levy hoplites and phalangites with Southern Italian support.

Kart-Hadast: Has been kicked out of Iberia by the Lusotannan (scary faction). Since then, they've been a bit sleepy, though as you can see in 212, they launched a quite succesfull (but temporary) invasion of Egypt.

Lusotannan: -shiver- These guys have killed the Arverni and are marching up to Darioritum and Cenabum, the last remaining provinces of the Aedui. I expect them to die quite soon. They also took the Karthadastim holdings in Iberia (securing their economy even further)

Arverni: Dead. Actually, their death was quite unlucky. They were doing really well against the Aedui, after seemingly losing the first war, and then invaded Iberia. Alas, they foolishly attacked Numantia (which they did take over), but due to that, they were at war with the Luso's. The Luso's quickly took Pallantia, Vellika and Numantia, then took (and lost shortly thereafter) Emporion. Finally, they marched into Gallia, slaughtering everything in their path.

Aedui: Dying. Squashed between a Rain 'o Purple and Brown death.

Sweboz: Heroes still. They were in a very long war with the Arverni and Aedui, and have taken lot's of provinces. They are the masters of the Alps and field really strong armies. Still, they are in a very long alliance with the Romani. I think that the only thing that could potentially halt the insane Luso's are the combined armies of the Sweboz and Romani. Almost like an alternate World War 2.

Getai: After I gifted them the Thracian and Balkan provinces they have been bolstering their offensive towards the Sauromatae. They have been taking a few provinces off them, nothing major, but it still looks pretty cool.

Sauromatae: Still losing a two-front war against the Hayasdan of the Steppes and the Getai. I took the heartlands of the Hay, so we'll see how they'll fare without the mining income. If they should lose, and the Pahlava keep on conquering Seleucid provinces, I was thinking of FD-ing the old homeland steppe provinces of the Pahlava and gifting them to the Sauromatae.

Hayasdan: Huh, even though I kicked them out of their homeland provinces (just took Mtskheta, 199 BC) they aren't losing the war against the Sauromatae yet. Perhaps later on.

Pahlava: Three cheers for the mighty Pärni. I believe this expansion will please QuintusSertorius and the Persian Cataphract (especially when I update again). They are ROCKING at the moment. They actually had a ceasefire with the Seleucids till about 20 years ago, when the city of Patala revolted to the Pahlava. Then they started conquering from the cities of Hekatompylos, Asaak, Zadrakata and Phraaspa. They just recently took Gabai (not seen here) and I believe they won't stop conquering until the Seleucids are but a footnote in history. I'm also really looking forward to fighting a reborn Persian empire (a bit like Alexander did).

Baktria: Faring kinda okay, nothing really serious. Also declared war on the Seleucids, though faring less well than their Pahlava friends.

Saka-Rauka: Nothing to see here, just passing by. Though their war with the Baktrians has been raging on for nearly a hundred years, nobody really seems to win.

Seleucids: Doesn't really need explaining. Even though they lost a lot of provinces to me and the Pahlava they have been fighting the Ptolemaioi in Syria without really losing. They just kept clinging on and even reconquered Antiocheia (which was a perfect time for me to capture it myself, heh.)

Ptolemaioi: Not really yellow-deathish this campaign. I just invaded Egypt, so they will probably be reduced to Meroë in no time.

Saba: Really casual relaxed expansion in Arabia. They are the Jamaicans of Eurasia. Just chillin' out, man.

[The Persian Cataphract]

It looks like the Pahlava are finally getting their due in EB, circumventing the poor performance otherwise given in Vanilla. It's very satisfactory. Especially the direction of their expansion; First Parthia proper, then Hyrcania, and then Medea, and then a bloom over all directions.

Without the technical stuff none of this would have been possible, so here's to them

[Hax]

I agree. Also the script that makes them attack Asaak on the first turn is very helpful. I'm just sorry I'm standing in their way for Susiana and Babylonia.

[Swordmaster]

[B]Makedonia campaign. FD activated, BI.exe

What's FD? Does it have to do with BI?

[Ayce]

Forced Diplomacy

[Swordmaster]

Forced Diplomacy

[QuintusSertorius]

A necessity for anything remotely resembling sensible diplomacy in the game.

[QuintusSertorius]

M/M Epeiros-as-Pergamon game with rtw.exe and not as much cheating as I usually use to muck around with the AI factions. I've changed my colour to Royal Blue and the Ptolemies to gold so they're easier to distinguish from Seleukid silver. I did a proper migration in the first year.

It's in a five-year progress stylee.

272BC



Immediately after my migration, not much else has changed. Unlike in the other game, I didn't help Roma by giving them Taras, just made it rebel.

267BC



I took Nikaia, Rome blitzed north and south.

262BC



Saka, Pontos, Hayasdan on the move. I take Halikarnassos.

257BC



After causing Sardis to revolt, I grab it. Also take Byzantion.

252BC



I take Tylis.

247BC



I take Mytilene, which now gives me naval yards to build ships. Krete is next.

242BC



I took Krete. Galatia was taken by the Seleukids, then rebelled to the Aedui. I gave the Casse Bratosporios to create a distinctly different "Belgae" nation.