1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[LordCurlyton]

@Lovejoy - No Casse invasion :(. Not that it would do much as Barbarian nations never build ships (I wish I knew why), so no reinforcements would happen.

The Ptolemaioi have tried to take Lepki several times earlier in the game, but just saw their forces wiped out. They haven't tried again for the past decade - probably due to the 2 full stacks waiting for them. It is actually the Saba who've stopped their expansion - normally they go through Palmyra to get to Mesopotamia, but the Saba garrison there is huge, giving the Pahlava time to get there first.

@SwissBarbar - the only extra modding is raising the value of Gold to 4 and lowering Silver to 2 making Large and Small Vein mines give different values (in standard EB the value of both is 3 and so the value of all mines is the same).

@TPC - Your analysis is, as usual, correct. I wonder whether the Hai are actually trying to head for 'Rome' (Gotland) as they are one of the 'Roman' factions, but I'm not sure whether the actions of the other two 'Roman' factions bears that out. What happens if Eremos is made the province of 'Rome'?

Baktria does attempt an Indian expansion, but always ends up with one of their armies stuck on the way to Opiana, not doing anything for the remainder of the game. This 'stuck stack' phenomenon happens to all factions, but hurts the small ones the most. However they can expand into AS regions easily as they share Regional MICs.

The AS/Ptolemaioi balance is the most difficult to balance as they share both factional and regional MICs. The slighest change can swing the balance. AS does seem to prefer defending Margiana to Syria which is the reson that Pahlava find it so hard at least 50% of the time. Beefing up Pahlava in v1.1 has meant that they can take on AS in the East but that leaves AS too weakened elsewhere.

[BI only] The other critical point between the two is often Kypros. If the AS take it then most of the time they will go on to dominate. I wonder whether it is too rich?

Actually before I intervened Kypros changed hands several times before the Ptolies began the inexorable squeeze. In BI it seems to be a prime early AS target, when they are more than able of sparing the small stack needed to take it.
I also noticed the Baktrian stuck stack but it finally unstuck and now Baktria is the proud owner of western India. And I never notice the Ptolies using Palmyra to get to Seleukia/Babylon. I always see them go the traditional route through Edessa. And I have noticed the Arveni build ships before, but not the Aedui/Casse/Sweboz/Luso. So I guess it can happen on occasion. And of course take into account which faction you use as the game tends to skew the performance of different factions based on who you are playing as. I am almost always a western power, like Rome. The one time I did a Pahlava campaign (pre-1.0 I think) the AS crushed the Ptolies. Since it was pre-1.0 I have no idea if they would do so again but I wonder if you played as Saka or Sauro if the AS would perform better.

[Ravenfeeder]

I should add that I'm playing H campaign difficulty. The extra money provided by VH will skew the results differently.

[Lovejoy]

Finaly Greece is secured:D + reform :DDDD



Things are getting crazy in the east Hai has finaly waken, Selue is loosing ground in the east, Pahlava seem strong, Baktria is stuck, Saba is gaining ground, Pontos looked strong but are now loosing against Mac(Pergamon), Saka is CRAZY! and are still goin strong. Maybe they will reach Dacia :D

And just to twist things up even more in the east I am about to mount the biggest invasion ever against Syria. The logistics are going to be troublesome. But oh heck. Thats the fun! :D

EDIT: Anyone have an idea about what to do with KH, Rome and Epieros? I can kill them off if I want too, but I dont like to destroy factions... I was thinking about sending Eprios to India, but I couldnt bribe the towns over there :/

[We shall fwee...Wodewick]

Send a diplomat to all the eastern factions and buy them some nice real-estate, then watch them bite the ASS up the AS.

[Tyrfingr]

EDIT: Anyone have an idea about what to do with KH, Rome and Epieros? I can kill them off if I want too, but I dont like to destroy factions... I was thinking about sending Eprios to India, but I couldnt bribe the towns over there :/

Send the Epirotes to Cyrene, and let them be a buffer between you and the ptolies.

[The_Brittunculi]

It looks like the KH has taken almost all of Anatolia, crushing Pontos, and is now overrunning Hayasdan. I also saw a few of its armies heading east towards AS lands. This will be interesting.

[Ignopotens]

I take it you're Casse?

[The_Brittunculi]

Yes, currently blitzing through Germania and Gaul.

[Tyrfingr]

It looks like the KH has taken almost all of Anatolia, crushing Pontos, and is now overrunning Hayasdan. I also saw a few of its armies heading east towards AS lands. This will be interesting.

That got to be the most impressive KH expansion I ever seen, and I'm quite surprised to see that the romans have taken cities in Greece.

[Ignopotens]

232 BC
I am Getai



-Makedonia was eliminated in the first ten years by the other Greeks.
-The Arverni were killed off buy the Audei some time ago, prolly like 15-20 years ago.
-KH controlled the southern half of Anatolia almost to Antioch until I took it all from them. KH has 2 cities in Iberia and one in the Bosporous.
-Pontus was wiped out by me and the Seleukids, they only had 3 territories.
-Rome is allied to Audei, and let Epeiros survive in southern Italy. They even lost Capua to Epeiros, but wouldn't attack them, instead they would just throw army after army at mine that is sitting on the bridge outside Patavium. Only after I force-diplomacied peace with Rome have they moved against the Epirotes.
-Seleukids are holding onto the far east pretty well, and they took Palestine and even Alexandria! from the Ptolemies.
-Saba has 2 full stacks near the Sinai but won't move, also 1 over by the Persian Gulf that's been there a while.
-Carthage has Lusotan as a Protectorate, but pretty inactive otherwise, at war with Ptolemies.
-far east has been pretty stable for a while

[LordCurlyton]

Pahlava, 257 BC. H/M.
First notes: Mmmmmm, me lurves the Early Pahlava Bodyguard. My last Pahlava campaign was pre-1.0 so this is enjoyable. While I was mildly worried about the debt I decided that I'd take a page from the Saka gameplay guide and I blitzed the AS hard. While I personally still managed to get 8k in debt, by that point I started having positive income that got me out of debt in 2 years. Less really, since I took and sacked Susa and Ekbatana in that time. There were some tense moments, such as when the AS launched its first real counterattack towards Nisa, Assak, and Hekatomplyos simultaneously. They managed to take both Nisa and Hekatompylos but I crushed the FM-led armies in turn and took back what was mine. Susa has come under Seleukid attack a couple times and has switched hands a few times as I had my dominating FM-army crushing the Baktrians. Now I'm moving it towards Mesopotamia and I'm leaving Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate as buffer so that the Saka have someone to fight that isn't named me.
For people other than me:
Here's hoping the Saka go to war with the Sauromatae, keeping them off my back.
The Sauromatae have had decent starting expansion, but losing Pantikopaion to revolt has to hurt them.
The Hai look to be sticking true to form, slowly working on the nearby Eleutheroi and then probably heading up into the steppe.
Even with my evisceration of the AS hinterlands they are still holding strong, even making gains in Mikra Asia.
Ptolemaioi took Crete. Sweet. Other than that it looks pretty standard for them.
KH got gang banged and are left with Rhodos and Pantikopaion. Maks have secured Hellas and are now looking to explode. Epeiros has a strong position but I don't know if they can hold it.
Getai/Sweboz/Arveni/Aedui/Luso/Casse are all pretty standard.
Romani disappoint me, not even securing S. Italy yet. At least they are sporadically fighting Carthage.
Carthage, meanwhile, seems to be expanding mostly standard but they have lost Alalia to the Romani.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Romani 246BC
One of my house rules: Autoresolve all battles(I hate those small fights against brigands since I always loose too many men there!).



Some more interesting factions:
Qarthadastim - Made peace with them after 'Second Punic War' where I took those 3 cities in N-Africa. Left them there because they had no real armies there to oppose mine. They do however have a massive army near Gader.
Ptolemaioi - They took Antiocheia and those rebel provinces east of Hierosolyma. They lost Kyrenaia to the Seleukids however(rebellion or peace treaty?).
Seleucids - Although they lost Antiocheia they seem pretty strong in east. They play 'hide-and-seek' with Pahlava. I think Asaak and Hekatompylos are changing ownership every year. Pahlavan armies are going from one route around the mountains south of Asaak while the Seleucids are using the other one! Really confusing. Also, they have about 10 of those Thorakitai Agema(or something like that) and other elites(Argyraspides etc) near Seleukeia!
Epeiros - Once hold almost entire Balkan! But then Makedonia and Getai got rid of them and they are reduced to only 2 settlements in their homeland now.
Makedonia - They lost Pella and the city south of it to Epeiros and Corinth to KH but somehow managed to get back on track and reconquered their cities from Epeiros(They were not that lucky with Corinth though). Also they have managed to start a nice campaign in Mikra Asia. They have 2 full stacks there and with pretty good units in it.

About my campaign, I just wanted to know how well I can play just in the strat map. It is M/M but looks like a lot harder! For example I had my elite Double Legion with one of my best generals that time attacking Syrakousai but they were defeated easily! I lost half my army there. So I thought I take two Double Legions against them. Well, it didn't go the way I planned and they also were defeated. So, when I besieged the town, again(with two Double Legions, again), I managed to take it. It took 5 years to conquer Syrakousai(I needed to retrain my troops) while I managed to cripple the Qarthadastei in N-Africa with only 2 years!!
Anyway, it's a nice campaign and I can't wait 'til the Polybian Reforms come!

[Maion Maroneios]

Send the Epirotes to Cyrene, and let them be a buffer between you and the ptolies.

Yeah, that's better IMO. Sending them over to India will not do much good with all the penalties they're gonna get.

Maion