1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Miaow]

Aedui campaign, 231 BCE, VH/M.

Only provinces left for the victory conditions are in Britain, while my continental extension is greater than needed. I'm currently at war with Rome, the Sweboz and the Lustoanna, though none of them is a threat at present. Roma is currently under siege and should fall next turn (for the fourth time this campaign, this time I'll just finish the SPQR off).

I've been roleplaying and haven't expanded as fast as I could, managing to avoid war with the Sweboz for a long time. The silly Germans were obsessed with Eburodunum as far as I can tell, but never managed to beat the scripted defenders (they never even took Heruskolandam, and I beat them to the Belgae provinces). When I got around to sending a strong enough army to wipe out the Boii, the Germans promptly attacked me. Their assault on Eburodunum was en epic battle I ultimately lost: my governor and last man standing fell in the central square with 2 minutes left on the timer, and the Germans lost 1400 of 1600 attacking soldiers. They held it for less than a year though, just the time to recruit a general and give him an army, and in general they've been losing the war since they started it.

I've also got a border with the Getai but they've been turtling up since achieving their present borders maybe 20 years ago, and are allies (but so were the Sweboz).

The fight for Greece was fairly balanced for a long time, with Epeiros holding Makedon and Makedonia holding Epeiros, which I thought was hilarious. I was bankrolling Epeiros and the Koinon (Makedonia having gone Philoromaios), through legit tribute, not console, so probably negligible on VH campaign, but KH and Epeiros did ally and Makedonia eventually crumbled under their combined pressure and became a protectorate of Epeiros.

In the East, AS did better than I've seen it do before, at one point going up to Jerusalem, before being kicked back to the Euphrates by the Yellow Fever. The combined attacks of Ptolies and Pontos drove the AS out of Mikra Asia, but they've struck back and taken Antiocheia back. Armenia seems to always do well in 1.2, Sauros are being driven West by the Saka and Hay. In the steppes, Saka and Baktria have been dancing, Baktria's been overall getting the better, though they've been bigger than in that screenshot. Pahlava are being nibbled at by the AS, as usual.

In Africa, I think it's the second or third time Kush revolts to Saba. Since Saba finally got Ma'in, they might have a real war with the Ptolies on their hands. If the AS don't keep up the attack in the Levant, then things might get really ugly for the Arabians.

The West is obviously dominated by my Aedui at this point. I started out by talking Vesontio from the Arverni and beating their armies until I could force a peace so I could expand East and North while holding back Rome. The Romans rapidly got too insistant to ignore, and that first war against them was really a gruelling affair. Eventually though I managed to field two full stacks at once, so I could beat them and sack Roma, which I returned to them (much damaged) in exchange for peace and tribute. They attacked me after only a few turns, so I retook Roma over the bodies of their Freed Slaves and this time made them a protectorate when giving it back (completely wrecked after two sacks). I got a ridiculous ammount of money out of that, much more than I expected from the SPQR with a gutted capital, but I guess it just shows how much the VH AI "cheats". I really would have preferred getting less money as this feels like an exploit, but protectorate status is the only way to make them keep to the treaty. It also takes all the aggressiveness out of the AI, which is why Rome never went South (except for taking Taras fairly early).

My one bit of console cheating was giving Arsé to the Carthies, because in 250 or so they still hadn't moved at all. This soon led to the Lusos attacking them in Arsé and taking all their Iberian provinces except, ironically, Arsé. It did kickstart Carthie expansion in Africa though, so I'll just roleplay it as meaning Hanno and the landowners' party hold sway in Qart Hadasht.

I did some expanding against Eleutheroi and building my economy until the Arverni, after some hibernation, took Tolosa and Burdigala. I crushed them then, of course Rome was still allied to them and broke the protectorate. I threw together a new army in Italy while my two armies in Gaul crushed the Arverni and sacked Rome again, reducing the Romans to a protectorate again after wiping out the Arverni. At this point, all of Gaul was mine. I took Eburodunum and Vindobonna then, before crossing the Pyrennees. This brought me into conflict with the Lusos while Eburodunum brought on the Sweboz backstab, which Rome used as a pretext to revolt again. I really tried to not wipe out the Romans, but peaceful coexistence is just impossible with some people.

Oh, Casse on their isle have been doing their usual thing on their own. Of course, since I need their lands to achieve the true Celtic empire, their future looks grim...

P.S. this campaign really persuaded me that slingers need to be majorly nerfed. They're the cheapest troop type available yet they're completely overpowered once they get a little experience (and with Type IV gov, Field of Games and Fortress Temple of Teutatis, they start at 3 experience). Some of my battles against the Lusos were like High Wood on the Somme, they advanced on my position, lost over their half their army to slingers on the way, then my line tossed some javelins and the survivors broke and ran. No melee at all, which is just not realistic for large armies in this time frame, as far as I know, especially in the West. These aren't elite Persian or Cretan archers, or Rhodian or Balearic slingers, just run of the mill iosatae and sphendonetai.