1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Constantius III]

Fifteen years later...



Casse - Have done exactly nothing. They have three stacks sitting around Camulosadae twiddling their thumbs because they can't be bothered to declare war on anybody (and vice versa).

Lusotannan - So I was a bit off on the estimate, but the Lusos still ripped up Gaul like nobody's business. They'll probably finish off Lemonum in a few years and move on to bigger and better things. It's anyone's guess where - they've got stacks lurking along their frontiers with both the Sweboz and the Romani, although they are allied to the former.

Aedui - Ak-Ink revolted from the Romani in 208 just in time to save the Aeduoi, who lost their final Gallic province to the Lusos three seasons later. Rome took the opportunity to vulture Viennos and force them into a protectorate. Now they're a useful buffer zone between my Getic provinces and Rome's bizarre transalpine empire.

Arverni - Any season now. Lemonum's besieged by Luso armies pretty much round the clock; the Auernoi have picked up two heroic victories in the process of defending themselves but the end is undoubtedly nigh.

Sweboz - They were pretty quiet for most of the 210s and 200s; out of the wreck of the Gallic states they only managed to snag Vesontio, and the Eleutheroi stacks to their east have boxed them in after the conquest of Coutinoe. In 202, though, in order to take advantage of Rome's weakness, they declared war. It's been a singularly ineffective war so far, with no major invasions on either side yet, but it's still early days.

Safot Softim biQarthadast - Perhaps the most inspiring story of the bunch: the AI has been adventurous in a good way. They've been trading Kyrene with the Ptolemaioi off and on (just lost it by revolt two seasons before this screenshot); there are some pretty nice stacks involved, so I'm hopeful that somebody will start kicking somebody else's butt. They also tried a naval invasion of southern Iberia when the Lusotannan were distracted with Gaul in 205; the army was annihilated and they made peace within a year, but at least it's something.

Senatvs Popvlvsqve Romanvs - In 214, they captured Arpi and made peace with Epeiros; it took them another six years to reach MoT. Once that happened, their fate was sealed; I rolled over south Italy in rapid succession, annihilated almost all of the Romans' factional stacks, and then agreed to a truce for an operational pause once I had taken all of my Italian objectives. Apart from taking Viennos from the Aeduoi corpse they've done virtually nothing else; Noricae remains out of their reach with two Eleutheroi guardian stacks still intact, and the Romans are doing zilch about it.

Epeiros - They flailed about for another two years until the Romans recaptured Arpi, at which point I decided 'screw it' and attacked Rhegion. Epeiros finally bit the dust in a pretty uninspiring battle outside the town in 213.

Getai - Still dead.

Makedonia - Still alive.

Koinon Hellenon - I invaded Rhodos in 214 and attacked the Bosporan cities a year afterward. Hayasdan held up its end of the bargain by holding down Trapezous. The last hegemon of the allied Greeks died in battle at Tanais in 209.

Arche Seleukeia - They've got an on-again off-again relationship with the Ptolemaioi and have been periodically sending stacks at Tarsos and Mazaka. Those don't tend to have a very long lifespan, except when they retreat from battle (which happens really often, for whatever reason). Probably should've been using the stacks on the East; they've been gaining ground there, but only glacially slowly. Prophthasia is under their control more or less firmly, but their hold on Astauene is ridiculously tenuous.

Pontos - Also still dead.

Saurometai - Floundered about for a bit, lost the territory of the Iazyges to the Hai, then peaced out in frustration. For completeness' sake, I conquered Pantikapaion a few seasons after the KH finally died, and the Sauros ran away from that war too. They seem to be pretty much neutered.

Hayasdan - It's kind of funny how awful they are at holding on to Trapezous. On the bright side, it apparently makes for an excellent buffer zone; the Hai haven't gone to war with me at all for the entirety of the game, and I haven't got any particular interest in changing that.

Ptolemaioi - For almost all of the intervening fifteen years, they've focused exclusively on Africa: their war with Qarthadast, and their war with Saba-controlled Meroe. They're kind of winning the Qarthadast war - they've pumped fewer troops into it from what I can tell, and Qarthadast can't hold Kyrene even when it does capture it - and they definitely beat the Saba in Meroe. Then I declared war the turn that this screenshot was taken. So far, Antiocheia and Salamis have been besieged and a Ptolemaic squadron of 'fours' was basically annihilated off the Syrian coast.

As'Sabyn wal'Jau - Zzz. Gerrhaia has revolted to them twice and they've lost it both times. They can't seem to hold onto Ubar. They'll probably get Palmyra and Bostra in the course of my mad rampage in the Levant. Whatever.

Pahlava - They're still alive, kinda. Haven't done anything other than capitalize on revolts from Saka and AS control, though.

Baktria - Also also still dead.

Saka Rauka - In 212, most of the Saka garrison in Drangiane launched a harebrained invasion of Karmania that actually succeeded, creating one of the weirder empires I've ever seen. Unfortunately, within two years the AS had recaptured both Karmana and Prophthasia due to the Sakas' failure to reinforce either city. Apart from that, Saka armies keep battering themselves to pieces on the walls of Antiocheia-Margiane and not much else. They haven't even tried to reconquer Gandhara.