1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Molinaargh]

Wow, talk about slow and steady! I imagine the Maks must be making regular visits to southern Greece, or have you somehow managed to keep them sweet?

Have you been tempted to pick up any of the western Greek cities, like Massalia?

The Casse are making pretty good progress, as are Baktria, both of which are good to see.

Looks like the Romani took out Satres too.

I place my army in a way so the Makes can't siege my cities, unless they defeat me of course. That happened once and I had to reform my army in order to survive, as you can see here with the 18 units of Phalangitai:



I think defending western cities would take too much money and effort, but I did keep the easterns Pantikapaion and Trapezous when they rebelled to me.

I can't see whether you control Rhodes or not...

I do.

This is VH/VH by the way, before anyone complains about the historical innacuracy of my Phalangitai army

[IrishHitman]

I do.

This is VH/VH by the way, before anyone complains about the historical innacuracy of my Phalangitai army

What's your relationship with the Ptollies like?

[Molinaargh]

What's your relationship with the Ptollies like?

Neutral. I lost the alliance by not declaring war on Baktria when they asked me. I still have Trade Rights and they never blockaded my ports for no reason as one would expect.

[IrishHitman]

Neutral. I lost the alliance by not declaring war on Baktria when they asked me. I still have Trade Rights and they never blockaded my ports for no reason as one would expect.

If Pontus take Cilicia, you should seize Karia/Lycia.

[Whatever Scortamareva]

I like your presence by Pontos, you've picked yourself a hard fight though with the Sauromatae and that monster Parthia.

[the man with no name]

I place my army in a way so the Makes can't siege my cities, unless they defeat me of course. That happened once and I had to reform my army in order to survive, as you can see here with the 18 units of Phalangitai:

Look on the left side, there 7 halfstacks. Good luck dealing with them

[schlappi]

Romani 210 BC (VH/H), using Alex.exe for the first time. I am totally happy about the improved campaign and battlemap AI. Loads of fun, in the Camillan era i lost quite a few battles against the celts in the river po basin.

The Getai launched a series of raids at Segestica and Dalminion, forcing me to abandon my Aedui campaign about 20 years prior to this screenshot.

Carthage does pretty well, shipping loads of pikemen and elephants to iberia after having trouble to keep control of the former Lusotannan settlements. They are massing their armies around Emporoion now, i expect a full-scale invasion anytime soon.

The last ten years i was busy to reinstall free poleis in Greece, after the Macedonians controlled all Hellas plus the Epirote territories.

[athanaric]

Swêboz H/M, EB 1.2 (of course), RTW exe.

This is perhaps the most unusual AI behaviour I’ve seen yet. I had almost given up this campaign, because the Ptolies became just too powerful and I didn’t see much hope there. They killed off two of my dearest allies, Pontos and Hayasdan, and it seemed that they were going to conquer the steppes and go after me.
The troops I sent to Hayasdan’s relief arrived too late; yet I was able to send them on a rampage of madness across the Ptolemaioi territories, pillaging and burning as they went. This way, I raided Kotais, Trapezous, Sinope, Amaseia, Mazaka, Side, Tarsos, and Antiocheia, leaving death and smouldering ruins in my wake.
Trapezous then rebelled to the KH, which was as I intended. Later, the loyalists also took Amaseia from me, and soon afterwards accepted a proposal to reinstall peace and trade rights.
From Antiocheia, my mercenary army (headed by a Celtic general) set sail for Kypros, installing a client kingdom there. After that, some of them took Kydonia, which has an enormous strategic importance for my gameplay (apart from my passion for island-hopping in the Mesogeios). Namely, to control any faction of the region lest they become too powerful, and to aid as a base for sea raids against my enemies.
Currently I am fighting/at war with Aedui, Qarthadastim, Ptolemaioi and Romani. And I’m winning, btw.



Now for the AI factions:


Makedonia: My most powerful ally, they hold Soutern Hellas in their sway. Following in my wake across Anatolia, they effectively drove the Ptolemaioi from the peninsula, thus surpassing even my wildest hopes.
Now they have become the new superpower and, having driven away the KH and Saba, are closing in on Egypt. Those black fullstacks give me the creeps...

Koinon Hellenon: For a long time, they were reduced to one province (Rhodos). As usual, they profit most from loyalist uprisings. Initially they were allied with their former nemesis, Makedonia, and fighting the Ptolies. Now they are again limited to Rhodos. Very obliging.

Epeiros: My allies too; they haven’t really done anything for a long time.

Getai: Dormant. A while ago, they thought it wise too attack me, only to discover that their most promising young general had switched sides and now serves me. Haha. (Update: he passed away peacefully a short while ago).
After some futile attempts to avenge this betrayal and conquer Bastarnolándám, they apparently gave up and accepted peace.

Casse: Nothing unusual. They are the richest faction and barely do anything. They have managed to fully upgrade Camulosadae though.

Arverni: Having suffered from a lot of Romani and Aedui aggression, they are relatively safe now. I’m unwilling to destroy them so I keep them as a pet. The pet still has teeth though, and I have to be cautious.

Aedui: Minions of the Romaioi and almost as treacherous as the latter. I could have destroyed them some time ago but it’s much more fun to have them build up their cities with stuff the Swêboz can’t build (paved roads, universities, level 2 farms etc.), only for me to take over.

Romani: Upon realizing they couldn’t destroy the Arverni, they went for me instead. After an uneasy peace period, they attacked me again in Gaul and have paid dearly for this insolence. A Swêboz-Alpine mixed army headed by a young and eager general (who had to escape a blood feud anyway) ventured south and took mighty Roma itself, raiding Arretium on the way. To add insult to injury, I’m now training Hastati in Roma itself, in order to attack other regions.
I used Roma as a base to raid and take the Carthaginian possessions in the Mediterranean.

Ptolemaioi: As a result of their behaviour, the incestuous dogs have lost their role as the dominant power on the map to me. My allies Makedonia, Pahlava, and Saba are now carving up the former Ptolemaic Empire. Revenge can be so sweet…

Saba: The single biggest surprise in the campaign and the main reason why I post all this. Contrary to their usual behaviour, they went rabid all of a sudden and went as far as sieging Susa! Before that, they took Ptolemais-Theron, Charax, Babylon, and Seleukeia. I swear I had no part in this.

Pahlava: Have been fighting bravely for their continued existence. A while ago, they were attacked by the insolent Ptolemaioi and repelled them, taking important parts of Persia in the process. Now they are trying to re-establish the Persian Empire.

Baktria: The fools have allied themselves with the Yellow fever. Thank god though they haven’t been able to do significant mischief.

Saka Rauka: Another powerful ally. Doing well.

Qarthadastim: Another obstacle in my way and that of my allies, they had to be punished. My chief raiding target ATM.

Sauromatae: Quite strong and capable of self-defense against “civilized” incursions. Although they initially suffered from Hai aggression, they managed to recover after their foes were destroyed by the Yellow Fever.

Arche Seleukeia: Another ally, they are fighting Baktria for dominance in India. Recovered thanks to loyalist uprisings.

Lusotannan: Nothing unusual. I need to be wary of these guys, since they, too, have set their sights on Gaul.


Here's the progress on the map:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

236 BC


213 BC


212 BC


202 BC


199 BC


194 BC


187 BC


186 BC


Taking Antiocheia

182 BC



Oh yeah, and I sacked Rome three or four times...

[Jebivjetar]

Pahlava M/M, Alex.exe

[Lovejoy]

Pahlava M/M, Alex.exe

lol. its like that Michelangelo painting but even more epic!

nice progress btw. have you been successful triggering the reforms?

[Jebivjetar]

lol. its like that Michelangelo painting but even more epic!

nice progress btw. have you been successful triggering the reforms?

Thanks :-)

Well, i'm too low in money so i didn't build reformed pastoralism yet. Anyway i spare every penny to build some in Susa and i hope i'll have that done in near future. MOT didn't happen yet and i like that because i just love my bodyguard catas with arrows.

This is my third try with Pahlava btw, and finally i'm doing good.

Beautiful faction, indeed