1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[retep219]

DISCLAIMER: INCREASED MOVEMENT POINTS IN THIS GAME.





Very interesting game so far. Factions of note:

Aedui: Kicked out of Gaul. Roman vassal.

Arveni: Unified Gaul. Loving 'em. Fighting Romani in Alps, slowly winning.

Baktria: Meh. Took over Afghanistan/Gandhara, fighting border wars with Saka.

Casse: Unified isles by themselves, I FD'd Dariortium to them and teleported a full stack that was sitting in Scotland. They beseiged Cenabum with it, but the Arveni repelled them. Who knows what will happen?

Epeiros: Usual expansion, but faster. Put up a good fight.

Getai: Weird thrust into Baltic. They didn't actually declare war on anyone but Sauromatae. Still, they were very strong, with a full-stack in all of their southern cities after the Sauromate invasion.

Qart-Hadast: Unified North Africa, took lower Spain, but remained at peace with Lusotana. Then, out of nowhere, they launched a two-stack invasion of Sicily. The isle has fallen, and Rhegion is now under siege. The Punic Wars are going in a "different" direction.

Konion Hellion: Very good. They took lower Hellas, defeated Makedon completely. When they back-stabbed me, they held everything south of Demetrias. Unfortunately, they waited until Epeiros was reduced to two settlements to do so....

Lusotana: Took Northern Spain. Not at war with anyone. Meh.

Makedonia: Got kicked out of Hellas. One they were down to only Mytilene, they sieged Pergamom. Big mistake.

Pahlava: I know they look weird, that's my fault. They were mauled pretty badly by the Arche, down to only Nisa and Asaak. That was when my massive armies came steamrolling through Persia and realized that it was nigh-impossible to hold on to Ecbatana, Susa, or Zadrakata. So I created a "buffer state." It's held for a while now, occaisionally it's lost Ecbatana or Susa and I've had to recapture it with a half-stack operating out of Phraaspha that guards the border. All in all, they've been mediocre--they retook Khiva and temporarily held Apameia, but seem to be unable to do anything permanent.

Ptolemaioi. Fast expansion: They quickly unified Egypt and the Levant. Then they sieged Tarsos the turn after I finished my Caucasus campaign. It was a hard campaign to send them back to Egypt because I barely had time to retrain, but I succeeded after several close battles, the Levant is now mine. Memphis is now heavily garrisoned, the Yellow Fever has been sending stacks at it for ten years. Hoplitai Haploi are the best unit ever. Without serious spam of heavy elite infantry, I don't know how the Ptolemaioi will ever break fourteen of them, four slingers, and a general.

Romani: Got Marian Reforms VERY quickly, they're now useless. Losing proxy wars in Alps while suffering badly from the Sicilian invasion. It's only a matter of time now....

Seleukeia: It may sound weird, but they're an interesting success story. After a massive string of defeats inflicted upon them Seleukeia was reduced to its territories between Persopolis, Marakandra, and Alexandropolis while fighting a newly resurgent Pahlava. But they've survived. They've defeated the Pahlava (it's only surviving with my help) and repelling the Saka. India is falling beneath their might, Baktria is their ally.

Saba: Useless.

Saka: Figthing proxy wars with Baktria and the Arche.

Sauromatae: Expanded VERY quickly. Beat Getai, took Kallatis and Buridava. Entered Baltic. Attacked me in Greece. Died.

Sweboz: Expanded rapidly in Germania. Fought Arverni. Gained that steppe settlement from a revolt. Traded the two Baltic settlements in the east with me for Gawjam-Silengoz. Now a formidable power. Too many full-stacks.

And there you have it. It's my opinion that increasing movement leads to a far more interesting game, with small factions having a chance of rapid expansion and large factions having to deal with many enemies. Factions like Hayasdan, Getai, or even Casse that usually did nothing become formidable powers. It's a different experience....

...remind me to stop blitzing....