Being Rich

[Quintus.JC]

Hee... when I get too rich and I'm turtling, I assemble a stack of elite-like troops, give it to an up-and-coming general, and have him sail/trek to the other side of the map and start playing with the fortunes of faraway nations. Say maybe I'm Germania, and the Seleucids are in trouble, I bring my stack to Syria and dismantle a few Egyptian armies, just for fun. Can be a challenge to see how long I can last before I have to go home to retrain, the map ends up slightly different, and my young general gets to pick up a few nice command stars.

That's an interesting idea I never thought of. But by the time Germania could get their elites Seleucids are normally dead and buried long time ago. Anyway gotta watch the treasury. Too poor and you're stink poor, too rich and you're fabulously rich........and corrupt .

[Quirinus]

True dat. Just an example. When I played as the Seleucids myself, I sent a stack to Gaul against the Julii.

[RLucid]

How about Mercenary collecting?

Go round buying up every merc unit available in anywhere accessible, just to deny them to the opposition?

[Iñnsomñni]

For some reason, i now seem to enjoy being rich and fielding small armys against huge stacks to see how i can improve my tactics for the next battle, like what infantry will give me the right amount of time for flanking a phalanx etc

[Quirinus]

How about Mercenary collecting?

Go round buying up every merc unit available in anywhere accessible, just to deny them to the opposition?

Yeah, I do that too. But often the mercenary pool isn't quite so large, even with the excellent MercenaryX Pack add-on. Does the AI recruit mercenaries? I was under the impression that they don't.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

When I'm rich I occasionally defeat enemies with bribes - see any force approaching my border, bribe it. See any rebels nearby, bribe them. I didn't really even need to maintain an army to defend myself, just a bunch of diplomats and a treasury at over the seven figure mark. Conquest is a little more difficult, but possible anyhow.

Yeah, I do that too. But often the mercenary pool isn't quite so large, even with the excellent MercenaryX Pack add-on. Does the AI recruit mercenaries? I was under the impression that they don't.

They do recruit them, but not as frequently or tactically as they should do.

[Quirinus]

When I'm rich I occasionally defeat enemies with bribes - see any force approaching my border, bribe it. See any rebels nearby, bribe them. I didn't really even need to maintain an army to defend myself, just a bunch of diplomats and a treasury at over the seven figure mark. Conquest is a little more difficult, but possible anyhow.

Yep, that's exactly what I did in my first game using VBM, as the Seleucids. Having dismantled Parthia, Pontus and Armenia pretty early, a whole clutch of core cash-cow cities and (by virtue of an annual cash tribute) no war with Egypt, I started bribing armies in the Levant, and bribed new armies arriving from Egypt Proper as well. Soon I was progressing to brbing up-and-coming family members. But when I bribed Salamis I think the AI had enough and declared war on me. It was too easy. Jerusalem and the faction leader fell to his own son (I think, not sure), and Egypt itself was conquered entirely by bribed family members and mercenaries. Way too easy.

When I'm turtling, I also like to bribe the armies of similar factions (Seleucid-Macedon, Parthia-Armenia-Pontus), just for kicks. Especially gratifying when bribing Pontus, IMO, since they always seem to dominate Asia Minor. They get delayed, and I get some handy garrison troops.

[RLucid]

Yeah, I do that too. But often the mercenary pool isn't quite so large, even with the excellent MercenaryX Pack add-on. Does the AI recruit mercenaries? I was under the impression that they don't.

The AI does against me, until it runs low on money, not soaking up the mercs has lead to temporary setbacks on occasion, where opposition armies have been grown suddenly, and been able to overwhelm a previously sufficient force.