Romani- how to make things tough on yourself

[Recoil]

Everyone knows that playing as the Romani is pretty much a walk over. Once you have all of Italy you're pretty much sorted and can pump out stack after stack of elites to crush any and all factions, hence part of the reason most people choose not to play as them.But I've found a way of playing that makes the game challenging but keeps it fun (and I'm not saying I'm the first to come up with this, just figured I'd post it up for others to see)

As the Romani you can field countless armies of full-stack troops and still have a booming economy. So the thing I do is limit myself to armies of up to 15 units max (and even 15 units is a bit extreme, used in times of need) This way I can field decent armies whilst still keeping away the 'indestructible' factor of my armies. This is the layout of my armies:

-1 General
-1 cavalry of choice (I go for campanian)
-1 triarii
-2 Hastati (up to three with the arrival of 2 carthiginian stacks on sicily)
-2 Principes ("" "")
-2 leves

And those are the core of the army. The final units are composed of allied units. At the moment mine are...

-Samnite spearmen
-Bruttian infantry
-Heavy Peltastai

And that's that. Altogether that's an army of 12 units, 14 with the Sicilian campaign, not exactly an unstoppable force and I've even lost a battle () with it, which, considering I'm yet to take on major factions, is quite an achievement. All the same, the aforementioned 2 Carthiginian stacks on sicily were a pain to deal with, and it's taken me up to 242 BC to conquer all of modern day Italy as well as Cosica and Segestica and Dalminion, and I've also taken Emporion and Massalia in a bid to get to Spain.

Overall I think that this shows that playing as the Romani can be a fun challenge and doesn't simply have to be a boring ordeal of sending full stacks of Elites out to purge the entire known world. Feel free to give this army composition a try or mix it up a little if you want. Variety is the spice of life after all

[satalexton]

try limiting yourself with only two stacks, up to 4 for no more than 2 years. Use only sharp/charismatic/vigorous FMs as general and tribune. Then maintain a navy for each port you have, along with 2 fleets for each stack you field.

Oh yea, no retrain, only merge, and keep a stack as baggage train/replacements behind each stack bearby...

then play on hard, and give 'add_money slave, 40000'x20 every 5 turns...

NOW romani's a nice challange xD forces you to expand historically too...

[Recoil]

lordy that sounds like murder, im actually scared to think of how hard thatd be

[Moros]

Only using velites, not other units? lol!

[satalexton]

velites are actually quite good...not as good as peltasts true, but they have the numbers.

[LorDBulA]

Add units to AI stacks/cities. I am doing this right now.
For example when i was starting to expand into Iberia to counter Carthage I boosted 3 Carthage stacks to max strength with few thousand men in total.

Sure enough when my presence in Iberia started to threaten Carthage they have crossed border with 3 armies and second punic war started.

Help AI to move stacks.
When I attack AI and it has few stacks close together I move them closer so both armies can take part in battle instead of wiping them out one by one.

Moving AI stacks over sea to help out AI.
I have done that for Carthage after I have inflicted heavy casualties on them in Iberia.
Also I have done so for Greeks to help them out expand from Rhodos.

Edited:
Also when AI for example lands or sends small army at you it is a good time to turn it into real invasion.
You can boost up stack to full strength with quality units in proper proportions.

[Reno Melitensis]

Another way to make a Roman campaign a challenge is to limit the number of legions at your disposal. I set that limit to six, also I do not train units below 100, those under strength are disbanded and fresh troops trained. This will limit the number of experienced troops and make battles more challenging.

Cheers.

[satalexton]

six? thats still too easy, you should do TWO like me.

[Dumbass]

I have a way of making often hard for me. I make it so that consular armies (full stacks) can only be lead by consuls, consulars, the faction leader and sometimes the faction heir. This means that everyone else has to lead half stacks of 1 legion not 2.

Try invading Macedonia with only a half stack when they have 3+ full stacks wandering around. Makes it more challenging.

[NickTheGreek]

Never upgrade your MICs so that even in 25 BC when you have Egypt, the Levant and Asia Minor to defend your still fighting with Camillan troops. Plus you won't get decent regionals either, now thats a challenge.

[Reno Melitensis]

six? thats still too easy, you should do TWO like me.

You think thats easy. I am at war with the Lusitanians, all coastal cities are under my control, qiute a large piece territory, guarded by two legions. My holdings in North Africa which includes Adrumentum, Siga and Ippone are guarded by another legion stationed near Adrumentum. I invaded Greece, conquered Epirus, and defeated the Hellenes. The cities I have under my control are Epidamnos, Ambrakia, Thermon and Corinth. In Hellas I have another Legion. Thats make four, plus two veteran legions that wright now are marching towards Asia Minor against the Pontic Kingdom. do you think six legions are enough. If say the Arverni or the Aedui or the Getai invade my territory, I have two options, move on legion to the threatened area, or raise a new legion in two turns.


Cheers.