Quote Originally Posted by Epi View Post
Since I had already acknowledged from the start I use more triariis than the historical proportion, I thought your comments regarded my choice of other units. Furthermore, I should note many of the stacks cited in this thread are 100% roman... In fact, in this thread I seem to be an odd minority in openly acknowledging I use local troops heavily.

On the second point, I agree. However, it seems what I consider the "core" is smaller than what most of you would call your core. My core is 40%, not 80% of my army. In the campaign map, long before the Marian Reforms, too much of my fighting was taking place very very far away from Rome...

Before you get the Marian Reforms, EB leads you to rely on local troops to expand far away from Rome. That is one of the things I like so much of EB (over RTW).

History is written by the victor. Romans relied on local allies for their conquests. Romans acknowledged this fact to some extent. But, my guess is that Roman historians may not have given full credit to the contributions of their allies. They may have, perhaps unconsciously, overplayed the role of the Roman troops and downplayed the role of their allies. Such is human nature...
Firstly, I did not criticize your unit selection before I pointed out that it was your overuse of Pedites/Triarii that was under 'scrutiny', at which point I voiced my own support for the criticism. To expand on that, I might add, that I do not criticize the decision to use a large amount Triarii/Pedites, in itself, but the pretense of having 'historical' armies while using them to such a great extent (especially, apparently, in a Marian army) is on rather shaky grounds.

Secondly, I did not give a number or percentage to describe the minimum amount of factional units to be used. I think Rome, in particular, should gain victory through Roman arms though, as the national honor of Rome required this. Auxiliaries and allies complement the legions, but they shouldn't replace them.

Thirdly, I do not agree that EB tries to make player as Rome use local units over Roman heavy infantry. I think the legionaries should be raised in and shipped from Italy to conflict zones. While skirmishers could be replaced by locals as campaigns progress, I think heavy infantry should simply be reinforced with additional units raised in Italy. This simply player forces to realize the importance of logistics and limits (attempts to, at least) blitzing.


Also, just as a reminder for everyone, we're discussing a game, and specifically, we're discussing a game on an internet forum. So, no offence meant by all this.