Most Difficult to Conquer

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Hi,

what is in your opinion the most difficult land or region to conquer?

That can be for all kind of reasons: long distances, fortified cities, unruly natives, no revenue after the conquest...

Post what you hate the most and your reasons!

[teh1337tim]

gah! nothing is too difficult to conquer with a true makedonian king!

But in seriousness, Seleukid lands are easy to conquer, seleukid armies are annoying... Then supply problems such as phalanx troops and true greeks are harder as to build up the cities to employ locals, you need an army to defend them.....


Germania is a close second but nothing some solid makedonian phalanx and hoplites with theurophia cant defeat.

[Prussian to the Iron]

i think, if talking in terms solely based on troop stats, probably carthage or iberia are the hardest.

based on terrain, difficulty of arriving, and amount of turns before you can arrive, i say probably sabaya(southern arabia), and britain. i onl say those because:

even with a sabaean general, it still takes 8 turns to get from the capital to the mediterranean. add in the amount of time it takes anyone to get to them and the mountains they own, you have yourself huge city walls and legions of archer-spearmen shooting downhill at you.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

This should've been a poll with multiple options..

The most annoying place is Mikra Asia for me. I usually end up fighting against everyone there!! Even if I have been at peace/allied to a faction for a long time. But when I enter Mikra Asia then suddenly they all have to attack me!!

[antisocialmunky]

What about the Sahara?

[Macilrille]

Iberia as I get CTD every 2.2- 2.5 battles there...

[Ca Putt]

the steppe(as mentioned before) and Gotland as it's only reachable on boat, there are a lot of pirates up there and It's very far of for most factions. the only faction that is even remotely near to it (sweboz) are not quite masters of the boat and thus it takes some time until you can afford sending a ship there.

[Cute Wolf]

India: Facing 9 chevroned Elephant general with 60 soldiers (meaning more than 20 elephants) is suicide with my almighty HA army... or even with my puny 18 men elephants... and if I try swarming them with akontistai, gund-i palta or peltastai, they are slaughtered from that wall towers first... lost 400++ men for takin a general is really a pain...

[ARCHIPPOS]

India: Facing 9 chevroned Elephant general with 60 soldiers (meaning more than 20 elephants) is suicide with my almighty HA army... or even with my puny 18 men elephants... and if I try swarming them with akontistai, gund-i palta or peltastai, they are slaughtered from that wall towers first... lost 400++ men for takin a general is really a pain...

starve them out man... let hunger work for you... 8 turns later when their army is reduced to half go in and finish them off

[Cute Wolf]

Pheewww, and for my choice the steppes definately, for a hardcore infantry fan the steppes are hell itself, home to cowards!

Steppes are hell? just place some slingers (ol plain sphendonetai) or Thureophreantes toxotai (never use plain sux toxotai) (easily obtainable from Cherosonesos and pantikapaion) behind your line of Hoplitai... use 7 or 8 missile infantry and HA's will be easy... just don't forget to bring ya oldie hippeis and hippakontistai for dealing with heavier cav and cleaning up the mess...

EDIT : I learn up how to smack steppe army with just infantry based army because my HA army once had an utter defeat against (believe it or not) AI Seleukid army that comprises mostly of slingers... trully utterly epic defeat... so I try to use that tactic myself afterwards...

EDIT AGAIN: HA's are cowards? you re cowards behind city walls! at least they are always fighting in open plains...

[Moosemanmoo]

I sense this has become slightly off topic....


For me the most difficult land to conquer is central europe
Militarily I voted for the steppe but psychologically I can't be arsed for the former
All those landlocked, heavily forested provinces strip my enthusiasm dry
No wonder I've never taken the Sweboz or the Getai anywhere

[Atraphoenix]

India, of course, have you ever met 2 units of indian elephants that have gold chevron?

+
also their combination with scimatar archers (the assassins ) is a real nightmare!

[Andy1984]

Note to myself: make sure you have sufficient artillery before you enter India.

Most difficult, less rewarding area? That must be the steppes for reasons mentioned above.

A good second would be Gaul. Pretty agressive, frightening soldiers (who are even pretty well armoured in the late game), paid by the full treasury of the Aedui. Worst of all: there are hardly any mines to be found there...

[Mikhail Mengsk]

My final vote goes to Germania. Too poor, too forests, tactics gone wild and useless in those deep forests...

[Irishmafia2020]

No offense, but I was really enjoying the original discussion about the most difficult area to conquer in EB. I wrote several dedicated posts arguing that it was the steppes (especially the eastern part). Surely nobody is arguing that Sparta is the most difficult place to conquer in the game? Perhaps we should add Lakedaimonia to the poll...

[ARCHIPPOS]

No offense, but I was really enjoying the original discussion about the most difficult area to conquer in EB...

my feelings exactly ...

[Mikhail Mengsk]

In steppes you try some tactic to fight nomads. In German forests you'll be damn lucky just to know where the hell your troops ARE.

[Arutima]

i vote for syria, in fact, the whole eastern part of the map when the map looks like this

[Andy1984]

You'll be in for one hell of a war if you're going for your victory conditions. :)

[A Very Super Market]

As the Eleutheroi, the hardest to conquer are the Romans. Even with your numerous forces in Northern Italy, Central Europe, and eventually, Sicily, the Romans churn out those Hastati like no other, and I eventually lose by attrition. The only way to beat them is the just blitz first thing, from Rhegion, Bononia, and Segesta,.

The easiest would have to be the Sauromatae. There are a lot of steppe armies at your disposal, and you can easily take every one of their settlements before they can get back to you.

The Saba, Sweboz, and Casse are fairly easy as well. For each of them, you have a large amount settlements with large garrisons surrounding them. However, you will need to save the Central European full-stacks for the Romans, so the Sweboz must be dealt with a smaller force than most are comfortable with. The Saba already in range of your settlements in Arabia, but your forces need to mass up beforehand, leaving them a bit vulnerable. But the Casse have their only settlement, while you have a whopping 6 surrounding them. Very easy, if you wait them out.

The hardest thing about playing the Eleutheroi in general is the fact that auto-resolve completely destroys any of your armies led by a captain if you lose. You have to fight every single battle. Urgh.

[bovi]

I deleted many posts, off-topic and rather aggressive. MORE than half the posts here, actually. There may have been some collateral damage.

[Cambyses]

I put Egypt, although I dont really mean Egypt itself, more the whole endless, remorseless, repetitive battles against the ptolies, that usually start in Lydia or somewhere and go on for 50 years until youve killed every single remaining yellow army.

[mountaingoat]

steppe is just a drawn out campaign , you need plenty of FM's and archers to chase them all down , and in the end the towns you collect on the way are not worth the costs of the army you had to raise.

[Chris1959]

Depends who you are playing and what your objectives are. As a confirmed Roman campaigner and trying to follow a historicalish timeline then it's Iberia, the Luso are tough troops and the terrain is tough especially given your forces when you face them.
By the time you go east you will often have had Marian reforms then most factions are fairly easy, and later in the game the AI fields pretty poor stacks, only the Saba seem to mix things up.
Carthage, is annoying in taking those damn North African provinces that I don't want.
As for horse archers by the time my Marians face them the Testudo is a very useful arrow magnet until they run out of ammo.

However, now it's the Arche Seleukia's turn and things look like being a whole lot different, especially as I don't really like fighting with phalanxes

[fleaza]

iberia is a very hard place to conquer. the main reason is that it keeps rebelling even with high influence family members.

germania is awkward but not difficult. if you have a good army that can take the germans head on you will win.

egypt is a simple matter of sea invasion. using your ships to invade israel and alexandria will cripple their economy. their most powerful units come from alexandria and memphis, taking them will be a massive blow.

the steppes are just a massive pain. you need alot of horses and for factions like rome its just really annoying having to alter your army composition. although strictly speaking you can defeat HA armies with tetsudo legionnaires. also, the long treks from one weak town to another is a bore. conquering olbia is a nice way to start out a campaign on the sauromatae. there is no easy way to kill the saka. i hate them.