Where do you place the borders of your empire?

[Dewirix]

I'm just finishing off an Aedui game at the moment and I've beaten the Romani and Sweboz back to a point where they don't pose much of a threat any more.

This got me thinking about where people stop expanding. Do you go for bottlenecks, like the Bosphorus, or continue to expand on all fronts evenly?

Personally I find it difficult to concentrate on more than one front at any time, so I normally try to anchor the others at some strategic point while pushing forward.

I generally try to work towards my victory conditions and only go beyond these if I can shorten my borders by doing so.

Frontier garrisons are usually made up of whatever troops I can recruit from that city, plus four slingers to whittle down any besieging stacks. This approach has stood me in good stead in Italy where I've been constantly attacked by Romani stacks full of Pedites Extraordinarii and Triarii.

[General Aetius]

I usually place my borders in the most strategic areas. I like to use natural obstructions such as forests and mountains to slow down enemies and give myself time to respond effectively. I expand slowly and try to keep my territory within the victory conditions unless there is a Provence I specifically want for its wealth or possible recruitment.

General Aetius

[Moosemanmoo]

Convenient natural barriers. I use strongly garrisoned forts in mountain passes and expolit bridges with phalanxes, what a whore I am

Unfortunately this also deters me from pushing on and I eventually get bored and start again

[HunGeneral]

Well usually I prefer to have easely defendeable borders or keep myself to the victory conditions most of the time, but I usually consider taking over the world as my final objective - so I voted to the world encircling ocean. (althoug I haven't gotten that far in many campaigns so if there was a choice like "as far as my armies fight victoriously" I would rather choose that one)

[mountaingoat]

since the AI does not like to step foot in the water , i say the ocean is always a good border.

[Whatever Scortamareva]

Once I find a decent chokepoint, I make some buffer states with whatever protectorate seems best and then I can leave that border to rot

[Mikhail Mengsk]

I expand until i reach the lands i want. With Baktria, i stopped my western expansion at Babylonia and Seleukeia. It's not a natural barrier or other, but i just want those cities because they were Seleukid's main recruitment pools, so i took them. I'm not interested in advancing westward so i stop there and i have to face a Seleukid siege every 2 turns. Boring, but not so difficoult.

If i don't have such objective to be taken, i could stop my advance at a convenient place, like a coast, a natural barrier, or simply a region that makes the map good-looking to me.

[Lanceari]

Convenient natural barriers. I use strongly garrisoned forts in mountain passes and expolit bridges with phalanxes, what a whore I am

Unfortunately this also deters me from pushing on and I eventually get bored and start again

Before I launch an attack I study the choke points that divide the region I plan to take from everything else. I decide beforehand how far I want to reach. Usually this means I will have to grab several provinces at once. I will send spys to recon the whole area. And prepare an army large enough to get control of the new choke points and besiege the cities I want to take - so I grab the new region (3-4 provinces) in a few turns.

After conquering a block of provinces, I stop to consolidate and rebuild. Develop the cities, build roads, etc. ...when I am ready, I look for a new block of provinces to attack, and, repeat the whole process.

In real life it is often easier to win the war than to win the peace. In EB, winning peace is al but impossible. So I settle for the second best option: a good choke point where I can win many battles and rack up a lot of chevrons - Archers with gold chevrons are great.

[keiskander]

I usually conquers an area suited to my needs and demands. Then i wage war with my neighbours but not conquering their settlements. fun fun

[The General]

For me, it's a combination of natural borders (picked this one), at the point where borders/realm looks good (tends to coincide with the previous point) and where the victory conditions tell me to.

[Ibrahim]

wherever nature favors me, provided I achieved the VC's

[Apázlinemjó]

I like to create buffer states around me, so I can actually concentrate on one front. Also I like to keep the balance between AI factions, like giving them a large sum of money (not by console) and make alliance with them.