Controlling Western Europe..

[Kevin]

In my Romani campaign, I've destroyed the Gauls and Carthage and now all that's left in Europa are the Lusotannans.

I'm having trouble not only fighting them but also managing whatever cities I do control. When fighting them, I find them the easiest things to take care of (their units rout after literally 5 minutes of fighting mercenaries.) The thing is that they SWARM all of my cities with full stacks of their crappy units. I've built walls and decent garrisons in my cities but every turn, they besiege like 4 of my cities. This can be REALLY annoying and boring. (My battles pretty much are 1.sally out 2.they run all the way across the map and just stand there 3. go meet them 4. fast forward 5.fight for three minutes. 6.chase routers) I only have one full stack fighting, so I want to keep advancing, but I've already had a city revolt against me..

When I finally do conquer one of their cities, it's almost impossible to keep them under control. I build type 2 gov in their cities and it requires years to get the right buildings and a half stack of levies to keep the public order at a decent % at low tax rates.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can get past this or what to do at all? It's getting tedious, especially with the Sweboz also attacking on the east. I have the Force Diplomacy mod and all it does is get me a ceasefire for 1 turn, then the next they break the ceasefire.

Edit: I meant Western Europa

[Molinaargh]

Build Pacification (1 turn) then regional barracks (3 turns) so you can train Iberi Milites as garrison.

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Wait, by the looks of it you do use an army made of Pedites EXtraordinarii and Elephantes Indikoi only right ?

So why don't you just... overrun them? Why are you having problems with them?

[-Praetor-]

Firstly, welcome to Iberia, Rome's Vietnam.

Secondly, I don't know if you've tried it, but try exterminating ("enslave" option) the populace in every city that revolts from you. That usually does it, since cities can get very populated very fast, and that causes severe public order problems. Besides, exterminating rebelling cities was pretty historical if you play with the Romani. They were pretty unforgiving with cities that revolted from them.

Thirdly, destroy the enemy's barracks. That way, when they revolt, they get nothing but crappy apeleutheroi as garrison and any available mercenaries in the area, and not dunaminaca and wathever high-end troops they can train with their very developed barracks. Just don't destroy temples and other public order buildings. People can get very bored if you take away their temples and gaming grounds, and they will start getting these anarchic ideas...

Fourthly, train spies and have at least one or two agents in every city you conquer. Usually, those cities come with the unpleaasant addon of agents inside that sow unrest, which results in public order penalties.

[Kevin]

Wait, by the looks of it you do use an army made of Pedites EXtraordinarii and Elephantes Indikoi only right ?

So why don't you just... overrun them? Why are you having problems with them?

Yea, but that's my faction leader's army As for this army, it's like 50% mercenaries (years of war against carthage eventually erodes your army). I thought Romans could only recruit African Elephants?

[DaciaJC]

Wait, Eastern Europe? I was thinking to myself, "Hooray, the Getai are kicking some more posterior." Oh, well...

1. Enslave (the exterminate option from RTW) the population.
2. Destroy enemy barracks and possibly granary-type buildings (to keep population growth under control).
3. Build Regional Pacification.
4. Build a Type IV government.
5. Recruit a client ruler and keep him in the settlement. He will contribute massively to public order. Don't move a family member into settlements with a Type IV government.
6. Keep taxes normal or low.

Client rulers involve huge upkeep costs, but if you have an army comprised only of elephants and PE, I'm sure that won't be a problem.

[Kevin]

Yea, but that's my faction leader's army As for this army, it's like 50% mercenaries (years of war against carthage eventually erodes your army). I thought Romans could only recruit African Elephants?

Woops, I meant Western Europe

[Ludens]

Woops, I meant Western Europe

I've changed the thread title to clarify the subject.

[Lanceari]

Another piece of advise, move your capital a bit closer to Spain while you build the necessary structures to keep order (temples, etc.).

Also, find family members with the most green leaves and put them in charge of the the most troublesome type II and type III cities. Whenever possible, back up these governors with a good staff of ancilliaries (with public order traits).

[Kevin]

I recruited a couple of spies in my towns and wow... a lot of them had spies and assassins in them. I recruited assassins of my own and.. for some reason they hit you with a club and that slits your throat? Anyways most of my towns are a LOT better. Thanks a bunch for that bit of advice... but moving the capital makes you have to change the tax rates off all the settlements and that's a pain.

[Kevin]

PS. As the Romans, I've had to fight the Lusotannans, the Aedui, the Arverni, the Sweboz, and I know eventually the Getai.
I
Hate
Barbarians

[DaciaJC]

Well, you can't complain that you don't have the resources to subdue them all. Patience is key when playing the Romani, as I've found.

[fleaza]

patience? dont you mean superior resources and military might?

[Kevin]

No, Frontlines is right. Playing as the Romani, I've found that their units might not be the best units but when you have 30k+ people in each city in Italy, with over 1.6 milllion mnai, all you have to do is keep attacking until the enemy runs out of resources or manpower.

[Blxz]

The most annoying thing about Public Order for me is the distance to capital penalty. That is probably whats making things a bit harder for you. You are moving away from your easy zone so the quick advance you have been doing doesn't work so much anymore.

Everyone has given you some good advice, such as exterminnations, etc. I find that way too time consuming. And unrealistic especially if it reaches a point in which I out number the population 2:1 with elite troops and they still revolt. Not realistic, if I was governor I would simply have 2 troops sitting at every dinner table watching those ungrateful barbarians.

My solution was to mod some of the buildings. I thought originally a 250% law bonus to core buildings was useful until Arche Selukiea wins the entire eastern half including makedonia and steppes by about 230BC every time. Since then I have gone through and using whatever hidden resources were present have managed to counter the distance to capital penalty (approximately) with happiness bonuses. Time consuming and can't move my capital because it throws it all out of whack, but much more fun for me.

Cutting to the point, you could 'cheat' and change the EDB file to your advantage and even balance it out with the AI factions if you wanted. Means you don't need to have every city garrisoned to the max just to deal with the population.

[IrishHitman]

Wait, Eastern Europe? I was thinking to myself, "Hooray, the Getai are kicking some more posterior." Oh, well....

Are the Getai capable of kicking posterior when controlled by the AI?

[DaciaJC]

Are the Getai capable of kicking posterior when controlled by the AI?

They are certainly capable, but it's a rare occurrence when they decide to conquer the Hellenes instead of reach the Eleutheroi superstacks and bang their collective heads there. In my Romani campaign, the Getai are one province away from bordering me, and I haven't expanded east any more than Patavium.