Arverni Campaign

**Commander** · 11-22-2009, 19:16

Hi everyone, I'm new around here, as you probably noticed.

First of all, I have to say that I really love this mod. I just donwloaded it like a week days ago and I'm already completley hooked up with it (although I had an exam this last Saturday, so I couldn't play too much), I must congratulate you, because you have done a great job with it.

That being said, I've got some questions for you.

I've just started an Arverni campaign... and I've found myself in a very difficult situation. First of all, the economy. The Arverni start with just 5000 mnai, and with a HUGE debt, and not good possibilites of recover, at least in the beginning.
I can't disband my units because of the Aedui, they're always attacking, with more and more armies. I defeat them all, and always, but I have to keep a good garrison in each of my cities, because if don't do it, they'll fall.
That leaves me no chance of a big army to attack the Aedui, or to just take some Eleutheroi settlements, which BTW, have fine garrisons, that can not be just killed with a FM and 3 or 4 units, you need at least medium size armies.

Now I have -37.000 mnai, and counting. I win victory after victory against the Aedui, but they just keep coming. I've sent diplomatics to every other faction (well, almost every faction), and got the trade rights, still I lose mnai every turn (The first turn was like -11.000 mnai, then less each turn)

I control 4 Settlements. The 3 starter ones, and the one which is just south of the starting location of the Arverni's Faction Leader (don't remember the name of the settlement). I took that settlement from the Eleutheroi, but I don't have a big army, just the starter units, and as I said, I have to distribute them among the settlements.

I really don't know what else to do.
Any thoughts? Advices? Maybe starting all over? It's just 268 BCE, if I remember correctly, or maybe one or two years later, but I just started.

Thanks in advance to everyone

**Knight of Heaven** · 11-22-2009, 19:40

Well most factions are like that at the beginning, but in this case, you should use your army since the beginning to conquer another setlements, if you wait to recover you are doomed, just like now. It will take a long time to recuperate, if you dont conquer a setlement and enslave it. i would recomend to start a new campaing. Becouse of the army upkeep, you should atack with your armies, or if you wait, you will be in debt. anyway i think tehre is some guides in this forum.

**anubis88** · 11-22-2009, 19:53

Well the Arverni are quite easy to play, if you don't care about leaving the Aedui to survive.
If you want, you can easily destroy the Aedui in Transalpine Gaul. Just attack them the first turn, take Bibracte, and after that Cenabum. Then you can disband most of your army and eventually (very soon) you will be able to have a lot of money.

Also, the cavalry is very expansive, so try to disband them the moment you don't need them

**WinsingtonIII** · 11-22-2009, 22:09

I think that taking that settlement from the Eleutheroi was bit of a mistake. At the beginning of either an Aedui or Arverni campaign, your first priority should be to wipe out the opposing Gallic faction, and then only start taking Eleutheroi settlements after that threat is gone. I've personally found that the Aedui have it easier, because the Arverni are centralized and thus easier to destroy. But as the Arverni you can use your greater centralization to your own benefit. Move quickly to take out the Aedui settlements that are nearby yours (in transalpine gaul) and once this is done you can disband some units and start to build up your economy, as the only settlement the Aedui will have left (in cisalpine gaul) is not particularly close to you, and they will have to be dealing with the Romani over there soon anyways.

The key is to move quickly, the more time you take to destroy the Aedui in transalpine gaul, the more debt you will incur, because you cannot really afford to disband any units. In your first turn, when you actually have money, my advice would be to spend it on Bataroas. Some may disagree with me, but in my opinion, since you're going to be debt until you defeat most of the Aedui anyways, you might as well use the money you have to train some of the best infantry available to you at this point. I would probably disband the Leuce Epos light cavalry (but only if it looked like I could raise enough infantry before going broke). They're expensive and I don't find them to be good for much at this point other than acting as a diversion. If you fight defensive battles where the Aedui is forced to attack you, you probably won't need them anyways. Also, if you have a navy (I know the Aedui does but I don't recall if the Arverni do) disband them immediately. There's no need for them now and they cost a bunch.

If you can defeat the Aedui in transalpine gaul, then you can relax and disband units and build up your economy (focusing on farms and roads first), unless, that is, the Aedui have managed to build up a powerful cisapline gallic empire. But I doubt that they will be able to considering the Romani will soon be knocking on their door. It may be advisable to get on good relations with the Romani during this early period of the game. You will have to fight them eventually, but right now they can provide sea trade if you get your ports up and going and they can help you destroy the Aedui in cisalpine gaul.

**lionhard** · 11-23-2009, 23:43

Simply as meantioned above, the best defence is a good offence

**seienchin** · 11-24-2009, 00:42

Thats kinda sad, that EB forces you with some factions to blitz every enemy in sight. I rarely play those factions, though the gaul campain is still fun, unlike pontos or pahvla.