But if fighting with Barbarian factions against the Romans can be so difficult that mine only chance is to frighten them rather than from any general strategy, then should not the Barbarians get a little more money against Rome?

And how many players in whole do really manage to defeat the Romans with a barbarian factions? I think it should be examined through some vote whether the Romans are over-powered against such factions, for a rule adjustment.

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The barbarian factions are indeed harder to play , especially against the Romans , but not that underpowered. you do have better scare units , chariots , 2hp units , somewhat better cavalry esp in melees , etc.

The Romans are broken , i know , but they are as interesting as a wall. Sure , it's strong and big , but not very imaginative:))

ps: you do have a lot of units with combat bonus in woods , maybe that helps?:))I mean , we do have the chance of choosing who we play against , no?

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Neospartan could do that with Arverni, Gabeed with Casse. I could do it with Swébóz.

By the way, pre-Marian Romani, who were trully OP, are restricted. Against Post-Marians what you need is AP units, like chevroned Teceitos or Tekastos at the celts and Loricati Scutari at the Lusos. Also, scare effect is a great weapon and it's part of the "barbarian" gameplay, if you don't like that, why are you going with Arverni?

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Start the battle with a powerful charge with Gaesatae, Uirodusios or Pictone Neitos...
Meanwhile with Leuce Epos or Taramannos, and if needed also your general, deal with the enemy cavalry: harassing with their javelins and if you manage try to let them charge, you will outrun them and they'll get tired.
Right after the first charge send the "line" infantry, since money it's a problem use some Bataroas/Botroas and if possible few Milnaht.
Hopefully their first line will begin to rout, with the victorious cavalry charge the enemy's rear, otherwise commit your general with ALT+Click in a cavalry melee, while your light cavalry charge and retreat...
The idea is to keep the fight on the offensive not giving the opponent time to move...
If these doesn't work try the stand on guard mode with an "elite" army: Neitos, Arjos, Mori Gaesum or whatever you can afford. Keep a solid line, possibly 6-8 men deep (Huge Setting), so Neitos or Cingetos are the best here beacuse they're not too packed, when the eneny's army is tired unleash hell turning guard mode off...

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The problem with fighting Romans and Greeks as Barbarian factions is that many of their individual units simply have more men then you. So they outnumber you and don't rout easilly... so yeah..

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Because I favour a western infantry based factions rather than the Hellenic and Eastern factions, for I like to have a reliable infantry which will stand its ground for a long enough time untill mine cavalry can come to its resuce, but I rather like to win through a skill of formation and by having many medium/Heavy units intead of having some elite units and some special effets (like frightening). But I do not want to play as the Roman faction because for mine part I feel it gives a too cheap victory while I rather want more challenge with a factions with have their own strength and vulnerability.

But when concerning this thread then I think I will have a 8 Naked fanatics and 6 naked spearmen when fighting against the Rome just to test the absurdity of this fear effect.

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But as far as I know, the naked units' fear effect isn't cumulative, so having a bunch in one spot doesn't help.

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I favour the infantry based armies and I like the reliable heavy infantry too, so I can understand your situation. I played with you once and I spectated atleast one of your battles, you know how to beat the opponent up, but your army has wrong setup for an online battle. Heavy infantry doesn't work if they don't have special back ups. The frightening effect is a must, it decreases moral, low morale leads to rout, which means you can outnumber the battle line of your enemy. Unit with armour piercing weapons are a must against armoured foes, like the Romani legionaries. Most "barbarian" faction has commander units, they have the ability to inspire the nearby troopers, very important, they can keep up the morale if your general is far away, so your line won't collapse even when you are outnumbered. When picking up units it's also important to find the cost-effective ones! For example: Don't buy Boii Cingetos, they aren't as good as Bataroas, since their lethality is lower which means lower kill/hit. Don't buy Gallic noble infantry, they are expensive and useless since they keep switching between the spears and the swords, use instead Neitos and/or Milnaht. Don't buy heavy cavalry if you know that your opponent has much heavier ones, from those thousands of mnai you could buy better spearmen with +1 chevrons. Check the EDU for the stats so you can decide what worthes your mnai and what not.

I played with Aedui today a few times, and I have a quite good build against infantry based factions:
2 Gaesatae - One of them is the general unit, placed behind my line to spread fear and to help if the Teceitos fail
4 Neitos - My line infantry in the centre
4 Iaosatae - My slingers are the bait, they soak up the damage caused by the enemy archers, so my more expensive soldiers don't suffer
4 Teceitos - My axeman are on the flanks to help the Neitos/or to eat the opponent's heavy infantry
2 Keltohellenikoi Hoplitai - Anti-cavalry flank protectors
1 Uirodusios - A commander unit, they raise my troopers morale and decreases the enemy's, they are placed behind the Gaesatae in a very thin line to slow down cavalry attacks coming from the rear
3 Cidainh - In loose formation, they are the mass killers of cavalry units, placed on one of my flanks, usually deep behind my line to protect them from archers and skirmishers, when the right time comes I drive them against the enemy cavalry and after that I place the remainder of them behind the enemy line to cause mass routs with the extra frightening effect.

It worked quite well for me despite the weaknesses (The whole army is easy prey for archers, if the chariots cannot cause enough chaos the chance of victory is drastically reduced, etc.).

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Ok, Here advises are needed! i'm kickin' roman asses since a year and a half as sweboz (meaning way crapier economy than yours) and I had the exact same problem than you have now : Romans! first rule, use AP units, don't underestimate scaring effect (one or two urodusios) keep them out of battle but close enough to have their effect on the roman. when the moral is going down, give a massive charge with all units you could have kept in reswerve (wich will most likly cause a mass rout) enjoy the killing as you have better stamina, meaning your foot soldiers will butcher those roman sissies in no time when they run away. another tip : use ambush. Your guys are great in the wood, don't forget that! and romans have an enjoyable tendency to die when surrounded by trees and blood thirsty warriors! don't say that fear and ambush isn't general strategy. it is the general strategyu of any "barbarians". if you wanna play with pitched, lined up battle, play as romans or greek! Barbarians are way funnier!

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