EB - Questions and first thoughts

[Ksifos]

I actually like turning Epirotes into Illyrians, while playing KH, once their cities are ripe, as Poulp noticed.
If they survive long enough, they might have built large mines in Illyria by then - another full harvest ;)

Thanks for the tip.

[moonburn]

i normally try to dislodge the epirotes as fast as possible and them pay them a small fortune so as they keep fighting in tarentum if worked properly (and it happens 15% of the cases i tried both with maks aswell as with kh) they take arpis messana rhegion and develop that entire area while keeping the romans under pressure wich enables me to reach with a diplomat in time to the aedui to forge an alliance and send a quick stack to take bononia and gift it to them (not patavium tough you want the silver mines of segestica at full work)

quick advice save up a bit and hurry up taking naissos and building forts on the river passages of the danube that normally leaves the getai fighting the triballoi (?) and they won´t bother you for a few decades (as in they won´t venture south of the danube except for kallatis wich they normally take )

also the money cows are dalmatia must have develop fast and build the best mines as fast as possible 6.300 mnai per turn and also makedonia 4.800 mnai per turn are your best economical aproach and remember mining might not get you snow white fast but it helps paying for her presents later :P

[Ksifos]

moonburn - thanks for the nice ideas.Still the game sometimes leads your strategies than yourself.To add to that, I am amazed of how well the whole faction system is balanced, avoiding the gangbanging tactics of vanilla.My hats off to the moders - once again.

I had two unepxected events, the Pergamon and Hellikarnasos under Seleucid control, rebelled and put my flag.That immediately put me into war with Seleucid and had to disperse my units in three different fronts.I am already in a long war with Epiroted but I cant beat them.I was blind to think of them as an easy prey and that reminded me of two things.First scout well, second do not underestimate the Elite units in EB :-P
Macedonia presses me in the northern front, continually besieging Demetrias.Had to fight there too, and finally built a stone wall to get some basic protection.
I now have the money but...having NOT payed attention I spent all population of Athens into retraining my armies (my main tech city) and now no more good units for me.That's where mercenaries come into play.Another aspect very well designed in EB (city manpower, use of mercs).
Good thing is Epirote is also drained and does not attack with Elite units but more with mercs armies.
Probably my next step is getting Pella as you sugest.

Overall my BEST game in RTW.Gone to "Continue Campaign". :-D

[Ca Putt]

yeah wait till Sinope or Massilia defect to you THAT is where problems start :D and there is more to come ;)

[Ksifos]

yeah wait till Sinope or Massilia defect to you THAT is where problems start :D and there is more to come ;)

Lol can't wait to that.

A Small update - I finally pushed Epirotes away form Aetolia.They also lost a major battle on the mountains of west greece and now I am besieging Ambrakia.Hopefully I will conquer it.In the Macedonian front, I took Pella which was plagued but DIDN'T show in the city details card.As a result my general is plagued now.
The Macedonian had not said his final word.He brought a full (!) stack from Byzantium besieged and conquered Pergamon.In the meantime I brought a good army from main land to instantly besiege Pergamon so that he doesn't destroy my buildings.And I succeeded.Took the city back intact :-)
I am now in a state where money flows but lacking better units.So its time for a small brake from military operations, to tech up in some cities with good population to serve as bases of conscription.

Only problem so far is a lot of random CTDs, especially after battles :-/

[fomalhaut]

if you want advice on CTD's, this is what i do; only fight two battles per play session. SAVE before every battle as well. I have found that on my third battle crashes pretty consistently so just exit to desktop and return.

it's annoying, but would you rather refight the Heroic Victory against 4000 desperate Epirotes? I'm on a Macedonia campaign, after killing the last of the Aikaides my enmity against the Epirotes ended and am now supporting some Syrakusan who has taken the mantle to defend Magna Graeca (i don't want to!). Pyhrrus went all the way to rome with those blasted elephants! I invaded and with Rome retook every city, reinstalled Rome's government (since the AI will just build another one instead of repairing their own) and gave everything but Tarantem to Rome after killing Pyhrrus and Alexandros. The aforementioned Syrakusan is now receiving 6000 minai a year to keep his fight going, this time to Sicily! Pretty cool anecdote on the other end of Greece for ya! :)

[Ksifos]

I read on another topic setting the CPU affinity on one core, since I am on a multi-core machine but that didn't help either.I am so desperate I may try Windows Update's compatibility fixes, since in RTW Vanilla I seldom get a CTD.Now I save every major battle before and after :-/

Small update - having took Ambrakia a FULL stack came from the north led by their faction leader and besieged the city.I had my faction leader town and quickly raised an army both recruiting and hiring mercs.Needles to say this was the most exciting battle ever played in RTW (until the next one :-P).Around 6000 soldiers fighting to death.A real bloodbath! I was amazed to see the AI taking his general out of battle and re-charging.Man these guys have done some serious job! I almost lost the battle when my general on foot and a couple of his army ran after their general but he was on horses, so had to round him.Meanwhile around three of his units were chasing me - it was a lol situation.I only killed him for seconds before their units reached me but then lost morale and routed.An "Average Victory" that cost me my faction leader (AI controlled, died heroically) but a massive blow to the Epirotes and Ambrakia with a royal barrack for us!

Fomalhaut - I guess you play with KH and you employ some commando tactics :-) Invading Italy and restoring Romans! What round are you at? Because in my game at the begining I am struggling to field a decent army against the Macedones - economy is very thin.And they push really hard.
What about Seleucids? You should already have Lesbos and Seleucids should be probing you (Spies, small armies).