Carthage advice

[PureEvil[PIE]]

I'm currently trying to take control of Italy. Unfortunately... I had taken 3 cities including Roma rather easily, but then the Romans pulled their shit together and started sending several full stacks my way. Now I only have control of Roma left and that looks like it's about to go. Just looking for advice, like where to attack first with what army composition against the Romans. I currently have Sicilia and Numidia with about half of Spain. Should I abandon Spain and concentrate on the Romans (as they are giving me a lot more trouble...). Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is first time I've struggled in conquering an area in EB.

[athanaric]

I'm currently trying to take control of Italy. Unfortunately... I had taken 3 cities including Roma rather easily, but then the Romans pulled their shit together and started sending several full stacks my way. Now I only have control of Roma left and that looks like it's about to go. Just looking for advice, like where to attack first with what army composition against the Romans. I currently have Sicilia and Numidia with about half of Spain. Should I abandon Spain and concentrate on the Romans (as they are giving me a lot more trouble...). Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is first time I've struggled in conquering an area in EB.

Keep Spain, it's a proverbial gold mine. At least it was in the days of EB's time frame. In fact, you should take all provinces in Iberia, giving you a short and easily defensible border with Gaul. Also, Iberia allows for the recruitment of some units that are really useful against Rome.

[Brennus]

Speaking from my experience of Gallic games Italy (thus admittedly coming from the opposite direction you are) is a great place to fight defensive battles. The landscape is not covered in thick forests like Gaul and Germany and the Appenines allow you to take the high ground and let the enemy tire themselves out trying to reach you. Hug the spine of Italy and it will equal the odds, also Samnite infantry is numerous and worth the money.

[Ca Putt]

Keep Spain in any case, you can still pull out of Italy and reconquer it with a good navy. Something not so easy with Iberia. That and the aforementioned mines in Iberia + AP-troops. One could call Iberia the "expanded homeland" of the Carthies in EB, thus an area which you have to secure at all costs(thinking as a Carthagian not a roman ;) ) and defend to the last drop of blood Italy is more like your much desired "ethernal" battle ground, meaning you'll fight quite some battles here but in the end you can always pull out and try again later. The KH have a similar situation - they need to secure the rest of greece and then fight a somewhat attritious war in asia minor but can always reel back and regroup, unlike the Romans the Seleucids have their training centers further east and thus do not get destroyed in the hurly-burly of the war.

What I like to do is split my eastern army in two parts:
one defends sicily
one gets shipped to the troop empty north of italy(as all romans are concentrated on spanking me out of sicily)

Now once I conquer a poorly defended city in the north I destroy all roman stuff and move on. This causes the southern armies to march due northwhere they effordlessly take empty ruins while my southern army takes Rhegion :D

The Ports of Corsica and sardinia make actions like this possible even without a superior fleet.

[PureEvil[PIE]]

Thank you for all the advice. And yes, I think I am invading from the wrong part of Italy, whenever I land there is usually a few Roman units there to jump my forces as they disembark onto the shore. And thank you for the advice about Spain; I'll concentrate on them and have a good base of operations to attack from. It's not that I'm having trouble in equal battles, it's just it seems only my elite units can stand up to the Romans, once they are destroyed it takes a while to get more units from Carthage to Italy and the local units I'm getting aren't that spectacular :/. I have used a lot of Samnite units but they are so darn expensive. But again, thank you for the advice :>.

[Brennus]

When playing in Spain be careful about two things: 1. The Lusitanians are thick and fast, although you tend to enjoy and advantage with heavy cavalry and some very powerful African and Libyan infantry it can sometimes be of little comfort when you are having to hack through five full stacks of Lusitanians just to travel a few miles. 2. Avoid Numantia until you have a strong and experienced force, the EB script spawns a full stack of Celtiberians if you get too close.

[PureEvil[PIE]]

Thank you, I will that in mind. At the moment I have just taken most of the South of Spain, I'm just having trouble with having enough to money to fund my attacks in Spain and in Italy, whilst keep a garrison to keep Ptolemoi away.

[Brennus]

Have you built any roads to connect your lands to those of the Ptolemies?

[Shadowwalker]

Have you built any roads to connect your lands to those of the Ptolemies?

I keep reading this advice and at the same time I keep having a completely different experience. The Ptolemies seem to be primarily focused on Carthage (if I play them, that is) as soon as they share a border. I never had a peaceful border with them - regardless if I build a road or not.

@PureEvil:

What difficulty are you playing at?
I have played quite a few Kart-Hadast campaigns (H/M) and never had really serious problems.

The key - in my opinion - are the first years.
There are a few things that can make the campaign a lot easier in the long run.

(1) Expansion

Take Kirtan, Siga, Lixus and Sala as quick as possible.
(Don't go for the desert settlements as they aren't worth the trouble at all, they'll just cost you a lot of money (because you need to garrison them) without offering anything. The units you can train there you can get in the coastal settlements as well and there is no income at all from those two provinces.)

Leave the iberian settlements alone for the moment (don't wait too long until you start to expand there too though - by ~250 you should start carving out your iberian empire as well. Or you wait until the Lusotannans have nowhere to expand anymore and attack you. They are an interesting enemy.)

Don't expand in Sicily until you own NW Africa and have all possible mines built.

(2) Economy and buildings

One word: Mines. And of course ports and roads and temples of Tanit (in Iberia Baal Hammon might be the better choice though because of higher happiness/law bonus).
But mines (especially in Gader and Sala as they get you 3000 Mnai with their second level built) are crucial.

Don't build many barracks in the first years (except one upgrade in Ippone to get access to the fantastic archers and the slingers; and perhaps the necessary upgrades in Bocchoris for the Balearic slingers/light infantry).

In Alalia/Karali only concentrate on walls (which means you want to raise the population over 2000 as fast as possible - either you ship in troops from africa and disband them there or - if you don't want to cheat - lower the taxes and build population growth buildings. This is especially important if you use the City mod).
If you don't play with BI.exe or Alex. exe you can instead focus on ports/roads/temples and mines (in Karali) as well.

(3) Armies and defense

You basically need 3 (if you are extremely unlucky, 4) armies. One defends Alalia/Karali (only if you play BI.exe or Alex.exe), one defends Lepki, one your iberian possessions and one (if the Romans or Epirotes are extremely fast and successful) Lilibeo.

Alalia/Karali
1 FM
2 Liby-Phoenician infantry
4 Libyan Spearmen
1 Carthaginian Citizen Cavalry
2 Mercenary Balearic Slingers
(+1 Kerkuroi ship)

Iberia
1 FM
2 Liby-Phoenician infantry
4 Libyan Spearmen
2 Numidian Archers
2 Numidian light cavalry
(+1 Kerkuroi ship to cover Siga/Sala/Lixus as well, in case of rebel attacks)

Lepki

1 FM (2, if you have one more to spare)
3 mercenary Pezhetairoi
2 Liby-Phoenician Infantry
2 Libyan Spearmen
4 Numidian Archers
2 Carthaginian Citizen Cavalry
and a river crossing....

(Lilibeo)
1 FM
2 Liby-Phoenician infantry
4 Libyan Spearmen
1 Carthaginian Citizen Cavalry
2 Mercenary Balearic Slingers
(+1 Kerkuroi ship to cover your heartland in africa as well in case of rebel attacks)

At the start of the campaign you should disband every ship (except one you'll need for the troop transport around the isles), kill the elephants as well and all those Iberian Light Cavalry units too.
(Or you can of course use them to repell the siege of Ippone or to take Syracuse but that is a completely different strategy, to have your mines built by ~260 you'll need every money you can get and those elephants/cavalry units are just too expensive).

To conquer the african settlements you need an archer/slinger/cavalry-heavy army (which you can later split and make it your iberian and sicilian armies).

About your troubles in Italy

Roman armies (especially Polybian ones) can be a real pain in the backside, granted. But even Pedites/Triarii/Samnites-heavy fullstacks can be very easy to beat if you bring the right armies.

Kart-Hadast has access to some really lovely units to counter the heavy armour of the Romani.

First of all - the Iberian Assault Infantry and the Balearic Light Infantry. Two of the most beautiful units in the entire game and both absolutely lethal if used correctly.
Then of course the Iberian Heavy Cavalry. Another unit that causes me casualties that aren't necessary - just because I sometimes zoom in and watch them charge, neglecting other parts of the battle ....

Liby-Phoenician Elite Infantry - able to hold a line even against Triarii long enough to attack them from behind.

And of course: the african phalanxes. Although most probably not -that- historical they are highly effective against roman troops.

Other units you might want to add into your armies:
Iberian Heavy Infantry, African Elite Infantry, Garamantine Infantry (for countering Leves and Accensi for example), Cantabrian Light Cavalry (from a single province in northern Iberia, an even better skirmisher cavalry than the Numidians), Samnite Heavy Infantry (your own Pedites, although slightly weaker)

Most of those units are terribly expensive, but if you have built up your trade empire before you attack you will be able to afford at least one such army in addition to the defensive armies I posted above.

My Shophet's army usually looks similar to this:
1 FM
1 African Pikemen
2 Liby-Phoenician Heavy Infantry (Reform unit)
4 Libyan Heavy Spearmen (Reform unit)
1 Liby-Phoenician Elite infantry
1 Sacred Band Infantry
2 Iberian Assault Infantry (Reform unit)
2 Numidian Archers
1 Balearic Slingers
1 Balearic Light Infantry
1 Numidian Light Cavalry
2 Carthaginian Citizen Cavalry
1 Iberian Heavy Cavalry

With this kind of army I fought successfully against 3 fullstacks in a battle for Capua (I took ~50 or 60% losses, granted ... but on the other hand I'm no Alexander or Hannibal, but rather an Archagathus ).
You can even skip the Numidian Cavalry and add in another Heavy Cavalry if you wish to really humiliate the Romani.

Just make sure to fight in open areas (forests would proove disastrous for your cavalry) and that you never let the Romani have the high ground.

As for your question where you should attack: Rhegion is the best point to start your conquest. Then Tarentum (use the Lilibeo army - bolstered with some mercenaries - to secure Rhegion in the meantime), then Arpi, then Capua.
And then - of course - Rome....

[Nightmare]

You, Sir, are no Kart-hadasti! By your pathetic weakness, incompetence, cowardice, and failure to defeat the Romans, you defile the very name of Kart-hadast, and great Baal himself! We Kart-hadasti are a proud and noble people, and you dishonor us by your very existence! I spit in your face! May Baal have a special place prepared for you in his fiery pits of hell! Just cut open your veins and bleed out now, and save us the dishonor of your pathetic existence! Do not ever speak the name Kart-hadast again, now and forever!

That was a joke, heh.

Really, you are having trouble taking Italy with Carthage? That's interesting. I did it no sweat on VH with Carthage with the very first EB game I ever played. Fortunately, you've come to the right place. As Obi-wan said in one of those movies, "Carthage is our specialty."

Can you tell me what your unit composition is, how many stacks you have, and where you are invading from? I always invaded from Sicily and just went straight up, conquering all cities in a line. That seemed to work well, because everything south of you that you just conquered is "secure," and you just have one northern front you fight on as you move up.

If I'm remembering correctly, I think the unit comp I used on my first Carthage campaign was basically liby-phonecian spearmen and libyan spearmen. In the second campaign I played, I had a line of african pike phalanx infantry, some of those green african infantry for support (they might be called elite african infantry), a couple sacred band for support, and a bunch of elephants (a BUNCH). What I found was, the pikes - while awesome units - were useless because I'd set up a line of them and the romans simply wouldn't attack them! So I was always fighting with less than half my army - basically the "support." What I ended up doing was putting the elephants on the right flank of the pikes, and the other couple support units behind those. WHen he ignored my pikes and attacked the elephants, I just charged all elephants at once into everything, then followed up with the support (well, it's heavy infantry, but my intention was to use it to support the pikes, which never needed supporting as they never participated, heh). So even with this unit composition - which was highly inefficient because most of the units couldn't even fight - I was able to destroy stack after stack of romans and conquer Italy.

One tip - you want to have at least one full stack - probably several - of garrison units trailing behind your main attack stack. This is because you don't want to get bogged down keeping your attack stack on garrison duty in a city while waiting for the loyalty to come up enough to where you can leave and move on - that's what the garrisons are for (I prefer to use hellenic skirmishers as they are cheap). Another tip - while I did this on one stack, that stack had to be continuously replenished, except for the elephants which lasted a long time. So I had Kart-hadast and that other nearby big city pumping replinishment units, and when I needed them I'd shuttle them over with a ship. It's sort of a pain, but it works.

Finally, I never had spain when I fought Rome either time - just a couple cities there. So you can definitely do it without Spain.

Anyway, give me some details on what you are doing so we can get you fixed up. We Kart-hadasti can't have a fellow Kart-hadasti failing to slaughter all the Roman dogs... it makes us look bad.

[PureEvil[PIE]]

Thanks for the great help guys :>. And I know what my problem was, I was trying to make conquests into Ptolemoi, Spain and Rome at the same time. But I didn't have the resources to fund all of the campaigns. About the Ptolemoi, I have taken all of NW Africa and I have stopped trying to move into Egypt. I'm not having massive problems with the Romans in battles, it's more I can't bring enough soldiers, and I was using the wrong ranged units, I was using archers instead of slingers which obviously was an issue haha. I've stopped attacking Ptolemoi and am now concentrating on the other two conquests. I have brought another elite army into Italy and that has brought me some respite, defeated 3 stacks of Romans with it so far. But thanks for all the great help guys, especially you shadowwalker, that was great! This is definitely harder than the Casse campaign (well to me anyway, I love barbarian factions and I could tell how to use the Casse armies immediately, I just need to get some more AP units into my armies I think.

Oh yea, I wanted to share something that I thought was epic. In a defence of Rome I had my army reduced to 400 soldiers, most of the soldiers were wounded units. The amount of archers I had was only 16 and most of my units were not elites, with no General and the only cavalry force I had was one wounded unit of companion cavalry. With that tiny force I managed to defeat a Roman army of 1500/1400 with 4 soldiers remaining (one archer, 3 cavalry). Was definitely my most stressful siege battle, consisting of tying up separate Roman units with the remains of a Samite heavy infantry unit (59 soldiers) and repeatedly bashing into the Roman units with the remains of the companion cavalry, the defence of Rome was by far my favourite siege battle so far in my campaigns :D.