How do you think a hypothetical Multiplayer EB campaign would go?

[Vilkku92]

How people think Casse would do? My guess is that under player control they would become a real superpower in the west after the Isles have been unified. Their economy just is so strong that they could easily afford some three medium-quality fullstacks and still have money to spare, while the sea would provide them with strong natural barrier against most invasions. As their most likely rivals would either likely have their hands full with other factions (Aedui, Arverni, Lusotann) or have a very weak economy (Sweboz), there wouldn't be much resistance against their expansion that couldn't be overcome by sheer numbers and money. Of course, if the mainland factions could combine their strenght against Casse situation would be much more evenly matched, although they would also have to deal with Rome and Carthage. So many diplomatic options...

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

It would be hard for the Casse to maintain a fleet against any of the mainland factions if certain houserules were instituted. Namely that ships in ports being blockaded cannot leave without beating back the blockaders. That being said, conservatively it takes about 20 years to gain all of the British Isles at which point you are raking in the money. The Gauls would beat each other bloody and the Sweboz aren't much good at naval invasions either so I think the Casse could come to dominate most of Northern Europe before whoever won the Carthage/Rome duel showed up.

[Tanit]

For those who haven't played MP games in M2, the 'who fights which battles?' question is answered by only allowing players to control their armies on their turn. This forces you to be more aggressive during your turn, and to position your armies and fortify your cities in a much more defensive manner towards the end of your turn.

[seleucid empire]

It would be hard for the Casse to maintain a fleet against any of the mainland factions if certain houserules were instituted. Namely that ships in ports being blockaded cannot leave without beating back the blockaders. That being said, conservatively it takes about 20 years to gain all of the British Isles at which point you are raking in the money. The Gauls would beat each other bloody and the Sweboz aren't much good at naval invasions either so I think the Casse could come to dominate most of Northern Europe before whoever won the Carthage/Rome duel showed up.

why would they play conservative in MP tho? wouldn't a player just rush the isles and then turtle up? A casse player can unite the british isles and ireland by 266 BC and then spend the next 10 years turtling up. So by 256 BC they will be very powerful and ready to mount an invasion of Gaul (and probably succeed)

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

The Casse only start with a small army and not too much in the way of infrastructure. Its easy to rush the last 4-5 towns but difficult to rush the first 2-3.

[seleucid empire]

The Casse only start with a small army and not too much in the way of infrastructure. Its easy to rush the last 4-5 towns but difficult to rush the first 2-3.

Difficult I guess, but not impossible. I do it every casse campaign. The three chariot units you start with can rout armies very quickly. So first turn I que units in the capital and send all my forces to the first town (ratae? I think it's called). They Sally at the end of the turn. Put your units of starting infantry in a very thin line. The garrison will swarm those and you bring your chariots around. It's amazing how fast they rout. Even midlander champs and Druids rout in seconds

I find it harder to rush the last 3 towns actually since by the time you get there, your starting army is pretty much gone and you have to wait a year to recruit some more infantry

[Stark]

Why are you discussing usage of faction units against human opponents? You can't play battles against huans in hotseat, and most hotseats I've seen use autocalc for all battles. Technically you could just spam a only Pezheratoi stack as AS and it would work great, as they are strong with autocalc. Horse archers lose much of their strenght that way.

[Ludens]

Why are you discussing usage of faction units against human opponents? You can't play battles against huans in hotseat, and most hotseats I've seen use autocalc for all battles.

True, but you can't do hotseat in EB1. The script can only place homeland/expansion markers for one faction, so the recruitment/MIC system won't work properly with multiple players. So it's all hypothetical anyway.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

How people think Casse would do? My guess is that under player control they would become a real superpower in the west after the Isles have been unified. Their economy just is so strong that they could easily afford some three medium-quality fullstacks and still have money to spare, while the sea would provide them with strong natural barrier against most invasions. As their most likely rivals would either likely have their hands full with other factions (Aedui, Arverni, Lusotann) or have a very weak economy (Sweboz), there wouldn't be much resistance against their expansion that couldn't be overcome by sheer numbers and money. Of course, if the mainland factions could combine their strenght against Casse situation would be much more evenly matched, although they would also have to deal with Rome and Carthage. So many diplomatic options...

I'd be willing to play Casse historically and act as referee for the game. I'd play Casse like I do in single player campaign - turtle, remain at peace with the Eleutheroi as long as possible, focus on building up my home city. In my Casse SP campaign, it's 242 BCE, and I've yet to conquer a single town.

[Ludens]

Yes, once the Casse unify the British Isles, they'll become the dominant economic power of the West. If the Casse player is skilled at diplomacy, he can probably acquire parts of Gaul as well without alienating his allies.

On the other hand, I think the Casse won't do as well in combat against other human players. Maybe an MP player will correct me on this; but the Casse lack heavy cavalry, and their heavy infantry is either unarmoured or elite (expensive) and small in number. Against the A.I. you can make due with lighter units, but against human players it's a whole different story.

The lack of cavalry can be corrected by conquering a Belgian province (Remi Mairepos), but it will take some time to get the necessary infrastructure and it forces the Casse to become involved on the mainland, thus risking war and loss of trade-income.

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

We edited the Casse a bit for MP but the general idea remains. You use eagles and druids to keep your forces from breaking while you use fear units (chariots, druids, uridusios) to quickly break some weaker units and start chain routs. Casse battles are often among the shortest we have in MP. They do really well against the Romans oddly enough (since Romans don't kill quickly and usually rely on morale as well) while they do poorly against factions like the other Gauls, especially the Aedui (who can do almost everything the Casse can with heavier suits of armor).

[Ludens]

Another suggestion for an MP campaign would be to ditch the standard victory conditions. These are designed for playing against the A.I., so they may be too ambitious for an MP game. Also, they more or less require you to go to war with your neighbours at some point. That'll hurt diplomacy right from the start - knowing that, eventually, it will be you or them.

As an alternative, faction specific missions could be used (e.g. "reunite Alexander's Empire" for the Ptolemeans and Seleucids, "unite the Celts" for Casse, Aedui and Averni, etc.). Or you could ignore the victory-conditions entirely and just play until an agreed year.