Roman: Scipii

[GeneralHankerchief]

Ave Rotorgun, it seems like you have an interesting campaign going on so far. The battle you described reminds me of Zama, where Scipio Africanus Major's Numidian cavalry chased off the Carthaginian horses and then slammed into Hannibal's rear. Good job.

I'm curious as to who your main general was for that battle. Usually for my Scipii campaigns I bring out Julianus (faction heir at the start of the game) but I know some people use other guys.

As for the Greek situation, you lucked out with the Carthaginians taking Syracuse first but be advised that you will probably have to make war with them sooner or later. The reason for this is that all of the Carthaginian/Numidian provinces (minus Siwa, which the Egyptians are pretty quick to take) and Syracuse do not equal fifteen, the desired goal for the short campaign. Unless you were to turn on the Spanish (or any other barbarian allies but the Julii usually control that portion of the Mediterranian by then) the only real target remaining to you will be the Greek territories, such as Crete, Rhodes, and the Peloponessian mainland.

I'm assuming you will have to betray Numidia eventually to finish the game, so good luck on that. I generally find them to be tenacious when you take Cirta, their capital so best of luck there.

I look forward to more progress reports, this is turning out very interestingly.

~General Hankerchief

[Seamus Fermanagh]

North Af from LepMag to the PofH equals 7
Sicily Equals 3 (assmuing the Carths take SYra, then you have no greek war)
Add Palma and we're up to 11.

I'd try to add Caralis before the Julii can get there.

I'd try for Cordoba or Carth Nov with the army that nabs Palma.

Then all you need is 2 of the following 3 (Kydonia, Halicarnassus, Cyrene) all of which are rebel at start and tend to stay that way for a while. A few choice bribes and a quick garrison and you're in.

[rotorgun]

North Af from LepMag to the PofH equals 7
Sicily Equals 3 (assmuing the Carths take SYra, then you have no greek war)
Add Palma and we're up to 11.

I'd try to add Caralis before the Julii can get there.

I'd try for Cordoba or Carth Nov with the army that nabs Palma.

Then all you need is 2 of the following 3 (Kydonia, Halicarnassus, Cyrene) all of which are rebel at start and tend to stay that way for a while. A few choice bribes and a quick garrison and you're in.

Hello Seamus! I didn't see you sneak in there. Good advice about Caralis; the opportunistic Julii already grabbed it when I was involved with a small naval war with Carthage and the Pirates.

As for Nuevo Carthago, my alleged Spanish allies have taken it already, and have failed to offer it to me for a gift. Imagine! The nerve of these Cabrones!

Kydonia is very do-able. I hadn't thought of that to be frank. Go idea. Cyrene is in the hands of Macedonia no doubt! Very odd. That wouldn't stop me from taking it, as I will need it as a base if I move against the Pharoh's dominions.

Bribes.....hmmm. I like it!

It's good to speak to you again comrade. As always, good advice from my Magister Equitum.

[Craterus]

I don't know about the latest patches but the Julii are usually extraordinarily slow at taking the Gallic settlements at the northern end of the penisular. Why not sail round Italy and add those to your count.

Segestica? Salona? The Brutii sometimes take those, sometimes not. Beats sailing out to Anatolia for the final province..

[rotorgun]

I don't know about the latest patches but the Julii are usually extraordinarily slow at taking the Gallic settlements at the northern end of the penisular. Why not sail round Italy and add those to your count.

Segestica? Salona? The Brutii sometimes take those, sometimes not. Beats sailing out to Anatolia for the final province..

Hail Craterus, mighty leader of the Cyber-phalanx!

That is a definate possibility that I'll watch for. I'm curious how the AI performs with the 1.5 & 1.6 patches myself. It certainly hasn't honored the Carthaginians very well. I coul be that I'm only playing a Med/Med campaign. I probably should have went of Hard/Hard, but I wanted to see how the game feels with the new changes. (I've always been a bit cautious that way, a lil' like Ol'e Pete Longstreet of the Confederacy)

Appreciate the come back.

[Craterus]

Cyber-phalanx? You have me confused with someone else. Cav is my speciality.

[rotorgun]

Cyber-phalanx? You have me confused with someone else. Cav is my speciality.

I forgot that I'm afraid. It's just that the name of Craterus is so identified with the Macedonian Taxis. I think he commanded the Companions once as well, no? Perhaps I might interest you in becoming another of my Magister Equitum such as is Seamus Fermanagh?

[Bellicin]

I'm curious how the AI performs with the 1.5 & 1.6 patches myself. It certainly hasn't honored the Carthaginians very well. I coul be that I'm only playing a Med/Med campaign. I probably should have went of Hard/Hard, but I wanted to see how the game feels with the new changes. (I've always been a bit cautious that way, a lil' like Ol'e Pete Longstreet of the Confederacy)

I assume this might have been adressed in previous replies but what the heck:

The AI appears to be really nasty from what I've seen so far in 1.5. Earlier I've finished a dozen or so campaigns in 1.0 on different settings, and trying VH/VH in 1.5 is by far the biggest challenge I've had.

On the campaignmap the AI is pretty aggressive but not as rabid as I expected. Mind you I've only played 15 years of a Scipii-campaign though. So far I'm being hit by quite a bit of rebels (about 1 rebel army popping up every year in random province) and Carthage have been a bit of a pain until now. They had two full stacks roaming around the countryside, but luring them into attacking my main force at a river crossing took care of that.

One thing I have noticed though is that the AI is much more prone to ship their troops to other provinces and islands. The Greek Cities actually landed in Italy and tried to attack the Brutii in my current campaign, and the Julii have been rude enough to steal Caralis and Palma right before my eyes.

In battle I was impressed to see the AI flank me for the first time yesterday, and with a perfect pincermovement no less! Overconfidently I had one unprotected unit of hastati coming to reinforce my main army sieging Carthage, and hit by two units of long shield cavalry and one general it routed within seconds. They actually attacked at the exact same moment from three sides (front and sides) while staying out of pila-range all the time. Scarily impressive...

Overall the AI seems to be performing better but not incredibly so. Most fights are still about lining up and getting the advantage of height, peppering the enemy with all missiles you have without them charging. It seems that in 1.5 (compared to 1.0) the AI is more prone to try and deal with missiles by sending forth 1 unit at a time to chase the enemy missile unit off, which basically never works.

The biggest battleproblem I've had so far are the elephants, which are a nightmare on VH. I faced a battered unit of two lowtier elephants in Lepcis Magna, and they survived constant missile fire (fire arrows from my archers) and managed to take down one whole unit of wardogs and around 150 hastatii before dying. Had some better luck later on with making them go nuts or break but nowadays I try to stay well clear of them at all costs.

My two cents about the Scipii:
Carthage and Numidia are musts to defeat, they'll only backstab you if you leave them or their territories will be taken by more competent factions. I see many of the above posters try and get a share of the Greek Cities in their own homeland but I've never had enough military power to stretch that far myself. Taking whatever islands you can (Palma, Caralis, Kydonia) from Carthage or Rebels are great plans too, they'll bring in a steady income without requiring much defense. The sea is the Scipii homeland, so building a decent navy to fight off pirates and enemy ships is the way to go. Not to mention the ports will soon be your biggest source of income.

Yikes, that turned out longer than expected

Kind regards

[Centurion1]

The Romans are most definitely overpowered by the AI. Some of you have been mentioning attacks on the brutti's and Jullis usual avenues of attack. This isnt really my style. I prefer to fight an all-powerful group of roman families at the end. In fact ive been known to give the romans a little push in the right direction. Anyway, im playing as the scippi on VH/VH, and the camapign has shaped up pretty nicely. I conquered sicily first as is standard, then caralis and palma, (while i like a strong roman factions at the end, islands are my favorites), i then moved in on thapsus. After thapsus i conquered Carthage. Those stinking elephant riders then lost lepcis magna in quick order. I then conquered cirta. After that it was the marius reform (i known it seems slow, but that's my style.) i then built up three distinctive armies, in varying degrees of power. I had a African army composed of 8 early lego, 4 archers, a 5-star general, 4 roman cavalry, and a ballista for the sake of history. Then i created a Spanish army of 8 normal legos, 4 archers, 4 roman cavalry, a 8- star general, and an onager. My third army was based in italy for prepartion of the civil war and is composed of 8 praetorian guard, 4 archer auxilia, 4 praetorian cavalry, two scorpions, and a 4- star general. The north african army conquered tingi, dimmidi, and nepte in quick order. My spanish legion, soon mounted amphibious landings on corduba and conquered it, then moved on to Carthago navo. They are about to take oslo. (it takes a while because i am reluctant to attack with my troops in cities they are unable to retrain in, so ive been starving out my enemies.) Ironically enough ive adopted a roman tactic in spain and north africa. Because of excess armies of numidians and spainards ive been building forts at every stop. Needless, to say there has been no more trouble.
Global diplomacy is...........at the least intresting. The five greatest nations are in order, egypt, myself, brutti, julli, and the GAULS. Yeah my stupid northern brothers havent defeated some stinking barbarians (i did help the gauls out a litle HEEHEE) I am currently financing a VERY succesful war in asia minor between the greeks and egyptians. The greeks have entire west coast and the north east (im trying to create a new greek empire.....plus i hate the egyptians) And most intresting the julli have been losing provingces from the britains and gauls (the britainsa own all northern europe, and gaul owns modern day france and two cities) in spain Hmmm, this may lead to some new develoments. Sorry, to ramble more info coming

[rotorgun]

Ave Rotorgun, it seems like you have an interesting campaign going on so far. The battle you described reminds me of Zama, where Scipio Africanus Major's Numidian cavalry chased off the Carthaginian horses and then slammed into Hannibal's rear. Good job. :balloon2

Appreciate it. The main diferences were no elephants present, and I had a way to hide my strike cavalry. What a stroke of fortune to have a big rock promontory to hide them behind.

I'm curious as to who your main general was for that battle. Usually for my Scipii campaigns I bring out Julianus (faction heir at the start of the game) but I know some people use other guys.

One Quintus Scipio, age 52 - three command stars, 2 management pillars and 6 influence wreaths. I like to develop all my leaders if possible. This gives me better choices for faction hier if I need to change them.

As for the Greek situation, you lucked out with the Carthaginians taking Syracuse first but be advised that you will probably have to make war with them sooner or later. The reason for this is that all of the Carthaginian/Numidian provinces (minus Siwa, which the Egyptians are pretty quick to take) and Syracuse do not equal fifteen, the desired goal for the short campaign. Unless you were to turn on the Spanish (or any other barbarian allies but the Julii usually control that portion of the Mediterranian by then) the only real target remaining to you will be the Greek territories, such as Crete, Rhodes, and the Peloponessian mainland.

Indeed. Unless the Greeks attack me first (they still have a small force stationed camping outside Syracuse), or the Senate orders me to attack them, I shall try to take Palma and use it as a staging area for an invasion of Hispania. I may have to to finish off Corduba if the Spaniards fail to take it. I shall use the pretense that the Spanish failed to properly support me against Carthage by allowing the rebel pirates to attack my ships. I will do the honorable thing and cancel my treaties with them first (no Pearl Harbor trauma here). I also have a plan lurking in the dark recesses of my mind....something involving the dread Egyptians perhaps? An early strike at them, before they can become a powerhouse, and when they are engaged in a war with Parthia, Selucia, or Pontus, etc. is a consideration.

I'm assuming you will have to betray Numidia eventually to finish the game, so good luck on that. I generally find them to be tenacious when you take Cirta, their capital so best of luck there.

I will do so as a last resort, only after due consideration of previous events with Spain, etc. I will definately need them in my corner if I invade Egypt!

I look forward to more progress reports, this is turning out very interestingly.
~General Hankerchief

I'll send them. Thanks for the support.