Carthage

[frogbeastegg]

Guide.

[Inuyasha12]

Start off playing as carthage like any other faction right? No problem.. WRONG!!
The numidians will attack you, the spanish, the julii, and to top it all off the scipii alomst at the very begining.

You can't play carthage like any other faction. Its just impossible to win.First youre going to have to abandon two cities, thats right two cities.Get all of your units in corduba and in caralais and ship them to lylibaeum. Destroy all possible building there as well. Good thing is corduba will be captured by the spanish and it will rebel against them in your side, so you'll have corduba sometimes and sometimes you wont. Next take the rebel town of lepcis magna, it only takes a couple of troops and its key to this plan!! Then get some units from carthage and thapsus and ship them to lylibaeum too. Your goal now is to hold lylibaeum at all costs. If you loose the war in sicily your dead! Elephants are key, so have at least one unit of them in your armies, beleive me it can make the difference. Once you've destroyed the invading vanguard of the scipii, head over to syracuse(wich most likely has rebelled against either the scipii or the greeks by now) And take it. Don't concentrate on your navy as long as you still have a city in sicily the romans won't try to invade you in africa. All you have to do is win the war in sicily, after that the scipii are bankrupt. If the numidians attak you don't panic, they send small armies that are easy to kill. After that i recomend to keep attacking rome, it will make you rich, very rich.
You can now rebuild your navy, and begin conquering by sea. Thats carthage's power, her navy. USE IT!

[Red Harvest]

My approach is different and is tailored to the "very hard/very hard" setting.
Prepare for war, you will be fighting everyone simultaneously, regardless of your diplomatic approach. I don't cede any ground without a fight.

Start building up Cordoba rapidly. You will be attacked but it is a great province and the enemies there will be weak. You can buy mercs there. Combine them with a light cav force (actually, all the Carthaginian light cav units right "medium horse" and they hit pretty hard against all but the heavy cav.)

At the same time, kill off the Scipii in Lilybaeum. They are going to attack you anyway, so get them first. I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I crushed them in the first few turns. I moved an elephant unit with me an busted down their front gate I believe. This allows assault on the same turn as the siege. It is over before Scipii knew what hit 'em.

Get diplomats or spies into Lilybaeum and newly captured Messana. That Greek diplomat will bribe anything in the vicinity. Diplomats and spies keep it from succeeding. Make a trade agreement with him, then expect the Greeks to attack. They will field a hoplite army. The Carthaginian cav can handle them piecemeal if you are careful. Draw a hoplite out on the flank then hit it from the rear, repeat... The units cave immediately. Take Syracuse and make peace with the diplomat after that (hint: he responded to me that they would make peace in return for Syracuse, I countered with 2,000 denarii for Syracuse and peace, he took it.)

Prepare Sardinia for attack. The Julii are going to send army after army after army after army there. Ship in cav, and build cav when you can (its going to be awhile...) This will keep the Romans busy. Sally out the back on the strategic map and hit the armies from high ground. It is not uncommon to fight two or three battles a turn in Sardinia.

The Scipii and Brutii will probably gang up on Messana. Keep a good army there and just keep hammering them down. Lots of cav rushes is the answer to all those hastati and principes. Move out the side on a the strategic map, so that you don't have to sally on the tactical map. Eventually they seem to weary of attacking Messana, but beware the Brutii will come back later with very large armies. The Scipii are stuck with one province after losing Messana, so they are effectively castrated.

Deal with Numidia as soon as you can, to secure your rear. They will attack you no matter what, so kill them. Tingi is important because it provides a ferry link with Cordoba. It will be awhile before you can reach it. Numidia can't field a lot of men, but their cav are very tough to kill. Buy as many Numidian cav mercs as you can to combat them. Bring along an elephant unit to smash in wooden gates on the same turn as you start a siege.

Exterminate enemy populations. This makes the cities far more profitable for much, much longer. You also will have less trouble form "differing culture" because they are dead...

Grab Lepcis Magna when you can manage it. It is rebel and is a good source of income. The folks are Poeni, so they are a "friendly culture."

Palma is great for awesome Balearic slingers. Hang onto it and step out of the city to buy slingers now and again. You can ferry them to land if you are careful. Palma also can make lots of money! If you keep the Romans busy in Sardinia, they ignore Palma.

Use your cav. The Carthaginian infantry are not worth fielding against the Romans and the AI has administered severe beatings when I tried that. Even the upper level Carthaginian phalanx units suffer because of small unit size, so only build minimal infantry. (Phalanx are easy to counter in RTW.) A base elephant unit or two is your replacement for decent heavy infantry. You can smash them throught the center, with cav following. The elephants cause lots of fear (it is in the unit stats) and disorder the formations, so the follow up cav routs the enemy units. I often head right for the enemy commander (if he hasn't already made a suicide charge.) Charge the pachys through, then turn back and hit anyone still in good order. They tire quickly, but are nearly unstoppable until they tire. You are unlikely to lose more than one or two beasts even in a tough fight, but you must keep them moving. If they stop they will end up routing.

After Numidia, crush Spain (you will probably be doing both simultaneously.) Then take the rest of the Iberian peninsula from Gaul to secure a good border (the Pyrenees), plus lots of income. Gaul will attack you first, so don't worry about it. They are vulnerable to Balearic slingers combined with your cav. The chosen swordsmen are very tough on "very hard" though, so focus your slingers on them.

Turn your attention to Rome...I went after the Brutii first since they were the strongest. I snuck in 2 full stack invasion forces from Sicily and besieged the two Brutii cities in southern Italy. Then I polished off the Scipii province. By this time you are so powerful that no one will be able to hurt you.

[hotingzilla]

I am playing Carthage on Very Hard difficulty and have passed the earliest part of the campaign. I currently own the entire Sicily, Citra, Lepcis Magna, Cyrene and along with the original lands they came with. (sorry if worng spelling)

You should be aware that you need to have a strong navy since you are going to face huge Roman fleets.

Try to save money for bribing, which is very essential when converting opposing family members to your side. This weakens enemy factions and provides generals or governers for you.

I did not try to eliminate the Numidian at first, I just held off their attacks and took Citra. Instead, I launched suprise attacks against the Romans. When the attained settlement looks to be undefendable, I delete the buildings and retreat. This slows the Romans down and brings some short term benefits.

On battles, you should control all the battles yourself, as this will decrease your losses by a ton. Hire mercenaries such Numidian Cavalry and Hoplites. Spanish mercenaries are available when you are campaigning from Corduba. They are good units, able to fire javelins from distance and fare pretty well in melee. Long Shield and Round Shield Cavalry are excellent additions to your army, use them for flanking. Libyan Spearmen and Poeni Infantry are good for its class and should be widely used. Do not bother with slingers because they cause vast friendly kills when they pull back behind your main line.

(cont'd) Build Temple of Baal if you wish to train Sacred Band. Their base attack is 12 and their defense is 23 and are also well-armored. As with all spearmen/phalanx, they are good against cavalry (The AI sometimes charges their Generals into your skirmishers but then they eventually get sliced up by your spearmen who are deployed behind the skirms). Sacred Band Cavalry is an tremendous mounted unit and should be well respected. They provide you a good counter against those solid praetorians/urban cohorts. Each army should have at least one elephant unit. War and Armored Elephants can fire arrows while the plain one cannot. Deploy them on the flanks to drive through and batter the enemy lines when the moment is most opportune. And then charge your main line to cause the enemy to rout. Use your General and cavalry to pursue the fleeing.

I haven't finsihed my campaign, but it is looking extremely healthy.

[Hannibal_Barkar]

delete ?

[Hannibal_Barkar]

Want a challenging game ? Play Carthage ! (I am playing on VH/M)

Why is Carthage so much fun ?
I finished the julii Campaign on VH/M and to be honest it got pretty boring in the end, since the gauls and brits were just cannonfodder for my trusty legionnaires. I don't like playing on Hard or Very hard diff on the battle level, because of the unfair advantages the AI gets. On the other hand, - the roman infantry seems pretty much dominating as it is on medium difficulty.(btw human controlled Velites own Elephants). So what to do ? Play Carthage ! The Carthaginian forces find themselves facing enemies that has superior infantry. You will have your hands full defending vs the Roman with only light cav and skirmishers. Every denarii , every soldier is gonna count. Oth


Carthaginian Battle Tactics:
Played the Battle of Trebia ? Well, listen to what the narrator says. Hannibal learned early in his military life how powerful the roman infantry could be. So he built an army relying on cavalry to deal with the roman military. And so must you.

If you stand toe to toe with Roman infantry you die. Period. As learned in Trebia you only need inf as means to stall or bait the enemy, so your cavalry can flank, attack - and crush those pesky Legionnaires.
Rely on your Generals cav and your light cav early in the game. Vs Numidians you may also use iberian inf but light cav is much more effective. Even gaul infantry will turn your early and mid level infantry to a bloody pulp faster then you can hit "pause".

The lybian skirmishers you can get as mercs in North Africa are great. They have awesome endurance and I get the impression they got double as ammo as other skirmishers. Use them as bait for enemy units. Once the enemy starts leaving the line to attack the skirmishers you kill it with your light infantry. Once you got the enemy in movement and scattered he is yours. Note: This ain't easy without pause. I can do it most of the times. But when I am outnumbered 2:1 I must use pause a bit, especially to avoid being shot at by my own skirmishers. Its possible to beat superior roman armies who come in superior numbers with Cav and skirmishers.


Numidian light cav. Very nice, very fast skirmishing cav. I use them also as scouts to see the setup of the opposing army before I decide where to try to flank. They can do the same job as lybian skirmishers, but vs infantry heavy armies I find the lybians more effective, since enemy inf is easier to bait with inf. The legionnaires will not run after fast moving cav for long.


Hoplites ? you can get them around Carthage as mercs. Useful in streetfighting. In open battle they are more of a burden for your fast moving army. Stick with iberian inf to bind enemy inf momentarily.


Elephants. Oh boy, they surely are the ancient equivalent to AT-ST Walker. Fun, Fun to maul over some blue clad legionnaires and send them flying. Great killing potential but really expensive. Well, I don't know where other people get so filthy rich, but you wont be able to build many elephants early in the game on VH. You start with one elephant unit and I suggest moving it to the African coast. Build another one when you have the cash and move it to Spain. Show the gauls some african wildlife. They gonna love you for it. Elephants are your one big joker. Be careful with em, the loss of an elephant must be avoided until you can afford more. Use them as morale breaker and instant door opener when sieges. Yes, Elephants can knock open gates and raze wooden walls. Elephants can save your neck when all other options fail. So be conservative on 'em.

Generals: Maybe it was because of my playing style, maybe its built in the game. I got some very decent generals early in the game. Maybe its just in the Carthaginian genes. By the way, your leader will die after the first two turns or so. Be prepared for it.

Navy: Forget it. You are facing the three roman navies, the spaniards, and even the gauls send ships to harass your coast. Just try to keep Gibraltar open. Tingis and Cordoba got a great little trade relationship going between em. The AI must be spending enormous sums on building all these gigantic fleets. Also I find naval battles extremely frustrating cause you have no influence of the outcome whatsoever. Oh, on another sidenote... During the Julii campaign the AI was never smart enough to block my harbours. My Carthaginian Harbours sure do get blocked. Only you don't see the little graphic animation with the ropes. Land trade seems good enough though


My strategic approach was different again.

1.In memoriam of the first punic war I let Carsalis and Sicily be overrun by the Romans. My only achievement there was a trade agreement with the diplomat in Syracuse.
2. That gave me some turns of freedom and resources to settle affairs in my a african backyard. I negotiated an Alliance and military access with the numidians. I used that to get two armies in position. The unsuspecting Numidians lost Cirta and Tingis before they got the chance to break the alliance themselves. Hah ! Tingis ios a great money maker. Key is here to be fast. Attack with inferior forces. Rely on your generals cav. The conquered settlements in North africa don't give you a culture penalty, so they are easy to control. Nevertheless I decided to let the population walk the plank and not just the chaingang. Good for cash, but maybe a mistake in the longer run since it slows your early development down. While you do this... consider shipping a diplomat to Leptis Minor along with a city guard. You can bribe the leptis Minor Garrison cheaply but you need to garrison it immediately. Great trade city. After that go for the african center. You don't want the numidians to backstab you, while you have your hands full with gauls in spain. Lybia will take a bit. Its a long hike through the desert. But same goes for the revenge thirsty numidians. So instead concentrate on building a defense vs the romans.

3. Thapsus Coast. Let History repeat itself. In 255 Bc Consul Regelus invaded the coast with estimated 16.000 men and 500 cav. He pressed hard and was quite successful. The Carthagenians were even trying to negotiate a peace , but Regelus asked for too much,- total roman supremity. In a big effort Carthage mustered all the resources it had and hired many merc and a spartan general defeated Regelus.

You will need mercs now. You cannot pump units fast enough to deal with the romans. They will land in front of Thapsus. don't let them siege your town , since that will interrupt trade. Trade is your lifeline. don't allow it to be interrupted. I built a watchtower on the coast.And every time an army unloads its met by my defending army. That way you can take advantage by the fact that the AI sends the roman armies piecemeal. If you allow the Scipions to built a big stack while attacking Thapsus you probably lost the campaign. I have my elephant unit here. Should a battle become desperate I rely on it to loosen up some enemy furball, so my cav can maneuver again. Never ever use auto battle with elephants in your army, you will certainly loose some elephants.

4. Once you got things under control at home you should like Hamilkar´, Hannibals father, decide to expand into spain. Now don't fool yourself. Forget alliances there. I tried and always failed. Maybe its possible to make one with spain , but I doubt it. Bribery becomes your best friend. Why ? Spaniards and you share the same line of inf and light cav. so if you bribe , you get to keep those units ! Same goes for many rebels in Spain. A great way to make money is to sell map info to enemies. I sold map info to the scipions for up to 5 k. Thats great if you are in dire need of cash. Feels a bit like cheating though. I am clueless what the AI makes of this info.
Carefull about leaving your settlements in spain without generals. The spanish bastards bribed two of my settlements in one turn. Nearly cost me the campaign. Gauls just keep coming. Not as hard as romans but they come in even greater numbers. You should have enough trade income by now to slowly push them out of Gaul and get ready for the big haul.... over the alps into Rome.


Good luck ! Melkart be with you.


PS.: Did you know that Melkart was the Carthaginian name for Heracles ? Like Hannibal he traveled from spain over the alps to settle a score in Italy.

[Phier]

Carthaginian Blitzkrieg, VH/VH Ok we all know the best thing about not playing a Roman faction is we don’t have to hear that horrible horrible crackling voice say ‘vicccctorreee!’

On the other hand the Carthaginian saying ‘decisive’ is very nice, and even more amusing is when you lose very badly and he says something akin to ‘ughhhck!’.

Ok so who wants to win as Carthage on VH/VH? Sure we all do, and if you follow my easy steps, you too will be master of Mediterranean in no time.

Now if you tried Carthage on VH and failed, you know its due to money more then any other factor. You get attacked all sides, and you just can’t afford to field the armies and build up your cities. The Scipii want you, and the Numedians will go for you right off the bat, unlike in hard games when you can get an easy alliance. You have no nearby trade partners, no control of the sea, horrible starting infantry, and elephants can only do so much.

This can all be solved and solved decisively before your faction leader dies. (Ok my last game he made it to 81, but still he may well live to see victory over Rome, or at least the parts that matter).

Ok take a ship and take your faction heir out of Carthage, on the way out buy a numedian merc cav. Get to Liybeaum and pick up your faction leaders army that’s east of liybeaeum, being sure to pick up the mercs in the area as well. At the same time start building a cav stable in Carthage, you will need it asap.

Take the army, now ship borne to just outside the coast of the Scipii town Capua. Now this is the key bit. WAIT until the Romans are at war with the Greeks at Syracuse. This is your signal to go (you can have your spy look for the siege at Syracuse). Now take your army and hit Capua (if you have the cash pick up some more mercs). Do NOT siege it but attack using your elephants to take down the gate, and a few walls. This is going to be your crucial fight. You MUST not take excessive casualties. Use your elephants but protect them. If you lose them its over and you might as well start wondering what life as a Roman slave will be like. Now after you have taken Capua, sack it, and LEAVE. Its worth a good deal of cash you badly need and it will rebel with a large stack of rebels which will be more then the Scipii can take it back from. Now March in the Brutii cities of Tarentum and Croton, one after the other, use your elephants to get past the wooden walls, sack them both for the cash you still badly need, but you can safely occupy them both. Buy Mercs if any are available because Iberian infantry are like toy soldiers. Ok in about 4 turns, you have taken the Scipii and Brutii almost out of the game, and gained about 15k in cash as well as 2 good cities. You are not out of the woods yet.

After you have sacked Capua you need to reinforce Liybeaum from Carthage. Just ferry troops over, and as SOON as the cav stables at Carthage has been completed get at least one unit of elephants over to liybeaum, again you will need them. If they put you under siege before you get elephants, be sure to land them inside the ‘battle’ radius so they will be reinforcements as you sally forth to meet the Scipii. Odds are Scipii will be attacking you with about ½ to 1/3rd a stack, and a couple of stars. If you are lucky the Scipii will take Syracuse as well, which you and your elephant lead Liybeaum army will take first, and you will then take the last Scipii city of Messana

Ok so now the Scipii are gone, and the Brutii are semi-impotent stuck in Greece. The Senate will not attack you. The Julii WILL attack you and in fact they allied at about this point with the Gauls who also attacked Corduba in Spain. The Brutii will land troops about once every 5 turns at Croton, but those are easily crushed.

Now for Corduba, you want to save this city, it’s a nice foothold on Europe and it’s a good money maker. You are to far away for Elephants, odds are Numedia is at war with you by now, so this one you want to buy as many mercs as you can. My Corduba army is about 3/4ths Mercs, and the Spanish mercs are like a poor mans Hasti, pillia included. You will have some big Gaul armies to take care of, BUT while you will have a good general, they will be captain lead and will route easy. They will have no missle troops for a long while so be sure to use yours to your advantage.

Caralis will be a loss to the Julii, let them have it.

Other things you should be doing are building ports/markets for trade, getting a diplomat to the Spanish BEFORE they attack you to get trade rights if not an alliance. If a Spanish army comes near Corduba, bribe it before it can attack you as you NEED them for trade. The same goes for the Greeks at Syracuse, you will want a diplomat in the area early on and once the Romans have attacked them they will take trade rights and an alliance. Sometimes their diplomat will approach you first and you can save the funds.

Its still not ‘easy’ at this point but you really bought yourself some breathing room. The Julii will focus on you with large stacks from the north, but you should have time to reinforce your starting army via Carthage-Messana-Croton. You will not control the seas so think of ships as one use taxies, if they live longer so be it.

I tested this several times and it always worked to a good degree. Money will still not be plentiful, but you will have enough to build up cities and maintain a few different armies. Surprisingly in my current one my allies the Spanish have taking out two Numedian towns. This is mildly annoying as I wanted those towns, but a nice touch. Once you take the remaining Numidean towns, it gets pretty easy.

[Spartan198]

Want a challenging game ? Play Carthage ! (I am playing on VH/M)

Why is Carthage so much fun ?
I finished the julii Campaign on VH/M and to be honest it got pretty boring in the end, since the gauls and brits were just cannonfodder for my trusty legionnaires. I don't like playing on Hard or Very hard diff on the battle level, because of the unfair advantages the AI gets. On the other hand, - the roman infantry seems pretty much dominating as it is on medium difficulty.(btw human controlled Velites own Elephants). So what to do ? Play Carthage ! The Carthaginian forces find themselves facing enemies that has superior infantry. You will have your hands full defending vs the Roman with only light cav and skirmishers. Every denarii , every soldier is gonna count. Oth


Carthaginian Battle Tactics:
Played the Battle of Trebia ? Well, listen to what the narrator says. Hannibal learned early in his military life how powerful the roman infantry could be. So he built an army relying on cavalry to deal with the roman military. And so must you.

If you stand toe to toe with Roman infantry you die. Period. As learned in Trebia you only need inf as means to stall or bait the enemy, so your cavalry can flank, attack - and crush those pesky Legionnaires.
Rely on your Generals cav and your light cav early in the game. Vs Numidians you may also use iberian inf but light cav is much more effective. Even gaul infantry will turn your early and mid level infantry to a bloody pulp faster then you can hit "pause".

The lybian skirmishers you can get as mercs in North Africa are great. They have awesome endurance and I get the impression they got double as ammo as other skirmishers. Use them as bait for enemy units. Once the enemy starts leaving the line to attack the skirmishers you kill it with your light infantry. Once you got the enemy in movement and scattered he is yours. Note: This ain't easy without pause. I can do it most of the times. But when I am outnumbered 2:1 I must use pause a bit, especially to avoid being shot at by my own skirmishers. Its possible to beat superior roman armies who come in superior numbers with Cav and skirmishers.


Numidian light cav. Very nice, very fast skirmishing cav. I use them also as scouts to see the setup of the opposing army before I decide where to try to flank. They can do the same job as lybian skirmishers, but vs infantry heavy armies I find the lybians more effective, since enemy inf is easier to bait with inf. The legionnaires will not run after fast moving cav for long.


Hoplites ? you can get them around Carthage as mercs. Useful in streetfighting. In open battle they are more of a burden for your fast moving army. Stick with iberian inf to bind enemy inf momentarily.


Elephants. Oh boy, they surely are the ancient equivalent to AT-ST Walker. Fun, Fun to maul over some blue clad legionnaires and send them flying. Great killing potential but really expensive. Well, I don't know where other people get so filthy rich, but you wont be able to build many elephants early in the game on VH. You start with one elephant unit and I suggest moving it to the African coast. Build another one when you have the cash and move it to Spain. Show the gauls some african wildlife. They gonna love you for it. Elephants are your one big joker. Be careful with em, the loss of an elephant must be avoided until you can afford more. Use them as morale breaker and instant door opener when sieges. Yes, Elephants can knock open gates and raze wooden walls. Elephants can save your neck when all other options fail. So be conservative on 'em.

Generals: Maybe it was because of my playing style, maybe its built in the game. I got some very decent generals early in the game. Maybe its just in the Carthaginian genes. By the way, your leader will die after the first two turns or so. Be prepared for it.

Navy: Forget it. You are facing the three roman navies, the spaniards, and even the gauls send ships to harass your coast. Just try to keep Gibraltar open. Tingis and Cordoba got a great little trade relationship going between em. The AI must be spending enormous sums on building all these gigantic fleets. Also I find naval battles extremely frustrating cause you have no influence of the outcome whatsoever. Oh, on another sidenote... During the Julii campaign the AI was never smart enough to block my harbours. My Carthaginian Harbours sure do get blocked. Only you don't see the little graphic animation with the ropes. Land trade seems good enough though


My strategic approach was different again.

1.In memoriam of the first punic war I let Carsalis and Sicily be overrun by the Romans. My only achievement there was a trade agreement with the diplomat in Syracuse.
2. That gave me some turns of freedom and resources to settle affairs in my a african backyard. I negotiated an Alliance and military access with the numidians. I used that to get two armies in position. The unsuspecting Numidians lost Cirta and Tingis before they got the chance to break the alliance themselves. Hah ! Tingis ios a great money maker. Key is here to be fast. Attack with inferior forces. Rely on your generals cav. The conquered settlements in North africa don't give you a culture penalty, so they are easy to control. Nevertheless I decided to let the population walk the plank and not just the chaingang. Good for cash, but maybe a mistake in the longer run since it slows your early development down. While you do this... consider shipping a diplomat to Leptis Minor along with a city guard. You can bribe the leptis Minor Garrison cheaply but you need to garrison it immediately. Great trade city. After that go for the african center. You don't want the numidians to backstab you, while you have your hands full with gauls in spain. Lybia will take a bit. Its a long hike through the desert. But same goes for the revenge thirsty numidians. So instead concentrate on building a defense vs the romans.

3. Thapsus Coast. Let History repeat itself. In 255 Bc Consul Regelus invaded the coast with estimated 16.000 men and 500 cav. He pressed hard and was quite successful. The Carthagenians were even trying to negotiate a peace , but Regelus asked for too much,- total roman supremity. In a big effort Carthage mustered all the resources it had and hired many merc and a spartan general defeated Regelus.

You will need mercs now. You cannot pump units fast enough to deal with the romans. They will land in front of Thapsus. don't let them siege your town , since that will interrupt trade. Trade is your lifeline. don't allow it to be interrupted. I built a watchtower on the coast.And every time an army unloads its met by my defending army. That way you can take advantage by the fact that the AI sends the roman armies piecemeal. If you allow the Scipions to built a big stack while attacking Thapsus you probably lost the campaign. I have my elephant unit here. Should a battle become desperate I rely on it to loosen up some enemy furball, so my cav can maneuver again. Never ever use auto battle with elephants in your army, you will certainly loose some elephants.

4. Once you got things under control at home you should like Hamilkar´, Hannibals father, decide to expand into spain. Now don't fool yourself. Forget alliances there. I tried and always failed. Maybe its possible to make one with spain , but I doubt it. Bribery becomes your best friend. Why ? Spaniards and you share the same line of inf and light cav. so if you bribe , you get to keep those units ! Same goes for many rebels in Spain. A great way to make money is to sell map info to enemies. I sold map info to the scipions for up to 5 k. Thats great if you are in dire need of cash. Feels a bit like cheating though. I am clueless what the AI makes of this info.
Carefull about leaving your settlements in spain without generals. The spanish bastards bribed two of my settlements in one turn. Nearly cost me the campaign. Gauls just keep coming. Not as hard as romans but they come in even greater numbers. You should have enough trade income by now to slowly push them out of Gaul and get ready for the big haul.... over the alps into Rome.


Good luck ! Melkart be with you.


PS.: Did you know that Melkart was the Carthaginian name for Heracles ? Like Hannibal he traveled from spain over the alps to settle a score in Italy.

Could you outline some tips on successfully negotiating military access? Gaining alliances aren't much trouble,but everytime I ask for military access, the faction in question always breaks said alliance and immidiately attacks me.

[scipio the even younger]

k i suppose that you think that carthage is gonna be a ppush over.WRONG!
against numidia u might start to think this will be a push over well you'rewrong.numidia is easy.you've got better calvalry and that is what nuidian armys r made from.
your armies r virtully cavalry so spain and gaul would be pretty easy,but britains have chariots which rip your cavalry apart and germanians have those bloody spears.romans are okay but will rip your cavalry if they survive the charge.
then every other place has pikes hopiltes or chariots.some have both,lik egtyians have amazing pikes and unbeliverbul chariots.selucids have every thing you have and more.greeks will kick your arse in big battles.romans always scare your elephants with those pigs.
but ifd you play well you will kick but remember cathage infantry suck cavalry is the way forward( )

[katank]

Numidia is easy to beat. However, it's not from lack of cavalry roster. Your cav roster is shared by numidia and spain except for the fact that numidians have jav cav instead of round shields.

If Numidia survives to get camels, they'll rip your cav up quick. Your elephants are overpowered and following up the ele charge with cav charge can usually cause insta-rout of the entire enemy battleline. Forest eles will die against hoplites but you have 2xp balearic slingers from Palma that can maul hops.

[adg]

i am playing Carthage on VH -campaign/M-battles. i had just come off playing M:TW so a lot of my play was influenced by what worked there. i started off by getting an alliance with the greeks and the spanish and a little later i also got an alliance with the britannia before sending my diplomats around the world to get as many trade agreements as possible. once the scippii attacked the greeks i attacked them and took Mesaana. as this was only my second campaign and i hadn't discovered this board, i thought this would cripple the scippi for a while and i went on to take out the numidians leaving siwa. imagine my surprise when the bruti landed a large army at mesaana and the julii landed at caralis. i defeated the brutii army but lost caralis. as i was preparing an army at carthage to take back caralis another brutii army landed near thapsus, so i had to take them out. then the greeks on sicily decided to attack lillybyem so i had to take out syraceus. after sinking a few greek ships, they offered me a ceasefire which i took. meanwhile the scippi were landing unimpressive armies for me to demolish on sicily. during all this the spanish kept trying to bribe my general in cordoba and failing. i decided to take out the romans and landed troops in southern italy and easily took out the brutii cities and capua (amazingly the brutti had not conquered anything in greece so i ended up wiping out both factions). i took out rome, reconquered caralis and took out the numidians in the siwa. as soon as i took siwa though, massive egyptian armies appeared and chased me out of siwa. i then took the three julii provinces in northern italy and paid them a lot of denari to become a protectorate. because the julli were allied with the egyptians, as soon as they became a protectorate, i automatically got a ceasefire with the egyptians. meanwhile the britons had taken out the gauls and celtiberia was now a rebel city. after taking numantia i decided to break my alliance with the spanish and took them out easily in a few turns. i also took crete which once i build a port there is a good little money earner. during this time the egyptians broke the ceasefire and i have spent much of my time with them just battling over siwa (there is about 6 famous battlesites around siwa now) before finally pushing them back. i have just taken cyprus, thebes, memphis and alexandria but am now facing unrest in a lot of my cities. and memphis and alexandria are suffering from the plague. also i didnt know about getting rid of foreign temples in the cities i've conquered so this is probally a contributing factor in my unrest problems. plus i didnt know anything about controlling population growth. i think i shoud have exterminated the populace in the three main egyptians cities as they are all huge cites. I did find myself reling mainly on my cavalry in battles though.

[Ulfang]

Sounds about right :) I'm a Vet of MTW too and still prefer that era and you could more or less trust your allies back then. In RTW unless you are a protectorate of someone or they are one of yours you can forget trusting anyone! I was allied with Spain they broke that alliance twice before i eventually wiped them off the map. The stupid thing is even then its next to impossible for them to win a war they'll still declare war on you!

The way to stop the Romans is have enough Naval units in the Med and staying ahead in Naval technology! I've ruled the Med since the start and the romans have tried many time to land troops on my islands but have been sunk every time! I've not had a single problem with them.

I'm the same with public order its been my worst enemy. If enemy spies are in your cities that will affect it so you need to keep one or two spies in your cities (or your biggest ones if you can't afford that). I control all of Numidia now as well as Spain and all the Med Islands. The only problem is the lack of cash. I'm making about 4-5k a turn now but rely on mercenaries in Spain so it can take a while to build things up!

Without Cavalry Cathage struggles but with them the mobile armies are very strong. I've taken on heavy troops with my light armies and the cavalry wins the day everytime and i'm playing on h/h. Last battle i fought was against the numidians and was a small encounter with the Numidians with 800 troops to my 300. My army consisted of one Mercenary Hoplite unit, some javelinmen and the rest was Missile Cavalry, a General's bodyguard and some round shield light cav against them with about 5-6 units of spearmen, 2 units of Misslile cav, A general with bodyguard and javelinmen. Was touch and go to start with but with the cav used to great effect I eventually decimated them. I lost 100 men and they lost 700

[Atreides]

Carthage (M/M)

It’s great game but from the start your utterly ANATOMY. You will be at war probably with:
- All Roman fractions (4)
- Numbia
- Spain
- Gaul

So that will be seven fractions! But if your survive the initial Roman blow. You run the day.

Once Siccily the Romans will attack the Greeks and you afterwards. So sell an alliance to the Greece and attack! Let the Greek fight first (and lose) to the Romans in your combined attack! In this way you can keep them as a powerless ally on your Island. Then take the Roman settlement. They will return on the Siccily over and over again (which bleed them dry).

Keep also your province on Sardine. The juli will attack you but killing is easy. Use it as an training ground for your generals.


Regarding further expansion. Build a good city and defence in Spain. Wait with the expansion. In Africa try to take some rebel towns. But your main aim is Italy. Try to take the last settlement of the Scipii. When you take those settlement the Brutti keep attacking you. So take also their towns. Than take out the senate julli and the (former) Gallic towns.

When conquered real italy you got 12 very rich provinces and some more. Taking Spain and Africa is now easy achievable. What other eara you take is yours. I also took France, the entire Greece area and Egypt. (Yeah 50 provincens is quite a lote).

General tactics:
- The romans are your main foe. They are extremely strong with their infantry. So counterattack that with your very descent Calvary.
- Elephants. Their great. They will be alble to nock down all gates (except with stone walls of course), kills calvery by the dozen and disrupting, intimidating infantry. Best use is an elephant charge directly followed by an calvery attack.
- Don’t loose your initial elephant. Cause you will not be able to train new one for quite a while.
- Play ALL your battles. DO NOT auto resolve.

Well, Carhagens are the most tough campaign you can play with any civilized faction (all Greeks, Romans and Egypt). You don’t need to abbondon any citie, just don’t concentrate since you will NEED to fight the romans.

Ps1: For more detail I recommend the strategy of ‘red harvest’ which is almost identical to mine.
Ps2: Your final units (sacred band infantry, sacred band calvery, War Elephants, Armoured Elephants, Poeni Infantry) are very good.
Ps3: Forget navy. Keep them in your ports for transport duty only.

[Bhruic]

Ps3: Forget navy. Keep them in your ports for transport duty only.

This is extremely bad advice. With the proper use of navy, you can defend Sicily without ever fighting a land battle.

The only way the Scipii can get to Sicily, once you take their city, is by boat. They will continually load up their armies on a single ship. Sink that ship, and their army goes down with it. This is a much better approach than constantly fighting land battles.

Bh

[risker]

Ok I just started my campaign but already I can give you a few tips :


-Sicily is a must at the beginning. I took Syracuse off Greeks and Messina off Scipii Immediatly.
-Numidians, Gauls and Greeks should be your allies. I managed to patch things up with the greeks and get the other two on my side. This helps against the romans. Africa is not that prosperous so the Numidians will just be conquered when I need to get those 50 regions. They generally don't have a great army. Just an annoying one.
-Remember don't leave the Romans until the Marian reforms - which means of course, do leave the Romans to get Marian reforms . Great battles.
-Don't go near Egypt. You're already hated enough as it is.


I'll post a full one when I'm finished.

[jack95]

I attacked Rome right at the beginning of the game. It used up all of my starting money and army but now i have destroyed the scipii and got the brutti cities in Rome. Now i am getting more money and am destroying the Numidians.

[Emperor Mithdrates]

You dont have to abandon ANY cities to begin with. I managed to hold every Carthaginian city until about 70 Years into the game when I lost Cordoba, but lets face it. Thats such an isolated province its pointless to fight for. During this 70 years aswell as holding all cities I conquered Sicily and the house of Brutii. the trick is to capture the Greek/Sicilian city of Syracuse. from this heavily fortified city, you can hold out against the Scipii until reinforcements from Carthage.

[guineawolf]

Start off playing as carthage like any other faction right? No problem.. WRONG!!
The numidians will attack you, the spanish, the julii, and to top it all off the scipii alomst at the very begining.

You can't play carthage like any other faction. Its just impossible to win.First youre going to have to abandon two cities, thats right two cities.Get all of your units in corduba and in caralais and ship them to lylibaeum. Destroy all possible building there as well. Good thing is corduba will be captured by the spanish and it will rebel against them in your side, so you'll have corduba sometimes and sometimes you wont. Next take the rebel town of lepcis magna, it only takes a couple of troops and its key to this plan!! Then get some units from carthage and thapsus and ship them to lylibaeum too. Your goal now is to hold lylibaeum at all costs. If you loose the war in sicily your dead! Elephants are key, so have at least one unit of them in your armies, beleive me it can make the difference. Once you've destroyed the invading vanguard of the scipii, head over to syracuse(wich most likely has rebelled against either the scipii or the greeks by now) And take it. Don't concentrate on your navy as long as you still have a city in sicily the romans won't try to invade you in africa. All you have to do is win the war in sicily, after that the scipii are bankrupt. If the numidians attak you don't panic, they send small armies that are easy to kill. After that i recomend to keep attacking rome, it will make you rich, very rich.
You can now rebuild your navy, and begin conquering by sea. Thats carthage's power, her navy. USE IT!

if you want to kill romans easily,use as many long shield cavalry as possible.RICH huh!,i find out the spoils of war of this game is the population to be enslave(coz they can be your tax payer,and the supply of your new troops),not the treasure of the faction....why we cannot capture the treasure of enemy since they save at least 100k of denarii...

[Vincent Butler]

So I started a Carthage campaign, M/M. Very interesting. Some notes: elephants are awesome, Iberian Infantry are not. Julii took Caralis quickly, I did not have the units capable of defending it. Scipii are history. I have taken Croton, Tarentum, Capua, and Rome, as well as all of Sicily. Balearic Slingers were instrumental in several defenses of Palma. Sent a small army (4 II, one RSC) toward weakly-defended Caralis, but the ship they were on was sunk in one attack. They weren't part of a good army, so I was not too bothered by it. I will just do it again.

Corduba kicked me out, and vanquished my army. Gaul (neutral) now has it, after wiping out Spain, who had been allied with me. Numidia is annoying, but that's about it. Thrace wiped out Macedon, Dacia, and Scythia, and Seleucia is gone as well. Greece is the dominant power in the Balkans right now, as Brutii left armies on Sicily instead of using them to attack the Greeks (those armies are still in Sicily, have not yet bothered to wipe them out).

Poeni Infantry are not bad, it seems their spear wall is not as dense as a hoplite spear wall. I like Libyan Spearmen. I mainly use Iberian Infantry to deal with enemy spearmen due to the spear penalty versus other infantry (main application right now is against Desert Infantry or Numidian Javelinmen). On the walls especially, they are OK in that role.

Defeated a Brutii/Scipii attack, where odds were 3:1 against me. I can thank my Elephants for that, I really think they swung the battle in my favour. They are just regular elephants. I can't afford the good ones right now. I will not even field elephants against Greece, I don't think. I am on good terms with Greece right now, but that will eventually change.

[ReluctantSamurai]

elephants are awesome, Iberian Infantry are not

Yep

And being a phalanx man, you're going to enjoy the hell out of Sacred Band

And with easy access to Baeleric Slingers, I'm surprised you didn't do Carthage sooner

[Vincent Butler]

Yep

And being a phalanx man, you're going to enjoy the hell out of Sacred Band

And with easy access to Baeleric Slingers, I'm surprised you didn't do Carthage sooner

My only problem with Sacred Band is they require an Awesome Temple of Baal. I don't typically use units that require a special temple, especially as campaign units, because of the difficulty in retraining them. That said, a phalanx unit with the stats of Praetorian Cohort...

Similar problem with mercenaries and elephants, unless you want to keep a train of them coming most merc units are only available in certain areas of the map, ditto for elephants. Merc Hoplites and Peltasts are available in many more places, and the Merc Warband are also available in a large area, but outside of them, hard to keep mercs and ellies up to strength.

[Tritio]

I have started 3 campaigns with Carthage, my most recent is my longest lived, with the mid game developed with me as a regional power. I have not completed the campaign, but I believe that through my observations, I have something useful to offer. I will focus more on general strategies for this great trading power, rather than case by case scenarios, which have been closely examined by above posts.

What You Can Expect
In the early game, you can expect to have a measley income, enemies abound, few friends and even fewer allies, armies of low tech units, and a strategically precarious position.
In the mid game, you can expect to have reduced the number of your fronts, and have made progress at economic development of your cities, to the extent that your income is steady, if barely sufficient. Your enemies should be held at bay by adequate armies and military strength from your allies or yourself.
In the mid-late game, your economy will be booming, with cash flow increasing, your strategic position should be secure, and your recruitment programmes going all out to churn out your armies. At this point the speed of your expansion will increase greatly, and the world map should soon see a lot more white.
The late game will take the course your early/mid choices have set for it. Whether Spain, the Italian peninsular, or Africa is under your domination, the whole world should see a whole lot more Crescent Banners to the end game.

The Freedom of Choice
As Carthage, your ability to sit back, and plan your path to world domination step by step is not so much an option. The actions of other nations, especially in the early game will largely limit your choices. This is because, in the early game your enemies are mean, dirty, and hairy... err... I mean agressive. A declaration of war by a neighbour would be taken most seriously, and any plans made can be dratically affected by this shift in diplomatic relations. Therefore, as Carthage, you are mostly forced to react to the actions of others. For example, if the Roman and Greek Cities declare war on you, your life in the meditarenean and Sicily would be much more difficult. Whereas if all Roman factions declared war, but the Greek Cities accepted an alliance, you can expect to breathe a sigh of relief. The Brutii will be preoccupied in Greece, and your navy can expect a lot of aid from greek ships.

The General Focuses
Since there are a wide variety of possible scenarios, there is no one size fits all strategy that works perfectly for all situations. For example, as Carthage you have an option as developing as a naval power, or as a land power, both options have their pros and cons. However, there are some general principles that can be applied over a wide range of scenarios.

The Economy
As in all empires, the almighty denarii is of paramount importance. However, I feel that Carthage is a special case. Money is extremely important. This is because:
1) You are potentially exposed from all sides. This requires a large army or, a smaller, mobile army or, the capability to raise armies quickly in the case of an attack. From a historical point of view, the last choice was employed by Carthage. As you know, a significant amount of Carthaginian military power was derived from mercenaries. In the game, you will find that they are invaluable in their capability to be quickly raised, fill in gaps in your roster, and offer special skills that would normally would not be available. Eg: Numidian Mercenaries (Carthage lacks a light missile cavalry).
2) The capability to bribe enemy armies is also invaluable. Should a defence be lacking on a front, dispatching a diplomat or two to pick off small enemy stacks would prevent a significant buildup of enemy forces into big, powerful stacks that would require concentration of your own forces to defeat, in turn reducing your combat capability in other regions. This is particularly amplified by the size of your empire. Since Carthage starts with Corduba, in southern Spain, dedicating forces there to figh the Gauls/Spanish would take them away from the Sicilian, or Italian theatre. Stationing a diplomat or two in Spain would greatly reduce the need for forces there, as a smaller defence is needed. Anyway, Corduba's province has only 4 points of entry, and the City is fortituosly protected by a river crossing 2 squares to the North where the Gaullic armies love to approach. A firm defence there with skirmisher units and barbarian mercenaries will most often result in a victory, and a herioc one at that.
*********
As a conclusion, I recommend that economic development should be foremost in priority in the development of your cities. Scramble for every denarii! Even farms and agriculture based buildings should take priority! I suggest that all cities should develop level 2 farms, for the population growth, and the denarii. If you don't need to spend money, don't spend it! The next turn may see dire need for your money, as you dig out every denarii to offer to that nice Red Stack of nasty Romans who just landed next to Carthage when you least expected them...
As a note, the temples of Carthage are especially kind to our needs. One gives a +1 agriculture output, one gives a bonus to trade, and the other a bonus to law. Just what you need for a landlocked African province, a busy seaport, and a ruly, newly captured city.

Diplomancy
If ya don't talk, you're a dead duck.
What I mean is, Diplomancy is another important factor in playing as Carthage. You can no longer rely on a 'Might is right, I'll do what I want' style that you might've adopted playing as the Julii or Egyptians. The ferocity of warfare on the seas and provinces need to be balanced by delicate negotiations to keep you safe and prospering. Reasons? You already have enough potential enemies as it is. There is the tendency that, if nations declare war on you and see you alone, more and more nations will become allied with your enemies. You have to have your own coalition to back you up. An alliance with The Greek City states is to be foremost in importance, giving that both of you will have to face the might of Rome, and that you share the Central Meditarenean. It gets a mite too squeezy with hostile Roman and Greek ships cruising around, I assure you. Diplomancy can also secure a front for you. For instance, securing an alliance with Spain and Gaul would bless you with a safe western front, and the possibility of an ally against the Julii, squeezing the Romans from both ends of the peninsular. Other than granting you safer borders, another use of diplomancy specific to the case of Carthage is to delay the Roman onslaught. If the Brutii can be showered with gifts and given nice treatment, they'd likely attack the Greeks on Sicily. Thus, when the time comes to declare war on the Brutii after building your strength, it is to your advantage that they are weakened, and that a steadfast ally can be found in the Greeks, as both of you share the same enemy. Sending diplomats off to the east and west to gain trading rights and sell map information is also a profitable venture.

Thus, train diplomats at the outset! Station one or two in Spain, one in Sicily, one in the Italian peninsular, and one in Carthage. In my game, the Greeks retained their city in Sicily, and I plopped a diplomat right at it's gates, to sit there and allow me to ring up the Greeks whenever I wanted to. Diplomats can also take a more active, scouting role, seeking and bribing small stacks, as I did in Spain. At the beginning, keeping a diplomat in Carthage may save your rear if the Romans plop down a big stack there. Those commanded by a captain can be taken out easily, and subsequent reinforcemets can also be handled by a diplomat.

The Army, Cavalry
Aha! Your soldiers! Those poor fellows... Don't trust them! Honour instead the mighty Cavalry!
That's right, your strength, especially in the early game, lies in your Horsemen. Even the seemingly fragile Round Shield units are extremely useful in running down survivors and launching quick strikes, etc. The Romans are especially vulnerable to cavalry. They tend to place their trust on their flimsy Cavalry Auxilia or Equites to guard their flanks. Once their cavalry is swept away, and once their infantry have been lured out of formation by light cavalry, they are only too easily destroyed. Roman infantry mostly depends on their ability to absorb a cavalry charge, bog down the horsemen, then chew them to bits. They cannot stand flank attacks, etc. (I'm referring to the pre-marius units! I'm assuming you'd go against the Romans and knock them out of the game before the reforms, as you should be doing!). Do not be intimidated by the sight of a legion bearing down on you... they are laughably easy to take apart if you have the know how...
The strength of cavalry is in their mobility and striking power. They can deliver a staggering number of casualties if the conditions are right, i.e. in a flanking attack with heavy cavalry, etc. They can deliver much damage, and recieve little or none in return, as they can disengage, or the enemy might rout, etc. While this might be common sense, the trick is in how to use this knowledge to maximum efficiency. Once again taking the example of a mixed roman legion (a common foe as Carthage), the steps to victory should be something along these lines:

1) Attain Cavalry Superiority

Make the other dumb horseman die for his country...
Why? Cause the main opponent of your cavalry is their cavalry... they can also maneuver (at roughly the same speed) to counter your moves. It's a no-no to charge into a target while an enemy cavalry unit is close by. Once committed to a charge, a unit must have some time to make impact and then pull out. If an enemy unit catches you with your pants down... err... that is... toga?..., with their cavalry while yours pulls out, your cavalry is gone, simple... to achieve Cavalry Superiority, see "Precision Strikes", below.

2) Separate the enemy

If the enemy is strung out into single units widely spaced, their flanks are laughably exposed to cavalry charges in the rear, the most terrible thing for a footsoldier to face, and you win. Simple. They are also prone to exhaustion as they go chasing after our mounted men, who have a lot more stamina (or rather, their horses have more stamina). So, the trick is how to achieve such favourable conditions. The best is to use your light cavalry (preferably missile cavalry), a great example being the Numidian Mercenaries. Dangle them in front of the enemy, keeping out of their pila range, to get them to chase you. Position more of such bait around their flanks and/or rear, and walah! the enemy separates. If they refuse, you could tempt them with a charge or two (lightly commited) with your light cavalry in their rear/flanks, or you could threaten them by moving your heavier cavalry around their flanks. If they continue to stick together, simply take them in smaller bites. Go for their flanks first, and their light units (skirmishers, archers, etc), and possibly, their general's unit, if it has not been taken out already. If they are more experienced, if you lack heavy cavalry, or if they are tough to break, simply make them run a round or two around the map, while keeping your own cavalry fresh (make them run in a circle, or just walk your cavalry). The more tired they are, the more fragile they are... If you are on the offensive, and the enemy does not budge, try to wear them down with whatever ranged units that you have (position them at the enemy's rear for best effect, conserve ammo till you have a good shot), and position your units carefully before charging. The trick to bust a defensive infantry formation is to look for weak spots, and to apply the maximum pressure there, to cause a rout which will develop into a chain rout, as you simultaneously apply pressure to the rest of the enemy. If it fails, simply pull out and try again.

Deployment

In terms of positioning within your army, anything goes... The traditional and oft used formation of putting your infantry in the center, heavy cavalry at the flanks, and lighter cavalry at the edges is a flexible, general formation. However, doing something wierd like putting your cavalry behind your infantry is not an entirely bad thing. The key with your deployment is to be flexible. Adapt to situations as you see fit. Think of something fancy that might work? Think it through again, and give it a shot if it sounds sensible! The mobility and speed of cavalry allows them to be redeployed at will. Thus, the initial formation can simply be a bait for the enemy, etc.
However, in terms of the formation of individual cavalry units, depth, width, etc, there is a difference! I remember reading in frogbeastegg's MTW guide that cavalry should be put in lines 2 men deep for best impact. While I adopted that as the standard deployment for my cavalry then; Not so in RTW! The shallower the formation, the greater the initial impact, but the greater difficulty in pulling out afterwards. Your men tend to penetrate deeply into the enemy, and be surrounded within seconds. Such a unit is easily taken apart! It's rather helpless in such a position.
Therefore, I recommend that the charging formation for all cavalry units should be at least 3 men deep!
There are reasons for deploying 2 deep, but that is for the best missile effectiveness (Javalin and bow armed units).
The formation that gives the most 'ooomph!' in charge is a deep formation, with the unit about as deep as it is wide i.e. a squarish formation. Such units would give a good punch into the enemy formation, obliterating or pushing aside soldiers till the charge is expended, and it usually retains it's cohesion, making the pull out a lot more effortless. In some cases, the charge (if it has the depth and power) can simply punch through the enemy unit. The unit will automatically sweep around for another charge. Extremely devastating! Thats why you want a deep formation! Weigh your chances. Do you think you can punch through the unit? Is there enough space to maneuver beyond the unit? If so, put your units in a deep formation. There is a limit to the effectiveness of depth, of course. Usually, the unit should be at least 5 men wide. Otherwise, the charge may take out a slice of an enemy unit, leaving the rest of them right next to you, and hungry for revenge.

The Army, Infantry

"Ah, the infantry ... poor beggers" -RTW

Well, something along those lines anyway... when I saw that quote playing as the Greeks, relying on my Hoplites, I didn't think much of it. However, with Carthage, this is particularly true. It can pretty much be seen from my writing above that I prefer to use cavalry, and I don't think much of infantry. What about the Poeni infantry and Sacred Band infantry, you say? Well, they have their uses, however, I see them as inferior beside the might of the heavy horseman. Pretty much the only thing that infantry excels at is in Urban Combat, which I will cover with a section below. I have read about some tactics of fixing the enemy with infantry from the front with Iberian Infantry, and then pulling off a cavalry charge to the rear. While I have used this tactic often, I find it twice as devastating to ram a charge through the rear of an infantry unit chasing another cavalry unit, then turn the chased unit around and finish the enemy with a charge from an opposite direction. Well you make do with what you have, and as Carthage in the early game, you'd have little, so those poor beggers will see plenty of action anyway, whether you like it or not! Something I've picked up as the Romans, is to keep reserves behind your line! If you expect some heavy infantry action, it's a neccesity to keep infantry reserves. Although the second lines of the Roman Triplex Acies can support with pilum fire, their physical and moral value is equally important. Something that RTW conveys accurately is the reaction to pressure applied to a line. A bulge signifies that your line is being ought-fought, a telling sign to where your reserves should go! One thing, how to commit your reserves: Do so in deep, squarish formations. In other words, do not try to spread your reserves into a two men deep line as you try to reinforce the entire line at once. It's better to let the enemy put a gap in your lines, while you still hold a portion, than to delay a mass rout by a few seconds. Another thing, do not wait too long to commit your reserves! If there are telltale signs of bulges/gaps in your line, units wavering and on the verge of routing, then commiting your reserves are too late. Estimate based on your knowledge of the enemy troops and your own, and commit your reserves early.

Deployment

Before you get Poeni Infantry and other phalanx type units, try to deploy in two lines! Sometimes, it's a good idea to place your ranged infantry at your flanks. If the enemy ignore them, they get free shots at their flanks. If the enemy chase them, they can skirmish away, safely taking an enemy unit out of the fight and on a merry chase (providing both are foot units, of course). Even if the enemy units is cavalry, it gives your cavalry a free shot at the passing unit. Simply order your ranged unit to engage in melee, and you have a perfect flanking setup. Well, the ranged unit would be chewed up, but usually your ranged units are mercenary Cretan Archers or Rhodian Slingers, and both units can melee quite well. Just deploy them in formations 3-4 deep if you expect such a situation. Other than this tip, I don't have much to offer here. I expect any formation applicable to Roman/Barbarian/Greek factions is applicable here as well. That I leave to more experienced people!


The Army, Elephants

"Rrrrrawwwwrrrrr! *Snort*.... Peeeeeaaaaaaaannnuts!!!

Yep, meet your all-peanut-eating corps, your secret weapon, your ace in the hole. If there's one thing the Senate would itch for, it's a supply of elephants to use in their armies. They're great infantry and cavalry bashers. Though I've had more experience using them against infantry, their effectiveness in that role is good enough for me to rate them as a Carthaginian must have unit.
Alright, the role that these fellows fill is... support! Yep, they are a unit that is most effective only when used in conjunction with other units! Strictly speaking, what they do is give the enemy a sudden shock, punch wide lanes through enemy formations, and teach people how to fly. The first, could cause valour 0 enemies (with a command 0 general) to rout right away, however, anything tougher than that would require help. An elephant charge works very well when followed by another unit's charge. Cavalry is good, though infantry could do in this case. It's also a good idea to manually direct them after a charge, as they tend to get bogged down kindly instructing your enemies in the art of flying, the bane of all cavalry (the bogged down part). Simply double click behind the greatest concentration of enemies to carve nice lanes through them. So, view elephants as a kind of charge enhancer, that makes a follow up charge by another unit more effective.

One thing to be careful, elephants die quickest when they are routed in the midst of an enemy formation, and when they are pursued by enemy cavalry. For the first case, there's nothing much you can do, other then letting them rampage free. For the second case, send some cavalry after them! You get a free charge into the rear of an enemy cavalry unit, and you save a few elephants on the way.

Deployment

The theory that the deeper the formation, the more devastating the charge can also be applied here, although, as a complimentary unit, the impact you'd want will depend on how you'd like to exploit it. A deeper formation is more suited to a follow up cavalry charge, as the damage (moral and physical) is more focused. A good follow up punch by a deep formation of heavy cavalry is to best effect here, as the lanes through enemy units is more capably exploited by a deep cavalry formation (a punch-through is more likely).
A follow up infantry (pah! ) charge would probably be more effective when the elephants are deployed in a shallow formation, as infantry lack the speed and impact to effectively exploit the lanes, they do fill the gaps in lanes, but they depend more on chewing through the weakened enemy formation than shattering it through impact.

The Army, Mercenaries

"The pay packet... first! "

A common sight in your army, these green guys. They are slightly weaker in stats than their parent unit, cost something from 350-1000+ denarii to hire, and are very useful. Four common mercenary units that you'll see often as Carthage are Cretan Archers, Rhodian Slingers, Numidian Mercenaries, and Libyan Skirmishers. The first two are excellent ranged units, some of the best to be found in and around the meditarennean. Since Carthage is unable to train archers for themselves, you'll find yourself relying on these fellows pretty much. Hire them whenever you can, you won't regret it. Numidian Mercenaries are excellent, ultra-light (it's their garments! see?) missile cavalry. Although they can hardly kill a unit of peasants in a charge, they are excellent in luring those peasants to another unit which can kindly do the job for them. They are also fast, and have no problems catching up with heavy cavalry. You could sometimes sacrifice a unit of these fellows by charging a retreating heavy cavalry unit (knowing they'll turn around and engage), allowing your own cavalry to catch up. Well, they're mercenaries, so I view them as being more expendable. They are also great at galloping down a fleeing general. Libyan Skirmishers? I haven't used them much, but they are rather plentiful, and stationing heaps of them behind a line of your own fragile infantry makes the enemy rout much faster. Their javalins provide much support to your line, cutting down and demoralising enemy troops just before they charge. Consider them something that beefs up your line.

Deployment

Did you know that you can select the order in which units line up in the single line formation? Ever been frustrated as that unit of Mercenary Hoplites are always placed on the flank? Well, I was... Select your units in the order you'd like them grouped to have them line up in that order. Eg: select *Iberian, Iberian, Hoplites, Iberian, Iberian* to have the unit of hoplites to deploy in the center when you order a single line formation. Cheers!
Well, treat your mercenaries as normal units in terms of deployment, perhaps taking into account their expandability, and that they are slightly weaker and have lesser morale (I think?). Other than that, they're like any other unit.


I think I have exceeded the length limit of a post? Cool! Coming up next, Precision Strikes, Urban Warfare and The Navy!

[hotingzilla]

Your first post and a very constructive one too!

[Stlaind]

Personally I've noticed that after taking scicily a quick strike to Capua is very usefull. If done right you can then eliminate the senate very early on. the objective here is not to hold those territories but rather dropping the scippii from the game then (if situation permits) doing the same to Rome. The Senate tends to station a FULL stack outside of (the early game) Rome. This allows for you to cause major havoc on both the remaining roman houses (drops a fair amount of trade -land & sea-) I have typically abandoned them/let them go rebel. My objective at that time is to damage my most powerful enemies (early I haven't forgotten egypt) with out overstreching my forces.

Carthage has major advantages in an early game siege with elephants. standard ones early game are far too valuable (IMHO) to risk on melee. When you get War & Armoured Elephants they are more capable in actual combat and have arrow towers mounted on top. I ONLY use against cavalry in melee. this is a quick way of developing Tritio's mentioned Cavalry superiority. They get a bonus against cav and can shoot them in the back as they rout (while heading towards the next victim).

Later on you can use seige towers to block the gateway's arrows and put ladders up to the wall this get your troops up faster and more protected.

Really it helps that Carthage can focus on it's powerfull cav and still get it's best infantry the Sacred Band with out building ANY barracks - All you need is an Awesome Temple of Baal and at the same level as Poeni infantry. They are a capable phalanx unit that provides WONDERFUL holding ability for you cavalry to flank.

[Marshal Murat]

I pumped up the carthage with like 500000 denarii, so this would doubtfully apply. But it helps.

As soon as you get you Lybian Spearmen, pump them out. One or two can engage a Hastati and come out on top. They, with Poeni, and Sacred band are you home trained foot troops, the iberians just suck. Use them with a huge cavalry force. Sacred Cavalry, and Sacred Band take two turns to train. Well worth it.

Sacred cavalry are good heavy hitters and with the Sacred Band pinning the enemy, they can shear away enemy troops.
bribery is to be your best friend.

[KhaderKhan]

Just curious but I wonder whether Parthian tactics (e.g. 'Hit & Run' using mostly cavalry troops) might work for the Carthaginians? I mentioned this because in many ways they are similiar.

(Though Carthage's infantry at least is durable unlike Parthia's)

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Hit and run is always a valid approach with cavalry. Just remember that you do not have HA -- so LS, RS, etc. really do have to "hit" the opponent. Numidian Cav hirelings are great at hit-and-run; high speed and endurance, though no great range.

[GeneralHankerchief]

The one weakness of normal HAs is that they can usually be hit by normal archers. Now think of the Numidian Cavalry- the range is quite reduced. They'd be torn apart by any faction with archers, and I'd hate to see them against the Egyptian ranged units.

Carthage's strength is its troop variety. Construct armies based on the makeup of the enemy.

[cunobelinus]

I like using a mix of phalanxs (sacred band) ,Then some spanish mecenries and then some numdian and sacred band cavalry then some baleraic slingers and cretan archers when im in the greek area.

[Tritio]

Here's the follow up second part of my guide...

Earlier on I've covered:
-What you can expect as Carthage
-The (lack of) Freedom of Choice
-The Economy
-Diplomancy
-The Army, Cavalry
-The Army, Infantry
-The Army, Elephants
-The Army, Mercenaries

Here I'll be continuing with
-The Navy
-Urban Warfare
-Precision Strikes

So, here goes!

The Navy

"Sail the seas, they said... See the world, they said... Render your service unto your motherland, they said... Join the Navy, they said... Pah!"

First of all, the Navy sails the seas, right? Since the seas are such a vital source of income as Carthage, the Navy is as vital as your army, right? Well, depends on how you look at it.
The functions of the Navy are:
=Defend your ports from blockades
=Transport your armies
It also serves to hinder the functioning of the enemy's navy:
=Blockade enemy ports
=Interdict transported armies

That's it! Surprised? Yes, the functions are few, as are the functions of Armies, for example, when examined closely.
---Defend your settlements
---Capture other settlements
---Blockade ports (from land, yes, you can do this!)

Other capabilities of the Navy and Army, like destroying other ships and Armies, are just means to an end, actually. Duties like scouting out the map/sea, or defending your borders are similarly subfunctions of the Navy/Army. Why do you attack another Ship/Army? It is in part to weaken and reduce the assets of the enemy whereas maintaining and guarding your own, to prevent the enemy from fufilling his objectives, and to aid in completing your objectives. You can't Transport your armies to Sicily and prevent Roman expeditions from landing off Carthage if the sea is swarming with Roman ships, for example.

Therefore, with the knowledge of the functions of a Navy, you can better appreciate it's use and importance. You can understand, for example, why some nations like Parthia have little need for a navy when their empire is confined to the deserts. Only 2 of their provinces (Campus Sekae and the province north of Susa) have a port, and trading opportunities are scarce, with only 3 ports in that little sea. Therefore a navy is of little importance to them. However, picking a less extreme example, the Julii also place little importance in their navy if they expand north. Given that much of their revenue is derived from landlocked provinces to the north. The key to estimating the worth of a Navy is the wealth that is available via trade. If you derive much of your income from the sea, whichever nation you are, then a Navy will be of more importance to you.

Now that the importance of a Navy can be estimated, let us move on to the strengths and weaknesses of a navy.

A Navy is capable of performing a different variety of tasks from an army, and it's role is exclusive and unique. Though all Navies can perform the same tasks, their host of duties are that which no other unit can do.
One strength lies in the openness and unclaimability of the sea. One side of the mediterannean cannot be isolated from another. One portion of the sea cannot be claimed to belong to a nation. Thus ships are able to travel to wherever there is water, and this brings with it the ability to travel to exotic places, contact all the nations of the world, and transport your armies to wherever you please. This is especially important considering the shape of the Mediterannean. If one wishes to visit the opposite shore of it, once could spend 3-4 seasons sailing by ship, or half a lifetime travling by foot. By the same virtue of accesibility, the ships of your Allies also have less trouble attacking your enemies than their armies, though they may be far away.

The weakness of a Navy is that they do not travel very quickly, only as fast as a light army. The battles which they fight in also have little strategy and no tactics. Thus the intelligence of a player can only bring the Navy as far as to concentrate his many against the enemy's few. Battles can only be auto-resolved, and that can be skewed to the favour of the computer, depending on the level of difficulty on which you are playing (above normal). The accesibility of your ships to all the shores of the world also means your shores are accesible to your enemies too! Unlike on land, where only a few factions can fight you in places which your borders meet, your ships are fair game for all your enemies in the Seven Seas, as are your shores, for amphibious assaults...

Thus, your Navy can be a powerful striking force, cutting off your enemy's seaborne income, and landing your forces wherever you wish. It is also the only thing which prevents the same from being done to you. Is it important for Carthage? You bet.

Carthage is extremely vulnerable from the enemy navies. Firstly, your major towns are all located near the sea, meaning any seaborne invasion will only allow you one turn (or less) to respond. Secondly, the bulk of your income is derived from seaborne trade. A single blockade can throw your delicate economy into the red. Thirdly, your mortal enemies, the Romans, are in a much better position than you to field a Navy. Their hearlands are secure in Italy from land based assault (except for the Julii), and they are firmly allied. Meaning that tripping one faction off will see you facing the combined Naval might of all 4 factions, and any allies they may have. The Naval war seems stacked against you. What do you do?

Your initial objectives should be thus:
1) Ensure the survival of your Navy
2) Defend your ports
3) Stop amphibious assaults

1) Ensure the survival of your Navy. Does this mean I don't fight any battles? Nah, this is meant in the more strategic sense. The first step is to form alliances with other seaborne powers. This would throw more weight against your enemies. Some good targets are The Greek Cities, Spain, and Egypt if possible. Nations in 3 corners of the Mediterannean. Sailing would be more of a breeze with them around... The second step is to increase the toughness of your ships. Build bigger ships! Triremes! Quinqueremines! Deceres! Titanics! Obviously, this gives you more fighting power, and involves some infrastructuring on the dry side of a beach. Also, give them weapons and armour upgrades (retrain ships in a port to replace losses, and give upgrades) whenever possible. A blacksmith does not only provide services for the landlubbers! Good cities to retrain your men are Carthage, the city south of it, and captured cities in Italy. They often have a high level of development. While this is a long term development plan, and indeed, it goes on till the end of the game, do what you can in the early game. Regularly retrain your ships whenever there is a new level of blacksmith to be found.

2) Defend your ports. Although I have yet to see a lengthy AI blockade, indeed, seeing one would amaze me already! This involves keeping ships near your valuable ports (Carthage), and making sure that no port is too far away from your ships. Corduba has the tendency to be left out and forgotten in the Naval war, given the action seen around the Sicily. This is just in case... anyway, they can be put to good use ferrying your troops around.

3) Stop amphibious assaults. This involves preemptive action, and quite a bit of scouting. To stop an amphibious assault, first of all, you'd have to find one. Any number of ships can transport a 20-unit army, and you would'nt want that one to slip by! View the profile of a stack to see if they carry passengers. A diplomat or a general are valuable targets to take out. To get enough advance warning, you'd have to scout along expected routes of invasion. The primary route for Roman assaults is between Sicily and Sardinia. You can take care of the scouting bit by building a watchtower on the western end of Sicily, and placing a spy/watchtower on the eastern end of Sardinia. Any gap in between will have to be covered by a ship. You can also roughly time assults, by gauging the number of turns an enemy would have to build up a fair sized army (depends on his territorial size), and by observing the number of enemies he has, other than you. Also, after the main stack arrives, a smaller, reinforcement stack can be expected a few turns later. For example, the Julii, having only 3 cities and no enemies (no, they didn't touch the Gauls). Took about 10 turns from the declaration of war to plop down a big army (About 10-15 units, with Principes!) outside Carthage rather early in the game. A reinforcing stack (about 5 units) was plopping along about 3-5 turns later.

In the tactical sense, the Battles of a Navy is a game of maneuvre, where you would try to position more of your better equipped against the enemy. Nothing very complicated here, what skills you need here can just be gained by experience... At the start of the game, however, be careful about the battles you choose. Having few ships, you'd not want to risk them. You need them for transporting your army! Therefore, try to hop from port to port every turn. Most enemy ships do not attack units stationed in port. Also, a single ship (in VH/H) has a very big chance of being sunk on the spot when being attacked by 2 enemy ships. Even on the same experience level, this can happen! Do not transport Armies/Characters with ONE ship!!! As far as is possible. Throughout my campaign, I have sent out 3 diplomats to the east, to try to contact the egyptians. 2 were sunk in such one-battle jokes... the other sunk in a series of battles. Once, a 12 unit army needed in Italy was also sunk in a single battle... What rotten sailors... heed this warning, or experience it for yourself...!

Well, only later in the game will your Navy be able to develop to the extent where you can overwhelm Rome and keep it on the defensive, if not carrying the battle to them. But this will only be possible if your land based campaign is going along pretty well, and you can devote more resources to producing ships.

With a mature Navy, you can apply pressure to ports all over the world, grinding an advasary's trade to a halt, and confining him to land. What a symbol of true, global power! Thus, you can invest early in your Navy. The end result is well worth it.


Urban Warfare (UW)


Well, here we come to the hard part. Early Carthage always has difficulties with Urban Warfare, due to it's weak infantry (before Poeni). It's good cavalry can't help very much in the cities. So that leaves us with a few options. Your (weak) army, mercenaries, ranged units, and your elephants. To allow cavalry to slug it out in street battles is a mistake. As you find, they get chewed apart all too easily, and their charge is bugged in the cities. If you deploy them in a wide formation on the strips of dirt beside roads, all too often they pathfind their way (badly) to where you don't want them to go, or they pause just before impact during a charge. If you deploy them on the roads, they lack the punch to push through infantry. Urban Warfare is the realm of the footsoldier. Horsemen will do well to tread lightly in cities...

However, there is one type of very heavy cavalry that can do well in UW. Elephants! Although their charge is also bugged, although they can only deploy in very long formations, only 2 elephants wide, although they die easily when they rout, they are (as usual) a great aid!

Firstly, they can handle all sorts of wooden walls. Just send a unit, and only unlucky gentle giant will have to hammer his head against the wall, and sooner or later, it falls. The animation is... provocative... I itch to edit one of those screenshots to show some unlucky fellow doing some head banging... aaaannyway, you don't have to build seige equipment for wooden walls, and you can assault them the turn you start the seige. For the fighting part, they are mainly useful at pushing away enemy troops. Especially good for dealing with enemy phalanxes, or heavy infantry in general. Back them up with infantry, and you'll do pretty well.

One important thing! Do NOT charge your elephants through stone gates with boiling oil upgrades when they are held by the enemy! DO NOT! Why? Oh, lets just say an elephant catches fire as easily as a well oiled pig... They will rout and make it a bad day for you... Even sending a unit of Iberian Infantry won't cause them to rout, even though more than a quarter (often half) of their unit will be incinerated. Capture the gates via seige towers/ladders before you send troops through.

Other than elephants, the units you need are ranged units like cretan archers, Rhodian slingers, or skirmishers. Each is good at it's own area. Cretan archers are great at softening up defences (mainly for wooden walls) before the charge by shooting up units behind the walls. The high trajectory of their shots allow them to do the same for stone walls (I think they can for the smaller ones... not that sure). Rhodian slingers can also do the above, but their margin of error is smaller, and you'd have to micromanage to place the unit at the exact spot where their shots clear the wall, and hit the enemy. Get some practice... it's easy to get used to. The slingers are good at shooting up the enemy when the breach has been made. See an enemy unit waiting for you? just position a unit of slingers outside the breach, and let them sling away. The enemy unit will move away... or die. Skirmishers come onto their own fighting in the closed streets and alleys. The best way to defeat a big block of heavy infantry crowding the streets is to weather them down with missiles, then fight them with units backed up with lots of skirmishers. Lots and lots... after that, it's just a trip to the town centre, where finally, your cavalry can partake in the battle with a final charge to finish the lucky few who can survive all the remaining ammunition thrown at them.

Well, your pre-poeni infantry just sucks... face it. Libyan spearmen can hardly stop a cavalry charge! pah... so, to satiate the meatgrinder of city battles, I'd recommend you get mercenaries... lots of them. Spanish mercs and Barbarian mercs are great at in close fighting, Libyan skirmishers can supplement your skirmishing force, and Samnite warriors can go against their own people of Italy fairly well. Just back them up, don't stop to weep over their bodies, and press on. I am ruthless at throwing unit after unit of mercenaries at the enemy. They can die before my own soldiers! Here, the mighty denarii will show it's worth! Mwahahaha....

When you get Poeni infantry or Scared Band, it's smooth sailing in Urban Battles from then on. Just conduct battles the Greek way from then on...

I've exceeded the post limit AGAIN! Woot! Well, there's not much left, just the conclusion... keep reading!