Britannia

[wooly_mammoth]

200.000 denarii?! O.O

I've never had more than 30.000 denarii when I played the gauls, and I'm half-way through my campaign with the germans with similar monetary perspectives.

Anyway, I think Britannia has the easiest time against legionary armies. Chosen swordsmen, provided they get the bronze smithy upgrades and the chevrons from the temple of Andrasta can actually beat by a comfortable margin a silver wep/armor legionary cohort, so just make a line of chosen swords, warcry and clash it against the roman line and then flank with the heavy chariots. I tried a version of this back when I played Egypt, just had a column of chariots on manual control ordered to run back and forth like a lawn-mower through the roman army, pushing it into the phalanx. It's extremely effective since the romans don't have a real counter to chariots but you must:

a) always order the chariots to keep running through the enemy and never stop to fight, because that's when they get bogged down and destroyed.

b) keep in mind that this strategy doesn't work really in forests, given how slow and ineffective chariots are among trees.

You also have head-hurlers that ignore armor with their missile attack.

[Vincent Butler]

200.000 denarii?! O.O

I've never had more than 30.000 denarii when I played the gauls, and I'm half-way through my campaign with the germans with similar monetary perspectives.

Anyway, I think Britannia has the easiest time against legionary armies. Chosen swordsmen, provided they get the bronze smithy upgrades and the chevrons from the temple of Andrasta can actually beat by a comfortable margin a silver wep/armor legionary cohort, so just make a line of chosen swords, warcry abd clash it against the roman line and then flank with the heavy chariots. I tried a version of this back when I played Egypt, just had a column of chariots on manual control ordered to run back and forth like a lawn-more through the roman army, pushing it into the phalanx. It's extremely effective since the romans don't have a real counter to chariots but you must:

a) always order the chariots to keep running through the enemy and never stop to fight, because that's when they get bogged down and destroyed.

b) keep in mind that this strategy doesn't work really in forests, given how slow and ineffective chariots are among trees.

You also have head-hurlers that ignore armor with their missile attack.

I am over 300000 denarii now. I have been taking pretty much only port cities, and focus on saving money, I could probably be farther along if I did not. Then again, I have to wait for my towns to improve because some of the towns I take over are just towns. I guess I could afford to ferry armies from other towns at this point. I like to create replacement armies from other towns, and have a main army on the go. They take over a town, retrain, and move out when the replacement army gets there, it is usually faster than training a garrison before I move out. Haven't tried that this campaign yet. Works really well if you control Italy and Greece because the towns are close together.

I have three armies. One against Rome, one against Germany, one against Spain. I am now using Chosen Swordsmen, especially against Rome. I need them, Rome has Praetorian Cohort. I am getting close to 200 BC, so I don't move as quickly as you. That is with any faction, I am a bit slower in my attacks. Part of that is from retraining a full garrison (well, eight to ten units) before heading out. That is where I like the replacement army idea. But that also makes finances more of an issue.

How do you post pictures, you can't just copy/paste them in, right?

[wooly_mammoth]

Once you have the photo uploaded either in your steam gallery or on a website like imgur, just copy the link to the said photo and paste it in the message between img tags. Like [i m g] link_to_photo [/i m g] without spaces in the img of course (imgur gives you the option of copying a link already framed by the right tags, so you just need to paste that). Alternatively you can click on the button with the picture of the tree just above the space where you write and just paste the link there. It will insert it automatically.

[Vincent Butler]

Once you have the photo uploaded either in your steam gallery or on a website like imgur, just copy the link to the said photo and paste it in the message between img tags. Like [i m g] link_to_photo [/i m g] without spaces in the img of course (imgur gives you the option of copying a link already framed by the right tags, so you just need to paste that). Alternatively you can click on the button with the picture of the tree just above the space where you write and just paste the link there. It will insert it automatically.

OK, I will have to try that. I have all of Italy minus Croton (army preparing to attack it) and Patavium (owned by Germania, will wait till I get my Spain army there or deal with Brutii in Greece). I have most of Spain, Corduba and Scallabis are left.

[wooly_mammoth]

My OCD tour through the playable factions of rtw is approaching its end. Guess that once it is done I will have to go mod after all, because after doing this on/off for the past 2 years, I really cannot see myself ever playing anything else for the rest of my life.

So, onward to Britannia, with a few comments on a post from another thread:

I like Britannia. Their only weakness is a lack of archers. Oh yeah, and a normal cav unit. They don't benefit at all from the Marius changes. But I am an infantry general anyway.
I use light chariots in the place of archers, and I don't use heavy chariots. They are more expensive, take two turns, the next blacksmith shop (low on my priority list), have the same defense and not much more attack. Maybe one more hit point, I don't remember. Just don't use chariots for melee combat, break up enemy formations with them and get them out of there.
Also I use slingers, though the trained slingers have less range than the Rhodians or Balearic Slingers. Slingers decimate unarmoured units, and chariots as well. But again, lack of range. Still, I'm sure if you want you could figure out a use for them. Put them in front of your army, you will draw a cavalry attack almost guaranteed.

Well, I'm not good at using archers anyway. By the time I start shooting it's already good to go melee action and I need to stop so as not to shoot my own guys in the back. Rushing them around the flanks is risky because enemy cavalry is there and anyway, by the time they are in position to shoot at the backs of the enemy, the army is already routed. This of course in a balanced battle, if I'm fighting on the defensive against all odds they are slightly more useful. Lack of normal cav unit isn't that much of a problem either. I know how to use chariots effectively in the field, and in cities any kind of mounted unit is worthless due to pathfinding issues, so it's not a problem since I won't be using them there. I like chariots because they shred enemy cavalry and are great at making a mess out of formations before my chosen swords charge in. I plan to use a mix of light & heavy chariots, the light ones will swing around the right flank of the enemy (where they don't have a shield, so less defense against arrows) and the heavy ones will crash in from the left, running all the way through before the heavy infantry comes in.

I don't think I'll bother with neither slingers nor headhurlers. All I'll need is barracks and smithies for swords and chariots. The ideal army will probably be something like 10 swords + 2 druids for support, 4 light chariots & 4 heavy chariots.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I like chariots because they shred enemy cavalry and are great at making a mess out of formations before my chosen swords charge in.

Bear in mind that Britannia's donkey carts are 2/3 the size of Middle Eastern chariots, and have only 2 HP instead of 3 & 4 (archer types/heavy).

I don't think I'll bother with neither slingers nor headhurlers.

Slingers on level ground can be quite effective, and the ridiculous HH have a higher missile atk than the donkey carts and their attack is armor piercing...

My OCD tour through the playable factions of rtw is approaching its end.

I'm assuming you are meaning those factions playable in the normal campaign? You did unlock all factions, yes? Some of the remaining factions are both a challenge and serious fun

[wooly_mammoth]

It's part of my disorder that I only do the factions intended for play by the devs. I know you can unlock everyone else, but those extra factions are usually just a mish-mash of others/lack enough identity to be truly interesting to me.