Britannia

[Agent Miles]

I made lots of money as the Brits (VH/VH huge units). Right from the start, I took all of the spare population in Samarobriva and sent them north as peasants to upgrade Eburacum and then Deva. I then abandoned it to rebellion. This prevents early war with Gaul/Germania, who always attack this settlement. I then took Tara and demobilized part of my army there. Now I have four settlements with 2k+ population. I don't need a standing army, so I upgrade like crazy with about 2k-4k income per turn. I ship my peasants around to get all of the settlements quickly up to 6k. I also like building watchtowers so that I can see as much as possible.
I have enough cash so that each settlement can construct all of the buildings (except for the beer hall variety). I put one of each temple in the three settlements in Britain so that I can rotate my family members around to get the best of each temple. By hiring mercenaries and fighting rebels I can usually pick up a couple of retinue to raise command by 1 each as well.
In the meantime, Gaul gets into trouble with Spain/Germania/Julii. When my forces are ready, I invade. By 230, I have overrun western Gaul without any problems. My army consists of 9 Chosen Swordsmen, 6 War hounds, 3 Light chariots and one heavy chariot (all +2 experience level and +1 armor/weapons) with a 6+ star general. All of these units conspire to cause a lot of fear in any enemy force. If you wish, by periodically landing a general in Gaul you can gradually hire several Barbarian Cavalry, too. I usually have a mobile reserve of B. cav and chariots to spank rebels behind my lines. This way, I even got two generals who had the “+1 command when leading cavalry” trait. With a large war chest, my diplomats can snatch up small settlements too.
Light chariots are great missile platforms and can run down any routers. I had one unit cause over 340 casualties in one battle. Heavy chariots are great at turning flanks. I usually charge through a unit, i.e., don’t target the unit, target the opposite side of the unit. Hit them when they are disorganized.
Having won the short game, I plan on expanding my force to include the special units. I’ll crush Spain and Germania next and then take out those darn Romans.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I made lots of money as the Brits (VH/VH huge units). Right from the start, I took all of the spare population in Samarobriva and sent them north as peasants to upgrade Eburacum and then Deva. I then abandoned it to rebellion. This prevents early war with Gaul/Germania, who always attack this settlement. I then took Tara and demobilized part of my army there. Now I have four settlements with 2k+ population. I don't need a standing army, so I upgrade like crazy with about 2k-4k income per turn. I ship my peasants around to get all of the settlements quickly up to 6k. I also like building watchtowers so that I can see as much as possible.
I have enough cash so that each settlement can construct all of the buildings (except for the beer hall variety). I put one of each temple in the three settlements in Britain so that I can rotate my family members around to get the best of each temple. By hiring mercenaries and fighting rebels I can usually pick up a couple of retinue to raise command by 1 each as well.
In the meantime, Gaul gets into trouble with Spain/Germania/Julii. When my forces are ready, I invade. By 230, I have overrun western Gaul without any problems. My army consists of 9 Chosen Swordsmen, 6 War hounds, 3 Light chariots and one heavy chariot (all +2 experience level and +1 armor/weapons) with a 6+ star general. All of these units conspire to cause a lot of fear in any enemy force. If you wish, by periodically landing a general in Gaul you can gradually hire several Barbarian Cavalry, too. I usually have a mobile reserve of B. cav and chariots to spank rebels behind my lines. This way, I even got two generals who had the “+1 command when leading cavalry” trait. With a large war chest, my diplomats can snatch up small settlements too.
Light chariots are great missile platforms and can run down any routers. I had one unit cause over 340 casualties in one battle. Heavy chariots are great at turning flanks. I usually charge through a unit, i.e., don’t target the unit, target the opposite side of the unit. Hit them when they are disorganized.
Having won the short game, I plan on expanding my force to include the special units. I’ll crush Spain and Germania next and then take out those darn Romans.

Don't expect too much from the dogs or the heavy chariots versus Roman Legionaires. Your light chariots will still work, but almost all of the romans are armored as well as your chosen sword, so your kill ratios will drop. Head hurlers are quite effective though -- unrealistic buggers as they are -- since you have javelins that are just as hard hitting as those of a Praetorian, but carry 6 to their 2. Your hurlers will get torn up by his archers though, so be careful.

[Agent Miles]

So far, the AI won’t put together a full stack. I see several groups of 12 or fewer units. With nine Chosen Swordsmen, I can just overwhelm their line while flanking with the chariots. I chose hounds, chariots and CS because they are easy to replace in most settlements. I do have some head hurlers now for those armored units. Gaul is gone. Spain, Germania and the Julii are down to two or three settlements each. Thanks for the tips.

[Lord Reid of Britannica]

My experience with the Britons was that i immediately emptied my island of all troops save peasants, and took Bordesholm up north. I then acquired generals quickly, built up economic infrastructure AND got alliances with both Gaul and Germania.

Germania eventually declared war on Gaul and so i supported them. Gaul asked for out alliance back and i took Condate Rendonum from them in exchange for Alliance. I then betrayed them on the next turn and took Alesia. Two Gaul settlements in quick succession without much blood spilt, and firm friendship with a potentially problematic Germania.

I now have strong infrastructure and Armies, ready to crush the remainder of Gaul, along with spare generals to lead those armies.

[thatdude123456]

Right i'm doing a campaign right now as the britons on vh/vh. does anyone agree that the germania are seriously op when compared to the britons. can anyone offer some advice on tactics to use against their damn spear warbands early in the game. currently i'm embroiled in a war of attrition with them and it seems my warband/swords simply can't compete with their spears and my cavalry/chariots are useless as they just seem to drop dead even in a flanking manoeuvre. any tips on how to smash the germanic scum?????

[thatdude123456]

also i'm not very experienced at all with barbarian factions so any help would be greatly appreciated ;)

[ReluctantSamurai]

Germania has only two settlements from which they can train troops with any regularity...Mogontiacum and Damme. All their other starting settlements, and the few they may capture have tiny populations...so they can't train units very often from them. Capture those two, and they are finished. Easier said than done, though......

I use missile fire to whittle down those spears before taking them on. Head Hurlers are a nasty skirmisher that can do the job as well as your light chariots. Don't be afraid to hire merc warbands. It's a bit expensive at first, but once you overwhelm their early roving stacks, you should have no problem taking the above two settlements.

You have great potential for sea trade...build it up and you should have enough money to attrit them. You must move quickly because if they get to Noble Cavalry and Chosen Archers, you are in deep trouble.

[Vincent Butler]

Briton is interesting. The lack of archers is a bummer, I use my Light Chariots for that role. I have not used Heavy Chariots much since their melee stats are close to Light Chariots. They could be nice for breaking up a formation, then nailing it with Swordsmen. Have to try that next Briton campaign. Light chariots could probably do that as well, though. Since their slingers are ineffective against armoured troops, at least from the front, and have less range than Rhodian/Balearic slingers, they may not really be worth using, if you are fighting barbarians you can get away with it, as slingers are good against unarmoured units and chariots. I usually do have them simply to get another missile unit. I don't use head-hurlers, they are unrealistic and require a special temple. The temple is why I don't use Woad Warriors either. My armies are mainly Swordsmen, with one or two Chosen Swordsmen. That number increases against Rome. I do like to have Warband along, a cheap unit that is retrained anywhere and can hold the line long enough so that my better troops can get into action. Once they get experience they are actually worth having. The Druids are good to have along. I typically like to have at least one city in a central location that can train them. I don't consider the Woad Warriors or Head Hurlers worth following the same strategy, I could be wrong. Watching my brother use Naked Fanatics with Spain, Woad Warriors are probably similar, decent attack, low defense, use as shock troops. I like to knock out Gaul so that I can hit Rome before they get Marian reforms. If I can get to that point, my finances are such that I can usually field two armies. I don't bother too much with Germania right away. From Italy, you can go into Greece, a great idea as Greece seriously helps your finances. By then, Scipii will probably be at Marius, unless you can get into Sicily as well and deal with them. Be aggressive. I was more defensive at first, preferring to trade and make money rather than fight, probably not a good idea with Britain. By the time I got into the Middle East, the Scipii had wiped out Egypt, so I don't know how Britons fair against Egypt. I don't imagine very well. Probably good to use a lot of mercs at that point.

So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle. 1 Chronicles 19:7 KJV

They lost, by the way.

[Vincent Butler]

Ok, I started another campaign as the Britons, on M/M. After EB, it is amazing how fast enemy units rout in RTW. My main army is now four Chosen Swordsmen, one Swordsman, two Warband, one or two slingers (not effective against Rome), two Light Chariots, one Druid, and a General, though I may ditch the Warband, too low morale. Should I still keep them? I fight in a checkerboard formation. Rome is in Marian reforms, that is why I have four Chosen Swordsmen instead of normally two. I have found out that the warcry is vital, combined with the enemy being frightened by my chariots (and possibly by my Druids chanting?) my Chosen Swordsmen can rout Praetorian Cohort (at least with help from another unit, have not really seen one on one). Against barbarians slingers are more important, and I don't use Chosen Swordsmen, instead I use Woad Warriors. Dogs are good against Gaul, don't know about Spain, I am allied with them. Dogs are not effective against Germania. SPQR is no more, I vanquished them at 2-1 odds against me, though I took very heavy casualties. Stupid Urban Cohort. Now the question: should I take Sicily or Greece? I am leaning towards Greece, but I don't feel like taking on Roman army after Roman army, as I am sure is there.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Never prosecuted a Britannia campaign to the bitter end, but you are correct on several counts---Warcry is essential, as are Chosen Swordsmen; Warbands lose their usefulness against advanced troops; and Wardogs are not of much use against heavy infantry with good morale. Druids are a waste of time and money, IMHO...just stick to the use of warcry.

The trade nodes from Greece tie in much better to your Italian conquests than does Sicily. If you've already taken places like Massilia, and Narbo Martius, then taking Caralis opens all the trade routes between your western Italy ports and southern Gaul. To take full advantage of Sicily's trade routes, you'd need cities like Carthage and Lepcis Magna.

There are three trade nodes that maximize routes in RTW: Caralis for the western Med; Crete for the central Med; and Salamis for the eastern Med. It seems like every damn trade route in those respective areas runs through the afore-mentioned cities

[Vincent Butler]

Warbands lose their usefulness against advanced troops; and Wardogs are not of much use against heavy infantry with good morale. Druids are a waste of time and money, IMHO...just stick to the use of warcry.

The trade nodes from Greece tie in much better to your Italian conquests than does Sicily. If you've already taken places like Massilia, and Narbo Martius, then taking Caralis opens all the trade routes between your western Italy ports and southern Gaul. To take full advantage of Sicily's trade routes, you'd need cities like Carthage and Lepcis Magna.

There are three trade nodes that maximize routes in RTW: Caralis for the western Med; Crete for the central Med; and Salamis for the eastern Med. It seems like every damn trade route in those respective areas runs through the afore-mentioned cities

It seems that Druids in a chant frighten the enemy, unless the chariots create more fear than I thought. My brother with Gaul noticed the same thing about Druids, so I don't think it is all the chariots, and we were not using warcry much at that time. I don't use dogs against armour, they are worthless for anything better than warband, really. Thanks for the tip about Caralis, Julii are down to Mediolanium and Caralis, though Scipii have Carthage and Numidia's land, they actually took Cirta and Nepti from Spain, which I have never seen before. Caralis would not have a whole lot to trade with, if I take Greece I can trade with Egypt, and it would rob the Romans of a lucrative area. Maybe I will take my army in Germania and go after the Scipii, Germania is almost gone, what with me, Scythia, and the Brutii all in the area. The dogs would stay behind, don't know whether I should keep the Woad Raiders or Swordsmen, maybe I will keep both, I need everything I can get against the Romans. I would just add Chosen Swordsmen to it, probably replace my Swordsmen with the Chosen Swordsmen.

[Vincent Butler]

New campaign, on M/M. Over 200000 denarii, having taken the Atlantic Coast, not including Spain, just moving there now, Julii bypassed Massilia, Lugdunum, and Narbo Martius and attacked Osca. Marius changes just occurred, so things will be getting interesting. Also moving into Italy, will soon fight a 2:1 odds against me with mainly Hastati army outside Segesta.

Do peasants help with public order? It seems Londinium is happier with peasant units in it.

Egypt went after Carthage, and now Carthage and Numidia are wiped out. I don't think I have ever seen that happen. That should be really interesting, let's see the Scipii deal with that.

[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.

[Vincent Butler]

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.

Macedon is quite fun. Royal Pikemen are nice, a pike unit with large shields. Macedonian Cav are good, a very good medium cav, then the lancers as the first cav unit. Only weakness in my opinion is lack of good archers.

[wooly_mammoth]

Yup, but you get companions together with cataphracts and elite pikemen together with legionaries when playing as the much more interesting Seleucid Empire. Maybe I'll try Macedonia out when I play mods.

Anyway, you guys were right, the brits do get small chariot units.

Generals rock though, in the battle of Alesia I ran those wagons through a blob of light gallic cav & gallic generals and just melted everything.

[Vincent Butler]

Yup, but you get companions together with cataphracts and elite pikemen together with legionaries when playing as the much more interesting Seleucid Empire. Maybe I'll try Macedonia out when I play mods.

Anyway, you guys were right, the brits do get small chariot units.

Generals rock though, in the battle of Alesia I ran those wagons through a blob of light gallic cav & gallic generals and just melted everything.

That is what happens to cav. If you try a mod, I recommend the Europa Barbarorum mod if you are not playing on a Mac. Rome is not as good as they should be, but your first (Camillan) triarii are hoplites and your first Hastati are spearmen. Barbarians can make stone walls, barracks levels upgrade to train your cav, missile units, and siege. First units are actually slingers and skirmishers. You can build levy barracks to train regional troops, sometimes outside of Italy as Rome that is your only option for a long time. Things are expensive, though, especially mercenary cav. Wonders are different, navies cost a LOT of money. But I really like it, it is more realistic, though I think the Roman units, especially the cohort, are not good enough, or the Barbarians are too good.

[ReluctantSamurai]

those extra factions are usually just a mish-mash of others/lack enough identity to be truly interesting to me.

Sorry my friend, but you couldn't be more wrong. While Macedon may have some units in common with Seleucia, Royal Pike are amongst the top three phalanx units in the game (and they offer +3 def bonus vs the Silver Shield). Macedonian cavalry are, as a group. the best in the game. Light Lancers carry a powerful charge, and due to their speed for chasing routers, are useful to the end of a campaign; Macedonian Cavalry are a very serviceable unit available fairly early; and of course the Companions.

Starting position is every bit as challenging as Seleucia. The Greek Cities are already in your face, you have to deal with early incursions by the Romans, and Dacia/Thrace loom on your northern borders. In my top three favorite factions. And Macedon has arguably the best set of temples besides the Romans. Zeus has the highest Law&Order numbers in the game, Artemis adds attk value to your archers, and Ares is comparable to the Roman version.

And you overlook THE best horse archer faction in the game---Armenia. Hands down. Chariot-killers, Cata-tanks, phalanx, fun starting position.....just read my Guide to Armenia, already

Scythia, Pontus, Numidia, Spain, Thrace, and Dacia all have their uniqueness, and all are fun to play...Pontus and Scythia are the best of that group, IMHO.

[Vincent Butler]

Starting position is every bit as challenging as Seleucia. The Greek Cities are already in your face, you have to deal with early incursions by the Romans, and Dacia/Thrace loom on your northern borders. In my top three favorite factions. And Macedon has arguably the best set of temples besides the Romans. Zeus has the highest Law&Order numbers in the game, Artemis adds attk value to your archers, and Ares is comparable to the Roman version.

I started a Macedon on M/M, and it took no time to come under attack. And because of it, I had to wait to get a campaign going, my main focus was on improving my money buildings and letting my phalanx defend my towns. Once that is done, you can strike out after the enemy. It is after Rome, though Greece is not in Greece anymore. I really should take Byzantium, but had to focus on dealing with Rome, Dacia, and Thrace. I will probably continue a progress report in the Macedon thread, but yeah, Macedon looks easy, but because of the constant attack, it may take some time to really get going unless you focus on quick conquering, then money.
It looks like not only Artemis but Zeus temple will improve your archers to gold weapon, though that is not as fast as the Artemis one.

[wooly_mammoth]

So, if you play rtw long enough the impossible does happen. Proof:



The world map is not entirely up to date. I've vanquished Spain, Carthage (with ample help from the romans), Gaul and the Julii, while Egypt had the usual drill with the Seleucids. However, as can be seen, Macedonia became quite a kingdom. Not only that, but see that tiny little, lonely boat in the Adriatic Sea? It's filled with taffing phalanx pikemen, archers and light lancers hurrying to deliver the well-wishes of the Antigonids of whoever happens to be in charge >.<. Fortunately, I'm not caught completely off guard, coming down the Alps is a particularly nasty brit who spent his teenage years murdering savages through the northern forests. He has an army of woad-painted fanatics, hopefully that will put the fright in the macedonians.

During the siege of Arretium I've had one of my hardest battles so far. My force of ill-equipped swords and light chariots was sandwiched between a small roman relief force and the garrison of the city, well armed and armored principes with plenty of cavalry and skirmisher support. Clashing that force head on with my swords, with arrow support from the back routed me in seconds, the way I finally managed to do it was to rush the small force and send them running away before the main army was fully deployed, and then crash my chariots in the big army from the flank, run them all the way through and send the swords in only after the roman lines were in disarray. With that properly executed, they routed almost immediately and all I had to do was run them under my wheels. Those little wagons are quite effective in the open field.

[Vincent Butler]

Had an E/E campaign where I had the northern half of the map, and was just going into Turkey and North Africa, and the Scipii had the southern half. Pretty much the entire map was blue. I was starting to have riot problems, though.
Macedon can get good if one of their foes is held in check. Usually that does not happen, and they are one of the first five factions to get wiped out. Seleucia is usually the first.
If you don't use dogs, you can delete the stables, the fact that they are Roman or some other civilization's architecture affects public order. Even if you use dogs, and the stables are advanced, deleting them and building your own (only one level anyway) will help. And you can get some money back.

[wooly_mammoth]

And managed to wrap things up with Britannia as well. I didn't make it as far East as you did since I invaded North Africa down to Sahara, so the kingdom stretched from the Atlantic to modern day Hungary. As far as shock value goes I don't think there's a substitute for chosen swords + light chariots. Most battles would turn into an instant rout once the sword line charged in and the chariots got around and behind. Sometimes it is enough to simply crash the chariots in to achieve that. Funny that they would be so effective, given that historically they were pretty much obsolete by that point. Head Hurlers are pretty nifty as well but their short range, lack of mobility and temple requirements make them the second option in most circumstances. Still, they are excellent for staging ambushes in woodlands and just funny as hell when they simply murder everything by lobbing heads around (they have a ridiculous melee charge bonus as well so they destroy pretty much anything that they flank).

It was refreshing to have some serious battles with factions such as Dacia and Macedonia. I even got to square it off against macedonian cavalry and royal pikemen. I never got rich though, I think I tend to make my garrisons too big and barbarian infrastructure just cannot be developed to the point that you make stupid amounts of money unless you are a master at stabilizing population growth. As I conquered the last provinces I needed a regular infusion of money from plunder to remain in positive balance.

[Vincent Butler]

Sometimes it is enough to simply crash the chariots in to achieve that. Funny that they would be so effective, given that historically they were pretty much obsolete by that point.

Considering that they don't even use them historically, at least not from Caesar's writings. Of course, the game starts way before Caesar, so it is possible that the chariots were used for shock value and eventually lost that use through becoming ineffective for whatever reason. I don't know enough about that to say for certain. Similar to how the "feared" scythed chariots were mocked by the Romans, the main experience Rome had against them they were ridiculously ineffective. According to Caesar, Briton chariots were used as armoured personnel carriers to get troops in and out of combat quickly.
I do think Britannia should get archers or javelinmen of some kind, primitives almost always knew the use of the bow and/or javelin in addition to the sling. The head-hurlers are darned unrealistic, heads were a gruesome kind of trophy so they would not be used as missiles. Unless somebody has knowledge that I don't, if somebody does, enlighten me, please. The lack of true cav is somewhat realistic, though. They had very little, from my limited knowledge, and certainly not enough to make a worthwhile unit out of.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I don't think there's a substitute for chosen swords + light chariots. Most battles would turn into an instant rout once the sword line charged in and the chariots got around and behind. Sometimes it is enough to simply crash the chariots in to achieve that. Funny that they would be so effective

Difficulty setting has a lot to do with that. On more difficult battlemap settings, enemy troops have better morale, therefore battles will last longer...and longer battles mean greater chance your chariots will eventually get eaten up or rout, especially by phalanx. That's how I stop scythed chariots from any faction...massed pike

it is possible that the chariots were used for shock value and eventually lost that use through becoming ineffective for whatever reason

In the time frame of RTW, except for the Celts, chariots had long since fallen out of use for battle.

Interesting little read:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/...a/chariot.html

But the war-chariot of the Britons almost certainly did not have scythes. Arrian, in fact, explicitly distinguishes between the Persian chariots that did and those of the Britons, who "used two-horse chariots, with small, bad horses. Their light, two-wheeled chariots are well adapted to running across all sorts of terrain and the wretched horses to enduring hardships.

Whether true or not about the scythes, it confirms my "donkey-cart" moniker.

The javelin and superior horse breeding for cavalry, was their demise. Gaugamela was probably the last major engagement where they were employed in numbers.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/...dchariots.html

As to Head Hurlers...from the "RTW Heaven site:

Kill a man, cut off his head, dip it in lime, let it dry, then chuck it at an enemy. Sounds awful. But it was indeed a custom among the Britons and Celts! There were no units of Head Hurlers- that part is pure fantasy- but the actual throwing of limed heads is a documented fact. The Celts were head hunters, and believed that the spirit of a man resided in his head. This made the head special, and sought-after. Lime was a preservative, treating the head with it kept the trophy for longer. And hurling it at an enemy was considered a major insult to the enemy. And the lime coating? It did indeed burn the skin where it impacted.

However, there were no units of these men. Individuals might throw their trophies, thinking them imbued with some magical power, but most heads collected would be treated and kept as souvenirs. The more powerful a warrior, the more value his head had.

[wooly_mammoth]

Thanks for the insightful links. So they did run around in donkey-carts after all. As for your comment regarding the use of pikes against chariots, I believe that's the reason why the roman AI is programmed to leave Macedonia alone when you play Britannia. Pikemen and heavy cavalry are a much bigger problem for celtic armies as depicted in the game than the roman army prior to the reforms (in my game they never got to build an imperial palace in Italy). Pikes really need to be outmaneuvered and struck from the flanks and light chariots aren't really that effective in melee against heavy cavalry, but kiting them just opens the back of your line to a charge, which is what the macedonian cavalry roster is designed to do.

I should mention the funny siege of Larissa. It had huge stone walls, little to no garrison but MASSIVE reinforcements (two nearly full stacks of regular & royal pikes, cavalry of all sorts from light lancers to macedonian cav, some siege equipment and golden archers. I had my guys push the siege towers while the chariots skirmished in front of the reinforcements. Usually the AI will run straight for the gates, but my chariots made it indecisive and while it went between advancing towards them or moving for the gate, I managed to conquer the entire length of the wall, rush all other infantry inside so in the end the reinforcements where locked out with nothing to do but run around the walls after chariots while being shot from all directions.

Needless to say, every chariot unit got an extra one or two silver chevrons from that.