Numidia

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Thanks.
However, I wonder how good things are gonna be looking when I face the might of Egypt. Jav Cav vs. Chariots is not a type of battle I'm looking forward to.

[Quirinus]

Well, you can always spam those cheap Numidian Javelinmen, since they have a bonus against chariots. Stiffen them up with some infantry and a general, though.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Good Point! I never thought about that Quirinus. To be honest, I completely forget that Numidian Javelinmen existed. They're not exactly a memorable unit.

But NJ are going to need more than a mere bonus vs. chariots to take on the might of Egypt, if you know what I mean.

[Xipe Totec]

I remember from my last Numidia campaign that I badly understimated the threat of the Spanish after taking Corduba. My glorious Faction Leader's army was moving north in the trees when he died suddenly of natural causes. An unseen Spanish army then started war by attacking the leaderless stack on an entirely thick forest battlefield. My deployment zone was steep uphill everywhere towards the enemy. My army was largely desert infantry WHICH SUCKS BIG TIME IN FOREST believe me. The Spanish came at me like a whirlwind from the front with mainly Iberian infantry and naked fanatics and then suddenly about 8 units of round shields slammed into my right flank wiping out my cavalry and then annihilating the entire stack so quickly I was stunned. I had ended my turn with a great general leading an experienced veteran army of conquerors on to glory, and lost the lot by the start of the next turn.

The Spanish armies are usually too stuffed with skirmishers to be too challenging but they can build good temples and upgrade their otherwise weak units to more dangerous ones. Early Numidian units are not good in trees against Barbarians that's for sure.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

I feel your pain brother. :feelpain:

If you've read my postings above, you notice that Iberia was a trouble spot for me as well.

Iberia: I was feeling pretty confident in Iberia with the easy capture of Carthago Nova, and thus didn't allocate many troops to the region. That was a presumption I would pay the price for.

I then waltz on over to Spanish controlled Corduba and took the city with out too much fuss. There was a medium sized garrison, but nothing I couldn't handle. The filthy barbarians didn't deserve it anyways! I was then making plans to take Scallabis when I saw two full stacks of Spaniards on the horizon. One heading for Corduba, the other to Carthago Nova. I then cut off the army approaching the ill defended Carthago Nova with series of forts. With the other, I had to fight. I quickly brought some troops from Tingi and hired mercs to make a mixed army of Infantry and Jav Cav, but even still the odds were against me. We battled in the foot hills near Corduba. I did manage to sneak by with an average victory, but the battle crippled me. With the second army dissolving my chain of forts, things were turning dark very fast for me in Iberia.

Then again, after reading your fiasco, my campaign seems like a walk in the park. :walkinpark:

[The Wandering Scholar]

haha making your own smileys I see

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Oh yeah. The smiley collection is pretty comprehensive, but sometimes they don't have what I need. In this case, :walkinpark:.

I think they should make that one. It would have some smiley walking down a brick road with trees and benches.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Thanks.
However, I wonder how good things are gonna be looking when I face the might of Egypt. Jav Cav vs. Chariots is not a type of battle I'm looking forward to.

If you're using fatigue, be very careful not to let your jav-cav be more tired than the chariots. If you're less tired than they are, you are just a hint faster, thus allowing you to javelin them while they can't hit you. Do NOT melee with them as they'll slice up your horses quickly. Your jav throwing should work well though.

Chariot archers are actually not as dangerous to you as they sound. They range you pretty badly, but their formations are a bit unwieldy (too large) and they do not pack lots of firepower as there are only a few chariots. Go to just outside of arrow range slowly then bolt in and shoot quickly. You'll be exchanging 80-odd javelins versus their 70-odd arrows given normal firing rates and you'll end up with more kills than they do. Bit more attrition than you're used to, I'm afraid, but jav-cav is cheaper to replace.

You're real concern will be the overlarge regular archer blocs and heavily armored pharoah bow groups. They either have more firepower or better range -- and the pharoah boys don't skeer easy. You'll probably need your legionaires for this. On the other hand, you'll have all the cool mercs available near the Aegean, so you'll have the best firepower you've fielded and easily your best infantry combo armies of the game.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Thanx for the hints Seamus. However, I recently finished the Numidian Campaign, and did manage to tackle the might of egypt head on. Now it's just a matter of finding a large chunk of time in my schedule to write it all up .

[Good Ship Chuckle]

The Numidian Empire
Part III
I'm sure many of you having been biting your nails in anticipation of the third and final part of The Numidian Empire, so rest easy now. I have come to tell everything. And perhaps you would like to refresh your memory by rereading the previous two entries.

Italy: It's time to finally snuff out the Brutii. Taking my aging faction leader and his loyal army out of blood-soaked Iuvavum, I trekked to Aquincum and stormed it, killing anyone foolish enough to call themselves Roman. Finally the sordid Romans were exterminated. This is a good day indeed for all Numidians.

Iberia: Once I had licked my wounds in Corduba I hunted down the second spanish army. Now that I was more prepared this time, I dealt them a crippling blow, and felt strong enough to proceed to Scallabis. It seemed that the spanish had put all its bets on the table, and lost them all. Unable to recover from its previous wounds, I took Scallabis and Asturica from them. Just when I was feeling comfortable, the Gauls take it upon themselves to attack one of my forts. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that we were allies. Treacherous backstabbers!! However, at this point money was flowing into my coffers due to my victories in the East. As a result, I had built a secondary army in Iberia for such a surprise. Taking that army, I crushed his ignorant army, and blitz Numantia. Next turn it fell into my hands. Turn after that I used my primary army to take Osca, thus destroying the Spanish faction. I had finally secured all of Iberia. I decided to hunker down and go on the defensive...for now...

Greece: Ah yess...I love the smell of victory. I had taken much damage from the capture of Greece so far, but I owned Larissa, Athens, and Sparta--Excellent cities in which to retrain. With morale high and health renewed, I stormed Corinth and then set my sights on Thessilonica--The bosom of Macedon herself. My progress was expedited by the AI's poor management of troops on the campaign map. He placed his troops in numerous half stacks, which I could easily surround with my one full stack of Jav Cav and crush with few casualties.

With the Macedonians having lost too much blood, I plucked Thessilonica from their hands like a ripened fruit with facile. Now that I had broken their back, they could no longer put up a fight. I then marched to Bylazora and next to Byzantium where they put up their last fight...if that's what you'd call it. I had ravaged Macedon beyond repair, such that their military was in shambles. Byzantium fell with little remorse, and thus confined them forever to the pages of history books.

Italy: Now that the Romans were gone, I really don't have the initiative to continue this front. I could attack the Dacians or the Germans, but they seem too engrossed in themselves to attack me. This front is DONE! However, I did leave that huge army in Aquincum and sent my aging faction leader to chill in Mediolanium where they remained until the end of the game.

Greece: Now it is time to prepare for the assault on Egypt. Luckily I have acquired a secret weapon. When I captured Athens, the Macedons had built an Awesome Temple of Artemis. This translates to +3 attack for all my Jav Cav !!! Over night Greece was turned into a Jav Cav factory that produced them en masse for the sole purpose of crushing Egypt, where they all eventually ended up in Athens to receive the excellent bonus. Actually, when you add bonus with a Numidian Cav that has one experience, its attack is the same as a Cretan Archer!!! Imagine 17 Jav Cav each with the attack power of a Cretan Archer, plus two long shields and a general, all of which are well seasoned. This is exactly the type of army I'll need to crush the Egyptians!


So now I have the army to take out the Egyptians in the field, but I'll need an infantry based army that can do heavy-duty sieges. Luckily I crafted an army that was easily up for the job, incorporating Numidia's finest infantry unit. Oh yeah, I sprinkled in some onagers for good measure.


Iberia: Still a little ticked off at the Gauls for backstabbing me, I took my bored armies in Iberia to inflict a punch that the Gauls would remember. I strolled over to Lemonum and took it...it really was that simple. I could have easily sacked Narbo Martius and Massilia and... well pretty much all of Gaul, but that would have been too easy. And besides I was saving my province count for Egypt, because at this point I was around 42 provinces. I now deem that this front is DONE! ON TO EGYPT!!!

Egypt: I then let the two armies embark on their maiden voyages to Egypt. The infantry army headed down to take Alexandria, Memphis, etc whilst the Jav Cav army headed towards Syria. My first acquisition from the Egyptians was Salamis. It only had one nubean spearman unit in it...Apparently the Egyptians don't take javelin-chucking desert nomads seriously. Anyways, I immediately disembarked and a turn later landed at Sidon. There I met more resistance, but not what I would have expected from Egypt and thus took Sidon which made for a nice base of operations. Just when I got comfortable, the first full stack appeared from the East, and it look PISSED!! Next turn we went to battle and turns out it mostly consisted of chariots...which could be worse--for instance pharoah's bowmen. Luckily I had the high ground. I skirmished until I ran out of Javelins, at which point I had taken out nearly half of his units. Then I waited for the perfect opportunity (dodging spears) and then slammed him en masse with multiple units of Jav Cav bunched together. Like a pine tree in an avalanche, I overwhelmed him with sheer numbers. Having repeated this tactic, I acquired my first victory. But don't get me wrong--Throwing your cav into chariots is gonna hurt no matter what you do, so I spent the next 2 turns retraining in Sidon.

Alexandria: Like a leviathan from the sea, my monolithic infantry army exploded like a bomb shell on Alexandria and took it that turn (with onagers). Next turn I seized Memphis with the same tactic. Is it just me or does the AI never keep Alexandria and Memphis with any sort of a legitimate garrison? Anyways, here's a snapshot of me fulfilling my prophecy that I had pronounced back when Egypt first blockaded Athens. Another good day to be Numidian.


Sidon: I took on several more stacks of the Egyptians in the same fashion of using Jav Cav to their maximum. I stole Damascus and Jerusalem when I could afford the time, and also landed an Alliance with the Selucids with military access too, because before I showed up the Egyptians were hounding them. But there was to be a final showdown at Antioch. Fortunately, I had brought over another elite Jav Cav army from Greece, but unfortunately Antioch was heavily garrisoned by numerous hoplites. I knew Jav Cav are no match in the alleys of a city...so...I...(out with it)...I auto-resolved the battle with the two stack combined...scandal, I know, but it was the only sure way to get it. This victory effectively crushed the Egyptian resistance, thus securing myself as the true superpower of the entire Mediterranean. The Numidian Empire had finally fulfilled its destiny.

Osca: I could never forget Osca. Moreover, I could never live with the guilt knowing that I finished a game with out one of my original provinces. So I sent over some Legionaries and snatched it from the castrated Egyptians. This was my final victory, by the simple fact that I had reached 50 provinces and controlled Rome.

End: Here's a final screenie to sum it all up. The year is 237 BC, lost only 13 battles, and still have the venerable Gisgo as my faction leader. Not bad, eh? And for those of you that really must see it before you believe it, here is a download of the final save (version 1.5). To use it, simply download it and then put it in your saves folder in your RTW directory which is located under program files. Then start up RTW, and look out for GoodShipNumidia amongst your saves. A final save is worth a thousand words that I could never be able to say in these humble posts. And if you have any comments, please do post them below. Download Good Ship's Numidian Empire Save



I would like to thank the Org for hosting my posts and I would like to thank my father, whose faith in me has been a Pharos of guidance to a troubled ship like me on the sea of life.

[woad&fangs]

Impressive

a balloon for U

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Thank you, woad&fangs. You're too generous.

Suddenly all the hard work that I put into those previous posts seems worth it.


Anyother comments?

[Darkvicer98]

I like your Story of the Numidian Empire. I see you've got your RTW on speed graphics(The Numidian Empire Part 2 has a pic of numidian legionaries with pointed feet and hands),which is what i've got mine on. How do you take a pic of your game whilst in gameplay?