Numidia

[Red Harvest]

Whoooeeeeee...this faction makes Spain look easy! I'm ready for try #5 on very hard/very hard. I might have to drop down a level...or two.

You start with very little in the way of money and it gets worse for the first 10 turns or so. Egypt will march in an army right away and take Siwa even if you have an alliance (I abandoned it the turn before they arrived to avoid war.) I can't field enough of an army to beat those Egyptian chariots, so this is the first time I've ever intentionally pulled out and let my city turn rebel to avoid a war.

There are brigand armies everywhere making if difficult to transfer units, and they can beat you if you are not careful. I had a decent game going last time...until the Spanish landed in Tingi. I'm getting picked on by the weak Spanish who are at war with Rome, WOW! I had taken Cyrene with my Siwa evacuee army. And I took Nepte. I couldn't get to Lepcis Magna before Carthage (in spite of bribing away their first force.) I think this next time I'll march on Lepcis Magna first, then worry about the other two.

Off to try again...

[Boulis]

Good insights Red Harvest.

This is my sixth time on hard/hard. As it stands now, I have fought off the Egyptians at Siwa (though I hesitate to take the offensive), made a (more or less) permanent alliance with Carthage with trading rights and military access both ways and Spain just folded one turn ago. I control all of N. Africa except the Carthaginian and Egyptian starting provinces. But I am STILL thinking of quitting because I am 1500 dn. or so in the hole and I don't know how to get back in the black without risking outright rebellion...

Starting Strats:

1) I always empty out my Dimmidi garrison to take the (3 turn trip) to Nepte and take it.
2) I send my Cirta garrison (except my King but with my spy and those guys milling about the city) to take Lepcis Magna although that is, I think, a five turn trip.
3) I send my diplomat to negotiate the above agreements with Carthage.
4) I have tried abandoning Siwa (to eventually use that fleeing Siwa garrison to conquer Cyrene) but that REALLY gets me in a ton of debt and, moreover, the rebels attack you (peasant army but still annoying) as you attempt to beat a retreat. Instead, I have had better luck just fighting the Egyptians when they decide (inevitable as the tide) to finally invade. You will fight them no matter what I have discovered, even if you abandon Siwa -- they eventually just find their way to Cyrene and you are STILL not well prepared because money is, as you mentioned, SCARCE. You can eventually take Cyrene with your Lepcis Magna garrison in any case and this way you at least avoid debt (for a few years).

Battle Strats:

I too, had a problem with the Egyptians but then I decided to take the manual at its word and test my Numidian Horsemen against his chariots. In short, although it involves plenty of micromanaging (classic horse archer tactics of shoot-n-run) it IS possible to occupy and tire out the chariots with your jav horse while the rest of your army takes on his spearmen and archers -- if you get lucky you might even be able to fold up the latter from behind with one horse unit while the second one plays tag with his chariots. If I can do this, I am convinced it is a worthwhile tactic, since I am a horrible general under normal circumstances. Eventually, those tired chariots become a lot more manageable...
The second time the Egyptians invaded me they brought no chariots, but came with all light horse (with spearmen of course), which surprisingly posed more of a problem. I had collected a few archers and once again I sallied forth with my Numidian Cav to harass his siege parties. His cavalry did not move thoughout all this. The rest of my guys (Numidian Jav/Foot and Archers) were behind the wall in concentric rings radiating out from the town center - the positioning was clumsy because of the many buildings. Still, it came down to my general (situated near center which I don't usually do) making some heroic charges on the Egyptian penetrating light cav to finally win that one.

Despite all these victories, I really think the Numidians are extremely difficult to play because of a number of key factors:

1) Distances, Distances, Distances: Although I always plan to, it is impossible for me to build a real navy -- locked as I am in land combat almost from the beginning. But even if I could, it would be solely for harassing an enemy since it still, even by water, takes a long time to transport troops along the enormous east-west axis of the African continent.
a) Obviously, that problem is compounded when one discusses transport over land. In fact, I would recommend not even bothering - once you take Nepta, Lepcis Magna, and/or Cyrene just try dismantling those garrisons because they will just eat up your funds while doing nothing. It literally takes years to transport people across the African deserts. The focal points are Siwa and, eventually when Spain enters the dance, Tingi and/or Cirta. Keep garrisons there and forget the rest.

2) Egyptians: Even if you manage to win a few battles against them like I did you constantly have to maintain a strong posture against them for years. This obviously eats into your pathetically meager treasury.

3) When Spain enters the fray you have to fight a two-front war without the ability to transport troops quickly from one front to the other because of point #1.

4) You are poor and any attempt to build up your cities might lose you the war.

5) In the first few turns Carthage gets involved in a war with the Julli, Scipii, and the Senate. The Carthaginians, alas, fold like a house of cards in what seems like five seconds. Which then leaves you with having to deal with a strong Roman faction in N. Africa in addition to the problems mentioned above.

I, too, am going back to it now. I would be very interested to see what other expert players (I am far from being an expert) have to say on Numidia and whether anyone has solved these problems. I have not yet abandoned all hope but I'm close...

[Red Harvest]

Nice strategy! That is really an all out rush. I tried something a bit more subtle, but it didn't work.

Try #5 (very hard/very hard) went very well until Egypt and Scipii sent full stacks at Cyrene and Lepcis Magna. I could not get any mercs or build enough to win. I had some nice victories with the light Numidian forces, really schooled the Romans, but fighting two powers at once well away from my troop building regions did not work. You can only win so many when outnumbered 3 to 1. Too bad, because I was consistently making 2800 denarii per turn for the last 4 turns or so and was about to hit critical mass. Unfortunately, the merc supply disappeared when I finally got some money, and the invasions started.

I started by taking Lepcis Magna first using the Siwa army and leaving some foot javs for garrison in Siwa. I had to dump the other slow moving unit of foot javs along the way to beat my ally Carthage to Lepcis, despite building roads for the trip.

I of course allied with Carthage and got trade with Egypt. Egypt was slow to advance on Siwa because a brigand army was on the road, but eventually they bribed my garrison which was what I hoped they would do. I did no upgrades to Siwa other than the road.

My first move was a lot of trade center and port upgrades (2 turn builds) and that piece of road from Siwa. I marched a 2nd army from Dimmidi toward Lepcis as a relief force. And I used some Cirta troops to take Nepte.

When the Lepcis Magna relief arrived, I sent the Lepcis garrison to take Cyrene, and they arrived just two tiles ahead of the Egyptians. Nick of time. I bought enough mercs that Egypt lost the attack and gave a ceasefire. Unfortunately no more mercs arrived, and I couldn't build cav.

During the meantime I built up everything economic and got robust trade. I built a boat in Tingi and sent an emissary to the Gauls and Spanish. The Spanish were happy to ally with me--this seemed to slow their landing in Tingi.

For several moves early on I was running slightly negative, until I took Lepcis Magna and then Nepte. By Cyrene I was cruising. But I probably should have been building more cav in Cirta sooner, and moving them to support Lepcis. I knew Scipii would land eventually since Carthage doesn't put up a fight. The Numidian cav does a number on the roman infantry units...until the archers arrive. I made good use of the slingers I was allocated.

I did sell map info once to the Seleucids to gain some needed cash early on.

I might have to figure out how to kill or bribe the Egyptians. Maybe I should make a stand in Siwa.