Eastern Roman Empire (BI faction)

[frogbeastegg]

Guide.

[kalifah of watton]

Not really a reply so much as some general comments.Well RTW/BI its pretty mind blowingly good id say as much as i love MTW .The big question is of course will CA ever re-vamp MTW to match the quality and format and Rome ?
Anyway played my first game on BI as the East Romans and immediatley felt at home as lets face it they are the Byzantines in waiting.Played on medium/medium and had no trouble seeing off the vandals goths and huns.In fact the huns took a city off me with massive losses due to boiling oil which then rebelled kicking them out.I spent most of the game fighting my own rebels and the WRE.The sassinds were a bit of a pain but eventually i crippled them.Did Lots of exterminating to get the cash to top up my mainly merc field armies who were constantly busy.Any way i won in 432 and carried on till 482 but gave up when my heroic leader went over to the rebels the swine.Oh yeah after reading these threads i will definatley try for a Christain Conversion policy next time maybe with WRE.Playing as the Greeks at the mo on RTW doing OK.Stop Press-Won with the Greeks,Being thrashed as the Parthians,won as the Saxons.Only playing the short campaigns on RTW.
Ciao.......The Kalifah Of Watton

[_Aetius_]

I've just finished my first go of BI a few minutes ago, i'm pretty impressed I have to say.

My campaign analysis so far.

I'm playing on H/H and at the beginning the very first thing I did was destroy all pagan temples and replaced them with christian churches etc, which reduced much of the unrest in the eastern provinces. Still getting a feel for the game I probably didnt train as many high quality troops as I should have and soon the Sassanids began raiding Syria and Cappadocia with modest sized forces.

After a few years of minor confrontations in the east it became clear that the Danube frontier was were my attention should be most of the time as the Huns rampaged against the Germanics. First the Sarmatians were pushed out of their homelands after the Vandals expelled them, the Sarmatians then expelled the Goths from their territory and then the Sarmatians and Vandals were pushed out by the Huns. So within 6 or 7 years there were 3 massive hordes on the frontier, thankfully they fought each other most of the time for now.

At around 368 things in the west looked somewhat bleak, constant rebellions pinned down my field army whilst the western Roman rebels seized Illyria, then my alliance with the western empire itself collapsed as I took Illyria from the rebels. Alarmed by this I increased the size of the western army whilst the eastern army campaigned against the Sassanids, Hatra was captured and Kotais (sp?) rebelled against the Sassanids and came over to me. So at this point despite the odd rebel army running around the east was secure and the Sassanids repeatedly defeated.

Its at this point things have begun to go wrong,the commander of the western legions was killed during the plague and my legions were severely weakened as the hordes began crossing the Danube.

First the Sarmatians crossed the unguarded frontier and lay siege to the city north of Salona in Pannonia, the city was lightly guarded and my field army was far to small to confront the Sarmatians who numbered some 4000. Second the Goths entered the empire and in the same turn lay siege to Constantinople, the Sarmatians stormed the city they were besieging and successfully plundered it, after 2 years Constantinople was stormed by the Goths and fell despite the Goths recieving 50% casualties (1500 men).

In one stroke the Imperial capital had fallen and the western provinces were totally isolated, whilst the Sassanids in the east renewed their assault on Asia Minor. To avoid a total rebellion in the east I moved the capital to Asia Minor instead of the much larger city of Alexandria then I left the game a couple of years later at 375 for a break.

I'm now contemplating my next move, I could attempt to retake Constantinople back from the Goths and try to salvage something of the western provinces or I could withdraw my western legions to Asia Minor where the campaign against the Sassanids could be pushed much further forward. Unwilling to sacrifice my 3 remaining western terrorities so easily i'm not to hyped on the withdrawel of the Balkans, however if the western legions are destroyed then i'll of gained nothing and the west will fall anyway and i'll have one less army at my disposal.

Its an interesting series of decisions I have to make, the big thing that is swaying me here is that I cant see how I can hold the Danube even if I retook it, eventually the much larger Huns will sweep down and remove me anyway. What shocks me most is that the Western empire is totally intact aside from losing north africa to the berbers and rebels, its actually conquered territory north of the Danube and is stronger than the east.

It's good to have these kind of problems for once unlike in RTW

[_Aetius_]

This campaign just gets more and more bizarre, following on directly from where I left off in 375 I decided to leave the western legions to defend my remaining territory in the west instead of withdrawing them.

The session began brightly when the western legions crushed a stack of Sarmatians in Moesia before giving the Vandals a serious mauling outside Thessalonica. In the east I made a big effort to destroy the rebel armies throughout asia minor scoring plenty of victories and finally securing the interior of the eastern provinces before pushing a campaign against the Sassanids.

Building an army mostly of Comis, eastern archers and mercenary alans and sarmatian horse archers, I pushed southwards to Hatra to relieve some of the pressure from the recently conquered city before moving northwards towards Kotais. Having collected additional troops along the way the eastern army heavily defeated the Sassanids in Armenia 3 times leaving Atraxarta wide open to attack. After bringing the garrison close to starvation the Sassanids desperately threw armies at me as I besieged the city, however beneath the walls of the city these were all swept aside and the city was exterminated.

The eastern campaign 378 - 383 had been a great success 3500-4000 Sassanids killed in battle to around 650 Romans, my recent conquests had been preserved and the vital territory of Armenia added to the empire.

At around 385 the Vandals and Sarmatians moved away from the Balkans the Vandals ending up as far away as northwestern Gaul as these barbarians moved against the WRE my western legions were reduced to keeping an eye on the Goths whos armies still vastly outnumbered my own although we were at peace. For a few years everything was quiet until the WRE started moving armies into my territory, as I was considering a pre-emptive attack on the WRE, disaster struck.

In 388 the eastern legions rebelled, the entire army in Armenia was lost as the Sassanids in coalition with the WRE invaded the empire together helping each other take Kotais. Another army was hastily raised in Antioch and Hatra to attempt to stem the invasions as the economy plumetted and soon was in the red, desperate for cash and with the empire falling to pieces I made what at the time felt like a crazy decision. Seeing that Tarentum had a tiny garrison I gambled and took the entire western army (leaving the west defenceless) and invaded Italy, within 3 years Tarantum, Rome and Ravenna had fallen to me and around 50000 denarii was gained. . Fortunately the WRE hadnt left significant forces in Italy so ive been able to hold onto these territories which are far more developed than my eastern provinces so much so I officially have the II and III Italica legions stationed in northern and central Italy.

As this propped up the economy my newly raised eastern armies have been running around defeating rebels and tiny WRE armies whilst trying to keep the Sassanids from invading Cappadocia. The problem is though that loyalty has become a serious problem in 391 Tarsus rebelled and went over to the rebels in Armenia. I needed another break after all this so I left it at 392 with pretty much everything in the balance.

Great to see TW is back on form

[Aetius22]

Great post man! I haven't played with the Eastern Empire on a hard difficulty, but BI does seem to be more balanced than RTW with interesting unpredictable campaigns. On my campaign the Sarmatians struck first at Constantinople, but the walls and my comis proved to be too much for them. The Vandals were next at Sirmium, and again the walls saved me, as the AI spent all his foot soldiers trying to take them from me.

Unfortunately the Goths also came calling and I didn't have time to replenish my army. After nearly beating them back Sirmium fell. It's very hard to keep the West if more than one horde attacks you. It also means that the WRE has time to get its act together.

I think when I play them again my strategy will be to concentrate on holding Constantinople and the two Greek Cities. Maybe gift Sirmium to the Goths. Getting rid of the Sassanids seems to be the Eastern Empire's #1 priority. Once that's done things are so easy. And of course just as you did, conversion to Christianity is a must.

By the way did you move that Pagan General in Kydonia? He was the only General so far that I have come across with the Night fighting trait. Unfortunately I didn't notice that until he was too old to be a factor. I moved him the to front, but he died quickly.

[_Aetius_]

I hadnt noticed that guy in Kydonia, I wish I had nopw i'll remember that for another time though thanks for letting me know .

The Western provinces are hard to hold onto your right there, I think you have a good idea about sacrificing Sirmium to a horde, that way you stop the horde rampaging through your territory. Then allying with them you create a buffer against other barbarians north of the Danube, however allowing an entire tribe to settle in what was your territory is dangerous.

Remember what happened when Emperor Valens let the Goths settle within the empires territory? the Goths rebelled and smashed the legions at Adrianople, so its a risk but in hindsight one I should have taken it seems.

I'm going to continue my campaign now and try and salvage something from this mess hopefully i'll report back a much brighter picture of my empire when I return.

[Gizmo04]

Oh sorry forgot to add, Does anyone know how to make Victoria, the adviser, repeat what she says at the start about the Roman faction you play? I would like to know if its possible to hear her everytime I start the Western Empire or the Eastern Empire again because heard her the first time mention how bad the state was of each Empire. So if anyone knows i'd be grateful, sorry I didn't know if this request should be posted here, again very sorry.

[Stuperman]

Hey Gizmo04, and welcome to the .org!

I'd recommend that you play the eastern emipre first purely because they are easier to play as. The WRE has serious financial and loyalty problems that make it a challenge for even the best players. The east on the other hand, is (relitivly) rich and has fewer loyalty problems.

One piece of advice that I found very helpful is unify your empires religion first thing, if you are the east you should only have 2 pagan generals, they should go on a distraction/suicide mission deep into sassnid territory, and destroy all pagan temples in your cities replacing them with Chrisitan ones.

As for hoards, I'd recommend posting your armies on bridges in the north west of your empire, they make amazing choke points on the battle field. Use archer/Horse archer heavy armies and let them come to you (make them cross the bridge on the battle map) I've had much success with this tactic.
Watching guys dodge tons of arrows just to get a pila in the chest is funny in a sick sorta way, LOL.

I'm not sure about Victoria though, hopefully someone here can help with that

[Gizmo04]

Woo! Thanks Stuperman that was... more information than I expected. Ok then I'll play as the Eastern Empire first, they looked cooler anyway because I always preferred the Romans with the purple colour. Reds cool aswell but theres something about purple that makes them cooler...

Oh and I'll try your army tactic on the bridges that should do some damage but those horde stacks have LOADS of missle cavalry (most of the renegade factions) What about the Western Empire? Roman against Roman... er... that will hurt my own morale... but anyhoo War is war. Also I tend to focus on my economy more than army sometimes TOO much and keeping up with the incursions becomes lacking.

I must admit so far I've taken a "Lose battle quit and restart campaign" policy. Again any suggestions sorry this is turning out to be a psychology thing. I was never like this in Rome:Total War.

[Stuperman]

fighting the WRE isn't a bad Idea, thier cities have all roman buildings so there is less cultural penalty for taking them.

As for Horse Archers, IIRC the computer under rates them hugely in autoresolve battles, you could try and auto resolve a battle or two to find out.

I always have a save called 'battle' that I save ofer before overy battle, as my computer has a tendence to lock up after a few hours of heavy 3d, you could do the same....although this is a bit cheap.

[GM1940]

fighting the WRE isn't a bad Idea, thier cities have all roman buildings so there is less cultural penalty for taking them.

As for Horse Archers, IIRC the computer under rates them hugely in autoresolve battles, you could try and auto resolve a battle or two to find out.

I always have a save called 'battle' that I save ofer before overy battle, as my computer has a tendence to lock up after a few hours of heavy 3d, you could do the same....although this is a bit cheap.

Have you considered cooling problems? It might be something to look into if you have fan problems, a poorly sited tower, or a laptop. I -always- run a desk fan under my laptop, to prevent CPU, memory and GPU temperatures from going over ~70 celsius. Without the fan they can easily get into the 90s which is dreadful for their longevity and can cause instability.

There is a popular Dell laptop temp/fan monitoring program called I8kfangui that I highly recommend to anyone who games on Dell laptops.

[Andros Antonius]

I was wondering about something with the Eastern Roman campaign. Is it inevitable that the Western Roman Empire will turn on you fairly early in the game? I remember I was allied with them until like 20 to 25 years after the start and they suddenly backstabbed me and declared me an enemy. I don't think I did anything to offend them, but then again I might have crossed into their territory without agreeing to that through diplomacy or maybe it had something to do with alliances with other factions that were incompatible.

The Eastern Roman campaign starts off pretty tough I think, since you almost instantly lose Constantinople and northern Greece to the Sarmatian and Gothic hordes that seek a new homeland, and it takes a while to take them back. At the same time you're facing constant pressure from the Sassanids to the east who pretty much only have you as their main enemy and obstacle. The whole pagan/Christian thing can also further complicate things when money and men are being used for other purposes early in the game. Later on though, after you deal with the barbarians and Persians, it becomes smooth sailing for a while. I have yet to play with the Western Empire, but apparently it's tougher.

It was my favorite faction to play with in BI and got pretty far into it, like around 500 AD, before I accidentally overwrote the save file with a Frankish campaign that I started

[gardibolt]

They turned on me pretty quickly too. I suspect that may be hardcoded or at least there's a strong inclination in that direction, in order to mimic the circumstances of the Fourth Crusade, which ended up with the west sacking Constantinople.

[gollum]

The main reason why ERE is no easy is that their Governor buildings have an additional bonus in public order. If one takes that out and incraeses the required regions for victory to include Gaul, Iberia and North Africa in their entirety, as well as mod out the hugely overpowered equites clibinarii and nerf the also overpowered eastern archers, ERE can be lots of fun.

[wooly_mammoth]

For some reason I can't find this discusses anywhere on the Internet, so I'll ask here.

Almost done with my vanilla version of BI ERE campaign, only need 6 more territories including Carthage, but I've noticed something distressing. The Emperor is a complete badass, with excellent stats, very good traits, great retinue. He has lead the same comitatenses units in conquest from Antioch to Arsakia and then back all the way to Rome. This guy has seen the empire grow under his rule from a poor, religiously divided, on the brink of annihilation territory to the biggest power in the known world that no one dares to challenge, and yet his loyalty is dropping like crazy.

So, can the taffing Emperor actually betray you and join the ERE rebels? To me, that sounds completely stupid and illogical. It makes perfect sense for a general with a good military career to decide there's more to his name than the mudholes in Armenia, proclaim himself emperor and go rebel with his troops, but will the actual Emperor of ERE do that if his loyalty gets too low?

[Vincent Butler]

For some reason I can't find this discusses anywhere on the Internet, so I'll ask here.

Almost done with my vanilla version of BI ERE campaign, only need 6 more territories including Carthage, but I've noticed something distressing. The Emperor is a complete badass, with excellent stats, very good traits, great retinue. He has lead the same comitatenses units in conquest from Antioch to Arsakia and then back all the way to Rome. This guy has seen the empire grow under his rule from a poor, religiously divided, on the brink of annihilation territory to the biggest power in the known world that no one dares to challenge, and yet his loyalty is dropping like crazy.

So, can the taffing Emperor actually betray you and join the ERE rebels? To me, that sounds completely stupid and illogical. It makes perfect sense for a general with a good military career to decide there's more to his name than the mudholes in Armenia, proclaim himself emperor and go rebel with his troops, but will the actual Emperor of ERE do that if his loyalty gets too low?

If I remember correctly, if the Emperor is your faction leader or faction heir, he cannot turn Rebel. I know faction leaders/heirs cannot be bribed.