oh no... is it really this easy?

[Kraxis]

An awful lot of people seem to be having easy first campaigns; is there a chance CA built in some kind of difficulty increase after, say, two started campaigns? It just strikes me a lot of people say their first campaigns are walkovers, then start a new one and get thrashed.

Of course, it could just as easily be the random nature of the hordes.

Most people that have a nice campaign don't say much, they just love to play it. Those that experiences a bad one will of course come here to vent their sadness. I believe it is the random factor playing in.

[Conqueror]

Well I just got started on my first campaign (Sassanids). I've only played for a few years, so not far into the game yet. My faction starts in a location where there aren't any barbarians nearby, only the ERE, and I got my back comfortably secured by the map edge to boot. The ERE hasn't attacked me yet and I'm not strong enough to attack them either, so it's been just skirmishes with pesky rebels so far. But those romans are massing their troops near my borders, so I guess it's just a matter of time now. They even made peace with Sarmatians and haven't been attacked by barbarians yet making me their sole enemy for the time being.