ROMANI: The MOST powerful and easy faction...

[hellenes]

I didnt disband ANY unit as the Romans...only the useless (for their upkeep) fleet...
I control all Italy and Sicily and my economic problems are LONG gone...I just use 1 cav unit per army and 80% of my legions are Principes...which btw rule, their pila and sword are perfect for rushing the opponnent while the 2 cav units (equites+gen) are used in cleaning the ruting enemy...
Also principes are better than Hastati AND Triarii (who have the useless phalanx and cost alot) for just a slight upkeep cost...
I recommend to ANY EB starter to pick Romani as the most viable choice...

Hellenes

[Rodion Romanovich]

Interesting, I was actually thinking of revising my choice as starting with Baktria, and play Romani instead, mainly because of the inclusion of Epirus.

Was the conflict vs Epirus really that easy as you say? Didn't you have any difficulties with the Epirean troop types, for instance elephants?

Anyway I just got the installation started, and I'm really excited! I think my first hour will be spent on just browsing around, testing some custom battles to see how cavalry are balanced to infantry and archers are balanced, so I can make proper decisions when I start my first campaign. Romani, Baktria and Casse all seem like interesting options to begin with.

[hellenes]

Interesting, I was actually thinking of revising my choice as starting with Baktria, and play Romani instead, mainly because of the inclusion of Epirus.

Was the conflict vs Epirus really that easy as you say? Didn't you have any difficulties with the Epirean troop types, for instance elephants?

Anyway I just got the installation started, and I'm really excited! I think my first hour will be spent on just browsing around, testing some custom battles to see how cavalry are balanced to infantry and archers are balanced, so I can make proper decisions when I start my first campaign. Romani, Baktria and Casse all seem like interesting options to begin with.

The elephants are in Epirus...so not much of a problem..
Their Italian army which isnt lead by Pyrrus since he was in Greece...usually goes south to conquer the rebel city, leaving Tarentum easy grab...After taking Tarentum and all the Italy its quite easy to steamroll Sicily and forge a nice starting base for operations in Carthage Greece and Gaul...

Hellenes

[Dayve]

What settings are you playing on though? I'm playing on H/M and so far have taken the two cities on the lower peninsula and the two rebel cities west and north of Arretium and although i'm making more money now the troops are so expensive to recruit and i lose so many in a battle that it is still a challange... I've even lost a battle! That's never happened in a 1.2 mod before...

The battles with the Epirotes were easy as pie though i must say... I had to fight one army of about 6 or 7 units and then they had nothing else and i had kicked them off the peninsula... Didn't even see Phyrrus or any elephants... But Carthage are being very aggressive on Sicily and i see some fairly large armies there so who knows, it might be a real challenge fighting the Carthies...

As for using an army of principes and one cavalry unit well, all i have to say is that if you're not a fan of realism you shouldn't have bothered downloading this mod... For me to use a Roman army without Hastati, Triarii, Rorari and Accensi would feel too unrealistic and wrong... If you're going to just use a full stack of the best infantry you can find regardless of how realistic it is then why didn't you stick with the SPQR mod or something... The people who made this have spent 2 years working to make the game as realistic as is humanly possible and the first thing people do when they get it is buy the best infantry they can regardless of the accuracy or realism of it, then say it's too easy... Try using a realistic balanced army and playing on hard or very hard campaign map with medium or hard battles...

[hellenes]

What settings are you playing on though? I'm playing on H/M and so far have taken the two cities on the lower peninsula and the two rebel cities west and north of Arretium and although i'm making more money now the troops are so expensive to recruit and i lose so many in a battle that it is still a challange... I've even lost a battle! That's never happened in a 1.2 mod before...

The battles with the Epirotes were easy as pie though i must say... I had to fight one army of about 6 or 7 units and then they had nothing else and i had kicked them off the peninsula... Didn't even see Phyrrus or any elephants... But Carthage are being very aggressive on Sicily and i see some fairly large armies there so who knows, it might be a real challenge fighting the Carthies...

As for using an army of principes and one cavalry unit well, all i have to say is that if you're not a fan of realism you shouldn't have bothered downloading this mod... For me to use a Roman army without Hastati, Triarii, Rorari and Accensi would feel too unrealistic and wrong... If you're going to just use a full stack of the best infantry you can find regardless of how realistic it is then why didn't you stick with the SPQR mod or something... The people who made this have spent 2 years working to make the game as realistic as is humanly possible and the first thing people do when they get it is buy the best infantry they can regardless of the accuracy or realism of it, then say it's too easy... Try using a realistic balanced army and playing on hard or very hard campaign map with medium or hard battles...

I agree but in the choice of:
1 hour total gameplay + losing + realistic armies
many hours total gameplay + winning + profitable armies
I ve chosen the latter...of course anyone has his prefernces...
And Principes arent the best they are just the best of the buck...
Also the Equites didnt eat chaviar and drink champagne all day, and it didnt take 2 years to raise a legion...RTW has realism problems in the heart of the engine and protected by severe hardcoding...

Hellenes

[Teleklos Archelaou]

I agree that starting out with the Romani is one of the easier choices. The weird thing is that they don't do as well expanding when the AI controls them. If we made it any easier for them it would be too easy for humans, but if we made it any harder they'd not expand (at least from what I've seen). As AI they tend to be too passive in their dealings with Epeiros. But all three factions who go after Sicily and southern Italy often will get their tail ends handed to them by the eleutheroi down there, at least for the first decade it seems.

[Rodion Romanovich]

I played the Romani now. I agree that there are some easy grabs, but EB as Romani is still harder than VH/VH Numidia in RTW, so there's quite a challenge anyway. I'm starting to understand how the government system works now, and I like it a lot. As I've understood it, after conquering a province you can choose it to be one of 4 or so levels, with the level with smallest number enabling most own troop types and buildings? I've chosen level 1, total romanization, for all provinces conquered so far, but then I've only conquered 2 provinces yet so I haven't had much chance to experiment.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

I played the Romani now. I agree that there are some easy grabs, but EB as Romani is still harder than VH/VH Numidia in RTW, so there's quite a challenge anyway. I'm starting to understand how the government system works now, and I like it a lot. As I've understood it, after conquering a province you can choose it to be one of 4 or so levels, with the level with smallest number enabling most own troop types and buildings? I've chosen level 1, total romanization, for all provinces conquered so far, but then I've only conquered 2 provinces yet so I haven't had much chance to experiment.

Good choice so far on the govts . Take a look at Malrubius' roman gameplay guide if you want some tips or ideas. It only takes you a few turns into a campaign, but has some good stuff.

[jerby]

the further you move away, the worse your gov. options get. iirc the romani can't build lvl 1(best) in , say, turkey...

[Dayve]

I've also been building the most time consuming and expensive government in conquered provinces... I'll do this for the cities on the peninsula, then in cities close to the peninsula (within a certain circle i will think up) i will build type two which is like colonization i think... Then in the next circle i will build type three which is light Romanization, then in the cities on my outskirts i will build the one which basically means they can please themselves but will be paying taxes and supplying meager troops in times of need... So you see the further my empire expands the less Roman it will become until you get to the edge of my empire and it's basically just that cities old culture except they are governed by Rome...

[Rodion Romanovich]

Gah, those gaesatae drive me mad! Attacking them with 4 or 5 principes and surrounding them doesn't even help - they end up routing my 4 or 5 units then they run after them and kill them all when they're running... In one city assault battle there was one gaesatae unit left in the town center, and 5 of my infantry units attacked it from different directions. After 2.30 minutes my units routed after having lost half their units, the only reason I won the battle was because I had kept a small cavalry unit in the town center for 3 minutes... Has anyone found out a good way of dealing with them yet? They seem pretty invulnerable to slingers despite their lack of armor...

[Ranika]

Refer to this post on Gaesatae; https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...8&postcount=24

It takes a bit of creative use of javelins and cavalry to deal with them in the 'easiest' way. NEVER throw infantry at them, it's suicidal. Slings and arrows have too low lethality to damage them easily. Use javelins to soften them and then hit with what cavalry you have (playing as Romans, preferably mercenaries, because Roman cavalry sucks). Don't let them get close, either. If they charge your line, let your men fire at will, but don't charge them. Try instead to hit them with cavalry from the sides before they close. Done right, you should be able to push them back to the Gallic line at least. Never let them touch your infantry, they'll eat them alive; the unit also lowers infantry morale, hence why infantry is prone to rout when fighting them.

[Dayve]

I still must disagree with the origional title of this thread... I own all of the Italian Peninsula now, as well as Patavium, Bononia and Sagesta (just west of Arretium, i forget what it's EB city name is), but i haven't yet taken Mediolanium... Also in Sicily i've just taken Messana, and i'm barely managing to upkeep 2 armies (both of which are fighting on two fronts, north and south) and build up my cities...

In all i'd say my overall forces (both armies and garrison units) consist of 8 hastati, 6 principes, 4 triarii, 4 rorarii, 3 slingers, 2 of those barbarian archers, 1 full strength unit of equittes, and about 15 leves which are being used as peace keeping forces in my cities...

Hardly spectacular, as you can see... On top of this, rebels are popping up everywhere, the last ones to pop up had 4 units of naked immortals, as i like to call them... FOUR! Do you know what these 4 units did to my northern army? They reduced it to half of its origional strength, that's what they did...

I can't afford a rebel killing army... I was going to make one out of Rorari and Accensi with a general but i can't even afford that, so i'm having to march my northern army through Italy, sweeping up rebels as they go... Leaving my northern cities exposed to smelly barbarians who could declare war at any time...

There's a massive rebel navy hanging around that keeps blocking my ports randomly every few turns... With two of the most basic Roman warships, the odds against that rebel fleet were 20-1 against me, so i would need two fully stacked fleets of basic warships to have an even fight, which i would then lose because i'm playing on hard campaign difficulty... So transporting men is out of the question.

So the Romans really aren't all that easy... Very difficult to play as actually... I'm having more fun playing as them than ever before with this game...

[hellenes]

I still must disagree with the origional title of this thread... I own all of the Italian Peninsula now, as well as Patavium, Bononia and Sagesta (just west of Arretium, i forget what it's EB city name is), but i haven't yet taken Mediolanium... Also in Sicily i've just taken Messana, and i'm barely managing to upkeep 2 armies (both of which are fighting on two fronts, north and south) and build up my cities...

In all i'd say my overall forces (both armies and garrison units) consist of 8 hastati, 6 principes, 4 triarii, 4 rorarii, 3 slingers, 2 of those barbarian archers, 1 full strength unit of equittes, and about 15 leves which are being used as peace keeping forces in my cities...

Hardly spectacular, as you can see... On top of this, rebels are popping up everywhere, the last ones to pop up had 4 units of naked immortals, as i like to call them... FOUR! Do you know what these 4 units did to my northern army? They reduced it to half of its origional strength, that's what they did...

I can't afford a rebel killing army... I was going to make one out of Rorari and Accensi with a general but i can't even afford that, so i'm having to march my northern army through Italy, sweeping up rebels as they go... Leaving my northern cities exposed to smelly barbarians who could declare war at any time...

There's a massive rebel navy hanging around that keeps blocking my ports randomly every few turns... With two of the most basic Roman warships, the odds against that rebel fleet were 20-1 against me, so i would need two fully stacked fleets of basic warships to have an even fight, which i would then lose because i'm playing on hard campaign difficulty... So transporting men is out of the question.

So the Romans really aren't all that easy... Very difficult to play as actually... I'm having more fun playing as them than ever before with this game...

Now its quite sarcastic...
If I tie my hands behind my back...Cover my eyes...And operate the game using my nose and my tongue while reacting to sounds, even Egyptians in vanilla on easy/easy with a 1000000 denarii cheat are a challenge...
It personal choice of selecting varius levels of satisfactions and pain..myself I always try to accomplish what challenges are in front of me capitalising the tools that I have at my disposal...
And judging from their success in reality the Romans are quite historically powerful...

Hellenes

[khelvan]

Seeing as how we can't adjust the pirate navies, we may have to remove the more powerful ships, as spawning just one or two of them at the beginning can bring a world of hurt on the player.

[Rodion Romanovich]

Thanks Ranika, it was a lot easier now. A line of 6 principes and 3 triarii, with 3 units of equites made short work of them. I tried to kill the easier units such as mala geroas (excuse spelling) and botroas and then hold up the gaesatae in front of my infantry, charging them to the rear with my cavalry. That reduced their strength to nearly half, until they turned and faced the cavalry. Then, my principes threw their pila into their rear, while my cavalry pulled out. The gaesatae then charged towards my principes, who retreated behind my triarii, who then took the gaesatae charge. Cavalry into their rear again, and they were forced to rout, both by being outnumbered, beaten in weapons strength, and seeing the entire rest of their army, including general, routing. The frustration has gone, and been replaced by a delight over the challenge these units offer. When I also saw that the Aedui didn't have plenty of these guys in all of their settlements, as I had thought after conquering the rebel cities in northern Italy but before sending my spies around to scout in preparation for expansion north, things started to look more hopeful for my roman armies...

I'm on my way to prepare for a siege of Syracuse, but I dread the task. The strong EB units and improved AI and battles in combination with stone walls can only end up a very bloody business. Hopefully I won't lose my entire southern army...

[Dayve]

I'm also currently planning on laying siege to Syracuse as i've just taken Messana and Syracuse is still in the hands of the rebels so hopefully it won't start a war with anyone... (Or maybe it will, with the Greeks?) I don't like to think how many soldiers i will lose in doing so but i'm expecting it may 'come to the triarii'... Although i know i'll win, there's no doubt about that... But first i must prepare for the losses by building up reinforcements to send to the army after the city is taken so that the south of my empire (in the making) isn't entirely exposed to baby murdering carthaginian scum!

[Ranika]

Thanks Ranika, it was a lot easier now. A line of 6 principes and 3 triarii, with 3 units of equites made short work of them. I tried to kill the easier units such as mala geroas (excuse spelling) and botroas and then hold up the gaesatae in front of my infantry, charging them to the rear with my cavalry. That reduced their strength to nearly half, until they turned and faced the cavalry. Then, my principes threw their pila into their rear, while my cavalry pulled out. The gaesatae then charged towards my principes, who retreated behind my triarii, who then took the gaesatae charge. Cavalry into their rear again, and they were forced to rout, both by being outnumbered, beaten in weapons strength, and seeing the entire rest of their army, including general, routing. The frustration has gone, and been replaced by a delight over the challenge these units offer. When I also saw that the Aedui didn't have plenty of these guys in all of their settlements, as I had thought after conquering the rebel cities in northern Italy but before sending my spies around to scout in preparation for expansion north, things started to look more hopeful for my roman armies...

I'm on my way to prepare for a siege of Syracuse, but I dread the task. The strong EB units and improved AI and battles in combination with stone walls can only end up a very bloody business. Hopefully I won't lose my entire southern army...

A few units in the game really make you have to be creative, which is good. And you have to be creative different ways depending on your faction. Like with the Casse, they are absolutely no match man-to-man for some of the heavier infantry armies' later units (like the heavier Gauls and of course, post-Marian Romans). So, they need to use what they have and find creative ways to make gaps and exploit the enemy positions. It should give a delightfully unique experience, and it's always interesting to have to come up with new tactics to counter a powerful unit. But, yes, that's the way to beat the Gaesatae. A few people complain about the loss of so much infantry to them, but, that's the idea.

That said, there are a number of other units you may really have to think how to fight. Especially watch out for anything with 'AP', especially when you have as much armor as Romans; stuff with falcata, axes, etc. It may sound odd, but actually use lighter infantry to fight them if you can; less armor. You'll lose around the same number of men, but it'll be from cheaper units, so they're easier to replace.

[Divinus Arma]

Regarding the use of Hastati, Principes, and Triarii:

I too initially chose to rely on the Principes for the bulk of my infantry, but I found that this is not the way to go. Each unit has a unique benefit, that, if used historically, should provide the player with an efficiency advantage.

The key in EB is economic/military balance. As such, the player must find the most efficient means of raising and maintaining armies in relation to plans for expansion, rebel management, and territorial defense.

For the Romani, keeping the hastati/principe/triarii maniple intact offers the greatest model for efficiency. Here is why:

Hastati are generally cheaper to raise and maintain than principes. The main purpose of the hastati is to act as the "charge sponge", absorbing the intial charge from the enemy. This is their sole purpose. Soak up a charge and wait for immediate reinforcements.

The principes should be committed almost immediately after the hastati, in order to (1) Provide a charge-bonus attack once the enemy has expired his charge, (2) Support the hastati immediately in bulk of manpower to prevent a rout, and (3) act as your primary fighting force.

The triarii also should be committed to the fight, just after the principes. But their task is not to engage individual units; their mission is to establish and hold the line. Hastati and Principe should attack with guard off and target specific units. Triarii should fill in the line in guard-phalanx to prevent breakthroughs and keep morale high.

Rorarii, if you decide to use them, are excellent for filling in critical gaps where the manpower of the hastati and principes have depleted. Because of their low morale, they can do little else (and should never be used for the hastati's role), but make excellent filler for this purpose.

The romani quincunx (checkerboard formation) is fine for marching to battle, as it alleviates some shared casualties from arrow fire. In battle, however, it's role is useful only against a phalanx army, and even then it is difficult to manage. I recommend a maniple-style grouping for organization as the battle commences. For in-border rebel management the following should be sufficient: 2 or preferably 3 maniples, each comprised of 1 century each of hastati, principe, and triarii. That is a total of 6-9 regular units in your stack. Compliment this army with rorarii and ascencii if you choose, and which I recommend. This army is not only your rebel management force, it is also your factional defense force against northern invaders.


Playing as the romani, you will, most likely, choose to go South first to consolidate your position on the peninsula. To further build your power base, the conquest of sicily is logical. Although the arverni and Gaul are tied up, it is still wise to prepare a defense against them. Forts with one unit of cheap ascensii placed in key northern chokepoint positions can provide you with plenty of time to bring your rebel management force into position for Northern defense.

Meanwhile you can choose to take the South with your second army.


Eventually, your conquering army should consist of five maniples, each maniple with one century of hastati, principes, and triarii. Think of each of these maniples as a single unit and you should be very successful. Compliment this stack with 2 rorarii, 2 ascecii, and 1 general and you are fairly unstoppable.


Anyway, I last played on .6.9, So I will have to repost after I get a chance with .7.

[Reenk Roink]

Gah the Romani are giving me a hell of a time holding on to Taras. I won an early (and unlikely) victory against a small army when they first blundered across into my land (I attacked), but now I'm suffering a string of reverses. I lost a second battle trying to intercept them, and was besieged for 4 turns in Taras before they lifted because a Carthaginian army showed up in Italia and am again besieged. I have just built a fleet and sent my main army that I used to conquer Hellas to Italia, but this will delay my prior plans. Luckly, I subdued the Makedonians as my protecterate, so I can concentrate on them...

[SwordsMaster]

Oh, well I played a Romani campaign too, long live the Empire and all that, but I chose a more methodical approach and moved North first to take Bononia and Segestica, which I did after some 10 turns. Then I took a loong break mainly because the casualties had been higher than I expected, and because I needed to sort out my economy. The southern Army sitting in Cannae had been beaten by rebels (yes, and I'm man enough to accept it!), for which I'm really grateful as it was an eye-opener. The bad thing is, I lost one of my most promising generals, stupidly enough, to dodgy peltast javelin fire....

Anyway, after resting and resupplying and setting up my economy for some 10 years, I made some 7k a turn and decided it was time to kick epiros out of Italy. Both Epeiros and Carthage had been mantaining a struggle to control Rhegium, and finally Epeiros got the upper hand, and guarded the city with a full stack of decent units, phalanxes, peltasts and some archers. So I gathered a half decent army with veteran units from the north, reinforced with celtic archers and 'auxiliary' units for some extra punch and a roman core of 2 hastati, 3 principes, 2 triarii, 2 accensi, equites and 2 generals.

Regium proved to be a tough nut. There were 4 1-unit armies around the city that also ganged up on me. Most of my celts never made it back (but those who did are now approaching their gold chevrons), but the romans won the day and some good experience as did my generals.

The better administrator stayed in Rhegium while the other general with the most depleted of the Roman units and the most still usable celtic ones went for a retraining in winter to Capua that lasted through spring because I didnt have the money to retrain all of them at once.

Then something unpredictable happened. Taras was guarded with only a small force, and I wanted to make sure nothing unexpected happened so I gathered an army that outnumbered the enemy by approximately 2:1, meaning that I stripped a few extra units from the north. And then a pesky Epirian diplomat bribed Segestica with my whole garrison! and a gaulic army! (ok, a small one).

My income was down to 4k a month so I set off my diplomats to get my trade rights with the Ptolemmies, makedonians and all the northern barbarians, iberians and carthaginians. Meanwhile I had to be quick.

A spy opened the gates of Taras for me and my victorious general, having only lost a few celts in the battle quickly rushed north leaving some roarii as garrison while the norhtern garrisons were reinforced and forces trained for him to pick on his way. Segestica fell to a mostly celt army, as most romans were being reequipped in Roma and Arretium for further campaigning north. Segestica fell, was exterminated (the big bastards sold me!) and then completely romanized while my general, already a vanquisher, and Praetor (being a Plebeius) kept moving north to Patavium with an army of battle hardened veterans (at least 3 chevrons, some units had 3 silver ones) composed as usual of a roman core, and celtic archers and heavy infantry.

Patavium was opened for me by another spy. Then Enslaved and Colonized. Here I got the opportunity to train some better cavalry (Caetratii, I don't actually know if they are better than Equites, but they cost a bit more...)

Now, this was year 263BC.

In 260BC, already refitted, retrained and with 2 celtic phalanxes from Patavium and Caetratii in the army my general (only 25 now) was heading south to Messana.

Again,it was a very tough fight. A lot of phalanx units garrisoned inside probed to be a tough nut, but the principes saved the day, holding in position 3 enemy phalanxes while the triarii flanked them, and my cavalry went around the whole city, taking the square and killing off skirmishers to finally hit the phalanxes in the rear. Only 8 principes from that units survived the battle.

So I set my greedy eyes on Syracuse. I send in a spy, and then.... disaster! The Getai besiege Patavium, and as my repidly gathered forces march north, just a turn before they arrive, they assault and take the city.

Here is where I am now. the Getai sitting in Patavium, I'm waiting for reinforcements outside (because most of my roman infantry needed some retraining after Messana) and my assasins training in killing every diplomat in sight so that the Segestica disaster doesn't occur again.

A very enjoyable game EB. Thanks.

[Dayve]

Well i was going to play BF2 but... Your post has made me want to play EB...

[Divinus Arma]

In ref to my earlier post in this thread...


Loaded up the OB and Romani is essentially the same. The romans are the most economically powerful at the start of a campaign. A real powerhouse indeed. Unfortunatley, I ran into a perma-CTD in Summer 262 and had to end the campaign. Oh well. Fun getting there.

[Chester]

I'm at 222 BC. I'm playing Rome. I consider myself a very seasoned player.

I would like to end the myth that Rome is an easy faction, a myth that I helped prepetuate.

Carthage, Iberia, and Ptolemaioi are not push overs. I've made serveral failed attempts to conquer the Carhagian coast line. At one point I had a conquering Africanus, 5 star general deal I'm talking about.

He was a vaniqisher of Carthagians. I was unstoppable. However, as my armies got bigger my money became smaller. I needed numerous ships to transport them over with efficiency, and in time to meet the Carthagian threat.

The time it took to sail them all over and resupply my armies was a killer. The fact that you can't recruit mercs in lower africa was a killer. The Ptolemaic army that harassed my at Lepki was a killer. The scattered and numerous Carthagian armies was a major killer.

I nearly bankrupt myself building adequate garrisons in Africa, mobilizing troops, and keeping the Ptolemaioi at bay.

With the death of my Africanus general (old age) in the deserets, I lost all faith in my ability to win. He alone was winning almost all my battles. Forging him into a brilliant general was so much fun and so rewarding, but sadly he passed on.

And with his passing followed my African dreams of conquest.....

I've just set sail three fleets of hells fury fully stacked, to crush Carthage in Iberia. It took me some time to build them up. I did manage to snag all the Carthagian islands, so my bank role should stay a bit fatter now.

THis is not taking into account that Sweboz is only 1 province away from being my neighbour. They are powerful as hell with big armies to boot.

Rome an easy faction? I don't think so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SwordsMaster]

I though I'd write an update of my campaign.

After defeating the army at Patavium, and briefly taking Segesta (I had to give it up, cause I produced nothing and it wasn't worth keeping, so I gave it back to the Getai for a few coins, rights and a ceasefire.)


I'm allied to the Gauls, which is annoying as I don't want to break the treaty, but they still have Mediolanum; and also allied to the Iberians which is also annoying cause I'm looking for a suitable target for my next invasion.

My best general was killed in battle with rebels, no less because the AI just charged him into some barbarians and he got bogged down, and his successor was killed in his first battle, taking Massalia, by a stone (no kidding) from some slinger unit in the town square.

I managed to unify Sicily, so now I have 10 roman units of the most experienced troops the world has ever seen, all of them with golden chevrons, some of them with 2. Hlaf of them are now sitting in Massalia, waiting for it to be romanized, and the other half is being retrained in Italy for a campaign against probably Carthage or Epirus, I haven't decided yet.

The last 10 or so years have been spent building up happiness and economy in the peninsula. The only new territories, Sicily and Massalia are both being developed to fully contribute to my economy, while the Peninsula already has proper roads and makes some 8k a turn with every city building something. As my governors started to die out of old age and all, I had to start improving happiness structures, specially seeing as most of them were guys with 7-8 influence and at least 2-3 scrolls of management. The funny story comes from my faction leader, he started out having 4 scrolls and 8 influence, developed into 8 scrolls and 10 influence, and then degenerated into 1 scroll and 9 influence by the time he hit 60. I can't wait for the bastard to die, he is a bored drunk and assasin master...

Anyway. I'm concentrating my efforts in building a fleet now to transport my troops to the Carhtaginian islands, as with my finantial hlep, the iberians have kicked carthage out of Iberia and if I take out the islands they should concentrate in weakening the Ptolemies. Or that is the plan.

On the other hand, in Greece, the Getai, Epiros and Koinon Hellennon have reduced Macedon to 1 province, and macedon have reduced Epiros to 2. Now they are both at peace, so a well timed attack could grab them both in one stroke.

This is the way things are in 249BC, in Rome.

[LorDBulA]

Wow Chester that looks like lots of fun.
What provines do you control? Can you post screenshot of your map with FOW turned off?
Would be possible for you to send me your savegame? I would really like to see how AI is dooing.

I hope that you inform as how will your campaign go.

[Rodion Romanovich]

My Romani campaign entered a short crisis in money and recruitment for a while after conquering most of Gaul and part of the North African coastline, but I quickly sorted it out by going more defensive in North Africa for a while. I think I can handle the incoming Karthadastim stacks fairly well with my river crossing positions and veteran legion that I like to call Legio I Carthaginensis Victrix. Legio II and Legio III Gallicus have effectively subdued the Gauls and Legio II is now redistributed to conquer Iberia while the veterans of Legio III is going to defend Gaul from the Sweboz and Casse, should they attack. Legio IV was just formed in Northern Italy to guard the Alp passes from Dacians and Germans, while the newly trained Legio V Graecus is almost ready to embark upon a conquest of Greece. Once Iberia falls, and my influence in Greece increases, I'll be able to finance a conquest of the rest of Karthadastim and some legions to reinforce the Rhine and Danube borders. The future looks bright, but far from certain... For instance I wonder how I am to be able to hold on to the Ptolemaioi territories I'm supposed to hold according to the objectives... And those pirates are really annoying, especially as my fleet still only consists of transport ships.

My standard legion consists of 8 principes, 4 sotaroas, 3 triarii, 1 general, the rest being auxiliaries, varying from leuce epos (great anti-gaesatae troops ) to liby-phoenician infatry.

I've had some really great battles, for example the Aedui last stand. As I was on my way to besiege their last city, I halted on a river crossing to await reinforcements after suffering casualties. There were Aedui forces on both sides of the river, and as I hit end turn the smaller force hit me from the rear. I had to charge over the bridge and it was a sweaty minute seeing the Aedui forces on the other side resisting and refusing to rout, while the larger Aedui army approached from the rear. After a rear-guard battle which cost me some of my cavalry, I was able to cross safely and set up appropriate defenses on the other side of the river.

I've actually had a considerable amount of battles with multiple enemy stacks attacking at the same time, where I was forced to quickly destroy the first army before the other arrived, which made for some quite sweaty battles. The MM terrain is also great, I've been able to use terrain to my advantage quite a few times, especially in a very memorable battle vs the Arverni, which probably was the most crucial battle in our war...

[cunctator]

Just for curiosity: What's the year of your campaign and how many provinces do you controll?

[Rodion Romanovich]

It's 249 BC, and I control 34 provinces

[Dayve]

You'll have won by 200BC... You won't even get to see the Marian Reforms.