Has anyone played like this?

[TinCow]

I'm curious if anyone has tried out the custom rules we are currently running in the WRE PBeM.

If so, I'm curious to see how people fared, since I usually walk all over the AI on all difficulty levels, but am finding this game extremely challenging.

For ease of reference, here are the rules we are playing with:

1. The campaign ends when we conquer all starting WRE and ERE provinces[2], plus Tingi (43 target provinces). The game will award victory sooner (34 provinces), so choose to play on. Game ends in Summer 476 AD though.
2. Non-target provinces cannot be garrisoned at the end of a turn.
3. Target provinces cannot be enslaved or exterminated.
4. The following factions should not be eliminated: Celts, Berbers, Allemanni, Saxons. But if their last province is a target one, they are fair game.
5. Only full strength units, first cohorts or ships can be retrained.
6. The only buildings in target provinces which may be demolished are religious ones.

[HalfThere]

Seems like the trouble would come in needing to have large, expensive garrisons in many cities, and defending your gigantic borders against encroaching barbarians. Basically, it's economy moreso than anything else that would hamper you.

Even in my Alemanni game, where I've conquered Italy, I'm having similar problems. I need gigantic garrisons just to keep the Romans happy, and it's a real drain.

By the way, what difficulty settings are you playing on?

[econ21]

By the way, what difficulty settings are you playing on?

I think it is VH campaign/M battles.

I think you are right - the constraint is economic. The sinews of war...

[Dutch_guy]

Our PBM sounds really intimidating - read challenging - looking forward to my reign.

[TinCow]

Yeah, it's definitely economics. I managed to recruit a 2/3 stack army of the best available units for a big push. However the cost of these guys has reduced my income to about 500/turn. The key seems to mainly be using non-garrison methods of maintaining order, unfortunately good governors are few and far between in the early game for the WRE.

Is there any way to farm influence on a general without building academies?

[HalfThere]

Bribed enemy governors often have good traits, though they're expensive. Battles will build influence somewhat, though they're a relatively inefficient way of doing so. Converting all to one religion (probably Christianity) can also help. Finally, just leaving a guy in a settlement (even w/o an academy) has a chance of turning him into a good governor. There's an equal chance he'll turn bad, however.