House Rules

[Mujalumbo]

House rules? Eh, was more partial to techno myself, but whatever. :)

Haw haw.

First* - maintain the balance of power. I try to keep all factions in as long as possible. This is easy with, say, Koinon Hellenon once they get off the ground. This isn't always possible - for instance, if you don't put the Averni out as the Aedui, you'll never get anywhere.

Second - no starting wars. Unless necessary - see above.

Third - no bribing. Unless necessary - see above. Actually, the first rule is pretty much the golden one. Most of these subsequent rules can be broken.

Fourth - no extermination or slavery.

Fifth - diplomats and spies in every settlement. I hate having settlements bribed away, and I hate having to retake captured settlements because some dumb-@$$ left the gates unlocked.

Six - no assassination of family members. It's perfectly alright to assassinate diplomats, spies, other diplomats, and captains (if only to 'train' assassins).

That's it. I'll play differently depending on which faction I am.

* I remember one campaign as the Arche Seleukia, I had 'subdued' the locals... cash was rolling in, I had a good, experienced and versatile army. Then my spies noticed the Romani stomping all over Germania and Gaul! Damn. Can't let my honourable barbarian friends bite the dust. What's an emporer to do? Pile his hardest nuts up in a boat and send 'em over to do some damage! Hardest damn campaign I fought.

[Dumbass]

My rules about extermination:

If a settlement revolts, then I exterminate or enslave the population: Teach them a lesson.
If I lose a settlement to the enemy, but take it back, then no exterminations.
Enemy settlements I capture get exterminated depending on their pop size, but if I develope a hate for a faction, I totally destroy their settlements, take down all the buildings and take away all the population by creating the basic units until they have no pop left.

[O'ETAIPOS]

Playing as Makedonia:
1.
-heir have to be king's son
-if king do not have mature son king's brother should be heir
It's because in Makedonia royality was sacred and coming down a royal line.

2.Some units like hypaspistai, pheraspidai, hetairoi can only be led by king and his sons or heir(if he is not king's son)
Those units were royal guard and were usually close the king.

3.Makedonian national units(Taxeis Phal, Pedzetairoi, Hypaspistai, Pheraspidai, Hetairoi) should not be used as permanent garnison in non homeland cities(but they can stand in towns if king/heir is with them) - I use mercenaries/locals instead.

4. I try to keep sizable fleet - fleet was show of power for hellenistic monarch and the bigger - the bigger prestige.

5.I try to match governor's ethnicity with city's nationality if it is Allied City (gov IV)

[Markus_Aurelius]

I only have three house rules

1. Always have a balanced army (no elite only armies)

2. Never destroy a faction, either make them a protecterate or just leave them be, this rule can only be broken if the faction leader or hier gains a hatred for the faction in question.

3. All cities with a level 4 government system must be totally self governed(everthing must be automanaged, including troop recruitment)

[Zalmoxis]

No retinue transfer to make super duper uber generals as soon as they come of age.

What do you mean by that?

[Dayve]

What do you mean by that?

I mean, no putting a 16 year old noob in the same city/army as a 60 year old veteran and transferring all of his retinues that give +command or +management or +influence, depending on what his intended role is.

Noobsters must acquire their own stuff.

Except for chirugeon/doctors... Every army would have doctors anyway, so this is realistic.

[NeoSpartan]

Oh i didn't know u could transfer retinues......

[Dayve]

Oh i didn't know u could transfer retinues......

Yeah man just put them both in the same city, bring up the card of the guy with the retinues, and drag and drop them onto the mini portrait of the guy who you want to give them to.

In vanilla you could take a 16 year old and immediately make him a 5 or 6 star commander just by retinue whoring... I only do it with doctors though, as like i say, every army would have a medic.

[-Praetor-]

Oh i didn't know u could transfer retinues......

You`ve missed a very important part of the game, and a good tool to discard guys like subdergullion and such. (Such as pet idiot, drunken uncle, and other dumbs )

Even though I agree with Davye, I make only one exception with my heir... he has to be good... always.

EDIT: What davye said.

PS: By the way, you can only have 8 ancilliaries per FM...

[Zalmoxis]

Yeah man just put them both in the same city, bring up the card of the guy with the retinues, and drag and drop them onto the mini portrait of the guy who you want to give them to.

In vanilla you could take a 16 year old and immediately make him a 5 or 6 star commander just by retinue whoring... I only do it with doctors though, as like i say, every army would have a medic.

Whoa, I had no idea you could do that! I kind of feel stupid, so I'm gonna try it (sadly, my generals from my current campaign have had no children in a while, my youngest is about 36, so I'm screwed).

[Dayve]

You`ve missed a very important part of the game, and a good tool to discard guys like subdergullion and such.

Even though I agree with Davye, I make only one exception with my heir... he has to be good... always.

EDIT: What davye said.

PS: By the way, you can only have 8 ancilliaries per FM...

I find it best to pick a heir from your generals that have done something great, rather than make a heir good by retinue transfer, because as we all know, most kings/emperors in history were nutjobs anyway.

Usually i put a military commander as my heir, one who has conquered lots of land or done something great like defend a certain part of the empire with a small force until reinforcements could arrive, this is also a good reason to make war. Each generation needs a war in order for an heir to be picked.

[Wardo]

Only 8 ancilliaries? Can you really make a super-General with that, considering EB's ancilliaries?

[Mujalumbo]

"Super" is relative. If you mean to other mods and/or vanilla, then probably not.

But you can get ancillaries that give bonus construction points and command stars during seiges, army morale bonuses (which are more helpful than you think), "herbalist" types that help recover casualties, a few give you a command star for attacking or defending, general's hitpoints or experience...

And that's on top of the traits you might acquire that give combat.

Morale bonuses are important if you need your army to slog it out - they'll stick around longer taking and meting out punishment. This is helpful especially if you're outnumbered and/or facing higher quality troops.

The general who has the right ancillaries and traits combination might be a better general than one with a pile of command stars.

[Kushan]

My personal House Rules:

Objective: Play each faction as historically accurate as possible, keeping in mind the factions historical expansion and policies:

General Rules:
1: Only a family member can lead major armies. Small regional armies/garrison forces can be led by captains.

2: Sieges: Don't attack settlements until the last turn of a siege or ubless the enemy sallies on the last turn. (Historically, most settlements were starved into submission, although there are a few notable exceptions.)

3: Never use main battle units for prolonged garrison duty.

4: (As I usually have modified my installs to use 0 turn recruitment) Disband uneeded untis when not actively at war.

5: Never auto calculate battles

For added enjoyments, I use generals view camera. That'll really test your ability to command.

Kushan

[MSB]

Resurrection of this thread by the magic of Santa

So, now in 0.8 I...

• Use basic phalanx troops (such as Henellic Native Phalanx) in large cities. However these troops must not be used where they were trained. They must be used elsewhere - in a community where they have nothing to rebel for as they have no families there.
• The fields are for the elites, that is the only place where you may find any. Armies are structured of ten Henellic Heavy Phalanxes, five Henellic Veteran Phalanxes, three Henellic Elite Spearmen Units and two units of Thracian Medium Cavalry.
• The Henellic heavy Phalanxes must return to where they were trained at least once every two years. If they cannot do this then they get offered a farm (using grant of land) in a new province.