The Future of the Republic!

[Zaknafien]

Friends, Romans, countrymen--and foreigners, lend me your advice!







Thus stands our beloved Res Publica in 180-ish BCE. Wars against Macedonia, the Ptolemaic Empire, and guerilla-like Hispanics continue on, draining the fighting men and treasuries of great Rome.

In the north, the Aeudi Kingdom expands ever outward, threatening the tribal lands of the Getic confederation in great numbers, hordes migrating south into their land.

Should I engage the Aeudi to press them out of eastern europe?

Or finish off the Macedonians first to free up resources for future fighting? 2 fresh legions of silver and gold chevroned legionaries wait in Italia for orders, while 2 more legions are stationed in Asia, another in Spain.

Advice?

[Gazius]

Gaul may be rich, but what true Roman would allow the black plague even a chance to infect any of its people? What of our people in Hispania, shall they remain locked in Iberia as a foolish tribe control the roads of the empire?

[Kugutsu]

Finishing of the Macedonians will be tricky as they have expanded round the Getai (who I am assuming you are currently allied with?). Perhaps take Byzantion and Tylis and let the scraps of their empire get mopped up by the Getai. Otherwise you will end up with very stretched supply lines, caught between the Getai, Sweboz and Sauromatae, and the AI seems unable to resist war once you share borders with them.

If it were me playing I would finish the Lusetanns in Iberia as a priority, then head north into Gaul in a two pronged attack from Italy and Iberia. It depends whether you want to keep the Arverni in the game really...

EDIT: Just noticed, what is that Arverni army doing right over in the balkans? They are a long way from home...

[Julian the apostate]

I'd say take up to the rivers from the Makies. Finish of the Spanish and the beat the hell out of the Ptolies. oh also take massilla i think its a pretty useful city because of the rivers and mercs

I'd say hit the Ptolies from both sides Africa and Galatia... Bactria should help u with them and also Armenia holds them away from good horse archer armies so if you have a few spare ships i would advise dumping them off in the crimea and taking the 2 cities... they are good recruiting grounds for mercs and foreign troops... The crimea is more of a secondary goal though that would help you against egyptian troop types

plus you will have a solid border with the pyrennes, then Alps and rivers at Massila as well as the rivers in northern thrace

(snagging the province in brittany then gifting it to the british may give the guals hell as well even though it'd be tricky 2 do

[Caratacos]

Looks to me like you may be able to split the Aedui up the middle. Though this might be risky as you could get attacked from both east and west in the attempt.
If you're stretched for resources you could form an alliance with the Averni and give them the conquered lands. I'm sure they would jump at the chance.

keep your adversaries as small and divided as possible is what i always seek to do anyway.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Bloody the Gauls, push them far enough North and you will have one continuous front. The seem to represent the only coherent threat. the Macedonians and Getai will be tearing each other's throats out in short order. Try to drive the last rebels out od Iberia, then push northward in Gaul-proper from both Iberia and Italia. Once the Western half of the Empire is secure turn your armies eastwards towards the Balkans.

Obviously use mountains and passes to your advantage.

[Zaknafien]

Excellent advice, Senatores. Here is my proposal:




Defensively extending the borders of the Republic to bring the following regions under Proconsular control, to secure the future of the People of Rome.

The Lusitanians have been enslaved, their nobility eradicated, and are no longer a threat. Macedon proper must be taught the price of defying Roman good-intentions, and then an excursion agaisnt the Aeudi tribes seems proper.

The Ptolemies are a paper tiger, their armies must march long distances to engage us in Africa and Asia, and their navies are a shadow of their former self. Though they will not accept our peace engagements, we see little threat in them.

We have made a policy of strengthening the Germanic tribes while weakening the Gauls, which has worked in our favor, doubling the land under Sweboz control, but now we must be careful that they do not get out of hand.

The Arverni are in the balkans because up until a few years ago, Sigidunum was theirs.

[Julian the apostate]

thats a very large paper tiger

[Sarcasm]

I sugest taking the Eastern Mediterranean islands, since they're really good at providing naval bases to strike from into Ptolemaic territory, not to mention they bring a lot of trade through their ports and they're relatively undefended. Once you take them there's really not much danger in loosing them either.

The Atalids homelands themselves are what give them their best troops, so consider an expedition into egypt proper. From Nikaia you should be well positioned to keep the relatively harmless troops the Ptolemies recruit there at bay, specially if you build some good fortifications there.

The Makedonians could probably need a help in getting out of Scythia, maybe if you're not interested in a presence on that side of the Danube you should consider giving it to the Getai, to make a decent regional power that can counter the Germans later on. They're reliable allies, from my experience.

Massalia is a natural target for your expansion, and it's extremely defensible not to mention it will serve as an outpost in Gallia Transalpina in future expansion.

On a side note, how did the Lusitani fare against you?

[Zaknafien]

Lusotannan did well towards the end, Sarcasm. I had to jump start them early on by buying a province or two and giving it to them, but afterwards they put up a good fight against the Carthaginians, and held out against my advancement for another 20 years or so until I decided to send a couple of full-stack legions in to finish them off.

Itd be awesome if we could program the kind of guerilla warfare they really used into the game.. the prolific use of assassins to sabotage Roman "buildings" in Iberia would be ideal.

[Sarcasm]

Maybe I can figure something out for the next internal version, since I'm planning to overhaul a lot of stuff.

What I'd really like to see them use is agressive ambushing, and hit and run tactics. On a tactical level how are they behaving and what sugestions do you have?

[Zaknafien]

Can we make them prefer a type of attack over another? aggressive ambushing would be ideal, youre right, if only they could combine it with mutliple armies. Id love to see an Iberian tuetoburg forest scenario :) But I think destroying things like "garrisons" and "governments" in enemy-occupied cities on the penninsula would be great as well, maybe a script can be done to simulate a prolonged guerilla war against foreigners?

The ambarko did well, but didnt really have much of a chance as all of my legions were silver and gold chevroned by that point.

[Markus_Aurelius]

you should have forced a protecteratship on the lusotans, than the cash would have been flowing..

[Zaknafien]

Cash flows quite well from the Penninsula with mines, regardless :)

The Aeudi tribes were frightened into a beneficial peace accord the moment two legions marched toward Segestica and Sigidunum. I was shocked at their peace envoy, but they aggreed to hand over administration of both provinces, as well as paying an indemnity to Rome.

Byzantion has fallen, along with Naissos.

[keravnos]

The Aedui Federation should be a prime target. Other than that, well done and Keep going!!