Defendable Territory

**Athena the Femme Fatale** · 03-11-2007, 19:54

Hey guys,

I like to play defence. Build a sizable empire, defend it and maintain diplomatic relations with the other viable countries as well as messing with the politics here and there with an assasin or a plague ridden spy.

I am now playing a Julii long campaign where i gave up my position in Italy and conquered Egypt at the start of the game, expanded my empire and now am defending it.

Northwestern provinces (scythian lands) bordered by the Dieneper river where i place huge stacks to defend the bridges.

Western Border, i cover the whole of asia minor and including Byzantium (so i control entry to the black sea)

South Westernmost provinces include Cyrene and Libya

Everything east of these holdings are mine. Which is quite good since i own like 6/7 of the wonders and my Capital sited at Antioch.

Then basically i sack other factions and transfer their populations to my city at their expense so i can tech up and i spend most of my time sacking and upgrading my cities.

You guys know of any other defendable areas?

Athinai

**Celt Centurion** · 03-12-2007, 02:07

One that looks worth taking is the pass just West of Tarsus. I'm presently in a Brutii campaign, and have all of Asia Minor except for Tarsus, which was taken by Egypt a few turns ago, and they are now attacking me near Ancyra. So, while I have formed 3 full stacks near Ancyra, I've also built up another full stack, foundry armor with 3 chevrons at the Temple of Mars, and went by Sea to Tarsus, which I will besiege in the next turn. There are 5 large Egyptian Armies in that Pass, which I know I will have to clear out, but I also know that pass is worth defending well, along with the ones near Sinope. Secure the passes, and the land we now refer to as Turkey is secure from invasion except by Sea.

To counter the Sea invasion, I also keep a few highly experienced, well armored fleets in port whose main job is to wait until I see an enemy fleet with an army on it. Then, I pounce on them with my fleets like so many clubs until one of them sinks the fleet, and the army! It's a satisfying feeling to sink a fleet that you knew had an army coming your way.

As you have already conquered Egypt, they won't be a problem, but the passes are still worth defending.

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

**Marshal Murat** · 03-12-2007, 03:09

Move past Greece and secure Aquila, and then Noricum, and then the Rhine River fords. It depends on who you want to sack next. The sea area west of Crete is practically yours by my understanding, and if you wanted to take Africa, that would open up a lot of space, but all you'd have to defend are the cities. Moving into Spain, you either stop before Gibraltar, or stop at the Pyrnees.

**Omanes Alexandrapolites** · 03-12-2007, 09:19

Hi and welcome Athena the Femme Fatale,
May I request a screenshot of your map - I'm, very sadly, having some trouble visualising your lands at the moment. Thanks! Cheers!

**Athena the Femme Fatale** · 03-12-2007, 11:28

Ah, actually my empire is in the east, not in the west as i have given up my starting towns. Italy is completely Brutii and only the other romans and all the barbarians are still surviving.

So i own the map east of crete, not west.

The pass at tarsus and the one at sinope are good holding areas and i own them all. I prefer to defend my borders by stationing guards at the bridges. 10 units of legions 5 catapults, 4 archer auxillas and 1 roman calvary (to mop up the routs). My melees hold the bridge while my missiles bombard the barbarians who threaten the Dnieper, very statisfying

.

I too have 3 full stacks of quinquiremes and yes sinking transports laden with armies is orgasmic.

Paving the vast scythian lands and the eastern mountains with highways brings about a developer's satisfaction.

Defending my empire against the massing barbarian hordes, i could play it on forever.

**Athena the Femme Fatale** · 03-12-2007, 11:41

Haha, sorry but i will be in school for quite a while (weeks) and my game is in my home computer.

Draw a line joining: Cyrene - Kydonia - Byzantium - Campus Sarmatae.
Everything east of them, including these settlements are my empire.

Campus Sarmatae's region is protected by guards at bridges along the Dnieper (the river which forms its western border).

Libya's westernmost border is sealed shut with tightly packed forts

Asia minor has no direct landbridge to it and can only be accessed navally.

Thanx for the nice welcome!

**Celt Centurion** · 03-12-2007, 15:30

Went back in last night, and besieged Tarsus. The Egyptians promptly rang my shield, and I fought the attacking army, and the one inside the city, reducing the combination of their armies to 11 men.

Then, in the same turn, another Egyptian army also attacked, and they were also sent to Set, or Horus, or whoever.

I got the city. The Egyptians then attacked the Army I sent to challenge them in the pass, and my army destroyed two of theirs. I dragged and dropped to bring up to full strength, and sent the reduced units to Ancyra for retraining, and sent replacements back to the pass. In the 6 or so turns I played last night, I destroyed 8 Egyptian armies in the pass, leaving them with 2. They must really want it badly. I've never before seen so many full stacks in that pass. I suspect; that their intention was to fan out and take all the cities in the Turkish peninsula at once, but my army going to challenge them put a kink in their plans.

The Egyptians have also besieged Tarsus twice, losing two armies in one battle, and when I go back in, I intend to break the other siege. By sending so much after Tarsus and the pass, they have left most of the Middle East with minimum armies. If I can act fast enough, I may be able to remove Egypt from the equation soon.

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

**Omanes Alexandrapolites** · 03-12-2007, 19:22

Hi again Athena the Femme Fatale,
Thanks very much for the map! May I suggest that, for future expansion and defend ability that you consider focusing Romanisation and expansion around this region:

This great region, probably the best on the map for defence, due to it's huge amount of highly conveniently situated rivers - is very easy to defend and expand into. Down north from Vicus Venedae there is a great river bordering between yourself and Campus Scythii with two passes on it. There is also a feild of dense impassable forest and a mountain with an easy to defend pass separating you from the settlement of Campus Iazyges. Further East and slightly North is Domus Dulcis Dormus (Home Sweet Home as it would be known as in modern English). That settlement is also conveniently surrounded by rivers that split your regions up from the vast and ugly forests of Barbaric Germania. Expanding into the regions mentioned can really help you in your future conquests by providing you with a mighty and well protected base to build up armies during the civil war.

After your northern expansion you have the ability to go down South into another great and easily defendable region! Taking Campus Iazyges, which is almost surrounded by epic rivers, and then taking a trip into Porolissum, also surrounded by rivers, followed by venturing into Campus Gatae, will both leave you with all of the most defendable regions on the map and with the barbaric Scythians almost completely and utterly surrounded. Also this great region will hopefully be critical in holding your ground against the Brutii in the civil war.

Good luck with the rest of your campaign, cheers!

**Athena the Femme Fatale** · 03-12-2007, 20:05

Good suggestions Omanes!

But i'd prefer to keep my western border with weak scythian neighbours as allies or friendly neutrals. Already the area is quite vast and dealing with rebels can get quite a headache. And my watchtowers already line the Dnieper. It's a pity though that when i sack and destroy the barbarian cities to populate my own, i cannot totally destroy them (walls, farms, roads...)

Alternatively, i've played the scythians and control the whole of Eurasia (from campus saka all the way to corduba) leaving only asia minor, egypt and africa as my contemporary lesser world powers. The narrow passes at the caucasus mountains are highly defensible. Italy and the Balkans are money spinners but the area is vast and hard to manage (clearing out rebels and stuff) and micromanaging is a headache (i always micro).

Celt, you may want to consider a blitz and take out their major cities. One thing i realised, the whole show is run on denarii. Deprive a faction of it and its armies drop like flies.

One question: Let's say i've already a campaign. If i were to do a mod to the text to change something like say rebel army size, will this change be reflected in my current game or only when i start a new campaign after the changes?