Advice needed

[Axel JD]

I've been playing a really challenging campaign as the Romans for a while now and after many years of struggle with Carthage, Epeiros, Aedui and Arverni I have finally managed to carve out a sizeable dominion. It's just after the Polybian reforms and I control the Italian peninsula, southern Gaul, the Adriatic, Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia and finally peace have settled on all fronts (not that it will last, but still). I've been so preoccupied with my own business that I had no idea of what had been going on in the East, which is this; the Seleucid protectorates failed to unite and rebel against the AS, who, with their hands free, pounded the Ptolemaioi and Saba into submission, betrayed the Pontos and Hayasdan and expanded into Lybia. They now control all of Egypt and Arabia, save from one province in each, Anatolia, most of Armenia and is slowly but surely gnawing away at the Qarthadastim.

My question then is this; will it be worth continuing this campaign? The AS will just continue to grow and I am presently to far away to stop them, I even have to stay out of Qarthadastim so that they will work as a buffer zone (so much for refighting the Punic Wars), sooner or later probably giving them financial support! By the time I will begin conquering AS held areas the campaign will just become unbearable.

Any advice on how to at least lessen the threat they pose, or should I just give up in order to avoid drowning in concrete coloured boredom?

[bovi]

You could take the rest of the western mediterranean to get a huge income from trade, and set up a bunch of forts to slow any attacks from the north. Then amass a bunch of stacks to raid deeply into AS territory, preferably taking cities in a straight line to quickly get to their main cities. You should be able to quickly raise 4-5 stacks for this purpose if you have upgraded all mines and ports to a reasonable level. Use fleets to move quickly and raze everything in your path (maybe make an exception for unique buildings though!), and pump more stacks with the income to take the settlements left behind as your spearhead plunged through. Some cities will rebel to AS, some to freemen and some to other factions, but all of them will take a lot of time rebuilding what you razed before being able to produce troops of any consequence. It will be a challenge.

But if you think it will be boring, just start another campaign instead. You may want to check out the balancing submods.

[kemozz]

here is wht i suggest that you do:

move your base of operation to asia minor, first secure greece and take the coastal cities in asia minor (myteline, pergamon spelling). once you've taken these settlements start building the local barraks and fend off any attackes for a few years. once u've got a solid army of local recruits attach them to a group of veteran italian legion and a grizzled general, drive a wedge into the rest of asia. if pontice is still around give them back the settlements don't keep any for yourself. i also suggest that you have them as your allies and ask to have some military access. when using diplomacy always ask for map information and when u suggest something give them some money with the deal, but don't give too much cuz they're refuse. 50k per request.

[Long lost Caesar]

im having more or less the same problem. havent been playing long, so iv only managed to take southern italy and greece, all the way across and up to the danube river. BUT the seleucid empire has egypt, arabia, its starting lands, asia minor and practically all eastern regions under its control. SA is my ally, but i have it wont last. the question is, do i do the above advice (conquer europe and build up army and economy) or shud i attack? one of my genius ideas is blitz through their empire until im stretched too thin to hold my positions and pull all forces back to greece, destroying all buildings in cities. this way theres a buffer between me and the seleucids, and i (should be) stinking rich! waddya think?

[jhhowell]

There are two questions here - is fighting uber-AS fun, interesting, and worth doing? And, if yes, how does one do it?

The responses thus far have more or less covered the latter, though given the AI's tactical weakness I'm quite sure that a Roman player could beat them in a head-on slugfest in the Egyptian desert (or Asia Minor, or both). The blitz raid strategy would be more interesting and effective, though. Unless you're using the BI exe, Crete and Cyprus should be safe staging areas (my generals seem to get "confined to bed" after just a couple of turns at sea - very annoying, I don't advise a nonstop Tarentum to Antioch voyage).

The important question is whether one can have an interesting game after the Gray Death gets going like this. As bovi indicated, the money scripts can help, and I think most are save-game compatible (from what I've read, the mercenary scripts in the balacing mods require a new game). One can also try to stir up trouble by sticking a spy in AS cities with low public order, and optionally having an assassin stand by to knock down temples or other buildings. Against a really large empire, you should certainly be able to flip a few cities around the edges, either to the rebels or to a nearby faction (Halicarnassus to KH, in one example I've done). Also, does AS really have the east locked up? At least in my game Bactria took a while to get going, but by the 230s they had absolutely torn apart the eastern third of AS. Anyway, lots of factors to consider, and it's probably worth toggling fog of war off for a bit to get a better sense of whether the game is likely to remain interesting (unless you already have accurate, current info on what's going on back east and in northern Asia Minor).

[Axel JD]

All really good advice, I must say, I think I could still enjoy this campaign thouroughly. I have now put in motion a sort of "Grand Alliance" to combat the AS, I've allied myself to Qarthadastim, Bactria, Hayasdan, Saba and the Ptolemaioi and I have now flooded the AS with more agents than you could shake a hellen at. We shall see were this will lead...

[Long lost Caesar]

glad to hear one of us is doing well. as for myself on the other hand, my blitz idea was a load of crap. iv taken less than 6 cities in turkey and im alredy getting worn down and revolted against. and heres the reeal kicker: when the settlements revolt they become seleukid settlements, and have about 1,500 troops in them. is there some way i can make them become eleutheroi settlements, or is there no way to change the outcome of the riots? much thanks.

[kemozz]

try giving the settlements to another faction. its good a idea to give them to an ally faction that you have military access to. that way u can retreat to that settlement (just placing your army stack near that settlement) and fight battles with your allies. having military access will also speed up your retreat if you have to.

[jhhowell]

glad to hear one of us is doing well. as for myself on the other hand, my blitz idea was a load of crap. iv taken less than 6 cities in turkey and im alredy getting worn down and revolted against. and heres the reeal kicker: when the settlements revolt they become seleukid settlements, and have about 1,500 troops in them. is there some way i can make them become eleutheroi settlements, or is there no way to change the outcome of the riots? much thanks.

I guess the revolts can be random, I don't know how or if one can predict whether a city will go rebel or to a previous owner. Kemozz is right, if circumstances allow - a handoff to Pontus, Armenia, or whoever would help.

Out of curiosity, what were those 1500 troops? I assume you destroyed all MICs in the city, so I wonder what the game engine puts in revolting cities like that... In any case, your blitz did serve a useful purpose, it'll be many years before AS can raise any halfway decent troops in those cities. And depending on location they may be good targets for spies and further revolts (if you also trashed the temple, sewers, and other +order buildings). The goal of a raiding strategy is not to hold territory, but simply to ruin it so they other guy doesn't benefit from it either. It sounds like you've accomplished that pretty effectively.

[bovi]

The engine will usually put only the basic troops from the palace if there is no MIC, as well as a couple of mercenaries present in the region. And sometimes it will get all freaky and put Iberian, Persian and German units in happy unison .