1.0x AI Faction Progression Thread

[johhny-turbo]

Eep, im already noticing a trend that may go on to be called the Yellow death. Perhaps Yellow Fever lol?

In .8 I noticed that the Ptolmies tended to win a bit more then the AS, though not as total as now.

[Numahr]

Update of the AI progression
EB 1.0 BI Pontus Hard / Normal

History...

255



250




Current state in 245

Map of the known world and main political powers



Overall, in my campaign the AI expands at a moderate pace.

In more details :
- Carthage controls the whole Western African coast but shows little ambition outside Africa
- Rome has finally been able to conquer one of the northern Gallic provinces, but remains passive towards the Epirote presence in the South of the peninsula
- Punic wars start and end every turn (they declare war then immediately sign a cease fire, this has been going on for years);
- Rome and Carthage are both campaigning against regional powers in Western Sicily, but with rather limited ressources commited;

- The Ptol. and the AS fight a bitter war in southern Anatolia and in Syria, but with no territorial impact so far.
- Greek cities are having the upper hand in their war against the Antigonids and are sieging Pellas, but nothing is decided yet as Macedonian reinforcements are on their way from Thrace to break the siege;

- Amongst the minor factions, the only ones expanding somehow are the Armenian, the Getai and the Sweboz ; but Celtic, Iberian, and steppe tribes remain weak and scattered.

Oddities worth mentioning

Sabean enclave in the middle-east, probably acquired through a revolt, now a powerful stronghold


Seleucid enclave in Africa, between the Ptolemean and Carthaginian empires. Here too I believe the people of Kyrena spontaneously rallied the Seleucid King.


Thanks for your attention, see you soon for the next update.

[Aranor]

Just an update on my current Getai campaign. Its currently 221 b.c.



Arche Seleukia is now dead, crushed between the rampaging Ptolies and Baktria.

Saba is slowly expanding in arabia.

Makedonia is slowly holding its position in Thrace, although this is tenuous at best due to continuing conflicts with Pontos and KH.

The Getai KH war has been raging now for over 30 years. With little gain the the last few years. Thermon is still a hotly contested city, being the Gateway to lower Greece and the KH capital of Sparte. This war however is draining the KH economy greatly and it is becoming harder and harder for them to field powerful armies instead fielding large armies of conscripts.

The Romani/Epiros war goes poorly for the Romani, loosing their homeland of Roma. Seizing upon this opportunity the Carthagians have nearly secured all of Sicily and the Southern tip of the Italian peninsula.

The Pahlavi have decimated the Sauromatae pushing them back to the city of Olbia on the borders of the Getai lands.

Sweboz are slowly expanding, slowed by heavy barbarian armies in the area.

The Averni and Audei are on the the war path with each other.

The Casse and Lustonnan continue to expand slowly and the Saka seem to have hit their limit for expansion, surrounded by more powerful factions.

[Numahr]

Aranor,

Your map is very interesting. I like the way steppes are really controlled by... steppe factions. Baktrian zone of influence stops to far away from the historic great Central Asian urban centers. The Saka and Parthians seem to be actually quite succesful! And in general, your AI factions are very active, even the minor factions.

[Aranor]

Aranor,

Your map is very interesting. I like the way steppes are really controlled by... steppe factions. Baktrian zone of influence stops to far away from the historic great Central Asian urban centers. The Saka and Parthians seem to be actually quite succesful! And in general, your AI factions are very active, even the minor factions.

Yes I agree, it great to finally see faction actually DOING something, even if it is expanding into barbarian territory. Kudos to the EB team for the amazing script work to get the factions moving in all directions.

[Hax]

That's pretty awesome. I've never seen the Getai expand out of their home territories before O_o.

Hmm, I'll try to upload some pics of my own Romani campaign in 232 BC ^_^

[Dan The Great]

Well , Elphir

That's pretty awesome. I've never seen the Getai expand out of their home territories before O_o.

Hmm, I'll try to upload some pics of my own Romani campaign in 232 BC ^_^

The Getai are expanding because he is Getai.

[Zaknafien]

my current romani campaign:

[Aranor]

Well , Elphir The Getai are expanding because he is Getai.

Yup I am the Getai. ( I never play as anything else!) When I next get a chance I will post some more details about the current campaign and some of my Elite units for you all too drool over

[Dooz]

Zak, you helping anyone out financially or diplomatically or anything? If not, that's some awesome variation there. I love how so far, there aren't too many similar trends... except maybe the Seleuks going down a bit, but in some campaign they do fine so it's not a for sure thing. Parthia kicking ass there is good to see, as well as Saka, Getai, Maks, Pontus, etc. Good stuff!

[mighty_rome]

Here is my Romani campaign in 247BC. RTW 1.5 VH/M.




A few notes: Carthage has been by far the most active, and even owned Kyrene before AS took it from them. They tried to take Arse too but were unsuccessful. AS and the Ptolemaioi have been fighting each other non-stop from the get go, as have the Arverni and Aedui. AS now has Alexandria under siege and it appears the Ptolemaic Empire will soon come to a premature end. Epeiros, Koinon Hellenon and Makedonia have all been beating the crap out of each other, and Athens has been captured about 5 or 6 different times. Thermon was only recently taken; it was a rebel city until 2 or 3 turns ago.

The Lusotanni and Getai have been completely and utterly inactive, never moving any units outside of their occupied area for over 20 years.

After a while the AI did start doing some naval invasions. Carthage launched a massive naval invasion, led by Xanthippos, and Xanthippos. (not a typo, two of them spawned for me; the bug was reported). They did win a battle against Cotta, but I eventually fought them off and killed both of them near Syrakousai. Several years later my general Caivs Avrelivs Cotta invaded Carthage and captured Utica after a massive battle.

Pontos led many large armies to Byzantion and Pergamon but they were unsuccessful in their efforts. Also, AS hasn't seemed to really attack Pontos with much force yet.

You may have noticed Massilia is owned by KH; I initially captured it, and opted not to slaughter/enslave the populace. The city soon revolted and turned to KH. I figured something like that would happen, but it does make things a little more interesting :)

Overall it's been a great campaign. I thought about trying BI.exe but this campaign ended up being fine, however it did start out quite slow.

[Dooz]

Awesome, more variety! Now AS beat down the Ptollies, good to see for a change. Long live EB!

[mighty_rome]

Yeah, Arche Seleukeia has become very powerful in my campaign. KH originally captured Halikarnassos, but AS declared war on KH and took Halikarnassos from them. They do appear to finally be moving against Pontos as well.

[Hax]

Yup I am the Getai. ( I never play as anything else!) When I next get a chance I will post some more details about the current campaign and some of my Elite units for you all too drool over

*smacks head*

Must...read...posts...carefully...

[Jurdagat]

Hayasdan. H campaign difficulty.

206 BC.

[LordCurlyton]

Romani, 232 BC
Fun times. After a brief truce in the Punic Wars Carthage reinstigated hostilites by attacking Sardinia. I have responded by sacking multiple cities and have begun to slowly conquer the Carthaginian mainland. I was prefectly willing to live in peace and they chose war so now they reap the rewards.
AS are crumbling like so much bad cake between the Blue and Yellow Deaths. The only reason I can think of this is the Kleurochi Phalangites are now L3 instead of L4, which changes the dynamic in Asia Minor particularly (personally I feel they should have been left at L4). Pontus, while showing signs of life, is likely to swiftly find out the meaning of "rock and a hard place" while they Hai are merrily going about beating up on nomads.
The Luso are making repeated attempts to unify Iberia, but now the Carthies are on them so we'll see if they pull their usual Carthie attack swoon. Ankyra went to the Aedui and it seemed to finally trigger their expansion nerve (my taking Mediolanum probably helped as well).
Epeiros, Maks, KH, and Getai are all attempting to establish dominance but all face big problems in doing so, esp since the Ptolies keep landing forces that tie up KH resources.

[Detlef]

@ PewPew

holy f*ck... that's some nice stuff there...

[Aranor]

Another Getai campaign update. It is now 217 bc and alot has been going on.



The war between the Getai and Koinon has now been raging for nearly 35 years with the Getai now successfully holding Thermon and driving for the Koinon capital city of Sparte. With this great city under their control the Getai leader know that there will be no chance that the vile greeks will be able to muster the strength to assault their armies with large legions of assault troops.

Pontos has now been crushed between wars the the Ptolies and Makedon. The capture of Byzantion by the Makedoni has confirmed their control of lower Thrace and the Cheresonos. They now concentrate their strength on the KH who have been decimated by the Getai army ravaging their lands.

Baktria and the Ptolies are now in direct conflict each seizing control of one of the others provinces.

Saba continues to expand in Arabia, as the Saka seem to have continued their stagnation.

Epiros seem to have settled into an uneasy truce with the Romani and have declared war on the Carthaginians, capturing southern Italy.

Rome continues to expand to the north into Cistalpine Gaul.

The Carthaginians, aside from loosing their foot hold in southern Italy and the city of Syracuse seem to have settled down into a nice empire of trading and economic stability.

The Sweboz now war with Gaul. With the Aedui capturing cities on the Celto-Germanic border.

Now to my promised sneak peek at my KH slaughtering army besieging Sparte.



For reference the Drapanai unit has 1 Gold cheveron. All the other that might look gold are actually silver cheverons.

This army has been pretty badly mauled at the hands on the Koinon armies who have sent atleast 2 full stacks to relieve Sparte, to no avail. They have now been reinforced by 3 units of Greek turn-coats ( the 2 silver cheveroned Thureophoroi being the first of the Greek turn-coats).

[helenos aiakides]

In my Hai campaign it is year 267 and my homeland has been attacked by the GETAI!!! With three units of aorsi cavalry

[Karo]

In my Hai campaign it is year 267 and my homeland has been attacked by the GETAI!!! With three units of aorsi cavalry

lol
Where did they come from and how did they pass all those lands or did they have a fleet. Would love to know more about it

[Dooz]

Casse campaign (H/M, BI.exe) 20 more years.









The Lusotannan - have finally done it. After years of wars on the Iberian peninsula against neighboring tribes, they eventually turned on the Carthies and made quick work of them. They had a little trouble with Baikor in central Iberia for a while but eventually took it to retain full control of all of the land. Of course, once power was consolidated, they moved up into the mainland and took the west coast Arverni town, twice, and twice it rebelled back to the Gauls.


Baikor garrison, the tribe which gave the Lusotana a lot of trouble over the years but were finally conquered and subdued by a powerful force.


The Lusotannan armies concentrated in northern Iberia, had taken some Arverni towns but lost them to loyalist Gauls. Now they're at peace and the Arverni don't have much left, mainly because I betrayed them and expanded the Casse borders south.

Carthage - having been kicked out of Iberia have been focusing all their attention in Africa, finally taking the western towns that were still independent until recently. At peace with Rome, they're moving their armies east and taking of the Ptollies, taking and losing some cities along the border.


The Sand Wars, 202 B.C.

The Ptolemies - continued their advances into eastern Europe, having great success against Greeks and Maks, and in fact wiped out the Maks by taking Rhodes. They had trouble holding their new lands however and lost some to rebellion, but then come right back and take them back. It's a crazy war going on there.


Ptolly advances on Greeks


Ptolly support, moving troops east perhaps against the Baktrians, who they are still at peace with, but who are attacking their allies, the Armenians.

Pontus - has been bitchified by the Ptollies, and have one big standing army that doesn't do anything.... that is all.


They had minimal success years ago, but eventually succumbed to the Yellow Death (credit to whoever coined that phrase).

Parthia - eventually gave in to the Blue Giant of course, and are now their protectorate. They have two towns, but one is in a shambles and doesn't even count. Their one main city has the remnants of their armies from their wars with the Baktrians.


Baktria has an army in Parthian lands to keep and eye on their interests.

Getai - got a second wind after their first offensive burst, moving north. They're doing fairly well and aren't at war with any faction currently.


Famous battle took place along the river where the Getai were moving against independent tribes in the area. They've been doing great ever since.

The Romans - took out western Epirus, but lost it to rebellion. They did expand further east before then and have built themselves quite a stronghold in the area. And as might have been expected, they did try and move across the Alps and into my territory. They had quite a bunch of armies moving through the mountains, but I beat them back for the most part. They seem to be mustering more forces to make another effort. My own forces are depleted so it's getting a little scary.


Greeks trying to take advantage of rebellions, sieging a formerly Roman town. The Romans themselves have powerful armies around and are moving more in from Italy.


Roman driven back below the Alps, but are mustering more armies to make their move on me again.


A great man by the name of Satres has been able to halt Roman advances north across the mountains, as well as beat back the Sweboz who were trying to advance on his lands.


And here is the man himself circa 203 B.C. with his powerful army. Haven't seen him in the past year however, he might finally have been defeated.... or he could be hiding out in the forests somewhere.

The Greek Alliance - has exploded into a very powerful kingdom . They took out Epirus and kicked out the Maks. They even had some lands in Iberia and Massalia due to rebellion, twice in the case of Massalia. So they are at war with Rome now, as well as the Ptollies.


The 2nd Massalia rebellion. They've held on better this time, driving out some small Roman forces from the area and doing well. We'll see how long it lasts.

The Sweboz - allied with the Romans moved against me and payed for it. I took some of their western cities, and after having their asses kicked for a while, they actually stopped sending armies at me. I have one huge army as a deterrent along the northeastern border and it's working perfectly. The fact that they're having a lot of trouble with very powerful independent tribes in Germania may have something to do with their problems recently.


Sweboz eastern borders, powerful independent tribes giving them grief. They're a godsent for me, keeping the Sweboz away from me.


My borders with the Sweboz, quiet for years now other than troop buildups.

Hayasdan - has been steadily losing ground, to the Sarmatians, and to the Baktrians. They have some armies still around, but are significantly weaker than their peak years ago.


Hai armies trying to advance in the steppes against independent tribes.

Baktria - of course is huge. They've put down the Saka and Parthia as their protectorates, and had Hayasdan in there too. Not sure who turned first but now they're at war with each other. Hayasdan is allied with the Ptollies, so they might soon become involved in this eastern theater.


Baktrians moving in on the Armos. It's not looking good.

Saba - was doing well and had taken the entire coast of the Arabian peninsula, but once the Yellow Death turned their attention on them they were moved back a bit. They did however take a Ptolly city by way of rebellion a few times, and lost it back. They currently have it again.


A big battle that possibly turned the tide on Saba advances on the Arabian peninsula.

Auedi - are gone. It's my fault. Boo hoo.

[tapanojum]

Really great stuff Wonderland, thanks!

[Geoffrey S]

Gah. The Romans still seem to find the north-eastern Alps appealing.

[Maksimus]

Oh.. I would love to post my campaign here but I dont know how - that is first, and second, I just yesterday found that If I dont turn the EB script on when I reload my game -- I will get 1 year per turn game unsted of four --but that wont stop me in my play - I will play to see all EBs katches and then I will rule the world (in a new campaign ofcourse; )

[johhny-turbo]

Looks like the Ptolmies have become the spiritual ancestors to the Ottoman Empire sort of.

[Aranor]

Update on my Getai campaign. Now we are in 206 bc.

The Getai now battle on 2 fronts with the Makedonians breaking their alliance with the Getai, and allying with their Southern neighbors. The Getai have responed with a swift assault on Tylis, capturing the city in 208 BC. The KH front of the battle with the Getai has divulged into a stalemate.

The Sweboz continue to make gains against the Aedui.

The Epiros have forced the Romans out of Italy and into Cistalipe Gaul fully.

The Ptolies continue to make gains in Baktria.

All other factions seem to be stagnated right now.

[hoom]

Here's my Getai campaign.
H/M, using BI.exe, 231BC


Notes:
*Lusotanan doing sod all.
*Carthage is also doing sod all in Iberia. It has landed a two stack army over by Tolosa but its been standing around not doing much.
*Arverni are getting trashed by Aedui.
*Aedui armies are everywhere, including heading into both Iberia and Germany.
*Sweboz are expanding gradually, fortunately there are some nice big stacks of Eleutheroi between myself & them :)
*Rome is slowly expanding both North & South, with Sicily likely to fall soon.
*Epirus has taken control of Illyria, Macedon & Thrace but has since stalled.
*Macedon just about died out but was able to take Pergamon & Athens, is in a much healthier way now.
*KH was doing very well but got smacked back & seems on the brink of full collapse.
*Ptolomies & AS swap cities in Asia Minor & the Levant.
*Sabyn have the whole West coast of Arabia & even the inland parts of the Levant, presume this was a lot to do with rebellions?
*Sakae seem to have been whalloped by Bactria.
*Hai seem to be strongly heading North.
*Successor AI seems to have gotten the hots for Rhodos, its changed hands twice in last several turns. AS will have to do better than that to make it three though.


Myself, I've just taken control of the Bosphoran Kingdom & have otherwise only been expanding at the expense of the Eleutheroi with the exception of two provinces who rebelled from Epeiros to myself.
I'm happy to leave the big stacks of Eleutheroi as buffers between myself & Sweboz until I'm more secure.
Its hard making money as Getai.
I'm about to make a push into Southern Thrace & Macedon.
Have been frustrated by my inability to work out how to recruit Rhomphaiaphori & Triballoi, I thought I had all the requirements but can't
Stratiotai are great though :)

[Meothar]

My Parthian campaign VH/M:



Seleucids and Ptolemies are allied since 270 BC, Baktria was allied to me but they betrayed me and had to fall. Saka are constantly attacking my towns to the north with small armies but are easily defeated by my experienced garrisons. However, I won't expand further north because there is a lot of unrest due to distance to capital (which is Hekatompylos). Seleucids let me conquer Persia with little resistance (native spearmen were no challenge for horse archers) but now, Assyria sees a lot of hard battles because the Seleucids started recruiting elite forces (in Antiochia I think). I have 2 provinces in which I could build Parthian reformed government, Hekatompylos and Persepolis.
I don't know why I can't build the settled aristocracy e.g. in Seleukeia, Ekbatana or Babylon, I have build the same buildings as in Hekatompylos there. In Seleukeia I have built every building available but without effect.

Sweboz have 5 full stacks standing near their cities but are now moving against rome. Armenia is conquering Sarmatia with very small armies, although they have 3 stacks in their homeland not doing anything. Carthage seems to wake up and attack Iberia. The Getians got active after a settlement in Asia Minor rebelled to them and was conquered again by the Seleucids.

[Numahr]

Follow-up of my EB 1.0 BI Pontos campaign

History

255



250



245



World Situation in 245

Political Map



Overall, once more, little changes during the last 5 years with positions quite similar to starting ones.

Current hot wars

Punic Wars



During the last 5 years, like always since I remember, every turn Carthage and Rome have been declaring war / immediately signing a ceasefire. All their conflict and negociation game revolves around Corsica, which sees increasingly big armies concentrating but no real battle. Very strange...

Armenian steppe war



Armenians are fighting a war far away from their main bases to defend their domination of the steppes North of the Caucasus range.

Battle for Rhodos



Koinon Hellenon is attempting to reconquer the rich harbour of Rhodos, occupied by the Ptolemeans.

Gallic Civil War



It has been furiously fought during a whole generation now without any concrete gains for one side or the other.

Seleucid Eastern Campaign



The Seleucid King has signed peace with his Ptolemean rival and is attempting to expand Eastwards. The newly starting war in Anatolia with Pontos does not distract him from his interest in things Eastern - yet.

Sleepy factions

In the meanwhile, a lot of factions seem to be quite happy with their lot and are very passive...

Baktria



Parthians



Lusotanians



The worst of all... Casse have not built a single unit since the start!!!




Financial Analysis

General situation



Most minor factions and some important ones are more or less constantly broke



This graph includes :
- Epeiros
- Lusotana
- Sauromatae
- Getai
- Hayasdan
- Sweboz
- Aedui
- Arche Seleukia
- As Sabyn
- Arverni
- Saka Rauka

[Mithradates VI]

My campaign as Arche Seleukia. As part of a learning curve, this game is M-M. I know some of you may laugh, but I figured I'd re-learn it all over again...although it does seem to me that M-M is easier on 1.0 than it was on 0.8. Took me forever to get anything done as ANYONE there. In 1.0, I have the actual money for two and a half stacks!

Well, I did before I decided to nip the Pahlavia before they could kill me. Unfortunately, the Bactrians decided to side with them....so now it's a free-for-all in the Northeastern part of my empire.

https://i230.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1193080097


The year right now is 256 BC. I should note also that I have Kisa and Memphis under siege--the Baktrians have Antiochia-Margaine under siege. All hell is breaking loose in the east, while my war with the Ptolemies has been fairly straightforward.

I finally discovered by accident why the Archae Seleukia gets Kyrene. The Carthies attacked it, and took it....and then it revolted, and revolted to me. I am suprised it didn't revolt to the Ptolemies, but *shrug* It gives me an opening, perhaps, to send some units behind Ptolemaic front lines and wreak some havoc

It does seem that just about every faction (including the Casse) has expanded save for the Ptolemies (mostly because I'm beating them down), and the Hasaydan. It seems though, that Hellas is bogged down in a three-way war that has resulted in what is now a stalemate...perhaps this is good news when I come to reclaim what is rightfully mine!