1.0x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Admetos]

Numahr - Ha! The money the Casse and they haven't trained a single unit!?!

[Zaknafien]

Might do more of an update later, but here is the current map: Lands in red outline are Clients of Rome. Those with (Amicus Populi Romani) are allies. This is from my current game "First Among Equals" AAR in this forum.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

And I always thought it would be "Hic sunt dragones".

[Zaknafien]

Heh. I guess my map maker is dislexic lol.. thats what powerpointing at 4am will do for you

[Geoffrey S]

That map's looking astonishingly accurate.

[Lysandros]

My Ptolemaioi Campaign (VH/M, with BI.EXE) 227 BC

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

So here comes my Sweboz campaign in 252 BC:



Carthage managed to conquer Syrakus the last year.
Roma conquered Taras and Bononia, bot got expelled of the latter by the Aedui.
The Aedui conquered two regions, namely the mentioned Bononia and Lugonensis.
Lusotana conquered at least Tyde.
The Getai started furiously, taking Sarmiszegethusa in the first turns, than quickly conquering Kallatis, then stagnating.
Epeiros lost Taras and Ambrakia and now goes for Illyria.
The Maks lost Thessalia and Korinthos to the KH but conquered Ambrakia.
The war between the Ptolemaioi and the AS is stagnating. No major changes, or even no changes at all.
The Hai and Pontos both managed to conquer a settlement to their north.
Saba could conquer two settlements, the Saka are a bit rampaging through the steppe and Baktria goes for the Tarim basin.

[LordCurlyton]

222 BCE, Romani, BI-exe, H/M.
The Carthies ticked me off so now they get to lose all their African territories, at which point I'll attempt making peace with them again, as I need a counterweight to Luso expansionism. Thankfully (for now) I am allied with the Luso's as the Aedui decided to renew hostilities with me, which means I now have to fight the Gaesetae wave (blech). I am already tired of fighting half-3/4 stacks which have 5-8 units of Gaesetae, but I AM winning and I'll be damned if I give any ground to those green tree-huggers. Here's hoping the Arveni decide the alliance we have is worth it, especially now that they have access to Alpine Phalanxes (yet another phalanx, arrrggghhh!!!). It would be....troublesome, if the Arveni betrayed me, since they would both focus on me and let the Germans come marching in (darn cheese-eating surrender monkeys!!). The Maks have a pulse and Epeiros and KH are busy battering away at each other. I'm pulling for Epeiros as I'd rather not face the brutal heavy infantry given to KH.
AS = boned
Pontus = boned worse.
Ptolemies = scary
Baktria = looks pretty but not building factional MICs in AS lands so when inevitable clash with the Jaundice Empire arrives, they'll be beaten back to home ares pretty badly.
Pahlava, Hai, Sauromatae, Saka = still trying to figure out the pretenders from contenders
Saba = not going to expand past Ethiopia and Arabia
Getai = the big ? as they could explode or they could grind away and get chewed up

[V.T. Marvin]

And I always thought it would be "Hic sunt dragones".

Well, I always thought it would be "Hic sunt leones"

Anyway, that is amazing map, Zaknafien!
Have you somehow shaped the borders of AI factions by diplomacy (give region) or is that wholly "natural" interplay of AI?
BTW, Good to see that Pahlava is indeed creating the Parthian Empire, I am looking forward when you will meet them of Euphrates.

[madmatg]

259 KH campaign, no real surprises to my eyes except the lusotanians are moving pretty well.

AS/Ptol are duking it out as usual
Epi/Mak are ceasefire both fighting me
Romans cleared out Epi prescence from italia not long ago and are now fighting carthage over messana and rhegiom
baktria was on the brink of destruction earlier with only 2 cities but now has expanded to 4, with some $$ help from me(maybe 3500$ total)

[Jurdagat]

baktria was on the brink of destruction earlier with only 2 cities but now has expanded to 4, with some $$ help from me(maybe 3500$ total)

Glad to hear that Baktria got into a bit of trouble.
Shame on you for helping Baktria...
They deserve to get a bit of beating, since it doesen't happend to often. :)

[Bava]

Quick overview of my KH campaign, 219 BCE, H/M, BI.exe, general cam






Slow campaign pace due to a lot of roleplaying and the fact that i suck balls through a straw at commanding an army with the generals cam.
Lost many battles and a faction leader/heir in asia minor (had 5 provinces, but the Seleukid/Ptolemy/Pontus alliance in 240 BC was simply to much), so i had to pull out.

One of my full stacks



Financial overview



Getai - Peacefull lumberjacks and sheppards, they dont seem
to like the eleutheroi much though.

Epirotes - After i kicked them out of their homelands at peace with everbody


Rome - At war with the Arverni, i sincerly hope they enjoy the climate on the "wrong" side of the alps

Lusotannan - Expanded like crazy in the beginning but lost 3-4 full stacks to
Moskos (he spawned twice by the way).

Quart Hadasht - At war with me, ptolemies ("only begun the sand war has"^^) and lusotannan . Constantly invading sicily.

Seleukids - no comment

Ptolemies - no comment, part 2

Sweboz - At war with Averni, Aedui , Rome. And kicking some serious ass.

Sauromatae - Protectorate of Hay and happily counting their horsies.

Hay - My only ally, giving AS what the treatment they deserve. Sieging Seleukeia and Babylon atm.

Baktria - Once the powerhouse of the east but got sandwiched by the Saka/Seleukid alliance.

Saka - At war with baktria and palahva.

Palahva - Loosing the war against saka.

Pontus - Down to one city in 250, then part of the axis of evil ^^

Saba - At war with the ptolemies

Casse - Invaded Ire recently !!

Im going to post a full overview with some suggestions/observations as soon as i meet the VCs. Might take a while , though

Edit: Btw, are all descendants of the lakedaimonians supposed to be complete retards? 1 out of 11 got the sharp trait, most are dull/uncharismatic/vigorous -
hyperactive idiots
Im afraid they´re going to forget how to breath in one or two generations...

[PenguinLobster]

Its so great to see the Seleucids being devoured by Baktria and Ptolemies. The small factions *hai, pontos, lusitanians, getai* are exapanding alot faster then they did in .8. They might actually become a threat instead of just sticking with one province until 200BC.

[Meothar]

This is a Parthia campaign update in year 225 (years 255,245,235 are on page 2 of this thread). I think it will be the last screenshot because the campaign gets a bit boring. Ptoliemies and Carthies are fighting a desert war with 4 full stacks each, Greece is going rampage. If someone is interested, I'll give you the savegame.

[Lovejoy]

Thats a nice empire Meothar! Thats about as far as I got on my 0.8x Pahvlan camp. Pretty much the same year too. :P

Damn I loved that camp. Maybe my best EB-experience yet!

[Hax]

I finally managed to get a screen out.



Still haven't figured out the resizing part, sorry. Any clues where I should expand to next (playing as Epeiros)?

[Jurdagat]

I finally managed to get a screen out.



Still haven't figured out the resizing part, sorry. Any clues where I should expand to next (playing as Epeiros)?

You forgot to mention the date. :)

[Hax]

254 BC ^^

[Meothar]

Still haven't figured out the resizing part, sorry. Any clues where I should expand to next (playing as Epeiros)?

1. You can't make bigger screenshot, so resize in your graphics program. I use irfanview, it's easy to use.
2. Finish the conquest of Greece and Italy, then make a land connection between the parts of your realm. Then...conquer the seleucids and have a bigger empire than Alexander

[Soggius Chippius]

"You are only allowed to post URLs to other sites after you have made 1 posts or more." it says. Well, here's post one. Hopefully now you'll be able to recieve my mighty fortress wall of text.

[Soggius Chippius]

Righto, time to stop lurking and start going on about my most excellent Casse campaign (H/M).
Here's the situation in 216.



The progression was pretty interesting. Different to how the majority of the campaigns I see on here went as well.
Initially most of the factions kept pretty well to themselves aside from the Ptollies and Seleukids of course, and also the Getai, who took A bunch of settlements around the Carpathians (and on the Black Sea coast) after which they just sat and fiddled with their navels. The Saba took about one settlement and sat the for about 40 years before moving on to take Ubar (I think. The one east up the Peninsula from where they actually start at any rate) after which they basically sat there as well. As far as Greece went, the Hellenes forced Makedon back pretty much to just having Pella, the Epeirotes basically did nothing (though that certainly didn't halt unit production as they seemed to enjoy having a full garrison in every city as well as a full stack in the field for each city too. They just couldn't be arsed doing anything with them)
Rome and Carthage sat where they were and did bugger all as well (Carthage took a few rebel settlements, as did Rome, but over several decades. Nothing noteworthy. In fact, I think war broke out between the two around the time the little Year in History feature toldme Hannibal was born O_o) From memory, Epeiros had Taras until the 240s. Probably longer actually.
The Gauls did almost nothing until I arrived. The Germans (as always) took large swathes of land and then sat on the Rhine doing nothing.
The Lucies took northwest spain and then sat until Carthage began stirring.
The last two main areas are probably the most interesting (aside from Carthage in the last decade or so) First off, the Sauromatae actually started expanding! Into Hai territory no less. The Hai sat there and took it on the chin, and only took one rebel settlement if memory serves. (as did Pontos by the way. I'm honestly astounded that they haven't been destroyed, because they've done almost nothing all game)
The best bit however was up in the eastern steppes. Bactria and Pahlava did nothing for about 30 years. The Saka on the other hand took respectable swathes of land around the two factions, and eventually started fighting them. The Seleukids on the other hand didn't go to war with Pahlava and Bactria (or Hayasdan for that matter.....or Pontos. O_o) until the late 40s.
Finally, what did I do during that time? I took the Isles farily early on, then just sat there building things for several decades. By the time I set foot in Europe I had around 700,000 mnai waiting to be used to make people less alive.

So yes, that should explain the first 40-odd years of the game. Most of the factions were pretty languid except for a few of the ones that everyone expects to do nothing. Then, around the 230s, a miraculous thing happened. I put a unit on European soil. A spy to be specific. And lo and behold, as he journeyed to the lands of the Saka, all the factions started actually doing things. The Ptollies took all of Syria and Mesopotamia, and looked pretty well set to take most of Anatolia too (they already had the southern half) Meanwhile, the Seleukids decided to kick the Baktrians out of Baktria and onto the steppes, which completely upset the balance of things, forcing a massive wedge through the middle of the Saka, who then lost most of the worthwhile holdings (and armies) they had, while the Pahlava held onto the mast for dear life so as not to be swept into the sea.
The Ptollies were actually doing pretty well at this point and I was starting to think (ah faecal matter, it's going to be the Yellow Death just like everybody else on the forums) and it probably would have been except for one thing. When I sent my spy on his errand, Carthage suddenly realised there was land in north africa west of Carthage, and started gobbling it up. A few turns later they had all of north africa, sicily, and were starting to send a few troops down to check on the prices of resorts in Cyrene. All of a sudden (truly, it was lightning fast. My spy charted italy under roman control, carried on to meet the Sauromatae, and by the time he was at the western border of Saka territory I turned off fog and realised the romans had one city left up north) Carthage had North Africa, Sicily, half of Spain, Cyrene/Libya and ALL OF ITALY. They just kept expanding till they had chewed away most of egypt from the Ptollies in some sort of bizzare reverse of Alexander's Great Plan, and all of a sudden, the Seleukids' position didn't look quite so horrible any more.
As for me, I just did a decade's worth of blitzing in France, though unlike their modern counterparts they put up quite a fight (especially that one unit of Gaesate that held the wall long enough to chew through 4 full units of Calawre) but they're nearly gone now. As you can see, I'm currently besieging the final Averni stronghold.



I'll be glad to not have to worry about any more bloody gaesatae, but I'm currently in a bit of a nasty situation. I'm allied with the Sweboz, but we all know what they're like with promises, while I'm looking at a war on two fronts with big bad Carthage in Spain and Italy. Sure, I could let the Spanish deal with them for a while, but as soon as they take one of those two buffer provinces, Southern Gaul will be full of the little white buggers as they completely ignore the Lucies.
Italy looks nice, since the only *real* garrison is the one in Segesta (all the other cities are nigh empty) but I'm currently stretching the budget more than I like with my two full stacks, and another one to defend the Pyrenees would be too much of a drain for me (especially since I like having money on hand to bribe off certain armies)

Anyway. Enough about me. Let's look at the Carthies and their supreme campaign which is ecplipsing mine in every conceivable way.

Here's a view of Italy in all it's Phoenician splendour



As you can see, the only real garissons are Segesta and Patavium. Patavium might or might not be unpleasant, but I have two spies in Segesta that are telling me there's one jedi bodyguard and a bunch of akontistai. -_- Italy's already looking like the smart choice.
(also, I remember seeing the answer in a thread somewhere here, but I can't remember which one, so can anyone tell me what to change to get perfect view in campaign. You know, so I can see all buildings/units in a city on the other side of the map instead of question marks?)

Aaanyway, here's their next base of operations, Spain.



Those two stacks are the only ones with any colour in them in the whole peninsula. Thus, Spain is also quite appealing. Or it would be if there weren't any Spaniards there to mop up any cities I do take from the Carthies. Also, it's a pain to campaign in logistically speaking.

Here's their mighty invasion force in Egypt.





4 nearly full stacks in the field and a formidable garrison in Alexandria. Thank Dagda they're not focusing on Europe at this point in time.

Finally, I've waited a turn or two too long to show you their ultimate extent so far, as about 2 turns ago I nicked Massalia off them, so here's a look at that, along with the conquering army waiting in a fort along the road.



I'm kinda bummed that I have to stop their expansion here, since I really wanted to see how far they would have gone without intervention from something with a brain, but I suppose you can't win 'em all.
Also, I wish they'd bloody well get rid of those Aedui there. They're at war with them, have been for ages, and those Aedui have been there either from the start of the game, or were taken for a turn and then rebelled.
One final thing incidentally. The army in the box there is what I've been using to destroy the Gauls. Thanks to whoever decided to add the elite shock troops to the southern Irish roster. They're my favourite units thus far.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. Hopefully my next update won't be as long.

[Malik of Sindh]

Now thats one great campaingn!The most i reached with casses was british isles inly,since i don't like slow campaings.

[Soggius Chippius]

Now thats one great campaingn!The most i reached with casses was british isles inly,since i don't like slow campaings.

Hah, yeah. My trump card there is that I'm currently studying for an exam. All I had to do for the first few decades was choose which buildings I wanted built, hit end turn, and read another few pages while I waited for the other factions to sit and cogitate over where to not send their troops this turn.
In my Casse campaign in .82 I got a bit past this, basically with France taken, the Sweboz being just held off across the Rhine, and most of Italy down to Rome taken. Then I sort of lost interest because Rome was too poor to put up any fight but STILL kept getting a province back per turn through rebellion, and entering Spain meant building an entirely new army due to AoR issues.

[Jurdagat]

195 BC now.
Still playing as Hayasdan, with H campaign difficulty.

Thinking about starting a new, and continue this some other time. :)


Here you can compare it with my previous post from 206 BC.

[Malik of Sindh]

How the heck did prathians migrate to India?Now thats a crazy campaingn map.

[Jurdagat]

How the heck did prathians migrate to India?Now thats a crazy campaingn map.

They did quite good early on, but then Baktria helped out the poor Seleucids after squashing Saka.
Eventually they got beaten into india, and have been lurking there ever since. :)

[Malik of Sindh]

Its great to see Pontos perform much better in most of the campaings,I love fighting them when they own most of Asia Minor.I would post my Baktria campaing map,but Im just 13 years in to the game.Pontos is performing great though,they own Sinope,Nikaia and Amaseia and a full stack in Nikaia,and a half stack in Sinope.I just noticed that campaingn as Baktria is a bit to easy,I already own most of India and all Parthia.

[blank]

I'm playing as KH, with bi.exe

264 BC



260 BC



252 BC

[Dooz]

Finally, an EB member actually playing a campaign! I was beginning to think all you guys did was work on the mod and never actually enjoyed it. Have at it blank!

Soggius and Pew, those are some crazy campaigns going on there. I love to see Carthage come alive like that and carve out empires. So very awesome.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Lusotana, M/M

• 262 BC
  
  
  Ten years into the campaign and nothing much happening; except Roma kicked the Epeirotes off the boot's heel, Kart Hadast expanded a little in North Africa and Saba took Hijaz. The war between KH and Makedonia is in a stalemate.
  
  
• 256 BC
  
  
  Casse secure England and Wales -except Cornwall- and Arverni steadily expand. So do Sweboz, Hayastan and Saka, the latter crippling Pehleve into two. KH push Makedonia back northwards.
  
  
• 252 BC
  
  
  Arverni reach the Atlantic, SSBQ and Aigyptos keep securing North Africa, Seleukeia takes a step east and Pontos captures Sinopi.
  
  
• 246 BC
  
  
  Nikaia rebels for Getia; their first ever expansion and not their doing at all! Palmyra -probably also by rebellion- becomes Sabaean domain. Pehleve is cornered around Ḫārezm. Roma completes the conquest of Italia. Sweboz invades the Scandinavian provinces. Kart Hadast has been driven off of Iberia due to their insolence.
  
  In 245 BC Makedonia is pushed back to its homeland with an isolated colony on Lesbos.
  
  
• 242 BC
  
  
  
  Roma expands into Gallia Transalpina. Seleukeia takes Nikaia, which starts the long and yet unresolved Getian war and their steady expansion. The Sab‘īn take Axum. This will cause yet another unresolved war between them and Aigyptos, and an interesting web of alliances. Pehleve strikes back. The war on the steppes will be long and bloody, but Sakae seem to be giving way little by little as of 231.
  
  
• 239 BC
  
  
  Casse take Cornwall. They will keep trying to invade Scotland to no avail. After endless sieges countered by successful sallies, Arverni finally found what will be known in centuries to come as France -except Toulouse. That one successfully sallied again. It's destined to become a pretty Lusotannan town. Makedonia expands northwest. Sweboz invades Bohemia. The Sarmato-Armenian war ends with the Pan-Caucassian Hayastan making Sauromatae a vassal.
  
  In 235 BC Roma conquers Illyria and KH capture Byzantion. The same year Makedonia invades Pergamon.
  
  
• 234 BC
  
  
  Getia invades the NW Makedonian Province. AS seem to be slowly capturing the Ptolemaieian dominions in Asia Minor. Makedonia takes Sardis. The long Partho-Sakaean war favours the Pehlevī now crippling their foe into two. Aigyptos besieges Axum unsuccessfully.
  
  
• 232 BC
  
  
  Arverni threaten Sweboz domain. Our northern allies may find it profitable helping us in our just cause. Massalia revolts to the Arverni suppressors and joins Koinon Hellenon. By this year, the Audui have lost all of their dominions except those in Armorica. Getia conquers Bogdan and reaches Pontvs Evxinvs. The KH expansion in Ionia and trans-Thraikia continues. The province S. of Baktria annexes itself into Pehleve.
  
  
• 231 BC
  
  
  SSBQ and Aigyptos are at war. Epeiros expands north. Makedonia, being expelled from patrida, invades Halikarnassos in return. While AS is consolidating, the Ptolemaioi have been completely driven off of their dominions in Asia Minor.
  
  
• 222 BC
  
  
  How did it come to this point?
  
  • In 228 BC Epeiros launched a blitzkrieg into Getia, crippling its dominions and isolating them. The same year, Senatvs Popvlvsqve Romanvs bent the Gallic pride and forced the Arverni to recognize Roma as their overlords.
  • The Aedui, with the lure of Lusotannan mnai attacked the Arverni. They are slowly gaining territory but the Bellum Gallicum apparently will last long.
  • In 227 BC Casse completed the conquest of Scotland. Two years later they captured Ulster and in 223 BC they secured the whole of Ireland.
  • In 226, the Romano-Lusotanni war started with Roman offensive. The next year, mighty Lusotanni general Melnunos Lavarecoi, having defeated the Roman field armies, besieged Massilia. They agreed to deliver the city in return for ceasefire and re-establishing trade relations. However, they attacked again merely three months later and Melnunos sacked Segesta, raizing it to the ground. The war is going on although Roma lost more than half of its fighting force.
  
  
  
  Regional details can be examined above.
  
  
• 215 BC
  
  
  Events between 222 - 215:
  
  • In 220 BC Saba took Meroe in Africa and secured the entire Umman coast. In 219 they took Sinai but SSbQ attacked there the same year, starting a stupid, TotalWarish three way war among the two and Aigyptos.
  • Also in 219, Taras rebelled in favour of Epeiros and the Epeirotes regained Kalabria, starting their second war with SPQR.
  • Makedonia will henceforth be called Bithynia. They are struggling to secure control over Thraikia.
  • In 218 Pontos conquered Galatia, ending the longest lived independent realm of Asia Minor.
  • In 217 Mediolanum revolted and called in the Aedui, causing them engage in war with Roma again.
  • In 216 BC Meroe rebelled for their independence from Saba. Gerrha followed them the next year. However, the children of Almaqah have by now conquered Yerushelaim and Sayda, which makes them the most important local power.
  
  Silver Death is the boss of the eastern world now. The Ptolemaioi have lost the most important of their dominions and become crippled; their economy is crawling on the basement. Kart-Hadast, controling the core of the Mediterranean trade, are the richest, contended by the Koinon Hellenon and Bithynia. The Epeirotes have become the master of the Balkans, decimating Getia yet threatened by the Swêboz, seeming unconcerned by the affairs of Gallia and Italia and steadily expanding eastward. The Aedui are gaining ever the Arverni. They managed to secure Bibracte after a few swaps the town lived. The steppes are stagnant, except the Silver Death spreading.

Will keep updating and notifying of the updates.
.