Game size and dificulty

[Quirinus]

Well unit size affects population and by population. that means that factions with very low growth (eg germans), will be doomed by ai especially, coz it recruits units as fast as possible - never will upgrade cities, low quality troops, etc...
on small-size both grmans and egyptians can train xxx number of units withing fixed time, on huge germans will run out of pop., so nor armies, nor taxes...and territory they have needs lots of troops.

I have played only one campaign on medium, and it's the only campaign there germans managed to become real power btw :)

Really? I always play on large unit scale, and the Germans always become a major continental power.

But yes, I've noticed that too-- the barbarians and especially the Germans lose momentum in a lengthy war. But that also means that when I finally captured their little hovel towns, their populations are pathetically low-- often in the 500-800 range. Resulting in my best general and his veteran legions babysitting it for a considerable period of time.

[Punicus]

The Germans on my game with Huge unit size are dominating Northern Europe, which is odd, because when I used to play on Large size they didn't have a chance against the might of the Britons. Perhaps the Britons are more affected by the hefty demands on population that Huge unit size has?

Quirinus, I feel the same regarding Barbarian towns. Sometimes the towns I already have are just too large and full of unrest for me to enslave just 1/2 of the population, so I'm forced to exterminate (they'd probably rebel otherwise, especially with my capture-and-move mentality). Not fun at all. But then again you could just send Peasants from your populated cities nearby and send them to that town for easing unrest, or disband them for extra population.

[Hannibalbarc]

Why do Barbarian towns have so little growth?

[Quirinus]

I guess maybe to reflect the fact that they are under-developed/-populated at the time of the start of the game.

The Germans on my game with Huge unit size are dominating Northern Europe, which is odd, because when I used to play on Large size they didn't have a chance against the might of the Britons. Perhaps the Britons are more affected by the hefty demands on population that Huge unit size has?

Really? That's odd, considering that the Britons should have the least problems among the barbarians, other than maybe the Spanish. The Britons have chariots-- elite units with small numbers. But I'm not sure. I never played as the Britons. In almost all the games I've played, the Britons usually dally a lot even with their numerous armies, and even then they tend to attack Gaul instead of Germania.

Quirinus, I feel the same regarding Barbarian towns. Sometimes the towns I already have are just too large and full of unrest for me to enslave just 1/2 of the population, so I'm forced to exterminate (they'd probably rebel otherwise, especially with my capture-and-move mentality). Not fun at all. But then again you could just send Peasants from your populated cities nearby and send them to that town for easing unrest, or disband them for extra population.

That's what I do too, but a strategy like that requires time, and really is more befitting of a slow, deliberate player like me. For example, it took me more than twenty years for Iuvavum to grow to pop:6000.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

... But then again you could just send Peasants from your populated cities nearby and send them to that town for easing unrest, or disband them for extra population.

Now that sounds like a exploit of the game cause AI will never do it!!
But then again .. I use this a lot when I want to boost the population some smaller settlements like Segesta or some barbarian towns

I play on large settings and seems like the barbarians can do pretty well .. britons always beats the germanians far away to the east .. so seems like the unit size do not have an effect for them .. at least in my games ...

[Charge]

I play on large settings and seems like the barbarians can do pretty well .. britons always beats the germanians far away to the east .. so seems like the unit size do not have an effect for them .. at least in my games ...

Germans are not barbarians ...? They have lesser pop growth (that's why stupid ai always build that one screeching-women shrine) and they suffer more than Britons from large size. Infact they should push Britons not the opposite.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Germans are not barbarians ...? They have lesser pop growth (that's why stupid ai always build that one screeching-women shrine) and they suffer more than Britons from large size. Infact they should push Britons not the opposite.

Sry .. I meant that barbarians - especially britons - can do pretty well ..
but germanians can win only on the hands of a player and not AI

[The Wandering Scholar]

Would grain work. I mean it will add a boost of population so with more population more warriors can be trained.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Would grain work. I mean it will add a boost of population so with more population more warriors can be trained.

Having the grain resource being imported/already existing in a region does boost population growth fairly dramatically.

Sadly the level of exports/imports are uncontrollable, so the population size can spiral out of control once the player/AI has moved out of the earlier stages and the population is growing faster than men can be conscripted. Also where the grain is exported to cannot be controlled, preventing you from directing it to the cities which are expanding much more slowly rather than the ones which don't really need it.

[Quirinus]

Now that sounds like a exploit of the game cause AI will never do it!!

Haha, if exploits are defined as 'things the AI would never do', then I'm sure every single one of us would be guilty of exploiting.

I do it all the time-- not only to alleviate population pressures, but also to boost the growth of the slower towns. I hate seeing those barbarian round walls. Also, I think it makes the game a little more realistic. I see the upkeep and recruitment costs as incentives I dole out for citizens to move to the barbarian provinces.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Enslaving can ameliorate populations depleted by huge unit size. Not by much however. Once you enslave a town, for the next 20 turns you will see a slave population boosting the population growth, under settlement details.

However for the hapless germans, enslaving Trier isn't going to do a whole lot.

[The Wandering Scholar]

Adding a grain export to trier should help out the northern towns

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Adding a grain export to trier should help out the northern towns

I think you're corporating some EB lingo into this thread for vanilla RTW. The term in vanilla is land clearance.