Casse anyone?

[Cyclops]

It is very expensive to take on the Pirates. If you are going any further than a quick hop across the Channel (which can be done within a single turn), then you need control of the sea...

I left a small celtic boat off the orkneys to test this theory and after 4 turns its still afloat.

I appreciate the priates will kill anything short of a major fleet caught at sea within sight of Germany and south britain, but the north seems relatively safe.

I realise Belgium is the obvious place to start but I have completed the Casse in 0.8 so I'm looking for a different road to victory, and Germany seems a real challenge.

I'd try Iberia first but I doubt I'd sail more than a turn without having my arse sunk.

I'm building a half stack of the fierce Irish ultra-heavies to start the party in Sweden: I have a feeling they'll storm through the low armour troops up there.

[Juvenal]

...So anyway after I recruit about 4 Iasoatae I head across the Channel to take Bratosporios...

I can't believe I never thought of that!

The Casse campaign is set up so you can't blitz Britannia (I tried several times and failed), but I never thought of going for Bratosporios first - probably because I am a wuss (I had already decided to sell the fleet, and didn't want to face other factions until I had an economy).

Building up toward taking the first settlement takes a long time - so getting Bratosporios in the first year is a big boost. The initial small fleet is all you need for this strategy because it can ferry troops across the pas-de-Calais in one turn and can hide in the port from the nasty pirates.

I really am going to have to give this a try.

[Mykingdomforanos]

Exactly, its also the richest city at least until Emain-Macha and send a diplomat to bargain for that 5000 mnai from Sweboz and you will be out of the red and ready to rumble in no time.
However you will need to also take Bagacos, otherwise if you have around a 8-10 unit army you will still be losing mnai each turn.

My army was severely weakened after 2 or 3 battles anyhow so taking the richest provinces very quickly to get back in credit and retrain the army was my priority.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Add to that you won't have to worry about the allies betraying you, for a while: the Aedui are generally too busy with their Arverni enemy.

[Mykingdomforanos]

Building up toward taking the first settlement takes a long time - so getting Bratosporios in the first year is a big boost.

I didnt attack anyone until I had 3 Iaosatae with 1-2 more recruiting, without them my army was pretty much ruined after one battle.

The Aedui sometimes betrayed their alliance and attacked my western gaul settlements but it seems usually because I had stomped over their land while taking a shortcut
Even so have a big stack in the vicinity in case, but you should be fine if you just took Bratosporios and Bagacos and are busy conquering Britannia and Hibernia, they only seemed to sometimes get tetchy when you have taken over huge swathes of Gaul that are in their expansion zone.

[wumpus]

Yo Ludens. I tried playing Casse (my very first choice), but I accidentally attacked an Eleutheroi village somewhere in modern Denmark, which was also besieged by the Sweboz (I know, I know--a blunder in picking the wrong side, and a very bad place to be in(what was I doing in Denmark?) so far from home), and of course got drubbed and was losing money fast too, so I abandoned the campaign and erased it then started a fresh Casse campaign, this time following the advice of the Guide (disband some units, get the emissary across the Channel, look for trade partners, disband the ship), but I soon was again on the road to bankruptcy. At the moment, I can't think of what to do next. But I like your advice here--it could help me a lot. Hawooh.

[Olaf The Great]

Casse have -the best- starting position, but their weaker military isn't compensated until you get ahold of Gaul.

They're my favorite faction though. :P

[unreal_uk]

Plus they can get some super-brilliant governers and tradesmen.

My own starting tactics were similar to ones proposed here - I sent my diplomat across the channel immediately to start his long walk around the world getting trade agreements and cheekily bartering map information here and there, then instantly disbanded my single ship so I didn't have to pay the huge upkeep, then ramped up the taxes in Camulosadae. Don't go to war with the rebels until you're absolutely ready, since you immediately take quite a hit in your finances by going that route.

A short while later I waited until the last possible moment to gather a force to go north and strike Ratae (since upkeep is the big killer in the Casse early-game) so that most of my expenditure was a one-turn hit that I could regenerate slowly once Ratae was captured.

The early-game sieges are a piece of cake. A core of slingers is key, and the AI is stupid enough to keep making forays out into the range of them, but since I disbanded the army immediately after I was victorious at Ratae, casualties didn't really matter, I suppose.

Once you have two provinces, your profits should be rather small, but steady. Through this you should be able to concentrate on building structures to increase your trade, farming and profits in any way possible. You will be in the red for quite a bit of the first few turns, and will spend alot of time doing nothing but hitting the end turn button.

Once you get the third province (using the last minute recruitment scheme mentioned earlier) you should have enough money to feasibly maintain at least a half-decent force ready for your next move. After that, Britannia becomes your oyster.

In my campaign (H/H) its 245bc, I have all of England and Wales, I'm making 4-5k profit per turn, and have 25k in the bank at the moment, and a nice big group of family members.

[wumpus]

Yo, guys... Reading the posts of Olaf the Great and unreal_uk is inspiring to me (I'm just in Turn 4--1 year--into my campaign). And knowing in advance I've got great governors and a potential to make kilomnai if only I play my turns right, attracts me to go on.
Yes, I know: the Casse's position in an isolated island is a good one. That's why I used to play the faction (I forgot the name) at the westernmost tip of Japan in ShogunTW, and the Danes in MTW--because they have great starting positions.
Well, let's see in the next turns if the tactics I love so well playing Greek in RomeTW could be adopted to the Casse in EB. Anyway, I'll consult your posts guys, time to time, as I go along.
Hawooh.

[wumpus]

Oh, I forgot to ask the question that hounds me--how come, in the Casse starting turn, I'm allied to both the Aedui and Arveni, but yet those two factions are at war with each other? Anyone can explain, please? Hawooh.