Ouch....

[underthesun]

Hey, new to EB. Question: Is there ANY way to avoid massive debt as the Arverni, without leaving yourself vulnerable to the Aedui? Because My debt got all the way to ~-14000 Mnai before my economy is on track. Now I have anywhere from 7 to 14 turns before I'm out of debt.

[fahrenheit]

Most factions start out in debt, thats the challenge and fun of taking a small nation and turning them into a huge power house.

My advice would be to try and stick it out, build armies in war and disband them in peace. Take rebel settlements and take huge vulnerable cities if not only for the plunder.

[underthesun]

I figured as much. I booted up the game looking at my financial scroll, thinking that there HAD to be a reason for these terrible finances.

That's going to be interesting, then. Economic hardship is not something one generally has to deal with in the vanilla game. It's also comforting to know the AI generally has the same problem early on as well.

[Parkev]

Celtic Slingers.

Half a dozen or so against any early Celtic army will do the trick, providing you you have Gaeros or the like of at least 1:2 to the enemy and a general to massarcre routers.

[woad&fangs]

Fight battles against the Aedui. It protects you from them and you don't have to pay dead soldiers.

Also build roads right away in all your settlements.

you'll go about 10,000-15,000 into debt but once you beat the Aedui your safe from outside threats for a while so you can disband most of your army.

[blank]

blitz the nearby settlements

[Thaatu]

Blitzing sucks. Debt is fun.

[underthesun]

Thanks guys for your help.

So my economy is okay. I haven't done much development of the conquered settlements beyond roads and governments. All of Gaul is conquered except Britanny and Belgium. I'm pretty much consolidating my position.

Question: How do I increase my income? As in, what should I focus on constructing? I can't have massive hoards unless I have the economy to support them.

Question 2: Anything I should watch out for down the road, after I've consolidated Gaul? I have the Casse and Sweboz as allies, but I question the latter's loyalty.

[pezhetairoi]

1: Set very high tax rate in every single settlement you capture, and leave a family member to garrison it if need be. Build Markets and Ports and Mines as soon as possible. Ports being priority, then markets. Mines come last because they're the most expensive.

2: Sweboz tend to go eastwards. You don't really have to worry about them. After consolidating Gaul you are practically free from threats. You can choose to invade wherever you want. Crush the Romani before they hit you. Or take out the Sweboz. Up to you. In my current campaign I beat up the Romani, then turned on the Sweboz.

[Imperial Fist]

My advise is to disband cav in the early game. The horsemen r just to expensive.
Thats what i did when i played the sweboz who have the same financial probs in the beginning.

[pezhetairoi]

Yes, the cavalry are absolutely useless. You need a hard punch in the beginning, and your FMs can do that for you. They are heavy cavalry, after all, so that's the major part of your problem fixed.

[underthesun]

Hey thanks guys this is all really helpful. Just a few more questions:

1. Should I bother building that one 12000 mnai improvement? With it you can build Leuce Epos (light cav) and the Gaesatae (sp?), Naked Fanatics. But it's one hell of an investment. Do I?

2. How much need I worry about the Romans? Currently I'm not particularly strong (All told I have just under two full stacks of units running around Gaul). And if I do need to worry about them, what kind of units should I go after them with?

[bovi]

You want gaesatae.

[underthesun]

I keep hearing they're really good. I was just wondering if they were 12000 mnai good (given i'm making about 1000 mnai a turn)

I take it the Gaesatae make dealing with the Romani easier, then?

[mcantu]

I very often get down to -30,000 as the Getai before things start to turn around...

[Pode]

I keep hearing they're really good. I was just wondering if they were 12000 mnai good (given i'm making about 1000 mnai a turn)

I take it the Gaesatae make dealing with the Romani easier, then?

As a Romani player, yes, they're that good. I HATE those guys. They cannot be stopped, they cannot be reasoned with. OK, a touch of hyperbole, but they can and do force me out of my comfortable triplex acies formation to flank them and beat on them from all sides. The AI almost never keeps enough reserves to counter that, but you can. Keep a second line of jav infantry like Gaeroas, let the naked brutes do the heavy lifting, then smack the enemy in their flank or rear with javs and a charge once they surround the first line. Once the rout starts, your Gaesatae are already in the middle of it and can pick up free XP while hacking down lots of the enemy, making them even more hardcore for the next fight. Keep a few missile cav around to keep missile troops honest and throw a barrage into the melee (friendly fire is less of a worry when your guys have two lives each).

[underthesun]

I had the pleasure of fighting just a few Helvetii Gaesatae. Damn, I need to get me some of those! :o

Now all of Gaul is mine, and I'm allied with the Casse, Sweboz, Lussotanae (sp?), and the Romani.

My question is: How reliable are allies, usually, in EB? Any different than in vanilla?

Question 2: What factors affect your Allies' loyalty? I've never been able to figure out exactly why allies sometimes betray you.

[Pode]

I had the pleasure of fighting just a few Helvetii Gaesatae. Damn, I need to get me some of those! :o

Told ya

How reliable are allies, usually, in EB? Any different than in vanilla?

Unfortunately, not much. It's a bit better, especially if you make regular gifts. If your income can't support that habit, you can give attacks on eleutheroi the turn before you'd be attacking them anyway.

Question 2: What factors affect your Allies' loyalty? I've never been able to figure out exactly why allies sometimes betray you.

Lots of factors in the diplomatic stance. Campaign difficulty above M gives a per turn penalty, so make friends early and often. Sharing a border makes them not like you, so Casse is your best bet long term. Gifts are often welcome, but sometimes not, for obscure reasons. Diplomatic trades on their terms instead of haggling. Etc.
Unfortunately, that's the diplomatic stance. Military movements are the way wars start, and the military AI literally doesn't talk to the diplomatic one, CA has said as much. So, you need to keep strong enough garrisons in your border cities that any attack would be repulsed, yet weak enough armies in border regions so as to not appear threatening. This statement does not imply that a level of force can always or even often be found that meets both criteria. Basically, sooner or later, if you share a land border, they'll come for you. Usually when you can least afford it. That's the fun part