Post your EB empires!

[QuintusSertorius]

217BC on M/M:



Just concluded a war with the Ptolemies (they started it) which resulted in them being pushed out of Asia Minor and losing Kypros. Maybe now they'll focus on fighting AS?

And the world map:



Some revolts and a bit of FD'd settlement switching to prevent the Arverni disappearing.

[Gabicho]

Current Baktria campaign.
I wanted to go slow, but i got annoyed by the Grey death multistack spam so i decided to throw them all the way back to Susa... they didn't stop so i had to throw them back to Bablyon... Didn't stop so i now intend to send them to Hades.


Now, this campaign had a lot of twists and turns; Epirus was reduced to just Taras at one point. Rome used to control all of Italy (minus Taras and Sicily) plus 3 provinces in Gaul, and had the Aedui and Arverni as vassals. The Sauromatae almost wipe the Getai, but they've been driven off.
Saba survived a Ptolemaic invasion that even got to besiege their capital; they survived and even took Gerrha from the Seleukids. Koinon Hellenon were reduced to just Rhodes, Pergamon and Sparta at one point (by the Makedonians).
The Lusotannans are swimming in money, they have many full stacks stomping Gaul (they did quick work of Carthage early in the game).

[Ca Putt]

I wanted to go slow, but i got annoyed by the Grey death multistack spam so i decided to throw them all the way back to Susa... they didn't stop so i had to throw them back to Bablyon... Didn't stop so i now intend to send them to Hades.

that's exactly what I expierienced in most of my campaigns first you just want to hold them off but then they get so annoying that you have to drive them off further and further until they're totally anihilated.

[rotten]

1. The Lusos look like a Vizigothic kingdom on steroids!

2. Lol helvetii, almost!

3. You'll have the same problem with the Ptolemaioi, though thankfully they have less territory.

[LusitanianWolf]

that's exactly what I expierienced in most of my campaigns first you just want to hold them off but then they get so annoying that you have to drive them off further and further until they're totally anihilated.

Its because of that I easly get bored of most of my campains that involve AS and dont play more with eastern factions, I just hate the neverending AS stacks and dont like the idea to have to blitz most of Asia....
What sometimes I do is to raid important areas, conquer, raze everything to ground and retreat (sometimes giving these dead zones to other factions with forced diplomacy to create a buffer state).

[Hax]

Now, this campaign had a lot of twists and turns; Epirus was reduced to just Taras at one point. Rome used to control all of Italy (minus Taras and Sicily) plus 3 provinces in Gaul, and had the Aedui and Arverni as vassals. The Sauromatae almost wipe the Getai, but they've been driven off.

Almost like an M. Night Shyamalan movie!

[Lysimachos]

Almost like an M. Night Shyamalan movie!

Yes, I believe I've seen that one!

[QuintusSertorius]

209BC:



And the world (yes I recently did some FD re-ordering of the map):

[panten]

Some updates from my Seleucid campaign. It is 213 BCE and things are looking good.
All lost provinces have been regained and even though there is war on all fronts, the empire itself is at peace.

In the West Byzantion was taken to secure domination of Asia Minor and two veteran armies have been deployed to protect it against assault from the Macedonians and the Getai who are even fighting themselves for the right to attack first:


After a quick and highly succesful campaign against the Hai, the Caucasus has been conquered and after betrayal by the Sauromatae an advance has been made into the Steppe. Uspe was secured with little resistance to function as a buffer from the nomads and as soon as a permanent garrison has been established the army will continue to liberate the Chersonesos to open a two frontier war on the Getai to fully claim dominance over the Pontos Euxenos.



For the same reaon Tanais was assaulted by mercenary troops: to keep supply routes safe and provide a springboard and safe retreat should the campaign need to be abandoned. With no major battle yet fought against the Nomads it remains to be seen if the experimental tactics and troop composition will work as expected against a very mobile and dangerous enemy.

Also a nice overview over the other powers:



In the East, the situation has improved but is remains fragile like a cardhouse. Unreliable client rulers and massive nomad armies have led to a massive military presence to keep the borders safe. Small armies have been dispatched to guard the river crossings and hopefully keep raids at a minimum.



In the South, the Saba have been pushed back from their advance on royal territory and an expedition is on its way to secure the southern border and to welcome Gerrha into the Empire.



The Seleucid royal army has also been highly succesful in securing Seleucid interest and to stabilize the southern front and after being retrained they will either join the fight against the Getai or will once again push to the borders of India.

[Fluvius Camillus]

Nice Empire, I'll post mine too soon, its also with the Seleukids and some fronts are similiar to yours.

I see you like elite royal armies as much as I do! Is the original family still in charge? I mean the Heterogenes Syriakos descendants from Seleukos I Nikator? I have Seleukos II Kallinikos in charge, he has two sons, oh the fortune, let's hope the second son is S/C/V! I'll keep you posted.

~Fluvius

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

The Seleucids are certainly an entertaining faction to play. Maybe its the challenge of holding together a struggling empire or the fact that you basically play two factions at once (one an eastern themed one against Parthia/Saka and Baktria and a western phalanx based one against Ptollies and Pontus). They are one of only two factions I played to victory conditions.

[Unintended BM]

The Seleucids are very fun. It's nearly impossible to rush a game like that, and that's why I like it. For the Romans, it's a lot of hitting end turn, but for the Seleucids, you always have something to do in every turn. In the time it takes me to get to 200 BC in a Roman game, I'll only get to like 250 BC in a Seleucid game.

Plus you have a huge variety of units. In Asia Minor and Syria, you can have chariots, elephants and naked dudes, then in the east you can have cataphracts, and horse archers. Plus lots of pikemen. A very fun game.

[Lysimachos]

The Seleucids are very fun. It's nearly impossible to rush a game like that, and that's why I like it. For the Romans, it's a lot of hitting end turn, but for the Seleucids, you always have something to do in every turn. In the time it takes me to get to 200 BC in a Roman game, I'll only get to like 250 BC in a Seleucid game.

Plus you have a huge variety of units. In Asia Minor and Syria, you can have chariots, elephants and naked dudes, then in the east you can have cataphracts, and horse archers. Plus lots of pikemen. A very fun game.

You know, you can recruit the Cataphracts quite far into the west.
Because of the large dimensions of the empire the seleukids have a vast array of regional troops at their disposal and I like to mix my armies with as much variety as possible. In modification of a quote from a certain controversial movie: The thousand nations of the seleukid empire descend upon you!

[Fluvius Camillus]

You know, you can recruit the Cataphracts quite far into the west.
Because of the large dimensions of the empire the seleukids have a vast array of regional troops at their disposal and I like to mix my armies with as much variety as possible. In modification of a quote from a certain controversial movie: The thousand nations of the seleukid empire descend upon you!

THIS IS SELEUKEIA!

But yes I love to do that too, Bosphoran, Kretan, Indian and Syrian archers fighting next too Hellenic Phalanx, backed by Indian Elephants and Persian Chariots. Baktrian light infantry slides down the flanks followed by the more heavy Galatians and infantry guild warriors. Arabian skirmisher cavalry distracts the enemy while the Hellenic Hetairoi and Kataphractoi make mincemeat of the enemy. The Thorakitai Agematos Basilikou punch through the center of the enemy line followed by Thraikian Romphaiaroi!

~Fluvius

[panten]

THIS IS SELEUKEIA!

But yes I love to do that too, Bosphoran, Kretan, Indian and Syrian archers fighting next too Hellenic Phalanx, backed by Indian Elephants and Persian Chariots. Baktrian light infantry slides down the flanks followed by the more heavy Galatians and infantry guild warriors. Arabian skirmisher cavalry distracts the enemy while the Hellenic Hetairoi and Kataphractoi make mincemeat of the enemy. The Thorakitai Agematos Basilikou punch through the center of the enemy line followed by Thraikian Romphaiaroi!

~Fluvius

Now here's an idea for an army as soon as I have the necessary provinces :D

Also, the original family is still in charge, so far I've been lucky with heirs (even though some turned out to be horrible and nearly all family members tend to get the "Thinks he's divine" and "Intolerant of other Gods" traits)

[QuintusSertorius]

Apparently the shoe-ing I gave the Karthadastim last time wasn't lesson enough. This time, however, I haven't shipped an army to assist the kingdom of Kyrene, they're going to have to manage on their own.



Also visible are two targets held by KH, I really want Rhodos and Chalkis, though I'm going to wait a while for both.

Elsewhere in the world, Pergamon intervened in the everlasting wars between Syria and Egypt, restoring the stalemate by assisting the Seleukids. After a swift campaign (with FD to give the Seleukids their cities back), the Silver Death is no longer wiped out in its heartland.

[Biowulf]

That's the farthest east I've seen AI Rome go, and the farthest south I've seen AI Hayasdan grow.

[Fluvius Camillus]

That's the farthest west I've seen AI Rome go, and the farthest south I've seen AI Hayasdan grow.

I humbly think you mean east..

Indeed, did you use Victory Conditions mod, or FD'ed them that way?

Now here's an idea for an army as soon as I have the necessary provinces :D

Also, the original family is still in charge, so far I've been lucky with heirs (even though some turned out to be horrible and nearly all family members tend to get the "Thinks he's divine" and "Intolerant of other Gods" traits)

The intolerant and divine thing seems to be hereditary, Seleukos II Kallinikos and Seleukos III Keraunos both got it too in my campaign!

Seleukos II Kallinikos' second son came of age, oh the luck, my future Antiochos III Megas was S/C/V U/O/L! His older brother Menekrates Syriakos (I call him Seleucus III Keraunos) is D/C/L, he has a powerful advisor and probably will have a little accident, poor guy. Also at the same time of Antiochos III, a far nephew came of age. He is also S/C/V but S/O/D in personality and called Hierax, perfect for roleplaying a civil war when Seleucus III unluckily falls from his horse and the Empire is without a heir!

Again, I forgot to post a screenshot of my magnificent Arche.

~Fluvius

[QuintusSertorius]

I humbly think you mean east..

Indeed, did you use Victory Conditions mod, or FD'ed them that way?

I do use Victory Conditions, but unfortunately the Romans only seem to have eyes for Gaul. They don't even seem interested in re-taking Italy, though after repeatedly moving their stacks to Sicily, they've finally taken Messana, and retaken Rhegion.

It's the work of some FD, partly to draw their attention eastwards, and partly to deny the Makedonians total dominance of the region (since I don't want much more of it than I already have). Especially now I've chosen not to intervene on behalf of KH in their homeland, and allowed Makedonia to rule over all Hellas. I'm letting KH evolve into the Bosphoran Kingdom and an independent league in Asia Minor.

[vollorix]

In almost all my campaigns Romans were building up Tolosa at about 260 bc. I had to nerf their ability to recruit local troops and to tweak their troops roster a little bit to stop them from steamrolling in all directions. They even easily used to overrun the Alps. They seem in any case always to swim in money, even on medium campaign difficulty. I play BI exe. by Ferromancer.

[Daiyoukai Ramza]

Here's a Pontic Empire I've been working on for a while...


Early game was... hectic, I suppose. I admit that I made a frantic blitz against Arche Seleukeia's Anatolian holdings, followed by kicking out the Ptolemaioi. I had no intention of letting myself be dragged into a two or three-front war.

And, well, it worked. After the initial blitz, I slowly expanded over the course of 30~40 years until I controlled all of Anatolia, and then set my sights elsewhere... specifically, the coastal cities ringing the Black Sea--barring the ones present in Anatolia, of course--which I've only begun, er, acquiring, in the past decade or so. The vast majority of said cities were 'acquired' by one Darius Kimmerikos, whose name is just so awesome that I can't help but to use him to lead my armies.

However, this campaign has begun to lose my interest, so I'll likely make a backup save in case the desire to continue strikes me later, then start a...

...

...I have no idea, to be honest. Maybe a... KH-turned-Bosporan Kingdom migration campaign.

[QuintusSertorius]

196BC and still it goes on. At war with the Karthadastim over Kyrene yet again, another full stack (though fewer elite pikemen and assault infantry this time) to deal with. In Italy/Sicily, chaos reigns supreme.



At least the AI Romans have actually sent some forces back to recapture their lost Italian cities, instead of ignoring it and haring off for Gaul. Again. I'm hoping to encourage them to move into Spain, rather than Gaul.

KH holding Syrakousai was my doing, after taking Rhodos and Chalkis off them I figured they needed a little assistance. They took Amaseia all by themselves, though.



I'm about to go to war with Makedonia to restore the Aedui to Singidnum, and maybe reduce their fighting capabilities a little.

[Fluvius Camillus]

Finally an update on my Seleukid Empire (which I paused for a while)!

The last time I posted about it, it was this size:



This was around the end of the reign of Antiochos II Theos, when he was subjugating the decadent Ptolemies with his royal army. Pahlavans still independent, Saka still raiding and Baktria is taken care of by Seleukos II kallinikos and his army.

Now I've continued!



I must say that this is quite a slow pace for my standards, as I try to roleplay and let the AI build up more. Which I really enjoy!

After Seleukos II Kallinikos returned from a victorious campaign through several (semi-) nomadic tribes (subjugating the main Parni cities and taking Caucasian Albania), he ceased campaigning and withdrew to the royal Seleukid palace. Here he spent well-deserved time with the inner circles of the royal family and tutored his heir apparent, Seleukos III Keraunos. He also witnessed the 16-years younger brother, Antiochos (in-game Aristos, but I stick with history) grow up. He showed promising traits and was sent to Alexandreia to study as soon as he reached the fit age. Also a promising nephew of him came of age the same time, Hierax Syriakos. The problem is that he developed some disloyalty traits and has to be watched closely.

The frontiers of the empire have shrunk to a small size, most are the edges of the map, against the sea or uninhabitable deserts. The main front is now Hellas, the fatherland. In an effort to help the Seleukid allies (Antigonid Makedonia under Demetrios II Aetolicus and Getia), a late son of Antiochos I Soter was sent to settle some matters. The Epeirote armies held the capitals of both allies, so Mnesiptolemus Syriakos and his son were given command of a well outfitted army to do some business there. At the same time, another army was sent to the northern coast of the Pontus Euxine. The commander was Nikolaos Babyloniakos, to help the Hellenic settlers who had been conquered by savage Sauromatae!

After the campaigns of Seleukos II Kallinikos, the Parni-Maszagatae were forced into submission (protectorate).

The army of Nikolaos met some resistance, but completed its taks easily. Mnesiptolemos Syriakos had more difficulties, the Epeirote armies were numerous and losses kept piling up. He however did settle the matter, he conquered Buridava and killed the Epeirote northern commander, then traded the city for Kallatis, which had much more Seleukid interest and the Danube became the frontier of the European Seleukid holdings.

The last keystone however, was Epeirote Pella, the ownership was hard to decide, Epeiros kept sending armies and the Epeirote Makedonian war already dragged on for more than 50 years. Mnesiptolemus did what seemed best, he took the city peacefully, slaughtered all Epeirote armies in the area and returned it to Makedonia. He made peace with Epeiros and declared the Kingdom of Kyrene a protectorate (Ptolemaioi), which then had to abandon all ties with Epeiros.

Demetrios II Aetolicus however took full advantage of the situation. He urged Seleukos II Kallinikos to continue the war against Epeiros, on sea because the Makedonian fleet was far inferior to the larger Epeirote. Seleukos then dispatched his fleet to blockade Adriatic sea ports.

Demetrios however sent three armies against Byzantion, Serdike and the allied city of Tylis, he allied himself with the Epeirotes by painting off the Seleukids as a Persian danger which all Hellenes had to defend itself against. Mnesiptolemus now uses his army with a lot of the Thraikian allies to turn back the combined strength. The defense however might break to these continued assaults. The new royal army is ready for battle and will soon join its new commander, Antiochos Syriakos (the younger brother of Seleukos III). Will he be in time to save the European holdings from this alliance?

Other stuff that is going on:
- Hayasdan is having a war of attrition with the Sauromatae over Uspe, which makes them unaggresive towards me (that is why I have not attacked them).
- The Kyrenaian protectorate is besieged by a large Qarthadast army, the Seleukids will probably be joining this conflict soon with another army.
- I leave the Massagateans and Alanii alone to keep them as a buffer against the Aorsi, a front which I don't want to wage a war.
- As you can see on the minimap (which is quite up to date), the Romani (my ally) went (as usual) berserk on the "barbarian" factions. True to history, the Lusotannan's are confined to a heavily fortified Numantia. The Sweboz are being massacred and only have Arctaunon and Gawjam Silengoz. The Romani are however too busy with the barbarian war, that they dont seem to notice that Epeiros took the boot of Italy from them all the way up to Capua.
Of course as the campaign progresses, there is no doubt that the final enormous clash of empires will be Romani vs AS.
- I play EB 1.2 RTW.exe with RS textures and FD.
- As you might have noticed, my treasury has grown quite a lot. I built Large mines in my entire empire, spread governors and made as much law bonus buildings as I can to reduce corruption. The result is an economy which makes standard 50000 mnai while I build in every city (Wonderous temples, huge markets etc. are standard in the programme). Thus I have a lot of cash to play around with. As you can see on the screen, I have trained my Armoured Elephant corps. Also I posses the ridiculously expensive Nees Megistai (Huge Poliremes), which I use in my (LARGE) fleet for the naval wars.

I hope someone enjoyed this.

~Fluvius

[QuintusSertorius]

I must say that this is quite a slow pace for my standards, as I try to roleplay and let the AI build up more. Which I really enjoy!

Controlling almost half the map in under 60 years is slow?

[Fluvius Camillus]

Controlling almost half the map in under 60 years is slow?

Umm yes, if you usually control the whole 20 years past this date, it is. Read: my standards, for more info on those see:
the earlier posts of mine:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...1.0&highlight= <-- Epeiros
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...lem&highlight= <-- Romani
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...iew&highlight= <-- Baktria

There is some huge PontPersian Empire lying around this fourm too, but I think the former three prove my point well enough.

~Fluvius

[QuintusSertorius]

236BC in my Epeiros as The Kyrenaian League, and this is turning out to be a lot of fun, especially playing some of the distant regions as independent kingdoms (ie no support from Kyrene):



Garama has an all-African garrison led by a Libian general, and has fought off three invasions by the Karthadastim so far. Long as they don't send any of their elite pikemen, I should be alright. If I've got more money later, I might hire another general and a merc army to go plundering the Karthadastim desert provinces/free Mauretania.

Recently landed an army to "liberate" Syrakousai from the Karthadastim; I might unite Sicily or I may take Lilibeo and Messana and gift to the Romans. Either way I'm hoping for some good battles across the island before that happens. As it is, the First Punic War in my game lasted about 10 years and the Romans gave up after being driven off the island. Very disappointing.

I think I'll take the Bosphorous as a third independent region, more viable than attempting to make it a faction in its own right.

The world is thus:



It's the Yellow Death in this game, the Seleukids are slowly crumbling without a great deal of fight. I wonder if proximity to the human player is a factor in that? In my Pergamon game, it was the Sliver Death, with the Ptlolemies flaking out quickly.

Yes, I've been tinkering all over the place and adding loads of money to the Eleutheroi (not sure if it does much; I also add units to their garrisons to prevent them being steamrollered). The "desert rebellion" in the Ptolemies hinterland is all my doing (deep raid, gift to another faction), seems to have galvanised the Sabaen into motion elsewhere.

Amazingly, KH and Makedon are at peace. Can't seem to get KH to expand in Asia Minor, either. They're no longer allies with the Seleukids, but won't take Sardis. Even though it would link up their holdings. I'd love for them to attack the Ptolemies, they have no real resistance in Asia Minor. No doubt I'll have to launch a naval invasion later on to sort that out.

[Saldunz]

So this has been by far the most interesting game I've played so far. It's a shot of my on-going campaign as the Getai in 164 BC. I'm playing VH/VH and I'm not using any Force Diplomacy.

That being said: I'm only at war with one other faction. Can you tell which?



It's the Saba. But anyway, here's some fascinating little happenings from the last 50 years of gameplay.

Italy: After I pushed Epirus out of Greece, they managed to hold out against Rome. It was incredible to watch the AI duke it out like that. Most of Italy was green for a short while, then it became white. From Sicily the Carthaginians trampled Epirus and conquered all the way up to Helvetia, eliminating both factions. The Carthaginians then managed to hold onto Helvetia but lost most of Italy to the Aedui, and their Sicilian colonies revolted and switched to the Koinon Hellenon. Now the Aedui and the Koinon Hellenon are fighting a bitter war for the Italian peninsula, and the Greeks are winning. I don't think I'll ever see Italy change colours so many times in under 50 years again.

The Near East: The Ptolemies simply wiped out the Seleukids and Hayasdan, and though I tried my best to keep them uninterested in Bithynia, they soon attack. I've been stuck in a war with the phalanx-dominated Ptolemies for nearly a century, making very slow gains. But as of 10 years ago, I've managed to persuade them into a lasting peace (it's possible, even in VH/VH), and probably could've done so a lot sooner if I was willing to concede all my gains east and south of Anatolia. Now the Ptolemies are stuck in a losing war against Bactria, which has recently finished off the Saka and the Parthians. Before this campaign is over, Bactria will have swallowed all of the Ptolemies Asian possessions.

Arabia: Though I've always been far more powerful than them, the Saba insisted on attacking me, no matter how much money I threw at them. I even tried giving them Lower Egypt, Jerusalem and Nabataea, but they attacked anyway. I'm now stuck trying to force them into a peace treaty, but the only way it seems I'll be able to manage that is by taking South-Western Arabia. After that, they may be more willing to pursue their eastern war with the Ptolemies.

Northern Europe: Sustainable peace is absolutely possible. I've never engaged in any hostilities with the Sweboz or the Sauromatae.

Also, if anyone's curious, I have not been winning battles with the Getai's elite units, mostly because the population of Getia is usually so low compared to the rest of my empire. Most of my armies that have been fighting with the Saba and the Ptolemies before that were bred in Asia (from Antioch, Alexandria and Damascus mostly), like the ones on the screenshot above. Very Hard battle difficulty does not make things impossible.

[Blxz]

Nice saldunz. Also fluvius camillus. And quintus seritouns.

Actually, I like all the empires. Very good stuff there.

[QuintusSertorius]

Since my Kyrenaian game may be dead, and I don't feel like going back to Pergamon yet, here's my Bosphoran Kingdom game:



My entire "empire" really does fit on one screen for the moment. Olbia is the next target, but worryingly the Eleutheroi AI has been adding to its garrison. I don't have an army yet (what's left of it you can see in Pantikapaion's garrison), just garrisons, which is why there are all those positive numbers. Concentrating on building up my economy and military production base while the AI is leaving me alone. All ports, markets, roads and farms for the moment.

[Blxz]

Since my Kyrenaian game may be dead, and I don't feel like going back to Pergamon yet, here's my Bosphoran Kingdom game:



My entire "empire" really does fit on one screen for the moment. Olbia is the next target, but worryingly the Eleutheroi AI has been adding to its garrison. I don't have an army yet (what's left of it you can see in Pantikapaion's garrison), just garrisons, which is why there are all those positive numbers. Concentrating on building up my economy and military production base while the AI is leaving me alone. All ports, markets, roads and farms for the moment.

I suspect you like starting new migration campaigns. What are your victory conditions that you have set for yourself in this game? I can't imagine a bosporan kingdom would feasibly want to expand much more than the circumference of the pontic sea. Could be a short game. I guess they could aim to control hellas proper by the end also.