Why does everyone hates barbarian factions?

[HeirOfGreece]

1 question Ludens,How do you write that Originally Posted By? I looked on how to do it and i did not realise how... And yeah aren't wardogs good against Elephants?

And what does Quote do?

[Vincent Butler]

1 question Ludens,How do you write that Originally Posted By? I looked on how to do it and i did not realise how... And yeah aren't wardogs good against Elephants?

I know I am not Ludens, but the "originally posted by" comes from the Reply with Quote feature, there is also something you can do with multiquote, I am not sure what that does. It seems you have found out what Quote does.


As to the Wardogs vs Elephants



Elephants are best handled with pikemen (hoplites are OK, but the pikemen have longer spears, so the elephants don't land on your troops as much). Skirmishers (not javelin cavalry) also get a bonus against elephants. Archers can possibly get them to go amok if you use flaming missiles. War Ellies or Armoured Ellies almost never go amok due to flaming missiles. I may have posted my Royal Pikemen vs Armoured Ellies video, I don't remember. I also do have different siege weapons vs Armoured Ellies as well. Ballista and Scorpions don't do very well against AE. Incendiary Pigs get elephants routing immediately, once they hit. That is the only use for IP.

I have a video of the IP, and if the thread continues that way I will post it, don't want to be overwhelming with the videos. I did a bunch of one-on-ones. The default Window 10 in-game DVR gets choppy after a couple of minutes, so you can't really do a full battle.

[weejonnie]

So far I have played Brittania, Germanica and am playing Spain. (All Vanilla M/M)

Brittanica - once you get heavy chariots then you can go to sleep and let the game win itself. I headed South to the Mediterranean to get a warm-water port as quickly as possible. One key tactic is to get the cross-channel trade going.
Germanica - Basically I won the game with spear warbands - watching British Chariots die as they threw themselves on the Phalanx was very enjoyable. At least you start off with a good number of provinces and scope for expansion. I actually won the short-campaign criteria when I knocked out the last Scythian province as my 50th.
Spain - early days yet - have taken over the peninsula/ Palma and expanding into Italy - Patavium is still Gaulish. May take Corsica/ Sardinia (whatever it is called) as weakly defended and I have a pretty useful fleet. Palma/ Corduba sea income is very lucrative tradewise. Economy strong enough to buy Bull warriors and Long-shield cavalry.

My 'algorithm'

Build up the economy by building roads/ ports/ markets
Build up population by keeping taxes low in towns/ large towns that are getting close to City Status (then hit them with very high). There is a VERY big difference over 10 turns between a 4% and a 2% growth. (nearly 50% Vs just over 21%)

Using the Financial forecast area is very useful.
Although there is general advice against it, I build both land clearance AND also communal farming in areas where the natural productivity is low - 3.5 - 4.5% - since you can't build high-ended buildings that give a big boost to population explosions then I think it is worth it. Cordoba has a natural farming value of 6.5 - so it is possible to exceed the recommended maximum of 8.
The population growth also enables more rapid recruitment.
Take any population centre that is poorly defended, even if this means jumping in with the navy. When I declare war on the Brits Londinium will be the first to go.
Unless you are miles away from the capital and in an unfamilair culture, enslave rather than exterminate. Barbarians are helped by the fact that Western Europe is the same culture-wise. (Except for Cordoba), so you can move the Capital well over to the East as you expand.

(If you fill up your recruiting queue with peasants, you can still force the next unit to be trained to be the one you want.)

[ReluctantSamurai]

Cordoba has a natural farming value of 6.5 - so it is possible to exceed the recommended maximum of 8

I wouldn't recommend it. Corduba is a pain in the a$$ to keep under control even for its' founding faction of Carthage. It's one of those cities that has a built-in 35% unrest (Patavium, Jerusalem, Tarsus being the others). Put your best Law & Order temple there, and if you have a governor, choose one with a lot of influence laureates...management skill will do you no good for keeping the population under control.

Unless you are miles away from the capital and in an unfamiliar culture, enslave rather than exterminate.

Bear in mind that any settlement/town/city with a governor, gets a share of the refugees, which may...or may not be a good thing With certain cities, I break my rule of not exterminating upon occupation; any Nile Delta city, Jerusalem, Patavium, Corduba, Tarsus, Carthage, and any starting Roman city. All of these cities gain population back quickly, especially the ones with grain-driven population growth like Carthage or Alexandria. Those particular cities are a real pain to keep under control, and some time is needed to convert the indigenous temple and establish ZPG. Better to take a temporary hit to the city's income than to lose it to rebellion.

[Vincent Butler]

Egyptians are always exterminated, unless it is only a town or large town. Romans pretty much same way. Usually I look at happiness before deciding with others. I usually make my determination about temples at that time as well. Corduba, Londinium, Tanais, Tarsus, Patavium (usually), and Dimmidi will always get the public order temple. Not a bad idea to build it in Corinth as well if you are not Greek, to make sure you maintain the temple of Zeus at Olympus. That will help your public order with all other cities. However, I consider the upgrade to missile units from Artemis (or a Pantheion to Zeus, if I am that late) worth keeping. I have only gotten into Greece once as a barbarian. By that time, riots were killing my campaign.

[weejonnie]

Well my Spanish campaign (M/M) is about to enter Greece - have taken Appolonia (or whatever the city opposite Tarentum is called), my armies of Bull warriers/ long-shield cavalry are kicking Brutii butt and the Mediterranean Sea is Spanish controlled. Basically I put in Temples of ESUS everywhere there isn't already a temple of public order, since not only does it give you Bull Warriors, it maximises public order. It is about 225BC, so not sure if Marius reforms have kicked in. 33 provinces including Spain, Gaul (1 Province Left in Greece), Great Britain (they are down to a few ex-Germania towns), Italy, Carthage (not yet secure). I have no problems with rioting -most of my towns are now developed as much as I want, so expenditure has gone down (the smaller towns are on low tax rate to speed up development). (The Scipii control Sparta but as that is the only city they do control in Greece I'll probably take that next.) Have done some bribing - I think that the bribery rates are set by your budget at the start of each turn - so you have to bribe early.
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End of campaign: Scipii didn't attack Carthage until I got some reinforcements there - and then started wandering off to Egypt (So I took Tharsis). Got rid of Britannia but didn't invade Dacia. Cleared out the Greek City Areas. Numidia attacked Carthage - bad mistake as 4 turns later I had wiped them out, and took Byzantium as my 50th. The Brutii were a pain as their black-sea ports were churning out quinquiremes. I have a rule that whenever a navy dock for re-training, I always add another vesssel. It is amazing how quickly the navy builds up.

Basically once I had Carthago Novo and Corduba churning out bull warriers and my forces arraigned to stop the Gauls/ Julii this was a cakewalk - it did take until 200bc or so, so it was one of the longer campaigns.

[Vincent Butler]

My brother likes the Spanish, the Scutarii are decent. I personally don't like the use of Bull Warriors for my own because I question their historical reality. But that is just me, I try to factor realism in instead of just playing for fun. I don't use Druids, despite the fact that I have seen firsthand how useful they can be (I used to use them).

It seems Dacia does not get much mention, probably in part because you have to mod to get them, same as Spanish. It seems to myself and my brother that Dacian Warband seem to fight better than standard Warband, though I doubt that is actually the case. Then again, maybe since they are supplemented by Falxmen instead of Swordsmen, the battle goes better for them, so they don't rout as quickly. But Chosen Swordsmen and Chosen Archer Warband? That would make for a tough force, especially because they also get Barbarian Noble Cav, who are decent as well.