Romano British

[andrewmc]

Anyone found it really hard playing with these guys? I found once you spread out from Britan it got pretty tough the Franks are ok to deal with plus Constantine but the WRE's legion are way superior to my army. It would be ok if you could recruit british legions not just in britan. I had to stop this Campain as every battle with WRE i had bigcasulties and was over stretched + I was having to recruit mecenarys all the time.

[Gen.jamesWolfe]

Anyone found it really hard playing with these guys? I found once you spread out from Britan it got pretty tough the Franks are ok to deal with plus Constantine but the WRE's legion are way superior to my army. It would be ok if you could recruit british legions not just in britan. I had to stop this Campain as every battle with WRE i had bigcasulties and was over stretched + I was having to recruit mecenarys all the time.

your request won't happen(maybe they take it to britanny? but doubt it). as for the troop qualities, all I can say is use ambushes, cover, and movement. that's how the Barbarians did it. I know the feeling; I used Arabs once, and had to tackle Savaran from the sassanids. I got away with 5-15% casualties in 7 battles, usng these ideas.

[Draco Borealis]

Barbarians are easy to fight becouse despite possesing mighty charge they're very susceptible to cavalery manouvers from flanks, while WRE troops seems never brake which makes the battles long and costly. Constantine troops on other hand are of lesser quality than your own. My advice unite entire Britain and Ireland first try to exterminate the saxons on continent, and you'll have to take max threee cities on Galic shore of English chanel to achieve domination, in this case you can hold them using mix of local roman militia and bucalieri and shuttle your field army across chanel using your fleet if needed. I'm afraid Romano Bristish being nothing more than glorified local selfdefence force can't recruit highteer units outside their diocese. You must forget about taking Rome and forge instead sea oriented Imperium Britanicum.
P.S. WRE indeed in 9 of 10 cases is behaving like steam roller I think some balancing is needed.

[Forsworn]

Well, when the AI is in control of WRE they do get bonuses, depending on the difficulty you're playing, and I think their territories are much harder to get into rebellions than if a human were playing them.

That's my assumption, I could be wrong.

[seriousbusiness]

WRE indeed in 9 of 10 cases is behaving like steam roller I think some balancing is needed.

Whenever ERE goes against WRE, invariable ERE dominates (sometimes wins). Also WRE is strong for a reason, if they were any weaker they'd seriously begin to lose. I think they could be somewhat weaker, but not too much. My Imperium Constantini (VH/VH) took as long as it did because WRE outnumbered me about 2:1 consistently with superior troops so I had to choose my battles very carefully, annihilate as many as possible, take a city, fortify and try to keep it, renew assault on next city, repeat, all without facing a major invasion with someone else (easier said than done), so I know exactly what you mean.

Romano British are overpowered as is. They were unpaid volunteers, outnumbered in defending Roman Britain against many, many Saxon invaders and a large-scale Celtic comeback. They shouldn't have any of the cavalry they begin with (at least, MUCH less, maybe 2-3 units tops) since all of Rome's troops were evacuated and only a handful of volunteer Graal knights and Samartian-inspired auxilliaries remained. To have a cavalry force that is bar none the greatest in the game at the beginning is rather insane. I think they should be able to train some, at Huge Cities, perhaps, with the top stable and/or barracks. That the RB's could only recruit British legionnaires at 2, maybe 3 cities with a small economy (compared with the Franks) made it tough, I agree.

I would suggest going with the above strategy to take out the northernmost scandinavian/saxon provinces then quickly take the required province from the Franks (or maybe the Constantini, if you are VERY quick or the Franks do badly somehow). Either way the Romano-British are one of the easiest factions in the game when they are meant to be extremely tough. Makes me annoyed every time.

[andrewmc]

I agree with you on that the romano british are overpowered but only at the start. They start with way to many cavalry its easy to crush the saxons and picts in no time but once you have conqured the British Isles its not so easy due to being only able to recruit british legions in britan so its very difficult to forge a european empire due to the next best unit recruitable being pedites which anihalted by WRE armies. Picts are way to easy to beat should be a much bigger challenge there units are very poor + the saxon army isn't the best either.

I have just started a new romano british campaign but have made legion comintases recruitable for the romano british to help me out when I have to fight the WRE because in my last Romano campaign I managed to take some settlements from the WRE but I was sustaing massive casulties.

[seriousbusiness]

I agree with you on that the romano british are overpowered but only at the start. They start with way to many cavalry its easy to crush the saxons and picts in no time but once you have conqured the British Isles its not so easy due to being only able to recruit british legions in britan so its very difficult to forge a european empire due to the next best unit recruitable being pedites which anihalted by WRE armies. Picts are way to easy to beat should be a much bigger challenge there units are very poor + the saxon army isn't the best either.

I have just started a new romano british campaign but have made legion comintases recruitable for the romano british to help me out when I have to fight the WRE because in my last Romano campaign I managed to take some settlements from the WRE but I was sustaing massive casulties.

The Romano British should be absolutely stripped of all professional troops. Completely. Picts VH/VH is currently impossible (if you don't believe me, try it). They were a loyalist defence militia and were effectively annihilated only a short time (a few decades, to be generous). Also, do you think the Romans would have bothered to build fort after fort on the aptly-named "Saxon Shore" if their presence was as weak as it is currently at the start? Not to mention that they never return, after being initially repelled. There are major problems that must be fixed. I know everyone loves the Romano-British, but as it is now it is historical butchery. It's just wrong.

[andrewmc]

How far did you get with your Pict campaign + Romano British campaign + imperium constantine campiagn post pics if you like. I like to see how other people play their campaigns. I ve got a post your empire post.

[seriousbusiness]

Picts: Still stayin' alive in Ireland. That's literally it despite fighting every battle as carefully, strategically and well as possible.
Romano-British: Easy win, but delayed ~20-25 turns to sort out debt problem and eventually overcome very large Frankish forces around Condate/neighboring one
Constantini: whoa, sweet jesus it was hard, but it was also some weeks ago now, so I don't remember. I delete saves after winning (or giving up, as I have with the Picts. It is crazy at the moment.) Basically everything was micromanaged and 2 stacks of field troops would blitz one enemy at a time in the order Franks, Burgundii, Allemanni, Saxons and eventually (loooong time) WRE. I think in retrospect I should have just beaten the franks and sorted out WRE sooner.

I have a whinge thread for this whole issue. By all means contribute, please do

[andrewmc]

When you say you won with the Romano British do you mean you completed the objective? or further than that?

[seriousbusiness]

When you say you won with the Romano British do you mean you completed the objective? or further than that?

Completed the objective, of course. That's the whole point. The Romano-British were simply not the Romans; that's a fact no matter how you try to spin this. Why would they have (if it were even possible) wanted to go beyond Britain and a few other settlements anyway? Britain was indefensible in its own right. They could not afford a serious army and beyond the defence of thier own territory did not exist as a formidable faction.

[Draco Borealis]

Riothmasus did led 12 000 troops to battle Goths in Gaul and Britons took the Armorica (Britagny) for themselfs they so were able to make offence, the only thing that doomed them was lack of unified command after Camlen battle and fall of Aureliani dynasty. Still the Saxon managed to take all lowland England only in VII century, two hundred years after initial rebelion. Modern Britons still call themself "citisens" not Romans just like in Gildas writings from VI century but If we call XV century Greek speekers from Constantinople Romans the Wales, Cornwall and Britagny were last part of Western Roman Empire not governed by decendents of "barbarians" but roman citisens. But if they're truly Roman faction they shud recruit comitannses in entire Empire. Constantine the Great was crowned in York after all.

[andrewmc]

Completed the objective, of course. That's the whole point. The Romano-British were simply not the Romans; that's a fact no matter how you try to spin this. Why would they have (if it were even possible) wanted to go beyond Britain and a few other settlements anyway? Britain was indefensible in its own right. They could not afford a serious army and beyond the defence of thier own territory did not exist as a formidable faction.

Did you get any further than just the objective because i have completed the objective and found it relativley easy

[Ramon Gonzales y Garcia]

planned changes to RB faction in v8:
1) reduce their territory and their starting army
2) allow them to recruit regular Roman troops in the continent
these changes have already ben incorporated into the still internal v7.1 (w/c might well become v8)

for the Picts:
they will be changed to Gaelic tribes in Ireland.

[seriousbusiness]

planned changes to RB faction in v8:
1) reduce their territory and their starting army
2) allow them to recruit regular Roman troops in the continent
these changes have already ben incorporated into the still internal v7.1 (w/c might well become v8)

for the Picts:
they will be changed to Gaelic tribes in Ireland.

It's a start. Although - I like the idea of 'gaelic tribes'. After all, the Scotti and so on were also major contenders.

[andrewmc]

planned changes to RB faction in v8:
1) reduce their territory and their starting army
2) allow them to recruit regular Roman troops in the continent
these changes have already ben incorporated into the still internal v7.1 (w/c might well become v8)

for the Picts:
they will be changed to Gaelic tribes in Ireland.

Good new! epecially part 2! any idea on time for release?

[seriousbusiness]

Riothmasus did led 12 000 troops to battle Goths in Gaul and Britons took the Armorica (Britagny) for themselfs they so were able to make offence, the only thing that doomed them was lack of unified command after Camlen battle and fall of Aureliani dynasty. Still the Saxon managed to take all lowland England only in VII century, two hundred years after initial rebelion. Modern Britons still call themself "citisens" not Romans just like in Gildas writings from VI century but If we call XV century Greek speekers from Constantinople Romans the Wales, Cornwall and Britagny were last part of Western Roman Empire not governed by decendents of "barbarians" but roman citisens. But if they're truly Roman faction they shud recruit comitannses in entire Empire. Constantine the Great was crowned in York after all.

I didn't quite understand what you meant by the second part. 15th Century is a little while to go, also...
I absolutely agree they should be able to train some manner of heavy legionary troops, although I feel they should be much weaker than the mainland originals. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the Romano-British economy was mostly too small to field many of them, and those they did were likely not made of the same stern stuff as the WRE originals. They did manage to protect much of England for about 200 years, however - but the fact they never expanded (except for tiny colonies in NW France) shows that they clearly weren't enough to do more than protect their own lands. Even under stronger leadership they never expanded far, if at all. Currently (and I suspect even in v8) they are infuriatingly unbalanced.

I take the fact that Constantine III was crowned in Britain as a sign of weakness as far as Roman authority is concerned. We don't know if he evacuated the troops or not (most were withdrawn before by Imperial order by Honorius), but since Constantine "III" quickly lost control in Britain it is obvious he did not govern Britain well - what to make of this in terms of the game is debatable.