So I decided to have a go at the ERE for the first time in a long time, having pretty much played only the WRE and some other barbarian factions for a bit of mucking around. Last time I touched the ERE was with the Belisarius campaign that used to be part of the mod.....this is the 434 AD campaign btw. Also this mod rocks. I am sure I've said this before but I'll say it again, kudos to you Riothamus!
So as you can see our territory is quite sizeable as the Empire regains its strength. Initially I played this with the wrong script by mistake, which wasn't actually activated so as the game progressed I was able to attack the WRE and begin the process of returning Rome to sole rule. Anyway we engaged in a long struggle against the Sassanids who had been unusually quiet early in the game which had allowed me to build up the economy in the East and also arm a full strength field army who initially was set as a defensive army with no real desire to go on the offensive against the Sassanids...at that time. Amida was impossible to hold and I lost it several times during one of my invasions, so I just gave it the Roman treatment and sacked and destroyed everything in it. Even the Sassanids had difficulty in holding it, getting kicked out a number of times. When the time was right our forces progressed deep into Persian heartlands capturing Artaxarta and Tuspha but both of these cities are delicately poised. I want to begin the assimilation process but building any Roman palaces or temples would cause the citizens to flip out. We even barged our way past Nisibis to capture Ctesiphon which is a decent little earner for the economy. In better times the armies attacked the city in Elam but was unable to hold it so I withdrew back to Ctesiphon which is subject to occasional raids. Right now things have stalled due to the economy and I am forced into a defensive posture.
FYI, the economy is so bad due to the fact that there was a bad round of plague that totally mucked it all up. Normally a good profit is made due to careful economic policies
We barely have a toe hold in central Africa. I ventured this far west only because the Berber's started getting uppity and were pushing towards Alexandria. Once here I decided to push onwards after stomping on the Berbers (which the Vandal's finished off a few turns later) only to realize that the Vandals were in a pretty good position and able to churn out armies of greater numbers that what I had brought with me and able to retrain. After a rather costly defense of Arae Philaenorum, its becoming clear that Roman rule in this part of the world may not be around for much longer.
All is well in the home provinces however as the WRE collapsed in the face of a concerted invasion that was basically made of mercenaries and easily garrisoned with a single unit. Mercenaries have formed an important backbone of my armies, obviously because they are cheap to maintain and its useful to hire decent horse archers. They've been responsible for keeping the Huns in check and also to retake our isolated outpost of Cherson as required which has fallen to the Huns on two or three occasions. The Imperial foundries certainly help make these troops more than useful in the field. I have one full Imperial army on the Corsican islands who was initially supposed to push out the Vandals but they are more numerous than I thought on Sardinia but I may just suck it up and see what happens here. The less places the Vandals hold the better, currently we are engaged in a fercious naval war as I try and blockade as many of their ports as possible.
As I progressed westwards I was surprised by the docile nature of the Ostrogoths (though we were at war) who usually are only too happy to pester you to death when playing as the WRE. I did think about driving them beyond the Danube as I had the forces to do so but thought against it. Well one day out the blue the Ostrogoths attacked in force, adding extra pain in the economical sense as they drove deep into Pannonia, capturing Sirmium, besieging several other cities before been driven off and been a general nuisance. Hastily cobbled together forces (thankfully I had just trained up a fresh legion prior) went after the Goths and beat them on several occasions and now we are poised to retake Sirmium and even a mercenary army has ventured deep towards Sarmisegetuza and laying seige to it. One smaller force is pushing towards Gepidae (the Gothic capital) obstensibly to defeat any forces present. I am unsure as to whether to put the Goths to flight (don't know whether they have lots of stacks if they end up hording) or just leave them after giving them a kicking around and then just watching them, whilst launching punitive raids when necessary.
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Originally Posted by Diocletianus
