SPQR guide : How to survive the first fifteen turns.

**Abmong** · September 23, 2009, 02:07 PM

Lol, yah 260BC must have been when I forgot to activate the script...

I took Mediolanium, Pavatium, Darantasia and Nicaea after initial defeat of Hannibal and other Carthaginians to the south.

so I now had three northern fronts to protect (Pavatium, Darantasia and Nicaea)

Very bad times...

so gonna start over now.

Would you advise me to confront Carthage first in a war of annihilation (conquer north Africa) before setting foot in Pavatium?

thx

**Blade0815** · September 23, 2009, 02:24 PM

Most people around here will advise you to go for the marian reforms before even think of taking Patavium. Because this will force Germania and Dacia to attack you and that a whole lot of fun.
I would suggest Iberia and Greece as first targets but if you want land from Gaul don't take regions bordering Germania.

**czePowerslave** · September 27, 2009, 03:46 PM

Its all up to you how to play but Carthage + Iberia sounds very nice. And setting foot in greece is always good idea cause if you hamper Greek advance in the beginning, you might benefit from it later on, so do that too if you can.

**Britannia** · September 28, 2009, 05:09 AM

This guide is great! I used these tactics against Hanibal, and beat him!

Although I lose a fair few more men than you did; my velites were not on their A game with their elephant killing.

**Abmong** · September 28, 2009, 06:02 PM

Personally I didn't find Hannibal that hard... Theophanes on the other hand, even though he only had one elephant unit his other unit were better units over all.

**S u l l a** · September 29, 2009, 01:51 PM

Indeed! After changing Theophanes starting army with the unit addon I lost (!) becuase I was too ignorant and decided to use same legion aginst both Hannibal and Theophanes same turn ... (which has worked for as long as I can remember).

It was a close call but with dramatic implications. Theophanes stayed alive for 2 years, getting two full stacks of reinforcements through naval invasion, rumbled around Italy with Paestum lost and retaken. That was a very costly and nervous start for me ...

Those new Gallic Swords, Iberian Cavalry and Numidian Skirmishers made the difference.

**Necrontyr** · September 29, 2009, 07:50 PM

lol im still trying to invade greece but my army is focused on defence in the North and my Income is getting low and i dont have enough fresh troops to make any conquests and even if I do, I won't be able to defend them for long, and whats worse is I attacked Patavium and now Germans are swarming, so I sent a diplomat to the Dacians and gave them Patavium, now those Germans have crossed into Dacia and now war has broken out between the Barbarians, at last, the Gauls arent attacking me as heavily

**Raglan** · October 23, 2009, 05:46 PM

spaming to the top

**Paladin247** · December 28, 2009, 04:45 PM

Great guide.

Altho I haven't been able to generate the cash amounts specified; like another poster, I'm laboring around 5K.

As cited above, in my opening turns Hannibal and Theophanes split which enabled me to gang tackle Hannibal with two legions and then transit west and do likewise to Theophanes.

Glad to hear that Carthage doesn't do amphib invasions of Italy after those two are dead; need the troops on the Gaul border. However, I do have two large Carthaginian fleets menacing Capua which I can't do much about given the feeble state of my navy.

This is a fun mod. I've been playing the Broken Crescent mod to MTW and was intrigued when I saw SPQR, but was concerned that I'd dislike going backward in graphics, but the troops are so well detailed, it hasn't been a factor.

**Hesus de bodemloze** · December 29, 2009, 02:34 PM

The guide isn't 100% accurate but it gives you a pretty good idea how every thing will run if you spend your money like this. Main investments are in economy to get larger amounts of money. If you build mines first you will get a lot more money which can be spend on the pro consul building in capua to get the next level of barracks. If you have these barracks you are able to recruit full legions. And so on.

**czePowerslave** · December 29, 2009, 03:31 PM

And to add, beginning is the BEST part of the game.

**the13thlegion** · April 07, 2010, 07:24 AM

All was going well untill turn 4, And then the greeks sent a stack to attack me on the ships from GREECE!!!!!!

totaly ruined my campaign.

**Ejergard** · April 07, 2010, 07:42 AM

Wow, you're lucky! Naval invasions are not that common

**Hesus de bodemloze** · April 07, 2010, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Ejergard

Wow, you're lucky! Naval invasions are not that common

They aren't? I noticed when you take Sicilia and you leave the heel of Italie unprotected, Greeks land army after army to start there invasion of Italie. If you start an invasion of Greece early in the game they wont invade Italie because they will spend all there troops on kicking you out of there territory.

**Ejergard** · April 07, 2010, 05:30 PM

I suppose when they have territories offshore that they need to reinforce they will do naval invasions frequently (goes to all aggressive factions), but this prerequisite isn't met very often or for a very long time. But this gave me an idea though. What about modding "micro-provinces" in mainland Italy that cant be conquered, that belongs to Carthage, Gaul, Greeks and Germania for example, wouldn't this lead to more attempted sea invasions? Dunno if this is even possible...

**Raglan** · April 08, 2010, 07:34 AM

last time i played, greece went all out on me. They got fluky at the begining and managed to take the whole of sicily, after that they went crazy. I had them invading the north of italy, the south, and sending serious reinforcements to my attempted invasion of sicily

**Hesus de bodemloze** · April 08, 2010, 12:13 PM

Yep Greeks do invade other countries if they get the time and don't get harassed on there mainland.

**the13thlegion** · April 09, 2010, 11:49 AM

Well, i wasnt expecting that ;p But 4 turns through when your still dealing with the carthaginians in souther italy? Bit soon? :/

**S u l l a** · April 09, 2010, 02:10 PM

It all depends on how you play, where you invade, and which settlements you conquer and which you leave untouched at same time. Garrisons and field armies located in the region also play a role.

Both Carthage and Greece can keep sending numerous stacks of armies by naval invasions. Take Lilybeon and Syracuse in Sicily for eample, but leave Messana to Carthage. Leave it alone for some 5 years and do not invade Africa or Spain or Sardinia during this time. Make sure you have plenty of Skirmishers based on Siciliy though cause you will be up for a real challenge with armies having some 4 to 5 ellies and they are sending some 5 stacks at the same time ... lol

In another campaign Theophanes survived initial turns in one campaign and managed to rumble around Italy for some years due to reinforcements coming all the time through naval invasions ...