Which Campaign Are You Playing & Why

[PSEUDO ROMANUS]

that was an awesome, all inspiring spectacle. I must rep thee


but I can tell you, you got lucky-I was repeatedly winning battles with worse odds-as a lakhmid. I had 2000 sassanids on 1200 arabs in an assult(they attacked), and I had few archers to help, so it was a close run thing.

I AM A MAAYUN!! *punches*

[Gen.jamesWolfe]

A question for those who have been playing against Sassanians for a while, how are their armies composed (infantry, cavalry)?
I am interested in those armies the AI had formed.

they are notorious for having cavalry heavy armies; they usually start spamming phaigahan and asawira, and move on to higher and higher cavalry types.

by the time the game finishes, they've got the best possible cavalry in two's or fours per 20 units. so yeah, their armies are tough. but asawira tend to stand out as really common.

[Gäiten]

they are notorious for having cavalry heavy armies; they usually start spamming phaigahan and asawira, and move on to higher and higher cavalry types .

Do you have a screenshot of such a army?

by the time the game finishes, they've got the best possible cavalry in two's or fours per 20 units. so yeah, their armies are tough. but asawira tend to stand out as really common.

As they shall be

[Gen.jamesWolfe]

Do you have a screenshot of such a army?

fraid not-just horror stories.

perhaps when I restart my arab conquests I'll remember.

As they shall be

Aw !!

not good!! not good!!

[Julianus Flavius]

Anybody playing as picts? Just curious.

[-Traiano-]

I would be glad to know some thoughts of IJ3 players...as some likey rad around here i started with 361 campaign as Julian, but due to huge problems i was forced to leave that campaign and now i'm ready to start a new fresh game with Beta2 Patch2a, i'm looking forward the several campaigns...the 361 is still that i like the most but i'm afraid of having ctd problems after hours of gaming...i like also 355 constans II faction...or 365 Valentinian I faction....

Known that i play onli romans and i play onli VH/VH what is in your opinion the best campaign to play for me?? and possibly that has also no ctd problems??

[merlinuscdxx]

Playing as Sassanids, 361 campaign. I will rebuild the Empire of Kurush, and beyond. Like someone else had mentioned, it's nice to fight Rome as a civilized nation. I saw the starting armies and thought it would be too easy, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Kidarites start nice and aggressive, and will hurt you a bit if you aren't careful. The E. Roman troops are pretty decent, and their cities are a pain to take without heavy casualties. You really have to watch your economy, because you need the godly cavalry and rare good infantry to win battles, but those guys can bankrupt you if you go overboard. I wouldn't try to go cheap and spam paighan, 'cause if you do, the Romans will eat you for breakfast. I like the campaign balance, yes, some of the cavalry are godlike on the field, but with a price to match. As for why I chose this particular faction, refer to my avatar and signature.

[-Traiano-]

I have chosen my new campaign, i like Julian too much so i started 355 Julian's campaign as Caesar!! Things seem to be critic enough!!! Economy is not as bad as 361's one but is equally bad enough to go on debt by the first turn, Gallic provinces are litterally surrounded by thousands ugly barbarians and elite troops at your command are few, good generals are few too but there are some more loyal than 361's one.

I'm organizing the army to fight Alamanni, Franks and Gaelics in Britain, i'm making an elite comitatus under Julian in Gaul of 4 stacks, other 2 or 3 stacks should be raised in north Italy, this to get barbarians from 2 sides. Then 2 stacks in Britain under the "comes litoris saxonici per britannicum" to fight saxons/Gaelics and 1 stack in both north africa and Spain...
Lets see what will happen when i'll press end turn

[julianus heraclius]

Well, I had to restart my 355AD campaign because the first one had an evil clone, whcih was subsequently fixed in the 2a Patch. It is now 364AD. My economy is worse than the Global Financial Crisis but I have managed to subdue both the Franks and Alemanni. Constantius II faction attacked me around 361AD so I am now in the process of taking Italia. It is painstakingly slow as I dare not risk a full seige attack due to suffering heavy losses as preserving troops is paramount. So I lay a seige blockage instead and wait for the enemy to come out to attack. This keeps casualties to a minimum and allows for morale of the enemy to wane due to supply shortages.

I have just bee attacked by the Gaelic Tribes in Britain but I have two stacks there to deal with them. Half of Hispania is in the hands of the Roman Rebels but they are relatively inactive at the moment. I have been luckly along the way, as some cities that were in the hands of the rebels rbel back to me and so I get some extra troops which have come in handy. I feel pretty confident in gaining Italia as Constantius II has his hands full with the Quadi and Iazyges.

I think in hindsight what I would have done from the beginning was to build a new Palatina Army with my money, then proceed to invade Italia, rather than wait for the eastern empire to attack me, as the only way to get a handle on the economy is to expand your empire.

What I am thinking of doing is developing a script that will give some aid to Julianus' faction. For example, when Colonia Agrippia is taken from the Franks you would get some extra units as a bonus. The same would go with taking Aquilea and Sirmium. I'm even thinking of seeing whether it is possible that if you manage to take Aquilea then you would gain the whole Italian peninsula.

Any thoughts on these ideas??

[-Traiano-]

I think in hindsight what I would have done from the beginning was to build a new Palatina Army with my money, then proceed to invade Italia, rather than wait for the eastern empire to attack me, as the only way to get a handle on the economy is to expand your empire.

What I am thinking of doing is developing a script that will give some aid to Julianus' faction. For example, when Colonia Agrippia is taken from the Franks you would get some extra units as a bonus. The same would go with taking Aquilea and Sirmium. I'm even thinking of seeing whether it is possible that if you manage to take Aquilea then you would gain the whole Italian peninsula.

Any thoughts on these ideas??

Right now i'm playing the first turns and trying to get to alamanni/franks with the entire army from west and south, i'm also raising a new mixed Palatinae/Auxilia Palatinae army in Arleate/Mediolanum. For now i still hold all my starting provinces, what helped me in doing this has been moving my capital from Lutetia to Lugdunum, that gave more stability on the worse part of the empire, the iberia/north africa provinces where onli a couple cities seriously risk a rebellion. In Britain i easily beaten off Saxons and now i'm sending my 2 stacks to north where i want to invade gaelics and sack their cities to raise money, fortunately Gaelics are busy in fighting the pict's rebels stacks on their provinces!!! For now my "friend" Constans II has his own problems in fighting Quady/Lazigees too.
Your ideas seem to be good, i like particularry that one gives you troops bonus when take Colonia Agrippina or other cities, the chanche to gain entire Italian Peninsula by taking Aquileia i think could be a little balanced in doing the same thing but when you Take Rome or at least Ravenna...it would be as simulate the fall of Constans II's official (Praefectus??) for italy and subsequently the extension of Julian's rule on Italy...

[-Traiano-]

server error...

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

I have finally got IJ3 up and running (it seems I deleted the original RTW files somehow - doh!) and am now jumping in to the Procopius campaign in an attempt to resuurect Julian's legacy! Wish me luck!!!

[Templar Knight]

well i am playing the 355 campaign, and is it just me or is it extremely hard to recruit anything but militia as Julian

note i have not applied the patch as i dont want to restart my campaign


anyway despite the recruitment thing i am having a very enjoyable time killing barbarians

[julianus heraclius]

well i am playing the 355 campaign, and is it just me or is it extremely hard to recruit anything but militia as Julian

note i have not applied the patch as i dont want to restart my campaign


anyway despite the recruitment thing i am having a very enjoyable time killing barbarians

Well it's hard to recruit if you have no money. Also, the patch should be saved game compatible. Glad you are enjoying killing barbarians!

[margio]

Armenians, 361AD Campaign, H/VH setup.
The starting troops provided let me capture Kotais and Pytius, owned by Rebels and captured by Huns respectively, on the west and Albana on the east (the previous and unsuccessful siege by Huns made easier to capture it). Trusting neutrality by Sassanids and alliance by Romans, I went on north capturing Sinda, Campus Alanni and Campus Khazari.
After that I tried ceasefire with Huns, but they wants too much money and towns, so I was obliged to leave one army north tp deal with incoming invading Huns, mainly made by archers.
Coming back to Artaxata to retrain my troops while thinking where to direct them: the idea was against Sassanids (I’m allied with Kidrites and Guptians, that accepted to help), but Julianus changed my strategy … The war against the reborn and huge Roman Empire was not what wished, but I had and have no choice. Now I’m completely focused to defend Kotais and Van from incoming legions (continuously coming…). Lucky that while fighting on north, I could raise a third army, to attack Sassanids, but now on defence. The defence of Van is made on the bridge south of it (I know that is not the best, but there so many Romans’ armies that a battlefield would means only a defeat…), and Kotais by the tight passage south-west of it. There is another passage between those two locations, but even guarded by some Armenian Horse Archers, seems that Romans didn’t notice it ..., at least till now.

I chose Armenians because they are well positioned (almost in the center of the map), good starting troops, very good mix of troops type (for my way to play), even if I think that Aspet Cavalry should be "medium cavalry", to be different from Aspet Lancers that are cataphracts.
Therefore a cataphracts flank/rear charge coming form the other side of a dune and announced by a rain of arrows is fantastic !

[Templar Knight]

Well it's hard to recruit if you have no money. Also, the patch should be saved game compatible. Glad you are enjoying killing barbarians!

what i meant by that was i can only recruit militia in all but about 4 provinces

sorry i should have made that more clear

[julianus heraclius]

what i meant by that was i can only recruit militia in all but about 4 provinces

sorry i should have made that more clear

You'll find a detailed outline of recruting in the Main Page Thread. Essentially all main recruting took place along the borders of the empire, with the exception of some units (palatinae, comitatensis units) in major provincial cities.

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Ok - I succumbed back into the main Julian campaign and am now in the Winter season of the year 361 AD and have not suffered a single successful invasion by barbarian forces so far (early days I know!).

Britain is secure and tyrant/rebel free and actually making a profit as a diocese. The Picts are only prodding at any scouting units I send north of the Wall and so far have not attempted a raid south. A large Scotti raiding force has landed near the Habrina Estuary and is making a cautious move south-east but a hastily assembled Comitatus is moving to blockade them.

Gaul is suffering some minor disaffection from troops and towns against Julian's rule but is in the main secure. The large Frankish confederation of tribes around the Rhine are staying nuetral for the moment thanks to several large concentrations of Roman units along the limes.

Hispania is heavily in revolt and suffering raids from bacaudae. The few Roman units in the region are stretched too thin to be of any use.

Africa is also a tinderbox of revolt and upset but has yet to see any barbarian raids across the desert limes.

Italy is generally quiet.

The Danube has seen heavy action with the Alemanni beseiging Argentoratum only to pull back once 2 Roman field armies struck quickly across the Danube limes and ravaged their homeland. Their rex and two Alemanni warbands were destroyed along with their tribal capitol which was decimated and pillaged without mercy.

Quaddi and Iazyges have prodded the limes around the middle Danube but the latter withdrew from a river battle in the face of 2 Roman field armies while the former have stormed and destroyed one limes castra - only to fall into a trap with a huge Roman field army about to strike in revenge.

In the Oriens, all is peaceful except for discontent in Greece and parts of Asia Minor. Julian himself is quietly marching eastwards via the Cappadocian highlands while ordering the Eastern field armies to assemble south in preparation for a pre-emptive strike into Persian territory. Intelligence is being gathered and troops being moved slowly so as not to alarm the local populations and cities.

In Aegypt, large bands of marauding Blemmye have been located but so far are remaining deep in the desert reaches.

The Treasury sucks at a deficit of - 94,986 which includes the sacking of Alemannic towns and the razing of all their buildings.

I fear the Rhine will burst soon and spoil all Julian's plans . . .

[Edzamon]

This is my campaign of choice.... 361 was way too overwhelming for me and I have to say that I find this campaign the best although I am not ready yet for this challenge....

Anyway I am in 365, I am Valens in charge of eastern empire and I have to deal with huge sassanid empire also having usurper sitting in old capitol in Constantinople AND my Balkan provinces under immidiate threat from goth hordes and other stinky barbarians.... to make things more fun I have to deal with civil discontent disloyalty and unrest.... Well theese are hard times and I shall show no mercy to the cowardly traitors, each town/city which dares to rebell will be uterly destroyed -crushed -anihilated....

I am thinking to completely abandon (temporary) BALKAN PROVINCES; EXTRACT AND CASH IN absolutely EVERYTHING that could be sold; move out all EXISTING ARMIES; AND SEND THEM to charge to CONSTANTINOPLE ups (caps lock problem)
At the same time Two armies in western Asia minor will be sent to procopiuses provinces in my neighbourhood to take on in quick, furious attack, his cities. (I will personally lead armies)
So bassicaly I am planning to blitzkrieg procopiuses lands and to crush the usurper by quick and tremendous force.....
On the other hand, I will vage defensive war against eastern pigs (sassanids) untill I crush Procopius, quell the rebellion and strenghten the economy....


What do you think people? Is my planned strategy ok?

[PSEUDO ROMANUS]

I say this: GO AHEAD AND KICK HIS FILTHY BUTT !!!!!!