Germans and the Romans

[piethrower]

My favourite faction on RTW is the Germans but it's impossible for me to compete with the Romans. Whether I try to avoid provoking them or go for them early they seem to have an endless stream of armies to replace those that I destroy. I tried to go for their heartlands to stop the flow but laying siege results in the same ending - eventual defeat through lack of troops and money to fight the long game.

I suppose at the root of my problem is not building a strong enough economy from the start. Does anyone have any tips ? I tend to conquer Britain and northern Europe which I figure minimises the chance of even more factions coming to get me but is this the wrong way to go ? Thanks in advance.

[shadowarmy75]

Be glad your not the Gauls.

[removeduser_426582376423734]

Take the Britons first. If the Romans don't get you first, they will. Treaties with Gaul, Dacia, Scythia and/or Greece would work wonders. After you've got a strong foot in Britain, bathe in the taxes. When you have enough money, generals and troops go into Rome. Depending on where they have conquered, just sap their cities.

[Sétanta]

Be glad your not the Gauls.

the gauls are easy if you Blitz the romans

[Kraut]

Take the Britons first. If the Romans don't get you first, they will. Treaties with Gaul, Dacia, Scythia and/or Greece would work wonders. After you've got a strong foot in Britain, bathe in the taxes. When you have enough money, generals and troops go into Rome. Depending on where they have conquered, just sap their cities.

Hmmm, interesting. I partially did it the same way. Little differences:

a) First I finish off the british continental province. Agree.

b) After that I spread a little into rebel provinces. Good money. During this time, I normally have to repel a british invasion attempt.

c) Now invade Britain. Don´t hurry to take all three provinces. Londinium is important, then the rest may fall sooner or later.

d) Invade Gaul. IMO Gaul is the key to victory for Germania. Income. Strategic base.

e) Now go for Rome. During the invasion of Gaul you will probably clash with some Julii armies anyway. So war is imment anyway.


Do some treaties with Dacia (conquer them later...) and Scythia (if they reach your border) to keep your back free of trouble.

[Marcus Scaurus]

Hmmm, interesting. I partially did it the same way. Little differences:

a) First I finish off the british continental province. Agree.

b) After that I spread a little into rebel provinces. Good money. During this time, I normally have to repel a british invasion attempt.

c) Now invade Britain. Don´t hurry to take all three provinces. Londinium is important, then the rest may fall sooner or later.

d) Invade Gaul. IMO Gaul is the key to victory for Germania. Income. Strategic base.

e) Now go for Rome. During the invasion of Gaul you will probably clash with some Julii armies anyway. So war is imment anyway.

Invading Britain is a good thing to do. It'll be a hard fought war with heavy casualties (chariots) but once you've conquered Britian, you have four provinces to support your armies. Biggest advantage is that they aren't threatened by enemy invasions so you don't have to keep an army in Britannica to guard the coasts, thus allowing you to concentrate your forces elsewhere.

[Halie Satanus]

i tried the germans three times even took rome and northen italy twice before i sussed it take samarobriva this will keep the brits off your back while you fight gaul and the julii,
they are at war also so when the julii offer you the chance to become a protectorate take it you can spend the next 20 or so years building your economy and armies.......
by the time they catch on your far to strong

[Flogger]

Chariots only kill people on the initial charge. After that they basically just knock people over and disrupt your formations.

[piethrower]

Thanks for the advice. I have some follow on questions though. Does it provoke more of an onslaught if you attack the Romans as opposed to waiting for them to have a go. On one campaign when I attacked one faction all of them went for me.

Londinium - should I just evacuate and retake it once it rises up ?

Also what lands should I go for once the Britons and Gauls are conquered - Spain, Italy or Eastern Europe. Thanks again for your replies - it's driving me crazy wasting days and ending up barely surviving and defending a sprawling empire.

[Marcus Scaurus]

Londinium - should I just evacuate and retake it once it rises up ?

Dealing with rebellious cities is quite easy, but most people make a big mistake with waiting until the city rises. Waiting until the city rebels taking about three turns, and also casualties (especially when the rebel troops are good). There's a much easier way to do it.

Send a diplomat to an enemy faction, give Londinium to them as a gift. Your garrison will march out automatically. Take your garrison troops and reconquer the city - of course, it has no enemy garrison - and exterminate. This costs one turn and no casualties.

[Last Roman]

Send a diplomat to an enemy faction, give Londinium to them as a gift. Your garrison will march out automatically. Take your garrison troops and reconquer the city - of course, it has no enemy garrison - and exterminate. This costs one turn and no casualties.

of course, there is no guarantee that they will accept the city. I've tried giving my allies cities lots of times, and I've only had it accepted once.

[shadowarmy75]

Give them money with the city. No right minded person would turn down a city and money, but the AI's mind isn't that right.

[Marcus Scaurus]

of course, there is no guarantee that they will accept the city. I've tried giving my allies cities lots of times, and I've only had it accepted once.

No, you're doing it wrong. When you select 'give region', you see at the lower right three buttons, one of them is a 'gift' button (offer these items as gift, or something like that).

[Last Roman]

No, you're doing it wrong. When you select 'give region', you see at the lower right three buttons, one of them is a 'gift' button (offer these items as gift, or something like that).

I have never noticed that before

[Lusted]

That won't work in 1.5, when you give an enemy a city, and enemy gives you a city, the faction being given the city automatically gets a garrison in it.

[removeduser_426582376423734]

Yeah, I had Mediolanum with a disease on -1000+ tax. Gave it to Greece, who I was at war with (if that is something to do with it) and it automatically had a, albeit :wub:, garrison. I starved them out to make sure I didnt get the plague when I won the town.