Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: playing as the Julii..

  1. #1

    Default playing as the Julii..

    at the beginning of the game how do you churn out enough soldiers and keep the money flowing, while repelling attacks from the unwashed gauls to the north..because they once took the julii capital and i had not enough troops to beat them.

    advice greatly appreciated

  2. #2

    Default Re: playing as the Julii..

    That early in the game you can't afford to lose a single town.

    To your original question: Perhaps use one town as a unit producer (build barracks, stable, practice ranges...etc...), and the rest of your towns make money producing buildings (Traders, Fields, Ports, Mines...etc...). Mines and ports give the most money usually. Hope that helps.

  3. #3

    Default Re: playing as the Julii..

    Early in the game your generals are very important. Their bodyguards are excellent so i would recommend grouping your generals together and adding to them to make one army. This one army should be enough to defend all your cities (which are all close together) and you are protected below by the other romans.

    3 or more generals and a few units of hastati should be a pretty good army early on and not too expensive. Keep peasants as garrisons in the cities just so they are happy, have taxes very high, build ports + markets + farms etc and keep this one army patrolling your lands so that they can reach and defend any city in time.

    Also, put up watch towers on the borders of your lands so you can see threats a few turns before they materialise. Spies have a steep upkeep so use them sparingly until you have a good economy.

    Hope this helps.

  4. #4
    NobleNick's Avatar Artifex
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Huntsville, AL, USA
    Posts
    1,602

    Default Re: playing as the Julii..

    Quote Originally Posted by Legio XIV
    at the beginning of the game how do you churn out enough soldiers and keep the money flowing, while repelling attacks from the unwashed gauls to the north..because they once took the julii capital and i had not enough troops to beat them.
    Legio XIV and Uzi, welcome to the forum! Wow! This is neat: Legio XIV, with his first post asking for advice; and Uzi, the "old hand" using his second post to help out. Good deal.

    I agree with Uzi about using just one city as production, at least for each troop type (infantry, calvary and archers) so that you do not have to build all of the same military buildings in each city. The downside to using one city for ALL your military production is that your city will not grow well in the early game, and you need growth to get more money and to climb the tech tree.

    What difficulty setting are you on? I played the Julii campaign on N/N and it was fairly easy to grab the cities north of the Julii starting position. That is the strategy I would recommend: Grab a few cities as buffers; so that when the Gauls come down to attack, they expend themselves trying to take cities that are not critical to your survival. As Uzi implied, your starting cities *ARE* critical and you need to NOT lose them.

    The Gaul advantage is large numbers of (relatively low quality but tenacious) troops, led by high quality generals. They have high morale, but are not techie. In the very early game their units are not especially capable, and as you climb the tech tree, the capability advantage you have increases. Their troops, especially in the early to mid game, are weak against cavalry, and if you can get the Marian Reform early in the game and field half-stacks of Legionary Cavalry (and use them correctly), the Gauls are toast.

    Suggestions (some of which might be moot for this game, but you can use next time) :

    1.) Focus on economy for your starting cities, in roughly decreasing order of importance: the first farm upgrade; traders (markets); roads; ports; and mines are all good things to have. "The sinews of war are infinite money." So make sure you get your share. Things will go much more smoothly if you do. Do not build a standing army in your home cities: The upkeep sucks money away from your economy. Especially, do not build military units at all in the very early game (first few turns).

    2.) In the first turn you will likely get an assignment to take Segesta. (I think that is the name. It is the settlement to the Northwest.) You should be able to take this with the troops you have at the start of the game. Next, you want Patavium; and then the town (forgot name) in between Patavium and Segesta. Taking these towns spreads your military upkeep over more towns, easing the economic pressure and allowing you to pump more money into building even better economic buildings and into training more troops.

    3.) Train a few diplomats and send them out selling trade treaties to other factions.

    4.) Build all cav armies and place them at choke points that the Gauls will have to pass to get to your cities. (Try to pick these spots as free of trees as you can.) When the Gauls attack, depending on the enemy strength and your tactical skill level, crush them, or simply run your cav around the battlefield until the timer runs out, avoiding combat except when you find opportunities to pick off straggling units. Either way, the Gaul army loses and is forced to retreat. This is good, since a Gaul army, just standing around doing nothing, is sucking resources away from their economy and army building.

    5.) Be on the offensive strategically: Build enough troops to take a city and then go take it. Build enough spies, so that you can find out the make-up of your targets, and plan your own force composition to gain maximum advantage for the money spent. (For example, if the enemy is heavy on skirmishers, build lots of heavy cavalry. If heavy on light infantry build lots of heavy cav. If heavy on heavy infantry, build lots of heavy cav. If heavy on cav, build lots of heavy cav. If heavy on Velites, build lots of heavy cav. If heavy on archers, build lots of heavy cav., if heavy on anything besides spear/phalanx, build lots of heavy cav. Almost any Gaul stack can be crucified by a half stack of heavy cav **IF** you are in the open field and know how to use the cav correctly.)

    6.) For now, pick defensive positions in cities, choke points, or other favorable terrain, and win the defensive battles.

    7.) Pick the fastest growing STARTING city you have, pump it's economy, lower its taxes (as much as you can afford), and do not train troops there (retraining full units is O.K.) . You want to get to HUGE city status as quickly as possible to trigger the Marian Reform.

    8.) There is a guide for the Julii campaign, somewhere on this site. Read that for more ideas.

    Hope that helps.
    Last edited by NobleNick; May 16, 2006 at 01:45 PM.

  5. #5

    Default Re: playing as the Julii..

    What i do that i find helps stop the gauls is.

    Firstly put all my taxes to very high to bring in so more income.

    Although you get a senate mission to take segesta (i think) ignore that right away

    Use the 2 armies with the help of as many mercenaries as you can afford. your given to take the 2 gaul cities mediolanum and patavium i think they are. (depending on the difficulty it depense on how quickly you manage this)

    While moving my armies north i produce hastati in my capital and i use these to take segesta and get the money from the senate mission

    With this you should be done have the north under control within about 5 years.

    Normally after i have got rid of gaul from the north they don't cause too much damage and you can focus on building your economy and more importantly your armies.

    Hope this helps you for the start of your campaign.

    After the north is taken follow the advice in the post above and you should have the whole of gaul in no time.
    Last edited by malarkey; May 16, 2006 at 02:01 PM.
    Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!




  6. #6

    Default Re: playing as the Julii..

    For the more experienced player: try to conquer Cisalpine Gaul, consolidating the border by building forts in the narrows gaps of the Alps so the Gauls (hopely) won't bother you with their armies. After you have done this, send two stacks to Greece to conquer it. Defeat and exterminate Greece and Makedonia, then the cash comes in, allowing you to blitz Gaul with three stacks. That's how the Romans did it historically.
    In patronicum sub Tacticalwithdrawal
    Brother of Rosacrux redux and Polemides

  7. #7

    Default Re: playing as the Julii..

    If you can get Salona, then you are practically guaranteed to get Segestica. These are both rich provinces, but you have to get to them before the Scipii. Once you get them, focus Mediolanium and Patavium and you should be good to go.

    I usually have 6 General Units in my starting army as the Julii, after a few turns and marriages.

  8. #8
    Scarecrow's Avatar Ducenarius
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ringwood
    Posts
    913

    Default Re: playing as the Julii..

    I just take my army and take the three northern settlements. Build up the army. Leave 2 roman town watches to defend and march across the guals. It ususally works.
    Btw welcome to the forums its good to have u here.
    Legate to the Legio I Latina
    Grand Master of the Order of New Templar's


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •