RS 2.6 - Post Your New Empire

[Basileos Predator]

Actually, i have no veterans in the proper word.I haven't used my infantry verry much and what i used in sieges were either mercs or troops that eventually got destroyed in rebel fights.
I mainly used my elephant chatapracts and heavy cavalry(hetairoy and chatapracts) and the General's bodyguards to break every army.
If i had no acces to such troops, i used pikes and flank troops with some light cavalry suport and some misile troops to win.
I must admit, that some tactics of mine resulted in some major defeats against some experienced merc armies and a couple against some roman legions due to their piliums.
Also, i play at 0-turn recruitment so the affected troops were mostly replaced , and not retrained so i have no important infantry veterans.


Cheers Predator!

[Grimbold]

Actually, i have no veterans in the proper word.I haven't used my infantry verry much and what i used in sieges were either mercs or troops that eventually got destroyed in rebel fights.
I mainly used my elephant chatapracts and heavy cavalry(hetairoy and chatapracts) and the General's bodyguards to break every army.
If i had no acces to such troops, i used pikes and flank troops with some light cavalry suport and some misile troops to win.
I must admit, that some tactics of mine resulted in some major defeats against some experienced merc armies and a couple against some roman legions due to their piliums.
Also, i play at 0-turn recruitment so the affected troops were mostly replaced , and not retrained so i have no important infantry veterans.


Cheers Predator!

Have you by any chance modded the stats of your elephants?

[Basileos Predator]

No, they are the vanilla RS2.5 .I think this is the reason i won so many battles using them to charge head on into the enemy army, engaged them all and use my cavalry to attack them all round and rout them, and then kill them all(or atleast those i can catch).

[Grimbold]

No, they are the vanilla RS2.5 .I think this is the reason i won so many battles using them to charge head on into the enemy army, engaged them all and use my cavalry to attack them all round and rout them, and then kill them all(or atleast those i can catch).

They are pretty much invincible if you don't change their stats, so that's why you're winning battles with your elephants only

[ExtremeBG]

So this is my Belgae campaign . One turn,H/H with garrison script disabled and unlimited men on the battlefield enabled.My Gallaeci allies recently backstabbed me and i am using forced diplomacy to stop them.Currently at war with the GCS and Cimbri,but i'm not attacking the GCS,and they me, because i don't want to share a border so close to Rome just now.The Cimbri are massing armies but they just stay next to their cities and don't want to fight me .Pergamon is on the rampage in Asia Minor,good thing i'm not close to them.After i destroyed the Arverni i took some time to take over the island and to improve my economy on the mainland,now trying to push the Cimbri back to the north.I just took Virodunon from them after i destroyed 3 of their armies and they still have some more :

Campaign map

[Picture1][Picture2][Picture3]

Out of topic : can someone explain to me how to put just a picture inside the box without having to put it on a site like ImageShack ,if possible ?

[Petite Wolf]

Nice campaign. And you're going to have to upload the image somewhere. If you're talking about getting the link to the actual photo, just right click the image on imageshack and it gives you the link. If you're talking about getting the picture uploaded and showing without uploading to some kind of website, if you go in to advanced options and scroll down to "Additional Options" there's a button called "Manage Attachments." Click that and you can upload pictures right from your PC. If you then want the uploaded image in your post, you can open the link and copy the browser address, then click "insert image". Like so:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

There's probably a simpler way to do it, but meh. This is just what I could find out with a a minute messing around. Also, that isn't a recent campaign. Just an old picture I had on my PC

[Tesla]

Arverni campaign 601AUC

At war with Boii, Dacia, Rome and Greece
Allied with Macedon, Ptolemies, Belgea, Germans, Pergamum and Carthage

[McBride]

Year is around 600 AUC. I honestly can’t remember difficulty settings – it’s either H/M or M/H. Seeing that I enjoyed relatively peaceful growth with few incursions from the neighbouring factions and the amount of losses in my battles against Galleaci, I’m inclined to say it is M for campaign and hard for battles. I play with the garrison script off, as I found the elite unit spawn too unrealistic (awaiting that 2.6 even more now). Instead, I do roleplay a bit, and never use spies for blitz-siege tactics.

Beginnings were fairly easy. Hannibal ambushed Nepos’s army and defeated it, but that victory costed him a sizeable chunk of his army. Lost Arretium and Ariminium to Carthagininans, but thanks to evacuation of Emporiae and reinforcing Scipio’s army with all the units I could muster, I managed to isolate and then destroy both Maharbal and Hannibal forces in Italy. Socii rebellion ensued, but it wasn’t that hard to manage – I guess due to the lower difficulty settings. With Italy secured, I retook Dyrachion from those damned treacherous Greeks – they just couldn’t resist taking the city, while my forces were fighting in Italy. Punitive expeditions were sent – took Syracuse and united Siciliy under Roman rule. Scipio took the war to the Greek homelands – after a couple of victories, I settled for peace – agreed to return some territorial gains to the Greeks, but held Apollonia and forced them to pay me a regular tribute of 1000 denarii – more as punishment, than anything else, really.
I also didn’t want to weaken them too much – which proved to be useful later on. I also decided to focus my diplomatic efforts in the area and try to win regional powers against each other – while I was too weak to wage war against Sparta, Greeks and Macedons, I figured I still could stir things up a bit. I allied myself with Sparta, and that alliance remains intact to this moment.

Spoils of that first Greek War helped a bit with developing my economy . Unfortunately, my prolonged engagement in the war in the Peloponesus hampered my advance to the north – the Boi Tribes took Patavium and Bononia. I managed to win the race for Mediolanum, and Taurasium though, but with all the battles with the Insubres – I reached a bit of a stalemate, economy wise. Decision to hold on to Dyrachium and Apollonia meant, that I had to maintain strong military presence (legion sized force at all times, backed up with local auxilliary units). I also could not leave the Cisalpine Gaul undefended – Boi were regularly visiting my borders with large armies – never quite mounting an assault, but that have not be the case, if that Second Legion was not there.

Meanwhile, I had a diplomatic corpse of 3 diplomats and at least same amount of spies constantly observing the area. What helped a lot was the fact, that the Macedons went to war with Greek City States, which was going on and off basically till the mid 590’s. It was great experience to watch “divide et impera” rule in effect – I allied myself with both sides, as I saw fit at any given moment. Sometimes I dispatched my Illirian Legion to help either side, when I thought the opponent was growing too strong. While maybe not the most effective way of playing, it certainly proved to be very enjoyable. These Macedonic wars also gained me Massalia – at one point, Greeks tried to take Genoa. Defeated them and took a foothold in Gallia Narbonensis. It subsequently lead to first clashes with the Arverni tribes – after couple of interesting battles, I managed to push them off of the Alps and took twin cities of Eburodonum and Lugdunum. After that the north was pretty much secured.

I spent some time building up my economy. Cimbrii invaded, but I managed to forge peace with them and send them back home. Left the Boii in Bononia and Patavium. I conquered Illyria, taking Segestica and Salonae, but stopped there – did not want to create a second front, as I had plenty to do making sure, that both Macedon and Greek City States are not rising into too much of a power. Boiis were occasionally fighing with the Dacians and Arvernii, but towards me they were peaceful, so I let them be and focused on reorganizing the army with new enlistments. From the start I was going with the typical composition of a legion - 1 general, 8 polybian cohorts, 4 triarii, 4 velites and some auxillia. I sticked to republican legions, using allied cohorts mostly as reinforcements. I also tended not to use equites, instead increasing the numbers of local auxillia infantry units (I liked Lucani and Samnite units a lot) and cavalry, where available.

When I reached the point of having 5 fully equipped legions, I turned my attention back to the Carthaginians. It seemed, that my arch-enemy got locked in a fierce war in Iberia against Gallaeaci – and completely lost the control over Hispania. In fact, Galleaci now controlled the Straits of Gibraltar, with Tingi at their feet. Therefore, the fall of Carthage was not that epic, as I would expect – after couple of hard fought battles, my 3 legion expeditionary forced established a province of Northern Africa. Carthaginians were left with Pollentia and one province to the west of Byzacium.

I had the reforms hit in mid 580s AUC. Then I proceeded towards named legions, Legio X and Legio XIII Gemina being among the first recruited. I planned to peacefully transition to named legions throughout my empire, but the new emerging threat in the west forced me to change my mind.

After the conquest of Iberia, the Galleaci broke their alliance with the Averni tribes and invaded Gaul.
At first I was glad – it seemed as I could repeat the greek scenario all over again and come out on top of whoever will be the last man standing. Averni expanded east earlier on, marginalizing Cimbri and pushing Belgae out of the continent (they went for Britannia), pushing furher and further into Germania. On the eve of the Celtic Wars, I assessed the Averni as number one threat to Rome and was preparing myself for a long campaign against them. So it was rather good to see, that their armies will be busy elsewhere. But clearly I underestimated the strength of Galleaci – they took Nemausas, and after some heavy fighting – Agginon, and still proceeded north. Thus I had to readjust my plans. I managed to ally myself with the Avernii and sent the Legio Decima Gemina to their aid. Legio XIII Gemina soon followed. After many hard battles, I took Nemausas and gave it back to Avernii. Galleaci had 3 strong armies in Agginon, and were battling in the north – both my Gemina legions needed reinforcements – fighting those damn Gallaeci elite warriors proved to be quite hard for my inexperienced troops. I decided to accept a ceasefire proposal from the Galleaci, thinking, that the Avernii should manage the rest of the figthing on their own. I also decided to invade Iberia and needed some time to reinforce my legions and prepare them for a long campaign against the Gallaeci homelands. Both Decima and XIII went back to Italy. In Illyria, my veteran First Legion was upgraded with early roman legionaries and is intended to become VI Ferrata – they certainly deserved to be called the Ironclads. X and XIII, before being sent to rest and resupply, defeated the Boii in two large battles, and took Bononia and Patavium.

Meanwhile, the Gallaeci once again took Nemausas and went north. The Avernii just could not handle them. Legio Decima Gemina was dispatched and won their battle honours in few close-call engagements against Gallaeci elite warriors. I took Nemausas, and cut off the Galleaci northern armies from their bases.
With Nemausas once again in Roman hands, I decided to keep it and use it as base for the future conquest of Iberia. XIII Gemina was sent and took Emporiae and was fending off large Galleaci armies, that try to break through into Gaul. Then the VIII Legio took over in Nemausas. Relieved X Gemina, once again brought to full strength, spearheaded the advance into northern Iberia, accompanied by the XIII’th. Freshly recruited VII Claudia invaded from the south, gaining us Tingi and Gadir – but then got involved in heavy fighting, that rendered it totally combat ineffective. Reinforced with locally levied mercenaries and auxillia, the VII’th was designated to garrison duties in Sagunton, Carthago Nova and Gadir –all the heavy fighting was in the north, where X and XIII slowly, but steadily push the Galleaci further and further. Gallaeci elite warriors inflict heavy losses in each battle I fought them, so it slows the advance considerably. Constant shipping of reinforcements and auxillia does help though, and I enjoy that campaign a lot. It also provides me with a lot of chances to send some vexillationes from other legions – such as praetorians and single cohorts form III Gallica (definitely gonna be one of my favourites, as they distinguished themselves many times), V Alaudae (quite the opposite – two medium sized battles saw almost complete destruction of the whole cohort…not very impressive at all, especially since they were pitched against rather lower tier Celtiberian units), I Germanica (solid and dependable) and XIV Martia Victrix (same as previous one – a happy medium between both gallic legions) – to gain some battlefield experience. The III Augusta is slowly being formed in Sicily, to take over in North Africa, as remnants of the Carthaginians have been recently spotted near Thapsus.

The plan is to finish off the Iberian Campaign with X, XIII and VII Legions. Then both veteran Gemina legions will be shipped back, with VII Claudia staying and acting as a garrison for the new Iberian provinces – at least until Hispanic legions are raised. Then it will be time to strengthen the economy in order to get access to next wave of legions.

Only recently I found chris10’s Roman Shieldwall Submod – having fought a couple of battles, I really like it a lot.

I also decided not to use first cohort unit anymore. Instead, I will use one generic cohort of every legion and upgrade it with gold weapons and armour in Rome. That way I will be able to bring it back to full strength after every battle and with the armour upgrades it will be easy to spot it both on and off the battlefield. I lose the enhanced size of first cohort and their ability to inspire – but I think it’s more realistic that way, than having a second first cohort somewhere just for replenishment purposes.
That's also why I use cohort sized detachments from other legions in my current campaign - to make them more experienced. They supposed to be the elite of each legion, after all.

All in all – my first RS campaign and I am really having a blast.

I will try to upload some pictures later on.

[Hamilicar]

wow epic campaign you got going there I think I may try something similar with the spartans as they are my favorite so far... I also like how diplomacy actually works in this mod your Greek Wars are an example of this.

[freyreuxine13]

anyone can give me some tips on starting a roman campaign? i find it hard financially during the first turns.

[Roman Soldier]

anyone can give me some tips on starting a roman campaign? i find it hard financially during the first turns.

Heyman
Yeah, found my first time pretty hard too.. here's how I did it & got a steady supply of that precious gold! (It ain't gold it's denarii, but it's similiar lol :p)

1. You should disband several units since roman strength rely on the discipline in their lines, usually they can stand their ground against much larger forces - although watch out when you're fighting in the east - bring lots of cavalry...
2. Create trading ports, make trade agreements, build farms (good investment), build roads - essentially everything that gives a profit margin.
3. De-construct buildings if you're REALLY low on money and need it BADLY.
4. If you want a forced diplomacy integrated let me know, I'll post the files needed here since it's very easy to add. (I use it to keep factions alive, giving them regions etc... basically keeping every faction about the same size in number of regions, since having more factions at end-game is MUCH more satisfying - I don't use it for personal gains since the game is much better when playing without cheats).
5. Try to let cities with too high a population to make a profit rebel against you, and take the city back, then eXterminate the population/enslave them (destroy the barracks etc though otherwise they'll spawn a well armed rebel army in the city).
6. Try to post low-cost units in cities to guard - move heavy upkeep units to the front.
7. This is one is for battle : Try to take the best ground on the campaign map if you know you're going to be attacked (like a hill, since you can pound them with your archers sooner, tires the enemy & is better for your infantry to fight on - don't attack with cavalry against the rear from behind since that has little effect).'
8. For the rest: Enjoy the game, and show 'em barbarians who is the master!

[freyreuxine13]

Heyman
Yeah, found my first time pretty hard too.. here's how I did it & got a steady supply of that precious gold! (It ain't gold it's denarii, but it's similiar lol :p)

1. You should disband several units since roman strength rely on the discipline in their lines, usually they can stand their ground against much larger forces - although watch out when you're fighting in the east - bring lots of cavalry...
2. Create trading ports, make trade agreements, build farms (good investment), build roads - essentially everything that gives a profit margin.
3. De-construct buildings if you're REALLY low on money and need it BADLY.
4. If you want a forced diplomacy integrated let me know, I'll post the files needed here since it's very easy to add. (I use it to keep factions alive, giving them regions etc... basically keeping every faction about the same size in number of regions, since having more factions at end-game is MUCH more satisfying - I don't use it for personal gains since the game is much better when playing without cheats).
5. Try to let cities with too high a population to make a profit rebel against you, and take the city back, then eXterminate the population/enslave them (destroy the barracks etc though otherwise they'll spawn a well armed rebel army in the city).
6. Try to post low-cost units in cities to guard - move heavy upkeep units to the front.
7. This is one is for battle : Try to take the best ground on the campaign map if you know you're going to be attacked (like a hill, since you can pound them with your archers sooner, tires the enemy & is better for your infantry to fight on - don't attack with cavalry against the rear from behind since that has little effect).'
8. For the rest: Enjoy the game, and show 'em barbarians who is the master!

Thanks dude, anyways what is forced diplomacy? enlighten me sir

[Roman Soldier]

Thanks dude, anyways what is forced diplomacy? enlighten me sir

Because the AI diplomacy sucks in RTW, a "force diplomacy' option could be made - example: If you're at war with a faction that's almost defeated and has no armies left - they still won't become a protectorate because the AI sucks ass, with this mod you can force them to become your protectorate etc but also force into ally (when that faction is not at war with a factions that's your ally/give-take regions etc - in sense, you can enforce any option in the diplomacy screen. The AI just sucks too much, I use it to keep all factions alive - and to take regions away from factions that are becoming too unrealistically large (seleucids conquering the eastern world for example)..

[freyreuxine13]

Can you please give me the links for that FD?

[Sertorio]

2.5 already has it.

[freyreuxine13]

oh ok, thanks. xD sorry for being a noob.

[tungri_centurion]

we all started as noobs
to use force diplomacy just use your diplomat make proposal than click ? button than show me how button

[Anime Divine]

this is my favourite general.. have to train him back to historic leader as his grandfathers were.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

the border with greece. when they started invading me i had no choice but to block all passages the result was 4/5 bridge battles every turn. normally i like bridgebattles but it was insane stack after stack of elite infantrymen were pounding. my army could only withstand 6 or 7 hits max.
then i decide it was enough and closed eevery passage with a fort in front. and force diplomacy every turn for a ceasefire to break their siege.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

you get this alot even once had a victory where this legion with alone killed 12000 men with some backup ofcourse but this legion was responsible for the kills.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

i fight myself too and use this formation all the time.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

cavalry charge from behind is instant rout.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

not too shabby if your quick to attack from behind enemy lines you can get away with less than 200 deaths on your side.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

finances 1 mill income

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

this line of family produces excellent generals. however the last general before numerius didnt get any kids so i gave the heir to his nephew who now will become a historic leader/ vanquisher/ conquerer.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

i play this on campaign H/ battle M. i wish battle was on hard but then again i didnt know i could use forts to block an invasion.
one thing i miss about the campaign is the constant revolt and the lack of free army rebels. they are there but not bothering me lol.
im at 76 settlements now so im close to the big revolt.
i am still waiting till my citys on the border reach curia hostilla before i move on. its getting harder to get reinforcements from italy.

and yes i do activate the script. sometimes i forget for a turn or 3 but never more.

[Grimbold]

That shouldn't be your favorite general. He has the major depression trait.

[Sertorio]

I sense trouble in form of Gallaeci coming your way. brace yourselves. If you want to remove those arrow marker from units, you can do so in the preferences folder. You have a typical late game situation with one major superpower at your gates. good luck