sparta can't trade no matter what if you don't destroy athens?

[Fazotronic]

so correct me if im wrong but i can only set up seatrades when my faction capitol is connected with roads to one of my ports.
the only road sparta has is to athens. so if i ever want to trade with anyone, iam forced to destroy athens.
considering that i have a pre-set trade agreement with them and the fact that they are allies with my pre-set allies macedone, plus the mission to become allies with athens doesn't make it seem like they even thought about it.
before i knew about this i wanted athens to stay now i have no choice but to kill them. it doesn't seem to be any other way around killing them.... what were they thinking


EDIT: just to be clear since some ppl don't seem to understand. you can't trade with ANYONE without athens. doens't matter if you have other province capitols or ports.
no athens = no tade with anyone. you need a direct connection to your own faction capitol. in this case sparta. everything else does not matter. haven't found a way to change your faction capitol.

[GM207]

Well I am playing Sparta too, and now I have Rhodes beseiged, I am thinking they have a major port, I can trade through Rhodes's port and keep Athens as an ally.
IK haven't conquered Rhodes yet I have it beseiged, no harm deplomacy wise, they have no allies, a few nation they are trading with which I know will tip them off slightly, but will soon get to terms with them!
Next time I play Rhodes will fall.

[Wrathsputin]

This was such a pain in the ass! I had taken most of Greece and genuinely wanted to keep peace with Athens. I had no choice but to take the city. This was the only thing I've seen so far that was a major undersight.

[Leonidas480bc]

Because of that,I went to war with Athens on my second play through as Sparta. On the first turn I consolidated all my troops and attacked the Athenian army just outside of Athens. They called in reinforcements form Athens and we had a pretty even fight the deciding factor was that before the battle I bought some skirmisher cavalry that I used to run down his retreating hoplites. That meant no standing army when in the same turn I besieged Athens and built ladders for turn two assault. Now I was at war with Macedon/Athens and Epirus. Man that was very hard, but I managed to destroy Athens and Epirus and also crippled Macedon when they launched an attack on Larissa. I am playing on normal and am on turn 16.

[Wrathsputin]

Because of that,I went to war with Athens on my second play through as Sparta. On the first turn I consolidated all my troops and attacked the Athenian army just outside of Athens. They called in reinforcements form Athens and we had a pretty even fight the deciding factor was that before the battle I bought some skirmisher cavalry that I used to run down his retreating hoplites. That meant no standing army when in the same turn I besieged Athens and built ladders for turn two assault. Now I was at war with Macedon/Athens and Epirus. Man that was very hard, but I managed to destroy Athens and Epirus and also crippled Macedon when they launched an attack on Larissa. I am playing on normal and am on turn 16.

I tried to take Athens first on my second playthrough. It didn't go to well.

[Brusilov]

I started a Sparta campaign this morning and came to the same conclusion - no trade with anyone except Athens.

I managed to take Larissa and Apollonia in the early part of the game - Epirus was beseiging Athens and I'm sure that would have fallen but I wiped Epirus out by taking Apollonia. That would have made the game easier to take Athens.

The faction that owns Odessos at the start took Pulpudeva from Macedon early on and they seemed more interested in Epidamnos than taking back their settlement. Egypt went to war with Macedon as well and I joined in. Anyway, Macedon took Epidamnos but left thier capital open and the faction from Odessos then finaly took Pella and then rolled into Larissa.

Finances were bad (no trade apart from Athens) and I had to disband some of my army.

I can only assume that Sparta was not supposed to be a playable faction - I know of no other faction that you don't own at least one province capital.

In the Macedon campaign I'm running the faction from Odessos landed a full stack and took Sparta - they then moved onto lay siege to Athens and I took Sparta with the Spartans taking Athens (they must have had a settlement somewhere else to survive).

[Aeimnestus]

I noticed this too. Also, many buildings cannot be build because they (I suspect) require a provincial capital (i.e. Athens). I was unable to for example build a training field and its upgrades in Sparta. And what is the deal with Sparta not having a harbor option? Historically the Spartans were able to build sizable fleets on multiple occasions. Neither was I able to construct a military harbor in Apollonia, again probably because its only a minor settlement.

Truly Greece should have been divided into more provinces (with more cities). Every major city state (Corinthe, Sparta, Athens, Argos) should be its own provincial capital with smaller city states being minor settlements.

[Langer Kerl]

Sparta also seems to be locked to three building slots only, while all other cities of that size can go up to four. The lack of a proper port/trade surely is annoying though, I had to take out Athens as well despite the fact they were trustworthy allies the whole time and begged me for a more than reasonable peace.

However, I am crushing through pretty much everyone in- and around Greece in my current campaign on hard with pretty much only one stack of Spartan Hoplites. So do not give up hope^^

[Fazotronic]

Well I am playing Sparta too, and now I have Rhodes beseiged, I am thinking they have a major port, I can trade through Rhodes's port and keep Athens as an ally.
IK haven't conquered Rhodes yet I have it beseiged, no harm deplomacy wise, they have no allies, a few nation they are trading with which I know will tip them off slightly, but will soon get to terms with them!
Next time I play Rhodes will fall.

you do not unterstand. you can't trade with anyone ever if you don't take athens. it doesn't matter that you have other province capitols or other cites with ports.
you need a connection to your main faction capitol. the one capitol that is always the same (in this case sparta).
having rhodos or even ephasos (the main province of rhodos) with ports still doesn't let you trade.

[valky]

Sparta also seems to be locked to three building slots only, while all other cities of that size can go up to four. The lack of a proper port/trade surely is annoying though, I had to take out Athens as well despite the fact they were trustworthy allies the whole time and begged me for a more than reasonable peace.

However, I am crushing through pretty much everyone in- and around Greece in my current campaign on hard with pretty much only one stack of Spartan Hoplites. So do not give up hope^^

I thought it depends, if you own the majority of towns/cities in a province. Cause I ignored Athens for the time being and took the next 2 minor towns in the next province and could upgrade them up to 4 slots. But currently busy fighting off some invasion since Macedonian got overrun, so I can't spent additional forces to take Rhodes.

(currently trying to incite a rebellion in Athens though ^^)

And yes, Spartan Hoplites are pretty awesome

[MrChris]

you indeed cannot trade with any other factions unless you take Athens

I do not know if you are granted use of their port if you form a full military alliance with them etc, bit late for me to test that as I went down the route of taking Pella and Athens, and ridding myself of the Greek problem

in terms of province slots, Sparta is locked to 3, which I found odd, something I have noticed across the territory that I hold is that in my provinces with 3 settlements, there is always a provincial capital, a minor 4 slot settlement and then a minor 3 slot settlement. I noticed in the Macedonia province as well that Larissa is also locked to 3. So don't know if this is a bug or not

I don't know if a similar pattern occurs across other ones, or in 4 region provinces, perhaps people could check as well?

[ShadowAU92]

I started a Sparta campaign this morning and came to the same conclusion - no trade with anyone except Athens.I managed to take Larissa and Apollonia in the early part of the game - Epirus was beseiging Athens and I'm sure that would have fallen but I wiped Epirus out by taking Apollonia. That would have made the game easier to take Athens.The faction that owns Odessos at the start took Pulpudeva from Macedon early on and they seemed more interested in Epidamnos than taking back their settlement. Egypt went to war with Macedon as well and I joined in. Anyway, Macedon took Epidamnos but left thier capital open and the faction from Odessos then finaly took Pella and then rolled into Larissa.Finances were bad (no trade apart from Athens) and I had to disband some of my army.I can only assume that Sparta was not supposed to be a playable faction - I know of no other faction that you don't own at least one province capital.In the Macedon campaign I'm running the faction from Odessos landed a full stack and took Sparta - they then moved onto lay siege to Athens and I took Sparta with the Spartans taking Athens (they must have had a settlement somewhere else to survive).

Just want to correct you on something, there is in total 4 factions that start with a Town rather than City (Province Capitol) Arverni, Pontus, Parthia and of course Sparta.

[valky]

@ MrChris You are right, checked again and Larissa is locked with 3 slots now, while I still can upgrade Appolonia to 4.

[Fazotronic]

Sparta also seems to be locked to three building slots only, while all other cities of that size can go up to four. The lack of a proper port/trade surely is annoying though, I had to take out Athens as well despite the fact they were trustworthy allies the whole time and begged me for a more than reasonable peace.

However, I am crushing through pretty much everyone in- and around Greece in my current campaign on hard with pretty much only one stack of Spartan Hoplites. So do not give up hope^^

you indeed cannot trade with any other factions unless you take Athens

I do not know if you are granted use of their port if you form a full military alliance with them etc, bit late for me to test that as I went down the route of taking Pella and Athens, and ridding myself of the Greek problem

in terms of province slots, Sparta is locked to 3, which I found odd, something I have noticed across the territory that I hold is that in my provinces with 3 settlements, there is always a provincial capital, a minor 4 slot settlement and then a minor 3 slot settlement. I noticed in the Macedonia province as well that Larissa is also locked to 3. So don't know if this is a bug or not

I don't know if a similar pattern occurs across other ones, or in 4 region provinces, perhaps people could check as well?

first off. sparta having only 3 slots is totally normal.

Province Capital Port (6 slots)
Province Capital (5 slots)
Minor Settlement Port (4 slots)
Minor Settlement (3 slots)

you need a port for 4 slots.

second of all i have a military alliance with athens but i still can't trade. it doesn't give you any rights over his port. you have no choice but to take over athens if you ever want to trade.

[krisslanza]

Well Sparta is a faction designed to be played by using Slaves to control your economy. You're not really supposed to aim for any victory except Military, and MAYBE Culture. I honestly couldn't really get anyone to trade with me as Rome, so I just built my economy to not even rely on trade, seems a better option. Although Sparta gets a penalty to commerce/industry but...

[MrChris]

first off. sparta having only 3 slots is totally normal.

Province Capital Port (6 slots)
Province Capital (5 slots)
Minor Settlement Port (4 slots)
Minor Settlement (3 slots)

you need a port for 4 slots.

second of all i have a military alliance with athens but i still can't trade. it doesn't give you any rights over his port. you have no choice but to take over athens if you ever want to trade.

argh the ports, I completely failed to notice that. That makes sense then.

Bit sad they are locked to 3 slots without a port but meh. Hmm guess Athens has to go down then

Well Sparta is a faction designed to be played by using Slaves to control your economy. You're not really supposed to aim for any victory except Military, and MAYBE Culture. I honestly couldn't really get anyone to trade with me as Rome, so I just built my economy to not even rely on trade, seems a better option. Although Sparta gets a penalty to commerce/industry but...

it was funny, after I took Pella and Athens (those were 2 hard battles) a lot of people were reluctant to trade with me (I've found that until you start to build your stature as a faction, gain power etc, diplomacy is harder) but when I started getting trade agreements (had to pay a few people off for them) my income skyrocketed and suddenly the AI is a lot keener to talk to me via diplomacy

[Langer Kerl]

first off. sparta having only 3 slots is totally normal.Province Capital Port (6 slots)Province Capital (5 slots)Minor Settlement Port (4 slots)Minor Settlement (3 slots)you need a port for 4 slots.

That might explain it, thank you a lot. However, there are some strong arguments to actually adding a port to Sparta, as it is a *faction capital* on a *peninsula* which only borders exactly *one* other region. That would also, of course, solve the Athens dilemma.

[Fazotronic]

adding a port might happen considering they didn't really think about it. in the official forums i read that they are looking for a solution.
so it was for sure not on purpose that sparta has to attack athens no matter what.

[Fazotronic]

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...ighlight=trade

This was the post from a CA worker in the official forums saying

"I am sorry you have had issues with Sparta & trading.

This is a known issue and we are already working on possible solutions.

I am however unable to give you a resolution date, but I can guarantee we are doing our best to try solving it. When solved you will be informed in our patch notes."

kinda wierd they didn't see stuff like this while testing... thats like the first thing i noticed while playing sparta/rome 2 for 20 mins.

[Wrathsputin]

Especially seeing as a faction pack that costs $13 is essentially broken, they better get their arses on this one quick.