Germanic Tribe Campaign Guides

[Omnipotent-Q]

Germanic Tribe Campaign Guides

Post yours here

At the top of your post (preferably in bold print) Please put the name of the Germanic Tribe you're playing as. Currently Suebi is officially playable.

[fws2468]

Suebi, VH
Mid term goal is confederation, keep that in mind in the early to mid game. Start off with prioritizing military research to gain a quick battle advantage then later balancing with economic techs as you capture more settlements.

Turns 1-5:
-Destroy Boii by capturing Casurgis and Istros.
-Upgrade town tiers and farms asap to improve growth and get economy going.

Turns 6-10:
-Establish trade and non-aggression pacts with neighbors where possible especially those of the same blood, except Cimbri, Gutones and Rugii as you'll want to destroy them to control the whole of Suebia early. Capturing Gutones gave me a chance to convert their military building to produce ballistas early, which helped me defeat armies that outnumbered mine 2 to 1.
-Be prepared to spend more than 1000 for trade agreements and 300-500 for non-aggression pacts with more agreeable factions. It may seem like a lot in this early stage but see it as an important investment. Before turn 30, I already had 2 factions asking me for a defensive alliance and 1 military ally. Again, this is a step towards confederation.

Turns 11-30:
-Continue to upgrade town tiers and farms
-Build up 1 full "professional" army with as many Wodanaz spears as you can afford and gradually disband club levies to make room for them. Once you have started projects to upgrade town tiers and farms, use the money while waiting for construction in subsequent turns to recruit units as quickly as possible.
-Use your army to conquer the rest of Suebia
-Gradually build up a 2nd army to keep order in your capital while your 1st moves on to capture more regions.

Turn 30 and beyond is up to you. It's hard to give specifics at that stage except perhaps conquering Britannia and turning it into an offshore economic center, or seizing opportunities like neighbors weakened by war with other factions.

[hooahguy14]

Link to mine is in my sig.

[fokke85]

The Suebi lack really good defensive units. Even their best spearmen (Wodanaz Spears) won't last that long in a prolonged fight. I have seen them get chopped fast up by some pretty basic swordsmen, let alone some Oathsworn/Praetorians/Galation noble's/etc. They can dish it out pretty good though. Sword Masters, Longbow Hunters (long range) and especially Beserkers do pretty good damage but move your hard hitters in (flanking) position fast because against a decent army your main battleline will not stand for long.

Night hunters are very usefull. They're a pretty decent spear unit, but you can stealth deploy them which is very usefull especially since the northen european battlemaps are heavily covered in forest. Club levy are less then useless so don't use them ever. Bloodsworn are only slightly better but I have seen a bloodsworn unit with 2 silver chevrons, a silver shield and golden sword get butchered by a unit of merc gallic swords without any upgrades or exp. A shame though really because I think they look really cool with their clubs and picks.

Cavalrywise the Suebi have nothing fancy. The scout riders I use only for just that, mainly for spotting for my artillery. Other then that they are pretty useless. In a one on one fight they can barely take on a unit of slingers/skirmishers. Noble riders are pretty decent but they won't hold up against their gallic and greek counterparts which you are likely to face.

Because of their offensive nature the Suebi rely on quick decisive battles. I did a lot of ambushes and they worked fine for me.

I would not try to get a cultural victory with them because outside of the germanic provinces, nobody shares their culture. Save that for the greek or maybe celtic factions. These guys are all about conquering and looting anyway All in all I had a great campaign with them, they have an infantry heavy unit roster with some pretty cool and unique units. I only feel that they should have had war dogs in their unit roster but then again.. I feel that all factions should have war dogs in their roster because they are just straight up awesome!!

[WeatherseedMage]

Does anyone have any advice on the Nervii? I can't get any traction with them and haven't found anyone else playing them.

[Khan1281]

Does anyone have any advice on the Nervii? I can't get any traction with them and haven't found anyone else playing them.

I had issues with them as well. It took me many turns to get more than 3 towns. I ended up holding in Europe and moved to attack Britain. Once the conquest of the north was done my armies were free to move back to Europe and Britain can make lots of money to finance the war.

I also use radious mod so that might make so changes if you use vanilla or another mod type.

[ZocomRaider]

If there is anyone that likes playing as the Lugii or wants to play as the Lugii (provided they are able to play as them, i'm pretty sure it comes with DEI) then i would be happy to share my some tips and tricks for playing as them, some advice on their opening moves

Also speaking of the Lugii, while playing as Suebi the Lugii make good allies, after you declare war on the Boii and attack them, the Lugii will approve and thus it should be possible to get a non-aggression pact with them and eventually trade and a defensive alliance, basically it's good to keep them as allies so they can protect your eastern borders plus they will keep the Sarmatian factions in check while you secure the rest of Suebia.

Does anyone have any advice on the Nervii? I can't get any traction with them and haven't found anyone else playing them.

Playing as the Nervii, i find the best way to go is attacking the Frisii first then go after the Cherusci, this will give you a port settlement and a capital, this will open up trade which will help with your income. After you have destroyed these two factions you can go after the Macromanni next then you will own the province, after this take out the Sequani to secure your own province then take out the Treverii, by this stage you will own 2 provinces plus 1 extra settlement. Keep the Atrebartes as allies until you don't need them anymore in which case either break all your treaties and destroy them or if possible pay them some money and get them to join your confederation.

Hope this helps

[M2TWRocks]

I've tried to get a successful campaign going as Nervii twice now to no avail. I took the same approach as ZocomRaider, but it did little more than annoy me. When you take Frisii, you get about 100 more income per turn. That's it. And to make matters worse, you have almost no food and a puny capital to start with. After a while, germanic culture will start to seep into your capital which will lead to public order problems. I got as far as taking out Frisii and taking out Cherusci. But it was frustrating battle after frustrating battle to get there. You have almost no income, initial troops that are inferior to the corresponding Germanic ones, and public order issues.

Despite the fact that my ancestors come from that region, I've finally thrown in the towel and gave up. Just too frustrating a faction to start with.

[ZocomRaider]

Well the trick is, send your scout/spy to explore, once you take those two settlements you can trade via sea so if you can go down and discover say Massilia or go down and Discover the Illyrian factions, they are usually happy to trade and once you open a trade route with them it should reveal some more factions along the west coast like Lusitani and Gallaeci, it should also reveal Carthage and possibly Masaesyli as trade partners. If you can get more trade partners that should boost your income a bit. As for the Germanic problem, for culture just build some temples (can't remember the name but one of them boosts Celtic influence and gives you food i use those ones) then as for the Germanic factions, take out Macromanni but leave Suebi alone unless you can take them. Rugii will probably be at war with Suebi so they wont be a problem and Cimbri often go to war with Rugii too so after taking out the Macromanni you could either go up and take out the Cimbri or you could turn your attention to the Sequani and Treverii (just be wary attacking Sequani as they are friendly with Helvetii and Raeti so attacking them may make those two unhappy). Another route after securing that province to your right is sailing to the UK and seizing that as the Iceni are the only real threat up there then even if you lose your mainland settlements you will be set with an island to yourself. =]

As for units just keep a good mix of spearmen, cavalry and ranged units at the start i usually run with 3-4 cavalry units, 4-5 bowmen and then the rest just fill the rest with levy spearmen as they are cheap to recruit and maintain. Another thing to keep in mind is Treverii and Sequani aren't really hostile towards you so you can focus all your efforts on Frisii, Cherusci and Macromanni at the start.

[M2TWRocks]

Well the trick is, send your scout/spy to explore, once you take those two settlements you can trade via sea so if you can go down and discover say Massilia or go down and Discover the Illyrian factions, they are usually happy to trade and once you open a trade route with them it should reveal some more factions along the west coast like Lusitani and Gallaeci, it should also reveal Carthage and possibly Masaesyli as trade partners. If you can get more trade partners that should boost your income a bit. As for the Germanic problem, for culture just build some temples (can't remember the name but one of them boosts Celtic influence and gives you food i use those ones) then as for the Germanic factions, take out Macromanni but leave Suebi alone unless you can take them. Rugii will probably be at war with Suebi so they wont be a problem and Cimbri often go to war with Rugii too so after taking out the Macromanni you could either go up and take out the Cimbri or you could turn your attention to the Sequani and Treverii (just be wary attacking Sequani as they are friendly with Helvetii and Raeti so attacking them may make those two unhappy). Another route after securing that province to your right is sailing to the UK and seizing that as the Iceni are the only real threat up there then even if you lose your mainland settlements you will be set with an island to yourself. =]

As for units just keep a good mix of spearmen, cavalry and ranged units at the start i usually run with 3-4 cavalry units, 4-5 bowmen and then the rest just fill the rest with levy spearmen as they are cheap to recruit and maintain. Another thing to keep in mind is Treverii and Sequani aren't really hostile towards you so you can focus all your efforts on Frisii, Cherusci and Macromanni at the start.

Thanks for the tips. I'll try what you suggested and just run a ship along the entire mediterranean coastline and try to trade with as many people as possible.

[ZocomRaider]

That's the best way to go with any faction, provided you have a port settlement either send an agent to discover new factions or send a navy depending on the situation. One thing to keep in mind though is that if you're starting in north Europe or over near Scythia ect, all you need to do is if your North send an agent to discover the Illyrians or discover Tylis, Cimmeria ect and trading with any of them will create a trade route that will reveal a lot of factions along the coast. If you're starting in the East or South of the map somewhere just do the same only try and discover Rugii, Aestii or whoever owns those settlements at the time(usually Suebi and/or Lugii) and trade with them and that again will reveal a bunch of factions along the coast. The more of them you trade with the more money and resources you will get and it will make trade agreements easier after a while. On a side note don't make/accept non-aggression pacts with these factions unless you don't plan on expanding there, i only give/accept them if i don't plan on attacking them and/or need protection from a direction but if i am going to attack i just do a trade agreement and nothing else, that way you only have to break 1 treaty so your reputation wont go down too much =]