WRE survival tactics, post your ideas

[c.ryo]

Hello guys,

Started as WRE and the challenge is great. However it seems you need to work out which provinces to abandon and which to fortify.

Playing on VH/H and after several tries it seems trying to hold Britannia is pointless.

Seems that same goes for Northern Africa area. After couple of attempts I was always overwhelmed if I attempted to hold Brittania then I was overrun either in Africa or Europe. And vice Versa.

It seems the best solution for me so far is to burn African colonies, Fortify Gibraltar area, move troops away from the area of Croatia and just try to survive by fighting enemies in Gaul/ Spain/ Northern Italy.


Economy is also problematic, and if you ask me ERE has insane buffs, 50%+ from trade wow.

But so far its good, installed lots of mods that prolong the combat and its actually very much playable.

Thanks to the modders for hard work on day 1/2.


What are your tactics guys? Lets share.

[LaytonsCat]

I agree that Britain cannot be held. I would also abandon the Balkans, if its possible to hold them (I doubt it) then you would lose everything else. In my current game I have lost about half of Iberia and Africa and held on to Gaul and France. However the Huns just destroyed Milan and that might have crippled my economy for good. I found that if you focus on economy the first say 10 turns then you will be in much better shape once the more serious hordes start to arrive.

[c.ryo]

It seems to me that also a good idea is to destroy the roaming neutral horde that is going through the gaul at start. As later on it attacked me and literally destroyed the gaul area.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Disbanding that Spanish legion seems like a great first move since it gives you an additional 1300 gold to play around with per turn.

[c.ryo]

Disbanding that Spanish legion seems like a great first move since it gives you an additional 1300 gold to play around with per turn.

Tried that, bad idea, attacks from the Africans can easily get into Spain then...


Also just noticed, what's with 80% corrupting in every province. That is some sort of script? I mean what the hell, even capital has 80%.

[Kassandros]

I didn't abandon anything. I stacked 4 legions in Italy, one in Africa, one in Spain, and slowly let the barbarians take Brittania, Illyria and Gaul while I built up like a fiend. Juuuust about ready to start pushing back in a few turns

[Theo]

Hello guys,

Started as WRE and the challenge is great. However it seems you need to work out which provinces to abandon and which to fortify.

Playing on VH/H and after several tries it seems trying to hold Britannia is pointless.

Seems that same goes for Northern Africa area. After couple of attempts I was always overwhelmed if I attempted to hold Brittania then I was overrun either in Africa or Europe. And vice Versa.

It seems the best solution for me so far is to burn African colonies, Fortify Gibraltar area, move troops away from the area of Croatia and just try to survive by fighting enemies in Gaul/ Spain/ Northern Italy.

Especially true on Legendary. Thankfully the rebel armies that spawn from civil war are terrible so you should be able to defeat just about every stack that spawns. Once you have abandoned Britain, Illyria, and Africa you get a sh!t ton of Denarii (especially if you set taxes to max turn 1 and kept it that way until the rebels are beaten). Then you just invest the money in your most easily defended/best economic provinces, gather your armies together and defeat each barbarian horde 1 by 1. After that it is just a matter of expanding to get the territory you lost back.

[Remo]

I torched everything, all of iberia, all of africa (Except Carthage area), all of Gaul.

The only things I kept where the Islands, and Venetia and the Capital provinces and Italy.

You get a massive penalty for 1 turn and need to do some pretty crafty building but you stabilize after 2 turns and end up sitting on around 40k gold and only 2 areas that you need to defend so you can concentrate your armies. Afterwards you can start pushing out and taking old land.

Was ezpz tbh.

[Awake]

Brittania is impossible to hold, and Africa + Iberia is not worth the effort early on. Pick one to focus on or abandon both.

I turtled in Italy, islands, and carthage and did most of my fighting in northern Italy and Gaul. Seemed to work out but I wasn't able to actually start expanding again for a long time. When I started to I began in Africa --> Iberia and am now getting back into Gaul which is the area that gave me the most problems. That's where I left off in my current campaign which seems like a win. I'm only on hard though for my first real play through. Well, technically second, my first attempt was a learning experience and I abandoned it after about 15 turns and restarted.

WRE Legendary will be a true test.

[August]

I am playing through my second attempt with WRE:

I begin with razing the entire British isles and pulling the legion off of it back to mainland - this way you deny income and foothold to Vikings and other norther raiders, not to mention shortening the frontier.
What I found most effective early on is to apply Guderian's motto: "do not dribble - spray". In other words, I concentrate my forces on the likely avenues of attack and try to eliminate threats utterly. This way you can put out fires entirely, as opposed to trying to merely to hold them off. There's a state in the eastern frontier you are bordering and are in war with - crush them and move on. Concentrate strong legions to snuff out problematic hordes. All Hordes are problematic, but learn to figure out which ones are a more immediate threat, and then snuff them out.
I absorb all the troops from the British legion into mainland ones, leaving just the lone general to restore it to full strength down the line.
Make sure to use the potential of the WRE trait that gives -2% upkeep for every non-Roman in legion. Maintaining enough military to hold the Empire is vital, and every bit helps.

I find the Spanish legion worth keep due to rebellions and southern aggression. You would do well to prioritize subduing the southern small states so that the frontier there could be better secured.

[Orcus]

I torched everything, all of iberia, all of africa (Except Carthage area), all of Gaul.

The only things I kept where the Islands, and Venetia and the Capital provinces and Italy.

You get a massive penalty for 1 turn and need to do some pretty crafty building but you stabilize after 2 turns and end up sitting on around 40k gold and only 2 areas that you need to defend so you can concentrate your armies. Afterwards you can start pushing out and taking old land.

Was ezpz tbh.

That's pretty much what I did. It's one of the few tactics that work.

I'm at year 404 and everything's stable. My economy's good. Only at war with 4 factions now (was at war with around 12 lol). My main problem is expanding. It cost around 10,000 to rebuild a town that was razed. Which is going to make the process real slow. Still, I'm in a good position now.

[nameless]

That's pretty much what I did. It's one of the few tactics that work.

I'm at year 404 and everything's stable. My economy's good. Only at war with 4 factions now (was at war with around 12 lol). My main problem is expanding. It cost around 10,000 to rebuild a town that was razed. Which is going to make the process real slow. Still, I'm in a good position now.

Hey what difficulty are you playing with?

Because on VH I torched everything except Italy and poured all funds to build up the towns and infrastructure. To my surprise the Africans have started recolonizing North Africa but as you said it's a very slow process and they've declared war on me.

The British factions have sent armies all the way down without even bothering to colonize to invade northern Italy. The Ostrogoths to my surprise have sent a horde coming from the sea. I have 2 1/2 armies right now (I upgraded to Legio). I'm a little stumped at how to do this as I'm only 12 turns in. I was thinking of reloading a previous save to destroy a Gerbia army that was stationed right outside NE Italy so I don't have to worry too much but I can't move my armies that much either...

I'm wondering if I should start a new campaign and torch everything and run away to Spain.

[Renown]

Couple tips from me...

Abandon all hope ye who enter here. That is rule #1. Nothing is certain, but don't make war a certainty. DO NOT DECLARE WAR ON HORDES. Sometimes they really wont attack. Other times you get unlucky and they all open up on you at once... deal with it via accepting loses.

Rule #2 - You can't hold Britain, Africa, or your eastern provinces. But DON'T TORCH things unless you want the enemy to just stream in. I've had NO problems holding Gaul/Iberia, and my garrisons delay the enemy hordes very effectively, enabling my armies to mop up in the critical areas.

Rule #3 - Move your African Army to Spain.

Rule #4 - FIGHT ALL GARRISON DEFENSES. Fight to Maim/destroy entire units.

Rule #5- Pull your British Army to London, or to Gaul. You CAN hold London, but it's tough, and may require you to get lucky. Pulling it to Gaul is the safe (AND HISTORICAL) route.

Rule #6 - Combine your Armies. Try to combine at least 2 Stacks. I recommend One in the East, holding your Italian/Croatian provinces. One in the North, holding back the Franks/Belgians. You can survive in Iberia with a half-stack and strategic placement.

Rule #7- Fight Defensively tactically, but strategically offensively. (Try to force the enemy into attacking you in sieges. Use garrisoned troops wisely, they can also be used in a small radius offensively. DO NOT attack outside these radiuses without numerical superiority. *There is always a next battle*

Rule #8 - Don't build any troops for at least 20 turns. Concentrate on Iberian/Gaul Farms first (you must be in a good position to survive climate change), then concentrate on Iberian/Gaul/italian economic buildings until you start to suffer rebellions.

Rule #9- As soon as you can, get two half stacks patrolling your territory to destroy rebels. Expect rebels, but you need the taxes first and foremost. Concentrating on provincial upgrades early enables you to suffer 'soviet' style losses and recover your positions eventually by having backup economic/farms (MORE THAN YOU NEED NOW = LESS THAN YOU WILL NEED VERY SOON)

Rule #10 - DO NOT LET ITALY FALL. (As soon as you start losing italian provinces (for more than 2-3 turns) you will suffer extraordinary economic depressions, you need that money.)

Rule #11 - Upgrade your economy technology until the prices of the buildings makes further tech upgrades pointless for a bit, then upgrade military tech that unlocks new units for PRE-EXISTING units. (I'm 50 + turns in and haven't built palatine for example)

Rule #12 - Forget about Religion for the first 100 turns (no point, because you have no resources).

Rule #13 - Sue for peace with rebelling provinces ASAP. (You can retake them later, you can't afford too many fronts or you WILL LOSE MORE)

Rule #14 - Have no pride. Accept temporary strategic/tactical defeats to ensure overall victory. Pull out mobile forces and fight hopeless garrison battles in order to enable armies to link up and retake territory, while making every casualty count.

Rule #15 - FIGHT EVERY BATTLE YOU CAN, EVEN 100% victory automatches. You need your troops. Learn to use your town's avenues as a way to bottle up troops. I can often kill 500+ troops no matter what with TWO units. One spear to hold a high point, and cavalry to hit them from behind.

Rule #16- Control your cavalry (especially in siege battles) personally, and don't let it's charge go to waste. Charge, retreat (after 2-5 seconds from initial charge) and then reform, attack again when enemy is back in it's bottle.


Rule #17- Pray.


I see a lot of people torch ground, I personally have not found that effective. It just means I get less breathing space between me and enemy hordes. Every garrison is an additional casualty to the enemy, or so I have found. Plus, I get the money from those cities while they remain. Win/Win. I don't even torch Britain or Africa, and they are surely the most obvious choice. Torching those two areas could make sense, but still... I had Britain rebel against me, and the Jutes invaded... so after I lost Britain there was a four way war there. Britain vs Picts vs Jutes vs Western Roman Rebels. Africa rebelled, and promptly tangled with the ERE and Garamantia (previously an enemy, but then became a client state after trade/non-aggression/alliances against Africa. )

Also, make your ruler and any members in his family... thrive.

[barry12]

Couple tips from me...

Abandon all hope ye who enter here. That is rule #1. Nothing is certain, but don't make war a certainty. DO NOT DECLARE WAR ON HORDES. Sometimes they really wont attack. Other times you get unlucky and they all open up on you at once... deal with it via accepting loses.

Rule #2 - You can't hold Britain, Africa, or your eastern provinces. But DON'T TORCH things unless you want the enemy to just stream in. I've had NO problems holding Gaul/Iberia, and my garrisons delay the enemy hordes very effectively, enabling my armies to mop up in the critical areas.

Rule #3 - Move your African Army to Spain.

Rule #4 - FIGHT ALL GARRISON DEFENSES. Fight to Maim/destroy entire units.

Rule #5- Pull your British Army to London, or to Gaul. You CAN hold London, but it's tough, and may require you to get lucky. Pulling it to Gaul is the safe (AND HISTORICAL) route.

Rule #6 - Combine your Armies. Try to combine at least 2 Stacks. I recommend One in the East, holding your Italian/Croatian provinces. One in the North, holding back the Franks/Belgians. You can survive in Iberia with a half-stack and strategic placement.

Rule #7- Fight Defensively tactically, but strategically offensively. (Try to force the enemy into attacking you in sieges. Use garrisoned troops wisely, they can also be used in a small radius offensively. DO NOT attack outside these radiuses without numerical superiority. *There is always a next battle*

Rule #8 - Don't build any troops for at least 20 turns. Concentrate on Iberian/Gaul Farms first (you must be in a good position to survive climate change), then concentrate on Iberian/Gaul/italian economic buildings until you start to suffer rebellions.

Rule #9- As soon as you can, get two half stacks patrolling your territory to destroy rebels. Expect rebels, but you need the taxes first and foremost. Concentrating on provincial upgrades early enables you to suffer 'soviet' style losses and recover your positions eventually by having backup economic/farms (MORE THAN YOU NEED NOW = LESS THAN YOU WILL NEED VERY SOON)

Rule #10 - DO NOT LET ITALY FALL. (As soon as you start losing italian provinces (for more than 2-3 turns) you will suffer extraordinary economic depressions, you need that money.)

Rule #11 - Upgrade your economy technology until the prices of the buildings makes further tech upgrades pointless for a bit, then upgrade military tech that unlocks new units for PRE-EXISTING units. (I'm 50 + turns in and haven't built palatine for example)

Rule #12 - Forget about Religion for the first 100 turns (no point, because you have no resources).

Rule #13 - Sue for peace with rebelling provinces ASAP. (You can retake them later, you can't afford too many fronts or you WILL LOSE MORE)

Rule #14 - Have no pride. Accept temporary strategic/tactical defeats to ensure overall victory. Pull out mobile forces and fight hopeless garrison battles in order to enable armies to link up and retake territory, while making every casualty count.

Rule #15 - FIGHT EVERY BATTLE YOU CAN, EVEN 100% victory automatches. You need your troops. Learn to use your town's avenues as a way to bottle up troops. I can often kill 500+ troops no matter what with TWO units. One spear to hold a high point, and cavalry to hit them from behind.

Rule #16- Control your cavalry (especially in siege battles) personally, and don't let it's charge go to waste. Charge, retreat (after 2-5 seconds from initial charge) and then reform, attack again when enemy is back in it's bottle.


Rule #17- Pray.

Some great tips in there thanks. I've managed to hold on to Africa somehow, but sacrificed Northern Gaul. Finally became profitable after 15 turns of drought and death and have quelled a HUGE rebellion of separatists in Spain... This is on VH too... a true survival horror experience.

[Renown]

Obviously you can try to hold britain or africa, but it will mean losing parts of gaul, or italy. (I always find Iberia to be the safest spot, and have never needed more than a half stack there). I'm really enjoying this. I never liked WRE in RTW:BI, but here... it's a true joy.

I'm loving the gritty torn down buildings I start with. I've barely built any significant upgrades. Still filling all my building slots before I do that. I wonder, will they become 'cleaner' more romanized as I develop?

[MathiasOfAthens]

I torched everything, all of iberia, all of africa (Except Carthage area), all of Gaul.

The only things I kept where the Islands, and Venetia and the Capital provinces and Italy.

You get a massive penalty for 1 turn and need to do some pretty crafty building but you stabilize after 2 turns and end up sitting on around 40k gold and only 2 areas that you need to defend so you can concentrate your armies. Afterwards you can start pushing out and taking old land.

Was ezpz tbh.

Technically, that is like cheating.

[Renown]

It's not cheating exactly, but it certainly is brutal and should have much larger consequences. Talking SEVERE public disorder PER region, which ADDITIONALLY adds up incrementally PER REGION. Destroy one, and it should cost you, but not kill you. Destroy 2-3 should make you keep a stack around for rebellions. Lose 3+ should basically drop all your armies integrity.

Add to the fact that it's not exactly a better option necessarily, and I just don't do it. Now, if I could torch the LAND but not the CITIES/SETTLEMENTS, so that raiding/advancing armies can't pillage but still have to fight my garrisons, than thats okay. But it ISN'T that. So I make them bloody well pay for every inch.

So far, it's 405 now, Attila was born and it's getting colder... but I've defeated the Vandals (I tricked them into attacking Florence, by garrisoning Milan/Rome with small 2-3 units, lost a battle in a valiant defeat, and used my 6-7 units to defeat a previously fully healthy 20 unit stack army), Suebians, Ostrogoths, and am consolidating my starting provinces to the north/east of Italy. I'm building on my stack in Spain to push south, and will push north to Britain again once my defensive Army in the north eastern part of Gaul is free.

I've so far lost two of my starting quarter-stacks, one in britain (got worn down, sieged, and then eaten by a combined Pict/Western Roman Rebel army that then began to duke it out), and then one in Africa (I was going to defeat Rebels when a civil war broke out and a seperatist full-stack army had the jump on my ... quarter stack. It was painful. I fought the first battle, around 800 vs 2500. I lost, losing 600 troops for their 1400. Their follow up attack destroyed me. They then attacked my town (which had beaten off the rebels on the previous turn) and took my settlement. I REALLY wish I had just taken those two armies to Gaul honestly... to hold North Italy. It would have saved me a lot of time + 1600 troops. Though admittedly... I don't seem to need that infantry, and their absence has meant I can afford to build more econ buildings. Right now I'm feeling pretty good. Though the ERE has lost all of Greece but Athens and Constantinople to desolation from the Huns, and one rebellious start-up in Bulgaria. I'm worried that the ERE might actually fall, which is bad because I REALLY REALLY don't want to have to deal with more factions in Africa... not when Britain and Germania are beckoning.

[Erus]

I'm not going to lie, I flat out rage quit on my first Legendary WRE campaign. I thought I could hold back the tide and I was horribly wrong. Between backstabbing hordes, rebellions, and disease (seriously a 2-5% chance and I have it popping up all over the place) I got hammered. I'm on my second attempt now and I am a whole lot more willing to accept losses. I've pulled back from Britain as I don't want to waste those troops and I've also removed my forces from Northern Africa. I reinforced Spain and used the stack from Britain (with a little added manpower) to destroy the Suebians. Attila was born a few turns ago and I'm looking at the Balkans in flames, the British Isles are a cluster of Norse, Rebels, and Picts, and I have the Vandals cornered. The ERE is fighting to survive considering I turned the Goths back and they found an easier target. I'll soon be ready to go on the offensive but I know that one miss step can spell total disaster. It's been a long while since I've had this much fun/challenge.

[Dgirth12]

I did something i bit odd. I Pulled all my armies to Britain I took ireland and Scotland. I abandoned everything else. So all i have is the UK. Very soon i will be ready to start retaking Gual.

Crazy tactic i know.

[c.ryo]

So far the following seems to work for me which resulted in my Vh/Vh campaign to get stable. I have burned all of Brittania, Balkans, North Eastern Gaul, and half of Hispania. This resulted in my creating a set of "no man's lands" where it is problematic for the enemy hordes to loot anything. All that resulted in following issues: rebellions all over the place, food shortages and literally chaos. However with the cash I have received from razing I have focused on building up Italia and it works. It is essential to hold Italia. Every province what ever the cost.

After dealing with revolts ( some even took my provinces like Florencia, Tarentum ( this was a ) I have stabilised the situation and created a defensive line on the north of Italia.

Now it seems to me I have two options a) rebuild and wait for Huns b) go on an offensive