WRE survival tactics, post your ideas

[yupper]

I aim to conquer Britannia (and North Africa). The reason is that if you abandon it, the Celts and Viking forefathers will turn their attentions to Gaul and Spain, which are more valuable and less defensible. I treat Britannia as "free settlements", demolishing their buildings for cash and not caring too much if I lose them, but aim to gradually destroy the three Celtic factions. I haven't had a problem with civil war separatists in Britain - the emergent "Britain" faction is what the rebels tend to turn into.

This is a tough one, because one of the optional mission objectives for the second stage of the game is to hold 2 provinces in Britannia. I've found that re-colonizing them (obviously) takes longer, so deconstruction rather than abandon might be a better route. I did try this in a previous game and what ended up happening was the Celt factions would sometimes conquer the settlements, sack, or raze, but the Ebdanians would continue to sailed raiding parties to Spain. It didn't really make a difference for me "foreign policy-wise" to keep or abandon Britannia settlements. However, it's more of a pain to have to re-colonize and probably more expensive too. There was one campaign where I did not abandon the settlements, and one of the settlements was taken by WRE separatists--I had repelled a Caledonian siege the turn prior, and the settlement was easy picking in the turn after. I could not end the civil war until much later in the stage of the campaign, and this was what made me decide that it might be better to abandon. The Danes have been consistently passive in all of my campaigns, and the other Viking factions never invaded me in the first stage of the game. I guess that might change on the legendary setting though.

The big ones are probably (a) getting the Franks to fight the Saxons; (b) getting the north Africans on-side. It depends partly on their personalities, but often with a little cash, you can get the Franks and Saxons to fight to the death; and get a North African as a reliable friend. I don't pay more than 700 gold ish for one deal. You may also be able to postpone some Viking forefathers' assaults.

I've tried this, but the Franks always try to bill thousands of gold from me to join wars (although I did not try to do this in the first 3 turns of the campaign, when almost everything seems to cost less). If I give each of them a small gift, I can usually keep them at peace with me unless they happen to be allied with another faction I go to war with (occasionally happens). I didn't care much about maintaining peace with the African factions--their units are soft and munchy for my generals Although it's probably not a good idea to be at war with all of them at once, but I generally just need one stack to take care of that region.

One thing I learnt recently was not to heed ERE requests to declare on the Visigoths and Alans. They promptly switched their focus to me, doing quite a bit of damage.

Yeah, I've also declined to go to war with the Alans when ERE requests. Unlike the eastern front factions, the Alans can migrate and roam the map. The Visigoths, on the other hand, is an optional mission objective for the first stage of the campaign, so I always try to get as much gold from ERE to delcare war on the Visigoths, since I will do it myself anyway. But they can do a lot of damage in concert with the Ostrogoths.

[Aenima]

I've been playing a lot of WRE campaigns recently, trying to find the "right" start and I think I may now have it. Start by destroying all churches in the empire and also downisze the armies where possible; use the money you gain from your destroyed buildings to really work on restoring the empire. Then stabilise public order by ensuring that each city has lvl 2 sanitation (the one that gives minor P.O bonus as well as sanitation to all regions in the province) and also a lvl 2 theatre and governor's house. Convert forums to auditoriums and feel free to destroy resource buildings or industrial buildings to free up a slot for sanitation or a governor's house; this costs a lot of food though so also balance things out with lvl 2 cattle farms. Work on the Spanish provinces the most since they're the rowdiest of the lot and will cause you immense headaches further down the line.

In previous WRE attempts I was ultimately left with constant rebellions but in my current campaign I'm making 7K a turn with barely any rebellions at all. Positive public order and sanitation gives better income and the lack of rebellions means that buildings aren't damaged and thus don't need repairing or hamper their income. Also, garrisons built at key settlements (Lindum for the Viking invaders, Segontium for the Irish, Colonia Agripina for the Franks, Virunum as a choke-point in the east and Verona and Aquilea to guard Italy) ensure that large armies can be destroyed before they threaten my provinces.

I know it seems simple but by prioritising the stabilising of public order as the WRE you completely change the game for yourself. Get and keep your provinces in the green and you're eventually left with money in the bank and your attention squarely on military aims, not domestic troubles.

[Williammac]

retreat retreat retreat. swallow pride, be patient, build up, protect italy, then take spain.

[Dawnbreaker]

Simple, Let Rome Burn

[Dawnbreaker]

And the barbarians shall rise...

[econ21]

Just reposting what I wrote in another thread with a less descriptive title ("a new beginning"). One thing I've noticed since the White Hun patch (I think that was the one) is that the WRE campaign has been made a lot easier. Capping corruption, one turn recruitment and some other changes mean that very quickly the WRE can have a healthy surplus and start fielding many full stack field armies. It's still advisable to dismantle churches early for a quick cash sum to invest, but very soon, money won't be the crippling constraint it was. That means you can just endure and gradually get stronger, using the sheer size of your empire to hammer any upstart invader. It used to be that corruption meant the size of your provincial holdings did not help you, now it does. This makes the "hold everything" strategy I've always favoured far better than giving ground. To be honest, WRE might even be an easy faction now. Hard work - it takes a lot of time - but not difficult.

The other point I would emphasise is the importance of diplomacy - primarily persuading factions at peace to join your wars, to avoid them turning on you. In my latest game, it's 408 and no Vikings or Germans have entered Britain or crossed the Rhine: they are too busy infighting. If you end up at war with the Huns, that can also help your diplomatic standing a lot with some German factions.

These are the early steps I take in my WRE campaigns (VH campaign/M battles):

(1) Check ERE Emperor's traits - if they are not favorable, restart. I rely on the ERE for trade and most of my mid-game is spent propping them up against the Sassanids. I don't want to play a civil war game.

(2) Demolish all churches and one or two other level 2 buildings (e.g. military jetties). This should give you 30,000+ gold next turn.

(3) Spend money on (in order):
(a) making sure all provinces have enough food[1]: build fields and fishing ports (not at Mediolanium's province - leave that for trade); food deficient provinces have -25% income and a PO penalty
(b) providing sanitation to all provinces; this prevents disease outbreaks
(c) upgrading trade resources - trade income is exempt from corruption
(d) public order buildings - governor's palaces and arenas
If you do this, disease will never be a problem: the 30k you saved from demolishing churches will pay for sanitation in all provinces. Trade goods will put you on a path of rising income. Public order will be a problem for a long time - you will need half stack armies to crush rebels. It may get under control by 410 or thereabouts.

(4) Get used to manually fighting many garrison defenses: 4 units against half rebel stacks or full AI faction stacks. The full stacks will usually win, but your four units can often do terrible damage to them. Often, they will only sack your settlement or let it rebel. You can usually beat rebel settlement assaults with default garrisons, but half stack armies in Africa, Gaul and Britain will help keep control until you can afford enough order improving buildings.

(5) Cap out your priests, spies, champions (will need research) and governors. These help a lot with public order and corruption.

(6) Work on your diplomacy: try to get trade deals where you can; bribe factions at peace to join one of your wars. The Franks can often be persuaded to fight the Saxons. Vikings to fight each other. Often you can get either Britain or North Africa completely peaceful for a 5 years or so through diplomacy.

(7) Work on securing your flanks: if North Africa and Britain are secure, you can focus on Gaul and Panonia, making life much simpler. Usually I end up occupying them all, but good neighbours or vassals would be about as good.

(8) The main war zone will be around Panonia: that is where the hordes tend to head for. Use Stilcho and the other army in the region to crush the Quadians. Find a way to get them an onager to better siege settlements (hint: merc Celtic onagers or starting one in Gaul). Periodically go to Italy to recruit merc crossbows. Merc cav and missiles are useful, as are the extra men you can levy from hordes. Roman spears will go a long way, though.

(9) Kill off the Suebi and usually their Alemanni allies. This may be tricky but is better done on your border than deep inside your lands. The Alemanni gems are nice for your gold province development. Similarly, you will probably have to kill off the Vandals, Goths and slavs etc if they stay too long on your land. If they are raiding, then they are usually best taken out.

(10) For research, I prioritise military upgrades - cohors are terrible units and I want to upgrade my garrison spears/swords. For my armies, I want onagers, legio comitatenses, the best spears, amigeri defensores and crossbows. Cavalry I tend to leave to mercs. Desert hardy mercs are fine for Africa. On the civic tree, I want level 3 governors palaces for veterans, then may be fortified towns.

(11) Avoid war with the Huns. If it happens, make sure you have +10 morale enhancing boosts for your generals e.g. military diplomas etc. Try to fight in fortified stance. Bring lots of spears and crossbows. Rely on defensive tetusdo and turtling. Keep two armies or more together for mutual support. The Huns are fearsome on the battlefield but surprisingly timid on the strategic map. A couple of strong stacks together at Aquilea can often keep them passive for ages. Kill Attila a few times and you are done.

(12) Try to save the ERE. Two armies minimum; ideally four or more, and you can defeat the Sassanids. Again, fortify stance neuters cav. Fight battles defensively, but rush them on the strategy map. Strike quickly before they can regroup from defeats. When you take the last Sassanid province, vassalise them - their vassals become yours. Night fighting generals (cunning 6+) are almost essential for offensives against the Huns and Sassanids, so you can pick off their stacks one by one.


[1] The exceptions are military provinces (e.g with iron) or part provinces (e.g. Urzburg) that are never going to be food sufficient. Just exempt them from tax.

[Gallus]

WRE is actually by far the easiest campaign I've played so far. Here's what I did:

Turn 1: - sent all armies to Italy, except for the spanish one (which I sent to Caralis) and the british (which I disbanded)
- started building farms and theaters in Italy
- burned down all churches
Turn 3: - burned down all regions except for Italy and the islands. Why turn 3? To get armies in place to deal with rebels
Turn 4: - got 80k from burning settlements and used it to make Italy an economic powerhouse
- defeated the rebels, recruited a fleet in Palma

I converted to Roman paganism as soon as I could.

I'm now in 404 AD, I have 280k gold and 34k income per turn and military alliances with Hispania, Britain, Gaul and ERE. By 425 I will recolonize Iberia and Africa to get the Minor Victory.

The best thing about burning everything down is that there's a huge area of ruined land around your borders, so the AI factions never even tried to invade me. Instead they are fighting among themselves for their starting lands.

[surg3on]

The role player in me would never let me just burn everything. Rome will hold its glory by tooth and nail if need be.