Introduction
What this is: A collection of useful strategy tips to help you survive the early game, establish a foothold for your soon-to-be empire and truly enjoy this beautiful mod. It includes many saves with accompanying screenshots of a Macedonian campaign up to turn 21. The intended audience is players new to DeI or to Hard mode, and anyone experiencing difficulty in DeI 1.2.5+
What this is not: Me lecturing you on how to play. Use whatever play style best suits you and adopt all/some/none of these tips & tricks. This will also not teach you how to min/max provinces and armies because that's not my approach to the game. For v2 of the guide I have included save files of battles so that you can get a taste of what Hard battle difficulty entails if you like; however, I will not be covering battle tactics here since this is a guide on strategy.
Save files technical info: DeI 1.2.5b. Alexander sub-mod on (may not be required). Difficulty = Hard campaign, Hard battles. Unit size = Ultra
House Rules: By following these rules you'll quickly become proficient at the game, regardless of what difficulty level you play on, even if that means losing a few campaigns when you're learning. Additionally this provides an immersive experience that I tend to enjoy by not abusing battle mechanics or the AI. However, feel free to adopt or reject any/some/all of these rules; whatever will make the game enjoyable for you is what you should do:
- No reloading saves. If you make a poor decision on the campaign map or battlefield and it costs you resources/armies/cities etc... deal with it.
- No making use of the red box on the battle map.
- No pausing or using slow-motion during battles. Obviously if nature calls or other distractions occur, go take care of business. But then don't assess the situation or issue battle orders from pause.
- Don't auto-resolve anything below 95% (later in the game I relax this rule to 90%).
Strategy
- Maintain a large war chest
- In the early game you will have multiple factions declare war on you. You need to be prepared to fight several battles in a row and having funds to replenish troops is crucial. This also allows you to be in negative upkeep for multiple turns in a row without going bankrupt.
- Mercenaries are your friends
- Its improbably that you'll be able to recruit the quantity and quality of troops necessary to meet the demands of the early game wars. Mercenaries fill this void nicely because they are readily available and typically of good quality. Be sure to disband them for upkeep reasons, but only after you've established a nice power base.
- Merge units with CTRL+M
- As you fight battles and lose men, you can merge two or more identical units together. On the campaign map, select them both using Ctrl + Left-click. Then press Ctrl + M. This is beneficial if you can't replenish your units or that will take too long. It also saves on upkeep costs as upkeep is always the same for a unit no matter if it's at 100% or 20%.
- Be decisive & always Continue
- If a faction declares war on you, don't turtle and wait for the onslaught. Attack your nearby opponents swiftly yet smartly to prevent localized threats from growing in power. On the battlefield this means always hit "Continue" and slaughter as many enemies as you can, particularly with your general. This has the dual benefits of getting your troops massive amounts of experience and more quickly eliminating the threat (in ancient warfare most a defeated army's losses came after they fled) However, if the situation calls for retreat, then do it. Don't get caught in a fight that is going to cost you a sizable portion of your forces (remember Pyrrhus of Epirus). Don't forget, using retreat can give you some fantastic strategic advantages, which you can immediately turn into resounding victories.
- Pick your opponents wisely
- Don't be aggressive to the point of stupidity. Try and declare war only where there is an immediate strategic need. Similarly, try to avoid war with people neutral to you early on. You will have factions that are negative or hostile towards you that need to be dealt with first. Declare war opportunistically. By this I mean wait for two factions to go at it then choose to intervene or join war against a faction that looks to be getting beaten.
- Night commander
- I consider an essential general's skill when you're first learning the game or playing on a higher difficulty for the first time; it can be learned via Skilled Tactician > Night Commander. This gives you the ability to single out enemy armies to attack even if they have reinforcements within range. This offers the player a sort of safety valve to prevent a campaign from going up in flames because of early mistakes you may make when learning how to adapt to Hard mode (and my house rules if you choose to use them). However, launching a night attack isn't always the best option and correctly analyzing the situation to know when not to use one is important. An example of this is when a small enemy army is outside a city you wish to take. Attack the army, thereby forcing the garrison to reinforce, and then slaughter them all on the open field.
- Loot, Taxes and Patrol
- As you conquer regions early on, you'll want to loot to maintain your war chest. This has the downside of crushingly negative public order and damage to the region's buildings. The buildings are cheap to repair. The PO can be handled by turning off taxes for that province and using Patrol stance. If you abide by #1 and maintain your war chest then this is perfectly acceptable, even if you have -3000 or more income expenditure. Use your conquering army in Patrol but also raise a new army with the minimum 3 units to Patrol as well.
- Agents
- Spies are the most useful agent for obvious reasons. Dignitaries are almost as important because they will help you to more quickly tame the PO problems that come from looting; research is required to recruit them. Champions are optional. Be sure to check their traits and recruit accordingly.
[[BELOW SECTION NOT YET UPDATED]]
Practical Application
To illustrate some of the strategic concepts outlined above, this section includes save files, screenshots notes from an Antigonidai (Macedonian) campaign. Using the save files will provide you the best understanding of these concepts, while the screenshots + notes section will give a brief overview of the strategic situation and the thought process behind key decisions.
Save files:
Each link has the exact same .rar file that contains four save files. They correspond to turn 5 (spring 277 BC), turn 10 (summer 276 BC), turn 14 (summer 275 BC) and turn 15 (autumn 275 BC).
http://www.filedropper.com/showdownload.php/antigonidai (link lasts an unknown time)
http://wikisend.com/download/812774/Antigonidai.rar (link expires after 90 days)
https://ufile.io/ny57v (link expires after 30 days)
Screenshots and notes:
- Turn 5 - I spent ~5500 gold on treaties with Sparta and the Aetolian League and gifts to Athens. Unfortunately Sparta still declares war and the Aetolians break our trade agreement. This calls for decisiveness. Conquer the Aetolians with the help of mercenaries and loot their city to maintain the war chest. My general now learns Night Commander. Focus on the immediate threat building in Greece instead of Thrace.
- Turn 10 - I spend another 1000 gold giving gifts to Athens so that I can focus on conquering Sparta. However this also fails (this will happen more in Hard mode) and Athens and her ally Egypt declare war on me. The Athenian army marches around me and conquers Larissa. They leave a small army outside of Athens, so I attack it but didn't use Night Attack because I want the city garrison to fight as well. Athens is taken and looted. Merge units together as necessary, rebuild damaged buildings and turn off taxes in Greece to help the -PO. Taxes are turned off in my home province as well. Technology is focused on recruiting a Dignitary.
- Turn 14 - The Odryssian Kingdom declares war because the AI knows I've lost a territory and thinks I'm weak. Again, be decisive. I send the army from Athens to encircle Larissa. The army I had patrolling near Pella recruits more troops and I add them to my conquering army. Larissa is taken and Athenai is eliminated; however, this time I only Occupy the city to avoid a rebellion. My spy had been keeping an eye on Sparta and I see they are recruiting troops to attack Athens. I move the army that conquered Larissa to block the road from Sparta to Athens. The Spartans attack my army and I retreat towards Athens. I know they won't attack me again and that they won't have enough movement points to get back to Sparta. This sets up the scenario you see in this screenshot. You'll notice that I have only 5,696 gold and will lose 3,741 gold after this turn. However, thanks to maintaining my war chest throughout the first 13 turns, I'm able to recruit mercenaries, defeat the Spartan army and take the city in one fell swoop.
- Turn 15 - Hegemony. By using a Night Attack I'm able to fight the Spartan army and Spartan garrison individually (I could have defeated a combination of the army+garrison but it would result in unnecessary losses). Looting the city refills my coffers, I put my army in patrol stance and PO is now on a huge increase in all of my territories. The game isn't won yet, but I've survived the early game and secured a nice power base from which I can grow into a dominating empire.
Narrative: A more colorful description of the above outline for those so inclined.
278 BC - I begin by giving Sparta ~3500 gold for non-aggression and give a gift of gold to Athens to increase relations amongst civilized Hellenes. My initial strategy is to conquer Tylis. On the next turn I pay the Aetolian League ~2000 gold for a trade agreement. The rest of the year is uneventful.
277 BC - The Spartans treacherously break our agreement and declare war upon me while, simultaneously, the Aetolians cancel our trade pact. Irked by this impudence, I lead my army (bolstered with mercenaries) to Larissa and immediately assault the city; trapping the Aetolian army inside. It is a Close Victory and I give the troops freedom to loot the city. Following my victory over the Aetolians I continue the policy of friendship with the Athenians. I have respect for their great history and their philosophy and so I deliver ~1000 gold to them to further deepen our ties. This plan, too, was to fail. Driven off course by the meddling of the insipid Ptolemaioi who have always fancied themselves as the true heirs to Alexander. But their minds have gone to rot in the span of a mere generation. Ptolemy II weds his sister in the savage tradition of the Egyptians whilst forgetting their Macedonian heritage. They declare war on me and convince Athens to do the same. For the remainder of the year I gather my strength in Larissa then make encampment on the border of Thessalia-Attica. Athens will suffer now, but Egypt will not be forgiven this transgression.
276 BC - In a seemingly disastrous turn of events the Athenians secretly march along the coast of the Aegean, bypassing my blockade on the road, and seize Larissa. However, surveying the strategic situation leads me to understand that it is they who have committed an unforgivable mistake. They have left a small force outside of Athens, providing wonderful opportunity. I strike at this army, who, upon seeing my troops thunder across the plain, cry out for help from the garrison inside the city. The fools come to the aid of their comrades and I slaughter them all; Decisive Victory. Athens is given over to my men for loot. The Athenians and Spartans form an alliance to face me... an alliance of gnats. The Spartans have not the manpower available to challenge me in the field and the Athenians are without their capital. In a suprise move and perhaps sensing weakness, the Odryssian Kingdom declares war. Knowing that I must prove this impression to be false, lest all the kingdoms set against me as vultures round a wounded goat, I lead a lightning strike from Athens to Larissa and encircle the Athenian army inside. From Pella I bring a small contingent of troops to swell the ranks of my army. The Athenians, understanding their doom is nigh, sally forth and now only exist in the annals of history; Decisive Victory. I keep tight hold of the troops and order that we peacefully occupy the city. The remainder of the year is spent gathering strength and reconnaissance in the Peloponnese.
275 BC - Spartan men have been completing their agoge training and joining the ranks of the army. Sparta is now a true threat and the greatest I have yet faced. I foresee them marching on Athens and a twinge of anxiety strikes me at the thought of Spartans fortified within the mighty walls of Athens. From Larissa I speedily march to the isthmus of Corinth to prevent such a dreadful scenario. My estimation of their aims proves true and the Spartan army marches directly to me, fools. I feign weakness and retreat beneath the walls of Athens; their arrogance will prove their undoing. The Spartans wisely do not attack and instead march back towards Sparta -- content with having made me flee at the mere mention of their name -- unawares that they have fallen into a deadly trap. Unable to reach the city, for even Spartan legs tire on the march, they are forced to camp in the field albeit within reinforcement range of their city. I spring upon them in the night and lay waste to their legend. The city herself comes next. True to their creed, the garrison sallies forth to defend Sparta with her true walls... Decisive Victory.
edit 2: some minor cleanup
edit: Added in tip on merging, separated screenshots + notes from the narrative section to make things cleaner. Fixed formatting.
DeI 1.2+ H/H small faction strategy guide
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Originally Posted by Dresden
