Numidia

[bulkas99]

Hello,

Is Numidia a civilised faction?
And what tactic is wise to use when played?

Gracias amigos,

B.

[Gabriel A]

I just played my first games as Numidia.

First game I played I grouped up my forces to take over rebel settlements to the west.

That was a mistake.

Carthage will attack you, fast. So group up the largest army you can and prepare (or attack first) the Carthiginian forces and cities. Defeat enough of their armies so that you can take over and sack their cities to fund your war (you will have too, as money will run out very fast).

In battle your infantry is very poor compared to Carhage's heavy infantry. Your best unit is the Numidian Light cavalry, it is very cheap, and the horses are very fast with lots of stamnia, so you can manuever around and behind the heavy carthage units and do great damage. You can even use them to charge the rear of units if those units are already fighting your desert infantry.

[Tominokar]

Numidia was one of my favourite campaigns, though conquering Carthage was the only true challenge. Once that was done it was pretty easy going, the only annoying thing being the lack in variety of units.

[Mr_Ace]

Numidia's main strength lies in their cavalry....in terms of speed and missile superiority. They are almost made up of light types, which is a disadvantage to Carthage's medium/heavy cavalry. But speed is the main strengthening attribute for the Numidians.

You must attack within the shortest distance possible, since Numidia has a vast amount of deserts which separates them from the Carthaginians....for instance, the east or the North. I would conduct a blitzkrieg war and use your speed as an opportunity to strike first. Allocate all your troops near your border cities for defense against a possible attack and maintain an optimum in where to concentrate your main forces towards, so you can attack from there.

SINCE, Numidia is soooo stretched away from Carthage, you can use this advantage to hide your movements and intents and attack freely. But you must move swiftly and fast, before Carthage builds up it's troops in the first amount of turns. Forget the rebel cities, so Carthage wastes their troops in taking them....overall weakening the opposition. Watch their moves with spies and hit them where they are most weak....I would focus on Carthage before turning towards the rebel cities. And I would hit them in several spots, in two different directions to divert their main attention. Since you have the vast amount of distance for cover and the speed....it should be advantageous for you.

[Archer of Sparta]

Oy! My first battle as Numidia. First the traitors of Carthage came into my capitol to attack my poorly defended garrison. What they didn't know is that a almost full stack was hiding in the shadows just north. I easily destroyed the poor Carthaginians who fled like rabbits running from our men (lol). Anyways a year later I marched a spy up to Carthage no sign of any threats at all. So I got my stack and rushed east the Carthage territory. I cleared some small Carthage armies. around the area and stopped for a little rest. The next turn a semi-full stack of Carthage noobs came and attacked my hot, and tired Numidian army.

The battle was bloody. The first combat happened as the Carthaginians sent all of their cavalry (except general) to my right trying to flank. some javalin men and my own cavalry and horse archers destroyed them easily, The only loss of mine was one unit of routing HA. The next offence by Carthage was the official battle. They plowed their infantry to my infantry, hand to hand combat. BAM my javalins peirced their bodies like bullets. That didn't stop them much . I sent my cavalry to the general. He died. But the heavy infantry were supporting my light infantry. So I had to do it. I threw all my units, every single one into the infantry. They ran like little girls. Did I mention they had a reinforment army? Pure infantry no cavalry. I destroyed them 10 minutes later. Resulting in a clear victory? WTF? I lost more than half of my units and I was clearly outnumbered. The least I could get is a famous battle marker on the man Haha, it was a pretty hard battle... Oh well. Another army came to my hot, and tired army crusing it. Carthage ended up taking my capitol later. Gosh.

[Incomitatus]

Seize Dimmidi to the West of your lands and Nepte in the south. You only need about 6-7 units to do this, and can take them in succession with the same army, if you don't mind taking the time. Leave one unit behind in each as a garrison after enslaving the cities and return all of your troops to Capsa.

The key to surviving as Numidia is to forestall the Carthaginian attack as long as possible. The AI seems to disregard military strength if your troops are in a city. Place those same troops in an army beside a city, and the AI will think twice before attacking them.

The key is to get as many men as possible beside Capsa as quickly as possible. Much of your income in the beginning is due to trade with Carthage. As soon as war breaks out, you will have a major cash shortfall.

The real strength of Numidia is not the cavalry (although they are quite good and relatively inexpensive as light cav). The real strengh is in the javelinmen. They are so cheap, and their javelins do so much damage... an army of javelinmen on a hill can and will break the morale of any Carthaginian force almost before contact. Of course, you will want a few cav units, and some desert spearmen (another great unit provided you avoid ranged fire) to back them up.

Key points: Use a fluid combat style, minimize casualties, try to preserve the peace as long as possible while you build up. I've kept the peace with Carthage for 20+ turns before. It is possible, and it's wise. Once war starts, though, be ruthless.

[Companion Cavalry]

Attack the phoenicians as soon as possible, storm their capital, defend it with

a large garisson and build up a secondary army and send them in two directions,

one south, then east and the other west and from then, it's pretty much your

choice

[CiusFortius]

I'll second the Dimidi and Nepte move. First turn I would send a family member and a light fast force of only cav that direction. The berber javelin men are dirt cheap mercs to hire and with their extra numbers and low upkeep they make the best garrison men in the entire game for safe areas bar none! Using the cav force with a few mercs you can take those two cities very fast. They are not coastal cities granted but they are safe from attack and provide decent money for a poor faction like Numidia. They supporting a few extra units will make all the difference in the upcomming battle with Carthage.

I played as Numidia on VH/VH a while back and getting those two cities helped. Carthage attacked within 10 turns. What I did was move a stack into the heart of their lands and take a walled city first. Once I had that they would send stack after stack against me and loose horribly against their own walls with me taking almost no losses. I killed off about 5 stacks that way and once they were weakend took the rest of their cities.

If you are playing without land blocks do not build roads in Lepus Magna and Cidimus!!!! The Ptelomics will then waste more turns walking slowly accross the desert to reach you wasting more money etc.

Javelin cavalry is incredibly cheap upkeep for cav and very effective. I only bought units in the beggining that were low upkeep. Only after securing Carthage did I even try to get infantry going.

Another good thing to do after breaking Carthage is to send a family member or two and cover the desert with watch towers. A lot of bandits pop up in remote areas of your territories on roads, blocking trade income. Building decent roads as early as possible, and having a smallish cav only force to cover all inland cities works well. With paved roads and only cav the force can reach any rebel force very quickly and get decent experience fast as well. I used the desert almost as a training ground for cavalry and some family members.