Damn the Carthaginians!!!!

[Sisko]

I've decided to up the difficulty level in my Rome games, and am now playing on medium (yes go ahead and laugh) lol it is rather amusing since alot of players choose to play on hard.

Anyway, I've had to start my Scipii game again. Seems I managed to get caught in a loop where as long as the Carthaginians had control of Lilybaum (spelling?) they sent large armies onto Sicily which I would destroy, retreat to lick my wounds and make plans for a siege on Lilybaum only to find Carthage with ANOTHER large army. So, again I would march out, engage them and massacre the poor Carthies and a turn or two later, ANOTHER army lands on Sicily. The Carthaginian Navy controls the med pretty much as i've neglected my navy severely now to the point where i'll lose any naval engagement.

I'm actually being forced to react to the enemies movements rather than comfortably making my own decisions. grrrr!! When i used to play on easy all that time ago, I could make plans comfortable and I was able to expand outwards pretty quickly without things being thrown into chaos by those pesky carthaginians!!! lol

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Well, you start off with the cities of Messana and Capua right? Well, build an army at Capua, then a small fleet, while maintaining your army at Messana. Sail the fleet from down to Sicily with the army aboard it (should only take 1 turn so you shouldn't be attacked.

Take your army at Messana and kill the Carthaginian army, then use the army that just arrived by fleet to lay siege to Lilybaeum. Keep the Messana army there while you wait the turn that it takes to build your siege equipment.

The next turn, if another Carthaginian army comes along. Attack it with the Messana one again, and the Capua army should become reinforcements. Once you defeat the Carthaginian army (if there is one) advance your Messana army to Lilybaeum but attack it with the Capua army. Then the Messana army becomes reinforcements, and you are sure to win.

P.S. always recruit mercenaries.

[conquestor]

huh, carths are pretty easy once you capture libyaeum.

all you have to do next is capture carthage and thapsus, once u do that, ur basically unstoppable.

[Pontifex Maximus]

unstoppable? no. carthage will have at least two civil revolts.

[Double A]

So that is why you should KILL THEM ALL!!!

[Sisko]

heheheh, yeah I hear what you're saying. As I said I guess i've been knocked a little by the AI being more agressive, suppose i should've expected it though by upping the difficulty level. I think my mistake was I waited a while before trying to take Lilybaeum. Allowing Carthage to build up their forces for a while

[Arlin]

Exactly, Double A! Playing as Rome for the moment and just overran the island of Syracuse. Carthage has 2 towns falling as we speak. I also sent a full stack around to Carthage to besiege it. The moment I take it I'm exterminating every last man, woman, and child. I plan to do that for all major cities I find that belong to Carthage.

[Eccentric]

You should have rushed the carthaginians early on, dont let them build up, quite frankly the Carthaginians are a pushover in this game, at least if you rush them.

[AqD]

I hate them too. They just destroyed a fleet of mine that carry half stacks of heavy peltasts and hoplites
________
Wong Amat Beach

[Double A]

Build up your navy! Blockade their ports! Ally with the Numidians and Spain! This will surely screw them!

[Sith_Lord]

Put a bunch of spies in Carthage and blockade their port, wait a few turns with a stack outsidde but don't lay siege, assasinate any family members they have there, let it rebel. First they are insulted by having it revolt, than you kick them while they are down by taking it before they can react. AND YES>>> EXTERMINATE!!!

[Double A]

...and the Darlek says "EXTERMINATE!!!"

[Harry Lime]

Moved to Battle Planning

[AqD]

Put a bunch of spies in Carthage and blockade their port, wait a few turns with a stack outsidde but don't lay siege, assasinate any family members they have there, let it rebel. First they are insulted by having it revolt, than you kick them while they are down by taking it before they can react. AND YES>>> EXTERMINATE!!!

Heh sounds like a good idea, but how can I assasinate them?? The success rate is always like 10% - 2%.......
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Tasya4u

[Sandrus Castus]

Heh sounds like a good idea, but how can I assasinate them?? The success rate is always like 10% - 2%.......

Let them practice with some rebel captains. If your assassin get cought (spelling?), it isn't that bad because you're already at war with them. They make good targets with a high success rate.
Or enemy diplomats, searching to make contact with Rome. (And then all those senators wondering why there aren't coming any diplomats from other factions...)

Also, do you play the battles against Carthage themselve, or do you let the pc do it for you? Can make a big difference.

[AqD]

It's not working. And a ship that carried a full stack armies almost landed on my undefended cities!

I was scared, so in the next turn I launched a land assault: two fleets, each carries a full stack army (16 hoplites + 4 medium cavalry). I just wanted to annoy them for a while, but then I meet the first full stack enemy when trying to siege a city - tough phalanx units and elephants, and won, but in the same turn they sent another full stack (javeliners + phalanx), and I won again, and then they sent another, and I still won.

Well that's 3 battles in one turn - BUT THE CRAZY CARTHAGINIANS JUST CAN'T STOP, they continued to send individual units to fight me. I got tired and was going to give up, so I just clicked on "auto-resolve" - but I won again, and then again, and again, and again, until they don't have any armies nearby. So I turned on fow - and realized that I have destroyed every but garrison armies of theirs

BTW I was not good in those battles - their javelinmen and elephants completely trashed my formation, and my greek medium cavalry suffered very high casuality due to mis-control. I guess I won them only by the golden armour/weapon
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Class action lawsuit

[Tiberius Sempronius Graccus]

Maybe it's because my dad was ex Navy, but the sea is the key!

Nothing more satisfying than watching all those invaders drowning when their fleet goes down. Diplomats look like they've been flushed down the toilet! Except maybe landing a stack behind their lines where they're not expecting it and ripping through unprotected cities!

Spies, assassins rock-build up thier experience on catains, then let em loose on generals. 10-20% are good odds, make use of the spymasters!

BTW, I lke to play Carthage and sink the Scipios on the way from Capua!

[morteduzionism]

Anyway, I've had to start my Scipii game again. Seems I managed to get caught in a loop where as long as the Carthaginians had control of Lilybaum (spelling?) they sent large armies onto Sicily which I would destroy, retreat to lick my wounds and make plans for a siege on Lilybaum only to find Carthage with ANOTHER large army. So, again I would march out, engage them and massacre the poor Carthies and a turn or two later, ANOTHER army lands on Sicily...I could make plans comfortable and I was able to expand outwards pretty quickly without things being thrown into chaos by those pesky carthaginians!!! lol

Would you like to be able to slow the pace down? What I am asking is whether or not you'd like to have some relative calm before you take Lilybaeum at your liesure?

If so, take the city immedieately. Occupy it. Destroy all the military/public order buildings. Leave it. Either the city will turn rebel(that happens in RTW, right?) or Carthage will take it, either way you won't have to worry about anything coming out of the province for a few turns.

By occupying the city you leave the population intact and destroying the military/public order buildings makes it harder for another faction to raise soldiers and maintain public order in a city with a full population.

Note: I've used this tactic. It works sometimes and sometimes...the enemy faction exterminates the city population making it easier for them to control(this was on a mod so I don't know what'll happen in RTW)

[Aristarchus]

I agree with those above saying the sea is the key. This is evident in the historical wars of Rome vs. Carthage, and the game reflects it. The Scipii more than others must control the sea.

[Problem Sleuth]

On VH/VH I just bum-rushed the Carthaginians. I also allied the Numidians. Big help, really. When they were about to engage some Numidian force, bam, attacked them, and surrounded the enemy. Didn't even have to fight them, as the Numidians burned up all their troops fighting them. Two birds down with one stone, allowing me to focus on taking some Greek cities the Senate wanted me to take. I have a few high-level cities now capable of pumping out great troops. Very nice!