An idea on how to cope with high initial debt and keep the game fun for all...

[gaius valerius]

==> rewards for taking settlements.

I don't know if this has been suggested before but has there ever been any thought about implementing something like this? I mean okay you can exterminate/enslave a settlement but when you're Adui/Averni/Lusotanni, etc it is hardly worth something in comparison with your costs. It is really tiresome to be -50k in debt and finally being able to rebuild, while the stupid AI who is a hardcoded cheater launches armies of over 2000 men while the only settlement they have has a populace of 800... :hmmm: I think I'm not the only one who hates this and who thinks it absolutely ruins the experience of certain factions. I don't mind making debt, but sometimes the AI makes it impossible on you.

So what I was thinking: how about if you take (certain?) settlements you gain a significant reward in cash. Like I'm the Averni and I take Avaricum and the game is thus scripted to reward me like 10-15k mnai. At that time I'm probably alrdy at -20k so it wouldn't exactly make me financially healthy, but it would buy me more time in conquering this debt. So when I finally get my act together and start making money, my empire would be at -20k instead of -60k.

So I'm not suggesting something that would make players über-rich, but would help them cope with the high initial debts. For factions who are better of this would boost there economy but not give them a distinctive advantage, so I don't think it will give the player - whether he is a financially weak or strong faction - an unfair advantage.



Any thoughts?

[Korlon]

I never had trouble with any of those factions you just named. As always, you must disband a part of your army to begin with. I always choose to disband the starting cavalry for these kinds of factions.

Lusotannan, you can use the starting army to take about two cities to the southeast and the three cities to the north and northeast if you do things right. By the time you are done, you should not be in that much debt and should be making profits already. 20 years later and I already had 200,000 mnai in the bank with every settlement building something.

Averni, you just need to disband starting cavalry again. What I did was take Massalia with my troops to the south and take that Aedui city to the west with my northern troops. After you take both, you should be making profits once more. Never even fell below a couple thousand mnai in debt.

Aedui, I haven't play this faction before, but the same thing should apply. Disband starting cavalry. Use your starting troops to take about two cities. That should put you in the green or close to it.

Just remember to put taxes as high as possible in the beginning. It doesn't matter if there's population decline right at the start.

[QuintusSertorius]

Just remember to put taxes as high as possible in the beginning. It doesn't matter if there's population decline right at the start.

I'd go further than that, static, slowly increasing or even slightly declining populations are a good thing.

[Solar]

Hmm. In my campaign as the Lusotanni, I took the initial army, grabbed two rebel cities, and then disbanded most of the armies. after a few turns, I was able to start rebuilding the army slowly. So it wasn't really a problem.

[gaius valerius]

Yeah but Lusotanni don't have the Aedui/Averni as their AI cheating neighbour.

I've started a new campaign with Averni and I've taken Bibracte, Massalia and Aucto-thingie above Vindelicos , it is 268 BCE and I'm out of debt making 2500 gold/year.

BUT

On both side of that empire I'm being flanked by the Aedui, who - cheating filthy AI - have alrdy over 3 full stacks running around. I on the other hand have 4 damaged units left...

How is this fun to play?