WRE 432 Campaign

[Lord Agelmar]

Anyone manage to make a sucessful run as the WRE in the 432 campaign? Just wondering if there are any tips out there cause the situation seems difficult and im far from a spectacular general so any help is appreciated.

[Marku]

Agelmar uve beaten me to the punch. rofl. i was going to make exact same thread.

Ill simplify what could be done or whats wrong(and i played on M/M btw)

- Unit upkeep slightly lower please!

- cohors miltia need to be 0 turns instead of 1

- lower revolt risks in gaul
(especially ones near or around the alps who are close to ravenna/rome or do they want to be ruled by savages lol)

-With gaul less revolty, you could make spain and africa the more difficult to hold onto(considering they're worth more in terms of money and seperated by sea)

- certain barbarians are too quck to war?

[The_Bulgar_Slayer]

Though I haven't played the 432 campaign yet, there are a few recommendations I have when doing it.

First thing I would do is disband any extra troops you have, like the ones in Corsica or extra garrison troops that can't be sent to help less happy cities. With the high upkeep, it is cheaper to build new units when necessary than to keep them, even if you have to rebuild the unit the turn right after you disbanded them.

Second, I would abandon any cities they seemed doomed to rebellion or will quickly fall to the enemy. But before you leave, destroy all the buildings you can to add those costs to your treasury. You can disband the garrisons if they can't be used elsewhere too.

Third, I would build cheap happiness buildings where needed. Look for the ones of the best value and speed to build like burials, postribulums(whore houses), and academies. These are much cheaper than adding extra garrison units. When you have the money, and if happiness is not an issue in your city build monitary buildings. Trade seems to be the best, but farming is useful in high fertility areas like southern Italy.

Fourth, send your diplomats out and get trde rights and sell map info for money. These will both help your economy. Use assassins to kill enemy generals. It is a lot cheaper and easier way of slowing their expansion and powere without using your armies. It also makes battles easier if your enemy has no family members in the army.

Fifth, use your generals as your cavalry not as governors. Their effects as governors are small, but as cavalry they are the best and allow you to not have to recruit any or at least many more other cavalry units.

Sixth, Rio said it perfectly below on where to focus your attention. Securing Italy and the islands before moving into North Africa to kill the Vandals seems to be the best way to go. This will give you a solid base and good income. In Spain I would just try to hold onto Gallaecia and Valencia. These will give you a good attainable presence and should give you a chance to hold the Visigoths. Gaul is more tricky. Try at least holding onto southern Gaul and see what is best for the northern cities. You should be able to form about 3 armies. One in Gaul under Aetius to hold the barbarians, one around Aqueleia to defend Italy or push into Illyria, and one in Africa to beat the Vandals.

Seventh, the best way to get money is to conquer many cities quickly and sack them as you take them. This will give you vital funds to help build necessary buildings and new army units. Populations in the game seem to recover quickly, so sacking is not bad. For example, in the main campaign when I took Carthage the population dropped to 10,000 people, only about 10 turns later it was back to almost 25,000.

If you follow Rio's and my advice, you hopefully will be victorious, but a lot of it comes down to your abaility to win battles. Good luck, and I hope to hear the results.

[Riothamus]

Anyone manage to make a sucessful run as the WRE in the 432 campaign? Just wondering if there are any tips out there cause the situation seems difficult and im far from a spectacular general so any help is appreciated.

Hi Lord Agelmar and Marco
The may take a few edits and additions but first I'll try and give some useful info about the WRE army and its relation to the WRE economy.

The 432AD WRE is no longer the the Western Roman Empire of old understanding how the army is structured in relation to how to field an army is vital. An example to use is the Army of Aetius in 451 ad. He had to rely heavily on the Germanic foederati to win that battle. The Visigoths were shocked at how small Aetius Roman army was. Your army is now much smaller in comparison to what it may have been maybe 20 years ago and what it was in the 4th and third centuries, so therefore, you must begin to rely mostly on foederati troops and mercenaries. The foederati and mercenaries are farely cheap but should only be hired just before a battle and disbanded right after a battle due to their expensive upkeep costs. The foederati a not expensive and they have 0 recruitment time thus designed for this Roman era warefare.

Fourth, send your diplomats out and get trde rights and sell map info for money. These will both help your economy. Use assassins to kill enemy generals. It is a lot cheaper and easier way of slowing their expansion and powere without using your armies. It also makes battles easier if your enemy has no family members in the army.

Fifth, use your generals as your cavalry not as governors. Their effects as governors are small, but as cavalry they are the best and allow you to not have to recruit any or at least many more other cavalry units.

Great stuff!...

As a Tactic I would as Bulgar Slayer did in his 463AD campaign secure Italy and Sicily and then attack the Vandals in Africa before they become too strong. In Africa you have a good chance of holding it and it becoming a major economic base to begin funding an army. This may require a retreat from Gaul and Spain at first so it may be a good idea as the Bulgar Slayer posted: to destroy their buildings to get an cash.

Its very important to understand the economy of the cities. The cities have different functions. Economic, military, government and Capitals. Capitals are extremely rich in all city functions. A Nice reward for capturing one. Another thing is that Generals upkeep can be disastrous if not keep in check early in the game. They are gaudy in upkeep and can kill your economy early in the game if not watched.

Agelmar uve beaten me to the punch. rofl. i was going to make exact same thread.

- Unit upkeep slightly lower please!

- cohors miltia need to be 0 turns instead of 1

- lower revolt risks in gaul
(especially ones near or around the alps who are close to ravenna/rome or do they want to be ruled by savages lol)

- certain barbarians are too quck to war?

I can certainly tweak a few things here
-recruit costs (upkeep will remain very high) I'm going to drastically lower for mercs and even more for foederati
-stats I'll increase a bit more for the foederati
-cohors miltia to 0 recruit time
revolts in gaul I'll try look at this see if I can make this less ahistorical but also maintaining a high level of difficulty.

[Marku]

hi guys. i'd like to ask what buildings you build (in order of builings) for these situations:

stability/public order
military
economy

[Octavius Vatco]

I think what you did to the mod really best represents the challenges for a Roman Militarily during this period....

[Lord Agelmar]

I had figured those would be the best tactics but was just wondering if anyone managed to save most of the Empire without having to abandon parts of it as it is something I dont like doing and a true Roman would never do! I have had a sucessful 463 campaign so ill see if I cant try the same tactics as there.

I agree, tuning down the revolts in Gaul would be a little more favourable! And I havnt played the ERE yet but they seem to have massive revolts throughout their section of the Empire, anything being done about that?

[Marku]

ive managed to hold onto italy and bits of africa with full stack army yet. ive got 1/4 and 1/2 stacks across the empire defending from rebels or exterminating settlements too big.

[bohema]

my Eastern Empire has had revolt after revolt with no end in sight ive exterminated some of my cities 3 or 4 times yet they still over throw me its tough

[Riothamus]

my Eastern Empire has had revolt after revolt with no end in sight ive exterminated some of my cities 3 or 4 times yet they still over throw me its tough

Right the ship and they can be a juggernaut of a faction. But I understand the frustration with the early going. I spent a lot of time trying to iron out some ahistorical situations with the rebellious ERE start and maintaining a challenging campaign. This faction can be a force in the game, even under the AI...The next version I worked on it even more. But its potentially the strongest faction in the game,thus the difficulty modifying it so it just doesn't trample over the factions in no time. It will need time to utilize its superior resources therefore the need from the beginning to steer it correctly.