Advice on my First campain

[Roman Warlord]

Right I downloaded this amazing mod, thanks all of you who have put so much work into it. I maybe slightly foolishly started as the greeks on Vh/Vh with AI bonuses on. Well I have to say ive never had such a challenge on RTW.

I took the rebel city in the south of greece (Patras) and then Crete. Unfortunatly this is where my luck ran out when Selcucia and Macedon both declared on me in the same turn killing my navy and blockading most of my ports. Also putting Pergamum and Patras under siege.

I managed to hold on in Pergamum just and cature Corinth from Macadon. With that sort of setled a relif force was sent to Pergamum. While I advanced up the through Macadon, Selcucia attacked again which was only defeated with huge losses, before I could retain they attacked again and the city was lost. By this time I was mopping up Macadon (Pella was under siege) and a new force was sent over to retake the city.

Meanwhile a vicious fight was going on for control of the agean sea between the Greeks, Macadon and Selucia. Which the Greeks finally took semi-control of when Macadon lost its ports.

Disater then struck with the romans landing a full stack with silver experiance troops and try to take Patras(this happened about 4 times over 15 turns) While this was happing I nearly lost Pergamum again so another stack was sent over and drove off the attackers and took Ephesus. Also my northen stack took Amphipolis and Byzantium.

Things were looking desperate in Asia Minor again so my battle hardened troops from Byzantium came to the rescue with me breaking out and forcing my way into Asia minor. At the end of each turn Selcucia normaly besige 2 of my cities.

With the Roman attacks finaly finished (reason unkown but they started attacks on the Italy and Sicily which they had been ignoring before) I moved the troops up north to take Sardica, the last teritory of Macadon. With the honour of the second fraction to be wipped out. (roman rebels first).

To bring you up to present Thrace have just decalred on me 2 seiges have been broken though Sardica may be lost at the end of this turn (though I should easily retake it.

Unfortunaly my econmy can't take this with a steady decline over several turns. So here is the situation on the maps and im asking what options do I have?

Do I continue against Secluica or hole up in my cities. If I attack I will shortly come into conflict with egypt and pontus and arminea, if I don't then Selcuia ill continue to hit me with stacks every turn.

Also what should I do about thrace? It's too long a border for me to effectivly defend with 1 army which is all I can afford.





Thanks.

[Scutarii]

My opinion would be too a) keep one stack in Greece to hold the Thracians and possibly counterattack if given the chance b) keep a stack in Asia Minor to keep Pontus/TSE at bay. No counterattacking here as it will overextend you. c)finally, send an invasion force of 2-3 stacks to the south of Italy. Destroy Rome while its trapped in Italy, you don't want them getting big and mounting a real invasion force...

Alternatively, you could keep Rome and Thrace at bay, while expanding East. Take out Pontus and TSE up to Seleucia and down into Egypt.

[Ferrus]

When i play as the greeks I almost always abandon Pergamum and concentrate all my forces in the west on the greek mainland. I prefer peace and trade in the east to decades or centuries of hard slogging constantly between the two fronts.

I say;

A) Raze everything (meaning your own buildings)in the east to the ground (for funds) and bring the army home to conquer italy and thrace leaving pergamum and the eastern territories to its fate. Use diplomats and make peace with the Seleucids and you will see a huge increase in your funds if you also get trade rights. Conquering the thracian territories as far as dacia will give you access to gold mines and also limiting the amount of routes the northern barbarians to enter your territories which can be sealed with forts.

B) Or you can continue this multifront war and use pure tactical skill to limit your losses but you have to be Field Marshal Rommel or something to maintain control in the east and west. Constantly. With battles nearly every turn. With too few troops Plan B is risky and I usually plan how far east is worth going before it becomes too unprofitable as the battlefront in the east gets wider and wider with the flanks of your advance exposed meaning you have to subjugate nearly every faction in the north and south.

On the level of difficulty you are playing on, it seems that attrition will sooner or later destroy your armies in the field (and what with your lack of funds you wont be able to raise more able troops ) so personally I would have them all in the same region rather than miles apart unable to support one another.

[Roman Warlord]

I don't really want to abbandon Asia Minor as Ive worked so hard for it, anyway I continued in my drive and are set to take Antioch (under siege).

I was attempting to starve the Thrace out of thier costal city above Bythanzium (forgot its name), slight bug occured which ended with the siege being dropped, killed off the attacking stacks but I think I will have to assualt but it will be bloody as a full stack is inside.

I was planning on taking out the eastern kingdoms city, Nicomedia (allready at war).

Would it be wise to wipe out pontus quickly in a lighting campiaing to secure asia minor (hence having a 3 city border I could easily defend with one stack) but they seem to be fighting Selucia and doing a fair bit of damage.

Selucia is winning against egypt as well.

[Stoneface]

I think you are doing pretty well considering the difficulty level. I don't think I can give you really good advice as I play my campaigns on M/M mostly but I will add my two oboloi. First do not abandon Asia Minor. It might just pay for the armies you need to defend it but you also need to conquer your fellow Greeks. All bonuses on means the AI builds twice as fast at a tenth of your cost and this includes the mausoleum. So your enemies will also outtech you in a while if you do not move forward. I would also take a look at the army composition. I do not really know what would be the most effective but hoplite seem like an odd choice to me. See what is available in your rooster and don't forget the Thracians. Greeks are also extremely good at city defense so you might be able to hold your enemies off with far less troops.

[Balikedes]

One quick tip, I would try and take Side and Salamis, since you own all the land above it you can create a nice little choke point facing East. Then create a nice little trade empire by taking Salamis, which will also give you a nice fall-back position if things get too hairy on the main land.

[Dom9127]

@ OP Do you mainly make hoplite armies?

[Roman Warlord]

I know I could be more effective using Phalanx troops but they are soooo...... boring to use. I prefer to have a flexiable front line that can move around and easier achive local superirity.

Antioch will fall next turn am camped on the bridge outside and destroying enemy stacks as they attempt to relive, from here Selucia have been sending Asr...... phantalites (sp) which are absolute hell to kill. I lose at least 1/3 to 1/2 of 4 units when they totaly surround one.

Taken the Thrican city above Byzanthium.

Oddly the consturction time for spartan hoplites is down to 18 turns and costs £4800. I suspect this is to do with all the 10% and 20% off traits and retinue he has.

Money worries have eased now that I am in full control of the agean sea and the coastal cities are now not under siege for half the time.

I don't really want to attack Egypt as they are fighting for thier life against the southen selucia and are trade partners.

[xingjianma]

Hi Roman Warlord!
Just started playing XGM myself. I really suggest you put more Phalangites into your armies. They can hold a battle line much better than Hoplites while sustaining fewer causualties.

Personally, I would just be agressive, but that's just my style. Good luck!

[Roman Warlord]

Right guys thought I would give you a little update on how im doing with your advice.

Have managed with one army to march to selucia and taking it hopefully crippling TSE. Unfortunatly they have a few full stacks hanging around and sardis is in trouble, after tricking my army to come out of the city (Antioch) to attempt to take the last remaining provinces on the med. This could get nasty as the army will be trapped inbetween a rock and a hard place (after taking a heavy mauling in the last battle), only option is to move on and hope I can take a city to retrain.

Thrace is dead with progress slow but steady as im encountering supply line problems with the diffrent cultures. I've found assasins much more use in XGM using them to devestate thrace barracks so only a few troops can be rebuilt. I will leave thier last province as a buffer between me and Rome.

Pontus betrayed us just as we both started to get the upper hand against TSE, after a couple of nevrvy seiges my main garrisons broke out with the addition of a new army and in 2 turns have besiged all thier cities (4) and
taken one, others will soon fall.

With TSE falling next target will be Egypt to secure a border, especialy as they will attack me eventualy and they are allready weakend by TSE attacks.


How others are doing?
Rome is going on a massive expansion into the gaul and germania, only recently happended but the pace of the advance and the size of thier armies is stagering. I could possibly sneak attack them but not yet there are still to many large stacks hanging around in northen italy.

Synthia and Armenia have been locked in mortal combat since the start, with the slight advantage going to Synthia, sooner or later I expect them to break the deadlock.

Parthinthia (sp) and Bactrica also are in fiece fighting, recently however Bactrica lost a province and another rebeled, looks like it could be game set and match soon. (possibly a scray thought with east of TSE weakly defended)

Carthage has been kicked out of spain and sicily but is still attempting to get back into spain (also holds onto all the starting islands). Spain should be able to secure the last province in the peninsular but seems unable to take it from Inde guals even after nemerous sieges.

Eastern empires and Saba are both doing nothing atm, just sittting quietly.

Any thoughts/suggestions on who is the biggest threat and where the world might go next?





Weird picture, it seems my hopilites have been completly surrounded by 1 unit of skirmishers. (note I play on RTW so its not the skiltron(sp)). Moments after this was taken the skirmishers decided to run.

[Scutarii]

Rome looks set to explode out of Italy, so watch out for them. They're probably your next biggest threat, although taking Pontus out should be a matter of some urgency, and Egypt is always a viable option, some great cash-making cities down there. Don't head any farther east of Seleucia, post a half stack (or a full one if your not confortable with that) there after clearing out the armies around it. A naval invasion of Southern Italy + Sicily should be your next move in the west, while in the east, eliminate Pontus then head for Egypt. Happy hunting

[Roman Warlord]

After playing one more turn, Pontus is dead

Just a question why shouldn't I go further east than selucia?

[Dom9127]

Just a question why shouldn't I go further east than selucia?

The Purple Horse Archer Stack's of Doom!!!!!!

[Zarax]

Because that's where your faction objectives end and you might want to leave a buffer against Parthia...

[Roman Warlord]

Makes sense, Egypt and middle east are my next targets.

I just don't want to find myself with parthinthia taking over all those weakonded teritories which would be scary.

Thrace is now dead, well one weak province acting as a buffer bewteen me and rome. Having difficulties for the first time with extended supply lines and culture.

Quick question what does night attack actualty do?
E.g. decrease missiles??

[TM Is Back]

Night attack gives a command bonus to your generals if they have the night fighter trait. And when you attack an enemy who has reinforcements under command of a captian, they wont reinforce them so you only face 1 stack then instead of 2.

[Roman Warlord]

Is that it though, does it affect the way any units act?

[TM Is Back]

Nope it does not affect the units.

[sentinel37]

Hi. I just started a GCS campaign at H/M (5.7.9, fatigue off, movement normal, AI bonus off). So far it's been TOUGH! The Selucia starts out with 3 war elephants and stack them together and rush me in Asia Minor. I try to "spook" the elephants with my flaming arrows, but they do not run amok. Is this is a redesign on purpose? I end up losing pergamum.

I was having trouble getting my "City Barracks" going (8 turns!) in Sparta. What should my army stack look like when I get the City Barracks? Should I invest in hoplites (like the spartan perioci) or phalangites? Thanks.

Another side question - I read the readme file and it suggest "Large" for unit settings. I want to play on "Huge" to get a more epic feeling. What are the potential downside of that?

[DimeBagHo]

Forget about flaming arrows - unless the elephants are already close to bolting it won't have any effect. Use javelin units - a couple of units of Thureophoroi or Militia Cavalry will make short work of one elephant unit. Of course you may have more trouble dealing with three at once.

Huge unit sizes will work fine - you may find that more settlements are depopulated (as a result of recruitment) by the AI though.