BI as Goths - I finally had a breakthrough...

[htismaqe]

Anybody that's familiar with this thread - http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=192093 - is aware of my trials and tribulations playing as the Goths and being sandwiched between both Roman Empires and the oncoming hordes of Vandals and Huns.

From the beginning, I knew that if I could take Constantinople and get a foothold, there was a chance the hordes would pass to the north and I'd be safe. My problem was not taking Constantinople, it was keeping it. If I horded on my first turn and then settled in Constantinople, the population there was out of control and it was impossible to keep them happy. Ultimately, they'd rebel and as the Goths, that meant the appearance of the Ostrogoth in my back yard. Since the Ostrogoths can horde, taking back Constantinople once it rebelled was a lesson in futility.

So here's what I did - I took Campus Iazyges on my first turn AFTER hording. I have a full horde at my disposal in order to conquer Constantinople, but I also have a city so when I do take Constantinople, I get the option to exterminate the populace, allowing me to occupy the city AND keep it long term. I put a dummy garrison in Campus Izayges knowing the Vandals would take it (they did after only 5 turns) and setup Constantinople as the center of my new empire.

I took Thessalonica and Athens shortly after and let the Huns and Vandals sweep out all the cities to my north. I now have a solid barrier against invasion from the north as all the cities have full stacks of experienced rebels in them. However, this tactic caused my economy to stagnate somewhat, so I've launched a new offensive in Anatolia against the ERE. When I landed on the north shore, I was met by 3 ERE family members, but due to terrain, I was able to route them all and kill all 3 family members in the process. I took Ancyra and have a permanent base there - Ephesus will fall in the next few turns. The ERE is nearing the end.

[htismaqe]

I was able, with my faction leader at the helm, take almost all of Anatolia, all the way east to Sinope and Caesarea. I didn't want to get into a protracted war much further east because of the terrain and difficulty in defending Tarsus. Also, the ERE and Sassanids were at war with each other, so I put together a couple HA stacks to protect the region just in case and sent my faction leader and main army back to the Balkans.

What a mistake.

The Sassanids began sieging my cities with mixed stacks, mostly light infantry, but with 2 or 3 heavy cavalry units mixed in. Of course, the AI is dumb and they had no siege weaponry. But I was just as dumb as the AI - I disabled battle time limits when I started the game, so I couldn't just wait them out! I attacked and attacked, and in the end I completely destroyed their armies save for the horse heavies. They're so powerful that my armies just routed any time they got near. Even my generals were no match.

I quickly lost Caesarea, despite reducing the Sassanid armies to just their heavy cavalry. Even with just 1 or 2 units left in their stacks, I couldn't muster any forces strong enough to face even 1 unit of their heavies without routing. So I was forced to give up. I had already lost 4 generals (not family members but recruited Warlords, thank God) so I retreated my remaining forces in Sinope and Ancyra back to Ephesus to regroup. The ERE took Ancyra, after I razed every building I could, so it should take them some time to rebuild. In the meantime, they provide a nice buffer between me, the Sassanids, and the time bomb I left in the Sassanids back yard - the Ostrogoths.

I finally figured out how to use a barbarian horde to my advantage. I let Sinope rebel, which led to the appearance of the Ostrogoths. The Sassanids already have sent two stacks to retake the city. When they do, they'll have a full strength horde on their hands. With any luck, the horde will move east and then south, destroying ERE and Sassanid cities in their wake. Even if they move west first, I stand to lose one city - Ephesus.

Meanwhile, my faction leader died in the Balkans, en route to take the city of Sirmium from the Huns. My new faction leader is a 24-year old 6* general named Sarus, and he succeeded in taking Sirmium and repelling 2 full stacks of Huns thereafter. As of this last turn, Sarus has landed on the Anatolian coast just south of Constantinople with 2 other 3* generals, 6 Gothic heavy cavalry units, and the rest Alan Horse Archers, all with upgraded weapons, armor, and experience.

I have to say, this whole experience has really turned things around for me in terms of liking BI. I never got this kind of experience with vanilla (I'm switching to XGM after this game), it's actually fun to lose.

[Entropy Judge]

Pretty sure you can enable/disable the Time Limit in the game options from the Campaign options screen.

[Scutarii]

Yeah, toggle before you start a campaign, and you should check game options too, can't remember if you can change it there.... Good choice to switch away from vanilla BTW, you'll find XGM far more challenging.

[htismaqe]

Yeah, I can't wait to start playing XGM, but I'm OCD and had to finish Vanilla RTW and BI before I could start.

I've wanted to play as Egypt since I first got the game, but not with the fantasy units in vanilla, so XGM is gonna be great for me.

So do you think I can toggle time limits in the middle of my campaign? It seems realistic that they'd have to win in a certain amount of time - in real life an army couldn't siege indefinitely.

[Scutarii]

If its not an option in "game options" in game, than its impossible. Its possible you could modify preferences.txt, but you need to start a new campaign for that to take effect, IIRC.