defeating greece

[franks_tank]

A few weeks ago I started a topic beause I didn't know how to defeat those greek hoplite armies...it's not a problem anymore, thanks to you guys...but right now it doesn't seem to matter anymore how many armies I crush, they just keep coming...I cannot count them anymore...in the last 20-30 turns I killed ~6000 of them nearly every turn but they just don't stop...I have really no idea what to do...I didnt want to use Blitzkrieg-tactics but right now it seems to be the only option...it's really frustrating...hope you guys can give me some advice

[YouDied]

make more legions and take there cities while other legions fight the stacks off.

[24Gamer]

Personally i defeated them as fast as i was able to, because i just doesn't wanted to have the same problems, even with the SF Addon the greeks getting that annoying ( by finishing the seleucids in the east )
I think arround 193 they were gone ( at that time they started to tack over the seleucids what i actually couldn`t accept =) )

[Hesus de bodemloze]

are the greeks invading italie with ships ore did you invate them? becous if you want to stop the ship invasion of there armies, to stop them from landing on italie create a belt in the heel of italie towards greece( use fleets with like 5 to 7 of the heavyest type of ships you got). so lock down there landing docks.

[franks_tank]

are the greeks invading italie with ships ore did you invate them? becous if you want to stop the ship invasion of there armies, to stop them from landing on italie create a belt in the heel of italie towards greece( use fleets with like 5 to 7 of the heavyest type of ships you got). so lock down there landing docks.

They tried but never got far...they never set foot on italy in years...my fleet is quite strong (money is no problem at the moment)

First I invaded in the peloponnes-area and took Sparta, Corinth and Athens with 3 legions...I could hold the area quite a while but in the end I couldn't hold them back anymore...back then their numbers were also countless...before I lost Sparta I assembled 4 more legions north of Castra thinking "OK...they just have to be weakend by that" but nothing happened...it just went on and on and on...I lost Pescium and still got my hands on Salona and Castra but I don't see a chance to advance further...I already spotted 10 or more full-stack armies coming...as already mentioned I cannot count them anymore...they must have infinite money and men to keep these massive attacks up...I mean how many legions am I supposed to send to beat them?

[jackwei]

Deal with Sparta first since that is the strongest city and has Spartan Hoplites and when your done with them then continue on to Corinth, Athens and so on.

Normally after i've defeated Carthage i fight the Greek City States faction.

[hiho TW]

i was writing somthing reely cool and long and now i cba writing it again...

1. destroy there temples and barracks,
2. recruit townwatch after building a roman barracks and if possible a commander
3.move on dont stop keep it one, 2 turns max before you move because other wise you'l get deccimated

4. dont invade untill can retrain legions in italy and have retraind 2-3 of them, 2 min as that is the ammount i used untill i got reinforcments of 1 legion...

also dont invade untill you bringing in 8k + per year oh and also be sure to have a south eastern and south western navy or else greeks will attack from cisily or w.e... you should take the end one to stop them advancing into africa.. if you feel its
necacery and theyve alredy become a superfaction... do this!!


and the south western navy is to defend from macedon because if you play like me (laid back untill the ai trys to decimate you) they will attack with 1-2 full stacks... much better to sink them no?

[Echo26]

The sinking of enemy fleets with troops on them is against house rules. Just FYI.

[franks_tank]

The sinking of enemy fleets with troops on them is against house rules. Just FYI.

I know...That only happened once and there were only 3 decimated hoplite units on it...they retreated from a battle and hopped right on the ship and I don't think that's what you call an invasion army...I check if there is an army on it but it's never been the case so far...they just keep sending empty fleets consisting of 2-3 ships and I guess they try to blockade my ports...so it's just annoying to fight about 12 mini-fleets per turn with no obvious purpose...if you beat them and they flee they are never moved again...they just send in the next wave

@hiho:

1. of course I do
2. Most of the time the city is under siege before you can even move out or train anything...and a few townwatches against 2 full greek armies will not be very funny
3. move where?...I counted them...12 armies, mostly full-stack, are swarming the area around Castra and Salona...I cannot move any legion further away...I would need far more units for that
4. I took them from the german borders...they are quite weak

Money is no issue right now...I could even train 10 more legions without a problem but I'd rather wait till Marius kicks in...it's only a few turns away and I hope those will help but it will still be painful to beat those armies one by one anyway...well I guess more troops is really the only key at the moment

Thanks for your replies

[Nano_Magnus]

Ok,

i will try to explain (with my limited english) wat i'm doing in the same situation:

1.- you need to be able to deal with 2 full stacks with 1 legion and if they have more than 2 stacks, u need to use 2 legion in batle, all this with low casualties.

With out this ability, u r not ready to takeout Grece, but if u can, try to do this:
a) Try to be always the atacker, and select targets like striking first weak armys, or in a good terrain for you.

b) u need 2 ofensive legions but always try to force 1 legion v 2 greek armys if you can.

c) need 2 more legions with replacements for the 2 ofensive legions and for backup on really ugly situations.

d) need 1 or 2 extra legion's (usually 1) on rear, the rear legion it´s really important, cause it's used to cover the flanks when the enemy try to take ur flanks. For example if u see enemy armys moving to ur left side, put your rear legion betwen the ofensive left legion and his backup forming a litle triangle cause they alway try to put you in a 3 vs 1 situatition and you can prevent that with the rear legion.

e) need also 1 or 2 raiders squads with only mounted units with (4-6max) equites and (4-6max) auxilia riders with javelins with a good general, remember only mounted units cause they have more movement points. U need them only to annhilate defeated armys, we don't need greek survivors after batles

f) Finally u need a really strong economy jeje thats the most important thing

if u do that, u will crush about 5 to 8 greek armys per turn, and u will not be forced to re raise legion after legion, u only need to retrain units as fast as u can, but that´s not a problem and no more legions are needed to mantain a strong ofensive taking down greeks...


like u see, my conquering force is formed by 5 to 6 legions and 1 to 2 raiding squads.
I usually have an extra force with 1 full townwatch force with an experienced gobernor, but if u don't want it, simple exterminate the city to avoid revolts.


sorry again if some things are not clear enough, but i really need more practice with my english writhing....

Bye

[Atticus]

i had the same problem with macedon my previous campaigns (6.2 version), but i found a quite good solution to deal with those situations.

what i did:

1. i took sparta and corinth, build walls and put in each town a legion with extra archers instead of cavalry. those two cities will act as bait.
2. macedon/greek will send stacks to reconqueror those cities, will besiege you turn after turn and will keep on sending stacks.
3. meanwhile you assemble an invasion force and send 2-3 legions/auxiliary to the bosporus while 2-3 legions/auxiliary will invade greece that's 'bordering' italy.
4. try to take the most northern greek towns and work your way down from the west and the south. that way no army gets away without you knowing it, recruiting grounds dissapear and the remaining stacks get squashed between your northern and southern legions.

it might sound a bit cumbersome, but i succesfully used it 2 times.
it helps ofcourse if you're not at war with the faction north of greece (dacia), which was neutral at the time of my conquering.

[franks_tank]

i had the same problem with macedon my previous campaigns (6.2 version), but i found a quite good solution to deal with those situations.

what i did:

1. i took sparta and corinth, build walls and put in each town a legion with extra archers instead of cavalry. those two cities will act as bait.
2. macedon/greek will send stacks to reconqueror those cities, will besiege you turn after turn and will keep on sending stacks.
3. meanwhile you assemble an invasion force and send 2-3 legions/auxiliary to the bosporus while 2-3 legions/auxiliary will invade greece that's 'bordering' italy.
4. try to take the most northern greek towns and work your way down from the west and the south. that way no army gets away without you knowing it, recruiting grounds dissapear and the remaining stacks get squashed between your northern and southern legions.

it might sound a bit cumbersome, but i succesfully used it 2 times.
it helps ofcourse if you're not at war with the faction north of greece (dacia), which was neutral at the time of my conquering.

That's pretty much what I had in mind as soon as I am able to recruit PM-legions...as mentioned above it's nearly done and I already sent family members to most of the cities where those legions can be built...right now it would be wasted money if I summond more pre-marius legions...guess I will be able to hold Castra and Salona with the legions already deployed...in about ten turns the massive invasion will start in lower greece (I hope)

@nano: Economy is not the problem...like hiho I have a very laid back approach and took my time to build my economy up as high as possible...at the moment I have too much cash...nearly everything possible is already built in most of the cities...and taking out 2 greek armies at once has become more or less normal already...it's not that hard...only when I'm facing 2 highly skilled armies with elite-only units I might get in trouble but luckily those armies seem to vanish more and more...it just gets boring when all you do is fighting a greek phalanx and nearly nothing else...I was like "WOOHOO GO GERMANIA" when 2 full-stack german armies showed up trying to take a city back...didn't work out for them but I was so glad to see something else

Thanks again for your advice

EDIT: Something else: I read somewhere that the loyalty of your generals can be "trained" when you use them as governors for a time...is that true?...or is there another way to raise loyalty?

[lt1956]

Franks_Tank are you playing on Medium/Medium? That is VERY important otherwise the AI will produce too many units. They DONT have endless money and the more you take from them the weaker they get. If you are playing 6.4 then its a good chance they are a SUPERPOWER which means they have lots more provinces in the east! This would allow more money for them to produce Armies. The AI doesnt produce WHOLE armies at once like the player can, so those Armies TOOK time to build if that gives you an idea. lol

[hiho TW]

@echo26 who said he, or i were playing with house rules? i try to play a fair as a gAmE as possible, but sometimes its just to temting, boy i even gave the gauls 20k! and theyve only sent 1 stack at me!! pfft...

LT posted 3 hours and 10 minutes before me! now im a great to! pl0x?

[hammy the hamster]

Where are most of the Greek settlements? If they bring lots from Asia Minor try blocking off crossing points with decent fleets, also try putting a strong legion with some onagers in a fleet to do some single turn sieges and destroy all buildings to prevent them recruiting, for example, spartans and armoured hoplites. Most of their gold is probably from mining so if you target those settlements you can cripple their income with (hopefully) few losses. Try getting some other factions to declare war on them if posible. Otherwise i think you just have to slug it out until they are all dead, they will run out of population eventualy even if not gold.

[Roman Clone]

This may be against the House Rules but I recommend Blitzkrieg-ing them. They will only get stronger for every day you do not hunt them down.

[franks_tank]

This may be against the House Rules but I recommend Blitzkrieg-ing them. They will only get stronger for every day you do not hunt them down.

Right now I'm far away from sieging any city...I have to get rid of those armies in the former macedon territory...right now 14 are visible...it's pretty much useless to capture a settlement when it's under siege a turn later by 2-3 armies and the legion is stuck...I like to take them out in the open field and will try to send weaker armies to take the cities afterwards when they are weakend significantly...Pontus and Carthage declared war and Germania is still on them...I hope they will help

At the moment I'm pretty pissed...I managed to overwrite a newer savegame with an old one...already had the post-marius legions in greece and now I'm back to waiting for the palace to be built...doesn't get any dumber than that...really motivating...

But thanks again for all the replies

[Zephyrus]

My poor ancestors!

[franks_tank]

My poor ancestors!

Worthy enemies, indeed

I didn't even want to fight them but as clone said...if I don't do it now it will get harder and harder every turn...and I am so tired of fighting greek armies over and over by now

Well, the attack is finally rolling...Gaul is gone, Germany lost 3 provinces already and somehow they lost interest in Iuvavum and Vindelicum after that ...Salona and Castra are also quite safe and the quality of the greek armies seems to diminish...hope reclaiming the Peloponnes in a few turns will break their back

Thanks again for all your advice

[Echo26]

I say exterminate them all...