SPQR guide : How to survive the first fifteen turns.

[Raglan]

i knew there was a flaw in my plan - we're now going to argue if somethings relevent or not

lol

[czePowerslave]

Well, it is interesting to move straight to Spain instead of taking on more safer locations.

[Ejergard]

The islands may seem impractical to defend, however I've never had an enemy landing troops on them since I've liberated the cities themselves. The Baliares though is a very hard fight for ATLEAST two legions, and its not of much use until its been builtup to support a legion, or for trade when you've actually taken some land in Iberia. I used the Baliares for as a rally point for my Iberian invasion force. Also, by the time I took any towns in Iberia, I had built enough on the island to allow me to retrain hastati, velites and other basic troops there for my expeditionary force.
However, from a strategic point of view, its good to go straight for Iberia, since it will take some focus from the expansion plans of Gaul and Carthage! By the time I landed in Iberia, Carthage was halfway through conqering Egypt, and Gaul had taken most of the rebel lands available in Iberia (which is a fun fight if you get there first!).

Just some thoughts

[SirGejor]

Very nice guide Hesus! Great

[withfriend2]

Looks like its been awhile since this thread has been alive..

Anyway I have a question about your turn 1 move. How the heck did you move flavious from his comfortable position in capua to below quintus. it wasnt possible when i played. you also talk about after getting taros where you suiting up flav and quints armies at capua then going to help the gaulic front (as i recall tho maybe wrong) this is at least a 2-3 turn move and you talk as if it were one. i would give rep but i cannot (1 post 1 day lol)

[Hesus de bodemloze]

Your right about that you can' t get him there in one turn, i just outlined it in a rough way.

[Maximus_96]

this guide saved my life, but theophanes doesnt go to where you said he would, he always go to the western coast to paestum and down toward reghion

[withfriend2]

I noticed that too maximus but if you move flavious as far as possible into carthage territory towards taros in the second turn, theopanes will usually attack him when you press end turn.

[saienga]

The movements of the enemy are directly dependent on your movements. Ergo, if you alter things, they will alter things. This guide still covers the critical points of economic development you might not first consider when playing SPQR for the first time.

I just remember going, "Well, Hesus, your guide assumes I can beat Hannibal, and I'm having serious problems with that."

First timer's blues.

[Raglan]

lol, i still think that hanibal and Theophanes are the most difficult battles in the game - because so much rides on them.

get it right and you have a spare legion almost to make a quick run north to relieve pressure from the gauls, plus you regain taras.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

If you play SPQR the first couple of times you will loose against hannibal because Lt made the battles very challenging he made sure it would be an experience that you won' t forget.

[saienga]

Well, it's a good concept. Any good story is the same way. If you're not hooked by page 10, you don't finish.

[Titus Maximius Thongus]

SPQR is just hard. period.

the Carthaginians have Hannibal and Theopannes at the start, and these 2 cause a world of pain. it is an absolute must to defeat them the first time you fight them, otherwise you're stuffed.

The Gauls don't have any individually challenging battles, but the volume of men they throw at you makes fighting them a real pain. no matter how skillfully you fight a battle against them and maintain fantastic kill ratios, they will wear down your legions guarding the PO river with time, and should your luck be so fantastically bad that you lose a battle to them (happened twice to me, urg), they will spill through the breach created in your lines and flank your other PO legions, unleashing moar moar moar pain.

[The10thLegion]

If you play SPQR the first couple of times you will loose against hannibal because Lt made the battles very challenging he made sure it would be an experience that you won' t forget.

I never lost to Hannibal. I had played the earlier SPQR versions though before admittedly.

[czePowerslave]

I never lost to Hannibal. I had played the earlier SPQR versions though before admittedly.

Yeah me neither, but I gotta say that it was costy win.

[The10thLegion]

First time against him I lost at least 60% of my army.

[Raglan]

come to the front

[czePowerslave]

I have just tried this.
The garrison from Arretium takes 3 turn to move, which makes Gauls able to besiege the city before its there
Flavius cannot make it to the designated spot. Quintus can. I switched them so I ahve th positions and Carthage did not attack me for 2 turns. Eh? Plus Messana left uncontested as well

[Abmong]

Great Guide Hesus! But as you can image, like an idiot I decided to do my own thing... after Hannibal and Theophanes were defeated in turns 2 and 3 without much fuss.

I thought I was an Armchair Caesar in the making. Little did I know that Pavativm acted as a satellite and happily rolled my legion in

As you can guess, now I have both the Gallic and Germanic Hordes descending on my proverbial ass (northern borders) with the vengeance and fury of a humorously wronged wild boar...

I'm needing 7-8 legions just to hold them in check. And to rub salt in the wound, who did I find loitering with intent on the other side of the river? the motherless sons of Carthage!!! allied with the Hordes!!!

I've done pretty well so far. I've retaken the whole of Sicilia and I've not seeded an inch of my empire to the barbarians. But its gotten to the point where putting an end to the Punic Wars is not feasible until I've murdered every last hairy shirtless Gaul and Germanic gits. And that would Probably take me into the A.D. period.

so after much soul searching I'm resolved to restart my world domination...

sorry needed to rant. I was at 199BC oh well.. back to 260BC

I'll remember to next time.

[Ejergard]

Aww, tough luck... Ya, staying out of Patavium is a good idea atleast for the first 40-60 turns while you secure all your other borders and build up more legions.
Tough luck though, it sounds like you had a nice run all in all!
oh, and its back to 215bc, not as bad as 260 :p