Dacia!

[Penda of Mercia]

Hi new poster here.

I'm currently playing as Dacia right now on h/h. I think they are quite powerful early/mid game. You have to be very aggressive. I took Macedon out first by gathering everything I had and blitzing Bylazora, Thessalonica etc. Grabbing Corinth will help for your public order. As I reduced Macedon I built another force up at my capital and moved on Thrace.

(I started another campaign where I took Thrace out first, but struggled cash wise and Macedon got a bit too strong...plus I forgot about the Germans.)

Anyway in my current campaign I'm on 22 provinces at 245 B.C. I stopped the Brutii from expanding in Greece and have just destroyed them.I'm slowly pushing the Germans back. Scythia I left alone until I had a powerful force in Campus Getae and just pounced over the river a couple of turns ago. think I'll just hold there for now, Scythia's a pain... Also I've nearly conquered Asia Minor from Greece and Pontus, with Egypt pushing in from the south.

Dacia did surprise me tbh. You can train archer warbands straight away and can be backed up by plenty of barb cavalry and Falxmen. I captured Thessalonica in 264 and could train Chosen Swordsmen, as there was a city barracks already built. Four turns later I could start training Chosen Archers, Onagers and Ballista!!

While you are surrounded by enemies, they are all vunerable to a missile heavy Dacian force. Macedon, Greece and Germania just seem to spam phalanx infantry and Thrace, Scythia are lightly armoured. Getting control of Greece is essential financialy and though the Dacians tech up quickly I'm wondering how they will fare late game against any post marian Romans or Egyptians. Plus I've read public order being a problem too.

Progress is slowing as I push into Italy, but I'm up to 27 provinces now.

Anyone else out there playing/played as them??

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

My Lord has not played as Dacia yet, but he does suggest taking the rest of Italy and Sicily (up to the northern Italian mountain range). With Italy and Greece under your belt the rest of the game should be fairly easy.

Oh, and don't forget about maintaining a powerful navy.

[Penda of Mercia]

Thank your Lord for the advice...

Well I have a decent sized fleet in the Black Sea and I am currently building another in all my Greek ports ready to sweep the Romans from the seas. Up to 30 provinces now, just taken Mogontiacum and Patavium...hang on i'm above the mountains now..My empire stretchs from Germany to Mazaka and I have half of Italy, all greece and the Balkans right up to Campus Scythii plus virtually all of Asia Minor. I'm currently engaging the Egyptians in that pass north-west of Tarsus, can see four full stacks around that city..

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

just taken Mogontiacum and Patavium...hang on i'm above the mountains now..

My mistake, I assumed you started your invasion through southern Italy. If you have not attacked southern Italy then now is the time to do so.

Once all of Italy is taken create what my Lord calls "triangle recruitment zones." What he means by this is a group of three cities that forms a triangle, and you recruit troops from all three and assemble the armies in the center of the triangle. It's faster than creating a whole stack from just one city.

Rome, Arretium, and Arrivium (I think those are right) and the three cities on Sicily are triangle recruitment zones. You could probably create some of your own.

[Penda of Mercia]

I did originally invade south Italy taking Tarentum and Croton, but paused there a few years, to finish the Brutii off at Salona and Segestica, and to re-train and build new units. Convey to your Lord that I anticipated his wise council last night/this morning and advanced on Capua..

Now I'm recruiting Falxmen/Chosen Swordsmen at Tarentum, Noble Cavalry at Croton and Chosen Archers/Onagers at Tarentum

How do I post pics of my screen on here?

[Entropy Judge]

Screenshot your game (either with Fraps or another screenshotting application, or using the Print Screen key - though you'll have to ALT+Tab out of Rome and save the picture using Paint or some other application if you use Print Screen), then upload the picture(s) to an image-hosting site, such as Photobucket. Finally, link the picture to the forum in a post - most sites have a specific link you can copy/paste for use in a forum.