Indi Guals as a possible counter in eastern Europe to Scythia

[Roman Warlord]

I sort of had the random idea of possibly giving the indi guals some teritory on the borders of the steepes to counter the inital synthian expansion, this would also help cover some of the huge area of rebel lands in eastern europe that are boring to say the least.

Do you think this would work?

[Scutarii]

It would be interesting... The indie celts were the reason Thrace used to be so weak in previous versions, now that they were removed just west of Thrace, Thrace has been happily expanding lots in that direction rather than sitting waiting to be taken over by the Maks/GCS.

[Roman Warlord]

I was thinking of them in a more northwards than they were. A sort of line to protect the germans from the synthians as they always seem to get overun.

[Scutarii]

Its possible it might delay them, but those weren't really celtic lands, so it might look a little out of place....

[Roman Warlord]

I'll take your word on that as I know nothing on that regions history but could you for instance give them a slightly diffrent roster to reflect that region?

Some weakoned HA ir falaxmen to reprent dacia?

It would at least make playing Thrace, Germania and Synthia more intresting.

[Vercingetorix_Defeated]

I'll take your word on that as I know nothing on that regions history but could you for instance give them a slightly diffrent roster to reflect that region?

Some weakoned HA ir falaxmen to reprent dacia?

It would at least make playing Thrace, Germania and Synthia more intresting.

Scythia isn't playable in the campaign map though. Only provincial.

The thing is, the Scythians will crush the independent Gauls just as easily as they crush the Thracians, Germans, and all the other AI factions.

They're stupidly overpowered. There is absolutely no historical precedent for the ridiculous amount of power they get in XGM's campaign.

The only viable solution is actually balancing Scythia so they stay within a few hundred miles of where they actually were supposed to be, not always rampaging and taking over the world.

The fact that you think the Germans, the most powerful barbarian tribes in the world in 200 BC, need PROTECTION against something other than Rome is just another example of how blatantly overpowered Scythia is.

Something needs to be done about it. Tons of people come in talking about how their campaigns have been ruined by it, and they're apparently just ignored. Instead we focus on things that aren't a problem, like how effective archers are, when you only see one unit of archers every 10 battles in the first place.

[gaius_caesar]

Scythia isn't playable in the campaign map though. Only provincial.

The thing is, the Scythians will crush the independent Gauls just as easily as they crush the Thracians, Germans, and all the other AI factions.

They're stupidly overpowered. There is absolutely no historical precedent for the ridiculous amount of power they get in XGM's campaign.

The only viable solution is actually balancing Scythia so they stay within a few hundred miles of where they actually were supposed to be, not always rampaging and taking over the world.

The fact that you think the Germans, the most powerful barbarian tribes in the world in 200 BC, need PROTECTION against something other than Rome is just another example of how blatantly overpowered Scythia is.

Something needs to be done about it. Tons of people come in talking about how their campaigns have been ruined by it, and they're apparently just ignored. Instead we focus on things that aren't a problem, like how effective archers are, when you only see one unit of archers every 10 battles in the first place.

Here, Here!

[Roman Warlord]

First off you have just come to this thread and just wrote a load of negativity, yes we all know there is a problem so comment on what could be a solution rather than moaning.

I do agree with you Synthians are overpowered atm, but one of the reasons they are overpowered is that have a lot of teritory, they eat up eastern europe early on. This is fairly easy to do as there is no opposotion.

By adding another power to the region they will struggle more to expand so fast meaning they will face a more powerful Germans/Thrace.

Agreed it might not be enough to balance the campaigns but I was thinking it would be more intresting to add a new people to fight as Germans/ Thace than simply nerfing the Scythians.

[CaesarVincens]

Perhaps increasing the steppe rebel settlements' garrisons, I've seen that method used with great success in XGM and other mods.

[Vercingetorix_Defeated]

What do you mean there is NO opposition in Eastern Europe? Germania? Thrace? These are the ONLY two barbarian factions that the Romans had trouble subduing. (more trouble than usual, at least)

Even Julius Caesar seems to have avoided conflict with the Germanic king of his time, but Scythia just rolls right over Germania no problem.

That's stupid.

The solution isn't throwing more factions in there to be torn apart by Scythia. Every other faction is balanced: Scythia is the problem.

You want solutions? Someone else on this forum recommended that I increase the upkeep of Scythian generals to 5000 denarii. Works perfectly. Now they stay in the steppes.

Also, increasing the recruitment time and cost of cavalry units for Scythia should have much the same effect. They were a nomadic and primitive people, and raising a large number of horses and equipment , as well as trained men, would be extremely time consuming and expensive for them. Hell, it was expensive even for the most organized and advanced civilizations of the time.

Simply having territory doesn't make them overpowered: sure they have a lot of square miles, but their towns are tiny things. If anything, their large borders should make it difficult for them to defend themselves against neighbors.

Making Parthia start out at war with them might improve things a lot. But only AFTER making Scythia less effective overall, if you made Scythia start out at war with Parthia in the current situation, it would just result in Parthia's quick demise and Scythia taking over the world even faster.

[Barend]

As far as I know, there were celtic peoples on the nortern parts of the Balkan and in Illyria. I don't know if they would be put there that it will be enough to stop Scythia. The postition of the indie Gauls is to much divided (IMO) to make a real stand there.

Some time ago there was the idea of beefing up the Roman Rebels to an Italo-Illyrian faction. I don't know what was become of this, but this might work. It would keep Tharce in check and bring another faction for Scythia to fight.

[silentsam74]

Some time ago there was the idea of beefing up the Roman Rebels to an Italo-Illyrian faction. I don't know what was become of this, but this might work. It would keep Tharce in check and bring another faction for Scythia to fight.

I think that would be a good idea. Of course, it would take a little work adding some of the Illyrian flavor to the unit roster and maybe a few other tweaks. But, with only two cities and borders with 3 strong factions they are definitely itching for a few more settlements.

[Zarax]

Just remove the experience bonus and the horse archers won't be so deadly in autcalc...

[Vercingetorix_Defeated]

Just remove the experience bonus and the horse archers won't be so deadly in autcalc...

I thought it wasn't easy to remove the experience bonus, that's why mods still have it.

If it can be removed, you're absolutely right. That would help a great deal.

Add to the rebel garrisons and the Scythians will take longer to expand. It would make sense too. I doubt surrounding tribes would be happy and quick to assimilate to a larger "Scythian nation."

A great suggestion, would work historically and balance wise. Scythians were always fighting with various other tribes for control, there weren't just a few weak and isolated rebel cities to fight.

Those two suggestions coupled could solve the problem once and for all. Well, I'd still suggest longer recruiting times for horse archers and higher upkeep to represent the nomadic society, but that would do most of it.

[cherryfunk]

Just remove the experience bonus and the horse archers won't be so deadly in autcalc...

Agreed. Also reduce their numbers a bit.

[CaesarVincens]

Add to the rebel garrisons and the Scythians will take longer to expand. It would make sense too. I doubt surrounding tribes would be happy and quick to assimilate to a larger "Scythian nation."

[Scutarii]

Its easy to remove. I can't remember exactly, but it involves editing a line of two...

Caeser has told me a couple of times already, and I've done it in my version, but I can't remember exactly how...

[Vercingetorix_Defeated]

Could we just give all of the rebel settlements in the Russian steppes to some extra faction, kind of like Roman Rebels or Independent Gauls, but instead just representing all the various tribes in that area that fought Scythia all the time?

Since they wouldn't have as many horse archers and stuff, it would be easier to prevent them from taking over the world. And they'd be constantly at war with Scythia, which should balance power between both of them.

Otherwise Germania and Thrace seem to ignore the lands to the east and north of them, which results in Scythia eventually taking them and coming into areas they shouldn't.

[Scutarii]

Eventually, I would like to see a whole lot of those northern steppe region consolidated into one or two. It frees up regions to be put into regions that actually need them and weakens Scythia. Something tells me a lot of those far north regions would have been worse than useless anyhow...

[Vercingetorix_Defeated]

Eventually, I would like to see a whole lot of those northern steppe region consolidated into one or two. It frees up regions to be put into regions that actually need them and weakens Scythia. Something tells me a lot of those far north regions would have been worse than useless anyhow...

Yeah, I find in my latest campaign (where Scythia doesn't expand all the way to Germania or Thrace because of my modifications), those rebel settlements just eventually get taken by Germania or Thrace instead.

It means that one of the barbarian factions gets historically out of place because they get all the free rebel settlements. If there was a faction there, that wouldn't happen. There were plenty of different steppe tribes, I'm sure we could find a suitable one.