OMG this campagin is so hard I can't win!

[shadowlink]

First off, congratulations to the makers of EB. I installed the MOD and wow, you guys did an awesome job so thanks.

Second, holy crap, I need some strategy help.

I Started playing the British Faction and to my surprise find you that you basically begin with skirmisher and archer units which I hate, Especially the archer chariots which are so useless in my opinion.

This faction is so hard to start off with. I only have one city that is losing 1300 gold every season and a small crap army that can't defeat anyone. I've lost three times already. I started playing VH/VH and that is just impossible so I downgraded to H/H and won't go lower than that.

Anyone have strategy ideas to get my faction off its knees? I wanted a Mod where you can't steam roll and I found that mod but now I can't even roll lol.

[Juvenal]

Firstly a warning, I last played Casse in v1.0, there have been some changes since then.

I tried blitzing with my starting army, but it wasn't strong enough to capture the nearest town (Ratae).

Then I tried disbanding the army while I built up my economy and tech. But a force of five Caledonian mercenary units laid siege to me around turn 8 (I think) and I lost the campaign.

Finally, I tried keeping two infantry units and disbanded the rest, it was just enough (with the chariots) to deal with the Caledonians. I then carried on until I could afford some slingers and spearmen, and marched over and laid siege to Ratae.

I had to wait for them to come out (chariots don't work well in towns), but after that victory I found the Casse campaign to be a lot easier.

I think the chariots have been strengthened since v1.0, so you might be more confident about fighting with them, in my campaign I would only allow them to melee in truly desperate circumstances.

PS. I wrote up that campaign in my AAR here.

[wudang_clown]

Anyone have strategy ideas to get my faction off its knees?

Disband your navy, as she is not usefull in the beginnig, but income-eating monster.

Merge all units into one army, go north, besiege Ratae. You must do this in two steps: 1. go to your border (do not cross it) and wait for next turn , because 2. you must reach the city in one move, because you always lose morale (along with supplies) during sieges (and even during stopover in not-your's territory): the more turns, the more morale you lose (one time I made a trip from Cassemorg to Vollcalra with my two armies; they were so exhausted and morale was so low, that it was very hard to win a battle with anyone there); so it would be unwise to lose 1 turn, if you can move from your border to your objective in one move. Despite this I always wait until final siege turn, when rebels sally forth, slightly weaker. You must win this one.

Chariots have great effect on enemy's morale, so use them well, they are not good in melee combat, but are great weapon for breaking enemies' ranks, use this as your advantage.


See this also (nothing special but better than nothing):

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=58560

[Mediolanicus]

EB should be played on M battle.

Any higher and the AI stat boni make it just absurd (skirmishers beating elites).

Beginning players should start with the Romani or Carthage.

Casse is disbanding your navy and then either blitzing and building up economy afterwards or dispanding everything, building up your economy and go fighting then.

Casse chariots are absolute battle winners and enemy morale-breakers. Just let them run around and through enemy formations but BEWARE: keep clicking for them to run to somewhere at all times when you engage them! Keeping them standing in melee is deadly.

Good luck

[Ludens]

The Casse have a uniquely difficult starting position, but once you know the trick it's quite easy. You start out at peace with the independents, so you can actually trade and build your wealth up, if you disband your navy and army. Someone told me that the Caledonians attack when you build a road, so not doing that may prevent war. What I did was occasionally station a chariot force outside of the city: for some reason this discouraged the A.I. from attack. Either way, if you chose not to gamble on an early rush, disband most or all of your infantry, construct a teaching grove and possibly a port upgrade, and watch the money roll in. Then, when you've got a sizeable warchest, start recruiting troops. Once you've taken out the wandering eleutheroi stacks (there is two of them, but they generally move around and then hide in the forests), you can take the rest of Britain and Ireland at leisure. This will provide you with the income to upgrade all your towns and start recruiting a major army. Then you take on Gaul. A few tips for one you reach that stage:

1) After the first reform, the Irish provinces will provide you with an armoured infantry unit and light cavalry. There is also a Caledonian "heavy" cavalry unit, but IIRC that one is tied to the second reform.
2)Take Belgium: after the first reforms you can recruit the best Celtic heavy cavalry unit over there, as well as some other useful units.
3) Guard your German frontier: the Sweboz will attack, but taking Germany is not worth it. There is little you can recruit and the income is poor.
4) You want to move into Gaul sooner rather than later to prevent the Romans from getting too big. However, it may be worth waiting for the first Celtic reform to trigger (which you should happen automatically if you build up your cities), as this will give you access to armoured champion units, as well as the useful Goidelic and Belgae units.

Edit: I last played the Casse on EB 0.8, so this advice may be a bit outdated.

[shadowlink]

Damn I lost again twice. I tried doing the advices but no good. The chariots just absolutely suck and there spears don't kill. When I tell them move they move retardly. After 4 turns, the etoutii(or whatever they are called) attack me and defeat me. I guess I'll have to try another strategy 1 more time before I'm done with this faction.

And I need to hijack this thread. I installed v1.2(dont know if I did everything correctly) and when I start up the game it still says ver 1.1 on the bottom left, anyone have any insight?

[Entropy Judge]

Hey, so I'm the only other one who's played Casse in 1.2? Anyway ...

• Drop your Diplomat off on the continent and get Trade Rights and/or Map info with people, then disband your ships - you won't need them for a few decades, and you can really use the cash.
• I didn't build a road until after I was ready to attack, in about 260 BC - so yes, I disbanded all my units save my generals and one unit of swordsmen, then built up the city.
• When I finally attacked, I used Slingers, Teceitos, and Milnaht, along with three Generals and two Lugoae, leaving one general and a swordsman unit in my capital.
• Go north to Ratae, and siege-starve it - IIRC, they have better units than you do, so you want them to be as weak as possible. I think I sieged it twice, because the first time would have had me fighting in the snow ....
• Tactically: I kept my primary General behind the lines, with my secondary generals on a flank. Used the Lugoae to soak charges, particularly from enemy generals, and countercharge with the other infantry. When the enemy general gets there, kill him *quickly*, then start multi-charging with your chariots - they aren't particularly deadly in my experience, but they rout units very quickly. You should be able to end the battle soon after the general is out of the picture.
• After taking Ratae, leave a general and a few full-strength units there and start training either Lugoae or skirmishers, then retrain any injured units, and either repeat with Caern-Brigantae, or deal with the rebels that are floating around. After taking C-B, go for Ictis.

By this point, you shouldn't have any major money issues, though it probably will fluctuate erratically, and you shouldn't have any strong Eleutheroi left on the islands. Remember: You don't start off at war with the Eleutheroi, so you should have plenty of time to build up - don't rush things.

If your game is still showing you as having 1.1, you didn't install it correctly. As I'm not sure what you did (or even the correct way to install it, only that I did it because I have 1.2), though, I can't really help you.

[wudang_clown]

Damn I lost again twice. I tried doing the advices but no good. The chariots just absolutely suck and there spears don't kill. When I tell them move they move retardly. After 4 turns, the etoutii(or whatever they are called) attack me and defeat me. I guess I'll have to try another strategy 1 more time before I'm done with this faction.

And I need to hijack this thread. I installed v1.2(dont know if I did everything correctly) and when I start up the game it still says ver 1.1 on the bottom left, anyone have any insight?

Yes, above-mentioned ways are effective, they will give you victory, that's certain. But these are women's ways, good for girls, and you play as Casse, remember, so try to behave like a warrior!

Now, I was curious, if I manage to take Ratae on VH/VH. And I took it. I played with EB 1.2 Submod Pack 3.1 (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...php?t=208735); I think that it does not change AI, but I'm not sure.

Warrior's way:

I turn:

1. Take your diplomat to the continent. He will make some trade agreements. But remember, that you have only one trade fleet for now, so you will benefit from any new trade rights after taking new settlements and/or upgrading your ports. Take your navy to the port and disband her.
2. I had three generals in the beginnig, so I took two of them (including the best one) to the north border (south of Ratae, near the beach, try to set the army so you can attack Ratae from the east/south east), and one stayed in Camulosadae. Move the rest of the army to Camulosadae for you need to upgrade them. Additionally, recruit one spearmen unit (I recruited Lugoe).
3. Adjust your tax to "very high". Nonetheless you will loose some few hundreds mnai per turn, but don't worry, that's not your concern for now, you must take Ratae against all odds!

II turn:

1. I had already trade rights with Aedui and Averni (export/import with one city -as I had one trade fleet- Cenabum), so I went to Hispania (Lusotannan and Carthaginians), and planned to go to Peninsula Italica (Romani) in next step. You will benefit from agreements later, but make them now.
2. Move your upgraded and new units to the border, to your generals.

III turn:

1. Attack Ratae, but do not build any siege equipment, because you won't need it.
2. Remember about diplomat.
3. End turn.

At this point the enemy sallied forth. The battle begun. Situation wasn't favorable, because:

1. Their army consisted of units of better quality: 1x chariots; 2x Cwymyr (command unit, high morale, morale boost for allied troops); 1x Uirodusios (same features as Cwymyr + frightening appearance); 1x Taceitos; 2x Cemmeinarn; 1x Imannae.
2. My army consisted of: 2x generals chariots; 2x Goeroas; 2x Botroas; 1x Lugoe, but upgraded. I was quite sure, that I'll loose. But it didn't happen. I won.

How? As the battle begun, I rushed with my units to enemy's gate. Because of their weapon superiority, I planned to fight them one by one, as they tried to move to open field. I attacked with three infantry units (two in reserve) and placed chariots close behind my reserves, so they could use their javelins and "frightens infantry" feature.
The fight was fierce and bloody, I used my reserves, but I managed to rout them. Luckily, enemy general didn't take part in the fight yet. I entered the town, but the battle was not over, as there were some survivors and general's unit. Now it was easy to beat them. I lost some 80% of my army, but in the spring of 271 BC I took Ratae and made income in plus next turn.

That's all. It wasn't so hard. Luckily I wasn't bothered by rebel army, which skulked nearby, so I was afraid, that it will attack me. Randomly (I think), it didn't.

You can try it.

There is other way: use your most skillful general and autoresolve siege battles. I don't remember if it works on VH/VH, on M/M it works for sure.

About 1.2 Patch: I think you chose wrong path for your EB 1.2 It should be main RTW folder, installer will know, where to place the files.

Regards.

P.S. Just kidding with "women's way", it was only rethorics

[Drewski]

Ok, I just completed the Casse aims in something silly like 230BC (Hard/Medium), so here's what I did.

Put all but the weakest combat general in Colchester, group the rest, turn taxes to max, build a road, put two slingers and one cheap basic swordsman in the build queue (you can just afford this). Send your diplo to France, disband your boat. Send your spy to Ratae. End turn.

Wait 3 turns, and add your 3 new troops to your army. Go and besiege Rate. Now you may be attacked in the same turn, by the wandering Ratae defending Army. This is only 5 units of Skirmishers, but can be a pain, if allowed to combine with the Ratae defenders.

The trick if this happens), is to keep charging the skirmishers with both generals (to keep them off your main army). You really can't afford to lose many troops either. So keep any skirmishers running, let your slingers make mincemeat of other troops as they approach you. (This battle may need a finger hovering over the pause key, as you'll need to control every single troop all the time- try and concentrate everyone on one enemy unit at one time, routing and then chasing down routers is the key here...No-one gets away )... You will hopefully get a heroic victory, AND the town of Ratae.

Send your best general and everyone else immediately down to Cornwall (spy first), beseige that town, build one ram.. Smash the gate, while your slingers take out anyone around it. When out of stones, quickly get everyone else inside. Use the general to lead ai troops on a merry march, while your guys get in position, then use the general to charge form behind and chase routers.

You now have 3 cities and depending how good/lucky you were, you may be able to take Wales with them. I didn't quite, and had to wait a few turns till I was back in the black financially. Wales is damn tough, but add a 3rd slinger and it should be quite takeable..

Siegeing is NOT the order of the day here, its far too slow. One ram, slingers chase gate troops away, rest move in when stones gone, works every time. No damage to walls etc. to pay for.

The rest was easy. I just stayed with the same general all through, and same Army until it was a full stack (after taking British Isles), then into Belgium, and try and NOT fight Gauls for as long as possible..

In fact I bumped into the Romans in Tolosa (in 250BC!!), so my main fights were against Roman Army. The faction leader/General was 10 Star, 10 INF, 10 MAN, by the time I got to Massallia Most of the Army was at least high Silver, if not Gold....Gold Slingers make mincemeat of Roman Elite, as do Gold Gallic Swordsmen to be honest....

Anyways, a campaign I was quite proud of.....

Now if you want quite an insanly hard start, try Getai, which Im doing at present...At least with Casse, once you take UK, you'll be rolling in Cash. Oh and I didn't exterminate or rebase pop in ANY town either

Good Luck!

[shadowlink]

I finally got Casse of its knees and rolling. The slingers are ridiculously awesome and devastate armies.

[Drewski]

I finally got Casse of its knees and rolling. The slingers are ridiculously awesome and devastate armies.

Agreed, and just wait till they get a few stripes !

[wudang_clown]

Ok, I just completed the Casse aims in something silly like 230BC (Hard/Medium)

Now you should try playing with City Mod or, better, with Alex EB, on VH/M.

It's new challenge, as you must take care and plan population growth. And in Alex EB there are high-quality rebel armies, so taking Ratae in one turn, or even four turns, is merely a dream.

[Nikephorus16]

Could somebody give me tips on how to play as Arverni or Aeudi because they seem really interesting, but I am just used to being able to build up an economy without being completly destroyed in the first few turns.

[Lemming69]

You could always use the console if your in deep trouble but its much more satisfying building up your own economy. If your in need of petty cash you could always ask for trade rights in exchange for mnai or whatever the currency is, that way you get a small boost and a long term economic boost from trade.