How Is Your Current Campaign Going?

[Walternat0r]

Vindigo: I can totally sympathise with you on the whole "getting battered on all sides" thing. I started a Macedon campaign on H/H and for the first 30-40 turns it was really quite difficult. Your starting units are, for want of a better word, crap. I basically relied on (and still do, to some extent) heavy usage of Light Lancers against all comers. Dacia and Thrace were gagging for Bylazora and there wasn't a single turn (literally) that it wasn't besieged by either of those factions. Even with my own 3/4 stack in there, they'd besiege it with 3 or 4 units, and when I sallied they'd just run away (???). In the end I sent a stack up to Campus Getae with a few spies, took it in a single turn and sold it to Scythia, then hurried south to remove Thrace from the game. From the off I had Greece, Dacia, Thrace, Brutii and Julii attacking me and I think that if the greek cities weren't so damn rich i'd most likely be out now. But being able to buy as many soldiers as you need is quite a bonus


I've currently got Dacia on the back foot, and managed to ceasfire with Greece (after kicking them outta greece ), but Egypt suddenly decided to declare war on me and sent a crud load of fleets at me, and i've only just beaten them off. Turns out I have Cyrene?! I dunno how that even happened because I didn't read a notification. But I do! And the first I found out about it was that it was besieged by a full Egyptian stack that I barely fought off. Their army was chariots, nile spears and desert axemen. I had 4 militia hoplites, 3 numidian mercenaries and 3 peasents. I won quite easily surprisingly, but crikey it gave me a shock



In Italy, I took Croton and Tarentum in a single turn (<3 spies), which left Brutii with only Apollonia which I took easily, but now I have Julii sending full stack after full stack at the settlement, which is a cruddy 800 population town, so to retrain the units that die in sallies I have to send them across the sea, which is littered with Julii and Egyptian fleets. I got the 2 Sicilian cities off Scipii (again, <3 spies) and left them with a 9 unit garrison to hopefully deter Carthage from attacking, but they wont ally with me for some reason, so i'm worried they'll "do an Egypt" and just attack me outta nowhere while i'm struggling to bring the Romans to heel. Anywho, this is Greece and Italy so far:



I'm planning on rolling my way up Italy, and finish off the Julii in southern France, giving the provinces to Gaul who are my only ally. At the same time i'm going to rip the heart out of Dacia because they're doing my nut in at the moment. Not sure if I should give their lands to Scythia, Germania, or try and keep them. I think making Scythia strong may be a mistake, because fighting HA's with phalanx strikes me as kind of dumb to be honest, and I doubt they'll honour any sort of agreement, no matter how much tribute I ship their way. I'm also kind of tempted to just sell Cyrene to Egypt for peace and/or an alliance, just so leave me alone and I can get trade monies from them. I think trading with them and Carthage is so lucrative it should be done, but knowing the AI it wont last long at all! Ideas?

Edit: And my images aren't working, wat?

[Vindigo]

@Vindigo - What difficulty were you on?

Medium difficulty

[HanatielHawk]

Brutii campaign here is going far above well now!
Declared Pontus because they prevented my from taking Hatra, so i sent 3 armies same flag size as their armies in their cities Pontus, Nicomedia and Mazaka en besieged them in 1 turn. In that same turn i fortified next to Hatra the only city of Armenia, that was under siege by pontus. Egypt is shrinking fast now, but i have to be carefull because my armies are stongly weakend and in Antioch is a verry annoying plague now...
Sidon is 3/4 flag and damascus is almost empty.. While the Egyptians have 2 full-flag armies near Palmyra.

Next turn, took over Nicomedia, Pontus and Mazaka and laid siege on Hatra. Also slain a siege caused by Egypt. Attacking is now just wasting their troops, but an advantage for me. Economy is growing slowly.. Armies too only in Western-Turkey armies are producted, and really now i have to build more mercury-temples and trade-things, because since the bribing of Tharsus my economy has shrinked dramaticly... But that will be allright if i've taken over the whole eastern-mediteranean and elliminated egypt at once!
Little troopproduction in Greece and South-Italy which will combine together and the army in Western-Turkey will mobilize to the lands of Egypt who're left, and that will be the end (for Egypt).
No i haven't taken over Rome yet, too much damage of Egypt.. But that will be over soon.

[Solid Snake]

I´m getting nearer to fulfilling the campaign objectives I have 47 regions, Asia Minor is well under control, with Thrace and me kicking Pontus around, I destroyed the Egyptian fleet in two huge battles, and now the sea is mine, one army is being moved to take Salamis, whilst another will disembark on Turkey to deal the final blow to Pontus.
If I come through it will be my first campaign won!

ONE LAST EXPAND OR ELSE WE DIE.

[Rogue]

Bah, my Pontus campaign is over, I terminated it after being overrun by the Egyptians while half my armies were off crushing Armenia. Lessons learned:

1. Pontus is absolutely surrounded by potentially dangerous neighbors and expansion is hazardous. E.g. I took Pergamon and felt the need to spend most of its income on a permanent garrison to defend it from the many potential enemies that could come from the Mediterranean (Egypt, Greece, Carthage...) Both the Greeks and the Armenians conspicuously massed armies to take 'vulnerable' settlements of mine, but I pre-empted them. But Pontus seems to be a favored target of its neighbors, it seems like an advanced difficulty nation.

2. Seleucids are a punching bag for Egypt and Armenia, even without Greece and Pontus trying to grab the nearest spoils while the Empire collapses. Next time support them at the expense of the Armenians and fend off the Egyptians at any cost.

Or should I have accepted to become Egypt's client kingdom? Overall, I think I did well tactically, but something went wrong on the strategic level and I don't know how to use RTW's diplomacy system, it really feels like total war with nothing to stop any number of powers from duking it out at any given time. No reputation, no Pope, just war.

The AI will break a protectorate agreement with little hesitation, reason, or forethought.

[Seleucid king]

My Julii Campaign is almost over....
I have 45 Provinces, several full stacks, and over 200,000 Denarii....I'm already wondering if I should just quit after 50 Provinces, or keep playing.

[Solid Snake]

I think that when I capture a city I will call it over, and start a new one, I have been flirting with the tought of playing Germans.

[Solid Snake]

Finally, I finished my campaign!!! yay, our last target was Lovosice which held a full stack of Dacians led by the factions heir. But were no match to mighty Roman legions!!

[Genius of the Restoration]

Which Roman faction is the hardest to play with? I don't know the Romans that well because I haven't played a campaign with them since my first campaign ever as the Brutii. It would be easier to play than a non-Roman faction but I might try to follow the historical warpath, which means expanding where the other Roman factions usually go and having multiple fronts as it would have been. Looking at starting positions I'd say the Scipii would be the most difficult

[O'Ciarain]

They are fairly difficult, because you start out having to go to war against the Greek Cities and Carthage, as those are your first two senate missions (Take Syracuse, then Lilybaeum). Then, you can really only expand to the southern coast of the Med. I did a short campaign with the Scipii, just to unlock a few other factions, and ended up at war with Egypt, Brittania, and Germania. The Germanic war was only me blockading the port of Narbo Martius multiple times for senate missions, since they had expanded massively in the north and controlled all of the Northern provinces from Eastern France/Denmark area to Scythia. Dacia had taken all of Eastern Europe, Egypt had controlled the Middle East area and were headed for Siwa, which was under my control after bribing it off of the Numidians, Pontus had complete control of Anatolia, the Greek Cities had most of the Balkans, the Numidians had their starting area minus one settlement, the name of which escapes me, which had been taken by Spain, who had both sides of Spain, but not the middle, Brittania had all of the British Isles, Western France and down into Spain. Their war with me was a betrayal on their part, and they sent a full stack down to Corduba, which I had taken from Carthage therefore eliminating them completely. I beat their full stack with a half-stack, and they repeated this same action about six turns later, after I had rebuilt my stack to 3/4. I bested them again, and that was the end of the Britannian war, without actually settling anything on paper, as they wouldn't submit to a Cease Fire. To finish everything off, I took Depte or whatever that settlement in the bottom left corner is, and, using nothing but merc's and a horrible general, took Dimmidi. Now, the Numidians had a full stack in Cynta, or whatever that settlement is to the west of Carthage, led by their faction leader, and a half stack of mainly skirmishers, led by the faction heir, nearby. I landed a full stack and brought in 1/4 stack from Carthage that couldn't make it on the boats, and the general went to the 1/4 stack and picked up some merc's, and then was attacked by the faction heir who had the skirmishers. Why? I don't know. I don't really care, because I whooped him up real good. Then, I just went for broke, besieged their last settlement and voila! I won. That won't get me 15 regions, but I took Kydonia and Celica or whatever the settlement directly south of Kydonia is named. Those were the only rebel settlements, apart from the one in the bottom left corner that I took. But I've moved on now, and have started a Greek Cities campaign, have taken Corinth and Athens, was going to give Thermon to the Brutii, to give me time to build up my economy and then go to war, but they have yet to move against it, despite having declared war on me before the other Roman factions. I have also defended Syracuse from the Scipii and sent them running with their tail between their legs. Diplomatically, things aren't going well. I've secured Trade Rights and Map Info from Carthage, Pontus, and the Seleucids, but none of the three would accept an Alliance. I don't know why, but whatever. As for Macedonia, I've completely demolished their navy, and I think they have two or three settlements left, including Thessalonica and Larissa, but my eyes are set on Larissa first. Anyway, my economy is doing great and I'm getting +3 or 4k about every turn, so I'm happy with that. My Spartan hoplites are down to 19 though and I'm sad. I'll send them back to Sparta and leave them there. Maybe there's something that will let me retrain them? I don't recall. Sooo, back to the campaign!

[Vindigo]

I think the Brutii have it hardest if they do what they're meant to do and fight Greece. Which is ok, unless you end up being attacked by Macedonia like I did... at least they don't have any other immediate concerns or neighbors though. AI Scipii seem to have trouble taking Syracuse early on, but I remember doing it fairly easily myself.

[Genius of the Restoration]

@O'Ciarain
Thanks for replying! i'm pretty sure you can only retrain the Spartans at Sparta or Syracuse once you have your highest level barracks (req. 12,000 pop.). Every other city only gets Armoured Hoplites with some experience. Gotta love the income from controlling Greece though, Athens especially always seems to get into the 4000+ regions. Have you played any of the other Roman factions to see how they compare to the Scipii?

@Vindigo
Yeah I remember hating hoplites when I played as the Brutii originally. I suppose they could encounter more enemies straight away with Greece and Macedon there as opposed to just Carthage for the Scipii and Gaul for the Julii. Maybe they would be hardest because their enemies are stronger. The Greek Hoplite unit is pretty tough early on and would be harder to beat than the rubbish units Carthage and Gaul muster at the beginning.

[O'Ciarain]

I've played as both, but only a reallllllllly long time ago. The main one I remember though, is the Julii. Eventually, you meet up against the Gauls, Germans and if you go West, you'll encounter the Spanish, and if you somehow happen to get into war with all three of these, you could be in for some trouble. Lately, in my other campaigns, I've noticed the Julii and Brittania ally themselves early on and usually spend most of my campaigns allied. It's pretty weird... And I haven't played the Brutii in forever, but I will agree that the Greek Hoplites and Macedonian Levy Pikemen/Macedonian Cavalry provide a very tough opponent early on, but once you've developed a strategy to beat them, it should be smoother sailing. Hint: Use LOTS of Archers/Velites against the hoplites...

[Encino_Man]

I'm currently playing Brittania with campaign on normal and battles on medium or hard (I can't remember).
I've been able to easily conquer the "British Isles" along with Samarobriva and Darioritum while Gaul was busy fighting Germania. Samarobriva has given my economy a huge boost since its capture and as such, has allowed me to keep up several large armies. Since the capture of those two cities, the various "armies" of Gaul have scattered into Germania while their largest army sits in their capitol. Just as I was finishing replenishing my forces in northern Gaul, almost a dozen Germanic "armies" swarmed across my borders around Samarobriva including a 5/6 star general! I have my best army sitting in Samarobriva and have been debating to either split off a small force large enough to destroy and kill Germania's great general and then use it to pick off the rest of their "armies," or bring in my home defense force from the main isle and use it to sweep Germania from my territory and continue onto Gaul's capitol? And if I go with the home defense force, I was going to us my Darioritum army and blitz down the coast to the Spanish border. The other idea is to use the split force from Samarobriva to clear Germania's armies from my borders while simultaneously landing the my home defense army in "Denmark" and taking the German held town and using that as a position from which to drain Germanic armies and its economy... That's where I am right now.

Btws, how do you take screenshots?

[HanatielHawk]

@ Encino,

Press the Prt Scr button or use fraps. Normally the Prt Scr button is the best way to do and if you want to view the picture go to tgas in the RTW folder and it will stand there, too bad it's not like JPG extension...

[O'Ciarain]

Greek Cities Update: Okay, so I haven't expanded too much, I'm just working on my economy and building up my military, for what looks to be a brutal war against the allied factions of Brutii, Macedonia, and Thrace. I've taken three settlements and lost one. Thermon was bribed away from me by the Brutii and they had a full stack hanging around it for a while and now it's just crossing the border near Athens. I've screwed around with the Macedonian's, trying to get rid of obsolete Militia Hoplites by sending them constantly towards random Macedonian units that pop up out of Larissa every now and then. I've taken Byzantium with a 3/4 stack and defended it from a full Macedonian stack. I've lost quite a few battles that I feel I should have won, so I've played the battles outright for a while now and realized that I reallllllllly should use cavalry. So I've started to bring in oodles of Hoplites and Militia Cavalry and things are getting better. I've finally secured an Alliance, and it was actually the Seleucids who came knocking at my door, wanting this Alliance. I agreed, because I desperately need allies. I just remembered two other settlements I've taken. I took Aquincum by bribing them, and I took Halicarnasus by force from the rebels holding them after making them sally forth before they had to surrender. The island of Sicily is still divided between myself, the Scipii, and Carthage. I've sent a few armies to try and take Messana, but the Scipii always land a full stack and counter-attack, which crushed me. Speaking of being crushed, the Seleucids, my allies, have almost completely been whiped from the face of the earth. I think they've got maybe one or two territories left, because Pontus and Egypt have been absolutely demolishing them. Except for Sardis. There's been, maybe three turns during the whole game so far where Pontus hasn't been besieging Sardis and the garrison plus a half-stack nearby have fought them off, every time. Well, time to see if I can hang in there and duke it out with the Brutii and Macedonia...

Germania update: Okay, so I started another campaign, just because I felt like messing around with the Germans. I've taken the two rebel settlements directly to my North and have built mines in Vicus Gothi. I've built everything possible in most of the towns, so the construction of trade-increasing buildings is done until it grows again. I allied myself with the Gauls, so I could focus on the Britons, who have kept a half to a full stack near my border or made some random excursions across into the border Batavium, which is probably spelled wrong, but I've put my own half stack with six units of Spear Warband, two of Screeching Women, and two Barbarian cavalry into their zone of control, and their army is now controlled by a three-star and a one-star general. Mine's by a captain. Well, I thought my borders were secure, and then my Gaulish allies decide it'll be okay to besiege Mogontiacum which had about 3/4 stack. They had a 1/4 stack... I'm going to the Julii to ask for an alliance and all that stuff, to help me against the Gauls, who have allied themselves with Britannia, so it's only a matter of time before I'm fighting both of them.

[Chapstazz]

Sounds like some interesting campaigns you have going there O'Ciarain. Any chance of some screenshots?

Btw guys sorry I haven't posted for a while my computer has been very slow.

[O'Ciarain]

For the Greek Cities campaign? Yeah, I can throw some up later, but I have one quick update which I am very sorry to have to write and it madden's me to no end.

A Brutii full-stack besieged Athens, which had a 3/4 stack of mainly Hoplites, some Cretan Archers, and some Militia Cavalry. I took a half-stack of 4 Hoplites, 1 Militia Hoplite, and 2 Militia Cavalry units and had the Athens Garrison as my reinforcements. We were almost crushed. Only a few Greek units survived and they limped back to Corinth. The Brutii were reduced to a 1/4 stack, and they exterminated the populace of Athens. There is a 3/4 Macedonian stack headed for Byzantium, an almost full stack being assembled in Thessalonica, and another full brutii stack is on it's way to the Pelloponesian peninsula. The Garrisons of Sparta and Corinth are being bolstered by every mercenary in the area and every unit they can produce. I'm also gathering relief forces from Pergamum, Halicarnasus, and Rhodes to send their way. Meanwhile, I've completely decimated the Scipii naval fleet, and currently have Messana under siege. I plan on making them sally forth when they are close to surrendering, and I mean to do this by completely eliminating any Roman fleet that comes near the city. I have the port blockaded by a fleet consisting of 2 Trireme's and 2 Bireme's, the roaming destroyer fleet is made up of 2 or 3 Trireme's and Sparta is building two Trireme's as we speak, to combat a Julii blockade of the docks. I'm fairly sure that I will be losing Sparta and Corinth soon, but I will try my hardest to kill as many of the Roman/Macedonian scum that try to take it. The calm before the storm has passed, and the storm is arriving.

[Genius of the Restoration]

Started a Brutii campaign a couple of days ago. So far my economy has been lagging but i'm going to declare war on my Greek allies soon and take Athens which should help. Macedon is gone, taken by myself, Greece and rebels funnily enough. Italy was emtied on turn one and all that's left are two units of peasants and a general who sits in Croton to receive any enslaved population. My plan was to quickly get to the Marian Reforms but unfortunately I can't afford any buildings! Soon though, chaos will be unleashed on the unsuspecting world! As Sly once said, "In time, it's murder"

Gotta love it when the AI breaks alliances for no reason at all

[Hakon]

I am playing an Egypt campaign, it is the hardest one I have played so far. I am at war with The Seleucid Empire, Carthage and Numidia. On the bright side I managed to buy most of the Seleucid Empire so they are not much of a threat. In the campaign I am now bankrupt and Spain decided to ally with Carthage. My plan is to beat back Numidia and then just try and hold off Carthage and Spain. While I hold them off I am going to try and take Greece and the rest of the Seleucid Empire.