Challenging Western Civ Campaign

[AchillesXX]

Hello All,

I am looking to start a new campaign. My last XGM game was with the GCS. After I took control of Italy, Sicily, Greece, and Asia Minor I got a little bored. Besides, gold chevroned SRG and a ten star General are pretty much an army in themselves. I was playing on M/VH.

I am thinking of playing on VH/VH. I have already played Rome and GCS. So, I have narrowed my next game down to Syracuse, Pergamon, or maybe the Macs. How hard would those 3 be on VH/VH? Thanks for the info.

[krasni]

In which version are Syracuse or Pergamon playable as factions?

[Roman Warlord]

They are playable in the provincal campaigns.

[Soccer1993]

Maks are quite hard especially on VH/VH cuz of the celtic horde and than the plague will come in a few decades so you'd best be ready for that as well. Though after you get through the horde it's not too hard conquereing greece and from there on you can either go the way of Alexander the Great or attack Rome before they get too strong.

Syracuse is probably the hardest, you only start with Syracuse (duh) and you have potential enemies all around you. You've gotta blitz the Mamertines in Messana, and be ready for a long war with invading ROmans and Carthaginians. finances are gonna be tight especially since there's only 3 settlements on Sicily.. Try to capture the other islands around you as long as you dont think it'll spread you too thin.

Pergamum is relatively easy in my opinion, with your starting army and maybe if you manage to get some mercenaries either blitz the indie greeks or the seleucids and get some money flowing asap cuz you dont wanna get into a war of attrition with the Seleucids no matter whether their fighting on like 3 other fronts. Capturing Rhodes is a real good idea, definately go for it when you can.

I've never played on VH/VH but the strategies are mostly the same. Just the battles are alot harder so you gotta use alot of tactics (flanking, terrain etc.) And with VH campaign settings people especially the Seleucids or Romans will throw tons of stacks at you, so like i said its the best to blitz in the begining.

P.S. You could also have a go at Carthage there quite a challenge as well.

[Scutarii]

Pergamon and Syracuse are the easiest prov campaigns, my favourite is Syracuse. You get the unique hoplites, and a very strong economic situation (take Sicily and Crete, then turtle until you can build up a decent army of 2 3/4 stacks. Then invade Africa (concentrate the two 3/4 stacks at Carthago first to beat the garrison script and cripple them) Then just mop up the rest of Carthage). I'd say definitely do Syracuse if you want a prov campaign.

[AchillesXX]

Thanks for the feedback. I started my VH/VH Syracuse campaign today before work. I only had a short time to play, but I took Messana from the Mamertines. Four Hastati and Four Town Watch put up a hefty fight on VH. After the battle I had to immediately send my army back to Syracuse to retrain because I notice that a half stack of Carthaginians are in my territory. Wish me luck vs. VH eliphants.

PS, It seems that I cannot use a land bridge to Italy. I reinstalled my XGM to make sure I had that option selected and I still can't do it. Is this a provinicial feature? Useful to keep the Romans at bay....

[Spartan198]

PS, It seems that I cannot use a land bridge to Italy. I reinstalled my XGM to make sure I had that option selected and I still can't do it. Is this a provinicial feature? Useful to keep the Romans at bay....

The Sicily/Italy land bridge is disabled in the Syracuse campaign.

[Scutarii]

If it wasn't the campaign would be excessively difficult. Think sandwiched between two of the strongest factions in the game...

[aznflea]

well on VH/VH youre going to get stacks spammed at you no matter what you do so its always a challenge/bore.

syracuse campaign is very hard. after the romans are finished with pyrhus you might have a massive problem especially since you might be caught with your pants down in a war with carthage. roman stacks are extremely painful. you can only hope to sink the ers before they land.

pergamum is extremely rich so you will have an easier time. taking asia minor will consolidate your position and eventually become a superpower if you can take asia minor.

makedon is easy. i dont know why the gallic stacks are hard. i just station my guys on a hill and wait for them to attack me, running up hills into pikes is lose for them. what you need to do is kill the greeks asap. i suggest attacking rome. even though asia has more booty, rome will become nigh unbeatable later on and the easiest time to beat the romans is in the begginning when pyrhus has just ravaged rome. be sure to send couple of spies into italy before you go. if pyrhus has been defeated without much trouble then you might as well go into asia and just hold on to asia minor. station your troops at the bridges and have an extra army for the ptolmies/seleucids coming from the cicilia. rhodes and crete are cash cows as well.

[Kara Kolyo]

The hardest western civilised campaigns for me are the seleucid and especially their former province of Bactria. sometimes just the sheer ammount of combined seleucid phalanxes and parthian HA armies is enough to put you out of a harder dif game.

[gaius_caesar]

Cyrenaica

[AchillesXX]

Okay, here is a quick breakdown of my Syracuse VH/VH campaign (AI bonuses on). I have not been able to play much, as I work a lot and have family obligations, so this campaign may take me several weeks to complete.

Step 1: I took almost all of my existing army and laid siege to Messana.
Step 2: I attacked and conquered Messana, enslaving the populace. I returned my battle weary troops to Syracuse for a little R and R (that is, retraining and retrofitting).
Step 3: Carthage decided to attack me. I was rather poor at the time, so my army was tiny, and evenly spread between Syracuse and Messana. Carthage laid seige to both cities at once. Syracuse was attacked by a nice full stack, and Messana by a half stack. Each city was defended by about 1/3 of a stack.
Step 4: Thanks to the Glory of Nike, the power of Syracusan walls (WOW, almost too powerful!) and the stupidity of my Carthaginian foe, I was able to survive their assault. Most of their army (including the elephants) was shot to pieces before breaching my walls. I was in a hurry, so I Auto Resolved the Messana fight, and won handily.
Step 5: With the immediate threat under control I took stock of my situation. I barely hadenough money to retrain my half stack army, but over two turns I dug deep, solda few old family heir looms, and managed to do so.
Step 6: The time for an offensive was now or never. I merged my best troops and headed for Lilybaeum. My army consisted of 1 Syracusan Hoplite, 3 Greek Hoplites, 2 Heavy Peltasts (forgot their name, starts with Th), 2 Militia Phalangites and 2 Generals. I had just enough movement points to make it into Carthaginian territory.
Step 7: Unbeknownst to me, I had stationed my soldiers in a great place to ambush my foe (Ah, Fortuna!). On the Carthaginian's turn they marched a 2/3 stack army in my direction, but I ambushed them! (In many years of playing RTW, this is the first time I have been on the giving end of an ambush). I wiped out the Carthaginian stack with few casualties on my side.
Step 8: I laid siege to Lilybaeum with my slightly depleted army. On the Carthaginian's turn they attacked me with the city's garrison (only four units) and two 1/3 stack armies - at night. I kept my army in close formation, and marched to meet each enemy army as quickly as possible. I wanted to keep them from uniting on the battle field, or totally out flanking me. After heavy fighting we were triumphant, but suffered massive casualties.
Step 9: Hiero of Syracuse is now the proud master of Sicily. Also, he is that rare general who has a rating of 10 in Command, Loyalty, Management, and Influence.

[Scutarii]

That sounds a lot more difficult than my three tries as Syracuse. My strategy was simple: 1. take Messane using all forces 2. Retrain as much as possible 3. March to Lilybauem 4. Besiege and take Lilybaeum 5. ask for peace with Carthage

At this point money is pouring in, train up a decent half or 3/4 stack as your main army and sail to crete to take it. Sail straight back, and train another 3/4 stack while turtling and building up economic buildings so you can handle the new stack. Then just asssult Carthago.

But your way works too.

[Sextus Molestus]

Very nice, I've never had a general with 10 everything, usually just 10 command and influence.

[Publius Quirinus]

Very nice, I've never had a general with 10 everything, usually just 10 command and influence.

Yea, same here. Or 10 management and influence.