too many war fronts!!

[jjc12321]

First of all, great mod. I just recently found it and have been playing almost non stop. ok, my problem starts here.

I started playing as Carthage. I began my campaign, slowly expanding and defending in spain. The kept sending wave after wave at me depleting alot of my forces, and my money. I sent diplomats around trying to get trade rights and a better economy it worked, but many wouldnt accept it.

So then i decided i want to take Messana, before the romans build up a too strong of force there and possibly try to take All of Sicicily...Well i take Messana with almost no effort (due to my superior infantry numbers) Well i had been neglecting my southern borders in africa and what do you know, he comes 3 medium stacks of numidians trying to take my cities (which were poorly defended other then carthage).

So now i have 3 war fronts and it is draining my economy.. i have managed to take almost all of spain, but the gallic armies keep trying to help them out as they are allies (and those swordsmen are way better then the iberian infantry i keep stationed in my cities).

My question is (since no one will accept my ceasefire attemts (or they accept then attack right away)...WHAT DO I DOO!!! ill go bankrupt if it continues

Thx for any replies!

[kamerome]

This brings back memories... Carthage on vh/vh was one of my first campaigns in DM and the most fun one. When I took all of Spain, my best general, the Conqueror of Hispanis, made a stroll into Gaul, and his army routed straight away upon initial contact with the gallic hordes. I was terrified. Kind of an Augustan experience. I fortified the border and never ever dealt with those Gauls more than I had to :-)

Few tips, because you seem to do well and there's not that much you can do. First, get rid of the Spanish. When you have taken all of Spain, there are only three routes across the Pyrenees for the Gauls to attack you. If you play with forts (nowadays I tend to stay away from them because the AI has some issues with them), build one on each path. Just station one unit there. Observe by towers and spys if any Gauls move towards one of your forts, only then send enough forces into the fort deal with them. Most of the times the AI will not even attack but retreat, so you can cover your border with a reasonable number of units and will not have to pay for replacements. Not losing his troops against you, Gaul will also have more forces to bring against Rome. Win-Win :-)
Second, if you have a common border with a country, no matter if they are neutral, allied or whatever, they will always attack you. Either right away or as soon as they have sorted out their other affairs. The only exception are the Roman factions. Keep that in mind after dealing with the Numidians. Egypt has freakishly strong units (compared to Numidia, at least) and their chariots kill your Generals every opportunity they get.
Third, your Iberian infantry can deal with Spains and Numidians as they have poor units themselves. Against Gaul, Egypt and Rome you'll have to upgrade your barracks and sent the best units you can recruit. That's what caused my disaster in Spain, because I tend to concentrate on economic buildings and find myself fighting with the basic units each faction get. That won't do for Carthage.

In general, there's not much else you can do about your economy other than winning battles and expanding into rich territories. Hint: With Messana taken, there's at least one weak Roman faction. And because Rome is trying to expand, most of her units will be fighting elsewhere, so landing some troops in South Italy and sacking some cities might pay off. You might even hold on to them as Rome does not defend her territory as focussed as a single unified faction would do. IIRC Spain, Italy, North Africa and the Mediterranean Islands are all you need to win.

[Pleiades]

In general, there's not much else you can do about your economy other than winning battles and expanding into rich territories.

There is one more thing about economy. At first I thought it is AI abusive tactic, but after a while I changed my mind. See for yourself. I play recommended H/H.

I use for example 2 boats and diplomat and send them to waters of countries which do not have borders with me. In this case of Carthage, Egypt should be example of faction which does not share borders yet with Carthage. Britannia is another example. Then in one turn I block port of that faction (which means war), in another turn I ask for ceasefire and 10,000 gold. They accept in 95 percents. Then repeat same in next turn. It is important that faction does not share borders with my faction.

Why this is not abusive of AI? Because AI never respect alliances, which is historically not true. Backstabbing of allies is abusive of YOU as player and it kills realism, so you need defense from it. Also AI has much more gift of money per turn without even using it (which you may see over faction summary and you may see that all mercenaries in foreign lands are already bought). Large quantities of money in AI faction even makes their generals corrupted over traits. Also I noticed for example that 'stealing' money from Egypt did not in one single campaign reduced or augmented speed of their expansion toward Seleucid and Parthia for example. Similar for Britannia.

Why 10,000 gold every second turn is important to you? To cover your constant minus in economy. And most importantly, so YOU can buy mercenaries in YOUR own lands. With diversity of mercenaries, you can have much more fair and funny games and battles. Mercenaries also greatly varies in quality. That needs to be learn through experience, which is also fun. Mercenaries are there to cover weaknesses of your own units and to contribute to fun. And they are intended to be bought in your territories by YOU as player. Not by poor Numidians (for example) in your lands who do not even have background (Sahara maybe?) to have so large quantity of money to buy and upkeep all those mercenaries from their land and your lands.

Do not even think that even with boost of 10,000 gold every second turn you will be able to buy and upkeep all mercenaries in all your lands. You will have just enough money so you can choose strategically and carefully which mercenaries you will have to buy. Besides, you do not have to 'rob' of 10,000 gold just one same faction. You can 'rob' in first two turns Egypt and in second two turns Seleucid, in third two turns Britannia for example.

[kamerome]

Less 'gamey' but still not wholly kosher in my book: The AI has hardly any garrisons in coastal cities if they're not contested. Piracy can really pay off. Land and lay siege in one turn, capture, annihilate population, destroy all buildings and retreat back to ships in the second. Bonus gamey points for using onagers or such to do it all in one turn (the AI never seems to do that). Or leave a weakened single unit behind and milk the town for two more turns or however long it takes until the AI takes it back.
Playing the Berbers in BI (rated as unplayable...) is really easy, because they can land almost everywhere in the Mediterranean, get really, really rich and the WRE AI is just too disfocussed to pay any attention to your taking all the coastal provinces.

[jjc12321]

ok thx guys.. i think i'll try a few of those suggestions...Maybe taking money from other factions will have to wait a while, or at least till i need need it. I have finally conquered the spanish, numidians, and scipii... i hired mirillo? gladiators and velitate gladiaters (had about 342 men) and conquered the scipii's last 1200 men...kinda sad on medium battle level..

I now border the eygptians which have expanded greatly into selucide and parthinian territory. i think ill move my troops from numidia to the border and wait for a good time to blitz the eygptian territories.

In Spain.. i think ill try to defend against the gauls for a while. Nobody seems to want to attack them or ally with me so i think ill just go for it myself and pray for the best. But it wont be all to soon as plague has struck 2 cities in spain and carthage..

Any tips for attacking eygpt??.. i hear the put up a good fight

Again thx!

[kamerome]

I think, archers are key. Egyptian infantry is mostly slow moving, so you can put a lot of arrows into them. Plus, you archers outgun missile chariots. Your own phalanxes can hold the line against the Egyptian ones and are nice chariot killers.
It really costs to attack chariots with horses even if the odds seem good or you can hit the flanks. Quick way to lose your generals or make your cavalry rout so be cautious about that.

[Pleiades]

Egypt is one of most dangerous foes. The longer you wait, the more stronger they are with economy and units. You need to take that opportunity that Egypt is already in war in their northeast before they divert their forces in full strength to you.

Egypt secret is in the strongest economy and powerful chariots. Taking as fast as you can those 3 famous and largest cities along river Nile is key for victory. For that you cannot afford luxury of traveling over Sahara for more than 10 turns. So you need to use boats and attack Alexandria directly from the sea. You may collect experienced spies (3 or more) to enter into Alexandria before battle, so they can open gates for you. Plus - you need minimum 3 full stacks of units (6 ideally with highest ranking generals) at same time (just in case that Egypt is prepared somehow). Do not come with 1 stack or you are doomed even if you conquer Alexandria.

Now, in battle use advice of fellow player above. Plus: go on sides of battle line with spearmen. Behind spearmen drag with you archers. You need to provoke chariots into charging your archers who attack those same chariots. Then you quickly charge with spearmen type of units into chariots. Do not send other type of infantry into combat before you finished with routing of chariots. Your general is favorite target for chariots too. So put some spearmen in front of your general too. Sending other types of units to confront chariots may cost you very much, so much that you can lose campaign if you play H/H.

And when you conquered Egypt, you will probably realize that you are already winner. Then start campaign with Parthia H/H. Defeat is almost guaranteed, hehe....