How's your current FoE campaign going?

[Pat89]

After FoE being released for two days now... I'm very interested to see what your current campaign is like (and at what difficulty).

Also if you have time tell what tactics you're using (blitzing, steam-rolling, losing hard etc) and maybe even the motivation why that tactic or why you don't use your default tactic etc...

[Arkaeyn]

I've hit 267 as the Romans. The Epirotes aren't doing all that much - they have two massive armies in Kroton and Grumentum, and that's pretty much it, it seems. Not sure why they're so unaggressive. I quickly too Tarentum from them, but didn't have a big enough garrison. It rebelled and sent out little gold-chevroned stacks all throughout southern Italy, which has been far more of a pain than Epiros.

I've primarily been building my economy, which seems to be in great shape. The Gauls haven't started threatening me yet, so that may change, but right now it's just me taking all the mini-settlements in southern Italy and getting the money to get a big enough army to besiege the big cities.

[Ballacraine]

I am playing as Rome on M/M

At first I was a bit confused with the levels of settlement management.
Once I got the hang of it, it got a lot easier.
Unlike other mods I have played, cranking up taxes to the max in all settlements from turn 1 can land you in a heap of trouble

I am trying to keep conflict limited to one theatre at this early fragile stage. So I am just waging a steady war of attrition against Epirus.

Kroton has fallen twice

Tarentum has been won & lost.

Syracuse has fallen.

Doing OK. Certainly not a pushover.

[Carados]

M/M as Epirus. It is around 265BC.

Initially I fought a few skirmishs with Rome whilst trying to hold on to a couple of settlements. After a few years I realised that Pyrrhus and his army wasn't doing anything and so I brought across a few units from Greece for garrison duty, and sent Pyrrhus down to Rhegion, which fell very quickly. Having secured the whole of southern Italy, I then moved to reinforce the army in Sicily who had just recently defeated the large Carthaginian army. The next several years involved slowing taking out the settlements belonging to Carthage, knowing my allied greeks on the island would help prevent any serious problems on my flanks. It was around this time that the Illyrians decided to attack me with a minor force. During all this the romans constantly sent small armies to attack Tarentum. As a result the garrison gained valuble experience of combat.

Pyrrhus's veterans started their return to Greece for retraining and rearmament whilst the rest of the greek army remained on the island to fend off any Carthaginian incursions. During this my veterans from Tarentum, currently on tour in Sicily, triggered a nerve with my greek allies and they decided to beseige the veterans. Despite being outnumberd 5:2, they were no match for the veterans and their seige failed. I quickly followed this up with an assault of my own, destroying them all. Unification of Sicily complete.

Whilst this was going on, I assembled an army of elite infantry in Greece and sent them to invade the Illyrians, commandeered by Pyrrhus's son himself. Skodra put up some resistant but ultimately fell. With both of my flanks now secure, my veterans are now well poised to advance on the Roman republic.

[Pat89]

How do you ever get the money to pay all that??

[Carados]

Thureophoroi!
These little gems are pretty decent at holding the line, causing some casualties and generally annoying my enemy - and they are relatively inexpensive!

Though in truth its an understanding of upkeep. As soon as I finished the battle of Heracleia I instantly had a look at my units for Pyyrhus and disbanded the general units. That alone saves you some 6k in the first few turns meaning more money can be spent on the economy. Two of my cavalry units also took a beating which would've help for a furhter 2k. I also never adopted any generals. Secondly, I am very conservative with my basic units and usually let my high upkeep units do the fighting, this is beneficial in that it reduces their upkeep cost significantly. Also, I very rarely retrain these units - Pyrrhus's initial army has only ever been retrained once, I've had to add a few units to it obviously, but the core remains unchanged. I also don't train as many units as you would initially think. After securing southern Italy; with the strategic placing of watchtowers and forts, there was no need for me to keep a garrison in all my settlements. Only Grumentum, Tarentum and Kroton ever had a consistent garrison in Italy. On Sicily it was a bit more complex, but I rapidly took all the nearby minor settlements between my two major cities. I then had to go on the defensive because Carthage attacked. I could cope with it though because I was allied with the independant fation on sicily, which drastically reduces the need for troops and hence allows me to generate more cash to boost my economy. When they turned on me, I had already anticipated it and had a back-up army en route. Plus, I had already defeated Carthage.

When we come to battles I think the trick is to have a solid battleline, and to be able to surround some of their units. Lower quality units are great because although they aren't very good - they are more numouress, hence they they allow you to hit the flanks and rear of units which are a lot softer. Sheer numbers also helps in breaking them eventually. The occasional strong unit helps deal with enemy generals and the like.

Trade with two independant factions early on was also beneficial. I was also fortunate to have a temporary ceasefire with the romans which allowed me to rake in some cash - I was careful to always remain allies with the gauls however.

[Teutonic Joe]

Carthage- M/M

conquered Massyla right off the bat along with taking some rebel cities in Sicily. After Rome attacked and captured Corsica, i sent my navy to defend Sardinia. Rome attempted to land troops but all the ships were destroyed by the Carthaginians yay! With those plans a bust, Rome stopped their invasion plans and lost Corsica to a revolt. Knowing that Corsica was doomed since i was mobilizing for war with Epirus, i sent my fleet to the city to evac the revolters. Quickly, i got them to Sardinia as Corsica was retaken by Rome. I then attacked Epirus and spent 15 turns trying to take 2 cities since the the enemy kept sending mass hordes to defend their cities. After several more turns, all of southern Sicily was mine and i managed to make peace with Rome along with a alliance! Spain is now my next target and i already have conquered whats left to take in Africa. Iberia is mine....soon....in other new Punic Chariots own....

[seph]

treacherous Romans punished http://img02.imagefra.me/img/img02/2...3m_7c93b94.jpg YAY !!!
They shouldn't have attacked me

[pannonian]

treacherous Romans punished http://img02.imagefra.me/img/img02/2...3m_7c93b94.jpg YAY !!!
They shouldn't have attacked me

No geese to save them this time.

[weatherman]

Rome - M/H

As I read the manual previously, I took care about the economy. I build the right buildings, in the right places. Of course I lost the first battle, but in the next turns, I join a big army with the soldiers who were in other cities. I could have 2 (almost) full stack. It was very easy conquer the epirot cities in Italy. The AI doesnt join big armies... If I have one big army, I can conquer any place. Now I am just improving my cities... there are a lot of year I dont have any battle. Celts are calm... for while I dont want take Sicily.. I am getting 30-40k per turn.
I am waiting something happen... my cities are getting better, I have just only 1 full stack, and I am getting a little bored.
I think I only will have some action If I attack...

or, if I try other faction...

I just would like the AI could use biggest army than only small ones...

[Pat89]

rome M/M
after managing to kick epiros out all the way to sicily (long hard skirmishes, very intense, very enjoyable), i thought the hardest was done. but i find myself in a somewhat impossible money situation. i have to sustain an army in the south while the gauls and other barbarian factions are moving in in the north. units are so expensive i can't afford to refit them. i keep on jumping from 50 000 denari to 0 in 2 turn times. liking the challenge, but how do you stabilize the economy? is there an economic guide somewhere? :p

There's not really a guide. And it also is very difficult to have a stable economy. Especially in times of war it can become very difficult. One of the reasons for this, is that trade rights are more important than ever!

As example, In my Roman campaign, I have trade rights with the Autonomoi Poleis. As it is now, I'm making quiet some money. However, as soon as I declare war on the Autonomoi Poleis (and thus breaking my trade rights with them), my income suddenly was completely gone at turned into a minor loss of money!

So you have to be careful with who you attack and you can't simply randomly attack whoever's lands you want to take, like you could in RTW vanilla.

Rome - M/H

As I read the manual previously, I took care about the economy. I build the right buildings, in the right places. Of course I lost the first battle, but in the next turns, I join a big army with the soldiers who were in other cities. I could have 2 (almost) full stack. It was very easy conquer the epirot cities in Italy. The AI doesnt join big armies... If I have one big army, I can conquer any place. Now I am just improving my cities... there are a lot of year I dont have any battle. Celts are calm... for while I dont want take Sicily.. I am getting 30-40k per turn.
I am waiting something happen... my cities are getting better, I have just only 1 full stack, and I am getting a little bored.
I think I only will have some action If I attack...

or, if I try other faction...

I just would like the AI could use biggest army than only small ones...

The AI on Medium campaign difficulty isn't very aggressive. So if you want more action with invading gauls you have to either start a new campaign on H or VH campaign difficulty so the AI will ber more aggressive, or continue your current campaign and declare war on them yourself and see if they will become more aggressive towards you.

Like I said above, trade rights are very important now, so if you attack the Gauls to the North who currently are your ally and trading partners, your economy might get a serious hit.

[weatherman]

I will attack the gauls!! Lets see..

One question: and about Sicily, if I dont invade there, someone will come to italy? Cartagians will invade Italy?

[yurek]

rome M/M
after managing to kick epiros out all the way to sicily (long hard skirmishes, very intense, very enjoyable), i thought the hardest was done. but i find myself in a somewhat impossible money situation. i have to sustain an army in the south while the gauls and other barbarian factions are moving in in the north. units are so expensive i can't afford to refit them. i keep on jumping from 50 000 denari to 0 in 2 turn times. liking the challenge, but how do you stabilize the economy? is there an economic guide somewhere? :p

[Pat89]

Cisalpine Gaul - 265 BC - M/M

I'm playing as the Cisalpine Gauls and it's going rather well for me... I'm very lucky Rome didn't attack me yet. This gave me a lot of time to build up my empire, ready for the big battle with them.

The first thing I did was attacking Patavium with all my starting forces, which resulted in a clear victory for me. After that I took Genua from the rebels before the Romans could get it and I took that little settlement just to the North-East of Mediolanum. Which meant i now had all of Northern Italy under my control

From there on Rome, to my surprise, still didn't attack me. But after seeing that they were at war with both Epeiros and Carthage, it became clear to me why they didn't attack. This gave me some time to start expanding beyond my home regions and I attacked the city of Lugdunon and it's mini-region just to the South it.

After having build my 2nd level Government in Lugdunon, I took almost my entire garrison (except my general and one unit of archers) and moved it South towards Massalia, while in the mean time plundering all mini-regions that crossed my path. I was still at war with the Autonomoi Poleis and now Rome still hadn't attacked me, this was a ones in a life-time opportunity to attack the greeks in Massalia. However they had a huge full stack garrison while my raiding force which was moving South only was a bit more than half a stack. So I decided to get some reinforcements from Mediolanum.

So far this was by far the biggest battle I've had in this campaign, but I did manage to win. However those stinky hoplites and other Greek peeps, managed to kill a rather large part of my army (1/3). But it was just enough to build up my government without letting the city revolt a single time (at 50% public order). Now this major thread was out of my way, I was free to take all relatively undefended mini-regions ion this area (and there are a lot of them here!).

Due to the losses at the siege of Massalia and in the end having control over the entire area, I now have a very stable economy with 14K flowing into my treasury every turn.

This economy does allow me to build up an army in Lugdunon to attack the Arverni in central Gaul (Barbaroi). I've got almost a half stack there already, but that still isn't enough for this invasion, since Arveri is very well defended with a full stack as garrison. However, if I manage to take that city, I will be the only power left in Gaul, which will allow me to take all rebel settlements there.

The current situation in the world - Camera fixed on Sicily, because I had to chose some location


Northern Italy, my homelands:


Lugdunon - First conquest outside Italy:


Massalia - attacked after taking Lugdunon with reinforcements from Mediolanum - Very rich region:

[Clearchus of Sparta]

In most of the early testing I did, Carthage seem primarily occupied with North Africa then with Iberia, Epirus could do serious damage to Rome and vice versa so about even there.

The Gauls seemed to struggle the most trying their luck both East & West.

The surprise powerhouse were the Celtiberians who after conquoring Iberia usually ended up creeping up through southern Gaul and meeting the advancing Romans.

However, this was on AI run games only (no human player) and several major changes went in after this round o testin that I didnt get chance to run through for as long.

[Brusilov]

Cisalpine Gaul (M/M)
It's my first Cisalpine campaign and I'd definitely do things different the next time - it took ages to get my economy into the black.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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I've played this campaign onto the summer of 520BC and have not expanded at all - just getting rid of rebel armies that keep popping up. The economy went down the pan but I think that's down to a loss of trade as Patavium keeps on getting blockaded by my allies the Barbaroi....

[Arkaeyn]

My screenshots are totally black - I'm pressing print screen in the game, is something wrong?

Anyway. As I mentioned above, Epiros' lack of aggression let me build my economy quite happily. Eventually, they beseiged Rhegion, with a thousand men to my 500. I was unhappy but willing to let them take it when food ran out. Fortunately, they built five rams and assaulted the walls. With little more than Samnite Swastikas and Italic Hastati, I expected to do some damage but lose handily. Turns out their army was filled with rabble, mostly peltasts and polis spearmen. My Swastikas held the line, and I managed to shatter both halves of their assault force at the same time.

Their main force was still holed up in Grumentum, both blocking my ability to assault Kroton quickly. I'd assembled a decent collection of auxilia along the northern border in order to strike at Genoa, only to discover the Celts had beaten me to it. I sent that army south to Roma, where it added several principes and triarii, then connected it with my main force near Grumentum. The Epirotes had been sending out tiny stacks of cavalry - I have no idea why - while their elite troops sat inside the walls. I pushed back one such stack until it was next to the walls of Grumentum. I positioned my two stacks in such a way that my next attack would draw the elite troops out from the walls. I didn't expect to win, but I wanted them to have at least a, ah, Pyrrhic victory. I had about 1650 troops, they had about 1300.

The terrain was hilly and wooded, with my troops going uphill. However, they only had a few cavalry units in front of me - I sent my troops directly up the hill to broken ground at the edge of a clearing. The Epirote cavalry from both their main army and the scouting units thundered into my lines from three different directions, causing mass chaos which was eventually remedied with my triarii.

Had Pyrrhos' elite hoplites hit my lines at this point, my main army would have been shattered, with the reinforcements arriving exhausted and downhill from the main battle. Foolishly, their army arrived piecemeal. First the elephants, destroying the coherence of my right flank just as my left was reforming after the cavalry assault. Then the light infanty, wavering under my now-freed javelin fire. They were engaged and beginning to rout as the elite hoplites arrived. My triarii were waiting.

One group took them head-on, as another hit the flank and principes charged into their rear. Two of them broke and ran, finally! Two more, however, plowed directly into my right, as my exhausted reinforcements arrived to discover elephants and elite spearmen as their welcoming party.

In the initial Roman battle, even my now massive numerical advantage wouldn't have been enough. These troops, however, were trained and armored. First the elephants, then the hoplites were shattered and destroyed. It was a stunning victory - at the cost of roughly a third of my men, I'd destroyed the best of a generation of hoplites. Grumentum was swiftly beseiged, and my wounded returned to regroup and prepare to expel all the invaders from southern Italy.

One nagging thought remains, though...what if Epiros' lack of aggression came from the economic drain of their army, and I've merely exchanged one danger for another?

[Pat89]

Like Kepper says, use FRAPS to take screenshots. It's free to download and during the game all you have to do is press F10 and all screenshots will be directly saved in a folder without you having to do anything

One nagging thought remains, though...what if Epiros' lack of aggression came from the economic drain of their army, and I've merely exchanged one danger for another?

Look like your campaigns is starting to become interesting. You just have to be a bit more patient

[Shqiponja_Hayabusa]

My campaign so far couldn't be more exciting. With Carthage firmly strongly Africa and repelling my attacks.
Stacks from Carthage come visit me in Sicily every 15 turns or so. 3 full stacks with 6 star generals.
Antigonid dinasty- where exactly is? Is in the game? Cuz as soon as I hit 220 they appeared and dissappeared in the same turn according to the messages. M/M and I am making 200k profit/turn


These two towns are making me 20k per turn. They should be in your empire at all cost and as soon as you can.

[Pat89]

Antigonid dinasty- where exactly is? Is in the game? Cuz as soon as I hit 220 they appeared and dissappeared in the same turn according to the messages.

They disappear again? how do you mean? As in a message that the faction has been moved out of the way, or you simply can't find them?