I require assistance on the strategic map.

[The Mad Monk]

Okay, so I've been rocking postmarian Rome in XGM, with my 4 Golden Legions full, mostly silver and gold chevroned stacks, I have conquered and subdued Sicily, Gaul and Iberia. Money is tight, and I'm being obliderated by Germania until I can ship a legion up north. My question is; where to next?
I'm thinking Greece, for Thrace has been throwing stacks at Patavium, which actually helps me train my legions.

My layout with Legions

-The Tenth PostMarian Legion are my grizzled veterans of the Sicilian Wars against Carthage is subduing Southern Iberia against the sons of Hannibal. Led by a 8 star general, age 30 (Awesome, right!? I adopted him at age 16 with 3 stars!) who happens to be next in line for the throne/permanent-consulship/dictator-for-life. They can literally defeat any army that even dares challenge the might of Rome.

-The First PostMarian Legion is the led by the Power Player, the 10 star Faction Leader, and is stationed in Northwestern Iberia mopping up heavy Iberian resisitance.

-The Fifteenth PostMarian Legion is currently stationed northeast of Patavium and is eating Thracian stacks for breakfast. Led by a competant general, he is too old to be worth anything investment-wise.

-The Seventh PostMarian Legion is the brother Legion of the Fifteenth, they are stationed in Patavium and switch out with the latter, for retraining. Led by a young, skillful general who may show some promise later in his career.

-The Fifth PreMarian Legion consists of the swashbuckling ancients who ousted Pyrrus the Epirote from Tarentum, and secured southern Italy for the Glory of Rome. Led by that old codger General Mus. The fighting is hard in Sicily for it seems i did something the piss of ole Dido and I have Carthaginian stacks landing on the shores of MY homeland. I'll be damned if a single Punic son of a touches MY Syracuse! Grr...


So anyways here is my strategic issue. I have a conquest fueled economy, so I need to put them legions to good use.
...In Sicily, I am successfully repelling the Carthaginians but every victory comes at a cost i cant repay, for the Fifth Legionaries are PreMarians
...In Southern Iberia, the Carthaginians have declared Jihad on me and are charging through like a bat outta Hell. They seem extremely focused and recapturing their previous holdings in Iberia.
... In Northern Iberia, the Iberians are raising Hell, causing revolutions and I can barely hold on, for I have to return to Southeastern Gaul to retrain my units
...In Central and Northern Gaul rebellions run rampant as the Germans close a noose around my southern Gallic cities.
...In Northeastern Italy, I'm absorbing Thracian stacks but there is no end in sight. It is draining resources (denariis and men), yet Im afraid of expanding into Thracian territories for it will overexpand my territories and I despise fighting Sycthia!


Im thinking of conquering Greece, for they have similair culture, give you a boatload of cash and are close to home.




And Remember...

...Rome will prevail!

[Grimbold]

Your first mistake was to choose the Roman campaign, because, you know, its Rome ( and i hate it)

I get the impression that your campaign is rather chaotic, in the sense that you're dealing with several revolts ( Iberia and Gaul ) and your borders are being constantly threatened ( Germania; Thrace ; Carthage ).

Now if i understood correctly, you have 2 legions in Iberia, 1 in Sicily / Southern Italy? and 2 near Patavium.
First hows the situation with ur economy? Is it that bad that you desperatly need to conquer rich lands to boost it? Or do make enough to hold it as it is now?

Either way, theres no better move than to be offensive. I'd suggest moving one of the stacks near Patavium(preferably the one with the younger general) to Southern Greece(make sure to conquer Kydonia).

If your economy is able to hold, recruit additional units to reinforce patavium and Sicily and take that legion to Carthage and do some dmg there. The impression i got is that Carthage has several stacks in your lands, so recruit more legionnares to build up ur garrisons. Fight on the streets. Trust me, theres nothing better than to fight on the tight streets of a city (atleast as a Greek ). Take that legion and destroy Carthage and the cities near it, as in destroying their most important buildings. That should give you some nice cash, along with killing the population. Remember the goal is not to conquer carthage, its to halt their advance.

Btw, who's fighting off Germania?

You might wanna w8 for more opinions as im not any military genious . Also a screenshot would help alot.

[DimeBagHo]

I think your economic problem is due to going after Gaul and Iberia too early. Those regions won't pay well for quite a long time. You would be better off defending Northern Italy, and refocusing your offensive on North Africa. Africa pays well, and it's easy to defend once you own it.

Greece pays even better, but it would add another front when you are already stretched. I would go after Africa and the Greece. Of course you can go after islands any time, and they all pay well.

[The Mad Monk]

http://s790.photobucket.com/albums/y...5-38-07-09.jpg
for some reason it wont let me post an image..hmm... anways you see how Germania is cutting a path across my empire. btw before the German advance, i controlled the 4 cities you see in the right side of the picture

I get the impression that your campaign is rather chaotic, in the sense that you're dealing with several revolts ( Iberia and Gaul ) and your borders are being constantly threatened ( Germania; Thrace ; Carthage )..

Correct

Now if i understood correctly, you have 2 legions in Iberia, 1 in Sicily / Southern Italy? and 2 near Patavium..

Correct Again.

First hows the situation with ur economy? Is it that bad that you desperatly need to conquer rich lands to boost it? Or do make enough to hold it as it is now?.

My economy racks in about +3.5K a turn, which is atleast breaking even but some of my Roman cities are even rebelling. I need to get in some Western Colonies before the barbaric populations grow to large in my Gallic and Iberian Cities.

Btw, who's fighting off Germania?.

My Vigiles...needless to say, we know whos winning.

[Grimbold]

Yes you prolly need the greek territories. Question is: can you afford it, both financily and military, cause it seems like you're losing on your northern border.

[The Mad Monk]

Militarily speaking i can own wherever and whatever the Hell I want. I can literally defeat any army in pitched combat. It sounds egotistical but it is true, I have 5 Post Marian Legions, led by 8 Star generals with 5-7 Chevrons, phalanxes will be a peice of cake with my Legionary Cavalry.



I could Slam my Patavium Legions down like a hammer on Macedonia while my Sicilian Legion take Southern Greece...

[Grimbold]

Militarily speaking i can own wherever and whatever the Hell I want. I can literally defeat any army in pitched combat. It sounds egotistical but it is true, I have 5 Post Marian Legions, led by 8 Star generals with 5-7 Chevrons, phalanxes will be a peice of cake with my Legionary Cavalry.



I could Slam my Patavium Legions down like a hammer on Macedonia while my Sicilian Legion take Southern Greece...

Then if you're so confident, what are you waiting for? But who will you have to defend ur borders from germania and Carthage?

[The Mad Monk]

Precisely.

[Publius Quirinus]

Have you thought of going on a slash-and-burn campaign? As in, capture an enemy settlement, exterminate, demolish all the buildings you can, leave a token garrison and move on. This has the dual advantage of weakening the enemy without overextending your supply line, and also bringing in boatloads of cash from the exterminations.

For example if you go on such an offensive against the Thracians you may be able to reassign one of your legions at the end of it.

[Unknown Soldier]

what navy do you have?

A coastal viking pillage offensive seems like a good option

1. capture any and all islands you can
2. Land on mainland - sack cities loot/burn/exterminate and then retire to the boats leaving the targets with either no garrison or a token unit in the production queue.

This should distract the AI into pulling troops/resources from the front...

I know its harsh but you need to retire the premarian units out of the line...

Every none full strength unit is wasted resources - population and money - let the vets rest...

3. Build some ships and wipe out the damned Carthies at sea before they can land - Also destroy all their fleets and blockade their ports.

[Scutarii]

The choice is really N. Africa of Greece. And you know you'll have both some day so just pick who's more annoying (Thrace or Carthage) and start conquering.