Macedon Campaign H/H - Update
I've been plugging away as Macedon (H/H, BI and zero turn) for the last couple of weeks and am currently into the 50th year of the campaign.
So far campaignwise, its been very tough going and a lot harder than playing Macedon in 1.6. In the 1.6 campaign (H/VH) I was rolling over faction after faction, with minimal losses, the economy was on over drive (there was so much $$$$ profit every turn that it was getting hard trying to work out what to spend it on !) and militarily - my naval controlled most of the Med and on the field there was between 30-37 full stack armies in europe and deep into Asia Minor. Macedon in 1.6 is the 800lB Gorilla in that game.
In RS2 - I've felt as if I've been playing the Selecuids. War is on all fronts - the first 25 years was spent fighting the Greeks, Sparta in the south and West of Greece, the Romans in the North near Edessa and the Sycthian's to the East. My plan was to hold off taking out both Sparta and the Greeks from Greece early on as I wanted both to develop the cities and armies before going to war. However, the AI had both factions attack from the 2nd turn. I destroyed Sparta as a faction by the 25 year into the campaign and shortly after took Thermos, Thebes and Athen's from the Greeks. I then captured Apollina, and Cyprus - capturing Cyprus caused both Pergamon and the Ptolyme's to attack. The Scythian;s in the east sent several stacks (approx 5+) at the same time as I was having to deal with Spartan/Greek and Roman Armies. So right now - militarily I'm feeling pretty bogged down - at war with : Rome/Greeks/Pergamon/Ptolymes, Scythians and the Rebels and with some of those factions fielding armies of elite soldiers its been hard work - its enjoyable but sometimes too hard.
A part of the map - Greece:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Overview:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Unit selection wise - still no sign of a barracks upgrade to recruit the elite units in Pellas. I think there's a bug with building the mercenary building in Pelllas. I constructed the building but its not in the list of buildings in the settlement and I'm also not able to recruit any mercs. Other factions on the other hand have been fielding elite units, so defeating them has taken a lot of quick thinking and guile. The heavy cavalry seems to have a lot less impact even when charging on mass unless its against skirmisher units. The AI armies have been pretty good and balanced so far, although I've been surprised that none of the Roman armies to date have had any archers at all.
Economy - only in the last 20 years of the campaign is the economy generating a healthy profit, and esp Pellas. At the moment starting turn profits are between 10k to 30k. Most cities aren;t making any money, which isn't a surprise as thyere still pretty basic but in 1.6, Id been able to upgrade all of the main greek cities to near max and they were just brining in the money.
Traits - the first generation of family members had next to know management skills or influence, and even the faction leader Philp V was just a 3 star general and 4 bar managment. That was very unlike 1.6 were every Macdeon General/Family member was a genius. Right now, all of the family mebers and generals (apart from the originals) have a heathly balance of Military command and managemnet skills.
Generals - What I have liked is that the AI generals are not suicidal - I;ve yet to see an AI controlled general charge head on into a Phalanx.However, some generals just seem to be way too hard to kill even when surronded by some of your best troops.
Diplomacy - Other than getting trade deals and having Carthage and the Selcuids as Allies, my diplomtas are rubbish. Even factions far away from macedon consistently turn down any offers of an alliance.
Population - some cities have simply struggled to grow, esp Thesalonka even when tax levels have been sent to low and law/order is over 350%. I;ve constructed most of the buildings to encourage pop growth but its hardly working.
Toughest Battles todate -
* Pergamon - Near Lysimechela. I'd captured the town from the Ptolymes and it was instantly besiged by Pergamon. both of the pergamon armies were mostly of elite units - 8000 men. Luckily I didn;t have to fight both in the same battle otherwise there was simply no way you could beat them.
* Rome - Near Edessa having to defeat two full stack roman armies. That was just way too hard - fighting one that was battle hardened and beating it was hard enough but two .. no fair!
* Scythia - Near Phillouplos - a full stack battle hardened army with a general that was like super man.
"watch it with that spear .. you could take an eye out!
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
* Sparta - a couple of really tough battles with them - one of my armies was ambushed and the other was against an elite army with 3-4 phalanx units which seemed to chew through my phalanx.
* Greeks - At Thebes having to defeat 3 stacks.
* Cyprus - beating off an invading Ptolmey army which was nearly all elie heavy infantry.
Capturing a City - this time, for the Greek cities apart from Athens, I;ve been occupying those settlements instead of enslaving them but why do you not inherit say the army barracks that would have been constrcuted by the AI ??? Surely, as a greek faction takign over say Sparta, the sparta army barracks should be avaialble esp as they were not destroyed and the Spartan;s were fielding their best troops.
Performance - setting the high res unit models option on causes my pc to really struggle if its a full on battle, so Ive switched that option off for now.
I'm going to post each of the 10 year periods in the campiagn thread and inc the various pics later.
Cheers
TTRouble
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Originally Posted by dvk901
Do what must be and let be what will
