If no Rome...

[Imperator Romani]

Say that the Scippi, Brutii, Juli, and the Senate were taken out of the game, and their cities were instead barbarian. Who would be the dominant faction? This can be a tricky question, as you may want to stay with your Selucids or Egyptians, believing they're stronger than Rome anyway, but you have to consider what the new barbarian cities mean.

Will this make Gaul, Greece, or Carthage a dominant powerhouse in the beginning?

Carthage and Greece would surely fight over Sicily, and the winner would probally get Italy, giving a huge boost to the state. Would Gaul take over Italy while the other 2 fought for Sicily? Would Dacia or Macedonia, both having tendencies to take settlements near northern Italy, move into the heart of Italy?

Or would these factions wear themselves out fighting for Italy and let someone else dominate, like the late game Britons or late game Spain, who both dominate anyway. Would the fight over Italy with the other factions weaken their enemies, bringing them to power faster?

Thoughts?

[Pontifex Maximus]

Early Greek phalanx units are good enough to hold off the early Punic units. Greece will need to send over heavier phalanxes to deal with stack spamming, especially in Italy and Sicily. I vote Greece, just because they are relatively well placed on the map and in terms of unit strength. That being said I find vanilla kind of unbalanced.

[Genius of the Restoration]

I'd say Greece could capitalise on it well. Gaul would be close too.

[Punic Hoplite]

Depends if all the battles were fought auto resolve style, or on the map, having the AI take command of both armies.

If it is an auto resolve war, any faction with chariots (Egypt, Britannia) would dominate.
If it is fought on the map, it would be tough, but I went for Carthage.

[Imperator Romani]

Yea, no auto-resolve. Or a correct auto-resolve where chariots don't bend over everything else...

[NotYetRegistered]

I think Gaul would profit most of it, as they can immediatly rush into Italy, but then they need to hold off the other factions.

[Hopit]

I say Carthage would take sicily, and Greece south italy, carthage middle, and gauls north

[Lucarius]

Greece could make it.
Gaul can invade italy very quick but they are no match for the greek phalanxes.

[Nicolaos]

i am voting for britain, because in many of my campaigns they make up my northern borders, and if there were no julii they could easily expand into italy

[Roxas]

Mehh,

Greece of course would dominate due to the fact the Roman navy won't be there to stop them dominating the sea trade, Gaul would be able to expand early on yet it will merely help a faction with Phalanx troops later on to take A lot of territories such as Germania due to their weak all-round troop variety.

Carthage would Be able to Take everything south of the Italian peninsula due to no Scipii interference and Spain would be able to to march on mainland Europe. Apart from that the balance else where in the world would be mainly unchanged.

[Imperator Romani]

Well I agree that Carthage, Greece, and Gaul would benefit initially, but the only thing that ever seems to slow down Spain is the Julii, who they beat 50% of the time anyway. Would they dominate late game without the Julii to dam them in?

[Roxas]

Well, When they meet Greece and Egypt I doubt they would last long. So I Guess Spain would only benefit in the short term. Unless, They make so much Denarii that they can spam their way to victory

[MortenJessen]

Hi there.
I say a mix of Greece and Carthage. Carthage take over Sicily, but Greece would no longer be in trouble in the Balkans. After the initial moves, I guess Carthage would have the best long term advantages due to better units. Maybe Gaul too would get strong, so the endgame would be between those three nations.
Y.S.
M. Jessen

[Imperator Romani]

Do elephants beat chariots? This would show who would win between Carthage and Britain. Then I guess the next question is does the phalanx beat elephants? We already know that chariots are hopeless against Greece, so if Carthage beats Britain, then the next conflict would prove interesting, no?

[Punic Hoplite]

Someone who make a mod where the Romans don't exist, and all chariots are done away with except for Scythed chariots.

Then we can see how it would turn out.

[Hopit]

Someone who make a mod where the Romans don't exist, and all chariots are done away with except for Scythed chariots.

Then we can see how it would turn out.

why no chaz for britons?

[Punic Hoplite]

why no chaz for britons?

To make a campaign where Auto Resolve means anyone with lots of chariots wins closer to the campaign that we are talking about. And even the Britons didn't use chariots as heavily in real life as they do in game.

[HanatielHawk]

Carthage definatilly. Carthage almost always takes over Syracuse in my game if the Scipii doesn't. The Gauls would be too busy fighting the Germans and Britons and probably also Spain. Greeks would have been wiped out of Italy and will keep Macedon busy, while Macedon is keeping Trace busy and Trace is keeping Dacia busy and Dacia is keeping the Germans and Scythians busy while the Scythians are busy with Parthia who's busy with the Seleucids and Egypt who're busy with Armenia the Seleucids and Pontus who're busy with the Greeks.
Carthage only needs to defeat Numidia, which is practicly done from the beginning of the game (unless the player is Numidia). Spain by the way is not an expansionist-faction so they will not take Italy first.

[Magno]

Greece, Carthage, and Gaul would be the ones to profit most. Greece would finally survive, Carthage will duke it out with the libians, Gaul will survive longer until Britons steamroll over them

[0N3]

Carthage and Greece would be to stupid to send troops into italy because it is over-seas while the Gauls have a land connection.