RS II: Post your empires here!

[jo_dus]

Here is my Pergamon campaign, it has easily been one of the hardest campaigns i have ever fought.
It started off a nice quite campaign, expanding slowly and building up financially and militarily, with a powerful fleet and a punishing land army. We took most of Asia Minor and Byzantion, eventually also taking Lysimacheia from the Ptolemies. After a series of brutal wars against the Ptolemies, i eventually took Pafos from them also. Seleucia also tried their hand at attacking me, i beat them back by the skin of my teeth, but soon counterattacked and took Antioch and Tarsos. Since Antioch and Tarsos are not in the most Defensible positions, i pretty much destroyed the cities and exterminated the Populaces. That kept the Seleucids pacified and out of the picture for about 20 years. But like the Plague, they are back, and fresh from campaigns in the far east. they mean business.

Meanwhile, on the western front, Rome has been busy Conquering everybody, and has annihilated the Macedonians. I initially was allies with Rome for a while, but as time moved on, a war with Dacia broke that Alliance. Dacia has a massive empire, spanning from the Danube in the south to Germania in the north. I took all the greek cities in their domain and stopped at the Danube river and then set up Defenses to keep the Barbarians out. As always, the Romans soon attacked and the Defenses were re-arranged against the Romans, as peace with Dacia had been initiated. About 10 years of fighting the romans ensued, with massive losses on both sides. and soon my grip on the northern provinces was slipping. The cost of maintaining a massive defensive position in the north was proving too costly, and so i pulled back into Byzantion, and gave up 4-5 cities. This was an unfortunate waste, but it also allowed me to regroup my forces and build up for a massive counterattack as shown in the Screenshots.

The Build up was one of biblical proportions, my cities were on overdrive, churning out troops and equipment for the counterattack, i am still not finished. I did the math and have at this point, 30,000 troops in northern Byzantion prepared and ready for the invasion. This is to be my most Ambitious attack yet, even bigger than the massive Seleucid push i initiated into Sarmatia.

How did you get so much money? Does the money script not work well in 0 turn?

[Grimbold]

How did you get so much money? Does the money script not work well in 0 turn?

It does seems he has quite lot of money for such a small empire, but i supose he's taken the time to build up his cities financially.

But people have been mentioned that script stuff. I play on 1 turn with the script active and i'v reached 800.000.

[Litany of fury]

How did you get so much money? Does the money script not work well in 0 turn?

VERY slow build-up coupled with the great starting position. Was one of the main reasons i took Byzantion due to the fact its position on trade routes. i have journeyed to the far west and the far east to gain trade rights etc. Also that picture was taken at 616 A.U.C. i have not expanded further than there for a long time, this is one of the longest standing campaigns that i have done to top it off.

I actually had a great deal more territories before that picture was taken, but as said, pressures from the roman empire forced me to pull back and regroup my forces into a single larger cohesive force.

[TheAnswer]

Hi guys. I ve just downloaded RS 2 so getting into it. I was wondering: is there any type of a record (turns played) to achieve victory conditions eg. by Romans; If not, maybe it would be cool to get to know how fast can it be done ? Looking forward for final screens from your campaigns

[Grimbold]

Hi guys. I ve just downloaded RS 2 so getting into it. I was wondering: is there any type of a record (turns played) to achieve victory conditions eg. by Romans; If not, maybe it would be cool to get to know how fast can it be done ? Looking forward for final screens from your campaigns

Im new to the RSII community, but i supose it depends on a serious of factors such as if you plan on playing on 0-turn or 1 turn mode ; if you're gonna cheat; if you impose some house rules.

[TheAnswer]

Of course u r right Grimbold; I was justr trying to know if other users would like to "compete" in this kind of "contest" or if their achievements r so great that others may get to know some tactical knowledge, hints to theirs gameplan etc.
If intrested I would propose: no cheats, 0 turn mode, vh/vh level of diff., faction Rome/RTW; no time limit in battles - well that s what i think would be a bit challenging - looking forward for your thoughts.

[Grimbold]

Of course u r right Grimbold; I was justr trying to know if other users would like to "compete" in this kind of "contest" or if their achievements r so great that others may get to know some tactical knowledge, hints to theirs gameplan etc.
If intrested I would propose: no cheats, 0 turn mode, vh/vh level of diff., faction Rome/RTW; no time limit in battles - well that s what i think would be a bit challenging - looking forward for your thoughts.

Well lets see

1- I havent tried 0 turn mode, but judging by other people's experiences, i already prefer 1 turn mode as i find that more realistic.
2- Dont play on VH/VH. You should aim for Hard/Hard as it has been stated that VH/VH is bugged and the AI is granted ridiculous amounts of bonuses or something
3- There's no way in hell that i'll play as the Romans. The romans are good for only one thing: to be slaughtered!
4- No time limit? Combine that with 0 turn mode and you'll have a pretty tiresome campaign.

I think i'll refrain myself from participating , since on my campaign (1turn; H/H) im at 726 A.U.C and still have the eastern part of the map to go.

[AspisPhalanx90]

thought id post my first empire in a while..
Parthian campaign, 0 turn

Currently working on rebuilding the Achamenied empire, or Sassanid...yes i know Parthia wasnt "Persian" like those two, but its my game, my leaders, my rules



heres a shot of my current heir and expansion. Just took Babylon after a long campaign against the Seleucids. Now, access to Palmyran phalangites to bolster my infantry center, archers, and of course cavalry, Xerxes is poised for the second campaign to the coast of the Meditteranean, and hopefully armenia will stay out of my way. Then who knows...Greece? but successful this time for dear Xerxes?

EDIT: And no, i dont plan on HA spamming...its not as fun, and a few persian phalangites could conquer the world in combination

Only 2 battles have been real doozies. The first outside of Susa involved tons of Sele units, essentially eating my arrows and still having the numbers to cause havok (pikes put up a serious fight). The second was in babylon, where a rebel army consisting of 3 cataphract elephants and 4 indian elephants bolstered the defences...needless to say, it was a bloody one..until they turned amok and crushed everyone else. In both those situations, id have to say the number of HAs are actually what ended up hurting me in the end. Therefore, its gonna be 5 infantry, 5 cataphracts, and 10 HAs instead from now on..so much more balanced eh?

[Grimbold]

After feeling disapointed with my Gallaeci campaign due to very recently finding out about script malfunction, i decided to give another "barbarian" faction a try.

Here's my Belgae campaign, on Hard/Hard and 1 turn mode

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Started out by taking rebel/free people settlements that were around. Early in the game the Gallaeci attacked the Averni by besieging Lemonun. I wouldnt call that war since they're constantly on ceasefire/declaring war.
I took advantage of this situation and attacked the Averni and my main objective here was to take Gergovia for it had a high lvl barracks.
The gallaeci were unsuccessfull on their expedition in gaul for they took no city. Soon after they attacked me and that culminated on me completely subjugating the iberians.

Rome still had a presence in Gaul, holding the city of Nemausus. Later on i noticed that they had a stack inside my lands so i thought "here we go!" and i was right, they attacked me.
Im starting to think that the AI sometimes attacks you for the sake of breaking alliances, since Rome's attacked broke mine with the Cimbrii, who now have stacks guarding bridges into their holdings. Gotta keep an eye on that. Rome's presence in Gaul was finished as i destroyed 2 of their armies and they're now apparently focusing on the Balkans (same thing happened on my Gallaeci campaign).

After taking Nemausus, it didnt take long for Carthage to move up and declare war aswell. After relieving this city, i attacked and took Emporion.

Im now in the process of building level 3 barracks on 2 northern hispanian cities so that i may submite the peninsula to my rule, thus expelling the carthaginians from it. Im also mass recruiting generals so that i dont leave my iberian settlements governless when i move out my armies from the cities.

The economy is average, going from 20 to 40.000 income per turn.

As for the Belgaen army rouster, its a bit weird. They seem to rely alot on spearmen and dont have alot of cavarly support. Their missile support is also somewhat average, having access to your basic archer unit and slingers. I wanted to make an army with half spearmen half swordsmen(with javelins), but the late ones are really expensive. Hell their Belgae champion or w/e they're called (a unit armed with an axe and shield) costs 4000. I was also surprised that, for a barbarian faction, they have very few units with the warcry ability.

Oh and this time im being carefull with the script thing and not making the mistake of reloading saves without quitting the game first.

[Pe Ell]

My current campaign, Macedon, hard/medium 0 turn.

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Currently at war with Rome, Ptolemac and Free Greece, allied with Seleucid, Cimbri, Dacia, Sarmatia and Carthage. Plenty of friends, Rome sending countless legions on me but I'm slowly pushing them back. Philip V just took Rome at 63 years of age.

I decided to drop battle difficulty for this campaign for several reason. Firstly I just wanted to have fun, fool around with more varied stacks which is harder with the stats bonuses AI get above medium. Tends to be just full elite stacks. Secondly I was frustrated with the morale bonus, and city battles too. Was to much meat grind to be fun. I know I can win on hard and very hard anyway, it just takes more time and constant focus. I am actually enjoying medium more, might go for that in the future too. I sorta wish you could play very hard battles in the early game, then drop to medium when many stacks in the later game.

[The excited one]

just one small question how can you post your campaign pictures i had a seleucid empire for antiochus III before landing against the romans which i m not sure how the heck can you defeat the romans like this for Pe Ell any advice ??????

[Pe Ell]

just one small question how can you post your campaign pictures i had a seleucid empire for antiochus III before landing against the romans which i m not sure how the heck can you defeat the romans like this for Pe Ell any advice ??????

Take a screenshot and upload it to a free image hosting site like Imageshack/ or Photobucket/. Then post the link it gives here.

As for fighting rome, I advice on mobility. Their armies are mostly heavy infantry, so locking them down with phalanxes and smash from behind with cavalry alexander style works fine. Horse archers and slingers from behind is also great. And be aggressive in your warfare, every city you take is one less they can't train troops in.

Update on Macedonian campaign.

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Rome is gone, but who will weep for the romans? Not me! Highlighted on the pic is my top assassin, who also managed to get the job as king of Epiros. I wonder how he advanced to that position, eh...

[Grimbold]

Take a screenshot and upload it to a free image hosting site like Imageshack/ or Photobucket/. Then post the link it gives here.

As for fighting rome, I advice on mobility. Their armies are mostly heavy infantry, so locking them down with phalanxes and smash from behind with cavalry alexander style works fine. Horse archers and slingers from behind is also great. And be aggressive in your warfare, every city you take is one less they can't train troops in.

Update on Macedonian campaign.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Rome is gone, but who will weep for the romans? Not me! Highlighted on the pic is my top assassin, who also managed to get the job as king of Epiros. I wonder how he advanced to that position, eh...

Taking a look at your map, it seems that arent many that can face you. Perhaps Carthage, but if im not mistaken it appears they're losing agaisnt Gallaecia since they've lose Arsa to them.

On the east it isnt clear, perhaps the seleuceds. A closer look at the diplomacy tab would tell

[AspisPhalanx90]

The Emergence of the Sassanid/Parthian Empire

EDIT: uPDATED..see next post

Pergamon is surprisingly doing something, Rome is all over the place, and everyone else has seemed to be pretty quiet. at this point, ive been blowing tons of money on renovating and improving my cities and securing the borders. With a lull in the action finally, i want to move around some governors, since they havnt been doing much lately. Hopefully, everything i need done will be done by the time the next war breaks out, but if it does, my provinces should be in a nice organized state to quickly assault whomever. Most major cities can quickly raise a levy army of cataphracts, HAs, and in the west, palmyran phalangites and other infantry....The Achaemenids are BACK!

(ps...who to conquer next? Armenia or Pergamon??)

[Dramatic Cat]

Nice empire there!

I recomend you go for pergamon, they will fall like fleas against oyur HAs, tho if youd like a challenge go for Armenia, their Nahkaras (or whatever) are the most BAMF cavalry in the mod (try taking them down with the best cataphract you have in melee). And also if you get to border the sarmatians theyre quite likely to come at you and youll have to watch out for those nobles, they might not seem much on their stats but their numbers will make you go

[AspisPhalanx90]

Nice empire there!

I recomend you go for pergamon, they will fall like fleas against oyur HAs, tho if youd like a challenge go for Armenia, their Nahkaras (or whatever) are the most BAMF cavalry in the mod (try taking them down with the best cataphract you have in melee). And also if you get to border the sarmatians theyre quite likely to come at you and youll have to watch out for those nobles, they might not seem much on their stats but their numbers will make you go

Well, ive eliminated the seleucids since then, and was allied with both pergamon and armenia, but the two are now at war so i decided to stick with Armenia. Right now the toughest task is keeping people happy, (current capital is Seleucia). Once i get some happy buildings in line, its time to start mustering armies of 5 palmyrans, 10 HAs, and 5 cataphracts and 5 archers/slingers/med cav to mount a massive invasion of Western Anatolia when the time is right

EDIT: updated the first picture

[DarthLazy]

Looks like you loaded an old patch buddy.

[Pe Ell]

Looks like you loaded an old patch buddy.

Yeah, I believe I am running 2.1, and not 2.1a. I never really thought about it tbh, so thanks for pointing it out to me.

Anyways, Macedon update while I'm at it.

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Diplo was requested, so here it is. Lifted FoW for these as well, to make sure world was up to date.

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Also, as special bonus, the most epic battle I've fought in RS2 to this date. It was... bloody.

Winter, 155 SE. The Macedonian empire stretches from the far east to Gaul, and while King Damasus has been busy subjugating northern Africa the barbarians strike the northern border. I screaming hordes they pour down, burning farmland and pillaging where they go. Sekoundos of Korinthos is in charge of holding the gallic settlements, and is encamped with his army of some 3600 men near Bibract. He recieves word of the impending threat, and react quickly. Scouts are sent out and reports a massive army in wait near Lugdunon. Numbers are indicated at over 12 000. They are however not battle deployed, trusting in their ability to melt into the woods and stay invisible. Thus they are unaware that Macedonian agents have spotted them. Sekoundos orders the attack...

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He forms his troops according to classic Macedonian warfare, pikes holding the center, hypaspists on the right flank and hoplites covering the other side. His large cavarly detachment is concentrated to the left, noticing this as the weak point in the enemys army.

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The ground shakes with the approaching enemies, as the Macedonians steels themselves to recieve the gallic charge.

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The cavalry is ordered out, charge lead by the fearsome Companions. The gallic right flank begins to buckle as they lack the dicipline to stand against these veteran troops.

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The center line fighting is fierce, the phalanx holds, but is taking casaulties.

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The macedonian right flank is sorely pressed by thousands of Arverni troops, the hypaspists are falling and even the skirmishers and archers are forced to join in the melee.

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But to the left the Cavalry has found an opening, and lead by Sekoundos they charge repeatedly. Gallic morale plummets, and their center collapses.

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The phalanx advances, pushing whatever stands in their way aside.

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Fleeing gauls are mercilessly cut down.

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The groans of the wounded can be heard, as the entire forest is filled with the dead and dying. Many brave Macedonians are among the fallen, as Sekoundos army has been reduced in numbers rather steeply.
But victory is theirs! All hail the glorious dead!

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[Everto]

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[/SPOILER]

HOLY ING + Rep dude, that is unreal. I tip my hat of to my Macedonian bretheren (Seleucia represent haha)

[AspisPhalanx90]

HOLY ING + Rep dude, that is unreal. I tip my hat of to my Macedonian bretheren (Seleucia represent haha)

Seleucia will always fall