Winning through counterintuitive strategy (Romans)

[JDarcy]

This may not be as counterintuitive as it seemed to me, or at least others may have figured this out far more quickly than I did, but the best way, in my view, to win any of the Roman factions is to use them against non-obvious enemies. Let me explain.

Julii - set up in game balancing to fight Gauls, Germans, Britons, Spanish before turning attention to other Roman factions to win.

Brutii - set up in game balancing to fight Greeks, Macedon, Thrace before turning to other Roman factions to win.

Scipii - set up in game balancing to fight Carthage, Numidia, Egypt before turning to other Roman factions to win.

Obvious, right?

But I find any of these factions far easier to play if they grab early territorial lead by taking on non-traditional enemies.

Julii - usually get missions to Segesta, then Carlais. Do it, then take Lilybaum, and if possible, Carthage. You may not be able to hold Carthage, but there's a lot of gold to me made exterminating its population.

Brutii - usually get mission to take Apollonia and then Thermon. Do it, but also take Syracuse and if possible, Lilybaum.

Scipii - usually get mission to take Syracuse, then sail to Greece and take Sparta, and if possible, Corinth, and/or Athens.

Apart from the obvious benefits --more cities, more money, early access to advanced infantry from large cities like Carthage and Sparta -- you hamstring your Roman 'allies' by taking key territories they require to win the game.

Yes, it diverts time and resources from your main theatre of operation, but all of the above targets are attainable by turns 12-15 at the most if you keep up a steady operational tempo, then you're back to your main targets, far stronger than you would be if you focused entirely on your main targets.

[shikaka]

I play the Romans the opposite way


I do only what the senate tells me, and nothing else.

That seems to be too tedious because of the blockade requests, but if you keep the blockade and don't leave (2 tritremes are enough) they will be out of blockade requests soon.

I think it is a nice change of pace, and it is nice to have maxed relationship with the senate.

[JDarcy]

I play the Romans the opposite way


I do only what the senate tells me, and nothing else.

That seems to be too tedious because of the blockade requests, but if you keep the blockade and don't leave (2 tritremes are enough) they will be out of blockade requests soon.

I think it is a nice change of pace, and it is nice to have maxed relationship with the senate.

That's how I used to play. Now I try to get an Imperial Palace size city asap to trigger Marian Reforms as early as possible. After that, screw the Senate. I try to provoke civil war as early as possible, so I can get a jump on other allies before they can build too many stacks of Pretorian Cohorts etc.

[Entropy Judge]

Apart from the obvious benefits --more cities, more money, early access to advanced infantry from large cities like Carthage and Sparta -- you hamstring your Roman 'allies' by taking key territories they require to win the game.

It doesn't really take 'key territories' ... although it does tend to completely break the other Romans. They're set up to take certain cities in relative order, so if you take Lilybaeum (or even Syracuse!) before the Scipii, whether as the Brutii or the Julii, most of the time the Scipii simply won't do anything. Considering that even Pre-Marian Romans aren't terribly challenged by anyone (except occasionally Egypt and the Seleucids), crippling the other Roman factions in this manner is simply boring.

[underworld965]

What I do is conquer gaul, spain, but make sure to take key territories, such as Sparta, Carthage or Syracuse to limit other roman expansion. I also give pretty much whatever extra money I have to the other roman factions foes. This way I have a harder initial campaign, but less mass spam army fighting in civil war.