Free Greeks

[Kozmonavt]

I have to say they are my favourite faction ever since RTR 6 and the inclusion of so many previously unknown remote greek colonies. I played them in RS2 before and after the patch and while I know that they are essentially just a third rebel faction of sorts, playing with them is pretty fun. Romans have a staple legionary unit to be assisted by a variety of allied units, but Greeks have several isolated centers, each producing it's very own hoplites and local auxilliaries. It's just so cool.

And now I start to complain. Maybe more thought should be put in what you can recruit. There are many completely redundant units, such as several cavalry skirmishers or up to four different archer types, not to mention all those cavalry archers. It's nice that you have so much choice, but I think unit selection could still do with a bit of streamlining. Perhaps it's not realistic that you can recruit (for example) elite scythian units around the Black sea just like that, out of the baracks, along with militia units. Maybe they should be moved from barracks and to the mercenary recruitment pool. Corinth and Athens really have a nice selection of units in my opinion, Corinth has a modern, but not immediately available army, and Athens has no real advantage against Macedonians.

Also, there is the issue of Sparta. Sparta doesn't really stand a chance agains a human player, not without walls and with just one starting city. Two turns, even just one, and they are gone. No spawned armies, no retaliation from the full stack besieging Corinth, nothing. You should give them a second city. I don't know, maybe Olympia isn't really under direct spartan control, but they are willing to feed them in order to retake Laconia.

Free Greeks are a blitzkrieg faction, really. You begin with several remote footholds that can produce armies, something you have to fight a long time to achieve in other campaigns, it's true that you have a stretched out budget, but if you focus on one cell at a time, you can quickly secure Athens and Syracuse in just a couple of turns and that gives you a huge headstart. So I think upgrading Sparta would blunt this blitzkrieg somewhat. And I know some people have said you shouldn't do things just because you can, but let's be realistic here, there are no rules in a total war.

[Ferdiad]

I give all the starting Spartan units 6 chevrons, seems to help them alot.

[Drtad]

About the Spartans- they didn't last too long after the start of RS (until 192BC I think?). So them dying quickly isn't particularly incorrect, as they're meant to be a fun faction for the player to play as and maybe reverse the tide of their decline.

[Spartan198]

^Actually the Spartans trucked on until 146 BC when they were assimilated into the Achaean League.

[Drtad]

^Actually the Spartans trucked on until 146 BC when they were assimilated into the Achaean League.

Really? I thought Nabis was the last ruler and he was defeated in 192...

[Dramatic Cat]

Really? I thought Nabis was the last ruler and he was defeated in 192...

ur right
he was

[Spartan198]

ur right
he was

Yes, he is right, I was wrong. I confused some dates, a double check of a few sources reveals it was the Achaean League's dissolution that occurred in 146 BC.

[RollingWave]

Yeah, in 0 turns Free Greeks is by far the easiest to the goal line faction if you know what your doing, and it's cool to fight on several completely unrelated fronts at once you have endless money and multiple epic unit pumping centers (especially if you take Sparta quickly ) Them poor Romans must wonder why attacking Massila caused a bunch of Spartans sacking Rome

[C.Maximus]

Yeah, in 0 turns Free Greeks is by far the easiest to the goal line faction if you know what your doing, and it's cool to fight on several completely unrelated fronts at once you have endless money and multiple epic unit pumping centers (especially if you take Sparta quickly ) Them poor Romans must wonder why attacking Massila caused a bunch of Spartans sacking Rome

Completely agree, with this whole thread, the Free Greek campaign has been my most interesting Total war campaign yet.

[AspisPhalanx90]

Yeah its a bit odd having all those far flung greek cities allied togeather forming an empire, but fun all the same. Bosporan units are naaaaasty...Bosporan Elite Thorakitai..the Greek Legionnaires..love em!

[Odovacar]

With the greeks you"ll have an interesting time....
I made "legions" from illyrian, scordicus soldiers in Salona, wom I paired with Kappadokian heavy cavalry. I had about four different armies, with different nationalities. After conquering Sparta I had a very talented spartan general, I had sarmatian noble elite cavalry and HA-1s to crush my enemies along with achaian phalangites...most sweeties you can have!

My spartan general usually lead a spartan-achaian-boiotian army, my faction leader an athenian one, my thracian leaders led barbarian armies..varietas delectat!

[kostas84]

What i like about the Free Greeks is all the different nationalities and that you can recruit decent troops everywhere, and that you have starting settlements everywhere, East, West, Center.

I like building up an army of Barbarians + Greeks + Eastern HA's.

[Spartan198]

What i like about the Free Greeks is all the different nationalities and that you can recruit decent troops everywhere, and that you have starting settlements everywhere, East, West, Center.

I usually abandon the settlements in North Africa, eastern Asia Minor, and the Balkans (sorry, I don't remember the exact names), ship all FMs and troops back to mainland Greece, and consolidate my resources there. The only ones outside Greece and western Anatolia that I keep are Massalia (because it has a treasury) and Syracuse (because Syracusan Somatphylakes pwn almost all).

[AspisPhalanx90]

I usually abandon the settlements in North Africa, eastern Asia Minor, and the Balkans (sorry, I don't remember the exact names), ship all FMs and troops back to mainland Greece, and consolidate my resources there. The only ones outside Greece and western Anatolia that I keep are Massalia (because it has a treasury) and Syracuse (because Syracusan Somatphylakes pwn almost all).

I highly reccomend keeping the Bosporus...Scythians, Roxolanis, and great infantry

[Spartan198]

I highly reccomend keeping the Bosporus...Scythians, Roxolanis, and great infantry

I do keep the Bosporan settlements. Me loves those Tanais Cataphracts.

[Populus Romanus]

What cities do the Greeks start with? I don't have RS2, so I am clueless. It seems like they have a lot, though.

[C.Maximus]

Campaign since this last summer...difficult... entertaining, dramatic, frustrating, awesome, and at times just plain Epic.


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[Gylippus]

In my Roman campaign the Greeks are like a bad penny, they keep turning up! I'd conquered all of western Europe, Greece and the Balkans, thought I'd got rid of them but about 10 stacks of Greeks descended from the north and I found out that they had huge cities all around the Black Sea and the Russian steppes.

Then about the same time when I defeated the Carthaginians I moved east along the African coast expecting to meet Ptolemaic Egypt and guess what! It's the Free Greeks that control Egypt as well!

And you better have any shipping well protected anywhere in the Black Sea or Mediterranean because you can guarantee 100, 150, 200 Greek ships will appear out of nowhere and attack.

Quite a few starred generals have ended up at the bottom of the sea!

[RollingWave]

What cities do the Greeks start with? I don't have RS2, so I am clueless. It seems like they have a lot, though.

they start with 4 settlements in the Balkans, 1 in Illyria, and Rhodes / Crete / what would be modern Benghazi (Libya) 5 settlements all along the black sea coast, and Syracus / Messila . 15 settlements IIRC

[Spartan198]

they start with 4 settlements in the Balkans, 1 in Illyria, and Rhodes / Crete / what would be modern Benghazi (Libya) 5 settlements all along the black sea coast, and Syracus / Messila . 15 settlements IIRC

4 settlements on the Black Sea coast.