Where should Hannibal lead his armies now?

**Rabscallion** · November 05, 2011, 06:37 AM

I'd quite like some advice for my carthage (huge size and m,m) campaign as I often get bored before getting this far and am not really sure how to go how about playing late game RS2. I've done toggle_fow to give you a good idea of what the maps like.

Here's a brief description of how I got to here. It's 555 AUC, Hannibal (now the Conqueror) crushed Rome very early on (despite many fun and hard fought battles) by taking and holding their capital. Despite failed seiges and reinforcements he held until help could arrive.

My other 10 star general headed the Iberian campaign. When my spies saw that they were warring with the Averni I snuck my armies to Brigantion and when they tried to return Hannibal waited at Emporiae and crushed them. The cities fell easily even with the spawned stack.

All of the western med is now under my rule. I've left Rome to die by itself, to hopefuly prevent/delay war with Makedon and the Averni. After enjoying the riches held in Massalia and Syrakusoi I waged an aggressive campaign against the Free Greeks and now hold Thebes, Thermos and Corinth.
Hannibal and his young and inexperienced General companions (around 3 stacks currently) plan to take Athens and wipe out the Greeks.

One army is left to guard north italy and southern gaul after I waged war with the Boi (and to watch those lurking Averni stacks) My real veterans are being retrained and on route after the iberian wars.

So, should I crush Sparta and march north through Makedon who are at war with Pergamon or hold southern greece while taking my armies elsewhere like Egypt or somewhere crazy like Dacia/Germany?

and is Averni land even slightly worth it for the cost/time it will take? Because as I've learnt, desert folk aren't that good in woodland against Gallic units

How shall I best deal with Carthage's unique military recruitment stlye (which I'm LOVING) as I get further away from my native lands? Should I make Italy/Greece (being central to the map) my new recruitment centre?

**freakkriek** · November 05, 2011, 06:49 AM

well you got a point that Carthages units in Gaul and Upper Germania well.... don't reach their full potential
i would try to keep the Arveni at bay with some units from Iberia and the Boii with Italian units
EXTERMINATE SPARTA
and take Egypt ;-) they have rich cities and here your units fight again in the desert
and it's pretty easy to defend when you have all their cities up to the Suez kanal.
And with the units you have now, you will probably just walk over the egyptians

**DarthLazy** · November 05, 2011, 06:52 AM

Do it all over again

**Rabscallion** · November 05, 2011, 07:45 AM

Ok cool. Thanks, I wasn't sure I wanted the Egyptian lands due to their distance away, but I did forget they are really rich. As I thought though, no point going into gaul. I may still have to if they war with me but I'm having fun as it is.
I think it would look nice to have a map with as much of the coast of the mediteranian under my control so I will be going to Egypt after crushing the rest of Greece/Sparta and enough of Makedon to render them useless.

Anybody else have the fortune of trying gold chevron and silver weapon/armour Numidians? Them and everything I started in Italy with is just so strong. I've had to split hannibal and many of my veterans up because the pre batle ratio's were getting riduclous and Heroic victories just weren't ever going to happen.

My major problem with harder battle difficulty is that their poor quality units can match my professionals so i'll never be turning it up, just looking for ways to make it a bit harder. Any ideas? Maybe only 15 units a stack?

**freakkriek** · November 05, 2011, 08:32 AM

if you really want to make it harder i would suggest you try the submod FGE
it's a 1-turn recruit campaign with a lot of extra additions to make it a lot harder for the human player
it's only for the roman campaign though
and for other campaigns what i do, when i see i'm just steamrolling every one, is like you suggested
never more then 15 units OR use never more then 3 or 2 of the same units in your army (this will make it very difficult)

**Rabscallion** · November 05, 2011, 10:05 AM

ok yeah that sounds good. I have to agree, I had 4 numidians in most of my armies and it was getting far too easy. Their speed/stamina and throwing spears makes them superior to any cavalry unit in the game (obv not against horse archers) and they can probably decimate most infantry too.

I've looked at the submods and while they look great I personally am not the biggest fan of playing the romans. Historically Rome was very cool, but using they're strengths and tactics in this game has never been that fun for me, it always takes too long as I need decent cavalry to cause a quick route. However i do LOVE the look of the post marian units but getting there is a long process and your army composition doesn't change for quite a while. I like that as my empire grows the unit composition changes and with Rome it stays mostly the same the entire time.

I'm worried I may just have run out of steam with this campaign(or RTW in general) I just checked out the reviews for battlefield 3 and now I'm considering getting that.

Thanks for the advice though. I'm still determined to complete this campaign at the very least

**freakkriek** · November 05, 2011, 10:17 AM

same here, in the beginning i wasn't such a big Roman fan since the lack in diversity can annoy me pretty quick but well they did conquor every one and after playing a while i just decided to keep recruiting the campanian cav because i feel the same about the cav they don't have a lot and actually i'm a cav fan

and i have to admit i'm just waiting for the release of the next update for this version because i've run out of steam too.

and i already got battlefield 3, just go and get it, RTW will still be here ;-)
it's just wonderfull, i only stopped playing cause my mouse broke down and you just can't play a shooter with your touchpad

**Rabscallion** · November 05, 2011, 12:13 PM

hmmm, interesting. I may have to. Although I was going to get it on 360 because I struggle to play shooters with my mouse although I do see that it is much better on PC.

Back on topic, I love this mod too much to ever stop. Although i've played almost every faction I'd want to so spicing it up is a must. Might start a new one with hard campaign settings as I don't normally like it but medium just isn't a challenge unless I play Rome again. Maybe Averni, or Gallaeci but I don't like crappy starting positions. With the next patch I'll be back on it for sure but I may need something else to play for now.

Thanks for the help.

**freakkriek** · November 05, 2011, 01:58 PM

no problem

**century x** · November 05, 2011, 07:55 PM

Take over Sparta.

Ship him back North and take over Gaul, or Dacia

**Rabscallion** · November 05, 2011, 09:21 PM

Sound plan. I think Dacia may just be pushing for me it but I like the ambition. I can't deal with the terrible unhappiness for so long. Maybe pillaging and destroying towns and only keeping cities might help?? Will they revert to Dacia again?

I think only Hannibal himself could undergo that campaign. What sort of age do you expect him to live to? I can't figure an average in this game, something lik 65? ...30 turns more wouldn't be bad at all.

**century x** · November 06, 2011, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by Rabscallion

Sound plan. I think Dacia may just be pushing for me it but I like the ambition. I can't deal with the terrible unhappiness for so long. Maybe pillaging and destroying towns and only keeping cities might help?? Will they revert to Dacia again?

I think only Hannibal himself could undergo that campaign. What sort of age do you expect him to live to? I can't figure an average in this game, something lik 65? ...30 turns more wouldn't be bad at all.

No they won't revert to Dacia. Exterminate maybe their capital and leave descent Garrisons behind. Destroy the culture buildings that really helps.

After this Dacia campaign chill out for a bit and do not expand. Leave your armies in Dacia so they can bring peace there. After the happiness is up and you have governors in place then move on.

In regards to his age. When I saw him in the first picture I said uhhh he is a little old. The latest I have seen him is around 60 - 62. Never seen him at 65.

It is a risk there but I think you can stretch it.

**Rabscallion** · November 07, 2011, 04:49 AM

ok that sounds good. This could be the first RSII campaign I complete, if I can stay the course. I'm sure I will, becuase getting bored of a factions roster is much more difficult when they have unique unit recruitment everywhere.

Unfortunatley for Hannibal I bought battlefield 3 so this campaign is on hold right now. However i've never been able to put any RTW game down for long and this is the best by far.

I'll drop something into the empires thread when I make gains that people might be interested in. Thanks for the advice, I'll need some when I'm in Dacia. I can't imagine my armies will last long if I get too near the Roxolonoi, or any horse archers for that matter. I love how mercenaries can be actually be used to fill the strategic gaps in your army without worrying about retraining them.