The Council of Carthage - Redux!

[El Crumb]

Hello to all and especially fellow Carthaginians.

The motivation behind this new thread is simply, to allow players of Carthage somewhere to voice their views on the faction, progress in their campaigns, tips, stratagies and, of course, a place to curse Romans!

I hope to draw on any advice given here and apply it to a fresh 1-turn campaign with Carthage.

So to business. Carthage is a great faction to start with, it has a number of overseas settlements which I always find challenging, especially at the beginning of a campaign. It has a good recruitment and financial centre with the city of Carthage, plenty of room for expansion in Iberia and Africa and it has an epic foe in the Romans. Everything you need basicly for an exciting campaign.

And did I mention you get Hannibal and war elephants?

Your thoughts, comments and advice please fellow gamers.

[Lt.Speirs]

I cant recall that hannibal actually HAS elephants. When playing as rome you'll almost fight him immediatly and there were no elephants with him

[El Crumb]

I cant recall that hannibal actually HAS elephants. When playing as rome you'll almost fight him immediatly and there were no elephants with him

You are entirely correct in your statement. Hannibal doesn't start with elephants in the campaign, historically too few survived the trek across the alps to feature as a full unit in the game.

What I meant to note was that Carthage does however have access to elephants and can always supply them to Hannibal if he survives long enough!

Personally I'm hoping to ship some to Iberia to scare the bejeesus out of the locals!

[Velico]

Carthage is one of my favorite factions to play as. They have diverse units, imperial ambitions with their sporadic territory, corruption in the far ends of their empire, and a great starting position.

I typically start with ships to ferry Hannibal back for new units and to upgrade them, while building up a fleet to protect against Roman incursions. In the core cities I like to start with money-maker buildings, while on the fringes of the empire I focus on placing governors and building academies/law buildings to combat the rampant corruption. Once Hannibal's army is refitted, I tend to march into Iberia and put all my military focus on the Gallaeci. Solidify the Iberian peninsula, and build up for a war against Rome.

I like to have a strong navy so that I can not only dominate the seas, but ferry troops to wherever I need without hindrance. Once Rome is beaten back (if not completely eliminated) I round up all the free/rebel territories and build up my economy for a while. From there my wrath comes to whomever seems the most dangerous on my borders.

[El Crumb]

Excellent post Velico, sounds like you've enjoyed a campaign or two with the mighty Carthage!

I've only just began my campaign and like you decided to invest what little starting money I had in tax/trade improvements in my core African cities and happiness increasing builds in Iberia. After reviewing the accounts it appears Hannibal has a lot of explaining to do as his forces expenditure accounted for around 80% of my total income! I've had to disband a lot of my garrison troops and ships to try and generate a little more money for building.

I'm going to use Carthage and New Carthage as my military and financial centres, developing my generals and governors there, and my other settlements as tax and trade towns. So to that end I moved all my family members to those two settlements for training.

Now, in Italy I wasn't sure how much I wanted to commit with Hannibal and his troops. I destroyed the legion at the battle of the lake before deciding to march on Rome. Burning my bridges as I went I gifted Genoa to my new allies the Boii. I figured it wasn't a settlement that was going to contribute a lot at this stage of the campaign and that if I lost my battles in Italy an attack by Rome on it's former province would bring the Boii into the fight on my side.

Rome's faction leader led a legion out to give battle with Hannibal but was killed by his Carthaginian rival and his army destroyed. My triumphant troops sacked the city, carrying away its treasures and destroying its great buildings. At this stage of the game I had no intention of trying to hold the city and so I handed over the smoking ruins to the Boii.

If the Romans recover from the loss of their capital they will have to wrest it back from a powerful Boii kingdom. This should leave me clear of their attentions while I develop my own settlements and plan the recapture of the former Carthaginian territories of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily.

Any thoughts on what I've done so far? Hannibal has had his revenge on Rome, most of his forces are intact and a fleet stands at anchor. Where shall he sail now?

[Velico]

Excellent post Velico, sounds like you've enjoyed a campaign or two with the mighty Carthage!

I've only just began my campaign and like you decided to invest what little starting money I had in tax/trade improvements in my core African cities and happiness increasing builds in Iberia. After reviewing the accounts it appears Hannibal has a lot of explaining to do as his forces expenditure accounted for around 80% of my total income! I've had to disband a lot of my garrison troops and ships to try and generate a little more money for building.

Yeah, that's part of ferrying Hannibal back. I disband the expensive units like the Celtiberian Spearmen and other units that can't be replenished easily (naked fanatics, light swordsmen, etc). They eat up a ton of resources that could be used for better units like the sacred band and early libyan spearmen. I'm more in favor of uniform armies instead of random units. Although it is nice sometimes to have the diversity to counter.

I'm going to use Carthage and New Carthage as my military and financial centres, developing my generals and governors there, and my other settlements as tax and trade towns. So to that end I moved all my family members to those two settlements for training.

Yeah, that's typically what I do as well. I keep New Carthage with Iberian aor troops and a couple Carthage-specific troops so they can be retrained easily. Same goes for Carthage, elephants, sacred band, etc.

Now, in Italy I wasn't sure how much I wanted to commit with Hannibal and his troops. I destroyed the legion at the battle of the lake before deciding to march on Rome. Burning my bridges as I went I gifted Genoa to my new allies the Boii. I figured it wasn't a settlement that was going to contribute a lot at this stage of the campaign and that if I lost my battles in Italy an attack by Rome on it's former province would bring the Boii into the fight on my side.

Yeah, in 1-turn I swap out Hannibal's forces with some of the auxiliary mercenary/celtic, crush Nepos, and use the remaining forces to cause havoc and grind the Roman economy to a halt while preparing a fleet strong enough to sail Hannibal out. I typically don't mess with them too much though because I like a good war with Rome, and prefer to take the Gallaeci out quickly since their units are superior to Carthages.

Any thoughts on what I've done so far? Hannibal has had his revenge on Rome, most of his forces are intact and a fleet stands at anchor. Where shall he sail now?

Seems pretty good. The next question you have to ask is whether or not you want to defeat the Romans now or later. After I cause some havoc I take Emporiae, and sometimes their holds in Sicily, then focus on Iberia. By then your navy should be dominant, and the Gallaeci will have built up a bit. The Romans will most likely be recovering for a while and your economy will start to blossom. The tough part of defeating the Romans that early is full occupation of Italy. The Carthaginian economy just isn't ready for it so, imo, it's not feasible to fully eliminate them. I tend to siege some of their bigger cities and destroy a lot of their infrastructure with the forces that start in Italy then slowly take their imperial gains around the Mediterranean.

[TheJim]

I disbanded and or re-assigned all of my garrison troops. Been consolidating in Spain whilst Hannibal destroys the Romans in Italy. Completely wiped out 5 legions between his and the supporting army. Destroyed Nepos first, then marched to Cannae, annihilating 3 legions on the way down. The supporting army took arretium. Hannibal then captured first Cannae, then Capua. Now, his depleted force has been put on the defensive as Roman stacks are conjured out of nowhere, and Capua remains the only town on the Italian peninsula still in Carthaginian hands. However, a freshly recruited, strong and uniform army from Carthage is only one turn away from lifting the second siege of Capua!

[El Crumb]

I disbanded and or re-assigned all of my garrison troops.

I've been employing Caetrati as garrison troops in Iberia. I thought they were pretty good value for money as they are full size infantry units with a very low upkeep cost and they may prove useful as reserves if called upon. Not sure yet what make the best garrison troops in Africa, perhaps the light libyan spearmen? My core settlements are happy with just a governor and his guard for now.

Been consolidating in Spain whilst Hannibal destroys the Romans in Italy. Completely wiped out 5 legions between his and the supporting army. Destroyed Nepos first, then marched to Cannae, annihilating 3 legions on the way down. The supporting army took arretium. Hannibal then captured first Cannae, then Capua.

Congratulations on your run of victories against the legions. What do you find are your most effective tactics? I usually try and engage the cohorts in a single line with my spearmen. I let my skirmishers or slingers soak some of the pilum showers initially and try and work my light infantry into flanking positions. My cavalry take out the opposing skirmishers/archers/cavalry and generals before hitting the engaged cohorts in the rear. Simple but effective. I'm going to experiment with deploying horsemen behind enemy stacks as battle reinforcements. Not sure how the A.I. will use them though. I hope they will skirmish and draw away enemy units from my main army and not charge hell for leather into spearmen!

Now, his depleted force has been put on the defensive as Roman stacks are conjured out of nowhere, and Capua remains the only town on the Italian peninsula still in Carthaginian hands. However, a freshly recruited, strong and uniform army from Carthage is only one turn away from lifting the second siege of Capua!

What is your long term strategy in Italy? Do you think you can hold what you capture against Rome?

My plan is to keep Rome fighting on a number of fronts, stretching their resources and attention. Once I've taken Sicily, or at least Lilybaeum, I'll consider striking for Sardinia and Corsica.
As you can see my short term plan is to recover the lost possessions of the first punic war. After that I should be in a strong enough position to invade southern Italy and hold some of the settlements there. Thats what I'm hoping anyway!

[TheJim]

I've been employing Caetrati as garrison troops in Iberia. I thought they were pretty good value for money as they are full size infantry units with a very low upkeep cost and they may prove useful as reserves if called upon. Not sure yet what make the best garrison troops in Africa, perhaps the light libyan spearmen? My core settlements are happy with just a governor and his guard for now.



Congratulations on your run of victories against the legions. What do you find are your most effective tactics? I usually try and engage the cohorts in a single line with my spearmen. I let my skirmishers or slingers soak some of the pilum showers initially and try and work my light infantry into flanking positions. My cavalry take out the opposing skirmishers/archers/cavalry and generals before hitting the engaged cohorts in the rear. Simple but effective. I'm going to experiment with deploying horsemen behind enemy stacks as battle reinforcements. Not sure how the A.I. will use them though. I hope they will skirmish and draw away enemy units from my main army and not charge hell for leather into spearmen!



What is your long term strategy in Italy? Do you think you can hold what you capture against Rome?

My plan is to keep Rome fighting on a number of fronts, stretching their resources and attention. Once I've taken Sicily, or at least Lilybaeum, I'll consider striking for Sardinia and Corsica.
As you can see my short term plan is to recover the lost possessions of the first punic war. After that I should be in a strong enough position to invade southern Italy and hold some of the settlements there. Thats what I'm hoping anyway!

Tactics have varied somewhat based on Terrain, enemy army composition and my own troop depletion. The general tactic, up until the last field battle before the seiges started when I had few troops, was as follows:

African infantry in the centre, with Hannibal behind, Celts/Gauls on the left flank (with infantry in front and cavalry behind and to the flank) and Iberians on the right flank (same setup as the gauls, but with numidians supporting the spanish cavalry.) The skirmishers and slingers would screen the entire front, spread out and used to absorb pila and harrass the enemy right flank, concentrating the far left unit. As the lines closed, and the enemy stopped to start throwing pila, the gallic infantry would charge, whilst the spanish and numidian cavalry would engage the roman cavalry, keeping its distance and isolating it before charging to destroy it. The rest of the infantry would engage, with the Libyans and heavy spanish spearmen absorbing much of the roman attack with few casualties, while the gauls press hard on the roman right, substantially weakened now, and begin to turn that flank. With the roman cavalry destroyed, the spanish and numidian cavalry return to throw what remains of their missiles into the backs of the roman infantry, whilst the heavy gallic cavalry wheels around the roman left, and charges when Roman morale begins to waver. This normally results in a chain rout, and not more than 6 romans have left the field alive in any of my battles so far.

[TheJim]

In terms of my long term plans, I don't plan to hold Capua. It will be very costly for me to do so, so I'll relieve the seige with the relief force, destroy the remaining Legions in the area and then march Hannibal and his fresh army south, burning Capua and sacking all of the southern Roman cities on the way, before heading to Sicily and hopefully wresting control of it from the Romans. With Carthage itself so close and Hannibal commanding a large, fresh army against the almost non existent Roman presence on the island, it shouldn't be hard. The Romans, although having been able to force me out of Italy, have been left reeling by the expenditure of creating so many armies and having them destroyed more quickly than they can be raised. This has allowed me to secure my position in Iberia, and will soon take Emporae. The other advantage is that their war with me has made them unable to expand to the North and unable to hold their settlement on Macedonian lands. When I also control Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and have all of their ports blockaded, they will be surrounded by enemies and landlocked, whilst being severely weakened. At this point, my plan will be to seal off Northern Italy with two full stacks, whilst invading from southern Italy and making my way up. The two Northern stacks will then take Arretium and Arminium and all that will be left to fall is Rome itself! I don't know what my plans are for after I've defeated the Romans just yet.

[El Crumb]

In terms of my long term plans, I don't plan to hold Capua. It will be very costly for me to do so, so I'll relieve the seige with the relief force, destroy the remaining Legions in the area and then march Hannibal and his fresh army south, burning Capua and sacking all of the southern Roman cities on the way, before heading to Sicily and hopefully wresting control of it from the Romans. With Carthage itself so close and Hannibal commanding a large, fresh army against the almost non existent Roman presence on the island, it shouldn't be hard. The Romans, although having been able to force me out of Italy, have been left reeling by the expenditure of creating so many armies and having them destroyed more quickly than they can be raised. This has allowed me to secure my position in Iberia, and will soon take Emporae. The other advantage is that their war with me has made them unable to expand to the North and unable to hold their settlement on Macedonian lands. When I also control Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and have all of their ports blockaded, they will be surrounded by enemies and landlocked, whilst being severely weakened. At this point, my plan will be to seal off Northern Italy with two full stacks, whilst invading from southern Italy and making my way up. The two Northern stacks will then take Arretium and Arminium and all that will be left to fall is Rome itself! I don't know what my plans are for after I've defeated the Romans just yet.

Sounds like a good plan! You're smashing through those legions in real style. I think and it seems to be the consensus around here that Sicily is your best bet for a take and hold style campaign at this stage. I'm really hoping the Romans try and stop me there when I land as I want some epic tussles in Pyrhus' old stomping ground.

How do you plan to get to north Italy? Are you going to march overland or sail there? I was planning to strike Rome from the south, via Sicily, concentrating on wresting the southern settlements from roman control. If by that stage I've taken the coastal settlements in southern Gaul and I'll march troops from Spain into the north of Italy to split the foe and support the forces in the south.

After winning Iberia and Italy I guess my next move would be Greece or possibly Egypt. Or you could look to subjugate the whole of Gaul and add Britannia to your posessions.

[El Crumb]

Here are a couple of screenies showing how things are after the start of my campaign



This is how I've left things in Italy with the Boii running things in the north.



My African territories prosper and taxes flow.

[Ferdiad]

So how strong is Carthaes economy in relation to Romes?

[Velico]

So how strong is Carthaes economy in relation to Romes?

Early on I'd say not even close, but as you develop, manage corruption, and take all of Iberia they churn out cash. I haven't played a full Roman campaign yet, so I can't say for certain, but I'd take a gander that Carthage is close but found wanting a bit. If you're going strictly off the starting locations, Rome hands down. Their cities are way more developed and prosperous in trade.

@ Crumb - Looks like you devastated Rome pretty good early on. I started a new campaign to test on 1-turn and it's not quite as far in as you, but I've destroyed Nepos, the full stacks that spawn at Rome, Arretium, and the northern city on the Adriatic that I forget the name of. Hannibal had quite a close call in the 4th battle. He was weak, in between Rome and Arretium, and had to fend off two full stacks with one. He managed, actually to my surprise, and regrouped in Genoa. I'm making another incursion to their lands as I haven't quite yet developed a strong enough navy to control the seaways. I plan on taking the three cities above, destroying their means of economy and war-making, then setting sail from Rome.

[El Crumb]

As Velico says, the Carthaginian economy is not strong to begin with. I'm sure my starting turns profits were around 1,500 Denerii! Hannibals forces and your garrisons eat up 80% of your income and only Carthage and New Carthage are making a profit. In additon, the towns that are happy to accept high taxes are massively under developed or have a tiny population, while the larger towns in Iberia are close to rebelling from the first. Still, once you have the basics in place; markets, high taxes, roads etc you really start earning! I'm less then ten turns in and making 25,000+ per turn. Not sure how that compares to the Romans at the same stage.

@Velico; 1-turn campaign is a blast isn't it. Great work on keeping Hannibal and his forces alive under those conditions! I was able to pretty much annihilate Nepos with few casualties but after laying siege to Rome with Hannibal and Maharbal's forces I was counter attacked by a small stack and the legion in Rome. Not too much to handle except I was left controlling Maharbals force! It was pretty desperate stuff as I refused to give the A.I. control of Hannibal and my better troops.

I thought I'd set the Romans back a good while but after just a couple of years they've marched three legions up to siege each of the towns I granted to the Boii. So their doesn't seem to be too much wrong with their economy. I'm not too concerned as they have initiated a war with the Boii which while tie them up further while I campaign in Sicily.

Where are you heading once you leave Italy?

@theJim; I found in a previous save that Rome fights hard for those Islands! I landed on Corsica to siege the town there only to have Scipio land with a legion and attack me. I killed him and routed his army and that of the garrison but ctd when my turn came around. I'm curious to see if the legions will appear in Sicily now that I've invaded. Those legions sneek up on ya!

A campaign to re-take Phoenicia will be pretty epic. Not sure where to start with that one!

[TheJim]

As Velico says, the Carthaginian economy is not strong to begin with. I'm sure my starting turns profits were around 1,500 Denerii! Hannibals forces and your garrisons eat up 80% of your income and only Carthage and New Carthage are making a profit. In additon, the towns that are happy to accept high taxes are massively under developed or have a tiny population, while the larger towns in Iberia are close to rebelling from the first. Still, once you have the basics in place; markets, high taxes, roads etc you really start earning! I'm less then ten turns in and making 25,000+ per turn. Not sure how that compares to the Romans at the same stage.

@Velico; 1-turn campaign is a blast isn't it. Great work on keeping Hannibal and his forces alive under those conditions! I was able to pretty much annihilate Nepos with few casualties but after laying siege to Rome with Hannibal and Maharbal's forces I was counter attacked by a small stack and the legion in Rome. Not too much to handle except I was left controlling Maharbals force! It was pretty desperate stuff as I refused to give the A.I. control of Hannibal and my better troops.

I thought I'd set the Romans back a good while but after just a couple of years they've marched three legions up to siege each of the towns I granted to the Boii. So their doesn't seem to be too much wrong with their economy. I'm not too concerned as they have initiated a war with the Boii which while tie them up further while I campaign in Sicily.

Where are you heading once you leave Italy?

@theJim; I found in a previous save that Rome fights hard for those Islands! I landed on Corsica to siege the town there only to have Scipio land with a legion and attack me. I killed him and routed his army and that of the garrison but ctd when my turn came around. I'm curious to see if the legions will appear in Sicily now that I've invaded. Those legions sneek up on ya!

A campaign to re-take Phoenicia will be pretty epic. Not sure where to start with that one!

I was going to go with landing an elite royal stack there as a show of power and Carthiginian birthright to the land, and sending a diplomat to purachase back the land from whomever owns it at that stage. If they do not accept, it will be taken by force, and I'll have an exciting frontier war, which will be an interesting challenge to my logistical skills.

[Velico]

Where are you heading once you leave Italy?

Right now I've refitted Hannibal's army, taken the rebel city in N. Africa, and now I'm transporting Hannibal to Emporiae while training a defensive army to protect the Iberian peninsula in case the Gallaeci get any ideas. Once Emporiae is taken, I'll probably take the rebel settlements in Iberia and start a war with the Gallaeci once I feel I have enough forces to conduct such an operation. I'm still at war with Rome, but my navy is fully dominant and with Emporiae gone I will have little to worry about from them for a long time.

I was going to go with landing an elite royal stack there as a show of power and Carthiginian birthright to the land, and sending a diplomat to purachase back the land from whomever owns it at that stage. If they do not accept, it will be taken by force, and I'll have an exciting frontier war, which will be an interesting challenge to my logistical skills.

Just curious, what is an "elite royal stack" to you? If I were to envision one, I'd probably make it:

5x marines
6x sacred band (infantry)
4x sacred band (cavalry)
2x aravaci medium cav
2x tower elephants
1x general

[TheJim]

Right now I've refitted Hannibal's army, taken the rebel city in N. Africa, and now I'm transporting Hannibal to Emporiae while training a defensive army to protect the Iberian peninsula in case the Gallaeci get any ideas. Once Emporiae is taken, I'll probably take the rebel settlements in Iberia and start a war with the Gallaeci once I feel I have enough forces to conduct such an operation. I'm still at war with Rome, but my navy is fully dominant and with Emporiae gone I will have little to worry about from them for a long time.




Just curious, what is an "elite royal stack" to you? If I were to envision one, I'd probably make it:

5x marines
6x sacred band (infantry)
4x sacred band (cavalry)
2x aravaci medium cav
2x tower elephants
1x general

Something like that. Lots of sacred band and elephants, probably 2 family members. Ceremonial looking, powerful and impressive units.

[El Crumb]

Right now I've refitted Hannibal's army, taken the rebel city in N. Africa, and now I'm transporting Hannibal to Emporiae while training a defensive army to protect the Iberian peninsula in case the Gallaeci get any ideas. Once Emporiae is taken, I'll probably take the rebel settlements in Iberia and start a war with the Gallaeci once I feel I have enough forces to conduct such an operation. I'm still at war with Rome, but my navy is fully dominant and with Emporiae gone I will have little to worry about from them for a long time.

I've left the the rebels in Cirta(?) alone for now. I want to take the city and secure all my African possessions but I've sent Hannibal and his veterans, my only standing army, to Sicily.

My sacred band (3 infantry units and two of cavalry) are stationed in Carthage and so I could use them as the spearhead of a force to take out the rebels. If I add to them some slingers/archers and light infantry that could be enough, I hope. The rebels have a lot of missile troops and skirmishers and my concern is they'll take out too many of my troops before I can engage them and that's supposing they stand to fight.

One way I can think to pin them down would be to siege the city and wait for both stacks to attack me. This would result in them having to bring the fight to me but would give them a huge advantage in numbers and allow them to attack me from the flank or even the rear. It's possible I could find a nice defensive position near the city, sit tight there and hope the main stack engages me.

How did you defeat them?

My Iberian settlements are doing really nicely. The populations are happy (all in the green) growing steadily and reporting profits in each town. The mines make a huge difference! The Galleaci are attacking the free peoples and may well take their settlements, but their forces will be spread thin throughout the lands. I'm watching them while developing an Iberian force of my own. The foundry's in New Carthage are producing silver grade weapons and armour and I have a new tier of troops available as well as the Sufet to lead them. I'm feeling confident in this area!

Sadly my Boii allies have been driven from northen Italy. Their towns have been re-taken by the Romans who attacked in great numbers. Three or four legions are on the march and have already taken some of the free peoples and rebels settlements too. This is an area of concern.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Any thoughts on these developments?

Still, despite this news, the facts are that my strategy worked in so far as Sicily has been left vulnerble with the troops being called north and Hannibal has taken back Lilybaeum for Carthage and added Akragas to our domain as well. I know how important this settlement will be for the Romans and it was a key objective for my campaign. Even now, Roman ships transporting troops have been spotted on the horizon bearing down on the island. Hannibal has pooled his forces together and added elephants from Carthage to his troops list. We await the Romans eagerly!

[TheJim]

I sacked Rhegion and Crotona as planned, as well as burning Capua to the ground and evacuating Hannibal to the south. From there, he sailed back to Carthage, stopping on friendly soil at Syracuse. Then, his new army and another newly recruited and even more elite stack sailed for Sardinia. It was taken quickly, but the Romans landed 4(!!!) stacks there and the fight for Sardinia has taken years to finally boil down. Hannibal has also just taken Corsica. The Roman military is really sorely depleted as they struggle to re-develop their sacked towns and remake their annihilated legions. With the two stacks set sail to be retrained in Carthage, and a new defensive one deployed to hold Corsica, I'll be able to begin the invasion of Sicily. There's only one sizeable Roman stack on the whole island, so victory should be swift. I'll then mass forces on Corsica and invade via sea at Genoa and southern Italy, where I expect light resistance. The only major resistance I expect shall be in the Roman heartlands around central and northeastern Italy.

Before any of that, though, there are several other matters that must be attended to. The cost of being this aggressive has been quite dear and the infrastructure of the empire has suffered somewhat. Tingi has rebelled (and is now beseiged, ready to be retaken) and in Iberia public order is not at it's best. After these internal matters have stabilised, Forces will be deployed to their staging points Just outside Carthage for the invasion of sicily, and as they begin the invasion, the navy will be strenghtened. No more land troops will be trained, but the Navy must become strong, as the Roman navy is currently far superior. We must deny the Romans the ability to support the Island War with troops from the mainland, or else suffer the financial toll of large garrisons and the pain-in-the-arse factor of constant battles (0 turn campaign).

After I take Italy (even that won't be for a while) I will be focusing on the conquest of Iberia. After that? Not sure as yet. I'll be strengthening my borders and growing in prosperity as I gain momentum as a rich trading empire. An eventual goal is to retake the Phoenician homeland, preferably in a non-violent manner.