Rome

[Unseengenie]

Alright i have been looking for a Thread for Rome, involving campaign & battle strategies and other factor that a player should know about playing as Rome, if there is already one such thread in circulation then be free to point me in its direction and shut this thread down.

My first question is would be wise to attack Macedon with all of my attention leaving only one legion in Northern Italy, after I have gone and evicted Carthage out of Italy and take its Northern points, leaving the Greeks in Sicily & and using them to my advantage to gain some land in Macedonia.
Second question would be wise to use the tribe that own most of Britain (can't think of their name sorry) as a way to deal with the Averni (Spelling?).

[Micon]

Aristotle's Folly have a well made starting guide for a Rome campaign. I advice you to read it. Not sure if it is 2.0 or 2.1a, but I still advice you to read it if you are unsure.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=396194

Never trust the free greeks my friend, I have never had a long lasting alliance with them. Usually they will start a war with you at some point and siege Akrages or Messana.
BTW: The tribe that starts in Brittain is Belgae.

[Unseengenie]

thanks!!!

[Ybbon]

Never trust any ally. And yes read AF's guide, she wrote it for 2.1a - excellent way to start. DO NOT blitz - you will pay the penalty later.

And don't worry, Macedonia will almost certainly attack you first anyway.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

I can only agree - Aristotle's Guide has guided me......

For my part, once I've dealt with the rebellion and Hannibal - both my (1-turn) campaigns so far have lost Dyrrachium to the Macedonians early.

I'll give a classic piece of advice - don't fight on too many fronts at once.

And don't even try it with the Barbarians - everyone hates Rome!

[Dramatic Cat]

Welp, as the others pointed, go read Folly's thread, it's a pretty good guide for newbs... tho for me it's a bit meh these days.

I can only suggest that you don't go for Macedon as your first target.
Simply no, too much land to cover, quite a strong foe (at least this early), and once you beat them you'll have to deal with Dacia, the Greeks, Ptolemies, Pergamon, Sparta, Scythia... Not worth it.

If you can't help yourself then drop Dyrrhachium for good and ignore them Macedons, they'll do the same with you once they have that settlement back.

As I've said a bajillion times already; Carthage is the very first target on any roman campaign (unless you're planning to go on some silly and extremely difficult historical expansion way) You only have Carthage as enemy there, once you take N. Africa no one will ever bother you there for the rest of the campaign. After the first rebellion and after Hannibal simply send two or three stacks to the southern settlements in Africa and work your way north up to Carthago. Although beware, don't siege it with any random weak stack. The scripted garrison army will butcher it. After you take N. Africa it will all be a cake walk, you'll have a crapload of gold and you'll be able to crank out a crapload of legions. Also, while rampaging in Carthage the only other target for you is to consolidate Italy up until the Alps and not beyond, take the settlements one at a time, there's no hurry, you can retrain your men in no time from Rome itself.

The Carthaginians only strength relies on their Sacred Bands and their elephants - Both of which you'll hardly see even if you play in Hard Campaign. The cavalry Sacred Band ( of Astarte or something) are really deadly and you should only attempt to take them with either spearmen or 2:1 odds with cavalry, the infantry Sacred Band (Baal or something) are tough as well but your Triarii are more than up to the task

After Carthage you have enough gold and manpower to go ballistic anywhere you like. Tho I must suggest, I usually take the fight from N. Africa into Iberia and attack both from Emporiae as well. Iberia is yet another piece of land really easy to defend and it has a crapload of gold mines. The AI will never do a naval invasion there, And you only need a good healthy garrison at Emporiae to fend off the Arverni.

The Gallaeci rely strongly on Skirmishers, although they have some really nasty AP infantry as well. Their Cavalry is nothing you can't take as long as you outnumber them. Don't compromise your expensive and slow Legions, the Polybians are deadly at infantry grind-downs but the Gallaeci will rarely offer you these. Use a lot of AoR troops -spam skirmishers of your own and beat them into submission. Watch out for the Falarica infantry... you'll understand why once you face them.

After Iberia you can go to Gaul with ease. By this time you must have the reforms already (I always wait until I am able to recruit some Segmentata Legions before proceeding with any invasion). Then send your godlike unbreakable Named & Numbered Legions and beat the living crap outta those silly barbarians.

The Arverni are just another one of those random barbarians... They have random Infantry, random cavalry, random missile units... none of which are a match for your fancy Legions. More or less, the same goes for the Cimbri and the Boii. Although the Cimbri have some really nasty units, watch out for the Cannine-whatever Cavalry and the Bear and Wolf warriors, those will chop down your Legions they will.

And after that, at least for me, it was Greece at last. In all my campaigns I usually invaded Greece with at least Eight Named & numbered legions, Four "Auxillia" Legions and a Late Praetorian Legion and wiped out Macedon, Sparta, and the Greeks in like ten turns.

The Greek factions all rely on the Phalanx, which is strong, but only from the front. Simply trick the AI into thinking it just pinned you, while it's actually you who pinned them. Wheel your cavalry and destroy the enemy's cavalry, after that, simply Hammer & Anvil the crap outta them Greeks and watch them run.

And after that... well Good luck with the Second Rebellion...

:3

As for the Steppe/Eastern factions, simply get Horse Archers of your own and spam them. Never fight them in the open if you don't have Horse Archers, Abuse Bridge battles and Sieges - Cataphracts are deadly, but they can't climb walls, can they?

I didn't include the Armenians nor the Dacians here... you'll have to go at them on your own (in my experience the Armenians and Dacians are the deadliest factions in the mod).

Quite a wall of text I know... :/

[Ferdiad]

The Dramatic Cat i used to know would have killed himslef before posting that.

[Dramatic Cat]

No u

xD

[ur-Lord Tedric]

@Dramatic Cat,

Is that playing 0-turn or 1-turn? On 1-turn I find that I don't seem to have enough troops to commit them overseas......

Carthage I keep under control by ruling the seas and sinking every ship I see.

[Dramatic Cat]

@Dramatic Cat,

Is that playing 0-turn or 1-turn? On 1-turn I find that I don't seem to have enough troops to commit them overseas......

Carthage I keep under control by ruling the seas and sinking every ship I see.

0-Turn meng.

Although on 1-Turn it's pretty much the same strategy, just with less stacks everywhere.

And if you try to keep carthage under control by "ruling the seas" then you'll find that the AI is actually Rick Rolling you, if you don't take the fight to them then sooner or later the Gallaeci will snowball into the unstoppable behemoth that becomes when left alone and will slaughter Carthage and the Arverni and will come knocking to your door (yes, right into Italy) in no time.

[Unseengenie]

Okay i was planing on give up Greece for the early period any way but i'm planning on send in a spy to thier capital and one legion take it and destory every thing in there and the falling back to the homeland and turn all attention toward Carthage. And if i cant keep Carthage do another scorched earth tacit on their capital. Will even doing a scorched earth on the capitals do anything or will they get it back all in one turn?

[Dramatic Cat]

Lol dude...

If you try to do that silly scorched earth tactic, not only are you wasting your time, wasting your money, and giving the AI free uber-experienced stacks... You're risking that the Roman Rebels get a base from where to rampage the world, many people have had their campaigns ruined because they tried to leave the settlements to rebel but the other factions could not handle the Roman Rebels (They get like 100k a turn, no matter how many cities, or stacks they have, and they can recruit everything from the government buildings).

[Unseengenie]

@ Dramatic Cat how is it a waste of money when i am destroying their capital and all their buildings, and as for the rebels i hold the town till a enemy army is with reach their next turn and then withdraw.

[Lord Uxbridge]

Lol dude...

If you try to do that silly scorched earth tactic, not only are you wasting your time, wasting your money, and giving the AI free uber-experienced stacks... You're risking that the Roman Rebels get a base from where to rampage the world, many people have had their campaigns ruined because they tried to leave the settlements to rebel but the other factions could not handle the Roman Rebels (They get like 100k a turn, no matter how many cities, or stacks they have, and they can recruit everything from the government buildings).

Oh

I retreated from the settlement near Gaul at the start of the campaign and it turned into Roman Rebels. But I have looked at the graphs and they don't get 100k a turn or at least their expenditure covers it and they have been losing regions so someone clearly hates them with a passion.

[Ferdiad]

It makes him feel better hich is the important thing here, if he has high morale he will win.

[Ferdiad]

Its waste as they get money from the script, on the other hand they can have all the money they want but if they have no barracks...

[Unseengenie]

thats what i'm talking about i don't care about how much money they get, money is one factor how many men they can pump out will be another factor which will be hindered because of the scorched earth tacit.

[Ferdiad]

100k is peanuts in RS II, Later on I can spend 5 or 6 ti,es that just in buildings.

[Unseengenie]

plus when i destroy their buildings it add money to my coffers and then i can spend where i please.

[Dramatic Cat]

@ Dramatic Cat how is it a waste of money when i am destroying their capital and all their buildings, and as for the rebels i hold the town till a enemy army is with reach their next turn and then withdraw.

thats what i'm talking about i don't care about how much money they get, money is one factor how many men they can pump out will be another factor which will be hindered because of the scorched earth tacit.

plus when i destroy their buildings it add money to my coffers and then i can spend where i please.

... seriously?