A Few Questions From A Beginner

[Roger Smith]

Here's a few questions mashed into one thread. I'd appreciate any help.

I'm out conquering smelly barbarians like the Belgae, and I'm running low on men. Should I just sit around and make a client state out of one of the cities I've taken, and wait for client state barracks? Send troops from a nearby recruitment center? I've noticed there aren't nearly as many mercenaries as there is in EB, and I can't just raise an entire mercenary army in 2 seconds.

For recruitment centers, I should be making the city a client state, correct?

In client states, should I be building things such as Roman Oppidium, Colonization? It doesn't say I can recruit anything from that line of buildings whenever I ally a city.

Whenever I'm out conquering in a new area, like Egypt, should I conquer one city, then wait a few years to establish a recruitment center there so I don't run low on men? I rarely find a city with enough population to establish a client state and barracks there, because normally they don't have 6k pop.

When I'm in foreign land like Africa, and I build client state barracks, will I be able to recruit allied cohorts and skirmishers there, or will I have to use regional units?

[Anthropoid]

I haven't played that much, and have not conquered quite so far afield as you have when I've played as Rome. But in my experience, if you want to maintain momentum in a campaign, you'll want to be shipping replacement units to the front from your recruitment centers back home in Italy.

Local recruits might suffice for garrisons, but for field armies, I find that I always want the best troops I can get: PB Cohorts and Triarii from Rome; Campanian Cav from Capua; Cretan Archers from Tarentum. Given Rome starts out with so much better training/equiping infrastructure, if I could train the special cav and archer units there I would.

Are you playing 1-turn or 0-turn? Me personally, I prefer 0-turn as it feels more realistic; though definitely there are plenty of guys who prefer 1-turn.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

........ I prefer 0-turn as it feels more realistic;.........

Double posts merged (Brusilov) - please use the EDIT button for updates

.... Though, I don't know if polybians are available everywhere.

Oppidum's in Area 6 - Campus Martius everywhere else. Pre-requisites, including Citizenship (the over-riding one) needed.

[Siimus Maximus]

Client or allied state/annex region gives you access to some local mercenaries. To recruit legionaries you need to build many tiers of oppidum buildings plus some other buildings that oppidums require. Though, I don't know if polybians are available everywhere.

[Roger Smith]

I agree, I've never had very good results with local troops. I have much better results from good, disciplined Roman troops.
And just to clarify, after the Marian Reforms, for basic non named & non numbered legionaries, I need Roman Oppidium, Provincial, Citizenship, Annex, Army Rations, and Fortified Region, correct?

Double posts merged (Brusilov) - please use the EDIT button for updates

And I am playing a 1 turn campaign. Sorry, not sure how to edit posts.

[Antiochus_III]

Hmmm I agree local levies and mercs don't quite make up for Roman troops do they? My advice is to keep a few legions in reserve behind your main force, usually allied legions are helpful for this. At the beginning your main AOR will be Italy. Expand slowly. Pick your fights and make sure there are soldiers to replace the ones you use. I had this issue originally and although its obvious reserves are the best answer to your issue with manpower.

In foreign lands like Africa you will be able to recruit allied legions eventually. It will take a while though and you will have to be patient. Having upgraded MIC's in areas like these will also mean that when the Marian reforms do occur you will have a solid base for you to pump out the numbered legions a lot quicker. When conquering a region like Egypt( which has been my newest conquest incidentally) I send enough troops to deal with taking the entire area and holding the cities until things become more Romanised. This means that currently in Egypt I have Two legions-The IX Hispana and I think the III Augusta Pia Fidelis(I may have gotten the second name wrong, their AOR is around Carthage). As well as several stacks of Auxilia which occupy cities and support the legions. Eventually this force will be pulled out but that times a long way off. Some of the Auxilia will remain permanently however!

Just out of curiosity how far into your campaign are you? Seeing as you're fighting the Belgae I'm just curious if you have expanded recruitment in places like Cisalpine Gaul, Spain and Southern Gaul?

[Du Silence]

Personally I play, with any faction as follows:

To try and maintain as little army upkeep as possible, it's imperative to retrain units, before they are wiped out.
Especially with rome when fighting barbarians this is a chocolate cake-walk.
Simply make sure you have roads in newly conquered cities, to make walking back and forth quicker, then slowly expand using the same few legions.
Usually, prior to Marian Reforms, I turtle quite the bit, staying south of the alps and trying to poke as much as possible at Carthage in N-africa.
Then when I get Marian Reforms, i get 2 armies based on Legio Germancia or some sort of legion centered around Gaulish areas.

These newly levied armies then go forth to assult north of the alps, fighting preferably Avernii for quite a bit of time, then as the chevrons build up and you're starting to advance into silver, you can think about expanding for real.
In melee your legions will be close to unbeatable, and with a micromanged cavalry, you can crush any barbarians that come your way, even when outnumbered heavily.
A good general also works fine with your legion!

Now, here comes the part where you can save a lot of effort and money - Only use 1 offensive army at a time. The 1 or 2 other armies should be constantly moving back and forth to replenish your losses at the frontlines.
Your general can stay at the front til his loyalty starts dropping, or he dies.
Anyway, when besieging an enemy, and you want some chevrons, simply stay tuned at the walls of the settlement, keep them under siege, whenever your army has suffered a noticeable amount of losses, replace anyone by the general with the units of one of the other armies.
Works like a charm, and without a 20-turn span, you'll be having atleast 1 full army with gold chevrons, along with minimal expenses for army-upkeep.

Double posts merged (Brusilov) - please use the EDIT button for updates

My army composition for Rome:
8-11 Legions from the area I want to subdue.
4 Cavalry (Whatever I can get which is within a retrainable distance from the frontline)
2-4 archer units
1 general
at times I have 2 units of missle cav instead of archers, the possibility to pelt the enemy with arrows and even draw away sections of them for later annihilation can be priceless.

I tend to never use siege engines, they are slow, lumbering baffoons with little real value unless you hit city walls. They are perfect targets for enemy cav, they tend to cause friendly fire quite a bit! (with catatrophic effects to your own ranks) and take up space, which could be used by more mobile and lethal troops.

The above setup is mainly for use against enemies of barbarian nature... Horse-based nations like Samatia or Pathia will rape such a composition if you're outnumbered.