Extended Greek Mod Questions

[GloryofGreece]

Couple of days ago I installed the Extended Greek Mod and it's fantastic. The huge map and the new Greek units are awesome. But there are is a problem with the upkeep. Almost all units cost too much and it is very difficult if not impossible to wage war with elite troops. And playing with Greeks you get in war just a few turns after you start the game, with the Macedonians to be the first faction to attack you although they are your allies at the beginning.

In addition all my enemies seem to have huge armies right from the start and I can barely build a few slingers and archers to try to repel an attack. Could you guys give me some information about the tactics you use on this mod? Is there any way I can change the file concerning the upkeep value of the units?

Thanks in advance

[Sammur-amat]

try posting in XGM forum..here

[Trajan]

Moved to the Extended Greek Mod (XGM) sub-forum.

[Kara Kolyo]

welcome to TWC, the upkeep is made high on purpose. most of us here believe that battles should be decisive and not constant repelling of ellite full stacks. if you prefer more battles try out SPQR mod.
GCS are not that hard as it seems from the start. set all your taxes to very high and with Cleomenes of Sparta, the spartan royal guard and couple more units position yourself near Corinth. if the macs dont attack you in the first turn you'll have time to train some more millitia hoplites. when the war starts macs probably will lay siege on Athens. wait till they attack your walls and there you can destroy one of their major armies. with Cleomenes, spartans and a unit of greek mercks you can take Corinth and after that with one or two defencive battles if your position is right you can basicly destroy Macedon. familly member with 2 millitia hoplites can take Chalcis and Mitilene. the second is very profitable.
in Asia Mesalius of Pergamum has to get some mercks on 2-3 turn. build in Pergamum millitary and trade structures. it gives great profits. if you take Nicomedia from the greek rebels you'll make even more money.
beware of the Seleucids! pretty soon they'll attack too. usually it hapens on 10-15 turn so you have time to prepare. their first armies are numerous but weak so can be beaten.
i have a campaigh on M/M year is 265 or so and have taken macedon, Nicomedia, Sardis and 3 towns that rebeled to me. so far everithing goes smoothly. good luck and post how things are going.

[Locky]

On the first turn, send the Spartan Royal guard, With Klehomes, and The Corinthian leader and his troops into the trees to the left of Corinth. The Macedonians will send out an army, which you'll ambush with your troops, and you should be able to destroy it with ease. Then quickly lay seige to Corinth, and take it ASAP. Macedonia, will leave Athens alone and try to uplift the seige. The Spartan Royal guard is essential to your early success, they are needed. After you take Corinth, head for Larissa, or if your game try and take the two Macedonian island provinces. This will cripple them, but you'll have to fight many battles before you cripple Macedonia, and can storm Pella. And just follow what Kara said.

[Juus]

Ive just started a GCS campaign myself, and what the others have said makes sense.

1. The key is to take Corinth as quickly as possible (use saps), by turn 5 latest, unless you can maintain an Alliance, in which case, build up a bit, then attack.
2. Taxes very high in every settlement. And start building ports, roads and temples. Artemis at Athens, Nike at Pergumnan, Poseidon at Rhodes. Sparta should already have Nike.
3. City Barracks and Archery Range should be built at Sparta and Athens, respectively.
4. Get trade agreements with Seleucids and Pontus. Alliance with Thrace and Ptolemaics, if possible.
5. Bribe Halicarnuss around turn 5 or 6. 10k denarii should do it.

Im playing XGM 3 Final with MM and BI.exe, but Ive tried similar tactics with XGM 4.0.11.

[GloryofGreece]

I have started a new Campain with the Greeks setting taxes to the highest level and building as many units as I could afford. The Macedonians attacked after two or three turns trying to capture Athens but not with a big army. I attacked Corinth with Kleomenes, one more general, a peltast and of course the Spartan Royal Guards, conquering the city as there were only a couple of units guarding it.

At that time another Macedonian army came from the north and joined the one besieging Athens. I took the units I had in Corinth and attacked them. Spartan Royal Guards did all the job. The enemy archers didn't even scrach them and they alone destroyed four Macedonian Phalanxes before the reinforcements from Athens joined in.

I went back to Sparta, retrained my units, took a few more with me and took Larissa too. Now I Macedonians are left only with Mytilene and Pella. I have already started training another Spartan Royal Guard unit which I will probably send it in Pergamum as I am already at war with the Seleucids.

Now that I can hold Macedonians, I can concentrate on building my navy because they blockade my ports too often and I lose money. Once I secure the sea I'll launch a counter attack at both Macedonians and Seleucids.

By the way, does anyone know in which date the game ends? Because in my wining conditions, it says that I have to have a number of provinces (I don't remember how many) and four specific ones which they are located in the four corners of the map. I am not in a rush to expand that quick, unless I am sure that the cities I already have are secured.

[Juus]

I have started a new Campain with the Greeks setting taxes to the highest level and building as many units as I could afford. The Macedonians attacked after two or three turns trying to capture Athens but not with a big army. I attacked Corinth with Kleomenes, one more general, a peltast and of course the Spartan Royal Guards, conquering the city as there were only a couple of units guarding it.

At that time another Macedonian army came from the north and joined the one besieging Athens. I took the units I had in Corinth and attacked them. Spartan Royal Guards did all the job. The enemy archers didn't even scrach them and they alone destroyed four Macedonian Phalanxes before the reinforcements from Athens joined in.

I went back to Sparta, retrained my units, took a few more with me and took Larissa too. Now I Macedonians are left only with Mytilene and Pella. I have already started training another Spartan Royal Guard unit which I will probably send it in Pergamum as I am already at war with the Seleucids.

Now that I can hold Macedonians, I can concentrate on building my navy because they blockade my ports too often and I lose money. Once I secure the sea I'll launch a counter attack at both Macedonians and Seleucids.

By the way, does anyone know in which date the game ends? Because in my wining conditions, it says that I have to have a number of provinces (I don't remember how many) and four specific ones which they are located in the four corners of the map. I am not in a rush to expand that quick, unless I am sure that the cities I already have are secured.

Interesting.

I might just move my Spartan Royal Guard into Pergamun. Knowing the Seleucids, they'll want war soon, though I do have Alliances with Pontus and the Ptolemaics.

Best way to get rid of blockades, is to kill off the Macedon facton quickly. Its expensive waging a naval war early in a campaign, and the AI won't stop even if its only got one settlement left. The Greek campaign needs you to conquer the whole map. I believe it ends just Before the death of Christ.

Ive just taken Larissa, but was seiged next turn. Have to sally..

[Kara Kolyo]

as far as i remember the campaign ends in 14 ad or 1 ad. with GCS you don't need to conquer the entire map-just 70 provinces, 4 of which are at the corners of the map. Glory glad that some of our advices worked. remember to protect the spartan guard from missiles. i once destroyed a unit of spartans just with 1 archer and 1 peltast unit

[DragMaster]

hello, I have a question

I'm playing with Macedonia and my economy was going well until trading revenue fell. The cities of Byzantium, Tomis and Nicomedia, and no exchange earnings.

This also happened in my campaign using the Romans, I thought it was because of the tricks that I used, but now I do not use them because I do not need. You know why this happens.

thanks

[Grimbold]

You need to explain a bit better.

If you control all of greece plus byzantium and nicomedia you should not have economical issues.

[scubatim84]

Simple ways to keep a great economy:

1) Trade rights with every faction possible, no exceptions.
2) Set taxes to high and keep them there as much as possible so your governors gain good traits which increase income. If bumping taxes up higher (if say at low or normal) will halt population growth, only do that if it's a huge city. If pop is declining, well you get the idea. More population = more taxes so don't stop until the city is 24,000 population or higher.
3) Disband any units you no longer need.
4) Build order should always be farm upgrades, market upgrades for inland areas and shipyard, farm upgrades and finally market upgrades for coastal cities

Hope it helps.

[Hurlbut]

Make sure your ports are not blockaded.
Eliminate enemy units in your territories, including rebels, since they do impact your trades in that region negatively.

[scubatim84]

Make sure your ports are not blockaded.
Eliminate enemy units in your territories, including rebels, since they do impact your trades in that region negatively.

Is this a notable amount though? I have never been able to duplicate this. I've looked at the income of a city that has a rebel army nearby, killed the army, looked at the income again and it was the same.

[Celestial Oblivion]

Is this a notable amount though? I have never been able to duplicate this. I've looked at the income of a city that has a rebel army nearby, killed the army, looked at the income again and it was the same.

I've only noticed it as devastation that increases over time the longer the enemy army is there. Unless the city/port is undersiege/blocked I didn't think it effects trade income.

[DimeBagHo]

I think trade is also blocked if the rebels are on a road. If they are not on a road or on the port square, then the only effect is devastation, which takes time to go away even if you kill them.

[scubatim84]

Ah, so that's what devastation is. Those rebel bastards! I'll kill 'em all.

Edited to add: I checked my settlement details and I could not find one settlement where the impact of a nearby rebel army was anything more than 104, range was 43-104. Honestly, I think it would cost more money and/or not be worth the effort to police your empire and clear away rebels when the additional income would be such a pitiful amount. Now if a rebel navy is blockading a port, that's a different matter.

[magraev]

Since rebels like to go after towers/settlements it's probably a good idea not to build these on road squares then (or next to??). This way you can just ignore the rebels until you're good and ready to tacle them, and actually use settlements to lure rebels away from roads. Sneaky...

[scubatim84]

Since rebels like to go after towers/settlements it's probably a good idea not to build these on road squares then (or next to??). This way you can just ignore the rebels until you're good and ready to tacle them, and actually use settlements to lure rebels away from roads. Sneaky...

That would work, but I mean really, once your empire gets going you should be making 50k a turn or more...50 or 100 from each settlement may add up to what, 3k if you have 30 cities? That's a drop in the bucket.

[Hurlbut]

so those settlements add to the income not just extend the Line of Sight for the empire?