Greek-Latin war. How to fight pesky Romans.

[Skep]

So I am currently playing as Koinon Hellenon (H/M) and reconquered Greece upon the Makedons and Epeirots. I turned my attention west since I didn't feel like fighting in the middle east again. I started war with the Romans by invading in Arpi and Capua with 2 stacks. Next city to conquer is Rome.

Problems I face are the large armies the Romans can create, even with some nice Samnites and other mercs. My idea was to blitz their most advanced cities to destroy their units production centers. But I can't do that while leaving a garrizon in the cities I conquered. Right now I am thinking off just leveling each city I conquer and enslaving it's populace. That will make them docile enough while my army continues. After I finished off most of the Romans I can rebuild Italy.

Is this a feasable plan or should I have gone for Syracuse and Taras first? I was afraid that would leave me at war with both Rome and Carthage as they are allied. Hence my choice to beat right into the Italian heartland.

~Skep

[Hazzard]

I think that you should blitz through Italy, sack the cities and do not fight any pitched battles and then run off. This will cripple them for a while because they have lost some settlements that if they rebel fast enough a few fairly large garrisons that will tie up their army for a few years.

[Colos1987]

Letting those cities to rebel won't help, as they will simply rebel back to the Romani. Destroy all the Romani-related buildings and give them back for ceasefire and money. Use the money you get from the peace and from the sacking to build a large army. With that army, try to win decisive battles. When they are decimated, seize their settlements and they are done.

C

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

I would have gone for Taras first, then Arpi, then Capua. After that, Rhegion and down into Sicily. Taking Rome itself would not be on my agenda as KH.

I would have installed Type IV governments and recruited mercenary generals as governors, that really helps with public order in cities with high unrest. Governors are expensive in upkeep, but a bargain when compared with a huge garrison, as after a little while the governor can maintain order by himself.

[Skep]

Colos is right about those rebels returning to Romanoi, I planned what Hazzard proposed but that didn't work. I guess I will sack Rome and possibly Arretium, as those are 2 big recruiting centers. Hopefully they will let me go with a ceasefire after that. Than I shall take my armies to southern Italy, I believe Taras is still rebel. After conquering that, or otherwise Syracuse I can build up thos cities to retrain my armies. Maybe restart the war after that...

I would love to keep the Romans in the game, I just don't want them to become so retardedly powerful that I will get bashed later on. I could try to push them into Vassalage, but factions almost never accept that from me. I tried that with Epirote in this game, was besieging their last town and still they rather died hopelessly...

Also, I thought about getting type IV governments, mostly for roleplaying. Would I however be able to create some nice Italian units? Is that even possible with the KH? I believe I needed a lvl 5 MIC for Samnite heavy inf.

[Nad]

I would definitely have enslaved the populations to allow your armies to move on without having the cities riot behind you. If you have a strong stack then Arpi, Capua, Roma should sufficiently cripple the Romans and let you hold on to your gains if the Romans haven't already conquered the southern settlements.

In terms of governments I would recommend type 3 for Arpi, Capua and Rome, to allow you to recruit the best local units (ie up to Samnite heavy infantry). You can use your own family members to manage the provinces rather than recruited client rulers. For Taras, Rhegion, and Sicily you want type 2 though. The level 4 factional barracks will give you excellent Greek units, including distinguished hoplites.

[Skep]

Another question about local troops. In the recruitment viewer I can select 4 types of MIC: native, regional, 25 and 9. Are those type I to IV type governments? I would like to complement my greek phalanx with Bruttian inf. and samnite inf. Which governments alow those troops exactly?

[Dargaron]

Another question about local troops. In the recruitment viewer I can select 4 types of MIC: native, regional, 25 and 9. Are those type I to IV type governments? I would like to complement my greek phalanx with Bruttian inf. and samnite inf. Which governments alow those troops exactly?

For certain factions (such as SPQR and Aedui/Arverni), once you pass a certain reform, you use a different set of MICs. For instance, when under the Camilian and Polybian eras, the SPQR use MIC 1. But once they reach the Marian/Imperial reforms, all MIC 1 buildings get "destroyed" (they suffer 100% damage at the beginning of each turn) and new MIC 2s appear in settlements in their place.

So, if you want to see what units you can recruit in a province once the Marian Reforms hit, you can select MIC 2, and just ignore any results that have an MIC level above 5, since those are Imperial units.

[Nad]

The 25 and 9 are meaningless, ignore those.

To recruit Samnite heavy infantry, you need a level 4 regional MIC in Capua, Arpi, Taras or Rhegion. This means level 3 or 4 government.



To recruit Bruttian infantry you need a level 3 regional barracks in either Taras or Rhegion. This means any government except level 1.




Hence you should build level 3 government in Capua and Arpi and level 2 government in Taras and Rhegion. This will enable you to get Bruttians, Samnites and the maximum number of Greek factional units too.

[Perdiccas]

hi,

i've never seen thta EB recruitment viewer file... where can i find that?

thanks

[Atraphoenix]

Here it is.

Recruitment Viewer

This is a program which you can use to view the recruitment zones of the various units in EB. For more info check the included Manual.

http://www.europabarbarorum.com/downloads_misc.html

[Stath's]

it's a program you get to install after the EB installation.

It's as useful as breathing

[athanaric]

AFAIK you can also recruit Campanian cavalry as KH, which is pretty useful. And in the regions surrounding Rome (including Latium), you can hire Rorarii, Hastati, and Equites Romani. Not spectacular units but useful. In Southern Italy/Sicily, you can hire Lucanian light infantry. Syrakousai gives you Syracusan Hoplites, which are quite good (factional MIC though). Taras also has Tarentine Cavalry, which requires a high level factional MIC.

[Thuycidides]

Meh, the Romani are not so tough. I don't even think you need a strategy for conquering them because of the narrow geography. Even with BI or Alex exe, the chance of being outflanked is close to zero when the AI is preoccupied with the head of your invasion force. Just bring some good FMs for managing the conquered Italian settlements; the southern magna grecia cities will love you for conquering them.

[Skep]

so this is where I am right now. Took an old savegame and didn't go against the Romans but rahter took Sicilly and Taras. As you know every advancement leads to a new problem. Right now my cities are getting very big 15K + and people are whining about hygiene mostly. Now even though I build most bathing etc. cities continue to expand. Therefor I build trading colonies mostly in the big cities (=0,5% growth) to slow down. But it doesn't seem to be enough. Setting policies to financial in stead of growth leads to more unrest.

So question, how do you guys manage big cities?

on a side note. Fighting the getai who went into the steps. Any fun ideas to bash them? Lot's of missiles works ofc.

~Skep

[Nad]

Just set taxes to low and keep constructing happiness and health buildings. Really simple. As long as you have blue faces or better, no problem.

[Petite Wolf]

^Except that doesn't slow down population growth, but instead increases it. I'd suggest building a lot of happiness buildings and possibly giving cities a bit of a garrison so that you can set your taxes higher, which means a lower population growth that, although it is still growing, is growing at a slower rate.

[Thuycidides]

I go for maximum growth in all settlements unless they reach 30,000 or more. Some of my best have reached over 40,000. Higher populations = more money = more money for your army and other city improvements. One of the keys to settlement management is good FMs, of course, but I suspect that some do not realize how important the academies are for that. Basic hygiene and education are the keys to a happy and wealthy settlement.

[Petite Wolf]

Hygiene is the first thing I focus on for my cities. I always make sure my settlements have at least basic hygiene.

[Nad]

Population growth is a good thing, not a bad thing. You want it as high as possible; you just need to keep apace with order by constructing happiness buildings. You can then recruit as much as you want without worrying about replenishing the numbers and you get loads more cash.

I aim for population growth of 2.5%-3% a turn for cities below 10k pop, and 1.5%-2% a turn for pop above 10k.

There's nothing quite like enslaving Kart-Hadast's population down to 8k, only to see 9.5% population growth (!). I swear, you build a government and maybe a level 1 regional barracks and the population is already back to 30k