How to have a Powerfull Faction !

**swhunter** · September 17, 2006, 04:48 PM

HI Guys
I would love ideas from you all and to share with one another
how to have a good running empire!
your 0.2 is at worth here!

:hmmm:

thanks

**Kara Kolyo** · September 18, 2006, 01:14 AM

well there are many ways to achieve this but i think that the easiest is to capture Greece. nobody ever complayned about the income from Athens and Pergamum

**Ceki** · September 19, 2006, 04:16 AM

When I play with Romans it's quite easy. 1st turn send spy from Arminium to Genua. Then send Vibius Cassius to be governor in Arminium and Quintus Scipio attacks the town. If u r lucky u will have opened gates(tnx to spy). Occupy the settlement and build Governor's vila. Send your boat to Rome and with Flavius Julius + 2 hestati and 2 principes units land on Aleria and Sardinia( but be cearful on that chartaginian boat). Flavius and 2 hestati on Aleria, and 2 principes on Sardinia. Also, put one unit on your side of the border between Capua nad Tarentum(then Phyrrus will retreat near the Tarentum). Build Ports in all cities but Rome. In Rome train velites or hestati. End of turn 1. (Make sure that u don't change tax rates in cities)
2nd turn.*Capture Genua if your spy failed and build vila. Then capture Aleria. Occupy it. Then Sardinia. Before u capture Sardinia make sure that your governors r out of settlements but Aleria. When u capture Sardinia enslave it and all slaves will go to aleria. In few turns u can upgrade it and heve great income. Build forum in Rome. Build hestati in Capua and Rome.
3rd. Tarentum easy to capture. First u cross the border with unit in Tarentum, just a step. Then next round Phirrus will come in front of it. In Arretum build shrine of Vulcan. Capua trader, and so on.
4th round Phirryus will come... Entrap him with 2 units...behind him. Make sure thet there r space between units. When he engage u retreat. That will give u extra turn(works every time) to capture Tarentum, and enslave it. Capua, Arretium, and Aleria will grow enough to upgrade, and u will get 7K each turn... The rest is easy. By the end of 270 u can have(I did) All Italy+Sicily... If u wanna gain fast Legions u must have 2-3 cities with imeprial palace... Yust send army in Africa and capture Chartage and Heradetum and enslave it. I recommend to boost your population in Rome, Arminium and Capua. Arminium is great settlementr coz u can have best weapon upgrade if u built temple of Vulcan, and gives great income. Capua, build temple of Neptune, Genua, Juno (Coz your generals will gain curgeon trait wich helps in battles).
Also, when u feel ready, capture Crete and Rhodes... Great positions to capture Asia minor and Greece.
One more important thing. If u plan to capture Patvium, first u capture Messana, then will Phirrus will retreat in Greece and give Macedonians a headacke. Sometimes he can get stuck between cities... If u wanna him to leave Italy make sure that your units follow him.

**Hippias** · September 19, 2006, 05:26 AM

Play as Thrace!! No rivals to north, east or west until the Germans turn up 10 - 15 years in.

Greece + Macedon locked in a war to the south, so no threat from there.

2 killer unique units - Thracian cavalry + Thracian peltast. Make these the bulk of your army (they are available early and oh so cheap!!), sweep up the rebel settlements where Dacia used to be and by the time the Germans come you should have 5 - 10 cities and 2 - 3 full stacks.

**Locky** · September 19, 2006, 06:13 AM

Originally Posted by Hippias

Play as Thrace!! No rivals to north, east or west until the Germans turn up 10 - 15 years in.

Greece + Macedon locked in a war to the south, so no threat from there.

2 killer unique units - Thracian cavalry + Thracian peltast. Make these the bulk of your army (they are available early and oh so cheap!!), sweep up the rebel settlements where Dacia used to be and by the time the Germans come you should have 5 - 10 cities and 2 - 3 full stacks.

Macedonia, does attack you, they will go for you aswell as the Greek cities. In my campaign, the Macedones, went straight for Byzantium and my capital. It's a good idea to blitzkrieg Macedon, and finish of the Greeks. After 10 long years of skirmishing warfare, i took Pella, and Macedon went downhill from there, then took all of Greece proper, and minor. Then the Germans came knocking, and i'm presently dealing with them. Thracia has one of the most interesting unit lineups, nearly all it's troops have armour piercing ability, so they cut through heavy infantry like a knife through hot butter. And early game, you can use Thracian peltasts to pelt the enemy phalanxs to death, then charge one in the front, then quickly charge another thracian peltests unit into the phalanx's rear, you'll butcher them. Thracia, is essence of speed, strike fast, ask questions latter. And by the time Germany comes, you'll haev Thracian peltasts with silver chevrons, and a few units of Thracian Thorkitatai, and falxmen, and a few militia cavalry, deadly combination, one of my most fun campaigns.

**Kara Kolyo** · September 19, 2006, 06:33 AM

my only minor discomfort when playing as Thrace is the lack of good long range archers. you can have only the regular cretans. the lack of pantheons isn't verry pleasing too. otherwise the thracian cavalry is second to none and gains exp. with supersonic speed

**Hippias** · September 19, 2006, 06:49 AM

Ashamed to admit that Macedon did come for me early - 1 small battle, which I won and then they demanded I become a Protectorate. I know it is probably an exploit, but I accepted and that was the begining of the good times, as they have left me completely alone since. If only making an Alliance via a diplomat worked as well as accepting a Protectorate (is there any down side to becoming a protectorate??) then the RTW diplomacy would actually be worth having!

IMHO are those Thracian units perhaps just a little bit unbalanced considering what you get for your money?

**Locky** · September 19, 2006, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by Hippias

Ashamed to admit that Macedon did come for me early - 1 small battle, which I won and then they demanded I become a Protectorate. I know it is probably an exploit, but I accepted and that was the begining of the good times, as they have left me completely alone since. If only making an Alliance via a diplomat worked as well as accepting a Protectorate (is there any down side to becoming a protectorate??) then the RTW diplomacy would actually be worth having!

IMHO are those Thracian units perhaps just a little bit unbalanced considering what you get for your money?

Thracian units are nearly all unarmoured though. They are incrediabley vunerable to missile units, like slingers and archers, and heavy cavalry can cause problems.

And don't become a protectorate, cause they'll still attack you.

**Kara Kolyo** · September 19, 2006, 06:56 AM

since out of silly balkan pride i never accept to become protectorate, i can't tell exactly what happens

I think that ai takes your extra money. indeed macedon comes for you early if you play thrace but with some tactical skills it's possible to defeat them and take Pella, which is huge boost, since normaly by than it has city barracs built. shh! don't talk about unbalanced units cause Dime might hear you and ruin the wonderfull friendship i have with not exactly my ancestors

**Hippias** · September 21, 2006, 06:13 AM

Originally Posted by swhunter

HI Guys
I would love ideas from you all and to share with one another
how to have a good running empire!
your 0.2 is at worth here!

:hmmm:

thanks

Blitz early - priority for military buildings (esp those that give morale and weapon/armour upgrades). Try to occupy/enslave rather than exterminate. Govern all settlements. Replace early the native buildings in captured settlements that give culture penalties (but make sure you have a big garrison in place when doing so). Recruit armies from the biggest cities to keep population from going into the "squalor zone". Don't bother to insigate any diplomacy, apart from giving gifts to people you want to ally with you. Keep spies in your most important cities. Check the campaign map for fertility of ground and tradeable goods (to see whether farms or trade give the best early cash boost). Get as many ports as possible, and upgrade them. Navies are a waste of money (AI doesn't persevere with blockades).

Just a few things that have worked for me. I hate blitzing and would prefer to wait until I have aproper looking country (cities not huts) and 3rd/4th level troops before starting epic wars - but blitzing seems to work better than turtling. :wink:

**Zarax** · September 21, 2006, 07:01 AM

Blitzing is definitely the way to go as after v4 AI almost always got a superior economy and better armies at start, making defensive play a poor choice until you got a decent empire capable to afford a few stacks to reinforce the borders...

**DimeBagHo** · September 22, 2006, 01:34 PM

I think for most factions you do need to go on the offensive early. I have tried to set up the AI factions so that they will all expand rapidly. If you don't do the same, you will fall behind. The problem with the vanilla campaigns, I found was that blitzing the AI was pretty easy, and then once you had 8-10 cities the strategic game was a cruise. You really had to hold back at the start to give the AI any chance at all. What I have aimed for is to make the strategic game tough from start to finish - you have to start out aggressively and keep up the presure on the AI factions all the way to the end of the campaign.