Arverni campaign strategies
Please post your Arverni campaign strategies and tips here.
Here are my own thoughts on the topic :
Strengths and weaknesses of the Arveni :
Military : The Arverni have a strong and reliable heavy infantry, and equally strong cavalry forces. Although less armoured than the oriental cataphracts, these horsemen are much faster and versatile. Arverni heavy infantry (oathsworn) have some valuable special abilities like "head hunting" and shield wall (the equivalent of the roman turtle).Overall, the Arverni thus have the potential to become an unstoppable military power.
Ideal Arverni army :
1 general
2 heavy cavalry
2 light cavalry (for chasing routers or outmanoeuvering enemies : the gallic light cavalry is strong enough to slow down most enemy heavy cavalries. So, in case of emergency, you may use them to fix and enemy alae before you can send a heavier unit or a lancer in reinforcement).
1 to 2 long range siege weapons
4 to 6 heavy infantry oathsworn
3 to 4 noble lancers to protect your flanks against enemy cavalry (use their special anti cavalry tactic).
Do not try to become a naval superpower with the Arverni. They don't get great ships until late and since they're a continental power, you do not need to invest in a professional navy. Anyway, in the Atlantic ocean and the baltic, rival barabrians also have crappy navies. So you won't be at risk.
Economy : the Arverni have a good agriculture / food production. Unlike the Parthians, they can build several farms in the same colony, and in their regional capital as well. They even get some food producing temples (like the Cernunos shrine, which produces 2 food if my memory is correct).
Culture : the Arverni enjoy a wide choice of bonus giving temples. The bonuses are not "unforgetable", and they come at a price, in terms of squalor or food (except for the Cernunnos temple), but they allow the player to tweak each region's development according to his priorities. Be aware that due to their tech tree, druids do not appear until rather late in the game.
Research : This is the main weakness of the Arverni. Due to the lack of research buildings (they do have some, but they give only a weak percentage of research growth), it takes either much more time or more investment for them to boost their research. You can try to take the Carnac and Stonehenge wonders to get 3% research bonuses, but that won't advantage you much. The only way to boost research significantly is to upgrade your faction leader and get a huge empire, so you can spread small research buildings everywhere.
In terms of research priorities, I suggest forgetting completely naval and siege research. Since druids are helpful agents and research only pays with large empires, focusing on the philosophy path would be wise (philosophy reduces corruption in large empires). On the military side, develop either your infantry or your cavalry to the top level fast. They are your strong points, so take care of them. If you're after the research bonuses, go for the corruption and army range ones. Army range will be of great value when you expand in the desolate north, where attrition can be severe.
Starting position and first turns : Preserve your "Blood brothers" :
The Arverni capital stands in Nemossos, in Southern / Central Gaul (Aquitania province). It is guarded in the south by an unpassable mountain chain, to the east by some forests, and to the south-west by a river. It is therefore extremely easy to defend. On the other hand, expansion possibilities are limited because one of your three neighbours is an ally, and starting your historical records by betraying him might not be a good idea. The other neighbours are Burdigala (nowadays Bordeaux) in the West, and the Aedui in the North.
You are at war with the Aedui, but it might not be smart to attack them at the beginning of the game. First, they occupy a central spot in Gaul. So, if your tiny faction manages to get their homeland, you'll likely come under much pressure to keep it from your now countless hostile neighbours. Secondly, their lands is outside your province (Aquitania). So you might be more inspired to secure southern Aquitania before trying an invasion of the large Celtica province. Thirdly, as a Gallic tribe, you can unite the Gauls into a confederation, later in game. This is rather cheap and easy to do provided there are still Gallic tribes out there. If you just run to slaughter all your neighbours, you will extinguish all these "blood related" tribes that you could later absorb without a fight. This might be what you'd call "total war". But for me, I'd rather call it "total waste" (of energy).
Remember : you need to expand. But by favouring gallic tribes, you'll later on get much better expansion rates. So please, try to make peace with the other Gauls as much as you can. And help them get stronger. They'll shield you with their bodies, and you'll absorb them later by offering them to join your confederation.
To make peace with the Aedui, just opt for a defensive stance and wait. As I said, they stand in the middle of Gaul. They'll get plenty of enemies. They should soon sue for peace or be destroyed by a neighbour. You may need to destroy one or two of their armies before they ask for peace. What I did, was to set one of my two armies in ambush in the woods. And the next turn, the Aedui asked for peace. Trouble came from the south, where the Burdigalians (forgot their names) and the Volcae declared war on me.
If you need to destroy some Gauls, here are indeed your candidates : you'll need to conquer Burdigalia. And once you're there, you'll need to stop any non Gallic tribe to get a feet on Gallic soil, so as to keep the Gauls free in order to peacefully absorb them one by one.
So take Burdigalia, and then crush the Volcae from Tolosa (nowadays Toulouse). By doing so, you'll cut Gaul from Spain and prevent the warlike Spanish to invade. Depending of the situation, you might then try to absorb your Pictones allies by offering them confederacy, which would give you your first province : Aquitania. If they refuse, just wait for them to suffer a drawback and try again. They'll eventually accept.
If you keep with this Gallic friendlyness strategy, your next target should be Massilia. Massilia will give you a second province, and, even more importantly limit the risk of seeing an italic tribe (or Rome) get a foothold in Gaul. Do not rush, however. As converting Massilia to your culture will be costly at this early stage of the game. Unless you researched Druid enabling technologies, you'll basically have to temporarilly cover the land with celtic temples or maintain a huge army there to crush rebellions (which might in fact be a good way to level your family generals : indeed, levelling your leader as a Gaul gives significant boosts to your research and economy).
Strengthen your base and develop friendly diplomatic ties with all remaining Gallic factions. Sign non agression pacts with the Spanish and Italians, and help your fellow northern tribes to repulse germanic invasion.
When you're ready, sail towards Britain. That's your next target.
The island should be deeply divided between rival tribes. Everybody is at war with everybody. This makes it easy to pick up your enemies one by one and slowly conquer the island step by step. Again. Do not rush. Start with Devon/Cornwall, which will give you a welcome micro bonus on research (Stonehenge). And then kill the fµ%ing Iceni.
Once the islands are yours, you can turn your attention towards other "barbarian" lands depending on the situation : Spain or Germany, although Spain will convert more easily to your culture ... Convert Gallic tribes to your confederation whenever you want (but preferably when they've been weakened by some unexpected disaster).
So that's it. That's almost how I played and it worked fine with me.
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