I Love my First and New Junia Campaign, VH/VH (with mods)

[Ganossa]

Hello everyone, I just started a brand new roman campaign today (as Junia) after a fresh reinstallation of Rome II (workshop mods work well now).
I arrived at turn 15 and really love it so far so I want to share my experiences with you!

Campaign Map with Diplomatic Status


As you can see I wiped out the Etruscan League. Carthage does not like that but they are still honoring the non-aggression pact (also with a help of a little money .
I could also get a few agreements with their neighbours Syracus but avoided a defensive alliance with them as they seem very unreliable.
At first I forged defensive alliances with Sparta and Athens to fight our commen enemy Epirus. However, after Syracus joint the war and took Appolonia from Epiruse I accepted their defensive alliance offer (they might become usefull allies).
After winning the war against Epirus Sparta offered a full alliance which I happily accepted. Also Athens join in our alliance.
I also offered and forged several defensive alliances with smaller factions to the north all around italy.
Liguria then asked for help to defend them against the Insubres north of them so I joined their war but my army got ambushed and now I try to forge a new army to finally secure Liguria.

I had a Julian General fighting the Etruscans and getting popular due to all his victories and threatening my own houses position in the senate. Luckely he died in the final battle against the Etruscans. The Julia is still the strongest house in the senate but I have a new General which increases the influence in the senate each turn.

I will try to get another defensive alliance with carthage and keep the greek factions strong while focusing my conquest on the north and west.
Having my eastern and future southern alliances secured the expansion to the north and west should be very possible!!

Crede quod habes, et habes. (Believe that you have it, and you do)

The mods I use (recommend to everyone, radious is of course an alternative to Silven):
Black Marble UI
Silven Total Improvement Mod
Silven Total Expansion Pack
Traits, Talents, and Toadies: A Character Mod Overhaul v.1.4
RM_TEXTURE 1.4 New units Rome&Carthage
Reskin and Increased Unit Variation - Hellenic Version
Dresden's Sack, Liberation and Diplomatic Options Mod
Arcade graphical effects removal
R2:TW GEM - Graphic Enhancement Mod

[Steve2295]

Where are you planning to expand with all those alliances? You have made it difficult for yourself to really expand without taking diplomatic penalties. Unless by allies you mean you are on friendly terms with them, having so many alliances is pretty pointless really.

As Rome with 2 legions on each front you can expand out in all 3 directions.

[Ganossa]

Where are you planning to expand with all those alliances? You have made it difficult for yourself to really expand without taking diplomatic penalties. Unless by allies you mean you are on friendly terms with them, having so many alliances is pretty pointless really.

As Rome with 2 legions on each front you can expand out in all 3 directions.

Different from older TW games I now have the option to win without total domination. It makes actually sense in most cases that I only wipe out my enemies and not my friends. I already have military access and can expand further without violating the alliance. In the future those small factions will be most likely integrated into my empire as client states or satrapies. Attacking them will only increase the anger of their friends and cost lifes and coins on both sides.
On the other hand I will watch out for those alliances with factions that have an unreliable and expanding nature(which is marked in the game). Eventually the alliance will break due to different/competing goals.

[Jackal2233]

I gave up on Junia cause everyone hated me due to cultural aversion (it's -35!), destroying diplomacy

[Ganossa]

I gave up on Junia cause everyone hated me due to cultural aversion (it's -35!), destroying diplomacy

True, almost all factions appear as red from the start. A little money helps to get terms in the first turn with sparta and athens. After that "good news travel fast" and it is just a matter of time you get treaties with other minor factions (esp those that hate epirus and etruscan league).

Silven mod makes it a little easier to get treaties I feel but it wont change the starting problem.

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

Playing Julia on Legendary atm. Everyone wants to be my ally. Besides the obvious ones, i've taken appolonia, arse, taraconensis, genua, patavium, lilybaeum, Ibossim and carthage. So almost exactly where Rome was at by the mid 2nd C BCE. Carthage is still around, but only owns Sardinia, while I'm getting swamped by Lybian and Novo Carthaginians in Africa. The coolest thing was though - I was massively invaded in Italy by Hannibal Barca! A whole bunch of Carthaginian armies came into southern Italy via sea and took Naples (twice), besieged Velathri and that "C" one in Cantabria. So that was cool. Knossos came to my aid and helped me defeat Hannibal and 2 armies of reinforcements, though this was a silly battle as the greeks had an army of militia and light hoplites and still swamped Hannibal. My 3 full armies are in Spain and africa so I was fighting with javelins and clubs for the most of it in italy.

[Ganossa]

Well, so I should be careful about the south after all. I thought I could keep peace until I secured the north. Against an invasion from the south I would be totaly defenseless. Though I still have the unreliable syracus (at least they hate carthage) between me and carthage's invasion. Did not know Hannibal would appear in the campaign. Is it an event or have you only been "lucky"?

[Vor]

Well, so I should be careful about the south after all. I thought I could keep peace until I secured the north. Against an invasion from the south I would be totaly defenseless. Though I still have the unreliable syracus (at least they hate carthage) between me and carthage's invasion. Did not know Hannibal would appear in the campaign. Is it an event or have you only been "lucky"?

He starts as a general for Carthage,

[Hellbent]

Well, so I should be careful about the south after all. I thought I could keep peace until I secured the north. Against an invasion from the south I would be totaly defenseless. Though I still have the unreliable syracus (at least they hate carthage) between me and carthage's invasion. Did not know Hannibal would appear in the campaign. Is it an event or have you only been "lucky"?

Probably not the same as the famous Hannibal though as he was born in 247 BC.

Would love to see some pictures of your favorite generals while using TTT, LuciferHawk!

(And by the way, v.1.5 came out yesterday which fixes Roman ancillary spam as well as overhauls the effects)

[Ganossa]

Probably not the same as the famous Hannibal though as he was born in 247 BC.

Would love to see some pictures of your favorite generals while using TTT, LuciferHawk!

(And by the way, v.1.5 came out yesterday which fixes Roman ancillary spam as well as overhauls the effects)

Do you know if it is save-game friendly or do I have to start a new campaign o_O

[Hellbent]

Do you know if it is save-game friendly or do I have to start a new campaign o_O

It's save-game compatible if you were using a previous version of TTT before.

Actually, Steam auto-downloads it.

You can quickly check if you have 1.5 if you look at the new skill cards. There's a big graphical update for them in 1.5. Roman ancillaries should also show up with the TTT style an no longer the red, vanilla style.

[Plinius]

I would love to buy DLC Politics and Diplomacy, DLC Hardcore Unit instead of Nomadic and others DLC.

[Silven]

LuciferHawk and Thomas Cochrane, your campaigns sound awesome.

I'm really glad to hear my mod is part of your enjoyable playthrough right now. Just remember, RM_TEXTURES changes unit sizes (to values I personally don't think make any sense), and it overwrites my unit sizes.