Rome: opening phases discussion

[Flyboy1972]

OK, so I haven’t seen any credible ‘Rome Opening Moves’ guides anywhere, so after a number of aborted campaigns (usually restarting after a patch), here are some thoughts and questions on the best moves for Rome, in the opening phases of a campaign. Not meant to be a definitive ‘guide’. Rather, to get discussion going. Note that I don’t have the game open, so will mostly refer to provinces rather than settlements. This is meant to be a strategic, rather than tactical or economic, discussion, covering the first 20-30 moves of a typical campaign.

First, let’s start with the obvious. Consolidating Italia. Whether to take the east or west Etruscan league settlement tends to depend on whether (i) they attack your settlements from the west, or (ii) you get an objective ordered by the Senate to destroy one of their armies. Usually takes a few back-and-forth turns chasing one of their armies around, grabbing whichever settlement is undefended etc before Italia is consolidated, and you can begin issuing edicts. I can’t imagine many games that don’t start this way for Rome.

Second, to finish off the Etruscan League, we have to take Corsica. That usually involves some naval action, and likely counterassaults by whatever troops they still have alive after their the Corsican settlement falls. That leaves Lilybaum/Sardinia as an attractive target, to consolidate your second province and earn your payday from the Senate (i.e. completes the first ‘win control of 2 provinces’ objective that starts every game). But it also means war with Carthage, which usually has a bigger and badder navy than Rome at this stage.

Let’s assume that most games will have seen Rome/Italia build up its economy and military quality by this stage. Call it 10-12 turns in. So man for man, Rome can probably field a couple of stout armies whichever direction, or directions, it wants to turn.

So this is really where the first set of strategic decisions have to be made.

• Go north into Cisalpania?

• Start a war with Carthage to consolidate Magna Graeca and/or Corsica & Sardinia? Then capture Carthage itself?

• Do I use Syracuse as an ally in the war with Carthage, or conquer it first, so that once I take Lilybaum I have all of that province? What if I ally with them for war with Carthage, then try and get them to city-state status after? Or cancel my alliance and annex them, earning a big diplomatic penalty?

Is this how other see Rome’s basic options, after securing Italia and eliminating the Etruscan league?

For what it’s worth, I find the best ‘next phase’ is to jump Syracuse, then once secure/pacified, launch a two-pronged attack on Sardinia and Lilybaum, to win control of two complete provinces in one turn, earning a payday from the Senate, and serving as a launching pad for attack on Carthage itself.

With Italia, Magna Graeca and Corsica & Sardinia under my control, and Carthage in my hands, I will use the big bank that’s earned to mount an attack on Cisalpania. Will have a couple of stacks of well seasoned troops to throw into the campaign as well, as you don’t need to leave large forces in Sicily, Corsica or Sardinia.

Cisalpania’s usually not that difficult to conquer. But it opens up borders with hostile territories in every direction, so the phase after that becomes equally challenging:

• What about those Illyrian bastards who keep hovering outside of Italian coast in large numbers? Sure would be nice to secure that coast before expanding in other directions. But will that mean war with Sparta? Really not ready for that yet.

• Go for Massilia and Provincia? Do I want direct conflict with Gauls right now?

• Push north into Raetia and Noricum? Brings me into contact and likely conflict with Germania.

This is where I usually sit, scratching my head, wishing I could have 8 generals instead of 6, and watching my military costs grow faster than my economy.

Thoughts? Interested to see what choices others make during the first few phases of the game. Cheers.

[acgabs]

After taking Carthage itself I always always take the rest of the africa province, since it is (in my opinion) the best province in the game. 4 cities AND 4 ports means it can sustain your entire empire for a while food-wise and still make you enough money to go swim in it.

[jonny duck]

I like using the historical objectives as a guideline (plus they bring in much needed cash). Having wiped out the Etruscan League, I know that to finish Chapter 1, all I need to do is either take karalis, or both syracuse and lillybaeum (sp?). However, either of those options starts war with Carthage, Libya and Carthago Nova. While not an especially difficult war, it is lengthy and very draining on resources.

Instead, I like to make a start on Chapter 2 and 3 objectives. With the Etruscans out the way, I like to take Apollonia from Epirus (Athens/Sparta usually finish them off), one of the provinces in Illyria (the weakest one, it doesn't matter which) and then Knossos. Once that is out the way, I'll look at taking Karalis (and Lillybaem at the same time if possible).

[BSGfan]

IF you play the campaign as Romr those are your prime objectives no doubt there are no other real options
o m on my 2 nd roman campaign now , not counting my first try out campaign after defeating chartage and conquiring cisalmine more optons are pen for you , either the dalmation coast , north africa or gaul
usually i go for the 3 refions in the almes to give me a buffer if those barbarians go hostule or are the perfect launchpoint into the germanic heartlands

[Doomsday]

I've found, that as a general rule, on your first turn you can attack and destroy the larger of the 2 league armies. Leaving it for a few turns to recover losses and then attacking and taking the unguarded western city, before using both armies to take the eastern. Italia unified in 6 turns. This obviously depends on difficulty and indeed player skill, but its certainly possible, on the easiest level, to auto resolve all your battles, not recruit anymore units, and still wipe out the league within 10 turns. Once I've got Corsica, I like to take Syracuse, followed by an all-out war on Carthage. I think the trick is to make sure you're not fighting on multiple fronts.

[fws2468]

Don't worry about the Greeks, they are too busy fighting each other to even dare attack your cities. I always target Carthage immediately after the Etruscans because they are the biggest threat in the area with a strong navy and elephants. Controlling the sea regions around Carthage, Corsica and Sardinia would also make naval landings into Massilia and the Cisalpine region much easier if you want to expand north later on. After Carthage and it allies in Spain are defeated, you can turn your attention on the Gauls and do a two pronged attack from Spain and Massilia.

Edit: To add, develop Massilia to a high level with military buildings. It is a very strategic location and useful bottleneck which I used successfully in the civil war.

[Downtown1]

Here's some opening moves for Rome.. take out the Etruscan League in 3 turns

Turn 1) Attack Velathri with Legio II (attack Etruscan army on the way) -- once city is conquered, recruit some units. Simultaneously Move Legio I on forced march towards Ariminum. Move fleet towards Alalia + and recruit 3 ships for your fleet.
Turn 2) Blockade Alalia with your fleet. Move Legio II towards Alalia. Move Legio I towards Ariminum (border), and recruit some units for Legio I.
Turn 3) Simultaneously take Alalia (Legio II) and Ariminum (Legio I)

Did this on Legendary, no problem. They only even had time to raise 1 tiny army on Alalia which I defeated with the additional naval support.

You will also notice your starting fleet has a veteran legionaire as the admiral for some reason, use this to your advantage in the city invasion battles, he is a total beast.

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Personally after I did this I just bumrushed Carthage and signed a non-aggression pact with Syracuse. In hindsight I probably could've taken Syracuse on the way but their 15 stack army looked scary (+10 garrison +6 fleet). Carthage in comparison had one tiny army and 3 undefended cities.

I'm really surprised that in this game the major factions start out almost army-less but all the 1 faction cities get a 20 stack army in just 3-4 turns.

[Shadeslayer]

Here's how I did it... Campaign is on Hard, Vanilla with Radious Battle Mod (doesn't do anything regarding the Campaign itself, just a better battle experience)

1) Take out Etruscan League in a few moves, beating the Army north of Legio II and taking Velathri on turn 1, recruiting 3 more Hastati for Legio II, and proceeding to Ariminum. Legio I goes to one of the Magna Graecia settlements to help with public order, as I didn't really need it in the North.

2) After consolidating Italia + Corsica I left Legio II sitting in Corsica to help convert/ with public order. Meanwhile I built up Italia, and made another Army in Rome. Legio II and the new Army (Legio III) had 17 units each - Legio II was kinda unbalanced and made up of starter units, but Legio III was nicely balanced - 6 Hastati, 2 Triarii, 3 Equites, General (Triarii), 3 Velites, 2 Principes - leaving room for 3 Ballista that would come later. Make Trade Agreements, choose your allies and make up a rough plan during this time - I allied with Sparta, Athens and Knossos, and got Non-Aggression pacts with Factions I wanted to keep as buffers/ not attack anytime soon (such as the factions bordering Cisalpina, Ilyrria, and Carthage (those were my next planned conquests).

3) When Legio III was ready, I moved it down and took Syracusae. Legio I can assist with this, and meanwhile got a few more units (it serves as a Militia army for Italia for me). You might want to build a decent sized fleet to assist with blockades and easier taking of coastal settlements (I used my starting Admiral to sail around the map discovering factions, ever since turn 1)

4) Double-pronged attack on Carthage - Legio III moves from Syracusae and takes Lilybauem, while Legio II from Corsica moves south and takes Karalis. Use your fleet to complement the attack in case there's a substantial army inside either of them;

5) Now my plan would be to take Carthage itself - however this wasn't possible in my Campaign due to Sparta blockading it's port, and eventually taking it for themselves. I considered Declaring on Sparta, but they were allied to Athens, Macedon, Ardieai etc. and I couldn't afford to be at War with the entire East just yet . So I offered a Peace Treaty to Carthage, which they happily took.

6) Next I turned my sights on Cisalpina. Made a half-stack new Legio IV Solaris which sat in Syracusae to fend off any possible invasions and to ward off potential North-African enemies. Legio II and III went north and promptly took Genua (they didn't have any allies).

7) This is where the fun begins - I declared war on Venetii, who were Allied to Nori, Breuci and Insubres. Now something really unexpected happened - each of them immediately started to send 1-2 full army stacks into Italia x_X I somehow managed to take Milan quickly and started raising yet another Legio there, Legio Alpina. Some hard battling and manouvering was needed at this point, I lost Genua and Ariminum twice, but in the end I prevailed (even had to bring Legio IV from Syracuse to help in the north, leaving the south totally undefended - luckily no one was aggresive to me from that direction) and took Patavium too, completing Cisalpina. I wiped out Insubres, and made peace with Breuci and Nori.

8) Next I proceeded to Declare on Delmatae, Daori, and Ardiei. I ended up at war with Sparta, Tribalii, Macedonia because they were all besties with Ardiei, and I absolutely wanted to have their settlement. This allowed me to finally get Carthage from Sparta (it was nearly defenceless and Legio IV from Syracuse took it by themselves with ease). I conquered the entire Illyria and Macedon, Allied with Odyssian Kingdom and Tylis. I made peace with Macedon (leaving them only with Pulpudeva, which was soon taken by Tylis) and Tribalii (I could have taken their last undefended settlement, but a) Client States are broken, as they were in war with 3-4 factions it'd kill my diplomacy and just create unneeded problems b) I don't take single settlements in provinces I dont plan to conquer. I raised another Legio, Macedonica, to keep watch over that part of the map. It is also roughly a half-stack balanced army.

9) Next I took Provincia - which was by that time taken fully by Volcae. After taking Massilia (?) my Imperium expanded which allowed me to build Legio Hispanica in Rome.

10) My 2 main attacking Legions (II and III) proceeded down the east coast of Spain, taking anything in their way. Legio Hispanica, when ready, sailed west from Rome and took the Island settlement just east of Spain, then met up with the other 2 Legions. This is where I currently am in the campaign, and the plan is to take over the entire Spain.

Further plans include fighting north and taking the entire Great Britain, as well as taking Africa and the Province west of it (forgot the name ), even though they're in good relations with me.

And I know this goes a bit beyond the Opening Moves scope, but it pays to plan ahead In retrospect, I'd probably play it smarter vs Venetii and other alliance-heavy factions. I didn't try entering legions into their territories and Raiding, in order to provoke them into declaring war on me first, and such stuff. It could also be possible to go Agent-warfare on them and make the province rebel, or at least make them declare on you. oh well, something to consider for the future. I am now by far the biggest world power in this campaign and will soon be able to fight comfortably on 2 fronts (africa and north), while keeping a Militia army in each part of the world (Spain, Italia, Macedonia, North Africa).

[Chewie]

Magna Graecia, Corsica and Sardinia, then Africa. Africa is the richest province in the game so the sooner you take it the more freedom you have to implement whatever strategy you want. It may be stretching your resources a bit but try to take Cisalpine Gaul at the same time you're taking Africa because if you wait too long I find the native cisalpine gaul factions build up stacks rather quickly, and Mediolanum is a tough nut to crack in the early game if garrisoned by a full stack. If you can ninja Illyria in the beginning without pissing off the hellenics you should go for it before one of the Hellenic factions get there.

[Slaists]

Turn 1:

Velathiri- two options 1) Attack Velathiri with Legio II (but, on turn 1, might have a sub-par troop mix for that battle if playing on VH, Legendary) or 2) Move to the border with Velathiri and use the turn to recruit more hastati. Try to poison the Etruscan band standing there in the mountains instead.

Alalia - Rome starts with a veteran legionary unit for an admiral. Recruit another admiral in Neapolis (does not really matter Principes or Triarii). Send Classis I to blockade Alalia. Send the fresh fleet as close as you can and use Classis I to attack the city from the sea. Classis II will join in the fight. You'll have an easy time destroying the AI garrison in the city. There: job done, Alalia is yours on turn 1. You can use Classis II to explore along the coast in the subsequent turns to gain trade agreements.

Move your army from Southern Italy closer to Rome, forced march stance preferable.

Turn 2:

If you followed route 2 as outlined above. Take Velathiri. Recruit more hastati. Send your spy after the retreating Etruscan outfit. Poison them again. Move your Southern army in forced march stance towards Ariminium (will not have enough move points to reach it yet).

Turn 3:

Option 1: move the army from Velathiri to the mountain path that leads to Ariminium (you might not have enough move points to reach it on the same turn). If following this route, take Ariminium on the next turn.

Option 2: move the army from Velathiri to Ariminium in forced march stance. Attack Ariminium with your general from the South instead and take the city on the same turn. The arm from Velathiri will join as reinforcements but with reduced morale.

After that: your sandbox. I opted for somewhat historical route of trying to maintain Syracuse, Liguria alive for as long as possible. I took Patavium though for the glass resources that's available there. Then proceeded attacking (and taking out) Carthage. Then Epirus, some Spanish holdings + Illyria.