Is Lugii bugged ?

[zonabalona]

Playing on hard/normal difficulty, patch 14 dei 0.95e.
I am on my 14th campaign with Lugii, and yet to make it past 60 turns.

From the start all 7 neighbors have a terrible standing towards me. Somehow this little nation managed to piss everyone off by doing military/agent actions or breaking a treaty against all 7 of them. Yet they start off without any agent, and their army only consist of 4 units.
I dont know if something got bugged with their introduction as a playable faction, or if it was meant to be this way. Would be nice if one of the devs could verify it.

Challenges in the details:
*Number one challenge, and the most challenging one is to keep steppe factions from attacking me. Some of you probably already know that its in your best interest to keep them hordes happy, otherwise they gonna steam-roll through your lands like Atila and Chingis Khan did with their mongolian horde.
Unfortunately Lugii begins with a very terrible relationship with Budini, that are in good relationship with Aestii which hates Lugii too. In another words, you can forget about any diplomatic relationships with your neighbors to the East.
Waging war on Budini is not an option. I tried 5 different times and i failed. Germanic tribes simply dont have anything in their arsenal to deal with steppe faction. Ambushes dont work, open field battles dont work, forest battles dont work. Only thing someone can do is to use walled city + agent + winter to bring their numbers down until they retreat. Problem with that though is that there are only 2 walled cities in that region (lugii and their capital), everything else is villages, winter is only once a year and Lugii's agents are not the best ones.
Starting war with Budini will also initiate the war with Aestii. One time i actually managed to destroy Budini with high numbers + winter + agent tactic and help of Gurtones, but right after that another steppe faction Scythia declared war on me and destroyed me in next 5 turns.

*Second challenge is to deal with Suebi.
Germanic tribes love war. If you dont wage war, you will we considered as weak and war will be declared on you, in another words no you cant sit there quetly and hope that no one will notice you. Having Suebi as a military and trade partner is a must. Only way to accomplish that is by helping them to take out the Boii by taking over the Istros province that has a gold resource. Doing so will secure a non-aggression pact and trade deal.
Why do we need Suebi on our side ? Because, on 3 setlements they will be rolling with 4 fully stacked armies, and that is not something you can deal with as Lugii.
Also, Boii will eventually declare war on Lugii, they are very aggressive faction. Military wise celtic troops are superior, which means a long war with military power to their advantage. That is not something Lugii can afford to happen when neighbors to the east are ready to strike at any moment.
Taking out Boii will also force to leave at least half full army to deal with rebellion in that region due to culture penalty. That is another big challenge when playing as Lugii.

*Third challenge, finances.
Lugii can only support 2 armies on 3 settlements. That is not enough to fight Suebi, and thats is not enough to defend against Budini invasion.
No one wants to tade with Lugii. Im guessing due to the military/agent actions vs other factions, everyone views Lugii as unreliable expansinist, which in result forcess a heavy diplomatic penalty on them.
To prevent other factions from declaring war, monetary gift will have to be paid to them. So far, gifts and treaties with Suebi are the only things that keep everyone from declaring war on me.

Anyways, like i said 60 turns its as far as i got with them. Right now im on my 14th atempt with them, and im thinking to take all my armies to a different region and start a new life there, because it looks like im gonna get wiped out again.

If its bugged, some fix would be nice. If someone managed to make any progress with them, so advice would be nice.

[Highwayleopard]

Yeah it's a pretty damn difficult start. I got it to work by bribing the Suebi turn one into non aggression pacts. Then I worked on some of my other neighbours, the Aestii I think. I took out the Gutones as quickly as possible, and then just spent my money bribing people into non aggression pacts. Worked pretty well for me.

[suras333]

Nice read!


Same with Getae. Tried VH, than H, then normal + bribe and works. Hardly, but works.. kind of.. The best mod!

[FlashHeart07]

Just started a new campaign with Lugii on Hard difficulty. You start at war with the Glutones. I dont know if this has to do with any of my other mods, though I doubt it, I was able to get them into a confederation with me after paying them some gold. I also bribed Budini to keep them off my back while I build up my armies. The small germanic tribe north of Budini and north east of the Lugii declared war on me but again by paying them some gold I was able to get them into my confederation.
Try to bribe your way out of it and keep track of your food production then it should be manageable.

[Ano2]

In my campaign (hard) I wiped out the glutones quickly and the tribe to the east of them declared war on me so I took them out as well. Haven't bribed anyone (yet) and I'm still going strong. I also chose the sell slaves edict and enslaved all prisoners after battle due to lack of trade partners (though I have now secured one).

[FlashHeart07]

Yeah the new slave edict is a nice way to secure a good income early on and is quite cruciel when playing as one of these minor factions as the Lugii is. Exciting campaign start and somewhat challenging. How far are you Ano? Just wondering about their units? Havent really tried them out yet.

[Ano2]

Yeah the new slave edict is a nice way to secure a good income early on and is quite cruciel when playing as one of these minor factions as the Lugii is. Exciting campaign start and somewhat challenging. How far are you Ano? Just wondering about their units? Havent really tried them out yet.

Not too far, about 11 turns in. I have gained access to the first tier of units(artisan lodgings) which allows skirmishers to be recruited. Only problem at the moment is that the AOR spear levies are better than the lugii ones and AOR hunter (bow units) kind of crap all over the skirmishers. Hopefully the 1.0 battle balance changes will sort this out .

[BunnyPoopCereal]

Not too far, about 11 turns in. I have gained access to the first tier of units(artisan lodgings) which allows skirmishers to be recruited. Only problem at the moment is that the AOR spear levies are better than the lugii ones and AOR hunter (bow units) kind of crap all over the skirmishers. Hopefully the 1.0 battle balance changes will sort this out .

What do you mean "kind of crap all over the skirmishers" Does this main they rain arrows over their enemies? or they are bad compared to other skirmishers?

[Ano2]

What do you mean "kind of crap all over the skirmishers" Does this main they rain arrows over their enemies? or they are bad compared to other skirmishers?

I just mean that archers seem to be a lot better right now than skirmishers. Whilst skirmishers are better against more armoured infantry I feel that in the start of the game archers are just far more useful.

[FlashHeart07]

Then we are about the same in the campaign. I also noticed that about the units. Only positive thing is that the main Lugii units have a much lower upkeep cost than the AOR units which would kindda make up for some of the differences in their stats.

[Ano2]

Then we are about the same in the campaign. I also noticed that about the units. Only positive thing is that the main Lugii units have a much lower upkeep cost than the AOR units which would kindda make up for some of the differences in their stats.

Yeah I've also just noticed that the AOR spearmen have worse morale which is a major downside. Once the 1.0 balance changes come in I imagine it shouldn't be an issue. I've got a lot of different test campaigns running right now but Lugii is the most interesting by far. Only slightly disappointing thing is that the mercenary german beserker units don't have the cool wolf pelt headgear, just regular helmets .

[FlashHeart07]

Yeah I've also just noticed that the AOR spearmen have worse morale which is a major downside. Once the 1.0 balance changes come in I imagine it shouldn't be an issue. I've got a lot of different test campaigns running right now but Lugii is the most interesting by far. Only slightly disappointing thing is that the mercenary german beserker units don't have the cool wolf pelt headgear, just regular helmets .

Too bad are they only present with the regular german berserkers? I have tested Rome now Lugii and after that Arverni and the other barbarian factions so far I have had zero crashes and not really seen any major inbalances

[Ano2]

Too bad are they only present with the regular german berserkers? I have tested Rome now Lugii and after that Arverni and the other barbarian factions so far I have had zero crashes and not really seen any major inbalances

Yeah I've pretty much only noticed minor issues so far (unit overlaps and the like). That's awesome, I'm testing iceni, suebi and lugii mainly (as I feel its the barbarian factions that require more attention than say the greek ones). Between us we should be able to cover any issues .

[FlashHeart07]

Yeah I've pretty much only noticed minor issues so far (unit overlaps and the like). That's awesome, I'm testing iceni, suebi and lugii mainly (as I feel its the barbarian factions that require more attention than say the greek ones). Between us we should be able to cover any issues .

Shouldnt be a problem when you have two extremely intelligent People working on this I know that the Suebi have some overlaps In their rooster

[zonabalona]

So im guessing that im not the only one who is dealing with crappy standings towards everyone in the campaign ?

Ill try bribing my way out in new campaign.
I always saw Gutones as a reasonable ally in the war against east, plus they didnt hesitate to offer a peace treaty with 1000 gold on top. Kind of hard to resist

Since some of you bribing non-aggression pacts out of other factions, where do you expand ? Lugii doesnt have much room to breath there.
Also, i dont see anyone saying anything about Budini, did ya managed to bribe them into not attacking you ?

[Ano2]

So im guessing that im not the only one who is dealing with crappy standings towards everyone in the campaign ?

Ill try bribing my way out in new campaign.
I always saw Gutones as a reasonable ally in the war against east, plus they didnt hesitate to offer a peace treaty with 1000 gold on top. Kind of hard to resist

Since some of you bribing non-aggression pacts out of other factions, where do you expand ? Lugii doesnt have much room to breath there.
Also, i dont see anyone saying anything about Budini, did ya managed to bribe them into not attacking you ?

Well I got pretty damn lucky with the budini, I declared war on them and just before i was about to attack their city they formed a confederation with another nomad faction. As a result their city garrison started to replenish from scratch resulting in very few men when I took the city.

[Highwayleopard]

Off memory, I secured peace with the Suebi, who then expanded south, taking out the Boii. I took out the gutones turn 2 or 3, i can't remember which, with a mix of the base army plus a couple units, and some spammed out mercs. Then, I moved my forces south, securing a non aggression pact with the Aestii and the R.. .. R something guys. I built my army up to stack size whilst sitting outside of Belz, I think it's called, then attacked the anartes, pushing from there into the Budini. Maybe a mix of luck, but that's what worked for me.

[FlashHeart07]

I bribed my way into 2 confederation deals. First with the glutones and then the small germanic tribe east of them the budini declared war but quickly asked for peace. Then when I got strong enough I expanded east and south

[Addario]

My first start was what you described but I had it with version C. But with version E and F they are very nice too me and wants to trade and stuff. Also this was with a new campagne so try that and it might be different. So I had to get military acess to be able to fight the ones thjat don't like me. I'm not much for stabbing my friends.

[Butan]

I tried Lugii a bit and its indeed a very challenging start. I recommend for those who love to struggle, even on normal.