Anyone tried a Massalia campaign?

**stevehoos** · August 12, 2014, 12:45 AM

This seems almost impossible on H/VH with the new unrest settings. The Celtic factions declare war on you before you have time to build up enough units to hold them off. I tried 10 games in a row and lost them all within the first 20 turns. Within about 5 turns a 20 stack army is usually at your doorstep. If 2 or more AI declare war on you it's only a matter of time before you lose. It is also basically impossible to get trade agreements with any factions.

**mephhhh** · August 12, 2014, 01:12 AM

new unrest settings as in the one introduced at the start of 0.95?

**stevehoos** · August 12, 2014, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by mephhhh

new unrest settings as in the one introduced at the start of 0.95?

Yes, 0.95, I am all for the game being harder, but campaign seems impossible with Massallia. Can someone try this and report back. I may be just having a run of bad luck where all the factions are declaring war on me. I swear there is no way to win on hard.

**Ygraine** · August 12, 2014, 02:33 AM

Don't forget all the diseases you seem to get a lot early when playing Massalia

**Cope** · August 12, 2014, 02:39 AM

I've not played it, but usually the best policy is to be be aggressive back. Try and spot an AI faction near you that is an easy target (perhaps Genoa) and then you'll have to beat them in a battle that favours them. If you can do that and take a city off them then you should be ok. If you camp in your city you will probably lose: this I learnt from trying to play as the Roxolani.

**spirroouu** · August 12, 2014, 05:57 AM

What I usually do when playing a faction that is hard to manage at the start is that I send an agent far off, your best bet would be Arche Bosphorus, send an agent to there as soon as you have the money. You should then proceed to ask for a trade agreement and non aggression, which will be accepted as you are both of the same faction, this trade agreement will uncover a big route which will in turn make trade available to almost all hellenic factions. If you do this, your income shall rise a whole lot in no time, and you will be ready to roll. If I recall Massilia is a walled city, why don't you mass a few spearmen and a few archers in there and research oil?

**BunnyPoopCereal** · August 12, 2014, 09:30 AM

Ive played many Massalian campaigns. They are doable. You just have to keep trying and see what works for you.

I was playing H/H. The problem I have with very hard battles is that your generals will die a lot.

One useful tip is that if your settlements get disease dont drop your army in there. Your army should almost always be 95% of the time be outside of the settlement.

**Butan** · August 12, 2014, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by BunnyPoopCereal

One useful tip is that if your settlements get disease dont drop your army in there. Your army should almost always be 95% of the time be outside of the settlement.

^best tip for Massilia

The fact that when in garrisons your public order drops should give you an incentive to never put it inside.
Try to capture another province capital, until then be in "counter-attack" mode with your main army placed behind your city (behind in the sense, from the predetermined direction of the AI attack).

If you cant manage to have at least one "safe side" (geographically-wise) then you're basically

ed if you dont have army advantage on any of the factions you're at war with.

**SenseiJT92** · August 12, 2014, 10:48 AM

Massalia is a piece of piss; what are you talking about? I play on hard and my first goal as to take the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, rather than expanding into Gaul. A general unit in the city is enough to keep any attacker at bay; especially with the new garrison system. Once you have the two islands you can afford to turn Massalia into a Naval Port.