Progression! I'm going to use CanOmer's map because it's more fun to play with in an image editor. H/M Makedonia, 242 BC. CAI improvement fix installed, but only managed to get it around 255 BC or so.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Pritanoi: Slooooow. For perspective, they only just got Alauna and Wrikonon in the last five years. On the bright side, they do have an army in northern Gaul doing absolutely nothing.
Aeduoi: Not quite as awesome as their southern rivals, but picking up steam. They're beating the Sweboz to the punch for those Rhenish cities.
Aruernoi: The Terror of the West. Nobody wants to fight these guys. They vultured northern Italy from Rome because the Romans couldn't get past Segesta and Felsina due to constant rebellions. In the late 250s, they took turns beating the living crap out of the Romans in tandem with Qarthadast. Rome got forced into a protectorate somewhere around 248. Now they're building up their army again, cleaning Eleutheroi out of their border regions, and conducting a humongous cold war with their Semitic rivals.
Lusotannan: Meh. Lost the race for Qarthadast's colonies. Been sitting on their butts ever since.
Areuakoi: Won that race in the 260s and immediately peaced out. For whatever reason, didn't contest the Aruernoi for Emporiton.
Sweboz: Captured all of their territory by 260 and sat there getting rich and indolent until I installed the CAI fix. Then they immediately launched all their armies in all directions and got slaughtered by Eleutheroi garrisons. The Lugioi picked up the pieces. Currently trying to beat the Aeduoi to the punch for the cities in that Eleutheroi buffer zone between them, and failing.
Boioi: Almost completely useless. The CAI fix did nothing for them.
Romani: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Qarthadast: Losing Iberia really helped them. They suddenly shifted into high gear on Sicily and swarmed over the whole island while the Romans were making heavy weather of Epeiros and the Felsina Boioi. Once Epeiros was dead, it was open season on Rome, and they crushed it in a pretty devastating five-year war that ended only when the Aruernoi protectorate-ized the last two remaining Roman cities. Managed to beat up the Numidians, too, somehow.
Massylim: At one point in the mid-260s they had three African settlements - Thugga, Kirtan, and Garama - and looked to be poised to take down Qarthadast. Numidian armies were regularly raiding and captured several Punic PSF towns. Then the Numidian military evaporated and the Qarthies rolled over them. Now they're a protectorate, stuck on their little reservation out there.
Lugioi: Did nothing whatsoever until the CAI fix was installed. Then they made quick work of the nearby Eleutheroi territories - weakened by unsuccessful Sweboz attacks. Now they're fighting...uh...the Saurometai? Yeah, okay, whatever.
Getai: Also did nothing until the CAI fix. Took Sarmizegethusa in 253. Histria required more effort, namely several unsuccessful sieges by Pergamene (!) and Pontic (!!!) armies, before the Getai moved in and vultured it.
Epeiros:User is still in shock from elephant battle. Please try again later.
Makedonia: I've been having more fun fooling around with colonization mechanics than fighting wars. Those machairophoroi reforms look pretty sweet, too...
Pergamon: My semi-useful buffer state against Pontos. I say "semi" useful because they do block Pontos from having a border with me and we are allied, but they have a bizarre habit of sending captain-led halfstacks into Thraike where they wander around for a few years and rebel, leaving me to pick up the pieces. I guess they don't have much to do now that Histria is in Getic hands. Did not take Nikaia until the CAI fix.
Koinon Hellenon: Peaced out almost immediately after I ran them out of Greece. Got into a long war with the Ptolies for Karia that's turned static lately. Got into a war with the Qarthies in the 240s that ended up with the KH losing Krete. (It's about to revolt, though, and I'm ready to snag it once it does.) Sinope revolted from the Saurometai so they've got that, too.
Kimmerios Bosporos: Quiescent until the CAI patch, then steamrolled four Eleutheroi towns in quick succession. I have no idea why they went beelining northwest like migrating birds, but they did. Now they're in a slap-fight with the Saurometai while one army keeps trying to take Olbia and failing miserably.
Pontos: Hates me, apparently. Ran out of room to expand very quickly, but is still at peace with every one of its neighbors because why not? Has a few random stacks floating around Histria and Olbia because of course it does.
Saurometai: Meh. They're doing what they usually do.
Hayasdan: Did absolutely nothing until the patch to a rather alarming degree: they didn't even move their armies from around their capital. Kabalaka revolted from the Pahlava in the 260s (!). After the CAI fix, they belatedly made a rush for Ani (251) and Mtskheta (244).
Seleukeia: Still limping along. Tarsos and Hekatompylos revolted very early, Syrinx and Antiocheia-Margiane followed shortly thereafter. They've been holding their ground for the most part in both a negative and a positive sense. Prophthasia is only in their hands because it revolted from Gandhara.
Ptolemaioi: Have done nothing except losing Halikarnassos all game. All the CAI patch did for them was get them to peace out with the AS.
Nabataia: Clinging on gamely in the margins. Hasn't fought with anybody save Eleutheroi.
Saba: At least they managed to take one city.
Pahlava: Mostly quiet. Only took Syrinx because it revolted from the AS; grabbed Kabalaka very early (they seem to do that a lot, anecdotally) before it rebelled to the Hai. Those rebels in Hekatompylos/Antiocheia-Margiane/Marakanda/Antiocheia-in-Skythia are pretty tough, though.
Saka Rauka: Same old, same old. I think it's a little weird that a) they never seem to go for Sulek and b) AI Baktria always always always beats them to Chach.
Baktria: Looked extremely scary until about 258 when Marakanda and Antiocheia-in-Skythia rebelled. (Ha ha!) Have done nothing ever since.
Gandhara: Did a reasonably good job so far. Didn't lose Taksashila to rebels, which is nice. Beat Baktria to Orthospana (263). Captured Sagala somehow - we'll see how that goes.
Let them eat cock!
I think Rome should be strongest faction there is, almost never to fall...
I choose to die on my feet, rather than live on my knees!
Difficulty does not have much of an impact on M2? The difference between medium and VH are probably negligible
Playing Taksashila on hard-hard, progression till turn 100. NOT using the new campaign AI (= http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...I-RELEASE-TEST).
Turn 36:
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
Turn 100:
@EB2 team - Shall I switch to the new CAI during my current Taksashila campaign? Also please let me know, if there is any specific faction, you would liked played/feedbacked - I'd start them next.
Bactria, M / VH campaign, CAI V.1, Moros Damage mod
Recording my experience and 10 year map progressions starting at turn 22
Start campaign
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Turn 22
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Turn 32
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Turn 42
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Turn 52
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Turn 62
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Turn 72
CAIv.2 is relased
End campaign
All factions survived 72 turns
Factions that delcared war during the game are
romani vs boii, auerni
qarthadast vs areuakoi
I'll do the same thing with a different faction and the new CAI
note: saromate in anatolia, pahlava likes the caspian sea, 0 CTD
So this is my campaign at 200 turns on h/m and as you can see the tables have really turned on nabataea: antioch, bostra, seleukeia, babylon, all of them have been taken back and they have once again been reduced to their tiny camp of rekem. They've also become a protectorate of seleukeia
Not really a fan of the germans in the east, mind.
Rome seems weak in a lot of campaigns... they should be superior to all
I choose to die on my feet, rather than live on my knees!
Why?Rome seems weak in a lot of campaigns... they should be superior to all
I dont know, I thought Rome was one of the biggest empire in world, they had best infantry and technology...
I choose to die on my feet, rather than live on my knees!
Hmm but you forget that a working makedonian phalanx can be even better when used right?And that the hellens weren't really having less technology?I dont know, I thought Rome was one of the biggest empire in world, they had best infantry and technology...
Romes infantry was good maybe even the best on average ,but not the best.
I think that by conquering almost half of the known word, they proved to have best disciplined infantry and tactics... Macedonians were strong before 272BC but romans could out fight them
I choose to die on my feet, rather than live on my knees!
That still doesn't make them predestined to win no matter the circumstances.
I am not saying they should win no matter what... but at least most of the times they should be able to have a kinda big empire.... also carthagians are screwing them easily
I choose to die on my feet, rather than live on my knees!
Look at the turn counter. It's 20-50 years into the game. Rome did not have an empire yet.
In my game Rome is developing quite nice. Started a Punic War in 265 BC, which is almost historical (264-241 BC). In 10 years managed to conquer all of Sicily. In the north almost the whole Po valley is taken by the Romans. What I don't like is their expansion in Illyria - not very historical in that period, and besides it draws them towards my Makedonian borders...
So no, Rome is not underpowered so far. It just needs time to develop. Just like it was in history.