Free Greeks Campaign Questions

[Kyren]

Good evening!

I've got back to playing Rome for Roma Surrectum II and I've had a blast since. I'm really really impressed by the level of detail put into the mod, especially the historical background information and history given on every unit. (I'm going around recruiting mercenaries for the sake of checking their unit desc!)

After figuring out the difference between 1 and 0 turn campaigns, swap factions etc. I started playing Massalia and Pergamon campaigns, and while in the former I managed to hold out for a while I was taken apart by a Cimbri empire that had overtaken the Belgae and Boii after a while With Pergamon I
fared much better, allying with Macedon and fighting against the free Greek cities.

However, this has led me to wanting to try the Free Greeks - looking into the Campaign shortly the range of units and cities is really stunning, but I find it difficult to get a foothold with them, especially economically. By conquering Sparta and rising taxes I managed to put my economic loss to a minimum, but then I find myself unable to recruit more soldiers due to a lack of money, and I can't ungarrison every single settlement I have, or I didn't dare to yet.

I'm aware that the Free Greeks weren't really designed to play normally - as far as I've read - but I'd still like to continue with them. Are there some ways for managing to get the greek economy profitable early on? Do they get any bonuses for capturing other cities and not depopulating the settlement, e.g. lower unrest or so? And I recall one of my governors getting a negative trait in a city for being installed as a political puppet there - should I avoid using governors from my ruling family?

[I3enjaIvIin]

Just some quick tips:
- disband all but the essential high upkeep units
- focus on building buildings which provide a large income bonus (i.e. mines in athens)
- governors give an increase in income if they are any good. Obviously avoid governers who decrease income.
- use cheap levies as a garrisson and compare if the cost of adding an extra levie is worth an increase in the level of tax.
- a more rigorous option could also be to abandon a settlement and sell all its buildings&units..focus on greek mainland

BTW like you said, this game is awesome and I'll try the swap factions -thnx for reminding me of that option- as it will be a nice challenge Good luck in your campaign!

[Alavaria]

focus on greek mainland

Keeping borders and therefore defensive troops to a minimum is critical.

Besides the "public order" garrisons, try to avoid the trap of having tons of units sitting "defensively" around, as you can get stuck in place while the AI masses ever more and techs up ever more...

My rule of thumb is 1 stack per enemy I'm attacking, and 1 stack per front I'm defending (obviously against two or more factions). Investing in artillery (just one unit per stack) minimizes the times when your stacks are vulnerable.

Massalia
.....
I managed to hold out for a while I was taken apart by a Cimbri empire that had overtaken the Belgae and Boii after a while

The Cimbri treasury city is in the worst place possible for an take-and-hold operation, they're certainly like the final boss of the barbarians.

Also, as Massalia, if I remember right, your "homeland" area is the Averni/southern Belgae lands. Which are pretty terrible to move around in try to defend or attack.

As a general plus, you start off really close to Rome, so strangling them early on and murdering everyone is a great source of cash and cashflow...

- governors give an increase in income if they are any good. Obviously avoid governers who decrease income.

Just remember that each general has 200/turn in wages as well as the upkeep of their bodyguard unit. Also, as RS2 tries to prevent you from using Very High taxes (governor gets traits increasing unrest >> "Settlement Loyalty"), you might find that smaller cities are better off governorless and on Very High taxes.

[Atticus-R]

SWAP factions?

[Alavaria]

Yes, the "standard" campaigns have Sparta, however there are swap faction campaigns, such as Massalia, Syracuse, etc which do not have a sparta faction. Instead you command the city the campaign is named after.

[century x]

The swap factions are some on the most fun and challenging to play...

[Bradley]

I made a little description of few swap factions.
Massalia: here
Bosphoran, Syracuse, Bithynia: here