So who's had success with the WRE, and how'd you do it? (And how do you stand the constant battles?)

[Aenima]

Abandoning settlements just led to mass revolt with poor P.O and just wasn't fun

Disbanding everything for $ led to factions being more aggressive against me and attacking rich provinces quickly

Holding onto everything and just trying to play it smart eventually leads to me being frustrated with the lack of money available to me (fluctuates based on my armies and attempts to seize land), surrounded by constant stacks (Angles/Saxons/Jutes in Gaul, Caledonians and Picts in Spain, everyone else in northern Italy) and still suffering from unproductive, unhappy provinces.

(And on top of that the dozens and dozens of battles I'm constantly playing just get boring but I don't want to autoresolve since I'm able to win/inflict many, many times more casualties than the auto-resolves do)


How many of you guys enjoyed more of a level of success with the WRe economically, militarily etc and what advice do you have for doing it?

[Kassandros]

I didn't abandon anything. I just pulled my legions back to Italia, Hispania, and Africa, and let the barbarians overrun Gaul, Britannia, and Illyria. When a barbarian tribe inevitably crossed the Alps, I'd sick all of my legions on it and crush it, with my emperor as one of the generals (for influence points). This lasted for... a very long time. I used the huge influx of time and cash to research my troops up as far as I could and invest in a real Italian and African economic core. Hispania was constantly revolting, but I had three armies wandering around beating up on all the enemies (also priests helped a lot).

I didn't get to convert the WRE back to Paganism until about turn 150, but now I'm over 200 and have just recolonized Greece (Ostrogoths ravaged it and wiped out the ERE) and retaken Egypt from Axum. Also Hispania has settled down, and I've retaken all of Gaul and most of Illyria.

[Gaidin]

So basically, for both the RE's, you gotta pick the part you take your stand and pull back?

[DeliCiousTZM]

Personally, im collapsing Gaul,Britannia,Parts of Iberia. And trying to keep Italy,Africa and Islands.

[Keyser]

Personally, im collapsing Gaul,Britannia,Parts of Iberia. And trying to keep Italy,Africa and Islands.

Same strategy here (though not in Legendary) and it worked (i abandoned spain as well though, but i was able to defend Carthago Nova and Toletum with only their garrisons and managed to keep them until the reconquest, i could probably have saved more of spain if i tried to defend it from the begining instead).

At first i only defended while investing all my money into buildings producing more food and money in Italy. Then i raised some additional troops for my starting armies to make them able to stand alone rather than having to use them grouped. Then i continued to develop economically in Africa and Narbonensis. After that i started to recolonize or reconquers the lost areas.
Right now i am in 425 or 426 and i have secured the minor victory.

After a frankish interlude, i am trying to continue my WRE campaign to secure a cultural or military victory.

[TiTiTimmy]

I started turn 1 by demolishing all churches, as they have an upkeep cost. Then I blitzed the Caledonians and Quadians, by buying all the available mercenaries in the regions. Then i made them my Puppet States, as the Caledonians are a buffer against the Pitcs and the Quadians against the Ostrogoths.
Build sanitation in regions with bad health and capitols in regions with low public order. Set governors to the highest earning regions, as their future -10% to corruption makes the most bucks.

Move one of the legions from Gaul/Belgica to Britannia Superior to counter future Saxons and Jutes attack, and the one from Raetia et Noricum to the front against futures hordes in Pannonia.

Also make one legion follow the Suebians, as they will attack you at some point.


When you have control over the health and happiness of your regions, upgrade your border towns with bigger "town" buildings and garrisons. Remember to upgrade farms in your most fertile regions.


I'm a turn 37 and haven't lost a region, army or battle yet. I have a income of +/-7000 per turn, but with much better legions than the one you start with.

[Theo]

Playing on Legendary this is where I was earlier today (409 A.D.): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=401219071

I abandoned Britannia, Pannonia, and Belgica. Massive public order penalties. Massive numbers of revolts. Civil war. But I fought every battle out and managed to keep Italy and Narbonensis, which has allowed me to fund 5 stacks and a fleet.

I demolished a bunch of squalor/public order causing industry/wealth buildings, and now public order to starting to improve instead of constantly degenerating. I've wiped out the Suebi, Alemanni, Visigoths, Maurians, Ostrogoths, Roxolani, Separatists, and the Gepids. I am about to destroy the Saxons, Longobards, and the Marcomanni. The key is to never lose your army. Accept that you are going to lose provinces. The Suebi took over Aquitaine, so I sent over my armies and wiped them out. But then I left Aquitaine unprotected (to draw the enemy away from by important economy/food provinces), and sent my armies destroy the Separatists in Raetia et Noricum.

Eventually I made the Saxons, Alemanni, Jutes, and Marcomanni my vassals. Of course, vassals (with the exception of Roman vassals like Italia or Hispania) will always betray you. But by making them your vassals it forces them to go to war with the factions you are already fighting, which can help a lot. Now the Britannic factions are all at war with the Nordic/Germanic factions.

At this point I'm just moping up whats left of the Germans and preparing to rebuild those desolated areas.

Also split-off factions like Illyria/Africa/Gaul/Hispania help a lot as buffer states. Don't underestimate how useful they can be early in the campaign if you are fighting on too many fronts..

[Rumblefish]

I'm not doing too well but I believe a good tactic is to disband all your armies and improve the heart of Italy whilst allowing the barbarian hordes to swallow up the extremities of the empire. Then mount a fight back in due course. Abandoning settlements just speeds up the barbarian advance and destroy public order.

Also, check this thread: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ost-your-ideas

[Naked Emperor]

I'm actually playing the ERE but have the same problem because I've kept my alliance with WRE I am at war with everybody.

It was hard enough with nomads attacking Greece and Thracia and I was waging a defensive war against the Garamantians and the Ethiopian factions in Africa. The Sassanids took it too a whole new level when they declared war and came after me with all their satrapies.

So the battle cry is Antioch must not fall. I'm defending Asia minor Greece and Thracia is a battleground as is the levant.

But I think playing as the empire you just have to protect some core regions and build up. He who defends everything defends nothing.

But I'm getting really tired of playing defensive battles though.

At least I dont have to worry about the Huns, as I am at war with everyone like them they have become my staunchest military ally

[YMIL]

Me on hard in 405 AD:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Armies in Mauretania are there because some rebels roze up, although Im going clear western africa of any AI faction. And yes I am pagan because of the awesome sanitation boost, christianity sucks imo. The sassanids equal me in strenght though.

[MKeogh]

I'm playing on Hard. It's 425 and I hold all of Italy, Gaul, North Africa, and Spain. I'm making $15k/turn. I have all my provinces in the plus as to sanitation, public order, and food. The AI is intimidated by my power and doesn't attack me. Even the Huns shy away from my garrisoned cities. It's actually became too much like Rome2 because it's a bit boring. The CAI is still pretty bad. Occasionally, hordes enter my borders, but all they do is loot and are eventually chased down and exterminated.

I didn't abandon ANYTHING. I fought tooth and nail for every town. Yes, that's a lot of VERY repetitive town battles. I did lose Noricum and Raetia and my Balkans possessions. And was eventually pushed out of Britannia. But the mass abandonment of provinces that people keep urging as the ONLY way to survive as the WRE is utter nonsense. Plus, it defeats the only real fun as playing as the WRE. The best part of my campaign BY FAR was the early game when I had to deal with all these external and internal threats with very limited resources. It was a blast. Unfortunately, once I stabilized things it feels like Rome2: I'm a giant among pygmies. All the other AI nations are weaklings.

The keys:

1) FIGHT- don't autoresolve town battles. You'd be surprised how many times you can win with just a four unit garrison.
2) Don't abandon provinces it's not worth the public order hits
3) Develop your resources
4) Build sanitation and food buildings
5) Don't waste your limited fund on repairs - let the auto-repair feature do its job
6) Keep small field armies throughout your empire to track down and crush rebellions before they can grow into a real threat
7) If you lose Britannia then build a naval fleet with 4-5 ramming ships. Ramming ships will sink a transport with one hit. You can easily destroy a 20 transport fleet with 4-5 ramming ships. That'll keep the British factions out of Gaul and Spain. (Plus, all you have to do is move the fleet near a transported army to stop it from moving. You don't even have to attack it!)
8) Mercs are cheap as to both recruitment and upkeep. Fill-out your field armies with them.
9) CA's CAI and BAI both suck and any moderately experienced player can easily best them.

[Kassandros]

I'm playing on Hard. It's 425 and I hold all of Italy, Gaul, North Africa, and Spain. I'm making $15k/turn. I have all my provinces in the plus as to sanitation, public order, and food. The AI is intimidated by my power and doesn't attack me. Even the Huns shy away from my garrisoned cities. It's actually became too much like Rome2 because it's a bit boring. The CAI is still pretty bad. Occasionally, hordes enter my borders, but all they do is loot and are eventually chased down and exterminated.

I didn't abandon ANYTHING. I fought tooth and nail for every town. Yes, that's a lot of VERY repetitive town battles. I did lose Noricum and Raetia and my Balkans possessions. And was eventually pushed out of Britannia. But the mass abandonment of provinces that people keep urging as the ONLY way to survive as the WRE is utter nonsense. Plus, it defeats the only real fun as playing as the WRE. The best part of my campaign BY FAR was the early game when I had to deal with all these external and internal threats with very limited resources. It was a blast. Unfortunately, once I stabilized things it feels like Rome2: I'm a giant among pygmies. All the other AI nations are weaklings.

The keys:

1) FIGHT- don't autoresolve town battles. You'd be surprised how many times you can win with just a four unit garrison.
2) Don't abandon provinces it's not worth the public order hits
3) Develop your resources
4) Build sanitation and food buildings
5) Don't waste your limited fund on repairs - let the auto-repair feature do its job
6) Keep small field armies throughout your empire to track down and crush rebellions before they can grow into a real threat
7) If you lose Britannia then build a naval fleet with 4-5 ramming ships. Ramming ships will sink a transport with one hit. You can easily destroy a 20 transport fleet with 4-5 ramming ships. That'll keep the British factions out of Gaul and Spain. (Plus, all you have to do is move the fleet near a transported army to stop it from moving. You don't even have to attack it!)
8) Mercs are cheap as to both recruitment and upkeep. Fill-out your field armies with them.
9) CA's CAI and BAI both suck and any moderately experienced player can easily best them.

Yeah, abandoning is stupid. I just let the AI overrun a (held Iberia, Italia, islands, and Africa) and now I've retaken ALL of it and more lol.

[Xelathur]

I am currently playing as the WRE, and it's going great. I have not lost a single province except my most northern one which I abandoned turn 1 due to the Picts.

Things I did turn 1 that massively helped me raise money and put off pressure;

1.Bribe the Suebi to go to war with the Picts. They already hate them due to cultural stuff so they will accept for a small bribe. They will migrate to Scotland and start bringing the pain to the picts, giving you time.
2. Ask the ERE for 1-2k gold as a gift. They are your pals, use it.
3. Go to war with any of the factions ERE ar at war with and request 1-3k gold for the nuisance.
4. BUILD UP YOUR ARMY, SERIOUSLY. Get 1x fullstack legion at every front and just wait for the inevitable stack to attack you. You will have to play good but the Cohors are OP early game anyway.
5. Don't fail the garrison fights - you can easily win with sniping their general and using the Scout Equites/Defensive Testudo melee units to win.
6. Make trade agreements/non aggression pacts with everyone you can. Try this every turn for the first 1-5 turns, you will be surprised how many people will actually agree.
7. Appoint governors in the Provinces that make the most money, asap. Put edicts to -4 non-latin christianity, it's important.

I'm playing on Hard. It's 425 and I hold all of Italy, Gaul, North Africa, and Spain. I'm making $15k/turn. I have all my provinces in the plus as to sanitation, public order, and food. The AI is intimidated by my power and doesn't attack me. Even the Huns shy away from my garrisoned cities. It's actually became too much like Rome2 because it's a bit boring. The CAI is still pretty bad. Occasionally, hordes enter my borders, but all they do is loot and are eventually chased down and exterminated.

I didn't abandon ANYTHING. I fought tooth and nail for every town. Yes, that's a lot of VERY repetitive town battles. I did lose Noricum and Raetia and my Balkans possessions. And was eventually pushed out of Britannia. But the mass abandonment of provinces that people keep urging as the ONLY way to survive as the WRE is utter nonsense. Plus, it defeats the only real fun as playing as the WRE. The best part of my campaign BY FAR was the early game when I had to deal with all these external and internal threats with very limited resources. It was a blast. Unfortunately, once I stabilized things it feels like Rome2: I'm a giant among pygmies. All the other AI nations are weaklings.

That's how it's supposed to be done! I dread reading about people abandoning the empire, what, just because some filthy barbarians want to loot it?

Anyway, how long did you manage to hold Britain?

I know the Saxons, Jutes, Ebdanians, Picts all try to raid it so I have been managing with 1-2 stacks, but I feel like it's probably not worth it. Did you fight for it at the start and they overwhelmed you, or did you pull back?

[barry12]

Same here, finding it all quite easy, for all of the reasons and tactics mentioned above. The start of the game is easily the biggest challenge, once that's over, the game's a breeze.

I was really angry to discover the Huns, the entire subject of this game, did not start ONE battle with me. The Germans come across the Rhine occasionally and I've surrendered Spain to some African enemies, but apart from that, I am so disappointed that the Huns never made it to even Germany, let alone France with an army of c.80,000 (represented in game with multiple stacks of course).

Attila died at the age of 40-something and razed a small area in Eastern Europe, but this was such a massive anti-climax for a game called Attila Total War. I was expecting something like MTW2 with the Mongol hordes attacking everyone, but no, Attila was beaten back by a bunch of lowly-ranked, starving, badly-armed German tribes. I noticed too that the Eastern Roman Empire didn't get touched by the Huns either.

The novelty of this horde / razing feature has worn off immediately. At the beginning, it seemed novelty and cool, and I'm sure if it was realistically and properly implemented it might have some merit.
But at the moment, it is literally just an incredibly poorly programmed CAI faction wondering around burning the map of all its gameplay contents, leaving me staring at a barren, vast, empty continent that should be full of fleeing tribes and armies and people.

This game, like most TW games, needs its campaign AI re-written from scratch to allow us all to fight the battles this game is about. If I wanted to stare at a map of Europe for 10 hours straight, I'd go play Europe Universalis or look at the world map hanging up on my kitchen wall. I played Attila all day yesterday, searching for battles to fight, and played only 2 fun large-sized battles, when I should be avoiding them at all cost, it should be SCARY seeing lots of enemy stacks appearing on your horizon on what we call.... INVASIONS!!!

[MKeogh]

Same here, finding it all quite easy, for all of the reasons and tactics mentioned above. The start of the game is easily the biggest challenge, once that's over, the game's a breeze.

I was really angry to discover the Huns, the entire subject of this game, did not start ONE battle with me. The Germans come across the Rhine occasionally and I've surrendered Spain to some African enemies, but apart from that, I am so disappointed that the Huns never made it to even Germany, let alone France with an army of c.80,000 (represented in game with multiple stacks of course).

Attila died at the age of 40-something and razed a small area in Eastern Europe, but this was such a massive anti-climax for a game called Attila Total War. I was expecting something like MTW2 with the Mongol hordes attacking everyone, but no, Attila was beaten back by a bunch of lowly-ranked, starving, badly-armed German tribes. I noticed too that the Eastern Roman Empire didn't get touched by the Huns either.

The novelty of this horde / razing feature has worn off immediately. At the beginning, it seemed novelty and cool, and I'm sure if it was realistically and properly implemented it might have some merit.
But at the moment, it is literally just an incredibly poorly programmed CAI faction wondering around burning the map of all its gameplay contents, leaving me staring at a barren, vast, empty continent that should be full of fleeing tribes and armies and people.

This game, like most TW games, needs its campaign AI re-written from scratch to allow us all to fight the battles this game is about. If I wanted to stare at a map of Europe for 10 hours straight, I'd go play Europe Universalis or look at the world map hanging up on my kitchen wall. I played Attila all day yesterday, searching for battles to fight, and played only 2 fun large-sized battles, when I should be avoiding them at all cost, it should be SCARY seeing lots of enemy stacks appearing on your horizon on what we call.... INVASIONS!!!

Yeah, I'm disappointed in the Huns. Apparently, their army make-up, which is cavalry heavy, makes the CAI less likely to attack garrisoned towns. Plus, it seems to get confused by the map. I have had an army stationed in Aquileia for decades of game time. The Huns will move 4 stacks to the province NE of it (Virinum?) which is controlled by the Quadi and just sit there looting. They never attack Aquileia which I've fortified with an upgraded town, garrison encampment, and a military port. Nor do they try to get around it. Eventually, they'll wander off to the east and proceed to burn down AI towns that aren't garrisoned. And then they'll return to Virinum and the process will continue anew.

It's disappointing to see that the CAI hasn't improved much at all from Rome2. Watching my allied ERE having almost its entire army in ships sailing aimlessly around the eastern Mediterranean while its empire is slowly being devoured has been frustrating. The AI's inability to handle the Transformer transport feature is still very much present. I'm almost 150 turns into my campaign and no rival powers have arisen to threaten me. Attila and his aimlessly wandering Huns are the closest thing to a threat, but they're apparently neutralized by a single garrisoned town.

[barry12]

Yeah, I'm disappointed in the Huns. Apparently, their army make-up, which is cavalry heavy, makes the CAI less likely to attack garrisoned towns. Plus, it seems to get confused by the map. I have had an army stationed in Aquileia for decades of game time. The Huns will move 4 stacks to the province NE of it (Virinum?) which is controlled by the Quadi and just sit there looting. They never attack Aquileia which I've fortified with an upgraded town, garrison encampment, and a military port. Nor do they try to get around it. Eventually, they'll wander off to the east and proceed to burn down AI towns that aren't garrisoned. And then they'll return to Virinum and the process will continue anew.

It's disappointing to see that the CAI hasn't improved much at all from Rome2. Watching my allied ERE having almost its entire army in ships sailing aimlessly around the eastern Mediterranean while its empire is slowly being devoured has been frustrating. The AI's inability to handle the Transformer transport feature is still very much present. I'm almost 150 turns into my campaign and no rival powers have arisen to threaten me. Attila and his aimlessly wandering Huns are the closest thing to a threat, but they're apparently neutralized by a single garrisoned town.

Sounds like me and you are playing the exact same campaign... it's still impossible for empires to exist in this game. I've noticed the Sassanids have around 6-7 regions now, which could probably constitute an empire, but apart from them, I have zero big factions to fight. The ERE used to be powerful, now they're razed from the map and their lands will take decades to repopulate, let alone turn into the big walled settlements full of armies they previously were.

I was looking forward to the late game being me versus a Hunnic empire that takes up most of the map, or at least, having to fight off multiple Hunnic hordes. But no, literally not a single battle against them. The AI saw that I had armies in my border settlements and left me alone. WTF?

Why do we never get to defend our settlements from the enemy? The AI only ever sieges my undefended towns! How boring is that? Why is the AI so scared of full stacks? I can see around 6-7 full stacks in some enemy settlements, they could EASILY take half my empire now, even if they attacked 3 of my full stacks at once. But no. It sees I'm in the town with my army and it chooses to not fight. If you look back at the notable invasions through history, please show me one that didn't culminate in a truly epic battle or climax? There's no representation of continued war or coherent invasion in TW games.

[kanzy]

Abandoning settlements resulted and fighting 50+ battles in one day all settlement defense, I got some cash flowing but was so frustrated with all the rinse and repeat battles that I just stopped playing.
Now am just chilling in my jutes campaign, starting small suites me better then all this stress, It was bad enough in Rome 2 playing Antony's Rome finished that campaign just in time for Attila only to do the same thing all over again as WRE.

[Cobi Wan Kenobi]

Regardless if you abandon settlements or not, you are going to fight a lot of boring 4 unit garrison battles. If you do raze your settlements I find the smaller rebel Romans easier than full stacks of barbarians. Also I didn't research any military tech until about year 400. The key for money for me is governors and reducing corruption, also when I lost a legion that brought in a bunch too. As for fighting battles, I have fought 30, and autoresolved about 70. What got me upset is that a rebel roman faction can recruit units that I can't and they decided to buddy up with the Huns, who also came simultaneously with the Alans and Quadians. It was like they all sat down and orchestrated a fully thought out plan: Macedonia, you attack Syracuse while the rest of us with Dacia will overrun northern Italy with combined armies: 2 Hunnic, 1 Quadian, 1 Alan, and 1 Dacian with 2 more Hunnic, and 1 Quadian in reserve. While the invasion was tough what I didn't like is why would roman rebels fight alongside the Huns?

[Turumba]

I had my ideas taken from a youtube vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAlFAEVuXSE
The guys name is Total Snore. Its a good vid. I didnt try all of his tips, but to get some basic ideas/goals and how to start at all. I play on VH.

Fight every battle in which you can inflict damage to the enemy.
Focus on certain regions, those you wanna keep (Its Italy, Spain and the med. Islands in my campaign).
Dismantle all the buidings in the regions you dont want or gonna loose anyway. Dismantle, not desolate. It will give you a huge money boost.
Put the money into public order once you have managed the food.
Do not tax your focus regions, if you dont have enough food there.
Administrate you regions every round, check them, it's important.
Once you have public order managed, you can desolate 1 or maybe 2 settlemant per round... but be careful.

It's a really challenging campaign and i love it. Had to reload once. Gonna stream it in about 3 hours... it's round 15 now and i'm play already ~14 hours on it. Public order is gonna be green in my focus regions soon and i should be able to catch a few puppet states as well.

[DeliCiousTZM]

I present to you, the ultimate WRE build. Using all of the good advice with my TW expertise.