rtw2/DeI newb having a rough start in Britannia Grand Campaign

[piranha45]

I bought RTW2, didnt play vanilla RTW2 at all, went straight to installing DeI. I have a lot of RTW 1 experience though.


I started a Britannia campaign.

I disbanded all my starting units, played simcity with my 1 village Camulodunum, hoarded up 40k denarii or whatever the $$ currency is over about 30 turns.

Then I bought out all the mercenaries and recruited the max number of the best troops I have access to, to get a full 20-stack army, 2500 men, with my 1-star general.

I charged into the Brigantes' starting village (they have 1-2 cities) and they have 5-6k troops with a 5-star general and was ruined.

I tried a couple minor variations of this, all failing. I can't fathom how to match their troop numbers, nor how to get my general's stars up.

Tips/Advice?

Difficulty is Normal/Normal

[Ivan_Moscavich]

First of all. What difficulty are you playing on battle wise?

The game is not balanced for anything above normal campaign difficulty due to the very fine tuned stat balance.

Secondly, you shouldn't have needed a remotely "fully elite" or mercenary army to win.

You didn't need to build up that much money at the start for one, just upgrading your city and recruiting a 20 stack with mostly levy troops, you can march on them in under 10 turns.

Pin all their units in with a line of your own troops, and flank around them with spare troops as well as any missile troops/cavalry you've brought along.

Focus on making one side of their line rout, and slowly roll them up until the battle is one.

[piranha45]

Its Normal/Normal, i didnt mess with the default settings at all.

[Ivan_Moscavich]

Its Normal/Normal, i didnt mess with the default settings at all.

The grand rule of hammer and anvil almost constantly applies. As long as you can hold the enemy in a line long enough to flank with some other troops, you can charge their rear until they break.

[RollingWave]

A few general tip

A. I suggest especially for new players (and/or players that have aggressive CAI mod) to also install the no garrison penalty submod,
B. Generals that stay in cities at the end of a turn gains experience, if you had kept your general in cities throughout you should be at least level 3 ish by the point you described.
C. Early on, replenish rate is probably the most important thing because the difference between having damaged units back up in 2-3 turns vs 6-8 turn is often life and death. (aka first skill points should go into military logistics and replenish traits.)
D. DEI's garrison army is very strong (for both you and the opponent) so keep that in mind.
E. you would need to deal with multiple armies a lot (especially with stronger CAI) the key is to either use agents to sabotage or use night attack (a skill under the skilled tactictian tree for generals.), a successful agent action against the army will prevent said army from reinforcing other armies during that turn, or night attack automatically means other armies can't reinforce (unless they also have a general with that skill, which almost never happens.)

F. garrison stance is important, because AI suck very bad with it, both in defending and attacking. in attacking the AI will only blindly try to swarm into the fort while in defending they'll either stay inside and let your missile do whatever they want or they'll rush out in a very disorganized way that unless he massively outclass your army you should never lose.

The BAI generally plays it simple and attack strait up with only limited flanking attempts, this can still sometimes be problematic when they have superior melee units to you. but normally just mass missile with a strong line infront of them and you should do well, once the lines are engaged make sure your missile either attack opposing missile or run around and shoot enemy from the rear.

The initial stages of almost all campaigns are difficult, but without higher levels or aggressive CAI it can get really easy once you get 1-2 province under your control.

[chilaw]

I've found it generally pays a lot to be aggressive ASAP, especially as a one province faction. For Brittania, your enemy to the north will sit on his heels for at least 3-4 turns. What you should do is immediately attack your neighbor to the west. Move one stack directly towards his territory, move your other general right up to the border (staying on your side) and recruit as many units as possible. Next turn, start sieging with your first stack, then move the stack that was recruiting to within the city's range. Then simply go back to the sieging stack and attack. You'll probably have around 30% odds, but the battle is easily winnable, garrison units have morale and will crumble after one charge from behind by your general.

Oh, also replace both generals (and replace them again if you want to use only your clan's generals) to get calvary instead of chariots. Chariots are just terrible for generals because they get stuck and die easily. Switch to calvary at start so that you can hammer and anvil with the calvary, and then switch to your best melee infantry once you can recruit calvary.

[spartan117]

If you are indeed new to Rome 2 total war....

Learn about zone of control for armies. Armies can lock down an area or support a nearby army in the same area.(Much greater ranges than rome total war) Larger battles involving 30+ units are common place. Settlement garrisons are larger usually 12-20 units. Expect larger confrontations with the ai. I suspect even on normal battle difficulty being outnumbered by such a margin would be difficult.

Besides actual specific battlefield tactics about engaging such forces, battles are often won at the campaign strategic level. Such as successfully utilizing multiple armies in concert to combat or isolate enemy forces, of course economic infrastructure supporting such forces, diplomacy, etc...stuff of that nature can makes up for less numbers.

Advancing into foreign ground with little knowledge of the composition and location of their forces is ill advised. Nothing sucks more than launching a campaign deep into enemy area and then having to retreat to avoid a pitched battle with a greater opponent. Or not having enough manpower to attack enemy strongholds like walled cities.

[BassiveMollocks]

Immeditaly move to the west, spend one turn recruiting units, then strike at your enemies hiring mercenaries along the way. Then build your forces, recruit as many men as you can without going into debt (slingers, especially the ones with shields and spear are FANTASTIC at this point). Move north, take out that town. You'll likely find that Scotland and Ireland are at war with each other. You can use this to your advantage, if Ireland beats Scotland, you can take Scotland from their weakened forces. If Scotland beats Ireland, they will have moved out to take Ireland leaving their city unprotected. Then take Ireland and finally move South to remove the last threat on the isles. After that, disband the vast majority of men, get some high tier barracks and a good income, then pump out a few armies to move into Gaul with.

[txfirefghter]

Here is what I did based on some advice. Combine your troops. Hire mercs at the start and rush the Dematae (sp) and defeat them. You now have two cities. Disband your mercs and begin to build up both towns. Took me about 10 turns or so but them I was able to wither rush Dumnonii (depending on how they act. One campaign they allied with me the other they were aggressive) or the Brigantes. By this point too I had some trade agreements. Money was not perfect but I was in the green. Slowly I conquered the other Britons and Irish and had a nice little plot of land.