Tips for Romans?

[Sebt1890]

I've restarted my campaign 2x already on Normal Mode. I even threw on the Unit Upkeep submod in so I can have more money.

Basically each time I end up fighting all these people who attack me and I have little to no units to defend the territory. This last campaign I had Epirus, Liguria and Carthage all attacking me while I had a stack and a half running around getting demolished.

Is there something I'm missing here? What am I doing wrong? I'm not declaring war on people at all, I tend to build my economy up first before sending the armies out to fight.

It's aggravating as hell and I don't mind a challenge but when I'm getting drilled in the ass on Normal then it goes from fun and challenging to me being all pissed off.

[ptagi]

Hmm, weird, because I play with Rome all the time and never face difficulties (even on very hard).

Do you have any submods besides DEI?

What you can do is on turn 1, get an trade agreement with Carthage, they always accepted when I offered it. Also on normal Ardiaei mostly accept a trade agreement. Delmetae always accepts.
Non Agression with Athens can help, but they don't always accept from the first time.

You start with three legions. I always put everything together with my faction leader and place them near Rome, but this is your choice. You can move the southern legion near Cosentia. Disband the navy, you don't need a navy that soon, plus it cost you a lot of upkeep.

After 10 turns or so, when my regions are getting into shape I place a general alone in Magna Gracia (mostly it has the anxious trait or the Magnanimous) and I upgrade him with the traits that are in Capable Bureaucrat for upping the taxes and lowering the empire maintenance. The dignitary I also upgrade them in the tax-lines.

[FlashHeart07]

Champions when attached to an army is able to decrease the upkeep.
The AI are more likely to accept diplomatic agreements once you have one with another faction. So it can at times be a good idea to pay a little gold for the first agreement to have others accept more easily. Massalia is at good relations with you, so getting your spy out to them could be a good idea to start Trade and non agression agreements with them. Choose your fights carefully, remember that armies stationend in the city decreases the PO, recruit Champions and dignitaries, disband unused units, get to know the supply system, get trade agreements (sending out a small navy or your spy can be good to start trade with distant factions like Egypt) and have fun

[JCB206]

I just recently started a campaign as the Romans after a while of not playing them. Usually Carthage makes little problems and will remain friends with you, especially if you take out Syracuse with them. Sicily usually stays at peace for 100 turns or more.

This time (Very Hard Campaign) they made peace again and trade relations. Sicily became a Client State with no intimidation on my part. The problem was they were at war with Carthage. I kinda thought they would declare peace, some do, after they became my client and I was not at war with them. I had invaded the Po Valley with my only army. I had to finish the three countries there off quick because Carthage took out Syracuse the turn I invaded. They waited until I declared war up north. I razed every building and started building a small stack to kill rebels. I raced my army down south at every faction on my northern border past the Po Valley turned red faced.

I blitzed through Sicily and asked Carthage for peace. Nope they hadn't learned. I spent all available money building shrines and farms and bribing the northern tribes. While my only army was quickly up to silver chevrons. Since Carthage had about 5 navies I had to stay on Sicily on the defensive while the North calmed down and everyone got to yellow faces. Then I raised taxes to the highest to build a navy. Every province got mad. Even Rome went to -90 PO. My new navy of 12 ships fought six battles against fleets and transports, replacing ship as they floundered in the ocean. Carthage was down to two navies as the North became red again.

I spent all my money on bribing tribes again while Epirus came to my aide and destroyed the two Carthaginian navies. Yay!!! I built a supply ship and set sail. Carthage had a full stack in it. I landed in the town to the south and took the city. The next turn Carthage moved its army away, not sure where. I attacked Carthage in a great siege battle. Lost my smaller town to that army and sat there for 6 turns to replenish as lack of supplies brought my units to all red (men wise). I asked for peace ever turn, even with money. No chance. After my stack was ready I fought 3 epic battles outnumbered 2-3 to 1 every time and took out the province of Africa. Garmantia was quiet as Carthage's vassal (thank goodness).

By this time, the North signed non-aggression pacts and trade agreements (two large countries by this point). Good because I only had 10 units in the Po and couldn't afford more. I had 30 units in Africa (10 African levies). My main army advance fast across Africa to the east and the 10 levies and fleet conquered Corsica. Carthage sued for peace plus 10k and Client State status. Took it gratefully. I own Africa except two client states and Egypt. I lower taxes to the lowest and got public order under control and made trade agreements with the whole world it seems. The North is quiet, Carthage owns all of Spain (didn't know they were that big when I made peace). Clients pay me 3k a turn. I now have 4 quality armies and was making 8k a turn after their upkeep. Of course that is gone with my new 35 naval units for my invasion of Greece, but only using 2 armies from different directions to keep it equal.

Empire secure. Very Hard Campaign with increased movement. Makes the AI bring more armies to the fight. Accept Client state offers from anyone I'm at war with. Been the best Campaign I have had in a long while.

Good luck!

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

I just recently started a campaign as the Romans after a while of not playing them. Usually Carthage makes little problems and will remain friends with you, especially if you take out Syracuse with them. Sicily usually stays at peace for 100 turns or more.

This time (Very Hard Campaign) they made peace again and trade relations. Sicily became a Client State with no intimidation on my part. The problem was they were at war with Carthage. I kinda thought they would declare peace, some do, after they became my client and I was not at war with them. I had invaded the Po Valley with my only army. I had to finish the three countries there off quick because Carthage took out Syracuse the turn I invaded. They waited until I declared war up north. I razed every building and started building a small stack to kill rebels. I raced my army down south at every faction on my northern border past the Po Valley turned red faced.

I blitzed through Sicily and asked Carthage for peace. Nope they hadn't learned. I spent all available money building shrines and farms and bribing the northern tribes. While my only army was quickly up to silver chevrons. Since Carthage had about 5 navies I had to stay on Sicily on the defensive while the North calmed down and everyone got to yellow faces. Then I raised taxes to the highest to build a navy. Every province got mad. Even Rome went to -90 PO. My new navy of 12 ships fought six battles against fleets and transports, replacing ship as they floundered in the ocean. Carthage was down to two navies as the North became red again.

I spent all my money on bribing tribes again while Epirus came to my aide and destroyed the two Carthaginian navies. Yay!!! I built a supply ship and set sail. Carthage had a full stack in it. I landed in the town to the south and took the city. The next turn Carthage moved its army away, not sure where. I attacked Carthage in a great siege battle. Lost my smaller town to that army and sat there for 6 turns to replenish as lack of supplies brought my units to all red (men wise). I asked for peace ever turn, even with money. No chance. After my stack was ready I fought 3 epic battles outnumbered 2-3 to 1 every time and took out the province of Africa. Garmantia was quiet as Carthage's vassal (thank goodness).

By this time, the North signed non-aggression pacts and trade agreements (two large countries by this point). Good because I only had 10 units in the Po and couldn't afford more. I had 30 units in Africa (10 African levies). My main army advance fast across Africa to the east and the 10 levies and fleet conquered Corsica. Carthage sued for peace plus 10k and Client State status. Took it gratefully. I own Africa except two client states and Egypt. I lower taxes to the lowest and got public order under control and made trade agreements with the whole world it seems. The North is quiet, Carthage owns all of Spain (didn't know they were that big when I made peace). Clients pay me 3k a turn. I now have 4 quality armies and was making 8k a turn after their upkeep. Of course that is gone with my new 35 naval units for my invasion of Greece, but only using 2 armies from different directions to keep it equal.

Empire secure. Very Hard Campaign with increased movement. Makes the AI bring more armies to the fight. Accept Client state offers from anyone I'm at war with. Been the best Campaign I have had in a long while.

Good luck!

Sound like a very interesting campaign mate...

[SteveInAlabama]

As Rome, in order to get trade going faster, I disband all ships but my Admiral and have him go the circuit around the western Med to pick up trade agreements where-ever he can. At the same time, I hire one more Admiral and go east, usually getting Egypt, and a half-dozen more.

[SOLID_RUSS]

Standard advice to one and all: max out your admirals and generals and leave them in your cities as governors, focusing on the economic skillsets to boost your economy. Recruit as many dignitaries/governors as possible and do the same. When moving armies and safe, always end their turn in 'patrol region' stance so as to reduce upkeep. When besieging settlements, always take two stacks and leave the other to raid the region. Increase taxation levels if PO permits it. Sack the ever-loving out of some of your conquests (not all - you can't afford to do this now that the supply system has been overhauled, a lovely touch IMHO). Use edicts to stabilise provinces, boost the tax rate, sell slaves etc accordingly. Upgrade your province capitals ASAP as these provide the biggest income boost. If a faction declares war on you, immediately sue for peace and demand a big payoff - quite a few of them will accept and give you some money for your troubles, especially client states.All of this will let you squeeze every penny out of your empire, and thus afford more unit upkeep. More units = more deterrence, preventing Epirus and Carthage (as you mention above) from giving you grief.Rome campaigns almost always follow the same structure:1) move your fleet to Brundisium for the PO bonus of the admiral there. Order in Magna Graecia will go down very early, so build a temple and a gladiator school as soon as possible.2) Secure non-aggression and trade agreements with as many factions as possible early on. Athens and Massilia are amenable with non-agression and a bit of money. Consider embarking your spy and sending her to Rhodes and Crete to get trade agreements there too.3) Assuming you get non-aggression with Carthage, send your southern legion (I Italica) up north and merge the units in with Legio II and Legio III. Whichever general is left with no units, send him south to garison in the town in Magna Graecia and focus on the blue administrative skills when he levels up.4) Build all industrial buildings in Rome, Patavium, Ariminium and Arretium. The PO bonuses in your homeland will make it all the easier to build up a nice industrial economy without things heading down too bad.5) As soon as you can afford it, dump all of your cash into bringing your two legions up to strength. The northern tribes are feisty and war-happy, and tend not to forge alliances with one another, and that is their weakness: keep an eye out for when one of them inevitably declares war on their neighbour, and strike with full force as soon as they are depleted from battle. You'll take minimal losses and will take one or even two regions. Sack the buildings and enslave the defeated for the economic boost. As soon as your two stacks are back up to scratch, take the remaining region and you'll get the province. 6) If you got non-aggression with Massilia, try for an outright alliance. They can pacify the west and keep your flank secure while you turtle and build up your economy before taking the alpine tribes. They're a tougher nut to crack as they form an alliance early on and will almost always honour it - if you're in an alliance with Massilia then they will be useful in contributing forces.7) As soon as you can afford it, build your third legion up to half strength (10-12 good infantry units should do it), send it south to cover Magna Graecia; if Epirus, Carthage or even Syracuse declares war you can quickly bring the army up to full strength and hold the region. If you retain Massilia as a stolid ally to the west then you can defend the North with one stack. Your relative power rating is what stops the AI from declaring war on you, and Epirus will almost always try and attack you in the early game if you don't have your defences beefed up there. Syracuse usually declares war on Carthage, and usually loses (but not always - in a number of games I've seen them take Carthage and spread all the way to Egypt and Spain). You should start thinking about an invasion of Syracuse as soon as is practical, to unite Magna Graecia. Note that with the new supply system the logistics chain does not spread across the sea unless you have a supply ship with a fleet to support you: therefore speed is the key in bringing them down. You'll need two stacks to do Syracuse, and once again strike when the Carthaginians have just taken Syracuse and have lost men in the battle. Continue the momentum until you've taken the whole island. Sue for peace if the odds are against you, or continue the war against Carthage if not. They should have lost a stack or two and this is quite a drop in power for an empire with lots of land to protect, so they may be amenable.8) you should now aim for Sardinia and Corsica - this will be trickier, as you will need to defend against sea invasions and protect Sicily in two points, so only attempt if you're sure you can win and bring Carthage to terms quickly thereafter.When I've got Magna Graecia, Sardinia and Corsica, Raetia & Noricum and Cisalpine Gaul secured, then I'm in an excellent position to either push west and take the Gauls (either absorbing Massilia as a client state / independent ally) and Spain, or else head East to take the Balkans and Greece and further to the successor states. I generally leave Carthage as a threat in my own back yard to keep it interesting, but to be truthful they are never really aggressive and once I take Sicily they don't try and take it back. I still leave a legion on the island as a deterrent, and fleets in Karalis and Syracuse for do the same job.A word on upkeep: I've seen lots of others advocating a strategy of pumping up your armies with mercenaries or even standing units and immediately disbanding them after your strategic objectives have been met. I don't do this, as the AI seems to take note of where you place your army and will refrain from attacking if there's a stack in a region to defend it. I also have a bit of a sentimental thing for having my veteran legions with silver chevrons keeping order - personal play style.Without a doubt filling the ranks with mercs or militia would make for a faster campaign as you'd save a nice big war chest, move pieces into play and then recruit to full before attacking, looting, disbanding, stabilising and then repeating the cycle. I'm much more of a turtle player myself I would also warn that balancing economy and the military as I specified above is a fine act. My first time out on 1.05 (I took a two month break) I followed the above strategy, but went into my third and fourth stack too early. This brought my income down too low and I couldn't afford to build the higher tier economic and food buildings that make all the difference, and ended up getting rather shamefully outproduced by Carthage, who declared war on me when I was still stuck with crappy Camillan spear units. Frustrated, I reloaded an earlier game, and spent a bit more time building up Cisalpine Gaul before sending my Roman-only half-stack down to defend Magna Graecia and this time the Carthaginians kept the peace.That's my campaign style in a nutshell...

[Ultra123]

Mine is fairly standard, just finished a campaign as sparta, loved it.

As Rome, i do what i always do, consolidate the armys next to rome (i think in the current patch it was some hastati and one princepe) disband all but general in south and use him as governor, then immedialty set of for the cisalpine gaul province to the north of me. Destroyed genua and with some merc help on one turn wiped out the capital city of the province, quickly killed of the city to the east of that after a field battle and fast siege, giving me the whole province. Here, i stayed put for some time with the idea of developing italy up as much as poss then invade into massilia. Carthage and co in africa is neutral to me and syracuse still on the map at this point.

Then the faction to the middle-north of my attacked, causing a bit of a shock as i hadnt finished recruited a proper stack, i held them off in a desperate siege 2 stacks to my 20 unit garrison-of-crap, then 4 turns later took the fight to them, found another 2 stacks one elite one levy, killed them in a defensive battle where i was in fortify mode, and promptly wiped their city out. All this fuss forced my hand a bit early, with a true legion at my hands costing a bomb in upkeep, i set off for massilia, took it in a very fierce siege where they made a terrific last stand in the centre and held me for over 15 minutes at the walls. Averni was their allies and came to war with them so i completed the massilian province by kiling a stack plus garrison of the averni.

Marched a spy out west a bit only to find 4 (literally) stacks of seemingly elite (those naked nutcases barbarians cant remember the name) warriors seigin the barbarian held capitol there. They finished taking it last turn while my rather depleted legion watches on in horror as all four enemy armys now converge on them.


Despite the worrys i thik i can handle it just fine. diplomatically everybody either is red to me or yellow and i have no trade agreements with anyone at all. Carthage is busy with syracuse, syracuse doesnt care about anything (tralalalalal ill just sit here in my capital with 3 stacks) effectively WW1'ing that front, greece is busy with epirus still who is holding well, the tribes left to the north of cisalpine gaul are yellow to me for destroying massilia who they hate and also for attacking averni, so i doubt they'll be a issue soon. Hoping to garner relations with suebi as they are reliable and i plan to stop advancing in europe at that major river marking germania, then divert and push into carthage.

So thats my game hope is gives you some ideas! generally try not to piss anyone off and only attack target you know you personally can handle OK, focus economy till your fat enough not to worry.

[MagicCuboid]

In my Rome campaign, it's been all about diplomacy, trade agreements, and raiding enemy territory. I play on Hard (medium battles), and started the game very slowly. I was building a lot and maintaining one full army near Rome with a general in Magna Graecia for public order. Basically I knew war would come so I started by emphasizing public order with characters while maintaining very high taxes.

Then the event happened where Carthage gets their army in Sicily, and it's been pretty full steam since then. They knocked Syracuse out immediately, so I panicked and declared war. By then I had about 16k in the bank, so I abandoned all construction and raised new legion to raid Sicily for cash. Meanwhile, I shipped the other legion and a small navy over to Corsica and Sardinia and conquered those islands within 10 turns or so. This gave me a great economic bonus since I now controlled that sea, plus a great naval port in Sardinia.

Meanwhile, in Sicily, I set up ambushes in the hills to take out the Carthaginian armies with 1.5 legions there. Making use of mercenaries and my navy, I was able to conquer Lilybaeon and isolate the Carthaginian armies in Syracuse. But, I had run out of resources to support my legion's raiding so I had to pull back. This made me run almost completely out of money. From my 16k reserve, I actually barely dipped into bankruptcy. I disbanded the navy, and that plus the new territories gave me enough money to stabilize my economy. It was at this point I realized I *needed* more trade. So, after saving up another nest egg, I sent a lone admiral out to meet Greek and Galacian friends. I found enough partners to really boost my economy up.

BUT then I got attacked in the north by a German faction who had quietly conquered 2/3 of Cisalpine Gaul. I was able, with my trade, to raise a new army and beat back the Germans. Rather than expensive conquest, I liberated both Gallic factions who helped me with their armies.

From that point it was a stalemate in Sicily between me and Carthage/their Numidian/Garamantes allies (who had also invaded). It was REALLY cool to finally have a real Punic War. Eventually I got the upper hand at sea (just like the Romans!!) and it allowed me to conquer Sicily. Still, it involved constant defense of Sardinia and Sicily. I actually lost Lilybaeon and even Cosentia at one point, but Rome can produce armies so fast I was always able to fight back. I was blown away at how historically the conflict played out, to be honest.

Now I am happily raiding North Africa and, after signing peace with her beleaguered allies, besieging Carthage. I'm definitely going to win the war, but damn, there were like 40-50 turns where I couldn't build a single building. Great game .

[TheRazaman]

The basic strat with Rome, as others have said — I employ this on VH campaign and H battles to great success:

• Consolidate your early armies. You want to crush Cis-Alpine Gaul asap.
• Disband all units in your navy excepting the admiral and send him either East or West (yes, you will lose this Admiral to starvation, but its for the good of the Republic!)
  
  • If you are going to be in early conflict with Carthage, go East. Scooping up trade with Athens, Macedon and Egypt, then on to the Black Sea.
  • If the circumstances allow you to be friendly with Carthage early, then go West. Trade with Carthage, African factions and the occasional Iberian tribe then onward to Britain.
  • Always hammer out a trade agreement and a non-aggression pact with Massilia. Personal preference. Greco-Roman ftw — until you make it just Roman ofc.
  
  
• Once Cis-alpine Gaul is brought into the fold, you should develop the economy and supply lines.

After this point you are free to determine your own destiny. The SPQR bulldozer will be fully assembled and you should have a grand ol time recreating Mare Nostrum

[Garbad]

How to Always win as Rome:

1. Disband all military units. ALL units.
2. Build two fish in Italy, then upgrade all buildings to tier 2. Begin converting italy into a military center. All others are food/economy.
3. Once you are fully built up, you should have enough money to make one elite legion and one cheap one. Do so, then send them south.
4. Wait until Syracuse declares war on Carthage and takes Lylbaeum. Betray them, destroy them, take all of sicily.
5. Get trade with carthage and friends, get first mission bonus, continue developing everything you can.

From here you have two 4 space regions, good trade, no enemies, and a good military center. Pick your direction and expand.

[superfiend]

You said you don't build up your armies. Well if you don't have any standing armies the AI will view you as weak and eventually declare war on you.

I'm using one of Dresden's "All Factions Sack, Raze, Liberate, etc." mods. I'm playing a campaign where I form as many satrapies as I can.

Within two turns I had Venetii to my north a satrapy. The Leguii soon after. Eventually the third faction in Cisalpina declared war and marched off and I satrapied them too. Massalia in Provinicia declared on Leguii at some point, so I turned them into a satrapy as well.

At this point I had 4 satrapies, all of which that had armies of their own willing to march to my wars.

Next I set my sights on Illyria. One faction I declared war on and immediately offered peace and satrapy status, they accepted. The other two factions actually fought me off but I returned later and now have all of Illyria as satrapies; also the southern most region in Pannonia.

Sequonia took the Helvetii starting position and I declared war on them. I liberated Helvetii and then declared war on them; they're now my satrapy.

I'm also besieging the home province of Naori and they'll also soon fall within my realm.

The next two - if I can get there before the AI - will be Apulii and Getae.

Meanwhile none of the major AI factions will declare war on me. Epirus, Carthage, Macedon, Suebi (German Confederation), and Leogii (sp?) are all my green faced trade partners.

My supply lines are reaching their limits so I might have to take a provincial capital from Arverni so I can continue expanding from there.

[Ultra123]

You said you don't build up your armies. Well if you don't have any standing armies the AI will view you as weak and eventually declare war on you.

Thats a positive for my games, i prefer when the AI war dec me so that way i can see whos a problem and who is more occupyed elsewhere, they also then would normally attack and break on my garrison, and my main legion mops up and marches on their usually one settlement province capitol. Factions with more then one settlement i normally war dec myself.

In this way i rarely have issues with backstabs etc asi cannormally hold one generic AI stack off with a province capital, the smaller settlements are usually retaken super fast. My legions are also normally in the vicinity (usually i have only a couple even when im a fat empire) as, being a player i can determine who the next attacker is likely to be and take steps to guard against it