Carthage: Changing the Past

[The Iron Chancellor]

I noticed a similar thread for the Romans so thought to make one for those dirty Punies!

Carthage are one of my favourite factions and I find playing them in a somewhat historical fashion, including some house rules, to be very rewarding.

What are your favourite methods, strategies and tips for playing Carthage?

To those in the mod team, have you thought about applying parts of the HATG tech tree to Carthage to differentiate it more from the Hellenes?

[JCB206]

I noticed a similar thread for the Romans so thought to make one for those dirty Punies!

Carthage are one of my favourite factions and I find playing them in a somewhat historical fashion, including some house rules, to be very rewarding.

What are your favourite methods, strategies and tips for playing Carthage?

To those in the mod team, have you thought about applying parts of the HATG tech tree to Carthage to differentiate it more from the Hellenes?

I use levy troops and mercs in my armies. I use very limited amounts of pure Carthaginian units. Mainly the cavalry. No Carthaginian Hoplites. They are a very good unit that I refuse to put in my armies.

I use a core of Libyan troops and Carthaginian Cav and an elephant unit in offensive armies. I recruit mercs to round out armies for offensive battles. Then mostly disband them as there was no point in keeping them.

The only downfall I have seen with DEI is that experience is not all that important. I used to play another mod that green troops were just about useless. They would break and run if put in a tough position. Losing veteran units was a major blow. Experienced pike men would walk over those pretty Foot Companions with no experience. Your elites should have gained that experienced the hard way, not just "let me build 6 elites to kill everything."

I also play as Carthage that you must accept all trade agreements. Only fight defensive wars, unless they break a trade agreement. Even though it is expensive, I have the largest navy and complete command of the seas. But sense I don't really keep a standing army it helps. Just a couple half stacks of core troops.

[KAM 2150]

Experience is super important as it makes levy units have almost comparable stats to elite units. If you make all new units very, very weak compared to experienced units then games is too easy as player will just rout anything with his buffed army, something that AI is not capable of doing, heck, I think even Ivan from our team once won entire campaign with single stack he recruited in the beggining because his units were so buffed and AI simply could do nothing about those uber troops when our experience bonuses were higher. Keep in mind that there are also buffs from tech, general skills, army traditions etc. . Also you miss the part that many elite units were made from veterans and exceptional soldiers in the first place, so they already gained their experience before.

[JCB206]

Experience is super important as it makes levy units have almost comparable stats to elite units. If you make all new units very, very weak compared to experienced units then games is too easy as player will just rout anything with his buffed army, something that AI is not capable of doing, heck, I think even Ivan from our team once won entire campaign with single stack he recruited in the beggining because his units were so buffed and AI simply could do nothing about those uber troops when our experience bonuses were higher. Keep in mind that there are also buffs from tech, general skills, army traditions etc. . Also you miss the part that many elite units were made from veterans and exceptional soldiers in the first place, so they already gained their experience before.

KAM I love your work. I was just making an observation. I agree Silver and Gold Chevron troops beat just about everything. I'm not saying that experienced troops aren't "uber". My statement was about inexperienced troops. You can win with them, even against even numbers with more experience. In the game I was referencing, you needed to do 1 or more things:

1) You would need to train your troops for a year or two to get those first couple chevrons, and/or
2) Place a few units with experience with the army to make it effective for its first few battles, and/or
3) Heavily outnumber the enemy.

It was something more about their morale being weak with no experience. They could break and run after 10% casualties.

I would love for "elite" troops to be only available through experience. Sadly, I know this is not possible. I have role-played disbanding 2 silver chevron troops and above to recruit elite units. No, I did not assume that the elites are experienced veterans, while your other troops don't lose men, but would replenish.

I look at Elites (in current game, no roleplaying) like raising grenadier units in the Napoleon age. They are the cream of the crop, the tallest, strongest, brightest and had the best stamina of the men available to recruit. They should have better stats, but they are also untried IMO.

Just my opinion any way. Hope I didn't offend. Just my 2 cents.

Love the mod!

[Zanze]

Mercenaries.

[TheRazaman]

1. Sparingly recruit Carthaginian units, with no more than 2 per stack. Exception: 4-6 in a stack to defend Carthage herself.
2. Heavily rely on the neighboring African regions for your core troops (Libyans, Numidians, Gaetulians).
3. Iberians and Celt-Iberians. These should make up most of the remainder of your troops. By the 2nd Punic War they actually fight with Hannibal as allies and not mercenaries; beginning with the siege of Saguntum.
4. Utilize mercenaries.
5. Maintain naval supremacy.
6. Begin with the conquest of Iberia and Sicily. Do NOT make friends with Rome (obviously), Syracuse, Massilia or Macedon (Alexander said he would make Carthage one of the first conquests on his campaign West)
7. Annihilate Rome no later than 215 BC.