Your EB Empire

[QuintusSertorius]

If you give the AI a few turns, they usually will combine those smaller armies.

I'm a little confused by your style of playing. Are you trying to keep all of the factions alive as long as possible?

Yes I am, in particular maintaining some kind of balance of power in eastern Europe so there isn't the chance of one faction consolidating their power and then attacking me. Keep my enemies divided and weak.

So my expansion is historical, but I use my armies to stop any one AI faction gaining dominance. Sometimes I take cities that way, but I never destroy anything in them but barracks for those I kicked out, then give them away.

218BC:



I just discovered Satres and his super-stack. I spotted them a few turns ago, and decided to send my best general with a consular army out to trounce them. Only not only did they outnumber me about 3:2 (my 2500 to their 4000), but I discovered afterwards they're all super-veterans. Which would explain why every single unit fought to the last man. Still my green troops gave a good account of themselves, took a long time for them to rout, and they killed a good 55% of the enemy.

Works well for a Hannibal-style string of defeats. I've just recruited another consular army, which I'll send up immediately. My only concern with beating that stack is that it'll mean no buffer between my northern border and the expanding Sweboz.

I'm going to have to attack the Makedonians again, they've taken two settlements off the Getai and I can't have that. Even while doing little to protect Pella, which they seem to have just about retained.

A whole bunch of settlements on the Euxine recently rebelled to KH. Fortunately the Hai are attacking those on the northern shore, which should stop them racing northwards. The Getai are similarly heading north, I can only hope the Sweboz will stop them.

I've been using the cheat to give the Sauromatae 10,000 extra mnai every turn, although doing it through my diplomat which is a bit clumsy. Also giving money to the Arverni who still aren't doing well against the Aedui. I wonder if the root of all this was in giving the Aedui Galatia in the first place, where they now have almost two full stacks of troops kicking around.

Getting close to time to sack Syrakousai (which is still rebel) and invade Spain. I just took Singidunum in my second Illyrian War, though I had to take it from Epeiros. No more expansion in that direction for a while, it does give me a nice platform to attack Makedonia later.

[mcantu]

one thing to note is that if you give lots of cash to the celtic factions they will use it all on troops and drain their cities populations

[Ludens]

one thing to note is that if you give lots of cash to the celtic factions they will use it all on troops and drain their cities populations

Fortunately, EB has a script that prevents just that. A.I. factions get their population replenished when they recruit units.

[QuintusSertorius]

Fortunately, EB has a script that prevents just that. A.I. factions get their population replenished when they recruit units.

Even more reason not to play on VH campaign difficulty then. The AI literally can spam you with troops with absolutely no consequences in terms of cost or population.

[Irishmafia2020]

QS -

I like your style of play, as I tend to keep my unnoficial win condition as "no factions must be destroyed" as well. Honestly, though, unless your a superpower like Rome in EB that gets a lot more difficult. Playing as the Sabyn and Baktria so far, I am more interested in survival. Baktria has been surprisingly hard, as my first ten years found me at war with Rebels (who behaved as a faction and swept in with two stacks), Saka - horsearchers suck..., Parthia, and finally, as my cities were too depopulated to produce troops, the Selucids hit with two stacks. By 262 I was reduced to a single underpopulated backwater town... and that was only on Hard difficulty setting. I restarted the campaign from 270BC and built forts on my borderlands and campaigned aggressively against the Rebel stacks. Now I've survived into the 250's as a regional power who is fighting a two front war against the Selucids and Saka. If I pull my troops from either front to combine them for an offensive, I risk losing one or two cities to the faction I am not campaigning against. It all makes for a delicious experience, but needless to say I am in no position to play international policeman, and I sort of envy your campaign. In my next game, maybe I'll play as one of the big centrally located guys, like rome, Carthage, or macedonia.

[QuintusSertorius]

True enough Rome does have a good starting point, and given the AI's lack of naval invasions without bi.exe, Italy and Sicily are pretty secure. All my central Italian provinces have nothing more than a governor and a unit of Rorarii in them, except Roma which has about eight to twelve family members sitting in it usually. That saves a lot of money, which is why I can afford to field three to four consular armies (three-quarter stacks).

[QuintusSertorius]

Only a little bit along from last time, 217BC:



Makedonia seem to have scraped along, retaining Pella and now they're at war with Epeiros (who themselves are now at war with Koinon Hellenon), so perhaps they'll all wear each other out. I'm going to take Buridava and Naissos off Makedonia to restore to the Getai. I may take Byzantion and give that to Makedonia, which will hopefully anchor them here and stop them trying to head northwards.

KH are losing their revolted settlements in the Bosphorous, which is good. Aedui and Sweboz march ever onward, and the Arverni are still really slow about expanding.

There's a bizarre scene outside Tolosa, a Karthadastim army has been sitting on the bridge, year after year, whittling down the Aedui armies that attack it, but never moving themselves. It was courtesy of a couple of my spies that the settlement revolted to the Aedui shortly after they took it that they are in that mess.

All that money I've been gifting the Sauromatae still hasn't borne results, the Hai have gone all the way north.

[Korlon]

I just started a Pahlava campaign about a week ago using M/M with large unit size. Those horse archers are extremely fun. I especially like the horse archers with spears. The family members are absolutely wonderful cavalry.

Here's my current faction leader:



Basically only has command stars due to his dull nature. My previous faction leader had all 3 positive traits and tons of influence, command, and some management. Sadly he died about a year ago, which is why that stack you see is missing a unit.

That stack is also just about the only real army I have. There's a 5 unit stack of akontistai right behind it to garrison newly conquered cities. As you can see I'm about to conquer Pura. I misclicked the spot to siege Pura and didn't want to reload my save. I save just about every time I do something.



Arche Seleukeia is right on my tail as you would already figure from the amount of borders we have. I did a pre-emptive strike on their settlements early on in my campaign and it paid off. It's their fault their settlements are poorly garrisoned. I took Apameia for about ten years and then Seleukeia took it back about five years ago. Since then they've just been sending small armies against Zadrakata and Hekatompylos, but I garrisoned those with enough soldiers to stave off defeat.

Baktria died out about ten years ago when I took their final settlement. Basically used the same ten horse archers for a very long time before finally heading back to Nisa to get some more Dahae Riders and some armored horse archers (those things rock!). Not bothering with Saka Rauka at the moment as that place seems very unprofitable, though I will in time. I'm currently building another army as I am now getting about 10,000 mnai per turn in profit so I can take back Apameia and strike at Arche Seleukeia from both the northeast and the southeast.

Now about what's happening elsewhere. Epeiros took Capua from Rome about ten years ago and was on the outskirts of Rome, but Rome finally retaliated and got Taras as well. So now Epeiros has two almost full stacks in Illyria as it has no where else to expand seemingly. Makedon and Koinon Hellenon aren't really doing much. Ptolemeia and Seleukeia are battling it out as usual. In the beginning of my campaign, Seleukeia was actually winning, but now Ptolemeia took back those settlements and it seems to be a stalemate. Hayasdan has about two large stacks just sitting around Hayasdan. They aren't doing much. Pontos expanded westward towards Byzantium just recently. Everybody else aren't moving much at all.

[QuintusSertorius]

215BC:



As promised the scene outside Tolosa, there's a Karthadastim army still lurking around the bridge.

Not sure what's going on, but since switching to my Polybian armies, I seem to be having a harder time in battles. Lost an entire army fighting the Makedonians outside Buridava. They lost most of theirs too, it was all down to two units of theirs: damned hypaspistai and those Thracian elites. Couldn't break either without losing lots of men.

I recently failed in one of my goals to keep every faction alive, Pahlav just died. I think it was the Saka who got them. Still the Sauromatae are actually taking another settlement, and the Hai and KH are grinding each other down out on the Bosphorous.

I'm toying over whether I need to take Epidamnos from Epeiros or not, given it's part of the Illyrian coast. That might irreparably weaken them, though.

[QuintusSertorius]

214BC:



If you're noticing a lot of change in the space of a year, I discovered just what you can do with Force Diplomacy. As in I've done some "re-balancing" of factions in a crude manner. It's cheating, but I'm more interested in trying to preserve historical accuracy than I am playing the game "fairly".

To the Arverni I've given them about three provinces to kick-start them into giving the Aedui some trouble. They're now at war with Qarthadast, and will likely be so with the Lusotanii soon as well now they share a border.

To the Sauromatae I've taken four provinces off the Hayasdan to push them back to where they were. It might not hold for long, but it should hopefully get them going.

I gave Makedonia Demetrius and Thermon, though I doubt they'll be able to keep them long.

I gave the Getai Buridava back, although the Makedonians have besieged it again.

Either way it's more elegant than using the cheats to keep giving the weaker factions money, or using my armies to take provinces then gift them away. I only wish I'd thought of it soon enough to save the Pahlava.

My next project will be to rebuild the Seleukids, so I can have a proper war with them at the turn of the century. And reduce the Ptolemies a lot since they've taken over the east.

[QuintusSertorius]

212BC and my little Forced Diplomacy project is complete:



Ptolemies pushed back into Egypt, Seleukids restored and taken out of Baktrian lands, Pontus shrunk a little. Just a shame I didn't think of this earlier and save the Pahlava.

[King Arthur]

The 2nd Punic War:




218BC: Hannibal crosses the Alps and invades Italy. What I plan to do is make Mediolanum and Patavium revolt back to the Auedi to represent Cisalpine Gaul being 'lost' during the war and add a bit of role play... Historically Capua & Taras defected over too Hannibal, so if my Consular Legion which is on route to engage Hannibal looses, I will let the two cities revolt. They will be re-taken upon Hannibal's defeat. Once he is driven from Italy, I will head too Iberia......

EDIT:

Here's a more realistic shot:



I altered my script to spawn Hannibal in the winter, as he did cross the Alps then. Mediolanum and Patavium have now gone over to the Auedi and my Consular Legion is marching up from Rome to intercept Hannibal.

I've spawned his army further into Italy because whilst testing earlier (see earlier sreen shots) he would side step Mediolanum and head towards Massilia back to Iberia! Hopefully starting inbetween Bononia and Segesta will encourage him to engage my armies......

EDIT:

As I thought, Hannibal headed for home instead of attacking my army, even though we are at war. However, i have managed to trap him between two armies, so 'Trebbia' will happen!! I've also just noticed (pure fluke!!!) that my general facing off against Hannibal is Scipio:



It should be an epic clash, Hannibals veterans against Scipio's Legions......

[Cozur]

The 2nd Punic War:




218BC: Hannibal crosses the Alps and invades Italy. What I plan to do is make Mediolanum and Patavium revolt back to the Auedi to represent Cisalpine Gaul being 'lost' during the war and add a bit of role play... Historically Capua & Taras defected over too Hannibal, so if my Consular Legion which is on route to engage Hannibal looses, I will let the two cities revolt. They will be re-taken upon Hannibal's defeat. Once he is driven from Italy, I will head too Iberia......

EDIT:

Here's a more realistic shot:



I altered my script to spawn Hannibal in the winter, as he did cross the Alps then. Mediolanum and Patavium have now gone over to the Auedi and my Consular Legion is marching up from Rome to intercept Hannibal.

I've spawned his army further into Italy because whilst testing earlier (see earlier sreen shots) he would side step Mediolanum and head towards Massilia back to Iberia! Hopefully starting inbetween Bononia and Segesta will encourage him to engage my armies......

EDIT:

As I thought, Hannibal headed for home instead of attacking my army, even though we are at war. However, i have managed to trap him between two armies, so 'Trebbia' will happen!! I've also just noticed (pure fluke!!!) that my general facing off against Hannibal is Scipio:



It should be an epic clash, Hannibals veterans against Scipio's Legions......

Could you write down a quick guide on how to do this, or quote the text in the EBBS script that makes Hannibal spawn?

[QuintusSertorius]

That's very cool, scripting the appearance of Hannibal's army. I had to make do with losing several battles (not intentionally, though) and making up the losses with new armies.

I have to revise my pessimism about Polybian armies not being any better than Camillian ones, I fought a massive Epirote force in a defensive battle, and they endured very well indeed. My hastati got mauled again, but they always do. The only unit who routed were my velites, who rushed off after routing troops from the main enemy force, and got hit by the arriving reinforcements.



That big rock is where I anchored the right flank of my line, which prevented them trying to turn it. I also had a lot more cavalry, even if little of it was heavy.

209BC:



I just landed an army under a Scipio (though actually managed by his legate Aemilius Scarus) in Spain, their "extras" are going to besiege Emporion while the main force engages the first of the three full stacks the Qarthadastim have in that part of Spain. Arse is the main target, to rescue all those good Roman allies.

Most of my appropriations a few turns ago have held, although not in Asia Minor where Pontos seem to be very strong. I think rather of having a war with the Seleukids when Spain is settled, it might have to be with Pontos instead. Similarly another campaign against Koinon Hellenon, rather than Makedonia might calm things in eastern Europe.

[King Arthur]

That's very cool, scripting the appearance of Hannibal's army. I had to make do with losing several battles (not intentionally, though) and making up the losses with new armies.

Thank you kindly Sir

It's a straight forward proceedure, let me know if you want any armies scripted in Quintus, as you and I are playing historically I'll be adding the armies of the Tuetones & Cimbri's, Spawning Marius for the reforms, Caesar for the gallic conquest , Mithridates etc etc - I'd be happy to share them with you just let me know

[QuintusSertorius]

208BC:



After a hard battle outside Emporion, the city was taken without a siege by the reinforcements waiting on the boats.

However, it wasn't until the battle took place that I realised I forgot the flank-covering units. Meanwhile the nephew of Manius Cornelius Scipio, also with the same name has taken it upon himself to march reinforcement overland to help his hard-pressed uncle. Flankers, more cavalry and some replacements for heavies. If the navy learn of their existence then they might pick them up and speed the journey.

[QuintusSertorius]

205BC:



After resupplying and getting reinforcements, my army of Spain is finally ready to continue the war. They've now destroyed three out of the four full-stack Qarthadastim armies in the region, you can see the last one at the bottom of the capture.

On board the flotilla at the top is some more reinforcements, both for the army and the garrison (moving some unneeded mercs from garrisons in Cisalpine Gaul). For some reason there are no mercenaries to be hired in Spain, and haven't been for the entire campaign there. I wonder if the enemy keep hiring them on their turn before I get a chance to?

The Seleukids are finally on the rebound, they're actually taking a province back from Pontos. All those gifts of settlements and massive amounts of money must finally be paying off. Maybe in a decade or so they'll be a worthy foe again?

Koinon Hellenon are still wiping the floor with Makedonia, I've had to take Pella nd Demetrius off them again. Doesn't seem to be wearing them out any.

Epeiros don't know when to give up, now they are just sending three or four units at me without combining them. The legate over there took some levies with him and easily disposed of a larger force of Epirotes. I've beseiged Epidamnos, though I've no intention of taking it. Might Force Diplomacy a ceasefire and trade to let them take a breath.

[johnhughthom]

QS, do you have a job or go to school? You're flying through the turns, I started a Getai campaign (great fun) around the time you started this campaign and I've only got to 258bc! :hmmm:

[QuintusSertorius]

QS, do you have a job or go to school? You're flying through the turns, I started a Getai campaign (great fun) around the time you started this campaign and I've only got to 258bc! :hmmm:

A job that lets me work from home, and has been quiet the last week or two. Plus my wife has been out several evenings too. There are also quite a few turns with no battles in them, just some management of settlements and recruitment. There are only two active wars in my game right now, the one with Karthadast in Spain and with Epeiros in Illyria. Both have nearly run out of armies.

[johnhughthom]

Regarding mercs, I think one of the team over at the org mentioned merc recruitment had been tweaked for 1.0. As far as I'm aware there are more mercs to recruit but they take a lot longer to replenish than they used to, so once they are all hired in a region it will take a long time before you would be able to recruit a merc army again.