Why it was done like this ??

[M@x1mus]

Hello, really loving this mod.

I have a question, I encountered an event which totally shocked me.

As Boeotia, playing on easy (I prefer to play the smaller factions and hate that the AI gets money a bonus when I don't) I was Defending my border with Attica and at the same time looking to hurt Athens away from home. I sent a force against Naupaktos and managed to take it after 3-4 battles with Athenian and Aitolan forces (they declared war on me on like turn 5)

After taking and occupying the city I finally felt safe and planned to slow down and defend Thebes again. Next turn I get a message stating Demosthenes plans to defend Athenian soil or something like that and a full stack (I forget, it was at least 15 units) spawn right next to Naupaktos and takes the city in the next turn.

Obviously I wasn't expecting that to happen. My question is why are armies spawning out of nowhere and are there other cities that cause a force to spawn?

Vaalaw thanks for your kind words!
Actually the event you experienced is a scripted historical invasion. You will find a few throughout your campaign..

[Phalangitis]

You see Ai is not always following the historic path so we kind of forced it to do so by spawning armies where it should move. There is a warning 10 turns before the event though so the player will have some time to prepare.. The only exception is Naupactos and Amphipolis. You see in reality when those cities where about to fall Athens sent immediately armies there since those cities were very important to them. So when you take Naupaktos or Amphipolis an immediate counter attack happens to show this exact historic fact. The counter attack of Demosthenis (south) and Konon (in the North..). Dont worry you will not face any other counter attacks and in easy those attacks are nerfed.. (they are much stronger in other difficulty levels)

[Vaalaw]

Thanks everyone for your quick responses. That's really cool certain cities get those scripts, I was worried any territory I tried to grab would have the same defence force spawn.

I've started a new game on Normal after reading the manual for a second time and seeing that the gameplay changes between difficulties to much.

Is there a faction you recommend for a newish player? Athens is powerful obviously but I've always found large factions hard to manage in Total War games.

Actually, even better does anyone have some suggestion for playing Thebes? I really like their units and history so I would prefer to play them.

[Phalangitis]

I think Thebes is a nice choice for a more easy campaign (still tough though but less compared to the others..)

[Vaalaw]

I think Thebes is a nice choice for a more easy campaign (still tough though but less compared to the others..)

Getting my ass kicked on normal at the moment I have 4 enemy full army stacks in the region of Thebes (Chios, Athens, Ionians, and Myteline) > Managed to take the town North of Thebes after Athens steam rolled the faction that was there.

I guess my question is, is it meant to be so hard?

[Phalangitis]

Yes.. sorry it is a hard game.. The bad thing about hard games is that you are going to loose many campaigns and might get discouraged a bit.. the good is that the campaign you are going to win you will remember it for a looong time.
Trust me though that after you get the feel of it it will become much easier. Johnoagrios our ferocious Athenian beta tester won Athens campaign (the hardest by far) in very hard multiple times and now he is trying on legendary..

[Furgon]

Getting my ass kicked on normal at the moment

From my little experience with Thebes, you should probably plan expansion west, through Delphi and all the way to Korkyra (in the long run) or to the east, through Heraclea to Eubea, as I found Thebes itself to be immensely reliable stronghold to block any advance from Athens. First thing first though, Amphissa apperars to be a 100% first pick for me - Athenian ally right under my nose and also I just can't resist the urge to grab the famous Delphi Oracle for my own personal use

After that Aetolians become a real thorn, they can reach both Heraclea and Amphissa in one turn, also they have a lot of heavy hoplites, unlike other early enemies and I yet to finish them. In my campaign Korkyra became the real monster of the west, wiping all Korinthian holdings except the capital, then chasing off Macedonians, who I befriended and unleashed upon it, what a waste.

Eubea conquest looks more promising at the moment. I always find it much easier to fight major enemies than '1 city + 2 stacks" fellows. It opens up all possibilities with sea warfare, but more troubles with defend against swarming Athenian fleets, unlike on land where I fear not their petty armies.

These are not powerplay suggestions in any way, I prefer a really slow paced turtling gameplay with a heavy focus on chapter missions and technology. Guess not much people will wait, idk 60 turns, to research strategies to take on Naupaktos or Eubea.

[Phalangitis]

These are not powerplay suggestions in any way, I prefer a really slow paced turtling gameplay with a heavy focus on chapter missions and technology. Guess not much people will wait, idk 60 turns, to research strategies to take on Naupaktos or Eubea.

My style of play indeed mate.
+rep from a fellow strategist.

[Tenerife_Boy]

I'm on turn 60 and right now in my Beot campaign and this is the empire I have achieved for now.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Phalangitis]

Nice map Tene and waaay faster than me

[Furgon]

Hey, Tene. Seeing how you both the Boiotian player and one of the leading testers, can you please share what's up with the Theban cavalry supremacy over other Greeks? Do they have some heavier unit later in the game or do they have early access to hippeis or is just 'lore' part of the game.

[Tenerife_Boy]

I didn't quite get you friend. Beot cav is one of the top cavs ingame. The equal unit for now that I could deal with problems is the athenian cavalry. I would say they are at the same level. On the other part, I don't know why you ask about a later unit if This Theban cavalry unit was present during the whole War (so that means no).

What do you mean by lore? Yes, they are available at the beginning of the campaign. Way better than Prodomoi.

Phal - Thanks, are you playing Beots too?

[Furgon]

I didn't quite get you friend. Beot cav is one of the top cavs ingame. The equal unit for now that I could deal with problems is the athenian cavalry.

Thanks, turns out I was under wrong impression that their Hippeis unit is available to all factions. Like Citizen Cavalry in vanilla. That's why I wondered in which exact way their cavalry is better than others.

[Tenerife_Boy]

Hippeis wos cav unit is unavailable for, I think, everyone, as it has nonsense as iti s a random fantasy generic CA unit, same as the generic "hoplites" unit....Hoplites from where ? Damn CA... lol

[Phalangitis]

Havent found the time to play yet..
I need 2-3 hours every day only to answer to posts and test stuff reported as bugs (only to be prooved tehy are not.. ). Unfortunately this is my only free time per day (in a good day..) .
I would like to start a Spartan campaign at some point.. I havent played them at all since i was keeping them for my "good" campaign..

[Tenerife_Boy]

Spend less hours replying comments = more free time to start your campaign

[Vaalaw]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented in reply to me, you've convinced me to give it another try

[KAM 2150]

Havent found the time to play yet..
I need 2-3 hours every day only to answer to posts and test stuff reported as bugs (only to be prooved tehy are not.. ). Unfortunately this is my only free time per day (in a good day..) .
I would like to start a Spartan campaign at some point.. I havent played them at all since i was keeping them for my "good" campaign..

Welcome to my world, I haven't even checked out our DeI population system yet, even though it had extensive internal testing before community testing started and that is already around for quite some time ; D

[Phalangitis]

Yeah.. i have been like this for almost since Rome 2 released.. In these 2 years (or is it more? ) i have played only one complete campaign and from 1085 hours in record actual gaming could be less than 200 ? All the rest are testing ,balancing ,bug hunting etc..
The difference is that i was hoping to relax a bit after release.. Till now i had an excuse.. I was constantly modding but now? I could not even dream that i would spent so much time usually explaining the same stuff over and over ( yes this is your world this last year or so i guess..) .
My next move would be to grow a beard and post an angry video (joking of course)

[KAM 2150]

I already made that kind of video about pikes : D

Now I need to make this kind of video