Actually challenging Punic War: Thank you

[Driesmann]

Playing as Rome, I stretch from Britannia to Thracia, and hold that the Romans had held in Europe.
I left Carthage alone, and they left me alone.
However, war would eventually come and I thought I was prepared...

[Driesmann]

*and hold all that the Romans had held in Europe

Seriously, thank you for creating this mod. Never have I had such a standoff at this scale.

I have 8 legions under my banner in total (maintenance is punishing). They have 9 already in Iberia/Gallia Aquetania. It's 2v2 in Italia and that's all I got.
Who knows what they have hidden under all that FOW

[jegui]

Cool! What CAI difficulty are you playing? and what is the turn number?

I'm on turn 34 and I hold most of Italy but can't see any Carthage armies in Sardinia/Corsica, nor Carthage... playing H CAI

[Driesmann]

Cool! What CAI difficulty are you playing? and what is the turn number?

I'm on turn 34 and I hold most of Italy but can't see any Carthage armies in Sardinia/Corsica, nor Carthage... playing H CAI

I'm playing hard CAI and I'm around turn 190 I believe. I spent most of it conquering elsewhere, and Carthage was doing the same.
No one was left but the 2 of us, so after they started trespassing and placing 5 armies at my undefended border, I knew what time it was :p

Oooh that's gonna be a good one. Tough, but good.

Carthago Delenda Est!

I've just had a 15k man battle (pc almost exploded i think) in which I defeated 3 of the 5 armies in Aquitania.
However, I just noticed they have around 5 fleets so they could strike anywhere along the coast and I don't have the means to match them on sea.

So crossing to Africa is a guaranteed death, and it'll take me at least a good decade to arrive via Iberia

[jegui]

That's great! Are you playing Normal, Hard, Very Hard difficulty?

[Driesmann]

That's great! Are you playing Normal, Hard, Very Hard difficulty?

I'm playing the recommended normal battle difficulty, with hard on campaign.

I'm extremely glad to hear that. Are you using our latest beta pack ?

I'm not using it yet, because it would interfere with this save and I want to finish it all the way for once

[river112]

Oooh that's gonna be a good one. Tough, but good.

Carthago Delenda Est!

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

I'm extremely glad to hear that. Are you using our latest beta pack ?

[ablebodie]

I second this very much. You all have made both playing as and taking out large empires a completely new experience, and a fantastic challenge.

As the Seleucids, I took Armenia & most of Anatolia (everything but Pergamon & Nikomedia) before moving on Ptolemy, and boy am I glad I did. I just fought a 3v3 near the Nile where by the end the only foot I had was 9 archers and 2 pikes on the field. Just blotting out the sun as much as I could to keep my pike line alive. Absolutely incredible that by the end of that battle two of my four armies in Egypt had to be merged due to casualties, and they still sent another army at me the next turn, fortified outside the city to the south of Alexandria!

During the same series of turns, Athens, ally of Ptolemy, liberated Ephesus where I had no forces...luckily Galatia et Cappadocia is my recruiting center or I'd be in a really tough spot!

And Kartli attacked my border army in Armenia, which I luckily defended & capitalized on in the Caucasus.

All this time, my satraps in the east are getting chipped away by Maurya and Bactria, the latter of which has now liberated three allies out of my or steppe nomad territory. So very soon I'll really have a historical problem of the Seleucid Empire on my hands - my empire will have to be defended at its opposite ends against a very diverse array of foes!

All this excitement and preface to say thank you! This version of the mod is absolutely incredible.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

All this excitement and preface to say thank you! This version of the mod is absolutely incredible.

Jolly good.

[Freighttrain4]

I'm typing this at the same time as I'm attacking Sardinia. The amount of Carthaginian forces are insane right now. I'm lucky that Ptolemy, Lusotannen, and Syracuse are all at war with them or it would be impossible to win a war against them. Trying to field a historically accurate Polybian army is tough with the population problems. My only hope is to essentially blitzkrieg Carthage. No time to build siege engines since 7 Full stacks are off the coast of Tunisia... It's a hard fight and I love it.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

I'm typing this at the same time as I'm attacking Sardinia. The amount of Carthaginian forces are insane right now. I'm lucky that Ptolemy, Lusotannen, and Syracuse are all at war with them or it would be impossible to win a war against them. Trying to field a historically accurate Polybian army is tough with the population problems. My only hope is to essentially blitzkrieg Carthage. No time to build siege engines since 7 Full stacks are off the coast of Tunisia... It's a hard fight and I love it.

Excellent. Could you inform us of what units the enemy's army consists ?

[IrishHitman]

I went for Carthage as soon as I had all of Italy, and it still took me 70 years to totally defeat them. Even if I took Carthage itself in five.

[Zaar]

I also like to express my gratidute to those genius modders!!
i must say the beta makes it really great(er).
playing on hard/normal as Rome the diplomatic situation is great and dynamic, which means its not so easy to gain trade routes and after a while they even quit the trade if they are too annoyed by your succes oder how you treat their allies.
So,no more swimming in big money.
right after i got to war with Carthage whilst destroying Syracuse they attacked me with 4 stacks of their superior armada! Thank god that there is not enough space for all landing boats, so i survived (even had to wait 35min the battle to end)
Biggest Dilemma right now on turn 100+ my empire is just on level 4 and i think all other states have reformed their army and i still figure how i finally can get those marian reform get goin.... Wahhhhhhh
Well i am having a blast

[ostendadler]

It is no doubt one of the coolest situations when the AI follows you on your expansion path and challenges your authority. I remember very well my let's play on the previous version of D.E.I where I got caught early in a 80 turn War that originated when Sparta asked for military assistance against Athens in exchange for their client hood. It escalated into an all out war that eventually involved half the illyrian states, the alpine gauls and all of the greek states. I wrote the entire war on paper simply because it felt like something out of a history book.

The AI back then already tried naval invasion, cluttering its forces and even calling in new allies when things would turn south.

I cannot wait to see what this new update will bring.

Keep us updated on your Carthaginian war.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

I went for Carthage as soon as I had all of Italy, and it still took me 70 years to totally defeat them. Even if I took Carthage itself in five.

Did you like that or not ?

I cannot wait to see what this new update will bring.

Pretty much everything.

[ostendadler]

Well right now I just started getting involved in a war with Syracuse after kicking Epirus in the ball sack and out of Italy. I naively though a quick two stack siege would paint syracuse into my color. What a mistake! AI pulled out Rommel on me and caught me off guard wiping the floor with my sieging army.

I was mind blown. They kept their general in the rear, kept the archers in the back and didn't commit all their forces. They over took my left flank and destroyed it. Then they unleashed the reserves on my re-organising center and routed it. Ouch ! But pretty awesome.

So far so good. If this is the new reality then I assume its going to be a lot harder to keep Legions intact (or alive) and battles will have to be seriously though with what tomorrow will bring.

Pretty awesome if you ask me.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Sweet.Feel free to share any interesting updates in your campaign.

[ostendadler]

Ok I 690 hours on DEI I have never seen this happen ...

1. The CAI beach landing 4 Stacks in one spot - Not city landing
2. The CAI refusing to be dictated battle terms and retreating for more favorable odds
3. The CAI evacuating a stack back at sea to preserve its forces
4. The BAI not running for the fort with its reinforcement
5. The BAI sending flanking skirmish
6. The BAI sallying out of the fort to help out


Let me just give a quick situational report on my campaign so you see where I'm standing.

Turn 80

I control all of Italy and that Epirus settlement on the Western coast of Greece where I am trade partners with Athens and Sparta. I had a non aggression treaty with the Macedonians but they ended up getting destroyed by their Thracian neighbor to the north. After a very painful campaign in Sicily (where Carthage has been landing reinforcements 3 times over) I've got 2 Armies in Sicily, 1 in Narbo which I just captured from one of the allies of Carthaginians in Iberia who threatened my Allies in Massalia, 1 in Rome getting re-populated and 1 half stack in Corsica and my fleet and 1 full stack stationed in Taras.

I was fully focused on shoring Carthage and its Allies in Southern France (Half of Iberia is fighting the other half) and on chipping away Corsica and Sardinia. My expedition forces and my navy captured Corsica with little trouble but are stuck there as Carthage has parked a big fleet in Sardinia. With Half a Stack and a small navy I hold no hope of capturing Sardinia without reinforcement (sieges are bloody hard now).

I was planning in shipping my fully re-populated stack located in Rome to Corsica and would ferry them with my Navy from Taras in the South.

Now on this very turn the Thracian declared war on me (I am their only enemy currently) which I assumed was to control that last settlement they where missing in Greece. I had no forces there so decided to ship my army in Taras into Epirus 's former capital but before I could cross A full Stack of Tharcian just mopped the floor with my garrison. I wasn't looking to fight in Greece just yet so I decided to sue for Peace which to my greatest surprise the Thracians refused.

I pulled back my fleet and my legion back to Taras and was horrified to discover on the next turn that the Thracians where ferrying not 1 but 4 full stacks over into Southern Italy. I naively though that they would never beach land and didn't fully mobilize to counter them as I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE AI ATTEMPT A BEACH LANDING. On the next turn I absolutely was in awe to see that 3 of the 4 stack had landed on the beach just south of Taras on the campaign map. What a SHOCK !

I couldn't hope to stop 4 armies with my one legion in Taras and worst than that I had no armies between them and Rome which meant that they could very quickly raid and capture central Italy if they wanted to. I didn't panick that hard since the arrival of the Mongols in Medieval 2. I couldn't run back to Italy from Corsica or Narbo without the protection of my fleet as the Carthaginians still rule the sea and I couldn't send my 2 legions from Sicily as well because Carthage still threatened to send some new armies to re-gain a foothold in Sicily.


I mean guys It has been a very long time since I have been cornered by the AI and over stretched. - That's manic !

I ended up leaving one army in Sicily and racing the 2nd one to that settlement in the tip of the boot in Sicily. The Army in rome got promptly pushed to full capacity (bringing my treasury into the red - Another First).

Now the AI landed its 4th stack and sent 3 of them to besiege Taras and 1 up north. I ended up losing that settlement north right away which they ended up razing down. I ended up using my spy to agro that army and keep it from reinforcing the massive 3 stack army sieging Taras. I then retook the settlement right away with my Nothern Army. I then got my Southern legion up to Taras to break the siege which to my greatest surprise the Thracians gave up without fighting and regrouped at the very end of the heel of Italy.


On the turn the Thracians evacuated one of their stacks by Sea (which again I've never seen the AI do before) and leaving the remaining 2 in fortified stance. The one up north was not barred from rejoining its countrymen down south and decided to fortify as well.

I decided then to avoid tempting fate much longer and attacked their two stacks with mine with the balance bar nudging towards the enemy.

With 2 Previous defeats in large scale battles my confidence in victory wasn't strong and since I hadn't faced the new Thracians in DEI for a long time I was very wary of fighting an army clearly turned towards damage dealing.

The battle ended after 25 minutes of nail biting fights. I tried to kite the reinforcing army away from running into the fort but they themselves didn't do that and pushed their skirmishers to flank my army while the heavy infantry was divided in 2 equal halfs (one heading for the fort the second to flank my two armies).

I ended up winning the field thanks to a clever combination of Javelin Skirmishers (which are deadly now - I used to consider them useless) and cavalry baiting. The fortified army ended up sallying out to help out their friends. I ended up pulling off a brilliant Cannae Style battle wedging them in and closing on their sides.

Incredible battle. If I didn't have cavalry I would have lost the skirmish and they would have dictated the battle lines. Losing that battle would sent me back 60 turns.


It seems that they are pulling back their stack at sea back to the greek mainland.

I am left to wipe the floor with their last remaining army North of Taras and consider invading back Greece to prevent them for reforming.

Now that's mind blowing. Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for turning RII in a challenging and intriguing game to play.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Great. I'll check this as soon as I get home.