Help! The Brutii are killing me...

**Germanicus75** · October 18, 2018, 04:30 AM

So the Roman Civil War just kicked off and I'm playing the Julii. I had 20 provinces when it started, the Brutii had more, mostly in eastern and western Europe.

For one thing, I'm not sure why they - and the Senate - declared war on me. I was quite popular with the Senate and not very popular with the people, when this happened.

Anyway, the Brutii are chewing up my provinces. The AI is actually being quite clever and so far only attacking my cities which don't have full-stack or nearly full-stack garrisons. I fight hard, but the AI is making my cities drop like flies as it is using Urban Cohorts and Pretorian Cohorts!!

I only have my city garrisons at the moment (mainly Early Legionary Cohorts and Archers), my only field army was killed at sea by Rebels/pirates.

What can I do to defend myself against the Brutii? They seem to have endless stacks of men, yet according to the Faction Rankings scroll they have no money!! How does this work?!

Thanks for your thoughts!

**Paggers** · October 25, 2018, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by Germanicus75

So the Roman Civil War just kicked off and I'm playing the Julii. I had 20 provinces when it started, the Brutii had more, mostly in eastern and western Europe.

IIRC that's unusual.Where are your provinces located?

For one thing, I'm not sure why they - and the Senate - declared war on me. I was quite popular with the Senate and not very popular with the people, when this happened.Anyway, the Brutii are chewing up my provinces. The AI is actually being quite clever and so far only attacking my cities which don't have full-stack or nearly full-stack garrisons. I fight hard, but the AI is making my cities drop like flies as it is using Urban Cohorts and Pretorian Cohorts!!

This is also unusual. Have you been going slowly on the expansion as these armies are from Huge Cities after the Marian reforms?Also, what difficulty level are you playing on?

I only have my city garrisons at the moment (mainly Early Legionary Cohorts and Archers), my only field army was killed at sea by Rebels/pirates.What can I do to defend myself against the Brutii? They seem to have endless stacks of men, yet according to the Faction Rankings scroll they have no money!! How does this work?!Thanks for your thoughts!

Once again the advice of what to do depends on where on the map you are., but in general you need to make the geography of the map work to your advantage.Build forts and place a single unit in, e.g. peasants. The AI will always stop to siege it and uses up a couple of turns. This will give you time to prepare your defences and recruit troops. Place armies at choke points and use your archers to wreak havoc on the enemy's flanks. In particular ensure you are shooting at their right hand side.At some point you are going to have to take the fight to the AI but it is difficult to give specific advice as it depends on where you are located in the game.

**Germanicus75** · October 25, 2018, 12:48 PM

Thanks, Paggers for your reply.

My provinces are (or were) the two starting cities, Trans-Alpine Gaul, most of Gaul, and most of Iberia, plus Rhodes

Yeah, I've expanded reasonably slowly until recently, the Brutii were expanding faster. I'm playing Med/Med.

Thanks for the battle advice. The Brutii have taken all my provinces in Gaul and Trans-Alpine Gaul, plus Arretium (sp?). Now I have one city in Italy plus most of Iberia, plus all of the British Isles, left.

Cheers!

**crazyroman** · October 25, 2018, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Germanicus75

Thanks, Paggers for your reply.

My provinces are (or were) the two starting cities, Trans-Alpine Gaul, most of Gaul, and most of Iberia, plus Rhodes

Yeah, I've expanded reasonably slowly until recently, the Brutii were expanding faster. I'm playing Med/Med.

Thanks for the battle advice. The Brutii have taken all my provinces in Gaul and Trans-Alpine Gaul, plus Arretium (sp?). Now I have one city in Italy plus most of Iberia, plus all of the British Isles, left.

Cheers!

Jesus,you are slower than me

.Anyways,you should know that the AI cheats and it doesn't matter what you difficulty you play on.That's why they have a lot of armies with high tier units.I've seen the same thing in my campaigns.

**Gaius Julius Caesar II** · October 25, 2018, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by Germanicus75

So the Roman Civil War just kicked off and I'm playing the Julii. I had 20 provinces when it started, the Brutii had more, mostly in eastern and western Europe.

For one thing, I'm not sure why they - and the Senate - declared war on me. I was quite popular with the Senate and not very popular with the people, when this happened.

Anyway, the Brutii are chewing up my provinces. The AI is actually being quite clever and so far only attacking my cities which don't have full-stack or nearly full-stack garrisons. I fight hard, but the AI is making my cities drop like flies as it is using Urban Cohorts and Pretorian Cohorts!!

I only have my city garrisons at the moment (mainly Early Legionary Cohorts and Archers), my only field army was killed at sea by Rebels/pirates.

What can I do to defend myself against the Brutii? They seem to have endless stacks of men, yet according to the Faction Rankings scroll they have no money!! How does this work?!

Thanks for your thoughts!

If you upload your Save file somewhere (e.g. mediafire, dropbox or the like), I'll be happy to look at it and comment.

I would say that unless you've been deliberately playing some sort of slow-play role-play campaign or using very restrictive house rules you are playing in a very slow and passive way. The game rewards aggression and you can get away with a lot more that you might think.