Emperor August campaign

[PAnz3r]

Well, after the "end turn" bug ended prematurely my Aurelian campaign, l switched to the Emperor Augustus campaign.
Well, I passed two days playing as Octavian and Lepidus, and with no differences both campaigns finished in failure.
Especially Lepidus have practically no money, no resources, nothing.
I also try a game with Hard difficulty instead ad of my usually very hard (but with normal battle difficulty).
Anyone have successfully finished one of those? Or maybe with Antonius or Pompey?
If yes I need some advices. 😊

[Maximus030]

I did on h/h and it’s not that difficult, I usually play with scipios hardcore submission. However, first thing I did was taking sicilia and Sardinia (Pompey’s provinces) only declare war on them and the trick is in first turn to ask all the clients states of lepidus and Aurelius to stop being vassals of their master! Therefore you make trade with them and pay them some money which you get from trade with smaller factions. Usually those former clientstates soon declare war on the old masters and so you got some time to breath. Also try to make as many possible Defence alliance. Then make your city’s strong (financial) and make north Europe safe. Mostly no one will declare war because you are powerful! If lepidus declares war take Spain and if possible Carthago as soon as possible. After you took lepidus things will get a little easier. Hope I could help with my broke English.

[PAnz3r]

Mhh..... Practically it's what I have tried more than one time...to take out Pompey first but, also if I managed to take the whole Sicily, I can't take Sardinia and Corsica, because in the meanwhile I was attacked by Antonius, Lepidus and face some betrayal of subjugated gallic and belgae tribes
I usually been so short of money that I cannot field proper stacks to face all the enemy.
By the way I never tried to cut the clients from their masters....

Another problem is that my army are usually too weak against the AI because I wasn't full of legionary cohorts and etc

[Maximus030]

I always only have one legion, lead by Octavian, the other two legions I leave them like they are from beginning.
the legion of Octavius I fill with legionaries and from then on you have to play every battle by yourself to keep casualties low.
Join the Gallic and Ablage trips by there wars! So they will stay loyal

[PAnz3r]

Only one legion? Wow... I can't manage to fend all the strikes with 3...how can you do the all crap with only one legion :/

[Swarbs]

In my experience the key to Octavius, or any of the Roman factions in the IA campaign, is to turtle for a bit and build up your economy. Your starting settlements are so underdeveloped that you are drowning in empire maintenance and need to build up your income. Taking Sicily early doors is often counterproductive, as it increases maintenance across the whole empire so income can actually go down.

My strategy is:

1. Make sure you expand all your province capitals to level 2 asap, whilst building food buildings to support them. The 10% boost to all income will help hugely
2. Tech to scholarship and get dignitaries asap, as their tax boost will help counter some of the maintenance
3. Stay on the defensive where possible, let the AI attack your armies when they are near a settlement so the garrison will join in. Town guards are useful anvils for your legions to hammer the enemy upon. This also means you can defend against an enemy stack with only a half stack of your own, as the AI will underweight the garrison in autoresolve. Also release captives for the money where possible and keep building infrastructure
3. If you can take an enemy settlement, try to liberate or subjugate in the short term where possible. Getting new allies can help slow down the AI whilst your economy builds up and a client state will provide some income

[PAnz3r]

Ok, thanks for the hints. I restarted again, this time with Antonius and seem a little better, Asia in richest and I'm following a similar path of turtling down for a while before start conquering.

I hope this time will work