Just got into rome 2 - which campaign is best for playing as a Greek faction?

[avesta]

Hi all,

I just got into Rome 2 and I'm currently playing as the Sassanids in Empire Divided but I got the urge to play a campaign as a Greek faction. I was wondering which campaign you'd recommend for this. I'm learning the ropes but my Sassanid campaign (on hard) is a bit too easy, at least for now, since I'm still at peace with Rome and Egypt.

I'm not sure if the grand campaign or empire divided or one of the campaign packs is best for playing as a Greek faction. I want it to be challenging. I don't have wrath of Sparta but I'd be willing to get it (or another one of the campaign packs) if they're good. I know DEI is an amazing mod but I'm still learning the game mechanics somewhat - so not sure if this is a good option as of yet.

Thanks

[Spyrith]

For Grand Campaign, Massilia. Great starting position, good mix of hellenic defensive units with decent attacking barbarian infantry. (Hellenistic factions always struggle in the attack with infantry)Celtic axe warriors are so fun to use alongside hoplites.


Sparta can also be interesting.However their unit variety is flat as hell but that actually helped me get better at Hoplite tactics and to learn to use mercenaries. Have also won a load of battle against impossible odds because of how crazy tough Royal Spartans are.

[Alwyn]

As Spyrith said, Massilia and Sparta are fun options.

If you enjoy strategy, I recommend Athens and Syracuse in the Grand Campaign

Athens is interesting, for me, because you start as a client state of Macedon so you need to decide how to deal with this. You can team up with Sparta against Epirus and Macedon, or remain loyal to Macedon (and, when you have expanded, negotiate with Macedon to become an ally instead of a client state). When you become the main power in Greece as Athens, there's another choice: if Rome is expanding (and perhaps heading for the Marian reforms), do you invade Italy before Rome becomes too powerful (perhaps allying with Massilia) or go east (Hellenic factions seem well-suited to going east)?

If that sounds too easy, you could try Syracuse. This puts you in between Rome and Carthage, you could side with either big power against the other or try to stay out of it and expand elsewhere. This can be a challenging campaign to survive, as your starting position can make it difficult to stay out of a war between the big powers, Rome can be eager to take over your home region and there aren't neighbouring small nations to easily expand into.

[avesta]

Thanks for the info. I only see Massilia and Macedon in the grand campaign. I'm assuming I'll need the Greek states culture pack? Btw how is Macedon's campaign?
Also, what is the difference between Grand campaign and Empire divided except the unit cards/factions/faction rosters? There doesn't seem to be any Greek factions in Empire Divided - cause of the timeline I guess?

[Alwyn]

Thanks for the info. I only see Massilia and Macedon in the grand campaign. I'm assuming I'll need the Greek states culture pack? Btw how is Macedon's campaign?
Also, what is the difference between Grand campaign and Empire divided except the unit cards/factions/faction rosters? There doesn't seem to be any Greek factions in Empire Divided - cause of the timeline I guess?

The Greek states pack makes Athens, Epirus and Sparta playable in the Grand Campaign (the Wrath of Sparta doesn't unlock factions for the Grand Campaign, it makes available a separate campaign). The Hannibal at the Gates pack gives us the Arevaci, the Lusitani and Syracuse (in the Grand Campaign) and adds a separate Hannibal campaign.

Incidentally, if you like Hellenic warfare, there are more Hellenic-style factions than you might have thought. (A great place to find out more is the Cultural Groups page on the Wiki). For example, you may want to try the Grand Campaign as Carthage (I've had a lot of fun with this, as you can see from my Carthage AAR). Carthage has a Hellenic roster, relying (at least initially) on hoplites, peltasts and Greek-style cavalry. They have some great advantages - cheap and effective mercenaries (mercenaries are to Carthage what auxiliaries are to Rome), they can travel in the desert without attrition, they start with several regions and two client states. As I see it, they have two great challenges - the regions have at the start of the GC are dispersed (so they're harder to defend) and Rome will be coming after you.

I haven't tried Macedon and I'd be interested to hear the experiences of those who have. I enjoy playing as Bactria who have a similar roster (with more skirmishers), I imagine that fighting as Macedon is about warfare as Alexander did it: hold your enemy in place with pikes, then break their line with your cavalry and skirmishers.

The Grand Campaign begins three centuries before the Rome's empire began - that's about six centuries before the time of Aurelian. Empire Divided is about the warring fragments of a fading enpire; in the GC, the fading empire is Alexander's, with Macedon, the Seleucids, Egypt and Bactria as the divided parts of Alexander's empire. Rome is the strongest nation in Italy, but will need to defeat the Etruscan League, the Gauls in Cisalpine Gaul, Carthage and Syracuse to control Italy. That, for me, is the biggest single difference- the poliitical map is different, with many nations still being independent in the GC because they haven't been conquered by Rome in the earlier time period. Some nations, such as the Roxolani are in a different place on the map in GC, presumably because they migrated in between these two periods. Unlike Empire Divided, there isn't banditry and there aren't cults in the GC. We're at an earlier stage of warfare, Rome still uses the pre-Marian manipular formation and a lot of the cavalry units (at least in the west, in the first part of the GC) are only for scouting and scattering skirmishers. You're right, the lack of Greek factions reflects the time period, as the Greek cities were parts of Rome's empire in the 3rd century time period of Empire Divided.

[avesta]

Thanks for all the info.
I'll probably try either Masillia or Macedon in the grand campaign to start off. Which campaign difficulty would you recommend? I don't want it to be like my Sassanid campaign where I steamroll pretty much everything (I think I'm playing on hard - is there any way to check the difficulty level?). I want there to be plenty of unit stacks and battles, even if it means I get crushed and have to restart.

[twgamer20197]

Thanks for all the info.
I'll probably try either Masillia or Macedon in the grand campaign to start off. Which campaign difficulty would you recommend? I don't want it to be like my Sassanid campaign where I steamroll pretty much everything (I think I'm playing on hard - is there any way to check the difficulty level?). I want there to be plenty of unit stacks and battles, even if it means I get crushed and have to restart.

In the screen where you choose the faction to start a campaign, there is a part where you choose the difficulty where you drag the mouse in order to change difficulty. I'd recommend "very hard". Why not legendary? Because at legendary you cannot manually save your game. So, if you make an involuntary mistake ( it can happen sometimes ) you won't be able to go back. What i do is manually saving my game after each turn

[Alwyn]

Massilia and Macedon are good choices! I'd be interested to hear how you get on, either here or in an After Action Report in the Writers' Study, if you like.

[avesta]

So I played the grand campaign as Massilia and I steamrolled the map pretty quickly. It was far too easy. I played on hard campaign and very hard battle difficulty. Please read below.





In the early stages it was somewhat challenging, and I reloaded quite a few times to fix mistakes (probably shouldn't have, but it's a habit of mine). Though I was never under any real serious threat. Once I captured a few key settlements and resources in the region, money was flowing in and it became quite easy to support armies.

Perhaps being at peace with Rome helped me a lot during this campaign, I thought they'd be more aggressive considering it's on hard and they were the powerhouse of the region (their powerbar was much higher than mine).

After I took most of France, the Suebi who had LOTS of territory declared war on me, but I was prepared for them. In just a few turns I took some of their major settlements after pushing all my armies to the front, and they weren't able to produce stacks anymore. So I just pushed eastward and steamrolled them. By the time the Suebi were finished, I declared war on Rome and started taking their settlements without even a fight, with just 2 stacks. I really expected more from Rome. They didn't send in a single reinforcing army to Northern Italy. Even Roma itself was barely garrisoned. I would have conquered all of Italy in just a few turns unchallenged. So I just stopped playing there, no point anymore.

I never encountered the Persians or Parthians - maybe they were powerful but I doubt anyone woulda been able to challenge me by this point. Also it seems auto-resolving gives you way too much of an advantage, especially in sieges.

There were only a couple of memorable battles during the entire campaign, not much to write home about. Very disappointed in this campaign overall. Firstly, it didn't have the "feel" of a Greek campaign, since Greece is actually quite far away and I was busy conquering in my own region. The unit roster for actual Greek units seemed somewhat limited too. I mean it was either light Hoplites, Hoplites, or Massilian hoplites, supported by Celtic warriors/Axemen, and slingers. There's not much army variation and each battle was similar as all my enemies were basically barbarian factions with mostly charge-heavy infantry.

Also I was never really at war with multiple factions at once (it was always one at a time) The AI is too passive when it perceives you to be too strong, instead of being opportunistic and attacking settlements where it can (they did so more on my original Sassanid campaign but not here for some reason).

More disappointing was the lack of challenge. I desperately wanted a campaign with lots of full stacks and constant battles, but again it didn't happen

I may try playing as Macedon now, as this campaign didn't scratch my "itch" for a proper Greek campaign, and more importantly it wasn't challenging.

I will also probably give Caesar in Gaul a try - as I heard that campaign produces lots of full stacks and battles.

What's generally considered the best/most fun Roman campaign to play as? There are so many options - Imperator Augustus - the Mark Antony campaign seems interesting but I'm worried it may be too easy as you start with a lot of territory, but could be interesting as you're potentially fighting on multiple fronts. Pompey looks somewhat harder.
Empire Divided as Vanilla Rome seems cool too, though I prefer Republic period Rome but I'd love to hear input regarding this one.
How about Rome on the GC?
And I'm not really interested in RotR due to the time period. Hannibal at the gates looks quite fun too. Or maybe it's time for DEI as I heard that can be quite challenging.

[Alwyn]

It's a shame that Massilia wasn't challenging. Macedon would give you a broader Greek roster, but I'd be surprised if you found it challenging, as you found Massiia to be too easy.

You wrote that you "desperately want a campaign with lots of full stacks and constant battles". For this, I imagine you'll need a mod which gives factions more money and encourages them to recruit more armies, possibly DeI or Wars of the Gods. Alternatively, you might be able to achive this kind of campaign with mods such as More AI Armies or Even More AI Armies (possibly combined with It's a Small World After All, if they can be used together - I don't know if they can). I believe that DeI includes changes similar to More AI Armies and It's a Small World.

You asked about the best Roman campaign. If you'd like to see an example of a Pompey campaign in Imperator Augustus, there's a report of one by Derc; he found it easy, especially when auto-resolving. If you like the challenge of fighting multiple wars at once, you may want to try Aurelian's Rome in Empire Divided.

[avesta]

Thanks for the info, I'll check out those mods. In the meantime I'll try both Caesar in Gaul and Aurelian's Rome like you suggested, and compare them. Will let you know how I fare - and then I'll probably move on to mods.
Will skip Macedon for now, I may try playing as a Greek faction again when I try DEI/another overhaul mod.

[alhoon]

There were only a couple of memorable battles during the entire campaign, not much to write home about. Very disappointed in this campaign overall. Firstly, it didn't have the "feel" of a Greek campaign, since Greece is actually quite far away and I was busy conquering in my own region. The unit roster for actual Greek units seemed somewhat limited too. I mean it was either light Hoplites, Hoplites, or Massilian hoplites, supported by Celtic warriors/Axemen, and slingers. There's not much army variation and each battle was similar as all my enemies were basically barbarian factions with mostly charge-heavy infantry.

Also I was never really at war with multiple factions at once (it was always one at a time) The AI is too passive when it perceives you to be too strong, instead of being opportunistic and attacking settlements where it can (they did so more on my original Sassanid campaign but not here for some reason).

More disappointing was the lack of challenge. I desperately wanted a campaign with lots of full stacks and constant battles, but again it didn't happen

Yeah, it seems you are the player that would enjoy Bran's mods. Personally, I find them too hectic... too many full stacks, constant battles, opportunistic AI... EXACTLY what you're looking for. Check his mods for this and other games. I'll also PM him to let him know of your plight. He's a helpful guy.

[Bran Mac Born]

avesta- IF you want a challenge and would like to test your metal against the gods of war then you need to play WARS OF THE GODS-ANCIENT WARS . version 8.8 will be out on steam this weekend. Play the mod on Very Hard campaign difficulty.
here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil.../?id=193736354

[alhoon]

avesta- IF you want a challenge and would like to test your metal against the gods of war then you need to play WARS OF THE GODS-ANCIENT WARS . version 8.8 will be out on steam this weekend. Play the mod on Very Hard campaign difficulty.
here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil.../?id=193736354

Trust someone that tried the earlier, lighter version of this mod: I would start at Hard difficulty or even Normal. Don't start at VH, IT IS very hard.

[avesta]

Thanks guys, I will try out Wars of the Gods for sure.

A quick update - I played as Macedon on grand campaign with "more AI armies" mod. I steamrolled the map again lol. It was too easy. I took over Italy. They literally had only 1-2 full stacks and for some reason could not produce any more armies. Then once I captured a few key settlements in Asia minor my economy was booming , and it was just too easy to start supporting massive amounts of troops. I never even used any high tier troops - mostly regular hoplites and citizen/sarissa cav, yet that was enough to conquer nearly everything in all directions.

I just installed DEI and started a campaign as Rome on hard, but I'm still on turn 1. I will also try Wars of the Gods too and compare them.
For Wars of the Gods - I'm thinking of playing as Parthia/Sassanid but I'm worried it'll be too easy. Bran do you recommend Parthia/Sassanid if I install some "hard mode" submods? Or is it better to try a smaller eastern faction like Armenia or something? Also I'm assuming wars of the gods doesn't have the supply and population mechanic? Please let me know. Thanks!

[Bran Mac Born]

Avesta- do not worry it will not be easy if you play on Hard or above. You could use the Harder Economy and the Total Slaughter submod for start. Load them before the main mod. Wars of the gods DOES have the population mechanic as a submod-it is the same mod that DEI uses adjusted for Wars of the Gods called People of Rome 2. You can find it in the submod section on the main page of the mod on steam.

[Jake Armitage]

afaik, it's the contrary, dei has an adjusted pop coming from people of rome which is for vanilla version (and vanilla mods)