How to play as Thrace?

[raffaello]

I've playing Rome for years, but i found Thrace really hard to play. While i can defeat Macedonians then the romans(brutii) come in waves, damn! I ve lost 3 cities, they defeat me battle after battle and now they conquer most of Greece. i found my cavalry
is weak against romans army, is there any strategy to play as Thrace? Oh i'm playing in VH/VH

sorry 4 the bad English, I hope U can understand. and greetings from Indonesia .

[I own, there4 I own]

I think it's because Thrace sucks.
Anyone agree?

[Hader]

I think it's because Thrace sucks.
Anyone agree?

Absolutely freakin not.

Yeah, no joke.

Well, I have a Thracian AAR that I made for a RTW mod if you would like to look at that, though it is for a mod that changes Thrace a bit, it is a good reference for vanilla Thrace. If you have any other questions, just ask.

[I own, there4 I own]

'I' think that Thrace sucks.
Anyone can think what they want to think and to agree or not agree.

[Mrtickles]

I personally agree that Thrace isn't very good. Barbarian infantry and Greek cavalry? IMO barbarian infantry don't have any significant advantages over Roman legions or phalanxes and it's GREEK CAVALRY enough said. I just don't see the advantages to that odd little unit mix.

[Kamos]

I personally agree that Thrace isn't very good. Barbarian infantry and Greek cavalry? IMO barbarian infantry don't have any significant advantages over Roman legions or phalanxes and it's GREEK CAVALRY enough said. I just don't see the advantages to that odd little unit mix.

Stylish uniforms enough said .

[raffaello]

Almost agree, I've take Bosphorus but the schytia broke its alliance and attack me, now they took it. only have 3 cities now include Byzantium. Damn!, this time AI really defeat me.I forced to become Rome protectorates, it give me some times to breath and money for a while. but I found play as Thrace really challenging.maybe I should sent some expeditionary force to Crete, the rebel still have control of it.

[Kara Kolyo]

If you wan't to have interesting and maybe even winable campaign as Thrace check mods like Lusted's Terrae Expundade or something like this, Extended Greek Mod and many more...

[Jubal_Barca]

When I played Thrace, I did really well...

The trick is;

1. Ally with macedon, keep your scythian frontier defended, then take the bosporous and push on into Anatolia.
2. Destroy Pontus - use whatever you can get, they just have to go. Ally with the nations on the other side, and keep your montain borders secure with forts.
3. You now have plenty of cash, so build up an army and ally with rome.
4. Attack macedon. This will be easy, because Romans will be attacking too.
5. With Pontus and macedon under control, ally with someone like Carthage or Gaul against Rome.

At least, that's what I did.

P.S. The thracians get falxmen. USE THEM!

[Scutarii]

I think that Thrace are a very good faction. They are one of two that gets falxmen (in place of something like swordsmen or Levy Pikemen, theyre really good), adn they get the very versatile Bastarnae (2 hit points w00t). Pretty good starting position (poised to conquer Greece) and although they don't have great cavalry, trhey do have great infantry.

To conquer MAcedon, at first just keep relations good. They will be waging a war with the greeks, and you can concentrate on taking Scythias only city of worth, Campus Scytii, and all of Dacia. You should immediately take Porolissum and Campus Lazyges from the Dacians. Then, if they have taken any of the (crappy) little towns around them, feel free to take them. I took Aquincum and Lovosice from them and just left them with a crappy little town far to the North. Then you can concentrate on building up a couple stacks to attack Macedon. AFter this has happened, your economy takes a hit. So use them to quickly attack Bylazora, and Thessalonica. By this time, the Greeks had taken Athen and Corinth from the Macedonians, so These two cities were there last. Then the Greeks and Brutii start poundign you and you just have to secure the cities in Southern Greece for a steady cash flow. Hint against the greeks: Use the pin and flank. Leave a few units for their hoplites to go for, and then wheel around your fast moving Barbarian infantry to crush them. Put a couple Pikemen in their to hold their hoplites. I have found Pikemen destroy hoplites in front-to front.
Hop that helps.

[raffaello]

Wow thx guys!just defeat romans army and capture half of Greece, now I build my navy to prevent brutii send more reinforcement's. I just realize that quantity is the key to win naval battle with romans.Since i can hire cretan archer,scythia HA, and scythia knight the battle seems to be easier, even I make schytia my protectorates , I want to send army to Pontus but its to late Egypt has capture pontus territory. I sent my spy there and get shocked! lots of missile army and most of them pharaoh bowmen!

I think I'll keep them as ally, since I need more ship and men to defeat romans. Their(Egypt) navy is strong and almost everywhere even in the black sea!

Once again Thx guys!!!

[I own, there4 I own]

Like with every other campaign, you must think hard of what u r going to do. Like the typical blitzer campaigners they are always worried about military spamming then finance. So you must develop a strategy like the couple of Thrace strategies listed above this post.

I just started playing Britannia this morning and I just took the settlement 'Tara' (top left of the British isles). I'm not trying to blitz this campaign so I'm just going to lay low until I get an alliance, trade rights + map information with Germania, then I'll offer them to attack Gaul as a 'gift' (I just want one more Enemy, Gaul) and that's when I come in to take the settlement 'Condate Redonum' (west of Samarobriva). I'm playing this short campaign as E/E coz I've never played a Barbarian faction before.

[Panzerfaust]

Move everything you got to Crete and used that as a base, then move into Turkey and take some rebel provinces and go into war against Selucid. They aren't too hard to fight. After that you can go against Pontus, Armenia and Parthia.

[I own, there4 I own]

Nice to hear that u have got things under control 'raffaello'.

But on my Britannia campaign I'm allies with Germania and enemies with Gaul. But then Gaul declared a Ceasefire with me. So does anyone think that I should attack Gaul? If I do, I think my alliance with Germania will be broken and then maybe Germania would want to war with me. But Gaul allied with Spain and after that happened I took a Spanish settlement Osca which is a good thing coz I'm disrupting Gaul's ally.
A funny thing is that I'm allies and I have trade rights with all of the Roman Factions so I'm raking in the denarii (90,000+ atm)

What do u guys think that I should do next? Thanks.

[raffaello]

Thanks, Well, I suppose you should attack Gaul, before they train more forester warband, this guys will give you lots of pain,and Gauls settlements will give you more money although not like Spain.Germania is easier but what can you expect from them?the only rich picking in Germania only coastal area.

Spain also good to take, their territory is very rich. Maybe Germania will attack you, but after 3-4 failed attack they'll get tired, if you can capture their coastal settlement it will give them great blow to their economy. In my campaign I always add diplomat and spies in my army, especially if i go to barbarian territory. I remember my last campaign as Julii, my army consist more than 2000 men include 2 family members get massacred by Germania army, they ambush me near Damne.

Oh I still playing my Thrace campaign and there is something weird happens.
I lost crete to greek cities (cant defeat those armored hoplites and spartans)
julii capture Athens and sparta. In the next turn diplomacy message come out, it shows that all the romans faction in war each other, cant believe my eyes. then I open the diplomacy channel, I see that Julii still ally with the senate, the brutii ally with scipii.

I "toggle_map" and I found that Numidia control all of Africa, it seems that they defeat scipii, I see 3 famous battle in Africa and all the winner is Numidia. In the next turn the senate diplomat ask me to ally and attack brutii(since I get cease fire with brutii) and offer me 47000 denari. I accept it ,then Gladiator uprising took Sparta, I decided to capture sparta. I send my army there with some support from julii (I ally with them) and capture sparta.
In the next turn getting more and more weird to me, Senate ask me to give sparta in change of 55000 denari (I haven't decide it) and I see Rome is under siege by Brutii and Scipii. I just cant believe my eyes!

[Scutarii]

Wow, rafaello, that is an odd campaign you got going there. What year is it?
I can't believe the Civlil War happened with just the AI initiating it! Anyway, I would accept the Senate offer and then start buying up mercenaries with the extra money. Right after you give Sparta, take it back. But Numidia beating ROmans? That i've never seen before.

[I own, there4 I own]

Lol, Numidia is quite weak. What difficulty are u playing this campaign raffaello?
Oh Btw, I completed my Britannia short campaign and I'm waiting on Julii's two full stacks to attack me coz they betrayed me the bastarnaes. Germania chose to attack me and I defeated their couple of tiny armies easy.
Carthage tried to besiege 'Carthago Nova' (which is Valencia in M2:TW) but I attacked their very small seiging army and won.
I destroyed Spain also.

[raffaello]

Indeed "Scutarii", really odd ones. Im playing in VH/VH the year is now 223 BC, I sent my spies to africa. I see that numidia use good composition units, legionare,desert inf, longshield cav, camel cav,and merc war elephant.

It seems that scipii wan to capture carthage, they sent more army there, I sold sparta to the senate, it give me more money. And Pontus now is going crazy they kick Egypt and greek out of there. now greek only have rhodes and crete.

Congratulation "I own, there4 I own", I suppose that you have acces to Balearics slingers now. do you capture Corduba ?that will give you more income to. Btw, How you use Britannia in battle, I mean what tactic you use.

[Bovril]

Thrace is a great faction. You can dominate Europe with some, at first glance, very weak armies. If you use the right battle tactics you can absolutely own Roman armies. You need a line of Phalanx, some skirmishers (mounted or foot) and some assault infantry (thrace has good basic and advanced types here). Draw the legionaries onto your phalanx line with skirmishers (retreating through the phalanx line), then flank with assault infantry. So simple, works every time. Dacian armies can be dealt with using the same tactics. Against the Macedonians and Greeks, you needn't even bother with the skirmishers if you don't wan't to (though having mounted skirmishers to harry Macedonian cavalry and bring it on to your phalanxes is useful) . If you are ever really pressed you can always get into the corner of the map and camp out. Works a treat against the Roman factions. Its a bit of a cheat though, and you won't need to use it if you play sensibly.

Scythian horse archers are a real problem, since you have nothing really to match them (except foot archers), but Scythia's power can and should be broken with an early assult on their capital.