Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion Strategy Guide (walkthrough)
Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion Strategy Guide
(for intermediate players)
by: Blood Rage
ahwongso@hotmail.com
Original submission made 18 Jan 2006
Table of contents
=================
1.0 Author's note
2.0 Basic Strategies
2.1 Troops
2.2 Commands
2.3 Terrain
2.4 Buildings
2.5 Battles
3.0 Advanced Strategies
3.1 Targets
3.2 Sieges
3.3 Battle Commands
4.0 Misc Strategies
4.1 Diplomat
4.2 Spies
4.3 Assassin
4.4 Navy
4.5 Rebels!
4.6 Mercenaries
4.7 Capital
4.8 Watchtowers
4.9 Religion
4.10 Hordes
4.11 Offensive Fortification
4.12 Peasant Blocking
5.0 Factions for this guide
followed by strategies by factions
------------------------------
A. Huns
-------
A1.0 Author's note
A2.0 Basic Strategies
A2.1 Troops
A2.2 Commands
A2.3 Terrain
A2.4 Buildings
A3.0 Advanced Strategies
A3.1 Targets
A3.2 Sieges
A3.3 Battle Commands
------------------------------
B. Eastern Roman Empire
-----------------------
B1.0 Author's note
B2.0 Basic Strategies
A2.1 Troops
A2.2 Commands
A2.3 Terrain
A2.4 Buildings
B3.0 Advanced Strategies
B3.1 Targets
B3.2 Sieges
B3.3 Battle Commands
------------------------------
C. Sassanids
------------
C1.0 Author's note
C2.0 Basic Strategies
C2.1 Troops
C2.2 Commands
C2.3 Terrain
C2.4 Buildings
C3.0 Advanced Strategies
C3.1 Targets
C3.2 Sieges
C3.3 Battle Commands
------------------------------
D. Alemanni
-----------
D1.0 Author's note
D2.0 Basic Strategies
D2.1 Troops
D2.2 Commands
D2.3 Terrain
D2.4 Buildings
D3.0 Advanced Strategies
D3.1 Targets
D3.2 Sieges
D3.3 Battle Commands
------------------------------
E. Western Roman Empire
-----------------------
E1.0 Author's note
E2.0 Basic Strategies
E2.1 Troops
E2.2 Commands
E2.3 Terrain
E2.4 Buildings
E3.0 Advanced Strategies
E3.1 Targets
E3.2 Sieges
E3.3 Battle Commands
------------------------------
6.0 City Building
------------------------------
7.0 Settlement Guide
------------------------------
8.0 Questions
------------------------------
9.0 Credits & Disclaimer
============================================================================
1.0 Author's note
-----------------
Again, as in my RTW guide, this guide is for intermediate players
who have mastered a few basic skills. I again state that I have no
experience playing in multiplayer battles. It is not a comprehensive
guide, but rather a collection of thoughts and applied strategies.
This guide therefore will not include cheats or codes (I don't use
them anyway). All my postings are from actual campaigns and all
campaigns are set in 'very hard/very hard' difficulty (which is not
very hard at all).
I also assume that the readers would be familiar with the
geography and terms of the game.
As with the RTW guide, this strategy guide will be structured with
general guides followed by faction specific guides. It is advisable
to read the general guides first before going to the faction
specific guides.
2.0 Basic strategies
--------------------
2.1 Troops
++++++++++
It is always a good idea to familiarise with all the troop types.
one quick way is to go to custom battle and take a look at all the
units on offer for every faction. This is because you will use
some of these units and will definitely battle against all of them
on other occasions.
Take note of projectile units and learn which factions will have
siege weapons. Most of my strategies depend on projectile units as
I like to kill from afar.
The training cost and maintainance cost of units can be astronomical
and therefore you need to get a good grasp of it before you end up
bankrupt.
There are also horde troops which is a real pain. Capturing the
last city of a barbarian faction is not the end of that faction.
In fact, it will spawn horde armies. You will therefore need to
prepare to kill off the horde armies when capturing the last city.
This means having a backup army to clear the hordes.
2.2 Commands
++++++++++++
Hotkeys are very useful. Learn them all. There are new commands
like shield wall and schiltrom too.
2.3 Terrain
+++++++++++
Simple basic terrain rules - high ground good, low ground bad.
If you place archers in the rear on a lower ground, they will
shoot into the backs of your front lines. If the archers are
placed on higher ground in the back, they won't kill your own
troops.
Bridges and river crossings are good to defend if the enemy
only come from one side. Remember that there are units which
can swim across the river. If you plan well, they sould not
cause much surprise and are very easy to kill off when they
first get up to dry land. I don't recommend sending troops
to swim across the river to face the enemy if they can see you.
Use town/city streets for choke points and cover from flanking.
I've also successfully used octagonal city centre defence with
spearmen and it works very well too.
I find forests the hardest for me to control as the trees
obstruct the view and placement of troops.
Try and place your units in the extremes of the open map during
offensive and defensive battles to avoid getting outflanked.
2.4 Buildings
+++++++++++++
Buildings give bonuses but not all are useful. You need to look
at the building browser at the start of the game and plan what
you are going to aim for early on.
Always aim to get the economy running first by raising all taxes
to very high if you are able. This will hinder population growth
but not to worry because if your population grow too fast, you'll
have problems with keeping them all contented. The growth of a
town/city must be controllable and if done right you can predict
how soon you need to build happiness bonus buildings to keep up.
Happiness is not a big problem early on, but once you are like
holding about 30 cities, it will start to creep up on you.
2.5 Battles
+++++++++++
Trust me, it's better to fight all battles yourself as the
computer is very very dumb. At the start of the game, play all
battles yourself with the target to minimise losses as unit
training at the start is costly. Any point is that auto-battles
are bad at killing off enemy generals. If you wanna assassinate
enemy generals in battle it's best to fight it yourself. This
is a good way to destroy hordes as if you kill all the family
members (including faction leader and faction heir) you will
destroy the horde without having to kill off all their troops.
3.0 Advanced strategy
---------------------
This is where it gets fun. :)
3.1 Targets
+++++++++++
Always have a plan to target certain cities especially if you
play the horde factions. Setting your capital in a poor city
will hurt your economy and prevent growth. Setting up your
captial too late and you will find that your opponents have
improved their armies. So always set in mind where you want
to head to. You need to plunder enough cities too to give you
a big boost to your economy when you set up your capital.
As for factions defending from the hordes, your main aim is
to identify defensive sectors so that you can prevent the
hordes from taking your cities while keeping your central
cities safe to pump out cash. A warning to players who play
the Roman factions is that you may have to face rebellion
if you lose cities.
3.2 Sieges
++++++++++
Again, I love sieges as attacker or defender. It is a skill
itself. Always get a brief look at the wall before you fight
over them. Barbarian factions now can have stone walls.
Attacking in sieges is a good and fast way to capture a
city. Always come fully prepared. Have siege engines. I
strongly recommend using siege towers against larger walls.
Against the basic stone wall the siege towers will have
arrow towers on them which can help reduce the wall defenders
but it is rather crappy. With larger stone walls, you get
ballista support on the siege towers which is great as you
can clear one stretch of the wall with just 1 siege tower.
So what I do is to build up to 7 siege towers. When the
battle starts, I use onagers to destroy the defensive towers
and open the gate. Then I get the siege towers with ballistas
forward to face the defenders to kill them all off the walls.
Then only 1 siege tower is needed to climb onto the walls to
capture the rest of the wall defenses along the direction of
where the rest of your army is going to march towards the
center of the city.
If the enemy sally forth against your ballista siege towers,
hey, it's real cool. The ballistas will shoot down on the
advancing enemy troops. So what I do is to get my projectile
and non-fighting infantry (like priests, druids, etc.) to get
the towers, freeing a few defensive infantry to make a
defensive line in front of the siege towers. I get the
onagers to the side and don't use them much at all. I place
cavalry in the flanks. And believe me, the ballistas will
make short work of the sallying troops. Once the towers run
out of ammo, well, you have your released projectile units
to take over.
Defending in sieges is always extra fun. Just get all your
troops to defend your town centre. That way they won't rout
and fight better. Even crappy units become stronger. Cover
choke points and just watch the exhausted enemy fall to
their deaths. For city walls, I like to get my wall towers
to kill the enemy for me. How? Simple... Get a crappy unit
to stand on the wall a bit away from where the enemy will
climb the walls. Let the enemy capture your gate and then
they will all climb down and the whole lot will march in.
Now, once all the enemy troops are in, just use your crappy
unit to recapture all lost towers. Recapturing the gate
has it's pros and cons depending on whether they broke the
gate. If the gate is broken it's better to recapture the
gate. If the gate is not broken, recapturing the gate will
prevent the enemy from retreating which will result in the
enemy unable to rout. It does mean that you get to kill
all of them though. Lots of fun seeing whole enemy unit
completely destroyed by my tower defences.
Sallying forth to break a siege needs skill. The improved
AI will not come close to your cities walls and sings songs
while your wall defences chop them down. You got to lure
them. Depending on what troops I have, I either use the
luring strategy or charge with cavalry. I prefer to charge
with cavalry. Charging with cavalry is best done when
there is not too many enemy troops. It can only be done if
the enemy troops start to march off to the side as soon as
the battle starts. So you got to get your cavalry all
ready behind the gate and rush out as soon as the battle
starts. Depending on what cavalry units you have, you can
break the whole siege in one big charge into the rear and
flanks of the enemy, even all the way until they stop and
reorganise the rest of their troops. By charging out, I get
to destroy about half their troops even before they get
ready. With so many of their troops routing, charging into
the rest who are in defensive positions will be easy too.
The luring strategy takes more time and careful planning.
You need archer units for this, the more the better and
the longer ranged the better. Set up the bulk of your
archers on the wall facing the enemy. Then send out your
cavalry and infantry with 2-3 archer units. Set up a
defensive line with the infantry and put cavalry in the
flanks. Use your archers to fire upon the enemy. Once they
rush at your archers, you pull them back and lure them
into the range of your wall archers. If they get even
closer you have your cavalry and infantry to deal death.
Do not worry if your infantry and cavalry routs as this
will mean that the enemy will get even closer to your
walls. So just kill them. The luring strategy is more
suitable for larger enemy army. The best luring strategy
I did was against the Samartian Horde destroying 2 out of
3 of their horde armies, killing 3600+ troops with 12
Lombard archers, 3 chosen axemen and 6 lancers.
3.3 Battle commands
+++++++++++++++++++
Formation and timing are important. Take your time to set
up formation and get a grasp of timing when to advance and
charge. With the horde troops, some of them do not respond
fast enough with commands and some of them are a pain to
command in narrow streets.
I have a different preferred formations and tactics for
every faction I've played. This means that you have to
familiarise yourself with the troops available and
experiment a few.
4.0 Misc strategies
-------------------
4.1 Diplomats
+++++++++++++
They are still useful but don't depend on bribery as it
cost too much. It is vital to establish trade rights with
richer large factions. Don't waste your time trying to
get trade rights with the horde cities as they will
attack you anyway and they are not rich trading partners.
Try and get trade rights early with the Roman factions and
whoever controls Egypt.
I'm not a big fan of alliances as they get broken all the
time if your faction gets stronger. Don't ever depend on
it. It is easier to get protectorates but my rationale is
that if they are weak enough to be my protectorate, they
are weak enough for me to kill off anyway. Why allow a
weak faction to set up base near you and send spies and
assasins to you while being a protectorate? I can use the
city itself to generate more income if I can fill it up
with peasants.
4.2 Spies
+++++++++
There is more use for spies since the RTW 1.2 patch. You
need them for counter-spying. Spies will be everywhere.
With all the forest and potential ambush, always keep a
spy unit ahead of your advancing army.
The best way to kill spies is to use assassins. Keep
about 3 around.
4.3 Assassins
+++++++++++++
They are easier to use now. I even assasinated faction
leaders and heirs with ease. Their main use for me is to
kill enemy spies, assasins and destroy a horde faction by
killing off their family members.
4.4 Navy
++++++++
Compared to RTW, the navies of RTW:BI are smaller and
scattered. You don't need very large fleets and most of
my navies are for pirate sweeping and transport. So,
you can mostly forget about aiming to have large navies.
4.5 Rebels!
+++++++++++
Rebels pop up everywhere but now there are stronger
rebel armies and more of them roam the map now. There
are possible faction rebels such as the Ostrogoth, Rebel
Western Roman Empire and Rebel Eastern Roman Empire. The
Roman rebels are seldom a threat and can easily be
destroyed. The unaligned rebels are a pain because they
block roads and they are expensive to bribe now.
4.6 Mercenaries
+++++++++++++++
Mercs are better now. You can get some cool mercs and
most of them are strong enough on their own and not just
for onager fodder. They are more dependable too.
4.7 Capital
+++++++++++
Always try to move your capital towards the centre of large
cities. Rome and the cities around it is good. This keep the
big cities happier and the distance to capital will lessen
with a city in the centre of your empire.
As for the horde armies, plan your capital well as it will
mean everything in the long run.
4.8 Watchtowers
+++++++++++++++
Watchtowers are very useful as advanced warning and also to
light up areas along the roads where rebel units can appear
and block the roads affecting trade. To get maximum view
from towers, build them in higher elevations. No use building
it in the middle of the forest. Watchtowers are vital in the
mountanious regions of Asia Minor and the forest regions of
Germany. Armies can simply pop up without you knowing. The
rebels and hordes also love to use ambush in the forests.
The Roman factions have plenty watchtowers at their borders
to start with.
4.9 Religion
++++++++++++
There are 3 primary religions in the game; Christianity,
Zoorastrianism and Paganism (all those not in the first two).
Your faction will in a way have an 'official' religion based
on your faction leader's religious leanings. You will get
unhappiness points in a city if your faction leader's or
governors' religion differs from the practiced religion in
the city (the city's official religion follows the religious
building or religion converting building in the city and not
on the % of population practicing the religion). Therefore
to avoid having 10% unhappiness due to differing faction
leader's religion, it's better to have one religion for your
empire. I get very aggressive in converting cities.
You get a lot of unhappiness from population of different
religion. You need to watch it carefully and plan well when
to raze the original temples or churches and convert them.
Fortunately there are other buildings that boost religion
such as bardic circle and academy and its upgrades.
It is better to use converting strategies while attempting to
capture a city. For example, I normally use a general with
command bonuses AND religious conversion bonuses to siege a
city. If you arrange the general's retinue and items well,
you can get a general with very high conversion rating. In
3-5 turns during a siege, you can convert the majority of the
city. To boost it up, I normally send in extra 'roaming'
generals who are crappy to use as governors and fill them up
with religious conversion retinues to support conversion. It
is like having travelling evangelists. The most effective
evangelist group I had consisted of 4 generals with a
combined christianity conversion power of 110%. I get to
convert cities in 2 turns.
Training up general units will give you characters with
religious conversion bonus. Plus they are good fighters
which recharge their numbers after every battle for free
and their maintainance cost is low compared to how effective
they are.
4.10 Horde
++++++++++
Hordes are powerful. They can overrun any resistance... or
can they? The strength of the hordes are numbers and no
maintanance cost. They are formidable but not invincible.
The weaknesses of hordes are low morale and disorganised
units (can't hold a line and break up easily). Nevertheless
they should not be underestimated. Their archers are superb
and their elite horde infantry is way advanced compared to
the non-horde factions.
To defeat a roaming horde, you will either need to kill off
all the horde armies or simply kill off all the generals.
To kill off a horde which has settled in a city, you need
to capture the city thus releasing a large horde which can
be killed off as above. The horde size decreases according
to time. Later in the game, some horde factions will not
form hordes after you capture their last city.
The best way to battle horde armies is to use every
topographical advantage you can find. The aim is to restrict
their numerical and mobility advantage. Open flat plains and
forests are no-nos. Bridges and city walls are great places
to kill off large numbers of horde units. Use loads of
cavalry charges to break horde infantry. The lesser infantry
they have the lesser section of walls they can capture when
they siege you. Give up the gate, but not the rest of your
towers as your arrow towers can kill loads. The horde
units which are not tightly packed move very slowly in the
streets and will be easily killed by towers.
Last note, always prepare an extra army nearby before you
release any new hordes. It's better to place that extra army
at choke points like bridges to prevent the horde from
venturing into the weakly defended cities you left behind.
4.11 Offensive Fortification
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a great strat for advancing in hostile territory
with catapults and long range archers while having relatively
weak units. Just make your move and end your move with
building a fort. If a larger enemy army siege your fort, just
sally forth and kill them with your projectiles. 3-4 onagers
can usually make short work of the enemy.
4.12 Peasant Blocking
+++++++++++++++++++++
In less important frontline cities with low risk of getting
attacked I usually have some defensive units and fill up the
rest with peasants. When an approaching enemy gets close what
I do is so start training up fighting units. During the same
turn I send out lone peasant units to block the enemy army,
practically surrounding it from 3-4 sides. What the AI does
is to chase the peasants around for a few turns. What I gain
is time to boost up my defences. Easy.
5.0 Factions for this FAQ (very hard/very hard)
-----------------------------------------------
A. Huns
B. Eastern Roman Empire
C. Sassanids
D. Alemanni
E. Western Roman Empire
============================================================================
A. Huns
=======
A1.0 Author's note
------------------
Huns... easy? Not! The easy rating you get with it is due to
their powerful units. But to actually manage their empire is
a pain. Luckily they don't need so many cities to win the
game.
The Huns have superb cavalry. Nothing compares to them. They
just charge and charge. They are fast, they hit hard and
they have staying power. Their infantry are rather crap though.
They also have no infantry archers and rely on horse archers.
The problem with the huns is their crappy economy. They also
can't build shipyards to get sea trade! You need to let your
enemies build the shipyards for you and capture the city after
that. Plus their troop maintainance cost is very very
expensive. You don't have cheap peasant units to garrison
your cities. So you got to use runaway slave spearmen or
herdsmen to garrison and their maintainance cost are like
regular troops of other factions. With the crappy economy, I
was never able to get an all elite army due to the cost of it.
A2.0 Basic Strategies
---------------------
A2.1 Troops
+++++++++++
Go cavalry all the way. You can just charge at any enemy unit
and win. The Hun elite units are just powerful. The infantry
is crappy but you still need them to push siege engines. Too
bad it's difficult to train up the Hunnic elite archers. They
would complement the elite cavalry very well.
My combo for troops is rather mixed. I could not get an ideal
combo though I manage to build up satisfactory armies. Just
can't afford what I wanted. I recommend getting up to 6 elites
cavalries, 6 horse archer units, and 4-6 infantry. The rest
you can make up with anything.
A2.2 Commands
+++++++++++++
Just learn to outflank and charge. Use projectiles to draw
enemy units and then charge. Projectiles are great to weaken
your enemies.
A2.3 Terrain
++++++++++++
Open terrain is great as there is no restriction to mobility.
Use forest covers. Defending on bridge is not so great
compared to other factions with stronger infantry as your
infantry usually cannot hold without cavalry support. You
will still win though as you can charge into their units
easily.
A2.4 Buildings
++++++++++++++
You'll be too poor to be so worried about it. Just be
selective and build essentials. What you can't build, you
capture. So don't sweat it trying to build up cities. Aim
for economic build.
A3.0 Advanced Strategies
------------------------
A3.1 Targets
++++++++++++
Since it was the first faction I played, I wanted to settle
down fast. So, I sacked every city on the way towards
Constantinople. I made Samartians, Roxolani and Goths into
hordes. I sieged Constantinople, Athens and Thessalonica at
the same time and waited it out. No point losing cavalry to
the wall towers and while I don't have a capital, I don't
need to pay maintainance so there was no rush. I made
Constantinople into my capital and I could train up most of
my elite units from there. Then I wanted to avoid battling
the Western Roman Empire because I wanted them to be beaten
up by the other factions first. So, I then captured Sirmuim,
Salona (Western Rebels) the old Goth cities, the old
Samartian capital, and the old Roxolani cities. On hindsight
I think that was a mistake as the Goth and Samartian cities
were poor and just cost more to maintain. Nevertheless, this
kept me away from most of the horde armies.
The Vandals in fact captured Italy as I struggled to raise
enough money to prepare a third army. I never got my third
army as the Vandals then attacked me at Salona. I defended
well and sent a mediocre army by ship to Tarentum capturing
it in 2 turns. Have to be fast to avoid Vandal reinforcements.
From there I captured the rest of Italy avoiding direct
battles with the Vandal armies and attacking during sieges.
This is because the Vandals have far superior troops from
their wealth while my elite troops were stretched out in
3 directions (Fanki from north, Sassanid from East and
Vandals from West).
Nevertheless, once I had Ravenna, the Vandals were so much
weakened that I regained the upper hand. The campaign ended
with 13 cities captured. Got tiresome at one point and glad
it was over.
The other possibility is to capture Rome as the capital
first. That way I wouldn't have to stretch my troops so far
apart. The risk is that I will have to face more horde armies
in Northern Italy. The richness of Greece is not as much as
in RTW. Still, Constantinople was a good choice as it has
plenty of high tech buildings to train up good units.
A3.2 Sieges
+++++++++++
Sallying forth when under siege is ideal as the infantry is
crappy. Nevertheless, if you garrison your city with Steppe
Spearmen, they are still adequate to hold the town centre
even when outnumbered 3 to 1. There are no archers to be
placed on the walls.
There are no onagers for you. The best you can hope for are
mercenary ballistas. Attacking in a siege is hard as your
infantry is not great in fighting on the walls. So it's
easier to wait out a siege.
In the narrow streets your sheer numbers and powerful cavalry
will see you through. You just need to overwhelm the city
centre the good old fashioned way.
A3.3 Battle Commands
++++++++++++++++++++
Set some cavalry in the centre flanked by horse archers with
the rest of the cavalry in the outer flanks. The infantry
is not essential in the battle but useful as reinforcements.
Just annoy the enemy with archers and charge the flanks. Once
they break, charge with all your horses. Love to see the enemy
all routing from charges at multiple sides.
============================================================================
B. Eastern Roman Empire
=======================
B1.0 Author's note
------------------
This is the easiest faction for me to play. You are rich and
you have rather powerful units (except compared to the Huns
which will just kill Roman units so easily). Your most powerful
neighbour the Sassanids are pushover once you kill off their
early clibnariis. I captured all cities with this faction as
it was just so fast and easy.
You start the game relatively safe. The hordes in the mainland
Europe will mostly aim for Rome and leave you alone. There
were clashes with horde armies once at Constantinople which
was easily beaten back and a few times at Sirmium. Other than
that I was mostly untouched by the hordes. In fact, I hunt
the hordes to kill them off.
The cities in Asia Minor are mostly unthreatened. The only
annoying thing is that the Sassanids have so much access around
Antioch, Tarsus and Ceaserae. They just go round and round
making them hard to pin down and constantly able to siege any
of these 3 cities. I therefore had to use defence units there.
But once I stopped all the Sassanid nonsense, I just ran over
them. The main reason is that the Sassanid infantry is just so
crappy and I dunno why they like to train up so many of them.
I mean they could train up more of their cavalry but instead
they want to have more of their crappy spearmen. Their
cataphracts and clibnarii takes 2 turns to train and cost a
bomb to train and maintain too. Elephants? Well, once you
capture their sole elephant producing city, the will be no
more elephants in the game unless you hire merc elephants.
B2.0 Basic Strategies
---------------------
B2.1 Troops
+++++++++++
Being a projectile player, my army depended on the Eastern
Archers for offence and defence. They were my first priorities.
They were my key against the Sassanids. Somebody got to shoot
down their horse archers.
The infantry is dependable. Legio Lancarii, Comitatenses and
Plumbatarii are good enough. The cavalry is decent though the
cataphracts are rubbish. I use scholae palatinae more as they
have better attack points.
The best unit though goes to the Carraige Ballista. This unit
simply rocks. They are also the fastest to gain chevrons, up
to 3 chevrons in a battle. They are great for taking down
infantry and less so against cavalry. They are superb in
killing routing infantry. The only problem is that I tend to
fire into the backs of my infantry front line. Once you
experience their killing power, you will simply ask for more.
Beware though that they die easily to any attack and can be
ourrunned by any light cavalry.
B2.2 Commands
+++++++++++++
I use a lot of projectiles from the infantry line. They are
great to break up enemy infantry and cavalry. I normally set
them at fire at will. It's an all projectile army of sorts.
B2.3 Terrain
++++++++++++
Forests are not so great. The hordes have the advantage in
the forests. Bridges are a boon.
B2.4 Buildings
++++++++++++++
Aim to train up Eastern Archers early as top priority. The
rest is economy build. It is better to choose a uniform
religion. Identify unit training centres and build the
coastal cities into trading cities.
B3.0 Advanced Strategies
------------------------
B3.1 Targets
++++++++++++
You have to sort out your cities as soon as you start the game.
What I did was to raze all temples and replace them with
churches. You can do this in the first turn without having a
single city rioting. In the same move I sent out every
available unit better than a limitanei to the frontlines. All
cavalry to the front too. I then defended the early Sassanid
advance easily with a cavalry and eastern archers. Once all my
rear line troops arrive in Antioch, I then camped on the bridge
towards Hattra. I defended the bridge twice and then sieged
Hattra. Hattra fell easily in a battle without onagers as it
only had wooden walls.
From there I simply went on from one Sassanid city to another
leaving the rebel provinces alone. No point wasting time
to capture Petra and Dumatha as they will tie your troops down.
I wiped out Sassanids so fast because their troops are just too
crappy and the vast distances between cities made them
difficult to send reinforcements. They didn't have a chance
to train up any heavy cavalry other than the ones they started
the game with. Their horse archers are the only annoying
feature.
Once all of the Sassanid lands are in my control, I went no
further north than Armenia (Kotais). There is little point to
fight against the Roxolani or to capture the rebel cities way
up north. Instead I captured Dumatha and Petra to complete
the conquest of Arabia.
I was very rich by then. I then sent one army to capture Cyrene
and Lepcis Magna. My second and third army crossed to Greece to
prepare to invade Italy. My fourth army defended the areas
around Sirmium.
The Western Roman Empire declared war on me and I captured
Salona easily. From Salona I captured Tarentum and then
northwards capturing whole of Italy. The army which captured
Lepcis Magna landed on Sicily leaving a defence force of mainly
Eastern Archers and cavalry to defend Africa. Carthage was a
Rebel Western Roman Empire city by then and I saw no point to
capture it yet as I wanted to keep it till last to complete
capture all cities. The Berbers are just rubbish and they
failed to capture Lepcis Magna many times, though they managed
to capture Carthage somehow. From Sicily that army then
captured Caralis then landed at Massila. Fighting the Western
Roman Empire is easy because they don't build carraige
ballistas and their archers are shorter ranged.
All my advancing armies just headed northwards from Italy then
branched out eastwards and westwards in Germany. 4 armies headed
west and 3 armies headed east. Yup, I was so rich by then that
I could afford so many large armies. The Huns were the toughest
enemy in battle so I avoid fighting in the forest. I instead try
to isolate their armies into smaller groups and take them out one
by one. Their cavalry are just too powerful and too fast even
against the elites of the Romans. Cataphractii are no match too.
Only the Scholae Palatinae is effective enough to repeatedly
charge into the Hunnic cavalry.
In the West, 2 armies ended up in Spain, 1 ended up in England
and Ireland, 1 finished up France. In the east, it's more
straightforward as there's 2 parralel roads all the way towards
the far reaches of the east. So, 2 armies were good enough but
I used a third as backup in case some factions decided to go
horde.
The 2 armies in Spain then crossed into Northwestern Africa. 1
army stuck to the coast towards Carthage and the other went into
the interior. With Carthage captured, the game ended with all
cities captured. It was just too easy as the eastern archers,
plumbatarii, onagers and carraige ballistas just wiped out any
opposition without having to worry about economy. Too easy.
B3.2 Sieges
+++++++++++
Use oangers and siege towers. Usually easy as the infantry is
good enough to win walls. Carraige Ballista can enter cities and
are great in killing infantry defenders in the town centre.
B3.3 Battle Commands
++++++++++++++++++++
You need to get a hang of using the Carraige Ballistas. The can
be very filmsy at times. Otherwise just use overpowering
strategies with your elite troops to win battles easily.
Usual army line up: 1 general, 2 scholae palatinae, 2
comitatenses first cohort, 6 plumbatarii, 2 carraige ballistas,
3 eastern archers, 3 onagers, and 1 orthodox priest.
Most memorable battle was being outplayed by the Huns' mobility
and power. A heavy loss and a lesson learned.
============================================================================
c. Sassanids
============
C1.0 Author's notes
-------------------
This faction is quite fun to play at the start but gets a bit
boring near the end because of the lack of troop variety. They
are the only faction to have elephants but the drawback is that
you can only train elephants from 1 city. Their starting
position is a bit crappy as you are split into the Armenian
side and the Arabian side. Both sides are constantly under
threat. The economy has the potential to be great if you can
control the cities on the coast. You do get some useful
clibinarii at the start and these units are the prize of your
troops. Use them carefully as you need them to beat off the
Eastern Roman advance.
Troop-wise, the infantry is simply rubbish. One of the worst
infantry I have ever used. The Sugdhian warriows are better but
they are slow to train and can only be trained at specific
cities. The desert archers have long range but are very weak
defensively. Your hope lies in elephants and cavalry with archer
support.
The other thing which makes this faction dull is that you only
need to capture so few cities to win the game. If you hold
Arabia, Egypt up to Cyrene, Asia Minor, and Armenia, you only
need to capture Constantinople plus maybe 1 more city in Greece
to complete the game. You don't need to face the horde or the
Western Roman Empire. Capturing Constantinople is easy because
if the Romans still hold it, it is usually very poorly defended.
A real anti-climax.
C2.0 Basic Strategies
---------------------
C2.1 Troops
+++++++++++
You can only train 2 types of infantry and the Sugdhian elite
infantry can only be trained in the desert. The spearmen are
very weak and has poor morale. They will always break from a
direct cavalry charge.
The desert archers are weak defensively but have the advantage
of long range. Also note that their missile points are rather
low compared to other long range archers and therefore you will
likely lose more in a direct archer to archer shootout.
The cavalry are decent and they are the battle winners.
Elephants are my all time favourite and still provide the extra
power. I am not a big fan of camels as they don't have the speed
of horses, are clumsier, lose their bonus outside the desert,
and most importantly require too high tech a building to make
a big difference in the game. If you want to use camels, merc
Camel Raiders are easy to come by to supplement your horse
killing tactics. Camels do make cavalry killing much easier.
Onagers are helpful for attack in sieges as your units are
quite good in attacking in narrow streets with the exception
of the spearmen. Elephants just clear a path easily.
C2.2 Commands
+++++++++++++
Most of your units are fast moving. Use this mobility well and
do not hesitate to change formations or positions often in a
battle. A lot of outflanking moves.
C2.3 Terrain
++++++++++++
The desert is your home and you get bonuses there. Mobility
isn't so much an issue and therefore they can fight easily in all
terrains.
C3.0 Advanced Strategies
------------------------
C3.1 Targets
++++++++++++
Isn't it obvious where you should aim to? Antioch! At the start
you have to face conflicts from 2 fronts while only able to
afford 1 good army. The spearmen cannot be relied on to win
battles and my army is mostly made up of cavalry and desert
archers. Horse archers are great skirmishing units to lure
and harrass the enemy who will tire out faster in the desert.
From the start I consolidated the small armies into one big one
and sent all extra 'useful' troops to the front. Using bridges
to attack or defend is not great as it restricts the cavalry
movements. Fighting in the open desert is ideal as you can
easily isolate the enemy cavalry from their infantry support.
I only march on Antioch after I got my first 3 onagers. This is
so that I can enter into siege battle ASAP. If you wait out a
siege, your army is very vulnerable on the bridge attacked from
2 sides and your spearmen will often rout defending the bridge.
Yes, the archers are great to kill the enemy who try to cross
the bridge but what happens once your spearmen are gone? Archers
become less useful once you lose the holding troops. Then it's
all a mad dash with your cavalry. You can still win, but can you
hold for a few battles? With your infantry so much reduced
after the first battle?
I also captured the rebel city in Armenia as means to create a
defensive city and create some sea trade income. This city I
concentrated to get stone walls and archery range to fill it up
with desert archers. Cavalry can be sent from nearby cities.
It is also preferably to use more than 1 general in your
advancing army to help increase conversion rate to
Zoorastrianism. This is to make less unhappy cities after you
capture them.
So once I had Antioch, the Romans are split into the south side
and Asia Minor. I left a defence force in Antioch (archers and
horse archers to sally forth if sieged) and headed south. The
cities south are poorly defended and they fall easily all the
way to Alexandria. I avoid all rebel provinces as I don't want
to waste time or resources. I also let Cyrene be as it's too
far to travel and it's mostly a low tech city which won't be
able to threaten Alexandria. Archers and horse archers defending
Alexandria will do. Fill it up with peasants too.
As I was attacking south, I started to train up elephants while
Antioch produced onagers and heavy cavalry and Hattra produced
spearmen. So my force in Antioch became my second army and quickly
captured Tarsus and Ceaserae. From there I advanced to capture all
Asia Minor. I also prepared a third army by then which invaded
Salamis and into Asia Minor by sea. The first army in Egypt was
used to mop up the rest of Arabia. The defence in Armenia was
seldom threatened due to the long distance to get to it. Even
when the enemy sends an army to Armenia, you can spot them early
and train up enough defences by then, by training infantry based
units in the city and sending cavalry from the other cities
(cavalry alone in an army moves faster).
And then I crossed to Greece and captured Athens and Constantinople
to win the game. Easy.
C3.2 Sieges
+++++++++++
Use oangers and siege towers. Elephants and heavy cavalry win in
the streets. Don't depend on infantry to win walls. They are only
good as support units and cannon fodder. I send them ahead, let them
get attacked in the streets and then charge the cavalry into the
enemy. The other way is to let the elephants lead followed by the
cavalry. Elephants are great to capture city centres as their arrows
force the enemy to charge out making weaker targets for your
charging cavalry.
C3.3 Battle Commands
++++++++++++++++++++
Always watch out for your units. If you use skirmish mode for your
cavalry archers, they will scatter like hell leaving the rest of
your troops defenceless. I recommend you disable the skirmish mode
on all units. Only use skirmish mode for the 1 or 2 units you send
ahead to harrass the enemy. Do not worry if the enemy gets too close
to your cavalry archers as the arrows pounded into them should drop
their morale making them rout just when they clash with your cavalry
archers. Elephants just make my day.
My line up is made up of 6 levy spearmen, 3 onagers, 4 desert
archers, 2 clibinarii, 2 cataphracts, 2 elephants, and 1 general.
There is no most memorable battle as they are just plain sailing
once I got my onagers and elephants. No brainer.
============================================================================
D. Alemanni
===========
D1.0 Author's note
++++++++++++++++++
From the onset Alemanni looked like a difficult faction to play
being stuck in between the might of the Western Romans and the
aggressive Franks who has better early infantry. Defending early
is out of the question as your neighbours will overwhelm you
sooner or later. They are a poor faction too with little trade.
So, what's their saving grace? What is the one thing they have
the upperhand over their neighbours? Lombard archers! Man, these
archers rule every other projectile unit in the region. Pair them
up with the lancers and you have a powerful force. The spearmen
are just so-so. Once you get to train up chosen axemen and onagers,
then you are set to win the game.
Playing this faction requires a lot of running around to send
your army to capture a city in one direction and then sending
them to another direction to defend a city. Frustrating at
times.
D2.0 Basic Strategies
---------------------
D2.1 Troops
+++++++++++
Lombard archers are powerful long range units. They are excellent
city defenders. The lancers are very fast and can stand on their
own most of the times. They also have good charge bonus to break
enemy lines. The infantry are dependable if you can get your
lancers to relieve them, and gets better up to chosen axemen and
berserkers. Golden Horde units are just too high tech for a not
so great unit. You can get merc Golden Horde earlier if you want
to try them. Onagers are great for capturing cities without stone
walls. Most of their units move fast too. Overall a well balanced
faction to play.
D2.2 Commands
+++++++++++++
Schiltrom is useless most of the time so don't bother using it
unless your spearmen are isolated. Schiltrom just makes your
spearmen vulnerable to projectiles and make them isolated unable
to reinforce anyone.
Use speed and repeated charges and archers to win the battles.
D2.3 Terrain
++++++++++++
All terrains are fine for this balanced faction.
D3.0 Advanced Strategies
------------------------
D3.1 Targets
++++++++++++
Knowing that I cannot sit and defend, my first move is to go on
the offensive. My first target is the Franks capital. I get all
available troops to march on the city. I get as many mercs I can
recruit too. I managed to siege the city in 3 turns from the
start. The Franks have a strong roaming army made up of mostly
lancers. Fortunately for me they were beside the city when I
siege it in ambush mode.
At the end of the fourth turn the Franks made a big error, they
decided to sally forth from the city. Like most sally forths the
AI does, they send the infantry out the front and cavalry out the
side. So I killed all their infantry and then threatened the gate.
The cavalry then went back inside, including the reinforcements
and I drew the battle. My plan was to wait out the siege as I have
less cavalry and the spearmen are no match against their cavalry.
The Lombard Archers are not the units to win the siege. Luckily,
the roaming Frank army decided to leave to pick on some rebels.
This gave me the chance to attack during the siege (the city
was only defended by 1 lancer and 1 general unit as I killed all
the infantry earlier). I made short work of the siege though I
lost quite a number of spearmen to the paladin unit. The Franks
then went into horde by turn 5.
What about the Romans? Well, they are too thinly spread out to
threaten me at the start and the Lombard archers with lancers
defence killed off their sieging armies all the time during
sally forth.
The Frankish horde decided to head further west like all good
horde should, and was out of my hair for a while. I then
reinforced both my cities with Lombard archers and lancers. I
get to train lancers straightaway at Campus Frankii while I get
to train Lombard archers at Campus Alemannii. What a good combo.
Then my army headed west to caupture the large Roman cities. As
soon as I captured a city, I fill it up with Lombard Archers and
lancers. Then the army headed south to capture the city just
North of the Alps. There was a period of shuttling my army
northwards and southwards due to threats from the Romans in the
north and the Samartian, Vandal and more Roman from the south.
I managed to kill off the Vandal horde when they siege my south
cities with careful use of onager, lancers and Lombard archers.
I was attempting to raise my second army for the north then.
My first army captured Mediolanum from the Romans only to be
sieged soon after by the Samartian horde. I killed off thousands
of the Samartian when I sallied forth practically destroying
more than half their total horde. They never recovered from that.
Second army then headed west into France only to be chased from
behind by the Goth horde. So I had to quickly attack during siege
at Samarobriva to then set up siege defence against the Goths.
First army captured Rome next (Ravenna was a rebel city after
getting sacked by the Samartians and was too poor for my liking).
From Rome I headed south to Tarentum and then into Sicily. My
third army was ready and that captured Ravenna thus sealing
Italy. The Army in Sicily then landed at Caralis and then onto
Massila and Arles. Mediolanum was a vital defence city against
the west for quite a while before I captured Masilla and Arles.
It's then just to capture enough cities to win. I captured the
Roman cities in England and Spain to win the game.
Other notes: I avoided conflict with the Saxons at all cost.
That's why I did not capture Campus Frisii in the north. I let
the Romans keep that as a buffer. The Saxons proved a useful
trading ally in the North and Londinium became my richest trade
city. I tried to preserve the Eastern Roman Empire as a trading
partner but once I captured Italy they declared war by port
blockades. I thus added Salona to my empire.
D3.2 Sieges
+++++++++++
The Alemanni are good in siege defence and offence. For sallying
forth you have the speedy lancers and lombard archers. Onagers
make siege attacking easy.
D3.3 Battle Commands
++++++++++++++++++++
I didn't bother to train up any Noble Cavalry as the lancers
coupled with general units are good enough for cavalry support.
Therefore I don't know how the Noble cavalry performs, perhaps
better, but I preferred the speed of the lancers.
Most of your units are speedy and can get into position fast.
Though there are no horse archers, the lombard archers themselves
can be used as skirmishes with speedy lancer support.
Usual line up is 5 chosen axemen, 3 onagers, 5 lombard archers,
1 general and 6 burgundian lancers.
Most memorable battle is the crushing of the Samartian horde when
I sallied forth at Mediolanum.
============================================================================
E. Western Roman Empire
=======================
E1.0 Author's Note
------------------
Finally completed this faction by capturing all cities. It's
a very fun faction to play! But it is not an easy faction to
play. I would not recommend experienced players to play this
faction with out any cheats.
The most important period for this faction is the first 5
turns. If you get it right, you won't have any trouble from
any other factions. Once I had my 'homeland' secured, it
became quite a breeze to win the game. I finished the mini
objective even before my second emperor passed away. I was
doing this even without rushing my play. The mini objective
is just too easy (just needed 10 more cities including
Constantinople to win).
The reason I said I would only recommend experienced players
to play this faction is because I had to use every trick I
know to play this faction well. I had to have good skills in
religious conversions, economy building, military logistics
and battle skills to make it happen. Lacking any of this
skills and you will struggle more.
E2.0 Basic Strategies
---------------------
E2.1 Troops
+++++++++++
The Western Roman has good troops. The infantry is dependable
from the Liminatei, Foederati Infantry till the praeventores,
though I mostly use Comitatenses and Plumbatarii in my main
force. Palatine Guards are redundant as the other two have
the advantage of projectiles. Praeventores have excellent
killing ability but not staying power. Their small numbers
make them easily overwhelmed by larger numbers. So don't make
up a whole infantry front line with them even though it is
tempting to create an invisible front line that can spring
ambushes every time. Oh, don't forget the peasants. They are
the best to fill up cities to keep them happy.
The cavalry is good too. Samartian Auxillia is strong. The
Equites Sagitarii is good as support melee though don't
expect them to break enemy lines with their charges.
Foederati Cavalry is decent in the early game. They make up
their lack of power with speed. Nevertheless, the most
powerful cavalry for this faction is the general unit and I
had so many generals that I can fill up my armies slot for
cavalry with generals instead (get better conversion % too).
The siege units are excellent. Heavy Onagers and Carraige
Ballistas just rock. I had a few single gold chevron
Carraige Ballistas. The highest were 3 double gold chevron
Carraige Ballistas. Somehow could not get them to triple
gold. My best 3 Heavy Onager was 3 silver chevrons.
E2.2 Commands
+++++++++++++
Using fire at will for a front line made up of Comitatenses
and Plumbatarii is great. I get to rout the charging enemy
often with the first volley of projectiles.
I would recommend you disable the Skirmish mode of the
Carraige Ballistas and pull them back manually. The problem
here is that the carraiges are not very fast and will get
run over by light cavalry. Skirmish modes also somehow
pushes the carraiges away from my main army. What I do is
to manually withdraw the ballistas behind my front line
and send the cavalry at the side to kill the enemy cavalry
chasing the ballistas. Works all the time because the
enemy cavalry would have low morale from the siege weapon
and you don't need to kill much for them to rout.
E2.3 Terrain
++++++++++++
As with the Eastern Roman Empire, stay away from forests.
Keep to bridges.
E3.0 Advanced Strategies
------------------------
E3.1 Targets
++++++++++++
Well before I tell you what I did, let us just look at the
faction itself so that you can understand the rationale of
the strategy I used.
Faction strong points:
1. Large starting total army and 2 strong starting armies
(one in Rome and another close to Samarobriva)
2. Lots of sea trade cities
3. Rome is a high tech city
4. Have one secure front in Spain
Faction weak points:
1. Scattered armies
2. Underdeveloped cities
3. Large size of empire make reinforcements difficult
4. Multiple potential conflict fronts
5. Starting deficit in economy (practically bankrupt)
6. Plenty unhappy cities
7. Religious divide
So, from the start, I needed to address these issues all
at once. The first 5 turns is essential that I don't
screw up. My initial plans were:
1. Secure happiness/avoid rebellion
2. Send strong armies to fronts
3. Build up economy
At the start I adjusted every cities' tax level and races/games
as needed to keep them content (blue faced is fine). It doesn't
matter if the races/ games hurt your income. It's worth it in
the long run.
There will be certain cities which will remain unhappy (red
faced) including Avaricum, Carthago Nova, Salamantica, Carnuntum
and Lepcis Magna. Check each city's info seperately. Lepcis Magna
has higher majority Christian and the unhappiness can easily be
solved by razing the temple and getting the pagan general out
of the city. No need to build a church there yet. You can build
it later. Carnuntum has majority pagan by has a Christian
religion. What you need to do here is to build a temple so that
the unhappiness will settle next turn. Set to Daily Games at
Carthago Nova and you will get 65% happiness. Train a peasant
there. Even though it is red, you will settle the unhappiness
at the next turn because you will lose 10% unhappiness from the
Christians. So, Carthago Nova is safe. Salamantica takes 2
further turns to resolve as you need to train 2 peasants to
keep it content. Avaricum is the tough one. You need to send as
many foederati cavalry from Burdigala to garrison it and send
the general with high influence points from Massila. You also
need to send the army west of Avaricum to garrison there.
There is an army outside Tarraco. Send the cavalry to Burdigala
and all the infantry into Tarraco to reduce the setting from
Daily Games to Monthly Games (save 400 denarii spending).
You only get 1000 denarii to start with. You have to be very
careful with your cash. Now, move all the troops out of Rome
expect the general. This army will be your first army. Get this
army towards Salona. The Eastern Roman Empire will attack
Salona soon. The army will not arrive before the siege but
this first army will be your most important army to kill the
coming hordes and the Eastern Roman Empire.
Now in every non-frontline city, try and disband as many
foederati cavalry, foederati infantry, Liminatei and archers
in order of highest maintainance cost to lowest while keeping
a close eye to happiness. Just get it to blue faced. Check the
settlement details to see what the predicted happiness changes
will happen next turn. You can tell this from the blinking
happiness modifiers. For example if it's a Pagan city and you
have a higher % Pagan conversion than Christian, you will
notice in the happiness modifier that you have unhappiness
due to Christians represented as crosses and there will be
blinking crosses too. You can get more detail by placing your
cursor over the crosses. The blinking icons are modifiers that
will either appear or disappear during the next turn. In a
Pagan city with higher Pagan conversion %, blinking unhappiness
crosses means that next turn these unhappiness crosses will
disappear making less total unhappiness. This happens because
you get less % christians next turn due to religious conversion.
So you want to make sure that you get less unhappiness next
turn when you disband troops.
Get every naval unit to port EXCEPT the naval unit close to
Salona. This ship will transport your troops from Rome to
Salona. You can disband it after you do the crossing. Disband
ALL naval units.
Now the disbanding troops is nothing new. I've had e-mails from
players who told me that they have done this for this faction.
My next step may not be new (I cannot be sure if this is an
original idea because I don't go into strat sites or forums)
but it gave me the Eureka feeling when I tried it for the first
time. In every non-frontline city, I razed every ground unit
training building and armouries (this included Rome) to raise
cash for the first turn. I rationalised this logically... what
was the use of training fighting units in let's say Corduba or
Caralis or Londinium? What's the use of armouries in Rome?
So with the added cash, I then build up ports and traders in
coastal cities and any emergency happiness buildings like in
Avaricum.
The result was 3 riots at the start of the 2nd turn at Avaricum,
Carthago Nova and Salamantica. Then 2 riots at the start of
turn 3 and no more riots at turn 4. This is because the general
with the high influence have arrived in Avaricum.
I have repeated this start twice and I got the same result.
There's rioting but no rebellions. So I never saw the Western
Roman Empire Rebels till near the end. The Western Roman Rebels
only appeared close to the end of the game after capturing
Campus Sakae up in the far Northeast reaches because I could not
be bothered to keep Campus Sakae happy as by then the game was
ending with 1 more city to capture.
What about income? Well, as I build up ports and traders
(especially in Caralis, Londinium, Arles and Masilla) while
reducing military costs, I made 6k+ each turn for the first 3
turns and then had a steady 8k-9k plus after that until I was
preparing to kill the Vandals and Huns (dropped to 2.5k because
I had plenty troops then).
Anyway, I also get all available general (without causing
unhappiness) towards the Eastern front in preparation of the
horde advance. As I said above, the general units are the best
cavalry units. One general in particular is my favourite. He
starts in Aquincum bordering the Goth lands. He has a high
Christianity conversion bonus (like 55%) and I used him to
slowly convert all my cities to christianity.
The Eastern Roman Empire sieged Salona in the 3rd turn of the
game but I successfully sallied forth with inferior units. My
battle tactic was to kill off their eastern archers so that
my own archers will have the advantage. It was a tough battle
and I could not take another siege after that but thankfully
the reinforcement from Rome arrived just in time.
So, that concludes the first stage of my strategy of securing
my homelands. Let's begin stage two of fighting the hordes.
Once I had my homelands secure and free from Rebel Western
Roman Empire, all I needed to do is fill up the secured cities
with peasants while continuing to disband foederati cavalry,
foederati infantry and liminatei. I keep the comitatenses,
samartian auxillae and archers so that I can send them to the
front. This is because most of the frontline cities can't train
any of these 3 units. Then I made Salona and Aquincum into
Comitatenses training centers. Augusta Trevarorum became a
Foederati Infantry and Liminatei training center while Colonia
Agrippa provided the archers. These 2 cities are symbiotical
and are perfect to cover each other as troops need only 1 turn
to reinforce each other. That should cover my continental
Europe front. In Carthage and Lepcis Magna, I filled up with
peasants and only later on used Liminatei, Foederati Infantry
and Archers as the Berbers take a long time to organise
themselves before proving any threat. I managed to defend
Carthage a few times with the starting units and at Lepcis
Magna I defended it a few times with 1 general, 2 archers and
the rest peasants.
At this point I had battled the Alemanii and the Franks. Not
tough battles but always manage to weaken them. I used my
starting assassin to continually assassinate the Frank and
Alemanii generals to make beating them easy. I had the strength
to destroy them then but I did not want to release their
hordes (I didn't realise then that Alemanni could not horde).
So, I dealt with the Franks and Alemanii by assassinating
generals and just keeping them weak. I even sieged the Alemanii
capital with crappy units and then quit the siege before the
city fall and resiegeing it again. This kept the Alemanii
indoors at all times. I trained up 2 more assassins and
transfered their retinues to boost up the new assassins. It's a
great place to gain assassin skills in the Franks and Alemanii
lands. My aim was to destroy both factions with assassins to
avoid having them to horde. My defences in Augusta Trevarorum
and Colonia Agrippa are minimal and no match against any horde.
This was because...
I concentrated my defences in the East in preparation of the
Vandals and Huns while keeping Eastern Roman Empire ambitions
in check.
Aquincum is the key city to resist the hordes. Why is this?
Simple... it's the bridge and river crossing. The hordes are
weak at bridges and river crossings. My heroic general was
Aulus the Orator who after many victories gained up to 8
command stars (started from 1). I defended the bridge southeast
of Aquincum with plenty of archers and comitatenses (trained
at Aquincum and Salona). I used Foederati Infantry and
Liminatei to make up the numbers as I could not train up a full
comitatenses + archer army. I had another smaller army made up
of liminatei, foederati infantry and any extra foederati
cavalry on the bridge north of Salona. This stopped the Eastern
Roman advance to Salona. The army at the bridge of Aquincum
could defend Aquincum from the Eastern Romans. I had no siege
engines yet. Only had to use infantry and as for cavalry I used
my generals (the Western Roman Empire sure has lots of generals
from the start).
The Vandals came first (somehow they didn't kick the Goths out)
and were quickly slaughtered on the bridge. Had to defend from
4 continuous attacks from the horde army first and 3 attacks
the next turn. Each fight killed close to 1k enemy except once
I killed over 2k from 2 horde armies simultaneously attacking.
I killed their attacking general all the time and the Vandals
perished in 2 turns. Then I waited for the Huns.
Again same thing with the Huns. (They still left the Goths
alive!) Killed them in 2 turns. The Hunnic general Driggiz used
night attack but got killed instead because I had a night
fighter dude too. So, Vandal and Hunnic corpses littered the
same bridge at Aquincum. Later on I added the Ostrogoth and
Slav corpses at the same bridge.
Now, with the Vandals and Huns gone, my attention turned to
the Eastern Roman Empire. I did not want to attack the Goths
as taking their lands would be pointless as they are poor and
I did not want to lose the role of the Aquincum bridge for
defence against future hordes.
So, I used both my defending armies to capture Sirmium,
Thesallonica then split up to two towards Constantinople and
Athens. The Eastern Roman Empire defences are crappy. This was
because their main unit training city was only Constantinople
and Sirmium. Once I captured Sirmium, they were screwed.
Just before Constantinople fell, I managed to kill the Franks
and Alemanni factions with assasinations. Once the two cities
became rebels, I quickly captured them.
On other fronts... the sole large Celt army attacked Eburacum
only to be destroyed when I sallied forth. They never
recovered and Dal Raida was subsequently captured by the Saxons.
The Saxons attacked Colonia Agrippa a few times but I managed to
assassinate their generals for me to easily sally forth. Then
I captured the Saxon lands and assassinated their last faction
leader to prevent them hording. I captured all the Saxon lands
up to Denmark and held Campus Frankii and Campus Alemannii. The
Saxon in Dal Raida was dealt with by my army from Eburacum which
later sailed to Ireland and captured Tara. The Berbers are an
annoyance. They came, attacked and got kicked out time and time
again. I didn't bother to attack their lands as the travel time
was too long and would leave Carthage defenceless. I left the
Lombards, Burgundii and Goths alone as buffers. The minor
objective ended here.
I then started training proper Roman troops at Constantinople
to replace the weaker Liminatei, foederati infantry and
foederati cavalry. It was then that I started training up
my first siege weapons of Heavy Onagers. I still sent my first
army with original comitatenses from Rome into Asia Minor
without any siege engine and captured Ancyra first. Then I
captured Sinope followed by Ceaserae. Another army from
Constantinople captured Euphesus. From Ceaserae I captured
Tarsus and the key city of Antioch. The Eastern Roman Empire
never proved any threat once I held Antioch. I blocked an
army from the north Black Sea coast by setting up an army on
the bridge southeast of Sinope. The enemy army just stood
not attacking my army on the bridge for a long time and then
retreated once I started to attack northwards into Arsakia.
The rest of the Eastern Roman Empire just fell away with one
army from Antioch headed south till into Petra then turn east
to capture Dumatha, while the defence army at Lepcis Magna
(loads of archers, liminatei and foederati infantry) marched
the desert and captured Cyrene and Alexandria. My most second
army from Antioch captured Hattra, Ctesiphon and headed
northwards. It was later reinforced by the army from Dumatha.
The defensive army at Carthage went out and captured Tingi
then headed into the desert to capture Dimidi.
It was around the time I was fighting over control of Asia
Minor that the Slavs and Ostrogoths appeared. I was ready for
them on the bridge at Aquincum. I also defended at the river
crossing north west of Sirmium. I only had 2 catapults there
and none at Aquincum bridge. The catapults were great at
killing enemy generals while crossing the river. Within 4
turns the Slavs and Ostrogoths (they came at the same time)
were neutralised. Took extra 4 turns to hunt down their
remaining generals to annihilate them.
Once I controlled the Mediterranean Sea, the game was
practically won as cash simply flooded in. It's just a matter
of time till the game was over. No other faction could stand
against the might of Roman power.
On the religious side of things, I created 1 main religious
conversion army made up of 5 generals with a total of about
100% christian religious conversion. I let them roam to every
pagan land I own to convert the cities in 2 turns. This army
even travelled into Ireland then back into France to go to
Spain. It was vital to convert all the cities to Christianity
to avoid getting -10% happiness due to differing faction
leader religion. I prefer to use Christianity than to go
Pagan. Pagan temples give unit bonuses but Christianity gives
a higher total happiness bonus by about 20% with 4 extra
building upgrades. Christianity also gives +1% pop growth
bonus to get cities over 24k pop, though not all cities can
get over that even with the +1% bonus (like Tara stuck at
22.4k pop).
The Burgundii declared was on me and were easily killed. I
picked on the Lombards and the Samartians. The last faction
I killed was the Roxolani. The only faction I didn't kill was
the Sassanids as the Eastern Roman Empire did it first. Also
never saw the Romana-British.
Extra note: I used a new strategy of peasant blocking to
block advancing armies to but time to get defences up at
Carthage, Lepcis Magna, Sinope and Colonia Agrippa. Told you
I had to use every trick I knew!
E3.2 Sieges
+++++++++++
Roman siege engines are the best. 'Nuff said!
E3.3 Battle Commands
++++++++++++++++++++
Quite easy to master the Roman army. The units are dependable
are powerful enough, even the basic units. Just watch out for
the carraige ballistas and always be aware about the lack of
range of your archers.
My usual line up is: 3 generals, 2 archers, 4 heavy onagers,
2 carraige ballistas, 1 samartian auxilla or equites sagitarii
or 1 samartian mercenary horse archers, 8 heavy infantry mix
of legionary first cohort, comitatenses and plumbatarii.
My most memorable battles were the battles over the bridge at
Aquincum killing 4 different hordes. Always outnumbered but
never lost.
============================================================================
6.0 City Building
-----------------
This section is added after I had an e-mail asking advice on
what buildings should be built. Well, I got to say that it is
with careful planning that you can gain the full potential of
a city and use it to complement your military.
Basic concepts:
Economic Build = Cities which concentrate on income generating
buildings
Training Centres = Cities that concentrate on training the best
units for battle
Unit Training Buildings = Buildings that allows you to train
certain units
Fixed Income Structures = Buildings that provide regular
non-trade income
Trade Income Structures = Buildings that boost trade income
Growth Boosting Structures = Buildings that boost population
growth
Happiness Boosting Buildings = Buildings that either will
improve happiness
4 fundamental ideas arranged according to importance:
1. Every city should be kept at happiness level to prevent
rioting or rebellion with use of Happiness Boosting
Buildings.
2. Every city should maximise the economic build with fixed and
trade income structures.
3. Identify and minimise Training Centres to optimise use of
Unit Training Buildings. This is to allow you to invest your
money into boosting income.
4. Growth of a city should be controlled to prevent going out
of control resulting in happiness due to squalor with
controlled use of Growth Boosting Structures.
Now, in simple terms... first keep your population happy, then
maximise your income, plan what you want the city to build and
finally set controls to prevent the city getting out of hand.
To keep your city happy, you need many things. You can check in
the settlement details. From the building point of view, you
should always build up Happiness Boosting Buildings to prevent
riots. These buildings are city walls, churches, temples,
arenas, taverns, execution halls, academies, etc.. Each faction
has unique Happiness Boosting Buildings. You need you learn
the buildings for the faction you play. Always build them one
step ahead to prevent unhappiness. A city will gain squalor
unhappiness % as the population grows. For example a city with
happiness 85% in low tax should quickly build a Happiness
Boosting Building ASAP before the happiness drops below 85%.
Most of the time I build Income Boosting Buildings. My priority
though is to get Trade Income Structures. This is because these
buildings give higher income than Fixed Income Structures. The
exception to this is when a city is unable to build ports. Land
trade is crappy. Sea trade is the best. Therefore I concentrate
Trade Income Structures in cities with ports as top priority.
Other cities without ports I usually only build them when I
have extra cash. Same goes to Fixed Income Structures. Another
excception is mines. Mines give good income in short time. The
build time is 2 turns for basic mine and 3 turns for the
upgrade. Examples of Trade Income Structures are traders and
the upgrades, ports, caravan routes, and some temples. Fixed
Income Structures are Mines and farm upgrades. So, plan your
Economic Build according to what the city can offer. A summary
is to build mines (as you may not have many trading
partners yet) and ports at the start followed by traders in
port cities, upgrading as you go along. Non-coastal cities
become secondary income generators and are suitable as Training
Centres.
Unit Training Buildings are self explanatory. You need them to
train up your troops. The Best Training Centres are cities that
grow relatively fast to get all the upgrades you need without
you haveing to only build Happiness Boosting Buildings all the
time which can happen if the city grows too fast. Some cities
naturally have higher unhappiness base and this is unsuitable
too as you won't have the chance to build Unit Training
Buildings to keep them happy. The key here is to identify
Training Centres. It should not be too far from the action and
should allow for speedy travel to wherever you need the troops.
A good example is Antioch and Constantinople where you can send
troops out to multiple hotspots either by land or sea. Using
Carthage as a Training Centre is unwise as it is far from any
hotspot and would just take too long to get your troops there.
Having two cities close to each other can create symbiotic
Training Centres. This is where one city specialises in one or
two units. This make army creation faster. You may also have
multiple Training Centres that specialises in specific units
far from another but beware small armies travelling long
distances are vulnerable to random rebels or ambushes. One
strategy is use is to organise regional Training Centres to
deal with threat arising in the specific regions.
Or you can follow the flow of the game and use better tech
cities as Training Centres. For example, most of the faction
capitals have somewhat higher tech and you can just boost them
up.
Growth Boosting Buildings are two edged swords. They allow you
to gain more income and better units with higher upgraded
cities, but your population growth may go out of hand giving
you a headache of just trying to keep them happy. I believe
the best population growth rate after you achieve the highest
city upgrade of Huge City is 0%. With 0% growth you will be
assured that squalor will not increase and therefore your
happiness % will never change unless there are external
factors such as taking troops out of the city or presence of
enemy spies in the city. My strategy for controlled population
growth is simple. I just build up Growth Boosting Buildings
once I have built enough Happiness Boosting Buildings. For
example, a minor city with 7,000 population has 90% happiness
at Normal Tax rate with 0% population growth. If I reduce the
tax rate to Low Tax I will get 110% happiness with 0.5%
population growth rate. This means before I reach 12,000
population to upgrade to a large city, the happiness will
drop below 85% even with low tax. So what I would do is aim
to boost up the happiness first and let the population grow
at 0.5%. Then it will grow to let's say 9,000 population,
happiness 100% on Low Tax with 0% population growth. I would
then build up one Growth Boosting Buildings like farm upgrade
or sewer upgrade. After the Growth Boosting Building is built,
I would go back to building Happiness Boosting Buildings to
keep one step ahead. When the city is a Huge City, I would
just build up ALL the Happiness Boosting Buildings and on let
the population growth stay at 0% irrespective of the tax rate
until I get the happiness to 115% or more than I would build
a Growth Boosting Building knowing that I will never have to
change the tax rate and the city will remain content.
With all the population growth control, what about wanting to
get the high tech units early? Well, the answer is simple.
There will be a few cities where growth control is close to
impossible as they have a high population growth base. These
cities will give the techs while the rest you should control
to produce constant income and don't let it tie down your
army or waste cash with games/races.
In summary, know what buildings you have and plan what role
your cities should have. This way you won't get side-tracked
and randomly build any buildings in your cities.
============================================================================
8.0 Questions
-------------
Q: How do I use arrow and/or ballista fire from the siege
towers?
A: Your siege towers are automatically equipped with arrow
and ballistas depending on the size of the city walls.
For basic stone walls, you get arrow support. For large
stone walls and epic stone walls you'll get ballistas
instead. You need to select your siege tower pushing
unit and set them at Fire at Will (hotkey 'A') to get
them to fire their projectiles. It doesn't matter what
kind of unit pushes the towers. Even priests can fire
from the towers.
Q: How do I get more generals?
A: Well, don't get them killed! Let them die a peaceful
old age while making babies on the way. This is the
best way. Promoting a heroic captain is unpredictable.
I cannot tell you how many battles you need to win to
promote a captain. Sometimes all you need is 2-3
battles, sometimes more. Promoting a captain has the
advantage of getting a general with high command stars
straight away. Adopting a general from nothing do occur
too, but occur more often when you have few children
and has a risk of failed adoption with some excuse that
they got killed before getting confirmation of adoption.
Sounds like a crappy adoption agency programme or some
sad foolhardy captain wanting to prove his worth for
adoption by sticking his head in a crocodile's mouth.
So, you can't rely on this. Traning up general units
is a short term measure as they can't produce heirs.
============================================================================
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