Roman campaign in DEI

[SuperVideoITA]

Hi guys,
I played two times as the romans in DEI
Every time around 40-50 turns I've got my a** kicked by cartaginians/gauls/rebels.
Have you got any tips?

[Zef]

For dei in general

Everything but the best of archers are kinda useless. Javelins can be great but you need to know how to micro Them + limited ammo

More army stacks with cheaper units outperform one expensive stack.

Invest in cavalry as soon as possible to hammer and anvil the enemy.

Make sure you have enough food

[wjpower2003]

Carthage declaring war on Rome is inevitable as they have an inbuilt cultural aversion penalty which increases over time although how long it takes depends on which political party you have chosen to play as.

If you manage to secure the whole Italian peninsula then you should try to increase income by keeping a minimal force throughout the peninsula - as many generals as possible with at least 2 units per general so you can go into patrol stance to mitigate public order effects and increase income.

I believe having generals in patrol stance speeds up their experience gain (although not as much as being garrisoned). When a general gets a rank increase, you should choose the blue administration option for increasing diplomacy as that can help to stave off Carthage declaring war a bit longer.
By the way, making peace with Epirus will annoy Carthage and incur diplomatic penlties so just maintain a decent sized force garrisoned in Taras and some kind of naval presence in the adriatic to protect Asculum and Ariminum from Epirus. Once Carthage declares war, try to make peace with Epirus so you can turn your attention to the Carthaginians.

Also, try to stay completely neutral with the Ligurians, Venetii and Insubres as that way none of them will declare war on you (in theory).

If you want to avoid rebellions it's a good idea to utilise any retinue character which counteracts public order penalties from military presence and build temples to increase culture and public order while also placing the admin agent(s) on the border between the two Italian provinces so you can move them quickly to where they are needed, when they are needed. You can also send non-military characters on missions to troubled provinces to increase public order.

[wjpower2003]

Oh I also forgot to mention, if you have a Faction Leader who is average or above then don't recruit him as a military commander: leave him in Rome as his being in Rome gives bonuses globally.

[Wayz]

Kill Carthage at sea, They like to transport armies over for me to sink and its very kind of them as it really does save me fighting them on land with those pesky elephants.

[wjpower2003]

引用自 Wayz：

Kill Carthage at sea, They like to transport armies over for me to sink and its very kind of them as it really does save me fighting them on land with those pesky elephants.

When you use fleets to destroy their transports, do you have any holdings in Sicily? I only ask because Taras to Sicily/Carthage is quite a distance for fleets to travel, attack, become depleted and then return to port without getting attacked by much better Carthaginian fleets with full movement points sitting off screen in the fog of war. Plus due to the AI economic buffs they'll just keep raising more ships anyway.

I have a save game as Rome right now but I have the whole of Sicily garrisoned with 4 legions and 2 full stack fleets....... this is a problem as the Carthaginians are keeping their distance because the AI knows it would be suicide so I don't have the option of sinking their assets which leaves me in kind of a stalemate at the moment.

[Wayz]

引用自 wjpower2003：

引用自 Wayz：

Kill Carthage at sea, They like to transport armies over for me to sink and its very kind of them as it really does save me fighting them on land with those pesky elephants.

When you use fleets to destroy their transports, do you have any holdings in Sicily? I only ask because Taras to Sicily/Carthage is quite a distance for fleets to travel, attack, become depleted and then return to port without getting attacked by much better Carthaginian fleets with full movement points sitting off screen in the fog of war. Plus due to the AI economic buffs they'll just keep raising more ships anyway.

I have a save game as Rome right now but I have the whole of Sicily garrisoned with 4 legions and 2 full stack fleets....... this is a problem as the Carthaginians are keeping their distance because the AI knows it would be suicide so I don't have the option of sinking their assets which leaves me in kind of a stalemate at the moment.

Carthage never bothers me before I take Syracuse so I focus on securing italy ASAP and I rush this as fast as I can, micro managing every battle for best outcomes.
But yeah the moment you move on Carthage its on so have ships ready by this point as you will need them.
2 half decent fleets (does not have to be huge ships I get by with triremes) a stack of troops large enough to hold the north while you are busy in the south and your main army with recent combat experience in the north now taking Sicily.

[wjpower2003]

引用自 Wayz：

引用自 wjpower2003：

When you use fleets to destroy their transports, do you have any holdings in Sicily? I only ask because Taras to Sicily/Carthage is quite a distance for fleets to travel, attack, become depleted and then return to port without getting attacked by much better Carthaginian fleets with full movement points sitting off screen in the fog of war. Plus due to the AI economic buffs they'll just keep raising more ships anyway.

I have a save game as Rome right now but I have the whole of Sicily garrisoned with 4 legions and 2 full stack fleets....... this is a problem as the Carthaginians are keeping their distance because the AI knows it would be suicide so I don't have the option of sinking their assets which leaves me in kind of a stalemate at the moment.

Carthage never bothers me before I take Syracuse so I focus on securing italy ASAP and I rush this as fast as I can, micro managing every battle for best outcomes.
But yeah the moment you move on Carthage its on so have ships ready by this point as you will need them.
2 half decent fleets (does not have to be huge ships I get by with triremes) a stack of troops large enough to hold the north while you are busy in the south and your main army with recent combat experience in the north now taking Sicily.

As mentioned in my previous post to the OP, I avoid any trouble from the Cisalpine Gaulish tribes by not entering into any treaties with them, thus remaining neutral so all forces can be sent south while obviously needing to keep an eye on Alalia in case the Carthaginians raise a legion there and sail over to take Arretium (which doesn't seem to happen but you never know.)

I believe that entering Carthage is one of the hard coded triggers for war but not the only one. In the past Carthage have declared war on me before entering Sicily, possibly at a later stage of the game when my diplomacy level with Carthage has gone below the minimum, triggering a war declaration so probably not a great idea to rely on the Sicily thing.

[Wayz]

引用自 wjpower2003：

Plus due to the AI economic buffs they'll just keep raising more ships anyway.

Concerning money.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1520495369
If you look at this screenshot and this will work with all factions. focus entirely on trade for capital regions. Balance its needs sure but money is your capitals priority.
I take all my faction rivals and I put 2 in a ship and send them off in different directions to find more trade sorces as soon as I can (Epirus wil try and stop you) & l tailor the rest to be administrators and I leave them in each of the cities and 2 more as admirals parked in the harbours as they also stack the income rate higher.
I use agents the same way buffing all kinds of income and empire management & anti banditry etc.
The results are there to see, look at the date, income via sea trade and region incomes.
This is early days in this campaign and my trade is booming, I never really go broke after I get my capital humming.
Down side is you are even more limited with armies and fleets but I make it work, at least until I need more armies which is many turns away.

[wjpower2003]

引用自 Wayz：

引用自 wjpower2003：

Plus due to the AI economic buffs they'll just keep raising more ships anyway.

Concerning money.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1520495369
If you look at this screenshot and this will work with all factions. focus entirely on trade for capital regions. Balance its needs sure but money is your capitals priority.
I take all my faction rivals and I put 2 in a ship and send them off to find more trade sorces as soon as I can (Epirus wil try and stop you) & l tailor the rest to be administrators and I leave them in each of the cities and 2 more as admirals parked in the harbours as they also stack the income rate higher.
I use agents the same way buffing all kinds of income and empire management & anti banditry etc.
The results are there to see, look at the date, income via sea trade and region incomes.
This is early days in this campaign and my trade booming, I never really go broke after I get my capital humming.

Interesting. I always use 2 characters as admirals in the same manner to get treaties and bribes by hugging coastlines (one going east and one going west) but playing as Rome I've never been able to successfully get them out of the Adriatic past the Epriots.

I wasn't aware that provincial capitals were best streamlined as trade hubs. What I usually do (where possible) is try to streamline coastal settlements which have trade resources but also leave some for food production and it usually works well. Speaking of which, I notice your food surplus is only 6, what redundancy do you have if you're on campaign behind enemy lines and for whatever reason, your food surplus drops below zero?

[Wayz]

引用自 wjpower2003：

Speaking of which, I notice your food surplus is only 6, what redundancy do you have if you're on campaign behind enemy lines and for whatever reason, your food surplus drops below zero?

I play with a very fine balance lol, my regions tend to be highly specialized by what that has to offer and my conquests tend to be the closest source of what I need. At this point in the game Sicily is my main farm. This is an old screenshot but I think I would have addressed food as my next priority and I would have gone south into northern Africa to sort that problem but is decent food sources to the east and north too but I find Africa easier to deal with as I can use fleets as garrisons meaning I only need one decent army there to hold it down and feed Rome.

[wjpower2003]

引用自 Wayz：

引用自 wjpower2003：

Speaking of which, I notice your food surplus is only 6, what redundancy do you have if you're on campaign behind enemy lines and for whatever reason, your food surplus drops below zero?

I play with a very fine balance lol, my regions tend to be highly specialized by what that has to offer and my conquests tend to be the closest source of what I need. At this point in the game Sicily is my main farm. This is an old screenshot but I think I would have addressed food as my next priority and I would have gone south into northern Africa to sort that problem but is decent food sources to the east and north too but I find Africa easier to deal with as I can use fleets as garrisons meaning I only need one decent army there to hold it down and feed Rome.

Good strategy.

As a matter of interest, what submods do you use alongside DEI? (if any).

[SuperVideoITA]

引用自 Wayz：

引用自 wjpower2003：

Speaking of which, I notice your food surplus is only 6, what redundancy do you have if you're on campaign behind enemy lines and for whatever reason, your food surplus drops below zero?

I play with a very fine balance lol, my regions tend to be highly specialized by what that has to offer and my conquests tend to be the closest source of what I need. At this point in the game Sicily is my main farm. This is an old screenshot but I think I would have addressed food as my next priority and I would have gone south into northern Africa to sort that problem but is decent food sources to the east and north too but I find Africa easier to deal with as I can use fleets as garrisons meaning I only need one decent army there to hold it down and feed Rome.

Do you prefer to conquer or loot the cities you conquest?

[Wayz]

引用自 wjpower2003：

引用自 Wayz：

I play with a very fine balance lol, my regions tend to be highly specialized by what that has to offer and my conquests tend to be the closest source of what I need. At this point in the game Sicily is my main farm. This is an old screenshot but I think I would have addressed food as my next priority and I would have gone south into northern Africa to sort that problem but is decent food sources to the east and north too but I find Africa easier to deal with as I can use fleets as garrisons meaning I only need one decent army there to hold it down and feed Rome.

Good strategy.

As a matter of interest, what submods do you use alongside DEI? (if any).

Mostly graphical mods, HD cities, restore aqueducts to map, building tiles, more diplomacy options etc.
In terms of gameplay mods I am currently running 12 turns per year with all factions and an experimental mod to do with diplomatic outcomes when you send someone off on a mission.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2501749400
Just took this off my last run with Rome to compare incomes. (note ignore date 12tpy etc)

引用自 SuperVideoITA：

Do you prefer to conquer or loot the cities you conquest?

That really depends on what I want etc, if its fast cash or what to knock them down a peg or two then yeah sack it but if I want to own it I try to make the transfer as peaceful as possible to avoid discontent.

[Wayz]

Graphical mods that really flesh out DEI.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=318151704
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1515544433
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=201360430
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1949072970
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=201108753

[wjpower2003]

引用自 Wayz：

引用自 wjpower2003：

Good strategy.

As a matter of interest, what submods do you use alongside DEI? (if any).

Mostly graphical mods, HD cities, restore aqueducts to map, building tiles, more diplomacy options etc.
In terms of gameplay mods I am currently running 12 turns per year with all factions and an experimental mod to do with diplomatic outcomes when you send someone off on a mission.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2501749400
Just took this off my last run with Rome to compare incomes. (note ignore date 12tpy etc)

I like maintaining permanent armies so the Reduced Upkeep mod is a must for me but I still struggle to maintained a good GDP nonetheless. I must try your capital trade hub strategy.