any advice against the Romans?

[monicaida25]

i'm a beginner but i haven't done too bad a resistance war against the romans i managed to win by war score i did the same as i do in CK3 i let the enemy wear down a bit on my forts and attack groups by separated... still I was losing territory, is there any advice against the Romans? they are very strong.

I have noticed that the strength is in the heavy infantry (yes... it's obvious, legionnaires...).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2806524067

[AC Denton]

Rome cannot be beaten. Rome is eternal.

[The Former]

Pray.

But no, alliances are king. Pick them quick and pick them well. It's nearly impossible to match Rome in a brawl if you're right on their border, so you'll need lots of friends. Also, find every way you can to counter heavy infantry in your traditions and army composition, because that's Rome's greatest strength. (Which, granted, you noticed already!)

[monicaida25]

I actually tried to incorporate 8 elephant coorts into my legion, but that seems to be inefficient, Rome uses a lot of heavy infantry, I get this... But why are they so strong? I have more discipline, good morals and 13 military technology, Rome has 11

I tried an offensive war asking for help from several allies at the same time, but everything seems useless... Come on, in real history, Rome was not as absolutely powerful as in this game xD

or maybe they are not as invincible as they seem, maybe I am the problem, that I do not understand what is the best combination for a legion

[Rooter]

Havent played for ages, but think it will be similiar:
So heavy infantry , heavy cav and horse archers is comp. (Without nation specific buffs)
Sacrifice a small unit to determine their tactic.
Fight them in mountains, with luck a chokepoint, on a fort.
Fighting out of greece, cant remember Iberia too well, is very easy to do.
Good general on your legion, reinforce with levies.
If you picked the right technologies you should be able to beat them.
Remember too, its all about the wargoal.
On defense if u hold their war goal u win, so hold the wargoal, thats it.
On offense its the same so think about which provinces u can take and defend.
Dont get greedy.
Ive beaten them in war as most countries, but I cant defeat them totally in the games time span.
If the war goes on too long you are probably ♥♥♥♥♥♥, their manpower is endless and they are relentless and sly.
Peace out as soon as u can on defense and most likely same on offense, specially just white peace if it doesnt look good. If u lose the ticking war score its all over.
Tip - before u raise levies, swap out governors to the best mil stat ones, 10+ mil on a levy is totally different to a 1mil.

Hope I havent mislead you, as I said, its been a while.

[Mazzini]

i' ve lost also, so i do not say i know. nevertheless, as people says, key shall be battles. the way is to win battle, so you will not overcome it eu style through 'attrition war'.

given the historical accuracy, and the historical refrain of the classical age, true chokepoint is not siege, it is battle. all should be spent on that bit of performance

all which could win you a victory, it can be sought after: morale through economic balance, tactics, techs, generals, army experience, mercenaries.

the only thing that can not be improved above certain, is manpower. manpower ends, for me, even apart from mercenaries. for that has no way out.

perhaps, mix mercenaries and levies in armies for a specific counter tactic?

[N7 Zulu]

Rome and Carthage were balance before the last patch/update came out. People on this forum stated complaining about how weak both factions were late game. They wanted to face a powerful Rome/Carthage late game while playing different factions. The last patch released prior to stopping all works on the game applied insane buffs to Rome/Carthage while destroying the balance of the game.

Prior to patch Rome and Carthage were already powerful in terms of manpower, territory/client states, resources, and traditions. The problem is that didn't guarantee they would always dominate late game. It depended on how the AI acted, for example if the Etruscan allied with the southern Greek states, Rome struggled to take over the Italian Peninsula. Sometimes they were conquered. This applies to Carthage as well, client states rebelling, and civil wars.

To answer you question, you would have to choose a faction near Rome. Etrucscan, Macedon, Carthage, etc. Your whole play style would be limiting Rome before they start steam rolling everybody after the first 2 yrs in game while getting stronger yourself. If you chose a faction further away, then you have to focus on a little bit of everything. You need to buff heavy infantry through tech/resources, make sure you have enough manpower to match them, and money. The mercenaries they get are insane as well, remember the size and quality of mercenaries you get at your capital or other provinces are related to population size.

Rome already starts with huge population when the game starts, no one can match them. As the games goes on that advantage gets bigger, and because of the update they get all these events that further buff them with everything else. I stopped playing because every new game I played Rome had half the map by mid game. My army composition was archers first line, heavy infantry second, light cav on flanks with heavy cav in reserve. Depending on who I was facing I would place archers in reserve and have heavy cav in first line. I would further buff with resource, tech/traditions. It depends on your style and what you have access to.

[Mazzini]

^ we have to say, it is good that rome is so powerful. it would be ahistorical otherwise, recent 'research' seems to suggest rome had sure cards.

it is no more 'if case wished, an other city, may be syracuse or clusium, prevailed'. apart from carthage, of course.

[Myll]

The game/AI is designed to have Rome consolidate many land holdings outside the initial game's boundaries, so if you want to play a kingdom/tribe other than Rome or Carthage, you are better off starting far enough away that most of the first portion of your game will not involve bumping up against Rome or Carthage, because you'll need to be big enough to survive at that point. It is possible to ally with Rome, although not automatically granted.