I just lost on very easy

[Saluki77]

So I played a few years of a couple different nations to get the feel for the game, then I started my first real game as Rome. I started out on normal because I played HoI2 so much I figured some of that knowledge would carry over.

I dominate in the Pyrrhic War to start off, but for some reason Carthage takes Tarentum, which is really annoying since I had 24,00, men and they only had 1,000. 5-6 years down the road I'm expanding north when Carthage starts to blow up my temples, so I jail the guy who is doing it. Well the instantly Dow me and proceed to crush my 24,000 man armies with a stack of 64,000. So I quickly call in Massilia for help but Carthage annexes them very quickly. I raise as many troops as possible causing me to go into massive debt and still Carthage easily outnumbers me 3-1. I was like wow better step it back down to VE.

Well again I win the Pyrrhic war and again Carthage takes Tarentum. This time I build up quickly and Dow Carthage hoping to attack before they are ready. Well after about a dozen naval invasions all along my coast, hundreds of indecisive battles, I just gave up. I still had Rome under control but I had lost about half of Italy, Massilia was toast, and barbarians conquered the north.

Um anyone have some pointers because I need lots of them.

I am using 1.1 and combined arms armies consisting of 12 Heavy Infantry, 6 Light Infantry, and 6 Archers.

 

[unmerged(96262)]

You should be able to keep most of Carthage's troops out of your way by stopping them in the water. Control the sea, win the game. Carthage's reinforcements from Tarentum or Sicily shouldn't be enough alone to take Italy.

Just use your fleet better. Once you own the water, you can attack however you want from any point.

 

[unmerged(18701)]

I don't think I've even tried building light infantry yet. Are they that much cheaper than heavy infantry? Otherwise, I don't see the point.

 

[Asmodeous]

Use your fleet as mentioned, also ignore Carthage and focus on Cisalpine Gaul and the Gallic tribes to the north. You'll find yourself having horses, wood, and iron, and can build some nice combined arms stacks.

I usually make it a ratio:

5:4:2:2

Heavy Infantry, Archers, Horse Archers, Cavalry. View it as a ratio, remember.

If I ever break the Ratio it's because I've got a General who has a skill that gives him the ability to fire certain events, for instance if I have a Tactician (chance to fire Envelope event) then his army is usually going to be:

5:5:0:6

Because the extra Cavalry makes me giggle when it says "(ENVELOPE!!)" and then it starts scrolling damage in excess of 900 on the enemy's stack.

That leads to another thing. Having a General of 9 with no traits is not as good as having a General whose Martial is only 6 or 7 but he has a few traits that give him triggers, or triggers more often, because those combat events can and will swing the outcome of the battle. In my Macedonia game my King, whose name I forgot because he's dead of old age now, only had a Martial of 6, but he only ever lost one battle, because he triggered "Hold Ground," "Envelope," and "Wedge" from his abilities, and also had the "Original Thinker" that made him trigger combat events more often. So yes, he wasn't as good of a general as the guy sitting in my pool with a Martial of 10, but he was a lot more effective.

Me.

 

[hanzo]

I'm not to good at this game either..
Started as Egypt, got gang banged by Selucid and Carthage. Switched to Very Easy, got gang banged again. Ok so the big guys are not for me then, I try those lonesome guys in the center of Germany, and got owned by barbarians.

After that I thought, well maybe someone with a bit more of a contact with the civilized world, so I tried that one province minor greek state south of Thrace. Got run over by barbarians again, but this time I became the invaders, but then I got eaten by Selucids again.

Hmm, time to cheat, back to Egypt and got myself 5000 in cash, and raised a huge army and kicked Selucids butt, though I lost some manpower, got Dow:ed by Chartage, made peace with Selucids and ran my army all the way from Judea to the Chartagian border where I got into a slow paced manpower draining war. Then I ran out of manpower and Selucids back stabbed me..

 

[Asmodeous]

I tried Egypt too and got rolled.

I think it's harder to be a major than a mid-level power in this game. Macedonia is pretty easy as long as you keep border armies to chase barbarians away.

Me.

 

[Piggy]

I don't think I've even tried building light infantry yet. Are they that much cheaper than heavy infantry? Otherwise, I don't see the point.

They're half the price and half as effective as HI, even less if you count the disicpline bonus to HI. I only build them as seige units and when I want a big enough ratio to make the enemy army disband.


OP: Build a navy, dont dow carthage untill you're ready, that means lots of money in the bank (the war will last years and years), a good sized army that can be expanded with the money and a big enough navy to guarentee victory on the seas.

If you can try to wait untill carthage is at war with Egypt, which usually happens. Look at their stability, if its negative then the time is right as long as all of the above are met, you dont want to be fighting a long war with negative stab either so try to build yours up.

You have a massive manpower bonus over carthage, especially when your on VE, it will be a war of attrition.

 

[unmerged(56754)]

I gave up my Rome campaign becuase Carthage is way too powerful. Historical or not, in every game it prevents Rome from becoming pwoerful.

In my Game, (Not as Rome) Carthage controlled southern Italy, Spain, Egypt, getting tribute of the Seluecids and colonise Gaul, by 600AVC. Not fun .

But when playing as Rome, I managed to take Sicilly, Sardina Corsica and Malta, but was still outnumebvred by 150% (I had 80,000 men) and Carthage refuses ALL peaces, invasions of Africa or Spain resulted in a no-attrtion facing 64,0000 men while my 25,000 were plagued with WAY too much attrition in my own places.

 

[Piggy]

I know what you mean Gigalocus.

Carthage also seems to be able to make way more money then Rome, so that when Im breaking even with all the armies I can afford they have twice as many and still make money?

Yes Rome has more manpower, but getting a toe hold on africa is nigh impossible so its damn hard to get into an attrition war. Couple that with the fact that you have to take half of africa just for them to accept a decent peace offer, well you draw your own conclusions.

 

[comagoosie]

I find it very helpful to be at least at your forcelimit capacity in peacetime. When war breaks out I tend to triple the maxium. I tend to pay the price, but at least I survive (and maybe grab a territory)

 

[Seten]

It's really hard to win against carthage ai but doable
Like other people point your key is to have a strong fleet (20/25 ship on normal)
Destroy carthaginan fleet then proceed to rush into southern iberia
Dstroy the army there , back down , moove a good army on ship , let the ennemy cross gibraltar with a good army
Block it with your army then destroy it
Repeat , make rotation of army with your fleet also

 

[hildoceras]

They're half the price and half as effective as HI, even less if you count the disicpline bonus to HI. I only build them as seige units and when I want a big enough ratio to make the enemy army disband. .

they are especially efficient as siege units


keep your fleets in big packs and not scattered, put a good general/admiral

 

[Secret Master]

Some tips on beating Cathage:

1) In 1.1, some of the triggered modifiers, like the Mediterranean Control that gives Carthage a +8% bonus to tax income, can be untriggered if you occupy the provinces that are triggers for it. In this case, occupying Panoramus in Sicily should cut off that bonus.

2) Gain naval supremacy and do not attack Carthage until you have it.

3) Occupy the islands after you occupy Panoramus. If you own the ocean, Carthage won't be able to retake those islands, hurting trade and tax income somewhat.

4) If possible, cut off Carthage from her possessions in Hispania via naval blockade across the straits. This may require invading Hispania in order to give you a naval base to do this attrition free, but it can be worth it.

5) If Numida colonizes Maurentia, invade Numidia after occupying the islands and cutting off Hispania. Putting Numidia out of the war can be very helpful to prevent surprise liberations of provinces that border them.

6) Always call Massila into the war the moment in breaks out.

7) If possible, do not DOW Carthage until they are dealing with Egypt. Conversely, you can sometimes expect Egypt to get involved in a war against Carthage if Carthage appears weak.

8) Land smaller armies composed of cheap auxiliaries at the far ends of North Africa to encourage Carthage's uber stacks to move around. Who cares if auxiliaries get killed off, they don't hurt your manpower.

9) In your first wars with Carthage, accept any peace that gives you islands. Often times, those islands have Carthaginian culture, and this will hurt their manpower. If you can, accept any peace deal that grants you ownership of Panoramus. Doing so will permanently end their 8% boost to tax income from Mediterranean Control.

 

[unmerged(85014)]

5-6 years down the road I'm expanding north when Carthage starts to blow up my temples, so I jail the guy who is doing it. Well the instantly Dow me and proceed to crush my 24,000 man armies with a stack of 64,000. So I quickly call in Massilia for help but Carthage annexes them very quickly. I raise as many troops as possible causing me to go into massive debt and still Carthage easily outnumbers me 3-1. I was like wow better step it back down to VE.

Well again I win the Pyrrhic war and again Carthage takes Tarentum. This time I build up quickly and Dow Carthage hoping to attack before they are ready. Well after about a dozen naval invasions all along my coast, hundreds of indecisive battles, I just gave up. I still had Rome under control but I had lost about half of Italy, Massilia was toast, and barbarians conquered the north.

The first scenario looks like you fell into a trap and the second scenario looks like you no clear plan for defeating Carthage.

Carthage is a military republic in my game +10% discipline. Combined to some ideas boosting other areas of combat, some good generals, and their trade income it adds up to a powerful foe, and Carthage ought to be such a powerful foe.

I have not yet fought Carthage, but two things stand out as key. Gaining and keeping the initiative, and capturing and holding Carthage without losing Rome.

This means you declare war unless you are ready for invasion of Carthage and can provoke Carthage into declaring war. By ready for war I mean also that your navy has your invasion force off the coast of Carthage itself.

Ideally you want to declare war when Carthage is at war elsewhere and you have the allies that can invade and seige the weaker and less valuable border provinces. Carthage must be your key point of attack, for without the capture of Carthage you cannot seriously weaken your foe by comparison to your own economy.

Do not be drawn into battles for every minor and distant province. Allow Carthage to exhaust herself against your invasion force at her capital, or otherwise ensure that your centre around Rome is safeguarded. Two large armies for invasion of Carthage and defence of Rome/core Italy, followed by a waiting game of attrition.

Remember that the Punic Wars were a decisive turning point in history, and could have gone either way. If you cannot end this war with any kind of strategic advantage whatsoever, do not get involved in it.

 

[fermun]

Every game I play, Carthage manages to conquer Syracuse, giving them the entirety of Sicily. One thing I do, is I conquer the two magna Grecia provinces first, wait for Carthage to gain Syracuse in the peace deal, before peacing out magna grecia, then heading to Greece to finish off and annex Epurius. It is a rather annoying that Carthage immediately goes up against that alliance, preventing you from expanding into Sicily, but if you do it right, they won't get into Italy. After about 2 years, Magna Grecia won't be able to afford the 2 gold tribute, letting you gain the rest of Italy.

At this time, you have 2 options. On very easy, you should be able to win a war of attrition with Carthage, who by now is probably assassinating your governers and desecrating your holy sites. If they aren't, you're lucky and should be able to take out either Macedonia or some of the Greek minors. If it's war with Carthage, I recommend 2 navies, one about 15 strong, one about 8 strong. The 15-ship navy will be used to sink Carthage's fleets, and with the help of Masilla, you will soon control the sea. If your games have been any like the 3 I have tested as Rome, then Carthage has a ~20 unit army in Sicily. Sit your 8 ship navy in the province to tie up that huge chunk of Carthage's manpower, and begin recruiting cheap auxiliaries. Land one army of about 5 or so regiments of auxiliaries in hispania, land another in the easternmost part of north Africa. Recruit a couple 2 princepes armies to take corsica, sardinia, and the baleares. Then recruit a 12-15 regiment army of heavy infantry and archers. Carthage's armies should be split up into the east of their north Africa posessions and up in Hispania. With your larger army, conquer Numidia and force them out of the war, then begin taking Carthage's provinces. Whenever your auxiliaries are defeated, recruit a new auxiliary army, head it with your least loyal, most popular general and send them to be defeated again. This will prevent rivals to power from getting too popular and with the army in sicily, and the ones you're holding with your auxiliaries, should leave carthage proper relatively undefended. If they begin going after your main army, then reinforce them as you are able, but don't worry too much, as that prevents them from going after your auxiliary armies, and you will be able to begin taking provinces on the edge of their territories, moving inwards.

If you are unable to make significant headway in conquering carthage because they destroy your auxiliaries too easily and there is just too many of them, get an army consisting of just 2 regiments, and walk around in barbarian hispania, retreating whenever the barbarians rise. This can provoke a horde to go after the nearest high-civilization province, i.e. Carthaginian hispania. I saw a horde conquer all the way to Carthage's iron province, who's name I can't remember now. Done right, you aren't completely helpless, and if you can, in addition to whichever islands you can pick up, take Carthage's timber province. They only have 1, and taking that off their hands cripples them in such a way that they will be helpless in future wars, especially if you managed to use barbarian hordes to your advantage as, with the loss of civilization values, they will be 25 years away from beginning colonization of Hispania again.

 

[unmerged(94714)]

The AI seems to cheat, on normal some how 1 land kingdoms can aford to hire 19-25 units yet when i use a 1land guy there is no way for me to hire that many, best i can do is 9-10 and that sends me way neg in the gold.