Rome II

[LongBlade]

Update on Epirus

I believe I've managed to crack the code on Epirus.

Though I'm only at Turn 15, this is further than I've ever been able to get. I've managed to squash both Sparta and Athens. Rome has declared war on me, but so far hasn't made a move.

The key seems to be a single-solution strategy. You've only got one choice: I blew something like 5000 drachmas (or whatever the currency is) - virtually my entire budget - on Turn 1 to establish a military alliance with Macedon, the only friendly kingdom around.

That forestalled the otherwise inevitable dual punch of Sparta and Athens ganging up on me. Eventually Athens declared war on Macedon, breaking their client status with them.

You have to be prepared to sacrifice Larissa. First Athens took it, then Macedon, and it switched again. At this point Macedon owns it. I've either got to go to war against my only ally, or accept letting them have it so I can expand elsewhere. For now I'll let them have it since Rome will pose a significant problem.

Right now I'm trying to sucker punch Rome, by leaving my port city apparently exposed, but in actuality I have two armies in hiding just outside the city. Hopefully they'll send just enough troops to take what they believe to be a lightly guarded port.

We'll see how this goes, but as of this moment I'd say I've turned the corner.

So, is Epirus more difficult to play than Armenia? There appears to be only one solution. So in that sense, yes, if you can't figure it out it's unplayable. It took me six or eight reboots to finally figure it out.

edit: sorry, updated for typos.

[Gusington]

Star definitely look into Medieval Total War and Medieval 2 Total War. There's 100s of mods for the second one...one of the best being Stainless Steel. Both original games are, by now, classics.

LB you are the only human I know of who has played and made it past a dozen turns with Epirus.

[LongBlade]

LB you are the only human I know of who has played and made it past a dozen turns with Epirus.

How dare you insult me!

Who said I was human?

[Gusington]

You are the only entity I know of who has played and made it past a dozen turns with Epirus.

[LongBlade]

Better ;)

Let's make it official. The screenies:

[Gusington]

You're in a really rough neighborhood. You're going to have to turtle like you mean it.

[LongBlade]

Turn 60. It is possible to win as Epirus.

Tough, but doable.

[Nefaro]

Nice.


My head scratching regarding Epirus was why they had been set up as such a red-headed stepchild from the start.  They were a pretty beastly little regional power at the time of the campaign start, historically.  Yet in Rome 2 they get crushed into pulp and disappear in record time.  :'(

[GDS_Starfury]

not only is Gus going to cry but CA really should put a 'Hello, Im Gus' setting in the options.
it can probably be done with a simple graphic mod.

[LongBlade]

Nice.


My head scratching regarding Epirus was why they had been set up as such a red-headed stepchild from the start.  They were a pretty beastly little regional power at the time of the campaign start, historically.  Yet in Rome 2 they get crushed into pulp and disappear in record time.  :'(

The solution to win is quite tricky, and is determined in that first turn. But the faction is playable. My campaign continues. I'm now on Turn 97. About Turn 75 Things got a lot easier.

[Gusington]

What are your victory conditions?

[LongBlade]

What are your victory conditions?

Of course it depends on which ones you're going for.

Military:




Cultural:



Economic:

[Martok]

Nice job with Epirus, LB!  I haven't even tried tackling a campaign as them yet. 

[LongBlade]

Nice job with Epirus, LB!  I haven't even tried tackling a campaign as them yet.

Thanks. Currently I'm distracted by the northern tribes, who are doing a good job of tying me down.

The solution, I'm sure, is to ignore them and let them take back their land while I move south toward the victory conditions. (I finally crushed Rome and whoever the nation is on Corsica - that took some work since I was also fighting in the north).

Of course, the problem is a bit of pride. These northern barbarians are taking turns picking me off, so I'm struggling to manage them. If they'd only have declared war one at a time I'd have rolled them up like a carpet. As it is I'm constantly being hit by them, and have been caught off guard and see entire armies wiped out when I was surprised by a really strong attack by multiple barbarian armies.

The solution is to quickly hire mercs to counter the attack, but that kills my budget.

On top of it all, the barbarians have some uber spy/hero units which are able to full stop a couple of armies, grounding me in place so that I can't move them to counter any threats.

In all the AI is doing a marvelous job of preventing me from easily winning. This is perhaps the best (most challenging) campaign I've played yet. A tough nut to crack. I'm loving it, though it can be frustrating at times.

Here's an image of my progress so far and all the tribes against me. The "neutral" tribes along the Atlantic - Namnetes, Picts, etc, are only neutral for now. They've all been at war with me at least a couple of times and are only licking their wounds before they come back at me.

[Sir Slash]

Being at the mercy of enemy super agents can leave you feeling helpless and the AI now uses them much more effectively. Used to you could just wait a couple of turns and they'd wander off somewhere else. Now they stick around like hungry in-laws. The last time I hated an agent so much was those damned Inquisitors from M2TW. I sometimes sacrifice a good battle trait to get a anti-agent trait instead for my generals... helps a little.