r/RomeTotalWar

It could be better, but spy didn’t open the gates for Thessaloniki :/

In my recent campaign as Carthage, fighting everyone was that hard, even those Egypt and the Germanic archers were hard enough when all I had at best was the slingers available to Carthage (and yes even with upgrades).

I still did manage to get some mercs, but guess what?! Having Cretans or even Rhodians/Balearics do still struggle in VH/VH against these guys armors (I've counted one valley of 80 men only to kill between 0 up to three cataphracts at best). Plus it didn't help when I couldn't retrain mercs obviously.

You might be asking, so where were my slingers? At least you may say that numbers would beat the quality. But no, the distance beats any numbers especially when my style is always playing disadvantageous battles where the enemy has a bunch more infantry (think bridges).

Funny enough, I remember that half-strengh mercenary peltasts struggling and losing pretty much all t except some 5 guys, only to beat 1 cataphract archer.

Anyways, won't make this post that long. And these guys are a worthy foe when playing against.

I would take normal cataphract any day against my spears than daring to try and out missile these guys. At one point, I realized that my sacred band/poeni inf can afford losing one to two men each volley than the around 10 guys of skirmishers.

PS: shout-out to the javelin men, they are actually really decent in numbers against them damned hoplites (used them out of necessity, but ended up appreciating them).

Two turns later they attacked me.

One turn after that they bring me this proposition…

It is 203 BC, Carthage after struggling in the First Punic War, did come at top later after the Barca family overthrew the Council of Elders and established a dynastic monarchy.

The Barcid did lead Carthage to establish hegemony over the Mediterranean. They first crushed the Romans and sacked Rome, reaching the Cisalpine Gallic region. Then after struggling to expand north in Hispania, a new restructuring allowed the Carthaginians to crush the remaining Spanish resistance and expand their mine operations.

As gold and silver streamed down from Hispania. Carthage financed a sea endeavor to gain control of the strategic naval trading port of Rhodes. Sometime later, control over the port has brought the Punic people into war with the Greek-cities league but also brought them extra revenue from trading and access to more eastern goods. An extra revenue that Carthaginian superiority at the seas allowed them to maintain and protect from every rebel or enemy.

War with the Greeks was swift and quick as nothing could've stood against the Punic Cheesing-It Tactics. Not even the Spartans stood a chance!

But before war with the Greeks ending, the Macedonians, took advantage of the preoccupied Punic forces down south the peninsula and tried their luck at Thermon; only to be beaten back like dogs and having Larissa besieged in the same year. Thessalonica followed and by then they tried for peace but it was too late.

Meanwhile in the west, Carthaginian heavily mobile forces have been struggling against the Gauls. Each win did cost tons of men, but Carthage had no shortage of them. And so brave Round Shield Cavaliers threw themselves with their numbers at spear after spear pushing back the territorial control of the Gauls until the latter begged for peace. And peace was accepted, not due to losses but due to the betrayal of the Numidians.

Both the Numidians and the Carthaginians were at peace, they were friends after all and both benefited. Numidians got access to goods they had never imagined and the Phoenicians got a reliable cavalry force they can draw from whenever.

But even common interests change when two Numidian armies had crossed the borders eyeing down the capital, it was then the end of friendship. Carthage panicked and called upon reinforcements from Italy. The initial fights were uncertain but with recruitment rising and the reinforcement had arrived, the tables have turned. It was then only a matter of years before Numidia and all down south came under Carthage's direct control. And then those regional forces reorganized and went east.

The peace in the north didn't last long, the Gauls possessed numbers but they still lacked brains. And so hostilities resumed and Gallic towns one after the other fell. The Britons then, thinking they are facing a depleted force, attacked, but they lacked bigger eyes for the forces they fought stood not alone but backed with large coffers and lands. The invasion of Britannia didn't last long, for they fought strong but the mighty Carthage's coffers were not short of funds.

At the east, war with the Pontics started, and finishing the last of the Greeks was still going on.

Segesta was bought from the Dacians and a border line of forts, towers and a local force was established to keep the Germans on their side of the Rhine.

Back in the east, war with Egypt did prove too costly for many of Carthage's men and mercenaries. But Carthage prevailed and with the Asia Minor stacks succeeding and heading down south, the Seleucid fell down too.

And so the Pax Punica as some call it started. Trade flew from the east to the west and vice versa, and from the north to the south and same the other way. Roads too with endless traffic flourished. All under the protection of the navies and the regional stacks as they beat back at every rebel who dared to let his head stand tall above his shoulders.

Skirmishing at the borders still happens every now and then. With Armenia, hostilities and ceasefires are not unheard of. And with Dacia and the Germans, whenever they dared they got a retaliatory punishment. Crimea was bought and became a hub of trade with the steppe peoples, except that place is maybe cursed and three to-be governors died when they were assigned there, the fourth has arrived and is still alive. Thrace got annihilated and Parthia are still making rugs and drinking beer in their most northern eastern town.

If you've read this far then dude thanks! I personally thought to try something different on this multi months campaign and had some fun.

EDIT: mostly typos corrected.

I recently got a new laptop and decided to have a bit of a nostalgia trip. I’ve never seen Pontus do this though, is this a common enough occurrence?

Mod: Various Animation Tweaks & Stuff!!

Based on reenactments and historical sources. Might be a while before the next release since I have to remake all the combat animations to avoid transition issues.

If you have any suggestions, historical references, or ideas for animations you'd like to see, feel free to leave feedback on the mod page or drop by the DeI Discord!

Was getting rid of pop in my cities and decided to march these chuds to siege a settlement. Mainly to relieve some pressure while retrains were finished. Tbf the garrison was Triarii and Early Legionary but still wasn't expecting the clutch.