field of glory EMPIRES

[thesecret1]

from the manual:

Field of Glory: Empires has a grand campaign starting in 310BCE that runs for 500 turns to 190 CE. You can play beyond this point but the winner will be determined at that stage. Equally the grand campaign can end earlier if one power establishes a dominant lead of three times as many legacy points as their nearest rival (8.2).

 

[Axioms]

Yeah. I just got unlucky in that every other major power went to shit.

I only had Italia Superior, Italia Inferior, Cisalpina, Sardinia, Sicilia, and then I was working on Transalpina and Rhaetia at the time. Hardly king of the world.

 

[Axioms]

I'm so salty right now. They send the you already won message every turn. Lol sorry you're AI let every major nation crash and burn without me ever even being involved guys... Like except one brief war with Carthage for a single region in Sicily, seeing as they were already getting wrecked and Syracuse had 4/5 regions recovered anyways, I didn't even touch a single major nation. Not even Macedon cause my Boiis wrecked them so hard.

I was literally 5 turns tops away from some kind of civil war since Latium was a majority Celtic region at this point. Kinda bullshit to win even though I tried to get in it with Rome but I never even fought a major war. Well once I dealt with tribal war dec spam in Italy anyways.

 

[thesecret1]

My AI seems to be doing lot better than yours - Seleucids and Antigonids exploded, but Macedonia and Ptolemais are blobbing along nicely, with Macedonia actually overtaking me in legacy points. AI in general seems to be doing decently in legacy, actually - not difficult to be first, but I was never in danger of having three times as the next one. What difficulty were you playing on?

 

[Axioms]

Normal campaign and normal battles since I was just learning the campaign. I did contemplate swapping to easy after a few starts where the AI just dogpiled me and there was nothing I could do but I figured maybe it was just bad luck so I stuck it out.

 

[thesecret1]

Holy shit, reforming to empire was the worst possible decision. I am stuck in eternal civil war. I get a new civil war before the previous one was fought to finish. Enemy magics up legions out the ass, always takes the best fortified regions, and the other AI countries laugh and dogpile. My regions aren't even that disloyal (usually above 60) so I assume I just have shit luck with RNG

 

[Axioms]

Holy shit, reforming to empire was the worst possible decision. I am stuck in eternal civil war. I get a new civil war before the previous one was fought to finish. Enemy magics up legions out the ass, always takes the best fortified regions, and the other AI countries laugh and dogpile. My regions aren't even that disloyal (usually above 60) so I assume I just have shit luck with RNG

Depends on who you play as. Rome has a bonus to civil wars as an empire for historical reasons for instance. So you need most regions above 75%. One region won't revolt of course. For instance when I had Rome at 0% loyalty lol. I had Rome revolt on my in the first game I rushed Empire cause I was a newb and wasn't prepared, though.

 

[Hoggypare]

And bear in mind You also lose that loyalty modifier from 'glorious' trait of the earlier tier

 

[Axioms]

Okay so I upped the difficulty one level but things are actually going even better early. Better first turn buildings, mediocre ruling party but ah well, at least the traits are positive even if I really loved having an early superior administrator. I followed a smarter army build path and won stunning early victories even though I put the FOG2 diff slider up a level as well. I'm just way smarter about skirmishers this time I guess. I took down the Senones on turn 3 in 2 amazing skirmisher provided slaughters, then the Etruscans only came for me the turn after the victory. I took their first land, just won the battle against their armies, ready to take both their remaining lands and the AI has not tried to dogpile me so far. I won my first 2 battles with the Senones 10 to 1 and I won my battle with the Etruscans 15 to 1. The shitty AI kept losing lol. I had a massive skirmisher advantage, heavies and some cav to their mediums, etc with 2 to 1 combat power. How the AI blew it is beyond me. Also lol in the FOG2 battle their generals were on the edge of their line so my legionnaires with generals, sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry, which is why I never intentionally run medium or armored horse units, was fighting unboosted italian foot. I got 15% rout from wiping their mediocre skirmisher forces before the battle even started and then cleaned up because medium infantry are shit in this game.

The guides to Rome all say to use your Roman equipment cache to build 2 new legions but that's shit advice. 1 legion and then a cav skirmisher and 4 foot skirmishers is way better. There is literally never a time when you don't want a huge skirmisher advantage. The AI will pretty much always wait for the skirmish phase to resolve if you don't get too close to their main line. So you end up with a 10-15% rout score and then a couple turns to harass their medium infantry and soften them up. Also skirmishers help break up the AI battle line so you can 2-3 v 1 and get ahead.

Here I am at the start of turn 7 with the third difficulty on combat and campaign, way ahead of last time, though a lot is luck of the AI not all declaring one a turn. Got all of Italia Superior plus Campania and Aemilla, which the shitty diplo mechanics basically force you to conquer to prevent the Senones from annoying you forever.

Being much smarter about building optimization though I still spam decadence stuff everywhere plus health stuff and anything 0 slot.

Also now that the AI is giving me a break I'm gonna go grab slingers as my first priority. Those things are amazing.

I think I could get a turn 50 legacy win this time if I wanted. Its actually super easy to abuse culture to win. Well depends on how the Successor states go I guess. In a way the 7-8 of those guys sort of prevent the 3x legacy rule from ending most games early since you have several mostly co-equal powers.

 

[Stone Dog]

sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry

FYI generals and their commands are reassignable in FOG2 (a pain in the ass, admittedly).

Also holy shit, the building micro gets really intense when you get a sizeable empire.

 

[Hoggypare]

Also lol in the FOG2 battle their generals were on the edge of their line so my legionnaires with generals, sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry, which is why I never intentionally run medium or armored horse units, was fighting unboosted italian foot. I got 15% rout from wiping their mediocre skirmisher forces before the battle even started and then cleaned up because medium infantry are shit in this game

You can transfer generals to other units freely. Also medium infantry is not shit (especially some of its regional variants like thracians or iberians), extremely useful for sieges, just as Romans You have access to probably the best units in game and alae serve as siege infantry (also Roman heavy infantry have sweet movement 5 instead of 4) - it is a matter of perspective, as Carthage You would not badmouth medium infantry

 

[Axioms]

sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry

FYI generals and their commands are reassignable in FOG2 (a pain in the ass, admittedly).

Also holy shit, the building micro gets really intense when you get a sizeable empire.

Not correct. I will not let me re-assign generals from cavalry to infantry because they are in "different commands" or something. You can move generals around between infantry and of course put your bonus generals wherever you want. I tried really hard to get generals off cavalry but it was no good.

 

[Stone Dog]

Also medium infantry is not shit (especially some of its regional variants like thracians or iberians), extremely useful for sieges

Admittedly med inf is shit looked at in the FOG2 context, usually underperforming even when used to roll a flank or hold it in difficult ground. I'm taking them only because of the extremely inlegant siege value they have (not bonus, because other units don't seem to have effect on sieges).

 

[Hoggypare]

Not correct. I will not let me re-assign generals from cavalry to infantry because they are in "different commands" or something. You can move generals around between infantry and of course put your bonus generals wherever you want. I tried really hard to get generals off cavalry but it was no good.

Put them in the same commands then, switch infantry to the same command group and then move generals

 

[Axioms]

Also lol in the FOG2 battle their generals were on the edge of their line so my legionnaires with generals, sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry, which is why I never intentionally run medium or armored horse units, was fighting unboosted italian foot. I got 15% rout from wiping their mediocre skirmisher forces before the battle even started and then cleaned up because medium infantry are shit in this game

You can transfer generals to other units freely. Also medium infantry is not shit (especially some of its regional variants like thracians or iberians), extremely useful for sieges, just as Romans You have access to probably the best units in game and alae serve as siege infantry (also Roman heavy infantry have sweet movement 5 instead of 4) - it is a matter of perspective, as Carthage You would not badmouth medium infantry

As noted in my reply to the other comment the game won't let me move generals across commands or something dumb like that.

Also medium infantry are trash. Especially Italian Foot is worthless. Like if I was Carthage fighting Rome I'd be crying because medium infantry would get slaughtered. Okay to be fair the AI is trash so maybe not. They are just super bad and their terrain bonus is mediocre. Autoresolve for them is okay I guess but I play out most major battles.

 

[Stone Dog]

Not correct. I will not let me re-assign generals from cavalry to infantry because they are in "different commands" or something. You can move generals around between infantry and of course put your bonus generals wherever you want. I tried really hard to get generals off cavalry but it was no good.

You need to assign another unit to the general's command, transfer him, then reassign the unit back to what it was. A pain in the ass, as I said.

 

[Axioms]

sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry

FYI generals and their commands are reassignable in FOG2 (a pain in the ass, admittedly).

Also holy shit, the building micro gets really intense when you get a sizeable empire.

Not correct. I will not let me re-assign generals from cavalry to infantry because they are in "different commands" or something. You can move generals around between infantry and of course put your bonus generals wherever you want. I tried really hard to get generals off cavalry but it was no good.

Put them in the same commands then, switch infantry to the same command group and then move generals

No idea how to do anything with commands. How do you take units in and out? Game should just let you assign generals freely, problem solved.

 

[Axioms]

Not correct. I will not let me re-assign generals from cavalry to infantry because they are in "different commands" or something. You can move generals around between infantry and of course put your bonus generals wherever you want. I tried really hard to get generals off cavalry but it was no good.

You need to assign another unit to the general's command, transfer him, then reassign the unit back to what it was. A pain in the ass, as I said.

Eww...

 

[Axioms]

Also medium infantry is not shit (especially some of its regional variants like thracians or iberians), extremely useful for sieges

Admittedly med inf is shit looked at in the FOG2 context, usually underperforming even when used to roll a flank or hold it in difficult ground. I'm taking them only because of the extremely inlegant siege value they have (not bonus, because other units don't seem to have effect on sieges).

Rather save a ton of recruit cost, since medium infantry have stacking cost penalties on recruitment and max out skirmishers, especially if I have range 2 skirmishers. Especially once you have a decent size military you can get 5 skirmishers for the price of one medium infantry.

 

[Stone Dog]

stacking cost penalties

Only provincial units have that. Generic medium infantry doesn't. Skirmishers are good, but can't hold a line and have difficulties forcing morale checks on good heavy infantry. Again, talking about the FOG2 resolution system here, not the autobattles.

 

[Axioms]

stacking cost penalties

Only provincial units have that. Generic medium infantry doesn't. Skirmishers are good, but can't hold a line and have difficulties forcing morale checks on good heavy infantry. Again, talking about the FOG2 resolution system here, not the autobattles.

Ah well Rome hasn't got any generic medium. And sadly the legions and the Alae both have stacking cost. Do all heavies?

Still they are so weak. 5 skirmishers is easily worth more than one of them. Though I guess with just base cost maybe you only get 4? What's the cost of generic mediums?

 

[Hoggypare]

Medium infantry costs 30 gold. I disagree that they are useless, however You get what You are paying for. I personally prefer to have some thureophoroi to cover my phalanx instead of citizen hoplites. I don't need them for breakthrough, I just need them to hold a line long enough so my phalanx does the job. Of course You can make army consisting only of elite units, but that is expensive (and boring, and ahistorical). I prefer to field 2 good enough armies instead one that would completely dominate the FoG2 battles

 

[Axioms]

Medium infantry costs 30 gold. I disagree that they are useless, however You get what You are paying for. I personally prefer to have some thureophoroi to cover my phalanx instead of citizen hoplites. I don't need them for breakthrough, I just need them to hold a line long enough so my phalanx does the job. Of course You can make army consisting only of elite units, but that is expensive (and boring, and ahistorical). I prefer to field 2 good enough armies instead one that would completely dominate the FoG2 battles

Eh 30 gold isn't terrible. Still prefer more skirmishers but I could see a time when I would rather get 5 mediums than another cost escalating legion or alae.

The thing about skirmishers vs medium infantry is that during FOG2 battles the AI will sit there and let you wail on them with skirmisher cav without any response. I literally broke a general with only 5 skirmisher cav and only the turn after that did they move their massive stack of medium infantry forward to engage my line. If not for my skirmisher cav killing that general and softening up their troops I would have been overrun. Question related to that, do medium infantry get 3 battle map stacks to the 2 for the legion and alae?

 

[oscar]

sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry

FYI generals and their commands are reassignable in FOG2 (a pain in the ass, admittedly).

Also holy shit, the building micro gets really intense when you get a sizeable empire.

Not correct. I will not let me re-assign generals from cavalry to infantry because they are in "different commands" or something. You can move generals around between infantry and of course put your bonus generals wherever you want. I tried really hard to get generals off cavalry but it was no good.

Your left and right flank cavalry get a free SC each (which is why in FoG2 you want to always take at least one cavalry on both wings unless you're playing some weird all infantry army list like Spartacus slaves or Jewish Revolt). So if you have an army of ten infantry you will have less sub-commanders available than if you have eight infantry and two cavalry.

 

[Axioms]

sadly the game forces generals on useless cavalry

FYI generals and their commands are reassignable in FOG2 (a pain in the ass, admittedly).

Also holy shit, the building micro gets really intense when you get a sizeable empire.

Not correct. I will not let me re-assign generals from cavalry to infantry because they are in "different commands" or something. You can move generals around between infantry and of course put your bonus generals wherever you want. I tried really hard to get generals off cavalry but it was no good.

Your left and right flank cavalry get a free SC each (which is why in FoG2 you want to always take at least one cavalry on both wings unless you're playing some weird all infantry army list like Spartacus slaves or Jewish Revolt). So if you have an army of ten infantry you will have less sub-commanders available than if you have eight infantry and two cavalry.

What other stuff generates sub commanders? I've had 4 with no cavalry. And I saw 5 once on an enemy with only medium infantry and warrior bands.