Slitherine

Playing as the Arverni i was at war with the Venetii and found that they had 2 cities with very high defence POW of 80 and 74. How do they get values that high?

I have not yet played them, but noticed when considering factions for my game, that that was how the Venetii were described. Something about fortresses and the ability to escape by sea. So I imagine that they have some faction attribute to reflect this historical strength.

With that high a POW + Palace Guard + Frontage of 6 i could have had a CV of 1000 and still not beat them.

Just starve them out. The Palace Guard are much less of a problem once they haven't eaten for a couple of years

Try playing as the Dacians. They get special mountain fortresses that make Fort Knox look insecure

yes, they get a defenisve bonus, but be careful about interpreting the 'defensiveness' score. Its an abstract measure to give some idea how hard a region will be to take.

Solution as ever, is an army with lots of MI, some HI for the assault and cut off sea-resupply. Also you can wear down defenders with failed attacks - you should be able to recover losses much quicker. But if you lack naval power I'd leave them alone for now.

thanks for all the info and tips, will keep all this in mind for my next game

cheers