Slitherine

Has anyone survived as Etrusci or any of the other Italian factions against the terror that is Rome? It legions (perhaps expensive?) just mop up against anything that hits them. I actually managed to beat back their main army only to lose a region to a force of 2 legions (yes, 2 units)!

Any hints/suggestions?

Blathergut wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:58 am Has anyone survived as Etrusci or any of the other Italian factions against the terror that is Rome? It legions (perhaps expensive?) just mop up against anything that hits them. I actually managed to beat back their main army only to lose a region to a force of 2 legions (yes, 2 units)!

Any hints/suggestions?

What difficulty level? That impacts your options. I can certainly conquer Rome, but unfortunately you don't get their bonuses. I wish the Etruscans had some more flavor that made it more fun to play an alternate history game with them. At least Tarentum has some interesting Hellene mechanics. Not super sure if Samnium is anymore interesting than the Etruscans.

In any case I ran a game on D2 where I defeated Rome. Took me 10 turns to totally wipe them, got their starting lands, my starting lands, plus Picenum. So a way weaker start than theirs and I had a great ruler and a 1-2 general as well. I knew they would siege Picenum. The AI hates assaults. Which is weird cause they could have done it easy. I declared war the turn that they were to deploy so that they were sieging while I assaulted Rome. Thus I control the city and get a garrison by the time they conquer Picenum and run over to me. Once you have Rome they are in trouble because it has their military production, Legion or otherwise.

They sieged me, I attacked out and managed to beat them off. Not many casualties but what counted was I had a turn using Rome's resources to build heavy infantry and mercenaries. Then I wiped out their army at Tiberius with my now superior forces and that was that. They can't recover without Rome. Its very hard to pull off because you can't wait to get the Heavy Infantry building or the mercenaries. I didn't have mercenaries until the turn I broke the siege of Rome. The trick was that even though they had an extra die role and legions I had flanking with my large number of warriors and infantry supporting my heavy. So I barely managed to qualify for the pursuit phase by stalemating the legions and then dropping their skirmishers with flanking and then beat up their non legion guys. Thus when I hit Tiberius they couldn't stop me with my new heavy and mercenary infantry.

You can't afford to wait as the Etruscans because they will quickly become far too powerful to stop and your path to forming Italia Superior requires either Picenum or Rome. If Tarentum, the Senones, and Samnium are all at war with them it triggers the Dictator decision given them an unstoppable army. Even if you tried conquering Cisalpina or something they'd quickly mop up the south and kill you.

I tried a couple of times and got whomped - too many powerful neighbours. Rome has the big advantage locally; if you put all your resources into taking Rome, then the Celts will get you in the back.

This period show their weakness where they're already stagnant and ready to be carved up by aggressive upstart neighbours.

I suspect a Bronze Age variant would be a better time to play Etruscans, such as their expansion into the Po Valley or maybe even the (speculated) migration from the Aegean. Indeed, a Bronze Age Collapse era would make an excellent scenario for this map.

guanotwozero wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:10 am I tried a couple of times and got whomped - too many powerful neighbours. Rome has the big advantage locally; if you put all your resources into taking Rome, then the Celts will get you in the back.

This period show their weakness where they're already stagnant and ready to be carved up by aggressive upstart neighbours.

I suspect a Bronze Age variant would be a better time to play Etruscans, such as their expansion into the Po Valley or maybe even the (speculated) migration from the Aegean. Indeed, a Bronze Age Collapse era would make an excellent scenario for this map.

I can take Rome consistently without getting backstabbed. But its probably just luck where the AI had a different focus or something. Plus replacing Rome takes 10 turns and you don't get anything for it. None of their special stuff. You are just a basic mediocre kingdom both before and after. Kinda lame.