Slitherine

I decided to abandon the western regions and concentrate on Sicilia and then Rome. So far the Empire of Carthage is doing okay.

Looks like you are well on your way

Thanks! I made it a goal to conquer the Byzacene province to get access to their provincial cavalry. These were superior to what the Romans had. I was able to hold the line against their Legions and then the cavalry crushed their flanks for the win every time, like Hannibal at Cannae. Peace is won along with a third of Rome, to include Latium. Sopater did what Hannibal could not.

During the peace with Rome, I added Numidia to my empire. So that's 17 regions conquered in the first 61 turns. The peace treaty has just expired with Rome, so it's time to finish them off.

Rome is crushed as an Usurper takes what is left.

How did abandon your initial regions in the West?

I just set the population to produce money and let the other factions gobble them up. I still have one. I have not decided on whether to invade Greece or just take over north Africa, so maybe I'll rescue them after all.

Crushed it!

Added Hispania.

https://we.tl/t-31rEICPlit

Here's a link to the turn 200 saved game file. I just purchased Rhodus and my army is conquering a new region in west Africa.

I am reading your AAR with great interest and use them as learning tools.
Uploading save files is a bright idea and after your Rhodus example I downloaded the Carthage 200 file.
Could you please upload also some earlier ones such as turns 50, 100 or any others you will consider relevant.
Thank you very much.

Welcome to the board!

https://we.tl/t-kPfqeQghjl

Here you go.

It was my hope that the saved games would be a sort of tutorial. They contain much more info than I could ever type out. Good luck!

Perfect. If easily available turn 20 should also be quite helpful for a beginner. Many thanks.

Here you go:

https://we.tl/t-SFYYzJhAxB

I was finishing the conquest of Sicilia and then it's off to crush a minor invasion in Africa.

Many "you're welcomes".

Macedonia is my only rival. I am building up my forces for a showdown. As a preliminary, I have sent out 10 light ships to scout the enemy. I can't stress enough how important a good recon is.

The Macedonian military.

So 7 out of 11 leaders are in their 60's or older. I also have better medium cavalry and a better portion of it. Their skirmishers are also deficient. I will need to double my fleet size. I hope the Macedonians can swim.

A few turns into the war with Macedonia, Rome joined with the Macedonians. Fortunately, I had hired several mostly mercenary armies to guard my borders while the Carthagenians fought the main campaign. I was able to make peace with Macedon and keep all the regions I had conquered because I had severely mauled their armies and navy. Now it's time to finish off Rome. I had previously made the Roman Usurper an ally, but upon his death, that faction reverted to Rome. I allied with Epirus, who were also at war with Rome. So I can finish off Rome for good and then Epirus can aid in the future war with Macedonia.

Here's turn 250.

https://we.tl/t-teh87Lcixl

I took Cisalpina from Rome. The rest of her regions were not useful strategically, so I made peace. Nassomones had 3 of my objectives, so I conquered it and made an alliance with Egypt. This secured my southern and northern flanks, so it was time to deal with Macedonia. However, as soon as I went to war, my economy went into -3000+ per turn. I assume this is some kind of game feature. I was able to mostly undo this by switching every region in Hispania from culture to commerce. I quickly occupied 7 regions from Macedon and crushed their navy...again. I had planned to hold in Greece and conquer all of Asia Minor. This was working well. I had 2 Generals with 0-2 stats holding off about 300 Macedonian units. The Macedonians offered peace, which gave me the 7 regions I had taken. So, I took the offer. I'm going to store up a ton of money in case the game tries to bankrupt me again and thus be prepared to finish them off next time.

I was able to defeat the Macedonians and take all of Asia Minor. However, you can only ask for 12 regions in a peace deal, so they got one area back. However, Macedonia is now an Old Empire and I should win the game in 80 turns by having three times their Legacy total.

Here's turn 300.

https://we.tl/t-fFwhDsvQNs