Hi, I am really new to RTW I just got it a day or two ago. I started a new carthage campain and there i really started to notice "I kick butt or this game is too easy" After a while of winning and winning i just could not push back the romans cause Juliii and scipio were attacking me then gaul was attacking my spanish borders now the senate and numidia is attacking me! Numidia is easy because there armies are spread out in little groups and i find my army running around deserts chasing numidians then scipi keeps sending more and more troops and they are at the point were they come and die in little numbers. But Julii Keeps coming in big numbers! And now suddenly brutti has a full navy slot and i have been fighting numdia, julii, scipi, senates navy forever and i am finding my water routes doomed = traped troops on the island north of cartahe!!! I actually quit playing a turn after Scipio left cause of revolts and they never got any where i should try to get going but my point is I attacked in the first few turns. Try and wait a while build up a economy cause i got stuck in a defense everywhere then i lost the sea and was doomed! So try to wait a little, take out gauls spain spot early and then caesefire There are tips i got. And i just had to say my carthage story. Also b4 i quit i tryed making a despert assult on Rome 3 armies full of troops to rome! One boat with my best gen and goood troops that i used a strat that left casualties so low got shot down cause it was the last few boats i had once i landed it was like 1000 vs 2000. I lost but i saved b4 i lost and i kept trying and stuff but could not beat there army. Proably cause i had only a lot of light infatry ok amout of cavs and archers + dogs. Remember it was my second day of owning it. So do not assult rome fast do not rush or u will be on the defensive for a while til death and keep your cities in african mainland pumping out constant navy!!!

First of all, I'm gonna say that no matter how hard you try, you will eventually lose Sicily. I started a campaign as Carthage by allying with the Numidians and the greeks and taking Messana. I even got to a point where I sent a full flag to Italy and seiged Capua. However, you cannot possibly hold off the Roman's forever. The senate army forced me to quickly retreat my experienced but battle worn troops back to Messana. After that little stunt, Messana was almost continually under seige. Worse, the Brutii decided to take out my Greek neighbor, whom I had been protecting, and eventually I lost Messana and was forced to demolish all the buildings in Lilybaeum and abandon it to the Rebels. A rather disasterous campaign in Spain had lost me Corduba (though I gained two other provinces) and by now I was over 3,000 dinerai in debt. Also, the numidians had betrayed me and had besieged and almost taken Carthage

However, the war had been costly for the Scipii. I had taken up a policy of taking out family members on sight, and by this time, they had almost no family left. They besieged and assaulted an understrength garrison in Carthage, but fortunatley some reinforcements from the Numidian campaign came in and saved they day, albiet at the cost of my faction leader. Unbenonst to me, the last Scipii family memebr was killed during the battle, so the next tern the faction was dystroyed. The Romans never bothered me again.

My advice: Try to take out Numidia before going all out against Rome. The Romans are too powerful early on to take, so try to build an empire in North Africa and Spain before going for Italy. Don't be afraid to abandon Sardinia, but try to hold out against the Scipii, as if they take Sicily they will become too powerful an enemy. Just be prepared to fight a LOT of seiges.

It seems no-one in this thread has had much experience as Carthage. Here's a hint from a *cough* seasoned *cough* gamer.

In the first turn, take your troops from Lilibaum (I know that's spelt wrong, I lost my map) and combine them with Hanno's army on Sicily. Immediately launch an assault on Messana. Attack as soon as you get there (elephants can bash down gates/walls). It shouldn't be too hard to win. Ally with the Greeks or, later, take Syracuse. Your choice, but I prefer to ally. Begin building an Awesome Temple to Baal in Carthage, and roads/walls in your other cities.

Soon, the Scipii will come gunning for Syracuse and Messana, but you can fight them off fairly easily. Build up military buildings in Carthage and Thapsus, as well as Sicily. When you have a full-stack army WHICH CONTAINS ELEPHANTS, set sail for Capua. Disembark, attack the city. When you take it, exterminate the populace and destroy every building in the town. Set taxes to Very High, take your army out of the city and back onto the ships. Retreat to Carthage. Take Syracuse now if you haven't already.

At around this point, the Julii will attack... ack, I can't remember this name either. Y'know the island above Sicily? The Julii attack that.

Now, my advice would be to simply give it up. It isn't worth it - the garrison will cost more than you'll get from the city.

As well as this, the Spanish will attack Corduba around now. You probably won't be able to hold it, and I don't send any troops, for one.

So this is your situation - two of your weak colonies have been taken, you have all of Sicily, and your only threat is Numidia. At this point, consolidate, when you have enough, attack Italy. It should fall fairly quickly.

My strategy is different to that. I dislike the idea of abandoning anything. First of all I set all my taxes to very high. I then build ports in thapsus and lilybaeum. I start training peasants in caralis. I then build a shipwright in Carthage. I build a shrine of some sort in corduba. My favourite is Baal. I then hire the mercenary hoplites with my faction leader.
Next turn I build mines in Corduba, a pallisade wall in caralis and farmland in Palma. I hire the rest of the mercenaries in sicily and then head east. I destroy the Roman armies and take Messana using my spy. From there the Romans are in idre straits. I enslave the people and destroy the scipii navy bringing more troops. From there I wait.

In my current campaign i have found a very good way to defeat the scipii.

Take all of siciliy as soon as possible with your army from lilybaum (spelling), caralis, carthage and that army on sicily. While your doing that create a huge navy, and place it around sicily. When all of siciliy is yours, send some of your navy to blockade capua. Destroy any ship you see near siciliy, and caralis if you decide to keep it.

This way you do not need an army on sicily, and your are free to send your troops to north africa and quickly take out the numidians.

It's also a good idea to ally with gaul or spain, since that will stop any attack on corduba.

After you have taken west africa, continue to spain, and then egypt or italy.

Carthage is very spread at the beginning. Although I am no big fan of surrendering anything, I found out that holding Sardinia (Caralis) against the Iulii is very hard and not really worth the effort. You can always come back later...

Still, giving up Corduba is more I can bear. For one, it is making quite good money, and then it is such a nice stepping stone to the conquest of Hispania. In my campaign, I found the Gauls more of a threat than the Iberians, though. Be prepared to create a massive garrison here.

Sicily: Attack! Never in the game will the Romans be as weak as they are now. Best ally with the Greeks (though they are damn sneaky little gits, no offense meant). It is no good to fight two opponents here this early in the game. Take all the troops you can get, conquer Messana and cross to Italy as soon as possible. Either conquer Kroton and Tarentum, effectively crippling the Brutii, or go for Capua, knocking the Brutii out of the game.

The latter choice is more dangerous as it places your army in a position where it can be attacked by the Senate, the Brutii and the Scipii, sometimes even the Iulii come wandering down from up north.

But remember: Speed is of the essence!

The Numidians can be a royal pain in the a***, but I regard them as a minor theatre of war. Slowly conquering Cirta, Tingis and (neutral) Leptis Magna will strangle them into submission. Their other settlements are hardly worth the effort at this stage.

After a phase of consolidation, you are free to conquer the whole of Italy (recommended) or Spain and prepare for the inevitable clash with allmighty Egypt.

[This message has been edited by Primus Pilus (edited 07-05-2005 @ 06:03 AM).]

All right, I post at night and wake up with some great advice Thanks. It sounds like most everyone agrees, hit Rome early, cripple it and then come back full strength to finish the job.

My strategy was different... I just flat out gave up cordobia and Manisa and took those armies and took Crete and that province in africa just north of Libya and south of crete. Basically, I just traded settlements for better position. Then I took Africa from the numidians pretty easily without worry about Rome.

Build up a big-ol fleet of about two units of birimes in each battle group, it's important to keep a lot of individual groups. When you see a scipii ship, attack with one group. It will flee into another battle group. Attack again, etc, until it's sunk. This gives you control of the seas. Eventually, the Scipii will try to land invade into Africa... all you have to do is simply sink their transports. They usually send a full flag over in one unit of biremes... something that you can easily take down. Then it's goodbye full flag army! Do this enough times and then the Scipii will have nothing left on Sicily, so then you can sweep all three provinces really easily with little resitance, and you take all these nice, advanced, well populated cities for your disposal.

of all the replies, Beavers is the best as it is the most logical and effective.

It seems as if everyone has no trouble capturing Messana but has trouble holding it as the Scipii constantly attack the city. The solution? Don't let the them attack you!

Think about it, Sicily is an island, and in order to attack an island, you need to transport units onto enemy shores, and in order to transport units, you need ships. So all you have to do is build a larger navy and chase the pathetic Roman fleets away from the island. That way, the cities on Sicily needs minimum garrison, meaning low unit upkeep and more cash for you! You are now free to take Syracuse and destroy the Numidians without worry of Sicily being taken.

My strat isn't cheaper, you have to pay for a navy instead of an army. However since carthages starting units are so weak, it's must better to use a navy.

I also have found that it works best to attack the Romans asap and drive them out of Sicily. Then you should blockade as many Roman ports as you can (esp. Capua) and destroy any ships they build. Also after you take Messana, you should take Syracuse then move your army to attack Numidia. Good Luck.

Ugh, I hate playing as Carthage. Too many sieges. I usually pack all my outlying little colonies like Caralis and Sicily and migrate to somewhere. Taking Carthage to Britain is quite fun i think.

I love the Blitzkreig tactic, but I rarely use it because, to me, it seems counter-productive. I mean, to win the game you have to capture and hold 50 provinces; why give a settlements back to the enemy (no matter how damaged) when you can keep the settlement and use it as a forward military base? That's just me.

I don't mind withdrawing from Corduba. I exchange it with the Spanish or Numidians for money and get trade rights with the Gauls, Spanish, and Numidians. I consolidate Sicily and leave Sardinia. From then on, I make peace with the Greeks and send small armies into Brutii territory since the Scipii aren't much after Messina is taken.

I am playing Carthage campaign on hard/med, so maybe it isn't a lot of help in very hard but here goes. My Faction leader died on first turn :-( so I brought the general in Carthage. He's +2 command in ambushes. So I brought as much army as possible from carthage, hired all mercenaries and sat in ambush. Luckily the scipii walked right into the trap and were destroyed. Then it was a cakewalk to capture Messana. I built up my forces there steadily there and used my ships to prevent scipii from landing. I then trained a Huge navy. Then I proceeded to blockade all Roman ports on my side (Rome, Messana, Arretium). I had already lost caralis but the Julii are now cut off from there and I will get it back after some time.
After that I proceeded to blockade the brutii ports and the remaining julii port (Arminium). There were some sea battles but I had two Heroic Victories. Now the Romans are stranded on Italy, with all their ports blockaded and their fleets destroyed. They still attempt to train a few boats but they are destroyed on the first turn. I took Syracuse and then made peace with Greeks. A good thing too because else their full stack navy would have ruined my plans completely (They still bribed away some of my Long Shields). Now it's just a matter of time before I take over Italy. I have alliances with Spain and Numidia (Spain itself proposed it) and I am keeping Spain happy with small gifts. So I guess the best thing to do is to take Messana quickly, then build a strong navy, destroy Scipii ships first and then other Roman ships and then blockade all roman ports to make sure they can't become strong. Oh! and not to get in a fight with too many factions at once, if you can help it. And if you have to attack Syracuse (a good idea IMO), make peace with Greeks after that else you risk losing your fleet. And use the elephants well.

I'm doing a Carthaginian campaign on h/h. I've taken Messana and killed all the Scipii armies on Sicily. I'm going to try to get an alliance with Gaul as soon as the Julii declare war on them, and soon I will attack Spain for the med trade routes. I'm also about to take Syracuse. After that, I intend to sack Capua and Tarentum, then take Croton to keep. I may even have enough men by then to keep Tarentum as well. This should give me enough buildup time to get an army to sack Arminium and Arretium. After that, Rome is relatively undefended, and should fall relatively easily. A few remanants of the Brutii in Greece shouldn't trouble me, and I'll take Numidia after Spain, then the south of Gaul and Greece.

I had never thought about selling Corduba...but that does sound like a good plan...However, both Numidia and Spain are pretty poor...so could they afford a good price? Lol...I guess maybe 100 gold every other season for the next 20 years!

I think taking over Numidia is a good priority after making sure the Romans are kept in check. They are very weak at the beginning and even their strongest cities have no more than a garrion of skirmishers. It also adds cities to me without any culture penalty, since they have the same buildings and shrines as Carthage.

I'm going to go for Numidia when Spain is destroyed, using the troops trained in Spain. I will take Cirta from Carthage, but Tingi, Nepte and Dimmiddi from Spain. Remember, sending over a unit or two of Elephants can make all the difference (knocking down walls etc.)

An alternative strategy I have worked out is to blockade all of Italy very quickly. That way the Brutii can't expand. The Julii can't take Caralis. The Scipii can't reinforce Sicily. Take out all Roman navies and play on unit size small. Take all of sicily and then move to crush Spain. Then take over Africa. You'll be making loads of money. Now move an army to the north of Italy and land one in the south. From here crush the pathetically weak Romans. They will have been strangled by the blockade and will be unable to put up a good fight.