![best starting faction rome total war 2 best starting faction rome total war 2](https://i.redd.it/jaqmyw74kqs11.png)
Also you have as many as 3 fronts to defend at the get go with pretty much your back against it. I have found carthage one of the hardest factions in vanilla rome 2 simply because the starting captial of the major factions is on par with the smaller ones "if im not mistaken carthage was a dominant trading power at the begging of the game". Now imagine this bonus to the bigger empires you can quickly see its these buffs that are making it more challenging even if the AI is dumb. The problem when you hit the hardest mode is simple the ai can spawn and field maybe 3 full stack definately 2 full stack armies per small nation of just one province. Well all the above is good advice but not for legendary difficulty. That is basically what Rome did, and it is quite a valid strategy in Rome II as well, but regardless: HOW you deal with Carthage decides your options later, but Carthage MUST be dealt with. leave, and hopefully get a peace treaty at some point and focus your attention at Gaul before some local warlord unifies the whole place and becomes a real problem. You may capture carthage, raze all the buildings there, and simply. Capturing Carthage locks you into permanent war in North Africa, and it's a pain to fight there.
![best starting faction rome total war 2 best starting faction rome total war 2](https://static.fandomspot.com/images/11/9927/14-iceni-total-war-rome-ii-faction.jpg)
But what about Carthage itself? The problem is, Carthage is surrounded by their allies, Libya and New Carthage. You may want to take the political hit and take Syracuse, if Carthage didn't solve that problem for you. Fortunately, those cities are easily conquerable (Although you may want ballista for Karalis - I like going for Ballista as soon as possible, but cohorts are good too, but at this point you can have one or the other but not both.).
![best starting faction rome total war 2 best starting faction rome total war 2](https://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/37/36391/images_2.jpg)
You simply can't let Carthage have Karalis and Lilybaeum. In Rome, during, between, and before the Punic wars, it was common for most Senate speeches, regardless of subject, to end with "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" - "Furthermore, Carthage must be destroyed." Rome cannot become great as long as Carthage stands. Now, about all this 'carthage must be destroyed' bit. but that may take patience you don't have. However, if you are fortunate, Carthage has captured Syracuse, meaning you can capture that back, completing Magna Graecia without going to war with an ally. If they are, it gives you a nice casus belli for war with Carthage, which must be destroyed. It's a tossup wether they're at war with Carthage or not at this point. One question is what to do with Syracuse. At this point you share two provinces with Carthage war with them is inevitable, and Carthage must be destroyed. Your most obvious course of action is to look west and capture the last Etruscan city, Alalia, which you've hopefully listened to earlier advice by Waywardz and blockaded. If all goes well, you now have a nice solid foundation, but now you need to consider your next step, and in addition, I contend that Carthage must be destroyed. After capturing - same turn - recruit two more hastati and one more velites, next turn go north to the border to Arimenum, recruit again, and on the 3rd turn, capture Arimenum. Use your spy to poison the army outside, fight it, then capture the city. You can usually take the area north of Rome - Velathri- the first turn. The interesting roster is fun though, and they are a good faction to play for a change of pace from the more traditional Hellenistic factions.I find that taking full provinces is a huge advantage. Once you add a couple provinces to your territory, you can snowball rapidly, gobbling up the former Seleucid satrapies with relative ease. Games tend to follow a pretty similar structure, and being located on the edge of the game map makes it almost too easy, as you don’t ever really have to watch your back. It’s what makes every game different and unique though, as the various shifting alliances leads to interesting opportunities that are always different game to game.īactria, to me, is the least fun of the bunch. Pontus and Pergamon can be tricky, as you have to play somewhat opportunistically. If Epirus doesn’t present a major challenge, Athens and Sparta always inevitably betray me after conquering them, so rushing the barbarian kingdoms in Thracia is an absolute must if you want to be prepared for war in Greece. The toughest of these in my opinion is Macedon, their starting position can be pretty tough.
![best starting faction rome total war 2 best starting faction rome total war 2](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PLWPTw-Coy0/maxresdefault.jpg)
Sometimes to add a little challenge to the game, I’ll seek peace with the Seleucids and conquer the rest of northeast Africa and then move into the Arabian peninsula, or go after Greece/Asia Minor. Once Egypt is yours, the game’s basically over at that point as you become unstoppable.Įgypt can be a lot of fun though too, and I like playing various campaigns with them. Egypt is fairly easy to conquer and serves as an excellent breadbasket. In my opinion they have the best unit roster in the game and Syria is an insanely rich province once developed.