Rome in DEI was the most authentic gameplay ive ever had. The Punic wars raged on for over 100 turns for me. With pirates and Romes crappy Navy made it hard to invade carthage. It was so much fun.
Same. I resorted to crossing the Alps and occupying Carthaginian territories in Hispania, before pincering Carthage itself from Numidia and Sicily. In the vanilla game, you could take Carthage after a few breeze battles, making it a hollow victory.
"HE WAS A CONSUL OF ROME!!" Did you hear about Ray Stevenson(Pullo from Rome)? That one hit hard, I was so excited that he was gonna be in the new Ashoka show. He was an amazing actor, one of my favs.
Even though my potato pc won't play anything that isn't an indie game or from 15/20 years ago I can sit and nerd over videos like these for hours. why do I want to watch an overview of faction from a game I won't play any time soon if ever? Well, it's just fun! Awesome work with the video!
Haha thanks so much mate! I'm the same for a lot of games because my pc isn't great now too. I hope your pc situation improves soon mate! You'll have thousands of hours in this mod if you do :)
You get access to some amazing 400-man auxiliary units as Rome. I believe the ones recruited in Dacia and Illyria are superior in stats to regular legionaries. Also some auxiliary cataphracts in Pannonia I think.
Those ship towers are excellent in landing operations since they have endless ammo and they shoot while they are on the beach, so you can stay near them to benefit from that, or sail near the enemy troops on shore to let them do some killing. Just be careful also while being near them as they can shoot your troops in the back, so position yourself correctly.
I'm on my first playthrough of DEI after completing some 8 campaigns as Rome before and I had to restart it about turn 6 at the latest 5 times because Epirus and Etruscia absolutely dogged me on normal difficulty (my lack of knowledge about the new units didn't help) I'm now on my 7th run and finally got my fitting only because I managed to broker peace with Epirus 1st turn and all the other families didn't hate me at the start and massive civil unrest from the get go. And the fact that armies are now decreasing public order instead of increasing it is also quite the change. Been playing with a pops mod before tho so that wasn't difficult to adjust to lol
Can be a bit daunting at first but once you play a few campaigns you'll get the hang of it mate. I recommend you take on the Etruscans within the first 4 turns. March your army north as you recruit more heavy infantry, you'll outclass them easily :)
For me, I took both the starting legions, decked them out and took Taras quickly, and peaced out with Epirus. Then I focused on the Etruscans. Once they were gone I took Cisalpina, and by then the war with Carthage began. The whole time I was focusing on peace treaties with the greek world. Of course I lost that campaign due to pirates taking Asculum and magically spawning a 15 stack there instantly. (I wish DEI at least didn't have shit like that, but it's better than vanilla still). I'm honestly not sure what to do about the pirates, I was barely scraping by with the legions I did have against Carthage, and didn't have nearly enough money for a fleet to defend against the pirates, so I'm at a bit of an impasse for now. It wouldn't be much of a problem if they just sacked the towns like normal pirates, but occupying it and spawning a new faction with a nearly full high quality army is just fucking stupid.
@@stunseed8385 thanks for the tip to it comes a bit late lol. Ive completed 2 DEI campaigns since and am on my 3rd by now. If you're wondering, I've added some submods every run to fit it to my preferences. I got rid of the army garrison debuff by now and got a mod that allows for much more Armies so I can have generals with small Armies (less than 5 units usually) as province governors. The generals are built for administration and improving cultural convertion while I have only 2 actual Armies, my consular Armies at any given time where the generals are skilled for combat buffs. That way I can actually use the multitudes of family members I have by the midgame while keeping the other parties happy by sending them on diplomatic missions over and over. I also went with a 2 turns per year mod while changing the reform requirements to get more historically accurate units for the given time period. Just hit my polybian reforms at turn 100. Marian's are gonna be around 100BC now and Imperials around 20BC. I also figured out how to postpone war with Carthage so I don't get dunked on from 3 sides and can have a more methodical playthrough. Just stay at war with Syracuse but never fight them. Carthage wipes them out and the script doesn't trigger until like turn 50 or so. Many of the other factions have hit their reforms long before me so they stand a much better chance against me without the cheat buffs the AI gets on higher dif. I managed to win my first Punic War without wiping Carthage out and only taking Sicilia and Corsica/Sardinia by only defeating their Armies and sacking their cities. Now I'm in my Second Punic War, taken Africa Province, gotten the Numidians to break their Vassalage and make piece with me while I have 1 consular army march into Spain and finish Carthage off this time.
I know Rorarii are weak but even weak units can hold a front line in DEI. I personally use the Rorarii in my front line and have stronger spears fill in gaps and assist while my Principes out flank the enemy. I mostly do this because 3rd class citizens are easier to replace and unit upkeep is lower. This is really good for early to mid game. My biggest complaint about Rorarii is after the Polybian "upgrade." Before the reform Rorarii were the cheapest unit that could form a square, which is useful for holding a front line. After the reform they have the exact same stats and no ability to form square, not sure why this was a design choice.
There is a mod that places the socii units to population type 4 which massively improves their useability, also the velites are the most underrated unit in the polybian roster.🙂
@@Immersaholic you need to balance it yourself ofcourse, otherwise the game becomes way too easy, but it is more realistic because in the real roman history they were not ‘citizens of rome’ there by not pop 2 or 3🙃
Primus inter pares= first among(st) equals This was also what Augustus called himself. He was not an emperor, he was the first citizen, the Princeps, the first among equals.
Cool breakdown. On a related note, when I was fighting Rome as Massalia in DEI = basically you got to outnumber the legions and take them piecemeal. Massalian Thorax-type sword infantry *can* fight Rome Principes, Prima Corhors or even Legionaires head on same with Massalian elite hoplites... but I was heavily reliant on Cavalry to slam into their backs and also on my Peltasts to wipe a flank and pile in.
Thanks mate, yes your definitely right! Although I'd probably prefer to use hoplites more than swords against Rome as they will last a super long time in phalanx, then hit them with as much cav or shock infantry as you can. You have some helpful axemen in Northern Italy too that you can recruit.
Glad you confirmed the lower health of the 400 man units because my units were getting torn up despite having 3 gold bars of experience. In reflection it makes sense as 400 man unit with double health would be unstoppable in combat and thats before you include the fact they are in the rome faction
Ok, Primus Inter Pares means literally "the first (or better "the major one") between the two equals". The equals were the two consuls, the political guides of Republican Rome. It was a late republic / early principate era definition for what we call today "emperor". In all effect, when Octavian became emperor, he was officially proclamated Primus Inter Pares because the roman world wasn't ready to accept monarchy like in its ancient past (before the Tarquinii were driven out of the city) or in the near East, like at the hellenistic and Parthian courts.
I have done one before but I probably need to redo it. It was quite a while ago. The end of the campaign section is where I also try to give tips and advice but maybe I can do extra for that faction
i remember when i was playing the original rome total war as a kid my hastati became such veterans from being with me at the start that they outclassed early legions
@@Immersaholic One of the silliest things from the first RTW. Every level of experience meant a +1 to attack (both ranged and melee) and (melee) defense. Based on this arrangement you can imagine how ranged units have a scaling advantage.
The Antesignani I think are quite underrated in the campaign with their ranged alpha damage + spears with bonus damage vs cav. As long as they're deployed with a throwaway unit to take charges and missiles for them (any regional levy unit is fine), they are great as counters to everything the Legionaries are weak against.
Alternatively, because of how good Legionaries are defensively when in their formation, you can leave gaps between cohorts for the skirmishers to pour javelins at point blank range through said gaps into enemy heavy units.
Exactly. They’re described as elite light infantry anyway, and in my campaigns they’re always one of the first units to reach gold chevrons due to how good they are, even when their javelins are spent
God damn bro, hour and 43 min overview! Hahaha, that's awesome. I love this mod and am glad to have channel like yours that goes so in-depth. Keep up the good work homie, rip your kitty. :(
Actually war dogs can be devastating, I almost always use a full dog stack, they can decimate many types of low armour armies, use them like torpedoes. The kicker is that using it as support army, after you launch the dogs, just keep the handlers back and run them out of the battle so you won't take any casualties. Sometimes if caught alone with dog army, launch the dogs and run away, next fight you have all your dogs again, while enemy lost units.
It can definitely be easily abused. I see how they can be useful but I kinda look at them like chariots. A fun idea that can do decent in the right circumstances. But I’d prefer a solid unit that I know will perform great every time against certain units
I'm not sure if it's already been mentioned (and I don't have the wherewithal to read all 262 comments) but Primus Inter Pares means "first among equals"
I have 2000+ hours on Rome 2 and probably 600 of that is DEI. And even for me playing as Rome can be a coin flip between easy and hard, depends on the AI.
I just get peace and confederate the Etruscans on turn 1. Drag as many people into the war as you can (you might have to pay Carthage a little money but it's worth it), the balance of power becomes such that they will accept peace and confederation.
@@Immersaholic I did. I'm not sure if it's changed since the video or if I've missed something, but Epirus seem to start with a much stronger army in Italy (playing on hard). It took a lot of trial and error before I figured out a starting strategy that worked for me, but the video was helpful and I enjoyed watching. I'm loving the slower pace of the game, I feel like I've actually worked for my gains as opposed to steamrolling everyone.
I agree on the pacing for sure :) I'm not sure if Epirus has been changed or not, I want to start a series focusing more on how factions can do well early on.@@ellis9290
Thanks mate! Occasionally things will happen where I gotta step away for a short time but I don’t plan on shutting the channel down for many years to come.
Rorarii are great when you can't afford full army of good units - they are like 3 times cheaper than Principes and it's really beneficial to have more units than enemy, even if they are shit ones only usable for flanking..
Thanks for the vid, enjoying a DEI Rome campaign now! Hey checkout the Better Water mod when you next play, its really outstanding how much it changes the reflections and hue of the water.
Thanks very much :) Enjoy your campaign! I'd love to hear about how you go! Also I have used that better water mod before, I found it to be a bit too bright to my taste. Orbis Terrarum Realistic Water does a really good job with the water in my opinion. Thank you regardless :)
BTW the Hastati aren’t meant to be good. DEI focuses a lot on historical accuracy and the Hastati were mostly recruits who went i to battle first to break or at least tire out the enemy. Rome utilized 3 lines of different units with each line further back being more experienced. So if the enemy did manage to break through the front line, they’d have to break through a second tougher (and fresh) second line, and then the most experienced (and fresh) 3rd line. Rome rarely ever deployed the third like though and it was seen as a desperate act to use them, most famously they were used mostly against Pyrrus and Carthage during the Republic’s early wars in Southern Italy. DEI wants you to likewise use the Tripex strategy to fight as Rome, which is why so many units are at different levels of “stats” meant to represent a sort of artificial experience outside of the experience mechanic.
Indeed you are correct. I mainly complain about them in terms of just meta and gameplay :P I almost always have people in the comments of videos with them swearing they are fantastic, but in terms of pure game play it makes no sense at all to recruit them over Principes. Playing immersively of course recruiting them is fun and makes sense though :)
Problem is with dei is that the Plebian class is quite limited so your biggest concern is not cost but population. Paying extra for Princepes is simply just more worth it.
I wish I’d known about the automatic war with Carthage once you take syracuse. It is painful to fight carthage early. Their navy is massive and their client states would send armies constantly. I took a chance and invaded carthage and got stuck there 😥
You can try and liberate their weaker coastal settlements. You can take them with a relatively small navy and then pull out before they can retaliate. That way you create Allies all along their coastline
Thanks for watching! I almost always use submods for my campaigns. Graphic ones and then things like 12 turns per year, cultural tensio, and realistic legions are great. Then the antiquity overhaul mod is amazing too
Finally rome :) If I may abuse this for a question. Do you have any clue how to remove the trait "disdained faction leader" ? Parthia starts with it e.g. and it just sucks a lot. Would be worth it to just kill off your faction leader because he has it. Furthermore i read everywhere that your faction leader gives bonuses when in the capital. However, i don't observe anything at all, is this juts outdated info on all the websites?
For the first question, just have to kill your leader sadly. For the second question, there is bonuses but some are more discrete. Like it’ll help your population improve. I believe you also have to have your leader be a general in order to get their personal trait bonuses to take affect. You can then also select trait cards to focus on administrator stuff
The garrison situation is a bit tricky. Typically a walled city like Rome can hold really well because the ai sucks at attacking. So I’d imagine the DeI team doesn’t want to make it too op
@@Immersaholic yea maybe it's because I'm not used to dei (or I just suck), but was playing Rome at the beginning and was attacked by an Etruscan full stack while I was fighting Epirus, the Rome garrison was like 2 swordsman, some town guard and shitty mob units. Was expecting to at least have a few hastati and a triari in the garrison of Rome...needless to say i lost Rome
@@naveensilva2312 Usually you should take out the Etruscans within the first 5 turns. March 1 of your armies up there and recruit units after each march. They don't have a big army and take a long time to recruit so usually you can smash them easily.
@@Immersaholic Ahh I think thats my biggest mistake, I always try to build economy buildings at the start and have barely any money for units - will try another campaign, thanks!
To the Romans a Republic wasn't a specific government type. It's why they still call the empire a republic even after the façade is dropped and the throne becomes hereditary (and as late as the Byzantium era). Yeah. . . I am the living embodiment of the "well, actually" meme.
Welcome aboard mate! If you've never played total war at ALL then I'd say you can definitely try vanilla Rome 2. But to be honest, playing Divide Et Impera on easy would still be a good experience. It's really not a hard mod, especially on easy.
@@Immersaholic i will give DEI a try on easy, then. If i'll have to learn the game from 0 i might as well do it with all the extra features. Thanks for quick answer and have a nice day!
Am I the only one finding this a little too much? I've re-run this campaign 7 times ( Hard or Normal Difficulty ) because everytime, with different approaches and strategies I'm pretty much completely outmatched by the time the 1st Punic War kicks in. Even if I'm not outmatched and I'm actually pretty solid, I'm VERY far from making any advances into Sicily/Carthage. I could thoretically build up very slowly but where's the fun in building a good 3-4 armies in the span of 50 turns all the while carthage is raiding your ports. With all of that in mind other factions constantly threaten to invade, forcing you to actually pay attention to all of these turns not just turning your brain off for 50 turns until you're ready. Even if a plan succeeds then the real pain starts, replunishment. Even with a realistic approach ( Gathering a force of about 6-7k men in the span of 10-15 turns and then attacking a major settlement ) the AI doesn't care, by the time you start healing doom stacks start coming your way ( 3 - 5 turns away usually cause I place a Spy in Africa to keep tabs ) . Oh and don't let me mention the raging population being mad for no reason at all meanwhile I'm spending a fortune on public order buildings and wasting warfare researches that would aid my war efforts to keep a lid on them through public order researches and the random slave revolts cause I could go on all day. Any tips? 😂😂😂( I have 1.6k hrs in Rome 2 it's not like I'm a baffled new player )
You need to make sure to do two things. A. Don’t overreach in the early turns. Make non aggression pacts with northern factions and leave a dedicated army to patrol your two starting provinces for public order. If you time everything correctly you should have Latium and Magna Gracia under control and making some money so you can maintain 2 full armies, 1 garrison, and a small fleet to support the war effort against Carthage. The hardest part will always be taking Sicily since Carthage tends to send 3 full stacks to either deal with you or Syracuse. This will be the hardest part of the campaign, but once you smashed their 3 stacks you can easily expand into Africa and deal a mortal blow to Carthage. You COULD wait until turn 40, but having a stalemate in the south is not ideal, since you want to expand as quickly as possible and secure most of the Mediterranean. Don’t forget your fortifications! Its pretty easy to trap the AI in an inescapable meat grinder and wipe their stacks with a good fortification battle
1:00:20 the Camillan Principes Samnitici actually have higher Melee attack, Defense and Weapon damage than the Roman Principes. But lower armor by 5. Its a big difference: the Principes Samnitici have a different role.
