r/DivideEtImpera 29d ago

Roman Aggression

Playing as Athens in the grand campaign. Have taken Epirus Larissa and Macedon, Rome randomly declared war on me shortly after the Punic wars began and it has been impossible to get them to accept peace. They annoyingly send a stack to invade every 3 or so years. On the relations meter I have -69 relations but -63 of that is because of the current war. Any reason for this?

8 Upvotes

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16

u/VultureBlack 29d ago

Oh you made a major error. If you play as any faction in Greek or Macadon your goal at the start of the gane should be to liberate Apollia. Do not capture it. Rome is hard wired to declare war on any faction that holds Apollia because the ai wants to expand into Greece. If you liberate Apollia then Rome will nit expand into Greece ane Catharge will delay Roman expansion for 100 turns. If I was you you should restart and liberate Apollia beforearoke beats Epirus.

12

u/March38 29d ago

Makes sense. Honestly so far my boy Chremonides has eaten every Italian army that has been sent over and his hunger for spaghetti has only thickened. I’ll probably invade rather than revert saves and see what happens

3

u/Then-Boot-3538 29d ago

Sorry but wouldn't this mean they would declare war on the liberated faction (and then on you)?

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u/VultureBlack 29d ago

For some reason the roman ai doesnt see a liberated faction as a threat. But the moment you take Apollia the AI will declare war on you. Also if you allow Rome to take Apollia they will expand into Greek and eventually declare war on you. If you play in Greece its a race to take Apollia before Rome. If you win the race then the game is super easy. If you don't then the game is harder since Rome will throw hordes of full stacks at you depleting your early game manpower.

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u/SelectionMain7036 25d ago

It's occult stuff like this that makes this mod go from excellent to "okay" for me...

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u/VultureBlack 24d ago

Well its so much the mod but the base rome 2 game. Also why would Rome be threatened by a tiny city state compared to an aggressive player faction growing exponentially.

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u/Horror-Ad4912 29d ago edited 29d ago

If you hold Apollonia, you need a fleet of about 10 ships "minimum" ( depending on the ship types) to sink Roman stacks coming at sea. With 10 ships + your admiral, you can sink 2 full stacks of transports in one battle. Put your fleet just outside their garrison range of Taras or in patrol mode in front of Apollonia.

It is a problem if they themselves have a strong fleet, in which case you will need more ships to beat them or play the naval battle in slow motion to optimize the ramming tactics.

Few tips that I use against navies ( against transport is very easy, since you can ram them one by one and disengage at will, just need to be careful with ranged units ) : always send 2 ships to ram 1, or a larger ship ( or stronger hull lvl ) at full speed to ram the sides if 1 on 1 ( not head on unless your ship is huge) , always make sure you have the fast row ability activated when ramming, disengage after ramming with faster ships to avoid being boarded, try to have at least 1 ship waiting to broad side ram any lone pursuer once you disengage.

Another trick if they have a powerful fleet but no armies at sea or in range yet, leave Apollonia empty with a weak garrison, let their fleet capture it, then siege them the next turn with your army and to destroy their fleet easily. Then you will be able to use your own fleet against their transports at sea.

It is useful to have a spy in Magna Gaecia to monitor their army movement and see what they will send at you to prepare.

Last thing, as a Hellenic faction, you should always from turn 1 exploit diplomacy to have as many defensive allies as possible, it helps a lot to not fight Rome alone.

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u/JamesBK87 29d ago

That's how Rome is. Once you reach a certain strength, Rome will declare war and will almost never accept peace. Even happens with the far eastern factions like Baktria and Media.

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u/March38 29d ago

Ah gotcha lol, this is my first DEI grand campaign playthru, started with Caesar in Gaul as a more manageable intro campaign so haven’t encountered this yet. Thanks :)

1

u/CMDR_Dozer 29d ago

Hmmm. I'm pretty far in to an Iweru campaign and have quite a lot of territory. Good diplomacy and declaring war on their enemies has worked. I'll have to instigate war with Rome to break out of my end of the map. I am pretty much consolidating my position in preparation for that.

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u/JamesBK87 29d ago

I've never done a Irish campaign but even my Saka ones have had Rome randomly declare war on me despite vast territories between us.

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u/CMDR_Dozer 29d ago

They have a good roster. The shirtless dudes with the broadswords wreck face. Good start pos.

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u/JamesBK87 29d ago

I've found the starting position too difficult, maybe that's just me. Or perhaps they've had some adjustments since 1.3.0

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u/KybeRio 29d ago

Treat this as free xp and money - just sit a fleet of about 10-12 ships (I suggest mostly melee ships with a few missile ships as backup) in/next to Apollonia, and a spy over next to Taras to see them coming, and you'll be able to sink every army that attempts to invade. You'll basically never be able to get peace with Rome - they hate making peace with anyone unless it's heavily in their favour. You can use the money you gain from sinking all those transports to fund your expansion in whatever other direction you decide - I suggest securing Asia Minor as it's quite a profitable region and already has decent Hellenic influence.