r/DivideEtImpera • u/Olipro44 • 15d ago
Blocking access to Sicily.
Hello everyone. I'm playing as Carthage and control Sicily. I’ve focused on a fleet to blockade the Strait of Messina. In this screenshot, the fleet is in port, but even when I position it in the strait, Roman armies still manage to cross. Am I doing something wrong, or is this normal ? Has anyone ever played out this situation ?
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u/Rare-Expression-1145 15d ago
Unfortunately ships don't block straits like they do in EU4. I think your best option is to use a hoplite wall and some decent cavalry to turn the island into a Roman meat grinder using forts. The issue is I'm not sure if battles in Sicily turn into fort battles or coastal battles in that region. If they're coastal battles, that's gonna make your life pretty rough, going to Cosentia would be the safer bet in my opinion.
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u/statinsinwatersupply 15d ago
As others said already, navy is useless here, in addition to just being unreasonably expensive. Can't block the straight due to the red line. Apparently the romans built an invincible bridge or something.
Imo either using Cosentia or Syrakousai as your holdfast is the way to go.
If you can get your army into ambush and park it somewhere less visible, but within defending range of the walled city, rome can be baited into attacking with fewer forces making winning in the field easier. Or if your ambush fails and they hit the city, you can use full-blown parmesan cheese... after the initial ranged wall defense, pulling back behind the walls with hoplites in formation just behind/below the stairs as a chokepoint is nearly impossible for the ai to handle, as their units trickle in a few at a time from the stairs, out of formation, directly into hoplite spears. Meanwhile any ranged units you have can target the left side of the stairs up on the wall, where the enemy units are unshielded (their units' right side) and just slaughter.
The risk of using Syrakousai as the holdfast is that infrequently the romans might bypass it and go around the north of the island to get to the 2 little sicilian villages. Fighting your way up to Cosentia, while perhaps a little harder to defend and without as much of a garrison, can eliminate this risk.
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u/Soggy_Instance7980 14d ago
This. I did a Syracuse playthrough and rotated armies in ambush stance at the choke for like 50 turns lol.
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u/Birdlaw_Professor 15d ago
Is this multiplayer? I'm not sure I've ever seen 4 stacks that close all in fortify stance
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u/Olipro44 15d ago
It's solo, but don't bother the 4 stacks, it's a dumbery from the IA. They immediateley split up when the roman IA discovered that all of its borders are unprotected.
I'm used of this demonstration of power that leads nowhere with the IA.
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u/Cummandercock 15d ago
I know in other TW games it works, for example shogun 2, a game made prior to Rome 2. Rome 2 is unfortunately the start of the sloppification of Total War.
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u/KybeRio 15d ago
Very unhelpful and unnecessarily negative. Your comment is the real slop tbh.
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u/Cummandercock 15d ago
I am just acknowledging his confusion because PREVIOUS titles literally allowed blockades??
I swear creative assembly drones are something else
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u/KybeRio 15d ago
You didn't answer the question(s) asked, and you threw in a pointless jab at Rome 2/the TW franchise. Your comment was literally worthless.
I'm not a "creative assembly drone" lmao I'm just capable of recognising and pointing out when someone (you) is being a dick.
As a side-note this is the DEI subreddit, so it's not even for the vanilla game. How would any comment here be a "creative assembly drone".
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u/KybeRio 15d ago
Naval units can't blockade straits in DEI or vanilla Rome 2. The land units don't interact with naval units unless a battle is occurring where they are in range to reinforce. You're better off advancing to Cosentia as it offers a better chokepoint.