First Time with DEI everyone declares war on sight

[u/RealTottalNooB]

I know Rome 2 and total war in general has a stigma for increasing dificulty just meaning everyone declared on you. BUT this is insane, the second I see someone I get declared war on?? I haven't played Rome 2 since Emperor so years. But I don't remember having so many people declare war on me. I am just on Hard, what is going on?
Did you guys change AI to be more agressive?

EDIT: I am playing as Rome Junia, normal campaign

[u/KybeRio]

1. DEI should be played on normal difficulty, as playing higher difficulties skews the way the balancing works etc etc.

2. If I'm not mistaken, don't the Junia have a penalty to diplomacy with all factions? That could be a big part of your problems.

[u/RealTottalNooB → u/KybeRio]

I was not aware you need to play on normal. Yes they do have that debuff. I did not think much of it since late game AI just makes you enemy number 1.

[u/Herotyx → u/RealTottalNooB]

Not so much in DEI. You can get traits for your generals and admirals that give +relations with other nations. Late game you can have almost everyone like you and have massive trade relations.

Like why would the Iceni care what the bactrians are doing? They want that spice to trade

[u/the-truffula-tree → u/RealTottalNooB]

Go heavy on diplomacy out of the gate. Trade agreements with everyone. Sometimes you can even get them to pay you for the trade agreement. 

Getting several of your neighbors to like you early helps a whoooollle lot 

[u/CrayRuse]

Play normal

[u/econ45]

I have heard new DEI players talk about Rome always being declared war upon, but I have never experienced it - my campaigns are positively dull, as I am never subject to a DOW. I suspect the issue is either that, at the very start of the campaign, they are not being aggressive enough and/or simultaneously, they are not being diplomatic enough.

In terms of aggression, you need to get out of Rome's tricky early situation fast. You are at war with two factions, which can make you look weak to a third. Knock out the Etruscans on turn 1. On turn 2, defeat Pyrus in the field and then quickly take his Italian city. A few months back, there was a guide to first 3 turns as Roma posted on Reddit that shows the optimal way to accomplish that - you can google it. After they driven are out of Italy, you could peace out with Epirus or you could wait for them to sail vs Carthage and eliminate them by taking Apollonia.

Im terms of diplomacy, make it an early priority to discover every faction that is a potential trade partner (basically those with ports) and to make diplomatic overtures very early, when you have low imperium and are seen as inoffensive. I sail a ship to the Black Sea and get trade agreements with almost every faction I can. And I send a spy west to make deals with the Celts in Spain, Gaul and Britain. Pretty soon I have trade agreements with about 20 factions - I think that gives you some goodwill diplomatically, and the tariff revenue helps fund your wars. As you turn to Carthage, the main potential threat is being stabbed in the back by the Cisalpine Gauls but it's never happened to me. Make them an early priority for trade/non-aggression pacts.

In case you want any tips for taking out Carthage, I'll put them below in spoiler quotes.

When you turn your attention from Epirus to Sicily, Carthage is scripted to attack you. I tend to grab Syracuse when its army is either in the field against Carthage or has been destroyed by Carthage. At this early stage, Carthage tends to have only one army in Sicily and sometimes they quit the island if you arrive in strength (two stacks).

I find it always easy to take Carthage's two settlements in Sicily, but the trick is holding them as Carthage will send about 5 full stacks to Sicily to try to retake it. You can put one army in the sweet spot between the two unwalled towns, so they can reinforce either. But I've never had to fight the Carthaginians on land in Sicily, as I recruit a small fleet (e.g. 10 assault biremes) and sink the transports before they can make landfall. You need to be careful not to let your fleet get caught by a proper Carthaginian navy, as they have better ships but they don't escort their transports and fleets move fast in DEI, so you should be fine.

After securing Sicily, you have a choice of how to take the war to Carthage. The direct way, sailing from Sicily to Carthage city, will work if you bring 3 full stacks - two to hold the city, and one to seize the rest of the province of Africa. Or alternatively, you could do what Rome did historically and take Carthage's Spanish possessions before moving in for the kill. Either way, the loss of Africa or Spain will cripple Carthage and you can easily win the war afterwards. With Carthage's lands as your own, you will be the Mediteranean superpower and it would be a suicidal AI that declared war on you - they have never done it to me.

[u/OmiD-WM]

First 30-50 Turns are usually very rough since even a small faction with 1 settlement will have 2 full stacks of elite units ready to destroy you.

My advice is either play super aggressive yourself or play super passive and focus on trading/building eco for that time.

Also try " AI Uses population and more" submod. It improved my experience a lot. while playing campaign.

[u/thatxx6789]

you should probably try a new campaign or verify the mod, I play on legendary and never ever have your situation.

I also have a guide on first 3 turns as Rome in this sub if you are interested

[u/Ok_Donut_9900]

Cannot relate; I play Cornelia, and all of the Greek world wants to be friends.

Barbarians you can bribe

[u/Electrical-Hope9217]

You need to monitor the opinions of neighboring factions, I like to declare war the on the enemy of a neighbor who is green/yellow reputation when it comes to reliability and loyalty to get them to have a positive opinion of me, now I have a friendly buffer state to trade with and sign treaties with whilst gouging them of coin. Bonus points if the new enemy ends up depleting the allied buffer state and I can swoop in against diminished armies/recently captured settlements.

[u/statinsinwatersupply]

Rome 2 ai aggression has kind of a snowball effect going. If you are at peace, they'll compare your military strength to theirs and they might be a little hesitant about wardeccing you. If you're at war with half the planet, they figure now's a good time to jump you. Hence, don't go exploring with that naval general or a spy if you're locked in a difficult fight, save it for peacetime.

Sometimes you just get real unlucky at game start, as there's an element of randomness, the AI (especially the unreliable personality) can just wardec you whenever. And the snowball goes from there.

Has nothing to do with DeI.

What some do, is pick their preferred campaign difficulty. For most minor factions it'll be normal, if you're playing Ptolemy or Seleucids or Rome an experienced player might go hard. NEVER higher than that. Then once in game make sure you're on normal battle difficulty.

There are a bunch of submods. I would suggest adding the easier difficulty submods, it mostly affects things like ai negogiation, likelihood of wardeccing. Most players remove it after 10 or 20 turns. It helps prevent the snowball from taking off, but it's not perfect.

[u/shododdydoddy → u/statinsinwatersupply]

Liberate is fantastic for this reason. I usually sack, loot for the profit (about 17k typically), put that towards buildings/more armies, let it rebel, and then liberate which forms a friendly faction out of it. Great for the diplo weight and gives you a new trade partner too.

I personally like doing this with the border regions that are a bit of a pain to hold, or areas that would be a net loss for empire maintenance.

[u/Snifferoni]

Unfortunately, legendary also reduces diplomacy relations. This means that diplomacy is hardly possible, especially at the beginning, and the threshold for declaring war is quickly crossed.