A small question-why did you type this section twice?

"So here I am playing a campaign on E/M with Gaul. Barely have I started that the Britons declare war on me. Well, I defeat them and drive them across the ocean. Seizing their one territory on the continent. Not before they destroy my lone ship. Anyway I though I could take a break when almost simultaneously, Spain and Rome attack me. I manage to hold off the Spaniards long enough with 3 forts in the Pyrenees. While I managed to attack northern Italy, destroy the Julii and take Rome. For a while anyway. The Brutii and Scipii don't have any enemies apparently and go hammer and tongs for my provinces in cis-alpine Gaul. Meanwhile the Germans too attack me on my northwestern frontier and span break through."

he probably just did 'paste' not sure if you call it that

If I'm not mistaken, your capital (Alesia) is currently your best town, right? Well, concentrate on building up this settlement. Once it reaches the status of "Minor City," immediately construct an archery range and start cranking out forester warbands. Those guys are expensive and cost two turns to train, but it is definitely worth it. Foresters are the best archer in the game, they outrange almost all other archers, can hide anywhere, and have decent melee stats.

The foresters will be able kill anything your opponents throw at you. They mow down the Spanish infantry and cavalry easily enough, rip up the British chariots, outrange and outgun the British head hurlers, butcher the German spear warbands and axemen, and destroy any Roman infantry they send against you, as well as outrange Roman archers and velites. One thing, though: make sure you support your foresters. They might have good melee stats, but that's only when compared to other archers. Have swordsmen or even warbands to protect your foresters from hand-to-hand fighting.

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All advanced archers have the same range. I remember when Cretans "outranged all other archers in the game"

Despite that, Forresters are very good, and you should use them as much as possible. Against post marian units they are at a loss, and I would not suggest only building up Alesia, because they tie up production lines. Get Narbo Maritus up to minor city asap. Chosen Swordsmen are more than effective enough, but If I remember right, they have high upkeep. Also, organize your temples. You want most temples to give you experience, but at least one should be abnoba, it doesnt matter which one, I suggest Massila or The city in far western Gaul, this allows your archers to be at their best. You should also devote at least one to getting Naked fanatics and druids. Then run them all through. Send archers trained in cities with Epona to abnoba, send druids and NF into battle, cut down their unit size, and retrain them in cities with epona. Teutatis is good for governors, I think. Keep cycling men through, meeting them up in central gaul, forming large armies and attacking. Germania is more of a threat, as you seem to have blocked Spain off, but Spain is easier to control, and is richer. Your choice for which one to attack, but dont discount the Britons, they have a nasty tendency to show up on your rear.

Driving out the Britons was a good idea, I tried playing as Germania on H/H and got my ass kicked by them. Try to ally with Germania as soon as possible. I found that you can't ally with Spain, so prepare for the worst. The same goes with the Julii, but I found the Julii amazingly easy to deal with and managed to quickly reduce them to only one town.

I agree with exe1. Also, if it would be possible to finish your war with the Germans and ally with them, you should spare no expence.

Advancing into Spain makes your position far more vunrable, but allows you to get your hands on some much needed cash.

Also, pound the Romans as hard as you can. You want them hurting so bad that they can't attack you once their unbeatable post marius units arrive(I say unbeatable, but that's really a serious exagguration. They are just really good).

in my campaign on h/h i stayed away from the british and attacked the juli in like the seond round. if you get them fast they have a very small army. massacure all to keep the financees high. dont bother with the Britannians because with out archers there charriots just make sausage of you and with all your troups in italy oyu dont have much choice. just put a few units in the towns and try th hold them. do the same in spain. at the start you wont be able to take on the senate army so just go around it and attack the bruti and continue through italy. you massacreing as you go you will come to a town on the other side of rome that is at least a minor city. build four or five units of foresters. at this stage you will be finding it hard to keep spain you will be lossing settelments to the british (make the juli capital your new one) and you will have no money but if you manage to raise a large army with foresters and a few choosen you can take rome and make a fortune from the massacre. after that your sorted just take the rest of italy and sent a few armies north and rip those charriots with you foresters. Thats what i did anyway and it worked well

EASY/medium? Even as gaul you shouldn't have too many problems.

When I played as gaul on h/vh it was tough but doable. Foresters kick ass. Recruit them ASAP from a settlement with the sacred circle that grants +3 experience and then retrain them at a settlement with the circle that grants +3 missile attack. IIRC you should get a missile attack in the twenties and melee in the upper teens. Use these foresters to destroy entire units, entire formations, indeed entire small armies before ever engaging in hand to hand combat. If you start with foresters and let them shoot all their arrows before committing any other troops they will gain experience very quickly and become even more deadly. Try to keep them out of hand to hand combat and for the love of god keep cavalry away from them. They are competent melee fighters but are too difficult to attain in the early/middle game. Only throw them into the fray if it looks like your line might not hold.

As great as they are, you NEED them because gaul has nothing else going for them. Chosen swordsman and barbarian noble cavalry are alright, but they aren't exactly what you would call "heavy hitters".

[This message has been edited by Themistocles472 (edited 10-05-2005 @ 01:48 PM).]

O.K! Here is the update. I managed to wipe out and conquer all of Briton (got Hibernia as well) and Spain. I am containing Germany quite well and have taken 2 of their provinces. I have a total of 16 provinces under my control. I am about to put 3(full stack) armies in northern Italy. They are still quite low quality, consisting mainly of war bands. I have gotten some cities in modern day France including Alesia into producing higher quality units (Swordsmen, Chosen Swordsmen, Noble cavalry and foresters). I plant to upgrade my armies with them. Only problem is, whenever I dare enter northern Italy. I get swamped by Roman armies of both the Brutii and Scipii and wiped out. As long as I stay out of the region they are mostly O.K.
The question is: Should I build up by conquering some other provinces? Or will this delay leave me vulnerable against the dreaded Marian reforms?
I have searched for other threads on this topic and realized there is a full page of them. . I took tips from a couple of them. I guess the others will be mostly the same. I may give them a look nonetheless. However as each campaign is somewhat unique at different difficulty levels and with different players, I hope to keep this thread open till I can at least decide how to take care of my main enemy. Rome!

P.S : Will linking to a screenshot of the campaign map give you guys a better idea of the situation to any significant degree so that you could better assist me?

P.P.S : My financial situation is pretty good now.

[This message has been edited by THANATOS (edited 10-05-2005 @ 02:12 PM).]

If your finances are good, then bribe any armies you see without generals. Also, get full stacks of your besst troops to attack Italy. Blockade all their ports and don't give them any respite.

Now it isn't so good.
I've got 4 full stack armies in northern Italy. Plus another almost full stack one. I've also got one in Germany dealing with a Roman army after I destroyed another one. Frankly, the Romans, particularly the Scipii are spamming out armies like crazy. : {
I don't think I can handle the attrition for much longer if this carries on.
Marius be dammed. I need to get a bigger richer empire to take on Rome.
Affording to make a navy is out of the question. Rome is just too darn rich to take on.

[This message has been edited by THANATOS (edited 10-06-2005 @ 02:13 AM).]

If you're playing on E/M then I'm sure you can make an Alliance with the House of Julii and the other Roman Factions if needed. The AI shouldn't have any problem accepting if you do it before they/you attack eachother.

Just ally with them for now, or whomever your greatest threat(s) are until you can amass sizable armies to sack their cities.

You have four full stacks in northern italy? With medium difficulty battles? What is stopping you from taking two or three of those stacks at one time into battles and rolling over the romans? What happens if you take all four and lay siege to a single settlement?

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Attrition. The Romans seem to come up with experienced armies from nowhere. He can win almost every battle I imagine, but experienced haistati and principes take their tolls, and after a few battles I imagine he has to retreat. And the four armies attacking one settlement is a risk because of the AI. He has to choose between watching his generals die and using only 20 units.