Surviving as Western Roman Empire

I- Introduction
II- First turn
III- Foreign Policy
IV- Italy
V-Africa
VI- Britian
VII-Spain
VIII-Gaul
IX- Raetia et Noricum/balkans
X-Battle strategies
XI- Religion
XII- Conclusion/Recap

In 476 AD, the Western Roman Empire finally fell in the Siege of Ravenna. When the city was taken and the boy-emperor Romulus Agustulus deposed, it brought to an end a long period of decline over a hundred years or more spurred by both internal and external factors. The WRE campaign starts in 395 AD, just as the wave of migrating tribes fleeing from the huns was about to capsize the sinking boat of the Western Roman Empire. But as with all total wars, the game provides an oppurtunity to create alternate history.
That is what I will attempt to help you do here.

Putting it mildly, you're probably as screwed as the historical WRE, if not more. The WRE campaign is labeled legendary difficulty for a reason- namely:

1. Everyone hates you and your only ally is the ERE.
2. You have trash infrastructure to start with- anything you build is going to have to be from the ground up.
3. You are technically #1 in the strength ranking, but don't let that fool you. With everyone in the area ganging up on you, they outnumber you in terms of troops 3-1 at least.
4. Your early armies are woefully small and spread out, and to make matters worse many of them start at half strength.
5. Your economy is weak and easily overwhelmed by upkeep costs

However, it is possible to overcome these challenges using common sense, conservative spending, military tactics and strategy(winning battles can be helpful), and a LOT of luck.

The first turn is without a doubt the most important. This will be the base for everything you do in subsequent turns. Failure to plan ahead and set the foundations for what you later want to do will only lead to frustration.

What to do:

Pick regions to keep: Protecting the whole empire with only the limited resources available to you at the start can be maddening. If you feel like trying to do that, go ahead. It may very well cost you your sanity. Instead, what I like to do are pick several regions that are rich and easily defensible (E.G. Italy) and focus on those, withdrawing all armies to the borders fo your chosen regions and effectively abandoning the rest. Notice I said effectively abandoning, not literally abandoning the other regions. That is because going into the city slot of a town and clicking the abandon button generates a faction-wide public order penalty. These penalites stack, and if you abandon all of your non-chosen regions in that way, you will have a revolt in every province of your empire, all on the same turn. Yikes. Here's the solution: instead of using the abandon button, demolish everything in the city except the farms, so they are self sufficent food wise and dont cause a famine by having your chosen provinces have to produce food for them too. If you want to defend these shell provinces, again, go ahead. As a general rule of thumb, pick provinces to keep that are rich and easily defensible, and abandon provinces that are hard to defend, have no money, and are under threat from turn one (E.G. Britian.)
Economy: Lets face it, your starting economy is trash at the beginning because of all your armies and buildings with upkeep costs. Here's some solutions. 1. Demolish all churches. Yes. All of them. One costs hundreds to upkeep per turn in exchange for a mniscule public order bonus, and the money will be better spent elsewhere on buildings that provide more public order for less stuff. (Note: some churches are tier two, and require two turns to demolish) As soon as you do this income will skyrocket.
2. Combine armies whenever possible. Not only does this make a stronger, consolidated stack with the power to fight enemy armies in the field, it also eliminates the upkeep cost for general's unit. (Palatina guards clock in at about 300 per turn, I believe) One example of where to do this immediatley is the two armies in northern gaul. Its up to you which general you keep.

3. Use the "Join war" diplomatic option for money. No matter how universally hated you are, there will doubtless be conflicts among the barbarian tribes. Try to get them to join your wars against factions they hate. Sometimes they may even give you money for it, and a war at home undermines any faction's ability to attack you. The ERE will most likley get into a lot of wars very quickly in the middle east. Join all of them for as much money as you can squeeze out of the East Romans. However, be careful when declaring war against the Sassanids. They will most likely not be a threat but in my game one of their tributary states sailed an army into southern italy.

4. Trade agreements. Relentlessly pursue with any faction that does not hate you- case in point- north africans. (Especially the ones with gems) Try to get as many different resources as possible out of your provinces, setting aside slots for them. Enough said.

Military/ Defensive: You'll need this

1. Build guardhouses on all of the border towns of your chosen regions. These only cost 10 food, and provide the public order bonuses of a small church (+3 for lvl 1) while saving you 300 denarii and providing you with extra garrison units, which are absolutley essential if the town needs to defend itself.
2. If you still have you're empire fully intact at the beginning of the second turn, you get a 16000 denarii bonus. Needless to say, you want this. Unfortunatley, that is not a free 16000 gold. Multiple settlements are usually attacked turn one, and you need to defend these to claim the prize.

ACamulodunum- This will always be attacked by the saxons from the sea first turn. Luckily for you, thier 3/4 stack is made up of crappy infantry, so if you take out their general while he's still at sea, their troops will collapse and rout.

b. Savaria- The quadians will always attack this turn one, defeat them when they attack using the army already stationed there and the garrison, then move into their lands, take Nitrawha, sack and subjugate.

c. Segontium- The Ebdanians will often attack this settlement in north-west britian turn one. Their army is harder to beat than the saxons, but follow the same strategy about taking out their general at sea and you should be good.

(I will cover full tactics for fighting siege battles with the garrison in my strategy and tactics section)

What to build:

1. Guardhouses, as mentioned above
2. Food , for anything that needs it
3. sanitation

In that order

Assign governors to your provinces that make the most money- they will help the province make more money, and a note on edicts: Bread and Circuses is the best by far in my opinion.

While Playing as the Western Roman Empire, you will face threats from all sides. One way to deal with these, aside from going in with an army and killing all of them, is diplomacy. Here are some basic rules for diplomacy:

1. African Tribes- go for trade agreements and non-agression pacts, just generally try to keep good relations. (gifts should make them not hate you as much) You do not want a war on your hands in Africa with everything that will be going on in Europe. Still, as a safeguard I usually keep an army stationed in Carthage

2. Barbarian Tribes- just about all of them hate you with a vengence, and cannot be reasoned with. However, if you beat them badly enough in battle, they will sue for peace. In this case, extort as much money out of them as you can. Try to get them to fight each other using the join war option, as this takes some of their attention away from you.

3. Migrators- some of them may be kind of lukewarm to you, and neutral hordes are good sources of early-game cav. If a neutral horde that doesn't hate your guts is crossing one of the zones you "abandoned" on turn one, an option will appear that says "Gift Region". You're not using this region anyway, and having a freindly buffer state there is a good thing.
4. Huns- You can't really negotiate with them

5. ERE- The eastern roman empire goes one of two ways during a campaign- it either collapses or turns into a superpower with fullstacks patrolling its lands. Hope that it is the second one that happens in your game. They can be incredibly useful allies and take out enemy armies marauding through your territory with ease. However, on the harder difficulties they tend to decline and break the alliance when you ask them to join a war, so uncheck that box and then later use the "join war" diplomatic tool to try to get them to help you without the risk of them randomly un-allying with you. Also, offer to join their wars in the east for a lot of money. You probably won't end up fighting the guys your declaring war on , and you can get a heap of cash out of it.

Italy should definently be kept, and should be pretty much the nerve center of your empire for several reasons:

1. Very easy to defend, the only way to attack you is through mountain passes in the alps where you can position spies and block them up accordingly if an enemy army is coming. The only real vulnerablilty is Aquilea, the town in Venetia in North east italy where there is no mountain pass to cross, however if you put a guardhouse here and upgrade it, and maybe station a small army here whenever needed, no one is geting through.
2. Rich, has a lot of resources. It has many ports which are potentially vulnerable to enemy fleets, however you will most likely still maintain control of most of the mediterranean coast, so they realy wont have a base of operations anywhere near these like Britian. All these ports means lots and lots of money from trade jetties, as well as extra food from fishing ones and stronger navies from military, if you need it.
3. North italy is a great place for military provinces, as it is pretty much the center of your empire, and is close enough to where the main fighting will be that your armies can easily retrain and resupply.
4. What Roman campaign would be complete without Italy?

I find it is good to station at least two armies here, because when your enemies break through your buffer of "abandoned" regions, this will be under constant attack.

Africa should be kept in your empire because:

1. Basically every town and city save Caesarea is a port, which gives great oppurtunities for making money.
2. It is out of the way of barbarian incursions, and thus you can focus more on making money and food than military stuff.
3. Resources that you can't find anywhere else in your empire, like dye, make this region vital for trade.

The African tribes may present a problem. You already have trade with the garamantians, but your relationship with them is suffering and the other tribes don't particularly like you. Still, friendlier than the germanic tribes. You need to try to get trade and non-aggression pacts with these people, and increase your standing with them through small gifts, other wise they will eventually attack you. If you don't want to wait for them to do that or spend the money to make them like you, attack and crush them, taking the gems for yourself. However, you may not want to attack them when you are under extreme pressure in Europe, as that will only take armies away from the main fight. Overall I like to keep one army there in case of an emergency. It is a good Idea to build guardhouses here so you don't have to use as many of your armies defending it.

Britian, simply put, is worthless. Yes, it can become an economic super-region in mid-to late game, but you won't be able to hold on to it for that long. The celts, the saxons, the franks, and the nordic tribes will all attack you here, and there is no natural obstacles to prevent seaborne invasion which will inevitably bcome.

1. It makes no money to start with, the upkeep cost of the army defending it being almost as much as the money the two provinces make
2. Stonehenge does basically nothing for you.
3. You can't defend it

For these reasons, pull you army out and "abandon" it, demolishing everything apart from tier one farms. I can guarantee that all of it will be gone by turn 10.

Spain has a lot of public order problems, but if these are stabilized through guardhouses and capitol buildings, it has the potential to earn you tons of money.

Reasons why not to abandon, like a lot of people say:

1. public order fixable
2. MONEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! Lots of ports, and even a gold mine in gallecia. (or whatever that north-western province is called.)
3. Easily defensible using the pyrennes mountains cutting it off from gaul.

What to build here: moneymaking stuff in the southern provinces, some military stuff and guardhouses in the north. Enemy armies will often land on the northern coast, so I find it is good to keep at least one army stationed in northern spain.

Gaul is a mixed bag. I would say "abandon" most of it, because it will be under constant threat from turn one (The suebians start in your lands), however, some areas are worth saving.

1. Avaricum- because of the gold mine there, I would highly recommend keep ing this town in central gaul. It already has a tier two garrison building which is really helpful, keep upgrading that and station and army there as will to protect it.
2. Narbonesis- this is more of an optional thing, if you think you can handle it, go for it. It's kind of hard to defend, but if you hold onto it, build guardhouses and station armies there it means that avaricum is less isolated, the barbarians have no naval base to attack italy's ports, or attack by land from the west, and it provides an additional barrier to prevent the barbarians form getting into spain. It also has the potential to be a pretty rich province, so hold onto it if you can.

These are lost causes, and will take the brunt of most barbarian incursions. "Abandon" them, demolishing everything except tier one farms.

Reasons to abandon:

1. Each region will be under assault from multiple factions at once, and you need your armies elsewhere
2. they never provide you with much money

These are great provinces to give to neutral hordes who don't hate you, as you won't be using them and having friendly buffer states in this region is invaluable. Even if the horde dislikes you, giving the land to them carries a massive diplomatic bonus and they will soon like you and trade with you because of it.

Sometimes I keep salona just so the enemy doesn't have a staging point to attack the ports of eastern italy. This is optional, and if you think you can do it, go for it.

While playing as the Western Romans, you will be constantly outnumbered by massive barbarian stacks. Luckily for you, your early troops are vastly superior to theirs, and can defeat armies two to three times their size when commanded skillfully. These are some tactics and strategies to help you win battles as the Western Romans.

AGarrison Sieges
You will be fighting a lot of these. You will usually only have 4 units- a spear unit, a melee unit, a scout equites, and a sagitarii unless you have upgraded your settlement or built a guardhouse here. I have found a strategy that works pretty well at defeating, or at least dealing massive damage to an opponent's army.

1. The Deployment Phase-
   In the center of a town, there will usually be a hill or city center with walls and a few entrances. Use your barricade to block off one of those. Place your spears and your melee unit in tow of the openings, in defensive testudo. Yes, the melee infantry will have a useful throwing weapon, but the enemy will immediatley bum-rush you with cav, and you need that mass and bonus versus cavalry for your melee infantry to stay alive. Place your sagitarii on the walls where they will be able to shoot at incoming enemies as they pass below them. Your scout equites are the most crucial part of the whole strategy. If they die or get caught early on by enemy cavalry, you stand no chance whatsoever. Hide them in a group of trees far away from the enemy army(especially the cav) but not too far away so that they are on the oppostie side of the town to the enemy army. If you have a ship and your town is a port, then there are two things to do with it based on where the enemy is attacking from:

AIf the enemy is attacking from land, then place it close to shore and ready to dock.
b. If the enemy is attacking by sea, put it out as close to the enemy fleet as possible

2. The start of the battle- if your enemy is attacking by land, you basically sit and wait for him to come during this phase, firing at his troops with your sagitarii. However, if the enemy is attacking by sea, take your ship and give it attack orders on the enemy general, while trying to steer clear of the missile ships. Almost all non-naval units get a huge debuff called sea- sickness when they are at sea, which makes them quite weak. However, unlike the enemy general, your marines do not suffer from that. Even though your marines are low in number, they will usually win that fight or at least deal significant damage to the enemy general in the process. The enemy fleet will ignore you and head straight for the beach. Use "Use the whip" after a minute or so on your marines to give them extra melee defense and freeze their fatigue, especially if you are doing poorly. You will likely kill the enemy general with this, and so their forces will have a morale penalty for the rest of the battle. After they have defeated the general's unit, and all the enemy's units are ashore, wait with your marines outside of missle range of the enemy troops in the harbor.
3. Mid- battle- In this phase, enemy melee units will clump up on your heavily armored units plugging the gaps, while their missle troops will fire into the blob, dealing more damage t their own troops than you. This is where the scout equites come in. Take them out of the trees and destroy all the enemy skirmishers, then rear-charge one of the blobs. If you have your marines, land them and help the scout equites clean up the skirmishers, then charge them into the back of the blob as well. The blob will disintegrate within a minute, and then use your equites, marines, and the unit you just freed up to rearcharge the back of the other blob. They should break just like the other one. If the enemy is attacking by land, wait until mid-battle and land the marines to attack one of the blobs in the rear with the scout equites. If it is not a port, it is basically the same strategy minus the marines, run rearcharges with scout equites who were previously hidden until enemy breaks, use wquites to clean up skirmishers.
4. End of Battle- Be absolutley merciless. Use your scout equites to hunt down any routing enemy units over 15 men. The larger the portion of the remaining unit is, the higher the priority. (The scout equites should be at 300-500 odd kills now) As soon as all routing enemy units are either below 10 men or off the battlefield, end the battle. Congratulations. You have just completely destroyed an etire enemy army using the garrison. Well done.

Field Battles- This is where the large, consolidated army stacks I mentioned in the first section come into play, as your original smaller stacks dont stand a chance of standing up to a barbarian fullstack in an open-field battle. Use your tanky roman infantry to hold the line, while cleaning up enemy cav with your mercenary cav and your javelins. Flank around with these, and fire into the rear of the enemy with your javelins, while using the cav to get rid of enemy skirmishers. Rearcharge the blobs with the cav, and the enemy army will rout. Again, be merciless in hunting down enemy troops with your cav and dont let any large units get away.

Units- when fighting with any faction, it is important to know the strengths and weaknesses of your units. This is especially important with the WRE and I have compiled a list of early to mid-game units along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Early game:
Early Game army-

For early game, use your spears in defensive testudo to screen your main line.Your melee infantry is very good at killing low-tier enemy troops, but let the enemy come to you since your troops have no charge bonus, eating volley of throwing darts the whole way. Your Protectores Domestici are incredibly tanky, and while not having pila have better stats than the rest of the army. They are relatively hard to recruit though, to your army will not have many of them unless you put some serious time and effort into it. These units should be used to patch gaps in your main line, or start there. Either way, these guys have shieldwall and will kill anything and everything that comes at them early game with the exception of a cav charge to the face. Your skirmishers are pretty good early on, saggitarii are a decent archer unit, giving you range and Levis destroy enemy cavalry, infantry, and basically everything else that comes within their range for only 275. Scout equites are absolute crap, and I highly recommend ditching them and hiring mercenaries to replace them. Mid game-
Mid-game army:

Mid game, your armies become substantially more powerful. Your spear units are better, and can actually kill stuff, and you no longer have to rely on mercenaries for cav. You now have better skirmishers that can dish out heavy dameage at long range like ballistarii, and you have access to the wonderfully cost efficent Armigeri defensores, who have better offensive stats then pretty much everything in the rest of your army. The onager is good for besieging settlements with walls, but serves no real purpose in battle other than to make the enemy come to you, which as the WRE is what you want.

Late game you can do pretty much anything you want with your armies, and you don't need to pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of each unit much because the are all reasonably powerful. When fighting the huns, go for lots of cavalry, archers, and heavy spears with a token force of melee infantry to take care of watever infantry they bring to the fight. The Huns will often bring large onagers, and to get rid of these either bring your own, or maybe even consider using scout equites for their guerilla deployment to get to them. Good luck!

Religion is very important with attila, and comes with a variety of effects, both good and bad. For the Western Roman Empire, you are essentially presented with a choice between two religions: Latin Christianity and Graeco-Roman Paganism. You're Empire's official religion is Latin Christianity, and it is growing substantially, yet it has some massive drawbacks.

1. Churches cost money to maintain2. When fighting the Huns in battle you get a -10 morale penalty for being Christian.

Latin Christianity is very powerful, and it is easy to convert your whole empire to it, but for me those drawbacks are not worth it. Combined with the fact that you will be demolishing all your money-guzzling churches to help your income, graeco-roman paganism starts to look like a better option.

Its religious buildings are lackluster, and cost a lot of food, but this is better than the churches with upkeep from before. You really won't even need to build these with the guardhouses, capitols, and city centers you will have to increase public order. Despite this flaw, it comes with no major penalties like Latin Christianity does, and even provides a +2 sanitation boost in all your provinces which is really helpful.

After you demolish your Latin churches, the local traditions and natural wonders in many regions will start to take over and convert them back to paganism. It will take until mid-game for paganism to reach the 35% nessecary to convert to, but it is good timing, as you lose that -10 morale just as the huns begin to appear in force at your borders.

Overall, if you follow the instructions in this guide you should have a pretty good chance of survival as the WRE. Overall, Only keep the provinces that benefit you, and use the others as a buffer. Try to get as much money possible out of diplomacy and consoldiate your armies. Pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of units when building armies, and use lots and lots of rearcharges in battles. Personally, I like to convert back to graeco-roman paganism, but you can stay Latin Christian if you want. Of course you don't have to follow this guide to the letter for it still to work. You can attempt to hang on to Britian, or go to war with the ERE if you want while still using the strategy overall. I hope this guide helps with your bid to reforge the WRE! If you have any questions or would like to see this guide cover other things, comment below. Roma Victor.