for the scipii. i am spread out a bit as right now (197 i think) i am trying to finish off the british and consolidate and get ready for the civil war. up til now my strategy has been to try and keep others neutral or allies, but if they attacked, then to bum rush them (so to speak) until they were defeated. maybe i will just keep them on their island.

this campaign has been one of experiments. i tried keeping diplomats around all of italy to catch family members of other houses out and about so i could bribe them, and tried a few armies, too. that was not very productive, as my optimum troops and makeup differs from theirs. plus, bribing other family members got rather expensive. in the future, i believe i will limit that.

my carthaginian campaign is going well. was attacked immeadiately by spain, numidia, gaul, and all four roman factions. decided getting rid of rome was in my best interest, so invaded italy. now, it is early 240's and i control all of italy up to the alps, the eastern shore of the aegean (spelling, and i forget the name), carthage, thapsus, and southern spain. havent invaded spain, gaul, or numidia, contenting myself with spies and watch towers. those work well, too. have 3 large navies of about 800 guys each for western med, and both sides of italy, and 200k in my coffers. for the past 15ish years since i defeated the romans, have only played defense and has worked well. man, you dont know how much a group of sacred band infantry, sacred band cavalry, and armored war elephants kick azz! so yeah, i completely agree with slow and methodical approach.

now, i am building as many catapults, onagers, etc as i can. greece recently attacked one of my cities, and i won the battle, but their spartan and armored hoplites are very talented. once i find out what works best, i will let you know. what is definitely for sure, infantry to infantry with them is just a bad idea.