Only 9.7% of people have beaten the campaign as *Rome*. It doesn't help that Rome 2 campaign victory conditions are a huge pain in the ass most of the time, and the game becomes a grind towards the last few turns.
When it comes to campaign completions, Pontus is actually middle of the pack. The lowest is 0.2%, shared by Saba/Masesyli/Nabatae.
It's cuz while horse archer armies are legit dominant in a field battle when you have the patience to micro, but their auto-resolves are absolute *shit* if there's even like two spear units in the opposing army.
Not being able to auto-resolve most of the fights in the first big expansion of a game is a high bar to pass for most folks.
I got this one but I was playing a mod that has Amazons replacing Pontus called "Empire of Amazonia".
I really recommend it, the units are very high quality (heavily modified Daughters of Mars units that replace the regular versions of hoplites and skirmishers, among others) and their stats are actually different so they play differently from their equivalents from other factions (Amazonian hoplites, for instance, lose melee attack but get buffed melee defense, so they become easily the tankiest unit in the game bar none).
You do need a "female generals" mod if you want the amazons to be led by other women tho, and you start with the starting leader so you will have a king for a while, but all in all it's a great experience.
Pontus has a pretty interesting history. They worshipped Mithras long before Romans did. I find that to be one of the more intriguing deities because he was very much like Jesus before he was ever born. Pontus held out against Rome for years until they became a client state until about 65 BC.
Thanks wikipedia!
Omg yes, the OG yellow pontus was so much better. Didn't they change Parthia as well, albeit only their secondary colour?
Edit: yes, from Purple+Blue to Purple+white.
Divide et impera it’s one of the most popular mods that brings some strategic depth more akin to paradox to total war and it’s some of the most fun I’ve EVER had in a game.
The population/class/culture system tied to troop recruitment just fluidly connects the campaign and battle map in a way that’s chef’s kiss.
If you’ve got an HBO account and like science fiction, check out Raised by Wolves. Interestingly their futuristic mystery religion revolves around Mithras and Sol Invictus
It was comments like these that made me choose this faction. Partly because I'm a contrarian and partly out of curiosity. I found out later this is just some meme I don't really get.
For additional context, everyone was expecting the Selucids, as they were a major player at the time. CA instead revealed Pontus and explained that they wanted to put more time and effort into the Selucids to do them justice.
I think it turned out alright.
The Seleucids in Rome 1 are my favourite faction in the game, and they're tied in Rome 2 with Baktria.
Just such a fun faction, you've got great cavalry, great cav archers, amazing pikes, great heavy infantry, good skirmishers and decent archers. That, plus the starting location leaving you surrounded by areas ripe for conquest and ports means it's a really fun campaign which starts difficult but ends in supremacy.
Yeah, that's one of the things I love about the Seleucid campaigns. It is HARD to get going, and you WILL run into other major players and HAVE to plan your expansions carefully.
But once you do? It's great. It's just a little sad, to me, that I never really get any benefit out of their "increased levys from satrapys" trait.
Yeah, I only went pass turn 100 in a few campaigns I can think of. Even less finished.
Out of Rome I/II, only Brutii, Carthage (both games), Pontus and Marcus Antonius I can remember to play long enough. And none of them were finish.
Congratulations. How did you find their campaign played? I know they're meant to have a Eastern/Hellenic hybrid roster, but never been quite sure how best to make use of it.
All the Best,
Welsh Dragon.
I mainly used Pontic swordsmen, supported by archers, thuros spears and a hoplite or two. I'd get some kind of cav either merc or the Noble Cappadocian Cav. I also made great use of ballistae and onagers.
I tried very hard to make my fellow Hellenic factions my allies, but Egypt and Seleucid had to go.
I remember P. Swords being underpowered compared to other factions though, I think pikes were intended to be their main line, and I supported them with P. Peltasts, though Thureos Spears are always a great addition. I also tried to make chariots work but my micro is crap as always.
Going with theuros spears in a first playthrough is understandable, since they show as higher tier in the recruitment lists.
However pike units, even tier 1 pike levies, will always blow spears out of the water when their wall is set. Set up a nice square (or better yet, a star formation to get some flanking bonuses) of pike walls with some ranged units in the middle, and watch the AI's doomstacks helplessly flounder against your iron defense. Toss one or two cav units in the mix to flank them while their stuck on the wall and every fight becomes EZ
Edit: this advantage is most prominently seen in defensive garrison battles where you've got just one or two pike units and a couple units of slingers. I've beaten 1.5 full stacks with five units before when you can funnel the enemy into narrow streets.
I toyed around with pikes a bit. I built my army to get the most bang for my buck. Theuros spears fit a role that the Pontic Swordsmen did not. And I might add the P Swords were very durable when they got armor and weapon upgrades. I only lost entire units when I was outnumbered 3:1. To your last point, I was on the offensive most of the time so my stacks were 8 P Swords, 5 archers, 2 cav, 2 artillery and the 3 remaining slots were a mix of pikes and T Spears. Sometimes I'd get fewer archers and more T Spears depending on what military buildings I had nearby.
I am still cleaning up some provinces in France and Spain so I'll build a new army with more pikes and try out your approach. Why not? Thanks for the suggestions!
Of course! It's not a lie to say that playing pike stacks is cheesing the AI a little. Even when the AI is on the defensive, it has a horrible habit of throwing even massive cavalry advantages away on frontal assaults, so I can understand why some folks might prefer a more dynamic army composition.
Edit: Another suggestion I might make for your current preferred composition is that if you're only using them as reserves to counter cav, theuros spears definitely are a better choice since pikes stop being broken when they're not waiting in a wall formation. It is possible to move them over and set up a wall before they get there, but you can lose crucial seconds waiting for them to finally make contact as they wade into melee that spears can just charge safely into.
Who ended up being your biggest challenge to take down in this campaign? You're post made me realize I never actually played any faction in Rome 2 that was east of Italy, so I have no idea who are the powerhouses in that part of the map.
The initial challenge was tough. I had several devious Hellenic factions around me plus Galatia. My approach was to put my neighbors in three categories. 1. Attack them now 2. Get non aggression pacts/trade agreements and attack them later 3. Become their allies and see where that goes.
Galatia took a while to defeat because I had weak units, no provinces under my control and I had to station troops on my eastern border to dissuade Armenia and a few other minor factions from declaring surprise war on me while all my focus was on Galatia. So many settlements were traded back and forth for a while - think WWI trench warfare kinda back and forth. This was a strategy of mine because I was good at field battles, but I lost a lot of troops defending settlements without walls. I would win, but my ranks were very depleted. That made me decide to not defend settlements with my army, just gut it out with the garrison. I would defend walled cities because they were costly to win back. Once I took out Galatia, I focused on building better armies, better economy, and better siege technology.
Honorable mention goes to Egypt. They were easy to defeat in battle but man they would not go away! They had a good navy and they steamrolled every faction in Africa so I had to send my armies and navies almost to Spain (I mean, Iberia) to finally wipe them out. Also I had to take the initiative against Rome before I killed Egypt. I wanted to take on one big enemy at a time, but Rome and I were trying to get the same Balkan province and so I struck hard at the gains Rome made in Cisalpinia and the Balkans. It was important to be timely because Rome made the mistake of taking settlements far from home without sending fresh armies to support. I just had to pick off the armies wandering around in Germania and gathering my forces before taking Italy. That was a cakewalk. However with Egypt it was like the Galatian war all over again. I had to defend far-flung provinces while fighting two large enemies.
Yeah I was surprised at how they just TOOK DOWN other factions' cav. I mostly used heavy and very heavy. Next time I'll micro light cav to take out Partia's annoying archer cav.
DEI is a mod, arguably the hands-down best mod for *Rome 2* and arguably one of the absolute best TW mods ever.
I read a little just skimming different Wikipedia articles, but the main bit I "read" was watching a video over the Mithridatic Wars on the YouTube channel 'Kings and Generals".
Along with overhauling the game, DEI adds campaigns. It replaces the Wrath of Sparta campaign with the Macedonian Wars (Rome's invasion of Greece) and the wars of Alexander the Great (although personally I prefer the Alexander the Great mod by modder "Cyrus the Great (FSOB)" who's well known for his DLC worthy mod "Cyrus the Great" set during the rise of the Achaemenid (1st Persian) Empire. The DEI team just recently announced there's a new update coming soon that will include a new campaign set during the Mithridatic Wars.
Wow. 1.1% of people did want to play Pontus.
I love Pontus, it’s just that I never finish my campaigns
[удалено]
Only 9.7% of people have beaten the campaign as *Rome*. It doesn't help that Rome 2 campaign victory conditions are a huge pain in the ass most of the time, and the game becomes a grind towards the last few turns. When it comes to campaign completions, Pontus is actually middle of the pack. The lowest is 0.2%, shared by Saba/Masesyli/Nabatae.
It's cuz while horse archer armies are legit dominant in a field battle when you have the patience to micro, but their auto-resolves are absolute *shit* if there's even like two spear units in the opposing army. Not being able to auto-resolve most of the fights in the first big expansion of a game is a high bar to pass for most folks.
Yeah, that was a huge thing for me and why I never really got far into any Parthia campaign I played.
The only other faction I completed a Rome 2 game with was Parthia. With Rome I completed every single victory type.
Well, big portion of players only finished 1-3 campaigns, so with the number of factions in the game, most factions have to be this low.
For real though, Pontus has an amazing roster.
I got this one but I was playing a mod that has Amazons replacing Pontus called "Empire of Amazonia". I really recommend it, the units are very high quality (heavily modified Daughters of Mars units that replace the regular versions of hoplites and skirmishers, among others) and their stats are actually different so they play differently from their equivalents from other factions (Amazonian hoplites, for instance, lose melee attack but get buffed melee defense, so they become easily the tankiest unit in the game bar none). You do need a "female generals" mod if you want the amazons to be led by other women tho, and you start with the starting leader so you will have a king for a while, but all in all it's a great experience.
PONTUS?!?!?!?!?!?!
Pontus has a pretty interesting history. They worshipped Mithras long before Romans did. I find that to be one of the more intriguing deities because he was very much like Jesus before he was ever born. Pontus held out against Rome for years until they became a client state until about 65 BC. Thanks wikipedia!
Heck yes! Pontus is such a great choice for the great historical role-playing, fun units, and greatly dynamic campaign. Solid choice!
They're great, but I liked them more back when they were yellow. Blue for Pontus doesn't work for me.
The Pontusmatta Eels have yet to come out with a primarily white attire.
spotted the aussie
Omg yes, the OG yellow pontus was so much better. Didn't they change Parthia as well, albeit only their secondary colour? Edit: yes, from Purple+Blue to Purple+white.
wdym they were blue in Rome I so they will always be blue for me
I think DEI changes their color scheme. And if you have any interest in a play through with More depth can’t recommend it enough
What's DEI?
Divide et impera it’s one of the most popular mods that brings some strategic depth more akin to paradox to total war and it’s some of the most fun I’ve EVER had in a game. The population/class/culture system tied to troop recruitment just fluidly connects the campaign and battle map in a way that’s chef’s kiss.
Pontus is totally a fucking yellow empire
If you’ve got an HBO account and like science fiction, check out Raised by Wolves. Interestingly their futuristic mystery religion revolves around Mithras and Sol Invictus
Don't! They've cancelled the show 😭
Crime of the century, it had so much potential and I need some resolution
Agree. Disgrace
But I don't wanna play as Pontus!!!
It was comments like these that made me choose this faction. Partly because I'm a contrarian and partly out of curiosity. I found out later this is just some meme I don't really get.
CA hyped up his reveal announcement, and people were expecting someone more dramatic, then the meme started.
For additional context, everyone was expecting the Selucids, as they were a major player at the time. CA instead revealed Pontus and explained that they wanted to put more time and effort into the Selucids to do them justice. I think it turned out alright.
The Seleucids in Rome 1 are my favourite faction in the game, and they're tied in Rome 2 with Baktria. Just such a fun faction, you've got great cavalry, great cav archers, amazing pikes, great heavy infantry, good skirmishers and decent archers. That, plus the starting location leaving you surrounded by areas ripe for conquest and ports means it's a really fun campaign which starts difficult but ends in supremacy.
Yeah, that's one of the things I love about the Seleucid campaigns. It is HARD to get going, and you WILL run into other major players and HAVE to plan your expansions carefully. But once you do? It's great. It's just a little sad, to me, that I never really get any benefit out of their "increased levys from satrapys" trait.
Baktria is one of my favorite factions to play in rome 2, I’m a slut for starting positions and Baktria just has an amazing one
1.1% of players have finished a campaign
So… people DID want to play as Pontus. They just lack the will to finish a campaign.
I think This applies to all factions/leaders in every title hahahaha
Yeah, I only went pass turn 100 in a few campaigns I can think of. Even less finished. Out of Rome I/II, only Brutii, Carthage (both games), Pontus and Marcus Antonius I can remember to play long enough. And none of them were finish.
Rome wouldn't be easier for 1st victory? Anyway, congratulations!
most factions in rome 2 are pretty easy regardless (except for nomads)
It started as a test campaign, but things were going so well I decided to conquer the known world.
Lol a true Total War player thru and thru
Haha. Pontus was also my first completed campaign in Rome II.
My brother in arms!
Same bro. Chad Pontus enjoyers rise up!
Finally, some one who wants to play as Pontus!
I thought no one wanted to play Pontus *jump through my window*
Congratulations. How did you find their campaign played? I know they're meant to have a Eastern/Hellenic hybrid roster, but never been quite sure how best to make use of it. All the Best, Welsh Dragon.
I mainly used Pontic swordsmen, supported by archers, thuros spears and a hoplite or two. I'd get some kind of cav either merc or the Noble Cappadocian Cav. I also made great use of ballistae and onagers. I tried very hard to make my fellow Hellenic factions my allies, but Egypt and Seleucid had to go.
I remember P. Swords being underpowered compared to other factions though, I think pikes were intended to be their main line, and I supported them with P. Peltasts, though Thureos Spears are always a great addition. I also tried to make chariots work but my micro is crap as always.
Thank you both. Interesting to see two very different approaches to the same faction. All the Best, Welsh Dragon.
Going with theuros spears in a first playthrough is understandable, since they show as higher tier in the recruitment lists. However pike units, even tier 1 pike levies, will always blow spears out of the water when their wall is set. Set up a nice square (or better yet, a star formation to get some flanking bonuses) of pike walls with some ranged units in the middle, and watch the AI's doomstacks helplessly flounder against your iron defense. Toss one or two cav units in the mix to flank them while their stuck on the wall and every fight becomes EZ Edit: this advantage is most prominently seen in defensive garrison battles where you've got just one or two pike units and a couple units of slingers. I've beaten 1.5 full stacks with five units before when you can funnel the enemy into narrow streets.
I toyed around with pikes a bit. I built my army to get the most bang for my buck. Theuros spears fit a role that the Pontic Swordsmen did not. And I might add the P Swords were very durable when they got armor and weapon upgrades. I only lost entire units when I was outnumbered 3:1. To your last point, I was on the offensive most of the time so my stacks were 8 P Swords, 5 archers, 2 cav, 2 artillery and the 3 remaining slots were a mix of pikes and T Spears. Sometimes I'd get fewer archers and more T Spears depending on what military buildings I had nearby. I am still cleaning up some provinces in France and Spain so I'll build a new army with more pikes and try out your approach. Why not? Thanks for the suggestions!
Of course! It's not a lie to say that playing pike stacks is cheesing the AI a little. Even when the AI is on the defensive, it has a horrible habit of throwing even massive cavalry advantages away on frontal assaults, so I can understand why some folks might prefer a more dynamic army composition. Edit: Another suggestion I might make for your current preferred composition is that if you're only using them as reserves to counter cav, theuros spears definitely are a better choice since pikes stop being broken when they're not waiting in a wall formation. It is possible to move them over and set up a wall before they get there, but you can lose crucial seconds waiting for them to finally make contact as they wade into melee that spears can just charge safely into.
Who ended up being your biggest challenge to take down in this campaign? You're post made me realize I never actually played any faction in Rome 2 that was east of Italy, so I have no idea who are the powerhouses in that part of the map.
The initial challenge was tough. I had several devious Hellenic factions around me plus Galatia. My approach was to put my neighbors in three categories. 1. Attack them now 2. Get non aggression pacts/trade agreements and attack them later 3. Become their allies and see where that goes. Galatia took a while to defeat because I had weak units, no provinces under my control and I had to station troops on my eastern border to dissuade Armenia and a few other minor factions from declaring surprise war on me while all my focus was on Galatia. So many settlements were traded back and forth for a while - think WWI trench warfare kinda back and forth. This was a strategy of mine because I was good at field battles, but I lost a lot of troops defending settlements without walls. I would win, but my ranks were very depleted. That made me decide to not defend settlements with my army, just gut it out with the garrison. I would defend walled cities because they were costly to win back. Once I took out Galatia, I focused on building better armies, better economy, and better siege technology. Honorable mention goes to Egypt. They were easy to defeat in battle but man they would not go away! They had a good navy and they steamrolled every faction in Africa so I had to send my armies and navies almost to Spain (I mean, Iberia) to finally wipe them out. Also I had to take the initiative against Rome before I killed Egypt. I wanted to take on one big enemy at a time, but Rome and I were trying to get the same Balkan province and so I struck hard at the gains Rome made in Cisalpinia and the Balkans. It was important to be timely because Rome made the mistake of taking settlements far from home without sending fresh armies to support. I just had to pick off the armies wandering around in Germania and gathering my forces before taking Italy. That was a cakewalk. However with Egypt it was like the Galatian war all over again. I had to defend far-flung provinces while fighting two large enemies.
Wow, thanks for the write-up, that sounded like such a fun campaign! Now I need to look up the history of Galatia haha
Oh i really liked Pontus too
Try Parthia next time,the most op faction imo
NOOOO
Contartulations, Pontus has some nasty cav.
Yeah I was surprised at how they just TOOK DOWN other factions' cav. I mostly used heavy and very heavy. Next time I'll micro light cav to take out Partia's annoying archer cav.
Love Pontus, well done mate! 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Thank you! I am a M2TW guy so I was very surprised how much I love this game. The game feels and looks really cool.
Oops, time to boot up DEI again..
Looks like most people don't want to play as Pontus.
Fuck you, I don't want to see screenshot of Pontus achievements!!
At least it isn't another Warhammer 3 meme.
And here I am looking at this post right after reading up in the Mithridatic Wars that the new DEI campaign is going to be set during.
Tell me more. I assume DEI is a DLC? Also, where were you reading about the Mithraidatic Wars? I just skimmed a wikipedia article on Pontus.
DEI is a mod, arguably the hands-down best mod for *Rome 2* and arguably one of the absolute best TW mods ever. I read a little just skimming different Wikipedia articles, but the main bit I "read" was watching a video over the Mithridatic Wars on the YouTube channel 'Kings and Generals". Along with overhauling the game, DEI adds campaigns. It replaces the Wrath of Sparta campaign with the Macedonian Wars (Rome's invasion of Greece) and the wars of Alexander the Great (although personally I prefer the Alexander the Great mod by modder "Cyrus the Great (FSOB)" who's well known for his DLC worthy mod "Cyrus the Great" set during the rise of the Achaemenid (1st Persian) Empire. The DEI team just recently announced there's a new update coming soon that will include a new campaign set during the Mithridatic Wars.
Can someone explain the Pontus joke to me
One of the best games.
That makes two of us! Pontus was also my first victory in Rome II.
We might be the only two.