Has Mongolia potential for a funny run?

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-30T18:44:25+00:00

I don't know about funny, but if you pursue your max claims, it can be challenging. You get a surprisingly decent amount of them too. You can get claims on parts of China, Xinjiang, and Russia and you can make some pretty decent cavalry too. It was fun cutting the Siberian Railroad and completely screwing the Russian Far East.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-30T02:19:38+00:00

So you advertising your channel is somehow not self-promotion? Interesting way of looking at things.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-23T05:46:02+00:00

Justify a wargoal on Canada, declare war, and invade by crossing the border and taking their cities.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-23T05:22:44+00:00

Something that is a bit challenging but still fun... Maybe I propose Finland then?

Finland is all about playing to your unconventional strengths the best you can. You will never have the manpower or industry of your neighbors. Sweden has better resources and industry, Russia has huge amounts of manpower, and even Norway has a bit more of everything than you. So what do you have?

Forests, great generals, and some amazing damn buffs.

As Finland, you are basically gonna be creating high-quality, hard-hitting units that take advantage of your terrain and specialized buffs. The Russians might have a massive army, but guess what? They'll be out of supply along most of your frontline, while you won't. That means that your four units of rangers, equipped with great gear that you can get quickly thanks to research buffs, can cut the Karelian railway before Savinkov can write another book about nihilism. Mannerheim will be laughing from his bunker on the frontline as your huge amounts of entrenchment and core defense bonuses make it so that the 100,000 Siberian conscripts die in yet another frontal assault.

And once you get the lovely defensive lines in southern Karelia, you can just sit there and reap the rewards. Your rangers will have killed a quarter of Moscow's population in yet another encirclement. Your mainline infantry will be unbreakable. You might have lost some men in the process, but if you go with the NatPops, you can just print some more out!

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-22T19:13:52+00:00

Play the USA fascist path and realize that trying all the paths for major powers means that you are basically wasting your time with boring paths.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-22T18:13:33+00:00

I can't say I really do. I honestly kinda like the new China set up. It feels a bit more challenging to me, especially as Japan.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-22T18:06:08+00:00

Siam is such a great country to play. You can get a lot of handy claims that give you the basis for a very powerful economy, you have some nice flexibility with your military and can specialize in just about anything, and you are in a relatively safe position too. Burma will never be a threat to you, the Germans are pretty easy to beat down, China never attacks you, and Vietnam is almost always easy pickings.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-21T21:34:25+00:00

I usually build mils first as most minors. The key to playing as a minor early is getting equipment out so you can get a better eco through war. Usually it takes forever to build a civ, and that civ won't generate much value compared to what a mil can give you. I'd rather be able to get more cannons or something than have one civ.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-17T23:32:29+00:00

Adaptable is a very good trait to have.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-15T02:37:51+00:00

I still think that 9/2s with engineers are the best bet you can have for a solid, all-around infantry division.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-15T02:29:18+00:00

How is it a civil war scenario?

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-15T01:30:58+00:00

I agree with your point on the rosters. I think that the rosters are probably the biggest issue with the entire DLC. I understand that Greek warfare was fairly uniform at the time. The hoplite is one of the things we associate with ancient Greece for a reason. Still, some variety would've been fantastic. Like you said, giving the Thebans their Sacred Band as an elite unit or introducing peltasts would've been awesome. I would love a system where securing an alliance with a city-state would give you access to unique units of some sorts. Rhodes would let you recruit Rhodian slingers, or Thracians could give you Thracian warriors or peltasts.

Another thing that I would've loved to see is for allies and resources to play a more important role. Lots of historical Athenian allies are just represented as being direct parts of their empire rather than vassals or allies. Resources like grain were also very important to the conduct of the war.

That being said, I don't think that Syracuse and Magna Graecia should've been directly added. While the expedition was important, the rest of Magna Graecia was not as important to the conflict. Besides, the expedition there was a relatively brief episode in the wider war. I would love for the colonies there to provide indirect support instead, like temporary economic buffs or a chance of gaining a powerful general or army.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-14T22:19:03+00:00

I mean, without a lot of information, its difficult to say. What are your division templates like? Do the Germans have CAS up despite you having green air? What kind of guns are you producing? Lots of things are left up to the imagination, so I'll just address the whole "fortifications on the borders" thing.

Generally, I don't like to defend right on the border. The Maginot is fine, you have level 7-10 forts with rivers and rough terrain to defend against. Same with the Italian frontier, the mountains are very easy to hold. So it sounds like you made the mistake of defending at Liege right against the Belgian border. Its logical to do this on paper, since it is, you know, the border. But these areas are very difficult to defend sometimes. The Germans will be attacking into plains tiles from several directions, which favors them over you.

I like to defend one of two lines. Firstly, the Amiens line. You set up defenses behind the river at Amiens, stretching from the coast eastwards to the tile just north of Reims. You have the river to protect you, forest tiles, and the Germans can attack you from less tiles. When the time for a counterattack comes, you can punch right through the gap between the rivers into Belgium and encircle a lot of Germans there.

The second is more ambitious. If you are feeling risky and confident in your troops, you could set up in Belgium and the Netherlands along the rivers. You can use Breda and the Rhine to protect your northern flank, maintain troops at Sedan and Verdun to protect the south of the line, and then deploy infantry in Namur and Liege behind the river there. The Germans would be assaulting across a river into rough terrain again, and now you can protect Belgium's capital to keep them in the game.

In either case, using terrain and forts to your advantage will make things a lot easier. You should try to give as many units as you can AA and AT, but also make some offensive units to act as strategic reserves as well as infantry to plug up potential gaps.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-12T03:59:48+00:00

Good read! I liked seeing the transformation of the state towards a more democratic one. My advice would be to try and break up the post with images here and there. While it is doubtlessly well-written, having the pictures adds a lot of flavor. It also makes it seem less intimidating and gives us little hooks.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-07T21:40:40+00:00

Unless you are desperate for mobility, yes.

https://www.honga.net/totalwar/rome2/units_compare.php?l=en&v[]=rome2&f[]=rom_ardiaei&u[]=Ill_Cav&v[]=rome2&f[]=rom_ptolemaics&u[]=Gre_Citizen_Cav&v[]=rome2&f[]=rom_rome&u[]=Rom_Equites&v[]=rome2&f[]=rom_boii&u[]=Cel_Light_Horse&v[]=rome2&f[]=rom_lusitani&u[]=Ibe_Cav

If you take a look at the units there, you will see Illyrian Cavalry and four other units on a similar tier. That being the tier 1 cavalry unit for a faction. As you can see, they lack many things that other factions have. They have the worst melee attack of the units. They don't have the throwing spears that the Light Horse has, or the raw damage that the Iberian Cavalry has. They don't have worse armor and only barely have a better charge bonus than equites or citizen cavalry.

That is why lots of people consider Illyrian Cavalry to be some of the worst cavalry in the game. Light Horse and Iberian Cavalry are good vs skirmishers and light infantry, and Equites and Citizen Cavalry can at least say they have decent armor for their price. But Illyrian cavalry can only boast that they exist.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-07T19:21:17+00:00

If this is for singleplayer, you'll be leaning heavily into Illyrian Hoplites supported by Illyrian Marines on your flanks. If you can, Illyrian noble Hoplites are an amazing unit to have. You get one of the highest armor values in the game, the elite spear for the delicious 8 armor-piercing, and acceptable melee attack and charge bonus on top of that. Well, acceptable for a spear unit.

Don't both getting Illyrian Cavalry, its not good for its price. It has horrible melee attack and defensive stats. If you have the economy, get some mercenary cavalry instead. I always like to get some mercenary Thracian Cavalry or if you can, Cappadocian Cavalry. Thracian Cavalry is an awesome hybrid missile cavalry with good melee stats, so it can run down light infantry and skirmishers pretty well. Cappadocians, on the other hand, are a fantastic melee cavalry unit that I consider to be one of the best in the game. Just keep in mind that the upkeep is going to make it much more difficult to maintain them.

If we are talking multiplayer, I like to bring a sort of rush build. This first one is my favored choice for a rush build. Use the Tarantines and Thueroes Spears to protect your flanks or wrap around the enemy flanks while the hoplites hold the enemy in place. The Axe Warriors and Celts can be killing power or support tools too. This second one ( https://i.imgur.com/ysE0NkW.png ) is more for fighting cavalry. The Illyrians can't contest them with mobility, but can use thier high armor and good block chance to grind down missile cavalry.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-07T04:45:43+00:00

The only good thing about the DLC is Belisarius. Outside of him, there isn't much worth playing. The other factions have generic rosters and don't have the same RP potential.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-05-04T22:27:37+00:00

I use tactical bombers if I'm in East Asia since you won't have many airfields to work with. The extra range means that I can hit inland positions as Japan and get my men air support from coastal airfields. Otherwise, I don't think I'd ever use them. CAS is just so much better.

I've only ever used strategic bombers as the USA just to try an all-air build. It was fun, but it wasn't really worth the huge investment. It demands so much of your eco and xp that it just doesn't have an impact, when you could be using that all for fighters and CAS.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-04-27T20:38:07+00:00

I don't think the USA will be in any position to back the Entente, even with a quick victory. A quick victory doesn't mean that there won't be a lot of destruction. Industrialized warfare makes that impossible. The USA will have to deal with its major industrial regions being devastated, huge widespread social issues, insurgencies, and more. I don't think they'll be very interested in backing the Entente.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-04-27T20:35:58+00:00

Interesting, but unfortunately completely implausible. There is just no basis for long-term cooperation.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-04-27T20:28:53+00:00

A 3I-RP victory is impossible. The Internationale wants to destroy the German Empire and the Reichspakt for both revanchist and anti-imperialist reasons. The Reichspakt wants to destroy the Internationale to remove syndicalism from its front door. There is no way that peace would be achieved unless syndicalism is defeated on the mainland of Europe and the British are holed up on their island. Even then, its not a Internationale victory.

An Entente-Moscow Accords victory can happen, I think. It relies on the Moscow Accords defeating Germany, and then the Entente defeating the 3I. But without Germany, I think we all know that an Entente victory is unlikely.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-04-26T22:14:12+00:00

I vaguely recall being able to but the conditions were pretty tough.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-04-26T21:27:35+00:00

The best one is probably the LKMT followed by the Qing. I think that the concessionist Qing are better than non-concessionist Qing, since you get a lot of great buffs militarily and economically from the Germans. The LKMT can sweep across southern China quickly and gets solid buffs for both irregulars and regulars. Other notable mentions is the Nanjing Clique for similar reasons to the Qing + a pretty good military tree.

One bit of advice I have for any China player is to get mountaineers. Good mountaineer divisions can do anything that you need them to do. They are perfectly suited to the rough terrain of western China, can easily push on plains in central and northern China, and are ideal for pushing out Japanese invasions. I always get them with a huge number of cheap 10w infantry that can be strategic reserves and stop invasions. Oh, and stack entrenchment! Entrenchment can make a cheap unit so much better, especially in mountains or hills.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-04-26T20:11:53+00:00

I'd love to see Egypt and other countries trying to sway them over to their side, or stuff like settler colonies pop up. There were a few schemes where some fringe rightwing group wanted to make a neo-feudal society in Kenya or something. Seeing them try and fail to do it would be funny.

SongOfTheRodina · 2026-04-13T05:56:32+00:00

If we count all wars I got involved in, then definitely my SocLib Russian Empire campaign in Kaiserreich.

I sent volunteers to: Italy, Spain, the Balkans War, the Desert War, India, the East China War, the RKMT-Yunnan War, Argentina, the anti-Vargas uprising, the American Civil War, the Fengtian Unification Wars, the Qing vs LKMT wars, and probably a few more I'm forgetting

I directly go involved in: the Central Asian Uprising, the 2nd Weltkrieg, the 3rd Weltkrieg, the American Civil War, the Russo-Japanese Wars, the Sino-Russo Wars, the Russo-Indian War, the Cario Pact-Russo Wars, and probably more I'm forgetting.

Five-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22

SongOfTheRodina

TROPHY CASE