If I build a lot of buildings using my slaves, then sell them so that I have more buildings than population, how do I get more growth? If many of those buildings are food and health buildings does it mean that I now have a lot more population growth buildings than I need and therefore the population...

The AI can't handle skirmishes at all... [snip] FOG 2 is designed around Roman troops and in particular Roman heavy infantry. I would try playing with another army before making any such broad claims. I don't know what setting you have your FOG2 game on, but although the AI does not react until you...

It's only easy to win FOG 2 battles if the odds are not too badly against you. For instance, if you have no general and the AI does have a general then you can end up with a army of raw and below average troops versus an army of superior and above average troops. You really need a positional or terr...

Nothing wrong with a scorched desert region that has a high population - that describes Egypt, though perhaps you should have to put in the level three irrigation system to get it

It's easy to Make Cavalry Great Again - just get rid of all your foreign cavalry and only use the cavalry from your home province, then build lots of walls around that province and use the decision to make the workers work harder and give tax cuts to the rich

Not sure what cavalry do in an Empires resolved battle, except make sure that more of the enemy die in the pursuit (which can be important). I ran an entirely cavalry and light cavalry force over to a threatened region and saved it from being run over by playing the battle in FOG 2 despite the huge ...

Yes I complained about this during the beta testing and I still find it annoying - especially when two of my allies are at war with one another and fight it out in one of my regions!! The allied troops make it hard to grow my regions as they chew up my food. It makes it hard for you to go to war wit...

The checkerboard formation is also useful if you have patches of disordering terrain on the battlefield - when you deploy you can't be sure how to match up to your opponent and also how you will get the right sort of troops onto the disordering terrain. Putting the medium infantry in the second rank...

I also have trouble with the tiny writing - usually when I have been playing for too long and really should be asleep!! I did get the magnifier to work by having two screens and having the magnified view on the other screen. The magnifier has three settings and you have to choose what mode you like ...

Thank you. Very good guide. When will you do one on reducing or managing decadence. I am playing Ptolemaios Egypt at the moment and just can't get out of the lower one third of CDR even at early stage game. I have allocated massive numbers of population to culture, built culture buildings and now a...

I have made a few Field of Glory 2 <--> Empires videos you may find interesting Empires vs Field of Glory battle resolution Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG_jApy2z5A Part 2 https://youtu.be/wwrShBdODkc The Fall of Pontus (again) a Field of Glory 2 battle generated by Empires in marshy terra...

yes the absence of a general or having only a poorly rated general can have devastating consequences on your army - I had to play a battle where nearly all my troops were rated "raw" or "below average". This makes such games unique and quite an interesting challenge - in this cas...

Also a client state, if it has more than one region, will give you at least one of its regions at some stage provided you are sufficiently powerful. Client states eventually also pay you some money (how much depends on how rich they are, but it's not usually very much).

This video shows something like that. The player exported to FoG2 and won, then he loaded the pre-battle save, simulated the battle in FoG:E, and lost. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPumPtXvpRw However overall I have found that the Empires system is remarkably accurate in the way it predicts lose...

I like this idea, I love playing Third Age: Total War and there are similar mods of Medieval Total War 2 that have a lot more colour and music and action than are present in FOG - that will be your competition. Most of the instructions on how to mod the game are in the rules for FoG Empires, which c...

If Empires says you have a stronger army than your opponent but you lose the battle when it is resolved, you can usually win the battle by playing it in FOG 2 - but I have found that Empires creates great battlefields and wonderful army match-ups that you would not get in FOG 2. The two work togethe...

For those who haven't heard of Epaminondas I have put a brief introductory video on battle plans for the game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tl9_X6XIrM

My question is, will your troops and fleet suffer from lack of supply if you wait a turn in that sea area before landing- potentially destroying them from lack of supply? Say, for instance, you move your ships and troops across the Black Sea for two turns to the landing site - they have then been ou...

However if getting to Thrace is not so easy, consider trying one of the five new and very interesting Thracian lists that came with the latest update and/or Wolves from the sea. For the first time, for instance, you can get a Galatian army with good medium infantry- if you use the Thracian army of t...

Found a new word in a thesis by the Canadian professor of ancient history, Mathew Sears: Thraikophoitai. This comes from a play by Aristophanes and it means “Thrace-haunters”. So if you are interested in the Thracians, that makes you a Thracophile but if you go there as well then you get upgraded to...