Then take the rest of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia with a legion on the two island provinces closest to Carthage. So concentrate on the economy and don't piss them off before you're ready. I never go on the offensive until I'm rich, with like 100,000 denari. In two previous campaigns, I've taken Syracuse before they do and then sat waiting to see what they do when we share a border and they did nothing either time and Syracuse is good for some big bucks. With Carthage I try to trade with them in the early goings and just sit chilly watching their struggles. Lonely Emperor's guidance above is very accurate about securing your borders and watching out for Illyrian factions to your East. What I generally do is not get in a hurry in any way. I've found that in the game fleets are generally money sponges that unlike legions aren't great at conquering territory and increasing your income. I never build navies and I'm a retired USN captain. Sounds kinda easy but you have to do well in all of your battles otherwise your ships won't be going anywhere!
This peace will allow you to catch your breath, stabilize the territory you have conquered and will also allow you to declare the next Punic War on your own terms.
One thing I will mention however is that I recommend you take all of their islands, Loot the city of Carthage (You can get INSANE amounts of money from that) and then sue for peace. Now you can take your time in sending your Legions to whichever town you please at your own pace. Generally Carthage can have about 4 navies at one time (Starting Imperium I believe) so if you can blockade 4 puny navies you will effectively stop them from launching any Naval threat in the future. Blockading them forces the ships to be unable to recruit more ships while at the same time your blockading of other ports should stop them from recruiting more navies. So after you've grinded through the hard fought naval battles the next thing is to follow the remnants of the enemy navies (There will nearly always be 1 or 2 ships that escape) and follow them to whatever port they flee to and blockade them. The main reason for this is that your marines will be constantly under fire from their pesky archers and skirmishers who can be devastating if left unchecked! I would say generally you want to ram as many as you can in the first wave and then after you sink a bunch of the enemy ships you begin boarding. You either constantly ram or board enemy ships.
#TOTAL WAR ROME 2 CARTHAGE FULL#
Make your navies be entirely full of 100 man marine ships, I saw 100 because to me the 60 man aren't worth the hefty price in upkeep whereas 100 are far more useful hence they are worth the price. But what you can do is do what the Romans did and turn Navy battles into Land battles. You absolutely cannot go toe to toe with their general Navy as they have some of the best ships in the game. The main thing about this that you already pointed out however is how the hell do you get through their navy? Again I try to go the more historical route. I usually go the more historical route of taking all of the islands first and then invading Carthage itself.
#TOTAL WAR ROME 2 CARTHAGE HOW TO#
So now IF you played your cards right and have the North and East secure you can usually choose quite freely how to deal with Carthage. That way you eliminate the threat but also give yourself allies in the same process! If you HAVE to go to war try to set up a few liberated states rather than waste time occupying crappy territory that will divide your resources. For instance do not trade with their enemies at all. Not only that but try to make them actually LIKE you. You don't need a alliance but you do need trade and a non aggression pact at the least. My suggestion for dealing with the Illyrians and the Gauls is through diplomacy as it is far more cost effective. They will destroy the income on your coastal towns if you don't deal with them. They might be "just a 1 city tribe" but that 1 tiny city is enough for them to have 2 full stack armies and a full stack navy at the LEAST. Usually the Ardiae but any of them really can pose a threat. Your second biggest threat will be the Illyrian tribes to the East. In my playthrough I have the worst scenario where the Insubres liberated a Ligurian faction and I now have to fight both at the same time as Carthage. One of these 2 factions usually becomes the main major of the 3 to your north and if you don't butter them up quickly they will definitely stab you in the back. Its actually quite easy to lose a campaign as Rome if you forget about this, the first main threat (Obviously after actually holding all of Italy) is dealing with the Ligurians and the Insubres. The first absolute MUST is secure your other borders.