Apparently its out in America tomorrow so I expect to see some reviews tomorrow. :p

Brimming with excitement!:clap:

They made camera controls worse and according to the demo the pace of the 3d tactic battles is too frantic, too fast.

But the campaign map is quite an improvement over Medieval, I am looking forward to this game, too.

I thought the camera and battle pace was just fine. Battles by their very nature are frantic, and it's not like you're commanind each and every little 3-d figure individually.:hmm:

I was happy with the speed of the battles in the demo.

My computer doesn't have the requirements. :cry:

I played Shogun and Medieval: Total War before for years.

This might have looked like another RTS to you, but this was once a really tactical 3D battle simulator.

I suggest you visit www.totalwar.org if you want to be enlightened about the intricacies of the former games and the problems that came to light with this demo.

You could add some new players voices to the debate, you will get interesting answers and insights for sure.

This is so awesome.
Although It is coming in tomorrow, and I'll try to get it tomorrow, I'm not gonna get it tl, what, next week? :(

I preordered it too :)

It's freakin here in the US today! :D :D
Yet, it doesn't hit stores til, like, Monday :(

Would one of you Vets give a brief description of this game? :scan:

www.totalwar.com

Thanks Dell19, but what is special about it to you? :scan:

Its the successor to the last two Total War games and it looks like this time they may have improved the strategic side of the game including the previously weak diplomacy so that the result will hopefully be a very good game.

Its the successor to the last two Total War games and it looks like this time they may have improved the strategic side of the game including the previously weak diplomacy so that the result will hopefully be a very good game.

Do you need to have the first two to play the Total War? :scan:

No since the first two are separate games although both previous total war games also had an expansion pack that was released later and needed the game from the series to be installed that it was expanding.

No since the first two are separate games although both previous total war games also had an expansion pack that was released later and needed the game from the series to be installed that it was expanding.

:thanx: pal. I think I'll give it a try, looks very interesting :cool: .

if you want to talk with real Total War nerds:

www.totalwar.org <-> www.totalwar.com

The left ones are the hardcore players, finding always something to complain about. But they know what they are talking about

The right side is if you need general information. It is the official site and of course not half as harsh in making negative judgements.

If you want, it is similar to

www.civfanatics.com <-> www.civ3.com

Dammit, why did I preorder it?:sad:

*Waiting for it to come...Hurry up amazon!*

I have played this game for 2 days now and haven't run into any bugs or crashes. My mom has a brand new dell computer that can run the game smooth and effortlessly even on high graphic details and sounds.

This game incorporate many features ofcivilization 3 into its turn based part. Basically there are ALOT of provinces, i didnt bother counting all of them in the map that came with the game. In each province contains a "capital city". Who ever controls the capital city control the province. You can build buildings and units at the same time too.

The military part of the game involves armies and generals. You will almost never send out a lone unit anywhere (including your own provinces) without other units and a general. the dimplomat unit in the game can just come in and "convert" your low moraled troops. You need to stack units and a general together. The more units you have the better. The general is there to give your army bonuses and to help with morale. Without the general, less trained units will attempt to flee the battle field the second it starts taking casualties. However with an experienced general, i had a unit of only 13 out of its original 65 soldiers still eager to fight.

I have yet to conquer the political side of rome total war. For most of my campaign, it has just been about fighting and more fighting. Allies are almost non relevant if you play the julius family even on the hardest settings.

I think that rome total can definitely be a replacement for some civ 3 veterans. I know i wont touch civ 3 again for another 2 months (at least). Rome total war seem more realistic than civ 3. And one of the only complaint that i have is i won't be able to build modern armors in the game :(

Dammit, why did I preorder it?:sad:

*Waiting for it to come...Hurry up amazon!*


I feel your pain... I'm not getting mine until Monday. :cry:

*sigh* Oh well guess I'll be watching the new old Star Wars Trilogy on DVD this weekend.

By the way has anyone played the tutorial campaign yet? I heard it was a historical campaign about the Roman unification of Italy with the siege of Veii and stuff like that in there, is this true? Because we'll be using Rome: Total War to do battle simulations and run a noble Roman family in my Latin class and my Latin teacher really loves the story behind the siege of Veii.

Who knows when I'll get it? They said the ship-date is anywhere from Sept 23-Oct 16!:eek: The good news is, I'm on the east-coast, closer to the Amazon headquarters, so who knows...

@general_kill

Couldja post some screenies?:D

Who knows when I'll get it? They said the ship-date is anywhere from Sept 23-Oct 16!:eek: The good news is, I'm on the east-coast, closer to the Amazon headquarters, so who knows...

@general_kill

Couldja post some screenies?:D
Amazon takes that long? :eek:
I'll probably never get it

Well, in my experience with amazon, I ususally get it sooner rather than later. Just gotta keep me hopes up.:)

They give some very random shipping dates. Rome Total war is still down on my order with a date range of 20 Sep 2004 - 21 Sep 2004, which has already passed and seems to not take into account that the game was delayed after I ordered it.

I just bought it, but I have to wait 'till tomorrow to play it, because the computer I'm currently at can't handle it... :(

I just bought it, but I have to wait 'till tomorrow to play it, because the computer I'm currently at can't handle it... :(


What is your verdict? :scan: Anybody else played yet? :scan:

According to Amazon, I should get it sometime between Oct. 5- Oct. 21.:(

got it today.

is it good, that a battle takes 2-4 minutes? might be only in the prologue campaign.

i am mildly disappointed! but i will give it a 2nd shot tomorrow.

What is your verdict? :scan: Anybody else played yet? :scan:I've been playing every instant I can for the last three days.

Simply put: This is one of the best strategy games ever made.

I mean it. Yes, there are a few bugs. Yes, the AI occasionally does dumb things. Yes, there are a few balance issues that could use tweaking. But none of the changes the fact that this is an extraordinary game.

The graphics are, of course, wonderful. But unlike previous Total War incarnations, which had great tactical battles but only moderate strategy, Rome has fully realized the TW potential as a full strategy game. You have Civ III style diplomacy, actual army positioning, amubushes, spies, assassins...the works. And the fact that you have to rely on your family members (quite limited in number, at least in the beginning) is genius. It really forces you to consider carefully which are your most important cities and how many generals you need.

Oddly enough, the demo and prologue campaigns are, by far, the worst part of the game. Once you get through the prologue, the game just shines.

This game is great. Ipicked it up yesterday adn encourage all to buy it :thumbsup:

Crap. Why did I preorder it? Last time I'm using Amazon...

This game takes MTW to a whole new level. This is probly the best strat game I have ever played.

Lemme tell ya storming Rome with Legions, Seige Towers, battering rams and ladders was awesome.

And it includes histroical battles, I beat Tutenborg Forrest and almost won Carrhe as the Romans.

Little Raven, you give me hope - I am in the prologue right now, and it is somehow disappointing that I conquer a city in less time than the speech of my General if I do not klick it away.

Well, I will now try it again.

Little Raven: Your Unit size?

As I have no performance Issues, I could chose HUGE... but this will lead to more expensive troops and more draft from your population pool and thus reduce taxes and change battles, as Huge Infantry Stacks last at least a bit longer against a Cavalry Charge while normal ones can rout on impact at times!

Little Raven, you give me hope - I am in the prologue right now, and it is somehow disappointing that I conquer a city in less time than the speech of my General if I do not klick it away.That's because the prologue is set up so that a brain-dead monkey on heroin would win without trying. I'm serious.

You have vastly superior troops. You have an unbelievably good general. You outnumber the enemyYou can't lose that battle, no matter how hard you try. ;) And if you any kind of tactical sense at all, then it's simply a slaughter.

Forget the prologue. It sucks. But the real game is so very, very worth it.

Little Raven: Your Unit size?If I could, I'd do huge. But my computer is just a tad shy of what's needed to handle that, so I'm sticking with large, which is working great. In my experience with the TW series, bigger is always better. Personally, I'd make it as large as you can. ;)

Cavarly probably needs some balancing. (though being Civ players, I'm sure we're all aware that all great strategy games take a fair bit of tweaking in order to really get them right.) I'm actually working on a mod right now that will greatly increase the cost of cavalry, and possibly reduce the size of cav units. As I see it, the problem with cavarly right now is that they are too cheap...

Little Raven, I am still playing the Prologue Campaign.

Can I win it at all, btw? I plan on taking over Rome or all cities. I once had the chance, but did not, wanted to conquer some more Greek Cities.

I think I should have exterminated the lower Greek Cities, they need many troops to keep them in line, and I have only 3 sons so far.

Surprisingly, their net income is higher if your exterminate the population of very rebellious cities (Even if you build dozens of Shrines for Jupiter, they are rebellious).


Unit Size:

Hastati, e.g.:
Small 20
Normal 40
Large 80
Huge 160

Always the double. I would go with large, "hugeH only crowds the narrow streets in cities.

The problem with Cav is that their initial Charge is often enough to rout or break enemy units.

You can even fight Hoplites head on!!! and win. If you attacked them from the rear or side, they are gone immediatly.

Hoplites are highly immobile in Phalanx Formation. So you can nearly always flank them. They should be at least deadly if you assault them frontal but... they are not.

They were standard issue troops, no special armor or weapon upgrades or a particular good General, but I read at www.totalwar.org (org, not com) that there are some issues with them - if they are useful or not is hotly debated right now. :)

Little Raven, I am still playing the Prologue Campaign.

Can I win it at all, btw? I plan on taking over Rome or all cities. I once had the chance, but did not, wanted to conquer some more Greek Cities.You probably can, but since I was never able to save my progress, (and forgot that the computer was autosaving) I didn't bother. Honestly, I'd advise simply exiting once Victoria tells you that you've gone far enough and starting a real campaign. It's a lot more fun.I think I should have exterminated the lower Greek Cities, they need many troops to keep them in line, and I have only 3 sons so far.I've almost never used the exterminate option, but enslave works wonders. Slaves are the fuel of the Roman empire. Never hesitate to enslave.The problem with Cav is that their initial Charge is often enough to rout or break enemy units.There's been some speculation that spear bonuses are not working correctly right now. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I suspect it is. And I am certain that Cavalry is way too cheap to raise and maintain currently. Someone just came out with a 'reduce kill speed' mod that I'm looking forward to trying out. I actually think that cavalry is a big improvement over previous TW games, (though far from perfect) but right now they do seem a little too uber. I think my first attempt to try and fix this will be to Make cavalry more expensive to raise and maintain. Make cav units smaller. I'll no doubt be experimenting with that tonight.

But if you're hanging out at totalwar.org, then I'm sure I'll see you there. ;)

Just played it and it's been worth the wait so far almost took entire Greece as Bruuti family but i was scared at first as i thought that you could not play as the other nations of the ancient world but that comes later. So i would say better than MTW and many things have improved i recomend you get it.

In the Prologue you need to capture 7 Regions, then you have won.

I am now in the Imperial Campaign with Flavius Julius as leader (Hey, is this not Gaius Julius?) and already drove the Gauls out of Italy.

I am improving my Cities right now to be able to build something better than Hastatii - and I need some more money, too.

I still haven't gotten it, hope to soon though.

Well, I was a huge fanatic of MTW, and this game certainly won't change my love for the serie :D

It's going closer and closer to Civilization, honestly, and it beats the Rise of Rome scenario any time any day by a cosmic scale. The only two things I don't like are the excessive slaughter (usually, in MTW, a battle ended with about 20 % losses for the victor, and 30-50 % for the defeated, while here the loser often ends up with only a handful of survivors), and the interface, too "video game", and much less classy than the medieval-designed one of MTW.

But the rest... Oh my... The graphics are simply awesome. Hundred, thousands soldiers moving at the same time, each with his own desynchronised animation (not all acting the same at the same time), running, chopping, jumping, slashing, etc., and all this without slowing my computer down 0_o
And the diplomatic and strategic side is HUGELY improved. The population is now important, you can't continuously raise soldiers from the same place, you need people to go into your army, you have to manage your popularity with the Senate and the people of Rome, you have...

Gaaaah, this is a dream ^^

I agree, this game kicks royal ass. :D

I submit that R:TW may even be THE GAME to make one forget all other strategy games!

I love how you can enter into several rounds of negotiations before either arriving at a mutually beneficial deal or the ai telling you to bugger off because you've wasted his time! C3C can't do that......

What do you do with foreign god shrines? They add to happiness e.g., but can you upgrade them when the town grows?

What do you do with foreign god shrines? They add to happiness e.g., but can you upgrade them when the town grows?Leave them, unless you have a good reason for replacing them. You'll be able to upgrade them when/if the time comes.

It has been dispatched so it should hopefully be here tomorrow on time but it depends on the postal service now...

Still not here. Hasn't even shipped. What preorder site did you use? If it's better than Amazon, I'm there!

What do you do with foreign god shrines? They add to happiness e.g., but can you upgrade them when the town grows?

If you are having unhappiness issues with a city that has a foreign god shrine check the settlement scroll. Find out if one of the big contributors to the unhappiness is culture. If so destroy that shrine and replace with a native one to speed the cultural assimilation process. This in turn also reduces your unhappiness problems caused by culture differences.

Who would have thought that we would be talking about culture in a non civ strategy game? ;)

Still not here. Hasn't even shipped. What preorder site did you use? If it's better than Amazon, I'm there!

I'm using amazon.co.uk :p

This game just gets better and better. Thank goodness the weekend is hear. Working all day and playing Rome all night has made for one tired Raven. I'm sure playing Rome all day and night will be better. ;)

I can only subscribe ^^

I've hardly left my seat since wednesday, and it's just becoming better and better ^^
This is truly a Civ-killer in a way.

Finished Rome this afternoon, now I'm starting with the Greek Cities.
And God, then you realize how horrible these legions are ^^
I think it'll be a time race to weaken Rome before the Marian reform kicks in and they start to churn out legionnaries cohorts ^^

Oops, shipped 2 days ago. Hmm. I live in Norfolk, and it's outside Lynchburg... It might get here tonite!:clap:^_^

Nevermind, I didn't think you could have repaired via city, but you cam.

Crap. Would've been here yesterday, but "got re-routed wrong".[pissed] Well, I should have it by Monday if it's in Richmond. That's just a 30 to 45-minute drive away.:(

Just bought it, and I am waiting for it to install...............

If you are having unhappiness issues with a city that has a foreign god shrine check the settlement scroll. Find out if one of the big contributors to the unhappiness is culture. If so destroy that shrine and replace with a native one to speed the cultural assimilation process. This in turn also reduces your unhappiness problems caused by culture differences.

Who would have thought that we would be talking about culture in a non civ strategy game? ;)

Yeah, now whenever I besiege a city I use my most experienced onagers to destroy the temple. I just wish infantry could torch down buildings. :evil:

Amen feast your eyes on this:

I'm not sure whether to cry tears of joy to thank you for easing my wait for it, or to bite your head off for rubbing it in.:lol:

Seriously, though, it's just so beautiful!:cry:

One of my earlier battles...

Yay! Dells in! [dance]
BTW, your supposed to click those little buttons on the side :p

Anybody like my RTW avatar? :D

@Dell

Is that from one of the tutorial battles? It looks somewhat of a basic map layout, teaching you how to take a city and fight in the streets. Excuse my ignorance.

Wouldn't be so ignorant if Amazon wasn't so slow![pissed]

@Dell

Is that from one of the tutorial battles? It looks somewhat of a basic map layout, teaching you how to take a city and fight in the streets. Excuse my ignorance.

It's a regular game.
He's seiging a city, cause I see he has 2 battering rams. When you take a city, you have to sit in the town center and hold it for like, 3 seconds before it becomes yours

Ah. So all city-fight maps are like that? With the city smack dab in the middle? Makes sense, allows you to manuever.

Question: Does RTW come with an editor? I wouldn't think it does, but this is such a Uber-game that I thought, "Hey, maybe it has an editor!"

Question: Does RTW come with an editor? I wouldn't think it does, but this is such a Uber-game that I thought, "Hey, maybe it has an editor!"

Not yet. From what i have gathered browsing a RTW forum yesterday, it was promised, and the hardcore gaming community are just a little annoyed. They want it in a patch.

But the game is incredibly moddable- 90% is softcoded (in text files).

By the way, i am another fool who trusted amazon coming to join the party - was hoping for it to arrive yesterday morning (my birthday), but amazon says it is expected to deliver on the 4th or 5th. Sigh.

It was in the tutorial campain though... Started a proper game afterwards and it has gone reasonably well so far although it is starting to get tempting to resolve some battles as nothing seems to be able to stand up to Roman armies. So far failed to achieve two senate missions where I was told to attack a Gaul city to the west that was too far away although I did take the carthagian city that they wanted when I was worried about travelling over the sea.

Yeah, the battles seem to end up as a massacre, instead of a battle. Even when you're outnumbered 2 to 1 heh. ;) Then again, I've just been fighting the Gauls, maybe it'll be different when I fight Carthage or someone else.

It's pretty cool how you can get famous battles marked on the map, and how generals names change depending on their traits and the battles they've fought. I've got a Dacius the Wrathful and Vabius the Infantryman(Vabius is a legendary hero! :D) at the moment. :)

Anyone tried the multiplayer yet? I've had one game, went pretty smoothly.

@Oblivion

I feel your pain, brother in waiting. I feel your pain.:rockon:;)

I've got my copy now...I am hoping my computers will run it smoothly and that I come to grips with the new control system that I detested in the demo.

Ave!

Wome is your fwend! (Biggus Dickus)

I have some hints for you:

Use the RTS camera and switch off "Restrict Camera View" in city battles!

You cannot navigate properly with restricted view within the walls.

I fought in ROME, the walls were thrice as high as those wooden walls, and there were huge buildings plus the city was SOMEWHAT larger than the normal ones.

Well, my 1240 men (plus Reinforcements) fought a Garrison of some 800 troops plus 1500 outside troops. This was a bit too much for my computer, but it became faster towards the end... after around 1800 dead men.

The funny thing it, I got hit by the PLAGUE right after I took Rome.

2 of my Generals/Governors are affected, fortunately not the Faction Leader!

What can I do to prevent a spreadout of the plague, how can I get rid off it?

Some screenshots for those that still don't have RTW :)

Taking the town:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/rtw4.JPG

Trying to keep the town:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/rtw5.JPG

The result of that battle from above:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/rtw6.JPG

:goodjob:

Thanks, Dell.

'Just one... more... day... Just one... more... day...'

Man, I'm having withdrawal symptoms, and I don't even have the game yet!:eek:

:lol:

Another battle. The only battle I ever lost was when outnumbered over 3 to 1 although that is when fighting the Gauls.

I almost fell out of my chair laughing after seeing this! :rotfl: :rotfl:http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/petidiot1.jpg

One of my hiers's traits is "hooting". The explanation goes something like:

"Wisdom can be expressed in many forms, but hooting like a starving owl is not one of them. -1 to soldiers' morale -1 influence.

MAybe TF should make an RTW forum. He made an RoN forum...

MAybe TF should make an RTW forum. He made an RoN forum...
I'd love that.
It's much better t han a single thread.
go ask him now :D

I had a trait called "drinking buddy"
+1 loyalty :p :lol:

I've got "Wrestler-ripping someone's army off can be useful.
+2 personal security".

Well see, LL, I would go PM him, but for all I know, you and I are the only ones interested in the idea.

Anyone else want an R:TW Forum?

I tried to get a MTW back when we had a couple of succession games going. Maybe a RTW forum might happen though.

I would suggest the RTW forum at www.totalwar.org (hardcore gamers, TW Fanatics) or www.totalwar.com (official, lacking a bit the depth, but good nevertheless)

I would suggest the RTW forum at www.totalwar.org (hardcore gamers, TW Fanatics) or www.totalwar.com (official, lacking a bit the depth, but good nevertheless)
Still, a RTW forum would highly benifet this place

I agree, if we have RoN forum, we'll need an R:TW forum

I doubt that RTW will have a long lasting value. RoN is not my kind of game, I think RTW is much better, but RTW has not have much in common with the "Civ Heritage". But well, most Civ-players are interested in this time and many like the game, too.

But let us face it: There are already thriving forums for RTW, and opening up a RTW Forum here would be not only off-topic but superfluous.

I agree, RTW has less replay value than civ 3 because it always takes place on the same map. I wish you can randomly generate a map to play on but I guess you need to wait for mods. Soon I'll get tired of it (hopefully very soon because my school work is suffering), and it will just be another bump in the strategy game genre. If you think about it, total war has done nothing "revolutionary" other than a better graphic engine that allow you to play huge battles.

I'm not sure what to say about R:TW not having high replay value or living up to the "civ heritage". But I haven't tired of it despite putting in many hours. I will admit that with M:TW I played for about a week and a half before discarding and not playing again until several months later.

I bought Civ3 the day it came out and have been playing it on and off now since. I haven't tired of this game and I hope that with R:TW it will be the same.

If you think about it, total war has done nothing "revolutionary" other than a better graphic engine that allow you to play huge battles.

And mixing TBS with RTS successfully and to allow the game to still be playable even by avoiding one element of the game by automatically resolving battles or playing single battles. But really how many revolutionary games are there? Most are just good games that came around at the right time and changed the look of a particular genre whilst gaining a reasonable amount of popularity.

This is the best game I've ever played! Only problem is diplomacy, the senate is just plain stupid - Declared war on all Roman families, even me (Their darling) and no one wanna have peace with me, or even ceasefire, even though Im the strongest faction.

Instead of a forum soley for Rome:Total War, how about one for all Total War games?

I agree, RTW has less replay value than civ 3 because it always takes place on the same map.

I dunno about that. You only get to pick from 3 roman factions at the beginning, if you want to play as anyone else, you have to beat them in the campaign. So there's some replay value.

And I'm loving this game at the moment. Conquered Gaul, bribed a germanic city from them, now eyeing up spain. Shouldn't be too hard as my faction leader has a 10 in command. :D

The biggest battle I've had so far involved 2 of my armies at about 400 - 500 each, attacked by a Gaul army with 1700 men. It was a massacre as I killed them all (literally) and took hardly any losses. :devil2:

even though Im the strongest faction.
That's the point.
THey want you dead.

Well, as we are into gamescreens...

The Julii (romans) army ambushed in woods (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/002.JPG).


The ambush is successful ^^ (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/004.JPG)


The army have forced open the wooden gate of a town, and enters. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/008.JPG)


The Urban Cohorts of the Julii family prepare to start a battle against the SPQR (army of the Rome Senate). (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/009.JPG)


The result of half the battle between a very large army of Brittons (more than 3000 men) and the Julii troops. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/010.JPG)
(there is as much corpses outside the screen, but I couldn't make all of them enter ^^)


Roman army besieging a city. You can see a sap, ladders and a rams. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/011.JPG)


On the other side of the battlefield, a siege tower is arrived against the wall, and soldiers climb it up to launch the attack. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/012.JPG)


Julii army marching after a battle against the Senate... (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/013.JPG)


... and another one before the battle against the Brutii. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/014.JPG)


Scipii family assaulting the walls of Syracuse, defended by Greeks. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/015.JPG)


Greeks hoplites marching toward another battle against the Scipii. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/016.JPG)


Greek hoplites in phalanx formation taking in position to defend their city. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/017.JPG)

I got it yesterday. I feel like taking a week off work!

It's amazing. It makes Civ3 look pathetic!

Just a few questions...

1. Can Captains get promoted to Generals? If I don't have a General in a city or field army, and a Captain assumes the lead, can he become General after a few battles?

2. What's the turn limit for the game? I read on totalwar.org that it's something like 6AD.

3. If you beat the Senate and take Rome and the other factions, do you become emperor?


Bugs:

Cavalry are too cheap. Needs to be fixed.

AI needs to be looked at. Can they show more determination and tactics?

Should your family be having more babies? In a period of about 25 years, my family had about 5 babies from four marriages! That's a bit low.

Oh, one other thing...

Is 20 units per army the maximum (including the general)?

Is there anyway to bring in reinforcements to a battle?

1 - No, but rarely, a talented captain can be married into your family or adopted, and then becomes a general.

2 - 14 AD, but you can continue to play after that (it's like the 2050 AD for Civ3).

3 - You have to take Rome and 50 provinces to become emperor in the long game.

4 - AFAIK, 20 units is the maximum, yes, BUT in the preference.txt, there is a "unlimited men on battlefield" line, and I still don't know what happens when you put it to "true" ^^

I wanted to post some Screenshot of my City fighting in Rome, but hell, Anti-Aliasing was on and this always makes Black Screenies (a problem of my Ti4400 in many games).

I will give you some Radeon 9800 screenshots soon, the armor is more shiny with a Radeon. :)

HERE: An adopted Moorish family member defeating a large Roman Force of Principes, Triarii, Archers and Cav in a a ratio of 1:3.

As you can see on the two screenies, even light and early Cavalry is incredibly powerful, only the Triarii were a problem due to high morale even after the enemy Generals death and they are strong and sturdy fighters - their spear boni did not work IMO however...

http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0002.jpg

and well, this was the end:

http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0003.jpg


Sorry, no prettier screenies. As you cannot save replays in the campaign, I would have taken later some screenies without AA on. You will need an external solution like Hypersnap DX to capture with AA on.

Edit: Best Kill Ratio against Superweak Opponents was 300:1 so far on Hard/Hard. :)

Just bought it yesterday, It's sooooo cooooooooool!!! :eek:

I hate all the revoltin [pissed]
Plus, Longasc, your advisor wants to talk to you

I think the battles are a bit easy. In the above screenshot, you were outnumbered 3:1 and still kicked ass...that's a bit far-fetched for a pitched field battle.

I had results like that too.

If the difficulty was easy it was also easy to kill them

if you could read, you would have read. :)

it was on hard / hard - but the AI does not get much smarter from medium to very hard. It has some serious flaws.

1.) Generals are hardly protected and die early, even if you do not go for them directly
-> especially low morale units are immediately running away

2.) Cavalry Charges are insanely powerful

3.) The AI waits patiently for you to encircle / flank it.

4.) Imagine what would have happened if I would have had 1 unit of war elephants.


Infantry vs Infantry battles are a bit more complicated, but still:

The battles are fast and dumbed down. There is no working counter unit for Cavalry except some Chariots (!) I did not see much in the Campaign so far.


With 44 provinces Micromanaging reminds me of Civ, more tedious than in MTW.

The battles in MTW also gave ridiculous results, but there were usually at least some survivors... and Cavalry was not faster than light.


But well, this game is 109% or something like that, so how can I complain about it? It is a VERY GOOD game, but I doubt it will catch my interest longer than Medieval: TW. The Medieval Period would have been much better suited for those Cavalry Monstrosities.

All my MTW battles had much more tactics involved than this, and the defending AI was a bit smarter in defending their hill and did not wait forever to be encircled.

The AI is also terribly bad at defending towns, you can win even if you are outnumbered by breaking the gate and just hitting CTRL+A and klick the unit behind it.

The more you play RTW, the more these flaws become obvious.

I also bought all armies of the Scipii, bought three complete stacks in the last three turns for some 3000 Gold maximum each...

I have a idea, why don't we play multiplayer

Personally I think that the MP part of the TW series is as much a mere addition without polish as that of Civ3.

I would not bother with that. It would be shorter than a Quickie. You might find some players at www.totalwar.org.

(If you know Shogun/MTW/Viking Invasion, you can guess that RTW will be worse for Multiplayer due to sheer speed)

Great screenshots guys :goodjob: . Keep 'em coming :D :cool: .

Tip: NEVER EVER try to fight with over 2000 soldiers!

sorry, I like to play with AA on, and as I said, Screenshots work only with AA off for some reason. :)

But I am confident you will soon see a dead body-littered battlefield, too...

Just get it...

http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/RTWLongCampaignVictory.jpg

The End of the Long Campaign. As you can see, the same as in Rise of Rome: I did not mess with the Greeks, hardly with the Britons and I was for hundred years at peace with the Germans.

The most savage Battles were in the East and against Macedon, the last Faction to fall: CAVALRY units really rule in this game, and Macedon Light Lancers and Scythian Missile Archers are the only greater nuisance I encountered.

Note that the Brutii survived, with SPQR and Scipii long gone. I envy them, they were in every turn richer than me. :gripe:

The following Factions got unlocked for play:

Julii, Brutii, Scipii (Standard)

Egypt (alive)
Seleucids (alive)
Parthia (alive)
Germania (alive)
Britannia (alive)

Carthage (deceased)
Gauls (the first to go...)
Greek Cities (deceased, got the leader, became Rebel Cities)

Unplayable?

Macedon (deceased in the moment of Victory - perhaps this is why they are not unlocked?)
Spain (deceased, known to be unplayable)
Thrace (deceased)
Dacia (deceased)
Numidia (deceased)

Alive:
Pontus
Armenia
Scythia

Can you keep playing past the victory screen?

Nope by default.
But you can trick the game by using a savegame of the turn you won ^^

Longasc : Macedon is NOT playable by default (I was surprised also).
But it's VERY easy to make all the factions playable without a single problem (except for the SPQR, which is very unstable). There is a mod somewhere for this.


Cavalry is indeed strong, but not THAT much, especially when you play Rome and its uber-infantry. Were you playing in hard/expert by any chance ?

Hard / Hard.

There is no Expert Setting, Akka, only VERY HARD. :)

Medium was too easy, but the AI does not get smarter, it just gets some unknown morale/fighting boni.

Cavalry Charges are still devastating. I think I already posted some pics what Cavalry did to Roman uber-Infantry. It would require Legionary Cohorts to stop such charges perhaps.

Cavalry is strongest if you CHARGE and immediatly run through, just repeat charging. Requires some MM, but is well worth it. The initial charge is for free, just encircle waiting defenders. You will probably have noticed, too, that the victims ehem enemies in the first village you attack (The Scipii have the hardest nut to crack) for the Julii and Brutii do not even react when your Archers and Velites fire at them.

Well, Akka, I will now try what I can do with Elephants to the AI.

And again, I insist that Cavalry is way to go! :) I wonder how Cavalry will do in WOODS, this could be their weakness.(And at least one feature that made it working into RTW)

Ah well, I used "expert" to means "very hard", MTW habit ^^

And cavalry is very powerful, it's true, but a front charge against phalanx is still a sure way to die ^^


Anyway, here are some new pics to continue with the publicity for the game ^^

Greeks besiegers slamming down the wooden wall of a town with rams. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/019.JPG)

During the assault of Carthage (under the Numidian rule at the time), my greek troops have assaulted the walls in several points, and are taking into pincers the poor defenders, who are getting slaughtered. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/021.JPG)

After conquering the walls, the phalanx march into the streets, toward the city square. Their phalanx formation is especially deadly in streets, as they can't be flanked. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/020.JPG)

A view of the strategic map of the center of my empire. You can see the crowded trade routes, bringing uncountable wealth to my mighty rule :D (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/022.JPG)

A big battle against Numidians. Their desert infantry is waiting while the wall of hoplites is approaching. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/023.JPG)

The armies have taken position, and the greek archers are raining death upon their enemies before charging. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/024.JPG)

The same situation, but viewed from the side of the receivers.
The air is thicks with arrows, while the soldiers protect themselves with their shields.
(http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/025.JPG)

Phalanxes advancing into streets, again. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/026.JPG)

An army of the Senate is attacking me. The lines are marchin toward each others, ready to crash into their enemies.. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/027.JPG)

The Romans have charged, trying to break into melee distance, but the hoplite keep them at bay with their famous spear wall. (http://zanath.free.fr/RTW/028.JPG)

Akka, you can frontally charge a Phalanx with light cavalry and the Phalanx dies.

YEAH, just set up a custom battle! You will not believe me until you have seen it!

Charge 1 Round Shield Cav or Equites, whatever, not even the strongest, in a Phalanx. Repeat till the Phalanx is dead. Frontally - not from the side, only rule. :)

If you want to read a bit about playing with Carthage, take a look at the .org. It is more rewarding than playing the Romans.

I will now charge Cav into a Phalanx and take a screenshot, too. :)

OK Akka - I did a test. :)

1.) They are obviously better than Spearman in defending against Cav

2.) This test was performed by Frontal Charge - run away - Charge again cycles. No Attacks from the side

3.) See the results:

First Pic (http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0000a.jpg)

Second Pic (http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0001a.jpg)

Third Pic (http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0002a.jpg)

4th Pic (http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0003a.jpg)

5th Pic (http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0004a.jpg)

6th Pic (http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0005a.jpg)

7th Pic (http://www.longasc.de/Stuff/0006a.jpg)


Well, the initial assault was down a slope -> might have been a draw or a defeat the other way round!

Good, I admit, they are quite good upfront. But they should be even deadlier.

Because

1.) once their formation is disrupted --- krrrrrrrrk...

2.) it is easy to hit them from the flanks and from behind. They turn like turtles.

3.) The best way for a Phalanx to protect is to have 4 - 5 and build a circle ;)

4.) One Word: Numidian Horse Archers.


But I must admit, I thought the phalanx would suck as the spearmen did, but they are really better, Akka. Thanks for pointing this out, even if I insisted otherwise. :goodjob:

Well, the main thing is that, if you play hard and higher, the enemy has morale and attack/defense bonuses.
So it gives the cavalry the edge needed to break a phalanx line.

In a medium setting (ie : all the troops at their default strenght), even MILITIA hoplites are able to inflict decent damage in front, and I had experienced and upgraded militia hoplites (thanks to the Nike temple and armourer) able to kill right on spot a light cavalry charge.

Battle-hardened heavy hoplite are, simply put, a meatgrinder able to slaughter Principes by the dozens, and Spartan hoplite are simply so strong they are not funny (I had a battle where they cut down two entire cavalry units charging up front, and a good chunk of three spearmen units, and they DID NOT LOOSE A SINGLE MAN ; okay, they were upgraded and good veterans, but still ^^).

Well, the main thing is that, if you play hard and higher, the enemy has morale and attack/defense bonuses.
So it gives the cavalry the edge needed to break a phalanx line.

But if you play on HARD, the AI gets the bonus, not my Cavalry.

Your love for the Phalanx really demands an Alexander the Great - Add On. ;)

I agree, the Armored Phalanx and Spartans probably kick ass. Their Defence Rating it hard to beat. :king:


How about trying something like that with them:

Try this: 4 oft the best Phalanx you can get, no weapons or experience bonus

My Choice are

4 Parthian Cataphracts vs. a full Army of Romans, consisting of 8 Urban Cohorts (Praetorian Guard) and 8 Praetorian Cavalries.

254 vs 1080 men, both top quality.

The Cataphracts own them -> 136 Survivors, 43 Romans escaped.

This is 117 to 1037 kills -> 8,86x Kill Ratio. :hammer:

Much like the initial release of Civ, there are some things that don't seem to be working. Spear bonuses are right at the top of the list.

But CA has already put out a multiplayer patch, so it sounds like they're back at work. Hopefully we'll see some of these issues cleared up soon.

Best. Game. Ever!:clap:

But for some reason the videos skip, like a bad CD player. It'll freeze for a split second, then resum, then a secand later it does it again...Anyone know how to fix this?

Amenhotep, perhaps fragmented harddrive and poor reading performance due to that. You might also want to check if you installed the Media Thingie for DirectX you were prompted to install during the RTW installation process.

I would first defragment the harddisk and then fiddle around with DirectX. It might be an incompatibility with something of your system, but I am confident you can solve this problem easily.

I did install the DirectX. I'll try defragging the system. Thax, Longasc.:)

Best. Game. Ever!:clap:

But for some reason the videos skip, like a bad CD player. It'll freeze for a split second, then resum, then a secand later it does it again...Anyone know how to fix this?
Me too...
I'll try that Longasc

Which factions are playable and which ones are not? I just killed the Macedonians because I wanted to play them, but I cant!

Also, why does my legionaires sometimes "walk in a kind of loose turtle formation towards the enemy in sieges" and why wont they charge/run when I ask them to?

Playable factions :
The three Roman Houses (Julii, Scipii, Brutii), Greek Cities, Seleucids, Egypt, Carthage, Gauls, Britons, Germania, Parthans.

All the others aren't playable. But there is a very easy and very reliable way to make them playable, without (except for the SPQR and perhaps Armenia) any known glitches or bugs, by simply modifying a text file.

Ok, could you please write how? In a very simple way, because I've never tried something like that before.

Ok, could you please write how? In a very simple way, because I've never tried something like that before.Don't worry, it's like falling off a log.

Simply go here (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10074) and follow the instructions.

click ALT if you want your Legionaires to charge without trowing their pila (their spears) first.

Hey! I wanna play as Macedon.:(

I have some ideas for future patches:

-Make all playable
-Fix any known bugs
-With each new patch, release a few more historical battles.:))

If you want to play Macedon, just follow the link provided by Little Raven and use the mod.
It's not like it's hard to use :P

I have some ideas for future patches:

-Make all playable
-Fix any known bugs
-With each new patch, release a few more historical battles.:))Obviously, fixing bugs is good. But I don't think CA needs to waste time making all factions playable or even with more historical battles. The fans are already doing that, and frankly, they're likely to do a better job than CA could anyway.

If CA just refines the engine, the modders will take care of the rest. They've already started.

First patch is out for those that don't have it. :) Just fixes some multiplayer issues.

They oughta make a "Barbarians at the gates" one with the barbarians trying to defeat rome

Damn, I just had a really immersive battle: While besieging the last Gaul town in Spain as Carthage, my besiegers got ambushed by a MASSIVE Gaul Force from the nearby Woods on the Map!

The battle took place on a hilly wood map with roads. I have 3 Long Shield, 2 Round Shield and 3 Barbarian Light Infantry plus 1 Barbarian Mercenary Cav. All in all, around 690 men, as some had already taken some damage.

The enemy fielded: some 3200 men, two Armies.

Well, the usual thing: They stormed up a Hill, I charged down, broke through! and their General charged my Light Infantry uphill. He got killed.

Two Large Shield Cavalries got surrounded by hordes of Barbarians, they died. But then the GREAT ROUT began, they recovered two times, and they had Swordsmen, but in the end:

2300 Barbarian Gauls killed, 450 of my Troops, around 900 escaped.

But well, killed a Gallic Faction Heir. A Pyrrhic Victory, but I got reinforcements the turn after. Then Hasdrubal, 53 year or so old Faction Heir, died... before Hanno, the old boy (78 or so!). For natural causes. Must have got a heat stroke in the desert! :(

Now this was an exciting turn!!!

BTW: The Tiny Barbarian Villages in RTW full of Savage Warriors are... ---> Civ3 Goody Huts! But they attack in all directions! ;)

BTW: The Tiny Barbarian Villages in RTW full of Savage Warriors are... ---> Civ3 Goody Huts! But they attack in all directions! ;)
screenshot?

I like playing the Greeks. Just won a short campaign with them. Btw, my computer wont open the link provided by little raven.

I like playing the Greeks. Just won a short campaign with them. Btw, my computer wont open the link provided by little raven.That's....odd. You might try it again. TWCenter (who hosts the link) went down earlier today, but it's back up now.

If the link still doesn't work, go to www.twcenter.net, go the forums, then go to the Workshop. (mods for Rome) Stickied at the top is the unlock all factions mod. You can't miss it.

Looks awesome. I think i'll buy it soon.

Since it seems mod-friendly, would it be possible to create a modification of M:TW on this engine. Having knights and crusaders and Mongols and Turks and whatnot. Would that be possible?

Yes, but we'll have to wait that some hard workers do it ^^

I think this mod would be up to CA.

Or we would fight Medieval battles with Antique looking units. They would have to render all units in 3D. Then they would have to change the campaign map, rename cities and so on, create different provinces.

I personally hope that CA gets enough cash for RTW to create a polished version of MTW within the next two years.

How do you beat Teutoburg Forest? I had like 90% of all the units on the field, and put a cavalry unit into the plaza (no enemies in the city) and I lost.:sad:

This guy is definitly unusual. :lol:

Nvm, I know how to beat Teutoburg Forest. But how the hell d'ya win Carrhae? My theory is that if you use your cavalry to drive the archers out of range of the Legions, then take the Legions out of Testudo formation, you might just pack enough punch to beat the Parthians...

I'm kinda disgruntled with the look of the Spartan Hoplites. Spartans wore a red cape, not a red toga (togas aren't good to wear in battle), they had a lambda on their shields, and hada Corihnthian helmet, not an upside-down salad bowl. If anybody has seen the Decisive Battles episode "Thermopylae", you'll know what I'm talking about, and know why I'm slightly disappointed...

Amenhotep: Some tipps how to beat Teutoburg Forest:

1. March fast, get out of the bottleneck
2. Make sure to secure positions uphill in the woods and rush out of them, use Charge as much as possible.
3. Break through at one side with force and sacrifice units on one to soon have a "1 front" war.

4. dirty trick: interlock your legions.

put two a bit shifted together in one square. They do not get a crowded penalty as in MTW, but they get double the fighting power.

so make two long lines of interlocked legionaries and make sure they have no enemies in their backs:

XYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYX
YXYX...

Y is one unit, X is one unit. Such small lines field incredible fighting power.

I played Teutoburg, but not yet Thermopylae!

Finally got the game - only 9 days after it was released in the UK !

Amazing is my only word for it. I am playing as the Brutii and the Macedonians are some really tough cookies !

I am really loving the Hastati, Principe, etc, Pilum throw. Hold a phalanx at the front with some Hastati, hit him with pilums and then finish it off with a well placed cavalry charge.

oblivion, build some stables, cavalry will help you greatly to flank the slow hoplites and counter their light lancers.

edit: sorry, you already got that. but i am a bit obsessed by cav charges. :crazyeye:

You can't play Thermopylae in the Historical Battles, Longasc.:hmm:

Is Teutoburg forest the same as Teutoberger Wald?
And is that the battle at the start of Gladiator?

Has anyone noticed the Romans have Australian accents, so in some pre-battle speeches, it sounds like Russell Crowe in Gladiator?

I'm kinda disgruntled with the look of the Spartan Hoplites. Spartans wore a red cape, not a red toga (togas aren't good to wear in battle), they had a lambda on their shields, and hada Corihnthian helmet, not an upside-down salad bowl. If anybody has seen the Decisive Battles episode "Thermopylae", you'll know what I'm talking about, and know why I'm slightly disappointed...
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11050

Here's a mod that might suit your needs. :)

Also, have you guys played the credits yet? They have really good music for it.

Amenhotep7:

I could play Thermopylae, but I am not interested in the heroic death of some fanatic soldiers at all. :)

No, I mean The Battle of Thermopylae isn't on the Historical Battles menu. Do you unlock it or something?:hmm:

Hu, you are right!

Strange, some things like the "Siege of Sparta" and stuff are in, but not:

- Cannae (one could say, it resembles the battle of Trebia, but why not Cannae instead of that Trebia River thing?)
- Thermopylae

The selection of historical battles is also quite limited.

lol. And you didn't know that?:crazyeye:

Actually, it'd be really cool if you could unlock some secret battles...

@Longasc

Yeah, i just got Legionary Cavalry since Tarentum and Croton are big enough for Hippondromes now. Managed to break through and take Athens.

Had some epic sieges, the Macedonians seem hell bent on taking Larissa. Its pretty fun holding it with 80 archers, 160 principes and a general's cavalry unit and killing 800 odd enemies.

*bump*

I'm also new to the series I played trough the prologue and am currently starting out a campaign as the Julii faction. I think this game is great.

But how can you change your unit formation? I haven't picked it up in the prologue but I'm sure there must be a way to change the formations. Can someone please tell me how?

Your advisor will tell you when you seige a city. THere's a button near teh bottom left.

I'm gonna have to reinstall due to the fact I tried the fog of war cheat :wallbash:

Longasc, what is interlocked legions? Please post a pic to explain. Btw, Im getting quite good at winning multiplayer with Egypt and Scythia.

To alter a units formation, just hold down the right mouse button and move it around, you'll see an outline of what the formation will look like.

For multiple units, just organise them in the formation you want, and then group by pressing G. If you then do the same thing as for individual units (press and hold right-mouse button), you'll see an outline of the entire formation and which direction they'll be facing. I do this all the time. :)

I have also decided that ai controlled reinforcements are bloody useless. I had 2 armies of about 500 troops that were besieging a Dacian held city when the 1300 troops inside sallied out. By the time the reinforcements got to where I was, my general was dead, a unit of roman cavalry had routed, and one of the 4 legionary cohort units completely destroyed. I had caused the dacian army to retreat back into the city and sent what I had left through. During this time, the reinforcements had sat where I started for a few minutes, then proceeded to wander past the open gate around to another one. I sent some troops over there to open it (the dacians were charging and then retreating before reaching my troops heh), and they just sat there. :mad: Even if they had of only sent the 2 cavalry units it had at the beginning until the rest arrived, I would've taken far less losses.

*curses stupid ai*

Longasc, what is interlocked legions? Please post a pic to explain. Btw, Im getting quite good at winning multiplayer with Egypt and Scythia.


I assume you place one legion facing in one direction and then drag the second legion across the same space but probably facing the other direction so essentially both units are occupying the same space.

The AI really does suck when you let it fight battles. I thought it would be easy for the AI to will a battle against Rebels but it lost whilst when I took over it was a comfortable victory even though I didn't time the attack quite correctly.

This was against an army of about half Phalanxes, and half Peltasts:

http://img47.exs.cx/img47/403/Hero1.jpg

Never underestimate the value of cavalry rushing a phalanx from behind, while it is in battle at the front :D.

This was against an army of about half Phalanxes, and half Peltasts:

http://img47.exs.cx/img47/403/Hero1.jpg

Never underestimate the value of cavalry rushing a phalanx from behind, while it is in battle at the front :D.
:eek: :wow: amazing..
*writes it down*
cavalry from behind, ok, done :)

Well, I saw it on Decisive Battles (sort of).

A phalanx is a bunch of guys with extremely long pikes between them. They can't just turn around because of these pikes, they have to raise them, turn around, and then lower them again. This is impossible when being attacked from the side you want to lower them on, so in essence, you break the phalanx, as they're smart enough to drop their pikes (in RTW they just disappear), and fight with swords. Now, add in the momentum of the cavalry charge, the fact that they are now surrounded and possible outnumber, and they'll be slaughted. Easy to impliment if you can outmaneuver the enemy, especially if you catch they're phalanxes in a street.

Just play the historical battle of Carrhae and see what Parthian Cataphracts and Horse Archers, the most powerful Cavalry ingame, can do head-on to Roman Legions.

Still, you can win this battle as the Romans. Try to make the Horse Archers run permanently and encircle the Cav while it is fighting the Cohorts in the first line.

I think it's easy to beat the horse with pikes. Just form a defensive hedgehog and make sure you can out-shoot your enemy. He will have to choose between being impaled in your pikes, or showered with your arrows.

I beat Carrhae. Quite the Pyrrhic victory, but I won. And it was a little easier than suspected...

wow, Amenhotep7.

I did not deem it easy, in my first attempt I charged the Parthian General with my 2 Cavalries, and all got wrong - the right decision is to keep the Horse Archers running away.

I paused often and changed target and after my Legionaries dealt with the Cataphracts, then the Horse Archers ran away.

Are there other historical battles of this caliber? It was hard - I had no harder battles in RTW so far.

Am I the only one here that plays multiplayer? That's where this game is best, the AI is too stupid.

I haven't really moved onto playing multiplayer yet still gradually playing through the single player campaign.

@Longasc

I did play on easy difficulty, you know. But it's freaking hard either way. Is it even possible to beat on hard?!:lol:

The strategy I used was, drive off all Horse Archers with my cavalry (they won't engage in hand-to-hand) They'll be out of range of your Legions, so you can take them out of Testudo formation and put them in Guard mode. Some of your legions aren't attacked in the initial charge, so use them to gang up on the Cataphracts. Eventually, many bodies and much frustration later, you should win. Don't lose patience when chasing them. Remember, they have limited ammo, so eventually they have to attack you, where your heavy cavalry general's bodyguard will overrun the lightly armed fancy-schmancy Horse Archers.

I haven't managed to beat Gergovia. Help with that, anyone?:sad:

I did it on medium, Amenhotep.

But I am finished with RTW up to now. No mood to continue my Carthage Campaign, it is already quite finished.

Waiting for a unit balancing patch right now, e.g. working spears vs. cav.

I must admit I don't understand you Longasc. Of course the AI has no idea on how to use pikes (Move as little as possible) but in multiplayer those pikes are nasty! Very few troops can survive a head on attack against Amoured Hoplites or Sacred Band.

I do not know storealex, I did some tests with Cavalry charging permanently, always head on, into Hoplites.

I tried it with Standard Cav and Hoplites in this thread, and I tried it later on with Spartans and Sacred Band Cavalry.

Spartans are cool Infantry vs. Infantry, but I doubt their usefulness! All Cavalry works surprisingly well, but it should not.

Advantages are high speed compared to slow speed and the surprinsingly HIGH vulnerability of all those units against arrows - even the Testudo does not help that much, as one would suppose.

Come one, hitting phalanx troops in the flank, rear or sides or pepper them to death with arrows is not really a problem.

As you can see, I favor Cavalry and its ultra-strong charge attacks. I wonder what will happen if I will play Parthia (Cataphracts, Horse Archers...) or the Seleucids with their incredible range of quality troops.

Silver Shield Pikemen are among them, too. One of the best units for slow AI bashing. Just want to tell that winning a battle with Cavalry is usually 5 times faster. :)

Detailed discussion should occur at www.totalwar.org - I am not playing Rome right now, my Carthage Campaign has come to the point of more micromanagement then fun. I wish the 3d battles had - the higher speed is not even the issue - more tactical depth.

I am sure you have already had dozens of 10000000 : 1 kill ratio wins on medium or hard. I play on hard, very hard is a bit like Sid, the AI gets obscene boni, but players have shown that Cavalry is still good enough to break their morale and rout even Romans.

It sounds like we have two different versions of the game :)

The Testudo for an example, the only thing that can destroy such a formation at distance is Onagers using fire. I've seen five units of archers shooting at a Testudo for a very long time, I didn't loose a single legionnaire to them.

About cavalry against Pikes, it's really a matter of the AI being stupid. But even then, quality troops standing i Phalanxs formation will kill half the horsemen in their initial charge, and even more as you weel around in order to charge again.

In multiplayer I've beaten the best enemy cavalry, with Pikes in a circle and lot's of elite archers and onagers behind them.

Has anyone figured out how the trade works?

What effect does a trader/roads/port have on income?

When I play the Jullii, Arretium and Ariminum are always in debt, and Patavium too. It seems that as a city gets bigger, they cost more to upkeep and they make losses.

Any idea anyone?

Clito, I share your worries, but I can help you:

Your biggest city will always produce -1000 while your tiniest village with a port will produce +1000.

How can this be?

The reason is: Troop upkeep is divided up according to townsize.

Towns grow larger, but their productivity and income are closely tied to Ports, Markets and stuff like that.

So their overall productivity increases not as fast as their population -> negative income, even if this city nets you half of your armies upkeep (exaggerated example).

Also be aware that SQUALOR is basically what corruption is in Civ3 and grows with large city sizes considerably and you can do not really much against this.

But still do not be afraid of you best cities producing negative income -> it is a bit hard to get used to, but as long as you are breaking even on the financial advisor screen, you are doing fine!

Does anyone know how to beat Gergovia? It's super-difficult.:sad:

Does anyone know how to beat Gergovia? It's super-difficult.:sad:
is that the historic battle? THe sieging-the-gauls one?
I tried. Very hard. HOw about trying to split up your troops? 1 larger division attacking the larger Gauls and one smaller division attacking the smller Gauls

Didn't work for me. I think you should send almost your whole army to destroy one flank, while a smaller detachment holds the other.

@LL

That was my first approach. Maybe I could just rush to the gates and try and break it down before they utterly annihilate me...

@LL

That was my first approach. Maybe I could just rush to the gates and try and break it down before they utterly annihilate me...
unless U got a ram, you can't do anything to the gate...

Exactly. I do have ram. You start off with the ram. I got more rammage than you could shake a stick at.:p;)

Exactly. I do have ram. You start off with the ram. I got more rammage than you could shake a stick at.:p;)
So you do have a ram?
I really doubt seiging the city will work. While your beating away at teh gates (might take a while) the enemy will be charging your legions, thus your getting slaughtered and thier losing nothing.
Not so effective, ya think? :P

Yeah, but... It's a ram...They're like, super-cool, ergo invincible...:blush::joke: Yeah, I'm stumped as to what I should do...

Yeah, but... It's a ram...They're like, super-cool, ergo invincible...:blush::joke: Yeah, I'm stumped as to what I should do...
play Civ :P

Try droping the rams temporarily, and just defending them. Move your troops around to where need, maybe put some under AI control, so you can control the more critial ones. Once you rout all of the Gauls outside of the city (they will flee inside), pick up the ram and attack the gates.

I only played this once, a while ago, but it worked very well.

Going back to the old argument about cavalry being too powerful, I've noticed that elephants are even more powerful and I've found that they easily cut through light infantry and casualties although you do need to have supporting cavalry to take down routing units since elephants don't seem great at finishing off scattered troops.

actually if you have elephants running (not routing, charging) they will actually kill some of your troops.
I had a charging elephant in a custom battle, and when he took like 1 step 3 soldiers would get flung up in the air and die

Yes I know thats why I tend to charge the elephants first and then use cavalry and other troops when it is safe...

Yes I know thats why I tend to charge the elephants first and then use cavalry and other troops when it is safe...
I meant 3 of my own troops

I was replying to the first half of your post...

Just got it. This game RULES! Anyone else playing as the Scipii?

Just got it. This game RULES! Anyone else playing as the Scipii?
I was trying 1 game as them. Looked sweet. Controlled all of Sicily and took Carthage. THen i had to reinstall :wallbash:

Just got it. This game RULES! Anyone else playing as the Scipii?
I'm controlling all of Africa now [dance]

Much more fun playing as Carthage and taking over Rome... :p

Just got it. This game RULES! Anyone else playing as the Scipii?
Finished their campaign some days ago.

They definitely RULES. They've got cool colour, they've got the incredibly powerful units selections of Romans factions, they've a very interesting starting position, and their temples are by FAR the best of the whole game.

Much more fun playing as Carthage and taking over Rome... :p
Carthage is tied with the worst start. It's hard... very hard :sad:

The problem with Carthage is that they have absolutly PATHETIC tier-1 units.
Their last units are impressive, but their first are laughable.

Additionnally, they have a horrible voice-acting. Gah. Couldn't bring myself to finish them.

Carthage is tied with the worst start. It's hard... very hard :sad:

Its just as easy as Rome on the medium difficulty level... Although you do have to accept that Sardinia is a lost cause.

I'm not a fan of the series. They're should be a Total War subforum.

We only have one current thread and whilst it has a lot of replies it isn't that active...

I'm not a fan of the series. They're should be a Total War subforum.Not a fan but thinks there should be a subforum - interesting. :)

I am going to get the game soon - you still playing, Dell? Anyone else?

I am going to get the game soon - you still playing, Dell? Anyone else?
I have t. I play it occasionally :)

I went thruogh a period of playing the game out. I'm back to Civ now though :).

I play it rarely but its more an issue that I don't have the time to really sit playing a game for several hours so I've never really got stuck into playing it regularily.

I played thr 3 roman factions and now I'm thinking of Carthage...
the turn based part is not impressive, but the combination with RTS is really fun...
I was waching the time commander series in the UK which was based on the same engine.Has any body tried the historical battles? Teutonenburg forest on hard level is an absolute carnage...

If you look though the thread several people have at least attempted the historical battles.

Do you prefer to Occupy, Enslave or Exterminate a settlement once u capture it?
I was going the nice way and just occupying it, but after alot of rebellions in Gaul and Germany i've started exterminating everyone i occupy :P
But its allowed me to capture Gaul, pretty much all of Germany and the northern balkans, and i've started capturing rebel territories in eastern mediterranean.
And i'm playing as the Julii, this game rules :D

I tend to just occupy settlements in the early game and then enslave populations later on when the risk of rebellion increases...

At the start of the game I enslave them so as to increase population in my home cities quickly, plus I get some income.

Later on in the mid-game I always exterminate them to get all that juicy cash. Plus when taking over cities of 30,000 people you cannot enslave them, because your home cities tend to get filled with squalor which leads to unrest and unhapiness due to all the the filth. This allows me to move easily from city to city conquering them.

I only occupied in my first game and a gaul city, to put an example, flipped back five times to the Gauls. The sixth time I exterminated the population and I've never had problems since. When taking over large cities it's best to exterminate them. I conquered Athens, exterminating, and it still gave 4,000 gold per turn (I had the Great Wonder The Colossus; up 40% sea commerce).

I doubt this game will have a long replayability no matter how good it is in the beginning. I hope the add-on works wonders.

I've played Carthage on the hard/hard and found it extremely easy. By 235 b.C. The Senate, the Julii and the Scipii are all gonners. There´s only one Brutii city left next to Athens. Way to easy, all Africa, except Egypt, and modern Italy are mine. Now that I can finally build the large war elephant (the one with 36 or 37 units not the starting smaller one with 12 units) Rome is no more, big deal.

Strangely enough I have three carthagian generals with 9 or more stars and lots of inffluence (9 or more). When I played as the Julii I only had one guy with 9 stars (the faction leader normally or the heir), the rest had 7 or less, hmmm ?

Civ is way much harder at Deity or Emperor.

In the early game, Extermination. Later, Enslavement. I almost never pick "Occupy". Call it cruel, but it's difficult to show mercy on the harder difficulty levels.

I don't have any trouble at all with unrest and/or rebellions, playing on normal/normal. I've occupied all settlements in modern France, Germany and Spain, no problems.

I ehm got just the game the other day so I haven't tried a higher difficulty yet, is the difference in unrest/rebellions *that* big on let's say hard/hard?

I think so although on normal I did occasionally find problems when taking far away cities in SW Spain and Britain.

A great remedy is to demolish the existing buildings when you capture a city and build your own. I also relocate my capital to the city most central in my empire.

How do you demolish buildings WickedSmurf? Are you using an onagre to achieve this ? Is there an option to destroy buildings hitting a button or something ?

I don't have any trouble at all with unrest and/or rebellions, playing on normal/normal. I've occupied all settlements in modern France, Germany and Spain, no problems.

I ehm got just the game the other day so I haven't tried a higher difficulty yet, is the difference in unrest/rebellions *that* big on let's say hard/hard?

Yes I find it's impossible to occupy a large city (say 18,000 pepole and over). You just have to either exteminate them or enslave them (which in the mid-game is not feasible IMHO because of squalor). I'm taking over anywhere between two to three cities in the mid game each turn and If I enslaved them, my own core cities would revolt because of squalor, there's no other option when conquering so many and such large ciries so often other than to exterminate them, at least in my experience playing hard/hard with Julii and Carthage.

How do you demolish buildings WickedSmurf? Are you using an onagre to achieve this ? Is there an option to destroy buildings hitting a button or something ?
yes, you can assault buildings with any siege weapon and battering rams

How do you demolish buildings WickedSmurf? Are you using an onagre to achieve this ? Is there an option to destroy buildings hitting a button or something ?

When you are in the city screen and can see the buildings at the bottom of your screen, right-click the building, a new window opens on the left of the screen, click the HAMMER button and KA-RASH.

The fact that you must exterminate all the time is greatly unrealistic. I've heard many complaints about this, and on http://www.twcenter.net/ you can download many different realism mods, that greatly decrease squalor and such.

I downloaded mods that:

- Gave each unit a Centurion and a standard bearer
- Made all factions playable
- Gave legionaires their missing shoulderarmour

When you are in the city screen and can see the buildings at the bottom of your screen, right-click the building, a new window opens on the left of the screen, click the HAMMER button and KA-RASH.

Thanks ! :goodjob:

Hmmm, yes Storealex I've seen the mods, thanks. I'll have to try them some time.

Remember to have a backup, in case you are disappointed with the mod.

Anyone else here just looooove the Arcani? Talk about efficient killers! :)

Yeah, especially in multiplayer. I had an army with lot's of firepower, so he had to come to me, once our armies was engaged, my Arcani charged from behind.
They're like Roman Ninjas :D

Yeah I usually make sure they are on the flank, and since they're damn invisible, the enemy just walks by, gets hit by my arrows and then by the arcani at either the side or the back! Pure slaughter! :D

I used arcani in a custom battle. i forget what it was like

They're not so good in campaign games, like other units which take two turns to create. I'd rather have two Cohorts of Legionnaires, than one Urban or one Arcani.

Are you kidding? Arcani are invisible for so long if you manage them properly. I always use them in campaign games to sneak close to the enemy and hit them hard right after my archers have softened their defenses. Just awesome unit!

But wouldn't two units of legionnaires to you better? They're also easier to replenish. If flanking is what you want, build Legionnary Cavalry. Because of the stupid AI, they'll ride around the enemy flanks with ease, and once they charge they're even more deadly than Arcani are.

Probably, but it's more fun and sneaky to do it with the "ninjas". ;)

I like the game, but unfortunately it crashes a lot. I'm getting another fan to look if it's an overheating problem.

If I didn't like MTW, will I like RTW?

If I didn't like MTW, will I like RTW?
probably. I dunno, never trying MTW before...

Anyone here use the assassin-agent? I trained one once, sent him on 10-15 missions, he failed all but was never caught. Finally he failed, got caught and executed. Was I just that unlucky or are they generally worthless?

You were just unlucky. I had one with it's skill up at around 10 or so, 2 or 3 others down areoun 4-5. :)

Aight gonna train some more of them and give it a try! :)

Try sending them on missions with a high success rate (like, rebel captains) first, so they gain some experience.

I went out to get Call of Duty today, and came back with RTW.

Played a two of the tutorial missions, so far the game looks great. :D

I went out to get Call of Duty today, and came back with RTW.

Played a two of the tutorial missions, so far the game looks great. :D

You didn't get Call of Duty??! :eek: :p

Nope. I got RTW.:p

I have both... :p

Anyone here use the assassin-agent? I trained one once, sent him on 10-15 missions, he failed all but was never caught. Finally he failed, got caught and executed. Was I just that unlucky or are they generally worthless?
unlucky. Send them to kill diplomats and destroy re3bel buildings.

How do you disband units?:confused:

How do you disband units?:confused:
double right click teh units card and there are 2 buttons on the right. one of tehm is disband

You didn't get Call of Duty??! :eek: :p

I got both.
And I don't really play RTW at all any more....

Thanks, Xerxes.:)

But I already found it a couple of hours ago.:p

Those elephants are vicious! :eek:

Charge! *stomp stomp stomp*:evil:

Anyone here use the assassin-agent? I trained one once, sent him on 10-15 missions, he failed all but was never caught. Finally he failed, got caught and executed. Was I just that unlucky or are they generally worthless?

Your agents need more...practise. [pimp]

You have to train them sending them off to kill diplomats and rebel captains first so they gain in experience and skill. You'll find that their experience grows and new companions roll in. Once you have your assasin up to a 100% chance of killing off diplomats or rebels you can send them off to kill family members of other factions or to wreak havoc in cities by sabotaging buildings. You'll get to a point you have many veteran agents killing off many generals for you. You'll have easier battles without so many enemy generals, although it does spoil the sport somewhat.

Neverthelesss, the more skilled agents you have you'll find they'll become easier (cheaper)to train. They prove to be very useful.