Does anyone know how to train Legionary First Cohorts in the game at all? I've got most of the buildings and am training Urban Cohorts right now, but First Cohorts still elude me. :(

I'm in Barbarian Invasion land these days so I had to scratch my head for a moment... I do recall them but it's been a long time since I played with LFCs. You mention that you have "most of the buildings" - the obvious question is, which do you not have? Urban Cohorts suggest you have pimped out your barracks.

Oh - I figured it out - thank you Google and RTW forums - capture Rome. You can only get them from maxed-out facilities in Rome or as a reward for Senate missions.

This FAQ is very helpful:
http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotalwarfrm7.showMessageRange?topicID=32744 .topic&start=21&stop=38

It also explains that in 1.5/1.6 there is indeed a bug relating to AI-control of reinforcements. Unchecking/checking the box multiple times seems to help. Interesting.

I just got this game; and its great! kind of reminds me of the HoMaM series

Thanks Krupo, although it is a hassle that they can only be built from Rome. I assume getting Comistanses (spelling) First Cohorts for BI is the same way?

I have (finally) just ordered the Gold Edition of Rome Total War

This looks like the right place to post a qustion i had about rome total war, regarding the engine:

In all of the screenshots with forests all of the trees look absolutly huge. Is this right? Why is this?

Some forests have huge trees, some have regular (comparitively) trees. The huge trees are there restrict the player's god view I think

I also have a few other questions: (i have just started playing the imperial campaign)

How do I view senatorial missions? How do I advance technologies? How do I build Triarii? How do I manage cities well?

I know these are dumb questions but I can't be bothered doing the tutorial.

Just check your tech map which was included with your game for unit trees.

Press O and go to the senate missions tab to see them.

As for cities, don't let them grow too fast (avoid farms) to avoid too much disorder. If you have enough order, though, then you can let population grow - your goal is to hit the Huge City size but let growth level off after that. There's a bunch of FAQ's and hints at http://p223.ezboard.com/bshoguntotalwar - check 'em out.

As for the BI First Cohort (missed that question previously), I'm not sure... I'm playing with the ERE not the WRE right now... well, I'll be playing the ERE in a few minutes, I'm sorta busy posting here at the moment. ;)

Krupo, I did not recieve a copy of the Tech tree, though I did notice that it said I should have in the manual. I bought the Gold edition, maybe that was it. Does the official strategy guide come with a tech tree?

Rome Total Realism is a nice mod pack for Rome Total War.

The First Cohorts can be built with an urban barracks, defintely in Constantinople, maybe in other cities too - didn't bother building a barracks in other cities (yet). :)

The gold edition is probably the reason why you don't have a tech tree - that's too bad. I wouldn't be surprised if there's on available online. Short answer: build the next bigger barracks to get the unit you want. Triarii, for example, need the next bigger barracks after Principes.

ok thanks, also, how do I advance technologies? because right now I can't build a bigger barracks, only militia barracks.

You may have to wait until your town grows in size and you can build a larger governor building (or whatever the devil it is you need first). Then you can build the next upgrade of buildings.

Oh thanks, you help me very much indeed Kan! Does anyone know a website or place (maybe a strategy guide?) that I can get a hold of a technology tree because I really need one.

Also, (yet another question) sometimes when I withdraw from a battle my generals are killed, even though I did not lose them in the battle and I clearly have terrain to retreat to. Why does this happen and how can I prevent it?

Edit: Also, how do I bribe????????????????????? Please...

I'm afraid I can't answer your first two questions.

As for bribing, I think that all you need to do is drop a diplomat on an opposing army and the option should come up to bribe them. Sadly I don't have the game nearby so I can't confirm this, but it's how bribing works in Shogun and Medieval.

thanks. I'll have to get more diplomats then. If anyone can answer my previous question (where to find a technology tree) than please post!

When you click withdraw it automates the retreat and end up getting a silly amount of casualties. The solution would be to be manually retreat your units to the edge of the map and tell them all to run away except for one unit which you then click withdraw on and you may then face less casualties. Otherwise just don't fight the battle.

thanks Dell19. Also, I have yet another question: When I play as the Brutii, I have squads of 80 troops, yet when I play as the Julii, I seem to only have squads of 40 men? Is this correct? If so, why does it happen?

I'm gonna hazard a guess here:

1) If I recall correctly, some units in Rome have different unit sizes. However, if they are the same type of units...

2) ...they might just be understrengthed. You can reinforce by either combining two understrengthed units together (simply drag-drop one unit onto another) or by putting the unit into a city with the right facilities and selecting it in the 'retrain' section.

That's about all I can think of regarding that.

Errr, no. In both cases they were freshly recruited units of Hastatii. Maybe it has to do with the level of difficulty? They definitly were not understregnthed at all!

How many men do you have in one of your units?

If it's not an under-strength unit, then it's got to be a change in the 'unit size' setting, which is in some options screen somewhere (can't be more specific, but it's there). All Romans should get the same units (save gladiators) of the same sizes.

Edit: Also, how do I bribe????????????????????? Please...

You can also bribe cities. When you bribe units I think theres a "disband" is for non-aligned armys (wandering barbarians) and recuit for normaly armies

A few comments:

bribery: you need enough cash for the bribe to happen. If they say no, it's probably because you don't have enough cash. And you tell your diplomat to walk up to the unit rather than the drag-and-drop interface of the older TW titles.

Go to "graphic options", play with "unit size." It has a very real effect on gameplay, because if you have huge units the game will 1. have a bigger load on your computer (it better be a fast machine!), and 2. your cities will lose population faster, naturally, if you need to use more men to create a large unit. You have been warned. ;)

withdrawal: gah, never ever ever let the computer auto-withdraw to end a battle. Order your general to retreat if you have to, but don't let the computer do it.

If you find yourself consistently losing battles, consider avoiding them in the first place if possible - withdraw before the battle starts, that way you avoid any casualties, unless your enemy catches you with a second attack attempt, of course.

To avoid ambushes, send a spy ahead of your armies, to catch any sneaky little units hiding in the trees (bastards!). And if it's an especially dangerous area, consider building a fort for your units to stay in between turns.

thanks a lot Krupo! I didn't know about unit sizes! How many men do you have in a unit? I currently have 40, but I would like about 50, so I guess i'll change it next time i go on.

also, I had another few questions (yup, you guessed it!):

How do I get a general's (and a unit's) experience up?

Regarding multiplayer: Should I get many units or just a few but with high experience levels?

Depends on the unit - each one has different standard sizes. Short answer, 80 and 120, regulars and peasants. On a 2.5ghz-type system battles run nicely. I think that's regular or large size, but I forget if that's correct.

Regarding generals, 2 things to keep in mind, there are "command stars" and "valour experience" (the bronze/silver/gold chevrons").
Command stars are based on winning battles - just win lots of battles with the same general, especially when fighting outnumbered and crushing the enemy to get faster upgrades.

Second, there's the "valour experience" - pretty easy, but a little dangerous: send them into the fights to gain more experience - same way all units gain experience, really.

The danger, of course, is that he gets killed. But if you just let him hang around until it's time to mop up the retreating enemy the chance that he'll get a promotion is understandably lower.

Ideally, try and keep one or two extra cavalry units around to offer support in case the general gets stuck in a particularly nasty fight.

As for multiplayer, I haven't played much - but if I had to guess, I'd say 1. experiment and then 2. play with what works for you. :)

Cavalry are my flanking troops. I never use them in a frontal charge, they are there to break enemy units from the rear so that they rout and then to charge down the survivors. I've rarely lost generals except when my cavalry has been hit by the Seleucid general cavalry and I've been outnumbered.

Also whilst it is a management headache, don't let your cavalry get bogged down. You should charge, then retreat and then charge again.

My favourite tactic is once the phalanx are engaged, is to charge into the back of one unit, then charge into the next and then charge back into the first one until one of them routs and then my infantry can surround the rest of the enemy.

If half the enemy is routing then I will either use light cavalry to chase the enemy down, or use an archer unit which can generally catch up. I use my heavy cavalry when the majority of the army are routing.

i'm having trouble tearing myself away from aoe3 to play rtw! It seems to be really hard to play the campaign!

Get RTR mod since it unlocks all the empires anyway. Having to unlock new nations or cheat was probably the biggest factor that turned me off Rome Total War. Its a really bad concept for a strategy game as the criteria was silly since you only had to take the last city and if you want to start a new game you are limited to empires you recently defeated. I like to switch dramatically for a new challenge so after getting bored of Bactria I will probably switch to Iberia.

Easiest non-cheating, non-modding way of getting all the empires was to play the short campaign. Once you win you get access to all factions.

well i might do the short campaign but im put off RTR mod for now because I like to have a goal to work towards when im playing a long winded campaign (such as unlock a civ).

AoE III is soooooo cool. For now I think I'll stick with getting my home city level up in that. I recommend that you all buy this brill RTS game.

But I will eventually complete Rome total war. Its one of my immeadiate goals in life.

Question: I have rome total war gold edition. (but im just playing the regular game) How do I unlock other nations then the romans, the gauls and the carthaginians and the greeks? Im playing a game and I already have 30 territories....

Was answered a few posts above, but I'll repeat what i know:

Without modding the game, you unlock factions by conquering them during a game, or actually completing a campaign and achieve victory.

I recommend doing the short campaign if you want all factions unlocked - you just need to conquer 15 territories and defeat (i think) two other specified factions. I used the Julii, all you really need to do is conquer Gaul, and there's no need to worry about the naval game.

K, im in a game as greece, 2 macedonian cities left. I played the long campain game before as greece, I killed them off fast, and Thrace got killed by Dacia almost before i could nick a city.

Started a new game as Rome.

First task was to try Phyrrus out of southern Italy - He was killed in the first battle after getting surrounded.

After taking a couple of other cities the Illyrian campaign began since I wanted those cities to be the first Romanised cities.

Signed peace with the Greek cities who were being beaten by Macedonia

I ally with Carthage after they offer :eek:

Macedonia declare war - They retreat a lot so the first engagements are wasteful.

Defeat the Illyrians

Accept alliance offer from Germania

Conquer the last Italian city (except for the one next to Sicily)

Blitz Macedonia and take Athens and the cities above except for one Greek City.

Thrace declare war, lose a battle and then offer peace. I accept.

Realise I've been at war with Gaul and thus take the first Gaulish city north of Italy.

Was answered a few posts above, but I'll repeat what i know:

Without modding the game, you unlock factions by conquering them during a game, or actually completing a campaign and achieve victory.

I recommend doing the short campaign if you want all factions unlocked - you just need to conquer 15 territories and defeat (i think) two other specified factions. I used the Julii, all you really need to do is conquer Gaul, and there's no need to worry about the naval game.
i actually think it is 50 territories

i actually think it is 50 territories
thats for the long game ;)

BTW, 2 thracian cregions left till all nations are playable (cept those you can never play as)

AoE III is soooooo cool. For now I think I'll stick with getting my home city level up in that. I recommend that you all buy this brill RTS game.

Yeah, I got the collector's edition b/c somebody got Futureshop to match/beat another store's price when it came out, so the brand-new regular edition price was roughly equal to the unusually low collector's edition price - had a good time with it, but the campaign was way easier than RTW.

Still, it's fun to build up a Home City, I agree... on the whole I like the richness of RTW more, but AoE3 is also fun in its own way - in a "we have firearms" kind of way I guess. ;)

Krupo you should play on ES online: it is a really fun and rewarding game. my ESO name is "diablodelmar". play me sometime! btw I am in time zone gmt+0

what civ do you like to play as? I am the Spanish and Germans, and I am starting as the portuguese soon.

Krupo you should play on ES online: it is a really fun and rewarding game. my ESO name is "diablodelmar". play me sometime! btw I am in time zone gmt+0

what civ do you like to play as? I am the Spanish and Germans, and I am starting as the portuguese soon.

I'm sure it's fun, but I don't exactly know how it qualifies as rewarding. ;)

Work and life conspire to keep me away from all these games as much as I in theory could play them - and I'm splitting my time between a half dozen games these days - and I should be receiving my copy of Elder Scrolls IV next week, so I have v. little time as it is... and I don't like going online unless I know I have time to really play, especially with strategy games. Maybe down the road.

I have the English and Russians on my local AoE3, though. Maybe I'll give it a quick whirl right now; just downloaded the 1.05 patch.

I'm sure it's fun, but I don't exactly know how it qualifies as rewarding. ;)

Work and life conspire to keep me away from all these games as much as I in theory could play them - and I'm splitting my time between a half dozen games these days - and I should be receiving my copy of Elder Scrolls IV next week, so I have v. little time as it is... and I don't like going online unless I know I have time to really play, especially with strategy games. Maybe down the road.

I have the English and Russians on my local AoE3, though. Maybe I'll give it a quick whirl right now; just downloaded the 1.05 patch.
It is very rewarding if you play on Ensemble Studios Online. You can play other people and gain ranks, awards and the best thing - a higher home city level. If you really get into the whole concept of "fight to gain experience points which will get my home city level up" it becomes really rewarding.

I just love to get my home city up. When you reach certain levels (10, 25) you can unlock new cards and every time you reach a new level you can pick a new card (say you go from lvl 8-9, you have earned the ability to unlock a new card). Hiring mercenaries is also very fun.

I can't see why other people don't find it fun. Right now I am working towards getting my Portuguese home city up to level 25 so I can get special mercenary armies and get gunpowder upgrades for my Cassadores and Guerriero Musketeers. If I get to level 10 I will be able to unlock several other useful cards too, such as important economic bonuses and hiring Ronin Samurai (the best unit of the game).

I have v. little time as it is... and I don't like going online unless I know I have time to really play, especially with strategy games.

I feel the same way, but I only go on for about 1 hour or less at a time. Its enough to play a game - believe me!

OMG, THere is a way to unlock all nations (even the unplayable ones. Like SPQR and dacia)

Run or go to<your directory>\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\descr_ strat.txt

then move all the "unlockable" and "non accesable" nations into the "accesable from start" column. Enjoy :)

Technically cheating though. :p

I feel the same way, but I only go on for about 1 hour or less at a time. Its enough to play a game - believe me!

Finally listened to you and went online - it being my first outing, it was a very easy 5 on 2 "let's beat up the computer" game. I got some sort of magical aura of "newbie" from having a level 1 city and 0 experience, which was pretty damn amusing. :)

The host of the game dropped out towards the end (and the lag mysteriously disappeared - heh), and the Ottomans and Dutch were soundly trounced in a 4 on 2 rush.

It was obviously the most lopsided game ever; the funniest thing was hearing the others worry about being attacked first. 'Um, 5 on 2!' I've done 1 on 5 by myself in other situations. Good times.

And is hacking a game (going back to RTW) the same as cheating? Technically yes. Although if you go to the trouble of modifying a file rather than just typing in a cheat code, I'd say you really are hacking it, which is not the *exact* same thing as cheating. If anything, it's a little more noble. Or at least more vague.

Hey thats great!

Why don't me and you have a match sometime? I could show you a few tips and really get you into the game.

By the way - do you have broadband? I usually take th fact that I have broadband for granted and then do not realise how much it costs without broadband to play one hour.

So therefore I do not recommend you play unless you have broadband.

Yup, DSL thank goodness. I've seen lag many a time before, and AoE3's lag is sort of insane in some ways.

Tried out an "XP build" game yesterday. That was a very different experience. Build up a series of huge fortifications and then when everyone's ready, throw everything at each other.

Things didn't go that great, and quickly got worse when my teammate dropped out in protest of a rule violation (the other team asked for no ships, claiming they induce more lag). Go figure.

The one thing that kills me is that the in-game score screens said I had levelled up my home city *twice*, and when I exited I was still at a lowly level-3 home city. Is it normal for there to be a disconnect between points accumulated in-game vs. what happens with the Home City? Or did I encounter some bizarre bug?

Yup, DSL thank goodness. I've seen lag many a time before, and AoE3's lag is sort of insane in some ways.

Tried out an "XP build" game yesterday. That was a very different experience. Build up a series of huge fortifications and then when everyone's ready, throw everything at each other.

Things didn't go that great, and quickly got worse when my teammate dropped out in protest of a rule violation (the other team asked for no ships, claiming they induce more lag). Go figure.

The one thing that kills me is that the in-game score screens said I had levelled up my home city *twice*, and when I exited I was still at a lowly level-3 home city. Is it normal for there to be a disconnect between points accumulated in-game vs. what happens with the Home City? Or did I encounter some bizarre bug?
You may have quit the game before it ended, in which case your XP will not be counted until the game does finally end, or, if you disconnected from the internet the XP is lost. It happened to me once I reached max XP for a game but then I lost my connection. I was really annoyed.

Anyways, my game disc is now broken so I won't be playing AoEIII for a while (I plan to get the Gold edition with "Warchiefs expansion" when it comes out).

Add me to your Friends list (as "diablodelmar")so that if you are still playing when I replace my copy we can have a game, by which time I suspect you will have become an expert with home city level 90-something and rush me with 100 musketeers at the 7 minute mark *shudder*

btw krupo what is your ESO name?

Dose eny one know what buildings you need me make a Urban Cohort

Dose eny one know what buildings you need me make a Urban Cohort
Not sure if it's a 5th level barracks or just a 4th one, but it either way the Urban Cohort can only be produced in Rome itself, which may be your problem. Historically, the Urban Cohorts were the elite city guards of the imperial capital, hence their isolated recruitment zone.
As a side note, they were partially created by the city to act as a counterweight to the power of the Praetorian Guard, rather than being a superior version of it as implied in the game.

uh...

As julii I could train Urban Cohorts outside of Rome...

uh...

As julii I could train Urban Cohorts outside of Rome...
Really? Oh...

Wait, my I'm thinking of First Cohorts... Whoops. :blush:

(Although limiting Urban Cohorts to Rome would've made sense... :p)

thanks. I'll have to get more diplomats then. If anyone can answer my previous question (where to find a technology tree) than please post!
A tech tree? What do you mean. In the settlement scroll there is a building browser which is basically a tech tree. Just right click on anything you want to know. It also shows prerequisites and unit req.

urban coharts u need a palace for it u can make it eny where i made them in sparta so thay can be made enywhere its just thats rome is extremly advanced

:egypt:first rent just aloud in rome i played as the scipii and made in syracuse
:bowdown::jesus::devil::satan::viking::sniper::ar1 5::gold::gold::gold::spear:

:egypt:first rent just aloud in rome i played as the scipii and made in syracuse
:bowdown::jesus::devil::satan::viking::sniper::ar1 5::gold::gold::gold::spear:

dose this picture make sence ask for awnsers if u want

You should try the Rome: Total Realism mod series. The family faction of he vanilla version are so inaccurate, and the units are balanced, faction list altered and recruiment changed, but I don't want to sound like a commercial :scan:

You should try the Rome: Total Realism mod series. The family faction of he vanilla version are so inaccurate, and the units are balanced, faction list altered and recruiment changed, but I don't want to sound like a commercial :scan:

Total Realism is a really good mod... but I must pitch in for the Roma Surrectum mod that´s compatable with Barbarian Invasion... this mod also have a True Legion Recruiting fix that allows you to develope your legions in a more historical way... in the end, you might train Augustus Caesar :p

besides that, the grafic detail of the units is remarkable! if you train a Legion in a certain province, it will be named and numberd historically from that province... The standard bearer will have a flag with the legions mark as well as the legions eagle...

Right now the next update will feature new skins for the celts and gauls, very beautyful indeed.... http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5590/celticchampionrh5.jpg

here is the RS page... http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=251

If you want to find some good mods, try http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=214


:p


PS: if outside links like these are forbidden... my humble apologies... please delete this post if such....