Any Good Guides For Newbies to R:TW?

[The Almighty dF]

I picked up Rome: Total War Gold at Gamestop yesterday since it was only $15, the guy who sold it to me suggested I download Rome: Total Realism as well, so I did that...

Then tried playing the game. I kinda feel like I'm in over my head. Feels like playing Civilization for the first time.
"Alright so I've already got a small Egyptian empire... ...there's come cities. And if I click them, Bea Arthur suggests I build catapult ranges which I can't seem to build. I'm also not able to control 3/4 of my cities..."

So. Can anyone suggest some good newb guides?

 

[LightSpectra]

R:TR is incredibly difficult for me, and I'm a veteran of three Total War games. I would suggest you play vanilla first.

As far as a guide goes, let me just give you the important tips; a guide's not really necessary.

1) Turn "manage all settlements" on. The AI is bad at it.

2) Raise taxes as high as they can go without the face turning red. Build roads, trading posts/markets, ports and mines as fast as you can starting with the very first round in the game. Also get two or three diplomats and send them on voyages to get trading rights with every nation you can. You can be less extreme about it about 10 rounds into the game, but otherwise you're going to experience bankruptcy rather fast.

3) For combat, your general goal is to flank enemy units so that they route (when their flags flash white). Play a few custom battles to get the general gist of it.

4) Don't rely on your allies. They never help you (except in one rare instance), and they love to backstab.

 

[Verrucosus]

Guides (good ones in particular) can take away the fun of exploring a game for yourself, but with that caveat, I would recommend frogbeastegg's guide at

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=38382

I found it both helpful and a pleasure to read.