Help a Rome: TW newbie

[LightSpectra]

Financial matters are fickle. I take the "just to be safe" route and continue building economic things even after I'm running a huge surplus every round, and then I get to the point where I have over 60,000 denarii and nothing to spend it on. So I just spend it all on bribes, but then I start running a deficit for some reason and the cycle starts again.

That's in R:TW, anyway. In Medieval II, after the game starts going, I always manage to have almost exactly 10,000 left in the treasury at the end of every round.

 

[Keroro]

Yeah, you get some really annoying traits if you have too much money. Of course you can gift a load to an ally so that they can fight your wars by proxy against a common enemy. I find that by the time I'm running a massive surplus I don't really mind so much about the negative traits that governors can get - after all, I have more money than I can spend anyway.

 

[Maniacal]

Of course, with the TW AI< the allie is likely to use that money against you. But then, hey, more targets.

 

[Dachs]

Or you could hire vast mercenary armies "just to dick around".

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Financial matters are fickle. I take the "just to be safe" route and continue building economic things even after I'm running a huge surplus every round, and then I get to the point where I have over 60,000 denarii and nothing to spend it on. So I just spend it all on bribes, but then I start running a deficit for some reason and the cycle starts again.

That's in R:TW, anyway. In Medieval II, after the game starts going, I always manage to have almost exactly 10,000 left in the treasury at the end of every round.

Strange, unless I'm saving up for something, I tend to use almost the money I get every turn.

Or you could hire vast mercenary armies "just to dick around".

This is the hardest thing for me about EB: I used to rely heavily on local recruits to fuel my invasion force (I've landed two generals in Carthage alone more than once, knowing they can recruit all the troops they'll ever need lol). Now, one unit can cost as much as a whole army did before.

 

[Atticus]

What's the thing with boats? I sometimes can't unite two ships as a fleet, even if they had just been one.

How does the civil war eventually work? Must whole world be Roman before it begins? Does it begin automatically, or do you have to start it? Are both other factions against you, or can you make an ally of the other (and do you have to against him after other faction have been destroyed)? What about the senate? Do you start fighting against them too?

 

[Longus]

What's the thing with boats? I sometimes can't unite two ships as a fleet, even if they had just been one.

How does the civil war eventually work? Must whole world be Roman before it begins? Does it begin automatically, or do you have to start it? Are both other factions against you, or can you make an ally of the other (and do you have to against him after other faction have been destroyed)? What about the senate? Do you start fighting against them too?

An experienced Admiral won't submit to a less experienced one - it's to do with the way your merge them - add the less to the more experienced and you should be fine.

The civil war can start multiple ways, but you're always the trigger (i.e. you refuse to commit suicide or actively attack another Roman faction); your popularity w/ the people has to be high enough before it can begin though, & you'll receive a message as and when.

When it does occur you're automatically at war with both opposing factions and the senate. You cannot sue for peace.

 

[Atticus]

Thanks!

 

[Longus]

No problem. It's sometimes a good idea to station a large army near Rome in preparation for the coming hostilities; same can be said for any boarders you share w/ the other two families.

Since, towards the end stages of the game, Roman armies are pretty much unstoppable, you'll probably want to build up momentum a.s.a.p.

Another tactic is, of course, to wait until you have 49 provinces before initiating the war, then, launching yourself at Rome, finish the game w/ a single battle.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Another way the civil war can start is if your reputation is really bad, then the Senate may ask your Faction Leader to commit suicide to save his honor. If you do not agree to this, then the Senate will kick you out of the Republic and the civil war starts.

It is also important to remember that, once the civil war starts, the other Roman factions may very well decide that now is the time for THEM to vie for Emperor too, and may also declare war on the Senate. In a game as the Scipii, when the Civil War came, I wound up gang banging the known world allied to the Brutii!

 

[kibbles]

It is also important to remember that, once the civil war starts, the other Roman factions may very well decide that now is the time for THEM to vie for Emperor too, and may also declare war on the Senate. In a game as the Scipii, when the Civil War came, I wound up gang banging the known world allied to the Brutii!

Ya, or it could happen the other way around with Scipii and Brutii gangbanging me...

 

[Quintillus]

Simple question: How do you kill these guys? They're absolutely destroying my Roman Legions (Legionary Cohort mostly, to be precise, although my Praetorians got annihilated as well), and Cavalry certainly aren't helping. Archers seem to be as effective as anything; should I just mass them? Mirmillo Gladiators seem like the best infantry to counter them, but they're still pretty pitiful.

The other problem with Egypt is that they had artillery on their seige towers once, and that did a nice number on my defensive troops on the walls - including my archers. It almost makes it look like I should fight field battles instead - though if I can keep Egypt even-matched at a chokepoint I can defeat them until the Pharoah's Guard comes along.

And I thought the Spartan Hoplites were bad.

At this point it's almost looking like I should forget about saving Carthage and what else is left of North Africa . Then Egypt would go all the way back around the world and fight the Brutii instead of me !

I like that the game has become harder, though. Things were going most excellent when I conquered North Africa, Britain, and Gaul, and south Greece (although Spartans made that rather bloody), and I was taking Iberia when all of a sudden I'm losing 15,000 denarii a turn. Then Egypt attacks, too, and Spain starts fighting well. 300,000 denarii in the bank gave me time to turn the economy around, and I should be able to finish off Spain before too long, but these Egyptians - they're a menace!

 

[Stuck in Pi]

You're playing as the Romans, aren't you.

I'll put it this way, I've tried nearly everything, and I believe the most effective thing to destroy phalanxes are repeating ballistas. The fire from them kills many of the tightly packed enemies, and also you get the nice bonus of causing enemies to lose morale. The only problem with them is they tend to be very difficult to retrain and that they are ranged, and as such, fail in melee.

 

[Gilder]

Simple question: How do you kill these guys? They're absolutely destroying my Roman Legions (Legionary Cohort mostly, to be precise, although my Praetorians got annihilated as well), and Cavalry certainly aren't helping. Archers seem to be as effective as anything; should I just mass them? Mirmillo Gladiators seem like the best infantry to counter them, but they're still pretty pitiful.

The other problem with Egypt is that they had artillery on their seige towers once, and that did a nice number on my defensive troops on the walls - including my archers. It almost makes it look like I should fight field battles instead - though if I can keep Egypt even-matched at a chokepoint I can defeat them until the Pharoah's Guard comes along.

And I thought the Spartan Hoplites were bad.

At this point it's almost looking like I should forget about saving Carthage and what else is left of North Africa . Then Egypt would go all the way back around the world and fight the Brutii instead of me !

I like that the game has become harder, though. Things were going most excellent when I conquered North Africa, Britain, and Gaul, and south Greece (although Spartans made that rather bloody), and I was taking Iberia when all of a sudden I'm losing 15,000 denarii a turn. Then Egypt attacks, too, and Spain starts fighting well. 300,000 denarii in the bank gave me time to turn the economy around, and I should be able to finish off Spain before too long, but these Egyptians - they're a menace!

I haven't gotten a chance to face off against Pharoah's Guards, or even use them in my Egyptian campaign, but if they're like any other phanlax, the key is to usually outflank them with something quick like calavry. Or pound them from a distance with onagers.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Ya, or it could happen the other way around with Scipii and Brutii gangbanging me...

I never said it wasn't a gamble...

 

[Dachs]

I haven't gotten a chance to face off against Pharoah's Guards, or even use them in my Egyptian campaign, but if they're like any other phanlax, the key is to usually outflank them with something quick like calavry. Or pound them from a distance with onagers.

Artillery for one and the one-two infantry/cavalry hammer and anvil for two are what work in RTW against the phalanx, yes. Mostly. Pharaoh's Guards are armored a lot to compensate for their lack of a shield IIRC (been awhile since I played vanilla) and as such can take more hits to the back than regular Mak or Seleucid pikemen.

 

[Keroro]

Simple question: How do you kill these guys?

Romans lack really good cavalry IIRC, so you'll struggle a bit. If you have access to cataphracts or similar heavy cavalry then hit them in the back with a charge and you'll start doing damage. If at any point you get the chance to get some legionaries or those gladiators round the back then it's happy days.

 

[kibbles]

Simple question: How do you kill these guys?

Flank with Praetorian Calvary or try to catch them on their walls. When there on the walls all they have are dinky little dangers. Fighting them on the street however is not recommended. You could also do what some else mentioned, using artillery. I would guess though that a Skirmisher or it's variants (peltest, velites) or well upgraded and experienced group of archers could inflict their share of causalities. If there armour is as legendary as i hear it is though my first choice would be a good Calvary charge to the rear, because not even armour will protect you from that!

 

[Quintillus]

Wow, thanks for all the responses! Looks like I'll be needing a few more Siege Workshops to get ballistae online. And perhaps some better horse-training buildings as well - Roman Cavalry is the best I've got except a couple cities that can do Legionary Cavalry and one that does Praetorian. And if flanking is what I need, I guess it's time to start fighting field battles a bit more.

Glad to have some new tricks to try out. Even if it does mean I have to actually train some artillery !

 

[Keroro]

Like in Real Life, all units have their weak spots. If you find that you're struggling against a particular troop type then you probably have to look for an alternative army make-up to counter them. Pret cavalry is going to be very useful against any heavy infantry or phalanx type units, so I do suggest investing in a few stables.