Rise of Rome strategy

[danoh]

Although the Romans have overwhelming power anywhere they choose to concentrate it, they also face too many opportunities to take advantage of all of them at once. What do you think they should do first?

1) build wonders and a few buildings like libraries first, improve terrain in Italy, and after 20 turns or so start the conquest.

2) first expand north west, clearing out the Celts and claiming some rich land in France and Spain.

3) first expand east, clearing out the Macedonians and grabbing the Istanbul bottleneck.

4) Attack Carthage right away, putting the most dangerous enemy on the defensive from the start.

I think some combo of 1-4 is in order. The temple-in-every-city wonder is pretty essential. Does anyone use Caesar to build it, or do you always use Caesar to build the first army?

 

[Tweedledum]

Whack Carthage first, then the barbarian civs. Given that you're already in a war it doesn't seem a good idea to start another one...

BTW: Caesar already *is* an Army (I only noticed this halfway through my first go at RoR - up until then I'd thought he was a King )

 

[JazzToucan]

Played on Monarch and what worked best for me was as follows:

1) Ally yourself with Greece. Quite frankly, you really don't need their territory to win the scenario. I also don't like having an enemy right at my doorstep.

2) Immediately -- and I mean immediately, knocked Carthage off of the Sicily and Sardinia island regions. Also, went after the Celts with a vengeance. You have enough troops to get rid of them at the start so they don't multiply. I thought I got all of them but somehow they made it to England but didn't attempt to come back to Europe proper afterwards.

3) Went after Carthage's holdings in Spain. This got another great leader or two to turn into an army.

4) With the slew of legions and armies I had at this point, landed at Carthage -- the capitol -- and captured city by city going right to left (in hindsight, left to right might have made more sense, but taking out Carthage early prevents them from bringing up reinforcements).

5) After Carthage, walked along the top part of Africa and annexed Egypt then took one of two Persian cities and won at some point around then.

All this time you should crank out the occasional settler and worker to populate the now empty France, Spain, and Austria (to the right of Italy) regions.

You really don't need to fool with the Goths. They're not too hard, but why waste soldiers? Besides, they don't expand as fast or as far reaching as the Celts. Same goes for the Scythians. The territory they settle isn't important to you -- it's way too far away.

Although I loved this scenario thematically, it can't get really tedious building all of those cities. Remember, when building the cities, spread them out. You want to cover as much map space as possible. Build a temple and a library in the cities so their borders expand and eventually hook up.

 

[danoh]

I agree on the early Greek alliance. Another reason this seems a good idea is they have always managed a wonder or two in the two games I've played. So let them build the wonder(s) and then take it later. If the Greeks are friends with Rome, then they seem likely to turn their energies towards the Persians, which will keep those two empires busy.

I have prefered to go straight at Carthage after taking Sicily. This focuses the Carthage AI at a single point.

Turning east towards Egypt after taking Carthage will get Rome three important luxuries (incense, spice and silk) plus Ivory in the strategic resource box.

 

[JazzToucan]

The Greeks will also agree to a military alliance against Carthage and, although it won't help you with land units, they build a considerable number of galleys that can easily handle anything Carthage puts out to sea thus freeing you from the worry of building them yourself.

 

[EmperorJay]

I've had Carthage put out a massive fleet as well once, I always alliance myself with Macedon, but at one point the whole of Sicily was surrounded my a massive fleet of Carthaginian Galleys. I had to build almost 35 Galleys myself before I got rid of them. It was fun, but Carthage fell very quickly after that.

The bottleneck is important the first few turns, but later on, stacks of Immortals and Heavy Cavalry (Stacks of Doom isn't it?) come from Scythian territory anyway. Not only will you provide Persia with some cheap land by forcing them through Scytian territory, with you next to their borders they will be even more inclined to attack you.

I usally let Macedon be untill I have Carthage and the Celts. An attack at Egypt and Macedon at approximatly the same time is most often enough to win. If not, I have enough territory (and thus cities and production) to beat the Persians anyway.

 

[chill888]

I agree with the previous threads.

Here's how I won on emperor:

1. Every city build a worker

2. Use them to make Rome and one other city huge and productive

3. Use these two cities to get the two wonders that give Barracks and Temples

4. While you're doing this take out the Carthage islands and start heading to Gaul (Celts?).

5. Make peace with the Macedonians.

6. Once Barracks wonder is ready start pumping out legions

7. Research track topwards Legion 2 upgrade

A fun scenario. Carthage put up a very strong fight. But Celts were weak

Attack attack attack.

 

[zurichuk]

Originally posted by chill888
I agree with the previous threads.

Here's how I won on emperor:

1. Every city build a worker

2. Use them to make Rome and one other city huge and productive

3. Use these two cities to get the two wonders that give Barracks and Temples

4. While you're doing this take out the Carthage islands and start heading to Gaul (Celts?).

5. Make peace with the Macedonians.

6. Once Barracks wonder is ready start pumping out legions

7. Research track topwards Legion 2 upgrade

A fun scenario. Carthage put up a very strong fight. But Celts were weak

Attack attack attack.

don't forget the legions can also build roads so maybe not necessary for a worker per city

 

[chill888]

true but you need workers for mining and irrigation to ensure a couple of mega cities

 

[Svar]

Not only that but as the game starts you need to use most of your legions to liberate Sicily and Sardinia.

 

[Frimlin]

Originally posted by chill888
3. Use these two cities to get the two wonders that give Barracks and Temples

6. Once Barracks wonder is ready start pumping out legions

Which Barracks wonder?

There's definitely the Temple of Artemis -- the Temple wonder you mention. But I cannot see an option to build a Wonder which creates free Barracks, at least not in this Conquest.

Please can you enlighten me? Your other tips are helpful -- thanks! I'm in the process of taking Sicily, and am building the Temple of Artemis in Rome as we speak...

 

[Masquerouge]

I think the Temple of Artemis is a must, because it allows your new cities to grow really fast.
After having played a game not so glorious (I won at the end of the turns ) I realized my mistake was to put too much into science.
So my advice are :
1. Build the Temple of Artemis
2. Build Legions, legions, legions, legions and galleys (on egalley for 4 legions )
3. Keep your science in the 60% or so until you discover Imperialism, try to trade for any advance that will make you get Imperialism faster, and once that switch to Imperialism and put science to 0. Use the extra gold by increasing the luxury slider and rush... legionnaries
Wipe the celts, settle their land, then wipe Spain, and take on North Africa.
Meanwhile invade Sicily, then the two other islands (Corsica and Sardaigne (spelling ?), then rush for Carthage. Now while your spanish army moves to Carthage taking every city they can find, your army in Carthage do the same but moving towards Egypt, they are VERY easy prey (they have spearmen and warriors, )
Now you've won.

 

[danoh]

Yeah I was wondering about that barracks wonder myself. . .


Another "must" wonder may be the Great Lighthouse. I find investing heavily in a navy is a mistake because Roman galleys have no combat advantage, and I'd rather invest the shields in a legion that has combat advantage. If you get the Great Lighthouse you can ferry troops from Italy to Africa and with a total of three galleys. The extra movement point the Great Lighthouse gives ships means no Roman galley should ever be caught out of port working this ferry system.

 

[Masquerouge]

That's right, the naval combat are really random since every units are 1.1 in Attack/Defense... That's not good. So maybe going for the Great Lighthouse is a good idea if you have enough legions

 

[thestonesfan]

I jumped right in as Rome without much of a strategy, and then later regretted it. In a nutshell, here's how it went down:

Bagged Siciliy without much effort.

Allied with anyone I could in order to focus on Carthage.

Landed my army and some Legions in Africa and took Carthage's easternmost city, and then proceeded to go west. I managed to take another city but then I had to stop and wait for reinforcements.

Made a big landing by Carthage and overran it. I then methodically moved West, taking each city. They put up a decent fight at first, but resistence inevitably slackened as I pounded on them.

I finally finished them off with about half of my turns gone. I took stock of my situation, and it wasn't so pretty.

Persia was way ahead of me in land and population. The Macedonians were losing pretty badly. I would have to put the hurt on them if I was going to have a chance at winning.

The Goths were quite powerful and had razed the majority of Celtic cities. A major blow to potential territory. I grabbed the remaining ones, but it didn't do much to help.

I began the laborious process of moving all of my forces from the western edges of the Med to Asia Minor, and I cranked out all the Legions I could. I positioned considerable forces in Greece to hit the Persian-conquered cities there.

When I finally launched my attack on the Persians, I sent them reeling. I took about half of Asia Minor in a turn after a huge landing on the east coast.

I took Byzantium, cutting off Persia's considerable forces in Greece.

Everything was going smashingly, but Persia sent a HUGE force of cavalry at me. They almost killed two of my armies fortified in a border city, but I weathered it. Would I have lost the city and the two armies, I surely would not have won the scenario.

I took a few Egyptian cities so I could get at Persia from the South.

After killing all the Persians in Greece, I went ahead and killed the Macedonians too. They weren't thankful enough for me saving them.

With 5 turns left, I finally had enough territory and won.

In retrospect, I should have attacked the Celts much earlier. The Legions are so good that you can easily fight a two front war. Otherwise, I'd say it went well. My three-pronged attack on Persia was well-executed.

Also, I'd certainly recommend building Heroic Epic. It's all about the armies.

 

[Goober]

For my Rise of Rome game, I

1) Took Corsica and Sardinia

2) Took out the Celts for that beautiful land

3) Obliverated the Carthaginians (has anyone noticed how ineffective the Legionaries seem to be when attacked by War Elephants?)

4) Expanding into Spain, and simultatneously attacked Macedon

5) Settled until I won

 

[Vancouver 2010]

IMO, Persia is the easiest civ to play in the Rise of Rome conquest because they have the largest starting area/population and a lot of room to expand, putting you closer to the Domination victory condition. I went straight for Military Training so I could build Heavy Cavalry, and then I attacked Macedon with my HC-filled army plus ~20 other Hv Cavalry and another ~20 Immortals. In the middle of that Egypt declared war on me, so i swiftly took them out, opening Africa for expansion. Once I wiped out the Macedonians, I built tons and tons of settlers and built anywhere, just to get the area I needed to win (already had the required % of population).

 

[The Economist]

I think it might be more fun to play as Carthage. It'd prolly be more of a challenge- but I guess the thing to do would be to just get the whole world against Rome so that it can't really do much.

 

[Frimlin]

I've been diverted by a weekend-long hotseat game, but last time I left it, I'd taken Sicily and Sardinia, settled in and around the Swiss Alps, and captured all of the Carthaginian colonies in southern Iberia.

While all this has gone on, a horde of workers have been improving Italy until it cannot be improved any more. I've built the Temple of Artemis in Roma, and am now planning for a mass assault on Carthage in North Africa.

I've tried to avoid killing the Celts, but I think it'll have to be done sooner or later, before they expand too far.

My biggest problem at the moment is getting enough Galleys safely down to southern Iberia so I can move my troops over to North Africa. Wish me luck!

 

[Emperor Xerxes]

Conquer Carthage, then Celts, then Egypt and finally Macedon, all the way while pumping out more settlers. This is my game by 150 AD:



Oh and the reason I took out the Goths was because Sythia had largely wiped them out anyway.