Rome Total War

[Dr. Yoshi]

Dammit, why did I preorder it?

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

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

*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.

 

[Amenhotep7]

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

@general_kill

Couldja post some screenies?

 

[LLXerxes]

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

@general_kill

Couldja post some screenies?

Amazon takes that long?
I'll probably never get it

 

[Amenhotep7]

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

 

[Dell19]

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.

 

[Insane_Panda]

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...

 

[dgfred]

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? Anybody else played yet?

 

[Amenhotep7]

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

 

[Longasc]

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.

 

[Little Raven]

What is your verdict? Anybody else played yet?

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.

 

[LLXerxes]

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

 

[Amenhotep7]

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

 

[Constantine]

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.

 

[Longasc]

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]

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 enemy

You 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...

 

[Longasc]

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]

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.

 

[Reno]

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.

 

[Longasc]

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.

 

[Gogf]

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