The Roman War Machine

[sirford]

Thats why you population rush it using slavery. Growth is restricted 99% of the time on monarch-diety levels anyways, so why not make good use out of it in the mean time by increasing your production? Usually you have to wait 2-3 turns before the Forge is cheap enough to use up 3 population. Then you rush it. Simple.

All it costs is 1 turn of Anarchy to switch to slavery.

Personally, I have the nasty habit of Population Rushing praetorians when the price is down to 1 pop to finish them up. Saves a bundle on trees, and only costs you a roman citizen who is more than likely red and angry. It's a good way to make use of them angry citizens who do nothing anyways.

this man is 100% correct. on the higher difficulties, your cities just don't get as big because of lower starting happyness, therefore put your minions to work with the whip!

 

[Murky]

I'm trying out Augustus for the first time. It's been a fun game on Prince level so far.

 

[Araqiel]

The general advice in this guide are variations on one of the most simplistic build orders there is... And the "strategy" here roughly consists of this:

"all cities build barracks -> commence praetorians and never look back"

This is a guide about how to exploit the last truly overpowered unit in the game to score an easy win. This is common sense - and spam Praetorian. There are some good strategy guides out there - this isn't one of them, though it is quite coherently written. Make a guide on how to win with units that aren't hugely, hugely advantaged in its period and extremely effective long beyond its period, and there'll be something noteworthy. As it stands, you're giving a strategy-lite with a crutch.

Nothing like coming out of left field and critizing without contributing. Seriously given how this thread came out back when people were still learning the game and has continued on I don't see why you're being such a harpy.

 

[Petrucci]

This is a great strat, especially for new comers of civ4. Rome is who I started out with on noble and would recommend any new plays to get used to the tech tree and feel of the game by using the Romans. Nice to have organized, creative, and with a powerful early UU,it will leave a nice minty taste in your mouth after a early dominant war.

Once you get used to the feel of the game by using both Roman leaders challenge yourself with other Civilizations, with all the knowledge you garnered after learing how to run wars, use diplomacy and learning the tech tree.

 

[cfacosta]

Thanks for the support guys. I am glad my thread has been useful to people, that was the intent after all. We'll see if I can't come up with some more advanced tips for warmongering after I have had a bit more time to digest Warlords.

 

[apopholeus813]

You need no strat for romans, Vini Vidi Vici baby as it always should be in civ. Now if only ai would use prats properly.

 

[ktsk]

Just won my first-ever prince victory with the tips I got from this thread. Yippee! And thanks to cfacosta.
Now I'm looking for next challenges. Does anyone have a suggestion which civ to try next? Or should I just add more opponents, bigger map, raging barbs?

 

[carl corey]

Congrats on your first Prince win! If you want to try something different, go toward a non-military route. Maybe religious (Gandhi, Isabella), maybe going for specialists and Great Persons (Saladin, Frederick, etc.). You're also welcome to try the "strategic challenges": Land Grab, Lust for Gold or the ongoing one: Let's get cultural. The rules aren't very strict, we're mainly playing them to improve different aspects of our play. For now they are all at Prince level so it should provide you with some good practice.

 

[Emperor Giulio]

::Necromancy::

Definately some helpful tips, its a shame the OP hasn't been active for almost 2 years.

 

[Emperor Giulio]

Last night I played a very nihilistic game incorporating this strategy, I razed 19 Japanese and Babylonian (both aggressive) cities and capture only 5 in a war that lasted from the BCs to the 1600s. Even up against Long bowmen, my heavily experienced army of praetorians slaughtered and pillaged all opposition, I felt like the Burmese general from the latest Rambo movie. Then I just quit…

Now if I actually try I should have a successful game.

 

[xendelaar]

I tried the strategy last night and I have to admit it was pretty awesome! I could have conquered the planet long before the AI was able to make maceman, but I eventually quit warmongering because I have a weak spot for converting cities with culture
Thanks for the great guide!

 

[krikav]

Clearly there are not enough pretortian threads in the S&T forum. Since some people feel obliged to ressurect yet such threads from 2005, to satisfy the deep pret-urge.

 

[The Oz-Man]

So you're saying they're very Praet-oriented?

...I'll get my coat.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Interesting.

The writer got his order of operations wrong though. If you want CoL early at higher levels, you need to go for Oracle FIRST.

And no, resurrecting threads like this are fine. Simply because people FORGET that they're an excellent unit.

 

[Seraiel]

lol

 

[Horgh666]

Clearly there are not enough pretortian threads in the S&T forum. Since some people feel obliged to ressurect yet such threads from 2005, to satisfy the deep pret-urge.

You just have Praetorian envy! You wish your unique units were as good as the Romans'! You're probably a SURRY fan, upset that your ballistaphants are more like uselessballoonphant!

OK, this said I'm not sure why I even looked at this thread except for the fact that there were like 5 pages of discussion appearing in less than 24 hours and I was curious...

 

[Keilah]

yes, thank you marigoldran, for reminding me and all of us


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again



You get the picture

 

[MarigoldRan]

yes, thank you marigoldran, for reminding me and all of us


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again


and then reminding us again



You get the picture

It's because of comments like this that encourage me!

Clearly you're missing the message. Praets are an excellent UU, perhaps one of the best.

Should I remind you of this again? Will you remember it this time?

 

[ben-jammin]

Playing on lower difficulties does nothing to prove or disprove the effectiveness of a certain unit. How many people extolling the virtues of praetorians trampled the globe on noble/prince/monarch/emperor? On those difficulties you likely could have had the same result faster with plain old horse archers, that's a fact.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Playing on lower difficulties does nothing to prove or disprove the effectiveness of a certain unit. How many people extolling the virtues of praetorians trampled the globe on noble/prince/monarch/emperor? On those difficulties you likely could have had the same result faster with plain old horse archers, that's a fact.

Check the recent Deity praetorian thread. The one where Duckweed owned the Chinese with praets, and pretty much everyone else (me, AZ, Duckweed, Sossos) agreed that praets should be built at one point or another.

I think it was shown pretty conclusively that praets are an excellent unit at Deity.

HAs would not have worked as well because they're fragile. AZ got dowed upon by two other AIs, which HAs are bad against (since HAs defend like poop), I ran into Elephants, Duckweed ran into a group of spears (he went praets though, so it wasn't a problem) and Sossos BUILT HAs and then afterwards spammed praets.

You do realize that praets vs. HAs is not an either/or scenario. You COULD go HAs first, like SOS, and THEN build praets. This is why praets are such a good unit. You don't even have to rush with them, and they're still great in the middle ages.