Rome: Total War is Out

[The diplomat]

I am such an idiot. I am laying siege to a Spanish settlement. I crush all opposition. My troops reach the center plaza where the enemy just has about 20 light infantry making a last stand in the plaza. I have an army of about 100. I charge the plaza. Of course my general charges first. In the melee, my general gets killed. To makes things worse, he was my faction leader. I still wiped out the Spanish to the last man of course since they were so outnumbered. It would have been so easy to keep my faction leader behind the troops and let them crush the remaining Spanish. ARGHHH!!

In another battle, I send a fleet of triremes loaded with a full army to Palma to attack the Carthaginian settlement. I expected a big fight because just a few turns back, I tried to attack Palma and the Carthaginian Army was so large that I was forced to withdraw.

So, I get to Palma with about 1000 men, expecting the fight of my life. To my surprise the only Carthaginian garrison protecting Palma was the Carthaginian faction leader and his 20 heavy calvary bodyguards!
I easily took Palma and wiped out Carthage as a faction. As it turned out that was the last region Carthage had.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by General Ludd
Yeah, on the huge setting you get 160 in each one. Makes the battles quite a bit more spectacular.

Problem is that your population (and the AI's) gets eaten up twice as fast, making it harder to grow your cities.

[Kassiopeia]

Yeah, that's a bit of a bind. I was expecting that it'd be more a graphics modifier and that the size of the cities would change accordingly. Strange solution IMHO. I had to take Carthage to be able to get some better toys - Samnite gladiators, Legionary cavalry, those Gonads (or whatever you call them catapults).

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by SpencerH

With RTW its more like 50:50. I'd guess that you could easily play RTW at the strategic level, auto-resolve all combat, and still have an interesting game.

I do this often as my gaming time is extremely limited, two kids to take care of can ruin a gaming night! However I am still enjoying the game only because the strategic map has so much going on in it. The only battles I do play out tend to be the real important ones that I can't afford to take a chance on with auto-combat.

[Traianvs]

onagers you mean?

[Kassiopeia]

Yes! Onagers. They kick butt. Siege ladders and towers are for wussies, without taking down the walls you can't use your cavalry. This assuming you are assaulting a city with stone walls. Unless of course you go for the gateway and manage to take control of it.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by child of Thor
thanx for the info Kassiopeia+SpencerH

I've been having a good look at their website, but as always hearing from the people who have gone out and bought it gives the best idea of whats really going on

Strangely i found Shogun a better game than Medieval, when i was expecting the extra levels of complexity in Medieval to win the day - oh well, maybe more isn't always better
Still RTW looks amazing - if the other part of the game is as good as the battle screens then i might be forced to upgrade my pc, which i've been fighting against for a long time

A lot of people liked the battles in STW better than MTW. I preferred MTW cos the strategic situation was more complex.

Without a doubt, the battles look awesome. Zoomed in, its like looking at movie animations.

[Gamecube64]

Nice screens Kas, did the puppies ever get their meal? I assume the dogs are for chasing down running enemies. Was that Gaul with armor the leader?

[Kassiopeia]

Dogs are indeed for fleeing enemies, I tried to terrorise some warband infantry with them but I had to quickly bring in the cavalry to keep the Gauls from turning them into provisions. They're awesomely (is that even a word?) quick and chase down the enemies even across the battlefield lines (you don't lose them, luckily).

The Gaul with the armour was the leader of that particular unit, but the Gaul general was long dead. I always go for the enemy general ASAP, the best way to rout an army.

The barbarians are not too protective of their generals, but then neither am I - the general and his bodyguard are great shock chargers and bringing them in lifts morale a lot. Plus it looks pretty when the horsies stampede on the barbarians, you can even hear the squishy sounds the trampled bodies make. I really have to try some elephants in the historical battles (haven't even tried them yet!), that or unlock the Carthagenian campaign.

I've noticed that the Macedonians look after their general much more, however. They are also more willing to make a tactical withdrawal if it's obvious that I'm winning.

[Gamecube64]

This is probably a getter once I update the finest 6 year old technology my computer is made of. My mighty 16mb Voodoo3 and 550mhz p2 should not be underestimated.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Gamecube64
This is probably a getter once I update the finest 6 year old technology my computer is made of. My mighty 16mb Voodoo3 and 550mhz p2 should not be underestimated.

In the meantime you can practice on Shogun!

[Gamecube64]

I think a friend has Shogun, maybe I will mooch off him

[Jonny]

This game is absolutely amazing... especially with the new graphics card I got a couple of months ago.

I started a game as the Bruti, took the rebel held cities on the east shore of the Adriatic, then defeated the Greek Cities. Now I'm entangled in a war with a quite powerful Thrace, who had earlier conquered Macedonia.

I haven't had much time to play yet, but I'm already addicted.

[General Ludd]

Dogs of war can be good in melee aswell. I think they would be especially good at disorganizing formation reliant troops, like some roman legions or hoplite units, and such.


They are completely useless against cavalry, though.

[Flip McWho]

Generals are rather powerful aren't they. It's awesome how the battle between even numbers can hang on the general. I have this uber general who's also the faction leader. Man, nothing can stand in his way, he's pratically a one man army all by himself.

What do others think about the general side of things?

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Flip McWho
Generals are rather powerful aren't they. It's awesome how the battle between even numbers can hang on the general. I have this uber general who's also the faction leader. Man, nothing can stand in his way, he's pratically a one man army all by himself.

What do others think about the general side of things?

Yes, generals can be very powerful but be real careful not to lose him. A victory can easily turn into a complete defeat if you lose the general because when you lose your general, your army will route.

You are right that generals can decide a battle that is otherwise even. Kill the enemy general and the enemy army will flee in panic, letting your army pursue them and cut them down, leading to a victory when both sides had been equally matched. The reverse is also true. Both sides are evenly matched so you think the battle is even, and then you lose your general and your armies flees in panic causing a defeat when otherwise things seemed balanced.

[Flip McWho]

Yeah I try to keep my general out of the hard brute fighting. I mainly have the cav to flank the enemy which quickly devastates them. Usually just flanking them and charging home with the General is enough to turn the gauls into a rout at least. Then you just pursue and destroy at your own pleasure.

[alva]

Yes, generals can be very powerful but be real careful not to lose him

Seems like a bit too much to me (overpowered) and perhaps exploitable.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by alva

Yes, generals can be very powerful but be real careful not to lose him

Seems like a bit too much to me (overpowered) and perhaps exploitable.

You mean the effect when losing a general is too expoitable. Perhaps. But it is realistic. Generals played a huge role in ancient warfare, and many battles were won or lost when the general or enemy general was killed.

[Kassiopeia]

The general tips the balance, and I think it's fine the way it is. Generals are your family members, and are essential in fighting *and* politics and managing your cities. You get very careful when the general you're using has a management value of five and can make even the smallest backwater shantyville flourish. More so if he's the only faction heir alive!

I've had a few battles where I've lost the general, but the Romans seem to take it pretty decently. Of course those weren't generals as such, they were captains (fill-ins, placeholders, who totally suck).

I also played a few historical battles (Teutoburg Forest and Anchepaholytis or something) and they were hard!

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
I've had a few battles where I've lost the general, but the Romans seem to take it pretty decently. Of course those weren't generals as such, they were captains (fill-ins, placeholders, who totally suck).

I'm sticking with an old "house rule" that only allows me to fight the battles in which a family member is present. If a captain is in charge, I auto-calc the combat. Makes the role-playing aspect a bit more interesting.

As for Generals, I love the way they are implemented. Makes for some tough decisions between leading armies or managing cities. And I like the fact that they die as easily as any other figure on the map. I've had a couple lost in battle due to poor timing of what I thought would be a flanking manuever, only to have the defenders wheel around and pounce on my leader. Good stuff.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
I also played a few historical battles (Teutoburg Forest and Anchepaholytis or something) and they were hard!

How many of you have played the historical battles?

I tried playing them but they seem really hard.

[Cookie Monster]

Has anyone noticed that if you have a general governing a town and for many years and he leaves to go to the front and is replaced by someone else that the townsfolk get upset?

I suppose they get to know and love their master and when he leaves them the people get upset.

Nice touch!

[Kassiopeia]

Are you sure it's not because the new governor has a lower Management rating?

[Cookie Monster]

not management rating but influence is what caused the unrest.

I looked at the settlement details scroll and saw that his influence went a long way towards keeping people happy.

[Arnelos]

I've been WAY too busy playing Rome: Total War to read this thread in several days.

Now that I see it, I'll see what I can do about screenshots.

I've been playing as the Brutii. It's now 223 BC and I've conquered all of Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, northern Italy, and modern France. I just got the message a few turns back that I could attack Rome and become Imperator, but I'm putting that off for now.

I've had so many really cool battles, but I'll say this about a recent battle I fought with the Gauls:

Onagers+Archers both using fire shot kick serious a--!!!

I just show up at a Gaulic village with a ton of swordsmen inside (they seem to build little else) and pummel the snot out of it with onagers and tons of archers using either normal shot or fire shot (depending on the situation). Once that bombardment has killed at least 2/3 of the enemy's swordsmen, I break the gate down easily with ballistae and move in with legionaries and cavalry to finish the place off (having told the archers and onagers to cease fire except in limited cases, of course).

This generally leads to battles where I'll kill 500+ Gauls and lose 10-15 Romans at most.

What can I say? Artillery rocks.

As for field battles, highly trained archers are INCREDIBLY DEADLY against enemy infantry. All of the enemies I've faced so far (Greeks, Macedonians, Thracians, Gauls) seem to use very little cavalry and relatively few archers (other than the Thracians, against which I used cavalry for that reason).

I can send in an army of well-trained archers covered by a few legionary units and decimate an entire army of the enemy just with archer fire. Cavalry Auxilia (horse archers) are even more effective, especially with the Cantabrian Circle special ability. Most enemy swordsmen/spearmen don't stand a chance being torn apart from long range like that.

I think such a strategy won't work as well against the Britons or the Eastern factions because they have more cavalry and chariots at their disposal.

[General Ludd]

Anyone know what exact;y unlocks the different factions? After playing as the Julii and wiping out the gauls I can now play as them. I'm just wondering if you have to fight the last battle against them as they are wiped out, or if there is some mroe complicated trigger?

[Flip McWho]

I thought it was if you completed the campaign you unlocked all of the rest.

[Kassiopeia]

You can *either* complete the entire campaign *or* crush the faction in the campaign. Both work.

I've been playing as the Brutii. It's now 223 BC and I've conquered all of Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, northern Italy, and modern France. I just got the message a few turns back that I could attack Rome and become Imperator, but I'm putting that off for now.

I wonder if I just suck or if I'm being too careful, as the Julii I have only southern France, Corinth, Sparta, Segesta, Cirta and Carthage, and that little one on Corsica. This in 220 BC. Playing medium diff here btw.

[Falconne]

Originally posted by Flip McWho
Does anybody know where I can find battle tatics out? Hmm I suppose they have a forum. But yeah, I definitely need to learn how to become a better general myself. At the moment I suck. Please don't tell me I need to sit down and read The Art Of War

Plenty of forums at:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?c=5
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/
http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotalwarfrm7?page=1