Rome: Total War

[germanos]

I must say that I find the battlefield completely overwhelming, and I can't fight an enemy without the regular 'pauses'

I'm still fighting pre-'Marcus', as I'm still in my second campaign (the first one being a short one)

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Jamski
Anyone interested in playing a few MP battles should email or PM me. This game really shines in MP, and seems to have quite a mature (for an online game) community playing

-Jam

The earlier STW MP was pure gold. MTW was too dumbed down, with all the cool non standard RTS elements toned down. I might check out RTW MP if it is more like STW.

[germanos]

Two questions:

How do I get rid of 'squalor' in my cities?.

and

Is the ability to bribe rebels related to the difficulty level? In my first campaign (medium difficulty) they could be persuaded to join me, now (hard difficulty) I can only get them to disband (which I preferably achieve by exterminating them I just love those chevrons on the sleeves of my cohorts)

[Jamski]

You get rid of squalor by:

Building the govenour buildings.
Building baths, aqueducts etc
Culling the population (i.e. make peasant units to use up population, disband in a new city)

Bribed rebels will only join if they are rebel units of your faction. So a Roman faction can bribe Greek rebels but they will disband. Roman rebels would join up.

-Jam

[germanos]

Thanks

[Guynemer]

Dammit.

Can't get the Realism mod to work. Whenever I pick a faction, it crashes to the desktop. And when I try to do anything else in the game, it just goes to the main menu.

[Guynemer]

And I've deleted that map.rtw (or whatever it is) file... THREE of them, in fact. Still, no dice.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Did you patch RTW first? I think you need patch v1.1 for the Realism mod.

[Guynemer]

Yup, I patched it first; however, what I didn't do was install 5.0; I went straight to 5.1. Working now.

[Nikolai]

Same result for me. I will have to reinstall to get the game to work again I'm afraid...(and that takes TIME... )

[Chemical Ollie]

I'm 3-4 leader generations or so into my first campaign after the tutorial, playing as House of Julius. I have yet to see an elephant.

One thing I haven't figured out is how to get surplus budget in large cities. They seem to always run on negative numbers, no matter what I do. I've changed governor (some family members are just corrupt drunkards), I've tried to let the AI govern the city, I've built all economy improvements, and I've built a large garrison to keep rioting at bay (6 town watch units, and sometimes a large field army resting and retraining in town). Still, the highest tax rate only break even, at best.

[Kassiopeia]

Big cities are not supposed to be in the black. The city-specific income number is VERY misleading, because it doesn't mean a thing. Every year the total sum of your income is counted and your total upkeep costs are deducted from that sum.

This cost is taken from all cities in relation to their population, so the big cities always pay the most of it while the small cities have a healthy surplus. Worry about the total in/out scroll you have in your faction finances screen, you can safely ignore the city-specific numbers.

[Dry]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
One thing I haven't figured out is how to get surplus budget in large cities. They seem to always run on negative numbers, no matter what I do.

The book says that each city participate in the army maintenance according to their population size.

I've changed governor (some family members are just corrupt drunkards),

Don't build Bacchus temples in cities you expect to stationate governors. And don't let governors too long in Gaul cities where there is a tavern. Try to build arenas (I think) asap in order to remove the tavern.
As Julii, I build Jupiter temples in most cities, Bacchus temples only in cities I know I will almost never have let a leader.

I've tried to let the AI govern the city, I've built all economy improvements, and I've built a large garrison to keep rioting at bay (6 town watch units, and sometimes a large field army resting and retraining in town).

Huge army means huge budget. Try to optimize your army.
In my first campaign as Julii, I had 2-4 units per city and one big (12 units) army for whole Spain.
When a city was too difficult to manage, I emptied it from all units, brought my army nearby, let it revolt, retook it and exterminated the pop. This brought enough money in my coffer and let the city start again with healthier economy.

Still, the highest tax rate only break even, at best.

The best income are from ports and roads. It is usually the first improvement I build with 'poor' factions.
My econnomy start to really raise only after I have build ports (level2) and paved roads.
Trade rights with wealthy civs also helps. Put one of your diplo on a boat and send him to Egypt, Seleucides and Greece/Macedon.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Dry

The book says...

Opps, I'm busted!

Don't build Bacchus temples in cities you expect to stationate governors. And don't let governors too long in Gaul cities where there is a tavern. Try to build arenas (I think) asap in order to remove the tavern.
As Julii, I build Jupiter temples in most cities, Bacchus temples only in cities I know I will almost never have let a leader.

What benefit is there to have a family governor compared to the AI anyway? It seems I can still construct units and buildings manually when a city is run by AI.

Huge army means huge budget. Try to optimize your army.
In my first campaign as Julii, I had 2-4 units per city and one big (12 units) army for whole Spain.

I get my backside handed to me if I have too small armies. Even armies with 15-20 units could be beaten by the Britons occasionally. And as I fight on several fronts, I need many of them. And an army that has been in a tough battle has to return to a good city to retrain. In the meantime, another army has to releave it on the front. I tend to have 4-6 large armies. You also need a good navy. I tried to complete the senate missions to blockade some ports. Sometimes it worked, but quite often there were 700 man enemy fleets stopping me.

The best income are from ports and roads. It is usually the first improvement I build with 'poor' factions.
My econnomy start to really raise only after I have build ports (level2) and paved roads.
Trade rights with wealthy civs also helps. Put one of your diplo on a boat and send him to Egypt, Seleucides and Greece/Macedon.

I also construct roads, both for the economy and for my armies to march faster. The trade rights idea was a good hint. I will try it.

[Kassiopeia]

What benefit is there to have a family governor compared to the AI anyway? It seems I can still construct units and buildings manually when a city is run by AI.

Governor stats may improve the mood and income of a city. Influence, for instance, makes the people content, management improves the money situation, and then there's the modifiers you get from the gov's retinue.