Rome: Total War

[I'm Murrin]

I wrote a very long, even more detailed than usual, post, but just as I was getting to the end my computer froze. So I'll just give you the punchline:

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This was the game you were sure you would lose, was it?

--A

[I'm Murrin]

Hey, I was doing pretty badly early on. I wasn't sure of my chances, but I pulled through.

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That's for sure.

--A

[I'm Murrin]

Okay, can anyone explain this: I'm playng a campaign as Carthage, and in the middle of a big war in Italy against the Romans. I send an army with family member and nineteen other units to besiege Tarentum. They sit outside the city for seven or so turns, building quite a lot of siege equipment (trying to get as much advantage as I can, since the Roman military is far superior and could beat me even though I had twice as many men as were in the city). Then, after I've clicked another 'end turn', I go to look at the city, which is a turn or two away from surrendering. Instead of seeing a city under siege, I see my army standing facing the wrong direction, with a tiny single-unit Brutii army in front of it.
Now, please, tell me how the hell this unit just walked right out of the city that was under siege, causing the siege to lift in the process, without having to fight at all? I lost all my siege equipment! The surrender time went back up to ten turns!

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Did the Brutii attack your beseiging army? Or was it just standing there, and the seige broken? If the latter, I have no idea. If the former, it didn't have to come from the city.

--A

[I'm Murrin]

The latter. No attack. That's why I'm asking - if I'd been attacked, then I'd know I'd been attacked. If it had come from outside, and hadn't attacked me, the siege would still be going. The only explanation I can think of is that the army stepped out of the city. And that's not supposed to be possible.

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*shrug* Sorry...can't help you. Never happened to me. Weird.

--A

[Trapper]

Has anybody else been playing the "Barbarian Invasion" expansion?

Cruised through the Eastern Roman Campaign then tried the Western Romans.

Took me about 5 tries to get a half decent game going, and that only after I'd dialed the difficulty back to Medium. I even had to go to some forums to get tips. You basically have to use "Exterminate Population" when you re-capture cities that have (repeatedly) revolted to get enough money to build enough Mines, Markets, and Ports in your core cities to get your economy up and running.

I don't think I ever used Exterminate in the original RTW.

I didn't use the "Plague Farm" idea someone had posted, though.

ie Produce lots of spies in your cities that are plague ridden and send them to infiltrate enemy cities. But oh how I laughed when I read it.

You also have to win some pretty major battles to hold off the Hordes of Vandals, Goths, Huns, and Sarmatians.

Finally managed to win, when I get the urge to play again I'm going to dial the Campaign skill up to Very Hard but leave the Battle difficulty at Medium. Otherwise it'd be just too much.

The Carriage Ballistae are SOOOO much fun! And they seem to gain Chevrons far more easily than other units. I had two of them both gain 4 in the same battle.

The Plumbatarii (sp?) are pretty cool too.

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Nah, haven't got it yet. Can't decide if it's worth it or not...what do you think?

I use the exterminate option once cities are at maximum size. In fact, once they're at maximum, I provoke a rebellion just so I can exterminate everybody...keeps the city nice and quiet for a long time after.

Can't wait 'til Medieval II. (And I live in hope that they'll redo Shogun TW for the new engine.

--A

[Trapper]

It is worth getting, Av, if only for the Carriage Ballistae.

It's a very different game in some ways. Instead of starting small and expanding you start overstretched, although I have only played the two Roman factions (Eastern and Western) so far.

The East has some pretty cool units, Eastern Archers and some ultra-heavy cavalry.

The West is in a very bad way when you start, but it's satisfying when (if?) you manage to turn things around. Until the Hordes come (we're talking four or five FULL STACKS of mostly missile cavalry and spearmen suddenly turning up on your borders, which makes for some mammoth battles).

I haven't tried to play the original since I got BI, so it is possible that you'd have to uninstall BI to play it again.

I hadn't realised how lucrative Extermination is before. I'm sure it keeps the populace quiet, but I've always preferred Enslave to build up the population in my other cities. OK, OK, I admit, I do it just for the pretty slave girls .

What is Medieval II? Is it Total War? I haven't played any others in the series, and I've heard that Rome is the best one so far.

[Trapper]

nb Another cool thing in BI is that your units don't become obsolete.

I used to hate it in the original when you'd have a battle-hardened unit of Hastati or Principes that you couldn't retrain to full strength.

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The series started with Shogun: Total War, its expansion, Mongol Invasion, and continued with Medieval: Total War and its expansion, Viking Invasion.

Rome is indeed the best, both in terms of engine, graphics and the campaign map design.

Medieval II is a remake of the 2nd in the series, on a new and improved version of the engine that Rome uses. Apparently should be out soon now it seems.

Screenshots etc. available through the link above.

--A

[Trapper]

I tried the VH campaign/ M (battles) idea and it's been the most enjoyable campaign I've had.

I'll always prefered the 'starting small' idea of the Original.

But I had a youngster called "Libbius the Handsome" Come Of Age in Massilia and he has since struck north through what is now Germany. He single-handedly restored the sovereignty of Wome in the Nowth.

I thought that was impressive until Vetranius Libius single-handedly held off the Vandals. Although I do play with time-limited battles, and at one stage he had to avoid the enemy infantry for 45 mins.

Fun stuff. I recommend BI to anybody who is curious.

But rest assured, whether you play the Eastern Romans or the West, those other Roman ******* are not to be trusted.

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He single-handedly westored the soveweignty of Wome in the Nowth.

--A

[I'm Murrin]

I'm in the process of installing Rome: Total Realism. I've never had a chance to play the mod on its more recent versions.

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Have heard good things about it on the whole. Let us know how it works out.

--A

[I'm Murrin]

Well, so far it's a much slower game. After you capture a city, you have to build several stages of of a new building type before garrison units are available, I guess because realistically conquerors would have to secure the city before they could start recruitment. As I've seen in earlier versions, there are a lot more cities in the game, and some places, like Greece, have lots of very small regions packed close together.
There are fewer factions, spread across a much larger map, and in some cases the starting positions are radically altered from those in the original game. The Seleucid Empire, for example, covers the same area it had in the game, but spreads out over a large expanse to the east as well.

[I'm Murrin]

Wow, you have to see this. In the next version of R:TR, they're not just going to change the regions and cities, they're doing a complete redesign of the campaign map - remodel the entire thing, from scratch. Take a look:
www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=50334

[Warmark]

That looks ace!

The map is almost doubled in size aswell.