After you reach all victory conditions you get a popup window saying you win. It's very underwhelming.
Alright, thats good. I can work with that. If I lose up to five settlements, though, I'm going to have to go pre-Rome invasion. If I can't hold 40 regions, I can't have 50 regions.
Fighting in Greece, using hoplite mercenaries made me kind of sad. Terrain/battle maps aren't really varied. Pretty much just open plains, hilly plains, small/big forests and sometimes you get a big rock in the middle of the map. I wanna send my hoplites to defend a mountain pass. From what I've seen of Empire/Napoleon (through the demos) actually had much better laid out and varied looking battle maps, but not quite "mountain pass" grade stuff. I hope Shogun 2 has some more varied battle fields.
Shogun 2 is looking so great. I can't wait to give that a go, I missed the original.
Edit: I hope they one day do a Total War: World War and let me throw samurai at Aztecs. Has there been any mods that allow for such a thing, for any of the TW games?
So, whats the deal with protectorates and vassals in R: TW (and the rest, but mostly Rome)?
I don't really know what the terms even mean. I figure its like "we won't eat your women and rape your cattle, if you become our friends", but how can I get the AI to fall for it?
The Brutii offered me protectorate status at one point, but I didn't want to be a subordinate. What happens if I agree to become a protectorate or vassal?
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MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
It will mean you will automatically go to war with anyone your protector goes to war with, and vice verse, plus there may be a payment per turn they require of you.
If you're being offered protectorate status, it probably means you are losing the game.
It will mean you will automatically go to war with anyone your protector goes to war with, and vice verse, plus there may be a payment per turn they require of you.
If you're being offered protectorate status, it probably means you are losing the game.
Badly.
Surprisingly, not quite there yet. The Brutii are just dicks and think they're special because they have Eastern Europe and Greece. I have 40-odd regions, Rome, most of Italy, all of Western Europe and have almost achieved my goal for the campaign.
They actually offered a turn or two after I attacked and captured Rome. It was just a thing they did. Although I am in a bind, since I'm fighting a war in the heart of Italy against Scipii and on my European borders with Brutii. I think I might just manage, though.
I wonder, if I had accepted it, would they have gone to war against the Scipii. That would have been awesome, to just use them as basically a mercenary army and then break off when I saw an opportunity.
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MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
Well don't take the deal. Pretty sure you can't revoke a protectorate status.
Well don't take the deal. Pretty sure you can't revoke a protectorate status.
Oh, I didn't. I mean, I'm sure by attacking the guy, it'd break any deal we had, but I wasn't having it. The funny thing is, my holdings are so removed from threat, that they're all well happy and good to provide. Brutii is having his holdings turn rebel, same with Scipii. At surprising speeds. It'd hilarious if I ended up fighting one huge Rebel faction controlling the entire lower half of the map + Eastern Europe.
I think I'm actually going to win this thing. Brutii took two border settlements, but then I immediately took one back, and now I'm gonna approach the other. Lower Italy has only two or three settlements for me to take, and Sicily has only one (and it went rebel, even!). All of which will bring me up to around 47 regions, and I only need 50.
Well don't take the deal. Pretty sure you can't revoke a protectorate status.
Oh, I didn't. I mean, I'm sure by attacking the guy, it'd break any deal we had, but I wasn't having it. The funny thing is, my holdings are so removed from threat, that they're all well happy and good to provide. Brutii is having his holdings turn rebel, same with Scipii. At surprising speeds. It'd hilarious if I ended up fighting one huge Rebel faction controlling the entire lower half of the map + Eastern Europe.
I think I'm actually going to win this thing. Brutii took two border settlements, but then I immediately took one back, and now I'm gonna approach the other. Lower Italy has only two or three settlements for me to take, and Sicily has only one (and it went rebel, even!). All of which will bring me up to around 47 regions, and I only need 50.
good luck! if you're at 47 unless your armies are about to totally collapse, it should be fine, could take longer then expected but shouldn't be hard.
I remember a Lets Play for the expansion to Napoleon total War, and I remember the LP being great, but how was the game? I love Napoleon, it was everything Empire should have been. The best part about that game that people didn't know is if you press the home button while you have a squad selected, is zooms into a random dude in that squad's first person view, and when he fires, follows his bullet. So much fun when you get to watch the artillery.
After you reach all victory conditions you get a popup window saying you win. It's very underwhelming.
Alright, thats good. I can work with that. If I lose up to five settlements, though, I'm going to have to go pre-Rome invasion. If I can't hold 40 regions, I can't have 50 regions.
Fighting in Greece, using hoplite mercenaries made me kind of sad. Terrain/battle maps aren't really varied. Pretty much just open plains, hilly plains, small/big forests and sometimes you get a big rock in the middle of the map. I wanna send my hoplites to defend a mountain pass. From what I've seen of Empire/Napoleon (through the demos) actually had much better laid out and varied looking battle maps, but not quite "mountain pass" grade stuff. I hope Shogun 2 has some more varied battle fields.
Shogun 2 is looking so great. I can't wait to give that a go, I missed the original.
Edit: I hope they one day do a Total War: World War and let me throw samurai at Aztecs. Has there been any mods that allow for such a thing, for any of the TW games?
Empires terrain is even less varied. Its pretty much all heres a field. maybe some trees and a hill. oh and fences which take forever for your men to clmb over.
but if you have to give up a territory to regroup then by all means do it
I honestly don't think I can. I've left all my holdings barren. I've avoided military structures, leaving nothing but heavily fortified cities with lots of farm equipment and farmers to protect them. I can't even recruit decent soldiers for quick defense.
My armies are all involved. Two in Greece, six in Italy, almost all of them are just light Auxilia, spear-throwers and archers.
Yeah, if a family has no family members left, their faction crumbles. But unless they have like, one city, they'll always adopt more members in to add to the numbers.
If you're having trouble against urban cohorts, bring ballistae to bring their numbers down to manageable levels before you meet them in melee combat. Go for the commander first, and hope they break before you do.
Otherwise, try using a navy and swoop in on their cities. Cutting off their supply of manpower means their big army can't restock itself, and the AI usually neglects their navy.
Thats interesting, about assassins. Can you assassinate Rome to death, instead of a drawn out siege? Because I'm thinking I just swarm it with assassins, turning it Rebel, while my armies focus on removing the Scipii threat.
I don't think I can successfully get my ballistae (or any siege weaponry) out quick enough to prevent Scipii from retaking Rome, and possibly even my own capitol. I originally tried to ship-around them, but my forces are needed where they are.
I'm kind of screwed right now.
I'm thinking I'll revert to immediately before I siege Rome. Amass assassins (put them at the ready to hit all those Scipii forces near Rome, the Scipii/Brutii holdings in Italy and Rome itself), replace my current military with the highest tech (and properly assembled, instead of haphazardly), set them all beside the Bru/Sci Italian holdings, then in a single move, assassinate and siege it all.
In one move, I can potentially take 10 regions and Rome itself. Winning me the campaign.
honestly? i try to keep one castle/fortress for every 3 - 4 cities in the area
that way i can get an army out in that area quick enough to respond to a threat. it's a decent system
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Ended up ragequitting my first attempt at playing as Venice, because both Milan and HRE started being bullies and demanding my lunch money while I was semi-busy fighting the Byzantines early on, then trying to attack Venice itself, and I got shouted at by the Pope any time I started fighting back, even to the extent of pushing them away from blockading a port or whatever.
Fuck you, Pope, how about you shout at those guys, they're starting it? :(:(
I've got a couple questions about units in Rome: Total War. I noticed that I'd been suckered and Repeating Ballista are actually worse than regular ones, since you're never going to use the things against buildings. They cost more, do less to units, are less accurate and can't fire flaming shots. So, Repeating vs. regular, which should I focus on?
Also, whats the point of spear throwers and light auxilia? I thought maybe the light could use their spears against horses, but that doesn't really work, and I can't figure out why I'd ever use spear throwers when I can use archers with burning arrows, more range, and more accuracy.
There are so many types of cohorts and cavalry, and they all seem to be the same. From what I can tell, Urban Cohorts and Praetorian Cavalry are the best of both, right?
Also, spies and asassins. Asides from just spying and assassinating, do they do anything? Can I put spies in settlements and sabotage stuff?
Empires terrain is even less varied. Its pretty much all heres a field. maybe some trees and a hill. oh and fences which take forever for your men to clmb over.
Well, thats a shame. I'm pretty awful at the couple demo battles, though. So I should probably be thankful for that, because bridges and varied terrain murders me.
honestly? i try to keep one castle/fortress for every 3 - 4 cities in the area
that way i can get an army out in that area quick enough to respond to a threat. it's a decent system
I'm seeing that it would have been smart to leave something along my borders. When I declared war, I had just finished up in Spain/Briton, which meant all my forces were on the other side of the map. I'm a God damned modern day Napoleon.
For some reason I thought it'd be better to keep men around to fight rebels, rather than the Brutii.
good luck! if you're at 47 unless your armies are about to totally collapse, it should be fine, could take longer then expected but shouldn't be hard.
I'm up to 45, and currently being sieged at probably three locations. I just gotta get my armies out to the Brutii borders and this game is mine. Sicily is mine now, and Italy has two more Brutii holdings only.
I've got a couple questions about units in Rome: Total War. I noticed that I'd been suckered and Repeating Ballista are actually worse than regular ones, since you're never going to use the things against buildings. They cost more, do less to units, are less accurate and can't fire flaming shots. So, Repeating vs. regular, which should I focus on?
Also, whats the point of spear throwers and light auxilia? I thought maybe the light could use their spears against horses, but that doesn't really work, and I can't figure out why I'd ever use spear throwers when I can use archers with burning arrows, more range, and more accuracy.
There are so many types of cohorts and cavalry, and they all seem to be the same. From what I can tell, Urban Cohorts and Praetorian Cavalry are the best of both, right?
Also, spies and asassins. Asides from just spying and assassinating, do they do anything? Can I put spies in settlements and sabotage stuff?
I always just go for regular ballistae. I don't have too much experience with them, but they aren't useful against buildings. That's what you have onagers for.
In the base game, the light skirmishers are good for killing elephants really, really fast and for softening up the enemy line before closing into melee. Unfortunately with the short range and the AI's tendecy to run after them first chance they get, they're not very useful in vanilla R:TW. Using archers is probably for the best.
Urban Cohorts and Praetorian cavalry are statistically the best units you can build as Rome. But there's a big difference between a freshly built Urban Cohort and a standard cohort you fought all your wars with. Experience matters too, it increases stats but more importantly, also increases unit morale. The Roman civil war is tricky, but you have to remember that it's you who kicks it off. Prepare for it. Bring your most experienced armies.
Spies in cities cause unrest there and can get a revolt going if the city is very understaffed. Assassins can sabotage buildings. That's pretty much it as far as their use goes.
Spies in cities will sometimes open the gates for you. This is awesome. Use this. Why build two onegers to take that city, when instead you can replace their spot with two more shock infantry, and just build two spies to infiltrate the city you are about to take. Siege weapons slow your army down, and especially with larger castles, you need a lot to make sure you have enough ammo to break all the walls down. Spies, when they work, cost less, do more, and give you valuable sight line bonuses and tell you what you're up against. my general rule of thumb is to have at LEAST one spy for every full stack, more can't hurt.
Assassins pretty much kill people, and damage buildings and thats it, unless you have a target (like a generals who'd been humping you bad, or you want to take out a cities specific unit building abilities) assassins have limited use. It's often easier to hunt a dude down on the battlefield than it is to try and nab him with assassins.
Those Javelin throwers are good against heavy infantry in theory, but as Weit mentioned, the AI likes to hunt them down. Most of those thrown missile units usually have the Armour piercing trait, which ignores the Armour of the unit they're attacking. This is especially usefully against upgraded late game heavy infantry, but only if you have a strong enough defensive line to protect these suckers (namely other heavy inf) while they throw. And if you have that, you should be building those and not javelin throwers in my opinion.
I can't remember exactly how the charging mechanic is calculated in RTW, and since there are no stirrups I know there's no "lock lances" bonus. However, charging is what you should be using your cavalry for, so thats almost as important as the base attack. I think Praetorian Cav is the best here too, but just something to look out for.
Alright, well that solves that. Many of the "armies" I cobbled together from the "left behinds" of my Spain/Briton wars, weren't just pissweak, they were bad units. I realized about 3 turns ago that 90% of my active military was either really old cavalry, light auxilia and regular auxilia. The rest are really old cohorts and archer auxilia. I've been making a lot of mercenary supplements, nearly all my active generals have a Mercenary Captain in their retinue.
Big surprise I'm getting chewed up, huh? Before I turned on Rome, I only ever needed one full army of high tech soldiers, but now I'm up against armies composed entirely of Urban Cohorts. Its not pretty.
I've decided to reload from my immediate pre-Rome attack save. Gonna marshal all of my forces, take what I can from Egypt (but Scipii will probably beat me to the punch, since I have to sail from Italy and they're already there), exchange my light/regular auxilia/old units from masses of Urban Cohorts/Praetorian Cavalry, Archer Auxilia and the occasional set of 2 Heavy Onagers and 2 Ballista.
Would it be best to make entire forces out of one unit type? Or should I make it one full row of Cohorts, 2 onagers, 2 ballista, 4 archers and the rest Cav? I'm thinking the later will offer diversity, but since the Brutii and Scipii almost universally only use Urban Cohorts, I'd be best of if I can straight up match them + stuff arrows into them.
Edit: Also, gonna I Spy all up in their settlements. All up in them.
Edit 2: Oh yeah, what happens when the world map runs out of enemies? If its just me, Brutii, Scipii and Rome, will they just sit around until I attack?
Alright, well that solves that. Many of the "armies" I cobbled together from the "left behinds" of my Spain/Briton wars, weren't just pissweak, they were bad units. I realized about 3 turns ago that 90% of my active military was either really old cavalry, light auxilia and regular auxilia. The rest are really old cohorts and archer auxilia. I've been making a lot of mercenary supplements, nearly all my active generals have a Mercenary Captain in their retinue.
Big surprise I'm getting chewed up, huh? Before I turned on Rome, I only ever needed one full army of high tech soldiers, but now I'm up against armies composed entirely of Urban Cohorts. Its not pretty.
I've decided to reload from my immediate pre-Rome attack save. Gonna marshal all of my forces, take what I can from Egypt (but Scipii will probably beat me to the punch, since I have to sail from Italy and they're already there), exchange my light/regular auxilia/old units from masses of Urban Cohorts/Praetorian Cavalry, Archer Auxilia and the occasional set of 2 Heavy Onagers and 2 Ballista.
Would it be best to make entire forces out of one unit type? Or should I make it one full row of Cohorts, 2 onagers, 2 ballista, 4 archers and the rest Cav? I'm thinking the later will offer diversity, but since the Brutii and Scipii almost universally only use Urban Cohorts, I'd be best of if I can straight up match them + stuff arrows into them.
Edit: Also, gonna I Spy all up in their settlements. All up in them.
Edit 2: Oh yeah, what happens when the world map runs out of enemies? If its just me, Brutii, Scipii and Rome, will they just sit around until I attack?
They might brood a bit, building up forces, but they could just as easily see a weak point and attack, the AI in most total war games is notoriously bad for starting wars they can't finish if they see even the smallest of opportunities.
My general rule of thumb for unit makeup in a stack is (roughly):
~ALWAYS BRING A GENERAL. The moral boost of even a shitty general is so worth it, and really you should have loads of these guys especially by now. It seems you've solved revolt issues, so get the best guys you can on the field.
~7-10 infantry, most of it the heaviest you can afford to field, but at least two units with anti cavalry abilities to guard your flanks
~3-4 Archers, DON'T replace all your archers with Onagers, remember that archers have mobility and given a good spot on a hill, even simple ones can wreck people before they get to your lines, flaming arrows are useful at breaking moral, and if you have a cavalry charge hit in between vollies, it can be devastating. Archer Auxillia are good but things weaker than that - hard to tell how worth it they are, especially in the late game
~2-4 Cavalry, you should always have at least 2, to protect yourself from enemy cavalry, and one you get good at charging and retreating, you can win pretty much any battle on the skill of your cavalry micro. I say 2-4, but thats more "if you don't know how to use it," you can use more, and it can often change the battle a lot.
~0-3 siege units, siege units are super conditional: are you about to take a city? you need onagers. You about to fight a huge infantry army in a valley? you need repeating balistae. Everything here has super specific uses, and out of their element kinda suck. The slow you down on the map, and limit your mobility on the battlefield because you feel you have to protect them. As I said before, it's almost better to just bring spies, and the thing is, at the end of the day you never really need them because you can always build battering rams/towers in a direct city assault. Onagers are really the only one worth bringing because their flaming ammunition can be so devastating, but go for regular onagers over heavy ones, they fire faster, and although they do slightly less damage per shot, it's really about the demoralization each shot can incur than actual kills you'll get with the thing.
Now, here you have a little bit of freedom, if you followed the higher end of this, you'll have 22 units, and so you'll have to cut something, but if you are using spies, you should know what enemy stacks are full of and should cut based on that/how likely your spies are to open the gates.
Stacks full of only one unit suck. Unless you just need more infantry on that attack on Rome, and you use a stack of them to reinforce a more varied army, single unit stacks are always weak to something, and you simply can't defend against somethings. I know it seems appealing to just have a huge stack of good infantry, but as soon as the cavalry arrives, you're boned, and there isn't a whole lot you can do. The varied stack lets you defend against all possible unit combinations, but also to try more than more attacking method. The most effect armies are all about demoralizing the enemy in as many ways as possible. Flaming arrows, onagers, pigs and a flanking cavalry charge in rapid succession can route just about anything. this cumulative effect can take out whole units of late game infantry before they even come in contact with your lines.
Another spy thing: spies in friendly cities will kick out enemy spies and make it more difficult for them to enter the city again. If you notice a lot of unrest in a city that shouldn't have unrest, get a spy in there.
The Goths and Sarmatians are both down to what they are because I crashed a couple of their armies. They left afterwards, but it seems they're coming back for more. The Roxolani in the background are also guaranteed to come after me because, you know, this fucking game. All in all I'm very happy at where I am right now, because the hordes aren't really intimidating when it's just one stack rather than six! All I currently have to fear is the Roxolani coming in and the constant huge stacks eastern Rome throws at me.
Also note how the Sassanids are actually on my doorstep because they took over all of Russia. Those wacky Sassanids. They must feel cold out here.
You guys have been awesome with the advice. I might not have won that last attempt because of poor planning, but this time, I'm takin' home the gold. The gold being the adornments those fools in Rome wear!
By the way, whats a stack (I'm under the impression it means "full army")? How do you know how many stacks an enemy has by simply looking at them, without a spy?
Yeah, stack is the term for a full or big army. I'm not sure what you mean with the second question, but you can get an idea of how powerful an enemy is by using the faction ranking screen. If you want to see their actual armies you'll need something to give you line of sight.
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FandyienBut Otto, what about us? Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
I'm on turn 77 as Scotland
I'm way behind technologically because I built two massive armies and sailed them to north africa and conquered Marrakesh + Algiers. Scotland in freakin' Africa, it's fabulous
It's hard to be stretched that thin, though. I'm still using swarms of highland nobles/highlanders to win everything, I really need to tech up a lot if I want to take Jerusalem and eliminate spain, which is a bitch in this game and has the largest empire ever
you took two of the richest areas in the damn game and you haven't teched up?
wtf? THAR BE GOLD IN THEM HILLS. or slaves/ivory/amber or some shit
also, in regards to siege equipment, what i've started doing is actually having a second army with siege equipment that i can disperse to other areas ahead of or behind my other armies, usually accompanied by several units of infantry and cavalry.
so if you got the money, get your cannons/catapults/onagers/ballista in an army and give them their guards and send them off to war. the worst thing in the world(to me), when i get siege equipment and send them to the front and i get fucking ambushed or taken out by another army because all i had was siege equipment.
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you took two of the richest areas in the damn game and you haven't teched up?
wtf? THAR BE GOLD IN THEM HILLS. or slaves/ivory/amber or some shit
also, in regards to siege equipment, what i've started doing is actually having a second army with siege equipment that i can disperse to other areas ahead of or behind my other armies, usually accompanied by several units of infantry and cavalry.
so if you got the money, get your cannons/catapults/onagers/ballista in an army and give them their guards and send them off to war. the worst thing in the world(to me), when i get siege equipment and send them to the front and i get fucking ambushed or taken out by another army because all i had was siege equipment.
this seems pretty logical, maybe use it as the garrison force as well, every time you need a garrison troop, just take it out of the siege force's stack?
When you go to Egypt as scotland, do you lose your home possessions, or just try and hold out against the English while you get a viable economic base going else where?
Yeah, stack is the term for a full or big army. I'm not sure what you mean with the second question, but you can get an idea of how powerful an enemy is by using the faction ranking screen. If you want to see their actual armies you'll need something to give you line of sight.
I just meant that when people talk about TW, they always talk about how the CPU has two full stacks and blahblah. I guess they spied 'em out.
So, I just won my campaign. It was pretty epic. Scipii started losing everything to rebels. I took what little Egypt had across from Greece, then their last two places got flipped by rebels (Sinope and Tararus or something). Carthage (and the small region directly beneath it) and Sparta both got flipped by rebels, from the Scipii. Took those, too. Thought they'd look pretty in red. All of Italy and Sicily turned rebel (except Italy's boot, it remained Brutii), and I took them too. At this point I had over 50 regions and I had fixed up my armies quite nicely, Rome was alone, surrounded by Julii regions and armies. I struck.
Veni, vidi, vici.
I was under the impression that in winning the campaign, I'd unlock all the other factions for play. I only have a handful of factions unlocked, which were destroyed by me or my allies. Is there some way I can unlock the lot of 'em, without personally punching them all out? Are all the other Total Wars like this? Do I need to personally punch out the entire world over and over?
I really wanted to replay as the Greeks. :-\
Edit: Alright, the Greeks did unlock, nice. Still seems like half the factions didn't unlock. Looking at this, and following it to the appropriate file, it looks like half the factions aren't even unlockable. Macedon, Pontus, Armenia, Dacia, Numidia, Scythia, Spain and Thrace are all listed under "end nonplayable", along with "romans_senate" and "slave" (Senate and Rebels?). Anybody got some insight into this?
Edit 2: Also, there seems to be some campaign listed along with the Imperial Campaign. Something called "Sons of Mars", except I see no way to select it in the game.
Edit 3: Alright, so they're meant to be unplayable. I'm just gonna have to jurry rig it, like the article says. Thats a real shame, I can't think of a single reason not to have them playable from the get go. They all have completely functional (except the Senate and Rebels) civilization/units/buildings/whatever and their own victory conditions. All they need are separate intro movies, a historical description and they're set.
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FandyienBut Otto, what about us? Registered Userregular
you took two of the richest areas in the damn game and you haven't teched up?
wtf? THAR BE GOLD IN THEM HILLS. or slaves/ivory/amber or some shit
also, in regards to siege equipment, what i've started doing is actually having a second army with siege equipment that i can disperse to other areas ahead of or behind my other armies, usually accompanied by several units of infantry and cavalry.
so if you got the money, get your cannons/catapults/onagers/ballista in an army and give them their guards and send them off to war. the worst thing in the world(to me), when i get siege equipment and send them to the front and i get fucking ambushed or taken out by another army because all i had was siege equipment.
this seems pretty logical, maybe use it as the garrison force as well, every time you need a garrison troop, just take it out of the siege force's stack?
When you go to Egypt as scotland, do you lose your home possessions, or just try and hold out against the English while you get a viable economic base going else where?
I can't imagine having much success overseas as scotland without an economic base in England, I pushed them off the isles and made peace leaving them with Caen before I sent my mans to Africa
Mostly so I could afford to send Highland Nobles and keep my grubby paws on London's tin and Dublin's silver
I've got a merchant headed towards the nice african resources right now, so I should be able to start teching up. I'll be a little behind but that's nothing hella swarms of highland rabble can't solve
Alright, so they're meant to be unplayable. I'm just gonna have to jurry rig it, like the article says. Thats a real shame, I can't think of a single reason not to have them playable from the get go. They all have completely functional (except the Senate and Rebels) civilization/units/buildings/whatever and their own victory conditions. All they need are separate intro movies, a historical description and they're set.
It's like that in almost every Total War game. Going into the file and switching every faction but the senate and rebels to playable is the easiest way to go. Good luck with your Greek campaign! Go for Macedon first.
I'm reinstalling this in a bit, with my new rig (finally free from the clutches of laptop gaming!) I should be able to up the unit size without fucking my performance, so that'll be fun.
Don't know who I'll play though, maybe Denmark? I love me some axemen.
EDIT: Or maybe Scotland? Those guys are pretty fun too.
I don't think I've ever tried France or the HRE though...
Alright, so they're meant to be unplayable. I'm just gonna have to jurry rig it, like the article says. Thats a real shame, I can't think of a single reason not to have them playable from the get go. They all have completely functional (except the Senate and Rebels) civilization/units/buildings/whatever and their own victory conditions. All they need are separate intro movies, a historical description and they're set.
It's like that in almost every Total War game. Going into the file and switching every faction but the senate and rebels to playable is the easiest way to go. Good luck with your Greek campaign! Go for Macedon first.
Its a strange decision. I mean, its not like these factions aren't complete. All thats missing is intros and descriptions. Pontus even has its own video intro, Macedon and Pontus both have historical descriptions and all the factions have basic descriptions when you hover over them. >_>
Anyways, my Greek campaign is going well, started rough. Just surrounded by enemies, all of my regions completely disconnected, the shittiest infantry imaginable (a solid testudo will push through a spear-wall), no real cavalry options, just relying on Cretan Archers and praying I get Spartan Hoplites soon.
I thought I'd try and take Spain for laughs, so I started sailing half of my army that way, when I got sidetracked by Messanna, then after I took it, it went rebel and now Carthage hates me (it rebelled back into their hands, but I took it from Scipii). Egypt is an ally now, Macedon was at first a nice guy, so I sent my armies East and West, then Macedon hit. Jerks got what was coming, though, I rerouted my forces from the islands around Greece/Turkey and have started pushing up Greece. I am going to break them.
As it stands now, I control lower Greece (including Crete), Sicily, and the Western shore of Turkey. This game is the best geography teacher ever.
If I don't jump over to Barbarian Invasion, since I've "beaten" R: TW now.
If you want a challenge, play Barbarian Invasion as the Western Empire. If you want to try I can give you tips that you will definitely need. If you want to start off easy, play as the Eastern Empire if you want Romans, Sassanids if you want the only eastern faction, or a horde of your choice if you want barbarians. Otherwise, I recommend downloading a mod! R:TW has a couple of really good ones, my favourite being Europa Barbarorum. Those mods improve the game immensely, and add to the challenge if you want it.
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Alright, thats good. I can work with that. If I lose up to five settlements, though, I'm going to have to go pre-Rome invasion. If I can't hold 40 regions, I can't have 50 regions.
Fighting in Greece, using hoplite mercenaries made me kind of sad. Terrain/battle maps aren't really varied. Pretty much just open plains, hilly plains, small/big forests and sometimes you get a big rock in the middle of the map. I wanna send my hoplites to defend a mountain pass. From what I've seen of Empire/Napoleon (through the demos) actually had much better laid out and varied looking battle maps, but not quite "mountain pass" grade stuff. I hope Shogun 2 has some more varied battle fields.
Shogun 2 is looking so great. I can't wait to give that a go, I missed the original.
Edit: I hope they one day do a Total War: World War and let me throw samurai at Aztecs. Has there been any mods that allow for such a thing, for any of the TW games?
reminds me, anyone play that middle earth one?
I don't really know what the terms even mean. I figure its like "we won't eat your women and rape your cattle, if you become our friends", but how can I get the AI to fall for it?
The Brutii offered me protectorate status at one point, but I didn't want to be a subordinate. What happens if I agree to become a protectorate or vassal?
If you're being offered protectorate status, it probably means you are losing the game.
Badly.
Imperial Guard for all!
No one loved me
Surprisingly, not quite there yet. The Brutii are just dicks and think they're special because they have Eastern Europe and Greece. I have 40-odd regions, Rome, most of Italy, all of Western Europe and have almost achieved my goal for the campaign.
They actually offered a turn or two after I attacked and captured Rome. It was just a thing they did. Although I am in a bind, since I'm fighting a war in the heart of Italy against Scipii and on my European borders with Brutii. I think I might just manage, though.
I wonder, if I had accepted it, would they have gone to war against the Scipii. That would have been awesome, to just use them as basically a mercenary army and then break off when I saw an opportunity.
Oh, I didn't. I mean, I'm sure by attacking the guy, it'd break any deal we had, but I wasn't having it. The funny thing is, my holdings are so removed from threat, that they're all well happy and good to provide. Brutii is having his holdings turn rebel, same with Scipii. At surprising speeds. It'd hilarious if I ended up fighting one huge Rebel faction controlling the entire lower half of the map + Eastern Europe.
I think I'm actually going to win this thing. Brutii took two border settlements, but then I immediately took one back, and now I'm gonna approach the other. Lower Italy has only two or three settlements for me to take, and Sicily has only one (and it went rebel, even!). All of which will bring me up to around 47 regions, and I only need 50.
good luck! if you're at 47 unless your armies are about to totally collapse, it should be fine, could take longer then expected but shouldn't be hard.
I remember a Lets Play for the expansion to Napoleon total War, and I remember the LP being great, but how was the game? I love Napoleon, it was everything Empire should have been. The best part about that game that people didn't know is if you press the home button while you have a squad selected, is zooms into a random dude in that squad's first person view, and when he fires, follows his bullet. So much fun when you get to watch the artillery.
Empires terrain is even less varied. Its pretty much all heres a field. maybe some trees and a hill. oh and fences which take forever for your men to clmb over.
honestly? i try to keep one castle/fortress for every 3 - 4 cities in the area
that way i can get an army out in that area quick enough to respond to a threat. it's a decent system
The Pope in M2:TW, is he a silly goose or what?
Ended up ragequitting my first attempt at playing as Venice, because both Milan and HRE started being bullies and demanding my lunch money while I was semi-busy fighting the Byzantines early on, then trying to attack Venice itself, and I got shouted at by the Pope any time I started fighting back, even to the extent of pushing them away from blockading a port or whatever.
Fuck you, Pope, how about you shout at those guys, they're starting it?
What happens if I just flat out attack Rome and burn it to the ground?
Are all other catholic nations going to declare war on me?
Also, whats the point of spear throwers and light auxilia? I thought maybe the light could use their spears against horses, but that doesn't really work, and I can't figure out why I'd ever use spear throwers when I can use archers with burning arrows, more range, and more accuracy.
There are so many types of cohorts and cavalry, and they all seem to be the same. From what I can tell, Urban Cohorts and Praetorian Cavalry are the best of both, right?
Also, spies and asassins. Asides from just spying and assassinating, do they do anything? Can I put spies in settlements and sabotage stuff?
Well, thats a shame. I'm pretty awful at the couple demo battles, though. So I should probably be thankful for that, because bridges and varied terrain murders me.
I'm seeing that it would have been smart to leave something along my borders. When I declared war, I had just finished up in Spain/Briton, which meant all my forces were on the other side of the map. I'm a God damned modern day Napoleon.
For some reason I thought it'd be better to keep men around to fight rebels, rather than the Brutii.
I'm up to 45, and currently being sieged at probably three locations. I just gotta get my armies out to the Brutii borders and this game is mine. Sicily is mine now, and Italy has two more Brutii holdings only.
I always just go for regular ballistae. I don't have too much experience with them, but they aren't useful against buildings. That's what you have onagers for.
In the base game, the light skirmishers are good for killing elephants really, really fast and for softening up the enemy line before closing into melee. Unfortunately with the short range and the AI's tendecy to run after them first chance they get, they're not very useful in vanilla R:TW. Using archers is probably for the best.
Urban Cohorts and Praetorian cavalry are statistically the best units you can build as Rome. But there's a big difference between a freshly built Urban Cohort and a standard cohort you fought all your wars with. Experience matters too, it increases stats but more importantly, also increases unit morale. The Roman civil war is tricky, but you have to remember that it's you who kicks it off. Prepare for it. Bring your most experienced armies.
Spies in cities cause unrest there and can get a revolt going if the city is very understaffed. Assassins can sabotage buildings. That's pretty much it as far as their use goes.
Assassins pretty much kill people, and damage buildings and thats it, unless you have a target (like a generals who'd been humping you bad, or you want to take out a cities specific unit building abilities) assassins have limited use. It's often easier to hunt a dude down on the battlefield than it is to try and nab him with assassins.
Those Javelin throwers are good against heavy infantry in theory, but as Weit mentioned, the AI likes to hunt them down. Most of those thrown missile units usually have the Armour piercing trait, which ignores the Armour of the unit they're attacking. This is especially usefully against upgraded late game heavy infantry, but only if you have a strong enough defensive line to protect these suckers (namely other heavy inf) while they throw. And if you have that, you should be building those and not javelin throwers in my opinion.
I can't remember exactly how the charging mechanic is calculated in RTW, and since there are no stirrups I know there's no "lock lances" bonus. However, charging is what you should be using your cavalry for, so thats almost as important as the base attack. I think Praetorian Cav is the best here too, but just something to look out for.
Big surprise I'm getting chewed up, huh? Before I turned on Rome, I only ever needed one full army of high tech soldiers, but now I'm up against armies composed entirely of Urban Cohorts. Its not pretty.
I've decided to reload from my immediate pre-Rome attack save. Gonna marshal all of my forces, take what I can from Egypt (but Scipii will probably beat me to the punch, since I have to sail from Italy and they're already there), exchange my light/regular auxilia/old units from masses of Urban Cohorts/Praetorian Cavalry, Archer Auxilia and the occasional set of 2 Heavy Onagers and 2 Ballista.
Would it be best to make entire forces out of one unit type? Or should I make it one full row of Cohorts, 2 onagers, 2 ballista, 4 archers and the rest Cav? I'm thinking the later will offer diversity, but since the Brutii and Scipii almost universally only use Urban Cohorts, I'd be best of if I can straight up match them + stuff arrows into them.
Edit: Also, gonna I Spy all up in their settlements. All up in them.
Edit 2: Oh yeah, what happens when the world map runs out of enemies? If its just me, Brutii, Scipii and Rome, will they just sit around until I attack?
They might brood a bit, building up forces, but they could just as easily see a weak point and attack, the AI in most total war games is notoriously bad for starting wars they can't finish if they see even the smallest of opportunities.
My general rule of thumb for unit makeup in a stack is (roughly):
~ALWAYS BRING A GENERAL. The moral boost of even a shitty general is so worth it, and really you should have loads of these guys especially by now. It seems you've solved revolt issues, so get the best guys you can on the field.
~7-10 infantry, most of it the heaviest you can afford to field, but at least two units with anti cavalry abilities to guard your flanks
~3-4 Archers, DON'T replace all your archers with Onagers, remember that archers have mobility and given a good spot on a hill, even simple ones can wreck people before they get to your lines, flaming arrows are useful at breaking moral, and if you have a cavalry charge hit in between vollies, it can be devastating. Archer Auxillia are good but things weaker than that - hard to tell how worth it they are, especially in the late game
~2-4 Cavalry, you should always have at least 2, to protect yourself from enemy cavalry, and one you get good at charging and retreating, you can win pretty much any battle on the skill of your cavalry micro. I say 2-4, but thats more "if you don't know how to use it," you can use more, and it can often change the battle a lot.
~0-3 siege units, siege units are super conditional: are you about to take a city? you need onagers. You about to fight a huge infantry army in a valley? you need repeating balistae. Everything here has super specific uses, and out of their element kinda suck. The slow you down on the map, and limit your mobility on the battlefield because you feel you have to protect them. As I said before, it's almost better to just bring spies, and the thing is, at the end of the day you never really need them because you can always build battering rams/towers in a direct city assault. Onagers are really the only one worth bringing because their flaming ammunition can be so devastating, but go for regular onagers over heavy ones, they fire faster, and although they do slightly less damage per shot, it's really about the demoralization each shot can incur than actual kills you'll get with the thing.
Now, here you have a little bit of freedom, if you followed the higher end of this, you'll have 22 units, and so you'll have to cut something, but if you are using spies, you should know what enemy stacks are full of and should cut based on that/how likely your spies are to open the gates.
Stacks full of only one unit suck. Unless you just need more infantry on that attack on Rome, and you use a stack of them to reinforce a more varied army, single unit stacks are always weak to something, and you simply can't defend against somethings. I know it seems appealing to just have a huge stack of good infantry, but as soon as the cavalry arrives, you're boned, and there isn't a whole lot you can do. The varied stack lets you defend against all possible unit combinations, but also to try more than more attacking method. The most effect armies are all about demoralizing the enemy in as many ways as possible. Flaming arrows, onagers, pigs and a flanking cavalry charge in rapid succession can route just about anything. this cumulative effect can take out whole units of late game infantry before they even come in contact with your lines.
Edit: The just move the papacy and elect a new pope if the old one died
Then the chances that the pope calls a crusade on your rises exponentially.
The Goths and Sarmatians are both down to what they are because I crashed a couple of their armies. They left afterwards, but it seems they're coming back for more. The Roxolani in the background are also guaranteed to come after me because, you know, this fucking game. All in all I'm very happy at where I am right now, because the hordes aren't really intimidating when it's just one stack rather than six! All I currently have to fear is the Roxolani coming in and the constant huge stacks eastern Rome throws at me.
Also note how the Sassanids are actually on my doorstep because they took over all of Russia. Those wacky Sassanids. They must feel cold out here.
By the way, whats a stack (I'm under the impression it means "full army")? How do you know how many stacks an enemy has by simply looking at them, without a spy?
I'm way behind technologically because I built two massive armies and sailed them to north africa and conquered Marrakesh + Algiers. Scotland in freakin' Africa, it's fabulous
It's hard to be stretched that thin, though. I'm still using swarms of highland nobles/highlanders to win everything, I really need to tech up a lot if I want to take Jerusalem and eliminate spain, which is a bitch in this game and has the largest empire ever
They are having trouble with mongols
wtf? THAR BE GOLD IN THEM HILLS. or slaves/ivory/amber or some shit
also, in regards to siege equipment, what i've started doing is actually having a second army with siege equipment that i can disperse to other areas ahead of or behind my other armies, usually accompanied by several units of infantry and cavalry.
so if you got the money, get your cannons/catapults/onagers/ballista in an army and give them their guards and send them off to war. the worst thing in the world(to me), when i get siege equipment and send them to the front and i get fucking ambushed or taken out by another army because all i had was siege equipment.
this seems pretty logical, maybe use it as the garrison force as well, every time you need a garrison troop, just take it out of the siege force's stack?
When you go to Egypt as scotland, do you lose your home possessions, or just try and hold out against the English while you get a viable economic base going else where?
I have 2 huge armies and the best economy in middle earth.
Run dale men, run!
I just meant that when people talk about TW, they always talk about how the CPU has two full stacks and blahblah. I guess they spied 'em out.
So, I just won my campaign. It was pretty epic. Scipii started losing everything to rebels. I took what little Egypt had across from Greece, then their last two places got flipped by rebels (Sinope and Tararus or something). Carthage (and the small region directly beneath it) and Sparta both got flipped by rebels, from the Scipii. Took those, too. Thought they'd look pretty in red. All of Italy and Sicily turned rebel (except Italy's boot, it remained Brutii), and I took them too. At this point I had over 50 regions and I had fixed up my armies quite nicely, Rome was alone, surrounded by Julii regions and armies. I struck.
Veni, vidi, vici.
I was under the impression that in winning the campaign, I'd unlock all the other factions for play. I only have a handful of factions unlocked, which were destroyed by me or my allies. Is there some way I can unlock the lot of 'em, without personally punching them all out? Are all the other Total Wars like this? Do I need to personally punch out the entire world over and over?
I really wanted to replay as the Greeks. :-\
Edit: Alright, the Greeks did unlock, nice. Still seems like half the factions didn't unlock. Looking at this, and following it to the appropriate file, it looks like half the factions aren't even unlockable. Macedon, Pontus, Armenia, Dacia, Numidia, Scythia, Spain and Thrace are all listed under "end nonplayable", along with "romans_senate" and "slave" (Senate and Rebels?). Anybody got some insight into this?
Edit 2: Also, there seems to be some campaign listed along with the Imperial Campaign. Something called "Sons of Mars", except I see no way to select it in the game.
Edit 3: Alright, so they're meant to be unplayable. I'm just gonna have to jurry rig it, like the article says. Thats a real shame, I can't think of a single reason not to have them playable from the get go. They all have completely functional (except the Senate and Rebels) civilization/units/buildings/whatever and their own victory conditions. All they need are separate intro movies, a historical description and they're set.
I can't imagine having much success overseas as scotland without an economic base in England, I pushed them off the isles and made peace leaving them with Caen before I sent my mans to Africa
Mostly so I could afford to send Highland Nobles and keep my grubby paws on London's tin and Dublin's silver
I've got a merchant headed towards the nice african resources right now, so I should be able to start teching up. I'll be a little behind but that's nothing hella swarms of highland rabble can't solve
It's like that in almost every Total War game. Going into the file and switching every faction but the senate and rebels to playable is the easiest way to go. Good luck with your Greek campaign! Go for Macedon first.
Don't know who I'll play though, maybe Denmark? I love me some axemen.
EDIT: Or maybe Scotland? Those guys are pretty fun too.
I don't think I've ever tried France or the HRE though...
Its a strange decision. I mean, its not like these factions aren't complete. All thats missing is intros and descriptions. Pontus even has its own video intro, Macedon and Pontus both have historical descriptions and all the factions have basic descriptions when you hover over them. >_>
Anyways, my Greek campaign is going well, started rough. Just surrounded by enemies, all of my regions completely disconnected, the shittiest infantry imaginable (a solid testudo will push through a spear-wall), no real cavalry options, just relying on Cretan Archers and praying I get Spartan Hoplites soon.
I thought I'd try and take Spain for laughs, so I started sailing half of my army that way, when I got sidetracked by Messanna, then after I took it, it went rebel and now Carthage hates me (it rebelled back into their hands, but I took it from Scipii). Egypt is an ally now, Macedon was at first a nice guy, so I sent my armies East and West, then Macedon hit. Jerks got what was coming, though, I rerouted my forces from the islands around Greece/Turkey and have started pushing up Greece. I am going to break them.
As it stands now, I control lower Greece (including Crete), Sicily, and the Western shore of Turkey. This game is the best geography teacher ever.
If I don't jump over to Barbarian Invasion, since I've "beaten" R: TW now.