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Rome Total war.

Virian

Sage of Reason and Incomplete information
Author
This is a thread in which we can discuss the epicness of Rome Total War.(Includes Barbarian Invasion and Alexander.)

Things you should discuss here:
-Gameplay
-Mods
-Strategies
-Annoying bugs
-Your own campaigns
-Tips

Things I hope to not see here:
-Historical inaccuracies
-Other Total War games(this includes Rome 2)

My favorite factions are Macedon, Thrace and Seleucia for example.

I love Macedon for it's relatively challenging start in which you need to conquer the greeks which start with FUCKING SPARTANS and then deal with annoying rebels which have 2 of the things while preparing for the Romans to start wrecking your shit when you're trying to conquer Thracia.

Thracia for it's difficulty honestly, you start near people which have both better barbarian units and better phalanxes. It's challenging but still familiar to my greek mostly playstyle and provides some very nice hours of gameplay and wtf battles. No they did not get rid of the crapvalry the greeks are infamous for in this game.

Seleucia is for when I like feeling masochistic and deal with a lot of eastern or eastern-greek enemies. It has in my opinion the most versatile selection of units(if not the most powerful individual units) as it allows you to get cataphracts, elephants, phalanxes and even missile cavalry. It can provide for hours of knife's edge gameplay as you try to fend off 4 other nations at once. If you manage to get rid of all those nations however only a really buffed up up Rome can stand in your way.


I'll post my experience and a little guide to some factions later if I see people interested.
 
The first one? My issue was the AI was kinda bad, like armies standing still as you pelt them with arrows.
 
Hmm, it almost never happened to me. The only case I can remember it happening was in one of my Brutti campaigns against the greek I think.
 
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The Seleucid Empire:

Early start: You start with 6 regions(unless mods are involved). With their own garrisons. For ease of reference I'll refer to them by the name of their cities and not their official region name. Your first 3-5 turns should be you making buildings that increase trade and your temples. and increase your taxes. DO NOT DELETE ANY UNITS!! They're important for your survival.

Sardis Is by far your most important for your early expansion. From there your first goal is to take Halicarnassus. This should be done in the first few 3-5 turns as you recruit as many militia hoplites and mercenaries as you can. After conquering it, you rebuild your army and when you have what you feel as a comfortable amount of troops (half a full stack at least) Immediately take Rhodos and Pergamum from the greeks.

After the 5 turns of initial money making have passed start reinforcing Seleucia as the Parthians will attack you in 10 turns max. and see if you can take Palmyra before turn 15. Around this time Egypt will start attacking so you need to recruit as many things as you can and attack them first and take Sidon. You can let Salamis be the last if you want to as I always do so. You need push and take the Rebel town of Dumatha and Bostra before they're taken by the Partians and Egypt respectively.

By turn 30 the greeks will have called for a ceasefire as their war with the romans is in full swing but Pontus and Armenia will have joined in the pile of things that try to kill you. Pontus will attack Tarsus while Armenia will attack Hatra. Just putting militia hoplites in them will work to keep them in check. DO NOT RECRUIT Levy Hoplites as they suck against the missile troops of Armenia and Parthia have, while Pontus can be placed on hold while you deal with Egypt.

Overall Campaign Strategy . Be AGGRESSIVE! Seleucids while good at defense really shine on the offence. At least on campaign maps. Phalanxes work best on defense on battle map.

Once each city has their trade buildings and level one ports start making an army . You can start before if you have money to spare but your revenue takes priority.

You priority is to get the Greek cities out of Asia Minor then dealing with Egypt first followed by Parthia then by Armenia. Pontus is not a real threat except for their large stacks of crappy troops they attack with. Putting some militia hoplites and one or two Militia Cavalry should keep them at bay for a while if you're smart in using them.

Egypt is by far your biggest threat as they have rich areas and tons of troops and most importantly Early game chariots which means that if you allow them to advance too much they'll stomp on your pikemen.

Once Jerusalem and Bostra are taken, take an army from Seleucia, recruit some mercenaries and take Susa and hold it. Keep reinforcing Tarsus and Hatra as at this point you'll face a lot of attacks by Armenia and Pontus. Deal with those attacks but do not attack their settlements back unless you somehow lose a city. Overextending is a real issue.

Once you took Jerusalem you have choice to make. Either go for Petra or Memphis. I personally prefer taking Memphis and pushing for Thebes while keeping Petra under siege then taking it once I've stacked enough troops . Once Thebes is gone, make sure Memphis is well defended for when the Egyptians try to take it back then once their attacks have been repelled, take as many troops from Memphis and Thebes as you can without them rioting and lay siege on Alexandria. Once Alexandria is gone, build a ship and take Salamis with some of your troops from Antioch. and then push from Susa from Arsakia at the same time. Once Arsakia is yours go for the closest Armenian cities and slowly push the Pontus back with Troops from Hatra, Sardis and Pergammum.

DO NOT EMPTY Rhodes!!! Your first target when facing Pontus must be Nicomedia as the pass to Tarsus is too well defended to break through easily and Ancyra is very well defended Once you've taken Nicomedia and are pushing for Ancyra, immediately push for Mazaka. Ignore Tribus Sakae as it is too small to actually bother you for a long long time. Once Pontus is dead or while you're mopping up with their last city Numidia will attack. you need to push them back and head to Greece and take their wonder ASAP. It give happiness bonus and at this point you'll have a lot of culture penalty. Taking kydonia first is optional but not recommended as you need to push for mainland greece first which should be in the middle of a Brutti invasion.

IF YOU CAN BUILD SOMETHING IN A CITY THAT IS RELATED TO IT'S MONEY MAKING OR HAPPINESS THEN BUILD IT!!!!

At the greek invasion time you should be able to at least make elephants and Phalanx pikemen. Beware of Spartans if they still have them. The damn things mow down through all militias and Levies you have and Phalanx Pikemen are only good in 3 to 1 odds(make that 5 to 1 to be sure). From here on it's a slog against the Numidians and the Romans and whatever barbarians are left. Except the roman nothing should really bother you until you reach the Britons(if you're aiming for full conquest).


Overall battle strategy. Pikemen form the core of your lines. Levy pikemen are not to be left anywhere near missile troops as they'll get routed almost immediately due to their poor defense. A good pikemen core and a decent number of missiles should do you well.

Militia cavalry are good missile troops and can be used in any stage of the game against light infantry and even enemy cavalry and missile units.. Greek cavalry in general is shitty but Cataphracts and Elephants the Seleucids have access to are good. I've never used cavalry (except missile cavalry) in anything but a support role in any of my campaigns as they're pretty much trumped by any spear users. Hell even your general will die to the crappiest spear users. They do have their uses in dealing with Missile troops and enemy cavalry as well as non spear units however so you should not neglect them.

Elephants are not to be used in the front as bullet sponges but to raise hell as your infantry is keeping the enemy busy. The losses followed by the demoralising effect elephants have should make the enemy infantry start to rout on the open field

When defending cities phalanxes are you best friends as you can use them to create choke points that will make your enemy pay dearly for every inch they take. My personal strategy is to place 3 pikemen units at an entrance when the enemy has taken down a wall and wait for them to die while my units are in phalanx mode.
 
I love the Fourth Age mod. Trying to keep the enemies at bay as Gondor is fucking frustrating though. On the other hand, Leeroy Jenkins-in with Glorfindel rocks.
 
Haven't played it honestly, I only tried EB, DarthMode and RTW-Enhanced.
 
Yep, I would've preferred if it didn't take so much time to turn a region to your form of governing. Other than that it was great.
 
What's Europe barbaroum about and why it is good?

Europa Barbarorum is a mod for Rome , but there is also a mod by the same/similar team that made Europa Barbarorum 2 for Medieval 2.

Basically, it dramatically overhauls and changes the game to be a whole lot better (In my opinion), but essentially it is there for people who want a more 'Historically authentic' gameplay experience. If you want to know more than this, you would have to look it up... suffice to say that It would be really hard to sum up what Europa Barbarorum changes in a brief answer.

Here is their TWC forum.
 
EB is an amazing RTW mod, it pretty much changes everything as it add new factions, units and completely changes the recruiting system, skins and adds depth to all descriptions. Heck even the economic system is changed.
 
Things I hope to not see here:
-Historical inaccuracies
But, isn't that unavoidable considering the liberties RTW took? The entire Egypt faction is out of place, for example.

That said, I can't help but stick to a Total War tradition and employ full Cavalry armies as any faction. Bonus if they're Missile Cavalry.
 
But, isn't that unavoidable considering the liberties RTW took? The entire Egypt faction is out of place, for example.

That said, I can't help but stick to a Total War tradition and employ full Cavalry armies as any faction. Bonus if they're Missile Cavalry.
More like I want this to be a thread about the gameplay and your experiences of it not people moaning about how the game is crap due to historical innacuracies.
 
RTW is the game where you basically have to become the most vile, evil Emperor in the world.

You are on a mission to conquer the known world for your people. All other civilizations will be destroyed under the boots of your legions. Peace isn't possible. Treaties are made to be broken the next turn. Stacks of enemies come at you from every direction and under this assault a hard player is made.

And not even your own people are safe. Sure, they become happier and healthier now that your army has pushed the fighting to the bordertowns and the frontier. They become harder to manage. What's an Emperor to do? Why, let them revolt and then exterminate them.

And do this routinely. My own lands faced the reaper's tax on a routine basis. It keeps corruption down and makes the population remember how good it is to be a Roman. And of course, the state will use all that confiscated wealth to rebuild and expand the city (for the next plundering 25 turns later) and, of course, hire more mercenaries and soldiers to continue the plundering of other claptrap rebel cities.

All in the name of Total War.
 
RTW is the game where you basically have to become the most vile, evil Emperor in the world.

You are on a mission to conquer the known world for your people. All other civilizations will be destroyed under the boots of your legions. Peace isn't possible. Treaties are made to be broken the next turn. Stacks of enemies come at you from every direction and under this assault a hard player is made.

And not even your own people are safe. Sure, they become happier and healthier now that your army has pushed the fighting to the bordertowns and the frontier. They become harder to manage. What's an Emperor to do? Why, let them revolt and then exterminate them.

And do this routinely. My own lands faced the reaper's tax on a routine basis. It keeps corruption down and makes the population remember how good it is to be a Roman. And of course, the state will use all that confiscated wealth to rebuild and expand the city (for the next plundering 25 turns later) and, of course, hire more mercenaries and soldiers to continue the plundering of other claptrap rebel cities.

All in the name of Total War.

I learned the hard way that this was the only viable way to win.

That and chariots.
 
Honestly I'm more of a phalanx guy myself to be honest... The reason for which I love the Seleucids is because the have the best of all worlds from legionaries to elephants and even good cav. Sure they're not as good as specialized factions but the sheer versatility of their roster is enough to make me love them, especially after I conquered Asia minor and am expanding into the greek heartlands and Numidia
 
I like Rome 2's introduction of real provinces. Most of the buildings are pointless unless you're a spreadsheeter. The battles are all pretty good, the AI isn't a total retard like in Shogun 2.

CA really needs to allow AI battle logic modding.
 
My favorite mod was that one version of Mundus Magnus for Barbarian Invasion. It makes retreating from all the provinces outside of the home peninsula to be feasible. Also makes Greece more dense. Which I like a lot.

At least for base BI. Too bad I can't find it anymore.:( Except in a version that changes the game localisation in a bunch of places to Russian.

Now, for overhaul mods? Fourth Age Total War is fantastic. In every way. Aside from a few voiceovers. But it's probably the best mod for Rome 1 that doesn't crank the difficulty up to a ridiculous degree. It also doesn't give the AI cheats to play with like a lot of mods do.
 
Yeah some of those Rome 1 mods were bullshit. I remember one, couldn't tell you the name. But if you start out as the German barbarian faction in the far north you have these badass berserker units and barely any income. You make like fuck all gold per turn and every battle is clutch. Fortunately the local enemies you fight are usually in the same boat as you, and there's like 1-2 really juicy mines in the north that can quadruple your income once you conquer them.

However Macedonians and the Greek City States would just spam stack after stack after stack. Every third turn was me basically trying to fight off a massive stack of Greeks with an underfunded barbarian army.

Even when you became their vassal they'd just attack you next turn.

Diplomacy in Rome 1 was so shitty that it honestly makes me glad Rome 2 did it way better and is why I enjoy Rome 2 better.
 
My favorite mod was that one version of Mundus Magnus for Barbarian Invasion. It makes retreating from all the provinces outside of the home peninsula to be feasible. Also makes Greece more dense. Which I like a lot.

Do you know the name of that mod or let me know when you find it? Mundus Magnus for BI is a dream of mine that I haven't been able to find.
Yeah some of those Rome 1 mods were bullshit. I remember one, couldn't tell you the name. But if you start out as the German barbarian faction in the far north you have these badass berserker units and barely any income. You make like fuck all gold per turn and every battle is clutch. Fortunately the local enemies you fight are usually in the same boat as you, and there's like 1-2 really juicy mines in the north that can quadruple your income once you conquer them.

However Macedonians and the Greek City States would just spam stack after stack after stack. Every third turn was me basically trying to fight off a massive stack of Greeks with an underfunded barbarian army.

Even when you became their vassal they'd just attack you next turn.

Diplomacy in Rome 1 was so shitty that it honestly makes me glad Rome 2 did it way better and is why I enjoy Rome 2 better.

Diplomacy is kinda useless in Rome 1 unmodded and I think it was intended, if not to the degree showed. After all people do not get into the game for political intrigue but for glorious battles and destroying everything.

That's a reason I always played with either helenistic or roman factions. Carthage when I was feeling Masochistic.Barbarians get fuck all money and infrastructure while the eastern empire simply do not have the infantry heavy roster I like.

Another is because I can cheese the phalanx for all it is worth in defensive battles and putting romans against an equal number of the same tier barbarians is very much an insult to the romans as they mop down the floor with them. However the Darth mod for rome 1 did help a lot.


Macedonians are pretty OP I know and the Spartans are honestly terrifying but they do have weaknesses, weaknesses the barbarian faction cannot exploit properly.
 
Do you know the name of that mod or let me know when you find it? Mundus Magnus for BI is a dream of mine that I haven't been able to find.
Do you really want to play with a lot of the game text changed to Russian?

If so, I'll try to find it.

There used to be a strictly English version, but that one got lost a couple years back.

Because Mundus Magnus, as I said, makes abandoning everywhere aside from Italy into a viable strategy in Barbarian Invasion. Also it makes the game more fun, so many provinces.
 
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