Rome: Total War

[:FI:TacticalS!]

OK first thought we needed our own thread to call home Falcon.

I recently finished a short campaign, and wanted to play some battles before selecting perhaps a non-Roman faction to play the full campaign.

Anyway, tonight in a Custom Battle me and the boys were out for a friendly walk around the block when an army attacked us sudden like. The usual stuff - seige weapons, crazy elephants, calvary, archers, etc.

So Joe next to me lights our two "flocks" of pigs on fire and scares off them there crazy elephants. Our pet dogs chases off their leader guy. And my other mates get in on the act. All in all a nice walk.



Here's the last of their army standing in battle. Boy those flaming arrows really do hurt.

What a game!

[:FI:Heloego]

... you and Falcons' enthusiasm for abnormal games, but I wonder if you two realize that the only enduring legacy of the Roman Empire is a numerical method of keeping track of the Super Bowl?

[:FI:Gurberly]

....and we have some nice straight roads.

[:FI:Heloego]

...you drive on the wrong side!

[:FI:Gurberly]

...you drive on the wrong side!

No we don't.... everyone else does!

[:FI:Heloego]

Do, too!










Wait! Do we really want to go there?

[:FI:Dex]

Those purple Roman uniforms are soooo faaaarr ouuuutt maaan!

(My way of killing the road-side debate.. )

[:FI:TacticalS!]

Hey you guys get out of my thread. Strictly for the elite (a.k.a. them there thinking strategy gamers and Falcon of course) mates.

Man it takes skill to light pigs on fire. Sure IL-2 has a few tricks to learn, but when was the last time you saw a pig on fire in IL-2? (and no one better say Helo because that's just plain nasty talk! )

[Grecian]

Grecian Total War

Better graphics:-

[:FI:TacticalS!]

Yes that was a real fun day for us, eh Falcon?

[:FI:TacticalS!]

So Gurb and Falcon what exactly have you done with R:TW so far?

I finished the Short Campaign using all the game defaults. Now wondering if:

(a) I should wait for the pending patch (already have the multiplayer patch but not played online - too scared );

(b) Finding the Battles easy, well against the Gauls anyway, wondering if I should increase difficulty setting or would other factions prove to be more challenging at the default setting; and

(c) Finally wondering if I should switch to a non-Roman faction to play the full campaign.

Presently just trying out some Customized Battles and may try some of the Historical Battles.

Strength and Honour,
TacituS!

[:FI:Fenian]

Wot did the Romans ever do for us???? Eh???

Well... they built a wall around Scotland to keep the English out

[:FI:TacticalS!]

Turncoat!

Just playing around with Custom/Historical Battles at the moment. With Custom battles I like matching up different units - say archers versus calvary (classic I know) - to practice and understand range, etc. Sort of like learning the individual chess pieces before jumping into formulating strategies/tactics with a whole army.

Was thrilled to try the "turtle" formation with my Praetorian cohort last night. They only lost 2 men while they walked up to a group of Barbarian archers (who are very strong compared to the Roman archers). Love the sound effects.

I do feel while the Romans have a lot of units, there are a number of repetitive ones that the game could do without. But it's all good I guess.

The Gauls are easy so I think my lack of real excitement so far on Medium Difficulty has been because my Roman faction has only fought them. Thinking of staying with them for a full campaign as I suspect some of the other factions will play differently (i.e., harder).

Been hearing mix messages about difficulty levels. Some suggest the game plays more realistically on Medium/Default settings, some argue Hard or Very Hard. What would you suggest Falcon? I want a good (but not impossible) challenge. Medium for the Campaign Map seems good, but battles, at least with the Gauls, is too easy.

[:FI:Gurberly]

I have done the Brutii campaign on medium difficulty, though I did not micro manage all the battles (I let them auto resolve) as I wanted to get an overview of strategic element first and get logistics figured out as I have not played one of these type games before.

I have tried a couple of the set piece battles since, and got slaughtered by Alexander the Great.

I had real problems attacking the pikemen. Archers are probably most effective followed by any other missile throwing troops. Don't even think about sending cavalry against an unbroken formation.

Machine gunners would be effective, but you don't get those for another 2000 years.

G

[:FI:TacticalS!]

Machine gunners would be effective, but you don't get those for another 2000 years.

As you British would say, "Brilliant!"

Great to hear from you Gurb. I was curious to know how you were doing since I knew you also picked up the game around the same time I did.

I'm completely new to Rome: Total War but not RTS/strategy gaming. In the past at least I have found that online victories are achieved not by a balanced force but by an unbalance one comprised by certain units. Reading forums I see folks using armies of all elephants, wardogs or calvary. While that's not my style, the "rock, paper, scissors" theology is often usurped with such tactics.

Calvary is a great unit. True, especially against spearmen of course, you want to avoid a straight charge, however, I do think their true value is against missle/seige units, attacking the opposing General (huge), and also for turning AI units towards them so your other units can attack from behind (then disengage the calvary and repeat this tactic elsewhere on the field). I prefer not to use any pauses so things can get a little exciting with a large army to manage.

As mentioned, just not sure guys what I want to do now. Pacific Fighters is only 3 weeks away (for North America), a possible patch to fix some odds and ends may soon come out for R:TW (but maybe not for a while), and still not really sure about what faction/difficulty setting to try next.

In a previous Roman-based RTS I mostly played the Barbarians (are they the Gauls in this game? a subjective term that could possibly be credited to several factions in this game) and wouldn't mind trying them out. Guess I need to take a look at each faction's army and starting location.

Apparently some faction(s) has half-naked warrior dudes. But then again I fly online with Helo so what's new about that I guess.

I think my problem is that I micro-manage everthing too much. A full campaign right now seems a bit scarey as I imagine it wouldn't be completed for months the way I play.

Falcon mentioned the importance of trade agreements and naval power. While I certainly agree about trade and alliances, I was able to do well on land and not waste my resources trying match the AI's lust for ships.

Have you boys played online yet? Would you guys ever like to play together some time? Too bad there wasn't a COOP mode where we could work together.

Strength and Honour!