The Glorious Battle of the Bridge!

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-02 06:15am

The best part of any battle in Rome is when you wheel cavalry- any cavalry- behind a Phalanx unit while they're engaged with your Hastati. It's like knocking over bowling pins.

One complaint though, it takes way too long to get Triarii- I don't like the whole 'you need a special building to get this part of the legion' thing.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-02 06:17am

Also, am I missing something- you can't play a campaign as anything other than one of the three great Roman families. What if I want to play as Macedon, dammit?

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2004-10-02 12:44pm

Vympel wrote:Also, am I missing something- you can't play a campaign as anything other than one of the three great Roman families. What if I want to play as Macedon, dammit?

You need to win a campaign as a Roman faction first.

Could someone please split the pointless flaming? It's trashing the thread up.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2004-10-02 01:32pm

StarshipTitanic wrote:
Vympel wrote:Also, am I missing something- you can't play a campaign as anything other than one of the three great Roman families. What if I want to play as Macedon, dammit?
You need to win a campaign as a Roman faction first.

Actually, its not even that. You just need to wipe out a playable faction. I've destroyed Gaul and Greece in two seperate, unfinished, campaigns, and I can use them in a new campaign. Macedonia isn't playable, since I've wiped them off the map and they aren't listed on the campaign startup screen. There's a list of what factions are playable somewhere on the net. Also, the forums at totalwar.com have some great AARs.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-03 12:04am

Ah ok. I'm playing as the Brutii and have been fighting the Greek Cities and Macedon- most of what is modern day Greece, Albania and Macedonia is mine, but I haven't completely wiped anyone off the map ... yet.

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2004-10-03 12:31am

There is also a "mod" which lets you play as any faction.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-10-03 06:52am

Vympel wrote:Ah ok. I'm playing as the Brutii and have been fighting the Greek Cities and Macedon- most of what is modern day Greece, Albania and Macedonia is mine, but I haven't completely wiped anyone off the map ... yet.

Fool I wiped the Gauls out!

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2004-10-03 08:26am

I'm currently playing as the Julii as well. I've wiped out the Gauls and Macedonia. My holdings stretch from Athens to central Spain to the British Channel. The Scipii have pushed Carthage out of North Africa, and I have the Brutii pretty much locked into a small area consisting of south western Italy and eastern Greece. I think Spain, Carthage and the remaining Greek holdings in modern day Turkey are next on my hit list (that's about five or six provinces). Then I'm going to clean Germany's clock and prepare for an assault on Rome and the Brutii.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-03 09:10am

MKSheppard wrote:
Fool I wiped the Gauls out!

Wiping out mere barbarians isn't the same as combat with the Sons of Alexander, fool!

And it's 250BC right now. So I think I'm ahead of time ...

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-03 09:16am

And nothing is more awesome than having a General/ Family Member with a life-long career of success, with enormous popularity with his troops, a huge retinue, unbelievable command skills, and a name signifying his greatness ... hence my character, Amulius the Mighty (formerly Amulius Victor, and before that Amulius Brutus). Unfortunately, he's 50 years old now, so I'll have to start grooming a new heir ... I have a 22 year old nephew that I've chosen. Had to disinherit Amulius' younger brother, but he's only a year younger than Amulius. It's not good for the House of Brutii to lose two heirs in the space of a month or year.

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2004-10-03 01:05pm

Vympel wrote:And nothing is more awesome than having a General/ Family Member with a life-long career of success, with enormous popularity with his troops, a huge retinue, unbelievable command skills, and a name signifying his greatness ... hence my character, Amulius the Mighty (formerly Amulius Victor, and before that Amulius Brutus). Unfortunately, he's 50 years old now, so I'll have to start grooming a new heir ... I have a 22 year old nephew that I've chosen. Had to disinherit Amulius' younger brother, but he's only a year younger than Amulius. It's not good for the House of Brutii to lose two heirs in the space of a month or year.

I also developed Amulius the Mighty into a mighty general. Unfortunately, he just died at 63.

I saw something hilarious at the very end of my Seige of Bylazora, the last remaining Macedonian city:

My principes, supported by mercenary peltasts had just finished off the last militia hoplite, killing the last soldier of Macedon. They raised their swords in celebration - FIRE! Spears rain down on them, killing one as the victory screen pops up.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2004-10-03 02:56pm

This is how you deal with a Phalanx:

In this shot, I'm sacking Sardis, which WAS owned by the Greeks, with an army consisting of a barbarian general that I "purchased" (amazingly, the Senate has even given him an office), several archer units, a unit of principes, several Hastiti, and three mercenary phalanx. I had my phalanx units engage the greek phalanx, while two of my archer lines rained down fire on them. Additionally, nearby units with javalins fired into the Greek ranks as well. They got mowed down pretty quickly.

Later, another phalanx was holding the plaza, and I surrounded them with my principes and Thresian mercs. Then I had my general and my other cavalry unit just charge in from the sides and rear. The Greeks were either tossed into the air or outright trampled.

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2004-10-03 05:09pm

Vympel wrote:And nothing is more awesome than having a General/ Family Member with a life-long career of success....

I disagree. The sight, zoomed in, of elephants slamming into a tightly packed phalanx, from behind, cannot be beaten.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2004-10-03 09:11pm

I took Rome a little earlier. I was actually disappointed! Instead of allow my three armies to storm Rome's walls, the Senate's army and a Scipii army engaged my armies in the open field. The battle quickly became a melee as the five armies merge, battle lines disappear, and cavalry charged back and forth. Many generals died in choas, but in the end, I had destroyed Rome's defenses and I strode in unopposed.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-03 09:13pm

Well, I just destroyed Macedon. Next stop, Thrace- taking the Thracian capital was child's play. Amulius is still alive, but not for long ... his heir, Oppius Brutus, is going around with another army taking Rebel cities, getting practice for when he takes control of Amulius' veteran legions. I also need to break that truce I made with the Greek Cities ... I own 2 of the 7 Wonders of the World so far (Temple of Zeus and the Mausoleum).

Does anyone notice that when you have an awesome general and a lot of men/ siege equipment the "automatically resolve" button is really effective in sieges? You take jack shit casualties.

I think I'll stop using battering rams, since they always seem to get set on fire by the gatehouse (in large stone wall settlements, IIRC) before they arrive, even when I have 3 lined up. Ladders are a bit messy, but sap points ... now sap points kick ass. I think from now on I'll just sap the shit out of those enemy walls.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2004-10-03 11:00pm

I will start taking screenshots come the morrow.

However,my first major field battle(as opposed to starving Galic cities into submission)

I positioned some 120 Princepes in front of a line of archers and 2 Ballistae

I opened ire long range with my siege weapons, took out a few dozen before 200 or so gauls charged my line... None survived, and I lose 0 cound them 0 men

Basically, I put my infantry on fire at will mode. Between the archers and heavy pila, the gaul heavy infantry routed, and I just mopped up with my light cavalry.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-10-03 11:41pm

Damn, Shep. TEN TO ONE kills in that one battle. In Shogun and Medieval I was lucky to get five or six to one (except for one time when I had these three units of samurai archers with an honor 6 general perched on top of a hill, watching a dozen units of crappy yari ashigaru with a laughable honor -2 general approaching, and waited for them to start up the hill in tight formation before raining death upon them).

The plug method only worked in the original games if you had good archers at your back. Otherwise, it was too easy for cavalry units to charge across the bridge quickly and smash into your infantry. Of course, if you had Naginata or some kind of heavy spearmen then it didn't really matter, but I've had some fun battles on bridges.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2004-10-04 08:05am

And Im still waiting to see it in the shop

(luckely I finally got Dawn of war. Eases the pain)

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2004-10-04 08:54am

Well I got into a massive infantry vs infantry battle last night. The Brutii were trying to take Greece from me (now that I have taken control of Rome, the bastards feel no need to play nice with me). They had sent two large armies and a smaller force to sack on of the cities. My main forces in the region were engaged with the Brutii heir's massive army that was cutting across northern Greece. I was able to bribe one army to my side, but didn't have the move points to get to the others. So, I had nice 1000+ vs 1500+ infantry battle; no cavalry or archers, so I guess these garrison forces (which explains why Apollona and the city its north-west had no defenses after this battle).

I engaged the main force in an all-out battle, and the lines on bothsides pretty much managed to hold, until I sent my skrimishers charging in for hand-to-hand. The main Brutii force was routing, and gave chase across the map, killing a few hundred in the process. However, at this point, my forces were down to under half strenght and exhausted. I tried to reform my lines to deal with the second force, but with no javalins left and facing fresh troops, I my remaining forces were slaughter likes hogs. The battlefield was covered with infantry from one side to another...

Does anyone notice that when you have an awesome general and a lot of men/ siege equipment the "automatically resolve" button is really effective in sieges? You take jack shit casualties.

Yes, but if the enemy also has a decent general and some decent units, I'll take a couple hundred causalties with auto resolve.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-04 09:06am

So auto resolve is best used in sieges where the outcome isn't in doubt but you can't be bothered with all the mess that comes from fighting an assault on the battle map (i.e. battering rams getting set alight etc).

And where were the Brutii if you had taken control of Greece? The Greek Cities and Macedon are the "natural objective" of the Brutii, like Gaul for the Julii and Carthage for the Scipii.

(I'm playing the long campaign, of course, but the short campaign conditions clue you in as to where each faction should head).

Unfortunately, at 60 years of age, Amulius the Mighty contracted plague while camped at Tylis, former capital of Thrace. He's not dead yet, but of course he soon will be. It's too bad no generals are around to take his large retinue (not to mention army) off his hands, but with the Thracians effectively quelled without their capital, and Amulius' former legions at Tylis well equipped to crush any attempt to attack into Greece from the North by anyone (with strong bases for retraining and rearmament at Tylis and Thessalonica, and backups at Larissa, Athens, Corinth and Sparta) the focus of the Brutii has shifted to Asia Minor, where we're engaged in a war with Pontus after they (irrationally) attacked us. My faction heir is leading that campaign. I married off one of the family daughters to a capable commander, he's also bringing a new Army (equipped with our new Triarii, finally) to assist.

What happens to the retinue if the general dies and no other generals are around to take them off his hands?

Fuck I love this game. They have got to make Medieval II.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2004-10-04 11:05am

The Brutii were limited to southeastern Italy and western coast of Greece. They also had that small island south of Sparta and Athens. The Brutii have been elimated. I decided I needed to grab Greece for myself for its powerful economic engine.

I actually finished the game, by 202 BC. It took only 68 years to gain Rome and 50 provinces (the victor condition). The reason it was so quick (the game gives you to 6 AD) was because I had a large treasury and was able to buy mercs, enemy generals, entire enemy armies and large cities at a whim. My empire consisted of Spain, Gaul, Greece, the western half of modern day Turkey and a good chunk of Germany. The Scipii and Egypts were trying to attack me, but there forces were either bought off or impaled on my city walls. Only their navies game me any trouble.

When a general dies and no one is available to take his retinue, the retinue this disbands. Its a problem earily in the game, but is a none issue once you get a bunch of academies going.

Also, assassins kick ass. Life would had been much harder without them.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-04 11:46am

Arrow Mk84 wrote:The Brutii were limited to southeastern Italy and western coast of Greece. They also had that small island south of Sparta and Athens. The Brutii have been elimated. I decided I needed to grab Greece for myself for its powerful economic engine.

I actually finished the game, by 202 BC. It took only 68 years to gain Rome and 50 provinces (the victor condition). The reason it was so quick (the game gives you to 6 AD) was because I had a large treasury and was able to buy mercs, enemy generals, entire enemy armies and large cities at a whim. My empire consisted of Spain, Gaul, Greece, the western half of modern day Turkey and a good chunk of Germany. The Scipii and Egypts were trying to attack me, but there forces were either bought off or impaled on my city walls. Only their navies game me any trouble.

When a general dies and no one is available to take his retinue, the retinue this disbands. Its a problem earily in the game, but is a none issue once you get a bunch of academies going.

Also, assassins kick ass. Life would had been much harder without them.

I have so much money I don't know what to do with it- so how do you buy off enemy territory? Diplomats?

Oh, and that island south of Athens and Sparta is known as Crete.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2004-10-04 01:32pm

Vympel wrote:
I have so much money I don't know what to do with it- so how do you buy off enemy territory? Diplomats?

Yup. When you buy a city, just make sure you have an army ready to occupy it that turn, otherwise it will revolt, wasting your money. Also, some armies will disband when you bribe them, and some do a mix of joining you and disbanding.

EDIT: Also, sometimes a city doesn't even give you the bribe options. If that happens, it means an important family member or spy is in the city. You can assassinate those people and then buy the city.

Oh, and that island south of Athens and Sparta is known as Crete.

Hehe, I wasn't sure if it was that island or the were Rhodes is located. European geographic is not my strong suit.

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2004-10-04 10:21pm

Rhodes has the best wonder in the entire game. After you take this wonder (Colossus) you rake in money by the ton.

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2004-10-04 10:22pm

And in conclusion, I hate you all for your ability to finance purchases of games like this.