Rome: Total War difficulty levels

[Darth Wong]

What are the differences in the AI behaviour when you crank up the difficulty? I've been playing on "Very Hard" for a while and it doesn't really seem that much different from "Medium". Your men just seem to route a bit more easily, and his men route less easily. Other than that, I couldn't really see any big differences.

[Butterbean569]

I don't see much of a difference either...the AI is still pretty retarded. Besides what you've listed, it seems as if the AI is a little better at flanking your forces instead of running head on at them at all times. Still, they're pretty much retards.

[Stravo]

One of the main differences that annoys me is how much harder it is to get profitable and make money as the difficulty level goes up in the early part of the game. I don't like being poor.

[Darth Wong]

One of the main differences that annoys me is how much harder it is to get profitable and make money as the difficulty level goes up in the early part of the game. I don't like being poor.

Yes, that's true. I noticed it's much harder to stay in the black. I was playing as Scipii and something like two turns after the game start I was already in the red. No money, no options. I had to take Syracuse ASAP just so I could get myself back in black with the reward money and then build some economic structures.

It must be nightmarish to play as the House of Julii, who were always an economic hard-luck case even at "Medium" because of the shitty underdeveloped territories that they were tasked with conquering.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

It must be nightmarish to play as the House of Julii, who were always an economic hard-luck case even at "Medium" because of the shitty underdeveloped territories that they were tasked with conquering.

No wonder I'm still stuck grinding through my first Imperial campaign. I think I've got about 40 territories but I've been totally ground to a halt by the Brutii. I ousted the Scipii from Sicily but the Brutii still have southern Italy and Greece and I'm flat-out constantly broke. All the money I get goes to buying more troops to defend against and relieve the sieges I'm taking all around my borders from the remnants of Greece, Egypt, hordes of Britons, and Scythians. This is confounded by the fact that diplomacy seems to have stopped working; I can't get a single one of these to agree to any kind of ceasefire, tribute demand, or whatever (compared to earlier on, when I could. Weird). Is this normal?

[Ubiquitous]

I've just bought this game but not installed it yet [and to be honest, don't know too much about it, although I did have M:TW]. Anyway, is there a patch that I need to install? The Activision website seems to hate Mozilla...

[Darth Wong]

Diplomacy generally works better when you negotiate from a position of strength, which is a bit of a Catch-22 because if you had a position of strength, you wouldn't really need to use diplomacy. But that's how it works in real life too, so you can't complain.

Anyway, that in a nutshell is the problem with the House of Julii; because you capture all of these underdeveloped barbarian settlements while Brutii takes on wealthy territories like Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace, you have a seriously underdeveloped economic base compared to them, which really hurts you in end-game. Just try to hang on and slowly build up all of your hordes of crappy little barbarian territories.

[Captain Cyran]

Diplomacy generally works better when you negotiate from a position of strength, which is a bit of a Catch-22 because if you had a position of strength, you wouldn't really need to use diplomacy. But that's how it works in real life too, so you can't complain.

Anyway, that in a nutshell is the problem with the House of Julii; because you capture all of these underdeveloped barbarian settlements while Brutii takes on wealthy territories like Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace, you have a seriously underdeveloped economic base compared to them, which really hurts you in end-game. Just try to hang on and slowly build up all of your hordes of crappy little barbarian territories.

That's actually the EXACT problem I am facing right now. It is pissing me off a lot.

[Darth Wong]

The trick in that case is to maintain large armies in the territories which the Brutii keep attacking and try your best to maintain a high kill ratio whenever you engage his forces. Build army units in neighbouring territories and keep sending them out every turn to reinforce the front-line territories and limit the population depletion from constant attrition. Sally out immediately whenever he puts one of your cities under siege and try to break the siege on the first turn rather than waiting for him to build siege equipment or starve you out. And if possible, try to build fleets of quinquiremes and engage/wear down his fleets prior to blockading his ports. That will cut down on his income.

[Fire Fly]

In my last Imperial campaign as the Julii on VH/VH with huge settings, starting out is painfully slow and difficult. There were times when I thought I would actually lose the game. I had great difficulty just conquering Mendiolanium and Pativium because I was so low on money, troops, and a population base. It wasn't rare to see nearly full stack Gaullic armies pouring down into your territories. Fortunately, through carefully micromanagement of my battles, I was able to pull off several great victories against 2:1 odds.

That said, playing as the Julii will be very difficult at first. You have to carefully manage each settlement, recruit mercenaries if your cities can't take the drainage, get trade routes open, try to get on everyone's good sides. and just try to pull it through. And after all of that, I was lucky if I was pulling in even 500 denarii a turn. Fortunately, playing as the Julii does give you a very seasoned army. I was already reaching silver chevron units quite early in the game.

And here's a little trick I picked up playing as the Julii in N. Africa. After the Civil War breaks out, I took Cyrene in North Africa. It was continually under seige from several waves of near full stack armies from the Scipii. What I did was, whenver my settlement was under seige, was to sally forth and attack. In the battle map, I just positioned all of my archer units on the walls and my calvary right behind the gate. Since the AI is lacking in a little common sense, many times, it'll charge your walls and sit in range of your tower defenses. You'll want to take out their archers with your own archers. Eventually, the AI will retreat and then that's when you sally forth with your calvry and basically run right through the rear lines. They'll break faster than an 80 year old's hips. I've been able to pull off several heroic victories against 3:1 odds and have even gotten experience for units that did nothing. Eventually, I had a superbly seasoned army of archers, legionary calvry, and praetorians, not to mention a 10 star general who now has been chosen to be my faction heir at the age of only 27.

[Fire Fly]

Also, in regards to JediNeophyte, you might want to try training Peasants/Town Watches to replace any upper end infantry units so you can sent those troops, such as Legionaries, to your front. Also try using spies to cause unrest. Usually, it'll take 3+ spies to get a settlement to revolt, pending on the distance to the capital. What you may also want to do is leave a weaker force within the settlement territory to draw out their garrison and when they do come out, attack them with a stronger force. It'll save you time and men when it comes to sieges.

Also, in regards to diplomacy, if you want a ceasefire, you'll have to give other stuff to butter up the deal. That or you send in a large army to accompany your diplomat. And btw, diplomacy is a lot more intricate than most people realise. If you go back on your words, such as attack an ally, your reputation is sullied and makes negotiating more difficult in the future. If you butter up to your ally by giving them little gifts and helping to defeat rebels on their lands, your chances of getting military access is better. Little things like that; there was a site that I had read about it but unfortunately at the moment, I can't find it, since I'm at the library.

[Vympel]

A little off topic, but the patch should be coming out very soon, according to Creative Assembly. It's in testing right now. Apparently they've been working on it since release, since they only have "one chance".

See Here

Apparently, the units weapons stats were a bit buggered up, it looks as if archers were using the value of their arrows in close combat rather than their knives- or something. A pretty big flaw. Anyone got a better explanation?

[Ubiquitous]

A little off topic, but the patch should be coming out very soon, according to Creative Assembly. It's in testing right now. Apparently they've been working on it since release, since they only have "one chance".

See Here

Apparently, the units weapons stats were a bit buggered up, it looks as if archers were using the value of their arrows in close combat rather than their knives- or something. A pretty big flaw. Anyone got a better explanation?

Thanks.

This game seems to be very good, just like M:TW. I have played the prologue and I am impressed by the new world map. Cavalry seem to cause more realistic visual damage this time which is a bonus.

[Vympel]

There are some who complain and who prefer the M:TW, which I personally didn't care for. While cavalry were still powerful in M:TW, maneuvering them was a chore (they were so slow for horsemen) and they didn't have that cool bowling pin effect that they do in R:TW. I am sooo hoping for Medieval 2 with the Rome engine ... but they might do Shogun 2 first.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Thanks for the help. Thing is, I'm easily the most powerful nation out there, with the possible exception of the Brutii. I just have no real force projection, all the armies I want to spare are tied in counter-attacks and sieges. Most of my inner garrisons are pre-Marius, with all my real troops on the borders. I'll try the spy idea and see if I can at least get Britannia off of Europe proper.

EDIT

I am sooo hoping for Medieval 2 with the Rome engine

Yes please.

[Ace Pace]

Thanks for the help. Thing is, I'm easily the most powerful nation out there, with the possible exception of the Brutii. I just have no real force projection, all the armies I want to spare are tied in counter-attacks and sieges. Most of my inner garrisons are pre-Marius, with all my real troops on the borders. I'll try the spy idea and see if I can at least get Britannia off of Europe proper.

EDIT

I am sooo hoping for Medieval 2 with the Rome engine

Yes please.

Its coming as a mod IIRC.

Anyway, pull back, let them advance, but leave a scorched desert behind, small armies led by captains to harrass them.

That lets you tighten your borders (and if possible, make mountain choke passes), and rearm, build up a group of army, then advance.

[Darth Wong]

One tip for early survival while playing as the House of Julii: TAKE CARTHAGE. It's not that hard; you can cobble together a force of two generals and four hastati while easily retaining enough men to take and hold Segesta in the first few turns. Now, load 'em onto a boat and take Caralis. In order to keep up the strength of your army, wait out the siege of Caralis rather than taking it by force, since it's too primitive to retrain your Hastati when you finally do take it and they can't last very long anyway.

Once you have Caralis and you've built a few Town Watch units to garrison it, leave one general behind, put your small army of 1 remaining general and 4 hastati onto a boat and sail from Caralis down to Carthage (it's a short trip if you've already parked your boats at the southern tip of the island). The minute you hit the beach, lay siege to Carthage. After 1 turn, hire mercenaries to bulk up your army, and then attack. The last time I tried this on Very Hard/Very Hard, I had no trouble taking Carthage from his minimal garrison (whether it was minimal from the beginning or depleted from a failed Scipii siege is unknown to me, but either way, it was). I sent in the mercenaries first as an attrition tactic (I was planning to disband them after the battle anyway so I don't give a shit how many losses they take) and then sent in my Hastati to finish off his weakened garrison. No problem, and so I had one of the most advanced cities on the map at an early point.

The advantage of doing this is twofold: first, it's a good starting point to take Thapsus (your Scipii allies seem to give up too easily on sieges, and it's not difficult to build up a force and then just rush in there and take it out from under their noses). Second, it's a good economic base, especially when combined with Thapsus. Third, you can rapidly accelerate the growth of your main towns if you use the "Enslave" option to spread Carthage's considerable population around your other settlements (which should all have governors), and that will strengthen your local power base. And fourth, even if it all goes to Hell and you somehow lose your foothold in Gaul territory (or perhaps even your entire presence in Italy), you still can't lose because you have a family member in Carthage where your only immediate neighbours are going to be Scipii neighbours and the easily crushed Numidians.

PS. And of course, when the Senate told me to take Narbo Martius for one of my first missions, I simply ignored them. Fuckwits; how do they expect you to take and hold a fucking settlement that deep in Gaul territory so early in the game?

[Pablo Sanchez]

One tip for early survival while playing as the House of Julii: TAKE CARTHAGE.

I view it as a fault in the game that its mechanics make groups which were in reality strongest (Julii, Macedon, Parthians) weak, and some of those that were weak (Seleucids, Greeks) strong. Historically speaking some of the provinces of Gaul and were very rich (Aquitania in particular) but in the game it's smarter to just avoid them and campaign elsewhere.

Side note:
I recently realized that you can cheat on the victory conditions to extend your play period. Normally, you take 50 provinces including Rome, and the game is over. But if you take Rome then allow it to revolt away, you can just keep going. I did this in a game as the Seleucids (having edited the build times for structures and units, natch) and I controlled pretty much the territories under Byzantium at Justinian's height (all of the East and Africa plus Italy & Sicily) and I was moving on Gaul and Spain. But since I was controlling such an enormous territory my capital was just too far from the outlying provinces and the revolts became obnoxious. Mainly what I found out was that Cataphracts are the best unit in the game.

[Captain Cyran]

One tip for early survival while playing as the House of Julii: TAKE CARTHAGE.

I view it as a fault in the game that its mechanics make groups which were in reality strongest (Julii, Macedon, Parthians) weak, and some of those that were weak (Seleucids, Greeks) strong. Historically speaking some of the provinces of Gaul and were very rich (Aquitania in particular) but in the game it's smarter to just avoid them and campaign elsewhere.

Side note:
I recently realized that you can cheat on the victory conditions to extend your play period. Normally, you take 50 provinces including Rome, and the game is over. But if you take Rome then allow it to revolt away, you can just keep going. I did this in a game as the Seleucids (having edited the build times for structures and units, natch) and I controlled pretty much the territories under Byzantium at Justinian's height (all of the East and Africa plus Italy & Sicily) and I was moving on Gaul and Spain. But since I was controlling such an enormous territory my capital was just too far from the outlying provinces and the revolts became obnoxious. Mainly what I found out was that Cataphracts are the best unit in the game.

In my last campaign as the Seleucids that is pretty much exactly what I did. I was just finishing off the Scipii and the Julii when I got bored and just took Rome. And yes, Cataphracts are Godly, in fact I think the Seleucids really have the best cavalry in the game, getting the Companions, Cataphracts, chariots, and elephants. Geez.

[Pablo Sanchez]

In my last campaign as the Seleucids that is pretty much exactly what I did. I was just finishing off the Scipii and the Julii when I got bored and just took Rome. And yes, Cataphracts are Godly, in fact I think the Seleucids really have the best cavalry in the game, getting the Companions, Cataphracts, chariots, and elephants. Geez.

I didn't like using elephants and chariots, they struck me as being unpredictable and hard to use--also, I only used Cataphracts and Greek Cavalry for my horse. The charge rating on the Cataphracts is just mad, you hit a unit of legionary infantry on the flank and they drop half their strength in one charge and then they're routing from the field. The Greek Cavalry I used against routers, since they're so much faster than heavy cavalry.

[Darth Wong]

If you want real fun, modify the game so that one of the teams can recruit those gigantic oliphaunts (they're normally only available via a cheat code, they dwarf normal elephants, and they carry more than a dozen archers apiece). I made several modifications to my RTW once, just for fun:

• Reduce the build times of all multi-turn structures by half, rounding down when encountering a fractional value.
• Give all peasants a build time of zero, thus allowing you to raise an arbitrary number of peasants in a single turn (it struck me as being more realistic, given the fact that peasants are such shitty fighters).
• Let the Roman factions recruit giant oliphaunts (Circus Maximus required).

The third change was mostly for multiplayer with my son, who likes the giant elephants. But when I was playing a Seleucid campaign with the mods in place, I discovered to my chagrin that the computer AI is no dummy, and he'll recruit those giant elephants when they become available. So I found myself facing a House of Brutii army after the Roman civil war begins, and lo and behold, he has giant apartment-building sized elephants! Needless to say, I lost that battle horribly. That's when you discover that none of the Roman units are really good at dealing with giant oliphaunts except for onagers.

[Vympel]

What about the feared, elite, flaming pigs? Not worth wasting a slot on, of course, but do they work against the oliphaunts?

As for a Medieval mod for Rome- bah! I want a full game! Mods always never have everything you want.

[Falkenhayn]

I'm playing a campaign on hard as the Britons. I've taken Ireland and Gaul, down to the Italian Penninsula. I think the Gauls may have a city or two left in Iberia, but otherwise I have no trouble with money.

Then again barabarian factions tend to get stuff on the cheap. And for some reason I can't recruit Druids even though I've built every building in the Briton's tech tree in Londonium.

[Captain Cyran]

This reminds me. I'm having a problem with my SPQR mod. It'll start out just fine, the map looks fine, troops look like normal, autoing a fight is clean. But when I try to manually fight, it will close down Rome during the load screen. What'd I do wrong?

[Ace Pace]

This reminds me. I'm having a problem with my SPQR mod. It'll start out just fine, the map looks fine, troops look like normal, autoing a fight is clean. But when I try to manually fight, it will close down Rome during the load screen. What'd I do wrong?

As in, a crash? if so, try lowering unit sizes to Large.