Rome II

[mikeck]

Am loving the realistic legionary tactics mod.... Infantry in formation can form wedge, hurl pilum at your command, and rotate ranks to keep fatigue down....keeps formation better than any other mod as well.

Any idea if this applies to other factions as well, or just Rome?

Sorry missed this I believe it only applies to Rome and the legions

[mikeck]

Me neither...playing as Epirus it serves you right :)

You should be eliminated by turn 3 anyway, as AI Epirus always is!

Yeah.  This is the second time I've started as Epirus.  I figured it's pretty challenging, so why not.  I didn't expect my enemies' soldiers to miraculously return from the dead too!  :o

Despite starting off at war with Sparta, and Rome inevitably declaring war at the end of the first turn per usual, I had gotten off to a decent start since Carthage DOW'd Rome right afterward and this risky battle went so well for me.  Until the bug, anyway.  I still haven't had the Athenians DOW me yet but I'm sure it will happen sometime soon.  Had hoped to eliminate the bulk of the Spartan forces by then but not only is that looking fookt, their full strength resurrected army can now immediately attack the one I had just attacked with, which had suffered some losses.  RAWR!

Yeah I've never seen this either I've played three games of Rome exclusively and never had any game ending bugs on any of it I did have a crash once after a big battle but that's it.

Got a little bored of taking over the world so I decided to try the Cesar in call campaign. I really like the smaller map to me it's almost like what Napoleon was Empire total war. Can't say whether the AI is better or worse but I found the AI to be pretty decent in the regular campaign. anyway I do like the difference in the tech tree where it's more about your ability to call up better generals and call a different legions and things like that... kind of changes the game anyway I'm giving it a shot

[Gusington]

I am looking forward to CiG eventually but not before additinal campaigns as Sparta, Bactria, Carthage and perhaps Pontus.

Nef - how is it fighting the Spartans? I'm planning an expedition into Greece and need this info.

[Nefaro]

Nef - how is it fighting the Spartans? I'm planning an expedition into Greece and need this info.

Not such a big deal if you have Macedonian Phalanxes to pin them and an elephant unit to trample them once you've done so.   ;)

It's also just the beginning of the game so it's best that I stomp them into the dirt early before their tech progression nets them those later units with ridiculous morale and armor.. and their own Phalanxes. 


**

Something odd I noticed about the battle that resulted in that bug - I was fighting them in hilly terrain with a few trees NE of Sparta.  However, the battle map was plain 'ole arid desert as if I was fighting them on the Arabian peninsula or on the edge of the Sahara.  WTF?  ???  Maybe that had something to do with it.  I'll probably play out another turn of that game to see what happens.. maybe things will snap to.

[Gusington]

^Do you use any mods?

Began entering the Balkan and Greek areas yesterday with my almost maxed-out Iceni troops. Took the city of Iader and another Roman city in Italy...now I am at war with Rome and Sparta, with some minor powers separating them from my territory.

Rome only has one territory left...Rome itself. It will be mine :)

[Sir Slash]

There's a new mod at the Steam Workshop that recreates the original 3 Roman family factions from the first Rome TW, each playable with their original faction icons. So far the users give it 4 out of 5 stars but you need a new campaign start. Radious has also updated his mod several times recently with new eastern units. He is well into triple digits now with new units and this might seem silly but he's trying to give all factions, playable or not, a complete set of all types of units through out the campaign so you'll have much more choice in building your armies and not just limited to the basic spear, sword, axe types in the early game. And they look fantastic. Now even the Suebi have a pike unit with a powerful Shield-Wall ability-- at a powerful price to buy.

[Gusington]

Makes me start to think about Radious v. the DEI mod again, and also think about sticking with vanilla except for some seasonal and graphics tweaks mods. But your description of the latest Radious is really tempting.

[Sir Slash]

And another update today. Claims big changes in diplomacy, AI recruitment and AI aggressiveness. Will try her out and post some thoughts because 172 pages is not long enough for this thread. ;D

[Gusington]

I agree. And I took Rome!!

[Martok]

^ Nice job, Gus!  Congrats.  :D 

I can't help but notice, though, that there's a chunk of Gaul that remains conspicuously Iceni-less.  What's up with that?? 

Makes me start to think about Radious v. the DEI mod again, and also think about sticking with vanilla except for some seasonal and graphics tweaks mods. But your description of the latest Radious is really tempting.

Ironically, it's thought-processes like this one (which I'm only too guilty of myself) that are the biggest reason I've not seriously delved into mods yet.  It's such a slippery slope -- where would I begin?  And where does it end??  :o 

In the meantime, I continue to enjoy the vanilla game (albeit with the Four Seasons mod), so I keep thinking "what's the rush?"... 

And another update today. Claims big changes in diplomacy, AI recruitment and AI aggressiveness.

Sweet!  I'd fire it up right now if I didn't have to go to bed pretty soon here.  Must make myself wait til tomorrow now...  :(   

Will try her out and post some thoughts because 172 pages is not long enough for this thread. ;D

Heh. 

You know, it really is remarkable -- not just how long this thread (dedicated to a single game) has gotten, but that it's mostly stayed on-topic (aside from that 5-page digression a little while back), AND that it's remained generally free of the rabid hate Rome II seems to get elsewhere.  Not that that the game hasn't seen its fair share of (deserved) criticism here, but it's consistently been much more reasoned and level-headed. 

But I myself digress now.  ::)  Looking forward to hearing your impressions Sir Slash! 

[Nefaro]

^Do you use any mods?

Nope.  Playing vanilla.

I haven't played TW:R2 in months so I wanted to get a feel for what I would want to adjust before adding any mods.  I try to avoid "Mod Soup" as much as possible these days, so even when I do get some there won't be many.

[Nefaro]

And another update today. Claims big changes in diplomacy, AI recruitment and AI aggressiveness. Will try her out and post some thoughts because 172 pages is not long enough for this thread. ;D

I'm always up for AI improvements.

My first battle in wasn't all that impressive.  I didn't expect a lot but once again the opposing troops blew a good opportunity.  If their large reinforcing army had came at me (bro), instead of making a beeline to the defensive position around the victory flag where a few of it's troops were, I would've been threatened from two different directions.  Would've been an excellent hammer & anvil situation and even more effective because my core strength was based around some macedonian style phalangites.  I was disappointed to see it take a wide birth in an attempt to crowd into the flag area instead of surrounding me.  Even after I moved to engage this larger force, none were sent from the flag zone (which was within archer & slinger range so I was close) to strike my army in the rear.  :'(

The sandwich move I would've preferred to see is probably asking for too much sophistication to ask for in a Total War game but I still think it could be more aggressive in such situations.  I mean.. our forces were equally numbered and the Spartan army had some slightly better quality units.  But that damn Flag-Sitting behavior again!  >:(   I still think it was bad to add such capture points to every map.  I thought they were gonna remove some of that stuff??

[Sir Slash]

Congrats to Gus the Conquer, The Scourge of Britain. What kind of units have you got now and how many armies?

[mikeck]

I don't think i remember seing victory flags in open battle. I do see them in city seige and usually the ai will park 3-4 units on it while the rest come to the edge of the city I'm attacking. To be honest, I do the same thing...park 4 units on the flag (plebes) and send the rest to fight.

I thought they took flags out of open battles a long time ago?

[Nefaro]

I don't think i remember seing victory flags in open battle. I do see them in city seige and usually the ai will park 3-4 units on it while the rest come to the edge of the city I'm attacking. To be honest, I do the same thing...park 4 units on the flag (plebes) and send the rest to fight.

I thought they took flags out of open battles a long time ago?

That's what I thought too.  But I was fighting in an open field battle.  It had that weird little four-walled compound with the extra little walls blocking the entrances and the flag right in the middle.  As I also mentioned, it was happening in desert terrain even though I was fighting near Sparta.

I'm pretty sure the whole thing was bugged in some way. 

I've not modded my Rome 2.  Actually, this is the first time I had even played the game on this new computer I built a few months ago.  I just did a file integrity check and it did replace about 17MB of files.  Which is weird since I've never modified or even played it on this machine.  ???

Think I'll start a new game and see if I can break anything else.