Rome II

[Nefaro]

I'm really liking the Strategic View feature. At first it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me but in a recent battle in Germania, my Seubi were fighting another German faction in a heavily forested region and thought the trees and snow were beautiful but I couldn't see a damned thing going on. The Strat view helped me to make sense of the whole affair and win a victory. Very nice touch CA.

I think it could use those same army icons on it, for both yours and your enemies' armies, as you can see in your minimap with the armies quicklist open.  Ideally for when the political/enemies filter button is on.

Would allow for an easier grand view of where all the armies are. 

I do like this addition but I think it needs additional information displayed in some of it's modes.  For instance, there is more functionality and info available in the Diplomacy screen than the equivalent view in the Zoom Out mode.

[Bison]

So far I've tolerated it, but this reminds me that I probably should just crush them to prevent an unexpected surprise.

The best means to remove opposition is to crush the opposition!

[undercovergeek]

So far I've tolerated it, but this reminds me that I probably should just crush them to prevent an unexpected surprise.

The best means to remove opposition is to crush the opposition!

Whilst I agree entirely, I would humbly ask if there's any other kind of surprise :.p

[Bison]

So far I've tolerated it, but this reminds me that I probably should just crush them to prevent an unexpected surprise.

The best means to remove opposition is to crush the opposition!

Whilst I agree entirely, I would humbly ask if there's any other kind of surprise :.p

Yes.  An another surprise would be an Englishman turning down a spot of tea.  8)

[undercovergeek]

Ah but that too would be one of them fancy unexpected surprises!

I'm thinking an expected surprise is more like an appointment!

[Bison]

Or seeing orange women at a sun tanning salon exposition.

[undercovergeek]

Or seeing orange women at a sun tanning salon exposition.

Goddamit - that's just below the belt that is

That's plain mean!!

[Bison]

[undercovergeek]

Its the baseball thing isn't it - I'm sorry!!

Snigger

[Bison]

Uh.....



Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..............................

[MengJiao]

I have to admit...I consistently get ASS KICKED. In naval battles. Big even close. If I use assault biremes, I get chewed up with javelins. If I switch to javelins, my ships get rammed by big assault ships. I thing the AI is really good at naval battles

I still have some issues with getting my ships to Board instead of Ram.  The button and cursor icon seem to be working properly now, unlike the release version, but I'm still seeing some of my ships just sit there and do nothing after giving them a Board order.  I even had one recently row backwards quite a ways and had to stop it myself.   ???

I'm pretty sure the naval battles still aren't finished.  I generally just auto-resolve them because the order system and ship AI is still wonky.

  I've been watching for problems with the board order.  It looks like ships that can intercept on roughly the current course will do their best even if they fall behind their target.  On the other hand, ships that have to get around a wreck or something may back up for a time to get a clear path to the target.

  One disappointing thing about sea battles is that even if you are very careful to board without ramming, you don't get to capture the ship.  I'm not sure why there are no captures (that I have seen).    I took a Cyrenian hexereme (or at least was boarding it when the battle ended) for example, but got no captured ships.  I always release prisonners due to my Parthian Zoroastrian thing about the freedom and goodness of all mankind.  Maybe I have to enslave the prisonners to keep the captured ships?

[Nefaro]

There was another update to Beta-3 yesterday.  The map gfx performance has improved quite a bit!

Dunno if there was much else addressed, but I'm impressed with the progress they've made in this one thus far.   Still a ways to go with the AI.

[Sir Slash]

I had one sea battle as Rome with 2 of the catapault ships on my side against the raiding missle ships of the AI and my ships were able to sink the enemy ships with 1 or 2 hits only. Maybe they're a little over-powered. But you better get some.

[MengJiao]

I had one sea battle as Rome with 2 of the catapault ships on my side against the raiding missle ships of the AI and my ships were able to sink the enemy ships with 1 or 2 hits only. Maybe they're a little over-powered. But you better get some.

  I've seen the catapults sink those smaller ships with one shot.  These days I try to make-do with the mid-range melee ships.  They usually have a nice speed (6) and are big enough to take some punishment while ramming well and doing some boarding too.  I try to have some smaller, faster ships, but lately I've been handling them in groups of 2 or three backing up a medium melee ship.  I used to try to always have some ballistae and catapults, but lately what used to be the artillery group is just the flagship (monster melee) and a standard melee ship or two as a reserve.  The cheaper melee/ram fleets seem to do almost as well overall and tactically they are more flexible for joining land battles and dealing with big enemy ships. 

[MengJiao]

As Rome I have had a Civil War declared.  Has anyone had this happen to them and is there a way to prevent this from happening?

  Ah!  More civil wars.  Lucky normal Parthia had a civil war last night.  Five big armies of Nobles, with top quality gear (elephants and lots of armor) popped up in the northern reaches of proto-Iran.  Luckily I was in the middle of moving forward some re-built armies of armored archers with improved armor up and shifting some reserve armies over to watch for Steppe Barbarians and rebels and I used the block and ambush system to wreck four out of five of their armies almost as soon as they emerged and scattered.
One rather third-rate army of mine got beat-up wrecking two armies of Nobles, but I think I got them back to a point where they have some back up if the Nobles go after them for revenge.
If the Civil War had happened one or two turns earlier, things might have been a lot more difficult.