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Thread: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

  1. #1

    Icon1 Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Hi all,

    After playing for a while, I've come up with a few strategies. Rome 2 far more complicated in terms of empire/army management than previous games. Since it took me a while to came up with a clear picture of what has to be done, I decided to share them. Of course they suit my playstyle, people may disagree on some or all points.

    I've only played with Rome on normal, so I don't know if these strategies are viable on harder difficulties. I believe the settlement management is sound, but armies may have to be bigger. I was planning another play through on hard but it seems my campaign is progressing far slower than every other TW, even without significant loading times and turn waiting.


    General tips

    - Leave your tax rate at normal. If you increase it you won't be able to build higher level buildings and if you decrease it you won't have enough money when you expand and corruption becomes a problem.
    - If you have food shortages find the regions with the greater penalty and exempt them from tax. You lose the money but they get +1 food production.
    - If a faction has no cities and you murder all their generals they die. Unfortunately admirals count too, and you can't murder at sea.
    - Always try to have +20 food surplus, it gives some nice bonuses.
    - Always have your agents doing their passive skill when they don't have anything better to do. It gives enough XP to get the first couple of levels quickly (2 and 3 turns respectively).
    - When taking over a settlement don't start only building things that give public order because you see a -30 penalty. By the time you finish building their lv2 versions (which are the ones that make significant impact) unrest will have subsided and won't have slots for buildings with economic or research benefits. If it takes too long stop taxing that province for a while. Same goes for buildings that give +cultural conversion, avoid them and have a patrician in the province.


    Research

    The most important military techs are the chain that gives you legionaries and the one that gives lv3 shipyards (for the assault biremes). After you research them you can leave the military techs alone for a long while.

    The philosophy tree has the more impact on your empire, giving bonuses to tax, corruption, cultural conversion, growth and public order.

    Make it a point to have a lv3 library everywhere, otherwise you will have a hard time researching the higher techs.

    Also the more efficient building for public order bonuses is the lv3 arena, so that tech should be a medium priority.

    Buildings

    Rome

    Italia is for army recruitment. I only build barracks, workshops, training grounds, Temple of Mars in Rome (aiming for the Basilica and the +2 building slots bonus) and the gladiator building for happiness. I also build the docks at Neapolis. It currently has a -29 food consumption but if you don't tax the province it comes at +1.

    I plan to build another recruitment center somewhere in Middle East when I expand there, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

    Bear in mind that you can build max level barracks and workshops in minor settlements but training fields can only be build in the capital.

    Other provinces


    The general idea is to build lv2 buildings and then level them up as resources permit. Keep in mind that in for most buildings it's more efficient to have 2 lv3 buildings (in 2 different provinces/settlements) than a single lv3, both in terms of food and public order. E.g. 2 lv3 libraries consume 8 food for +20% research bonus, whereas a lv3 consumes 12 food for the same +20% bonus.

    In minor settlements I only build farms and herding grounds. They go to lv2 and I upgrade as public order permits, farms first, herding grounds later.

    Every single port becomes a lv3 trading port as soon as possible, apart from the one in Corsica where I have a military wharf (since fleets are recruited in Mare Tyrrhyneum).

    In major settlements, with this order:
    1) Arena lv2
    2) Library lv2
    3) Aqueduct -> Latrines
    4) Anything that gives money, usually the industrial - brick building lv2. If the settlement has 2 or more ports Temple of Neptune will make you more money.
    5) Probably another money building, the Delicatessen.

    Those are gradually upgraded to lv3 as food / public order permits. Normally libraries are the first to upgrade along with the farms and the arena to counter squalor.

    You may be able to find more efficient city builds but the +x% bonuses are so complicated that I gave up.


    Army composition

    There are two different approaches depending on whether you auto-resolve or not.

    Auto-resolve

    If you prefer auto-resolve you should go with full stacks of principes or legionaries and a couple triarii / praetorians. I thing a ballista gives somewhat better results at sieges but I am not sure. Going full praetorians / hastatii doesn't give that much better results and it could be more expensive maintenance-wise if you have many armies, but it depends on the bonuses you have.

    Assault

    I have found full stacks to be harder to control without giving any real advantage. Moreover, your infantry is far superior to everything most enemies can field, apart from some general units and the elite greek phalanxes. I prefer a more compact legion composed of the following units:
    - 2 elite infantry, triarii, veteran legionaries or praetorians depending on your tech level. Their main use is for decisive engagements, like the first to enter a broken gate.
    - 4 normal infantry, hastatii, legionaries or veteran legionaries depending on your tech level.
    - 2 cavalry. I started with Socii Equites Extraordinarii but although they can sometimes rout ever spear infantry, they can't run great distances without being exhausted. Since their main use will be to hunt enemy I currently use the normal Socii Equites and I really wish for some lighter cavalry.
    - 4 velites
    - 1-2 ballista. It's useful for sieges, since you can break down the gates and the towers without losses. Also, on field battles it makes the enemy run to you.

    These smaller "legions" are more flexible. On each standard invasion front (against smaller factions controlling 1-2 territories) I use two or three of them, either to attack separate targets or support each other.


    Fleets

    Naval battles

    It's generally better to auto-resolve fleet to fleet battles, since your casualties will be shared between your units, whereas you are far more likely to lose ships if you play the battles. That means that you go with ~12-15 ship stacks, preferring the more expensive and powerful you can build. The way fleet battles are, I find them very tedious and complicated, so I haven't really given much thought. If it looks like the odds are against you bring another fleet.

    The AI rarely builds higher level ships, so if you have the tech advantage you don't have to commit full stacks.

    Naval invasions

    It's possible to take a port invading with your ships. You need some assault ships for their legionaries and some ranged ships for their velites or levees. Just ground your ships and use the sailors as a normal army.

    Artillery ships (onagers, ballistas) are very adept at breaking down enemy walls or inflicting casualties. I usually try to have 4-6. I wait to expend all their ammo before attacking.


    Characters

    There are way too many skills and traits to make sense of them. I have just picked the ones that I liked at first glance and didn't bother to look any deeper. Here's what I use:

    Generals

    Don't fret over each general's traits and stats, they don't live long enough to have a meaningful impact.

    I go for the zeal tree, and afterwards for the one suited either for fleet or land battles. Afterwards I go for the one giving the public order bonus.

    Another approach would be the cunning tree for the trait that makes you army / fleet move farther. That's really useful when fighting in Africa, northern Europe and Far East, where the walking distances are longer.

    I find most other traits more or less useless or redundant, since either they are too far down the tree or they don't make a noticeable difference since your units are already too powerful.

    Armies

    At some time you will get a civil war on your hands and you will end up fighting against your elite infantry. Since you can't depend on your generals to get an edge, I prefer giving my armies the Formidable Fighters tradition (+melee attack, damage), Unrelenting Force (+movement, charge, morale) and the Indomitable legionaries (+heavy infantry attack, defence). Afterwards I alternate leveling these up.

    Most other bonuses are nice but unnecessary. The only time I needed an edge was when my infantry was fighting 1 vs 1 or less against Praetorians.

    Dignitaries

    Dignitaries (patricians) are your more important agents, since they speed up cultural conversion and you can move your armies sooner out of a city.

    The authority tree, with the trait that gives bonus to cultural conversion and the one that gives a bonus to assassination is nice.

    Spies

    Spies are good at assassinating enemy generals and poisoning armies and garrisons.

    I use the cunning tree, with the two poison traits.

    Champions

    Their passive ability increases public order in your provinces and decreases it in enemy provinces, helping you sometimes to start a rebellion.

    The zeal tree, with the traits for public order and assassination.


    Using your agents to avoid very hard battles

    A very common sight at the beginning is an enemy settlement with a smallish army (5-10 units) garrisoned inside and a full stack next to it. If you attack them you will have quite a battle in your hands, but if it's their only settlement and you have some agents handy you could delay / neutralize the stack outside the settlement.

    First of all use an agent to sabotage the army outside. If he is successful the target army won't reinforce the city, which you can attack freely.

    After you take over the settlement have an agent assassinate that army's general. Since they don't have any more settlements the army will disband. Gone. Without a fight.

    And remember that armies who fight without a general have much lower morale. Assassinate them if you want an easier battle.

    The catch is that sometimes the AI has a spare general to replace the fallen one, but that's rare. But even of that's the case, after losing their settlements they will be starving, and starving armies seem to get huge penalties.


    How to begin

    Italia

    Obviously by taking the two Etruscan settlements in Italy. Attack north with your first army and then recruit units (and merge with your south army) in order to have 4 hastati and 6 velites/levees when taking Ariminum. Use the southern army (such as it is) to garrison cities in Italia to keep unrest down.

    Sardinia if you have to

    When you take over Italia make peace with the Etruscans if you can. You don't need Sardinia (Alalia) at this point, since Punic culture is dominant in this province and it will take forever to bring public order to manageable levels and free your army to continue. However if they refuse destroy them, they can get pretty annoying. You can use your fleet as garrison to get an extra couple points of public order.

    Syracusae

    After that head south with 6 hastati and 5-6 ranged units to take over Syracusae. Beware of their Hoplites, they are superior to your soldiers this early, so use your ranged units en masse to wear them down before going in. Don't build a fleet even if they do, you can't afford it and the ships you can build are useless. It's better to destroy some of them during a land invasion and have them die from starvation and futile attacks on your cities when they don't have any settlements left.

    Army buildup

    In the meanwhile start building any new barracks you have researched and train new units so your two armies match the composition above (4 inf, 2 elite inf if you can, 2 cav if you can, 4 velites) or get as close as possible. Your economy will be in shambles, that's normal, try building trading ports in Magna Grecia in order to make about 1500 per turn.

    At this point (about turn 10-20, depending on whether you invaded Sardinia or not) you will have 2 armies that can handle almost everything. Carthage is a possible target but between their fleet and their client states a war with them will force you to keep one army at the defensive, and it will take a while to subdue them.

    Cisalpina

    Cisalpina is easier to conquer, since there are 3 smaller factions that have the tendency to fight it out. After you take them over wait until things calm down, and you will see that your income will start increasing. During that time keep an eye on Lilybaeum, it tends to rebel. If you see that its unhappiness is 100 rush an army there to take it over from the rebels without going to war with Carthage.

    Massilia and Raetum

    When Cisalpina calms down Provincia makes a nice easy target and sometimes Raetium too. If both look good prefer Raetium, the Helveti have a tendency to expand and make alliances and they have to be put down early.

    That's it!

    During all that time you should focus building you economy and slowly expanding your fleet with higher level ships. After that you can do whatever you want. I'd suggest stating with Illyria and generally put off Africa until you have taken out every small faction that is closer to you. Only build armies when you are satisfied with your income and you will be fine.

    Just don't overexpand and try to gradually take over whole provinces.

    A note about research

    Many people suggest starting with the civil technologies but I think that at the beginning your economy is too small for them to make any significant difference. My prefered research path is:
    - Cohort organization, in order to get legionaries, praetorians and cavalry early on and include them in your starting armies, in order to guarantee your conquests.
    - Library lv3, you have to start building them early.
    - Arena lv3, as it will be your public main order building.
    - Farms lv3, in order to support higher level buildings.
    Last edited by epimitheus; September 25, 2013 at 06:31 AM. Reason: Correction, formatting, minor additions, added How to begin section

  2. #2
    2gutter67's Avatar Tiro
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    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Actually a pretty good guide for those of you playing the game. +Rep

  3. #3

    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Quote Originally Posted by 2gutter67 View Post
    Actually a pretty good guide for those of you playing the game. +Rep
    Thank you!

    Thankfully I haven't encountered most bugs that people are complaining about and performance is acceptable, so I can actually play the game.

  4. #4
    Bad213Boy's Avatar Semisalis
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    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Great thread. The only thing I would suggest is that you build Industrial or Culture buildings with minor settlements supporting them on capitals that don't have a port. Any province that has +2 ports, you definitely want temples and culture buildings to support those. You'll make way more money that way. Keep your capitals synced with your settlements.


  5. #5

    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Quote Originally Posted by epimitheus View Post
    Buildings

    Rome

    Rome is for army recruitment. I only build barracks, workshops, training grounds, Temple of Mars, Temple of Vulcan (aiming for the Basilica and the +2 building slots bonus) and the gladiator building for happiness. I also build the docks at Neapolis. It currently has a -29 food consumption but if you don't tax the province it comes at +1.
    What? I don't see that in the in-game encyclopedia.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Quote Originally Posted by G3ist View Post
    What? I don't see that in the in-game encyclopedia.
    Sorry, I got it mixed up with temple of Mars. Temple of Mars lv 4 gives +2 recruitment capacity. In combination with the morale bonus is a no-brainer for a recruitment province.

    After that the Temple of Vulcan isn't a good choice for a recruitment province, since it only gives a price reduction for new units. But by the time you can actually build it money probably won't be a problem.

    Since I'm a new user I can't edit my posts yet, so it'll stay that way for a while

  7. #7

    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Quote Originally Posted by G3ist View Post
    What? I don't see that in the in-game encyclopedia.
    Don't trust the encyclopedia. It leaves entire chains of buildings/units out at random.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Quote Originally Posted by Bad213Boy View Post
    Great thread. The only thing I would suggest is that you build Industrial or Culture buildings with minor settlements supporting them on capitals that don't have a port. Any province that has +2 ports, you definitely want temples and culture buildings to support those. You'll make way more money that way. Keep your capitals synced with your settlements.
    I agree, it seems possible but the different bonuses make it very hard to find definitive patterns. For example, calculating whether a +10% to all buildings' wealth bonus is better than +20% to maritime commerce bonus for every province gets old really tiring after the first 3-4 provinces.

    Most of the times that I tried it the buildings giving a flat monetary income seemed more profitable. In order to make a province more profitable I always build ports, the brickmaker industrial chain, the cattle trader chain and after that I start fiddling with the other buildings that give +percentages.

    The fact that you won't be able to build lv 4 buildings everywhere (and I still haven't unlocked most of them) make it event harder to get a definitive answer.

    If you have come up with some building patterns feel free to share.

  9. #9

    Default Re: Tips for Cities, Armies, Agents, Characters when playing as Rome

    Quote Originally Posted by Korburss View Post
    Don't trust the encyclopedia. It leaves entire chains of buildings/units out at random.
    Not exactly, but no one bothers to tell you that you can't build the same things on minor settlements and capital cities.

    For example, if you right click a temple in a settlement you will see all temples up to lv3, because you can't build lv4 temples (or ports for that matter) in a minor settlement, although you can build lv4 barracks. But if you right click on a capital's temple you will see the full chain. Also you can't build training fields and military wharves in minor settlements.

    It's a mess and the fact that the building browser is gone doesn't help either, originally I also thought that it was a bug.

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