Historical Gameplay, Campaigns of Pyrrhus (1.2.3f beta)

[Sarkiss]

You can turn off the blur effects in the gemFX configuration menu - I think it's just some check boxes. It should be in the folder: Total War Rome II. It's labeled 'GEMFX_Configurator'.

thanks. is this the one?: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil.../?id=187199741 ?
the last update is from 2015 though, does it still function as intended?

i couldnt really use ReShade - SweetFX Digital Vibrance after all - was giving me all sort of glitches in battle, such as messing up my unit selection (and then deployment) by oddly selecting more than one unit when i click on a single one etc. weird.

[Sarkiss]

exhausting week at work but finally managed to update the game and record.also spent much time experimenting with various graphic mods just to go back to default setting, for now.

new episode of Campaigns of Pyrrhus is up: October-December 277, Saving Taras
In this episode, Epirotes scramble to beef up defenses of Taras.

thanks for watching:-)

[Satansblofish]

thanks. is this the one?: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil.../?id=187199741 ?
the last update is from 2015 though, does it still function as intended?

This is the gemFX mod. The configuration menu comes automatically installed with gemFX.

To access the configuration menu, go to the file path wherever you installed gemFX(which should be Total War Rome II). From there, select GEMFX_Configurator. It will have a blue diamond next to it. Select that and you will see various check box options for blue effects. If you don't like any blurriness I would suggest unchecking: Blur, Motion Blur, Gaussian, and Film Grain. I would mess with Film Grain though to see if you actually like it or not.

I haven't messed with reshade/sweetFX although I would like to. For now, it seems gemFX is good for those of us who would like some quality of life improvements on the graphics side of things while not having to worry too much about settings/editing anything yourself. My perception could be completely wrong.

[Sarkiss]

This is the gemFX mod. The configuration menu comes automatically installed with gemFX.

To access the configuration menu, go to the file path wherever you installed gemFX(which should be Total War Rome II). From there, select GEMFX_Configurator. It will have a blue diamond next to it. Select that and you will see various check box options for blue effects. If you don't like any blurriness I would suggest unchecking: Blur, Motion Blur, Gaussian, and Film Grain. I would mess with Film Grain though to see if you actually like it or not.

I haven't messed with reshade/sweetFX although I would like to. For now, it seems gemFX is good for those of us who would like some quality of life improvements on the graphics side of things while not having to worry too much about settings/editing anything yourself. My perception could be completely wrong.

thanks a lot for a detailed feedback, will give it a go, much appreciated

updated the game to 17 Nov patch and recorded new episode - Campaigns of Pyrrhus, 16: Dec 277-Jan 276, Battle of Taras
In this episode, the Greeks attempt to defeat the Roman army.

[Fluke]

Sarkiss I've noticed changes to the BAI and CAI in the latest updates to this game, two of which are demonstrated in this great series. The first is the tendency of the AI to sally out of forts more often and sooner, sometimes immediately. They used to wait until either you took out their towers/walls with flaming arrows, or killed all of their ranged units within the fort.

The second is the CAI siege behavior. The enemy now will wait until they have a lot of siege equipment. Sometimes they will wait out a city until the clock runs down. That never happened before. They used to always attack after a turn or two. In one of my recent Epirus campaigns (I've played three now since you started this series), I had a small contingent in Taras, a general and two units, and Rome besieged me for the whole duration! (12 to 16 turns, I can't remember!) Rome knew I was too weak to sally out and they just waited me out for many turns. I lost Taras, and regrouped in Greece.

You were lucky that the two Roman armies in your campaign pulled back as I was sure the new CAI was going to wait you out like they did to me. Perhaps due to a perceived threat up north? Maybe I missed it but you should explore what might have caused this. Perhaps send your spy up north?

Also, the upgrades to admirals are limited. A lot of them just don't work for admirals. But the best one is the archery upgrades as they will apply to your archer ships and the extra range is a big bonus to both real battles and auto-resolve naval battles. I tend to recruit just the 100 strong archer/slinger ships, both mercenary and recruitable, and they fight very well using a mixture of ranged and ramming attacks. They are cheap, fast/maneuverable, and very effective with an admiral who has the archer upgrades. The best ones (mercs) are in the seas around Athens, Crete and Rhodes.

[Jake Armitage]

The second is the CAI siege behavior. The enemy now will wait until they have a lot of siege equipment. Sometimes they will wait out a city until the clock runs down. That never happened before. The used to always attack after a turn or two. In one of my recent Epirus campaigns (I've played three now since you started this series), I had a small contingent in Taras, a general and two units, and Rome besieged me for the whole duration! (12 to 16 turns, I can't remember!) Rome knew I was too weak to sally out and they just waited me out for many turns. I lost Taras, and regrouped in Greece..

Good news

[Sarkiss]

Sarkiss I've noticed changes to the BAI and CAI in the latest updates to this game, two of which are demonstrated in this great series. The first is the tendency of the AI to sally out of forts more often and sooner, sometimes immediately. They used to wait until either you took out their towers/walls with flaming arrows, or killed all of their ranged units within the fort.

The second is the CAI siege behavior. The enemy now will wait until they have a lot of siege equipment. Sometimes they will wait out a city until the clock runs down. That never happened before. They used to always attack after a turn or two. In one of my recent Epirus campaigns (I've played three now since you started this series), I had a small contingent in Taras, a general and two units, and Rome besieged me for the whole duration! (12 to 16 turns, I can't remember!) Rome knew I was too weak to sally out and they just waited me out for many turns. I lost Taras, and regrouped in Greece.

You were lucky that the two Roman armies in your campaign pulled back as I was sure the new CAI was going to wait you out like they did to me. Perhaps due to a perceived threat up north? Maybe I missed it but you should explore what might have caused this. Perhaps send your spy up north?

Also, the upgrades to admirals are limited. A lot of them just don't work for admirals. But the best one is the archery upgrades as they will apply to your archer ships and the extra range is a big bonus to both real battles and auto-resolve naval battles. I tend to recruit just the 100 strong archer/slinger ships, both mercenary and recruitable, and they fight very well using a mixture of ranged and ramming attacks. They are cheap, fast/maneuverable, and very effective with an admiral who has the archer upgrades. The best ones (mercs) are in the seas around Athens, Crete and Rhodes.

i was a bit surprised by the Roman decision to sally out and i think that it probably made my job much easier, as i cant really see me pushing into their camp successfully tbh.

agreed on the general siege behaviour, it is better, definitely. they were sieging me from June to October iirc, so good few months! interesting to learn how it unfolded with Taras in your campaign. i was really close to this. i managed to sneak reinforcements in but had i waited a little longer there is a decent chance i would have lost Taras too. it was probably my reinforcements, alongside Ligurians declaring war on Rome, that led to their decision to lift the siege. i got very lucky indeed! will try to investigate what happens up north. didnt get much of a chance to do it up until now as i had to use navy as reinforcement for poorly defended Taras and food was very short and would go into red without the spy's efforts.

thanks for the info on admirals. i was a little supriced that their options are rather limited. good to hear i wasnt too wrong. and thanks a lot for the tip on the archery and the mercs.

[TheLonelyEmperor]

Enjoying the videos mate, I can only ever watch a very few total war players full proper campaigns but I've watched almost your whole series so far. I like your different approach to the game, slightly slower and more thoughtful but most importantly really immersive. I hope you keep continuing even with more factions in the future, I have never held any remote interest at all in playing as Epirus let alone learning about the history of the people there but with what I've learned just from your videos I find the people quite fascinating and will definitely keep Epirus in mind for future campaigns of my own.

I'm not sure if your interested or already have plans but I would love to see you do more factions. I don't know what history you know about for this time period but if you were interested I feel Pontos would be a incredible campaign for you. The story of Mithridates in particular would be incredibly interesting although he himself would not be in the campaign for some time :/ Still perhaps you could play the faction historically and then focus more on what he did when he comes around? Anyway just keep the history coming and the nice game play and I'll be happy

[Sarkiss]

Enjoying the videos mate, I can only ever watch a very few total war players full proper campaigns but I've watched almost your whole series so far. I like your different approach to the game, slightly slower and more thoughtful but most importantly really immersive. I hope you keep continuing even with more factions in the future, I have never held any remote interest at all in playing as Epirus let alone learning about the history of the people there but with what I've learned just from your videos I find the people quite fascinating and will definitely keep Epirus in mind for future campaigns of my own.

I'm not sure if your interested or already have plans but I would love to see you do more factions. I don't know what history you know about for this time period but if you were interested I feel Pontos would be a incredible campaign for you. The story of Mithridates in particular would be incredibly interesting although he himself would not be in the campaign for some time :/ Still perhaps you could play the faction historically and then focus more on what he did when he comes around? Anyway just keep the history coming and the nice game play and I'll be happy

very pleased to hear you're enjoying the series. part of my 'mission', so to speak, is to popularise history through recreating/rebuilding historical conflicts and empires all the while 'injecting' bits and pieces of historical info throughout the playthrough. glad that's been appreciated, thanks a lot for watching

btw, Pontus is my favorite faction and i love their mix of Persian, Greek and local cultures. it has a unique army composition as well as a cosy location next to Greek cities and the sea. their historical expansion patterns are also quite interesting and rich: Asia Minor, Greece and northern steppes - all offering a fantastic, almost unrestrained mix of possibilities. i was considering doing a playthrough with them but that will probably have to be either A) very flexible with the dates, or B) based on some other mod, for like you mentioned they wont significantly expand until Mithridates VI Eupator centuries later. i had a few ideas as to what faction/character to pick up next but Pontus is definitely in the top 5 atm.

in the meantime, grab a cuppa and watch episode 17: Battle of Mare Adriaticum :-)
In this episode, Pyrrhic navy meets its Roman counterpart in their first proper naval engagement.

[Dardo21]

Bactria should also be an interesting faction in regards to blended cultures, Kings and Generals actually released a vid about them today . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQATsepKoLE
And good stuff as usual Sarkiss

[Sarkiss]

Bactria should also be an interesting faction in regards to blended cultures, Kings and Generals actually released a vid about them today . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQATsepKoLE
And good stuff as usual Sarkiss

thanks.
Kings and Generals are great, im subscribed to the channel but missed that video somehow. will check it out, thank you

[TheLonelyEmperor]

very pleased to hear you're enjoying the series. part of my 'mission', so to speak, is to popularise history through recreating/rebuilding historical conflicts and empires all the while 'injecting' bits and pieces of historical info throughout the playthrough. glad that's been appreciated, thanks a lot for watching

btw, Pontus is my favorite faction and i love their mix of Persian, Greek and local cultures. it has a unique army composition as well as a cosy location next to Greek cities and the sea. their historical expansion patterns are also quite interesting and rich: Asia Minor, Greece and northern steppes - all offering a fantastic, almost unrestrained mix of possibilities. i was considering doing a playthrough with them but that will probably have to be either A) very flexible with the dates, or B) based on some other mod, for like you mentioned they wont significantly expand until Mithridates VI Eupator centuries later. i had a few ideas as to what faction/character to pick up next but Pontus is definitely in the top 5 atm.

in the meantime, grab a cuppa and watch episode 17: Battle of Mare Adriaticum :-)
In this episode, Pyrrhic navy meets its Roman counterpart in their first proper naval engagement.

I can tell you what you want is exactly what your pulling off mate! I do love history (ancient history in particular too) so even just getting a slight look into a faction like Epirus opens a whole new realm for to enjoy in game and also learn about IRL. I really appreciate it!

Looking forward to catching your next episode tonight before bed Cheers!

[Sarkiss]

thank you and here is a new one. the campaign so far was extremely interesting and dynamic and i didnt have to skip any gameplay at all - you literally see everything that goes on in this playthrough. so far its been one of the most engaging campaigns i ever had in TW and am very keen to go back for just 'one more turn' whenever i get the time.

Campaigns of Pyrrhus, 18: May 276, Battle of Akragas
In this episode, Epirotes defend their Sicilian holdings.

[Sarkiss]

episode 19 is up: May-July 276, Back to Magna Graecia
In this episode, Pyrrhus returns to Italia

[kpagcha]

Really enjoying these, keep it up!

By the way did I spot a bug at 11:13? The Roman fleet suddenly has 6 ships, but if you look at 8:43 when Sarkiss makes the attack they only have 2, and they're recruiting. How the hell did they manage to complete the recruitment when the port was blockaded to begin with?

Also, the Romans have -26 food, so how are they not getting food shortage attrition?

[Sarkiss]

Really enjoying these, keep it up!

By the way did I spot a bug at 11:13? The Roman fleet suddenly has 6 ships, but if you look at 8:43 when Sarkiss makes the attack they only have 2, and they're recruiting. How the hell did they manage to complete the recruitment when the port was blockaded to begin with?

Also, the Romans have -26 food, so how are they not getting food shortage attrition?

indeed, good questions both. and they had 5 armies in the field, iirc (2 up north against the Ligurians and 3 facing me) plus a fleet. spices things up for sure though.

[ScipioTheGreat]

Really enjoying these, keep it up!

By the way did I spot a bug at 11:13? The Roman fleet suddenly has 6 ships, but if you look at 8:43 when Sarkiss makes the attack they only have 2, and they're recruiting. How the hell did they manage to complete the recruitment when the port was blockaded to begin with?

Also, the Romans have -26 food, so how are they not getting food shortage attrition?

The AI has fail-safes in place to prevent such mechanics from becoming totally detrimental to them

[Fluke]

Trying to catch up.....

Episode 17: Micro manage your ramming. As soon as you ram break off and regroup for another ramming attack. The ships need some distance to gather speed and perform a successful ram. Be sure to manage use of the oars. And remember 100-man ranged ships are your most cost effective naval unit. Be sure to upgrade your new admiral with the ranged archers buff. As your ranged ships break off from their first ramming they will be softening up the enemy for the next ramming with their longer ranged projectiles.

Episode 18: What a battle! But they are coming for you I'm afraid. At least by going to Sicily you lived up to the historical campaign, and allowed two native Sicilian factions to build up their strength against Carthage.

It is amazing how well this campaign is following your script. It is almost like the AI knows you are putting on a terrific show/lesson for us all.

[Sarkiss]

The AI has fail-safes in place to prevent such mechanics from becoming totally detrimental to them

agreed, although perhaps a certain cap can be introduced (if not already) whereby going below a certain significant level would generate some consequences? otherwise, if only human player is affected, the risk is it can kill one of the dimensions of the game and deny player one of the potential tools to influence outcomes in the ways that arent direct military action?

Trying to catch up.....

Episode 17: Micro manage your ramming. As soon as you ram break off and regroup for another ramming attack. The ships need some distance to gather speed and perform a successful ram. Be sure to manage use of the oars. And remember 100-man ranged ships are your most cost effective naval unit. Be sure to upgrade your new admiral with the ranged archers buff. As your ranged ships break off from their first ramming they will be softening up the enemy for the next ramming with their longer ranged projectiles.

Episode 18: What a battle! But they are coming for you I'm afraid. At least by going to Sicily you lived up to the historical campaign, and allowed two native Sicilian factions to build up their strength against Carthage.

It is amazing how well this campaign is following your script. It is almost like the AI knows you are putting on a terrific show/lesson for us all.

many thanks. the AI doing great on the campaign map, a very eventful and tense experience so far. i noticed that if you give the AI a bit of time to build up, it is capable of putting up a formidable challenge. for naval warfare, yes, some aspects arent exactly familiar to me, so thanks for the tips. i also find the ships to be somewhat bugie at times: sometimes the ship would have a decent charging distance and be commanded to ram, but gets stalled at the last moment, seconds before anticipated impact. i still love happy ramming though. tbh, hardly ever attempted a messy boarding business, so archer crews suit me perfectly

[ScipioTheGreat]

agreed, although perhaps a certain cap can be introduced (if not already) whereby going below a certain significant level would generate some consequences? otherwise, if only human player is affected, the risk is it can kill one of the dimensions of the game and deny player one of the potential tools to influence outcomes in the ways that arent direct military action?

many thanks. the AI doing great on the campaign map, a very eventful and tense experience so far. i noticed that if you give the AI a bit of time to build up, it is capable of putting up a formidable challenge. for naval warfare, yes, some aspects arent exactly familiar to me, so thanks for the tips. i also find the ships to be somewhat bugie at times: sometimes the ship would have a decent charging distance and be commanded to ram, but gets stalled at the last moment, seconds before anticipated impact. i still love happy ramming though. tbh, hardly ever attempted a messy boarding business, so archer crews suit me perfectly

That might be possible, I’ll look into it