holy jesus

[dom385]

this game shouldnt be started on h/vh hard should it i won my first battle against the gauls and only lost 1000 men for 4000 then they attack again an take aritium or something then hannibal comes and attack my town i send a counter attack to their town then the counter attack is repulsed and nearly destroyed my moneys going straight out the window paying for replacments and a new counter attack against cathage. this game is so fun but very hard lol.

[Ven0m1985]

well no duh m/m is still a challenge but no never start on hard unless your very good

[dom385]

i no but i didnt think quite that hard and has anyone got anytips for starting the roman campaign coz mine always goes bad after a bit.

[Jonathold]

First tip, start it on M/M difficulty Second, never, EVER autocalc a battle, now matter how minor or small, every single man you can save makes a difference. What I do at the beginning is ignore Carthage and let them take Messana. They don't attack you at all after that pretty much. Instead, send both the legions you start with up to the border and fend off the Gauls for a while. Meanwhile, build up your economy in your home cities and start makin money for a few years all the while keeping your Gallic border legions vigilant and constantly restock them (what I like to do is build a unit in a city once a legion gets low on a certain unit, send it to the front, and just fill in the gaps, and bring back whatever is left to the city for when I need it later, so if you're low on hastati, make a hastati unit and send it up, have it fill the ranks of every hastati unit that is understrength, and if theres any of it left send it back to a city for retraining, that way you save a lot of time sending legions back and forth). After a while you should be easily pushing back the Gauls, and may even get a chance to sue for peace.

All in all, it takes experience, experimentation, and practice to get really good. Read around these forums to find other people's tactics and tips, and adapt them to your own playstyle. The most important thing is to have fun, so if you don't want to follow the house rules, you don't have to, but in my own opinion the house rules are what make the game so enjoyable for me.

One last thing: remember that if you lose a battle, its not the end of the world. Be prepared for setbacks all the time, such as an entire legion revolting Eventually, things WILL happen, its just a matter of when. Bad things are gonna happen, you will probably lose entire legions in a battle at some point, and though it seems frustrating, bouncing back and overcoming those hardships makes the game that much more fun.

[24Gamer]

Always remember that SPQR getting harder and harder during the game.
For example the golden upgraded Egypts^^^****'in hard to handle...

[Samariten]

Agree with Jonathold just hold of gauls from youre borders and build up italy so you get a strong economy.....i suggest as first and historically attack Carthage when economy is strong enough...

i waited until i gained republican legioneers to engage grecce and macedon aswell as spain and gaul otherwhise you could get a hard time but you should play as it fits you... have fun

[TheNewKing]

i play on vh/vh and its bloody hard the gauls attack non stop, then when u think uve pushed em back a bit the germans attack.

[lt1956]

You wont finish your campaign though, the game will get to ohard toward the end. Autocalcing all the time isnt fun either, that and the fact the killsheet would be useless to use. lol

[Samariten]

Hehe i never dare push to far north before marius reform, early legions always gets slaughtered in the dark woods by germans....

[Jonathold]

Amen to that! Ugh... I've lost many a Pre-Marius Legion to them...

[Ven0m1985]

Pre marian troops can handle greece and macedon its the germans who can really kill your troops. defend your northern border in italy then when thats secure take sciily however you spell it and take the corsica island then you should choose your next target either in greece or north africa. then take spain and move onward to gaul. Dont try to attack germans the woods are plentiful and that gives them a combat advantage. Secure southern europe and western europe. and north africa hope these are helpful tips.

[Underoath]

I've started like 3 different campaigns with the Romans and I haven't once been able to repel Hannibal from taking Messana. Don't even bother.

[Garnier]

I don't know of anyone who has won that first battle against hannibal. I always give it up for lost.

[GaussSoldier]

I was only able to defeat Hannibal once. My Javelinmen destroyed his elephants as they came to my wall. Once the final elephant went down, the army broke and ran.

I'm not that lucky anymore, the elephants always break through before they die.

[Garnier]

Well yeah, killing all the elephants will save messina... but that's not exactly defeating the army.

[Samariten]

Nope when thoses poeni infantry hits you it hurts alot