Tricks and tips that you can share with us...

[LeonidasOfSparta]

Hello all !

I saw a thread like this on M2TW section and thaught : ''why not here'' so I made it here.....

Anyway if you know any tricks or have any tips to share with us....please do it . The best tricks and tips will get +rep.

Mine are:
-if you put archers on walls towers will fire with higher efficence
-in XGM when you are negotiating pres ''?'' in the upper corner of table and it will forc the enemy to accept your diplomatic offer
-spies cause 5% unrest for every ''eye'' of skill
-onagers almost always kills enemy general , just aim for him ( 90%)
-if enemy offers you to become protectorate accept bt demand 10000-15000 denarri and when he accepts attack him next turn

Hope you didn't knew at least one of them.....

Keep the tips coming!

Regards
Leonidas

[davyjones06]

Some basic info
-Use foot archers to kill horse archers
-When playing as greece, use a semicircle formation with your hoplites so you wont get flanked
-use fire arrows before going into battle

[Towelie]

Good thread.. anyway, i cant think on any atm Maby thisone:

-When you going to conquers, build 2-3 or more stacks of town militia (or whatever you garrison with) and send them behind your main army, so when you conquer one settlement, dont stuck there, move main army out for future conquest while placing militias in city.

[Erwin Rommel]

-place your slingers BEHIND your best troops and feel free to fire away!
-when your elephants are in berserk, dont bother! if they are engaged with --enemy troops, send your men also!
-Archers are good against cavalry in melee cause they will fire in point blank range
-peasants are the greatest infantry of ALL, they may look weak but in reality they are ninjas from japan recruited by your imperator in his bid to take over the world (europe).
-when facing a phalanx army always send your cavalry first espescilly the general! the shock of the charge will demoralized them a-wholes that your men will sure gain victory!
-let your force engaged one at a time, in that way the enemy will be confused and just flee away!
-when your men are engaged in a big-a$$ melee with your enemy, let your onagers do the work! your men are pawns to merely hold them in positon!!

[Happykiller]

-
-let your force engaged one at a time, in that way the enemy will be confused and just flee away!

Thats actually not a bad idea, I employed this strategy after I found out all engaged troops get tired at the SAME rate regardless of numbers of troops engaged. So you can deploy one line of troops (your weakest melee infantry preferably) in the front and a second line of higher quality infantry behind them. When the enemy rushes your first line, all their troops will get tired along with your first line. So when ever you decide to allow your second line to engage they will be facing tired troops, giving the second line an advantage. You can also form a third line if necessary and when the tired and routing troops of the first line recover they can be used to fight again against the tired enemy, just remember to ALWAYS put weaker in front of the stronger forces (the casualties of weaker infantry are also much easier to replace than the stronger troops). And your second line should consist of some descent troops. This works VERY well with hoplites (and militia hoplites actually become useful), It works with Legions too but with legions you can just flank the enemy. The main advantage of this tactic is to use your fresh troops to attack the exhausted enemies. I also find this to work VERY WELL in city battles too. And I've won numerous battles with this. Keep in mind this is only a basic guide line, I still charge engaged enemy calvary with spearmen and swarm enemy generals. This is also very useful when you can't flank (and your second line is very good at stopping any flanking attempts. I also always make each of my infantry unit to be as wide as possible so they would cover the same width as they would If I didn't have a second line of units.

[LeonidasOfSparta]

Thank you all for your freat tips, please keep up the good work...!

Leonidas

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

Thank you all for your freat tips, please keep up the good work...!

Leonidas

I've once defeated a whole army of Swordsmen only with Equites, and that works with infantry too. The trick? Use one unit as bait while you hit them in the rear with other Equites. As long as you can take care of the enemy cavalry, you'll get a Heroic Victory in no time.

The second trick? Put your phalanxes on the corner of the map and wait until the enemy reaches you. If he has little missile troops, or your phalanxes are good, you won't need to worry about flanking. Just sit and watch them fruitlessly trying to get through your pikes.

Third trick: ambushes are good, many underestimate them. Once playing BI, I hide all my infantry in the woods, then I lured these pesky Nomad Horse Archers there. Once they're fleeing and shooting me, they suddenly collided with a mass of Swordsmen and were exterminated. Great against these Hordes: once the Horse Archers are gone, then the Hordes are much easier to exterminate. The rest is just low quality infantry and cavalry...

[LeonidasOfSparta]

The second trick? Put your phalanxes on the corner of the map and wait until the enemy reaches you. If he has little missile troops, or your phalanxes are good, you won't need to worry about flanking. Just sit and watch them fruitlessly trying to get through your pikes.

I do the same thing when I'm outnambered and have phalangites.

Leonidas

[Calyptus]

- when you have phalanxes in your army, get your units to the town/city square and use a welcoming V-formation(2 units) protecting the ends of all corridors. Most of the time your enemies will run to the center of the V and thus get flanked by BOTH phalanxes, killing them extremely quick. Use your general as a reserve should someone get trough, most of the time heavy cavalry seems to survive a frontal charge into pikes. This tactic helped me win heroic victories against multiple Roman full stacks with just 8 armoured hoplite units and a general, and only few losses. You can also block the corridors(I used to do that) with 1 unit, but you never get the kill rate of the V-formation, and your men usually tire out and get killed.

In the meantime your towers can do their work shooting their units apart, and they will be tired when they reach you....

- Put a militia hoplite/levy phalanx unit in front of the gate, just let them die, doesn't matter, they will hold their line long enough for the boiling oil to do some serious damage and they will tire the enemy. If they are upgraded and have more experience they can even win the battle outright. Only happened once to me, most of the time they rout when they get winded/tired or when heavy cavalry breaks trough their formation.

- once a phalanx formation has been disrupted(by cavalry and the like), put them out of guard mode, keep the in phalanx and just click the enemy unit. They will switch to their pike/spears again and let the slaugther recommence.

- when playing numidia, get carthage ASAP, build barracks and start spamming numidian legionnaires. While still crappy and take 2 turns to make, they are the only decent infantry you'll get. Without them you'll get slaughtered by spain or the scipii very soon in the game, because your skirmisher units are no match for their heavier infantry. I was beaten all the way back to only carthage by them, before I started expanding again...

[LeonidasOfSparta]

- when you have phalanxes in your army, get your units to the town/city square and use a welcoming V-formation(2 units) protecting the ends of all corridors. Most of the time your enemies will run to the center of the V and thus get flanked by BOTH phalanxes, killing them extremely quick. Use your general as a reserve should someone get trough, most of the time heavy cavalry seems to survive a frontal charge into pikes. This tactic helped me win heroic victories against multiple Roman full stacks with just 8 armoured hoplite units and a general, and only few losses. You can also block the corridors(I used to do that) with 1 unit, but you never get the kill rate of the V-formation, and your men usually tire out and get killed.

In the meantime your towers can do their work shooting their units apart, and they will be tired when they reach you....

- Put a militia hoplite/levy phalanx unit in front of the gate, just let them die, doesn't matter, they will hold their line long enough for the boiling oil to do some serious damage and they will tire the enemy. If they are upgraded and have more experience they can even win the battle outright. Only happened once to me, most of the time they rout when they get winded/tired or when heavy cavalry breaks trough their formation.

- once a phalanx formation has been disrupted(by cavalry and the like), put them out of guard mode, keep the in phalanx and just click the enemy unit. They will switch to their pike/spears again and let the slaugther recommence.

- when playing numidia, get carthage ASAP, build barracks and start spamming numidian legionnaires. While still crappy and take 2 turns to make, they are the only decent infantry you'll get. Without them you'll get slaughtered by spain or the scipii soon, because your skirmisher units are no match for their infantry.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIPS MAN , I LIKE THAT WITH PHALNX AND BOILING OIL....

LEONIDAS

[LeonidasOfSparta]

ANYWAY HERE ARE SOME OF MY NEW TIPS:

-IF YOU ATTACK ENEMY AND YOU HAVE SPY WITH YOUR GENERAL YOU WILL SEE ENEMY'S ARMY IN DEPLOYMENT

-IF YOU MOVE YOUR ARMY ON ENEMY WATCHTOWER YOU WILL CAPTURE IT , BUT BEWARE ENEMY REBEL ARMIES CAN DO SAME TO YOU!

-IF YOU WANT ANY ARCHER TO MAKE MEELE ATTACK HOLD ''ALT'' BUTTON WHILE AIMING ON ENEMY ( SAME IF YOU WANT ELEPHANT TO USE RANFED ATTACK )

-IF YOU HAVE SPY INSIDE CITY AND YOUR ASSASIN TRIES SABOTAGE MISSION HE WILL SE HIS CHANCES AND BUILDING HE TRIES TO SABOTAGE

-IF YOU WANT TO BE ON DEFENSIVE WHEN YOU ATTACK SETTLEMENT SIMPLY STARVE IT AND THE LAST TURN ENEMY WILL SALLY FORARD TO YOU WITH HALF OF HIS ARMY DEAD OF STARVATION!

-WHEN YOU BRIBE SETTLEMENT THAT HAS AROUND 2000 POPULAATION AND YOU HAVE NO ARMY TO GARRISON IT JUST FILL THE RERUIMENT QUEE WITH PEASANTS REDUCING IT'S POPULATION TO 400. NEXT TURN IT WILL HAVE FULL PUBLIC ORDER

-IF ANYONE OF YOU IS PLAYING VANILLA UNMODDED GAME HERE IS TIP FOR YOU, IF YOU WANT TO CONQUER CITY WITHOUT PROBLEMS JUST ATTACK IT WITH TWO SEPERATE ARMIES. ENEMY CAN SALL ONLY ONCE AND OTHER ARMY WIL STILL SIEGE SETTTLEMENT WHILE OTHER WITHDRAWS

MORE TO COME , HOPE THIS HELPS!

REGARDS
LEONIDAS OF SPARTA

[Calyptus]

I consider the last one an exploit and a cheat, same with bordering the red line with your phalanx. I don't use those, as long as the obstacle is natural like a wall or a gate it's ok, but exploiting artificial obstacles or clear errors in the gamecode(like blitzing) is pure cheating.

I've never won at vh/vh just because of this, and usually play at m/m or h/m just for the sake of the computer not cheating(much) as well...

[LeonidasOfSparta]

I consider the last one an exploit and a cheat, same with bordering the red line with your phalanx. I don't use those, as long as the obstacle is natural like a wall or a gate it's ok, but exploiting artificial obstacles or clear errors in the gamecode(like blitzing) is pure cheating.

I've never won at vh/vh just because of this, and usually play at m/m or h/m just for the sake of the computer not cheating(much) as well...

yes that is cheating... I don't do it myself but somebody uses that....

Leonidas

[morteduzionism]

I don't know any "tricks" but I think I can offer some "tips" that may help. I think it's better to not begin bad command habits especially bad habits that will hamper campaigns on other mods(there's no guarantee you'll ALWAYS play RTW: Vanilla). So it's best to avoid bad/stupid practices from the start.

Economic
-Keep taxes in governed settlements set to "High". IIRC the other levels give negative traits. Taxes in non-governed settlements should be on "Normal"
-Use taxes to influence your economy: raise/lower taxes to control revenue. if you want to avoid the 50K penalty, as you approach a predetermined marker(i.e. 40K) lower taxes to decrease profits; raise them when you approach 10K
-Most lucrative trade routes are found across the Mediterranean. Build ports!
-There are two(that I've seen) different types of trade cities(sea power/land power). Ports should be the main focus in the sea power city while Markets are better for the land power cities.

Political
-Use spies to scout the line-of-march for your armies
-Generals who use spies gain traits(the spy must be apart of the army prior to his[the spy] mission in order to earn the General a trait increase
-Attack enemy/neutral forces if/when they cross a border into your territory
-Assassinate invading Generals
-Use alliances to isolate an enemy: i.e.; Germania is allied to Thrace, Sarmatia, Gallia and Carthage...if you get an alliance with Thrace, Sarmatia and Gallia and then attack Germania they'll lose all those alliances
-To avoid ballooning populations do not build certain constructions(Farms, Forum, high level sewers) in the city whose population you want kept down. Basically build the first level farm/market/sewers ONLY(in the case of farms definitely ONLY build the first level 95% of the time. The other buildings you can decide on a case-by-case basis, keeping in mind that bigger pops make more squalor...high squalor may cause plague) To the best of my knowledge I don't think there are any adverse effects to having static or negative 'Population Growth.'

Military
-Generals are NOT to lead cavalry charges! They're in command so let them command

• stirrups will not be available for another @800yrs
• if you want a family member to lead cavalry charges, use a tribune(a young family member that accompanies the army)
• keep the General behind your lines as a floater: let him remain close to the main battle line to offer encouragement(infantry morale is boosted by the presence of the General) and plug a hole if needed. This can't be done if he's somewhere goofing off(charging every enemy unit on the field)

-NEVER charge spearmen head-on with cavalry. Horses aren't stupid and only stupid things(humans) charge head first into sharp pointy objects. Also, I think alot of mods have rebalanced cavalry so they simply CAN NOT survive a headlong charge into spearmen like on Vanilla. Did I also mention that it's a stupid tactic?
-Use skirmishers(Velites, Italian Skirmishers, Peltasts, etc) to fight elephants. When fighting elephants it's best to fight them AS FAR AWAY from your army as possible.(I have some screens of this I'll try to post later)
-AVOID fighting phalanxes head on!
-Use 'guard mode' against barbarians but not against phalanx using nations. Barbarians(Gauls, etc) already fight in a disorganized mob trying to match them with another(your soldiers when 'guard mode' is off) isn't wise. Maintain a disciplined formation and cut the lightly armored barbs down. While phalanxes are best attacked by having soldiers lap around the flanks(i.e. Romans using 'at ease' instead of 'guard mode') Another reason for this is that when soldiers are not in 'guard mode' they chase routers, if one unit runs off chasing a fleeing unit they run the risk of being ran down by enemy cavalry.
-Keep a careful eye on the stamina of your infantry. Know the stages(Fresh; Warmed up...) and disengage them as soon as they get 'Tired' or you feel they are approaching 'Tired'(most casualties are suffered when soldiers become tired/exhausted)...this is when you switch them for 'Fresh' infantry(Principes, etc)
-Be mindful of terrain on the Campaign Map prior to doing battle. If an enemy is just standing somewhere waiting to be attacked, check the ground beneath its' feet(click/hold right mouse button) it may be that they are in low mountains, forests, etc(in other words making it more difficult for you)
-Playing as Romans: use Velites to flank the enemy and attack them from behind with both pila and melee. In addition to this Velites are excellent at chasing routers(just make sure there's no enemies left that can catch them out in the open)

Well that's all I could think of for now. Hope it helps someone.

[LeonidasOfSparta]

SURE IT HELPS!

FANTASTIC REPLY , THX VERY MUCH FOR DETAILED EXPLANATION!

REGARDS
LEONIDAS

[Calyptus]

a campaign hint, try to confine the brutii and scipii to Italy, it helps in the long run. Kick the scipii out of messana asap, they never seem to recover and land a new stack at sicily. The brutii will take appolonia very quick in the campaign, kick them out again asap, they have never tried a new crossing in 50 years for me.

Can't use this trick with the julii tho, you might want to land a full stack around mediolanum and start conquering, eliminate, destroy all buildings and give it back to the gauls/germans. This will slow them down at least, until you are ready to conquer all of italy(it was cake upwards until the julii for me). Once I was bordering with the julii they stopped expanding to the north, the britons even took back a town before they made an alliance.

[LeonidasOfSparta]

a campaign hint, try to confine the brutii and scipii to Italy, it helps in the long run. Kick the scipii out of messana asap, they never seem to recover and land a new stack at sicily. The brutii will take appolonia very quick in the campaign, kick them out again asap, they have never tried a new crossing in 50 years for me.

Can't use this trick with the julii tho, you might want to land a full stack around mediolanum and start conquering, eliminate, destroy all buildings and give it back to the gauls/germans. This will slow them down at least, until you are ready to conquer all of italy(it was cake upwards until the julii for me). Once I was bordering with the julii they stopped expanding to the north, the britons even took back a town before they made an alliance.

YEAH I DO THE SAME , CUT THE EXPANSION OF OTHER 2 ROMAN FACTIONS.

LEONIDAS

[morteduzionism]

a campaign hint, try to confine the brutii and scipii to Italy,

Why? What, in game, reason do you have to start hostilities, whether direct or indirect, with your allies this early in the game? I'm more of a roleplayer...so I'm just curious about your rationale.

it helps in the long run.

How? By making the game even easier than it already is?

[Lord Romanus III]

When playing as Parthia, always use Eastern Infantry as arrow absorbers, save your Horse Archers.

Use slingers, they can devastate most heavy infantry from behind.

If using slingers to hit the enemy from the front, try to aim for a unit behind the one you want to hit.

Buil Trade Caravans to increase land trade.

Playing as an eastern faction, it is best to use small squads of 5-10 units of horse archers to defend your land.

Cordially, Lord Romanus III

[LeonidasOfSparta]

thx for tips Romanus , they are great

Leonidas