Tough!

[Bearhugger]

wow. this mod is tough as the romans.
how on earth shall i defend against 4 full stacks with only 2 full stacks?
gauls coming from the north and carthage from the east.
please help!

[Roman Clone]

Did you build mines in Arretium and Rhegion?

[Bearhugger]

a built walls in all settlements for 4500 (of 5000). only to see that they are of no use against elephants
next turn i built ports as many as possible.
but on turn 2 my 2 northern cities are besieged by gaul.
my southern legion lost ( but killed 2000 enemies) against carthage.
so i only have one legion left (moving south).
carthage is also attacking me.
and, btw, why can i only build hastati and town watch?
are barracks not upgradeable?

btw, i play on h/m

[Roman Clone]

What about your legion in capua?

[Bearhugger]

i only have 2, havent i? in capua???
have to look...

[Roman Clone]

One in the North, one in the south, and one in Capua, just make sure to move 2 units from a nearby town in, to keep public order. I'll make a Guide for the first turn tomorrow.

[Bearhugger]

indeed. there is one in capua. that should even the odds.
i will restart campaign and attack the enemy with one legion (capua) and one legion as reinforcements.
the remaining legion (north) somehow needs to fend off the gauls.

damn, this thing is tough! i can tell you that...

even more difficulty? no thanks. as soon as i will be able to do as you said. i will have fun CONQUERING, and not trying to survive

what about the barracks? how can i upgrade them?

also, should i put my hastati/principes/triarii on guard mode? do they fight better then?

[Player8]

Here's how to start the game - retreat from sicily, defeat hannibal with a legion use the other legion to defeat the merc army who is also in Italy - use 1 legion to defeat Gaul's 2 armies in the north. The first turn build a wall in that northern most town in Italy and then make your army that beat hannibal build a fort to keep it safe while u bring the second legion out of capua to finish the job. The 2nd turn your northern most city will be beseiged (thats why we built walls) then kill 1 army of Gaul and send the legion after the one who is beseiging the town (wall buys you time). you should then start building a mine in Arretium - costs 5k i believe but will make nearly that every turn after it is built. meanwhile defeat the army of carthage in the south and either take the city or leave it for later to see if they will build an army and you can have some more fun / difficulty with them. The next building will be a mine in Reghion when you can and redeploy a legion to the northern border. - Now you will have a good foothold on your territory and your economy will start to boom.

[Roman Clone]

My advice:

Spend your 5000 on Arretium's mines. That will provide enough money to build at the most 2 legions. Take the legion in Capua and use it to Kill Theophanes because facing the carthaginian threat in a city is hard, best to take it to the field. For beating hannibal......[Make sure it's a night battle]


Place your legion at the end of the map, so that they waste their strength marching to you. When they come, wait for them to charge at you, and then when their entire line of infantry faces your line of Hastati, send in the Principes. use your Triarri to patch up any broken line or to engage cavalry. Bash them with your slingers and use your velites to kill their ele's. use your equites for flanking and chasing down their archers who can make your units rout just by mass firing. I'll post more later........, and kill hannibal ASAP because it will make his men really scared.

[Bearhugger]

what about the elephants? how to kill them?

[Roman Clone]

I said, but I guess you don't know what ele's meant. Use Velites and as a last resort Triarri because:

1. they're spearman
2. They have the best morale

[Bearhugger]

ìll try. e-l-e-phantes. now i know what eles means

is it normal that i cannot upgrade barracks and can only build temple of jupiter (and no other temples)?
also nearly all my cities (as rome) have 5000 inhabitants. exactly 5000.
maybe i didnt download the mod properly...?

also, why is there a legion name for every city? what is it for?
uh-ah-what is it good for? absolutely no-thing!

[Garnier]

Move Lucius Julius from Arminium to Arretium, he will arrive on the second turn. And of course build arretium mines on the first turn.

1 legion in the north is enough to beat off the first Gaul stacks, and one or two in the south is enough for hannibal.

What I did last time, was I sent the first legion in the south and beat hannibal and theophanes, then since it only had about 600 men left I sent it up to Arretium to be refitted when I get buildings developed there.
Then the legion from capua went and besieged the Carthaginian city, so there was no more threat from Carthage.

[Bearhugger]

i beat hannibal the first turn killing all his army (3536 men) while losing about 600.
next turn i killed the carthaginian merc army (4041 men) while losing 1783. i also sacked tara, killing about 5000 inhabitants and the garrison (1801 men) while losing 498.

[lt1956]

I suggest playing on M/M not H/M as you probably will find the mod too hard. It was designed for M/M and the mod maker plays on that setting.

[Bearhugger]

and doing all those fights again?
no way.
also AI gets morale boost in cities in hard. it makes their empire possibly larger without rebelling towns. i prefer that to medium difficulty. i really dont like the AI losing towns due to rebellion...

thanks for these tips, sungod!

[SunGod]

wow. this mod is tough as the romans.
how on earth shall i defend against 4 full stacks with only 2 full stacks?
gauls coming from the north and carthage from the east.
please help!

That's what makes a general truly great: using limited resources creatively to overcome the greatest odds and crush your opponent into dust. Brilliant strategy sets apart the mediocre from those who are remembered by history.

Some tricks I use:

• Play a defensive war until you're powerful enough to go on the offensive. That is, defend the territory you've got and don't worry about expanding until you know you can pull it off.
• Build forts at critical choke-points on the map and put a town watch garrison in it. This inexpensive tactic will forbid invading armies from sweeping into your weakened provinces for at least 2-3 turns as they besiege the fort, allowing you time to assemble an army to counter the invaders.
• Don't engage in full-on naval war until you can afford it. Maintaining and repairing navies are VERY expensive in SPQR.
• Never underestimate the power of putting an army behind your enemies lines to agitate them and divert resources away from your front lines. For example, If you've got Macedonians sweeping into northern Italy, put together an army, get a bireme, and transport that army into Illyrica (modern Croatia, Serbia, etc.) Seige their cities, and if possible, take them and sack them completely, destroying everything you can. This will cause the enemy to divert armies to trying to stop your agitating army instead of sweeping into northern Italy. This will buy you time to gain strength in the north.
• Make peace with as many factions as soon as you can. Some will never come to the table, but I've been able to make peace with Carthage after taking Sicily, which let me focus my efforts against Gaul, Germania and the Macedonians - all obstinant peoples who won't settle for peace, and instead will succumb to the edge of the Roman Gladius when I am done with them!
• Create buffer states along your hostile borders. By this I mean take a hostile province adjacent to your border, sack it, sell everything, raise the taxes to maximum to agitate the populate into rebellion. Its best to leave a small unit there to prevent the enemy from sweeping back into the city - you want the city to revolt and become a rebel territory. Then you can let the rebels and your opponent fight it out for that province, buying you time to reinforce your armies nearby and stabilize your provinces. I did this with Massilia along my border with Gaul, and what emerged was a rebel Roman province that in time has raised a formiddable legion that not even the Gauls will get through. The rebel Romans leave me alone (for now), which let me focus my energies elsewhere. It is, though, a matter of time until I will have to face these renegade Romans, but for now, they're serving their purpose.
• When in combat, NEVER underestimate the power of flanking against any enemy, even the powerful Macedonia phalanx. Your best bet against a phalanx is to front your lines with Principes or Triarii, and have similar units in a second line, each at the ends of the line. When the phalanx engages your front line, sweep your flanking units around the ends of the phalanxes, bring them about the rear of the phalanxes, and then charge them. The enemy will worry about its flanks and take a morale hit. If you have veteran Triarii in your second line, use them now to rush through your first line and take on the phalanx. In this situation, the phalanx will collapse every time. YOu will take losses, but the tougher your units are, the lower they will be. Be wary of enemy cavalary assaults when you flank -if they charge the rear of your flankers, your flankers could route and cause your entire legion's morale to collapse and flee. Then you're screwed.
• Use the terrain! This is true in the strategic map and on the tactical combat map. It makes a HUGE difference. On the strategic map, if your legion is at risk of being attacked by a superior enemy and you have no hope of running away in time, always head for the high ground (mountains) and build a fort. Even if you get beseiged and attacked, the terrain and fortifications will help level the playing field for you and give you a fighting chance. In the tactical map, ALWAYS defend on the highest ground possible, and NEVER let yourself attack from low ground. Attacking uphill will wear down your units too much and they will be tired when you assault -this makes them easy prey for a mediocre enemy on high ground. Maneuver (walk) your force to higher ground before attacking, or at worst, bring them to an altitude equivalent with the enemy.

I could go on and on. But hopefully that will help you stop the onslaught. And remember, you are a General of Rome. You must conquer all that stand in your path - Rome demands it!

[lt1956]

I never heard of a Morale boost on Hard? I have heard of the AI getting 5000 more per turn which in turn will produce ALOT of armies and Many have Found SPQR too hard on Hard and ruins the Fun. Playing by House rules will make the mod the way it was designed to be played.

SunGods suggestion of Border states is really a form of cheating as the AI is VERY limited in RTW, and we should try not to make it TOO hard for the AI since the AI isnt really challenging in the campaigns on Total War Games.

[Garnier]

• Use the terrain! This is true in the strategic map and on the tactical combat map. It makes a HUGE difference. On the strategic map, if your legion is at risk of being attacked by a superior enemy and you have no hope of running away in time, always head for the high ground (mountains) and build a fort. Even if you get beseiged and attacked, the terrain and fortifications will help level the playing field for you and give you a fighting chance. In the tactical map, ALWAYS defend on the highest ground possible, and NEVER let yourself attack from low ground. Attacking uphill will wear down your units too much and they will be tired when you assault -this makes them easy prey for a mediocre enemy on high ground. Maneuver (walk) your force to higher ground before attacking, or at worst, bring them to an altitude equivalent with the enemy.

I personally consider it a cheap tactic to fight in mountains. If you are up higher than the AI, you can demolish him with virtually no loss.

I always move my legions into open(or at least flat) terrain.

[Bearhugger]

I never heard of a Morale boost on Hard? I have heard of the AI getting 5000 more per turn which in turn will produce ALOT of armies and Many have Found SPQR too hard on Hard and ruins the Fun. Playing by House rules will make the mod the way it was designed to be played.

SunGods suggestion of Border states is really a form of cheating as the AI is VERY limited in RTW, and we should try not to make it TOO hard for the AI since the AI isnt really challenging in the campaigns on Total War Games.

im pretty sure that on medium the player is on equal footing with the AI concerning public order in cities.
on hard, the AI gets at least 20% bonus to public order. on vh, even more.
this helps the AI to keep its settlements, coz it doesnt destroy buildings of foreign cultures when it takes a city. so theres lots of unhappiness. also it doesnt keep large garrisons.
the boost helps to counter that.