I must be pretty bad

[nightgash]

Hello all,

After just recently getting the game I have playied a few campaigns. All have been on Medium/Medium. I find that I can get off to a great start and rapidly expand but then mid to late game I am crushed and overrun by stack upon stack of enemy. They seem to churn out an endless supply of troops and I am fighting an uphill battle.

This has been on fully updated vanilla and the latest RTR. First campaign I was Juili. I took Spain, France, Germany and Great Briton to have the Bruti slowly but surely chip away and I lose city after city. The second campaign was Eygpt, I was going really well until the Scipili came with their thousands upon thousands of troops. The next was RTR as Germania. I allied with the Gauls and expanded east through the barbarian provinces until I was crushed and overrun.

I make allies but they are as good as nothing. They never come to my aid or attack the faction that I am at war with. To make matters worse my allies always backstab me.

So after hearing everyone playing the game on Very Hard it seems like I must really have no idea and should play the next campaign on easy. So in the early game I go really well but mid and late game when the AI gets going it seems almost unstoppable no matter what I do.

[Orgath]

There's that point about early-mid game that defines whether you will start steamrolling through the game or be crushed into oblivion. Unfortunately I don't know enough about your play style to give you any really good advice, but I'm sure other people can direct you to some nice tutorials and helpful threads.

If I had to guess I would say you aren't getting an army and defenses prepared fast enough.

[D.B. Cooper]

Try expanding more slowly, instead of just exploding across the map. Make sure each of your towns is properly defended before moving on to the next city. And you don't have to garrison every single town, just make one dedicated troop-training settlement that can get a reinforcing army out to the border towns when a threat comes by. Build watchtowers.

[Otto von Bismarck]

Try expanding more slowly, instead of just exploding across the map. Make sure each of your towns is properly defended before moving on to the next city. And you don't have to garrison every single town, just make one dedicated troop-training settlement that can get a reinforcing army out to the border towns when a threat comes by. Build watchtowers.

Follow this instructions and you will be fine, people make a mistake of expanding like there is no tomorrow. And then when time comes for the civil war you get obliterated by the two rival families. Remember, expand slowly but surly and you will be fine.

[Entropy Judge]

Welcome to the forums, nightgash. Just a few insights while I'm awake right now - however, as Orgath said, without more specific knowledge of how you play, this may or may not be helpful ... and just so you know, I play on M/M too. I'm too chicken to play VH/VH.

1) Allies are useless. Diplomacy in general doesn't work - I've curbstomped a faction into the dirt, left it with one city and almost no troops, then tried to get it to sign a cease-fire, no strings. They wanted *all* the cities I'd taken from them and money as well. About alliances specifically: the only one you can count on is the Roman Alliance, and that's only until the Civil War starts.

2) Specialize your cities; as the Julii, have one city build a Temple to Ceres and the rest to Jupiter (the one to Ceres is to help get the population up for the Reforms to trigger, and Jupiter gives better bonuses than Bacchus). Have one city (rather, one per region) build Archer units, one build Cavalry units, and one build Infantry. This way you aren't building three lines of buildings in each city, so you spend less money.

3) Money is good. Build Port upgrades in all the coastal cities you can, and try to expand into the Mediterranean rather than Europe - not only is it richer, but you can cut off your 'allies' (the other Roman factions) by taking Sicily and Greece before they do.

4) Agree with Ar-Pharazon - don't rush expansion, make sure you're adequately defended, and use Watchtowers a lot. Addendum: Use Spies - not only are they like mobile Watchtowers, you can use them to attack settlements before other armies can come to its aid.

I'll try to come up with more. Hope it helps some.

[boofhead]

Have one city (rather, one per region) build Archer units, one build Cavalry units, and one build Infantry. This way you aren't building three lines of buildings in each city, so you spend less money.

I never thought of that in any mod or any campaign! Sheesh

Thanks & +rep.

I'll try it next time.

[Kátz]

Try stalling the enemy in good chokepoints. examples are bridges, forts, forests(if you mastered it). And tire them with constant defeat so their march intensity is a bit decreased and your defender get the experience.

[nightgash]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I am maybe not aggressive enough mid to late game? Or when the empire expands I am poor at logistics and the new flow of troops to the front line to defend. I have not tried to specialize a each city, majority of the time I leave the cities on automanage is that bad?

Also sometimes I get a bit lazy and just auto resolve the battle which is bad as I lose a lot more troops compare to if I fought it myself on the battle map.

Also countering other factions navies, it seems like they have so many ships it is impossible to keep pace and dominate. When I was Egypt and the Scipili were rampaging after defeating Carthage they sent around 10 armies towards me. I was holding them but only just. I thought I could weaken them by blockading their main ports. I send all my ships that I defeated the Selecuids with but they all got hammered into the ground.

Anyway I will keep trying. There must be a knack with this that I am just not seeing. Maybe I am not teching up enough to get really good troops to stop these things mid to late game?

[NobleNick]

Let me add my welcome, too, nightgash!

I don't play RTR; but do play vanilla exclusively (nowadays) on VH/VH; so take this advice for what you think it is worth...

Things which have already been said, which I -KNOW- are good ideas:

1.) Build watchtowers. That extra turn or two of warning they give is quite an advantage.

2.) Use spies to extend your view even further ('mobile watch towers', as was said).

3.) A good economy is paramount. In vanilla, I make sure I have built, at least to third level, all ports, roads and markets; and all farms and mines to second level (except Patavium in vanilla --> no farm upgrades).

4.) Build specialized military buildings in each of a few cities; so that you are not building everything everywhere: saves money.

To the above I would add:

5.) If you are a war with a faction, try to avoid their armies and take their settlements. In the extreme; if you cannot take and hold settlements; then take them, raze them, and leave them to rebel. That way the enemy spends their effort taking back their own (now devastated) settlements, instead of taking yours. Use the respite to devastate more settlements.

6.) Read up and practice until you can win battles better than the AI.

7.) Finally, if nothing else works well enough, do your RTR games on Easy/Easy. Or work your way up to VH/VH in vanilla and then move on to RTR. There is no harm nor shame in that. From what I read, RTR is quite a bit harder than vanilla. Play at the level that you enjoy: That is why you bought the game, right? ENJOYMENT. Even though I played RTW at VH/VH, I dropped to M/M when I started M2TW. It did not bother me that others were bored at VH/VH and I found winning a M/M in 100 turns a challenge. I had fun! Build up expertise gradually, if you must, but do it at a rate which allows you to enjoy the journey.

I hope that helps.

[Guy]

What I like to do is take an island (such as Crete) and have my mainland settlements. The island settlement is then isolated from the rest of the factions. You have time to build an army, build a navy and doing this will be a key to not losing the game (or as you say, "being crushed").

The island of Crete also has trade-able goods. If The Greek Cities, Macedon and The Selucid Empire's territory/settlements are taken, then this is brilliant for sea trade, and helps keep denari coming in.

It will take time to claim an island though plenty is available in Rome: Total War. Crete (and most other isolated islands) are Rebel settlements. They are usually quite easy to capture. Sending around 5/6 Light or Heavy Infantry will certainly win you the island.

Also remember, diplomacy is a key aspect of the game. Try and establish an alliance with whoever possible, and trade rights to help with the financial side. Bare in mind, you can ask other factions for help and don't rush into any wars. This will only end up in loss of the settlement.

Other factions do (while further in the game) build armies with large numbers, very quickly. This simply leads back to my first point (the Island strategy).

[AqD]

hmmm I always find myself unstoppable in mid and late game... Perhaps it's due to the plagues

[nightgash]

hmmm I always find myself unstoppable in mid and late game... Perhaps it's due to the plagues

Dam I must suck!

[AqD]

Just think more before you expand The game should become easier as the campaign goes. BTW the germans in RTR lack the ability to train any useful units outside of german regions. For beginners the hellenistic factions or iberians should be better.

[snuggans]

btw, VH is easier than H.
doesn't make sense, but when you get the same amount of financial bonuses as the AI, yeah, there is little that can stop you.

They are usually quite easy to capture. Sending around 5/6 Light or Heavy Infantry will certainly win you the island.

well, i know that if you have the campaign difficulty on Hard or VH, the rebels all start with gold chevron troops.

[aznflea]

could you plz tell us more? give us a screenshot of the map or soemthing it will help us help you.

try and make as much use of EACH unit possible. try and be building something in every settlement all the time and contrary to popular belief, building farms is really useful. just be sure to let it rebel instead of using too much money trying to keep it happy and then when it does rebel exterminate it for 20k+ denarii.

[nightgash]

Chokepoints is a good, I have been trying to use them as much as possible.

Can you survive in RTW say if you take maybe 10 territories and then try and defend for the rest of the game?

This is what I did with Germany. I took over the map in an area which actually looks like the current day Germany map and a little more and then tried to defend for the rest of the game. Because I am not expanding am I getting overpowered by others for are expanding and I am not? So it is not possible to play a defensive game whereby you take a little territory and then try and hold out?

[kkaana]

Try to build lots of forts. because AI tries to conquer all of them before attacking your city. For important cities, as your capital, you could place more soldiers in the fort to defend the city. By using the forts, you can block the important ways that enemy armies may march.

[siege king]

Chokepoints is a good, I have been trying to use them as much as possible.

Can you survive in RTW say if you take maybe 10 territories and then try and defend for the rest of the game?

This is what I did with Germany. I took over the map in an area which actually looks like the current day Germany map and a little more and then tried to defend for the rest of the game. Because I am not expanding am I getting overpowered by others for are expanding and I am not? So it is not possible to play a defensive game whereby you take a little territory and then try and hold out?

It is easily possible to do a defense game. In one game as the julli i captured the rest of northern italy in the first 3 turns and then decided to defend this for the rest of the game. If u make a small well-trainded army u can hold off against anything. U just have to use brides and forests well, along with building forts and watchtowers in the right places. I lasted until 15 B.C. and then i got bored. U can win defense campaigns as long as u pick a good place to defend and dont control too much area.

[Entropy Judge]

http://rtw.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/f...f=10,2435,,all

[aznflea]

thats ai abuse and is therefore dishonourable.