A couple of questions

**Illyrians** · June 25, 2009, 05:57 PM

1. Do you guys play with AI bonuses? I play on VH and I spy macedon's cities and see them all have -2500 income but yet they have 10 full stacks which I found ridiculous. Same with Germany they send stacks down like nothing.

2. Can I make the AI more aggressive? Is there a download possibly?

3. What is the best way to fight Phalanxes with Roman armies?

4. How do you handle revolts in your cities, ex, conquer a carthaginian city but the public order is 40% even on low?

That is about it, I will try to rep anyone who posts answers here. Great mod, thanks.

**stormer** · June 25, 2009, 06:04 PM

1- I play without Bonuses because I am basically rubbish at this game.

2- Don't think so, that's the AI for you.

3- Get some hoplites to hold the line while you flank with your cavalry and roman troops.

5-If you conquer a city with a large population then it's best to either exterminate or enslave. The first turn the PO will be low because it is a new ruler for the city but then It will gradually go down.

Hope I answered your questions.

**Publius Quirinus** · June 25, 2009, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by Illyrians

1. Do you guys play with AI bonuses? I play on VH and I spy macedon's cities and see them all have -2500 income but yet they have 10 full stacks which I found ridiculous. Same with Germany they send stacks down like nothing.

I typically select reduced bonuses, then manually halve all the bonuses again in the EDB. That way you see enough stacks and troop quality to provide a decent challenge, but not that much stack spam.

Originally Posted by Illyrians

2. Can I make the AI more aggressive? Is there a download possibly?

You already play on VH, which makes the AI overall more aggressive towards you I think. Other than that I suppose the only way to increae their aggressiveness would be to increase their the AI bonuses some more.

Originally Posted by Illyrians

4. How do you handle revolts in your cities, ex, conquer a carthaginian city but the public order is 40% even on low?

As stormer said, exterminate. I almost always exterminate the cities in Africa (unless I'm playing Carthage of course). A good idea is to have a high-influence family member and/or a half-stack of vigiles tag along for such emergencies.

Or if you have some spare change and neither of the above you could hire some/all the mercs from the merc pool.

**Spartan198** · June 25, 2009, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by Illyrians

1. Do you guys play with AI bonuses? I play on VH and I spy macedon's cities and see them all have -2500 income but yet they have 10 full stacks which I found ridiculous. Same with Germany they send stacks down like nothing.

Depends. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

4. How do you handle revolts in your cities, ex, conquer a carthaginian city but the public order is 40% even on low?

Same boat as the two guys who posted before me. Enslavement works well. If they continue revolting, I start exterminating.

**Illyrians** · June 26, 2009, 11:04 AM

Thanks for the replies. BTW, I play campaign on VH not battles.

**Illyrians** · June 27, 2009, 05:25 PM

1 more question how do you take out the reduced bonuses? And do I have to start my campaign with Rome all over again if I take out the bonuses??

Also the BI version will have upgraded cities for barbarians right?

Little rant, It's very annoying when you have to bust your balls to produce stacks while Macedon has 6 full stacks outside some barbarian village. All of their cities are -2000 income!

**stormer** · June 27, 2009, 05:40 PM

That's because on VH the AI gets a set amount of money every turn to help it grow.

If you want to play without bonuses then you have to download the game again.

**Publius Quirinus** · June 27, 2009, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by Illyrians

1 more question how do you take out the reduced bonuses? And do I have to start my campaign with Rome all over again if I take out the bonuses??

You will have to reinstall, but you won't have to start a new campaign though.

Originally Posted by Illyrians

Little rant, It's very annoying when you have to bust your balls to produce stacks while Macedon has 6 full stacks outside some barbarian village. All of their cities are -2000 income!

I agree, which is why I play with reduced reduced bonuses...

**CaesarVincens** · June 28, 2009, 01:29 AM

Originally Posted by Quirinal

Originally Posted by Illyrians

Little rant, It's very annoying when you have to bust your balls to produce stacks while Macedon has 6 full stacks outside some barbarian village. All of their cities are -2000 income!

I agree, which is why I play with reduced reduced bonuses...

To be fair, the bonuses won't help them recruit stacks much if all (and I mean everyone) of their cities is losing money, but playing VH campaign will.

**Vae victis** · June 29, 2009, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by Illyrians

Little rant, It's very annoying when you have to bust your balls to produce stacks while Macedon has 6 full stacks outside some barbarian village. All of their cities are -2000 income!

The AI in XGM is one of the best I have seen in TW mods. Even with reduced bonuses, there is a lot of activity and the AI will produce many stacks. On very hard difficulty, the AI gets either a 10000 denari a turn budget, or an unlimited income each turn. It will build units and buildings in all of its cities every turn, and produce many stacks. On very hard difficulty the AI will go out of its way to attack the player. Expect to be attacked by anyone who can reach you by land or sea. Very Hard difficulty in this mod is almost unplayable and will be very challenging to even expert players.

Hard dificulty is also very difficult. All factions that you share a border with will eventually attack you. Expect to fight on 2 or more fronts at the same time. In RTW the AI has no public order penalties, and on very hard, will recieve an extra 2000 denari per turn.

I have been trying out diiferant difficulty levels for XGM, and I think that the best balance, for me at least, is on medium/medium with reduced bonuses. Good luck with your campaign!!!

**DimeBagHo** · June 29, 2009, 03:35 PM

I usually play on H/H. I wouldn't recommend VH for the campaign or battles. In battles you will get a lot of very unrealistic results, and at the campaign level diplomacy will never work at all.

**Lycurgus the Lawgiver** · June 29, 2009, 05:18 PM

I always thought I was a loser for playing on m/m with reduced bonusses. I feel much better now

**Vae victis** · June 29, 2009, 05:29 PM

lol, I know the feeling. All mods are differant though, some can be played on harder difficulty levels then others. Even the faction you play as makes a differance. Its not a contest though. Some people just have more experiance playing than others.

The difficulty level you play on does not matter. What matters is if you had fun playing it.

**Spartan198** · June 30, 2009, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by Vae victis

The difficulty level you play on does not matter. What matters is if you had fun playing it.

Amen!

**ImperatorHawk** · July 03, 2009, 02:50 PM

Because this has been named a couple of questions I believe this is the correct place for this

How do I increase the deafault unit size so like my Hoplites up from 50 men to 100 or more? Thanks

**CaesarVincens** · July 03, 2009, 03:17 PM

From the main menu go to Options then Video Options. Unit size should be there, though you may have to check advanced options. This affects new games only.