Accurate city development and military strategies?

[Bona Dea]

Hello lads,

my name is Clara and I'm 20 years old. First of... sorry for my bad English. It's my second foreign language and I'm still learining. (=

After months of reading the forum and playing Rome Total War I decided to install this awesome mod. <3 I also download Quintus' guide to become a true Roman to be prepared.
But I guess, I'm still a noob. So I've got a couple of questions.
I'll try to roleplay this mod but I really stuggle when it goes to develop city. Are there any hints to develop / run a city "historical correct" (as far as possible)?

I also struggle on the battle field. I guess I'm not that good general but even Gaius Iulius Caesar conquer the Gauls in 1 year
Have you any tips for me to become a good general? Any military strategies for the Roman faction?

Thanks in advance,
Clara <3

[Arkaeyn]

What kind of problems do you have in battles? The start of this mod can be difficult for the Romans, but their troops are so much more versatile that you should be able to at least hold your own.

[Bona Dea]

Well... I guess my biggest problem is to cover my sides. I don't know how to react if my oppenent try to attack my flank. I also struggle with fast movement... don't know what to do... )=

By the way... I always from a standard Legion (classic 2x2x1 composition)

[Arkaeyn]

If you're role-playing with the standard legion formation, then you should still be in decent shape to defend against flanking attacking. You should have two main strategies, one for fighting against Greek with phalanxes, and one for fighting against more mixed or "barbarian" armies.

If you're fighting the Greeks, use the checkerboard formation, which should be Shift-5 when you've grouped your armies. That'll break up the phalanx line, and it's historically accurate.

When fighting mixed armies, you need to have a mixed army. Use your auxiliaries to cover your own flanks. Cover your Hastati in the front line with the Triarii in the back line if they break, and move your Principes to cover the Hastati flanks. Like this: (note that the dots are placeholders, hyphens are enemies, and then H-P-T are Roman infantry types)

ENEMY

-.-.-.-.-.-


YOU

.H.H.
.P.P.
..T..


BATTLE


..----..
./HTH\
.P.... P

Your Principes are your best units, and better than any other units in the game in their versatility. In a battle like that, they should roll of the flanks of the enemies and quickly trigger a rout.

To make the routs trigger easier, crash your general into the enemy line's rear over and over. Don't let them fight long enough for the enemy to turn around. Just charge in, run away, charge in.

[despot_of_rhodes]

Actually, your princeps are your best line infantry troops, since hastati lack of heavy armour and high defence values of pirnceps, they are both valnurable to missile fire and frontal attacks of heavy infantry.
Hastati are the younger soldiers and therefore very hardy and do not tire as fast as princeps. Playing historicaly, they should weare the enemy troops down until the second, and the main, line of roman heavy infantry engages in the battle. But this has the consequense of quite heavy causalities. Also, if you put your infantry on guard mod they won´t tire to fast, and can perfectly hold the line against the engaging phalanx. And since the phalanx formation usually contains more men per unit, they will surround your infantry unit, tire faster and won´t be able to push through it ( of course only, if your formation isn´t to tiny ).
Fighting against phalangitai or barbarian warbands allows you to use your velites in the classical skirmish mod infront of your main line, since those units lack of larger shields or heavy armour, so the javelins of the velites can do some significant damage. But if you face greek hoplites, heavily armoured and with large hoplon shields, you would simply waste the ammunition ( the pilum has armour piercing attribute and therefore halves the armour value, but most javelines don´t. Simple example:
Velites javeline attack value: 10 ( 12 if upgraded or experienced abit )
Greek hoplite defence: 6-8 armour + 6 hoplon shield = 12 or even 14 ).
You won´t kill many of them from the front as you can see.
But you can use velites well to decimate enemy skirmishers, especially the heavier thureoporoi.
Also, if you play on hard or even very hard battle difficulty, you will have the problem, that a simple pelstast unit with the default missile attack of 11 will get +4 or even +7 attack bonus, wich means 15 or 18 on their missile attack and be able to slaughter your hastati even from the front.
Since you have no access to archers early in the campaign, use funditores with their huge range to decimate enemy javeline troops ( foot or mounted ) from the distance.
Try to hire some Tarentine Light Cavalry mercs to have a fast moving, hardy, strong and flexible cavalry unit, wich is able to charge into any skirmisher formation ( use one of your younger generals to accompany them, and they will even break any cavalry unit ), and/or use their armour piercing ability, to slaughter even the greek foot general unit from behind!
And allways bear in mind:
1. Attack enemy units with missiles preferably from the left side ( the right side of the enemy, where it is not protected by the shield ) or from behind, avoiding the shield defence completly.
2. Attack the enemy unit with your sword assault troops ( marci swordmen i.e are very cost effective compared even to hastati ) from the right flank ( protected by the shield, but where it´s defence skills aren´t counted, or at least not fully counted ). Don´t use roman allied troops, except from the heavy spearmen, wich are similar to greek phalanx, in the main battle line.
3. Do not charge into enemy formations with troops armed with pila before you have used them fully ( pilum is a thrown "pre charge" weapon, wich means, if you let your hastati charge into enemy unit, they will throw 1 pilum each, and then engage the enemy in melee ). But fighting skirmishers do not waste pila but choose the alternative attack with the sward.
4. Deal first with enemy cavalry/missile cavalry, to get the ability to encircle or outflank enemy infantry, try to bring your velites and other missile troops and cavalry behind the enemy infantry line, after you have pinned them down with your heavy infantry, turn "fire at will" off and target enemy units simultaniosly with your missile units to soften them up from behind. When you achieve "shaken" or even "weaving" of those units, put your fire on the next target, while charging it from behind with your cavalry. This will cause the insta rout of the unit, and you can chase them down with your light cavalry or some missile troops, wich have already depleted their ammunition.
5. Some troops inspire other units, like Triari, hold them behind the line, where their presence is vital, while your general(s) are maybe engaged in a combat with enemy cavalry.

Well, there are surely more tips, but if you follow those above, you should be able to win any battle playing romans even if outnumbered ( and that way get good traits and anchillaries for your commanding generals ).

[Bona Dea]

Wow... thank you so much guys. It's so great to see that someone helps me out (=

I really like the point that some units inspire some others. It's like you exactly know that some veterans back you up. Speaking of triarii ... should I use them always as a reserve elite unit (only in case of emergency)?

[Ichon]

I admire that people bother to put their units into any formations as it seems it could add some historical flavor but in all honesty I've never done that and I've played several campaigns now on VH with numerous different factions.

The easiest method for me is to see what composition of units the enemy has and try to eliminate their strongest first, or make it so their entire army does not engage at the same time. Generals can race in front of opposing enemy unit and even mock charge to draw a response and then lure a few enemy units away from the main battle line.

Terrain can also be used... split your army and the fastest units charge up a hill, turn and charge down then retreat while the other half sits still somewhere on the map and force enemy to attack uphill or use buildings or other terrain features on battle map to anchor one part of your line. Often the AI tries to keep units in formations and you can use a map feature to run the unit being attack around in circles while the AI gets disorganized and strung out then attack with a 2nd unit in the AI flank or rear. I think maybe I am used to micro playing SC and AoE for many years but the principles of command aren't so difficult. The hardest part for me is dealing with impetous units which don't follow orders.

Also the AI tends to focus its attack on a certain section of your forces but once it begins to close the distance it seldom changes its deployment. If you pay attention where it intends to attack you can quickly put your heaviest armor/highest defense unit there to meet the attack and run all your other units to the flank or to make an exceptionally heavy attack on a portion of the enemy line. Biggest benefit comes from attacking rear or non shield side of enemy or total surrounding. Even on VH units eventually will retreat though it takes them to lose more than 50% of their forces most times.

Use the 3x speed option to spend extra time manuevering units before actually fighting. It usually pays off in saving your army lives.

As for Triarii- it depends on what you are fighing. A veteran Triarii unit can be the most efficient way to hold a phalanx in place with small losses while Hastati or Principes or even Velites flank. Also Triarii are useful vs cavalry. Try not to let them take the charge unless absolutely necessary but often you can use them as a reserve and pace where the enemies cavalry move behind your own line. Then when that cavalry charges your line the Triarii can run up and take out the cavalry and fill the gap in your line. If your army is fighting without a general Triarii morale bonus can be the difference between victory and defeat in a close battle, then centering them as a reserve behind the center of your line and being very careful with the unit which has the Captain in command of the battle as well leads to victory many times with especially Romans who tend to have good armor and stamina and can live thru a meat grinder battle where masses of barbarians or low armor/weak stamina eastern mercenary type troops will die.