Complete Newb ?s

**Tony S** · July 14, 2010, 11:19 AM

Greetings:
Been away from gaming for some time due to real life intrusions.
Now looking to start back with RTW.
Hope that you can help me with a few questions.
1. Amazon offers RTW, Gold w BI, Alexander, or all three in a package.
Which would serve me best?
Patches?
2. Vanilla or modded?
One of the reviewers on Amazon recommended the RTR mod.
But I'm wondering if its better to play through vanilla first.
Many thanks for your assistance.
Tony S...

**Fireright** · July 14, 2010, 11:35 AM

I recall Amazon is offering the Rome Anthology around £15 maybe less? So thats the best value as you get 3 games, Rome and the expansions BI and Alexander, all fully patched up so no need to plonk about looking for patches.

Maybe start with standard game first to get to grips before mods and stuff? personal preference I guess.

**♔Spike♔** · July 14, 2010, 11:38 AM

Hello Tony,

i would say aswell to start off unmodded and then when you are used to it you always could start to use mods

**NotYetRegistered** · July 14, 2010, 12:07 PM

You need to download the 1.3 patch and then the 1.5 patch for all mods.

If you can't immediatly install the 1.3 patch, install 1.2 then too.

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/p...war/patch.html

**Plant** · July 14, 2010, 02:22 PM

For some reason you can't find the infomation on patches anywhere on the total war website anymore (I guess they just don't care) but here is what I remember:

Rome patch to 1.3, then patch to 1.5
Rome with Barbarian Invasion auto installs 1.3, patch to 1.6
Gold has all patches installed already.

I've heard that BI is good but Alexander is rubbish. But I've played neither.

**|Sith| Max** · July 14, 2010, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by Plant

For some reason you can't find the infomation on patches anywhere on the total war website anymore (I guess they just don't care) but here is what I remember:

Rome patch to 1.3, then patch to 1.5
Rome with Barbarian Invasion auto installs 1.3, patch to 1.6
Gold has all patches installed already.

I've heard that BI is good but Alexander is rubbish. But I've played neither.

Those are the right patches for multiplayer, and BI is good and Alexander is indeed a bit sub par but has nice historical battles and there are some good mods for that.

**Tony S** · July 14, 2010, 03:27 PM

Thank you for your help gentlemen.

Just noticed that I can buy the games through this site.

Tony S...

**Genius of the Restoration** · July 14, 2010, 08:48 PM

You probably wont need to patch the game because it'll come with the latest patches already. Have you played a TW game before? If you haven't I recommend playing through the campaign at least once before you add any mods as they often introduce things that aren't as well explained and might lead to confusion.

**wolf90111** · July 17, 2010, 03:29 PM

vanilla.....then when you get bored start searching for mods

**Pontifex Maximus** · July 17, 2010, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Tony S

1. Amazon offers RTW, Gold w BI, Alexander, or all three in a package.
Which would serve me best?

You can get by with most mods using RTW and BI, you can get those both in a pack for a good price. I'd recommend that. I never played Alexander and tbh doesn't have much of a draw.

Patches?

Thay can all be downloaded on TWC

2. Vanilla or modded?
One of the reviewers on Amazon recommended the RTR mod.
But I'm wondering if its better to play through vanilla first.
Many thanks for your assistance.
Tony S...

I prefer the mods now but only after I played vanilla for two years. I'd say start with vanilla and when you get tired of it go for a mod.