Suggestion for an Improved Tactics thread

[J0shua]

Hello Spqr moderators and fellow fans

First of all I would like to adress the people who made this mod possible and say that you have made the game the pinnacle of all the total war games (who wants to play anyone but the Romans anyway).

However, after been playing this game on-and-off for more than a year i thought it might be time for me to contribute to the forum with a few suggestions.

One thing I'm missing a bit which I thought could be cool to include is a sticky thread, would be an improved tactics thread .
What I mean by this is a thread that collects any tactics and formations being used by seasoned players (going above and beyond the use-javilins-against-elephants tactics), which still honor the official house rules (e.g. Don't mention bridge-battles)

To show you what I mean I have created a list of ideas on improved tactics, and another list of things I would like to know more about how to use properly. Most of the ideas in the first list is things I recall having read in previous threads, but feel free to correct me if any of these go against

List of Ideas to add to the iproved tactics thread:
- Use of minor stacks with missile cavalry (e.g. Auxilia cavalry) to soften up enemy stacks before sending in a full legion.
- Use of forts on chockepoints and put in a few velites, slingers and town watch, to delay invading armies
- When sieging use a auxiliary legion as primary army and a proper legion as reinforcements. When the auxiliary legion has taken the walls, retreat and use the proper legion to finish the job.

List of things I would like to hear your input on:
- What is the best use for artillery?
- Do you use flaming arrows against heavily armored enemies or only against siege weapons?
- What enemies are most vulnerable against slingers and when is it best to use arrows instead?

Thats is all I could think of for the moment, but fell free to contribute with any further points.

Also I think it could be cool if the final vesion could be part of the index so people don't have to browse through the more than 1000 posts in the “Tactics quentions thread”

Lemme know what you think.

[lt1956]

I like the idea, but its up to someone to make the list so people can read it.

As for your questions.

1. Arty is only used in sieges, I never use in open battle, and neither did the romans back then.
2. I only use flamming arrows to burn siege engines, they dont work really good against units in SPQR.
3. Arrows are always better than slingers and do more damage, but Slingers are good when you dont have the money or cant build archers yet. They are basically good against Light units, they dont do much against heavy units.

Oh and on the Forts, I use a full Garrison on forts because when the AI sieges them you can Sally out 3 times and sometimes destroy their army. So forts do have a use even though the AI doesnt attack them like they did in patch 1.2, sometimes they do attack but not often. Putting 1 or 2 units in them would be just an exploit since the AI doesnt have enough sense to just take the Fort ASAP.

The New map you will see new uses for the Forts, there are more choke points that could use a legion blocking the Alpine Passes. ;-)

[Hesus de bodemloze]

Some thing like this?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=299244

[J0shua]

Some thing like this?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=299244

Yeah this is very nice indeed and I have used it alot in my battles especially against the tough Germans

However, that thread refers mostly to the general composition of legions and various deployment tactics on the Battlefield.

What I had in mind was to sort of trawl the "Tactics questions thread" for various effective in-game tips and organize them in a series og bulletpoints. Of course each of the sections should be acknowledged by LT in order to make sure that they are within the lines of the House Rules.

My overall idea behind this, is to make a list that can be used by some of the more dedicated fans of SPQR, who are willing to put the time into the game that it deserves.

Then of course there is just the matter of collecting all the useful pointers and questions from the recurring stupid questions (Ey where's my Legionary Cavalry at? )

I wouldn't mind starting by looking through the more useful threads and try to put togeather a draft of ideas that could be used for this thread .

However, you can probably hear that this is no small task and will take quite alot of browsing through old threads, so before I do this I would like to hear whether you think this is a good idea or kind of obsolete?

My dream would be that the finished list became part of the index, so it would not just get drowned in the flood of basic questions from new players.

Oh and by the way, I don't require any credit for this or for my name to be mentioned at all if this is put into the index. I do this mainly to collect the ideas of all the seasoned players in order to improve the gaming experience for all.

[J0shua]

Oh and by the way, thank you LT for answering my questions in the first post

[lt1956]

Well give it a shot and we will see when you are done.

[J0shua]

Excellent!
I'll get right on it, though due to my busy work scheduele it might take a few days.
I'll report back when I have made the first draft.