Should I buy Rome:Total War?

[strategist.com]

I have Medieval 2 but I'm thinking of buying this game. But I heard R:TW is better than M2. Is it worth the money since this is old? Is the gameplay better than Medieval 2?

[Pericles of Athens]

I like rome i would get it to play till shogun 2 comes out then maybe they will make a Rome total war 2.
But i say you get it its fun

[Supermoler]

The gameplay is nearly like the Medieval2, only the graphics older and some features missing...

[dacder]

it has more faction diverasty and a more active MP communitry in other words BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!

[Xerrop]

Well Rome has fewer agents. No priests, merchants or princesses. And no religion (and Crusades or Jihads) to convert enemy provinces. You only build temples to get more happiness, law or unit experience. The diplomacy is broken (or non existent) - a border with another factions means war latest after three turns or so.

On the other hand you have three roman families and senate missions including an civil war after some time. And diverse cultures and types of warfare. On the other hands battles are often very short. Barbarians are routing way to fast - one clash against your roman infantry and nearly all units start fleeing. This was irritating when playing the first battles.

So it depends on the era you like more or if you prefer spears/melee or gunpowder. For the first one try Rome and if you love gunpowder and early modern era try Empire:TW (or Napoleon:TW) instead. But as Rome:TW is cheap now you can´t make much wrong. It has some very good mods offering better AI, more provinces and units and of course better graphics.

[shikaka]

Well Rome has fewer agents. No priests, merchants or princesses.

Which is a big plus

And no religion (and Crusades or Jihads) to convert enemy provinces.

This was introduced in Barbarian invasions.
That is one thing why I prefer BI over vanilla!

diverse cultures and types of warfare.

This is quite important.
In Medieval2 it is like: muslim heavy infantry in rags/catholic heavy infantry in armor/orthodox heavy inf with axe.

There are VERY different cultures. Greece phalanx - Parthian light horses - Roman legions - Egyptian chariots

On the other hands battles are often very short. Barbarians are routing way to fast - one clash against your roman infantry and nearly all units start fleeing. This was irritating when playing the first battles.

In Multiplayer this is true.
But if you use your XP temples with barbarians, they rule. The gauls/germanians break much harder then romans, with 3 XP from temples, and priest giving you command bonuses.


The diplomacy is broken in M2 too. It usually happens that I _don't do anything_ but relations drop with nations on the other side of the continent for _no reason_.

What is really a serious thing - in my opinion - is the intense squalor management you have to do, and the phalanx battle "tactics" used by the AI (if you can call it a tactic)



I think there should be a a topic stickied, something like 'should I buy Rome (2010)'.

[Miroslav Klose]

I have Medieval 2 but I'm thinking of buying this game

Buy. Play it for a while. Then you install Roma Surrectum II or I. Then you are amazed.

[eXistenZ]

I wouldn't say it's better. rome has 2 major flaws: lack of family members (i once had no FM born for 30 year), and a huge amount of squalor that requires you to cleans big cities every 20 year. non-roman factions get no missions, there is no pope, no religion, no crusades, no merchants or princesses etc.

only thing better might be the backstabbing

[dacder]

I wouldn't say it's better. rome has 2 major flaws: lack of family members (i once had no FM born for 30 year), and a huge amount of squalor that requires you to cleans big cities every 20 year. non-roman factions get no missions, there is no pope, no religion, no crusades, no merchants or princesses etc.

only thing better might be the backstabbing

I have one statement that puts that down the toilet.
Muliplayer

[eXistenZ]

I have one statement that puts that down the toilet.
Muliplayer

Srry, never heard of muliplayer

[shikaka]

I wouldn't say it's better. rome has 2 major flaws: lack of family members (i once had no FM born for 30 year), and a huge amount of squalor that requires you to cleans big cities every 20 year.

In Roman times the adoption was quite common, so it is not a big problem.

Squalor is annoying, but civilised factions can deal with it. (barbarians can't)

non-roman factions get no missions, there is no pope, no religion, no crusades, no merchants or princesses etc.

Out of this, only the lack religion is a problem.

But the fact that there are no merchants and princesses offsets that. (I never use them in M2)


What the best system would be:
- don't use diplomats, but a diplomacy menu instead (it is better to have a 'build embassy' option then to travel 20 turns with your diplomat)
- scrap princesses, merchants
- combine spies and assasins as one (maybe with buildings to specilise your apprentices in scouting/assasinations/sabotage)

This way there would be only 1 agent to manage, which would be a big plus!

[Fireright]

These kind of questions are a bit like asking your dentist if you should buy a toothbrush, he aint gonna say No is he?

Good stuff: cheap as chips, interesting gameplay and plenty of faction and unit variety. value for denarii.
Bad stuff: overdone rioting and squalor nonsense is a chore.

£10 well spent

[eXistenZ]

In Roman times the adoption was quite common, so it is not a big problem.

Squalor is annoying, but civilised factions can deal with it. (barbarians can't)

Out of this, only the lack religion is a problem.

But the fact that there are no merchants and princesses offsets that. (I never use them in M2)


What the best system would be:
- don't use diplomats, but a diplomacy menu instead (it is better to have a 'build embassy' option then to travel 20 turns with your diplomat)
- scrap princesses, merchants
- combine spies and assasins as one (maybe with buildings to specilise your apprentices in scouting/assasinations/sabotage)

This way there would be only 1 agent to manage, which would be a big plus!

Yeah but you don't get that many options for adoption. Only when you get major victories with a captain (and then you have the risk that the message doesn't arrive). I once started as bruttii, and in 240 bc i quitted, cause there wasn't a single family member born, not even a girl. On top of that, your family members become useless as governors when they reach 40-50, cause they gain so many traits that destroy their managing skills.

Squalor is a huge problem, even for romans with their super aqauducts. Every huge city has the problem.
It's true that lack of princesses, or religion isn't a problem. But the missions systems gives bonusses to the romans, who are overpowered already.

Your best system sounds a lot like empire

I wouldn't recommend the vanilla campaign (the battles are still very good), but there are a lot of mods, and the game is very cheap

[shikaka]

Yeah but you don't get that many options for adoption. Only when you get major victories with a captain (and then you have the risk that the message doesn't arrive). I once started as bruttii, and in 240 bc i quitted, cause there wasn't a single family member born, not even a girl. On top of that, your family members become useless as governors when they reach 40-50, cause they gain so many traits that destroy their managing skills.

This seems to be a problem if it happens, but honestly this never happened to me...
Whenever I have a small family and swift expansion, I am spammed with adoption offers, as the game 'wants' 1 family member per city. Or around that mark.

Also, bad traits can be avoided with not building certain buildings. High level temples of trade (I think 4+), pubs, temples of violence, love or fun.

In my games - especially as civilised factions - it is not common to have declining governors as they age.

Of course, you cannot evade the corruption traits because of having a big treasury, but it doesn't matter by then.

Squalor is a huge problem, even for romans with their super aqauducts. Every huge city has the problem.

With the cities you take late game, and were developed by the AI (farms and markets already in place) there is a problem, also with a few notorious ones like Carthage, Cordoba, Sicily, etc.

However, for civilised factions, especially romans (arena) the rest can be taken care of. Just make sure that they don't grow bigger then for example 24k, or even 15k. (high taxes, no sanitation, no farms, only lvl 1-2 markets)

Also, aquaducts seem to be a good idea, but they only delay the problem. They counter a small amount of squalor. This means that only, that your city will be stable with a bit higher population. But if the original developement idea was bad, it doesn't help much. (I don't build them too often...)

Your best system sounds a lot like empire

Kinda. I have moving agents. Too much unnecessery micromanagement.

[Genius of the Restoration]

lack of family members (i once had no FM born for 30 year)

This is unusual. The game usually tries to balance out the number of family members you to have to keep up with your rate of expansion. If you conquer faster than the family members have kids you should get adoptions, though this is chance-based so you might have just had extremely bad luck and not got one offered to you at all. Generally, this shouldn't ever be a problem.

It's well worth buying this game OP.

[Calisthenis of Dyrrachium]

RTW is...

It is...

The greatest game in existence. If you don't want to buy it for the game, buy it for the mods!
Especially XGM.

Now stop looking here and get it. If you can't find it in shops near you, get Steam. It's a bit harder to do mods on Steam, but it's possible.

Go! And remember, we're always watching.......

[dacder]

RTW is...

It is...

The greatest game in existence. If you don't want to buy it for the game, buy it for the mods!
Especially XGM.

Now stop looking here and get it. If you can't find it in shops near you, get Steam. It's a bit harder to do mods on Steam, but it's possible.

Go! And remember, we're always watching.......

multiplayer is still better than mods
and dont get steam get it on ebay or amazon as steam IS NOT good.

[RO Citizen]

You should buy RTW. It's a different athmosphere, it's very cheap and has dozens of good mods

[|Sith| Max]

Yes, rome is win.
especially the MP.
Buy it.

[Supermoler]

What a sad thing that MTW doesnt have bots in MP... From this way Rome is much better (but AI is sometimes (or always) is noob)