Wow!

[Hoffman]

So I installed 6.0 this morning, a few difficulties later that I fixed through the options menu and some clever work with my video card settings I finally get into a good Campaign.
I'm running on M/M. And to say that Hannibal surprised me in Sicily is an understatement.

After sitting there for about half an hour thinking about how to disrupt his attack I finally place my Velites and Slingers with the two units of Hastati that I recruited.
(Thank God I decided to spend my starting cash on reinforcing Messina)

The Elephants fall down and another unit runs amok, blasting its way throuhg Hannibal's ranks and nearly killing Hannibal himself.

He withdraws, and then I send the southern Legion to Sicily to make sure he doesn't attack again.

I forget the guy's name but we perform a night attack against Hannibal, 100 Romans died and 300 Carthaginians escaped, Hannibal and his elite guard never made it off the field.

Two turns later Messina is again under attack, this time by Theagus, a smaller army and not as experienced as Hannibal's, they still feel they have the power to thwart what has now been commissioned as First Legion.
In a daylight attack First Legion advances and crushes the Carthaginian advance, due to the action of an elite Sacred Band unit, 200 Romans fell but only a Company of Balearic Slingers managed to escape.

In the North, 2nd Legion defended Segeta from the attack of Lugotorix, who's Gaulic army suffered massive losses but he was able to flee the field with his Guard and 200 men, 2nd Legion lost 500 men in the fighting.

Despite heavy losses to the Hastati, 2nd Legion tracks down Lugotorix, and slaughters the remnants of the Army, and then posts watch towers on the frontier while pulling back to Arretium to replenish their losses.

One fleet has fallen to Pirates, but the money is flowing in quite nicely, with well over 10,000 Denarii per turn of profit, The Northern cities are quickly sprouting to metropolae and soon will be producing Legions for the Northern Frontier. Capua and Messina are the most advanced of the Souther Cities and will quickly join the Northern cities in troop production.

One rebel army has been sighted near Capua, but there are no troops available to keep them at bay, they appear peaceable enough but all city Garrisons are being increased in anticipation of an attack.

[lt1956]

Also keep in mind that those Rebel armies are BLOCKING your trade. lol Also you start off with a good income kinda I think about 7-8k But the key is the legions you just lost alot of men and if you have more than 2 legions which you should as it will get harder if your not careful. I also suggest playing with the garrison script. Good job on carthage I am surprised you killed so many without so many lost, did you use a certain expliot tactic to accomplish this? Carthages army wasnt a pushover.

Lt

[Hoffman]

It was a night attack, and I advanced in standard formation, but I think because it was a night attack and they were hidden in the woods they piecemealed their attack and I was able to route serveral of the Poeni Infantry without them able to bring much force on my line, it was also alot easier because I had killed all their Elephants in the siege of Messina, so I didn't have them to worry about.

The second battle was a little more costly but I was able to draw their elephants away and kill them, the swift application of the Principes to reinforce my Hastati saved alot of lives in these battles, as I knew I wouldn't have full replenishment capabilities for awhile so the more men I could spare the more I have to fight later.

This kind of setup really makes you fight to the best of your ability, I think.



The Gauls were a different story, which is why I lost alot more against them in one battle than I did against Carthage in two, they immediately attacked my line and didn't piecemeal their attack and it was a difficult day for the Equites I'll tell you that.

[lt1956]

When I first played a campaign with SPQR 6.0 after I was close to finishing and wanting to have some fun and test it out, I lost 1 Legion against the gauls after being hit twice. And I lost one in sicily, this was Before I move the legion inland. Also this was before diplomats were added back. So until you get use to it 6.0 can catch you off gaurd and the garrison script is the Key, it Slows you down alot and makes you think your next move. I was at 230BC and only had 15 Provinces. lol I had sicilia and the the two northern provinces and then the Island. Running SPQR without the script to me isnt really playing SPQR 6.0, its playing the easy version. lol

[Hoffman]

... err... I don't understand what you said in that post, mayhaps you have the wrong topic?

Right now I'm focusing on building my economy and building up my army and haven't taken any cities, I think I activated the Garrison script when I started... Esc-?-button on Advisor thingy, right?

I haven't had the chance to see it in action because I haven't attacked anyone yet, merely made offensive defenses in my own provinces.
I don't see how people are having such a difficult time with battles, though, to my knowledge I'm not using any exploits and doing my best to fight the way the Romans did, I don't use the pause button unless I'm taking screenshots (which I later forget to post). But during the deployment phase I really sit down and think through each battle, and my initial setup is one which can easily be shifted to counter the disposition of the enemy force.
What I don't like about R:TW and the TW series is that you don't actually march and scout for the actual position of the enemy army and maneuver yours to advantageous terrain. (You can to a certain extent in R:TW, but not the kind of maneuvering abilities I'd like to have.)
I've even gone so far as to allow a delay for commands if the General isn't in close proximity to the troops.
However, Cavalry is a different thing, since the Cavalry Officers are dashing, agressive, and can read a battle and know where they need to put their forces.
I'll try to get a good narration of a battle and do my best to include as many screenies as I can for it after I get some sleep.