A few questions

[0069twiggy]

I just downloaded the mod and so far I love it. I love the huge epic battles and the soundtrack is awesome. However, I am having a bit of trouble playing as Rome. I am unable to defeat the Carthaginian armies mainly because of the elephants. my skirmishers and slingers seem totally ineffective. I tried sending triarii against them since they are cavalry but they got massacred. I managed to defeat Hannibal but his Elephants (the last unit to rout) slaughtered much of my army. what is the best way to counter elephants, specifically with the units I start with as Rome?

Also, I was wondering why you eliminated the rebel settlements from the mod? I liked them because it was an early buffer zone between you and your neighbors. Plus it was historically accurate as the factions in the game did not control much of the territory given to it in this mod (Armenia for instance)

One last question. why does everyone start out at war with one another? I understand that this is Rome total war, but you always ended up at war with your neighbors anyway. Doing it this way just makes it even harder to get started. at least before you would have a few turns to prepare before the fighting started.

[saienga]

trouble.... even harder.

There's your answer. The mod is designed to be challenging, and diplomacy is broken in Rome, so the factions are set up to balance against each other, so that 100 years into the game, you aren't left with 2 or 3 mega-powers (super factions).

As far as the elephants... Velites, velites, velites.
You need to turn off fire-at-will and guard mode, protect them, and then micromanage them when the elephants draw within range. Two maniples of velites (with maybe the help of your general's bodyguard pitching javelins too) is enough to bring down the elephants. It just requires attention and timing.

Practice in a custom battle.

[Gath]

Elephants are tough, but there's nothing you can do but send your velites after them. You might consider trying to sacrifice a unit to keep the elephants away from your main line while the velites shoot them down, as I find that once they hit my line, the battle is quickly lost. Just pepper them with fire until they go down.

Also, the velites are useful against any heavily armored unit, not just elephants. Keep this in mind once you go up against Spartans...

[Ketnix]

Prepare to be on campaign for along time. When I started playing this mod I underestimated how long campaigns would take.

Now elephants are tough, especially early on in the game when you have very little experience on how to combat them. Just keep them away from your troops as much as possible. Save your velites to take them down with their spears. If all else fails if any of your infantry havn't used their pilum then use them aswell (not sure how effective that is, because I have no problem taking down elephants with velites).