Questions

[test12345]

1)what are battle map shadows?

2)what are campaign shadows? (wtf is the diff between #1?)

3)what do unit shaders do?i couldnt tell any diff. w/o them.

4)how can i get rid of the experience upgrade shine?

5)how can i get rid of the shadows on the characters all together? i dont like the 'hi quality' shadows and i dont like the little balls of ugly shadows if that option is disabled.

6)does anyone here allow any of their settlements to be auto-managed? its hard to not have them auto managed, but if you do, it seems like the ai makes crap decisions.

thanks

[Drunken]

1) They are the shadows that appear on units in battle
2) They are the shadows around characters, assassins, ect on the map
3) I think that unit shaders just generally make the unit look better, its also a fix, I believe, for the problem where units legs look like pins.
4)Not sure what that is
5) If you take the tick out of high quality shadows, you should then be able to take the tick out of shadows. Both options are in the video options in the main menu
6)I tend not to have mine automanaged, because I tend to get by with little money, and conserve it and spend it on somehting important rather than whatever I can afford, like the AI does.

[Decimus Equitius]

4. In your Preferences.txt file in the preferences folder you have to change a line to :
Show_Unit Upgrade_Effect :FALSE from TRUE
it will not be exactly like that but you'll know when you see it.

6. I never use the auto manage feature because the computer doesn't know how to manage. Just right click your city tab and you can see all your towns. and whether they are building or recruiting or angry.

[test12345]

thanks....

about the shadows...they are unticked, but there is this annoying little circle that supposed to be the shadow. i wish i could get rid of it all together.

also...what exactly does smoke and dust do? sometimes when you zoom in on your characters, there is annoying smoke and dust thru the screen, but if i remove this option im scared that the smoke from the arrows will go away.

advice?

[guyyug]

you could look in the prfernece menu

[Drunken]

thanks....

about the shadows...they are unticked, but there is this annoying little circle that supposed to be the shadow. i wish i could get rid of it all together.

also...what exactly does smoke and dust do? sometimes when you zoom in on your characters, there is annoying smoke and dust thru the screen, but if i remove this option im scared that the smoke from the arrows will go away.

advice?

Not sure about the little shadows as unticking the box should have removed them. You will need to wait for someone who knows about editing the preference file or something answers.

As for the smome question, try it off, and if it does remove the smoke from arros, just put it on again. I dont know as it improves performance much having it off.

[test12345]

is it important to actually do the senate missions?

[Drunken]

Doing them gets you money and the occasional unit (both of which are important when starting a campaign). It would be hard noramlly to do all of the missions set, as the senate tends to ask the same ones, regardless of where your armies and navies are, sometimes making it impossible to get to the objective in time.

As far as I know nothing bad will come of not doing them, except loosing popularity with the senate, meaning your less likely to get generals eleceted into important posisions ( which boost various attributes).

[test12345]

whats a sap point?

and whats the diff between a seige tower and ladders? in the game they seem to be the same.

any tips for assaulting cities? it only lets me break down one wall at a time, and the only breakable wall seems to be the gate, and that always boils me to death.

[NobleNick]

4)how can i get rid of the experience upgrade shine?

UNIT_EXPERIENCE_UPGRADE_EFFECT:FALSE (in your preferences file.)

6)does anyone here allow any of their settlements to be auto-managed? its hard to not have them auto managed, but if you do, it seems like the ai makes crap decisions.

Yes they do make bad decisions. I, and many I know on this forum, prefer to manage all settlements. It is time consuming, but I find it fun, and often crucial.

is it important to actually do the senate missions?

It is typically important, but not mandatory.

In the beginning of the game you get valuable cash rewards for doing the missions, PLUS the first few missions are typically very helpful to getting your empire going. (In other words, the beginning missions are what you would do anyway, if you were smart. The senate's reward makes it even smarter.)

In the mid-game, doing the missions is not as crucial. The Senate may try to stretch you a bit thin; so sometimes it is in your best interest to ignore them. But it pays to not tick the Senate off by ignoring them completely: Among other things, they assign Senate offices which give your leaders influence. I try to do at least three-quarters of the missions the Senate assigns; so that I can comfortably blow off the preposterous ones they assign.

Towards the end of the game, the Senate gets a little more huffy: Instead of rewards for completing a mission, often you will get a penalty if you do not complete a mission. These penalties can be severe financial setbacks.

whats a sap point?

It is a little wooden ramp that leads underground in front of enemy walls. If you man it with a unit that is able to sap (most infantry units can do this) the "sappers" will dig a tunnel to the walls and then undermine them, collapsing them to make a path for your forces to enter the city (like a gate that can not be closed).

and whats the diff between a seige tower and ladders? in the game they seem to be the same.

Siege towers provide protection for your men as they approach the walls and climb. More advanced siege towers have offensive archers (free firepower!) or even artillery in them. Epic walls can not be assaulted using ladders: you must use siege towers.

any tips for assaulting cities? it only lets me break down one wall at a time, and the only breakable wall seems to be the gate, and that always boils me to death.

There are lots of ways to get into a city without turning your guys into crispy critters. Take a look at the recent thread "Siegeing Tactics for stone walled cities" (sic) in the battle planning forum.

[test12345]

so, the people i chose are the guys who are blue...sorry i dont remember their names. Anyway, i conquered Carthage (is there somewhere i missed? they arent on the map. but i saw one of their assasins and they still have turns...). Should i conquer numidia now?

thanks

[Lusted]

Carthage still probably have settlements left in Spain, and in the islands next to spain, the small ones. Go for numidia if you want, when i played as the Scipii(the blue guys), i would go for carthage then go and try to get some of greece if the brutii haven't taken it all yet.

[NobleNick]

Carthage still probably have settlements left in Spain, and in the islands next to spain, the small ones. Go for numidia if you want, when i played as the Scipii(the blue guys), i would go for carthage then go and try to get some of greece if the brutii haven't taken it all yet.

Good point: Getting some of Greece is good. They have rich cities and good wonders. Getting some is not easy; but it is worth it.

Demolish Carthage before going for Numidia. A neat trick I was recently taught is to NOT totally demolish Numidia. Instead, leave just one province as a buffer between you and Egypt. (Because, if you don't, Egypt comes after you on H/x difficulty, and I imagine they do the same on VH/x.) Egypt is not who you want to mix with until you are good and ready.

[test12345]

well....right now egypt and greece are so annoying. i cant even win without cheats. egypt fights me about every round; theyre endless. how do you actually beat this damn game? its so hard lol...

and no matter what, neither egypt nor greece will accept and diplomacy. and because they wont accept, my guy cant get experience in diplomacy, and....well, its an endless circle.