General questions on RTW

**Germanicus75** · May 20, 2006, 11:43 AM

Hi folks,

I'm certainly no noob - I've been playing RTW + mods since they came out - but I was wondering if anyone has some views about the following:

- How much does the AI use mercs? I can't see that it uses them much, if at all. But I'm not sure if when the AI hires them they are still labelled as "mercenaries" on the battle and campaign maps. As far as I can see the AI only recruits armies of other cultures/factions from captured settlements.

- the army strength ratio bar on the campaign map and the battle map - does this take into account troop types + experience, or *only* numbers or men? Does it also take into account the presence and command rating of a general?

- On the battle map, I understand the army strength ratio bar shows the ratio of men *able/willing to fight*, and not the total number of men on the field for the faction. Otherwise, when all the enemy is routing, the bar would not go 100% in your favour, even though the enemy still has, say, 50% of his men on the field.

- Re. the Senate when playing the 3-family vanilla game. Is popularity with the Senate inverse to popularity with the people? Does gaining one automatically lower your popularity with the other? As far as I can see, disobeying the Senate and capturing whatever cities you choose seems to gain you pop with the people. Do you need pop with one or the other to trigger the civil war, or both? What's the critical point, does anyone know?

Thanks for any feedback!

Cheers, Germanicus91

**John Wayne** · May 20, 2006, 11:55 AM

. only when necesary
.it includes types, experience, AND number of men
.I do not see a question....
.Nope. Your popularity with both can grow/fall together. However, the closer you get to 100% popularity with the mob, the lower you popularity with the Senate becomes.

**orange slice** · May 20, 2006, 12:21 PM

Well i know that on H/H the AI uses mercs sometimes, but they still don't use them as much i as i do, i usually hire some when im going to attack a city, or i need to get some army in one of my cities fast, but i don't think the AI has any use for them, because they usually build up other units and don't worry about mercs.

And for the army strenght bar, i do think the experiernce matters along with the number of units.

**Germanicus75** · May 20, 2006, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by Americ

. only when necesary
.it includes types, experience, AND number of men
.I do not see a question....
.Nope. Your popularity with both can grow/fall together. However, the closer you get to 100% popularity with the mob, the lower you popularity with the Senate becomes.

Thanks Americ.

My question was does the battle map army strength ratio bar only show "able to fight units" rather than *total* units for the army? I believe this is seen in your ratio going to 100% on the bar when the entire enemy army routs, even though most of its army may still be on the field. Can you confirm?

So you need high pop with the masses to trigger the civil war, right? Do you know how high?

Thanks, Germanicus91

**Slimshoom** · May 20, 2006, 04:05 PM

I believe that the game sends you a message when you have high enough popularity with the masses to incite the civil war.

My question was does the battle map army strength ratio bar only show "able to fight units" rather than *total* units for the army? I believe this is seen in your ratio going to 100% on the bar when the entire enemy army routs, even though most of its army may still be on the field. Can you confirm?

When an enemy army routs, even though the units are technicaly still on the battlefield, they cannot rejoin the battle if the army has completely routed.

**Germanicus75** · May 21, 2006, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by Slimshoom

I believe that the game sends you a message when you have high enough popularity with the masses to incite the civil war.

When an enemy army routs, even though the units are technicaly still on the battlefield, they cannot rejoin the battle if the army has completely routed.

Thanks. I looked at it again today, and confirmed that the army strength ratio bar indicates units available to fight, and not remaining units on the field.

Cheers! Germanicus91

**Germanicus75** · May 23, 2006, 05:56 PM

Just wondering if there *has* to be a Roman civil war in the game? I'm onto 33 BC and there's no civil war. All 3 Roman factions are not popular with the Senate, but nor are they popular with the people either. The world is basically divided up among me (= the Scippii), the Brutii and the Julii, as well as the Seleucids.
Is it inevitable that there must be a civil war before the game ends?

**Drunken** · May 24, 2006, 04:25 AM

Originally Posted by Germanicus91

Just wondering if there *has* to be a Roman civil war in the game? I'm onto 33 BC and there's no civil war. All 3 Roman factions are not popular with the Senate, but nor are they popular with the people either. The world is basically divided up among me (= the Scippii), the Brutii and the Julii, as well as the Seleucids.
Is it inevitable that there must be a civil war before the game ends?

To capture Rome, you must go against the senate, when the time is right. As soon as you do so the other Roman factions will turn against you.
In my experience though the other factions armies arnt well balanced or designed to fight you, so they are generally easy to beat.

**Marcus Scaurus** · May 24, 2006, 04:41 AM

Originally Posted by Drunken516

To capture Rome, you must go against the senate, when the time is right. As soon as you do so the other Roman factions will turn against you.
In my experience though the other factions armies arnt well balanced or designed to fight you, so they are generally easy to beat.

It depends on how they expanded before the Civil War. Sometimes the two other families will hardly conquer anything, sometimes one or more of them will conquer much territory. If the Scipii conquered Africa, they'll have enough resources to recruit large armies to fight you. If the Carthaginians kick them out of Sicily/Africa, they won't have the resources.

**Marcus Scaurus** · May 24, 2006, 04:22 AM

Originally Posted by Germanicus91

- Re. the Senate when playing the 3-family vanilla game. Is popularity with the Senate inverse to popularity with the people? Does gaining one automatically lower your popularity with the other? As far as I can see, disobeying the Senate and capturing whatever cities you choose seems to gain you pop with the people. Do you need pop with one or the other to trigger the civil war, or both? What's the critical point, does anyone know?

Support of the people is always better than support of the Senate. Having almost no popularity in the Senate will mean that it'll get harder to get elected for an office, but offices are unimportant in RTW. You can trigger a civil war if you have enough popularity with the people (a message will come up when you have enough), it doesn't depend on your popularity with the Conscript Fathers.