OK, I am loving this.

[Primative1]

RTR was the first mod of any game I played, whay back in 2006/7 and it was excellent (Platinum I think).

But this is something else.

You have managed to bring so many new concepts to an old, previously stale game.

The mini-settlements, the Roman political/military progression, blimey!

I'm not sure I have a handle on the Cursus Honorum yet, and it is rather daunting to a newb but it is fun.

The mini settlements are a great idea (I assume there is no way to grow them beyond 400?)

The battles are so hard. I'm playing Rome and had three attempts to win that first battle, had a crash when I was sure I had it in the bag, played again and I'm not so sure I did.

Current campaign: Killed Pyrrus but lost. Marched a decent army, armoured up, down south and was confident of easy victory against the remnants of the elite army. Won by the skin of my teeth. The Elephants, what was left of them, ed me in the arse. But I just scraped it.

Only played about 15 turns so far but loving it, my favorite game re-invented (and spies with the abilities I always thought they should have - brilliant!).

Great mod, thank you.

[AngryTitusPullo]

RTR was the first mod of any game I played, whay back in 2006/7 and it was excellent (Platinum I think).

But this is something else.

You have managed to bring so many new concepts to an old, previously stale game.

The mini-settlements, the Roman political/military progression, blimey!

The actual mini province concept was actually planned way before ETW is released actually. If I'm not mistaken even during or after TIC is released.

I'm not sure I have a handle on the Cursus Honorum yet, and it is rather daunting to a newb but it is fun.

Much more advance than Marcus Camillus Roman Leadership mod for RTR Platinum.

The mini settlements are a great idea (I assume there is no way to grow them beyond 400?)

Think mini settlement as towns within a province in ETW.

The battles are so hard. I'm playing Rome and had three attempts to win that first battle, had a crash when I was sure I had it in the bag, played again and I'm not so sure I did.

Current campaign: Killed Pyrrus but lost. Marched a decent army, armoured up, down south and was confident of easy victory against the remnants of the elite army. Won by the skin of my teeth. The Elephants, what was left of them, ed me in the arse. But I just scraped it.

Only played about 15 turns so far but loving it, my favorite game re-invented (and spies with the abilities I always thought they should have - brilliant!).

Great mod, thank you.

I think you should lost the first battle as Romans. The idea is not to win but to destroy as many of Epirus units as possible.

[Mausolos of Caria]

I think you should lost the first battle as Romans. The idea is not to win but to destroy as many of Epirus units as possible.

I got it as ''the idea is to play Epiros and win''

[Muizer]

Thanks mate. Innovating gameplay was a major priority for us, considering the original game is as old as it is. We've taken some pretty big risks, in fact, with new "under the hood" mechanics that proved very tough to balance, but in the end I think we achieved most of what we set out to do.

[anunnak]

There are more goodies on the way.

[Maurits]

Thanks a lot for your nice comments, this is what we tried to accomplish

Like Anunnak said, there are many more awesome features on the way on which you will be able to lay your hands when the next patch is released! Think about new units, a new faction, a completely rebalanced map and a greatly diversified Asia Minor. And then there's even more

[Primative1]

Missiles are nicely balanced too.

A lot of mods get this wrong.

[Primative1]

A few questions:

1a) Is there any way to grow the minor settlements beyond 400 pop?

b) If the answer to above is 'no', is there any reason to not max out the tax?

2a) I have moved one of my consuls back to Rome and handed the consulship over to an eligible FM. The original consul has now gained a praetor ancillary. Is there any point in leaving this with him or should I transfer it to another eligible FM?

b) Does the ex-consul still have the ability to lead armies abroad etc or should I retire him to a governor role somewhere?

3a) I've conquered the south and secured Italy, built the 2 policy buildings. Tarantem is happier with a resident FM, the other (cant remember name) is riotous with an FM. Why?

b) Do conquered settlements become romanised over time as the population grows with further policy builds or is there an event, re the social wars?

4) Whats the best way to make money? I am skint. Built roads in all the minor settlements but building anything in the major cities is ruinous. Any tips special to this mod or do I just have to be patient and build up my infrastructure?

Having loads of fun, thanks in advance for any help - will rep.

Ta

[Deathkorpsman]

A few questions:

1a) Is there any way to grow the minor settlements beyond 400 pop?

No you cannot, other than enslaving enemy territories which will increase the pop for a short time. I have occasionally had populations in minor settlements get pretty large, but they have a built in -50% pop reduction per turn until they get back to 400, so there isn't much point.

b) If the answer to above is 'no', is there any reason to not max out the tax?

None whatsoever, other than public order which is almost never a problem.

2a) I have moved one of my consuls back to Rome and handed the consulship over to an eligible FM. The original consul has now gained a praetor ancillary. Is there any point in leaving this with him or should I transfer it to another eligible FM?

Roman FM's will pick up the highest available office they are eligible for when they end a turn in Rome. If someone is eligible for Consul, and he is your best general due to traits and ancillaries, then I would leave him as Consul and send him to conquer new territory. Otherwise you can stick him with a lower office and use him to garrison a troublesome settlement someplace. I usually keep a FM with "Eligible for Consul" in Rome in order to generate new offices, which I transfer to young (16 or 17 year old) FM's to run out to the far corners of the empire.

b) Does the ex-consul still have the ability to lead armies abroad etc or should I retire him to a governor role somewhere?

Once you remove an office, the FM loses all its abilities (a FM with no office is absolutely terrible both as a governor and as a general, never use a Roman FM as either without an active office). Praetors can campaign inside your own territory, so are good for defense. In order to take the fight outside your territory, you need a Consul. Every other office is good only for being a governor somewhere, for the most part.

3a) I've conquered the south and secured Italy, built the 2 policy buildings. Tarantem is happier with a resident FM, the other (cant remember name) is riotous with an FM. Why?

If the FM doesn't have an active office ancillary, he is going to be doing nothing for local unrest so it is as if you don't have an FM there at all. You might also want to check their traits, because even a FM with active office and good management might have so many bad qualities which cause unrest that you are better off taking him out of town and leaving it with no governor. FM's without offices should generally never be used as governors when you play as the Romans.

b) Do conquered settlements become romanised over time as the population grows with further policy builds or is there an event, re the social wars?

They will romanize. The more government buildings you construct, the more peaceful and compliant they will become. Enemy spies can still cause random unrest in cities, however, which often happens in border settlements.

4) Whats the best way to make money? I am skint. Built roads in all the minor settlements but building anything in the major cities is ruinous. Any tips special to this mod or do I just have to be patient and build up my infrastructure?

Infrastructure is one way, though you might have success with diplomacy through things like selling map information and such. You can also sell buildings you don't want in newly conquered settlements (like other faction government buildings) as this has no negative effect on your running of the settlement. Keep track of the upkeep costs for all of your units, agents, and ships as well because this can get out of hand quickly as you expand. Also, don't accept new family members unless you actually need more. You will get plenty from children just growing up and all FM's cost money for upkeep.


Hope that answers your questions satisfactorily!

[Muizer]

a FM with no office is absolutely terrible both as a governor and as a general, never use a Roman FM as either without an active office.

This has also been fixed in the developer build. It's a pity about those &*%^&# reforms that keep delaying the release of the new patch

[Zom]

4) Whats the best way to make money? I am skint. Built roads in all the minor settlements but building anything in the major cities is ruinous. Any tips special to this mod or do I just have to be patient and build up my infrastructure?

Build up a full stack of Roman troops, attach a Consul, march into Gaul, or Illyria, or wherever you do not have plans to occupy. Take every city you can, one by one. Completely sack each city, destroying every structure and converting them to gold. I did this to Gaul as punishment for them sacking one of my cities. I sent a fleet to the North Sea to meet the survivors of the punitive expedition; there were maybe three or four units left, with many chevrons of experience.

Each city I sacked netted me between 100K to 150K. I invested the money in infrastucture. It is nice to have that extra money every two or three turns. I now do the same to every faction that declares war on me, unless the regions are those that I plan to work into my faction. Resistance is futile!

[Primative1]

Nice one.

Unfortunately I never declare war (house rule), so I'll have to wait until I get attacked.

Shouldn't be too long to wait.....

[anunnak]

There's no way to grow pop for minors and the taxes should stay at max usually, but in some cases depends on how far and what culture the minor is, so u might have to set it lower for a time. The mod uses some stuff like religion if i'm not mistaken to make harder for the AI to expand so newly conq cities if they have a diff culture are hard to maintain order in them. U need the faction leader or a faction heir and a spy(if there are any of the enemy ones) in order to keep it without revolt. In some cases if the pop is high u should use enslave or exterminate. In time as the city grows they will get romanised, some morale buildings help also.
The best way to make money i think it's to start slow, first upgrade the minor roads, at least this is what i do and check ur army composition. Money will start to come as the game moves forward and u build the infrastructure.

Dont know too much about how the leadership system works.

[Primative1]

Thank you anunnak - rep.

[Caligula Caesar]

You start with quite a lot of money, so it's a good idea to get some construction going early. You'll want to do the highest value improvements, which will be the lowest tier (as they are cheapest - further levels tend to cost more but add the same amount). Especially roads and ports, and government buildings. I usually put taxes up to very high at first, then relax them for settlements which aren't growing much when I can afford it, which you will be able to sooner or later as one of the Greek factions or Rome and Carthage. Also consider disbanding unnecessary garrison troops, especially if you have any cavalry doing garrison duty (in general, you obviously want the largest, cheapest units to act as garrisons).

The public order is primarily determined by the government buildings, which you will want to upgrade as soon as possible. Once the 2nd tier is built, you generally don't need to worry about it much any longer. Beforehand, you'll probably need to put a general and a large garrison in it.

[Caligula Caesar]

Well there's that and there's adding the 20 odd new units I am in the process of working through Though perhaps we should release the patch before those, after all, we do have plenty of new things in it already.

[Maurits]

Well there's that and there's adding the 20 odd new units I am in the process of working through Though perhaps we should release the patch before those, after all, we do have plenty of new things in it already.

And a new faction + a completely reworked one to test and implement

[AngryTitusPullo]

And a new faction + a completely reworked one to test and implement

I hope the starting script has been fixed. I'm still unable to restart the script after loading game.

[Maurits]

That's probably an old save then? Since HoH repaired the script it works quite good for me. The only thing is that it is best to quit to desktop after playing a campaign, in order to re-launch RTR before starting another one. That will provide optimal script conditions.

[AngryTitusPullo]

I'm using the latest revision (svn) on new campaign. All from starting new game.