New player-Questions

[Stath's]

1) I have seen prices for recruitment and upkeep are extremely varied and sometimes very low for some factions. Is this becoming a problem later in the campaign?

Do you have any suggestions as to what i shall change in the EDU to have a nice, long, balanced, challenging campaign?

Maybe you think there is no need of changes and the game is already well-balanced?

2) Are Sassanids relatively easy to play and win?

3) Is VH/VH an acceptable difficulty or are there any problems?

4) 0-turn recruitment causes stack-spam later in the campaign?


---------> I believe this mod deserves to be more known and to get more reputation. Cograts to the creators!!!

Anyone who played Flagellum Dei is invited to write his experience here. If i can make some changes that could make the game more appropriate for me (hard economy-fewer stacks), that would be great.

[Stath's]

After a playing a little more, i think i understood the concept of economy. Factions that don't have many provinces should and do have lower recruitment and upkeep costs, so they can be a serious challenge for the Romans and Sassanids.

I feel a bit stupid for not acknowledging this before, but i do rush things when i like them a lot.

Because this mod's units are incredibly beautiful, even stinking Goths (try to create some interest-heat here)

Finally, my other questions in the above post remain and wait for any answers.

[Diocle]

2) The Sassie are easy they are Panzer Divisions!
())))) advice from traitor: Attack immediatly the Romans and kill them all! Take Middle East and Antioch!)

3) For me, in SAJ, VH/VH is pure madness!!!!! I use normal for campaign and Hard for battles, but now I'm using N/N, I think that using very Hard, the AI gain too much bonuses, and you'll understand if you'll try to fight with the Romans against the Persians' Panzer Divisions.....

4) In SAJ '0' turn is blasphemy! You must repent now! Only the words are evil! The '0' turn is evil! It destroys all the historicity of the best mod of TWC! Repent Hannibal, and suffer with us waiting 4 turns to get your palatine!
This is the end my friend, it is not the birth of the Empire! We are in the grim darkness of the Late Antiquity all is pain and torment! Repent Hannibal!!!

[Stath's]

Thank you, Diocle, very much. Getting an answer from you feels like 100 reps

I hoped Sassanids could have some problems because of Arabs, Armenians, Romans and Hepthalites who surround them..

But, since you say they are strong, i think i 'll try them in VH/H or VH/VH. Maybe that will make Panzers fell a little pain...

Such beautiful cataphracts deserve to be played.

And, yes, i am with you, 0-turn recruitment is the Devil himself.

Maybe, only some cheap and weak units could be recruited in 0-turn and i see IB believes that, too.

After all, waiting some turns for a unit makes it special and you have to carefully command it in the battlefield. I see this as a realistic feature and, most of all, sth that promotes strategical thinking.

That is TW's original concept

[Stannis Baratheon]

VH battles with Sassanids(as WRE) are extremely difficult. In open field battle, you have very little chance against full stack of Savarans, spiced with few Zhayedans. Onagers are the only thing that saves you, however cheating that may be. Even comitatenses armatus (armour 13) in shieldwall fall like flies of all those arrows. Luckily there is a bug that makes enemy units reload and fire even while fighting in melee, so one unit of clibinarii or even equites promoti can take on many more Savarans.
Also i admit resorting to bridge battles when i see 4-5 Sassanid full stacks going on Caesarea or Antioch. Two milites as cannonfodder, bunch of comitatenses, few clbinarii to finish the survivors, two sagitarii graves to guard the shores and onager or two, and it's over in the twenty seconds with a loss of only some milites.
+7 bonuses for attack, defense and huge moral bonus makes Sassanids huge pain in most open field battles, especially if you lack cavalry. EREs supercomitatenses also are annoying too(when they destroy your non-comitatenses infantry and fight to the last man despite being hopelessly outnumbered), but it's all RTW's engine i guess.
Let's see the rest: aren't really hard to beat but are sometimes annoying-Huns, Vandals(beacuse of HA) and Goths(Cnite)
easy-all other barbarians, Imperium Constantini, Romano-British(all these usually have weak armies with bunch of weak infantry that are routed easily)
playthings-Berbers, Slavs(nuff said)

[Stath's]

That was very helpful, indeed. You have my thanks

Do you consider ERE or Sassanids easier to play with?

WRE as the most difficult and interesting faction, i 'll keep it to play last.

[Stannis Baratheon]

Glad i was of help! I consider Sassanids a bit easier, especially beacuse of their large starting armies on ERE border at the start of the game. I played them only once and practically steamrolled through all of ERE's Asian possesions, yes Sassanids don't have starting economy of ERE but their armies have no chance against human-controlled Sassanid. As almost all Roman infantry can shieldwall AI uses it very often, making them extremely vulnerable from the rear/flanks, especially while moving. Roman coastal cities in Levant are huge and you get a ton of money from them, first from sack, then from trade. It's the richest area on the map. I played untill i conquered Constantinople, then my inner-Roman started wailing so loud that i had to stop.
In AI vs AI combat i find Sassanids usually gain the upper hand. In my recent campaign as Picts, where i have absolutely no influence on most of the world, Sassanids virtually destroyed ERE in 20 years, entirely conquering it except islands and Greece,(Huns took the North Balkans), while in campaign before as WRE i fought ERE whole time and was a large drain on their resources(especially when i consolidated and started to take their settlements), but they stopped Sassanids entirely who sort of spilled around them, destroying their usual victims(Hephalites, Lakhimds, Persarmenians) but took only one ERE city(Amida, it's impossible even for human ERE player to defend that one initially). So it varies, but i never saw ERE making a breach in Iran or Mesopotamia. Roman battle AI is simply much weaker than Sassanid, who is strongest in game by far.
So I'd say Sassanids are stronger-but i enjoy playing ERE more, beacuse Sassanids make for a very challenging and fun opponent, even if you don't play on VH, and i personally find Roman infantry-based armies easier to manage in battle than Sassanid cavalry ones. You need to watch out for one thing during sieges, try not to kill Sassanid infanty entirely, as cavalry remnant of army(still extremely strong) will be back and besiege you untill surrender, so you'll have to bring reinforcements and face them in open battle(very tough thing on VH), and if they have the high ground extremely high losses are almost guaranteed.

[Stath's]

Thanks again, that is the kind of information i need to decide which faction to play first, second etc

I 'll come back with new questions

[Stannis Baratheon]

No prob, i'll answer them if i can.
Oh, and that list above is not which factions are easy to play with, but which are easy to beat, in case you're wondering. If you're looking for a hard game, i recommend Slavs. WRE isn't that hard beacuse of it's high quality units(once you can afford them), the trick with WRE is to get out of general decline at the start as your Italian cities are rapidly losing population, and treasury sinks below zero almost immediately. Also ERE will make you more trouble than all barbarian/usurper factions combined, at least in my experience.

[Kilo11]

The 0 turn recruitment is brilliant. And after all, the only things you can recruit in 0 turns are the levy troops, which is actually fairly historically accurate. Throughout history kingdoms and empires have always been able to conscript large poorly trained armies very fast from the lower classes. And the heavy hitting units like comitatenses and heavy cavalry still take more time, in some cases a long time. So I think the variation in recruitment time is fantastic. And it allows you to garrison a new territory in one turn, and then push your armies further, if you are having a good press into enemy territory. I think it's fair to say that the 0 turn element is fantastic historically, gameplay-wise, and, as already said, tactically, since it makes long-term recruitment units that much more valuable.

[Stath's]

You should be able to recruit only cheap and weak units with 0-turn recruitment and, as you, for garrison purposes.

But i saw, if i remember well, 2 units of cavalry, priced around 800, with 0-turn that's why i had questions about it. But changed it and everything's ok

[Kilo11]

But i saw, if i remember well, 2 units of cavalry, priced around 800, with 0-turn that's why i had questions about it. But changed it and everything's ok

Ah yes, I know exactly what you're talking about: the roman Equites and Equites Promoti. I had that same thought with those, both because I feel the promoti should take longer (at least a turn) and should definitely cost more, since they're better units. But other than those, I think the unit costs and recruitment times make the game much more dynamic. I also like that it allows a rich faction to utilize their wealth more fully. Cause with everything at a minimum of 1 turn, it doesn't matter how much money you have, if you see a big army come into your land, you're f***ked. But with 0 turn levy troops, you can muster thousands of men over 1 turn, which is historically accurate for nations who were faced with sudden onslaughts of enemies.

[Sardaukar One]

I think the Sassanid cavalry is too powerful. They should not be that much better than their Roman counterparts. And why is it that their units have way more men than the Romans?

Also, is there a 4 turn per year script for this mod?

Thanks!

[Joar]

I think the Sassanid cavalry is too powerful. They should not be that much better than their Roman counterparts. And why is it that their units have way more men than the Romans?

Yes, the Sassanid cavalry was made too powerful in the 7.03 version. This will be fixed in RR.

Also, is there a 4 turn per year script for this mod?

Not in the offical download, though someone made one, I believe.