Hello, thank you, and a question.....

[The Almohad]

Been a good long while since I posted on the forums. Haven't spent much time with TW other than for some at times very frustrating two-player Shogun cmpaigns. I got so damn tired of all the arbitrary restrictions that make no sense in Shogun 2 (mostly regarding naval invasions and bloody trees ****ing my movement in the ass even if its a lone ninja), and decided after I pre-ordered Rome 2 to go back and play some Rome 1, and so I wanted to try something new and found RS2. And all I can say is......wow. You guys did one hell of a job. Really. Its like if you took the level of description and the added buildings and units and AOR system of EB and made it play faster and on a prettier map. And oh boy does it look NICE. Not even just for a 9+ year old game, it just looks nice in general (don't worry EB.....I still love you too).

My first campaign I picked was a swap faction, Bithynia, whose start pos intrigued me. I think I spent 45 minutes on my first turn just reading stuff about all the units and buildings and I mean just wow. I actually learned stuff, now I can impress(?) people with my knowledge about the origins of the word cereal, lol. So i'm about i dunno 12-14 turns in and I'm just really nervous about what to do because this mod with the whole 0 tun thing kinda intimidates me. I'm not a brilliant commander, I only play on M/M and I found so far I have to use pause a lot more than I'd like because even a small battle is against an entire stack.

I took Byzantion first, then I allied with the Seleucids and the Macedonians to try and give Pergamon a reason to leave me alone for a bit since they are allied to the same factions (also to secure my Byzantium border, I don't want to venture too far north in that direction right now). I was hoping to try and get those two empires to side with me when **** inevitably goes down with Pergamon, leaving them with no friends. So then I decided to attack Lysimachia or whatever that Ptolemy town is right by Byzantium because well the Seleucids gave me a little scrill and I figure its far enough away the Ptolemies have better things to do than worry about me, I hope I can get peace later with them under the guise of "hey we took that town off your hands so you don't have to worry about managing it, no hard feels right?" The cold war with Pergamon has begun, I actually have the larger military but they have 5 places maybe 6 I have only the three. But I killed one of thier spies, they got one of my assassins, they have a decent assasin parked outside my capital so I've been hiding Artichon in different ambush spots or whatever his name is, that really good gen you start with. They've moved some troops to my border, I bribe some of them away and supplement my garrison/subvert thier citizens and disband them into my cities to be converted into better units later. And oh by the way I LOVE how the 0 tun thing makes your population perhaps your most important resource in the game, as it should be. Human capital/meat shields ftw.

So then I read in another topic right before I made this that THERES A ****ING GARRISON SCRIPT. Oh no! I HATE garrison scripts, so all those somewhat poorly defended towns will instantly not be easy targets with a properly timed attack when Pergamon ventures south to take more things like I planned to just swoop two stacks from Lysimachia to take two of thier towns at once including the capital. Now what do I do? I didn't know there was a garrison script because all the surrounding towns start with full garrisons anyway. Whats the threshold for the script to trigger? Is it true you can negate it by putting a spy in there first? I read how to delete it, and will do so if needed, but do I have to it for each faction I want to play as? Or I guess what folder do I go into to delete it for Bithynia is what I'm asking. Other than that, does anyone with some experience with Bithynia have any pointers or stories to share? Did I irrevocably hurt myself with poor choices of allies or was I supposed to just take out Pergamon right away? Was attacking that Ptoloemy town a dumb idea? Hopefully I'll have time to move on Heraclea at least before I start a real war with someone. Anyway sorry for the long post, its a Sunday and I've got naught else to do. Again thank you so much to the mod team for all the countless hours of hard work to produce such an interesting, detailed, and wonderful looking mod, even though I despise garrison scripts.

EDIT: Also, any advice on how to balance growth promotion with building the needed levels of troops? I don't want to just depopulate Nicomedia, Byzantium needs to grow. Does everyone who plays this just kinda leave taxes on low or medium all the time?

[Dath1]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ARRISON-SCRIPT

One google search for "Roma Surrectum garrison script" and that was on the top

The script puts troops in the city you're besieging when you end the turn, so if you take it instantly the script won't do anything (ex. siege weapons or a town with no walls). I personally play with the garrison script off, but it's a matter of preference I suppose.

[The Almohad]

Thank you, I was not trying to be lazy, I had already read how to delete the script, I was just hoping there was some way of not having to delete the script for every campaign I want to play, because thats tedious. Also someone in another thread mentioned that a spy can negate the script, didn't know if that was true. So yea anyone who replies doesn't need to link me to how to delete the script, I'm well aware how much everyone hates people who don't try to find out for themselves. Any advice on how to proceed and not get overwhelmed as Bithynia would be great. And no, I won't start as an easier faction because they are probably too big and to quote Obama "I didn't build it". Starting small and building up is alwys the way to go, I love the early game where I'm small and can take time te read everything, get familiar with each general, and roleplay more. It takes too much time to do all that once you control more than about 15 places.

[Dath1]

The next version (2.6) is going to make the garrison script optional I think, but atm I believe the only way is to disable it for each campaign. It really doesn't take more than 5 minutes to do though. And I believe using a spy to negate it is because he can open the gates and allow you to take the settlement instantly, but I could be wrong.

[Sertorio]

Siege engines and spys will counter the garrison script.

[Darth Bane1]

Exactly... You only have to be quicker...

[ur-Lord Tedric]

Why not 'enjoy' the Garrison Script (I know, I'm a fan of it) - but it will make the game so much 'better'....

And 1-turn - all the way, every time.

[Crymson]

The garrison script is a virtual necessity if snowball expansion is to be avoided.

[Dath1]

The garrison script is a virtual necessity if snowball expansion is to be avoided.

I remember playing one 0-turn Sparta game where I had turned off the garrison script. It was pretty funny, took almost 10 cities in like 5-6 turns before realising I couldn't do a serious 0-turn playthrough. It's not that needed on 1-turn campaigns though.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

............... It's not that needed on 1-turn campaigns though.

I strongly disagree - it's even more needed in 1turn, but for different reasons of numbers. The AI is just appalling at defending itself - multi-wave attacks, not so bad. You want it to represent forced tribe migrations - fairly good.

The garrison script requires the player to commit more forces and think a bit more before striking, as well as slowing themselves down with siege eqpt. Garrison Script + 45min timer has a real positive result on shaping the overall simulation to be a lot better.

[Dath1]

I strongly disagree - it's even more needed in 1turn, but for different reasons of numbers. The AI is just appalling at defending itself - multi-wave attacks, not so bad. You want it to represent forced tribe migrations - fairly good.

The garrison script requires the player to commit more forces and think a bit more before striking, as well as slowing themselves down with siege eqpt. Garrison Script + 45min timer has a real positive result on shaping the overall simulation to be a lot better.

Does the garrison script work AI vs AI as well? Or just against the player?

[ur-Lord Tedric]

Does the garrison script work AI vs AI as well? Or just against the player?

No, just against the player. The AI needs all the help it can get - the player doesn't. In addition the AI will attack settlements when it really shouldn't!

[Crymson]

I remember playing one 0-turn Sparta game where I had turned off the garrison script. It was pretty funny, took almost 10 cities in like 5-6 turns before realising I couldn't do a serious 0-turn playthrough. It's not that needed on 1-turn campaigns though.

It's absolutely needed in one-turn campaigns. The game is just too darned easy otherwise, even with AoR recruitment mechanics.

[The Almohad]

Thank you for the replies. I've decided to just stick with the garrison script and give it an honest try. My previous experience with it was with a Medieval 2 mod called Sicillian Vespers. Well so far, I'm still having fun with my 0-turn Bithynia campaign despite the script, just using spies right now. I still think the garrisons should get fewer and frankly weaker units (after all we are using the word GARRISON, which to me implies crack-team inexperienced greenhorns drummed up in last defense efforts, you know like the National Gaurd). Mostly I feel this way because I am a mediocre field commander at best and my natural tendency is to expand comparatively slowly. I think I will start a 1-turn campaign tonight, as of yet can't say wich is better or which one makes better use of a garrison script.