pffff tedious game

[sabaku_no_gaara]

I'm having to fight too many repetitive battles. Seriously, I'm the Suebi, I have one army blocking the way to Lupfurdum, they attacked that fortified army every fricking turn, with no hope of victory, they also attack that general every fricking turn, and always succeeding to wound my general.

So I marched an army via a long detour of conquest and apparently they all gathered there, that celtic tribe and an allied army of theirs, so I decided to retreat, but my general is blocked by a cities zone of control , a city I had just sacked the turn before! they shouldn't be able to block me, and when I want to attack it, suddenly all movement points are gone. And boom attack attack attack by the AI

and of course: agent attack agent attack agent attack....


It's getting tedious and annoying These battles are long, tedious and can't be auto resolved because the auto resolve will give me a loss, whilst the manual battle will give me a win. And in the field the battles always follow the same pattern:

Fort batte:

Sharp stone beds at the entrances, three units of spears in shield screen and javelins behind at each entrance, and some club levy in the centre of the fort = slow but heroic victory

Field battle:

4 balisate pepper the enemy, spear brothers take any incoming charge, javelins behind them weaken charging opponents, mercenaries and cavalry go slinger hunting

I find myself rage quitting at the end of a turn because the 1000'th battle has to be fought.

I finally had enough and did the auto resolve thing.... bad Idea my army is severely damaged now, which I don't understand

/rant


EDIT


I'm really annoyed, rome 2 is supposed to give me fun, but my entire day feels ruined, and I'm annoyed and agitated, especially the endless agent actions spam is getting on my nerves and I just threw away my most experienced army in an auto resolve it was completely destroyed in a battle that I would won had I fought manually and I can't frickin reload because I forgot to save

I feel like breaking something, I'm glad nobody is near me right now because I I feel like I could actually hurt someone right now.

Rome 2 has given me this feeling of wanting to really hurt someone quite a few times in the past 2 days

ah well back to my campaign, or should I just start over?

[Frost, colonel]

Can you not break this dead lock and simply take the factions cities, or are you so far from being strong enough?
My last part played campaign as the Celts was like this, I just gathered enough strength and within 6 turns the 2 factions attacking me were gone, before that it was a chore, partic the agent attacks. There is a mod to reduce agents, and one to remove them from said game, if they become to much for your play style, their on Steam, and very easy to apply.

[sabaku_no_gaara]

I can take their cities, but I don't want to, I like to have small developed empires.

Once I grow too large it all becomes too much and I start a new campaign.


Agents do have their uses, but I get the feeling that the AI has bonusses because they are really effective for them

[Frost, colonel]

I can take their cities, but I don't want to, I like to have small developed empires.

Once I grow too large it all becomes too much and I start a new campaign.

I am not criticising you, but aren't you the victim of your own playing style? I mean if you just want to sit there and these faction will except no diplomacy, then you will only face the same battles hundreds of times. To avoid this scenario, take them out, or risk this happening in every campaign. I often tend to play like you(smaller developed empires), but we do have some say in the way in which a campaign is heading.

In other TW games, where we could gift cities, I would have taken these and given them to someone to make the game interesting in some way. Shame this game doesn't allow this.

Well done pajomife for your mod!

[Arbitrary Crusader]

I can take their cities, but I don't want to, I like to have small developed empires.

Once I grow too large it all becomes too much and I start a new campaign.

Then....you are only helping the problem.

They keep building armies because they are not getting financially hurt , enough.

Taking their cities would hurt them in the army building process, and since you dont want to do that, they are going to keep doing it.

At least, they have an army cap. I remember fighting literally dozen of stacks of troop of Saxony in ETW.... *shrugs*

[Cavalier]

I can take their cities, but I don't want to, I like to have small developed empires.

Once I grow too large it all becomes too much and I start a new campaign.


Agents do have their uses, but I get the feeling that the AI has bonusses because they are really effective for them

Protip regarding agents:

Make them and keep them in your province, invest in the "enemy success -% blabla" skill tree, and then, right next to where a general has a forced march button for example, there is a button that keeps them in your province and protects it against enemy actions.

The agents don't succeed as much anymore.

[DarkKismeth]

Sadly, the agents on AI side are getting a buff, the higher the difficulty, the higher the buff. And that is not the only buff ofr AI factions. But they got already mentioned here.

[pajomife]

There are mods who reduce the agent numbers. Mine.

[Whistler118]

Agent spam is one of the many bad things about rome 2. Try putting some mods on which reduce the effectivness of them. I have an now i can actually focus on being a general rather than a super ninja.

[totalwar_legend]

When you auto resolve it practically gift wraps you your outcome before you press anything. It would have told you if your army was going to be destroyed before you did it. It's you own fault and laziness that they died. Don't blame the game. All you need to counter enemy agent actions are some of your own. Assassinate and wound their agents with your spies and veterans. It's not that hard even on legendary.

[Dago Red]

When you auto resolve it practically gift wraps you your outcome before you press anything. It would have told you if your army was going to be destroyed before you did it. It's you own fault and laziness that they died. Don't blame the game. All you need to counter enemy agent actions are some of your own. Assassinate and wound their agents with your spies and veterans. It's not that hard even on legendary.

This is ludicrous, sorry. Some people play for the immersion and the feeling of being in 270 bc in the middle of the woods, quietly sharpening a sword for a big decisive battle that can change the course of history. We don't want to contend with mindless Ai that can't be reasoned with in diplomacy even after you spank them down 100 times. We don't want to fight 100 battles, but 10 decisive ones -- in the first place. We don't want enemy agent spam that throws 9-12 ninjas at you per turn, wounding and killing your generals and immobilizing your armies so you can't take any meaningful actions. Is that fun? Maybe for you but not for most.

[karamazovmm]

OK

the problem with your game isn't that its tedious, its basically because its working correctly.

1- AI expands correctly - its assigning a sufficient army to take on your parked army. yes thats how the AI advances, on auto resolve. its giving them a winning chance and thats it.

2- You sacked a city, you didn't take control, its a year after you sacked it, I don't know what you were expecting

3- AI use of agents is correct, they are sending the agents and making use of them

[sabaku_no_gaara]

OK

the problem with your game isn't that its tedious, its basically because its working correctly.

1- AI expands correctly - its assigning a sufficient army to take on your parked army. yes thats how the AI advances, on auto resolve. its giving them a winning chance and thats it.

3 stacks of levies and slingers is not a sufficient army to take on my defenders and that's a fort with only levy spears and levy clubs and youths, I have been attacked by 4 armies at once and still had heroic victories with minimum casualties, the AI should realise by now that he's throwing away his troops whilst upgrading mine, and more importantly, wasting my time, I'm watching the faction symbols pass anticipating a few builds, some moves etc... it's annoying to then have another pointless battle, the AI lives because I allow it, he should focus on taking on his weaker neighbours instead of wasting my time.

2- You sacked a city, you didn't take control, its a year after you sacked it, I don't know what you were expecting

I have a 2 turns per year mod, so it's at best 6 months, still they should be shaking in terror and go out of their way to keep me happy and not block my way due to some arbitrary zone of control

3- AI use of agents is correct, they are sending the agents and making use of them

they have so many of them, and they always seem to succeed, it's annoying

When you auto resolve it practically gift wraps you your outcome before you press anything. It would have told you if your army was going to be destroyed before you did it. It's you own fault and laziness that they died. Don't blame the game. All you need to counter enemy agent actions are some of your own. Assassinate and wound their agents with your spies and veterans. It's not that hard even on legendary.

I know, but after the what? 5th battle in less than an hour I couldn't suffer to see another battlefield so I said screw it I really didn't want to fight another battle.

And yes I do have agents, they keep failing or merely hindering the AI's agents, and I don't want to play NSA total war, I want to play Rome 2 total war

[karamazovmm]

3 stacks of levies and slingers is not a sufficient army to take on my defenders and that's a fort with only levy spears and levy clubs and youths, I have been attacked by 4 armies at once and still had heroic victories with minimum casualties, the AI should realise by now that he's throwing away his troops whilst upgrading mine, and more importantly, wasting my time, I'm watching the faction symbols pass anticipating a few builds, some moves etc... it's annoying to then have another pointless battle, the AI lives because I allow it, he should focus on taking on his weaker neighbours instead of wasting my time.

It clearly is, given that the AI works by the auto resolve results. and if you auto resolve you lose.

I have a 2 turns per year mod, so it's at best 6 months, still they should be shaking in terror and go out of their way to keep me happy and not block my way due to some arbitrary zone of control

in that 2 turns per year mod, did the modder actually made changes to the AI behaviour? did s/he changed all the campaign values so that it behaves as a balanced campaign, i.e 2x recruit times, tech, halved movement points, and AI rules? I don't think so.

they have so many of them, and they always seem to succeed, it's annoying

they have the same amount as you do. use yours better. why I can hold the satrapies at bay and you can't against the notoriously they don't use much agents west?

I know, but after the what? 5th battle in less than an hour I couldn't suffer to see another battlefield so I said screw it I really didn't want to fight another battle.

And yes I do have agents, they keep failing or merely hindering the AI's agents, and I don't want to play NSA total war, I want to play Rome 2 total war

I wonder how you played Fots and shogun2, because there when you reached near kyoto, it was the spam agent attack

[sabaku_no_gaara]

It clearly is, given that the AI works by the auto resolve results. and if you auto resolve you lose.

But after 100 defeats (as a matter of speech, you seem to be a techy pedantic type talking about engine and all those techy mathematical sounding rule things that, you shouldn't notice matters in a good ancient warfare simulation) the AI should have a common sense and realise it lives by the grace of my benevolence.

I just played CIV V non stop for a week, when the AI angers me and I declare war and unleash my wrath upon it, it craps itself and then comes with the most appeasing peace offers it could possibly dream of and begging me to be it's bff afterwards.

The Ai doesn't realise when it's outmatched and it's best option is to leave one very mighty defensive army and to focus it's attention on conquering other neighbours who won't defeat stack after stack after stack they unleash, I'm surprised they still have able bodied men left in their country I have butchered more men than Caesar I believe

in that 2 turns per year mod, did the modder actually made changes to the AI behaviour? did s/he changed all the campaign values so that it behaves as a balanced campaign, i.e 2x recruit times, tech, halved movement points, and AI rules? I don't think so.

Have you read Caesar's Gallic wars? Do you have an understanding how ancient warfare worked? 6 months, a year, it doesn't matter, if an army sacked your lands, pillaged burned, looted and raped your kin, you do everything you can to appease that army when it marches passed your town in the future, what does all that bs of yours have to do with "my enemy should be shaking in terror and let me pass through maybe even offering me all their virgins in exchange of being allowed to keep their corn and having intact hovels.

I can see it now, Caesar and his armies march through Gallic lands but need to resupply so they turn arround and suddenly they have to halt their advance because a single Gallic Champion somehow stole their abillity to walk for an entire year or a mere village they recently sacked has drawn a big red line prohibiting them from continuing their march because big red lines are oh so scary

they have the same amount as you do. use yours better. why I can hold the satrapies at bay and you can't against the notoriously they don't use much agents west?

Yes but my allies dragged me into a war against almost every celtic faction in central Europe so I'm facing a lot of agents

I wonder how you played Fots and shogun2, because there when you reached near kyoto, it was the spam agent attack

In Shogun 2 I just played as the Ninja faction and admired my Ninja's staying in my own region untill I lost the campaign that was more of an eye candy, manga/eastern movies platform for me I played but hardly payed attention to the campaign going on, and just fantasised entire backstories to my characters and enjoyed the music and atmosphere whilst I watched my army of battlefield ninja's help defend the castle of my northern allies from it's enemies. It was beautiful cheap manga/80's ninja movies I grew up with escapism, fall of the samurai I hardly played.

[craziii]

OP, you should just play on very easy, and if it is still too much of a challenge, stop playing the game.

[sabaku_no_gaara]

OP, you should just play on very easy, and if it is still too much of a challenge, stop playing the game.

What part of my post gave you the impression I found the game too much of a challenge? I'm in complete control of my situation defensively. And if I choose to expand my empire, I'll probably breeze through the enemy, my problem is that I don't want any of the celtic settlements I'm at war with because I like to keep my empire small.

I have just decided to at least take Sarmatia though and then I'll launch a sacking campaign through Celtic lands, hoping my Germanic allies will follow suit and conquer their settlements so I can enjoy some peace and quiet and prepare my invasion plans for Brittain

@Dago Red, my sentiments exactly

[stackero]

I'm having to fight too many repetitive battles. Seriously, I'm the Suebi, I have one army blocking the way to Lupfurdum, they attacked that fortified army every fricking turn, with no hope of victory, they also attack that general every fricking turn, and always succeeding to wound my general.

So I marched an army via a long detour of conquest and apparently they all gathered there, that celtic tribe and an allied army of theirs, so I decided to retreat, but my general is blocked by a cities zone of control , a city I had just sacked the turn before! they shouldn't be able to block me, and when I want to attack it, suddenly all movement points are gone. And boom attack attack attack by the AI

and of course: agent attack agent attack agent attack....


It's getting tedious and annoying These battles are long, tedious and can't be auto resolved because the auto resolve will give me a loss, whilst the manual battle will give me a win. And in the field the battles always follow the same pattern:

Fort batte:

Sharp stone beds at the entrances, three units of spears in shield screen and javelins behind at each entrance, and some club levy in the centre of the fort = slow but heroic victory

Field battle:

4 balisate pepper the enemy, spear brothers take any incoming charge, javelins behind them weaken charging opponents, mercenaries and cavalry go slinger hunting

I find myself rage quitting at the end of a turn because the 1000'th battle has to be fought.

I finally had enough and did the auto resolve thing.... bad Idea my army is severely damaged now, which I don't understand

/rant


EDIT


I'm really annoyed, rome 2 is supposed to give me fun, but my entire day feels ruined, and I'm annoyed and agitated, especially the endless agent actions spam is getting on my nerves and I just threw away my most experienced army in an auto resolve it was completely destroyed in a battle that I would won had I fought manually and I can't frickin reload because I forgot to save

I feel like breaking something, I'm glad nobody is near me right now because I I feel like I could actually hurt someone right now.

Rome 2 has given me this feeling of wanting to really hurt someone quite a few times in the past 2 days

ah well back to my campaign, or should I just start over?

A true dilemma. My advice would be to start over, with another game besides R2, but since you're still into the game, start over and try all the mods you can load it with. All of them. But no guarantee you still won't want to hurt someone again later.

[Epic28]

I agree with you on the agent hell.

I strongly recommend getting the AI agent limited budget mod for the game.

Its quite miserable fighting off armies outnumbered winning great victories over and over only to settle down in your newly conquered settlement only to find that your rank 7 general is wounded by agent spam attacks. It makes no sense why every agent type can do the exact same abilities too. Why can a dignitary spy and veteran all attempt an assassination/civil disruption?

I've always hated agents in TW games and rarely use them with the exception of Medieval 2.

[Unwelcome Guest]

Get the No Agent Mod

As for your issue with wanting to run a small focused empire, well if that's the way you want to play, you're going to have to deal with the constant swarm of enemies on your defensive positions.