Aren't romans too armoured ?

[Alexanderos]

I see most roman legion units have like 52+ armour ! Were their armours really that good ?
I mean , they were indeed well equipped but I believe in hand-to-hand they are way over powerful.
The only way you can defeat a roman legion is to have your best infantry hold them for a maximum of minutes and then charge them from behind with cavalry or something.
I remember that especially , barbarians were feriocious hand to hand combatants , and when angry and fighting for their lands they could easily kill romans once their formations shattered , thing that happens all the time in RS2 .
But not here , romans keep on killing any kind of infantry.
That happens because they die too hard, having such a big defense.
In my opinion , in the future version their armour stats should be lowered with at least 3-4 points.

[romanius24]

I played a Roman campaign but never got to numbered legions.
I think Polybian and Marian troops are alright but i am not sure about others.
Lowering stats globally might not be a good idea IMO.
Its easier to balance units with prices rather than stat changes.If its too strong then just increase upkeep or hire price.

[Alavaria]

you mean 52 total defence, not armor. They have like 15 armor stat.

It's pointless trying to fight them with melee. Even horse fail frequently because they are so heavy, which is why I always use missiles to the back or side. They also have more shield stat than anyone else: 12 (at most, hoplites etc get 10)


What is a roman but a miserable pile of armor and shield stats

[century x]

What is a roman but a miserable pile of armor and shield stats

You know these are fighting words here on the forum.

[sadlogic]

It kind of makes sense tho, they do have the biggest shields...

[dvk901]

Romans were heavily armored, and it was one of their best advantages. That and tactical superiority. They do, however, have less attack than say, an relatively equal Barbarian unit. This was done purposely to show that Barbarians were bigger, stronger warriors with a powerful charge...but they were also less organized and armored. It was an 'observation' of the time that the Barbarians relied on a quick, overwhelming charge at the beginning of battles to sort of 'swamp' the Romans and break them apart. If they succeeded in doing this, they would usually win. If not, they would inevitably lose.

This is pretty hard to portray in RTW...so I guess we just did the best we could. And then there is the fact that historically, the Romans beat everyone...no matter who they were. So they are meant to be hard to fight and overcome. If that were not the case then the Romans would wither and die in every campaign, and I don't think people would like that much.

[Alavaria]

To kill Romans in an infantry slugfest is just asking for it. Ideally, pike troops (of any type, I happily employ levy pikemen and they are just fine against uberRomans) and slingers (or high-attack archers, though these are not nearly as effective) is how to fairly easily liquidate large Roman stacks.

In RTW, a loss like against the Parthians would also never happen, simply because their top horse archers can't do anything to Romans.

You know these are fighting words here on the forum.

I've been killing Romans since RS1 and RS2 betas, there's already been a lot of fighting.

Heh, I already just wiped them out again in my current game. Sweet screenshots of fallen Romans.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

Particularly for the OP...

If you want to beat the Romans, don't fight like a Roman! Instead fight like a Barbarian, or a Parthian, or like Hannibal, etc - don't fight them at their own game - at which they were the masters. With large shields, great armour, lots of training and masses of discipline you are facing a fighting machine.

Better tactics and the AI Roman will crumble - but don't expect it to be easy.

[Alavaria]

Romans wouldn't be nearly as fun to fight and kill if there wasn't some meaty goodness to chew through

[Dramatic Cat]

If you want to beat the Romans at infantry grindowns then AP infantry is your friend OP.
Pin them with whatever rabble you can. Once they're engaged, chew their flanks with AP infantry (or cavalry).

The best AP units (IMO) are the Rhombopohogodbwhatever, they have fair armor and awesome attack stats, 20+ I think (I don't have RSII installed now so I can't check). After that it would be the GOD-like, Foot-Panzers Dismounted Nahkerars (wut?), whatever you throw at them they will kill at a freaking awesome pace. And they also have nice armor.
Then there's those Pezoi (wut) those have some armor too and the AP trait.
Then there's Daoi and Bastarnae. They have AP weapons and high attack stats but they have -level morale and (nearly) no armor which means they will die even faster than whatever you're trying to kill.

And there's the Cimbri Beer Warriors, Those have the highest Attack stat in the mod (around 30+ I think) and can use the War-Cry ability which will make them chew through absolutely everything. Down side is that they don't have armor (or shield) and they die really fast.


yep

[Alavaria]

Armor piercing does let you ignore half their armor, which is nice. A gain of like 7-8 points from that.

Ranged lets you ignore their defense skill. And in melee they usually have time to turn around, which lets them use their 20+ defense skill.


Besides heavy javelins, which you can't really use to kill armies, there's another source of ranged + AP. Shooting rocks at people.


Greece ill needs a savior such as you...









One thing I should mention when fighting Romans in melee. All "Uses a missile weapon before charging" units, if they have javelins left when engaged in melee by a new unit, will immediately stop and start shooting. For Romans and some others, that means high-attack, armor piercing javelins delivered point-blank. It is deadly.