Total War: ROME II - Hannibal at the Gates Campaign Pack

[jackwei]

Why don't you just replace Hannibal with another general and bring him back the next turn with the bodyguard unit you want?

Oh yeah looks like I wasted a post.

[jamreal18]

I hoped Carthage would also receive naval units...

[PROMETHEUS ts]

Nope, nope, nope

Finally an answer , you saved my money , thankyou .

So I won't get .

[fokke85]

I have a question, with the (official) introduction of seasons in the main campaign after HatG does that mean that it is now 4tpy? Because I have the 4tpy mod installed but I wonder if it is now rendered obsolete.. Does anyone know?

[Jokern]

I have a question, with the (official) introduction of seasons in the main campaign after HatG does that mean that it is now 4tpy? Because I have the 4tpy mod installed but I wonder if it is now rendered obsolete.. Does anyone know?

The Grand Campaign is still 1TPY, with one season per year in the normal winter, spring, summer, autumn cycle.

[bright slap]

This is my first hate comment of Rome 2, I've been holding back for so long, but Hannibal at the Gates ain't that great, maybe even terrible for a Hannibal expansion.

6 Reason's why it is terrible for a Hannibal expansion:

1- starts out in 218 BCE, should start out in 221 BCE. Why? So you have the time to fiddle around in Iberia, before you move Mago, Hannibal, and Maharbal into Italy by late 218 BCE to start kickin' Roman ass. Otherwise you just can't make it to Italy by 218 BCE and play the Second Punic War how it should be played.

2- Why are all my generals elephants for body guards? Terrible idea. Just because I'm Carthage doesn't mean every battle has to have elephants in them.

3- Where are all the walls? Capua had walls and many more of other cities had walls too, but most importantly Capua. How is that going to be one of Hannibal's main allies if it has no walls? Romans are just going to march in there every turn. Or at least let me decide if I can build walls or not.

4- Carthage roster is plain, very plain. Where are the Ligurians(If I'm spelling that right), the Italian cavalry(not just Campanian in custom battle), Gallic skirmishers and Iberian skirmishers(in custom battle), and many more. The Carthaginian roster was always one of my favorites, because of all the diversity you could have, now it's just plain dull dish water.

5- Movement speed of the naval units. Takes for ever to Hasdrubal Barca to Iberia, or anywhere for naval units.

6- I have to find a mod for the battle speed as well, way too fast.

Maybe I was a little too excited for this game. I haven't put but 5 hours into the Grand Campaign and can't stand it. I hated Rome 1 vanilla too, it was always about the mods. So, I guess I'm biased about most of this.

[standupaddict]

As you should do with all marketing. 'I thought the beer ad would mean hot women would actually pay attention to me if I bought it!'

Rome II's advertising was presented features that would be in game as a fact. When I watch an Axe commercial it is very obvious to the viewer that women won't materialize around you, despite that being depicted in the commercials.

[brandbll]

I would of preferred Hannibal's Bodyguard unit to be cavalry instead of elephants due to it being more quicker and more useful too especially in desperate situations, which makes me hope we see a mod soon that changes his unit to cavalry instead.

Wait, Hannibal rides on an elephant into battle???

[Zephyrus]

Rome II's advertising was presented features that would be in game as a fact. When I watch an Axe commercial it is very obvious to the viewer that women won't materialize around you, despite that being depicted in the commercials.

Bingo. Plus 1 rep for stating the obvious to those who failed to grasp the enormity of falsehood that took place.

[Huberto]

Wait, Hannibal rides on an elephant into battle???

It's beyond my wildest dreams.

[AlexCouceiro]

Wait, Hannibal rides on an elephant into battle???

Only open field battles. If it’s a siege assault, his war elephant will be busy helping the Carthaginian men burn down the gates.

[Rittsy]

Rome II's advertising was presented features that would be in game as a fact. When I watch an Axe commercial it is very obvious to the viewer that women won't materialize around you, despite that being depicted in the commercials.

Which features were presented as fact which are no longer present? Which advertisement or back-of-box statement proved to be absent? If you're talking about gameplay from pre-Alpha footage I think you misunderstand how advertising video games work.

[rafmc1989]

Can we get moles to dig under enemy walls? A turn lasts a year so im sure whilst besieging that would give those critters enough time to dig their way under a wall. It would also help the AI out when attacking a city.

[iWarsaw]

Off-topic comment removed.
~LestaT

On topic I'm having a good campaign as the Arevaci. The diplomatic bonus as aloud me to form a Celt Confederation and military allies of all Iberian tribes who wouldn't join my Confederation. I fought only 3 battles against fellow Iberians. I had actually taken 4 cities with only 1 battle. Took a city, then forced the empire to join my Confederation and other tribes just followed through. Now trading with Rome I am launching an assault on Carthage to push them off the shores of Spain. Soon all of Spain will belong to it's true masters! After I have freed Spain I will go free Africa of Carthage's grasp, and then I shall burn Rome to the ground!

[Cardenal]

Sorry i'm a beginner here! I'm search a mod to have all playable factions in Hannibal at the gates, some one know what can i do to play with secundary factions, for example Cessetani or Ilergets??

[General Gordon]

Great DLC. Been playing many turns now as Carthage but find it very unbalanced. Most of Hispania at war against me so impossible to make any advances there. Most of the world at war with me and in Africa already (Rome, Syracuse, Sammnites, etc) so heavily outnumbered there and impossible to do a anything except stay of the defence. I thought Hannibal would be able to do his famous march to Rome via the Alpines but cannot see it happening as all I can do is hope to survive from so many enemies, having so little funds...
What am I doing wrong here?

EDIT: I am using Radeous Total War mod

[daelin4]

Just started playing it again; ignoring the considerable historical fiction, there are some game design flaws that prevent the campaign from being as interesting as it can be:

1- Client States love their clients, so Rome and Carthage are really just big empires with incompetent cousins.
Part of the history behind the Punic wars (and indeed in MANY wars in general) is one power attempting to divide and conquer the other via appealing to their satellites to switch sides; Hannibal in italy for years tried to do this and indeed some either have done, willing to but fearful, or just tried to stay neutral. In this game, clients are bloodbrothers to their overseers so there is no point trying to be friends with them; they will always, by virtue of handicaps like same culture or greater diplomacy rating point generation, never going to like you more than them. This actually defeats the purpose of client states in the game.
Campaign would be much better off with a lower client state relationship so that the player either has to spend effort into improving it, or try to expend it by looking after yourself. Instead, client states are totally loyal either by virtue of faction traits, or totally loyal because their enemies are more important than backstabbing. Ironically neither are factors for the AI's clients, because they start the game with BFF diplomatic rating that can't be dented by the player.

2- "Reserve Armies" cheese spawn: if you don't know what this is, it's basically scripted events where the game spawns numerous (and massive) armies for Rome or Carthage's cities, depending on what faction you choose. The only good thing about it is that they are immobile; the bad thing is that they are instantaneous, often include powerful or elite units, have no upkeep costs, and function just like armies, including public order bonus. I honestly don't see the point in this feature, if it's supposed to make the game more difficult for the player's progress, it is better if the AI merely get bonuses in things like recruitment instead of magically appearing large stacks from thin air. At least this way it can happen more early on in the game, and can also apply to both player and AI so you don't get lopsided handicaps that destroy immersion of both the theme as well as basic game experience.

3- Many problems from Rome2 remain: Imperium limits your agent numbers, but you can get around this by just causing enemy agents to defect, you can easily accrue like 25 Spies without even raising your Imperium limit to like 6. You also got your usual AI bonuses so Syracuse can have all of their buildings sabotaged and spies causing public order penalties yet the city has no penalties incurred since, well, they are AI so they get bonuses. best way to kill fleets is to spam onager ships; the odds too much in autoresolve? Go to battle mode and sink them all from long range for an easy Heroic victory. Food and public order switcharoo game when dealing with settlements (and still buggy, losing a settlement meant I was down 64 food).

4- Historical accuracy- the least of our concerns since this is a game but for the sake of a history lesson, here goes:
Hannibal's faction only owned the lands in Iberia, if anything they were a seceding force from Africa that took over the southern coasts, and the immense riches afforded Hannibal a large army and popularity back home- he was effectively the Caesar of his day; Carthage proper was under the political control of the Hannoids and did much to stymie Hannibal's progress in Italy, and it was too little too late for them to offer assistance after Hannibal's romping around Italy crushing armies like at Cannae. In terms of vanilla Rome2, the Hannibal faction would be Carthago Nova.
Translating this to HatG campaign, you would actually be playing as only the Carthaginian presence in Iberia, with Carthage operating as an (uncooperative) ally. This would mean you start small, but you also start with much less breadth and scope to deal with; sure you're no the powerhouse that has to deal with clients and nomads in Africa, but it also means you can choose where to go and fight Iberians in detail while more easily expanding your economy; Carthage and the African clients operate on their own, but at least they are also at odds with Rome.
The various cities in Italy were unequal partners under Rome's thumb, and part of Hannibal's policy was to convince them to switch sides as he crushes legions in his way; he would release both Italian and Latin prisoners as a show of good will. Ultimately his campaign failed because neither Carthage was willing to help, and that too few Italians offered assistance. As Rome you would spend the initial campaign turns ensuring their compliance (or just conquering them) so that Hannibal and Carthage have time to build up and presence diplomatic and military challenges to your authority.
This would have, IMO, a far more interesting way of designing asymmetric major powers: as Rome you play as a powerhouse over the peninsula but everyone wants to have at you, so you spend much of your time keeping them under your thumb and/or trying to expand your influence to the Gauls and Iberians; as Hannibal you're practically the opposite: a small but very powerful faction that can expand anywhere they want, but only so far and with so much influence- would you consolidate Iberia first, reassert your influence back in Africa, or just have at Rome as soon as you can? The gameplay styles would differ tremendously.
Instead for HatG we have two clone factions that are just big guys in their ponds and can't really do anything except build an army and conquer everything in their way. Sure it's Total War...but barely, and nothing special. Sure the AI might not be competent to do things like stay alive while you are marching through the Alps or help in the fight against your opponent, but really, that's not particular to this context anyways, the AI's still doing it in my campaigns, both for this game and even in Warhammer.