Want to try out Rome II after years of not playing, some advice needed.

**Jansenfinn** · June 13, 2019, 01:07 PM

Years ago I was massively disappointed with Rome II, and I don't think I have played it since 2014.

Since a few weeks I've had the urge of playing a game set in antiquity. I hoped that Imperator Rome could fulfill that urge, but it seems that game has some problems too at launch. After having looked around it seems that Rome II is a decent game now so I would like to try it out. I am wondering about the DLC's and the mods. Most people seem to recommend Divide et Impera, so I guess that's kind of settled. I however don't know which DLC are worth buying. Steam reviews seem to be worthless, because no one really likes DLC. Which factions should I try out? (DLC or non-DLC factions).

Also, what kind of other mods do people use when they play Divide et Impera?

**Jurand of Cracow** · June 13, 2019, 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by Jansenfinn

Years ago I was massively disappointed with Rome II, and I don't think I have played it since 2014.

Since a few weeks I've had the urge of playing a game set in antiquity. I hoped that Imperator Rome could fulfill that urge, but it seems that game has some problems too at launch. After having looked around it seems that Rome II is a decent game now so I would like to try it out. I am wondering about the DLC's and the mods. Most people seem to recommend Divide et Impera, so I guess that's kind of settled. I however don't know which DLC are worth buying. Steam reviews seem to be worthless, because no one really likes DLC. Which factions should I try out? (DLC or non-DLC factions).

Also, what kind of other mods do people use when they play Divide et Impera?

I know it's slightly off but if you've got such an urge for antiquity, then Europa Barbarorum II for the M2TW is the best one.
Otherwise, DeI without any DLC is the best. If you have plenty of time, the two will take up it, if you've got less - pick one.
JoC

**Jansenfinn** · June 13, 2019, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by Jurand of Cracow

I know it's slightly off but if you've got such an urge for antiquity, then Europa Barbarorum II for the M2TW is the best one.
Otherwise, DeI without any DLC is the best. If you have plenty of time, the two will take up it, if you've got less - pick one.
JoC

I've played the original titles to death, including mods. They will always have a special spot in my heart, but I want to try something new for once. DeI is without DLC is best? Doesn't that lock you out from playing a lot of factions though?

**Morticia Iunia Bruti** · June 13, 2019, 03:50 PM

If you want to play DeI, i would advice to buy at least Black Sea Colonies and Greek City states, if you want to play Pergamon, Bosporan Empire, Athens, Epirus and Sparta in DeI.

**Jurand of Cracow** · June 14, 2019, 02:11 AM

Originally Posted by Carmen Sylva

If you want to play DeI, i would advice to buy at least Black Sea Colonies and Greek City states, if you want to play Pergamon, Bosporan Empire, Athens, Epirus and Sparta in DeI.

What does it change? I thought that the DeI team claimed to re-do all the units and that no DLC is required to play it? (for the base campaign, it's different with Aurelian and Rise of Rome (or whatever those dlcs are called).

**Jake Armitage** · June 14, 2019, 04:49 AM

DLC are required to play DLC factions, it's an hardcoded feature, you can't remove it (not considering it would be piracy)

**Jurand of Cracow** · June 14, 2019, 05:22 AM

Originally Posted by Jake Armitage

DLC are required to play DLC factions, it's an hardcoded feature, you can't remove it (not considering it would be piracy)

Thanks, I didn't know it. I understand that besides the unlocking those additional factions, the DLC don't provide anything more?

**Jake Armitage** · June 14, 2019, 05:31 AM

mmh, I don't remember honestly, better to check CA site for this

**Welsh Dragon** · June 14, 2019, 03:11 PM

OP:

I'd suggest first you play vanilla. If you haven't played in that long, the game has changed considerably and the vanilla game is a very different (and in my view much better) game than it was at launch. You may even find that, like me, you don't feel the need to make many/any mods because you enjoy the vanilla game so much.

Even if you plan to play DEI, I suggest playing vanilla first so you can get a better understanding of the way the game is now, without also having to lean all the DEI changes as well.

As for DLC, I'd say nothing is essential. But broadly speaking.

If you want more factions to play as in Grand Campaign: Culture Packs (Top picks: Desert Kingdoms, Black Seas Colonies,
Greek States
. So so: Nomadic Tribes, Black Seas Colonies.)
If you want additional standalone campaigns: Campaign DLC (Top picks: Empire Divided, Rise of the Republic. So so: Wrath of Sparta. Okay, and it's free anyway: Imperator Augustus.
If you want a bit of both, hybrid DLC: (Decent: Caesar in Gaul, Hannibal at the Gates.)
If you want niche units and have a few quid to spare: Unit Packs (Beasts of War, Daughters of Mars.)
If you want blood & gore... well, the clues in the title.

Also bear in mind since launch 6 factions have been added as free-DLC, some of which let you try out similar factions to paid-DLC.

(Getae = Black Seas Colonies, Massilia = Greek States and Black Seas Colonies.)

I'd say for now you have plenty to play in the base game, so you can wait for a sale to pick up DLC unless there's something you really want in them right now.

Hope that helps.

*

Originally Posted by Jurand of Cracow

Thanks, I didn't know it. I understand that besides the unlocking those additional factions, the DLC don't provide anything more?

They actually provide a lot, it's just most of it was added to the game for everyone in the patches, updates and free-dlc, that were paid for by sales of the DLC. Win/Win, whether you actually buy the DLC or not.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

**Jansenfinn** · June 16, 2019, 05:16 PM

It does seem like the basegame itself changed a lot as well. They even added family trees

!

I will go and pick up some of those culture packs I think. I definitely like playing as Greeks and Arabs, those other packs do seem to be lacking in terms of content like you said.

I will go and install Rome 2 and see what the game is like and compare it with DeI. I'm definitely up for a bit of a challenge, always found Total War quite easy, especially now that I play a lot of Paradox games.

**LuckyPistol** · June 17, 2019, 02:08 PM

I'll echo Welsh Dragon: vanilla Rome II is a fantastic game that is worth most, if not all, the culture packs provided you find them on sale/bundle. Play without mods until you get bored. The one campaign expansion I'd truly recommend is Empire Divided. Think of it as a great introduction to Attila Total War, as it adds squalor and banditry to make the game much more challenging. The only downside of Empire Divided is that you don't have many factions to choose from.

As for the culture packs, the Greeks and Desert Kingdoms are a must for any player. Desert Kingdoms add some great spice playing as Masaeyli. I personally love the Black Sea Colonies expansion as well, but at the end of the day they're just more Greeks (Colchis is a challenging campaign though). The Balkan and Nomadic packs have been the least popular, as all the nomadic factions play the same (I hope you like horse archers), and only the Ardiaei stand out as unique among the Thracian factions, but they're all challenging campaigns.

If you get the packs you mentioned above, I suggest Masaeyli. They're the only non-Barbarian faction to get the confederation option.

**Jansenfinn** · June 19, 2019, 04:08 AM

Thank you all for the advice!

I bought the greek and desert kingdoms culture packs, although for now I won't be using them yet. I'm currently playing with some minor mods (like RTW music mod) as the Ptolemaic dynasty. The game feels way better than before. As someone who hasn't played in such a long time I can't really pin and point the minor differences but there seem to be many differences compared to the version I played in 2014. The most important part I think is, is that I'm having fun again, which is great! Glad to see that the game became a decent game after all.