Rome Total War- Battle strategies

[Epictetus]

Cheats? hock: I didn't know anything about them. If, just for conversational purposes, one wanted to test these cheats, how might one do so? :wink:

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

Cheats are interesting to use when you have already won the game a few times using conventional methods or when you have reached that stage in the game where you already know you are going to win and that is an inevitability, so you might aswell accelerate the process.

This is especially true in Rome Total Realism, where the map is huge.

I would love to continue playing even when you have all the cities captured, bu sadly the game ends then. I usually keep a rebel city rebel and keep on modernising and upgrading my Empire.

[Epictetus]

Well, I am finding that it is best if I don't use one specific strategy or even army composition. If I'm fighting other Romans, I like to go heavy on Praetorian cohorts just smashing their line. I use skirmishers and calvary very sparingly. Sometimes I don't even use the calvary unless the opposing army has some as well. Otherwise I just use them to go after routing units.

If I'm fighting Egyptians, for instance, it is about the opposite. The Egyptians seem to use a lot of chariots and skirmishers, so I want less heavy infantry and more calvary and skirmishers.

[M. Demetrius]

Egyptian chariots are a problem for Romans. I've outnumbered Egyptians 3 and 4 to 1, and still lost the battle. Seems like heavy cavalry (if you have it) and skirmishers are the best weapons against chariots. Horse archers are pretty good, too, because they can keep a respectable distance.

Scythed chariots, like the Seleucids have (if you ever encounter them) are disastrous to infantry units.

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

I just fought two picthed battles in E.B (Europa Barbarorum).

The first one the celtic chariots raped my infantry and then proceded to rape the cavalry I sent to support them. In E.B chariots are nearly invincible.

The second battle I decided to position my army on high ground, right at the end of the map. My archers and scorpios let loose on the strong units of the enemy (read shock troops and chariots) and did a lot of damage at quite a long range. By the time the enemy got to me they were already tired, and the infantry fight was short. Chariots were further weakened by harrassing javelin attacks from my cavalry, before finally being driven by my auxilia at the flanks.

For a 1500 vs 1500 battle, I lost 158 men, mostly cavalry and some infantry, to a 1387 kill. On hardest difficulty too.

[M. Demetrius]

When attacked (say, if you're Scipio, holding NE Africa, and attacked by Egypt in Lepsis Magna, for example) and unable to meet the attacker head on, does anybody else use the raid and pillage method?

In that very example, I sent two fleet groups with 4 armies to Egypt, conquered Salamis for a base, then conquered several of the small coastal towns in Egypt, exterminated them, ran the taxes to max and left one small unit in each town. I tore down all the buildings I could after retraining as many troops as possible in each town. Free money, leave the towns underdeveloped with no population, and leave to the next town.

The senate tells me to go and retake this town or that, but I just ignore them and go on lowering Egypt's ability to produce revenue, until all Egypt brings its advance forces home. Meanwhile, the navy groups sink or reduce as many Egyptian ships as they can catch.

In the end, I don't try to hold onto the towns, just pillage and destroy, and leave the ruins to Egypt. If any of the armies survive long enough, I will retake some of those towns and repeat the process. You don't earn much from the second round, but whatever it costs the enemy to build is money he can't use to make troops. Whatever you gain is money you CAN use to make troops. Nasty business. Works, though. In ten or twenty turns, you can basically bleed an enemy to death, if his allies don't force you to pay attention somewhere else.

Just one thought.

[Mythos_Ruler]

When attacked (say, if you're Scipio, holding NE Africa, and attacked by Egypt in Lepsis Magna, for example) and unable to meet the attacker head on, does anybody else use the raid and pillage method?

In that very example, I sent two fleet groups with 4 armies to Egypt, conquered Salamis for a base, then conquered several of the small coastal towns in Egypt, exterminated them, ran the taxes to max and left one small unit in each town. I tore down all the buildings I could after retraining as many troops as possible in each town. Free money, leave the towns underdeveloped with no population, and leave to the next town.

The senate tells me to go and retake this town or that, but I just ignore them and go on lowering Egypt's ability to produce revenue, until all Egypt brings its advance forces home. Meanwhile, the navy groups sink or reduce as many Egyptian ships as they can catch.

In the end, I don't try to hold onto the towns, just pillage and destroy, and leave the ruins to Egypt. If any of the armies survive long enough, I will retake some of those towns and repeat the process. You don't earn much from the second round, but whatever it costs the enemy to build is money he can't use to make troops. Whatever you gain is money you CAN use to make troops. Nasty business. Works, though. In ten or twenty turns, you can basically bleed an enemy to death, if his allies don't force you to pay attention somewhere else.

Just one thought.

Yep, pretty standard tactic. Some see that as cheating though, because the AI does not have the ability to do that to your cities.

[M. Demetrius]

And the AI rarely stages a beach landing, though it sometimes does.

[Epictetus]

Hey David, I have a question. I have done the "raids" like you mention several times in the past, but I never was able to destroy buildings. Do you need a governor to do this, or is there some other screen besides the building browser that you use?

[M. Demetrius]

Nothing special. Bring up the "Town" (instead of "Army") tab, and right click on any building. Most of them can be torn down, and it shows you an icon in the lower left corner of the building description how much money you get for the teardown. It seems to be about 1/3 to 1/4 the original price, or less, depending on damage.

I also use that tactic when I know a town is going to fall. Raze everything and put the taxes max. Then when they take the town, there's not much to gain, and they can't retrain their troops. Helps a bunch when you want to send in a counterattack in a couple of turns. Their troops will be weakened already.

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

Yep, pretty standard tactic. Some see that as cheating though, because the AI does not have the ability to do that to your cities.

Yeah, thats indeed the case. Its not like that was an actualy strategy used back then either, its a game exploit really. The enemy doesn't do that to you. The more acceptable form is destroying a city you know will fall into enemy hands. A variation of this which I used frequently in BI (which is nearly impossible to win as the Western Empire) was allowing cities within the empire to revolt and then exterminate the population, thus making thousands in the process. It was the only way I could make any money, as any raise in taxes usually resulted in rebellions everywhere.

And the AI rarely stages a beach landing, though it sometimes does.

Yes, that very dissapointing. Carthage, once cut off from Iberia and Hispania, rarely ever tries to reclaim it in force (as would be the case) not to mention it almost never attacks Italy by sea, can you imagine you destructive it would be if they waited a couple of turns, put stacks into ships, and then simultaneously attacked all your cities in Italy? Would make the game much more challenging I feel.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Yep, pretty standard tactic. Some see that as cheating though, because the AI does not have the ability to do that to your cities.

Yeah, thats indeed the case. Its not like that was an actual strategy used back then either, its a game exploit really. The enemy doesn't do that to you.

I disagree. I think that it could be looked at as a "punitive raid."

And the AI rarely stages a beach landing, though it sometimes does.

Yes, that very dissapointing. Carthage, once cut off from Iberia and Hispania, rarely ever tries to reclaim it in force (as would be the case) not to mention it almost never attacks Italy by sea, can you imagine you destructive it would be if they waited a couple of turns, put stacks into ships, and then simultaneously attacked all your cities in Italy? Would make the game much more challenging I feel.

Completely agree. Too bad there's no way to mod the AI in any significant fashion. I suppose one could script events like invasions and such more often, but then they wouldn't be random.

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

I disagree. I think that it could be looked at as a "punitive raid."

Well, yeah, if you do it once or twice (Which appropriately I did to the Germans on a couple of occasions)

But doing that on a 'large scale' with the deliberate intent to bleed the enemy dry is kind of cheating, as you have said. The ultimate cheat is save + reload anyway, and I use that *constantly*. I really want to start a campaign and not do that. Although to be fair, I always play on very hard. (which I have been disilusioned recently as all it seems to do is give the enemy more money than he would othersise have and equally a massive morale bosster in the battlefield which would be unlikely). EB already balances the AI to a good extent, so maybe my next campaign will be on medium, no save+reload, as the romani. That should be fun.

I disagree. I think that it could be looked at as a "punitive raid."

Completely agree. Too bad there's no way to mod the AI in any significant fashion. I suppose one could script events like invasions and such more often, but then they wouldn't be random.[/quote]

If only one could script them to try and do that rather frequently. Like every 10 turns or something the Carthaginians try to raid Italy. Or the same to the Seleucids towards Greece/Macedonia, or the Ptolemaioi towards Anatolia/Greece.

[Nihonius Legio]

The game has become almost to easy for me (though I'm still addicted). I never lose infantry battles anymore, only sea battles. I tend to use several techniques and strategies for different situations, but they all involve circling the enemy, and they all work. This is for Roman factions, it works for others but I other techniques for say, the Seleucids.
Legionaries are placed up front to attack to make use of their melee qualities, and javelins thrown to kick the battle off.
I often keep spearmen loosely pact behind them in case of an enemy cavalry charge through the line.
Behind the flanks of my line are tight packed spearmen that not only protect the flank from cavalry charge (especially when defending), but also can be used to take out the enemy flanks.
Behind the loose spears are a few units of legionaries. These not only can be used as backup, but to reinforce any areas where your men are having a tough time. They throw their javelins into enemies already dealing with your swords, which is a shock.
Behind all of this is your cavalry.

The numbers indicate which the order of operations for an attack. 1,2,3, victory.
1.legionaries march forward and attack whoever is in front of them.
2. Spearmen on flanks break off and either hit the enemy from behind, open a path for your cavalry to flank, or kill the general who is at the disatvantage of being on a horse. At this same time, your backup legionaries fing weak spots, or just make use of their javelins into the biggest enemy crowds.
3. While all of this is going on, its wise to let your cavalry split to the wings at a trot. When most of the enemy forces are preocupied (one of the uses of the spearmen on the flanks) then you can ram your cavalry in weak points in the enemy line. This frees up some of your infantry to help take out the rest as you please.

Yay, you win...again

[Mythos_Ruler]

Putting some thought into a potential "ROME 2: TOTAL WAR", what changes and features would you guys like to see implemented?

Personally I think something akin to both Total Realism and Europa Barbarum would be ideal, with a campaign that can span from 500BC to AD500, complete with emerging factions.

I would also like to see real naval battles, but not in the way they did it in Empire:Total War where you control individual ships. I would prefer they go to a squadron system where you command squadrons of triremes similar to commanding squadrons of cavalry, complete with formations, ramming, missiles, etc.