The Total War: Rome II thread

[rfgordan]

I'm looking forward to this alot. RTW was one of best strategy games of all time, IMO. Best moments- capturing Rome as Numidia on very hard/very hard and cataphract spamming online (people didn't realize that cataphracts can charge through the front of phalanxes)

 

[Fjordsen]

I'm looking forward to this alot. RTW was one of best strategy games of all time, IMO. Best moments- capturing Rome as Numidia on very hard/very hard and cataphract spamming online (people didn't realize that cataphracts can charge through the front of phalanxes)

My best moments: Defeating 4 full stacked Greek (All units were Armored hoplites, hoplites, spartans, archers or greek cav and maybe some Peltasts) armies in one battle outside Corinth as Scipii.

Best online moment: 1v2 win over 2 Urban spam armies when my teammate did ''Admit defeat'' after 2 seconds as Thrace.

Worst moments: Getting defeated as Greek City States against a macedonian army twice my size, but I did the wrong that I deployed on top of a hill with my back to the Red line and the reinforcements (approx 1000 men) came right in my back and I lost big time (Actually my 1 Spartan unit and 2 Armored Hoplites made it out alive and stood their ground after I put them in a defensive last stand untill the 45 min Timer went out, both were depleted badly though).

Another bad moment: I had one turn left to capturing Thessalonica when Brutii bribed my army full of armored hoplites and Cretan archers/belaric slingers + a General.

Another bad one: I invaded Italy as Carthage (On Very Hard) and when I attacked the Scipii capital but the SPQR army of gold gold elite units came against me and I pressed 'withdraw' at the battle screen (Before battle) so I could get in a better position without the Scipii forces helping SPQR, but my army vanished when I did so and I lost all my Strength in Italy... (Elephant units, belaric slingers, Sacred band spearmen and cav, numidian cav)

 

[rfgordan]

@EtKEnn if i can find my cd key, we should play a game online.

Also try playing very hard/very hard as numidia. Hardest campaign I have ever played in any Total War game, they have only a few tiny desert towns with no real infantry and a deficit within the first few turns. But like I said, if you win with them it's very satisfying.

 

[Fjordsen]

@EtKEnn if i can find my cd key, we should play a game online.

Also try playing very hard/very hard as numidia. Hardest campaign I have ever played in any Total War game, they have only a few tiny desert towns with no real infantry and a deficit within the first few turns. But like I said, if you win with them it's very satisfying.

Oh god, Numidia sounds extremely hard (I've tried on Medium, even that is very hard).

If you find that CD key, we'll do a game sometime (I have only played around 10-15 online games though, I don't like it because everyone goes Rome and spam urbans :/ )

Try mod your RTW and play as Rebel faction, it's impossible, trust me. You start of with like 100 provinces and all of them got like 2 peseants and no buildings except a Governor's house. It's hard as F*ck to make money and get a stable income because every faction in the game will be ganking your towns.

 

[rfgordan]

Ill try modding to play as rebels but iirc thats significantly harder than getting the other unplayable ones.

Also when you play online, assuming you play under standard rules (no elephants, no artillery, max 6 of any one units, max 8 cavalry, max 2 horse archers or beserkers) any faction that has comparable cavalry to rome can beat an urban cohort spam if played right. Seleucids, Macedon, and Carthage are all good option for building conventional armies. Also Parthia and Scythia can be really powerful with only cav+archers+horse- archers, although other players sometimes quit when they see armies like that

 

[Fjordsen]

Ill try modding to play as rebels but iirc thats significantly harder than getting the other unplayable ones.

Also when you play online, assuming you play under standard rules (no elephants, no artillery, max 6 of any one units, max 8 cavalry, max 2 horse archers or beserkers) any faction that has comparable cavalry to rome can beat an urban cohort spam if played right. Seleucids, Macedon, and Carthage are all good option for building conventional armies. Also Parthia and Scythia can be really powerful with only cav+archers+horse- archers, although other players sometimes quit when they see armies like that

Indeed, but the problem is that Romans got Preatorian cav. Preatorian cav is not historically accurate whatsoever. Rome didn't make use of Cavalery before late AC, except that sons of noble families often ride to horse on the battlefield in a Pre-marian army. Preatorian cav is like the best cavalery in the game except Catapracts.

If the CWB rules accepted the use of Elephants, it would be more balanced imo, because then factions like Carthage could use their advantage in Elephants to beat roman armies. Sacred band can hold off Urbans from the front, but the Preatorian cav will beat the Sacred Band cav unless the Roman is a noob. Hammer and Anvil charge = Win for romans.

Scythia can be extremely powerful if played right (Head hunt maidens as anti-infantery/cav force, ton of horse archers, noble scythians heavy cav) but people often rage-quit when you use the Scythian skirmish tactic, because they hate seeing themselves losing to a barbarian faction and because Skirmish battles takes a long time.

 

[rfgordan]

This thread is becoming a discussion of the original RTW, and i love it

More advice for fighting Romans online:
1) upgrade your units
2) switch to secondary weapons in a cav fight after charging
3) use a unit like militia to absorb pila fire, which is the most deadly aspect of legionary units
4) win the cav fight, then hammer and anvil away!

Also of the three i mentioned Seleucids are probably the best. Cataphracts kick ass in general and chariots rip cav, but not infantry, to shreds (literally). Plus you have standard archers for support, a quality phalanx and imitation legionaires. If your infantry can hold the line while your cataphracts annihilate the roman cav, then the battle is yours.

EDIT: and also the secondary weapon of cataphracts (mace) is armor piercing, I can not emphasize this enough

 

[Fjordsen]

This thread is becoming a discussion of the original RTW, and i love it

More advice for fighting Romans online:
1) upgrade your units
2) switch to secondary weapons in a cav fight after charging
3) use a unit like militia to absorb pila fire, which is the most deadly aspect of legionary units
4) win the cav fight, then hammer and anvil away!

Also of the three i mentioned Seleucids are probably the best. Cataphracts kick ass in general and chariots rip cav, but not infantry, to shreds (literally). Plus you have standard archers for support, a quality phalanx and imitation legionaires. If your infantry can hold the line while your cataphracts annihilate the roman cav, then the battle is yours.

EDIT: and also the secondary weapon of cataphracts (mace) is armor piercing, I can not emphasize this enough

1) Duh, people who don't upgrade don't win
2) Already knew this, Cataphract Mace is amazingly OP against other cav
3) I often bring town milita or peasents to absorb pilum fire
4) More cav, less infantery. Sometimes (Expecially as barbarian) your infantery routs extremely fast :/

But yeah, these 4 tips is helpful against all factions not just rome (A lot of factions got ''fake'' legionaries. Silver legionaries are pretty decent though, really good for holding the flank or flanking manouvers.

 

[rfgordan]

1) Duh, people who don't upgrade don't win
2) Already knew this, Cataphract Mace is amazingly OP against other cav
3) I often bring town milita or peasents to absorb pilum fire
4) More cav, less infantery. Sometimes (Expecially as barbarian) your infantery routs extremely fast :/

But yeah, these 4 tips is helpful against all factions not just rome (A lot of factions got ''fake'' legionaries. Silver legionaries are pretty decent though, really good for holding the flank or flanking manouvers.

they're the best imitation legionaires in the game (numidia and armenia have some too, but they're shit). Silver shields cant fight Roman legions alone, but they can hold out long enough.

But yeah you're right in some cases it becomes Rome vs. Rome and everyone has the exact same armies (urban cohorts, praetorian cav, and archers). Those battles come down to who micros the best (firing both pila before engaging, encircling during the cav fight) and not as much real strategy.

The funnest battles I have done have been free for alls with like 5 units each, and everyone trying to make alliances and team up on others. It can get pretty intense, and also those are the best battles for owning those noobs I was talking about who dont realize that cataphract spam wins every time, even against phalanxes

 

[Fjordsen]

I love low money battles, I always go Scythia or Numidia for cheap Archers/Slingers/light infantery. It's really fun to fight against Romans or carthage or even Greece in low money battles, they go like a few strong units while I have a big army of light troops and simply shoot them to death

 

[WoleverEntun]

My Leader was just killed campaigning in the north, his army melted, and my northern provinces were lost. I've losted upwards of 20,000 people to plague alone. Sometimes I take one of my Cataphract or Elephant units, and defeat a 200-300 man rebel army, just for fun. All as the Sassanids with barbarian invasion.

 

[Fjordsen]

My Leader was just killed campaigning in the north, his army melted, and my northern provinces were lost. I've losted upwards of 20,000 people to plague alone. Sometimes I take one of my Cataphract or Elephant units, and defeat a 200-300 man rebel army, just for fun. All as the Sassanids with barbarian invasion.

Who plays barbarian invasion anymore? Vanilla is da shit xDD

 

[rfgordan]

Yeah vanilla is better.

Also we could easily slap [DH] onto our names online and call it a guild

 

[Fjordsen]

Going to start a Germania campaign (Never done one before) on Hard (Not doing Very hard as it doesn't really make the AI better, it just makes the AI able to make 3-4 units every turn in one settlement and get hundreds of thousands of Denarii out of nowhere. In Shogun 2, the AI was a lot better so I guess Rome 2's AI will actually be good instead of just getting some nuisance recources etc.)

 

[Fjordsen]

As I can't play any online games I have started a Julii RTW long campaign on Very Hard. Today I finished the two main quests to win: Become the supreme ruler of Rome and hold over 50 provinces.

I've taken all of Gaul, Iberia (Spain), Germania, Dacia, Britain, Sicily, Croton, Tarentum, Capua, Rome, Carthage (w/ Leptic Magna and Thapsus), Sparta, Illyria and areas between Dacia and Scythia.

Current invasions: Kydonia (Crete), South Greece (Corinth, Athens, all under Brutii control), Salona, Numidia (Under Scipii control)

Planned: After taking all of the Brutii-Roman territory in Greece and Macedon I'm sending my field armies in Greece to Asia Minor to fight Pontus, Armenia, Egypt and later on Parthia. Once Pontus and Egypt are out of the way, the world is pretty much mine as Armenia, Parthia, Scythia and Thrace are inferior to my Roman troops by far.

Still gotta beat the other Roman families first.

If you have no idea whar RTW is, then let me explain. It's the second game in the Total War series. It was released in 2004. It places you around 260 BC, when the Roman fanilies Julii, Scipi and Brutii are fighting for power in the Roman Republic. At this time, Rome is a small faction. Rome is still fighting for control over Northern Italy and Sicily. As the Julii, you start in the North. Your goal is to expand into Gaul (France) and secure northern italy. As the Scipii, you start in mid-italy and on Sicily. Your goal is to beat Carthage and take Sicily for Rome. As the Brutii, take Greece and Macedon. These families control all major cities within the Republic except Rome itself. Rome is controlled by the Senate, which gives you missions and leader positions. In a long campaign as a roman faction, I suggest taking Rome right after the Marian reforms.

I can't get enough of this game.

 

[Faunherer]

As I can't play any online games I have started a Julii RTW long campaign on Very Hard. Today I finished the two main quests to win: Become the supreme ruler of Rome and hold over 50 provinces.

I've taken all of Gaul, Iberia (Spain), Germania, Dacia, Britain, Sicily, Croton, Tarentum, Capua, Rome, Carthage (w/ Leptic Magna and Thapsus), Sparta, Illyria and areas between Dacia and Scythia.

Current invasions: Kydonia (Crete), South Greece (Corinth, Athens, all under Brutii control), Salona, Numidia (Under Scipii control)

Germania will rise again! Long live Arminius!

 

[Fjordsen]

Germania will rise again! Long live Arminius!

My Roman Empire isn't historicly accurate lol. I've conquered all of Iberia, Gaul and britain way before Caesar was even born. I've also taken Dacia which doesn't happen before the emperor Trajan and Germania never fell in Rome's hands completly. Yet all of these places are apart of my massive Empire. (Even Denmark and Scania)