Rome: Total War: Difference between revisions

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(Deleted redundant and subjective info, clarified AI issues.)
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* You can try the manipular formation (line each of Velites, Hastati, Principes, Triarii, each falling back through the other when tired) if you're a masochist. I'd recommend Principes in the center, Hastati on the flanks, and Triarii in reserve, with Velites as skirmishers. Get archers if you can find them, because they'll outrange your Velites. Post-Marian, your units will homogenize - while simultaneously growing in effectiveness - meaning that you can pretty much just build big lines and crush the hell out of them.
* You can try the manipular formation (line each of Velites, Hastati, Principes, Triarii, each falling back through the other when tired) if you're a masochist. I'd recommend Principes in the center, Hastati on the flanks, and Triarii in reserve, with Velites as skirmishers. Get archers if you can find them, because they'll outrange your Velites. Post-Marian, your units will homogenize - while simultaneously growing in effectiveness - meaning that you can pretty much just build big lines and crush the hell out of them.


* The artillery you can bring with your units is next to useless against walls, but fuck if it doesn't kill enemy soldiers like the dickens. Scorpions on a hill can fire over long distances, with fair accuracy, and skewer whole columns at a time. Once they get experienced - which they will quickly, if you don't let them die - they'll fire faster, further, and more accurately. You can have a battle half-over before the melee starts.
* When fighting Carthage, bring skirmishers - Velites, specifically. Use them against elephants. They're cheap, so it's worth losing a unit of them to cause a unit of elephants to rampage - especially when those elephants are still among enemy troops.
 
* When fighting Carthage, bring skirmishers - Velites, specifically. Use them against elephants. They're cheap, so it's worth losing a unit of them to cause to rampage a unit of elephants - especially when those elephants are still among enemy troops.


* Oceanside cities are incredible for your economy. If you can get your hands on the Aegean Peninsula and Italy, you'll be basically set for cash. Keep upgrading your docks and roads. Identify cities with strong farming or mining bonuses and focus your farm/mine upgrades there.
* Oceanside cities are incredible for your economy. If you can get your hands on the Aegean Peninsula and Italy, you'll be basically set for cash. Keep upgrading your docks and roads. Identify cities with strong farming or mining bonuses and focus your farm/mine upgrades there.
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* Divide and conquer. You can often bait enemy armies and slaughter them piecemeal. Try not to fight enemy armies where they can pile on you, because even with Rome's so-so AI you can get overwhelmed, especially if attacked from multiple directions by Roman Legions or Hellenic Hoplites.
* Divide and conquer. You can often bait enemy armies and slaughter them piecemeal. Try not to fight enemy armies where they can pile on you, because even with Rome's so-so AI you can get overwhelmed, especially if attacked from multiple directions by Roman Legions or Hellenic Hoplites.


* Speaking of veterancy, if you're Rome after building your first Imperial Palace you will undergo the reforms of Gaius Marius, which will turn your Republican tripartite armies into Imperial Legions. Your former troops will no longer be buildable or reinforceable. It sucks, but the troops to which you gain access following the event are stronger than those you used before, and you'll gain from it in the long run.
* As a Roman faction, after building your first Imperial Palace you will undergo the reforms of Gaius Marius, which will turn your Republican tripartite armies into Imperial Legions. Your former troops will no longer be buildable or reinforceable. It sucks, but the troops to which you gain access following the event are stronger than those you used before, and you'll gain from it in the long run.


* Speaking of which, two attacks in a single round on the world map will allow you to destroy an enemy stack. The first attack will cause them to retreat; the second will force them into battle.  
* Two attacks in a single round on the world map will allow you to destroy an enemy stack. The first attack will cause them to retreat; the second will force them into battle.  


* Don't let AI reinforcements enter the battle with a general about whom you care at all, especially a king/emperor or other member of the royal family. The battle AI will rush your general and his bodyguards into the thick of battle and you will lose a seven-star commander and you will hate all programmers ever. If you absolutely can not keep reinforcements out of the battle, charge the enemy before your fellows can get there. Your legions can be replaced; your generals largely can not.
* Don't let AI reinforcements enter the battle with a general about whom you care at all, especially a king/emperor or other member of the royal family. The battle AI will rush your general and his bodyguards into the thick of battle and you will lose a seven-star commander and you will hate all programmers ever. If you absolutely can not keep reinforcements out of the battle, charge the enemy before your fellows can get there. Your legions can be replaced; your generals largely can not.
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