Anyone sitting on the fence for picking up this title, Gogamer.com has it for $29.90 this weekend.
Has anyone tried online play yet? I keep getting CTDs every time. I’ve entered all the ports suggested and it still doesn’t work. Same for my friend who bought it so we could play against each other online. This is a rampant problem on the message boards. Sheesh.
I tried to set it up with a friend in Boston, but the Gamespy thing wasn’t working right. So we tried to set up a VPN and had router troubles so we gave up for the moment.
I am really looking forward to trying this in MP, though. The battles are much more fun when you have to really protect your flanks. Cavalry becomes useful not just as a strike weapon but as a defense against the inevitable enemy probe. The AI is better at battles this time around, but it doesn’t compare to a real person.
Troy
In multiplayer, as the Romans, NEVER forget about Triarii. They’re the best anti-cavalry weapon Rome has, and arguably the best anti-cavalry spearmen in the game, because they’re so much more maneuverable than the various phalanxes, and more disciplined than barbarian warbands or eastern infantry.
Multiplayer is quite fun. I’ve enjoyed showing the enemy just how kick ass the Spartans are if you’re silly enough to meet them head on.
Just make sure you take an oneger or two for anti-artillery or other duties. Myself, I hate them… but what can you do?
Peter
I really getting annoyed about family members who have like one kid or none. With the whole game being based around using these people as generals and govenors I’m hitting a total roadblock fast. Hell one of the three origional sons of the starting guy is 61 and had NO kids ever. I’m in the position that in the next 10 years I’ll probably going to have 3 guys die of old age and I doubt I can even replace them. I’m totally stuck.
I like about every other aspect of this game but this part of it is just stupid…
lol one of my guys wasnt making kids and I wondered why. He had a trait called ‘flaccid’ and that pretty much solved the mystery.
olaf
Bribe enemy family units. Nothing like using the gauls/etc against themselves! Mwuahaha. ETC.
Peter
Fight without using General’s as well. If you’re lucky a unit will step up and can you give them a full promotion to general (they rarely have any negative traits either).
If only they’d gotten YOU to program the AI, Brad. More and more I’m finding the game to be sorely lacking in this area.
My most recent frustration involved one of my better generals under AI control, leading reinforcements in a field battle. Unfortunately he actually LED, by which I mean his cavalry unit was the first unit (of a full complement) to meet the Greek enemy, by charging HEAD-ON into a defensive wall of Hoplites. It was so demoralizing that I had to stop playing. I sure hope they patch some of these glaring problems, and soon.
Time to dig up my copy of Galactic Civilizations…
Oh, I’m coming to think that if you leave a general in a city too long doing nothing that they will start to acrue those bloody annoying bad-finance, bad-leadership traits, especially if you have a large and rich empire.
I tend to keep a few leaders in the capital just to soak up retainers and then drop the useful ones on new leaders and send them off to work as a general or a governor right away… reducing the chance of getting bad traits… maybe.
Cal
One of my first powerful governors, Flavius the Cruel I believe, didn’t have a wife until 60. The old bastard died two turns later. Apparently he was too good at making money, rather than making babies. He didn’t even have the “Flaccid” trait! :roll:
Way to go, Flavius.
Havn’t had any luck when fighting without a general. The units seems to break very easily. Even if its a measly one star general they seem to stand up allot better.
I did’nt know you could bribe a enemy general though, thought it was just units out by themselves. Guess I could try that to fill up a slot or two.
Rome:TW is on sale on Steam for 2.49. Pretty easy decision, right? However I’m paralyzed by the thought that I might want to get the Alexander expansion, which is $10, and of course the complete R:TW+Alexander package is also $10.
So do I need/want the Alexander expansion?
Rome: TW on Steam comes with the Barbarian Invasion expansion pack, that and the original game should keep you busy. Rome: TW you can play as 3 factions, and in the Barbarian Invasion I believe it is 5 or 7 factions… that’s quite alot of gaming you can do for $2.49
You can play as any faction in Rome, the game just keeps all but the Romans locked away until you win the campaign once. Or you could grab an edited campaign file and play whatever you like right away.
As for Alexander you don’t need it. The campaign is well done and hard as nails thanks to the strict time limits and limited reinforcements as you try to match Alexander’s pace and if you think that sounds like a fun challenge then by all means get it. But the thing is, the time limits and the scripting and the narrow focus give it a very different feel from the typical Total War formula where the lack of constraints is the whole point.
If you want to look into the mods for the game they are generally made for the Barbarian Invasion expansion and I don’t think any major mod requires Alexander.
What Kalle said. Rome TW:Gold gives you everything you need to experience the game to it’s fullest including the ability to run all the best mods. Alexander was really kind of a weird add-on, really more like a mod, in the way it totally changed the game’s dynamics and made it much more linear in my opinon, and as a long-time fan of the series I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the BI & VI (for Rome and Medieval I) or Kingdoms (for Medieval II) expansions.
In other words, it’s not worth a $7.50 upcharge. Buy R:TW Gold for $2.50 and be happy with a fantastic deal.
I just bought this on Steam as well, indeed it was my motivation for joining Steam
Thanks Slainte and Kalle.
I played the original when it came out and just picked up gold on steam. Are there any really good mods out there I should try? I saw there is a Rome Total Realism mod, has anyone tried it?