senator_griff
Legionary
posted 28 October 2007 03:39 EDT (US)
Hi, im new to RTW. However playing as the Julii i find my two main cities ariminium and arretium go into debt for most of the game, how do i solve that
Cheers
nikhilm92
Legionary
posted 28 October 2007 08:50
EDT (US)
4 / 9
senator_griff, I played Julii my first campaign.
Yes, they went in huge debt...eacy city was -3000+ and patavium was -3500+ for me....
You can easily solve it by getting lots of trade rights.
I probably had this problem coz all these cities were the biggest cities for me, and they got all the cost on them for military upkeep...and I loved to bribe every single army around me...
I gained more than 10,000 soldiers that way(playing on normal scale)
smalleagle
Legionary
posted 30 October 2007 18:12
EDT (US)
5 / 9
There is of course the blockade a port and offer ceasefire method favoured by the more unscrupulous people AKA me
or the clout the Gauls / germans and offer ceasefire at a price and then use the cash to clout them some more method
mikecz
Legionary
posted 30 October 2007 20:35
EDT (US)
6 / 9
I think most of us started out playing the Julii, who are the poorest of the Roman factions until you figure a number of things out. The defaults also point you at the some of the poorer parts of the world map.
If you can, ports really count financially (& give you more bases from which to move the longest distances in the game - ship movements). If an army (however big or small) moves onto a ship or fleet & barely makes it onto the ship(s), you can then left click on the fleet (on the map) & then left click on the left-most ship of the ship pictures & then hold down CTRL key & individually left click on each & every ship in the ships list (so they are all selected) & then the fleet will still be able to move its full move distance.
As the Julii, see if you can capture some of the Greek and/or Macedonian cities before the Brutii get them. Alternatively, try for the Greek & Carthaginian cities on Sicily before the Scippii get those (& then move on to N. Africa & Carthage itself). Go for Spain, even tho the Senate will scold you for it (What are they gonna do - draft you & send you to Viet Nam?) The interior Gaul & German regions pretty much suck economically & for growth but these are the places the AI, via the Senate, point the poor Julii towards.
Early on, unless you expand really fast, I spend more money on ports, farm, market, & road upgrades than on recruiting more men, who are your major expense. You need some additional cities (Patavium, for sure, because it grows like a weed) ASAP, but you need an economic base in this game to succeed at any but the short (15 regions) campaigns.
smalleagle
Legionary
posted 31 October 2007 02:12
EDT (US)
7 / 9
Overall I agree pretty much with everything said here, but it depends very much on the version that you play as to whether going for the Greeks/Macedonians or the Carthagenians EARLY ON is easy enough to make it worthwhile as the Julii
With Vanilla everything is easily possible with the 1.5 patch games (white label / Gold) it isn't
Much more possible is going for Segastica and the other coastal rebel town further south is better as they both have gold as does Narbo Martius in the West and they have less troops protecting them and you can get bloody useful merc's in the eastern towns
I still suggest sending a boat Diplomat combo to Syracuse to blockade and ask for ceasefire cash as 18,000 denari from the greeks and 15,000 from Carthage can buy a lot of military clout
As for buildings Ports then roads is the way to go for finances or to specialize in certain military buildings per town (Patavium + capital - infrantry & Melodium - cavalry and Arrinium - velites is my prefered choice)
Your financial choices may be tougher at the start but don't neglect the chance to clout the Gauls early on or you will pay the price later and you can hit them for ceasefire cash at 1 time anyway
mikecz
Legionary
posted 31 October 2007 11:53
EDT (US)
8 / 9
smalleagle brings up a really good point - specialize the military buildings in different cities. Each city doesn't need the best barracks and the best stables and the best ranges.
You'll learn as your campaign progresses that in different parts of the world certain type units are better than others. You really need horse units in Spain & on the steppes north of the Black Sea, but they're not very useful against the Greek or German phalanxes or Brit chariots, for instance.
You'll usually want mixed force armies but the ratio of infantry-horse-ranged units varies with region (&, to some extent, the style of combat you will develop on your own).
I usually upgrade one military building, then (maybe after) the port. Build the blacksmith or its upgrade, then the rest of economic & growth enhancing upgrades, probably the temple, maybe the arena. Only after all these do I sometimes upgrade the other military buildings. 30-40 regions into the campaign, the old large & huge cities in the core of my empire may still have only "large town" or "minor city" grade military buildings - it takes too long to move high end military units way out there to the bleeding edge of your expanding empire.
Have fun!
smalleagle
Legionary
posted 31 October 2007 15:48
EDT (US)
9 / 9
Mikecz has put it much better than i could
What buildings you build where really do count
Definatly at your first Greek or German city where it's possible you should upgrade the practice range ASAP and when you get the Dacian capital it's stables
Alesia in Gaul in particular is a crucial city / town in the Julii campaign in my eyes this is a military town first as the extra cost in wages in bringing elite troops from Italy is simply not worth it, as well as being a very useful repair centre for your now weakened hastasi
This same principle applies everywhere BUILD LOCAL FIGHT NATIONALLY