Sar1n
Legionary
posted 22 December 2011 18:21 EDT (US)
Hello everyone,
I've been messing around RTW about two weeks, starting and restarting campaign, and I've run into a couple topics I'd like to discuss.
First, I've ran a bit into snag at strategic part. After several restarts, I've set campaign difficulty to easy (shame on me). Tactical part doesn't seem too hard, I'm already playing at hard and after several crushing victories despite AI having bigger armies, I'm considering going on VH. I'm still apparently lacking decent skill in managing the towns. Usually my big problem is overpopulation at first, I am never able to build most of the buildings at current town level before population hits next, and I haven't exactly figured other finer points in keeping the civilians in line. For example, how exactly does military presence affect order? It doesn't appear to be more=better, is there some ideal point for units, and does type of unit affect it as well? What is the best combination of troops for garrison?
Another point to discuss...I am probably gonna finish campaign this time, marching into Egypt with Brutii. I'm curious about what you consider best army to deal with them. Right now my armies consist of 5 archer aux, 6 urban cohorts, 2 of gladiators, praetorian cavalry, scorpions and heavy onagers. At this point, money is no problem, so my armies are built of the best of the best available. Tactically, I've found to gradually depend less on the melee infantry and more on cavalry, and heavy fire support. Also, I'm not sure about the scorpions...if they should stay.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 23 December 2011 04:59
EDT (US)
2 / 26
How to take on Egypt with a phalanx unit of your own is a constant problem for RTW players. I'd be inclined to take a lot of sword infantry in the front line with auxilia behind to counter attack any chariot attacks. You'll need cavalry as you'll run into a lot of skirmishers, but other than that cavalry is quite limited when attacking other units to try and win the battle as phalanxes and chariots will make a mess of them. It's best to fight it out with infantry supported by a lot of archers. Not that Egyptian archers and skirmishers should worry you too much - all of your men will be wearing so much armour that only a few hits will get through.
The best tactic is, on the campaign map, attack the Egyptian army so that they're sat on the defensive. They'll sit nice and still then so your archers can shoot up their chariots and your infantry can pick holes in their phalanx line. Scorpions look nice but they're not of any great use in any situation to be honest. You can only have a maximum of 20 units in an army, you'd be better off taking extra archers as they will be much more effective.
Sar1n
Legionary
posted 23 December 2011 11:08
EDT (US)
4 / 26
Thanks, didn't know that the number of troops is so important. I've kept three town watch units and two archers in every town, later upgraded to archer aux and urbans, to get a bit of decent defense.
During the big Egypt campaign, I have a full stack of 20 units advancing behind my armies that provide reinforcements, and another stack of "police" units to keep cities calm after the invaders leave.
I've been thinking about those scorpions a great deal...their accuracy is good, range better than any archers, but...overall each of them don't have enough ammo to actually rout a single stack of enemy units at their maximum range. I guess they're gonna go.
Sar1n
Legionary
posted 14 January 2012 17:47
EDT (US)
6 / 26
Hm. I've finished a campaign as Brutii (finally), and decided to try Macedonians next. I've conqered both Greek cities around, and those two coastal villages before Brutii got them. Now I got a descision to make. From north, Thrace and Gauls annoy me, and Brutii keep trying to attack me. Should I go north, or assault Brutii? Opening a front at Italy sounds serious, is there a way to make peace with rest of roman families (and senate) after exterminating those buggers?
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 15 January 2012 10:22
EDT (US)
7 / 26
Go for the Brutii because they're much more dangerous. Gaul and Thrace will only ever annoy you no matter how far into the game you get, but anything Roman gets bigger and stronger the longer you wait. It may sound difficult to attack them, but there's good points too. Italy is long and thin, so you can advance without worrying about an army suddenly appearing in your rear. If you wander northwards, you'll open up your front in multiple directions to all sorts of hostile people and you'll have trouble defending it. Especially when the Brutii start coming for you.
Sar1n
Legionary
posted 15 January 2012 15:38
EDT (US)
9 / 26
I hope so. Julii seem to have enough problems with Gauls, but senate might be tricky, especially since my towns are not yet developed enough for royal pikemen and onagers. Also, I have absolutely no idea how far into Carthage did Scipii advance.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 16 January 2012 05:00
EDT (US)
10 / 26
SPQR look intimidating, but there's a hand trick you can try if you want to destroy the lot quite cheaply. There's a fordable river just outside Rome, move or land an army by sea on it and the Romans will attack you. Put a pile of pikes around the ford and they'll all die there.
Or if you'd prefer to fight them honourably in the open but are worried about being outflanked due to the lack of width a unit of pikemen have, before the battle starts take everyone out of phalanx formation and press + to extend their line. When they're five ranks deep they will be as wide as royal pikemen and still presenting five pikes to the enemy.
Taking Italy will improve your economy a lot and it's easy to defend as a few troops placed on bridges and an army in reserve will cope with any eventuality. This will free up the rest of your forces to carry out your other plan and wander off into the barbarian north.
Thompsoncs
Legionary
posted 16 January 2012 06:25
EDT (US)
11 / 26
I once conquered entire italy with 1 army of armoured hoplites, hoplites and archers and few cavalry.
Either I make a circle and let the enemy storm themselves on me without a chance of breaking or flanking me.
Or I dig in on one of the corners of the map and make a 1/4th circle.
I admit it was a cowards tactic, but it worked. Even romans can't hope to break armored hoplites in frontal attack, and their pila aren't very effective against their heavy armor either. My archers usually take out their missile and my cavalry chase the runners.
I never liked phalanx warfare though. Too inflexible, too slow.
Hannibal Nectar
Legionary
posted 27 January 2012 08:37
EDT (US)
13 / 26
Everything has been covered, but I have never finished a campaign without doing the following:
Having one town for military production and the rest for money with roads, ports and farms. You need to capture as many port towns as possible, this is harder for the Juilii and their income can be stunted as you push into Gallia and Germania (Gerr-mah-nee-ah, it's a hard G like God not George.) I also try to expand quickly in the beginning. I hate fighting end game with Spain, Carthage, Egypt, and the Selecuids (I play Juilii) as huge superpowers so I stunt everyone else's growth first, especially Spain.
Just food for thought I guess, nice to see that I'm not the only one who still plays even if I do play vanilla.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 13 February 2012 04:41
EDT (US)
19 / 26
The funny thing is even when I'm playing a faction that has superb cavalry, I never really use them to win a battle. I leave them to screen the flanks, chase down fleeing cowards, while the main fighting is left to proper soldiers... So I always find Greece a very nice formation to play with. March the phalanx forward until it hits something, then stop, let them kill it, and carry on. It doesn't really matter how much their opponents run away, there's very little that can get through the skins of armoured hoplites.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 14 February 2012 05:05
EDT (US)
25 / 26
Egypt is a very odd faction to fight. Their troops are pretty average, yet they're difficult to fight as they're so varied in what they do. Lots of skirmishers so you need cavalry, but you can't use that cavalry until the chariots have been taken out. Armoured Hoplites only tend to suffer against Pharoah's Bowmen, but even then the losses aren't that great compared to what other non-phalanx units would take under the same bombardment. I ignore their fire and take losses while my archers return the fire (they have to be spread out as they come in for a lot of attention too) but the cavalry don't go in and finish them off until the Hoplites have effectively won the battle. Egyptian battlefields are dangerous ones.