Campaign Strategy

This section is for strategies to employ on the campaign map in order to grow your empire, protect yourself from attack, make strategically important gains and eventually conquer the known world. Please note that the articles marked (BI) concern the Barbarian Invasion expansion.


General Strategy

Articles in this section are about campaign strategy in general, the principles of warfare and diplomacy.

Wanderlust: The Art of Mass Migration by Sassenach

The aim of a mass migration strategy is to set out from the very beginning to transport a particular faction to a totally different part of the map, with different resources, different enemies, different tactical imperatives – basically a different game. Migrations can be used to give you a strategic advantage. The first time I ever tried one was when I moved the Scythians to Sicily, moving from the poorest territories on the periphery of the map to some of the richest, right at the heart of the action. Usually though, starting a mass migration is not going to make the game any easier for you. It’s a high risk-high reward strategy that involves you burning all your bridges, if you make one little mistake it can be game over.

Thinking Strategically on the Campaign Map by yakcamkir

This is a rough guide to my Campaign doctrine, detailing how I come up with a long-term strategy for any scenario. The guide is intended to explain the basis to my version of successful strategic thought and newcomers to RTW who have problems understanding how to think strategically on the Campaign Map can use this method of thinking to come up with unique strategies for unique situations and adapt the strategy they are planning to new situations that crop up.

Being A Horde 101 by Hussarknight

Hordes are one of the new and special features to Barbarian Invasion. This guide will tell you the ins and outs of being a horde: How to become one, how to conduct your strategy during your migration, and finally the especially delicate time of settlement.

Lord Ahm’s Guide To Army Upkeep

Constantly losing money in RTW? Cannot figure out why? This article (also known as “Help, I Am Losing Money!”) by Lord Ahm will show you how to manage your empire’s assets so you are back making a profit again. Lord Ahm explains how to correctly gauge the income of your cities, how to most efficiently garrison them, and more.

Being a Coldhearted Bastard : Recollections of a Ruthless Warlord by Terikel Grayhair

Nice guys finish last. An old saying, but one that is often proven true over and over. Why should we who spill buckets of our foe’s blood care about public opinion anyway? This guide shares the secrets of being a true warlord, a maniacal despot, a vicious tyrant, and above all a warlord to be reckoned with.

Custom Campaigns: Adding Some Spice to Campaigns by Erzin

Lord Erzin describes to us various ways to spice up the game. When we have conquered as every faction, and empire-building grows old, add some spice to the campaign by trying something different. Here’s how.

The Roman Civil War by Terikel Grayhair

Lord Terikel examines the Roman Civil War within our Virtual World- its causes, how to prepare for it, and how to stomp your former brethren into dogfood once it starts.

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Faction Guides

Articles in this section are detailed overviews of the factions in the game, exploring the initial position on the map, the buildings and units available and the strategic options available.

Egypt – The Rich Empire of the Desert by ustedloco

After conquering pesky Rome from the old Senate men, you l probably just want to play as a completely different faction rather then be one of the mediocre Roman factions. Here your chance to command the exciting chariots of the deserts with a mix of infantry tied in an archer bow. The faction to play is Egypt.

Carthage: Starting moves guide by Giakomo

Well, there I was. Having completed the imperial campaign as all 3 Roman families, Egypt, and the Seleucids, it was now time to try Carthage. History teaches us that the Scipii would be our biggest rival, so on my first attempt (on vh/vh) I jumped right into action and took Messana on turn 2, only to find myself several years later being constantly forced to defend Caralis from the Julii and Messana from first the Scipii and then the Brutii, Corduba from the Spain/Gaul alliance, as well as having Greek and Numidian armies roam free all over my turf. With the economy severely under-developed and my empire collapsing, I decided to start over and try a different approach.

Alternative Carthage Opening Moves Guide by Primus Julius

Do you find Giakomo’s guide not quite to your taste? Perhaps you would like to try this alternative opening moves guide proposed by Primus Julius.

Germania: The Folk of the Dark Forests

Recollections of our people by the warlord Terikel Grayhair

Faction Strategy: The Seleucid Empire by Hussarknight

The Seleucid Empire has a rough start. Your are surrounded by enemies on all sides and your cities are so spread out that you can’t transport troops around your empire easily. This article will teach you how to survive the early campaign and establish a powerbase in Asia. Once Asia is secure the West lies open to you. Perhaps you can even achieve what Alexander never did: control of the Mediterranean world.

Faction Strategy: The Painted Folk : On Campaign by Edorix

Britannia sits on an island, with one mainland city. Most strategies involve either abandoning that city to go defensive on the island, or using that city as a base from which to cursh the mainland. Edorix offers us an alternative to those two basic strategies- one that has won him an empire many times.

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Step-by-step Guides

Articles in this section are build orders and move orders for the opening turns of the campaign in order to achieve a specific starting position.

Opening Moves – Greece by Adder

The Greek City States are rather challenging to play as. They are separated and seemingly without a foothold on anything. This is right however it is also wrong. They can unite Greece successfully and mount an attack on Asia Minor bringing Greece back to it’s former power.

Opening Moves – Spain by Adder

Spain is possibly one of the hardest factions to play. You start split down the middle by a Carthaginian and Gaulish provinces. Spain only has access, to Gaul after taking over the Carthaginian city and Gaul is in a much better position to attack you. The Julii also seem to enjoy attacking Spain when played by a human.

Opening Moves – Britons by Adder

There are two ways to play the Britons. The first is to blitz your enemies as quickly as possible attacking pretty much all out and the second is to sit back on your island and build up. As the second way is rather easy to play this guide will detail the first way.

Opening Moves – Julii by Adder

Adder takes us through the first few turns of the Imperial Campaign as the Julii.

Opening Moves – Pontus by Adder

Pontus is a very difficult faction to play. While playing as Pontus your enemies are the deciding factor in what you end up doing and how you play the civilization.

Opening Moves – Scipii by Adder

Adder takes us through the first few turns of the Imperial Campaign as the Scipii.

Opening Moves – Parthia by Adder

Parthia is one of the most difficult civs in the game, especially in it’s early stages. It’s three settlements are so far apart that you basically have three separate armies and they have to attack different cities. This can be good as your starting units are pretty strong. The units you can create early are not strong at all. Horse Archers, if used correctly, can be devastating, however.

Opening Moves – Brutii by Adder

Adder takes us through the first few turns of the Imperial Campaign as the Brutii.

Opening Moves – Numidia by Adder

Numidia is a very difficult faction to play as. Only one of your four cities is making money and if you wish to conquer Africa you need to fight Carthage (and later the Roman invaders) and Egypt. Numidia’s unit choice is also fairly small. Libya is totally separated from the other three provinces. Separated enough to render it fairly useless; the Egyptians lay close by. Numidia’s only hope for survival is unification in the West and an attack on Carthage.

Opening Moves – The Seleucid Empire by ScipioMaximus

The Seleucid Empire probably has one of the roughest starts in Rome Total War, mostly because you’re almost sure to be fighting a three front war, but also because you start with an extremely stretched out empire. This becomes a problem since it’s very difficult to get troops to protect your cities when needed. The bright side is that should you survive the first few turns, you are guaranteed to win the game.

Alternate Opening Moves – The Seleucid Empire by Edorix

Since the Seleucid Empire probably has one of the roughest starts in Rome Total War, Edorix has written a second opening moves guide. You start off in a world of excrement with enemies on all sides. By following his alchemic formula, you can turn that heap of feces into pure gold and end up conquering the entire world.

Opening Moves – Gaul by Hussarknight

Gaul is arguably one of the most difficult factions to play as. They often get attacked by Spain, Britons and/or Germans, and the Romans. This means the early game can be very tough for a Gaul player. This guide will help you get of to a good start by consolidating Gaul and building up your economy in other cities.

Opening Moves – Dacia by Hussarknight

Dacia’s initial turns are quite hard. Your economy is weak so you can’t support a large military, but expansion is the only way to sort out your finances. Your goal will be to defeat Thrace quickly, so you get a larger income. Selling map information and trade rights is an important goal as well, because the money gained with it will allow you to expand.

Opening Moves – Macedon by Hussarknight

Macedon is in an ideal position to unite Greece quickly. However their early military is weak, so getting access to more powerful troops will be an important goal in the first few turns.

Opening Moves – Thrace by Hussarknight

Thrace is a unique faction in that it combines Greek and Barbarian unit types. This is an interesting combination, but despite that the initial turns will not be very exciting because it’s hard to expand quickly early on. This means for the first few turns your focus will be on improving your military and economy while securing Byzantium for it’s economic and strategic value.

Opening Moves: Germania – Land of Darkness by KaiserWinterfeldt

Germania is widely regarded as a powerful faction in its own right, and possibly the most powerful of any of the barbarian factions. But quite a few problems surface early in any Germanian campaign, the opening moves guide I have written will detail, using my own experience, the best way to negate these effects as much as possible.

Opening Moves: SPQR Opening Moves Guide by MusCypricus

Tried playing SPQR and got stuck or frustrated? MusCypricus worked out this guide to help you through those first, rough turns and on to eventual victory..

A Furious Defence by D Furius Venator (BI)

Congratulations, you have made a wise decision. You have chosen to play as the West Roman Empire and that is the most interesting faction in the game. But it probably doesn’t seem like a wise decision. You can’t pay for all your troops and half your cities are in revolt. It looks like an ever increasing spiral of debt and hence an ever dwindling number of troops. But in need not be so. Here is how it’s done; this is how the West was won!

Tactica Barbarus: The Saxons by Scipii (BI)

The Saxon campaign in Barbarian Invasion is rated moderate in difficulty, but can be hard should you come up against a cavalry dominant army. The Saxons are located up in present day Denmark and start off with one settlement, a meagre army and three ships. You are close to the WRE (Western Roman Empire), the Franks, Burgundii and two rebel towns ripe for conquest but don’t expect many attacks from anyone unless you provoke them or they decide to do a one off attack against you.

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