Rome Total War: Three Great Families

[Vasilefs]

What's going on,are we going to start RTW hotseat or not?

[Mithridate]

We are, Ramses said he would get things moving tonight

he will have to conclude things ofc but it looks like:
6 players, 3 romans and 3 surrounding factions.

We will have to decide on rules, other factions etc but i claim the Julii :D

[Nightbringer]

Alright, I claim the Scipii!

[Myth]

Eh, I really wanted Armenia, Pontos or Scythia... Does it have to be surrounding factions?

Anyway, I can go for the Brutii but if we have another Roman lover I can switch to Macedon, Egypt or Carthage.

[Mithridate]

Pontus/armenia would work as enemy of the Brutii :) And Pontus are awesome... Easily my favorite non-roman faction

And i would prefer if theres some land between humans, but its naturally not a must^^
Probably all up to preferances, but im fairly certain Ramses will want a roman faction.

[Myth]

I've played the Brutii so many times that I've perfected their starting strategy. It would be more fair for me to play a faction that is slightly less known to me I think. Nevertheless here are my thoughts on my faction choice:

1. Brutii if no one else insists on being Roman.
2. Carthage if no one else picks it up (can't have Nightbringer eating up AI Carthage now can we)
3. If we have a Carthage player, Either Egypt, Macedon, The Greek Cities or something more... fun.

Things to be resolved:

1. Do the factions that get siege weapons get to use them to open forts/settlements?
2. Do we allow elephants to open forts/settlements?

I vote NO on both. The first one will unbalance the midgame. The second one will mean pretty much a dead Scipii faction since they will be kicked out of Sicilly on turn 2. This will be lead battles, so I propose we allow spies to open gates/forts but on the SECOND turn of being inside. This is to avoid players loading on the same turn until the spy opens the gate and they go in and massacre the enemy army in the fort.

Thoughts?

[Mithridate]

1, No, at least unless all chosen factions have them.
2. No, at least not the smallest one. (Larger ones, only pallisade)

If we dont use sieges i want spies able to open gates, if we do then i want the second turn rule.

[phonicsmonkey]

If we dont use sieges i want spies able to open gates, if we do then i want the second turn rule.

I don't think that rule will work, it's easy to avoid by just moving your army from fort to fort each turn.

[Mithridate]

I don't think that rule will work, it's easy to avoid by just moving your army from fort to fort each turn.

True, could be countered by only allowing two forts per region to some extent. Not good enough imo though.
Probably best to just stick with regular spies, perhaps adding some rules like "two spies required, minimum of x% chance to open gates" or such ( i like the latter ).

Care to join in?

[phonicsmonkey]

Care to join in?

No thanks mate, I'm going to save myself for when EB2 comes out.

[Vasilefs]

I'll take Macedon.
With 3 Roman factions under human control other factions stand little chance,but this could be interesting campaign anyway.

[Mithridate]

How it looks thus far (not final)

NH-Schipii
Me-Julii
Vasilefs-Macedon
Myth-Egypt
Ramses-Chartage

We need one more, unless we decide on more or less players^^
Where is ramses i wonder?

[Hamata]

Carthage for me!

[Mithridate]

We need the last player, Brutii unless you guys want a non-roman player

[Myth]

I could go Brutii or i could take the Greeks or Egypt. I love RTW too much I'll see If I can find a sixth player on the RTW forums. Vasilefs can you get some eager RTW enthusiast from the TWC?

Reluctant Samurai or GuyusGermanicus are the two guys I think I'd want to play. RS is a master Armenian player actually and my inspiration to want to play the faction, but he's been away for a while.

[Mithridate]

I could go Brutii or i could take the Greeks or Egypt. I love RTW too much

I feel ya, will be my first R:TW hotseat though. I hope there wont be any massed Chariot armies^^ Massed HA i can live with but only just :S

[Myth]

Both can be AR-ed pretty handily. Your main problem will be not letting the enemy hit you first as then he'd win a Heroic for sure. But that's like in any other fought battles hotseat anyway.

[Mithridate]

Does Lead vs AI and AR only vs humans sound good then?
Or do you guys want AR only or allow lead?

[Myth]

Forced AR sucks. Lead battles for RTW is a must.

[Mithridate]

Forced AR sucks. Lead battles for RTW is a must.

Amen! But will it still be AR only vs humans?

Or was your point that AR work well vs those kinds of armies?

[Myth]

1. AR works well for some games, but RTW is not one of them.
2. Fighting humans is the most important thing anyway.
3. Forcing AR totally or vs. humans still favors the Romans so much I'm confident that I can get the Brutii and we can 3v4 or even 3v5 the enemy depending on faction choice.

[Myth]

I hope Reluctant Samurai will join as Armenia. He is a RTW scholar if I ever saw one! If he does we can start.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Gentlemen...I really do wish I could join in. But I am very busy with work atm, and I'm afraid that I would fail in my commitment. My RTW play these days consists of a spare hour or so, once a week...maybe.

If this game is successful, and you wish to have a second, I promise to make time. I realize there is the risk that there won't be another game, but I cannot make a commitment when there's the chance I could fail to deliver.

Trust me....I would loooove to test out my skills with cataphract armies against another player.

A bit off-topic:

I dont see this as a big problem, its supposed to revolve around the roman factions anyway

Very true, but....

In thinking back to the early STW days I remember facing every single faction sooner or later to vie for the Shogunate. Yes, certain factions were there at the end more than others, but every faction in the game had a chance. That speaks to better game balance, IMHO. That, and the fact that the RTW AI is soooooo passive when it comes to AI-led factions taking the offensive into Roman territories, even when they have a decided local superiority. I've had numerous games where the Gauls could've made life for the Julii exceedingly difficult, or the Greek Cities for the Brutii, but the AI, in virtually every case, refused to press its advantage.

For all the games I've played, I've only seen the AI siege a Roman-held city twice.