Rome 2 Tips and un-/under-documented features

[Slaists]

There, a screenshot of the above. The town name is Olisipo.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Sp4]

Not sure if that is supposed to be that way. It sounds pretty silly.

[Myth]

Not sure if that is supposed to be that way. It sounds pretty silly.

Definitely not working as intended.

[Slaists]

here is another one, a reversed sign bonus for a champion deployed in enemy territory...

A champion deployed in enemy territory has the expected effect of increasing your zeal based action chances. Actually, a champion deployed in enemy territory REDUCES your zeal based action chances. Another reversed sign bug similar to uphill battle bonus that was fixed a couple patches ago.

[Slaists]

It seems, I am getting much better performance in sieges if I turn missile tracers off...

[Seyavash]

Does anyone know how to tell when a province has exhausted it's growth potential? Some regions seem to only have 3 slots versus 4 while capitals also seem to vary somewhat from province to province. I am guessing it is when all potential building slots disappear but I am hoping for confirmation.

[Sp4]

When the growth thing no longer rises.

[Bramborough]

Does anyone know how to tell when a province has exhausted it's growth potential? Some regions seem to only have 3 slots versus 4 while capitals also seem to vary somewhat from province to province. I am guessing it is when all potential building slots disappear but I am hoping for confirmation.

It is true that there are varying numbers of build slots for each settlement, but it is not random. The differences in slots among various settlements is due to two factors: First, whether the city is a capital or a minor, and second, whether it is coastal or inland. The city and port slots are always fixed (e.g., the player cannot opt to replace a port or city with, say, a farm or barracks). So, settlements have a consistent number of "player-discretion" slots as far as what is built in them (4 for capitals, 2 for minors).

Coastal capitals have 6 slots (1 city, 1 port, 4 discretionary).
Inland capitals have 5 slots (1 city, 4 discretionary).
Coastal minor settlements have 4 slots (1 town, 1 port, 2 discretionary).
Inland minor settlements have 3 slots (1 town, 2 discretionary).

Once all settlements in a province have reached those numbers, then provincial growth stops.

[Myth]

Bram is correct. And I will just add that what is considered coastal and what is not is a bit arbitrary (or it is historically accurate, haven't checked). For example, Rome has no port (which is accurate). Then again, some regions like Sparta don't have one either, which is just weird.

[Nelson]

I understand how CA assigned the building slots, but the result underplays the great cities. Rome with five seems smaller than many towns or cities that get six builds and leaves me wondering why I must choose between the Coliseum and the Circus Maximus.

Rome should have room to at least build the most famous of her structures. I think the great cities of the time like Rome, Alexandria and Athens should get extra slots.

[Mhantra]

I understand how CA assigned the building slots, but the result underplays the great cities. Rome with five seems smaller than many towns or cities that get six builds and leaves me wondering why I must choose between the Coliseum and the Circus Maximus.

Rome should have room to at least build the most famous of her structures. I think the great cities of the time like Rome, Alexandria and Athens should get extra slots.

Hmm, this might help the large, more historically important, factions stay in the game longer. Some of the large, famous cities get a bonus spot or two. This would affect strategy too, making it more desirable. Interesting...

[Seyavash]

It is true that there are varying numbers of build slots for each settlement, but it is not random. The differences in slots among various settlements is due to two factors: First, whether the city is a capital or a minor, and second, whether it is coastal or inland. The city and port slots are always fixed (e.g., the player cannot opt to replace a port or city with, say, a farm or barracks). So, settlements have a consistent number of "player-discretion" slots as far as what is built in them (4 for capitals, 2 for minors).

Coastal capitals have 6 slots (1 city, 1 port, 4 discretionary).
Inland capitals have 5 slots (1 city, 4 discretionary).
Coastal minor settlements have 4 slots (1 town, 1 port, 2 discretionary).
Inland minor settlements have 3 slots (1 town, 2 discretionary).

Once all settlements in a province have reached those numbers, then provincial growth stops.

Thanks. I actually found your answer on another thread after posting here. This helps me stop worrying about growth for those regions where it is no longer possible.

One odd thing I notice that pops up periodically is I will suddenly not be able to build a certain type such as the cattle line when I normally should. However, I find that if I start the first level of some other building type in that slot then destroy it I usually can build the line I was denied a few turns earlier.

[Sp4]

I understand how CA assigned the building slots, but the result underplays the great cities. Rome with five seems smaller than many towns or cities that get six builds and leaves me wondering why I must choose between the Coliseum and the Circus Maximus.

Rome should have room to at least build the most famous of her structures. I think the great cities of the time like Rome, Alexandria and Athens should get extra slots.

But that doesn't work with all the streamlining! :D

[alQamar]

Patch 8 introduced an undocumented but welcomed fix for the unit size in multiplayer battles

here is my inital visualization about this issue, CA accepted some time ago.


http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...hosted-battles

[Slaists]

It seems, the effects of the new culture system have very different results for different factions. Playing as a Hellenic faction, for example, there is not much of a dent created by the new system. But try playing Galatia, for example, after conquering a few provinces you'll be stuck with clicking "next turn" for a looong time in order to get culture balance right and happiness to acceptable levels. This is on legendary difficulty, normal might be easier.

[Seyavash]

I thought I saw the answer to this previously but I cannot find it. How do I force the army to stay in a formation without creating one large group? I want to be able to have in effect sub groups (eg right center and left) that move in a coordinated fashion. I think this has always been possible but I never learned how.

[Slaists]

I thought I saw the answer to this previously but I cannot find it. How do I force the army to stay in a formation without creating one large group? I want to be able to have in effect sub groups (eg right center and left) that move in a coordinated fashion. I think this has always been possible but I never learned how.

@Seyavash

1. Arrange your army the way you want it.
2. Select all (CTRL + A would do it)
3. In the field (not on unit cards), left click-hold on one unit in that army (while everybody is selected)
4. while holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor to where you want your army to go; you will see a ghost of your army in the formation you selected moving there
5. upon releasing the cursor, the army will move to the target place and arrange themselves in the original formation
6. if you pres CTRL while doing #4, you'll be able to change the rotation of the army
7. while your army is marching (looking all messy) you can select everyone again (not waiting for them to stop) and give them a new location; they will still remember their original formation from step 1.

[Sp4]

@Seyavash

1. Arrange your army the way you want it.
2. Select all (CTRL + A would do it)
3. In the field (not on unit cards), left click-hold on one unit in that army (while everybody is selected)
4. while holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor to where you want your army to go; you will see a ghost of your army in the formation you selected moving there
5. upon releasing the cursor, the army will move to the target place and arrange themselves in the original formation
6. if you pres CTRL while doing #4, you'll be able to change the rotation of the army
7. while your army is marching (looking all messy) you can select everyone again (not waiting for them to stop) and give them a new location; they will still remember their original formation from step 1.

I actually really liked the way they made this work. I was a little annoyed by the removal of the movement compass at first but this is nice.

[Seyavash]

@Seyavash

1. Arrange your army the way you want it.
2. Select all (CTRL + A would do it)
3. In the field (not on unit cards), left click-hold on one unit in that army (while everybody is selected)
4. while holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor to where you want your army to go; you will see a ghost of your army in the formation you selected moving there
5. upon releasing the cursor, the army will move to the target place and arrange themselves in the original formation
6. if you pres CTRL while doing #4, you'll be able to change the rotation of the army
7. while your army is marching (looking all messy) you can select everyone again (not waiting for them to stop) and give them a new location; they will still remember their original formation from step 1.

Finally got a chance to try it out, but cannot get it to work. All it does is create a single line of troops. If I make 4 groups it does not line them up according to the layout I set. Instead it makes 1 line of my 4 groups. Basically what I was hoping to do is create army formations that combine various groups. Say a one group 3 line left wing, a one group 5 line center, a one group 3 line right wing and a 2 line reserve wing in the back. when I move the entire army the left, center, right and back groups stay in their individual group formations and maintain their order in relation to each other.

[Slaists]

@Seyavash from what you are telling it seems you are using right click drag; you should be using LEFT click hold drag as per my original post.

[Seyavash]

@Seyavash from what you are telling it seems you are using right click drag; you should be using LEFT click hold drag as per my original post.

Hi Slaists, I had tried left but wasn't getting it to work so tried right which as you noted was not correct and got the results I mentioned in my 2nd post. However, I tried a few more times and I have figured out what I was doing wrong. I was not properly holding the mouse button down while dragging the cursor as outlined in step 4 but inadvertantly releasing it. Your steps work perfectly. Thanks for the assistance.

[Monthar]

While on your global rampage, always check the diplomacy screen to see your next target's allies and enemies. Then check each of the enemies to see which one will pay the most for joining them in the war against your target just before you intend to declare war on the target. That way you gain some extra cash and boost your relationship with the enemies of your target at the same time.

You can also join wars against those AI you haven't met yet to gain a bunch of cash from those you have met. In my current campaign I manged to earn close to 10k (1-2k per AI) several times from this by turn 40 or 50. I think the first time I tried this was around turn 15-20 and I raked in about 6-8k just from selling my joining their wars.

Once you've done all the "join war" for profit bit, you can generally make even more lump sum cash from signing NAPs and setting up trade routes. In some cases you might have to pay 500-1000 for the NAP, but can then either re-coop that cash or even more more when signing the trade agreement. For instance I might pay 500 for the NAP, which then boosts our relationship enough to get them to pay 1000 for the trade agreement.

Doing all this from the beginning can go a long way towards helping you afford to buy all your buildings and troops fairly quickly.

[Slaists]

Suebi unit longbow hunters has the ability to remain hidden while firing. On the field, the feature is not really working since enemy notices longbows as soon as they crawl within firing distance [simply the sight distance seems to be set longer than the firing distance]. This, of course, mutes the usefulness of the feature on the battlefield.

The fun part starts when you try longbows against defending city fortifications. As long as there are no enemy units nearby the longbows stay hidden to enemy towers and gates. They can even fire torches while hidden and take over whole sections of city defenses without losing a man.

Sounds like an exploit, then again, this is exactly the sort of thing that a stealth/special ops unit is supposed to do.

[edyzmedieval]

A little tip if it's not well known already - culture researches give a massive income boost. 20% in wealth from culture can ramp up income considerably.

[Slaists]

A little tip if it's not well known already - culture researches give a massive income boost. 20% in wealth from culture can ramp up income considerably.

That's if you have a plenty of regions and culture buildings. At that point though, any tech giving any bonus to any wealth [or reducing corruption] will ramp up income considerably.

[edyzmedieval]

That's if you have a plenty of regions and culture buildings. At that point though, any tech giving any bonus to any wealth [or reducing corruption] will ramp up income considerably.

True, but focusing a bit on culture will definitely give a handy boost in the short term once you pass the halfway mark in your campaign.

[Slaists]

It's not clear to me whether +20% from culture applies to only culture type wealth (libraries, etc.) or to the aggregate wealth. Hmm, have to re-test this.

Naval commerce and boosts to it from techs and temples is what usually turns out to be the biggest cash cow in my campaigns. Sometimes even a 3-region, 2 port province (with stacked temple effects) can generate in excess of 10K income per turn especially after the civil war when one can reduce global corruption via the empire government decision.

One trick with naval commerce is that one has to control all the ports that are located in the sea-zone(s) of the commerce province. Even an ally controlled port causes a significant reduction in the naval commerce income. An enemy controlled port (or enemy stacks present in the sea-zone) will have a dramatic impact.

[Sp4]

So that is actually still in the game?

I didn't realise. Over all their streamlining, they've made the whole income thing really really complicated, with percentages heaped upon more percentages and modifiers. I kind of miss the settlement scroll that told you this settlement is making X amount of money because of Y, Z and S. (Yes, I know there exists a window that tells you that but seriously... has anyone ever bothered to sit down with a calculator or a spreadsheet or something to try and figure out the best possible way to build a settlement? Actually, no, don't answer that, I am sure someone does do that sort of thing but it is not very 'streamlined' or anything. If I can't be bothered with it, there must be thousands of players who can't be bothered and just take a new province and go... Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Culture Conversion Temple, forget about region for the rest of the game)

[Slaists]

Yeah, it is still in the game (stacking and naval commerce effects).

Hover your mouse over a sea-zone where you have presence. A tool-tip will show up telling you exactly what affects your naval commerce income. This is separate from trade, by the way. I have seen huge jumps in income as I clear sea zones or obtain full control of a zone.

As to econ stacking: as Rome try taking Africa (the province) early and spam trade ports + Neptune temples + temples of Mercury + a slave market + max city centers there (you'll need food surplus from somewhere else to do this). Once done, stick in a dignitary [for extra tax]. The province is a cash cow with its 4 ports. Mauritania is very good too.

Factions have different stacking schemes though since the bonuses of temples and econ buildings vary. Also, combinations of maxed out city centers with resource production + edicts can have interesting stacking benefits.

On top of that, diplo considerations can lead to different solutions. Playing as Carthage, for example, Tarraconensis turned out to be my cash province (it has only 2 ports and 3 regions) while I left Africa under Lybian control and Mauritania under Nova Carthago.

Trade is also an interesting beast. There are buildings that boosts trade income. What the building description does not tell you is that the boost applies to your global trade, not just the trade from the province you build the building in. So, as you grow, spamming trade buildings can become a very viable option.

All in all, I personally like RTW 2 income system better than any previous TW games. There are many ways to develop. I agree it all is poorly explained though.

@edyzmedieval, I did some checking on the culture bonus mentioned earlier. It seems, it applies only to the part of the wealth generated by culture buildings, nothing else. Take a look at this pic of Rome. The tooltip shows breakdown of wealth for Rome itself.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In this case, the base wealth for Rome is shown as 700 coming from subsistence (the city center). There is a 32% bonus applied to it to result in total wealth for Rome of 924. This bonus comes entirely from the city center buildings (20% from Rome itself and 12% from one of the minor town centers; 20% + 12% = 32%). There is no extra +20% bonus from culture even though I have the tech.

In another province where I had a library, there was a 20% bonus applied to the wealth from the library (not to the wealth coming from other sources).

So, in order for one to see a substantial increase from the culture tech, the empire needs a heavy emphasis on culture producing buildings. By the way, temples in most cases do not provide culture wealth. At least, the Roman ones don't.

[edyzmedieval]

Since my only very advanced campaign is with Carthage, the temples of Baal-Hammon offer a culture bonus, which means that the 20% culture boost applied in pretty much every one of my provinces.