The results of that battle. I gotta say that the AI performed well in this battle, I was impressed. Or maybe it was because I was fighting only with spear and club levies and they had some high-tier soldiers. http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/...38F553E453AFC/
While most of my battles are only 3-7 min long; I did have a 54 min battle that brought back a lot of old great memories. No bugs or anything like that it was a real struggle the full 54 min. I had sieged a city with about 4500 troops, I had 2300 maybe. Anyways the story goes like this
I deployed on their main gate where I shot down (I had 3 units of ballista) a siege tower that I thought could really hurt me. After a few shots I noticed that the reinforcements were coming by boat, and couldn't land in the city because there wasn't enough room. They had to land to the left side and run in through the main gate. So I turned my ballista towards them and started shelling them with explosive shot. This goes on for a while and I end up getting around 225 kills average with each unit of ballista. First person ballista mode is fun as balls by the way.
At this point however, I was really low on ammo. I was thinking because destructible walls act a little differently in Rome 2 maybe the gatehouse will have a special animation / texture / graphic. It doesn't. With my batista's on empty the only opening into the city was through the gatehouse. Luckily though, I had shot down any towers that would give me a headache, so meaningless casualties from them wouldn't be a factor. There were some ranged units on the tower walls, but all in all with my Spartans they shouldn't be a factor. I get my troops into position, and begin my death march into the city.
My first two or three units of men manage to get past the gatehouse, but once the ai sees what I'm doing all 4,000 of them set up on the other side. This would result in a 45 min tug of war for the gatehouse.I tried a many different tactics, and this actually looked really cool... like setting up 4 spartan hoplites (the core of this army), on my side of the gate outside in square formation kind of close together. The idea was that, I would pull out my 1-2 units (Perioikoi spearmen and hoplites) and run them through the squares, hoping that the enemy would give chase. Don't do this by the way. Because of unit mass they screwed up the square formations. It kind of worked, but in a 20/80 sort of way.
Once my Perioikoi Spearman and Hoplites were out of the way I decided to send in the wreckers (Spartan Hoplites. If you're playing as Sparta... You know what I mean ;) ).I went easy by sending in 2 units for 2 reasons. #1) Ease up on the fps. Even though this battle was fun I was getting a lot of chop. #2) In theory I was thinking... Taking mass into consideration : Less # of men in a very small confined space (Arches of a gateway) = more space to move around right? It might have worked. I would have to replicate the experience to get more substantial evidence / results, but between the 2 units they got 900 kills (a 700/200 split) before routing. Those men go down as heroes in my book. Even though we gained very little ground in the swing of things they were a virtual meat grinder, and if you were a light unit caught between them and the swordsmen you were on death notice.
Once it became clear they were not going to punch through, and their numbers started to wane, I decided to send in 2 more Spartan Hoplites and my General. Quick side note if you have a Spartan General with enough Zeal they are a supreme fighting force, and can easily take on 2-3 units at a time. These three combined started making a little headway. Which was really cool to watch because my general was out on the front line. He was easy to spot with that big corinthian helm. At this point I was pretty confident we were going to punch through and get the numbers in our favor
.
That's when the cavalry charges started to happen. Periodically the enemy would take all the cav they had, and just charge at the gate. Sounds like a dumb idea in theory, but again because of mass they would push me back. And not only that but they would separate individuals from formation and pick them off. At this point I gave up on my less is more strategy, and I did everything possible to get my Perioikoi Spearmen back into the fight.
It took a good 5-10 min for them to reach the front line with all the pushing, and shoving. We lost about 50 men in the process, but once they got there they were able to pick off the Merc Cav and Camel Riders that were starting to give me headaches. Once the cav were out of the way the battle strength bar was finally in my favor, and my Spartans whittled down the remaining swordsmen.
And then I had my favorite moment of the game so far. The enemy broke, and went into full retreat. Spartans started flooding into the city like a tidal wave. I give the order to chase down the fleeing cowards, and hit the insert key. What I got was a view of thousands of Spartans all running and cheering in joy with the sun bright in the sky and a destroyed Gatehouse in the background.Screenshot It was surreal almost. :daisy: incredible.
09-13-2013, 22:02
Forward Observer
Screenshot thread for Rome II
I'll start it off. I also posted these over at SimHQ. Most only cropped, but some may have been lightened up in Windows office picture manager
Off moderator mode- Great pictures FO! Eager to see more!
09-14-2013, 00:24
BroskiDerpman
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Amazing screenshots! Especially the angles plus the graphics. May I ask what are the settings?
I'm convinced to buy the game and plop in a few mods to fix some issues I have.
09-14-2013, 00:57
Hooahguy
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Quote:
Originally Posted by BroskiDerpman
Amazing screenshots! Especially the angles plus the graphics. May I ask what are the settings?
I'm convinced to buy the game and plop in a few mods to fix some issues I have.
Yes, thats it... join us... join the dark side!
:devilish:
09-14-2013, 01:02
BroskiDerpman
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Is there any cookies? :cool2:
(I asked this before but forgot if you responded, are you in the army?)
09-14-2013, 01:04
Hooahguy
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Only if you play nice. :whip:
09-14-2013, 01:11
BroskiDerpman
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Y-y-yes m' lord...
Trembles in fear.
:creep:
I made a thread about what faction to play first but that drowned down so now I'm going to make a thread: What faction do you like. I know mine is different now, I voted for Epirus but now I like Averni better so...
09-14-2013, 01:13
Hooahguy
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
As you can probably tell Im partial to the Suebi. Though I do want to try Epirus when the Suebi campaign finishes. Though I do want to try Sparta too as there are a lot of awesome re-skinning mods for Spartan units that make them look awesome.
09-14-2013, 01:19
BroskiDerpman
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
I'll create the thread once I'm off this darn traction chair and get on the PC again. It'll be interesting for me to see the opinions of the .Org post release favorite factions.
Oathsworn just look cool, reminds me of Marian Romans and Dominate Roman soldiers.
09-14-2013, 01:22
Hooahguy
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Though to be fair, Ive only really experienced one faction, and a bit of the Romans from the prologue. And I imagine that its similar stories for most of us here as well.
09-14-2013, 01:29
BroskiDerpman
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
I was watching online footage and compared it to the complaints on the forums.
There are claims that Pikes are too weak and many screenshots showing troops going through Phalanxes. It's a Warscape thing with all those 1v1 animations but the Phalanx is in formation and counts the other ranks too.
So perhaps the levy pikes get shredded to pieces but Hellenic Royal guard, even when it looks like they've been disrupted they'll shred anything to the front of them with a few losses.
Even Oathsworn, the best non pike heavy infantry will get mowed down. Spartan pikes win just because of efficiency to their cost value and numbers.
If you catch phalanxes on flanks, behind of off guard your men will make quick work of them. So I'd say that part of combat is decently balanced.
Sorry for derailing the thread quite a bit but I was thinking about how phalanx factions are viable compared to what people say on TWC. (Thus making them chosen more in my soon to be made thread)
09-14-2013, 04:45
CaptainCrunch
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
@ Forward Observer; Those screens are deeeeeeluxe!! I must say, top of the line graphics look nicey-nice! :thumbsup:
And yeah, those Arverni horsemen do look like something from the cover of an Osprey Men-At-Arms book.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BroskiDerpman
... Hellenic Royal guard, even when it looks like they've been disrupted they'll shred anything to the front of them with a few losses. Even Oathsworn, the best non pike heavy infantry will get mowed down...
Hellenic Royal Guards actually have trouble beating Oathsworn unit vs unit with no support. Only phalangites I've seen do it are Mak Foot Companions, but I think the Oathsworn are one of the bugged units that never suffer exhaustion penalties. The collision model is also to blame, cuz yes... men walk through sarissa and pikes all day. What then happens is that the formation gets disrupted as enemies actually walk past the phalanx, for example, and the pikemen are pointing the wrong way and start taking serious losses. It's actually very difficult to get them to turn when this happens unless you disengage (which brings more losses). Even 'about face' doesn't work. The collision detection problems are responsible for a lot of the battlefield wackiness we see, so I hope it gets addressed.
I play as Epirus, and I think it's one of the coolest factions. Awesome selection of heavy cav (Aspis Companions! :skull:), heavy infantry, decent navy and map positioning that offers the player a host of early game possibilities.
09-15-2013, 01:22
Myth
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Quote:
Originally Posted by BroskiDerpman
Amazing screenshots! Especially the angles plus the graphics. May I ask what are the settings?
I'm convinced to buy the game and plop in a few mods to fix some issues I have.
I'll have to rethink about my life again... You know it always helps to rethink...
09-16-2013, 14:12
Hooahguy
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
A quick picture from my Suebi campaign. Here my light cavalry is charging an enemy heavy ballista, and as you can see, its firing at my cavalry. You can even see the projectile in the air. Literally a second after I took the photo it killed about 10 of my cavalrymen. I tried to capture the moment of impact, but all I got was before and after. :book2:
A quick picture from my Suebi campaign. Here my light cavalry is charging an enemy heavy ballista, and as you can see, its firing at my cavalry. You can even see the projectile in the air. Literally a second after I took the photo it killed about 10 of my cavalrymen. I tried to capture the moment of impact, but all I got was before and after. :book2:
They're quite good at screwing cav that goes for them. I had 2 units of equites run around looking for some reinforcing ballistas during a battle because I didn't want them to suddenly turn the tide. From finding the things to actually getting my horses there to kill it, it managed to rout one of my cav units.
09-16-2013, 18:44
Veho Nex
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Here's a few screenshots from my Roman Campaign and one from my buddies Roman campaign that I thought was pretty sweet looking.
This is why we can't have nice things and why its a pain in the ass that missile units aim for the flanks of units instead of center mass. Ladies and gentlemen I present the most evil tree that ever blocked my men from Pilum throwing.
Here's a few screenshots from my Roman Campaign and one from my buddies Roman campaign that I thought was pretty sweet looking.
This is why we can't have nice things and why its a pain in the ass that missile units aim for the flanks of units instead of center mass. Ladies and gentlemen I present the most evil tree that ever blocked my men from Pilum throwing.
End of repelling the first wave in a 2 to 1 defense of a recently captured enemy village. The first of two armies is retreating in the distance. One hapless mounted attacker got caught and after his horse took a spear to the neck, they both went down in a heap. My forces then had to turn and take on a 2nd army approaching from the other side of the village.. It was close, but my boys held on. http://simhq.com/forum/files/usergal...79.jpgedit.jpg
How are we going to get into this city?
Here's an idea! We'll pile up enough dead horses in front of the gate for the weight of the dead horses to become too much for the gate to hold back!
Sounds good, let's do it.
By the way, the assault AI was not as passive as usually in that attack. In addition to assaulting from the sea, the AI's proceeded breaking in through the gates (in 2 places)
11-12-2013, 19:04
Bramborough
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Quote:
I am not sure how to embed a picture from the Steam library here
It's not immediately obvious, but all those screenshots are also stored directly on your computer's hard drive as JPEGs. The folder is buried quite deep within the Steam folder. Not even remotely intuitive to navigate to it within the file directory. BUT...when you log out of the game, you get that pop-up window with thumbnails of screenies from the last session. There's a button labeled "Show On Disk"; takes you right to the subject folder. Once there for the first time you can create a desktop shortcut to easily find it again.
Have had R2 since release, but only figured this out maybe 2 weeks ago.
11-12-2013, 19:15
Slaists
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bramborough
It's not immediately obvious, but all those screenshots are also stored directly on your computer's hard drive as JPEGs. The folder is buried quite deep within the Steam folder. Not even remotely intuitive to navigate to it within the file directory. BUT...when you log out of the game, you get that pop-up window with thumbnails of screenies from the last session. There's a button labeled "Show On Disk"; takes you right to the subject folder. Once there for the first time you can create a desktop shortcut to easily find it again.
Have had R2 since release, but only figured this out maybe 2 weeks ago.
Thanks, Bramborough. That part I knew actually (how to get the jpegs). What I did not know was how to embed an image from steam public library here, but Hooahguy has done it for me. Thanks :)
By the way, Bram, in your Steam interface, right click on Rome 2. One of the options there is "view screenshots": that one filters it by game. So, in this case all your screenshots for R2 would be brought up.
11-12-2013, 19:33
Bramborough
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Quote:
What I did not know was how to embed an image from steam public library here, but Hooahguy has done it for me. Thanks :)
Hmm...I don't think I know that trick either...how'd you do that, Hooah?
11-12-2013, 19:40
Hooahguy
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
So you need to get the direct image link copied. Then you simply put an [img] [/img] code around the link.
Its also on the toolbar when you post, just press the icon that says "insert image" and it will put the [img] code for you.
You can also have the .Org embed the image directly from the computer, which is an option when you press the insert image icon.
11-12-2013, 19:50
Slaists
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hooahguy
So you need to get the direct image link copied. Then you simply put an [img] [/img] code around the link.
Its also on the toolbar when you post, just press the icon that says "insert image" and it will put the [img] code for you.
You can also have the .Org embed the image directly from the computer, which is an option when you press the insert image icon.
Thought I was doing that originally (with the IMG tags), but got a message about wrong file type. Probably, the link was not the direct one.
11-12-2013, 19:59
Hooahguy
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
The problem was that you didnt link directly to the picture. You linked it to the steam page for it, which wont show. If you right click then choose open image in new tab you will have the direct image link.
11-12-2013, 20:12
Bramborough
Re: Screenshot thread for Rome II
Aha! Figured it out. Hmm, this may (or may not) change the way I put AARs together.
@Slaists, yeah, I was initially having the same problem. In your Steam screenshot page, first click on the desired image so it's fully opened...not the thumbnail.
Then right-click on the image and select "Copy Link Address". If you select this option by right-clicking on the thumbnail, it gives you something different and won't work.
This is probably my favourite shot that I have so far. Wanted to try and replay the battle for a similar one with some claret thrown in thanks to the B&G DLC, but the latest patches have turned that drizzly rain from an fps-slug into an fps-zombie. One that's been shot in the head and dismembered. Ah well.
