Froggy's Guide for Rome2?

[Shahed]

Hi guys,

Is frogbeastegg still doing guides for the TW games? Was looking for some on Rome2 and didn't see any.

Cheers!

Shahed (formerly known as Sinan)

[Sp4]

Don't think I've seen any posts at all yet.

[HopAlongBunny]

I believe frogbeastegg said that her S2 guide was to be her last effort.
To the best of my knowledge no one has picked up the mantle.

[Hooahguy]

Myth is trying to do guides. I would try but I have too many real-life issues to deal with at the moment.

[The Outsider]

I dont think there will be one mate . though you never know. Its really good to see you around again mate. (my name used to be The Turk::))

[Myth]

I lack the time to play every faction into its detail, but I've gathered a lot of knowledge so far. I'd say I'm about at 70% of where I should be for knowledge to start a complete guide project like froggy's. Also, the game changes dramatically with each patch. My mini-guide is somewhat outdated come patch 4 for example.

In short: yes there will be such a type of complete guide, made by myself, but It will come at a later date. Hopefully when the patches are a bit more rare and I am confident I know the game well enough to make an indepth guide.

[frogbeastegg]

Hello, Sinan. I popped by on one of my occasional visits and noticed this.

No, there won't be a Rome II guide. Life is too busy and the game is - in my honest opinion - not very good. If it weren't for my love of classical history I'd have deleted it by now. Instead, because I love the setting, I keep loading it up, sitting through 15-30 more turns, and quitting from boredom to await the next patch. It will not survive that cycle many more times unless I start to see some actual strategy and enjoyment out of it.

[Sp4]

Hello, Sinan. I popped by on one of my occasional visits and noticed this.

No, there won't be a Rome II guide. Life is too busy and the game is - in my honest opinion - not very good. If it weren't for my love of classical history I'd have deleted it by now. Instead, because I love the setting, I keep loading it up, sitting through 15-30 more turns, and quitting from boredom to await the next patch. It will not survive that cycle many more times unless I start to see some actual strategy and enjoyment out of it.

That's kind of what I feel right now. Yesterday I discovered you could scroll the campaign map with the middle mouse button and then I sat there with my head resting on the other hand, clicking through the turns and as soon as something happened where I needed my other hand, I quit and felt a bit like.. hmm.. why did I bother with this?

[Myth]

That's kind of what I feel right now. Yesterday I discovered you could scroll the campaign map with the middle mouse button and then I sat there with my head resting on the other hand, clicking through the turns and as soon as something happened where I needed my other hand, I quit and felt a bit like.. hmm.. why did I bother with this?

So do you AR all your battles?

[Hooahguy]

Am I alone in being one who actually still is enjoying mid-game?

[Sp4]

No, you can't autoresolve cause it is broken. It gives you 1:100 chances for victory so when you autoresolve it, you lose everything. If you play it yourself, you end up with 4000 kills to 100 losses or something.

Seriously though, no, I just try to avoid battles while marching my armies and using my agents so that auto resolving everything becomes possible.

Am I alone in being one who actually still is enjoying mid-game?

Maybe. I enjoy the early game a lot actually because I feel in control with internal politics and I can see the differences my actions are having. The more you advance in the game, the more I seem to get into positions where I'm juggling what generals to attach to what armies and navies to get the most out of the campaigns I am sending them on. The most for my faction that is... But since civil war is inevitable, maybe I shouldn't bother and never actually open the faction screen.
Battles are boring cause it is the same thing over and over and over again unless it's not and when it's not it's your army vs six stacks of AI which I find too tiring to micromanage so I don't fight them and just piss away the army. Doesn't matter. I'm making 50k money a turn, I'll just build a bunch of new armies with more meaningless generals :D

I know it sounds like I am not really trying to enjoy the game but it's how I end up feeling after 50 or 60 turns into every campaign since I finished my first one.

More edit: Bear in mind, I am playing the vanilla game so I have literally no idea what experience certain mods offer. On that front, I feel a little overwhelmed cause there are billions of mods that all sound good on paper but reading up on them makes it seem like they're all just over the top, my favourite example being the Radious mods with it's campaign modifications. More armies, more generals to juggle, woohoo, no thanks. I already hate that portion of the game, I don't want more of it.

That said, I have never actually tried it, so maybe I should and maybe I will at some point. I like your AAR, mostly because I actually see a faction like Rome getting big. That's good. In all of my non Roman campaigns, Rome either got overrun or was a pushover (more of a pushover than some stupid little barbarian faction, or is it less of a pushover in this case? Either way, the last time I tried, I conquered all of Italy in 2 turns and there was not even a Roman agent to contend with).
I know the game is mostly about rewriting history but seeing factions like Rome disappear 30 turns into the game is just disheartening to me for some reason.

[Myth]

I enjoy midgame very much. I fight when I don't get a clear victory in the AR prediction or when I can't afford a phyrric victory because I will need to fight soon with that particular army/armies.

I don't think the game is boring and it's actually possible to play different stryles. You can turtle or you can blitz the map, it's up to you. But both should have consequences and I think this is where we are lacking.

If a player pickes the Iceni and just builds up his regions in the British Isles and maybe some small chunk of northern Europe, when he does decide do come out of the woods and play, he should meet with Julis freaking Caesar and 8 fullstacks of legonaires coming to bring Roman culture to the barbrians.

If the player decides to relive the glory days of Alexander the Great and conquers 1/4 of the map with Macedon before turn 50, the rest of the world should fear him and attempt to backstab/destablize and form military alliances against him. Little two-bit factions should bide their time and when an alliance between The Celtic Confederation, Rome and Egypt goes to kick the human Macedon empire back into low gear, those little scoundrels on the edge of the arabian peninsula should sail their stacks and bite off whatver territories they have been eyeing (but have been reluctant to take due to fear of repercussions).

It is still possible to enjoy the game very much at turn 50, or at turn 100. I am certain no one here is playing perfectly, there are always things to refine, things to tinker with. But yes, after you start getting too much income and your core recruitment province is safely inside the heart of your lands, it's hard to get anyting more than temporary setbacks.

Now, if the AI sent agents to spy on your building placement and suddenly unloaded 5 stacks of hoplites and elephants in Rome and takes your cities for the sole purpouse of denying you your tier 4 barracks and temple to Mars, that'd be something else, since now you can't replenish lost stacks and you have to make due with what you had (and some local levies)

[Sp4]

Now I installed the Radious mod and I have no idea what exactly and in detail got changed, but in the vanilla game, I wouldn't be running around with 3 stacks after 10 turns and still be making that sort of money.



Positively surprised about early AI ballistas though. Also lol at friendly fire =X

[Kamakazi]

On a scale of 1-10 I enjoy the game about a 6 or 7... The lack of AI aggression and or expansion is what gets me. Im in my 2nd campaign and for the first time someone actually declared on me.... and then they never attacked me and sued for peace... *facepalm*

[jbillybrack]

Alas for no froggy guide! The horror, the horror!
;-)

[Soul Reaver]

Alas for no froggy guide! The horror, the horror!
;-)

Have to agree with you on this, I remember playing RTW for the first time and was always screwing things up, I read frogbeasteggs' guide to Rome Total War and the Barbarian Invasion and it proved to be an invaluable resource.

[Myth]

Same here, that's why I first came to the .org and indeed, that's how I discovered it. I remember my very first game as the Juli where I got bankrupt because I was not used to the upkeep mechanic and I thought "more is better"and "build up in my starting regions, make many armies then move out" were sound strategic choices.

[Sp4]

I figured out why I have no fun playing this game anymore... Every time they make a new patch, I end up restarting my campaign and it's starting to get boring XD

[Hooahguy]

So dont restart? I havent restarted my campaign and I started with patch 1. Oh yeah, and I still really enjoy it.

[Sp4]

But new stuff!

[Hooahguy]

All the patches are save-game compatible. The AI is no different than a new game with the new patch. The only difference is that existing armies and buildings are already there, and I know for a fact that the AI will demolish non-beneficial buildings to make room for more helpful ones. For example the Aedui demolished a level III workshop in one of their towns of some sort and replaced it with a farm or something so their armies wont always be starving. How did I know this? Because every now and then Ill sabotage them and I get an overview of all their buildings.

[Sp4]

Never works for me. In my old saves, everything is still starving and will continue to do so until I ragequit.

[Hooahguy]

Strange, that really stinks for you. Also maybe mods will help. There are mods out there that help the AI with food by giving them lots more food. I forgot the name of the mod but its on the workshop.

[AntiDamascus]

I actually kind of enjoy restarting over. Get to tweak the game juuuust right sometimes.

[fallen851]

Am I alone in being one who actually still is enjoying mid-game?

Your love for this game is admirable.

I actually went back to playing Master of Orion 2 to get my 4x fix and keep holding out hope that CA will eventually shape RTW II into a good game (add at least 2 seasons per turn (4 is best) add a family tree, fix the internal politics, make the AI more aggressive and expansive, among other things...). For people who have never played anything like RTW II, it seems awesome. But when you've played RTW I and the mods (EB and RS2 in particular) and you get over the graphics in RTW II, it is nothing special. I really miss a lot of the things from the original RTW, and honestly, I think RS2 (EB is too buggy) is just a better game. And RTW II certainly doesn't hold a candle to fun I have with MOO2.

[Hooahguy]

add at least 2 seasons per turn (4 is best)

I dont think they will budge on the seasons, but there are many 2/4/6 TPY mods already out there.

add a family tree, fix the internal politics,

You have a point there, but Im going to wait to see what the upcoming patches do.

make the AI more aggressive and expansive

My personal experience is that the CAI is very good as it is, but that's just me. The BAI still needs some work though.

But when you've played RTW I and the mods (EB and RS2 in particular) and you get over the graphics in RTW II, it is nothing special.

I have been playing the TW games since Rome 1 with mods, and yeah, well, y'know, that's just, like, uh, your opinion, man...

The way I see it is that it comes down to personal opinion. Personally, I love it. While I dont think that its the best TW game in the current state, I think it has the potential to be. I absolutely love the new army legacy system, makes me really connected to my armies. I enjoy the battles way more than I have since Rome 1 with EB, and even then I enjoy them more. And while I do miss having a connection with my generals the way that I did in Rome 1, Im not ready to just give up on the game. Im a half-full kind of person, and Im choosing to view this game as half-full instead of half-empty.

[easytarget]

Is there going to be a sub-forum for game guides by faction like there was for Shogun 2 here?

[Hooahguy]

Is there going to be a sub-forum for game guides by faction like there was for Shogun 2 here?

Until people actually start making them, no. We moderators discussed this when the game first came out and unless the situation called for it, we decided against it. Creating separate subforums for a guide for each faction creates unnecessary clutter for the forum and we would like to avoid that if possible.

[BroskiDerpman]

It is mostly opinion based but I do know that you Hooahguy didn't really play much RS2 if you remember the chat we had on Steam.

The thing is; you'd think after 10 years Rome 2 would be a HUGE improvement in every aspect over Rome 1 but from my limited experience and some others it just doesn't have enough punch. You could even say the game has downgraded in some aspects but I won't go on. Imo I do find the CAI in Shogun 2 less retarded and Shogun 2 had a less buggier release w/ less whining on the forums (I admit I whined about Rome2 obviously since I highly anticipated it but not for s2tw as I was ok with it) due to how CA went down on the scope and spent more time fine tuning the things added from Warscape and cutting out stuff that doesn't work as well on Warscape i.e sieges. (M2TW siege with Germanicus or XAI was awesome)

In conclusion from what I've seen myself and from other players the game is playable, enjoyable to some, not to others. (The player count dropped significantly since release compared to even Civ5) I just hope we'd agree that the game's release content was kind of lackluster to what some people expected after Shogun 2+RoTS+FoTS. Inevitably DLCs will flesh in w/ cut content (I'm not conspiring on the dlc matter) and the game would probably be an ok TW. Potential? Yes, but will CA feel the need to given to how they left Shogun2, NTW, or ETW? probably not. Imo it is left to some willing modders to add in more content (NTW3 mod is amazing for MP) for those dedicated to playing TW for enjoyment.


lol @picture below (Vanilla Rome 2 latest patch)

[Hooahguy]

I was a hardcore EB fan, sue me.

I tried RS2, didnt like it, stuck with EB.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Who am I to tell someone that they are wrong for not liking a game? Everyone seems to love Just cause 2; I hated it. Everyone seems to love S2TW; I didnt like it at all. I can give you a long list of games which I dont like and everyone did like.

Im not denying that the release was lackluster. There is no denying it. It was the same with ETW. Whats interesting is that when ETW was released everyone declared it the all time worst TW game of all time, much like now. Yet it is the sleeper hit of the TW series. I believe that in a few months when more patches came out and more mods come out, the people who left will come back as they did for ETW. I feel that R2 has a lot of potential and while I think it has yet to hit its full stride, I think its getting there.