What has been fixed, and what should be? Many questions...

[fey]

Some answers for you...

Hey,

And, if so, has anyone released a mod which lowers the killing & charging speeds, while also making the battle time limit appropriately longer? And is there any way to give spearmen & phalanxes a greater bonus against cavalry?

Partly. Look through the threads here, a couple of people have done a speed-lowering mod. I haven't seen a slower-killing-speed mod yet... It's arguable whether it's needed.

Also, are there any significant problems with the strategy map aspect of the game? I get the impression that Rome will be absolutely perfect once the real time battles are modded to be most realistic. What do people who actually have the game think of this?

I haven't heard many complaints about the strategic part. I like the way it works, it's much better than MTW or STW.

Also, are units like screaming women, dogs, flaming pigs, and gladiators handled realistically?

LOL. I guess it depends on your definition of the word "realistically". In the final analysis they are but a bunch of pixels moving on your screen :-)

Do the units of dogs have human commanders, who show them the general direction of the ennemy and decide when to set them loose? Or do they unexplainably know what they are being ordered to do? Once they attack, can they, unrealistically, still be controlled? Are they in any way overpowered? Can they attack their own troops, if they come too close to them once the dogs have been loosed?

Dogs have human handlers who set them loose. The handlers may or may not participate in the attack. Once loosed, the dogs cannot be controlled. They do not attack friendly troops. Dogs are highly effective against the barbarians, much less against armored foes. They are powerful, but I don't think they are overpowered.

Finally, does anyone here know anything about roman military history, and in particular about cavalry? I know very little, but I seem to remember that cavalry, until 400 AD or so, was not very effective (or not as effective as medieval cavalry), because european horses were very small and because iron stirrups either had not been invented or were not commonly used. (Stirrups prevent the rider from being thrown off his horse when he charges into the enemy). So, if this is true, is roman cavalry overpowered? I think that, historically, barbarian (eastern european, particularly?) & north african cavalry was more powerful than its roman equivalent.

Roman-time cavalry had no stirrups which greatly limited what a man on horseback can do. That's why most of Roman cavalry is armed either with spears or with javelins -- they could not effectively fight with swords. Also, the game correctly emphasizes that the strenght of the cavalry lies in its charge. If bogged down in melee, cavalry is cut down very quickly. Also in RTW just by looking at unit stats, barbarian and north african cavalry *is* better than the Roman cavalry. I think Sacred Band cavalry is considered to be the best in the game.

Fey