frogbeastegg's Guide to Rome: Total War and the Barbarian Invasion

[FalcoFalcula]

Frogbeastegg,

Thank you!! Your guide is exactly what I needed to begin to bring the logic of RTW into focus. It is a great basis to begin to develop a strategic approach to the game! Thanks for what was obviously a lot of effort!

[Braden]

Just quickly and as I know the good lady Frog will drop by here:

We need a guide for Barbarian Invasion. I don’t think that the existing Rome guide can be updated to include all the features in BI effectively and it’ll be much easier to do a separate guide for BI.

Froggy – what do you think?

(we also need a BI map but that’s a separate question)

[frogbeastegg]

Guide is now updated for RTW 1.5 and BI 1.6. I have put in everything I can think of, including everything mentioned in this thread.

It's also the end. No updates, no editing, no adding. It's done. I did this update because I felt terrible having won two awards for a guide which was badly out of date, and because people have been asking me. It will have errors and ommisions, and I haven't even checked it over once for typos and the like. t's the best I can do under the circumstances; the only reason I've had time to do this update is down to a virus. I've been so ill for several days now I'm totally wrung out; reading, a bit of simple and poor writing, and sleeping are all I'm fit to do.

There is no MP section. There will not be one. Sorry, but it would just take too much time. This was the best I could manage.

So there you go; hope it's more use than the old one, even if it is probably deficient compared to what I could do with time, health, and more playtime put into BI and the current version of RTW.

Thanks for the many, many warm comments, the feedback, the comments, and the help.

[gardibolt]

Froggy, many thanks for updating this guide, despite having lost interest in it long ago. If you're OK with it, I'm working on a PDF version that is mostly ready other than I need to resize some of the screenshots so they fit on a page.

[frogbeastegg]

I was going to ask Tricky Lady if she was still interested in doing the PDF version we had arranged back when 1.2 was new, but if you have work underway then doing so would be a waste of her time and yours. Let me know when it's done and I'll take a look; if I like (to be honest the only way I won't is if you drop bits, don't credit yourself for your work, or do something appauling with the layout and/or colour scheme. Hot pink backgrounds with lime text should be banned ) then I'll see what can be done about reliable hosting and a link at the start of the guide.

[Braden]

Froggy,

Well, a guide has to end sometime and I don’t remember you having to spend this much time on the Medieval guide.

Now take a deserved rest, actually play the games for fun….at least for a few months until….

………..Medieval 2 is released and we all expect you to have a full guide formatted and published within 24hrs. (lol)

All the best, hope to speak to you again soon

P.S. - Wooopss!

Generals/Family members – Training and adoption.

It’s stated in the guide that in BI you can train Generals but can’t Adopt. This is incorrect as you CAN adopt Captains to be Family member/Generals in BI the same way as you can in Rome (although in my experience I’ve adopted after a single battle with a raw recruited captain!).

I think this may be a 1.6 Patch change as it didn’t happen in my games of BI until after I’d installed this patch.


Braden

[gardibolt]

With frogbeastegg's consent, I can make that change in the pdf version.

[Garvanko]

Fantastic Guide!

Noticed frogbeategg doesn't let the AI manage anything. Does anyone else let the AI manage taxes only? I find that at least it keeps the cash rolling in, and lets you manage unit training and building construction.

[mmk]

Thank you very much for this guide. Excellent read and very inormative!

[Kihon]

Any sign of the PDF version, I really want to print this out and take it to bed with me!!!
Hate reading text on screen.

Oh and well done frogbeastegg, thanks for a great guide

[gardibolt]

FBE has approved it with one change, which I'll be making tonight. Hopefully it will be available shortly thereafter.

[Avicenna]

The Scipii are the blue Romans. They start in south-western Italy and Sicily. They are intended to take on the might of Carthage and the Numidians above all others. Their Gods are Vulcan (small happiness bonus, bonuses to armour and weapons of troops), Saturn (small happiness bonus, small law bonus), and Neptune (small happiness bonus, eventual ability to build the corvus quinquireme).

The Scipii Campaign I just started allowed me to build Mercury Temples... or maybe this was added by the first patch?

[frogbeastegg]

PDF is available here: http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Rt...wguide_pdf.zip

Thanks to Gardibolt for his work.

[Avicenna]

Things I'd like to add:
1) Adoption of generals: this is probably to do with the version of RTW. I have patched RTW, and the general stays with his troops after adoption. In vanilla, where generals all went to the capital, there is a chance that he might go to the capital but I am not sure about this.
2) Agents: add in the traits expert assassin, subterfuge genius, expert spy. Also, when you get a master assassin (expert) or spy, kill a few more and your faction leader (providing he was the one who ordered all those kills) will gain a master of assassins/spies trait, and gain the retinue of master assassin/spy (not so sure, and no access to RTW sorry)
3) Marius: cavalry auxilia are still available after Marius.
4) Gnaeus Naevius is missing from the retinues I think. Dancer has to be added to spy and assassins' retinue list.

[Tomilias Pwnias]

Looking for some guides for my clans new website maby some of you could help?

[Tomilias Pwnias]

BTW the website is www.leohonorius.com

[frogbeastegg]

A tip sent to me by PM, which could be useful:

Wondered if you knew that if your governor has 4 ancillaries that make unit recruitment cheaper by total of 50%(max I think) then the same character can recruit the 2 turn units in one turn. Pretty useful. Me be playing unmodded 1.5 RTW

[Kekvit Irae]

It would definately allow Spartans to be churned out at a higher rate. The only problem I foresee is that getting the right combination of said companions is quite difficult

[IRONxMortlock]

FBE,

I'm a bit behind the times as I only just purchased RTW. As a complete noob to the total war series I have found your guide to be very useful and incredibly comprehensive. It has really helped me to get started in my campaign and to keep the empire running profitably and aggressively.

I registered here specifically to let you know how much I appreciated your guide. Big props out to you for all the hard work you put into making it!

Cheers,

M

[Seamus Fermanagh]

FBE,

I'm a bit behind the times as I only just purchased RTW. As a complete noob to the total war series I have found your guide to be very useful and incredibly comprehensive. It has really helped me to get started in my campaign and to keep the empire running profitably and aggressively.

I registered here specifically to let you know how much I appreciated your guide. Big props out to you for all the hard work you put into making it!

Cheers,

M

Superb first post. Should have done the same thing myself. Froggy is, as you note, aces.

[frogbeastegg]

Thank you

[Specialist290]

Great guide frogbeastegg. Most impressive :)

Regarding phalanxes, I have a small query / speculation: Is it regarded as tactically sound to deploy a group of phalanx units in a "gull-winged" line (i.e. w/ the two ends "folded" back obliquely) rather than a straight line? Admittedly I've only been able to use this formation in one battle, and it happened "accidentally" (I didn't deploy like that, but responded to an attempted flanking maneuver by the enemy). Also, it was under a different patch (v1.3, I think) and only Normal / Medium difficulty, so I'm not entirely sure if any of that may have had an effect on the battle (it was a Quick Battle; myself (Macedon) vs. Romans and Gauls).

Not really trying to prove or disprove anything; just thought I'd raise the issue for discussion.

[Biggus Diccus]

I just had to thank Frog for this awesome guide! After playing STW and MTW I just coudn't figure this game out properly. I never understood that cultural penalty was because of alien buildings before I read you guide =D

[frogbeastegg]

Thank you both.



On the matter of phalanxes, I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer. I haven't used them since the days of 1.2, and the only recent experience of RTW I have comes from the GothMod for BI. Certainly against the AI I used to have great success with a /---\ kind of arrangement, provided the flanks of the slanting units were placed very carefully indeed so they weren't vulnerable. I filled the centre with archers, and used heavy cavalry to protect the flanks. It's a very immobile formation; once you choose it you narrow your options quite considerably. It worked nicely in MTW too, with spears standing in place of the phalanx.

Against humans it won't work very well; they've the sense to use your immobility against you.

[Bobo]

Thanks FBE, your guide is the best - it has helped me a LOT.

Addition: you can also unlock playable factions in RTW by destroying them, even before finishing your first campaign.
Don't know about BI.

[MaddMann]

SOMEONE ELSE WHO PLAYS THIEF!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was all alone on these forums!!!!!!

[Dan.o6]

Very nice guide.

[BossMax05]

great guide. i learned a lot here

[Catintheoven]

This Guide Is Good,

My Tip To Surviving The Hordes, Specialy As The Goths Is To Invest Your Initial Money In Walls and Plenty Of Bowmen, And Make Sure Youve Turned On Battle Time Limit!!!!! Some Times Its Best To Take Your Nearest Settlement (I Forgot Its Name) To Earn More And As A Back Up Incase You Fail And To Protect Some Spare Family Members

The Goths Initialy Will Only Face The Hordes, But Allying With Them Doesnt Really Help Much As They Arent The Most Diplomatic People,

Wait Till They Attempt To Get Into The City, Then Ride Out With Generals To Destroy The Ladders And Seige Towers, Mean While Have All Your Archers Up On The Wall And Use Flamming Arrows To Destroy The Seige Engines, You Might Have To Suffer Few Times Till The Get The Idea Your Too Much Hassle Or They Dont Have Enough Troops, But Even If They Leave, Dont Relly On Diplomacy They May Still Turn Back Before They Have Crossed Into German or Roman Territory. If Worst Comes To Worst, Once They Leave Keep Attacking Them, Send Suicide Missions After The Family Members If You Must.

Hope This Helps Because The Goths Can Be A Great Faction! Though You Might Have To Wrestle Greece Off Of The Sarmatians

[Celtic_Punk]

in regards to changing names of settlements in BI

IT WONT WORK!!! anyone else have problems with it?