Is it true that...

[unseen11]

whilst playing as Rome i probably won't be able to use trilarilii because those reforms happen too quickly? cause i was reading around here that hardly anyone gets to use them.

Also i was wondering if I attack an ally will i be punished like in MT:W?


As well when playing in a siege i smash down the gates and order my men through they sometimes stuff about before they actually go through the gates and attack, is there a reson for this?

And just one more question, why is it whenever i order my hastaii to charge against an enemy they will stall as if they were gonna throw one of those pilums before charging?

[Sinner]

The Marian Reforms are triggered whenever you or another Roman faction builds an Imperial Palace. So you can hold off the Reforms by refusing to build a palace until you decide you can wait no longer, although you always run the risk of one of the Roman AI factions forcing them on to you. One way to delay the latter issue is to make sure you're the one who takes the larger cities of Rome's enemies or those that tend to grow fast, such as Carthage, Syracuse, Patavium, etc.

What you're seeing in sieges is a known issue, perhaps a bug or perhaps just a feature of the new tactical engine. The pathing AI tends to get a little confused in and around cities and you have to micromanage more, moving units in steps, waiting between steps to make sure that all the men have caught up before moving them again.

All the frontline pila-armed Roman infantry, from Hastati to Urban Cohorts, and any foreign troops based on the Legionaires have the attribute of prec for their primary attack with the pila, presumably meaning 'preceding'. This attribute causes them to try to throw a volley of pila before charging, and even if they are out of pila they'll still cycle through the readying and throwing animation, thus losing time. To bypass this, hold down left ALT when you attack, which forces the secondary attack with the sword and they'll charge without a delay. Overall the pila, then charge feature isn't much use due to the high speeds - there often isn't enough time for the volley to be thrown before the enemy crashes into the Roman infantry.

[sapi]

Capture carthage and you will get time to use them ;)

[Sinner]

Or instead of capturing Carthage, or other larger cities, simply run spoilers against the other Roman factions. I like to target their leaders with my assassins, bribe their troops, siege cities they want before they do but then drop the siege the turn before I'd capture it, give money to their enemies, etc.

[unseen11]

Well i suppose doing all that would be a bit much since now that i see you get good units from the reforms, better then trilarilli

...still would of been cool to use them agains some one, oh well time to march on Spain and elmintae the gauls once and for all

[Sinner]

Yah, I really aren't that bothered about Triarii. I rush as quickly possible to get the Marian Reforms, surviving mainly on Hastati and mercs until I get it.

I then have no hard rules for the obsolete units, sometimes I continue using them on the frontline, sometimes I instead use them as garrison or expendable troops, although eventually I do disband any remnants.

[Medieval Assassin]

You can hold down ALT, or CTRL, (I forget which one, hey! it's early) when you click to attack your enemy, and they wont throw a pilum.