RTR....how the game should have been

**Darius** · 03-10-2005, 05:05

So far this is my first campaign with 5.3 and so far as the Romans its been an absolute blast. You start out small and surrounded by potential threats, and basically by turn 3 I was getting thrashed by the Greek General Pyrhus of Epirus. I've never really had a game that went without me simply building up, throwing a big army at an enemy, and then essentially once the army got going it would never stop. Now I need to get recruits from loyal Roman citizens in order to replenish my soldiers numbers, and the enemy themselves somehow seem to actually behave much more intelligently with their troop movements.

Normally it was just victory after victory, with a close victory every now and again. Now I am actually being defeated, and sometimes soundly (sometimes embarissingly). The most important part about that is the fact that my defeats arent because of the simple fact that their units are obviously better than mine or because of simple bad luck, but because the units are now actually functioning the way they're supposed to. Pike Phalanxes used to be simple to kill with a few principes, now its tricky business. Hoplite Phalanxes can take absolute deluges of arrows before taking heavy casualties. So much was changed and tweaked and perfected to the point where when I enter a battle, I actually have to constantly rework, reform, and execute a new strategy for each new situation that develops within a fight in order to ensure victory. No longer can I just simply run around the sides and just flank and attack from the rear and cause big chain rout and everything is craptastic for everybody.

Another good thing is, like I said before, how decisive battles are actually decisive now. With the way finances are constantly strained, raising an army takes time. No longer can I simply queue up a massive army in a couple turns. However this does not mean that armies are less massive. Indeed I've noticed far more armies, and much larger ones at that, being placed in the field by every faction. Currently I am absolutely dreading my inevitable clash with the Ptolemies...they have about a dozen or so full stacked armies...and I'm guessing I wouldnt be so lucky to find out that they're all only just peasants and its all just a big joke on me...

**Bob the Insane** · 03-10-2005, 10:56

Just to add a bit more to my personal experiences of the mod...

It is now 240BC and the last 10 years have been dominated by one thing, the war with Carthage.

I had landed two full legions on Sicily and quickly took Messana with one while blocking the northern pass with the other. By manouvering the legions into the narrow passes I reduced the numerical advantage of Carthage's armies as they could only attack one army at a time. The fact that Greece and Carthage where at war as well created a three way conflict on the island. But while we where at war with the Greeks officially there had been no actual conflict in many years (just the odd naval skirmish). So while Carthage splite it's forces to besiege the Greek cities we concentrated on solely on fight Carthage.

The other step in our plan was the rapid construction of large fleets to dominate the central mediterranian and prevent Carthage reinforcing the troops on Sicily (which it was activily do at the start of the conflict). The result was thousands of Carthagian troops being drowned on their way to Sicily and the development of a large and very experience Roman navy. The destraction of Carthage's navy was so successful that we are now actively blocking Carthagian ports rather than simply defending our coastline.

The final move was to grant our Iberian allies 10000 denarii to aid them in their conflict with Carthage (and hopefully divert some troops away from Sicily).

Now I can take back what I said about "rolling in cash", war it appear is the big money drain. Constant fleet build and reinforcement had made money pretty tight. We are never broke and can keep up with contruction and reinforce costs, but only just. I remind you that we are fighting only one war again an enemy we share no land border with (yet!) and we are at peace and trading with just about every one else!!

I have a screen shot of one of those decisive battles that Darius mentioned:

https://photobucket.com/albums/y30/B...ent=battle.jpg

plus:

https://photobucket.com/albums/y30/B...inter244BC.jpg

**Darius** · 03-10-2005, 17:13

It's great how the AI is actually being so amazingly agressive while still being intelligent about it. They'll send large armies against you, instead of simply throwing steady streams of two or three units an army every turn. Once one of these massive battles are finished, it will mean it will put the attacker on the defensive for a few years before it can reassemble another formidable invasion instead of simply mindlessly attacking you with meager forces.

So far in my game, I've chosen to ignore the powerful Carthage...for now. At the moment I am engaged in a war upon the Hellenic peoples. After seizing both Sparta and Athens, I have thrown the Greeks out of Greece. Now they are down to just Syracuse and Byzantium, ending their capability to be a threat. They agreed to a ceasfire that required them to uphold the majesty of Rome ( they pay 200 denarii/20 years) and have granted as traderights within their markets and ports. Of course the traderights are a moot point as they are currently being heavily beisieged in Syracuse by the Carthaginian Sicilian military and are under off and on attack from Macedon and Thrace.

It seems that the king of Macedon was threatened by my growing power on his southern border and my recent acquisition that is directly west of his city of Bylazora. So in violation of our alliance, he began blockading two ports in the Aegean and advanced an army towards the lightly defended town of Appolonia. My occupation armies that were still in Sparta and Athens and awaiting the construction of a militia barracks in order to re-enlist newly Romanized citizens into their currently dangerously thinned numbers which were the results of the bloody siege assaults upon the very cities they now watch over.

With my Greco-Roman armies currently unable to act, I assembled what was only the beginning of what had been supposed to be heading north to help stem the veritable flood of Gallic armies along our borders and immediately merged them with my brigand hunting forces. I appointed my recently adopted family member it's commander and hired some samnites, and hoplite mercenaries and had my navy land them upon the shores of Greece. Upon landing my general immediately hired the illyrians, hoplites, cretans, thracians, and peltasts that were available for hire, and marched them into the mountain pass through which the invading army would be forced to pass through.

In hopes of distracting the sons of Alexander further, I sent a small portion of my border army near Bylazora into their lands and had them stand with their backs to the mountain range north of their capital. This small army, consisting only of four principes, two hastati, a somewhat weakened band of illyrians and a half strength unit of equites, had to face a shockingly large attacking army of over one thousand five hundred men. Despite the numerical odds, my legions were able to take full advantage of their defensive stand by holding up on the steepest slope upon the mountain. When attacked, they put up an inspirational fight and managed to net a heroic victory. However their presence was apparently intolerable to the armies of Macedonia, and two full fledged armies assaulted them from both the front and the flank. Despite taking out three times as many men as their enemy, they were nearly overwhelmed before I gave them the order to withdraw in the hopes that their retreat would bring them out of the reach of their attackers. The gods were apparently against my soldiers that day, and they were cut down to a man soon after, but the damage they had done proved sufficient for their sacrifice, and the delay they managed added to their achievements.

I have claimed three more Macedonian cities and am besieging one of their island towns. My armies have been reassembled in the south and are prepared to continue their conquests.

My battle with the barbarians to the north have gone differently. While my forces are ever victorious, the attacks are incessant and the size of the enemy armies are incredible. I have managed to sieze only two cities, each requiring three to four massive battles to take, and another two or three to hold there after. The Germans, severely weakened by the attacks by the Britons, have chosen to become a protectorate of Gaul. The Britons have rampaged through both Gallic and Germanic lands, and in their lust for battle have decided to attack me as well. Thankfully my forces held and managed to throw them back four times so far, but even now I have been unable to launch a counterattack as the enemy seems to have a numberless supply of armies that march against me.

In other parts of the world, the Ptolemaics have chosen to ignore the now broken Seleucids, and have begun to assault the lands of Pontus. As of now neither side has managed to gain an upperhand against the other. Fortunately the attack by Ptolemaic forces helped my Armenian allies greatly. They have managed to not only throw out the Pontic invasion but have even taken one of their enemies cities and are approaching another.

The Seleucids, having lost nearly half their provinces, have become as good as defeated. To add to their misery, one of their cities has recently revolted and become an independent city-state, and it seems their is little the Seleucids can or will do about it. The Parthians, having witnessed the might of the Ptolemaic armies against the Selucid military, have agreed to become a protectorate under the Pharaoh.

The Carthaginians have recently secured both Sicily and the whole of what had once been Numidian lands. In the lands of Iberia however they have already lost Carthago Nova and several large Iberian armies are encroaching upon their remaining colonies.

Thrace has so far been relegated to a single holding due to a losing war with Dacia and Sarmatia, and will likely fall just any time now. Dacia has so far not attacked me, but they have attempted to demand funds or else they might attack, but I sent their diplomat packing and they have made no offensive moves as of yet. Sarmatia has made small gains, conquering a province to the west and I believe another to their western border.

Though my empire is strong and my holdings prosperous, I am in a constant struggle to simply hold most of my borders against constant assaults and my defensive woes are only multiplied the larger my kingdom grows.

Once my war in Greece are complete, I plan to give in to the constant demands of the Senate to begin a war with Carthage. With their current standings nearly identical to mine, it is likely that the battles to come shall be my most difficult so far. Whoever is able to prove the victor will become the master of the western Mediterranean. Should I win though, it will bring me ever closer to the day I must face the armies of Ptolemy...

**Stuie** · 03-10-2005, 17:31

@Bob and Darius - I'm really enjoying your campaign write-ups. Keep them coming!!

@Turbo - sorry about the 5.2 frustration. There was some stuff added at the last minute (like the new menu video/music), and the voice-of-reason (that would be me) who argued for more testing prior to the release was ignored. Still, my hands were all over that release so I take partial responsibility.

**Darius** · 03-10-2005, 17:57

You know that music you guys added for the startup is awesome. You guys should throw in some more for the rest of the game. Now you don't have to get rid of any of the old music, just add in yours so as to mix things up a bit.

**caesar44** · 03-10-2005, 17:58

as i said prev' rtr saved the game
the mod is a real attempt to improve the game

**Darius** · 03-11-2005, 15:11

I just have to say this has got to be the most incredible campaign I have ever played. Each and every turn is a brand new challenge, and every fight is a masterpiece. If all the other faction's are as fun as this, I may be playing RTR for months to come. So far I've barely managed to consolidate power in Greece and Italy, and have made only small footholds beyond the Alps. Normally by now I'm steamrolling through enemy cities, rarely ever facing a field battle, and simply slaughtering all resistance in the siege battles that nearly always are against tiny wooden walls.

However I have some very terrible news, after my northern armies were crushed by a simultaneous attack by both Gallic and Bythronic forces, the power went out. When I tried to start up the game again, the file was corrupted

!!

So it looks like I'll be needing to start a new campaign. Since you guys seem to enjoy the write-ups quite a bit, I want to know which faction you'd like me to use next? In the mean time I will be playing some Custom Battles as the Ptolemies vs. Romans and vice versa. The reason being that I want to see just how the mighty juggernaut would have been like to do combat with.

So feel free to post which faction you'd like to see next. Oh and just FYI, as I had done with my Roman campaign, it shall be on Emperor campaign difficulty (Medium difficulty for battles cause of the bug(s) that are present) and I will do my best to give daily updates.