Newbie questions:: Please help!

[eccentricity]

I am a newb to Total War and had a few questions I hoped someone could help me with. Thanks a bunch in advance.

1) I found mentioned somewhere that when a governor in a province comes to about age 60 that it is a good time to pass down "retinue" to someone else. How do you pass it down, is it somewhere in the interface?

::: When the death of a governor occurs, how do you know when it is because of an assassin? Does it show the same screen when the person dies of old age?

2) For new births in a family, usually I get a face with a regular outfit although sometimes there is someone with a combat "helmet". Are the new people with helmets only supposed to be used as generals in war out on the campaign map or do you use both types as governors in cities?

:::What is the difference between them, are they governors, captains or generals by birth in the interface view?

3) What is a Marius Reform and when does it usually occur?

:::Does it occur with factions other than the Julli, Scipii, and Brutii?

4) How do you start a campaign as a faction other than the roman three? I don't see it anywhere as a selection yet I hear that you can play as the others.

[Mongoose]

WECOME TO THE .ORG!

1: Put the general you want to give the retinues to in the same city as the old one. Drag the retiunes on to the younger generals unit card.IIRC, this is how you do it.

::: When the of a governor occurs, how do you know when it is because of an assassin? Does it show the same screen when the person dies of old age?

open the family tree. It should tell you how he died.


2: This means nothing.

3: X years after 220 BC, but you have to build an imperial(sp?) palace in italy.

:::Does it occur with factions other than the Julli, Scipii, and Brutii?

Yes. But it still only effects the romans.

4: *Sigh* the never ending question

Honestly it’s probably easier to just play an easy/easy short 15 province
“1) Find the file "descr_strat" in ...\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.txt

2)Open it up.

3)cut the faction you want to play as from the section its under (either unlockable or nonplayable, and copy it into the playable section, that should do it.

Also on that same file for those who wish to play a very long campaign, you have the start date and end date that can be modded there, it says start_date -270 summer and end_date 14 summer.”

I got that info from some guys guide hehe. sorry frogbeastegg

also, this should be in the entrance hall

[PyrrhusofEpirus]

3) What is a Marius Reform and when does it usually occur?

Yes. But it still only effects the romans.

No, it's effects also the general unit of every other faction. From a simple general unit you get the advanced armoured general unit.

eccentricity, welcome to the .Org!!!

[Mongoose]

really? has it been that long since i've played this game?!

[Krauser]

4) How do you start a campaign as a faction other than the roman three? I don't see it anywhere as a selection yet I hear that you can play as the others.

You can edit the file like mongoose said but the way they intended it to be done is to actually play the game. There are 9 unlockable factions:
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities
Every time you destroy one in the main campaign they are playable when you start a new campaign. To destroy a faction completely is to take all of its provinces. An ingame message will tell you when a faction has been destroyed. You have to take the final province to unlock the faction. For example, if Egypt destroys the Seleucid Empire it will not be unlocked for you. If you happen to take the last Seleucid province though it will be unlocked.

The easiest way to unlock all 9 is to play as each of the Roman families. The Senate gives you missions against these factions to help.
The Julii family can take out the Guals, Britons, Germans, and sometimes Carthage.
The Scipii family can take out Carthage, Egypt, and possibly the Greek Cities.
The Brutii family can take out the Greek Cities, Parthia, the Seleucid Empire, and even Egypt.

The developers never intended the other factions to be a played but you can play them if you want by editing the file like mongoose said.

[ToranagaSama]

1. at age 60, there's still a solid 12 more years before death, often more, sometimes as much as 20. I would wait until age 72.

As a Newbie, I wouldn't worry about this too much. There are a lot more basic stuff to master.

When a Assasination attempt occurs, A parchment should pop-up advising you of the event and the result. If you miss it, then you can check in the manner the previous poster advised.

2. Helmets? On babies??

Whatever, babies are either male or female, nothing more nothing less. Male family members grow and can be used however you please. The only position attributed by birth, is the fact of *family membership*.

3. Marius was a Roman general who initiated certain reforms to the Roman Army, resulting in the Stereotypical Roman warfare that I'm sure your familiar with.

This is a timed event, but the benefits of which are only available to the Romans, and certain buildings must be present. READ THE MANUAL!

4. See response of other posters.

Luck!

---

Moderator, this post needs to be moved to the Entrance Hall, and "eccentricity"'s permissions need to be corrected.

[Mahrabals apprentice]

Along similar lines can anyone tell me why the children have full heads of hair till their 16th birthday then most of them are bald as a coot as soon as they come of age!

Can i spend my treasury on wigs? Is there a toupee mod somewhere?

[Azi Tohak]

Nice Mahrabals apprentice. Very nice.

Welcome to the Org. As you can tell, we're pretty friendly. Lots of Veterans here, happy to answer most questions.

But the most important is to read the darned manual. I know, I don't like doing it either, but it is a good idea. Also, in the RTW Guides section you can learn all sorts of wonderful stuff too.

Azi

[eccentricity]

Better than I was hoping for, thanks a bunch everyone and I'm glad I found the Org.

[gardibolt]

My family members and diplomats all croak at about 60-62 (though I've nursemaided one dip up to age 68....). My spies drop at about 55. So I've taken to passing off retinues at age 55. It's a real nuisance.

[Papewaio]

What kind of Temples do you have?

I have found that the healthy temples give the generals longer lives compared with war temples. In the Pink vs Wrathful.

Now I'm not sure if they do have an effect it just seems they do ... or my Mars Generals are dying in battle and not getting to old age...

[Krauser]

Oh yeah, forgot to add. All the factions are unlocked after you beat the game the first time.

You get these factions for beating it:
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities

Edit the file for the rest. The reason the other ones are not really supposed to be played is because they aren't really that balanced. They have fewer unit types to choose from and are used mainly against the player so they don't need to be as indepth as the unlockable ones. Of course, with all the mods out there(especially RTR), this doesn't matter at all.

[ToranagaSama]

My family members and diplomats all croak at about 60-62 (though I've nursemaided one dip up to age 68....). My spies drop at about 55. So I've taken to passing off retinues at age 55. It's a real nuisance.

Interesting.

I must have *naturally* did whatever it is that causes long lives. I can't imagine what it might be. I believe my family members have always lived to a ripe old age since I first loaded RTW; though, if I recall correctly, since I learned to control Plagues---that is building the necessary buildings and doing housecleaning---I think my family members are living even longer.

It's really very rare that I have a family member die prior to age 72. The majority live into their 80s.

QUESTION: Do you guys who are suffering from early deaths, also suffer with plague issues?

[eccentricity]

There is something that is very strange but I'm sure has a rational explanation for. After I suffer a terrible loss at war and I began with two generals, if one of them dies and the other routs along with a few units along with him, I cannot for the life of me find out where the unit ends up being put on the campaign map. He just disappears and I clearly remember only one general dying so shouldn't that put the other guy right next to the winner somewhere? Usually they retreat and pull away to the next closest city which sometimes is nice being that I'll have a chance to retrain them before the next battle.

..Also, as for spies, for the % percentage chances of success of having a gate opened to a town, will it increase for having the spy in your army while making a siege, or simply having him "inside" the town after having spied in on it. I don't see where they stay but when I double-left click on the town it shows my spy on the info screen and says that there is a "30 something %" chance of having gate opened. Will it also increase for putting more numbers of spies in there? Thanks

-ecc

[CMcMahon]

No, it's effects also the general unit of every other faction. From a simple general unit you get the advanced armoured general unit.

Don't the clone legionaries for the various factions that have them appear only after the Marian Reforms? Like the Selucid Silver Shield Legionaries and whatnot?

[Craterus]

Seleucids get their Silver Shields when the appropriate barracks are built.

Think of it like this: Marian Reforms = upgrades! It upgrades generals of every faction(except Scythia and ? in vanilla 1.0), and it upgrades the Romans' legionaries.

Silver Shields are not an upgrade of another unit.

[jacked]

Don't the clone legionaries for the various factions that have them appear only after the Marian Reforms?

They appear before the marius reforms

[ToranagaSama]

There is something that is very strange but I'm sure has a rational explanation for. After I suffer a terrible loss at war and I began with two generals, if one of them dies and the other routs along with a few units along with him, I cannot for the life of me find out where the unit ends up being put on the campaign map. He just disappears and I clearly remember only one general dying so shouldn't that put the other guy right next to the winner somewhere? Usually they retreat and pull away to the next closest city which sometimes is nice being that I'll have a chance to retrain them before the next battle.

This is a bug. There is an old thread on this dated around the first weeks of RTW. I've had this happen to me as well. Now was this fixed by the Patch? I don't remember. Check the readme for the Patch. You've applied the patch haven't you?

..Also, as for spies, for the % percentage chances of success of having a gate opened to a town, will it increase for having the spy in your army while making a siege, or simply having him "inside" the town after having spied in on it. I don't see where they stay but when I double-left click on the town it shows my spy on the info screen and says that there is a "30 something %" chance of having gate opened. Will it also increase for putting more numbers of spies in there? Thanks

-ecc

I've only done the open the gate thing once some time ago. More spies won't help, and, if I recall, I think the gates will open summarily upon dropping the spy.

Like you, I'm a bit confused as to gates and spies. If the gates don't open immediately, I have no clue why not or how to get the spy to try. I've seen the same message and just wondered.

With the rules I play with, using spies to open gates is a no no, so I've never tried to find out. Sorry.

Luck!

[Krauser]

This is a bug. There is an old thread on this dated around the first weeks of RTW. I've had this happen to me as well. Now was this fixed by the Patch? I don't remember. Check the readme for the Patch. You've applied the patch haven't you?



I've only done the open the gate thing once some time ago. More spies won't help, and, if I recall, I think the gates will open summarily upon dropping the spy.

Like you, I'm a bit confused as to gates and spies. If the gates don't open immediately, I have no clue why not or how to get the spy to try. I've seen the same message and just wondered.

With the rules I play with, using spies to open gates is a no no, so I've never tried to find out. Sorry.

Luck!

I'm pretty sure it goes by whichever spy has the most subterfuge. If one has 6 and the other has 3 it will go bye the one with 6. When you attack a settlement with a spy in it the game automatically has the spy try to get them open. I'm not completely sure but I think if you siege a settlement and the spy fails to open them you could break the siege and try again. It's not worth the trouble though because you can take the settlement in 2 turns without the spy. If the spy successfully opens the gate you won't have to wait that extra turn to built battering rams/siege towers/etc. I also use spies to see how strong an army or settlement is. I can figure out if my army is strong enough to take it or not. Even endgame though, it's nice to have a spy in the settlements you are going to take. With the gates already open you can focus your siege weapons on the defenders inside and soften them up a little before going in.

[eccentricity]

This is a bug. There is an old thread on this dated around the first weeks of RTW. I've had this happen to me as well. Now was this fixed by the Patch? I don't remember. Check the readme for the Patch. You've applied the patch haven't you?

Well. thats's strange because I do have the 1.2 patch installed. I also have the un-official BUG-FIXER patch 1.59 installed ontop. I save and load the game frequently during the day when I leave and come back from the computer if the saving function has anything to do with it otherwise I'm just unsure.

Do you know the original thread for the discussion on this bug? Was it 1.1 or pre 1.1? Thanks

-ecc

[ToranagaSama]

Read the README, as I don't remember. In any event, its a fairly rare occurrence.

Here are a few threads:

Strange Occurrences....any Thoughts?
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=37700

Have you seen my General?
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=37863

A withdraw is not a Defeat!
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=37732

The first two are threads I started; the third was begun by Colvion (sp?). He has experienced similar anomalies.

Like I said, fixed or no, its rare. While irritating its not a game breaker by itself. There are other issues that are more effecting (how about that for PCspeak!). If it happens just accept the losses and move on, or if you've saved reload (though that's against the hardcore code). ;)

The "bugfixer" appears quite good. I'd suggest you use it; but, the name is a misnomer, imho, as I don't believe it, actually, fixes any bugs. It makes a lot of *corrections* and perhaps *cures* a bug or two; but ONLY CA can fix the true Bugs!

Lastly, it would appear since you have the patch installed, and the anomalie occurred, then, I guess it ain't fixed. Keep your fingers crossed for the upcoming Patch/Expansion.

Luck!

[ToranagaSama]

I'm pretty sure it goes by whichever spy has the most subterfuge. If one has 6 and the other has 3 it will go bye the one with 6. When you attack a settlement with a spy in it the game automatically has the spy try to get them open. I'm not completely sure but I think if you siege a settlement and the spy fails to open them you could break the siege and try again. It's not worth the trouble though because you can take the settlement in 2 turns without the spy. If the spy successfully opens the gate you won't have to wait that extra turn to built battering rams/siege towers/etc.

Doesn't the Spy die or something if he fails; or, the attack fails?? I have some vague recollection....

I also use spies to see how strong an army or settlement is. I can figure out if my army is strong enough to take it or not. Even endgame though, it's nice to have a spy in the settlements you are going to take.

Oooohhh, bad Kauser, bad Kauser!

Just joking, once your more confident (perhaps you already are), you may enjoy a bit of *roleplaying*. That is makeup a set of rules to play by that add to the challenge. One might be to refrain from using Spies to ascertain the makeup of enemy AI stacks.

This way your Generalship should get better as you'll learn to bring a balanced army, and to WIN with a balanced army no matter what the AI brings (or anyone else for that matter).

Me, I always like being surprised; never know what the AI makeup is until the battlescreen.

[Krauser]

Doesn't the Spy die or something if he fails; or, the attack fails?? I have some vague recollection....

The spy has a chance to be spotted any turn he is in the town. If spotted he can die but a lot of times he just gets kicked out of the settlement. You can just move him back in on your turn. I don't think he can die trying to open the gate. None of my spies have so far. When they failed they just failed. I used siege to get in and take the city. The spy was still there afterwords.

Oooohhh, bad Kauser, bad Kauser!

Just joking, once your more confident (perhaps you already are), you may enjoy a bit of *roleplaying*. That is makeup a set of rules to play by that add to the challenge. One might be to refrain from using Spies to ascertain the makeup of enemy AI stacks.

This way your Generalship should get better as you'll learn to bring a balanced army, and to WIN with a balanced army no matter what the AI brings (or anyone else for that matter).

Me, I always like being surprised; never know what the AI makeup is until the battlescreen.

I didn't use spies on my first campaign so I think it's okay to use them this time. I don't think spies make it too easy because I usually have a balanced army anyways. I might want to change it a little if I notice they have a lot of elephants. If it's just a bunch of town watch and peasants then I can reduce the size of the army and send the other half to take another settlement.