SPQR Mod

**PanzerJaeger** · 07-20-2005, 07:53

Well I was recently talked into playing this mod after months of no RTW do to general disapointment. To me, its everything the original game was supposed to be in terms of combat and campaign strategy.

Does anyone else play it.. im having a very difficult time making progress on the campaign map, which is a good thing.

**King of Atlantis** · 07-20-2005, 08:08

I played it a little, but then i decided to give Darth mod a try. SPQR just seemed to much like vanilla to me.

**Bartix** · 07-20-2005, 08:34

SPQR is real good. Very Polish. Ed.

More difikelt then vanilla = good

Playing it for weeks earlier.

Darth mod very intresting. Formation etc.

I use Vlad mod, has issues, but nice change. Install Darth mod on top. not work.
Reinstall Vlad mod on top. Now work. every unit unlocalised placment text

Don't no if it because I am Brotish (irony), but now very challeng.
I use many years to get my island from rebels, then send pre-emptive task force agains lands where wise woman say invasion come in few hundred years (angled saxons) Take weakly defended town, Bordesholm, Germans send big stacks. My 500 guys fall defending bridge against 2800 germ-men. woo-hoo!

take half om them down! Including general"

Tonight we see, maybe they retake town. Maybe find it razed and abandoned....
At least I gave Gaul allies time to reorganizing.

**sapi** · 07-20-2005, 09:01

yes, spqr is a great mod

**Puzz3D** · 07-20-2005, 17:22

There was great interest in using SPQR mod in multiplayer, but version 2 didn't work in MP for some reason that no one could figure out. Since then Chiv mod and Mordred's mod offer much improved gameplay over vanilla in MP.

I played part of a Julii campaign using SPQR v2.0, and modded out all the city walls except for the 8 largest cities. It was interesting due to the huge battles it generated and they were pretty challenging, but SPQR mod completely negates the cav charge due to the huge defensive values given to all units. This definitely hurts the AI because it's programmed to make lots of charges which are ineffective.

I've since switched to Mordred's mod which is specifically designed to get the best gameplay in multiplayer without making drastic changes to the units. All of its files install to a mods folder and the modded game is started with its own shortcut. The vanilla game is not affected, and can still be run with the normal shortcut. Hopefully, this will allow players to make an easy transition from vanilla to Mordred's mod. This mod achieves longer battles by only slightly increasing the defend values (+1) but increasing morale by +4. It also gives all non-spears 0.75 lethality which enhances the effectiveness of spears. This means cavalry retains it's charge effectiveness, but spears kill cav more easily thus providing a stronger rock, paper, scissors which make the tactics more interesting. The movement speed is set at 0.9, and this combines well with the longer fighting time of units which was carefully selected to allow enough time for flanking tactics not only with cav but with infantry as well. This all occurs in an environment where charge is still effective and highly effective when combined with flanking, so I think it offers better tactical gameplay than SPQR.

Now what's surprising about Mordred's mod is how well it plays in SP. He made some changes to the starting conditions of some factions in the campaign, but the intersting thing I find is that this mod suites the battlefield AI better. This could be because the mod doesn't make drastic changes. The timing of the AI's flanking now suits the frontal fighting that it initiates, and its charges are still effective. You have more time to maneuver your units, but the battles are more difficult because the AI is relentless about looking for flank attacks, good units matchups and shooting your valuable units. Shooting is another area where SPQR was deficient in gamplay because archers were completely ineffective. against anything with a shield.

I can post a link to Mordred's mod if you are interested in trying it. It's not a large download.