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  1. #1

    Default Rtw/bi

    I've been looking at the Rome: Total War Gold Edition recently and waiting for it to go down in price. I now think I can pick it up for less than thirty quid, so I may give it a go, because I'd like to try out some of the mods. I am a bit of a die hard STW/MTW player and could never get into RTW previously, so eventually I sold it off on ebay. I have a few questions however:

    1) Is BI worth having?

    2) Do all of the major mods work with and without BI?

    3) Is there a guide to disabling all of the flashing feedback markers and RTS looking stuff? I could never work out how to do this last time (I lost patience).

    4) I have heard about "Alexander", any good? where can I get it?

    5) Which mod drastically slows down the run speeds of units to a relaistic level?

    6) I've read some bad criticsim of Rome Total Realism and their forum was hacked. Is this one to avoid?

    7) Anything else I should know regarding RTW/BI?


    Many Thanks

    Caravel.
    “The majestic equality of the laws prohibits the rich and the poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets and stealing bread.” - Anatole France

    "The law is like a spider’s web. The small are caught, and the great tear it up.” - Anacharsis

  2. #2
    Senior Member Senior Member econ21's Avatar
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    Default Re: Rtw/bi

    [QUOTE=Caravel]

    1) Is BI worth having?

    Absolutely. It's a very substantial campaign, almost a RTW2 in scope. It is also very different from RTW in the setting - hordes, besieged Romans etc. Personally, I find the WRE BI campaign has the most appealing premise of any TW campaign.

    2) Do all of the major mods work with and without BI?

    BI installs to a separate folder, so you can still play RTW and its mods without a change.

    Furthermore, newer mods are either designed for BI or can run with its exe. After tests and comments from Puzz3D etc, I am pretty sure now that the BI.exe embodies better AI than the RTW.exe.

    3) Is there a guide to disabling all of the flashing feedback markers and RTS looking stuff? I could never work out how to do this last time (I lost patience).

    Try Froggy's guide. The main bugbear for me was the green arrows and she tells you how these should die. But if you are playing BI, be careful to edit the preferences.txt file in your BI folder, not just the RTW (you have one for each).

    4) I have heard about "Alexander", any good? where can I get it?

    Download it or buy the Eras compilation of all TW game. I can't recommend it at present - combat too fast (Persians meet phalanx, Persians insta-rout; Companions meet Persians, Persians insta-rout), too repetitive and lacking in polish & variety - but Lusted's mod may save it. Done properly, it should be a great campaign. In its defense, the vanilla ATW game is quite challenging.

    5) Which mod drastically slows down the run speeds of units to a relaistic level?

    If you are talking about RTW in general, then RTR and EB slow down units, although it's less drastic than you might think. It's enough - especially with the pause key. But the real thing, IMO, about the fast pace of RTW is not so much the movement, as the kill rates and the morale. Kill rates are reduced and morale raised, so that combat feels like MTW in terms of movement and kill speed.

    If you are talking about BI in particular, your best bet is Goth's mod. I am not sure exactly what it does in terms of unit speeds, but it does not seem that different from RTR or EB in that respect. Like them, it certainly raises morale to prolong combats. It may also have reduced the power of missiles and cavalry, as they do, but the cavalry still have a real kick (as perhaps they should in that era).

    6) I've read some bad criticsim of Rome Total Realism and their forum was hacked. Is this one to avoid?

    RTR Platinum is the best major reworking of RTW currently available, in my opinion, although I expect EB and RTR 7 to knock it off its perch eventually. But it is nothing to do with BI per se; it's a reworking of RTW.

    The RTR forums are down, so sadly there is nothing to avoid. When they get back, the virus problem should have gone (they are moving server). But they have a healthy sub-forum over at the twcenter.

    No reason to avoid RTR - it's an awesome piece of work. The .com forum was to be avoided though, it was a break-off by a disgruntled team member and had an outdated version of the mod - the one you want has a .org extension.

    7) Anything else I should know regarding RTW/BI?

    Get Goth's mod. The skins in BI are rather ugly. His are sweet:

    https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...&postcount=306
    Last edited by econ21; 08-21-2006 at 22:21.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Senior Member econ21's Avatar
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    Default Re: Rtw/bi

    PS: Have a look at this PBM write-ups thread to see what an unmodded BI WRE game can be like (with a few house rules):

    https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=60372

  4. #4

    Default Re: Rtw/bi


    1) Is BI worth having?

    2) Do all of the major mods work with and without BI?

    3) Is there a guide to disabling all of the flashing feedback markers and RTS looking stuff? I could never work out how to do this last time (I lost patience).

    4) I have heard about "Alexander", any good? where can I get it?

    5) Which mod drastically slows down the run speeds of units to a relaistic level?

    6) I've read some bad criticsim of Rome Total Realism and their forum was hacked. Is this one to avoid?

    7) Anything else I should know regarding RTW/BI?
    1. Yes. The campaigns are challenging. The AI is smarter, and its different set of problems to vanilla RTW.
    2. Ive tried RTR, Terrae Expugnandae, Darth Mod, XGM.. they all work with or without BI. Even better with the BI exe. Or what econ21 said.
    3. Check the preferences.txt in the RTW folder. 'Disable Arrow Markers' - Change FALSE to TRUE
    4. I never played it and I don't think its worth it, tbh. Especially if you already have BI and are going to be playing mods anyway.
    5. RTR. But its easy to mod these yourself anyway.
    6. Its a pretty good mod, and has excellent support.
    7. Its extremely addictive once you get into it.
    Last edited by Garvanko; 08-21-2006 at 17:03.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Rtw/bi

    Thanks for the tips. All advice greatly appreciated and noted.
    “The majestic equality of the laws prohibits the rich and the poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets and stealing bread.” - Anatole France

    "The law is like a spider’s web. The small are caught, and the great tear it up.” - Anacharsis

  6. #6

    Default Re: Rtw/bi

    One more point, I just saw something about this in another thread in the M2TW forum, and remembered it as being one of my least favourite "features":

    8) RTW has 'unlockable' factions. Do all mods disable this? If not which ones do/don't? Are they easily moddable for vanilla RTW?

    Thanks again.

    Edit: Or maybe I should just shut up and read froggies guide?
    “The majestic equality of the laws prohibits the rich and the poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets and stealing bread.” - Anatole France

    "The law is like a spider’s web. The small are caught, and the great tear it up.” - Anacharsis

  7. #7
    Senior Member Senior Member econ21's Avatar
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    Default Re: Rtw/bi

    Yes, froggies guide should tell you - you cut and paste the faction names in a text file. The "unlock" factions thing is vanilla only, although some mods make some factions unplayable (e.g. a mod balanced to be challenging for Romans only).

  8. #8

    Default Re: Rtw/bi

    Thanks for all the info, I'll be getting it next month with a bit of luck. I've seen it for around £17.00
    “The majestic equality of the laws prohibits the rich and the poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets and stealing bread.” - Anatole France

    "The law is like a spider’s web. The small are caught, and the great tear it up.” - Anacharsis

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