Campaign Over, comments on the game

[GottMitUns]

Just brought my first RTW campaign to a succesful end. To be honest, the last ten turns were really monotonous and I was glad to get some closure. It would be good if the civil war happened sooner and you had to fight at least a few battles in the "civil war" against the praetorian and urban cohorts.

Overall it is a solid game and I am already pretty anxious to start a new campaign and am trying to decide between the greek cities, seuclid (sp?), or germany. I will probably go with the seuclids- good initial territory with alot to grab up early, nice unit selection etc.

What I would like to have seen in RTW is a bit more detail in playing as the barbarians, particularly the germans. Historicaly their political situation was not that different than Romes. Instead of the Senate you have tribal cheifs and leading men, and yet you still have the "people". And even the germanic tribes were broken into factions. Like the romans, they were not so into having a single central overiding authority or "king". Instead at times of war the cheifs (and there were very many of them) might support a particularly powerfull and able cheif to represent them all and act as commander in cheif. Sometimes this man would use that position to try and gain something like a permanent kingship. So really, in game terms, the germans and the romans were in the same situation. Competing allied factions (the strongest cheifs) each trying to gain an upper hand, the support of the artistorcracy (senate) and the people.

Also, "public order" should not even be an issue where barbarians, particularly germanics are concerned. While the romans were advanced in terms of engineering and technology, the gemranics were advanced in terms of law. The roman legal system was a statuatory mess and public order was always a problem except in the best of times.

The germanic legal system was a system of common laws- much like that currently in place today in the UK and especially in America, but minus the statuatory mess. In many ways it is superior to the old roman system, and the argument may well be made that the success of the current world superpower is due in no small part to a succesfull balance of statute and ancient common law.

The main legal ingredient for the germans was individual freedom. For the romans, freedom meant something else entirely. "Breaking the law" in ancient germany mean you inhibited the liberty of another free man. A common penalty was often losing your own freedom. Cases were decided either by jury or by a trial by combat.

Just some thoughts. If the romans get to benefit in the game by superior public works and organization, the germany should get to benefit by a superior legal system and almost no public disorder.

All of this especialy comes to light in the next phase of the game- Barbarian Invasion. I haven't played it yet so we will see. I am curious how this all is handled, especialy given the huge amount of information we have about that period, especialy concerning the Saxons.

[scourgeofrome]

Thats what the mods are for.Might I suggest Europabarborum (if thats spelled right).And yes,this is a cheap ad for the mod.Buts its a good one,so don't worry.If a wait a bit, the next version should be coming out this month.Then you can play BI and EB.Yay.

[Craterus]

I'd recommend enjoying the vanilla game as much as you possibly can before you go about downloading mods.

[GottMitUns]

Thanks guys. I am starting a new campaign in the vanilla, afterwhich I will play BI (got the package deal) and then probably look at a good mod for RTW.

[Craterus]

Play as many campaigns as you can, until the fun starts to dry up a bit. Then download a mod. I'm serious.

I downloaded a mod too quickly, did a few campaigns with that and then went off the game for good. I definitely wish I'd stuck with vanilla a bit longer.

[severius alexius]

great news. I would suggest to you before taking selecuid remember they will be attacked by every neighbouring faction, ie egypt,armenia,pontus. I got out of situation by becoming a protectorate under egypt and took out pontus and armenia, then attacked and destroyed egypt, you can follow this steps. and then settle down to battling the romans

[GottMitUns]

great news. I would suggest to you before taking selecuid remember they will be attacked by every neighbouring faction, ie egypt,armenia,pontus. I got out of situation by becoming a protectorate under egypt and took out pontus and armenia, then attacked and destroyed egypt, you can follow this steps. and then settle down to battling the romans

I found that out the hard way. Everyone attacks them and their begining units suck. The game being so chalenging so early on is kind of fun though.

[professorspatula]

Make the most of the 'game being so chalenging so early on is kind of fun' thought. As soon as you weaken Egypt and start churning out Pikemen, Elephants and Cataphracts, you can pretty much guess the eventual outcome. Try to resist relying on the heavy units too much to get the most fun out their campaign. Eventually you'll become strong enough to control Asia and Egypt, and it's then I suggest to extent the fun, that you send out expedition forces across the sea to Gaul to help the barbarians fend off the Julii or whoever else is causing problems. Some war elephants, some pikemen and cavalry and a family member to recruit mercenaries camped outside an ally's city is often enough to fend off aggressors for some time and it's a great diversion for when you're not just mopping up the last of your main empire's opposition.

[jhhowell]

I found that out the hard way. Everyone attacks them and their begining units suck. The game being so chalenging so early on is kind of fun though.

What??? Militia Hoplites and Militia Cavalry are both outstanding beginning units. Build lots of both, hire mercs as desired, and you can crush Egypt, Parthia, and the Asia Minor rebels simultaneously from the very start of the game. A single diplomat will work well to keep the Armenians off your back, and get you a cataphract as part of the deal. Two more cataphracts can be purchased from Parthian armies that come down to try to retake Susa.

Commenting on Professor Spatula's remark - remove cataphracts from his list, you don't actually get to build those in a Seleucid blitz strategy. In my game, the first city which could build them turned out to be Tarentum, province #46. Pikemen are great, and elephants can be handy, but the militia cav do most of the killing even in the endgame against the Romans.

[GottMitUns]

Good bit more than a year gone by and finally I started my BI campaign a week ago. Ya, I get allot of mileage out of games. Remembering why I love this game. Started as Saxons...got a little bored, then started again as Alemmani. Much more fun. Ripping apart Rome one piece at a time.

[Spartan198]

The Seleucids,at least in vanilla,are arguably the most rewarding faction to play as due to their starting position and varied unit roster. You basically start out with four spears (Egypt,Armenia,Pontus,Parthia) pointed at your throat,and have to take them to near-domination of the entire eastern half of the campaign map before you can comfortably let down your guard long enough to build up for the fight with the Romans.

[The Wandering Scholar]

Focus on Egypt first as they are your main threat, followed by Parthia then slowly work your way around Armenia then to Asia Minor, and take the rebel settlements like Petra aswell, from here you are in a powerful position and can land in Greece then in Italy.