Need Some Help With RTW

[Carl]

Finally got RTW working and decided to fire it up, (DUH!), Played the tutorial, (but didn't finish it TBH, just played the explained bits plus a few extra turns).

Then tried a Scipi long campaign, got rid of the Carthaginians eventually, but I was left feeling exposed and vulnerable so I quit that campaign and went for a Juili short one. Had more luck here:

I went straight north and grabbed the two provinces immediately north of my starting position then went west along the coast, following the gauls into Spain and diverting north to grab a gual settlement that was leftover. However I had the Brittanica and Germanics on my back by this time along with Spanish and had lost both coastal cities between Italy and Spain as well as the northern one I grabbed from the gauls. The problem is that i keep getting hit when my armies are too far away to respond and the towns aren’t well developed enough to get Hastari out and Town Watch and peasants aren’t good enough. (I tend to keep 4 units of Watch per city plus random presents for transferring population around, not that it helps over much). Although 4 or 5 units of peasants did a good number on some Brittanica chariots.

I've read the guides but they assume that your a lot better at diplomacy than I am and the people writing them seem to be able to reinforce besieged towns in time.

They also seem to have much better developed cities.

I'm not after a complete walkthrough, but I would appreciate a bit more detail on what I should be focusing on and what kind of basic everyday things I need to worry about. Moneys never a problem BTW, I just never have enough towns around to spend it in.

[Roman_Man#3]

it seems you are going a bit to fast if you are just starting. when you take a city, take time to develop it a bit. Choose your next victim carefully. Dont always go to the closest town to you. You have just under 600 turns, which is more than enough to take the whole map. So i would suggest slowing down the pace a bit, take time to develop your cities. Food for thought.

[Carl]

Thanks for the limit numbers, I thought I had like 200 and I was about 30-50 in when I got hit hard, (where is the turns counter located as I haven’t been able to spot it?). I was hurrying to make sure I got enough done to complete the objectives. I had only had 1 faction leader die by this point and at my peak I had 10 territories, that should give you an idea of how far in i was BTW. Your right though I think I went too fast, the guide made me suspect that, thanks for confirming it. Any tips on keeping diplomatic relations up too?

TBH part of my problem is I’ve never played any other TW game before, loving it ATM mind, just hard even on E/E difficulty. (Well not the battles, just the campaign map). Loving the combat especially, fun to take armies of half peasant and half Town Watch up against numerically inferior but much better quality troops.

Which Roman Faction is the easiest to play as in your opinion, might make it easier for me to use that one?

Thanks for the help.

[Roman_Man#3]

i can tell you it goes to 14 ad. and two turns per year.

[Discoman]

You also should try making an alliance with Spain and Britannia. Spain stays neutral and never really becomes a threat unless you let them be one. The Brits will eventually (well usually) end up fighting the Germans, which makes the Germania a good target after fighting the Gauls. I'd say your main mistake was going into spain. Just worry about the Gauls and remember to take the rebel settlements near the alps and southern Germany for future use.
In my opinion you weren't going too fast, you just weren't using your strength in the right places. I've gone at faster paces and took out Germany by the time Marcus Julius (3rd generation Julii) was in his 20's. Infact my orginal faction leader was still alive when I killed off the Gauls and took over France. When it comes to troops get hastia from your two starting settlements and upgrade your newer settlements economy/military strength while conquering. Use mercenaries and most importantly use calvary to flank Gaulish troops, considering they have very poor morale.
But go at any pace your comfortable with, during my first time playing it took me alot of time to take over spain, france, britain and germany. Also if you think these guys are threatning wait until you end up fighting the Brutii.

[Carl]

I went into Spain because that was where the last two Gaul settlements where and I wanted to wipe them out, the Brittanian's and Germanics where allied AGAINST me in the campaign that went wrong.

Tried a new campaign with the Juli, taken the Gaul provinces in Italy and then Built forts at all the ways in, then gone after the Carthaginians.

Had more luck developing this time, but a big part of my problem is that most settlements only have 500-100 population after I occupy/Enslave them, so as a result I never seem to be able to get the Hastashi building up. My Best City ATM is captured carthage, as it's the only place where I can Build Priceps or Cavalry Axuillia. I did use mercenaries, but by that point my enemy was never anywhere near my main army, so it didn't matter. This time I’m sending multiple Faction members into the field and thus can split my armies as necessary. Before I only had 1, (the army leader), outside of Italy.

The diplomacy is badly borked IMHO, even when I offer an even trade (map for map), it's saying I’m being too generous and they can't accept. I’ve now got 2 diplomats with NEGETIVE influence because of that. It also makes it impossible to keep allies happy and has started a couple of wars.

Fortunatly the forts are keeping them at bay.