Julii Short Campaign

[mrdun]

Hi org residents, my name is goldendunner and this is my M/M short Julii Campaign to unlock the unlockable factions.
I prefer to use large unit sizes as opposed to normal which can be altered in the options menus on the main menu. I like to use large unit sizes as I find the battles to be much more interesting. The down side to this is that your cities can be depleted in the early game and the losses tend to be higher. This is more true when faced with a powerful foe and the war drags out for a nu,ber of years although with the Julii you are fighting barbarian and in the short campaign pretty much only Gaul and Rebels.

I do not like to read guides which say 1st turn- move your diplomat to location 124,78 (example) so I will not do this that way. I will write this as I do it so basically it is a guide to compare different techniques.

1st turn (awful joke)

I set the taxes in my towns, Arretium and Ariminium to high and built a trader and a port respectively in the settlements. In Arretium I also queued a unit of town watch. So thats what I spent. I moved my Spy, Decimus Curtius to the ford in Patavium. Then I sieged Segesta with young Vibius and his army of two experience 1 Hastati and one unit of Velites exp1, I attacked straight away with 3-1 odds infavour of Vibius.

I deployed as close as I could o the Rebel town and attacked with my Velites with my Hastati covering them which forced the Rebels to attack me so I countered them with my Hastati and switched the attack with my velites to the idle peasants to minimise friendly fire. I routed the Warband after killing their captain with minimal losses. I used hit and run tactics with my general to the remaining Rebel forces on the plaza, clear victory although I lost 21 men which is IMO too high.
I occupied the settlement and lowered tax rates to low. I constructed a Governors House in the settlement.
I also sent my diplomat to Gaul territory.

Before my next turn a Gaul diplomat arrived at my capital for trade rights, I played it cool and made 1000 Denarii out of it. So there was me thinking I could wait a few turns, build up my economy, get an army and wage war upon Gaul for Patavium first which I find to be quite built up and a good economic base. No, no, no. The Senate sent a mission my way to take Mediolanium which took me by suprise as I was expecting a turns wait then "Take Caralis" which I could ignore with it only being a short campaign, never mind.

Something that bothered me was the lack of trade for a civilised Roman Faction, only 415 for the turn but all that will hopefully change when my construction finishes for my towns. I traded my Hastati units in Segesta to one full unit and one incomplete. I sent the incomplete unit to be retrained in Arretium, I also recruited another unit of town watch.
In Segesta I built a wooden palisade. I moved my spy to check out Lugotorix who was encroaching on the ford to see if he was a threat to Rome's glory, his army comprised of generals bodyguard, barbarian cavaly, two warbands and a skirmisher unit. I moved Flavius to the edge of my territory as a warning with his army of generals bodyguard, two Hastati exp 1, triarii exp 1 and Roman Archers exp 1 which I deemed enough, that was me finished for this turn.

I will post more as I progress with this campaign. I am open to constructive critism and suggestions on what to do next, I am only a beginner, ah modesty.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi goldrunner,
To play as all factions, simply enter either "C:/Program Files/Activision/Rome - Total War/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign", if you have a standard version, not Gold, or "C:/Program Files/The Creative Assembly/Rome - Total War/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign" if you have Gold. Simply select the file named "descr_strat.txt" (or simply "descr_strat" if file extensions are hidden).

This brilliant modding file will currently look like this:

All you have to do is change it to (the spaces at the front are used using the tab keys):

Now you can open up R:TW and play as any faction that was previously non-playable

Hope this helps, don't hesitate to contact me if you are having any problems, good luck, cheers!

BTW, if you have patched up to 1.3 or have Barbarian Invasion and have not patched any further, then, sadly, this method will, most unfortunately, not work without any much more serious and highly advanced modding! Sorry.

Also I congratulate you on a good start to your AAR - it looks to be shaping out well.

[mrdun]

Thankyou Omanes I'm not sure that this belongs here but I could not post in the guides section. I have 1.5 RTW although I do not have barbarian invasion, is it worth getting? Thanks for the tips.

[mrdun]

what does AAR stand for?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Thankyou Omanes I'm not sure that this belongs here but I could not post in the guides section.

Here's fine for almost anything related to R:TW Singleplayer golddummer - if in doubt just post it here or in the Entrance Hall and the kindly moderators will be more than happy to move it along if it may be better suited to elsewhere.

I have 1.5 RTW although I do not have barbarian invasion, is it worth getting? Thanks for the tips.

Barbarian Invasion is most certainly worth getting. It features many items which, in my humble option, add an additional and more interesting level to the game. This includes religion, and the unrest caused by it at this turbulent time, the ability to fight battles in darkness at night and better artificial intelligence.

[mrdun]

thankyou, you have got a tad mixed up with my name but never mind, i'll let you off, what does AAR mean?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Sorry goldendunner

AAR stands for After Action Report - basically another word for a battle or campaign story like yours. You can find more information on common .Org and Total War related phrases here.

[mrdun]

thanks that will help me.
very funny mistake, if it was.

[mrdun]

A quick update:

My trader and port have now been completed putting my new trade value up to 757 Denarii along with Segesta's input according to my end of turn report. This will have to be improved.
In Arretium I have elected to build a shrine to Ceres, Ariminium - a shrine to Jupiter as it is the least good behaved of my settlements, Segesta a shrine to Ceres to aid its population growth, I do not like Julii's shrines as they are pretty one demential (feel free to contradict).
Again I did not feel the need to do any recruiting in my towns as my armed forces are more than adequate.

I am eagerly anticipating the battle with Lugotorix who has now moved closer and is now bordering my territory, I should have gone slightly on the offensive and stood at the friendly side of the fort so if he attacked I would be defending a strategic position but I couldn't now so I built a fort in the gap where the mountains just north of my capital part briefly and ran up a unit of town watch to guard the position just inside my fort infront of the gate incase they attacked (when they would break down the gate which would be inevitable there would be an infantry unit to slow them down whilst Hastati can use up their Pila then reinforce my town watch).

At this point I could do nothing but wait, so I did but the Gaul retreated next turn leaving me guarding a fort against nothing. I found Lugo hiding in the woods near Patavium, the big jessy, courtesy of Decimus.

So, back in my towns, my shrines have been built and I queued up roads in Segesta, practice range in Arretium and stables in Ariminium.

I decided to try and make some quick money from the sale of map information to the Gauls so I offed it to them with the demand of something reasonable but they turned me down, nothing to offer. pfft. not happy - end turn. I will look for a thread on diplomacy I must be doing something wrong, their money situation was not a problem- they had nearly 4000 Denarii. Hmm we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

[mrdun]

Another update:

So, new turn. Nothing major has happened on my borders, Lugotorix looks highly amusing crouched in some trees, his position identified.
I moved my spy into Mediolanium which has a very weak garrison so I will attack soon.

I moved a unit of Hastati from Arretium to man the fort and I moved out Flavius and his army including the town watch to the ford.

I constructed a trader in Segesta.

One of my daughters brought home a husband next turn who was a complete joke, I do not know how he blagged his way to attract a patrician daughter, no command, no management, no influence, no traits and 40 year old

I attacked Mediolanium and constructed two rams. Lugotorix attacked me and I was in a pretty bad situation, the river behind me and two armies left and right but I chanced it and fought the battle. There was a good prize:
A city, Lugotorix's head ( a pretty good youngster), Eporedorix's head (Faction Heir), bounty and trait/ retinue increase for Flavius.

Belenus had moved from Mediolanium the previous turn with a small army so this made made conquest easier.

I should really have weighed up the pro's and con's but my head was fixed upon glory, I realised this when I hit fight battle and I had a nice message from Sophocles "Quick decisions are unwise decisions"- Yep thanks for that.


After a rousing speech about honour and omens (it was only a 1-1 battle enyone would think I was taking on all of the Northern Lands with Flavius) I deployed as far away as I could to give them a walk and I boxed in my General and archers with infantry. As they got closer they formed one as expected and Eporedorix who was attacking from the left was charging my left flank so I moved a unit of Triarii to counter but Eporedorix decided not to attack there and cut round behind their warband and I was mightily out of of position but luckily some barbarian tried flanking on the left side and got cut up by my triarii, archers and pila decimated their other cavalry unit so the balance of force was swaying in my favour. Then the warband hit my line and just stayed there but their two generals bodyguards hit my line and broke through attacking my archers and sending them into a rout and they ran straight off the battlefield as the edge was close followed by my town watch who had finally given way holding up two warbands, 240 troops to my 80, long enough for my general to flank them and send them in a rout, luckily the wrong way to the edge of the battle map so I could mop them up later. I focused on trying to net the two generals so I let my remaining wavering three units of Hastati stick up for themselves against two warbands, big mistake and they were off the field.
Only Flavius and triarii remaining so I locked enemy units with Triarii and flanked with Flavius which worked a treat so I reused and reused untill I had killed Eporedorix and the Gaul army was in full flight, Lugotorix was the only cav unit remaining, quite a few of Eporedorix's men fled off the map along with a few cav units . I chased Lugotorix (very tired) with Flavius (tired) who caught up and slayed him then mopped up the rest- clear victory but nearly a humiliation.
The nine survivors melted away and I took Mediolanium, enslaved population and gained a unit of barbarian mercenaries from the Senate. Flavius gained Barbarian Slave retinue. All what I dreamt about.

The Senate gave me a mission to take Massilla next turn and I had a coming of age:
Amulius Julius:
C1
M1
I1
With in the pink trait, not bad.

Another upside was my routed units returning to Mediolanium, I expected them to be lost for ever. I decided to take Patavium before Massilla as it has better military and economic gain and young Belenus whom I could eliminate. I moved in my spy and they had:
Belenus:C0 M0 I0 nut with in the pink
5 units of warband
1 unit of swordsmen

I trained two units of Equites in Ariminium, two town watch in Arretium and Mediolainum and constructed Land Clearing in Segesta, shrine to bachus in Mediolanium, paved roads in Arrtetium and a trader in Ariminium.

I moved Amulius and basically my full army into Pataviums territory ( 3 Hastati exp 1, Velites exp 1 and barbarian mercenaries)

I left it there for now.

[Caius]

Keep it coming.

[mrdun]

Thanks for your confidence, your words have significant "clout"

[mrdun]

Sorry Orgers, I had forgotten all about this campaign. Update.

Ok, I took Patavium in a hard fought battle against Lugotorix with the survivors of the Mediolanium pyrric victory and focused my attention back onmto the Senate and their task of annexing massilla.

My spy as usual checked the defence out. It was made up of three units of weakened militia hoplites. The Gauls must have eyes for it, and the town can hold out for 4 turns. I sent Flavius with three hastati and two velites and a triari to besiege and attempt to starve them out whilst I frantically recruited in Italy and constructed trade buildings.

By the time Massilla's population were eating their own dogs I had a new army and a strong ecomomy I preceeded West to Narbo and again layed siege in the attempt to starve them out nd after sending my spy north I learnt that the Gauls were getting hammered by the britons

Reinforcements would not arrive for them and again I occupied another settlement without loss. A bonus was the Senate giving me a mission to take i on the last siege turn. Another hastati in my Capital!.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Moved to the Throne Room (the .Org's AAR forum)

[Caius]

Good to see this running. Remember, screenshots are good.