Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA

[IGdood]

Rome II will be out in less than a week.

I'd like some help in deciding which family to pick prior to playing the grand campaign

Picking a family determines some bonuses and penalties in the game, although I am unsure if it also affects units and/or technologies available.

Here are the Roman families:

Cornelia
+3% tax rate
+15 diplomatic standing with Hellenic factions
-2 public disorder from leaders (they hated plebs)

A famous member of the Cornelia family was Scipio Africanus, the general who defeated Hannibal of Carthage in the Second Punic War in about 204 BC. In 146 BC another member of the family, Scipio Aemilianus, commanded the final siege of Carthage in the Third Punic War and burned the city to the ground. Another member of the family, Tacitus, is considered one of the greatest Roman historians ever.

Julia
+2 cultural conversion
+10% morale when fighting barbarians
+25% public order penalties in foreign cultures

A famous member of the Julii family was Julius Caesar, who led to the demise of the Roman Republic in about 49 BC and the founding of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which included Caligula, Claudius and Nero.


Junia
Public order bonus in Latin cultures
+10% wealth from agriculture
-15 diplomatic standing with all factions

A famous member of the Junia family was Lucius Junius Brutus, who led the revolution to overthrow the last King of Rome and help found the Roman Republic in about 509 BC. Centuries later a member of the family, Marcus Junius Brutus, would plan the assassination of Julius Caesar in fear that he would overthrow the Republic.

[eclipse]

Junia~!

[Parrhesia]

THE BRUTII, that is to say JUNII

(are they still green)

[Tryhard]

(are they still green)

All the families are under a single faction now, so they are all going to be "red". At least that is what I remember.

For me, Junia, too. Negatives to diplomacy will get you into more fights, quicker.

[Integrity]

CORNELIA damn it all blue power 5eva

EDIT: how can you morally bankrupt fools argue with the pedigree of scipio africanus and tacitus

Edited August 29, 2013 by Integrity

[Tryhard]

CORNELIA damn it all blue power 5eva

EDIT: how can you morally bankrupt fools argue with the pedigree of scipio africanus and tacitus

down with the blue romans, they are just fakers

[IGdood]

Junia: 3

Cornelii (including me): 2

WELL THEN. Heheheheheh.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ah, too late to vote. Well, I planned to vote for the Julia, but I guess it's moot now, heh.

[IGdood]

Well, the game unlocked and here we go.

I decided to start off with the Prologue for tips on changes from previous total war games; I decided to ditch it after I felt like I've learned enough.

The prologue takes place before the grand campaign when Rome was young and didn't control even half the Italic peninsula. They were at war with the Samnites, another Italic people that lived in the more mountainous areas of Italy.

I am thrown into battle without any warning. LET'S DO THIS.

I am given command, but the rest of the interface hasn't shown up yet.

These are the Hastati, the most basic heavy infantry (Rome's specialty) unit. They consist of young guys who are able to afford armor and a sword.

Our general is guarded by Triarii, the wealthier, older Romans who can afford the best armor. They wield spears and historically don't commit unless the danger is grave.

Well here's the interface. The cards are much larger than in previous games, the numbers aren't there, instead replaced by a green bar....

Nice animation. As soon as we come under fire the men raise their shields as they advance.

Well, no time for historical fighting. I charge the slingers with my triarii. The enemy died quickly.

Next objective: Rescue Capua

Time to take out the siege engines.

The unit info failed to load for whatever reason.

The eye icon on my cards means that they're hidden. This is because the enemy units don't have a direct line of sight on them. The hill is hiding me, basically...

LET LOOSE

Units armed with Pila (a heavy javelin) will automatically throw them when ordered to charge.

Now onwards, to the main army...

The Samnites send some cavalry to meet us. I move a unit of Hastati forward and tell them to hold the ground.

There's just so many Samnite units, it doesn't seem winnable from here. Then reinforcements show up and proceed to charge the fuck out of all the Samnites.

Steamrolled.

Nice. We return to the campaign map.

Armies turn into horses when commanded to move.

Each army MUST have a general.

Recruitment is from settlement to general; you can't stockpile forces in a settlement anymore.

Armies can garrison settlements.

Troop choice is determined by the region your general is in.

Samnites screw over the Lucanians, it's up to us to save them

[IGdood]

Research is still in. Too bad the encyclopedia bugged out.

The interface for building buildings is different. Every province consists of several cities.

Each city's grouping is presented to you at once. Here, Campania consists of Capua and Salernum, the latter out of my control. Cities can expand their building capacity as you pay them, and as a result, you see it actually grow larger on the map

Dammit

Armies can adopt stances now, sacrificing movement for other effects.

THE SAMNITES ATTACK

My levy slingers do the scouting. The hastati line inches forward.

And then the game gives my cavalry reinforcements in the form of Equites.

The projectile bombardment begins. The javelineers are utterly devastated as they tried to get in range.

SUDDENLY BUTTFUCK.

Activating Draco keeps the enemy morale down.

The Samnite line approaches, having lost all their skirmishers. Their general buffs his surrounding troops. I pull the cavalry back and let my hastati charge in. I do my best not to commit all the units; I must maximize flanking potential.

With rear charges and liberal use of Draco, the enemies flee.

At this point I feel I''m ready for the grand campaign, and so I shall start there tomorrow.

[IGdood]

GLORIOUS UPDATE

We begin our campaign as the Junii, loyal upholders of the Republic, in control of most of the Italian peninsula.

We start off at war with the old enemies and ex-masters of the Romans, the Etruscans, who only own a few territories in the north and an island in the west.

Our family member Junius Brutus is an admiral in the "fleet". It's more like 3 boats, but we're Romans. Boats are like battleships to us.

We have a few objectives to do. Most of them are just to establish a foothold in the north and to proceed historically in wiping out Carthage. We may have other plans...of course.

The victory conditions may also be imitating Civilization, as instead of just conquering we can also seek to win via economic or cultural dominance.

The first thing I always do in a total war campaign is to build up the economy.

Taxes are a lot more adjustable; meaning instead of 5 levels, the slider is very incremental. It changes a little bit every time you move it a little.

The buildings are all unique in their bonuses, allowing for regional specialization. This is similar to Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai where you can opt for military ports that give you less cash but more units or commercial ones that give you more cash and less units, etc. It's a spectrum.

Apollo-what? FUCK THAT.

I'll start off with combinations of 3; names are chosen from your suggestions. As more armies are available to me, I will begin splitting them.

The general hails from the Julii. We're a small family, so we won't pull stupid things like replacing him with a Junii. Yet.

Meanwhile we have a 2nd army in the South. They're renamed and are led by a Cornelii.

Ambition and Gravitas seem to be things that I should look out for in the future.

It seems that unit stats now split between health & armor, weapon damage and melee skill, etc. This is interesting; I don't know if I should feel about the gameyness but as a FE fan it seems pretty cool.

Not much to say about Legatus. Roman cavalry sucked hard in real life.

Velites might be able to double up as flankers, though I'll welcome anything that can fight better than the Leves.

Rorarii only show up when the settlement itself is attacked. They're poor spearmen with the ability to form a square.

When a sufficient amount of "spare" people are available, a settlement can expand its slots, allowing for more buildings to be built. With 1 year = 1 turn, this sort of makes sense that I'm getting expansion notifications every 1-3 turns. However, I'm very reluctant in ending turns because the characters will end up aging rather quickly.

This certainly must be a throwback to the knife-wielding peasant unit from way back in Rome 1.

It would appear the crew of naval units can be customized, leading to multiple tiers of trade ships and such.

The Italic region is "shared" between us and the Etruscans, whereas the Magna Graecia region is shared between us, the Syracuse, and the Carthaginians. I'd like to secure both, if possible.

Here, the Faction Summary tab gives an overall report on the public order, characters, and special happenings in Rome. You can see there's characters from other families that aren't part of the main 3, yet they can do some things later on.

I move the southern army to the north. We'll do a joint attack on the Etruscans...soon.

There's only 2 mercenaries that can be hired: The Merc Italian Cavalry and Merc Italian Spearmen. For those of you who've played Europa Barbarorum or know your Italic history, I believe the former represents the famous Campanian Cavalry (Italy's tribe with an actual cavalry tradition) and the latter represents the light infantry of the Samnite style (or maybe Lucanians, though I think it's mostly Samnites)

It looks like agents also share the 3 stats that generals have: Zeal, Authority, and Cunning....

Put them in an army and they will keep you from being ambushed. Send them to a settlement and they can either burn things down, poison the garrison army there, or piss off the populace.

Look who I found.

Etruscans don't seem too special, though they seem to have their own cavalry unit.

Clicking on the diplomacy screen takes me to a zoomed out version of the campaign map. Here I can directly deal with my neighbors.

Let's start researching.

Noob spy is noob.

I like how random things pop up; it's a good break from Shogun 2 where generals get very fixed traits, and there was no variety at all.

Food is an important resource since Shogun 2. Always have a surplus if you want money and happy populations.

Armies cannot move as long as they are recruiting. It's best to move them to where you need them to go, and then recruit. Who they can recruit depends on the infrastructure of the REGION, not the settlement, they're close to.

This is the tech tree for the Romans. Also, Athens said they didn't want to trade with me. Fuck you too in the ass, Greek. We'll be coming for you someday.

So many choices, but what to pick?

[IGdood]

With Supply Reforms implemented, we can finally start unlocking soldiers up the tech tree. Manipular Organization GO

The time has come. WE TAKE ON THE ETRUSCANS AND WIPE OUT THE DICTATORS.

Judging by how we're outnumbered, THIS IS GONNA BE A GRIPPIN' VICTORY BY THROAT.

Can't really see anybody except for the garrison fleet coming in to deposit their crew on the ground.

Velites look swaggalicious with those wolf caps. A pity they had no armor.

Those buildings are blocking my line of sight. Time to split the force in 2.

FOUND YA

The Etruscans meet my main force with theirs. My flanking force doesn't see anyone else guarding the side streets from the market side. We shall flank through there.

I only use 1 Hastati force at a time to fight, conserving stamina. My velites pelt the enemy mob with flaming javelins for maximum damage.

With the Etruscans surrounded, one of my units moves to capture the town square.

So much for a skewed balance bar. Upon taking a settlement, you can either Occupy (kill nobody, be honorable), Raze (kill everyone, burn everything, but no money just to spite your foes), or Loot (take captives, get money, annoy your foes) I decide to Occupy. We're a chivalrous bunch.

The Italic region will be ours. Ariminum will become a naval military base.

Next up, Veltathri. Time for Legio Capitoline Wolves FIGHT to shine.

With numerical superiority, let's see if I can just massacre my way through.

Not really. I throw javelins at the AI, baiting them to chase my skirmishers while my hastati proceed to flank the Etruscan spearmen.

With the bulk of their melee infantry distracted/flanked, I rush my reserves in to massacre the levy slingers and thus take the square.

I like how exhausted units look tired as fuck and hunch over as they run.

Either way, easy victory

With the Italic region under our control, we have increased our caps on armies, fleets, and agents.

Next up, Atalia.

I was wondering why Lucius Julius doesn't have Inspire or Rally abilities. He has Warcry, which lowers enemy morale. Turns out he's kind of insane in the membrane, hence why he lacks the ability to do supportive abilities.

Meanwhile, Cornelius could use some boost to his Zeal.

With Italia under our control, we can issue province wide edicts. This allows for a bonus to occur every turn. Giving out bread and entertainment and/or tax harvesting seems to be what we need at the moment.

Syracuse offers a Non-Aggresion Pact. I accept. Don't need to attack them for the moment, I need to get rid of the Etruscans.

And this is one of those events that require the player's attention. Someone in the family is acting up and I need to deal with it. In this case, we have a whore on our hands. What would HBO Rome's Atia do? Why, give the problem to a man to handle!

[IGdood]

An Amphitheater shall be constructed in Rome for the plebs

Family matters. Well if marriage doesn't work, SEND HER INTO RELIGIOUS CAMP.

All appears to be well. Everyone has enough to eat.

Armies and agents can cross water at will. However, without an escort force they will only consist of transport ships, which are rather vulnerable to attack. Agents can't be attacked of course.

What the fuck is wrong with the family?!

With Manipular Reforms and Barracks in place, we now have access to other units such as the Principes and Triarii. The former consists of older members of society who wield swords yet wear more armor than the Hastati. The Triarii are the middle-aged members of society who don't fight until the situation is dire. They're also great spearmen.

Research is now spent on civil techs that improve wealth.

Julius' insanity grows worse; we might have to replace him soon.

The army of wolves and an insane commander is on the way to Atalia now.

The Champion is an agent who gives bonuses to the army he is in, including experience. If he works alone, he can harass enemy armies and settlements.

The army is still in transit to Atalia; Cattle are produced in the south

One more agent type to unlock...

Settlements that have an empty building slot for awhile will develop slums there. Slums lock out access to the slot unless dismantled, use up a HUGE amount of your food supply, and allow you to recruit knife-wielding low lifes with no combat ability.

Time to fight dirty, heh.

FINISH THEM OFF, ONCE AND FOR ALL!

Due to the fact that only 4 ships can dock at a single landing segment, it means I better pair up my melee and ranged units.

Cavalry units are automatically dismounted, turning them into spearmen.

I like how the galley slaves doing the rowing have a little chant.

Triarii and Principes look noticeably more armored.

EVERYBODY CHAARGE

There is no strategy. No tactics. Just grind through whatever open street there is, and toss your javelin in whoever is wearing blue.

I like how the market stalls crumble as your men march past.

Somehow the game didn't catch the victory screens. Either way, the Capitoline Wolves FIGHT have gained a level for the army, and can begin to specialize. You will choose, audience.

It would appear that to defeat a faction, you have to wipe all their family members off the map. Taking provinces is not enough.

[eclipse]

"Hey, why are we called Bittermelon?"

"Uh, I dunno, it sounded good?"

Maybe that's where your insanity came from.

[IGdood]

Syracuse needs to go. We must secure Magna Graecia!

But before I invade, I tell my northern neighbors the Veneti to stay their hand and not act on our settlements.

A remnant of the Etruscan forces attempts to take back Alalia. Not gonna happen.

Lacking any coordination whatsoever, they land piecemeal, and are easily driven off by our brave Roman soldiers. You don't fuck with the Capitolines, the Wolves, and the CAPUA FIRST FIGHT

Ouch.

Tight blocks of swordsmen block the streets. Velites rain death from above.

Tired spearmen are easy pickings even for shitty Leves.

They need to be taught a lesson. Enslave those we have captured! You can capture enemy soldiers by "killing" them when they are routing.

NOOOOO

Alalia stabilizes, Julius Libo gains another level.. He's a good strategist and pumps his men up with zeal, but has no authority. He finds it hard to reach out to others effectively.

Postumia is getting on in her years, but a wise, old woman is a wise, old spy. She will find out about Syracuse's military and let us know when to strike.

The third agent type is the Dignitary. He manages whatever region he is in and spreads your faction's culture to it, improving public order and income. He doesn't directly deal with other agents by physical action outright, but instead uses words or hired swords to get the dirty work done.

Our champion gains experience by training the Bittermelons.

With Alalia seemingly secure, perhaps it's time to move on to bigger and better things, like Karalis to the south

LEGIO EUSKADI BITTERMELON AVBT, MOVE OUT. WE SHALL TAKE SYRACUSE FOR THE REPUBLIC.

SPREADIN DAT LATIN CULTURE

Maybe it's because the southern portion of Magna Graecia is more Greek than the "boot" segment, but the mercenary diversity just went up quite a bit.

Merc Citizen Cav are pretty much identical to Equites except with higher health. This is historically accurate, Roman cavalry was incredibly shitty, and even Greek cavalry was better. They'd actually be called "Hippeis" in Greek.

Thureophoroi are like slightly worse Triarii. Hoplites are even heavier than Triarii.

Peltasts are Velites with armor, therefore able to act also as light swordsmen.

Tarantines are cavalry who use a javelin + sword fighting style.

Mercenary Veteran Hoplites are a hardcore dlc unit that comes with preorders. Yes, I preordered. Their upkeep is horrendously high though.

The dignitary gains experience as he Romanizes Alalia.

More research is needed for sanitation and other civic buildings to keep the plebs happy.

[IGdood]

Legio Luskadi Bittermelon AVBT does not care about your mewlings regarding trespassing. We came to make war, Greek boy.

It's funny how only the province capitals have walls. In the past total wars everyone had walls.

It'll be the first time we're fighting hoplites, but I'm sure they'll fall to the ground just as readily as anyone.

A zealous general has fear abilities that negate enemy special abilities. I should also let the Principes and Triarii fight from time to time, the hastati are hogging all the experience...

The slingers fire on my skirmishers, to little effect. Stones may travel farther than a javelin, but since I got to close up and throw back, I'm winning.

The slingers withdraw and the hoplites charge. Our hastati make short work of them. That's a bitter defeat for the Syracusians. And then the Equites mop up the slingers.

Well, we wiped out most of their best infantry, who paled in comparison to our basic infantry. Sad.

I expected more.

Archers? No problem, we GOT TESTUDO.

CLOSE THE DISTANCE!

Followed by MASSIVE DEBUFF

Followed by DEAD GREEKS EVERYWHERE

I decided not to subjugate, I have no need for client states.

Now you guys need to pick a tradition for your men too!

As Syracuse is full of Greek buildings, we Romans cannot use them due to culture incompatibility. They must be "converted" first with a large sum of money.

I forgot that garrisons need time to show up and so I lost Syracuse the next turn. Then I quickly took it back. You never saw this.

Gotta raise public health and reduce squalor.

Alalia continues to respond well to Romanisation.

Meanwhile I accidentally married some distance relative of the Junii family to one of the Cornelii. It didn't help enough, the family influence is still so small.

I continue to improve on Gnaeus' strength, which is his zeal. Who knows what other fear abilities he can use.

Dammit Veneti, stay in your own turf.

Their rampant trespassing prompts me to bring the Wolves back home.

This is a useful item. Notice how Brundisium has an aqueduct going through it as it finishes construction.

We've neglected military techs for awhile. Time to get in shape.

Any attempt to save money fails; a natural disaster prompts me to spend it all on repairs.

The more I play the more I realize just how different this game is from the past games. Every settlement retty much has a large garrison army provided by buildings. However, you can't add more men to it manually. Only an army with a general can add to the settlement garrison. If it's a coastal settlement, there's also the garrison fleet, which can also contribute its own troops in a siege...

Huh looks like Lilybaeum has rebelled and is under blockade (aka under siege by a navy) by Carthage. I want it, but the game doesn't let me attack it because of the blockade. If I want that settlement fir myself I will need to declare war on Carthage and get rid of the navy. Might as well.

A wild long lost son appears! Junii uses Adopt! It's not very effective...as you will see later.

Out of necessity I decide to raise a third army as a "home guard". They won't be very important.

Dammit.

Carthage is next on the hit list.

Our champion is sent to train the Wolves. He was previously with the Bittermelons

We can now upgrade to Auxiliary Camps, which provide greater variety in the native units that are willing to serve Rome.

These events sure are random. By the way I chose the White Bull, not the 100 Bull choice.

CARTHAGO DELENDA EST (Carthage must be destroyed in Latin)

Still can't reach Lilibaeum, so I must remove that fleet first using transport ships.

Julius Libo also dies of old age, and is replaced by some random bloke from one of the other houses.

Looks like it doesn't pay to be stingy...

TRANSPORT SHIPS STRONK.

Or maybe I was lucky? Meh, raiding ships couldn't stand up to straight up combat. My hastati took some losses but they were acceptable. I mean, holy shit, transport ships are free and sturdy. I know I had numbers but still, does that make them OP?

Ships have 2 methods of combat. Well 3, sorta.

Ranged ships (determined by crew) can shoot or board an enemy ship.

Melee ships can ram a ship or board it.

Ramming is useful when you're coming from the side, boarding is useful when you have the superior crew but maybe an inferior ship.

[IGdood]

I will post more another time.

I've already conquered Lilybaeum and Karalis, and would like to know where should I expand next. I've set up a poll so please take a look at that.

Also, let me know if you have suggestions on what army compositions that you want for your armies. I will be raising more armies soon.

[IGdood]

It seems that the release of Rome 2 has caused an outrage in the gaming community. I would have to agree with performance fixes as well as a big change in battle length.

Right now all these battles last at most 1 minute. Yes, you heard me correctly. 1 minute of fighting and the enemy is either dead or routing.

Did gameplay get casual? Sort of. There's no more loose formation and it appears infantry use guard mode on default, even barbarians.

Regional specialization is extremely important now, and the fact that you can't just ave everyone build farms means that upgrades are limited; not every settlement can turn into a city.

The new health mechanic is sort of worrying. Armor and shields sort of modify the damage done to health, but you cannot check the health of every man. Your unit can be taking stones/arrows/javelins and they'll be fine until the front rank suddenly keels over and dies because most of them lost health.

Those blockading Lilybaeum have been removed. Now it is time for the Euskadi Bittermelons to take it by the throat.

Honestly given the enemy army composition it matters not who lands where, as long as I'm not sending Leves up against Libyan Hoplites. I mean, holy shit, most of the Hastati and Velites are at level 6.

Those of the lowest level will get their kills this day.

I appreciate that the men cheer once they've routed an enemy. What I dislike is that they don't automatically go chasing them.

Whoa whoa whoa what the fuck are elephants doing here

They barely killed any of the men anyways. For some reason. At most 30. I just saw elephants drop after wading around.

Lilybaeum is ours, and with that, we control Magna Graecia. Carthage is also very angry.

These are some of the level 2 traditions available, which I will list in text form later on so it's easier for you guys to pick and choose.

Meanwhile Cornelius Scipio obtains Dread, which lowers enemy morale throughout.

Karalis is a provincial capital, hence the walls. Because it has walls, we have the option of constructing siege engines to aid in the assault. Of course, we can do it without but that might not be the wisest of decisions, fierce as the Capitoline Wolves FIGHT are.

With public order instability from the recent conquest of Lilybaeum, the Senate of Rome has decided to enact extra bread alms and entertainment for the masses.

A family member, a child if I may add, has been kidnapped by pirates. Like the good, responsible family we are, we decide to pay the ransom. Let's hope they keep to their word. I bet the pirates are Illyrian in origin. We'll have their heads some day....

Jupiter is the father of all, and it is about time a temple is built to his honor.

[IGdood]

Let's reveal our objectives, namely the ones I can reach easily for the cash reward. I'm not too interested in holding North Africa.

As upgrading fishing ports and such brings in squalor, it's time we step up our sanitation.

And of course, we better improve our navy if we ever hope to expand across the seas since I don't care about barbarian lands. I just want to massacre some Greeks and Macedonians.

An Auxiliary Field has been established in Neap...I forgot the name, it's an upgrade to the Aux Field or whatever earlier. It allows me access to the Socii, the non-Roman Italic allies that historically supplied half of Rome's armies.

I'm thinking of filling the CAPUA FIRST FIGHT with them when they split from the Capitolines and Bronze Wolves.

Socii Hastati - An expy of the Italian Swordsmen unit, they're mostly identical to the regular Hastati with slightly lower stats and are 20 denarii cheaper. They are most likely made up of Samnites, other miscellaneous Oscan peoples, and maybe even Bruttians though those are more from the Magna Graecia area.

Auxiliary Infantry - These are non-Romans who sought citizenship and allowed themselves to be armed and armored in the Roman fashion. Usually they only appeared after the establishment of legionnaires. In-game they are inferior to the Triarii.

War Dogs - Holy shit, they'd fit in well with the Bronze Wolves!

Well, looks like things are going well. Nevermind the Carthage invasion force, we took care of that easily. I'm going to assume the "General" we obtained is Statesman Trigeminus.

Our income's too low, with only 286 per turn. I noticed that I left taxes low, and decided to pump them to an all time high.

A new docks allows for new ships, with flaming pots and other nice goodies.

It would appear that Carthage has lost her capital to someone else.

It also turns out that besiegers take losses as readily as the besieged. Best to assault as soon as the engines are all finished.

Ladders let you assault walls.

Galleries let you shield lightly armored units within. They're not battering rams, however, just big roofs with wheels.

Years of siege have rendered this city damaged.

Why is there nobody at the walls?

The towers are ours, and a few armed peasants scurry past.

Oh, there they are, trying to defend that flag aka capture point. Note on the top that there's a number. 100. If I capture the majority of the capture points, that decreases the enemy's victory points. Get it down to 0 and I can win without needing to kill everyone in the city.

CHARGE.

These brave fuckers

For once, I think the enemy is standing their ground.

That stopped when they got flanked, though.

The day is ours! Karalis and therefore the Corsica et Sardinia province is under our control! Sadly, due to our lack of "Imperium", we can only issue 2 edicts in 2 fully controlled provinces.

[IGdood]

The buildings in Karalis will need to be Romanised. Currently they stink of Punic.

Masaesyli is the actual name for the Numidians from Rome 1. Historically they were Rome's allies and battled against Carthage fairly often. Let's leave them to that line of work.

When generals commanding an army die, you can immediately replace them with someone else from the homeland via teleportation. Of course we'll put someone from our family in. Don't want the other houses getting too much influence, Junii has a rather low percentage at the moment thanks to the fact that all the winning was done by members of other houses.

Navies can choose their own tradition too, surprisingly.

Trade Agreements are accepted by the Illyrians to the east and the North Africans to the south.

What the shit? Somebody must be envious.

Time to go west, maybe there's more Carthage for me to destroy.

More blackmailing? 3300? Screw this.

Dammit, first they try to blackmail me, and now they want to adopt one of my guys...

For some reason I let them. Why. Why did I let this happen..I could've just spent some more cash... oh wait I needed the cash to continue construction.

Trigeminus now serves Cornelia.

Muwahahahahaha

Nova Carthago is reduced to a single fleet. Carthage itself is nowhere to be found, seems like the Masaesyli did all the work already.

An Auxiliary Barracks is the next step from an Auxiliary Camp in Neapolis. Since I love unit diversity, it is built.

Years pass, one of ours marries off to some influential house at great expense, and war is declared on Massilia.

[IGdood]

Massalia is one of those interesting Greek settlements that also mixed in with a lot of Celtic barbarians. This is reflected in-game by their garrison being made up of Celtic support troops and hoplites.

An Auxiliary Barracks has finished construction in Neapolis, and this is what we get!

Socii Equites - Less armor than Roman equites, but have slightly higher attack, better defense, higher HP. I don't need Mercenary Italian Cavalry or CItizen Cavalry with these guys around. However, they lack the Draco demoralizing ability of the equites.

Auxiliary Cavalry - Better in almost every stat than Equites, and to an extent, every other Italic cavalry unit. Historically speaking the Romans would've gotten their cavalry from Gaulic, Germanic, Hispanic, or Thracian stock.

Socii Equites Extraordinarii - Lacking melee defense, they make up for it with armor and a huge health pool. They also have a charge bonus that's more than double that of regular Equites. These cavalry are used for shock action. Leaving them in sustained combat is pretty much asking them to die.

Socii Extraordinarii - The elite of the Socii infantry are better than Principes in armor and defense and health, but have slightly, JUST SLIGHTLY, lower attack.

Massalia is close to Celtic territory, and so the mercenaries there are all barbarians. Barbarian units tend to have lower melee attack skill but higher weapon attack (they use longswords, not short swords). They wear little armor but have higher melee defense skill.

Rome has no need of such inferior men, yet, and thus will assault Massalia alone. Our discipline will triumph over these hybrid scumbags.

They go to battle half naked and unarmored. Such is not the way men should fight!

I didn't bother with the galleries this time, only ladders are enough.

The skirmishers and slingers didn't last long once the melee began. Only the hoplites put up some of a fight, but then there weren't many of them so Massalia was an easy win.

The technology found in Massalia was beyond anything the Res Publica had so far. All their buildings are in tier 3! We couldn't even Romanise it because our own knowledge was at tier 2. Still, research is underway and soon we will make use of these buildings. A dignitary is on the way to educate both the Hellenes and Celtics present about the superiority of Latin culture.

I don't need another fleet. Already have 2.

Found a Massalian spy. She was easy prey to the manipulation of our educated dignitary.

We can surely improve our engineering, which I haven't even begun to direct research on. Until now. Our armies could use a bit more bang and less stabbity stab stab.

Bibracte is all the way in barbarian territory. I'm not following you, Senate.

Industry develops in Alalia..

Massilia makes peace. Good decision. I only wanted your capital anyways for access to Celtic auxiliaries.

Another bloody madman in the family. Hide him as always.

Whereas a zealous general can use abilities on enemies to disable them, a cunning general uses abilities to support his troops.

The hiding didn't work out this time.

Crete is famous for its archers, but apparently this "minor" faction Knossos has conquered it AND all of Greece.

Egypt suddenly wants to become my client state. Sure why not. You give me money and I'll go to war with whomever declares war on you AFTER the treaty is signed. I will have nothing to do with whomever you're war with at the PRESENT.

And now we have access to the Celtic auxiliaries, courtesy of a new camp in Massalia.

Also, Gladiator troops are available. These fuckers are like Berserkers from FE. They lack armor and for some reason also lack health, but their weapons and skill in dealing damage are extreme.

Upgrading all these buildings in Massalia requires food that I don't have. Time to enable Bread and Circuses everywhere to address the shortage.

Alright guys if you have special preferences in how you want your armies to be structured and customized let me know.

Here's the tradition list and their bonuses thus far. Armies can pick traditions as long as thye have the skill points, they can go for level 1 of each tradition or just upgrade existing traditions, I think

Accomplished Skirmishers - +3% weapon damage by all missile units

Engineering Experts - Enables medium siege engines for assaults, -5% construction costs of the region they're in

Formidable FIghters - +3% weapon damage by all melee units

Dread Ambushers - +5% morale when fighting ambushes and night battles

Level 2

Inexorable Conquerors - Combination of Accomplished Skirmishers and Formidable Fighters. . Not sure how many skill points it costs.

Keepers of the Peace - +2 public order in regions present, +6% morale fighting enemy armies that have assumed a raiding stance

Stalwart Defenders - Can use an additional set of spike traps, barricades, caltrops and fire balls when in Fortify Stance

Unrelenting Force - +6% Campaign Map Movement, +4% Charge Bonus

Who gets conquered next? Illyrians? Knossos? North Africa? Hispania? Gauls?

Edited September 5, 2013 by IGdood

[Acacia Sgt]

My bet's for Hispania.

[Aether911]

Yes, that would be cool to see a bit of Hispania, they need more love from your legions of death and despair!

[Rehab]

Dang, getting an "upgrade to plus for more bandwidth" message from all the pics before this page. At least the embeds link to the pictures on your account

Edited September 5, 2013 by Rehab

[IGdood]

My bet's for Hispania.

Yes, that would be cool to see a bit of Hispania, they need more love from your legions of death and despair!

It shall be done.

Dang, getting an "upgrade to plus for more bandwidth" message from all the pics before this page. At least the embeds link to the pictures on your account

Oh shit, well okay making a new photobucket account every 600 pictures should be my policy from now on.

As our financial capabilities grow and trade is prospering, the Senate and People of Rome (latter having no say actually) accept the petition of the Capuans to found their own legion. Previously, they had been working with the Capitoline Brigade and the Bronze Wolves. Now, they have their own army. As they hail from some parts of Magna Graecia and generally the Italic allies of Rome, they shall consist mostly of Socii units. They are not to be underestimated and are right to consider themselves the equals of our true Roman brethren.

Sidenote: The portrait of this general that I'm using is from that of James, a fan of total war who was granted alpha access to the game back in 2012. He had liver cancer and his face was scanned into the game. He died happy a few days after visiting Creative Assembly's headquarters.

When the veteran members of the integrated Capitoline Wolves FIGHT are transferred over to Capua First FIGHT, then I can rename the legions.

Client state Egypt asks me to join a war against some other desert tribe. I decline. You are my bitch, not the other way around. It's your fault you got yourself into such a hairy situation.

Trigeminus returns home for whatever reason, a Champion is called to train the new troops of Capua First FIGHT,

The Euskadi Bittermelon AVBT approaches Genua. (Funny how in Medieval the city is called Genoa.)

Meanwhile, i'm issued a mission of conquest. No worries, we shall make it so...soon.

TRANSFERRING.

A new legion shall be raised. They will be an auxiliary legion, consisting of mostly non-Romans, save for the officers. Recruited from amongt the coarse-haired, unshaven masses of Massalia and beyond, they are the FIORENTINA COARSE LADS

As the Capitoline Wolves are severely undermanned at the moment, members of the home guard are transferred in as replacements.

Rival agents and generals safeguard the cities to the north. Time to remove them.

Barbarian scum! Time to remove you!

Resistance encountered. Objective: Eliminate.

War Dogs look like Leves with pets.

Auxiliary Infantry look rather professional: Spearmen with chainmail

FORWARD YOU DOGS, TO VICTORY.

Celtic skirmishers got nothing on dangerously starved beasts of war.

The only units I need to pay special attention to would be the Oathsworn, heavy infantry of the barbarians and equal to most of ours.

Everyone else is easy game, they're levy spears or just slingers or some form of javelineer that will dissolve in close combat.

The general lets out a warcry, sending the barbarians scurrying home. No mercy. No respite.

Still, some stubbornly refuse to run and engage in combat with the infantry. Others proceed to play tag with us using stones and javelins, which actually kind of fucking hurt. I'll take that capture point, which I'm not sure why it's there but it's there

It was a good victory, but we must press on. Better to die in battle than to die from attrition.

This is just a sorry lot, let's wipe them out.

The hounds will keep those at bay. Our main force can then focus on theirs unhindered and safe from stones.

That was quick. Patavium is now under Roman control.