Rise of the Republic - Advice

[Wolfsun]

At the start of RotR (usually within 3 to 6 turns) the AI stomps my manhood into the dirt.

Initially at the beginning of the campaign I was building an army as quickly as I could and then going after my nearest neighbor. I occasionally won against one and once against two. Didn't matter another neighbor would march on Rome and take it out.

Changed strategy to just take out one weaker neighbor and leave Rome sufficiently garrisoned (or so I thought) to defend it against the inevitable coming attack on Rome. Stomped by AI.

Tried building a bigger army and leaving it in Rome and using diplomacy on neighbors who really had no use for Rome but that mattered not - alas got my rear end stomped into a mudhole.

I'd really like to get past the 1st 6 months. Advice?

Aside. Prior to and including Rome 2 I had no problem with any of the Total War games (except Rise of the Republic). I played on normal and though I never played a campaign to an end beating the AI on both the campaign map and tactical map (until I tired of it) was not an issue. In battle mode my win loss rate was around 65% win vs 35% loss.

Then along came Attila and now - well - as long as I stay out of battle mode and let the computer fight for me I do OKAY but in battle mode <hangs head in shame> I have yet to win a battle (the one exception being TW:WH2 where I can do fair to middlin' with the lizard men faction). All the rest of the TW's kick my butt up one side of the street and down the other. I can almost hear the AI laughing.

Something changed. Did creative rewrite the Battle AI? Buff up the units? What gives?

[IGX]

1. March your Army to your town settlement and recruit slingers.
2. Research military tech tree up to 'spoils of war' which drastically increases your income.
3. Have your leaders brothers marry to gain a couple more children into your family.
4. Recruit one of the leaders brothers in Roma.
5. Ask Tarchuna to join in your war against Veii.
6. Ask the Sabines to join the war against Veii. You may not have to pay them or very little.
7. As long as Veii has its armies defending in its own city you are free to take its town. You may also need to recruit some mercenaries to bolster your army. Disband them afterwards.
8. Wait for Veii to recruit a general and leave it vulnerable outside the city. When you go to attack the general their garrison will join them and you won't have to risk seiging the city. Send both of your armies with as many mercenaries to take Veii if needed.
9. Etruscan buildings cost 1000 each to dismantle. Dismantle the town and port to gain an immediate garrison. You can dismantle the rest when you are ready to build upon them.
Place your large army in ambush stance in-between Veii and the town you have just captured.
10. Once the city of Veii has been captured, focus on restoring public order in that province.
Prepare for the Volsci to the south using the same ambush techniques near their city.

Use your slingers on their archers and heavy infantry before they decide to atttack in which case you can send your infantry to engage theirs and flank with slingers.
Note on higher difficulties it may be more worthwhile to trade with Tarchuna. You do not have to take their settlements to gain victory - a military alliance will work just as fine.

[Wolfsun]

Thanks IGX05.

All sounds good and I am going to give your suggestions a go.

[Akaya]

Regarding your general question, as far as I'm aware they didn't tinker with the AI of the older titles but shifted combat into a more arcade direction with the newer releases. Especially Warhammer plays & feels very different to the traditional, historical Total War titles. If I play them for longer periods of time and then return to something like Shogun 2 or Rome 2, I also sometimes have to adjust from the arcade slug fest you experience in newer titles. So I would initially claim that the problem lies with you and how you go about your battles, the usage of units so on.

Now to Rise of the Republic specifically, as already mentioned you will need to change your combat strategy. Due to the lack of cavalry and especially high tier one traditional gameplay in the way of hammer & anvil so on is a lot more complicated, and you have to rely on your missile & skirmish units to do the flanking plus breaking. In most cases you will find yourself racking up the majority of kills with them. Especially in offensive sieges of the smaller settlements you can abuse them in manual battles since the AI usually doesn't sally out, and it's not rare to have 200-300 kills per slinger especially early on where units are still softer.

Another thing to keep in mind is, that the units here are prone to low morale and even your better units often only have a base of 40-60 morale. Making it even more vital how you use them in engages so on but in the end, you're gonna have to remember that they will likely break, and you may want to hold critical points with several units or keep 1-2 reserved & fresh units in the back for acting in key moments to enforce lines so on.

There is also the nuisance that in Rise of the Republic there are early on only small factions and as you mentioned, it's not unlikely to get swarmed if things turn out bad but since you play in normal, abuse Diplomacy to its limits as AI is more likely to accept and easier to convince/bribe. Where we get to the point of not being afraid to spend your money for things like that, if it gives you for example breathing room and if it's just 2-3 turns to bring your army into position or recruit more units so on.

Since you're willing to use auto-battles, I can also give you one more general tip. AI favors numbers over quality of troops when it comes to calculation and chance of victory or defeat, and it's often a valid tactic to spam full stack armies of cheap units that just hug your main army or each other as reinforcement to swing the favor into your odd. It is of course not the funniest way to play the game but if you really just want to win or in your case survive certain more difficult stages, it's a valid option.

[Wolfsun]

Originally posted by Akaya:

I also sometimes have to adjust from the arcady slugfest you experience in newer titles. So I would initially claim that the problem lies with you and how you go about your battles, the usage of units so on.

I don't disagree at all. Good catch, Akaya. The issue is that prior to retiring I was a financial analyst. Crunching numbers, figuring out what they meant and building spreadsheets that simplified it all for my Boss and the company's customers was what I did for a living. Consequently doing it in games has been something I just find very distasteful. I play to enjoy. Min/Max, rock scissors paper (critical in TW games - especially post Rome 2) and spreadsheet building as some players go so far to do is just not something I enjoy which is why I pretty much rely on the Computer to win battles for me.

Thanks for the tip on how best to win computer fought battles. I'll put that to good use.

[Akaya]

Games first and foremost are meant as a media of fun & enjoyment. As we are all different individuals with different preferences so on, therefore being free to play/explore them in ways that tick our personal boxes of needs. Of course there are always some douchebags that prefer to tell you otherwise and are "gatekeeping" the hell out of you but there isn't really something to justify or be ashamed of as long as your first box with the aspect of enjoyment gets a big check mark.

Coming back to the initial topic of this discussion, I hope you manage your play through with Rome and have a lot of fun on the road. If the tips don't help at all, I'm also currently playing "Rise of the Republic" and might be willing to look into it with Rome for deeper instructions/help. Besides that, have a long, healthy and enjoyable retirement!