The complete guide on the basics of RTW multiplayer

The (somewhat) complete guide for people new to the multiplayer to RTW which covers the basics that you should know before venturing into the magical land that is the RTW lobby.

Intro

With the announcment of Attila : Total War and Steam selling this game at a ludicrously low price I've noticed that many new players have arrived and are now playing multiplayer.

I've created this guide to provide you new players with the bread and butter which will allow you to enjoy the multiplayer and not get crushed by that one kid who spams one unit and charges head on.

Anyway here's two screenshots which I hope prove that I actually know what I'm talking about

Rules

As you have probably noticed already most games on Rome Total war have a specific set of rules meant to balance the game (or unbalance if you are playing with some twelve year old who cheats so that he can win). Because no one can be bothered to recite ten various rules whenever someone joins a game a set of standard rules were created with the two most popular being

CWB

CWB (Clan War Belt) is a ruleset which is generally played on money levels from 10000 denarii to 20000 denarii on normal scale. CWB rules favour micromanagement and quick skirmish armies which win by picking your opponent apart.
CWB rules are:
Max 6 of the same unit card
Max 8 cavalry
Max 8 archers
Max 2 horse archers (Horse archers count as cavalry but not archers)
Max 2 berserkers
No elephants
No artillery
Chariots are cavalry
Chariot archers are cavalry but not archers.

31k

31k is a ruleset for noobs who cannot micromanage people who enjoy bigger battles. 31k rules are simpler and the battles generally orient around positioning and charging your opponent's weakpoints to cause mass routes. 31k is played on the large scale.
31k rules are:
Max 6 cavalry
No elephants
No artillery
Keep in mind however that certain clans change these rules around and modify them such as adding more cavalry for certain factions or allowing an elephant for Numidia (Nobody really cares about this ruling since Numidia is just plain bad.)


Anyway these are the most popular rulesets online, while other's exist such as TWPL you would be damned to find anyone online who still plays them.

Armies

Anyway now that we are past the boring stuff about rules and such lets go onto Army creation. Due to my limited knowledge of 31k (If you are a veteran 31k player please message me and I'll let you write stuff about 31k armies and tactics) this guide will focus on CWB style armies.

Like I mentioned before cwb is a very skirmishy format where archers and quick units dominate the battlefield. While armies are varied between the various faction match ups there are certain guide lines i can give to when creating armies.

First of all lets group the factions in their respective groups

Rome - Rome gets its own group as it is capable of pretty much anything. With strong archers, cavalry and infantry Rome is a jack of all trades.

Phalanx (Macedon/Greece/Thrace/Carthage) - Phalanx factions rely on their spearmen to give them an edge over other factions. Spearmen and Pikemen when well positioned are able to cut through any unit of cavalry with ease with the exception of cataphracts. Phalanx factions will usually use their cavalry to get rid of pesky archers or use the charge bonus to rout more powerful cavalry when the enemy cavalry is engaged with another unit (like your spearmen/pikemen)

Cataphract (Armenia/Parthia/Seleucid to a certain extent) - These guys are pretty much a one trick pony. Their strategy revolves around using Archers/Horse archers with Cataphracts to first weaken your enemy lines and then charge them down with Cataphracts. Cataphracts are able cavalry who have a secondary attack (press ALT+Right Click to use it) which pierces armor allowing Cataphracts to make a mockery of other heavy cavalry and Heavy infantry.

Chariot (Egypt/Brittania/Seleucid/Pontus) - These guys are arguably the most powerful factions in game. Because unupgraded chariots are able to destroy upgraded enemy cavalry these factions have more money to put into other areas such as infantry and archers. Basicly these guys use their chariots to kill your cavalry then watch as the rest of your army is helpless because it is unable to stop a barrage of arrows smacking them in the back.

Scythia - Quick mobile horse archers with light cav that kills cataphracts. They are like Cataphract factions except they rely more on mobility of their melee cav that sheer force

Trash (All not mentioned so far) - Yeah these guys suck, they either lack cheap archers (Germania) or their roster is just all around bad. Play these if you want a challenge but expect to lose.


Army Composition
Before I start here is the basic fact of army composition which you must know on 15k. 6 cheap Archers gold/gold is a staple and you would be a fool not to have them.

Anyway heres some army examples for each faction type

Rome - 4-6 Preatorian cavalry gold/gold, 2-3 Light cavalry gold/gold or silver/silver (Equites/Auxillia/Roman cav will do) 6 Roman archers gold/gold and optional 2 gold/nothing auxillia archers. Urban cohorts are generally used to protect archers and hold down infantry so it is up to you to decide on what upgrades you want for them.

Variations
Against Cataphract - Do not bother with too many urban cohorts instead make sure to have 6 units of heavy cavalry, two light cavalry and 8 archers.
Against Chariot - Here the Urban Cohort shines as its morale is able to withstand many chariot assaults, meaning that 3 to 5 gold/gold or silver/silver cohorts with 6 archers and some heavy cavalry and light cavalry support can do the job. Alternatively bring 8 heavy cavalry 8 archers (four long range) and flame the enemy chariots so that they run amok ( this does not work against egypt or Brittania)
















Phalanx - From what I have noticed everyone has their own way of playing these factions however generally you will want about 4 to 6 units of pikes or spears gold/gold or silver/silver (you can also go for only silver defense upgrades if your planning on a more cavalry based army), 6 archers gold/gold and optional long range archers gold/nothing, Cavalry wise you should get as much as your infantry allows you to

Variations

Against Rome - Rome trashes all forms of Phalanx so your best bet is to use your archers or slingers to weaken them and kill their cavalry with a mass of your own cavalry by charging (Charging will be explained later)
Against Cataphract - Same tactic as Rome only this time grab an extra pike or two.
Against Chariot - Pikes and long range archers with some cavalry support to stop enemy skirmishers and skirmish enemy archers yourself
















Cataphract - This is a quite simple line up: 5 - 6 Cataphracts gold/gold, 6 archers gold/gold, 2 cheap horse archers g/- and some pike units to stop frontal charges on your archers. You can also add in a Arab cav or two if you want that skirmishing light cav.

Variations

Against Rome - Not much you can change except make sure to have 6 cataphracts
Against Chariot - Yeah your screwed theres no way to win except using your weak infantry in the hopes of stopping their chariots or getting lucky in Cata boxing.















Chariot - Chariot factions are divided between two amongst themselves : Egypt / Brittania where you take all chariots, lots of ranged troops and little infantry and just run in circles until your opponent is dead from the hail of arrows. Pontus / Seleucid which will generaly have some stronger infantry and skirmisher cavalry where you use your chariots to make sure that your enemy cav is dead before closing in for the kill (or skirmishing first then closing in for the kill)

Variations

Against Rome : 8 Chariots for Brittania/Egypt and 4 Chariots for Seleucid or Pontus
Against Phalanx : Bring some regular horse mounted cavalry so that you can harrass archers and do effective hammer and anvils on the enemy men
Against Cataphact : You win.















Scythia

See Cataphract but replace catas with Head hunting maidens.















"Trash"

Not much to say about these guys, their rosters are either too limited or too expensive but for the curious try this army out.

Tactics

Now that your Army is ready to go lets learn about some Tactics on the battlefield!

Skirmishing
Memorise this and recite it everytime before you go sleep as this is the thing you want to know. Skirmishing is simple in theory but a bit harder to execute in game, basicly Skirmishing is about not allowing your opponent to get near your troops while you use your archers and cavalry to pick off his units which will slowly tire his men and weaken their overall formation. To do this you need to be quick on the mouse and constantly keep an eye on your troops making sure that your opponent does not catch your quicker but lighter troops. Generally you want to eliminate your opponents cavalry and archers then finish his/her infantry with your archers however you can also skirmish enemy cavalry by telling your archers to fire on them which will cause noticeable damages if you do it right.

Rushing
It's exactly what it sounds like. You get your army and quickly run towards your enemy engaging in melee. Most good players will be able to counter this and cause bigger damages to you so I wouldn't recommend it.

Cata Boxing
Cata Boxing is the process of taking your cataphracts and putting them really close to each other in guard mode. Because chariots need mobility to kill enemy troops this can cause your cataphracts to win against enemy chariots as the chariots cannot pass through the wall of iron that the Cataphracts represent.

Charging
Each unit has a Charge bonus. This Charge bonus suprisingly grants a bonus when charging an opponent who isn't prepared for it which allows for weaker cavalry to beat even Cataphracts. To use Charging effectivily you generally want to engage your opponents troops with one unit (Infantry is good at this) then have your Cavalry smack into the engaged enemy unit. 99% of the time this will cause a mass rout in the enemy units which were charged. Keep in mind however that 1. the more units you use for this tactic the bigger the initial shock and 2. Watch out for being counter charged which does the exact same thing to your cavalry as you did to your opponents troop a second ago.

Boxing
Not to be confused with noob boxing. Boxing is the process of putting your troops in a tight box to minimise archer casualties as the units protect each others back with their shields. This is generally a last measure attempt when you have no cavalry left to chase down your opponents archers.

FAQ and Other

Why Upgrade?
Upgrading is a must because of the max 20 units per game. you cannot effectively use your number advantage with only max 20 units. Also unupgraded troops rout much easier making them less reliable and more prone to routing

My Noob box works in single player why shouldn't i use it online?
Because anyone with half a brain will just shoot your men down and laugh as your box turns into dead carpet.

Should i use flaming or regular arrows?
You should only use flaming arrows when :
-Your opponent's troop is near to breaking
-Against enemy chariots

Why do the clan players password their games/kick people from their games?
This is mostly done because most clan players want to play against people of their caliber when hosting clan games. While this sounds quite elitist its necessary as it sucks for everybody when one member of the team simply cannot keep up with the rest.

Also
-Don't be a ♥♥♥♥♥ on chat
-When there is no way of achieving victory Admit Defeat
-Don't host one unit games, seriously its a waste of time as half the people will either quit or camp in a corner
-Bridge battles don't work as the winner is the one who camps the most
-Siege battles with Stone walls can sometimes cause problems and de-synchronise players
-100000000 money games suck and the person who picks Greece wins

[Painini]

Were you a weeb when you made this guide?

[[TITANS]Spitfyr]

You could mention the use of meat shild units.

[tictacmouse]

Very good guide. Only thing i'd argue is that despite not having cheap archers, germania's superb inf and gothic cav make it a non-trash faction

[Taiga]

Melee cav only

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

Question: What works against the stupid AI but doesn't work against human players?

[Han Solo]

I'm a vet 31k player,where is help needed?

[Second Breakfast]

I remember one time in an FFA a long time ago, because I'm terrible with formations (usually in the shape of l_l or something similar with archers in the middle and cav flanking) I decided I would sit in the corner of a map, there we no rules, one enemy had about 5 elephants, another had charriots and archers, then there was a guy who was rome with heavy infantry, I sat in the corner of the map and once everyone routed I popped up with a force of about 5 melee cav and 5 archer cav and picked off the rest xD was so funny because of the rage I got from it and won. Cheap tactic but I won. No rules right?

[xXxHussarxXx]

1000000 games don't suck :'(

[Aquilifer]

You should also add: When hosting a FFA, always make it scored resolution. Even if its even numbers, someone will always camp.

[normandorp]

lol pig got owned