03-10-2004 06:53									#151
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im running an athlon 3200
1 gig ram and
Radeon 9800


runs like a champ
well..when i learn how to play

	03-10-2004 15:23									#152
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Fun game, very addictive. Playing medium as the Sciipi, conquered Sicily, destroyed the Carthaginians, sending my legions against Egypt at the moment as well dabbling on the Med coast against the Gauls. Only problem I have at the moment is with keeping my populace happy. I seem to get a lot of squalor in all my cities even with sewers/public baths/aqueducts etc. OH, and lacking in decent generals as everyone is weakwilled or nuts

	03-10-2004 16:03									#153
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See decent generals seem to be what each one of mine happens to be. Except one out cast. I just don't have enough. Though I got an adoption and a man of the hour recently.

	03-10-2004 17:03									#154
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by asleepathewheel thanks Will try to get it next weekend after I get paid again. Can't wait to play it.

Here are the dot org recommendations for things to do before installing

quote: As us poor relations over here in Europe will be installing the game in the next few days, here is are some handy tips to prepare yourself and your other half (your PC that is). 1. Uninstall the Rome Total War Demo. There are rumours that the demo is not compatible with the full game, e.g., causing problems with not seeing all possible screen resolutions in the game video menu. Better safe than sorry. 2. Delete any unwanted clutter from your hard disk and defrag it, so it is like a virgin field of snow... 3. Update your graphic card drivers from the manufacturers web site: Nvidia or ATI 4. Some people recommend updating the firmware on your CD/DVD drive to ensure it won't have any problems reading the RTW CDs. It is possible a bad batch of CDs hit the States last week - hope we don't get that here 5. Turn off any virus scanner software before installing - this has been recommended by Activision support. 6. Create a system restore point. In Windows XP this is under Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. You can also get to it from Start, Help and Support. 7. If you've already got DirectX 9.0c installed (it comes with Windows XP Service Pack 2, or as a separate download), do not install DirectX from the RTW installer. The version of DirectX included with RTW is 9.0b (i.e., older), and it could screw up your DirectX configuration, as it does not seem to detect that you have a later version already, and you end up with a mix. To see what version of DirectX you have, run dxdiag. 8. The installer also requests that you first disable any CD/DVD emulation software, such as Alcohol/Daemon Tools. 9. If you do have any installation problems, check the dedicated .COM forum. eradosan (admin at the .com) has created a web site for known problems and workarounds/fixes. 10. Stock up on your favourite poison, lock all the doors, and prepare to make war

I'm not sure I agree with all of them. I didnt disable alcohol. I didnt defrag. It didnt put DX9.0b ontop of my SP2 9.0c.

The system restore is a good idea as well as updating drivers and turning off virus crap.

Make sure you have enough free HD space (~3Gb)

	03-10-2004 17:25									#155
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I didn't do sh*t all, just installed it the moment I got home. Works very fine.

	03-10-2004 20:25									#156
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Those prebattle speeches are more than just ear candy. If you pay attention to them they reveal clues about the upcoming battle.

One example that comes to mind is when he says something along the lines of our enemy has shown up with no friends. Translation, he will not receive reinforcements during this battle.

Has anyone else noticed this?

	03-10-2004 20:39									#157
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Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Like said, they represent their characteristics - I had a general who had "bloody" as a trait, and he ended the speech with saying how he yearns to bathe in the blood of the enemies. Likewise, the general will drone on about superiority in numbers being irrelevant if you have less troops, saying how the Roman spirit and courage will help them prevail. I don't know how it's decided whether or not the portents have been favourable or not, in any case, if they are, he extols them, if they're not, the general will simply state that the soldiers shall make their own destinies. If the general has a bad history with defensive battles (A Bad Defender trait or somesuch), he'll remind of it but say that now it's time to break the trend. I suppose it's a string of soundbites instead of one entire speech that are glued together based on what the situation is. Also a general who is Pragmatic usually fails to mention portents at all.

And if the general is of the drinking sort, he'll promise the first soldier to the enemy a jug of his finest wine. The list goes on and on.

	03-10-2004 21:26									#158
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Like said, they represent their characteristics - I had a general who had "bloody" as a trait, and he ended the speech with saying how he yearns to bathe in the blood of the enemies. Likewise, the general will drone on about superiority in numbers being irrelevant if you have less troops, saying how the Roman spirit and courage will help them prevail. I don't know how it's decided whether or not the portents have been favourable or not, in any case, if they are, he extols them, if they're not, the general will simply state that the soldiers shall make their own destinies. If the general has a bad history with defensive battles (A Bad Defender trait or somesuch), he'll remind of it but say that now it's time to break the trend. I suppose it's a string of soundbites instead of one entire speech that are glued together based on what the situation is. Also a general who is Pragmatic usually fails to mention portents at all. And if the general is of the drinking sort, he'll promise the first soldier to the enemy a jug of his finest wine. The list goes on and on.

this is very kewl

Thanks for the insight

Gramps

	03-10-2004 22:36									#159
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

They'd SOLD OUT at Game in Norwich! Arrrgh! And at Virgin, and at the smaller shops!

So I bought a HUGE monitor instead and lugged it home on my bike

-Jam

	04-10-2004 01:59									#160
	Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia I suppose it's a string of soundbites instead of one entire speech that are glued together based on what the situation is.

That's precisely what I noticed after fighting about 4 battles. You tend to hear the same or similiar speech especially if you manually resolve battles with the same general over and over.

I still think it's a nice touch and will still enjoy this aspect of the game even a year from now.

	04-10-2004 02:07									#161
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

It started to feel a bit old after some while, but then my generals started to have entirely unforeseen traits and new bites started to get introduced, and suddenly you'd have new parts you'd never heard before. It's been made very durable for a feature of that kind. Now I tend to skip most of them, unless I know that there's an interesting trait there, like Madness. Also of note is that Generals with little traits have very short speeches, and mere Captains utter only a sentence or two. I wonder if the speech affects morale too? I'd suppose that it does in the sense that the traits which affect the speech affect the altogether battle situation as well.

What exactly DOES the Command skill do, now that I think about it? Does it simply heighten the morale and thus the routing treshold of units? Does it increase firepower or, say, the effect of flanking maneuvres too?

	04-10-2004 03:40									#162
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

looks like some people are conquering a bit too easy.
never ever start a game on easy. A game that is too easy spoils it all for me. I always go hardcore, though in some fps games that screws me because enemies respawn at the highest diff level

	04-10-2004 04:16									#163
	Get a bigger avatar today!

Aye I can see your point. However I'm playing with campaign on hard and battles on easy. I thought it would kinda balance it out, but yeah having hard in the campaign side of things doesn't seem to affect much. I suppose it effects the amount of times your family gives birth and death rate and cost and so forth. Its too early to tell for me. Battles however are rather easy (at least against the Gauls - is this still the case at higher difficulty levels? Are they Gauls total push overs?) I shoulda left them up a level. But I just desire to unlock all the other nations.

	04-10-2004 04:51									#164
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

maybe a good point is here..try to play at most difficult and learn hard lessons...

maybe you have something here versus learning to walk with crutches you walk on your own!

Ok

	04-10-2004 05:34									#165
	Got spare money?

I try and play these games on medium. Medieval on the hardest lvl was virtually impossible.

Gauls do seem to be easy to beat. Draw them into a fight with your infantry -> flank with cavalry -> get to rear with horse -> meat grinder.

Trying the start of a campaign with the Brutii atm, it seems to be easier, possibly because the cities you conquer at the start aren't as big as say Thabus and Carthage which you attack as a Scipii. That and I seem to be getting better generals.

	04-10-2004 19:08									#166
	Tired of ads?

quote: Originally posted by lightblue Medieval on the hardest lvl was virtually impossible.

I guess I'm just very good at it then.

I won on expert with every faction while handcuffing myself by not attacking any faction first (although I had to take one province early from the French in my last game as the Aragonese).

	04-10-2004 20:31									#167
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

* Adagio ignores all posts in this thread so far

I just got the game, but so far it haven't impressed me... or now I've encountered tons of bugs, while having played this game for only a few hours:

The first bug happened when playing the second battle (The first city battle); I destroyed the gates, grouped my army into several groups (archers (I), spearmen (II), the rest (III)). Then I tried to move III to be somewhere behind the walls, II was set to move behind the gates (and attack the enemy spearmen) and I was set to go through the gates to attack the enemy spearmen...
But what happened? (III) attacked the spearmen, (II) went on a tour through the city, splitting up away from each other and (I) just kept staying behind the gate
After giving them the correct orders for 5+ minutes I finally managed to get (III) away from the enemy, but (II) was already gone somewhere where I couldn't find them (well, I could see them, but I couldn't move them) and (I) finally attacked

The second bug was when I had killed 90+% of the enemy, where I had lost about 20%, I had taken the center of the city... Basicly it was impossible to loose the battle... ok, it did say I made a 'close' victory (close? I had killed all their army with few casualities!!!) ... but then I went to the main map... the city was still not mine, and it said I had lost the battle

The third bug was when I tried to save the game... I was in the main map, pressing ESC to get to the menu, but what happened here? The only options I don't have is the save and load function

	04-10-2004 21:30									#168
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Did anyone notice the different senate messages you get when they ask you to fulfill a mission? I got one message that said that the Senate would reveal a secret about my faction unless I fulfilled their mission. I can't believe they tried to blackmail me!

Of course I am more popular with the people than with the Senate. I guess the Senators are jealous.

	04-10-2004 22:24									#169
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by Adagio * Adagio ignores all posts in this thread so far I just got the game, but so far it haven't impressed me... or now I've encountered tons of bugs, while having played this game for only a few hours: The first bug happened when playing the second battle (The first city battle); I destroyed the gates, grouped my army into several groups (archers (I), spearmen (II), the rest (III)). Then I tried to move III to be somewhere behind the walls, II was set to move behind the gates (and attack the enemy spearmen) and I was set to go through the gates to attack the enemy spearmen... But what happened? (III) attacked the spearmen, (II) went on a tour through the city, splitting up away from each other and (I) just kept staying behind the gate After giving them the correct orders for 5+ minutes I finally managed to get (III) away from the enemy, but (II) was already gone somewhere where I couldn't find them (well, I could see them, but I couldn't move them) and (I) finally attacked

The "group bug" is well established by now. Dont group your units (which is really shitty since the grouping itself is much better than earlier versions).

quote: The second bug was when I had killed 90+% of the enemy, where I had lost about 20%, I had taken the center of the city... Basicly it was impossible to loose the battle... ok, it did say I made a 'close' victory (close? I had killed all their army with few casualities!!!) ... but then I went to the main map... the city was still not mine, and it said I had lost the battle

In order to capture a city you have to take and hold the center for 3 min. If you dont do that because time runs out (with you in control) or the enemy counter-attacks the center and nullifies your possession then you lose.

quote: The third bug was when I tried to save the game... I was in the main map, pressing ESC to get to the menu, but what happened here? The only options I don't have is the save and load function

I dont know. What options did you have since you didnt have save and load?

	04-10-2004 22:30									#170
	Full PM-box? Change here!

I didn't make any options... I just started the totural... or can't you save when playing it?

	05-10-2004 03:46									#171
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

IIRC you cant save the prologue. Once you've learned the basics, or if you know them from previous TW's, jump into a limited campaign on easy. If you win that it unlocks the other factions.

	05-10-2004 06:32									#172
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

You can't save in the tutorial. Rather an annoying function but hey.

The second bug sounds like you ran out of time and hence lost.

	05-10-2004 06:49									#173
	Full PM-box? Change here!

ugh... auto-resolve sucks.


I went into a battle where I had certain victory. Superior troops, superior numbers, superior leadership, ect... and I lost.


I was expecting to take more losses than I needed to by using auto-resolve. But losing all together? ugh.

	05-10-2004 13:19									#174
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Uhmm I have a small Problem.

Im playing the Germans ( fear the Woods you Roman wannabe-Invaders) which is pretty tough in itself but I have a strategic Problem.

I have no Idea which Special 'temple' Unit I need/want.
After i finally found the Ingame Tech Tree I saw that the lvl3 Odin Temple would Provide 'Berzerkers' which sounds cool but unfortunatly there is no clue provided to see their Stats before building them
Gothic Cav is the Alternative Unit of the Wotan Temple which would come with +3Exp, quite nice in itself 'cause you all know the Flaws of barbaric Cav
the Third Unit,Screaming Women really suck (No Pun intended)

I also haven gotten arround to build Elite-Axemen which sound like a cheap Alternative to 'zerks.

Sooo can anyone give me a Pointer on Berzerkers/Goth Cav?
Especially one who fought them as Roman?
That'd be appreciated. :=)


P.s.: The Quicksave is the quickest Save i ever saw.

	05-10-2004 17:08									#175
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Help! I think I overstretched my territory. I have conquered all of Gaul, modern day Britain, Spain, Sparta and Athens and the Turquish western coast (Pergamum). I am starting to get bad revolts in those outlying cities.

But here is the breaker: the Senate asks for my faction leader to commit suicide. What's wrong with them? Of course I can't kill off my own faction leader. So, they outlawed my faction. Now I have Britons giving me resistance in the north, Greeks and Egyptians pounding Sardis, and the Senate, Brutii and Scipii at war with me. I did manage to sign a cease-fire with the Scipii. But I don't know what I am going to do.

I am probably going to have to cut my losses in my far out territories, maybe pull back a lot of troops and bring them back to the Italian Peninsula to fight my fellow Romans. argh!

	05-10-2004 17:25									#176
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Yup, looks like you overdid it and the Senate caught you off guard. In my game I've stopped expanding after whomping the Spaniards and giving the Egyptians a run for their money in the ME; public opinion in Rome is now high and I'm building up a crapload of Urban Cohorts and Legionary Cavalry to take on the fellow Romans. I won't probably manage to crush the Scipii but their holdings are of no consequence - the Brutii OTOH will be a tough nut to crack as they have huge armies wandering around in their Greek holdings. I intend to stave them off to defensive battles with my Greek holdings while I move in from the Italian peninsula proper and just wipe out their cities.

I'm already bringing back from the front my Faction Heir, Gaius Julius, who has 7 in Command (+2 when attacking), 4 in Management and 7 in Influence. I am also reeling in my Vanquisher of the Spaniards, Quintius the Mighty, who has a whopping 8 in Command, +2 when attacking.

	05-10-2004 17:32									#177
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

quote: Originally posted by General Ludd ugh... auto-resolve sucks. I went into a battle where I had certain victory. Superior troops, superior numbers, superior leadership, ect... and I lost. I was expecting to take more losses than I needed to by using auto-resolve. But losing all together? ugh.

Most of my battles are fought using the auto resolve and I can honestly say that it's not bad. It's definately not horrible like the random number generator in Civ3!

I've had battles where I should have lost but won and vice versa. Play some more auto battles and you'll see that it's quite fair.

	05-10-2004 23:50									#178
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Main_Brain,

Screaming Women most certainly do not suck. They work a lot like Briton and Gaullic druids, though the balance is different. Their impact on morale seems to be greater than druids, but their fighting ability is significantly less than druids.

The problem with a unit like the screaming women is that you don't really SEE their impact very closely unless you notice the impact they're having on morale (which is less directly tangible).

I noticed it when playing the Germans in a custom battle and while my German axemen were charging, the screaming women started letting out their screams from behind the charge and the Romans broke and ran relatively early in the melee (since the screaming women were depressing their morale enough that they failed checks they'd otherwise pass when taking casualties against the axemen).

The key to using a unit like druids or screaming women is that you have to remember they're strictly a support unit and that their utility is limited. If you use them in the right places, they can be devastatingly effective for increasing the value of other units and winning battles. If you put them in the wrong places, they're either useless, or worse, just get mowed down.

	06-10-2004 01:34									#179
	Put an end to popups!

Ahh well,
I think the barbaric Vulnerability to Bowmen makes it hard to protect Support Units. Until now I find that i better spend the scarce manpower on an Additional Axemen. Their 'BattleCry' seems to me to be a nice (if only weaker) Substitution. I still could not find out wheter the Battle Cries of several Axemen Units 'stack' though

Also an interesting question would be wheter they ( the Screaming Women) suffer casualities in auto-resolved battles


I fully agree on the Support Unit Role, but I'm yet unsure wheter the Demoralising Effect of the Women is worth the Hassle of Protecting them. They obviously need to be pretty close to the Battleline. And as German is mostly Inf, it puts the Support in Danger of Arrows and Breaktroughs. Nevermind that the Ai likely targets them for Flanking Maneuvers. As the Germans focus on heavy Infantry ( or in other Words lack a reliable fast Unit) they are kinda vulnerable to flanking if not watched closely.
Especially Briton Chariots are Ladykillers.


Ah well my only Big Battles were against other 'Barbaric Nations'
whose Morale is as dependable as mine
I'll have to check them against some civilized Armies and see wheter they have an greater Impact there.
Also the Growth Bonus of the Temple is surely tempting for a low-Pop Folk like me ;=)

That Roman Example was really intriguing thanks :=)

Last edited by Main_Brain on 06-10-2004 at 01:39

	06-10-2004 04:18									#180
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: public opinion in Rome is now high

Has anyone figured out how to influence the opinion of the public and the senate in any major way? The only way I've been able to use is just doing their missions, the people otoh I'm totally stumped in how to make them like me better.

Also I presume that once your faction gets 50 provinces thats when the senate calls for your leaders death?