Navies are quite simple in Rome: Total War. They are only used for two things; transporting troops or naval combat. When transporting troops one ship can hold up to a full stack. Sending out unescorted ships is a recipe for disaster; troop carrying ships can be sunk by a larger enemy fleet, killing everyone on […]
Both the manual and the tutorial teach you how to build and use your armies so I won’t bother reiterating. Instead I shall highlight the finer points and give a few suggestions on make up. And no, I do not mean lipstick and mascara. Mercenaries are handled in their own chapter.
Retraining versus merging.
CA developer Dutch […]
The diplomat.
This section, dealing with the diplomat, is written by Tamur and taken with his kind permission from his diplomacy guide.
The Birth of a Diplomat
Diplomats are trained from cities that have a Governor’s Villa, and take one six-month turn to train. They become available to you with only their name, possibly some traits, and a […]
Your family, a bunch of wastrels, drunkards, fornicators, perverts, and a general drain on your economy. I’m sorry, but if your family has ended up like that then it is your own fault for the most part. Discipline! Iron discipline! You are the head of the family, you are, in essence, the paterfamilias and you […]
Money, without it your empire is doomed. Making money seems to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks new players encounter. It really is quite easy when you know how.
Money is spent on many things; the only on-going expenses each turn are wages for your armies, family, and agents. You will probably lose a bit […]
Rome: the eternal city, the beacon of culture, the centre of the world, the jewel in the crown – you get the idea. Well, sorry folks but Rome isn’t for you, not until you have grown inordinately powerful. Instead think of Backus Waterus: the eternal mud pile, the beacon of yokels, the maggot in the […]
Yes, I can hear you saying “Look, you kill enough people of the right type, and capture enough provinces of the right type to fulfil your campaign victory conditions – it’s easy, you silly frog!” Shut up and stop throwing popcorn, you ingrate! If you want to conquer the world you must work in bite […]
If you wish to turn off the battle timelimits there is a checkbox on the faction selection/campaign settings screen, but only if you have version 1.2 or higher.
To access the BI campaign you must use the BI shortcut on your desktop, in your start menu, or however else you start your game. If you use […]
Patch 1.5 fixes a great long list of bugs, issues, grumbles and adds a few tweaks. You can download it from the official site. If you want to play multiplayer the patch is compulsory.
I would suggest you read the manual; while it is lacking rather a lot of information, and can be sketchy at times, […]
This guide is intended to help the bewildered newbie find their feet and understand the basics of Rome: Total War. Well, it was intended solely to do that but it has now grown far beyond that initial aim to become quite comprehensive, with something for all levels of play. That’s why I changed the name […]