Guard Dog

As long as you complete a campaign at all even a short one you can play the unlocked factions. I need to reinstall before I can go through as the romans. The stupid mod decided to boot me back to the menu even when choosing the romans. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> If you want to cheat to unlock the other factions quicker before every battle hit ~ to open the command shell and enter the command auto_win attacker or auto_win defender. You can win the short game with a few hundred peasants if you win every battle. If you want to unlock ALL of the factions, let me know and I'll explain it. You still have to win as the Romans at least once.

Let me know what your strategy was and how it worked out. I'd suggest you do Very Hard on campaign difficuty and Hard on battle difficulty.

What was so difficult about winning wars if you could win the battles? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As I told you earlier, I could not build the economy to fight Rome and Macedon at once. And I usually had to. Have you ever heard the term Pyrrhic Victory? It comes from Pyrrhus, King of the Greek City of Epirus who won a great victory over an invading Roman army at the battle of Asculum in 279 BC. The battle was won but his army was utterly broken. He was quoted as saying "Another such victory against Rome and I will be undone". In the Greek games I have played I have invested heavily in keeping Theramon out of Roman hands. I have beaten off several Brutii attacks but they were Pyrrhic Victories beacuse the weakend city falls to Macedon when the come sniffing through the Dinirac Mountains. To date, to keep Theramon I must sell Syracuse to Carthage or abandon it to the Scipii and use the army there to defend Theramon. Syracuse is the Greeks best money maker in the early game. To keep it means using resources to fight the Scipii. That is bad but a Roman presence in the Balkans is worse. As for Sparta, leave it underdefended for a moment and the Macedonians in Corinth will come down to see you. I always play with the campaign difficulty set to "Very Hard." The AI is pretty aggresive. What about you guys?

I always thought the Eqytians were easy because you had rebel towns to your west and you overmatched the Selucids on the east. I think the first thing on Egypts to-do-list would be to take care of the Pathians by taking the lone Arabian city (can't remeber the name) and limiting their expansion. But with Egypt, distance to Carthage is your friend and you can spend the first few game years in peace building up for the inevitable clash with the Selucids and Parthians. My trouble with the Greeks was not winning battles, it was winning wars.

I've only had my guys routed once and that was because I had a 2000 man stack that had to contend with 4 others of the sames size. I could have won if I had unlimited ammo for my archers/onagers who ran out during the third wave. The 4th group was allowed to approach my battered Legionaires without coming through a hail of arrows. <_< <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I played egypt, and I was attacked when i had to reinforce my army, so my one unit (10 or so of man) of egyptan horse-bowman (chariot or whats the name) meets 6 units of spearman and one merc.horse archers(greek), what to do, I just runned, they runned too, but we had more horses =P So, after 1-5 min they were exhousted, in the 'runnin time' i had shot down the half of the enemy merc-s and with only 3rd of my man having any arrows at all I had them retreat (they lost forever the merc.-s and 2 spearman units) The funny was how i had routed the first unit what had the enemy fleein started: With no arrows i just had the egyptans turn back and runned trough with them into the enemy, they got the fear, and fleed. Now think about luck&strategy :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Who was that against? Selucids? The Eqyptians have really good military power. I played as the Selucids and defeated them by avoiding the major engagements you just desribed. I broke my armies into smaller 300-400 man groups and scattered them in a territory to block roads and harbors. When larger armies challenged I used heavy Caraphact Cavalry to deal with their archers and phalanx to deal with their chariots. The idea was to wear them out and damage them as much as possible. I'd position on the best ground closest to the edge of the map. Try to break the attack, then retreat. It was a war of attrition and it took years (game terms) but I did win.

How is BI? I've been meaning to pick it up, but I've been really busy lately with exam prep and just haven't had the time to really get into many games. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm really into it. Religon plays a bigger role. A lot of the tactics that worked against the Gauls and Germainia do not work against the Goths and Huns. The Western Empire camaign is tough and there are morale problems with the units. It feels like you are trying to save a dying civilization. One thing is certain, you will not have to go looking for a fight if you are playing the West, it will come to you. If you have $30 US to blow, you will not regret getting it.

I used to play with the R:TR mod. At the time it was buggy and caused problems. I understand it is much improved these days. Once I learned how to unlock and play all of the factions I reinstalled and play without mods. I'm playing BI now and I think there are compatability issues with the RTW mods.

Good point. As I pointed out, they will have done a lot in the time they had. If it needs be pushed back, I hope they will rather than slap a label on it anyway. But I know many people have said that on the other boards.

You have my reply Deraldin. Usually in the second turn I get a determined attack on Theramon by the Brutii that even after I ward off, it leaves the city vunerable to a second attack or the predetations of Macedon. I've played the Greeks several times and usually have lost Theramon by the end of the 5th turn. I play with campaign difficulty set to "Very Hard" and battle to "Hard". This lets the AI play to max capacity but confers no combat morale bonus to AI troops. Playing as Thrace is supposed a pretty tough time also. But I did win the one time I tried. I made alliances with Macedon and won an all out war with Dacia and Scythia (war bands and cavalry against Phalanx, you gotta love it). By the time the Julii came sniffing I was more than ready. Numidia is a tough campaign because your units do not match up well with your natual enemy Carthage. I won with them by making common cause with the Scipii (historicly speaking Scipii Africanus defeated Hannibal with Numidian allies). To add too your question which factions did you find too easy? I'd say the Julii. If you cannot cruise right up to the civil war with them I don't know what to tell you. Your natural enemies are barbarians and they usually break against Triarii and Early Cohorts.

No this was anwered by Ferret over on the NWN2 boards. Development began in July-August of 2004. I believe the game was announced in December 04. The game uses the same Aurora engine and toolset as NWN with the exception being the graphics component. It has been totally redesigned.

You mean like NWN2 or Dragon Age or even Oblivion? NWN2 doesn't even have a website. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> NWN2 has had less than a year and a half of Dev time. Since the graphics component has been totally redesigned a 2 yr cycle (which is what it will be in the Juneish release timeframe) is not that long for a game of this size and scope. If the release date needs to be rolled back, I hope they feel they can do so to give this game the due dilligence it deserves. God knows we do NOT want another KOTOR2. A bad sequel can end a franchise. Case in point: Master of Orion 3. With Dragon Age, Bioware has made no bones about this being a distant future project. With the creation of a new game engine it is a project in the second year of what will surely be a 3+ year cycle. I would imagine the bulk of their resources (the art and graphics design folks, DA has its own programming team) are dedicated to Mass Effect and the other secret project which everyone thinks is JE2.

When advancing a group phalanx I keep the formation staggared so an advancing unit can wheel around an engaged unit for a flanking attack. Also if one formation is flanked by cavalry they cannot keep charging into the next... and next... and next... lost Nicomedia to the Eqyptians that way. Plus I always keep peltasts behind the formation, even when they are out of javelins. If they do nothing else they can delay a rear attack while one or two phalanxed units reverses their direction of march. The worst part about playing the Greeks is not having an economy to fight Rome and Macedonia at once. The closest I ever came to winning I sold Syracuse to the Carthaginians and Theremon to the Macedonians in the first round. Used the armies there to capture Crete and Athens and built a power base in the Agean. The Romans attacked Theramon and the war consumed Macedon but I wound up in a all out war with Pontus for the cities in Asia minor and although I won, I left me too weak to fight the advancing Egyptians. Still have not been able to win playing the Greeks.

High praise indeed. " Currently bouncing off the wall in anticipation of all the games I want to buy that are coming in Feburary, right at the beginning of a new semester before the coursework starts piling up. :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> When I was in college it was Lords of the Realm 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 that kept me from doing what I should have been. Had it not been for those two games, a few "C" might have been "A". Bauldurs Gate nearly caused me to fail Circut Analysis 2. It's an addiction isn't it? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I know the feeling. Luckily for me when Lords of the Realm 2 was out I was still in Elementary school and could get A's while sleeping through classes. :D It's so much more difficult to do that in high school. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Wow, now I DO feel old.

High praise indeed. " Currently bouncing off the wall in anticipation of all the games I want to buy that are coming in Feburary, right at the beginning of a new semester before the coursework starts piling up. :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> When I was in college it was Lords of the Realm 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 that kept me from doing what I should have been. Had it not been for those two games, a few "C" might have been "A". Bauldurs Gate nearly caused me to fail Circut Analysis 2. It's an addiction isn't it?

When you get right down to it, there are two things you must do to win any TW battle. 1st and foremost is unit match up. Use spearmen against cavalry, support light infantry with ranged attack, heavy infanty against lighter infantry, etc. 2nd do all you can to break the morale of your enemy. Do all you can to kill the enemy general ( but not at the expense of your plan of attack or defense). You should attempt to flank the enemy, use light cavalry to attack an engaged enemy formation from the rear, use heavy weapons like ballistas, onagers, flaming arrows and scorpions as the enemy is at march. Once the enemy has broken, if there are no othere engaged formations, pursue, do not let him reform. If there are, use your free units to attack. If there are reenforcments, reform and do it again. That is all there is to it. Its like chess. Coordiante your movements. Don't attack unless you use all of your pieces.

Actually one of the best improvements introduced in Rome over Shogun and Medieval was the absence of the Risk style map. In Shogun/Med you marched an army into a territory and automaticly fought whatever army was there in a terrain fixed for that whole territory. If you won, the entire territory was yours. In Rome TW map borders are just lines on a map and you can march in armies to block trade by blocking roads, harbors, or prepare for a defensive fight by choosing your ground. The terrain on the campaign map is the same as the terrain on the battle map. Case in point. Playing as the Greeks I know that the Romans will attack Syracuse within the first game year (2 turns). To buy time to prepare I send 160 Hoplites and 81 Peltasts to take up station over the road to Messina on the slopes of Mt Etna. They were attacked the next turn. Holding the phalanx on high ground backed up by peltasts my 160 hoplites broke a Roman army of around 400 Hastati and killed Quintus Scipio in the bargain. I was able to take Messina 4 turns later because I goaded the Scipii into attacking me on ground of my choosing.

Play a short campaign. I wrapped up a Juli short campaign in just 3 nights. Granted 3 very long and sleepless nights.

Not to shift gears here too much, Volo and a few others mentioned the Witcher as a competitor to NWN2. Has CD Projekt floated a release date? I have not heard of one and their site makes no mention. NWN2 we already know about when we'll get it. If the Witcher comes out six months later it's not really a competitor (at least not for the OC, but an expansion pack... heres hoping). As for the Witcher, I'll buy it. What the heck I'm a man of few vices so what's another $40 US. If it sucks, it will not be the first bad game I ever tried. Thats why we have ebay.

I'm with you there. I even bought the Rome TW soundtrack. And I NEVER buy soundtracks. Definitely psyched about this title. The one thing about Rome TW, I could never win playing the Greek Cities. Always wind up fighting Rome and Macedon at once and that puts me in an unwinnable bind. Playing BI now, trying to revive the Western Empire. Excellent game.

Really? What would you call them? Gameplay on all 3 titles is similar. What title would you call an RTS. Age of Empires? Civ? Just curious.

(w00t) Creative Assembly has announced the upcoming release of it's latest Total War title. It's a remake of the original Medieval Total War in the new RTW engine. If you have played both the original Medieval/Shogun Total War games and the newer Rome Total War you cannot help but be excited. And if you haven't, and love RTS get off your tail and buy one of them. Estimated release date is Q4 2006. This should work out perfectly. With NWN2 released around June I should have plenty of time to finish my NWN2 module and jump into Medieval 2. Check put the details below: http://www.totalwar.com/community/medieval2.htm

As to the first part of Brian's comment, we had a similar situation at work. I work for a major US based cellular company as a RF engineer. We recently had to reject an applicant who had been with the company for many years simply because they did not qualify for the job. This individual had worked up from customer service to data translations and aspired to go even higher. He was a good guy, and a smart, and hard worker. But desire did not give him the knowledge level to do the job. That can only be had with an eduaction, and yes that usually means a degree. Bioware's little contest will certainly grab some attention. However, no matter how good their module might be, without some experience in writing, software design or both the winner might be drinking from a new Jade Empire coffee cup but they will not be doing it in Edmonton. As to Aes Sedai's post, the best way to get noticed by a developer is to mod their game. Rick Burton, Georg Zoeller, and Brian Chung all got noticed for their mod work but it was their eduacation as well as their ability that got them hired by Bioware. I would bet there are more than one or two on Obsidian's staff who were noticed by their first company because of modding. But only knowledge level gets the job

First of all let me preface by saying that while I do have some knowledge of CE, programming language, and software design, I am far from being an expert. Programming tends to be an overused and often misused generic term for software design and CE in general. The difference is usually one of semanitcs depending on who is using it. If he wants to take a shot at game design then I would suggest you get him a copy of Neverwinter Nights and let him learn to use the toolset to actually create game mods. It will familiarize him the the general design process and introduce him to a basic form of the C++ language. There are a wealth of tutorials and guides on Bioware's website on how to use the toolset. It is a lot of fun and if he has an interest that will certainly kindle it. As for learning a programming language I would let him wait a little while longer yet but these books you mention sound pretty good. Reading a book is never a bad thing. As for schools, any college of engineering that offers CE has a series of art and graphic design classes that are ususally required for the degree. The game design industry is a really small niche so graphic design knowledge would seem to me to be a real important thing to have to get in. But heck, he's only 12. I would not push him too hard yet. The moment you make something you profession or business, you will stop enjoying it as a hobby. Trust me on that one!

Most voice tracks were already in the game in the unused files.

I earned a BSEE at Florida State, and the BSCE program (and the entire college of Engineering) there is first rate in my opinion. I had a friend there, CE grad who is now working on a PS2 game for Creative Assembly in London.