Total War fans.

[LurkingWeasel]

OP, if you're playing disc versions of vanilla RTW and/or MIITW (ie without mods), don't forget to patch them - there were bugs on release which might ruin your enjoyment of the game (though some might never notice them or care).

 

[CaptainRAVE]

OP, if you're playing disc versions of vanilla RTW and/or MIITW (ie without mods), don't forget to patch them - there were bugs on release which might ruin your enjoyment of the game (though some might never notice them or care).

Medieval 2 was particularly bad. I remember many AI armies running around in circles under my archer fire

 

[Sycho]

OP, if you're playing disc versions of vanilla RTW and/or MIITW (ie without mods), don't forget to patch them - there were bugs on release which might ruin your enjoyment of the game (though some might never notice them or care).

Nah these are Steam versions....it seems 1920x1080 is working fine too i think and it seems i may aswell start with Rome then.

What does the Rome realism mod do?

 

[Howitzer]

Rome Total Realism completely overhauls the game (almost unrecognisably).
- Huge map
- More realistic movement speeds etc on map
- Massive number of factions
- Huge amount of units, buildings etc
- Massive battles that last aaaaaages....
- Overhauled graphics

and a ton more...

Personally, I hated it. I'm a big history buff, and I'll give it credit there. But as a game it was just not fun to play at all. It felt like a chore rather than an enjoyment...

but that's just me. lol

 

[matt_fsr]

Tried Rome: Total War yesterday even though it's old it seems very good still and lot of detail in the game.Also what's a good faction to start with if i am going to play Rome first?

Good choice on RTW.

With the factions, I have found that the Julii can often have a fairly easy start out (in the unmodded game) and take on gaul, moving north, often south into Spain as well if funds allow, ending up holding modern day France, Germany and Spain after a decent series of fights against barbarians.

Problem is, these territories aren't rich, and often end up drained down to 400 people after being 'warband spammed' by the barbarian factions, desperate to get men in the field. So you end up with masses of land, and all of it worth less than 1-2 big cities elsewhere.

With the Brutii you have a hard fight to begin with, your only expansion area is straight into Macedonia, who are stronger than you to start with and have powerful cavalry. But if you ally with the Greeks and Macedon's neighbours, then Macedonia ends up attacked on all sides and gradually weakens as you take it over.
Also, the Brutii have a temple that when upgraded gets you 3 chevron veterancy in all the units produced in that town, so that's a +3 attack and +3 defence to everything produced or retrained there.

The Scipii are straight-up battling Carthage, so peace with Greece works well initially, if you can kick Carthage off Sicily you're in a much better position. From there I tend to wage a naval war on carthage for a bit, build up my trade, and blockade Carthage. Then you can raid their coastal towns, kill the inhabitants and smash their buildings before retreating to your ships. Also, mercenary elephants can be found in North Africa. Yes, you want those. You want those so bad.

Up to you who you choose really, each has a bit of a challenge to start with, but usually can get into a secure position with a bit of work. Brutii may be the hardest to start with, but can gain huge riches from the Greek cities once conquered, and it's an awesome base to expand from. If you're lucky you'll capture a Greek city with a missile weapon bonus temple, so your archers will end up with even more bonuses, if you retrain them!

 

[Illgresi]

I always go back to Rome, fantastic game.

Only thing I dislike about it (and most others) is the constant city rebellion for no reason when you get larger empires. Always frustrated me!

Always used to deal with impending revolt by placing a stack outside the city, gifting it to a nation you are at war with, then attacking a razing the city. Crushes the population making revolts less likely, and gives you a tidy stack of coin.