I am not one to waste time on games. well not much any way. HOwever I found a game called ROME: TOTAL WAR and boy is it hard to get up and walk away from.
anyone else seen it and experince it a bit?
It is a merciless time thief.
Hi Timotheus,
You have just doomed yourself and every free time you will ever have. If you still can leave that devil game or any of the Total War series 
In the other day I spent 9 hours playing it, without even stop to eat. I didn’t do it something like that since my early 20s.
Now with a wife that is bothered by the computer noise and a daughter with almost 3 years I can’t do this kind of silly thing many times. But When I have done it has been with a Total War game.
If you started with Rome I don’t recommend you to try the Medieval game because between other things if you turn of the time limit battles (as I always do) you can have one single battle lasting more then 4 real hours.
Best regards and great playing,
Andrus
That game is awesome! But I have seen my studies begin to be affected when I play that game. I have to time myself and stop after an hour… An hour seems like a long time, but in that game, an hour is nothing. So far I haven’t beaten the real objectives, only the shorter ones…
If you started with Rome I don’t recommend you to try the Medieval game
Yeah Medieval Total War, in comparison does seem a bit lacking when weighed and measured against RTW. MediTW is a bit easier in the battles, too…
The only problems I can find with RomeTW are; the fact that it takes all day to be completely satisfied with the amount of playing I do. (that said, I am never satisfied.) and you cant play as SPQR (didn’t like that you can’t play as the Vatican in MediTW, either.)
later,
haven’t played the game (and I LOVE video games!!) but I think that is the one the History channel uses to display historic battles from that time
Rehi all,
You can play as SPQR with a little mod of the game but as I had read it can make the game a little unstable (i.e. crash to desktop) and it certainly dumps you in the desktop if you ever click on the Senate tab. If you want to risk it I can tell you how to make that simple modification.
You also can get the SPRQ mod in the internet but with that mod there are a lot of modifications to the game (i.e. you can’t make diplomatic treaties because you can’t produce diplomats, you can train more then one unit per turn per city and I think it is cheaper to produce units so you will get a lot more battles). In the part of the diplomatic effects you can’t negotiate cease fires too, so after you are at war with some1 you will be at war with that faction till you destroy it or be destroyed.
I’m sorry if you already knew all of this but I get carried away with all my passions and the RTW is one of them.
You are right, although I never saw it I have read it in the TotalWar Forums.
But of course they used there a PC powerful enough to have a lot more men per unit making it a lot more spectacular. I can’t even imagine the specs of the computer they used there.
My computer, not being a bad one, has some troubles to render battles with 80 units with large unit size.
Best regards,
Andrus
How would one make that small mod, Andre? Does HChannel use the actual game or just the game engine?
I really like RTW. The last time I was this into a game was when I first got Morrowind TES. And waaay back in the day with Diablo I. And somewhat with Rise of Nations… I’m actually quite proud of myself. My last game as the Julii, I had not one military defeat. (except for 2 naval defeats, but I don’t like to count those… Stupid Carthaginians.. 
)
Hi Deudeditus,
About the modification I can’t tell you right now because I’m at work and I need to find the file you would need to modify.
If I understood it right HChannel used the engine and probably some specially made modifications and scenarios because that series was made while the game was still in development stage.
When I get home I will find the file and post here how to make SPQR playable. I call it a simple modification because it is only to make a Cut and Past in a file. All other game features and settings will be the same. So you will have Julii to the North and Bruti and Scipii to the South and I can’t guarantee that the game will be totally stable. In fact I know if you ever click in the Senate Tab that you will be immediately dumped to the desktop.
Best regards,
Andrus
The programme “Time Commanders” on BBC2 used the Rome:Total War engine and refought various ancient battles. It looked very impressive.
One of the advertising points about the game is its tactical reality.
So I’m curious. Would those pieces/soldiers be best used as a historical
commander would, or are those tactics too awkward for a computer game?
If those cohorts would function best when used as they were actually used
in the past. Then that would be a great game.
However I suspect they would all follow a logic peculiar to its own coding. The real
oppurtunities and constraints faced by the old commanders , I’d expect to be too hard
to code into a game.
Hi Richc,
Answering to your question: Yes and no.
In some aspects it works almost as descriptions of ancient battles. You can make an army to start to rout by flaking or rear attacks. The check board disposition of Roman forces is very good in some battles (but there are some situations where I had discovered that formation isn’t the best one), etc.
So you can make some good tactical movements as they are described at history books.
The down side is that the AI doesn’t use good tactical movements all the times. Sometimes they set a good formation but then spoil everything by making unit by unit attacks, or can stand still while under heavy arrow and artillery “fire”.
Said these, this game is (for me) what is nearest of the battles described in history records. The better battles I can remember were the ones where I reach the point that I had to use all reserves and feeling that was the decisive point, I win or I loose but I can’t do anything more than see (some of them were lost). Usually these are battles where I’m outnumbered or where there are 4 or more armies.
I’m not the best TotalWar General and I have read that there are people that think that the game is too easy and that AI is very bad. Maybe for them, but I love the game as it is. Well one or two small modifications wouldn’t hurt but it is impossible to make the perfect game.
I would advise you to read the forum of RTW at www.totalwar.com before buy it. There you will find within many posts enough information to have a good feeling if it is worth the money or not.
By the way, although it my seems like that I don’t work at CA or receive commission on the game sells
Best regards,
Andrus
No. Suspicion of youre being a rep for CA never crossed my mind. Tho I’ve heard
of it from time to time.
Thanks, maybe I’ll give it a shot. Lots of my colleagues are gamers. I should wade
in at some point just to shock them.
Hi Duededitus,
Before making any modification to any file please do a backup of the file(s)!! After v1.2 you can’t automatically remove all register information of the game, making very hard to reinstall the game with the patch 1.2
To make SPQR playbale you will have to modify the file:
…Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\descre_strat
The beginning of the file before modification should be like:
“; Custom campaign script generated by Romans Campaign Map Editor
campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
end
unlockable
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities
egypt
end
nonplayable
romans_senate
macedon
pontus
armenia
dacia
scythia
spain
thrace
numidia
slave
end”
Now you have to cut “romans_senate” bellow nonplayable to playable.
The file now should be:
“; Custom campaign script generated by Romans Campaign Map Editor
campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
romans_senate
end
unlockable
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities
egypt
end
nonplayable
macedon
pontus
armenia
dacia
scythia
spain
thrace
numidia
slave
end”
Save and it is done. Start a new campaign and SPQR should appear as a playable faction. By the way you can do this to all nonplayable factions except for the slave.
Best regards and good playing,
Andrus
P.S- This post isn’t recognizing the tabs so the file is a little different. Try to keep the original formatting of the file
Now I can’t stop thinking you look like him 
at three AM when I have to leave to work by 6:00 AM… uh, your not to far off
This is why my family stopped buying computer games.
What a great avatar that image would make.
I just got finished losing terribly as Egypt… I thought I was doing good in the beginning (no wars) and I made alliances with all my neighbors.. and then the Selucids declared war on me. and you know what? not one faction would help me. so yeah I eventually has the Selucids, Pontius and Greece attacking me. aaand at the same time as a plague in one of my 2 biggest cities which cut tons of trade and, in effect, killed me. I’m kinda bummed out right now.. 
Salve Deudedite,
Egypt can be very trick faction to play with at the start, but if one person can manage the first stages then is almost a walk in a park (almost).
If you ever want to try to play with SPQR you will probably want to make one or two more modifications, as SPQR, without mod, can’t build temples for example.
If this is the case fell free to PM me and I will send you the information you will need to mod the game.
Best regards,
Andrus