10 Steps to NEVER Lose! Western Roman Empire (Legendary Total War: Attila Opening Turns)

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

After putting 10's of hours into this video and it going under the radar so long, I'd just like to thank the historical fans for giving a predominantly Warhammer channel like mine a chance. I'm a massive history nerd and it was a joy to make. Look forward to giving you more historical content in the future! Cheers for watching

[@maltratadordearbustos9738]

Legend

[@firstlast5454]

Awesome! Going to be playing a legendary H2H campaign with east and western rome

[@jasonmanuel8917]

I actually have the balls to try WRE for real now, I’ve tried so many times where I just turtle and give up province after province, but this guide sounds fool proof. Thanks for this bro

[@gr8oone007]

This is just the video I was looking for since I just reinstalled Attila and wasn't keen on bulldozing everything to win.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Glad to help! It's a hard campaign - being a diehard history nerd myself "abandoning and burning" half the world is so absurd it makes me unable to enjoy the game, so I grinded to find an alternate history where Stilicho survived the plot on his life and saved both the West AND the East. I retired my first save in this game with Stilicho personally defeating and killing Attila and Alaric eventually turned but was also killed in the counter attack. In that save I spent the points to assassinate honorius the old fashion way..... so satisfying - I Fing hate that guy so much! haha

[@xDoomsDayx100]

I've never been beaten by the AI so fast in a TW game before than when I played Attila (Vanilla) for the first time today as WRE- I am taking notes in this guide to help me get on my way, thank you so much. Every other guide wants you to abandon the world which doesn't feel very Total War

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

The civil system in this game is such garbage it makes many great players feel terrible. That said, playing a Roman general and giving up land in a time where assassination was common place takes me out of it. Proud to see another going down fighting for the Empire! Good luck in restoring Rome!

[@deviousalemanni4235]

​@@ElvenPlotArmourits pretty realistic though.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

@@deviousalemanni4235 It's realistic in the sense the state was difficult to manage but ludicrous in others. This game has provinces paying full tax but rebelling every turn, meaning the same battle is simply played ongoingly with only the safest strategies that can be followed. I agree with this game being hard but Sanitation and the lack of options really hurt this game. This period is one of my favorites and I wish the devs gave it more imagination instead of stacking things to make it hard. I feel there really was a chance of a gem here, but it's just a TW Game with great battles but trash civil management systems (Age of Charlemagne corrected this issue if you've yet to play it!)

[@nazdhillon994]

@@ElvenPlotArmour do you recomend any mods for < better gameplay experience ?

[@matthewtyerman1314]

Really good video- I actually managed to make it past turn 3 thanks to this! Keep up the good work mate

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Well done, I'd say around Turn 5ish is when things get really hard. So much has to go right, but if you can keep Brittania and Africa away or fighting amongst themselves and keep hordes out of your lands you should be able to grind your way through. Good luck mate!

[@rickysavage9557]

My favorite strategy is to wait and keep full stacks next to a revolting Roman faction and than subjugate them. Because of how many people you're at war with they will really like you. I have a few playthroughs with half the map being my subjugated Roman factions it was really fun. Done it on legendary as well.

[@sultanhamzah8974]

Hello, just wanted to say probably THE BEST guide to total war attila absoloutely destroyed the barbs on my first try thanks to this guide you deserve better and my thanks

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Comments like this are reward enough my friend. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

[@edwelndiobel1567]

It is VERY difficult but possible. Mistakes are not permitted. Whats so hard is how enemies stacks ALWAYS move just out of range and always know your troop disposition. The KEY to victory is to use the AMBUSH stance. This will HIDE your stacks from the AI and prevent them from having perfect stack locations.

[@gm2407]

I avoid the middle civic tree and go full Pagan. Got to use the Ampetheaters and Aquaducts to keep PO and Squaller in check. The public arenas give great Roman Paganism and public order buffs.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

I've never gone full Pagan all the way to the end. I've personally found it to be excellent in the early game but by the mid-game onward the gold impact of Christianity is less of an issue and it preserves your other resources. The Amphitheater building is a life saver in the early game too! Regardless of how, if you've finished this campaign well done to you sir! 😄

[@eduardolemos4113]

Man, this is my favorite game, because of how hard it is, i've managed to beat it on VH so far, thanks for the video, am gonna try Leg next time

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

I recommend doing a normal run through or VH for the first 5 or so turns before diving in legendary just to familiarise if it's been a while. One wrong move and a lost legion can be a disaster lol

[@davidborwick2339]

Wow great explanations and helpful graphics - very explicit and clear. Never tried WRE before, only got around 400 hours on this game as ERE and Picts. Lets do this!

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Thanks for watching. Go get em!

[@davidborwick2339]

So, you're spot on re the Suebians. On my seventh try so far, I allowed a few of them to get away and I have Suebian halfstacks running around Gaul. Going to start again! Gotta say its also true what you said - this is not enjoyable!! Its a slog for sure but a good one@@ElvenPlotArmour

[@russoft]

I've rewatched this video about 3 times. I'm going to fail miserably, but here goes!

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

May you be luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan

[@seantrain6194]

Awesome vid man just started attila recently playing as Eastern rome on hard and I'm struggling but these tips are invaluable

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Good luck mate. Attila's systems really do take a bit of practice to get comfortable with. Now restore the glory of Rome!

[@satanwithinternet2753]

holy shit bro this is probably the best guide video i have ever seen. cheers man

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Cheers for the comment. Hope it helps!

[@WarshMeh]

I abandoned everything except a few key provinces the penalty goes away after a turn or 2 and the generals happiness increase when you bring them home to Rome. Saying its incorrect is obscene its just a different strategy. When you rebuild you can set up the empire the way you like it enabling you keep track of your more important provinces.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Appreciate your take. I initially though that would be the case, but in reality I found all abandoning does is delay the exact issues. It's still a matter of always defeating revolts on the battlefield and defending frontiers, abandoning means you delay the inevitable. The game become easier once you completely eliminate factions and close off frontiers. So long as Africa and Britain are kept in check, the Rhine/Danube is relatively easy to hold. Abandoning territory, I found means you end up having to claw back to this initial start except many smaller tribes will now be bigger and take more work (they'll all still hate you and likely be a stronger alliance against you now). My honest feeling is that the "abandon everything" tactic is one that is one most players don't play through to the end game. Similar to converting to Paganism - early game solution in a game that has several late game problems! Despite how terrible the building system is in Attila, I love the time setting so have played it a fair bit and I found this to be by far the most dominant tactic on Legendary. What's your recommended strategy by the mid game?

[@WarshMeh]

@@ElvenPlotArmour that's part of the problem people look forward to just endgame strategies. The mid game would consist of mostly management the same thing you'd have to do with in the beginning if you're just keep all your provinces. In reality in mid game as you slowly expand out in Attila like you would in Rome one in the early classical period. You can deal with revolts the weather change and everything as you expand that includes the religious part of the game which I find is pretty irritating. But also slowly expanding into the more fertile areas is also beneficial abandoning Gaul and head south is usually what I do. Once you have all the food it's all about keeping your citizens happy even with paganism. If a province results too much I won't hesitate to destroy the whole province to rebuild it I know it sounds counterproductive but it's not. It's almost a coin toss whether you'll run a better one next time

[@rockstar450]

Abandoning anything before the Rhine is herassy! I overthrow you with the Rhine forces! Game over :)

[@WarshMeh]

@@rockstar450 hahah I just seen the new rtr for rome 1. Check it out. 900 settlements!

[@adamhebert5365]

Thank you sir. Great stuff. I’m off to salt the Earth and fortify my holdings.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

For the Glory of Rome.

[@ML-old]

One extremely important part for this to work well is to diplomatically bait nations into wars with your enemies. This has triple benefits - weakens your enemy (maybe... probably not). bumps the bamboozled faction's attitude to you quite a bit for having common enemies, and, most importantly, makes the involved party way less likely to declare war on you. The scariest nations for me are usually not the obvious enemies - they're the "neutral" nations next to your border with no enemies to fight... the player bias makes them really like declaring war on you out of the blue. If they have an enemy already, they're very likely not to pick another fight (with you), if they don't - even a quite friendly nation can decide you're a good target. Half of the factions at the start will be happy to join the war against Quadians, even though they are far from them (a couple can agree to fight Saxons too...). If you can get Suebians to join the war against someone, more often than not they bugger off instead of starting a fight with you... Be aware though, as soon as a that common enemy is defeated, everyone will start looking around and licking their chops at your land - so it's always best to finish the common enemy yourself on your turn, instantly start another war against someone weak and invite the idle factions to it again.

[@superduper3722]

“Christianity better than Paganism” You dont understand how amazingly BASED that is

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Haha this comment genuinely made me laugh

[@Finwaell]

yeah, nah, christianity is the reason Roman Empire fell apart. in terms of the game it doesn't matter much which you choose if you stick to it, but that being said pagan buildings are better and you don't lose legacy techs, soooo...

[@praisebegamecocks]

​@@FinwaellHow? The East carried on for another thousand years.

[@shenpaisei8922]

@@Finwaell found the guy who fell asleep during history lessons

[@waggishtickle]

Just finished The Last Roman campaign as separatists. Kingdom of Rome --> WRE! Only the Franks remain. Great video cheers.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Congratulations! ...time to really reshape history :)

[@sindrebv]

Great video! Thanks!

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Cheers!

[@chungang7037]

Thanks for the video, it is one of hardest total war experiences but one of the most rewarding. I also love the politics system, where having your king at the head of an army is awesome for influence, having kids and watching them grow into leaders, all the while a stray arrow could take your leader out 😂

[@ReviveHF]

If you converted into Graeco Roman Paganism, build statues instead of religious building and stadium for public order, and these don't consume food. But requires marble resources.

[@towerofmemory5348]

Most of the tactics here are good. I usually go for not abandoning settlements strategy. But christianity is a no go. Early-mid game is ok but if you want to upgrade your settlements to tier 4, you will never have enough sanitation. Tech is blocking those. I dont care if its blocking theathers and libraries (which is obivously suck) but bathhouses. You were saying you will need food right? when you get the tech to unlock higher tier churches, you cannot upgrade any of your sanitation buildings above tier 2. Which means you will need 3 of them in all provinces. Wheres the food benefiction of the church now? On the other hand tier 4 city sanitation building gives you 16 sanitation to all regions with just the cost of the 200 manitaince cost. Plus gives you 4 public order which the half of highest tier of church might i add. With aqueduct network building you will need only 1 more in minor settlements if you truely upgrade all your main chain builldings to tier 4. Which in this case as you told aswell its the provicencial capital building. This building will the only one you cannot upgrade without a minor settlement bathhouse with very few exceptions. Even that issue will be solved if you convert to pagan. You get 2 sanitation to all provinces for free anyways. Plus i never built a temple with pagan romans. May be one for getting my priests. Circus is alredy providing infuelance and your regions already have local traditions for it. I tried man, seriously. I tried my darnest to stay as christian roman as western roman empire. But i couldnt solve my sanitation. Couldnt even fully upgrade to tier 3 buildings without having sanitation issues. Balancing food is so easy in this game. Of course camel farms would be the best but fish, sheep and cattle will get you through even infertile provinces. If you still having trouble with food knock down your province capitals main building and it will sort it out. You will still have walls there. Btw, im not even an atilla expert. I am however a Rome 2 expert and mechanics wasnt that different. And that western roman empire campaign i played was my first time. In the end, i conqured whole map, wiped everyone and my settlements was tier 4. Well, lets say %75 of them. But all i was missing settlement buildings. Rest was tier 4. Everyone was happy. Got through all climate changes, scored over 2k food produce per turn. All thanks to paganism. I even uploded a mod for removing that legacy tech blockage for my next campaign which was Eastern roman empire. But return to paganism. Thats all i wanted to say. It will be much much much easier. Peace. ;)

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Cheers for sharing your experience. I experimented with Paganism but Christianity I've always found is worth it come the mid game. Paganism is tempting in the early game with the given challenges, but as soon as climate change and other late game considerations hit the glory wears off. I feel like Paganism gets a huge glowing review because the harsh truth is turns take a long time in this title and few players actually play past turn 20 which is still during the Pagan honeymoon period. The building system in this game is literally the worst, and that's on top of the horiffic sanitation building. So much bloat to only build Governor Buildings and Aquaducts lol. That's how I managed it then built markets to and fishing warfs to manage food. Once you secure your borders and eliminate some enemies, money is little issue and santition and food is the bigger issue which is the tipping point where Christianity pays off, at least on legendary difficulty with the additional PO penalty.... surviving that long is the incredibly hard part, on any difficulty. It's interesting how we couldn't find value in each other's strats haha. Regardless of how you get there, if you've survived this campaign I salute thee and it's great to see someone make it with a different (proven) strat.

[@towerofmemory5348]

@@ElvenPlotArmour Well, when i play a total war game, i go for map completion. On top of that i have to build all buildings to max tier. Kind of like a pyschopath lol. But with christinanity it is impossible to go max tier. I tested it. Not enough sanitation with that religion. Money and food always managable at higher tier buildings but christianty isnt offering saniation. Especially with those tech blocking. But in order to get higher tier churches you need those techs. Im not talking about early-mid-late game here. Im talking about post-post late game. :)

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

@@towerofmemory5348 Ah, ok then, I agree if trying to max all buildings then I completely see why you'd go the Pagan way! I'm very much focused on surviving haha. I find myself focusing on payoff with buildings across the empire which tends to mean having to spread the construction around rather than building super tall in select areas. I've played to long victory a couple of times, but can't say I've painted the map. You sir, are a true completionist!

[@Chris-fk6ch]

(player who beat this campaign on legendary this is total war here) While there are some useful tips, there are some major flaws in this guide. the biggest one is telling players not to build farms: a lvl 2 sheep flock costs 1275 gold and gives you 1050 gold and 80 food per turn early game for only -1 public order and squalor. The food ports cost you 3000 gold for 50 food and 450gold and gives -2 public order and squalor. Build sheep flocks in every minor settlement early game and you will have enough gold in 20-30 turns to win the campaign

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

First up, well done. Patience alone needed for this one is an achievement and thanks for sharing your thoughts. If there was no climate change in this game I'd double down on farms for the reasons you present, but I've found (just like Paganism) it's a strategy that delivers heavy in the early game at won't support you in the late game, meaning it's better to invest in fishing and markets which will carry you the entire game and focus on buildings that will improve income and public order. Not saying your approach is bad or mine is definitively better, just presenting the rational behind why I found this strategy more effective. Overall, most of the advice I see only works for the first half of the campaign because (not surprisingly) most don't finish this campaign. I enjoyed your economy focused farming approach and should give it a try some time.

[@drshnutslol2917]

I got lucky all 3 desert tribes traded, and became military allies with me very lucky also the huns never attacked me and they actually became friends because of enemy of my enemy is my friend!!! and i also hired alot of horse archers from the huns which melt barbarian tribes! so far i have advanced all the way to Poland and no barbarian tribes are alive but i am allied with all 3 Britannia factions so id say this comp is going really good but then my second one was an absolute disaster everyone and i mean everyone apart from the ERE are at war with me its crumbling but im able to survive JUST barly !

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Yes! That first run is the absolute lottery! haha. I really believe some rolls on the NPC factions can make this campaign virtually unplayable. The "negative snowball" is so ridiculous the only way to play is 'perfect' every step and I do hate how it deprives you of any creativity thanks to the worst civil/admin system in any TW game. That said, I love hard campaigns and this is immensely rewarding when you get it going. I absolutely love hiring Hunnic archers and restoring the legions to their glory while seeking out the best auxiliary. Either way, seems you're an excellent player and mad respect for holding the empire together! Yes, you can get rid of half of it, but in reality those provinces would simply raise their own Emperors and divide the Empire rather than shrink it... I also like to focus on wedding Stilicho's son to Arcadius' daughter to begin a new dynasty. In my favourite campaign after trying to deal with Aleric, Stilicho personally ended him on the battlefield and killed Attila too. For me, the campaign is an alternative history of Stilicho's life. The West was always going to be absorbed by Germanic migration, but after Stilicho's foresight was lost it gradually became a spiraling plain crash of economic collapse and instability.

[@tadgu9770]

to be honest playing with ere on legendary especially "this is total war" way is more harder than wre. There are some set back and wait type of playing styles with wre or you can always do visigoth diplo for money or deafet alamans, caledons and quadians in the first turn. Also you can try other religions for romans just for a challane and role play. I recommend minor religions ERE campaign. Good and detaild guide !!

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Thanks mate. Personally, the ERE campaign when played in the same broad method as outlined here is nowhere near as difficult, provided you can support the WRE into surviving (which is my personal goal when doing that campaign). I find quickly destroying the Goths, peace out with the Sassanids and get the Huns onside to attack the Sassanids come the late game is the road to success. Regardless, this game isn't easy no matter which way you splice it haha.

[@tadgu9770]

@@ElvenPlotArmour making it easy is never our goal anyway :D

[@beermaster3359]

I change to Arrian Christian....the church produce food :) good vídeo bro

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Thanks mate

[@MaxCerc]

Thanks for the video, which is excellent. A couple of comments: 1) On turn 1 I find it important to sell the industrial buildings that provide penalties 2) One type of farm is not bad, even when the climate changes substantially 3) Do you think it would be possible to eliminate the Caledonians on turn 1?

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Hey mate, sorry for the late reply. I'd need to dive into Attila again to comment on those as I'm in need for a re-famil! One of the farm types isn't bad, but I've found going too heavy in them bites you later when the climate changes. While securing Brittania could be useful, I think it commits too much away from more pressing regions, but it's not a ridiculous concept by any means.

[@JuveVinny]

Just picked this up on sale. I'm an old school TO player started with Shogun when it first came out. Also played ME 1&2 and Rome. I'm just getting back into PC gaming and picked up a bunch of games today on the Steam summer sale. I'll use this guide to help me out. lol

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Good luck mate, she's a hard one. If you're super frustrated Rome 2 is a much more enjoyable experience!

[@JuveVinny]

@@ElvenPlotArmour I purchased Rome 2 also. I got both Romes, Atilla, Napoleon. I played Rome 2 the last two days. Love it.

[@bestemark]

A few questions: -Why would you need tier4 settlements when you've already managed to defend for so many turns? -Why even care about christianity -What do you mean with defening a tower in siege defence. In the past I always just defended the city center.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

- Tier 4 minor settlements are needed to get walls. You'll notice in this campaign that the revolts and attacking armies get very strong, very quickly and you'll need Tier 4 settlements to stop the Huns when they attack, otherwise they'll walk right through you. - Christianity is the longterm best play. Going Pagan is good in the early game, and most players don't make it past this point so they believe it's better. Later in the campaign money and public order are easy to produce with Governor Estates, but Food becomes WAY more problematic while gold is plentiful. If you can make it to the mid game, Christianity will pay off in spades as it allows you the food you'll need to support your lategame Empire. - Having your army near a tower blocks the enemy from taking it down, while also allowing the tower to rain arrows on the enemy and deal some great damage. I've found this a simple and effective means of making a humble garrison really deal some damage, even in defeat. Otherwise the enemy will stand next to the tower and knock it down, leaving your troops to do all the damage. Thanks for the questions!

[@nathaniel4334]

Excellent!

[@SultanHam-ql2ev]

This is me sultan again. But uh I lost my KZbin channel but man love this video, please you are the best man. Watching bittersteel kill himself in Italy just sent me back to this video absolutely amazing bro. Plus with a few mods you can rebuild some without cheating (although I love cheating hehe)

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Was a slog to make this video and it was a sleeper hit... thankfully - I have PTSD from playing this campaign so many times haha

[@henryb.7723]

Do you have any playthrough videos of your WRE campaign on Legendary? Would be great to watch that series

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Honestly, I played this campaign so many times I swore I'd retire from Attila after playing it haha. If I had to fight another rebellion I'd need counseling. It'll surely happen, just not in the immediate future :)

[@proximityAlert]

I would also be interested in watching this. There arent many full WRE playthroughs out there and the ones that are seem to be at least 4 years old at this point. Would love to watch your strategies in action

[@DoctorCurse]

Would've loved to see you fight and win some of the first battles to actually see the strategy

[@vaibhavvyas2202]

Hunnic wife it is realistic by the way, Attila was going to marry the daughter of the emperor

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Well, he thought he was :)

[@Swaggaccino]

You pretty much have to abandon all settlements and fall back to Italia. You have way too many regions to manage with not enough troops or coin. Same goes for ERE even though the Sassanids aren’t too bad.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

That is certainly a viable strategy, but as a history nerd it's something I just can't bring myself to do. Hence why I enjoy this alternate history if Stilicho had taken the throne and saved the west! Attempting to abandon this territory would have just created civil wars and break off states like in the Third Century, so I scienced this game to see if it can be done, and done strong. While researching this, I understand the "turtle to Italy" strategy is strong early on but if you compare the midgame of this strategy to methodically holding Iberia, Italy and Gaul I really think giving up territory merely delays the issues of the Empire. Real progress only seems to come when eliminating the enemy factions which persistently raid and all naturally dislike the Empire so will usually turn that way regardless. Regarding the ERE, I know what you mean! The golden key with that campaign lies in keeping the Huns on side, avoiding war with the Sassanids and getting them to fight each other!

[@Swaggaccino]

@@ElvenPlotArmour Yeah for sure. It pains me to abandon the regions as well but the issue here is with the game logic. I know the WRE was crumbling but the game barely gives you any coin or armies and all your buildings are only level 1. Historically Rome still held a ton of gold and ability to muster legions. The historical issue was with food, corruption and waves of endless enemies.

[@huntclanhunt9697]

I won a match as a Christian WRE... It was hell. I lost Gaul and Britain but managed to hold the alps chokepoints. One of my legions, Legio VI, won 5 battles in one turn against Huns.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

For the glory of Rome! You are truly worthy of a triumph!

[@huntclanhunt9697]

@@ElvenPlotArmour I don't think I had enough men left after the 5th battle for a triumph, man... My army had like 120 men left...

[@AirAssault7]

@@huntclanhunt9697 🤣

[@redzisan]

Atilla with Fall of the Eagles mode is much more fun :-)

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

I'll need to try, thanks for the recommend!

[@federicotribbia3099]

thanks for guide

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Thanks for watching!

[@atarashii]

awesome guide!! whats the background music? its super relaxing!

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

I recorded and produced it myself in ableton live . Thanks for watching!

[@chepux01]

Great video

[@daarksideyt]

How is this an HOUR long? 1. Sell the churches(recruit two/three priests first, free scouts). Thats givesyou ~42000 starting credits, two rounds in a row. 2. DEFEND every settlement. Every bit of damage that you do to the attacker, forces him to take time off before he can attack again. But.... it is time consuming and needs to be done often. But.... AI is.... AI and hence can be abused MASSIVELY(baricades work like magents towards AI melee units +archers on top = massive kills(two full enemy units)).

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Sounds like you have a strategy that works for you. Anyone that can win this campaign is doing several things right as I criticism Attila heavily for being a limited campaign (good battles though). I think selling churches only works if intending to vacate half your territory, which is a valid strategy but not one I enjoy as it just wouldn't happen in real life - hence my stubbornness to fight for every inch haha. I do feel there's a 'major' overassumption that Paganism is better when in fact Christianity pays off massively in the mid to late game. I think this is a symptom of very few people making it past turn 20, because this is the point where all inefficiencies snowball into collapse. In regards to battles, I agree completely with raining arrows on crowds. I try to avoid cheesing/exploits as a personal preference, so this can certainly be done more aggressively. In terms of defending, the damage to buildings can snowball rebellions so I feel the most important thing is eliminating enemies and stabilising public order. After that things can turn around. Anyway, thanks for sharing your strats. Always keen to see how others tackle it.

[@daarksideyt]

@@ElvenPlotArmour I agree with your overall approach. If one has the desire to roleplay/play a certain way, one should be informed about the MANY posibilities. If one wants to pack the info of "how to win A:TW as WRE" in a tweet, my approach would suffice. I am at turn 37 and have ~27000 income/Turn. Some regions are still rebelious but thats because i choose to let them be that way(general training ground + invested in economy first + the war situation was never dire enought to need the legions at the front and if so, only for a small and enemy crushing expedition). Now that the Sassanids attacked EastR and i need atleast two full stacks(night battles + horse archers make alot of silly battle victories possible), i went into public order managment again. Lets see how that wors out and if there is a balance betweend bread and circuses to find and pagan.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

@@daarksideyt It's great there's different approaches, even in Attila which I argue really lacks dynamic on the map. My method is certainly not the most simple (it took an hour haha) but no method really is in this title. It sounds like you have your method absolutely dialed down to an art and it clearly works well. No method is easy - cheers for sharing yours!

[@falken5688]

More atilla/historical videos pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaae

[@Derp_Skilz]

you act as the battle against the alamans its easy, but i can't seem to get trough the gates. But the quadians i can take out in turn 1

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Sorry you're having trouble, it's been a while since I've played that battle. I didn't recall it being too difficult. The tip is to pile in to the centre with your units with high melee defence then shower arrows (always the +AP ones) overhead. Cycle charge cav to break and then route who you can. I like to have 40-60 min battle timers on, but if you only have 20 mins it may be a bit tight

[@Derp_Skilz]

@@ElvenPlotArmour i tried out a few tactics and eventually found one that works. Buy it is definitely not a beginner friendly battle. I have been playing legendary for years now and i had a lot of trouble.

[@lispylou]

Anyone know why, when I start a new game as WRE my starting income is negative 3000?

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Any mods active>

[@jsl1181]

Great advice . My only question is, can’t you have goat farms instead of regular farms to counteract the climate change ?

[@BareRoseGarage]

Great guide and thanks for doing this, man. Quick Question, why do you kill the Emperor in the beginning to transfer the throne? His starting stats are horrible as a General, but not too bad as a "Free Governer" to help boost a province in the beginning. Does keeping him alive as a Governor have a "Snowballing Negative" later on that I'm missing? Thanks again for this GREAT guide my friend, as it is right up the alley of the way I play.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Thanks for watching. 2 reasons: 1. Honorius' traits and influence can be quickly surpassed with Stilicho winning a few battles, and (more importantly) 2. Historically Honorius (for me) is Western Rome's worst Emperor. His long life did provide some stability, but his inaction and diplomatic incompetence essentially begged the Goths (who held the chips and still wanted a joint solution) into sacking Rome. He's refuse to risk meaningful military measures but then treated barbarians like animals, not even humoring them despite the fact they held the cards. Rome was never going to be what it was in the west again, but Honorius wielded diplomacy like he had 2nd Century legions when he needed to create alliances to defend his borders to ease the migrating pressure. Prior to this he'd killed Stilicho (the general who checked Germanic expansion yet was half Vandal so was skilled diplomatically, albeit ambitious) and then slaughtered Goths which only swelled the armies that would pillage Italy. Honorius' situation was among the hardest, but the Empire needed a strong leader and his cowardice and arrogance caused needless suffering for all sides. In this alternate history we off Honorius and allow Stilicho to ascend. Rome was already on its way to being a Germanic/Roman successor, but as a wise man said, "Not today."

[@BareRoseGarage]

Love the historical take on it man, and I totally get you on it. I'm playing it out by burring him within the walls of Rome to play Nero's Harp while others do all the dirty work for him. I'm hoping Honorius will become Honorable for Rome, but I won't know until that story is written on the next few turns. @@ElvenPlotArmour

[@BH02377]

@@BareRoseGarage how did it work out with Honorius because I’m contemplating keeping him around as well??

[@BareRoseGarage]

It actually turned out quite well and forced me to play a little different than normal. Oddly enough it made me think more about playing "offensive-turtle" instead of hard charging in with my leader to keep his influence building. I think CA might've thought about that, and it's why he has those stats at the beginning unlike the Eastern Empire. Also, some REALLY dumb luck, Africa & Britian stayed with me. Only 1 of the tribes in each area was against me and following Elven's advice it was pretty easy to turn the other 2 tribes in those regions against them and keep them happy with me. Africa did so well that I never had to put an Army down there. One Tip I have that goes with this though, is build 3 Navies as soon as it's possible. Park them on "patrol" in the Narrow Straights of Britian, Gibraltar & the entrance to "the Black Sea" in that order. That stops the Norse from getting around and into your backside, helps defend the cities of west Africa long enough to get an Army there if needed, and stops the Migrants from using the Black Sea as an entry into your undefended areas. All they will have is transports and you can knock out double doom stacks pretty easily with 1 Navy. Another thing I found out just recently is that if you marry a Hunic daughter when their son's come of age, they go to the Huns not you. I'm still playing this one, but it's been a lot of fun for sure. Hope that helps and good luck my friend! @@BH02377

[@pcgamingforevah]

how am I suppose to listen and read what's on the screen at the same time?

[@ares106]

Having to fight the same settlement defense battle over and over and over against the boring AI that rushes it’s entire army into choke points is the main reason this campaign is just not enjoyable.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

And this is the least cheesy and most roleplaying/realistic way of playing this campaign I could do! Attila's public order and sanitation system is really bad imho. I have a video of how Age of Charlemagne fixed Attila and made an enjoyable game out of it that might interest you. Cheers for watching!

[@ares106]

@@ElvenPlotArmour Agreed, running to Spain is silly and a copout. I did enjoy Charlemagne (and agree with most of the points in your video) but it felt a little unfinished, for example iirc there was a confederation mechanic that wasn’t quite implemented. It would have benefited from a few more moths of development at least that was my impression at the time. I was also a bit disappointed with the map focusing on Western Europe only and the ERE being a non playable faction. I would have loved a bigger map with a larger scope or even an additional “rise of Islam” dlc. It could have been a great link between Rome total war and Medieval Total war that the series has never explored. Perhaps the wild success of Warhammer convinced them their resources are better spent elsewhere.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

@@ares106 I essentially agree with all your points. I think a rise of Islam is an incredible major title in the waiting. Would be great to focus on the Arab expansion as the 'easy' mode with very hard Persian and ERE starts. The campaign could continue past the Umayyad caliphate with a Frankish campaign going from their conquests to taking control of the Papacy (ie Charlemagne). Some amazing moments, but they need to find a way of rebalancing the historical titles so you don't conquer Europe in 20 yeas haha. Warhammer has taken attention away, but this has been an amazing sandbox for new mechanics which will give us richer faction variety than we've ever seen in historical titles. I believe the next ME or R3 will be every bit as immersive as long as they nail the vibe and characters on the campaign map.

[@brianterry8317]

It's a shame that the garrisons aren't a bit more historically accurate with more variety of units. I always look for mods that add diversity without increasing the garrisons to absurd levels It's a shame that the makers of the game didn't place garrisons in all the factions settlements and allowed the player to just recruit the units they want to fight in garrisons Historically not all settlements had garrisons IMO the mechanics of the game need changing so more generals can be recruited to allow the player to make up the garrisons of their choosing. Furthermore; armies should be able to be formed without having to recruit a general.

[@theotenbrink8834]

Attila must be beaten more often then 2 times in battle. more like 5 times. or am I missing something

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

I think it's RNG, potentially, but it's usually just 2 times with him actually falling in the battle itself. Assassins I believe can get the first message "Only a Man", but can't deliver the final defeat to finally kill him.

[@DrewDawg733]

I can't really read the mods that are listed in first couple minutes or your video. Tried on multiple resolutions and just can't get it right....all blurry. Some of them I can guess at, but a list would be awesome. Edit: Figured it out...mods in reply.

[@DrewDawg733]

1. No Arcade Effects 2. More Detailed Unit Stats Tab 3. Natural Water Mod 4. Atilla: Flora HD 1.0 5. Cinematic Combat 6. More Bold Campaign Borders V2 7. Turn Time Improvement Fixes for Attila for Better Campaign Map FPS (and slow computers) 8. Olympian Campaign Camera 9. Olympian Battle Camera The QoL/Cheat mods on right side of screen: 1. Loyalty Penalty from Offices fixed 2. [MAGA] Region Trading

[@krystofcisar469]

What sucks in attila is that difficulty settings dont make AI better - its just huns and separatists will cheat way more and you get bunch of irrational penalties :D not really fun. I´ll probably never play WRE campaign again :D its just too much tryharding to enjoy. I never kenw that you´ll permanently lost household items if character dies, so that was quite uefil tip, thx :)

[@citizenx7585]

How to have good relations with the huns?

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

Tip is to stop in from degrading too poorly to start with. Getting them to join wars, paying if you have to, is a good way of doing this. The battles you fight will be seen as military actions they favor. Since they are so violent, you can often just ask them to join war against neutral factions and they'll do so. If you can get a military alliance this will allow you to attack far away tribes and keep them far from your lands. While doing this the ultimate prize is to get them eventually on friendly terms with Eastern Rome and direct them to the Sassanids. This weakens your greatest enemy while keeping your lands free from raiding.

[@leoss1515]

I would like to know how to play rome in ancient empires mod

[@chrismorgan503]

After watching your campaign, I've started to really appreciate Attila. A game I rarely ever played. I did have one request, can you suggest an early, mid and late game army composition?

[@flaggy185]

can someone telll me the mods he used?, i cant see them well with bad internet lol

[@DrewDawg733]

I know you asked 10 months ago, but for you and anyone else that comes along: 1. No Arcade Effects 2. More Detailed Unit Stats Tab 3. Natural Water Mod 4. Atilla: Flora HD 1.0 5. Cinematic Combat 6. More Bold Campaign Borders V2 7. Turn Time Improvement Fixes for Attila for Better Campaign Map FPS (and slow computers) 8. Olympian Campaign Camera 9. Olympian Battle Camera The QoL/Cheat mods on right side of screen: 1. Loyalty Penalty from Offices fixed 2. [MAGA] Region Trading

[@flaggy185]

@@DrewDawg733 thanks!, no problem, better late than never, haha!

[@Finwaell]

Eh, it's not so bad. You can easily do it with paganism and I would argue it's much better still. You can always make food and the legacy buildings and pagan temples are just too good. Also demolishing every church at the beginning gives you like 60k to start with. You can fully develop your core regions with that and recruit. Good thing is to also immediately lower taxes to where they cause just -1 to public order. it increases growth as well and you'll get a lot of income from immigration as well. When immigration starts causing po issues, just increase taxes again to mitigate that. Subjugated factions won't betray you if you subjugate someone with a good trait and if their opinion of you is good. I gifted the suebi a settlement which pinned them down and when they declared, subjugated them and they immediately went to like +300 relations and were paying me tributes ever since. The rest here is really just basic stuff. I found the campaign a bit overhyped. The barbarians are super weak, the rebellions are worse than them . And yet, you can kill a whole army with like 4 unit garrison or cripple them so much they pose no threat. You don't need to kill Honorius, if you use him in battle enough he can shape to be a good Emperor. Also Stilocho's wife isn't the worst since she gives him influence and is fertile :) Use the offices to manage your generals influence so they don't overtake the emperor. you also want your heir kitted out because if you get a weak one and the emperor dies everything can collapse. Anyway at the end of the day you are still num 1 strenght rank like ALL the time, so there's no real threat there, the only way to lose this would be to just autoresolve and be super dumb about it :D

[@ruibarros9292]

Hey....furs give you food....you really chose a bad exemple

[@azeemsiddiqui4764]

Detailed but you act conceited thinking that we can actually do it without screwing up because that is just not a good assumption to make at all. You also assume that we are all good at military command and will perfectly execute army comps to kill enemies. It's ridiculous to assume these things. "don't make mistakes"? That's silly to even say.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

I think this is a fair criticism, this is simply a very difficult campaign and there isn't a cut and dry way of easily making it work. There are several instances where plans can be hindered and you'll need particular elements to exceed expectations. Getting impatient with this campaign is a sure way to blunder it. I could have covered certain areas in more depth but I felt the video was long enough.

[@Juvelira]

WRE was very difficult only at 1.0 ver, where it started with negative income, there were some battle inajustments like barricades being deatroyed in 3 seconds and so on. Afterwards every patch in the game increased the empires income, corruption dropped significantly, most of its units recruitment time reduced from 2 to 1 turn which is unsanly OP and so on. Now if you start a campaugn you'll see income of 5500 from turn 1, which is basically the upkeep of 30+ legionary comitatences super strong early game infantry.

[@ElvenPlotArmour]

I do agree, this campaign is easier than it used to be, but it's still a slog. I think the greatest challenge is manually fighting all the battles in a test of willpower haha. It all depends on how you want to play. I avoid cheesing so I prefer the campaign now, that it's playable as intended without derping the AI. No judgement to anyone who does, for me it just takes me out of the experience and I'm a simp for immersion. Cheers for the insight and unit/budget numbers!