Greek Cities: Rome Total War (VH/VH) Part 1

Today we begin the Imperial Campaign as the Greek Cities on Very Hard/ Very Hard difficulty!

[@wimvanuytven7858]

Lugatorix in other videos: make sure you are not fighting a war on all sides of your empire at the same time. Also Lugatorix: at war with the Romans, Carthage, Macedon, Seleucids and Pontus after 4 turns.

[@atreuskronos4474]

I’m about to play the campaign while watching this for advice and learn how to use Greece. Thanks for the video

[@lugotorix6173]

Good luck with your campaign, its a really fun faction to play as

[@atreuskronos4474]

Thanks! Yeah I’m a big fan of Ancient Greece. Thanks again for the good video

[@NobleKorhedron]

@@lugotorix6173 You forgot to mention Rhodes/Rhodos in the intro.

[@PhlilipeAlves]

They have the armored hoplites, with archers and heavy onagers they are practically indestructible. I'm starting a new campaign, let's see... I have played in H/H, and it's almost easy.

[@htoosaw9012]

If you are outnumbered by the enemy best option is to form a square or a triangle formation.

[@kormkor6390]

When using the General's Bodyguard as shock cavalry, and as Greek you really have no other options, I highly recommend using the general's Rally ability just before the charge impact happens. This stops the general himself and nullifies the risk of him dying upon impact, which happens rarely, but when it does it sure sucks seeing your best commander dismounted by charging against Militia Hoplites' backs. :p

[@lugotorix6173]

ah yes I've heard of that before actually, I should really do it more. I've recorded a bit ahead on this series, but I'll definitely start doing that from now on!

[@willnash7907]

@@lugotorix6173 Remember to always charge from the right and pivot to the left in order to secure a good position for your general as well.

[@Leon-oc4em]

I had no idea that the general stopped for a second to rally. Thanks.

[@GINAAKI1]

First episode and it is already interesting to watch.Can't wait for more

[@lugotorix6173]

partanu moldovanu Glad you're enjoying it!

[@PhlilipeAlves]

I really tried to play in VH/VH but I always loose. The battles are quite impossible to win and making money is almost the same. And I love playing with greeks. Edit 1: I started a campaign VH/VH with Greeks, not easy at all, I have the brutii and Macedonia against me in Sparta. Great!!! Let's see... Edit 2: 26 turns, 14 regions, almost no money and all battles in land are victories. I attacked first the Scpii instead of Carthaginians, it pays well, heroic battle. Then Brutii erased, but Pontus and Seleucids give me a hard time. Macedonia almost on the brake, but they still have some troops... Sicily mine, Greece too, but in Asia Minor, 2 setlements only and lots of battles against militia hoplites, 😡 Thanks for these videos!

[@Schyderap]

I recently started a Greek campaign in RTW and realised that you've made a huge mistake in first moves. You can get away with it on medium but on VH/VH you need to start with attacking Macedon and killing them as soon as possible. You can start expanding only after securing the greek peninsula which will make a center of your country and will bring tons of cash after each turn. Your mistake was opening doors for an attack from Brutii, Scypii, Macedon, Pontus and Seleucids at the same time which is difficult to repell on VH/VH.

[@0lintana]

When you just hold your ground, an attack at turn 3 with the extra money you gained by trade, you can make it easier t hold positions, and especially taking over ground!! First off start with the Macadons, to the rebels, infiltrate the Brutii's and take the Italian island, when you have this, that island is goin to become you're biggest front boost!!

[@aretiredsubberl7036]

I think he tends to play way too aggressive at the start. When hearing him attacking the Carthaginians in Sicily, I was like "wut?"

[@CrimsonCavalierGaming]

I love your commentary style. Really entertaining.

[@lugotorix6173]

Thanks a lot man

[@arazeth5562]

YASSS!! Finally it is here! The thing with the difficulty very hard is, that your militia hoplites are like peasants and their militia hoplites are like armoured hoplites on normal difficulty... good luck!

[@lugotorix6173]

Arazeth Yeah I've definitely noticed that the Militia hoplites are pretty useless on this difficulty

[@mrarduino2977]

Just a FYI, sadly slingers fire in a direct line, they will hit what ever is in front of them, they can not aim over the heads of freindly forces like archers can

[@zaatas]

I watched a few of these, and have some advice for anyone doing their first Greek campaign. Always keep 1-2 units of cavalry in your army. Even if their stats were all 1 and they had 1 morale they would still worth it for chasing down routing enemies, it can mean the difference of walking into an undefended city, or having to fight them later somewhere else. Luckily even the worst cav are nowhere near this bad so they can still be invaluable for their mobility by screening ranged units or using them as a hammer against an anvil. A few territories north of byzantium is the perfect recruiting place for horse archers and heavy chargers if having quality is a huge priority for you. Cav also tend to get the most experience, as capturing routers is a great source of it. So after a few battles, those crap cav are now actually half decent with a few chevrons. Don't worry about Anatolia at the start if you aren't that good or save scumming, just reinforce the garrison if you are worried about losing the settlement or just let Pontus take it, usually they will ignore the greek city there for awhile anyways. You should focus on mainland greece, and sicily at the start of the campaign because the Bruti and Scipi will be your main antagonist. Start building a barracks in Sparta and Syracuse on turn one, after they get city barracks build the nike temple line, and after that build towards the blacksmith line. You can have elites hoplites by turn five, and a few turns later experienced and upgraded ones shortly after. Always recruit cretan archers when they pop up. With these two units and a couple cav you have the strongest early army possible. Corinth, and Athens should be your first targets. Athens is the best money making town in the game, and you shouldn't enslave the pop there for a shit settlement. They are greek culture so just occupying is ideal. Build up the ports and roads, don't worry about military buildings. That's what Sparta and Syracuse are for, they are the military pumps and should always be producing units, the rest of your cities can focus on making money. Militia hoplites and peasants are fine for public order units. When your empire gets larger, you can upgrade the borders with city barracks and have retraining centers. Sicily should be your next target after capturing a few cities in mainland greece. You'll probably still be fighting macedon and probably the green roman faction. That's fine, just keep pumping out elite hoplites. They should more than handle their advances. When Syracuse has a decent stack move out and take out the blue romans. They will constantly send reinforcements from Capua, so the sooner the better. I usually push them off Sicily around turn one or two because I'm good at cheesing the AI, but if you have to wait for elite hoplites don't worry. Retrain and push out carthage. You can now use this army to push into africa, or southern italy. I'd recommend taking out the green romans and squashing the last blue roman city. Just defend southern italy until you feel comfortable pushing Rome. When you have killed these two roman factions it's pretty much easy street. Red will constantly send armies to push you out, but they are easy to defend against, much easier than the constant armies green and blue would have been sending. Once Macedon is gone, and the two roman factions are out, you should be making decent coin, have two decent stacks of elite hoplites. You can pretty much advance in any direction- I usually go after the remaining romans with one stack, and go the route of alexander with the other. This is just a general tip for any faction, but always try to protect your most experienced units, IE, if you have take a town send in the green units first. After the fight funnel the experienced troops into the beaten down ones, and retrain the experienced unit. You'll keep the the same experience for the main unit, but the other units will gain a couple chevrons. Its cheesy but damn its effective, like printing chevrons. You can bug this process by loading a save though, so make sure to always do it at the end of a turn, because if you load a game it oftens retrains them with low experienced troops for some reason. If you have to reload a game, just make sure to cancel the retraining and do it over again, it seems to fix this issue.

[@sji4521]

So interesting to watch others play Rome: Total War. Have played this game since its release, sporadically now, but I do come back to it from time to time as I do still enjoy the original. The Greek Cities are probably my favourite faction, closely followed by the House of Julii. Hoplites are such formidable troops, if used wisely. Some tips that I consistently use which have been successful: • At the outset, raise taxes to ‘Very High Tax Rate’ in each settlement. The campaign won’t last long if you run out of money. I keep the tax rate as high as the populace allows. • Build shrines/temples to Nike as this adds an experience bonus to troops trained there, which improves as temples are built. • Capture Athens as soon as possible (as Lugotorix did). • Focus on recruiting Hoplites and Armoured Hoplites before attacking any factions. Take a defensive, rather than aggressive posture, at the beginning of the campaign. This will give you time to build your armies, and enable you to defend your settlements if and when attacked. • Use spies to monitor what other factions are doing. If they’re taking an interest in your settlement, it will give you time to prepare for an attack. • Be patient and bide your time. Focus on building several armies where your settlements are situated. • Build fleets (Biremes initially, then Triremes when available). Your ports will be blockaded by various factions, which will cut off trade and income. You need to keep these trade routes open to ensure regular income. • Build mines (where available). Regular income obviously! • Keep an eye on Egypt! They will attack your settlements in Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey). • Have fun!

[@vr9401]

Started a new campaign yesterday in hard. Scipiis never accepted trade rights, I just abandonned sicily and went with my ship to athens, fought early the macedonians and it’s looking good atm. Also sent some diplomats to collect trade rights everywhere and ally with selucids to buy some time.

[@drakengarfinkel3133]

Nice! Great episode, btw!

[@lugotorix6173]

Draken Garfinkel Thanks man

[@gordonchard6243]

If you ever fancy a return to RTW, Parthia I've discovered is a great campaign to do. If done correctly it's like playing with Scythia but much more civilised.

[@thesmithenheimer9026]

I like the Greek cities, however I really struggle using phalanxes on the open field. I look forward to learning how to use them.

[@ChawpProphet]

I struggle with the standard front as flanks can be very hard to defend with weak javs or cavalry. I recommend creating a hexagon or circle with the phalanx troops then keep enough cav together to route heavier cav or general cav that may try to chase them off. Or keep your cav in the middle and they can rushing in to route the enemy troops that are breaking your circle/hexagon formation.

[@jaredvh7034]

I play Greek alot, on Very hard on both, just garrison, cities and use hops at their full effect.

[@janisliepins7902]

The time has come!!!

[@lugotorix6173]

Janis Liepins It has indeed!

[@jeffreyallan1370]

On VH/VH I focused on the Brutii first. Reinforced Appolonia destroyed siege armies. Crossed into Italy destroyed the Brutii. Destroyed scipii on Sicily. Gained naval superiority in seas around Italy. Attacked by Carthage. Seized the rest of Sicily. Meanwhile left Macedon to take Athens and expand north. Eventually took rebel settlements on Crete and Anatolia. Now I'm in a dominant position against Carthage and remaining Roman factions. The Julian's have moved South to retake my Italian settlements but I've got a full and half stack in settlements while I expand against Carthage in the Mediterranean and north Africa.

[@muddy5045]

I love those series

[@davidquezada50]

Continue this on the iPod

[@thirteenohnein4903]

well actually i really enjoy watching entire greek cities campaign, coz it feels like a serial, jeez , anyway please Do the Rome total war Remastered Greek cities Campaign!, I am waiting!!

[@Imwalkinghere24]

YEEEEESSS MA BOIII

[@giannistheofanopoulos]

Siege Corinth on turn 1, using spy to open gates, is mandatory, Spartan army is a lot stronger and you don't let him recruit.

[@0lintana]

There is a mod to add, that fixed almost everything from the units bugs!! And it get's much more direct gameplay while using the mod!! Its somewhere on the website of Moddb!!

[@atreuskronos4474]

Question for ya... do you prefer Rome total war or medieval total war? I feel like there is more diversity in troops in Rome total war

[@lugotorix6173]

Atreus Kronos I think both games a great to be honest. But I do prefer Rome total war for a variety of reasons. Like you said, there is a greater troop diversity, but also I enjoy the look of Rome more (more colourful in my opinion) and I have a bias towards it because it was my first total war game

[@Zamalshkay]

Finally

[@mrblackandwhite5104]

I left Syracuse, and took Sidon and Salamis instead, war in the east, as it's away from the Romans.

[@DiogoSantosFootball]

Great.Bon keep going

[@noteimporta2880]

Do you think we can give thermon to Macedonia and let them fight the brutii at start? Focus on Syracuse? I am playing autosave only on all factions and it's really really difficult and I lose very fast with 1 bad decision.

[@colmoe]

Can you do a Rebel faction overview?

[@lugotorix6173]

Yeah I can! I'm focusing on the M2TW guides at the moment, but after that i'll do it (should be relatively soon)

[@elih9700]

Spam cav, you never lose.

[@executeorder6559]

I’d it just me or does no one upload total waar

[@sheppeyislandproductions1472]

‘Geeza’

[@patriziodefazi4691]

Just maybe a stupid question. Why don't you play in huge unit scale?

[@lugotorix6173]

Patrizio De Fazi Its mainly because my laptop couldn't handle it. Battles can sometimes get up to four thousands troops on the field if both armies are strong, and there's no way my laptop could handle that

[@patriziodefazi4691]

@@lugotorix6173 by the way, your way to play is absolutely awesome. I never thought to steal Apollonia to the Brutii (Valerii in italian)

[@lugotorix6173]

Thank you! I would like to take credit but maybe taking Apollonia wasn't the best idea ever...

[@DarkestWinterNight]

love this!!!!

[@KIM-JONG-UN-84]

I always have trouble with happyness in my cities any advice? Im on a greek campaign i own greece and almost all of Italy. And everyone is angry

[@thedrno4901]

rezoukas1 just let them revolt then put the sword to them and the rest left fall in line

[@noehirschi1367]

recruit peasants in mass and send them die against pirates

[@KTporsche]

Calvary is trash but if you use them to flank the enemy it doesn't matter

[@htoosaw9012]

Maybe you could do a Remastered version when u can.

[@swiftelbow2743]

You sound a little like many a true nerd

[@lugotorix6173]

Swift Elbow I've been watching Many a True Nerd for a few years, so he's probably influenced me quite a lot...

[@footballforlife2643]

👌👌 i hope u do other serie for carthage and egypt and and britain and numidia / thrace and seleuced Of course after this serie end

[@lugotorix6173]

That's quite a few series haha, but sure I'd like to feature all those factions at some point

[@paulusrafaelis4337]

Hey i need help, this games lags af and i have medieval 2 and It dosent lag that much. Help

[@carboncrafter793]

MOAR!!!

[@VibiusJulius]

I want to meet with you, come to Turkey!

[@miltiadistsounellis5092]

Try to defend brutii only with your naval.

[@jamesmoon5632]

👍🏽

[@aidenh4681]

Yay

[@toradora1439]

Thats why I hate Slingers in RTW 1. They fixed the arch of the rock in RTW 2, but that game is trash by comparison.

[@noehirschi1367]

i think slings projectile in rtw2 are just reskinned arrow so technically they did not fixed the arch :P

[@paulrasmussen8953]

Too aggressive for my tastes

[@PwnZombie]

When surrounded on all sides, turtling will get you killed

[@meechie101]

yeah militia hoplites suck