How to Beat the Romans in Rome Total War - Strategy Guide

Today we discuss how to defeat the Romans on the campaign map in Rome Total War. Many tips/advice and strategy for the imperial campaign
Second channel: / @lugoreviews2805
Discord: / discord

[@lugotorix6173]

Sorry for the reupload! I accidentally uploaded the wrong video the first time around haha. Thanks to William for pointing it out lol

[@BronzetheGolden]

I haven't seen the vid but the fact that you named yourself after lugotorix of Gaul teaching barbarian,hellenistic and carthaginian kids to beat rome is the funniest thing I saw in my life I will cherish this moment man

[@misterdoctor8234]

Thank you for the uploads... This is such an underrated channel

[@romanfedotov1152]

Roman factions can be stopped only in early game , after the reforms and if Romans have lots of settlements you can't defeat them because of economy disadvantage.

[@misterdoctor8234]

@@romanfedotov1152 It is possible to stop the Romans after the reforms. It's not easy but it is possible with several factions.

[@romanfedotov1152]

@@misterdoctor8234 Greece or Egypt can. Barbarian factions can't .

[@doubledouble4g379]

That 1 dislike must be from the S.P.Q.R ;)

[@lugotorix6173]

hahahhaa

[@gabork5055]

Sheevus Maxentius: 'No! No! Nooooo!'

[@misterdoctor8234]

I thought it was Biggus Dickus who had disliked it

[@baronbrummbar8691]

@@misterdoctor8234 or his wife incotenentia buttucks

[@HouseOfAlastrian]

@@misterdoctor8234 Ah yes... one of the greatest Romans of all time, Biggus Dickus. A very cultured man educated by the great Greek philosopher Testicles.

[@benjaminjames5157]

Handy Tip if you are a poor and weak faction like Spain, have a few armies made up purely of about 5 cavalry units. Station them in mountain passes where it is impossible for enemy armies to pass you without a battle. When you go to battle deployment, start your units at the top of a mountain. By the time the enemy has marched with in missile distance, sound the charge and let your cavalry plaster into their troops. They will be exhausted and wavering already and when they take a full power cavalry charge to the front, the whole army will flee. Another tip is to hold bridges. Like between massilia and Narbo Martias for example - have two spear units at the bridge entrance (if you can’t recruit spear units then pay mercenary barbarian warband) and have missile units to the left and right of the the spear units along the bank edge. (Again if you can’t recruit good middle units then pay mercenary slingers). When the enemy charges your spear warband on the bridge they will ofcourse be stuck in a huddle. Then have your missile troops pepper then from the side. As the enemy is huddled this effect will be large. Once they have lost 1/4 - 1/3 of troops or if your warband is near breaking, then send in Calvary to full power charge. If you can, once the enemy is engaged with your warband on the bridge, if the map allows, send your cavalry units around another crossing and come at them from their side of the bridge too. They are then sandwiched on the bridge

[@anonymouswashingtoncenter3462]

Ya after exterminating all of Britania, I actually found the rwcruitmwnt in spain much better

[@vitoanania6042]

Carthago. Elephants break gates, you can proactively eliminate in few turns all Roman factions

[@lucaswilker6692]

That's the best use of that shit dwarf elephants.

[@lucaswilker6692]

That's the best use of that shit dwarf elephants.

[@hannibalburgers477]

In my game elephants cant attack gates, so i just blitz to Magna Graecia and "Jericho" my way to Rome. I am not ashamed.

[@johnpotts8308]

@@hannibalburgers477 They can only attack wooden gates (Level 1 & 2 City Walls, IIRC). If they upgrade further than that, they're elephant proof. Another reason you need to blitz the Roman factions (I normally leave Rome itself until last and besiege it once I've taken the rest of Italy).

[@hannibalburgers477]

@@johnpotts8308 I my game, they can't attack any kind of gate, or a wall. I sent them and they just walk around, get sniped by enemy archers.

[@alejoalfonso1459]

You got it absolutely right with the autoresolve. Yesterday I did a game of Carthage and I attacked Messana in the second turn, knowing only the Scipii faction leader is guarding it. Used autoresolve and my elephants were all wiped out and my generals almost faced the same result.

[@lucaswilker6692]

Auto resolve only works against garrisoned generals in medieval 2 where we can get even 0 casualties. Put your low value troops before the high in the army before autoresolve. The shit troops will get all casualties

[@brianmayabella5992]

AI is bad compared to MTW2.

[@loowick4074]

I like that the one consistent thing since rome 1 too modern total war is elephants taking an L in AR

[@PELLIOTIS]

If you attack Italy first 20-30 turns, they are pretty valnurable. Greek city states can just push in Sicely and from there to Italy fast. Also Macedon with a fast hold in Appolonia and a stack with focus in cavalry can rush all over Italy (exept north Italy) and even devestate Rome with no real issues. The trick to ROmans is to not let them gain strenght. Jullii in general are weak until they gather gaul and spain. Scipii if they fail in Sicili they are no issue at all and if you stop Brutii in Epirus and Dalmatia they are pretty easy to deal too. The point is to stop fast their expansion.

[@lugotorix6173]

Yess I completely agree, you need to rush them quick because things can get very out of control if you don't. The romans are surprisingly vulnerable at the start

[@PELLIOTIS]

@@lugotorix6173 sorry for my answer as it is mostly what you say on the video. I rushed to write it before i watch it XD. Great video by the way, the strategy with the weak core enemy cities on the back never occured to me tbh but seems pretty op

[@JD..........]

Not really possible if you're Egypt, scythia, or selucia. Unless you haul all your guys across the world and pray no one takes your settlements.

[@phanhuyduc2395]

SEU can go toe to toe with Roman lategame so it is not a problem. SCYTHIA can spam calvary and win anyway.

[@smiladon12]

As Macedon faction I've conquered Rome, crushed Bruti faction and taken half of Sicily but Juli and Scipi are stubbornly holding onto parts of Sicily, Gaul, Spain and North Africa.

[@13lackNexus]

On another note one of the settlements you want to make sure the romans don’t have is Patavium, its the settlement with the most population growth on the Italian peninsula. Marian reforms trigger when one of the settlements on the Italian peninsula becomes a huge city in possession by one of the roman factions. As a roman faction you can actually abuse Pataviums population growth and repeatedly enslave another high population growth city like Carthage, by having Patavium be the only city with a governor. You can easily get Marius reforms in under 20 turns.

[@zebyurd9530]

This was less of how to beat them and more of a faction guide for the romans

[@lugotorix6173]

That was the first video... which was the wrong upload lol. This is the correct video and discusses how to beat Rome :)

[@lucaswilker6692]

If you're greek or macedonia, just form your line, run and form phalanx just before clashing into roman lines, thats a good way to avoid pillum.

[@pelayla]

@@lucaswilker6692 pilum is the singular, pila is the plural

[@Bestermc]

Honestly a Roman was the best weapon used against a Roman emperor anyway 🤷

[@LotsOfThoughts]

I’ve always blitzed Rome at the beginning cuz I was too afraid of them getting powerful with territory and the Marion reforms. So thank you for this. 🙏

[@lucaswilker6692]

It's when they get powerfull that the game gets funny.

[@serialcarpens290]

Fresh off a campaign as the Greeks where I waited too long and got destroyed by the Romans. I think I have Rhodes and Helicanarcuss left lol

[@ihavenoname6724]

very interesting topic, how to defeat the outrageously op faction of the game. In the early stage the biggest issue, to me at least, are Roman generals, their armies sometime have 3 or more in them, they can smash into phalanxes headfirst and still cause damage and not rout.

[@lugotorix6173]

Thank you! Yess that is true, and the romans seem to spawn generals out of nowhere very unfairly, upgrading to phalanxes with decent morale rather than relying on militia troops is definitely a priority

[@Vhagn]

The Eastern General is also insanely overpowered for some reason in the earlygame. It's way stronger than what it should be, just by looking at the unit for example

[@damianthebeholder6775]

“How to beat the romans” Romans: Qui?

[@AvroBellow]

I sacked Rome repeatedly with the Greek Cities. You just have to know the proper way to arrange your Phalanxi so that they don't have any flanks to attack. In head-on battle, a Hoplite Phalanx is impervious to attack from Triarii and Cavalry, especially if Armoured or Spartan varieties are used. With Armoured Hoplites, I've even repelled frontal attacks from Parthian Cataphracts.

[@Dan-uf2vh]

in auto-resolve the most disrespected unit is the Cretan Archer (get slaughtered) and the most overvalued is the Legionary (barely a few lost)

[@zjotheglorious]

what about slingers?

[@Dan-uf2vh]

@@zjotheglorious probably identical to archers

[@centurionyt431]

No, the most disgusting unit in auto-resolve are chariots. The ai uses them horribly in actual battle, but in auto resolve they beat everything.

[@danielboggan2479]

Horse archers are nearly worthless to autoresolve. Nigh unbearable to fight against Meanwhile eastern infantry somehow isn’t trash

[@SpacedudeProductions]

I’ve played Macedonia twice. First time, I charged the Hellenic nations before attacking Rome. Big mistake, almost lost the whole game but in the nick of time the Gauls and Carthage all ganged up on the Italian peninsula and saved me. Next playthrough, grabbed all of my troops and ships and took Rome. Piece of cake, barely put up a resistance. After that, the Hellenic nations were pathetic since I had the whole Italian peninsula under my control. Trust me, go straight for Rome.

[@michaelwilson5866]

I've got a game where I'm playing as the Greeks and beat late Rome. I stopped killing the julii so they could get stronger. And now I'm slowly taking their cities that are well guarded.

[@Jono793]

About to get a big channel boost thanks to the remaster dropping this month 👊

[@briishpatriot2157]

Every great empire needs to come to an end eventually.....

[@michaelsilver253]

I don't know why but whenever he uses the term disrespected by the auto resolve I laugh a little

[@gabork5055]

How to beat anyone in Rome Total War? 1. Take the edge of the map, start to develop great cities. (unless you enjoy being spammed with full stacks from all sides while you're trying to do anything early game) 2. Spam War Dogs and Horse Archers, early phalanx and Cretan archer combo, whatever cost effective unit you have that can spare you money and manpower early game. (but have your cheap units hold siege equipment if you know they will be hit by missiles or can't avoid towers, denarii is more precious than manpower in the long run) 3. Take your peasant armies from your developed cities and disband them in your newly captured towns, build farms and economic buildings first with a few settlements almost completely focused on military development. 4. Take the island of Rhodes and Crete as soon as possible for sea trade and Cretan Archers, place a general in Crete to continue hiring the mercenaries with the extra experience chevrons. 5. Take the richest settlements, they are usually in Greece, Rome and Egypt, but you might be surprised how much income some other settlements can add, like how in my current Julii campaign, Patavium is my highest income town (probably because of sea trade and maybe some farms that i missed might have been there from the first few turns, who knows how the A.I. builds their towns) even though it's just a not particularly big town that you will likely capture in early game. 6. Heard about a spy tactic that brings in income through corruption, in that case you can just rank up your spy army with random characters and send them to the faction you want to overtake, unrest will also go up. Haven't tried this yet, but if it works, this should be really effective along with 2-3 Assassins and maybe a few diplomats sent nagging to each faction for a few hundred denarii for map information, like Lugotorix usually does.

[@aimslate1035]

Love your videos, keep up the good work. The easiest way I have found to fight the romans in the late game, and in general, is to be a chariot nation and spam a 18-1-1 card stack of chariots, general, and infantry. Use auto grind to smash them, retrain, and repeat. Taking a navy from Egypt with a small army of chariots to croton/tarentum for a quick foot hold is amazing. Then expand from there. If you like to fight the battles in person, this strategy will not work, as chariots are horribly flimsy, but in auto grind they are king. Egypt also has the most public order in buildings, notwithstanding the games and races put on by the romans, so they are nice for taking a lot of land.

[@msncampos]

keep up the good work! You can do a long campaign in Rome Total War I using the darthmod (larger map)? pls

[@lugotorix6173]

Thank you!! I actually did a short series on darth mod a long time ago (you can check the playlists), but I may revisit it some time in the future :)

[@thesacredlobo]

Honestly, my best success against the Julii on M/M as the Brutii came from smashing through their armies with armies comprised of nothing but Equites. Of course, this tactic was only as successful as it was because when you play as a Roman faction you actually control when the reforms will happen and I simply chose to never allow that to occur. I also imagine my strategy was only as successful as it was because on M/M the AI doesn't get any morale bonuses. As a result it was possible for me to cause massive routs of large infantry armies by simply smashing one or two sections of the enemy line and inducing a mass panic as I begin pushing into their second line just through the sheer number of horses I was sending to attack one or two units in particular. Oddly enough the general I put in charge of those field battles was a hypochondriac. So he didn't have the greatest level of durability, but this strategy led to him earning five or six heroic victories before the Julii began to run out of troops. Though, I still say the oddest aspect of that campaign was that the Julii beat me to the lands of the Amazons.

[@RocketHarry865]

I think they should make it so that the Marian Reforms naturally happens around 98 BC

[@Danymok]

Technically the hastati are replaced by auxilia, and the principes are the ones replaced by legionaries, which makes the Marian reforms slightly less powerful than how you showed it. (Because you said hastati are replaced by legionaries) But still, a nice video 👌

[@hannibalburgers477]

Wait, wait. In game mechanics or in real life? Because Idea of legionaries in real life was basically making every soldier Principes.

[@Danymok]

@@hannibalburgers477 no I'm talking about the game.

[@evanbillington2585]

Have you ever tried a migration campaign with a roman faction? It's quite challenging and fun to go to Egypt or anatolia with an army with weak early game cavalry and no phalanx troops and fight an uphill campaign to the Marian reforms

[@piccolo917]

*Looks at current Scythia campaign where 1 army of horse archers and noble horse archers has been rampaging across Dacia through Illyria and now Northern Italy, destroying 9 full Julii army stacks in the process and taking 4 of their towns. Transforming the army from raw recruits to an at least 3 silver experience ranking on all while suffering more losses from accidental friendly fire than from the Romans.* Yea, I think I'm good.

[@UAPReportingCenter]

Great video

[@coppi9434]

You can even prevent the Marian reform as a eastern faction too You only need: Some (good) spys Some ships Thessaloniki 256 B.C ...and a big pandemic in the italian region is born;) With this strategie, you can fight hastati with silvershield legionairies :)

[@johnpotts8308]

As the Carthaginians, you can move a force (with elephants) to the middle of Sicily and wait for the Scipii to move on Syracuse (which is inevitably their first move). You can then conquer the Roman settlement of Messina while their forces are besieging Syracuse and then destroy the army besieging Syracuse (or take Syracuse if the Romans have captured it). Then you can move onto the Italian Peninsula to either take on the Brutii or eliminate the Scipii (or both). Conquer the rest of Italy and then turn on Rome itself. Once that's achieved, only the Egyptians are really a threat.

[@yniekac8851]

Good tips and tricks. The Romans are so OP in this game its an actual joke.

[@lugotorix6173]

hahaha yesss the game really does rig everything in their favour to fit the narrative haha

[@zimmicks3170]

@@lugotorix6173I know, it's almost as if that's the way it actually happened in this time period...

[@johnirby8847]

The Germans with berserkers can rush Rome

[@jacobloft3898]

Rome is the most entertaining opponent in the game for sure. I remember I played a Macedon campaign and defeated and conquered all of Italy before any of the Roman families managed to expand outwards. Best part was every battle I won got a famous battle icon so I could remember all my triumphs over them.

[@DanielGiuseppeDiNiro]

I love the way you say "TRIARIAI". Sounds so weird to be,cause I'm used to the "TRIAREE" pronunciation. Btw, good job with the video

[@WandererOfWorlds0]

A great faction to counter them in late game is Parthia. The romans have a major weakness: poor spear infantry in the form of auxiliary infantry. They have no hard counter to cataphracts or elephants. Start by engaging them with horse archers at range, make them split up a bit and then charge elephants in the disordered formations followed closely behind by cataphracts. Avoid manually playing siege battles but at very hard difficulty, you should probably do that with all factions.

[@aaronrowell6943]

My philosophy on fighting Rome is basically you need to learn how morale works in the game because once you learn how morale shocks work they're a little bit easier to deal with but like you say if you want to challenge let them get the Marion reforms, otherwise like you say you're going to have to have some cannon fodder to take the charges and the pila and play deep.

[@kevintreise1547]

If you are gaul, greece or macedon it is pretty easy to do it like hannibal and crush the romans between good infantry and cavalry.

[@Vidis88]

I played H/H with Thrace.. brought the plauge to Italy too avoid reform. Had a pain in the ass to defeat Macedon, Greece and Brutii.. it was tough!

[@Vhagn]

You should make a similar guide for Egypt, and just make it a video of bridges.

[@lugotorix6173]

hahahaha very true lol

[@lucaswilker6692]

Egypt: we have many armies. Other factions: but we have iron

[@dilly7551]

As Egypt I murder them with desert cavalry armies(good against armor). Even late game armies are beatable if you swarm em

[@Beencheeling]

Funny thing is i once tried to rush rome as the rebels and it worked, i used a spy to open the game and distracted the senate big army so i could conquer rome and literally yoink the massive army they got.

[@spxdel8520]

I wouldn’t classify any of the factions as difficult to defeat if you have trouble defeating them practice more don’t build your strategy around specific plans practice being able to adapt being able to handle counters

[@spxdel8520]

And elephants are the best counter for Rome because they use a LOT of sword infantry which do great against other infantry but they have a disadvantage against cavalry and almost no chance against elephants

[@deutschgiancarlo]

18:27 always use the back door :)

[@chrzacharis2065]

Easy strategy: 1. Make about 6 of any phalanx type unit. 2. Send them to Rome. 3. During combat, run to the corner of the map and form a quarter circle with your spears. Keep pressing halt every few seconds so your units won't move (and tire) even when fighting. 5. Enjoy the massacre. The enemy units can't penetrate your spears line and they just die in front of them. You can kill 1000 Romans with only maybe 50 losses cause of pillums. 6. Works against any faction.

[@Henryfordisright]

Kind of destroys the game though

[@Vektordeformacio]

I had the easiest time defeating romans with Numidia. Their units all have good morale and stamina and early (tier2) archers. Taking sicily for a base of operations on the mediterran is the best course if you come from south, since kydonia is too small to build army on. If you come from north or east, the alps are the best point, but be prepared with phanaxes for the bridge battles. If coming from east, you most likely have better cav. Just do a delayed pincer.

[@Vektordeformacio]

I forgot taht with Dacia, rush macedon and greece, spam armored units and you won the world.

[@lugotorix6173]

ahh thats very interesting that you found numidia to be well equipped to deal with the romans!!

[@hannibalburgers477]

Ok whut, somebody should test it. I "tried" to play as Numidia few times before and I thought their units were trash. Easiest I had against romans were Greeks. With just 2 units of archers and 4-5 units of milita hoplites I could destroy roman infantry easily. (Just put them on corner. This way Romans cant flank them and infantry cant even get close to them because of very tight phalanx wall. The first romans units that routs cant reform since first thing they will do is to run out of red lines. I know its not very brave or just, but It works. It just works.)

[@emnesiesshoelifts6653]

@@hannibalburgers477 shouldn't that only work if romans are attacking

[@arcomegis9999]

I had several attempts with the Gauls, Carthaginians, Macedon and Greek Cities. The former 2 did really well as they have sword units. Campaign wise. Their gameplay don’t differ much. As Gauls, I turtle until someone declared war on me. Took from Spain 2 settlements from both directions except Carthago Nova. Then go for Asturica to cripple them and then finish them off. For the Romans, I was forced to pair up my general and have most battles fought in Mediolanum. And at a moments notice when I push them back, I go for Ariminum. Then I quickly went to Arretium, this successfully reduce the numbers assaulting Mediolanum into a token force. Then I just continuously assault Rome while swat off Brutii. As Carthage, I pair up all generals from North Africa and Lilybaeum to quickly assault Syracuse. Then, use that force assault Messana. I set my priorities to building ports to pump out groups of 4 biremes and sink their ships. Then I transport the force from Messana to take the 2 Brutii holdings to confine them in Greece. Then I stupidly assault Rome. When I could just circle around to Capua and pressure Rome from there. My Greeks and Macedonian run was not successful because there is almost no breathing room and sword units.

[@AB-bg7os]

I destroyed Rome as the Germans without even trying Seriously I have used nothing but berserker like three times

[@doubledouble4g379]

Just started my 1st full playthrough as the Germans. The Berserkers are bloody hilarious - watching them tear Spartans apart might be the best thing ever XD

[@brainwashingdetergent4128]

Are you increasing the difficulty?

[@doubledouble4g379]

@@brainwashingdetergent4128 Got used to the game on VH a bit ago, now trying to complete all factions on the highest setting. Finished my Germany run by setting a whole stack of berserker bois on the army of the S.P.Q.R. It was glorious :)

[@brainwashingdetergent4128]

@@doubledouble4g379 I've got to try this out sometime I've never beat the game with barbarians I always get bored with their lack of units and buildings.

[@brainwashingdetergent4128]

@@doubledouble4g379 every time I play very hard 21 AI principals will slaughter 100 of my men easy on the wall. In the field it's fine but on the wall its completely unrealistic 😥 how do you do it?

[@christophermonceux6578]

I'm currently embroiled in a war over Sicily as the Seleucids. The Greeks have somehow grown powerful enough to hold the Brutii to a stalemate. I invaded Croton and Tarentum captured them with trash stacks of Militia Hoplites as they were left undefended. I then demolished everything in both settlements and sailed off and attacked Syracuse which was hardly defended and decided to hold it. I then sent a proper army to aid them and take Messena, but a Naval Blockade forced me to land near Carthage to save my army. Carthage had a single general guarding it with 8 full stack Scippii too far away to stop me. Took Carthage easily and at first was determined to keep it. They lost four of those stacks in two sieges but I was able to keep retraining my lost units. However public order got dangerously low, so I jumped on my new fleet sailed for Sicily and demolished everything in Carthage. While that was going on a second proper army of mine took Messena. Seeing as they had six full stacks in Sicily as they diverted their African forces, I turned my fleet sailed to Italy, took Capua and demolished everything. An Army from the Senate tried to stop me but I leveled it. Then strangely enough, the Senate took Capua. Two of their stacks were lost in two separate sieges of Messena and Syracuse. My roving proper army returned to sicily and began dismantling their six stacks one at a time. Currently sending a crap Phalanx army for Lepcis Magna with hopes of destroying it and demolishing everything. I'm picking them apart and making it impossible for them to maintain an army or an economy. Eventually they will run out of stacks, except for crap rebel stacks of peasants and town guard

[@Thanatos833]

I find it quite easy with the Greek Cities, take them out early with your hoplites that beat their early units in a frontal clash. Plus the Greek cities generate a lot of money.

[@JamestheKilljoy]

I forgot how busted auto resolve was in this first Total War game. They definitely improved on that over time

[@alexanderkazakov9861]

I actually ended the Romans with the greeks in 10-15 turns taking Mesana, Crotone, Tarentum, Calpua, Ariminium, Aretium, Segesta, Cagliari, Rome in that order. It was fun beating them. Most importantly what I did was to land a general in Massilia and take the city in irder to ease my quest. Battling them on two fronts really makes the AI confused. I couldn't manage to take a Julii settlement with only one general , but the northern army really did me a great favor distracting northern Italy. I played it on Ultra Hard and ended up fighting with the whole world which is a real bollocks

[@wilsongv95]

question for you brother. how many commanders do you recommend i have in one army?

[@Edzter]

i abit incorrect on the marian 'upgrade' Hastati are replaced by auxilia, which are, and i quote "light infantry with a bonus against cavalry" odd combo but ok. In general field combat IMO these are a downgrade. The AI also is terrible at mixing units. Pricipes get replaced with the early legionaries, now that is an upgrade, but a small one, these are all considered 'tier 3' (out of 5) and while pricipes are generally weaker than the tier 3 equivalent of a barbarian faction (since it's their max) early legions are not and can hold their ground. Now the 'tier 4' change from triarii to proper legionaries is an insane buff, these are the guys you need to be worried about. Not even talking about urbans and praetorians because those will destroy anything that's not a tier 5 hellenic or egyptian unit. This is where the AI's poor army management works for you, mass routing is the key, you will not win in kills a lot of the time. As for cavalry - post marian is an absolute upgrade and that can be a game-ender in a lot of cases. Cavalry cheese carry is real. The rest i agree, auto resolve is a trap. If you're playing carthrage, dacia or gaul, you MUST rush them down quickly and get that tech. Barbarian tier 2-3 units (swordsman and chosens respectively) are generally superior than roman units of the same tier (hastati/pricipes). Carthrage is an exception where even a tier 4 unit (spearmen) can lose to hastati, this is where you need to abuse elephants, superiority in numbers and be way ahead in tech. Not sure what to do with numidia, that faction seems doomed to me. Every other faction pretty much have good enough units at later-game to compete against the romans or are in a decent position to tech up slowly and focus on growth to then hit with hard units. Anything with phalanxes is just bonus points, double if defending. Chosens can handle anything pre-legionaries, the german roster can pretty much fight anything the romans can muster, and any helenic faction with a mix of phalanxes and heavy cav can make a stand against the strongest roman units. Spain has bull warriors which can compete with legionaries and maybe even urbans, scutarri are just lowkey hastati. In general, unless you're playing carthrage, gaul or dacia (and numidia i guess), you should be completely fine without putting 100% focus on the romans. You'd be surprised how empty the AI leaves it's towns after you eliminate the 'out of nowhere' big armies they have wandering up untill you reach their main military bases.

[@tptallen4498]

What ive learnt playing as the greeks: go for the SPQR as early as possible. Peace talks never work with Romans. Then go for the blues, the greens, then the real romans (reds). Its important that you follow it in that order. 1. With the blues gone you no longer have to worry about naval superiority 2. With the greens gone, greece safe from attacks 3. Reds, cutting the head off of the snake.

[@madchessLeviathan]

Simple they have few archers and spears, so send in your war elephants right away, can be demolished by chartage in 10-15 turns, wiping them as selucids was much much harder and took so much longer as you can't attack before you own the entire asia minor.

[@kevin06289]

I am watching your gaul campaign recently and I went to custom battle to test out warband. I played medium difficulty, 2 gaul warbands facing against 1 hastatii 1 town watch (which is what early game troop compositions would be). I used warcry to improve attack before charge, used 2 units to charge the hastatii (pretty good charge), and altho they surrounded the hastatii, the general is killed and the 2 units immediately broke. the roman town watch didn't even engage. now i kinda understand your "longest battle"; using warband to fight hastatii with even more morale and attack (because of difficulty)

[@lugotorix6173]

ahhh yess that was quite a long time ago aha, but yess fighting the romans can be tough on any difficulty and faction, particularly one that doesnt have proper phalanx like gaul

[@caphalor08]

How about making a decent army and just burn your way up the insula? Rome itself would be dicey but even if you can't hold it just hopping from town to town putting them to the sword might halt them for a while.

[@Kassey194]

Tbf it does take quite a bit of time for Salona and Apolonia to be developed to a point that they can produce anything other than peasants (at best). Still, great video.

[@louditalian1962]

Playing as Spain I planned on having naval invasion via the Julii lands. However, Carthage declared war on me and intercepted my ships sinking a huge chunk of my army. I had a rough time with Carthage (Gaul was easy to deal with) as they kept sending stacks of cheap infantry with some Elephants. When I manage to take the situation under control I pushed out of Spain and notice most of Gaul already under Julii control… they didn’t hit the Reforms yet but had plenty of Príncipes. I realized it was game over once I saw 4 FULL stacks of Roman forces coming from the North and a full stack of Carthage landing in the South. I had only 3 full stacks and a few stationary units in the villages… Spain roster is extremely weak man. They can’t go toe to toe against Rome.

[@LordBobIV1]

You should do a video on the Autoresolve. I’d be curious how we game it and how to ensure victory. I think your points that Rome has advantage and Sycthia has disadvantages is interesting and should be deep dived into.

[@lugotorix6173]

Thats a cool idea actually, I wonder if there's anything in the code that would support my theory

[@lucaswilker6692]

The only disadvantage Scythia really has is its economy. Horse archer are a plague.

[@lucaswilker6692]

The best part of this game are the battles. Auto-resolve punishes lazy players, and it's right.

[@thewingedone1172]

@@lucaswilker6692 "punishes lazy players" with letting them wipe doomstacks with 3 armies of peasants and 20% casualties?

[@lucaswilker6692]

@@thewingedone1172 that's bad programming for lazy auto-resolve based players.

[@WTFisDrifting]

I prefer the southern route. Take the bruttian cities than Sicily. From there launch a naval invasion of either capua or Rome.

[@pascalbavay9630]

To defeat Rome, don't wait. Attack them as quick as possible with one full army in Italy. push infantry fight and use cavalry to shout them by the back (not with Greece).

[@Xenophlanes]

Hi Luga! just got a question. Have you got a video of doing a Parthia Campaign defeating the Romans? or if anyone else can send the link. Thank you!

[@valv_]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHqoZICwrL-Xn5I (it's not this episode)

[@princeofakavir6722]

Can you make a medieval 2 total war rebel guide?

[@johnirby8847]

I just defeated the Egyptians and Pontics in my Seleucid campaign and I'm now facing the Brutii in Greece. I have 4 generals each with an army comprised of 8 silver shield legionnaires, 4 silver shield pikemen, 4 cataphracts, 2 armoured elephants. All with 2 xp/gold/gold. The Romans have no chance. The Egyptians didn't.

[@Cymru1987]

Normies: how do you pronounce that one factions name? Historian: Skip-pee- eye!

[@BlazinBlz]

or the simple handy dandy way of beating any faction cretan archers, high ground, win

[@malingmann]

For Carthage and Macedonia, use horses to crush their armies, Macedonian lightlancers are amazing against Hastati and quite effective against Pricipes. The same goes for the Barbarians, but Spain should save up for the Bull Warriors. Greeks should use armored hoplites in large numbers and play defensive until then. The Easterners are too far away and should crush their neighbors and establish a safe homeland before they, again, crush the Romans with cavalry.

[@thomasbuck303]

Where is your video for advice for preparing and starting the civil war?

[@JD..........]

Fun video, but i Didn't get the answer I was looking for. What about when they have 30 odd stacks of full armies? At that point it just seems too late. Not that I couldn't do the same thing, but why would I WANT to? Doing all of those battles, over and over again. Is there a solution? Maybe targeting settlements alone as you mentioned?

[@woaddragon]

I assuming that you mean either the Brutti or the Egyptians, as those are the only ones who could.can.build force like that. 1. Use stack of cavalry, even faction with bad cavalry.can used hit and run tactics to lower.the power of the full stack barrage. 2. Bridge battle can.drain multiple stack with.the.right troops. 3. With the.saciface of one unit, fort can hold armies in the right place. 4 fighting them in city battle are a last resort, but it can give you.huge advantage in battles.

[@diacles4702]

Beaten the Roman factions as the Greek Cities and Seleucids on very hard difficulty. Haven’t attempted a Barbarian campaign yet

[@brainwashingdetergent4128]

I have an epic civil war going on now. I saved up huge armies of mercenary hopilites and they are doing pretty decent against Rome. My cohorts are almost back from Egypt and that'll be the end of it.

[@CloudSephiroth]

Whatever happened to the Senate mechanic video?

[@electriclegend6390]

Iam confused Edit: oh it's the correct video

[@lugotorix6173]

Haha I’m stupid

[@ihavenoname6724]

@@lugotorix6173 it happens, and we got 2 for the price of 1, cause it made us re-watch the roman faction guide.

[@randomname2159]

@@lugotorix6173 no worries

[@josue.ortega]

My broad tactical guidelines to beat the Romans in battle are: As Gaul and Dacia: horse sandwich all day long As Germans: spam berserkers As Greeks: engage quickly - your phalanx is the anvil, your cav is the hammer As Carthage or Numidia: elephant rush, cav rush right behind them As Spain and Scythia: avoid melee, let the missiles rain As Britons and any Middle Eastern Faction: spam chariot rush As other Romans: javelin rain in loose formation, charge in tight formation, keep reserve units

[@thatwolfensteinguy8954]

Parthia are al most like a counter against Rome, have horce archers fire at the infantry, while defending them with some Cataphrafcts, same tactic used for Armenia.

[@gabork5055]

Which is why it might be a good reason to start hiring mercenaries around Greece to counter the Cataphracts with Bastarnae (with armor piercing weapons)and the horse archers with normal and late Roman Archers and Cretans.

[@lucaswilker6692]

That's cheese man, we don't like cheese people at this chanel 😂😂😂

[@gabork5055]

@@lucaswilker6692 Doesn't Armenia have Cataphract Archers btw.? If this is cheese, then that's the ultimate cheese of all cheeses.

[@lucaswilker6692]

@@gabork5055 yeah they are a pain

[@hannibalburgers477]

@@gabork5055 I had never seen Armenia survive against wrath of Parthia and Pontus. Their early units are trash so you have to work very hard to survive as them in early game

[@kierangibbons3311]

Elephants. literally as soon as you get elephants as carthage just get an army to rome and watch the carnage. cavalry to pick off the runners

[@Ugh718]

Bro I thought the thumbnail where the red circle was around Italy was a hotdog/pill XD🤣🤣🤣

[@alexandernelson477]

I'm actuality the julii, I'm at the very end the only none rome faction left is Sparta. I went to take a rebel city that rebel against the brutii. They didn't like it and me. It's so hard to get anything out of the fights. They are usually draws and the whole army is gone.

[@beremuts1171]

Don't worry mate! I always watch you movies when I take a dump! So, I don't care what you upload anyway.

[@alessandrobenvenuti6551]

What’s about you and backdoor jokes? ;) However, I love to play as the Seleucid Empire and kill everything in the middle east that is not silver. Then when you get to Greece, Rome really is strong and has an Empire that can rival yours, but you have an advantage: you are united, they are four factions and they all mind their own business until you get to their doorstep. I’m usally able to exterminate the brutii fairly easely (it can be a damn grind though...) and blitz the hell out of them. The real slugging match is with the scipii on the bloody sands of north Africa, but they are a joke to beat in open field if you have the right cavalry support. Most of their armies are still old pre Marian, but you could still see a chad pretorian cohort going along with a bunch of virgin hastati, and you whipe the floor with them (full cataphract and companion charge, even frontally, and you can say goodbye to obsolete pre marian units). Still, very good adviceses. This is very empyric to realize and many would not know. Well done.

[@lugotorix6173]

hahahaa I promise they're not scripted i just have a dirty mind lol. Yess although the seleucid empire have a tricky start, once you unite them they can become very strong and are well equipped to deal with the brutii. its interesting what you said about the scipii, they're certainly the weirdest of the roman factions thats for sure

[@lucaswilker6692]

Piece of cake. Numidia VHVH is really funny

[@lucaswilker6692]

@@lugotorix6173 Armored elephants, cataphracts, silver shilds... You just have to conquer all east with militia hoplites to enjoy this powerfull army.

[@jimweights8908]

What about chariots? I found I could take out Roman army after army - with on chariot army

[@matthewryan2060]

Once they reach the Marian reforms you need a new start lol.

[@wanderingpine4297]

I'm assuming in the latter scenario where you are a farther faction facing the Romans later, taking Rome would break the Roman Republic Scripting. Basically same idea as what you said, but maybe if you waited too long and you don't want to fight them all at once you could try to get them in Civil War. Idk, haven't played so late to know if this works.

[@lugotorix6173]

You could try and do that but i believe it would take a very long time, even with large empires the ai is extremely reluctant to start the civil war. I'm not sure if I've ever played a campaign for long enough to see it happen. But it certainly is an interesting strategy, and in theory would weaken all three factions

[@wanderingpine4297]

@@lugotorix6173 Yeah, I'm guessing they wouldn't be pressured to fight each other the same way they do naturally in the late game, at the very least though it should make it so that they are no longer scripted to join each other's wars. Also if they ally to other factions they might get forced to betray or lose alliances, which is something you could exploit yourself.

[@johnirby8847]

The game sort of overcorrected the Germans with the berserker as a hard counter to Roman infantry. You can have one army full of berserkers with 4 gothic cavalry and take the entire Italian peninsula very early. The craziest thing I've ever seen is a full berserker army defeat elephants in Carthage in my recent play. That makes zero sense...🤯

[@sugahtron]

Currently playing as seleucids. I destroyed the Armenians, parthians and Egyptians. I sent a fat stack with a sizeable navy to southern Italy and if it gets hairy I’ll just destroy the barracks and stables in the city then sail away.

[@centurionyt431]

Funnest thing to do with the Romans is to beat them continuously but never conquer them completely, basically like hannibal. I did a campaign with gaul where every 3-5 turns there was a battle between a gaul full stack and 1 or more full stacks of romans and I won every time. Keep beating them and they never get any territory. Just a fun way of dealing with them, not really a way to beat them.

[@amirzia9812]

How to create roman first legionary cohort? How to unlock all time this

[@Leivve]

The auto resolve for the romans is crazy bias to the point that you can't ever auto resolve against them. 6 town watch + 2 generals is greater then a fully upgraded armored hoplite army with cavalry support and Crete archers, lead by a 10 star general.

[@guldukat1354]

hire a bunch of cheap infantry with good melee deffence stat, make a bunch of stacks of thous and press autoresolve and you win in most TW games :)

[@kevincho1187]

Honestly scythia is the best faction to wipe rome early. Romes early weakness is Cavalry so bum rushing with horse archers is really op

[@conorshaw5755]

When playing as Carthage (very hard difficulty) I always like blockading the romans, denying them expansion into the Mediterranean islands. conquering Sicily and Sardinia using them as forward operating bases for your navy and shutting down the green and roman nations from expanding anywhere. I then focus my army on quickly gobbling up northern africa and parts of Spain. by this popint the numidians and spanish are all but dead and im ready for the final show down with the red romans on land. The green and bllue romans never expand beyond there starting cities. it kind of plays out more historically accurate that way and i grind the red romans back into italy marching over the alps and into the north...sometimes even with my gallic allies.

[@SpacedudeProductions]

Another thing: as Egypt, the Middle East won’t really bother you, so if you really want you can just get your whole navy and army and just head straight for Rome.

[@mplewp]

You can easely kill the roman faction if you use a decent navy 4 level 2 boats to do troopdrops from the seas . Its also the way to destroy the British faction. Naval war matters . If you deny the roman factions their ports then they become easy prey .

[@Carvetorix]

Am I right in thinking Lugotorix is the Briton starting king?

[@041mikey]

no hes the gaul in patavium

[@michaelmusson5736]

Keep any infantry you have out of sight. Bait the Romans with your light cavalry. Let the Romans chase your cavalry until they're exhausted. Pounce on them and kill them. Works every time, even when you have poor units and you're outnumbered three to one.

[@thekaiser3815]

I invaded Italy as the Pontus in very early game. I started with the Julii, then crippled Brutii, conquered the Scipii then wiped out the Brutii. I find the red boys the most dangerous so they had to die first.

[@archer8849]

what did you use? chariots? or just javelin cav?

[@thekaiser3815]

@@archer8849 just Javelin cavalry and any Mercs I could get even eastern infantry. It's funny how the game break when you beat Rome

[@mattphillips2844]

I could never figure out how rich the romans are. They seems to make huge amounts, limitless sums of money in addition to having large armies.

[@Tobiasrbful]

What happen to Armenien?

[@louisdemm1758]

Romans are weak against cav. I remember having a ton of fun wiping them out with Macedonia. Though it did get old pretty quick. Hammer and anvil is invincible. The romans greatest strength is auto resolve. They're programmed to have an advantage over all other factions.

[@janehrahan5116]

To clarify, post marian units get massive auto resolve bonuses based on tier (auxilia ar better than hoplites, legionares almost match spartans, urbans are flat out the best unit in auto resolve)

[@HippasosofMetapontum]

(not imporant which nation:) settle a huge army, and start conquering bruti both cities, once the left with one big army on greek islands) once julii and scipio have something to do on italian motherland, you can either focus on fcking scipio and sicilia, if you are cartagha / greek you do this anyway, or you go for Rome, whipe out another nation bring them into more complexity about logistics and you need to finish before the Gaius reforms, if you are a bad unit nation

[@thehappycockatiel9568]

Me playing Seleucids and finally dominating the east with a massive amount of income. Me: *seeing the marian reforms* Time to build those cataphract elephants >:)

[@robland3253]

As the Roman’s I almost never engage in battle with the Germans, as by that point I have enough cash to bribe entire armies

[@leonprentice8371]

Greeks can beat Rome but needs to be fully got armoured hoplites and got all gold weapons works with when they are full banners and about 3-4 to gain Rome I've done it a few times and they always gets beaten a few times until you it can finally beat them