Rome Total War Review

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This is all about balance. Ensure your finances are adequate through building roads, ports or mines. You can recruit an army by building Barracks and Stables, but remember, if you neglect your populace then they will revolt, so coliseums, shrines and sewers are important for political, social and humanitarian needs. Your ability to expand your cities structures (and your warfare capabilities) is governed by your finances and population of your settlements. Once a population hits a certain level then you have the opportunity to upgrade that city providing you have the resources. This in turn allows you more build options and then unit options.

Copyright Guru3D.com 2004You can survey all your glorious achievements from up high!

In general you are left to make your own decisions on how to precede, where to deploy your armies and other units, and which areas to conquer first. However, the Senate do offer you missions which it is advisable for you to undertake. These range from blockading ports, to obtaining surrender from an enemy, capturing a settlement, or negotiating trade rights. If you complete these you can obtain exotic units or financial reward, as well as gaining favour and influence in the senate. In the opening stages of the game, it pays to be bold and move quickly or you can easily find yourself on the back foot. Do not be deterred by larger armies, as correct use of strategy can mean victory against much larger forces. The interface can at first seem rather intimidating if you havent played a Total War game before. However, with a little perseverance it is easy enough to find your way around. Double click on a settlement, and a pop up menu will show you its population level, how much growth is needed before you can upgrade and tax management options. Bare in mind that taxes have an effect on the happiness of your population if they are too high they will revolt. This screen also shows you your construction and recruitment options. If you single click on a city, the tool bar at the bottom of your screen displays what buildings that city has, and the army garrisoning it depending on which tab you select. The information bar underneath each city denotes how much income you are obtaining and how content its population is. A couple of nice touches are the ability to access the tech structure from within this menu without having to refer to the included sheet, and a performance chart, so you can see exactly how you are doing against other factions in the campaign. If you click on your factions shield then you can obtain senate mission status and information about your standing in the senate. At the end of each turn, click the end turn egg timer button, and the AI automatically calculates opposing factions movements and actions.

Copyright Guru3D.com 2004
The interface can seem complex at first, but is easy to grasp.

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