Disappointed!

[SkyElf]

I'm very dissapointed that the game only has 20 turns, no physical game manual and you can only play Carthagian side in this game. I payed $53.99 for a very very limited game! [&:] I begining to think it's not worth the money I paid for it!!

Sincerely,
SkyElf

[mercenarius]

ORIGINAL: SkyElf

I'm very dissapointed that the game only has 20 turns, no physical game manual and you can only play Carthagian side in this game. I payed $53.99 for a very very limited game! [&:] I begining to think it's not worth the money I paid for it!!

Sincerely,
SkyElf

Well, it's hard for me to be objective, naturally. I get the sense that you haven't had the chance to play the game yet. If that is the case, I hope that you will change your mind once you have played a few games and worked with the game's help system. In my humble opinion printed manuals are greatly overrated.

But I am glad that you shared your point of view here! I really mean that. Please let us know what you think after you have explored the game in greater depth.

[SkyElf]

Hi mercenarius, I played the tutorial before my first game. I have played the game on Easy for five games so far won each one the last one I took Rome on turn twenty (when I foumd out the game ended on turn twenty). I used a save game when I made an attack and captured Rome but lost about 80% of my army! I started 6th game on Normal and still playing it. One thing so far that would improve game is the Romians never new how good Hannibal was or Hannibal until a few years after winning every battle he faced except Zama! Then they sought to contain him and win on other fronts. So far in new game the Romans have attacked Hannibal twice with superior numbers but lost big time to him both forces wiped out in in the early turns of war so far!

[rockymc]

I have to agree the game is pretty limited and not just in turn length. I don't think there's really that much strategy and luck plays a huge factor esp in battles. Pursuits are just a toss of the coin no matter that you have x2 x3 x4 the odds in cavalry. I'm still not clear on how you can move armies to Italy from Spain or Africa and where it tells you the current senate strategy. A pretty disappointing game with little depth IMO.

[mercenarius]

Well, naturally I am distressed that any customer is disappointed. [:(]

There is random chance in battles and sometimes it's possible to get on a bad streak of luck. But I think that over the course of most games the luck should even out. Occasionally you will play a game in which you just can't catch a break. Is it trite to say that adversity reveals the genius of a general? [;)]

I'm still not clear on how you can move armies to Italy from Spain or Africa and where it tells you the current senate strategy.

Here is how you can determine the current decree of the Carthaginian Senate:

1) On the strategy map: click on the large "abacus" icon in the lower right area of the screen. Scroll down to the bottom using the "Elephant" scroll thumb. The last line lists the current decree.

2) On the strategy map: click in an empty area of the map so that no army, fleet, or city is selected. The panel on the left next to the Overview Map will list the current decree.

Here is how to get armies from Spain to Italy:

1) If you control Emporion in Spain and Genua in Italy free of siege, you may move an army directly from Spain to Northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul).

2) If you don't control Emporion and Genua, you must move from Spain to Italy by way of Gaul. Forgive me for repeating some things you may already know, but a portion of Transalpine Gaul is included in the game as a province. That is the small green area north of the Alps. You can identify some of these areas on the map by turning on labels using the "L" hot key. You can identify mountain ranges by right clicking on them.

Anyway, if your Senate gives you permission to move to Italy, you may move armies in Spain to Gaul because that is "on the way." The game pretty much lets you move armies to intermediate provinces if those provinces really are "on the way" to a permitted theater.

3) If you control a port and have sufficient naval transport, you can move armies by sea. Drag the army to its destination while holding down the "alt" key. That will change the icon of the army to a transport ship to show that you are trying to move by sea. You drag and drop the army as usual. If there are conditions which prevent the move, you will get a hopefully meaningful error message. Possible errors would be the lack of a port of embarkation, a move which exceeds two sea zones in length, insufficient transport factors for the size of the army, etc.

You can move armies from Africa directly to Spain or Italy only by sea.

Again, I am sorry that you are not enjoying the game. If my post isn't helpful, please feel free to post again with perhaps a saved game which shows the conditions for the problems you are experiencing. That will allow me or someone else to make more concrete suggestions.

[SkyElf]

Hi rockymc, Note for senate strategy is suggested by you in the easy and normal game modes your pick is what the senate supports you completely. I have not moved on to hard(?) mode yet which I understand the senate does more of the picking you still get to suggest and they finally decided. I have not lost a game on normal so far have played over 20+! I have seen a few new strategies tried by Roman player. Still very disappointed! The Battle system is very poor with a lot of luck in it! This game is more a beer and pretzil game to me!!!! Not looking to be worth the price still.

I picked up and old DOS game on the subject but the battle system comes up with the same results for any of the picks in tactics! I out numbered the enemy two to one. I had 58 elephants, 10 times the number of cavalry, and twice the number of infantry. With the picks of tactics I allways lost all my elephants, and cavalry, and half my infantry. The game is very poor version of the era espcially the promise of picking your tactics for each battle. Still looking for a better game than this one and the new one were both playing now.