Fun game

[tmoj2000]

Well having had negative experiences with a few matrix and non matrix games I first tried the demo which worked fine.

Having done that I bought the game and the first good news is that it ran fine (after I figured out that I had to remove the demo first) and never once crashed

The other good news is that it is a relatively simple and fun (as well as addictive game). It took me the week end to master it after which I was able to take Rome a couple of times with different approaches.

I' ve seen some people regret that the game is not playable as Rome.... Sure that would be a plus but on the other hand the situation is so skewed against Carthage (as it was historically) that I am not sure what a carthaginian AI could do to provide a challenge to roman human players

The limitations of the game as part of its design. First the various regions of Italy could have been made clearer by a more judicious use of colors (as it is I had to read the manual - something I hate doing) to understand what the various regions were. This should be easily solved

Second the game system is of course simplistic. Whole legions are either killed or completely unscathed, there is no middle ground. This is fine for a boardgame but a bit strange for a computer game that can easily keep track of partial losses. Attrition is not very realistic. In one of my games I was able to gather 45 "units" for the assault on Rome.. That is over 200,000 men, hardly possible for the period (despite what inflated accounts of ancient writers may lead you to believe, in that timeframe assembling 50,000 men for a battle was quite a feat, 200,000 fighting men was out of the question)

Third, I got the impression that the AI got "some help" in combat (or dice rolling) having seen several battles (notably assaults on cities againt militia) where the average result of a similar force of romans to a similar (or better) force of carthaginians were better.....This is not unusual for this type of game of course, but this has demotivated me from trying the advanced level (if the AI gets even higher bonuses in combat that is not very interesting)

Never the less the game is entertaining. The randomness with the card drawing does impact your strategy (I had one game where Hannibal got no punic tricks, one where Syracuse joined my side, another where it refused to do so etc...)... Still the key to winning is made up of 4 components

-maximize recruitment (you need to understand how regions and recruits work for that)
-minimize own losses and maximize those of the romans (for that open field battles with use of punic tricks are best)
-dissuade the romans from annoying you in Africa (by keeping a large garrison there)
- maximize own cards and minimize the romans' (by agressively going after their leaders, while protecting your own)

Typically you will have one uber stack with Hannibal whacking left and right and a secondary one with a good carthaginian leader going after the weaker roman stacks/leaders and/or defending key cities
Still Rome is a tough nut to crack and you will need first to weaken the roman army and maximize your own before laying siege to it.

I found that cracking the city of Placentia is often the the turning point for the carthaginian... I also found that with careful husbanding of naval assets, Roman naval superiority can be challenged in the later parts of the game (patience, patience !)

So overall quite a plesant experience , which of course only left me craving for more , perhaps an improved V2 ?

[NefariousKoel]

I'm pretty sure there's no die roll cheating by the AI. The game was definitely meant to be boardgame-ish since it's based on one. [:)]

Your four points on strategy are very true. You can also do very well if you can manage to overpower the Roman navy, which isn't easy but can be done. It helps catching those generals in ports who often manage to escape when they're in trouble.

[Raidhaennor]

I also recently purchased the game, and I have to say I am very happy with it. I love everything about it : the art, the music, etc. And between the many tutorials, the in-game help and the fact that we can right-click on just about everything on the map, there's pratically no no need for a manual at all (although I agree with the OP, the limits of some of the regions could be clearer : I got confused a few times in my first games).

The AI does a very decent job : I like the fact that I can see its attitude change between the beginning of the game and later on (and between difficulty levels) ; it really feels like the romans are becoming aware of the threat, and reacting accordingly.

One small gripe I have is with the carthaginian senate (on hard difficulty) : I know it's meant to be frustrating, and it is, but no always in the right way. I get that the senate would rather reinforce the defenses in africa, or send forces to spain if there are few troops there ; but why ask me to send forces to Gaul in the middle-late game when I'm sieging Rome, or about to do that, and more importantly why send forces to Gaul when I control northern Italy and could therefore send forces there just as easily ? Also, the senate is said to consider a certaine course of action, but the actual decision regularly differs from that, even if Hannibal has a good standing and my recommandation matches what the senate was (allegedly) considering.

Finally, two requests in terms of interface :
1. I'd like to have some information about the savegames I make, such as the time at wich I made them : I'm used to have several consecutive savegames and I don't always know which was the last one.
2. It would be nice to have some kind of recap, similar the "current game status", at the end of the game when we win, with information such as at which turn the game ended, what was the state of the roman forces, etc. And maybe something like a hall of fame where the record of the different games is kept, if that's not to much trouble.

And if I may make a suggestion for any future game : I think Caesar's campaign in Gaul(s) might be quite interesting with the system that we have here, especially the confrontation between Caesar and the gallic tribes led by Vercingetorix. The diplomatic dealings, alliances, etc. plenty of options cards to play here. [:D]
At any rate, I hope you will have the chance to make another game, and I look forward to it, whatever the subject treated. [:)]

edit : I have played a few games myself at all difficulty levels, and I am also pretty sure that there is no cheating, just luck (good or bad).