Alliances are now extremely worthwhile as well. The map has been designed with these stances in mind, so you can dominate large regions with clever use of choke points. New units are now recruited by generals in the field, sparing them the long walk from their barracks to the battlefield.Īrmies are also more flexible thanks to a variety of stances, which can let them move extremely quickly with 'forced march', create a wooden outpost at their location with 'fortify', or lay an ambush on the strategic map. Construct a high-grade military training building in Rome and the troops you unlock can be recruited from anywhere within the Italia region. Territories are now grouped into 'provinces' which can be boosted by production-boosting edicts if you own them entirely (useful for swift social engineering in the face of food shortage), and your cities' buildings now have province-wide effects. It's a significant shift that affects everything from how armies are constructed to how territories operate on the strategic map. The legions they command are also persistent entities that can gain stat-buffing 'military tradition' affixes over time. Now troops cannot move at all unless they have a general, and the number of generals you can have is limited by the size of your empire. Previously, you could raise tiny armies of a couple of troops and a leader would be picked from their ranks. That's why I felt a twinge of guilt about poor Crassipes. When your armies meet resistance, you dive into a real-time battle and command the troops personally. You must guide your chosen nation to glory by managing cities, conducting diplomacy, plotting espionage and moving armies to conquer new settlements. Total War has come a long way from the papery maps of Shogun, but its form is the same. What a beautiful board it is - an intricate papier mache caricature of Europe, decorated with landmarks, rivers and exaggerated topography. But will they talk of the fleet barely a mile away that sat still and watched the great man lemming his way into the history books? Do they realise that the patriot they adored was sent intentionally to his death? I wonder what that would do if they knew that the fate of Crassipes and all the armies and settlements of Rome were not beholden to the gods, but to one bearded games journalist moving them like pawns on a vast playing board. They'll talk of how he burned the gates and took the central square, and how a dozen Averni javelins ended his illustrious command of Legio I Italica there. They'll talk proudly of how the great general threw himself against the walls of Massalia. This comes at a cost however – their neglect of agricultural matters means they’re less able to make money from trading crops and livestock.Īvailable in the Pirates and Raiders Culture Pack.The Roman senate will weep for Crassipes. Skilled seafarers and practiced pirates, the Ardiaei draw much income from plaguing the trade routes. However, they have strength and cunning that their neighbours lack can they turn it to their advantage and bring first the Adriatic, and maybe the world, under Ardiaei control? However, she has inherited a kingdom whose continual piracy is now drawing the ire of powerful forces in the region – those with a vested interest in the profits of Adriatic trade, like Rome.Īs the 3rd century BCE begins the Ardiaei have a fight ahead of them. He also lent his services to the Acarnanians when the Epirot monarchy was extinguished, achieving his greatest victory in their defence.Īfter Agron's sudden, potentially alcohol-related death, his widow Teuta has become de facto ruler of the Ardiaei. Perhaps most famously, The Kingdom of Ardiaei briefly became a powerful nation under the leadership of Agron, who captured several Greek cities and constantly raided the Adriatic coast. Seen as debauched by the Greeks from whom they have borrowed aspects of their culture, they drink heavily and celebrate greatly in the plunder stolen from their enemies. The Illyrian tribe of the Ardiaei originated inland, but eventually found their way to the Adriatic coast and settled there, dedicating themselves to sea-born piracy of the Adriatic Sea trade routes.

Pirate factions total war rome 2