Damn you Robear for your mouthwatering write up. Damn you damn you and damn you again.

Rob (or anyone else with this game), do you think my system can run it?

1.7 Ghz Celeron
1 GB RAM
256 MBPCInVidia GForce FX 5200
blah blah whatever onboard sound card

I want this so bad but if it''s just gonna be a big framerate waltz I won''t bother.

Fans say that they''ve been able to run the game on rigs worse than yours with the details turned down Sanjuro. The most important things seem to be CPU, followed by GPU clock speed, followed by Ram for this game.
It won''t run fluidly for the 3000 unit battles thats for sure, but it will work. :/

Interesting Aside: My real-life Rome claim to fame is that my University city was the place where Constantine the Great was crowned Emperor in 306 AD- Eburacum ... or as it is these days York. Hope he makes an appearance in an expansion.

I''m loving the game, but it sounds like you''re much more advanced at it than I. I''ve captured a few cities (Gaull I think) and am building, etc. I pretty much click on victoria and follow her advice on each city. I don''t have a real grasp of the factions and all the little details, yet. Each time I click the hourglass to progress a turn the computer darts around and so many changes are made and I''m like ""Huh?"". I think I should probably start over once I have a better idea how all the politics work. I probably made some mistakes that have hurt me, like not making spies and diplomats and worst, I lost my biggest general (but I held back a larger army that besieged my city! ).

I actually play out every battle in the campaign and have been practicing with quick battles. The battles are awesome, but chasing the last remaining enemy off the board can get old, even in fast forward. The music is awesome - hell the whole game is very polished. I just wish I knew more about all the troops, battle tactics, the politics and nuances of the campaign mode. All in due time, I suppose.

Of course reading the manual might be a good start. Anyone looked at the guidebook yet, btw?

Thanks, Illum. Hey Pred, lemme know how it run on your rig, will ya?

I love Asterix. They were published in English, and then in French class in college we read them, when Le Petit Prince got boring. I think I like Obelix best.

Prop, I''m not sure how the politics plays into things either. I just try to keep my Senate ratings above zero and don''t worry about it.

Spies are good for getting info; keep a few diplomats around if you want to extort money from neutrals or make a ceasefire or something. Keep using them to build skills. Spies can detect enemy spies in their area, and possibly kill them, so you could use them to protect a border city''s details from the enemy.

Build a few ships to blockade your enemy''s ports. Good way to cut their money flow.

I found the computer advice on building is pretty helpful at first. She''ll help you get your economy going. Remember to check the color of the faces under the city names - if they are green, check the happiness value. If it''s over about 115% or so, try jacking the tax rate up in that city. Don''t let it go yellow. If a city goes yellow after you move troops out, lower taxes and build more troops there, or move some in. City happiness is a good measure of tax income, because you can manipulate your taxes in a happy city.

If you have an army out and you go through a chokepoint, like a mountain pass or a bridge, build a fort there and leave a unit or two to occupy it. You can stop barbarian infiltrations that was, and secure one approach to a province or an area easily.

Build balanced armies. One missile unit for every two melees, plus an army cavalry section or two, and then add in ballistae and wardogs and such as they go along. Right now, I build my armies out of units - one Hastati, one Principes, one Velites, one bow or wardog, one Auxilia Eqites. Two groups like that, plus a few extra units, can take down darn near anything. And don''t forget to attack small groups of enemies - family members and their guards, rebels, like that - as often as possible, to get your command traits raised and maybe attract some followers to that leader.

You can trade some followers from one leader to another, if someone needs the expertise. I''m not sure what happens to a leader''s retinue after he dies; anyone know if it''s good to transfer them after they get old, before they sleep with the pisces?

Someone asked about ships earlier. I''ve gotten in a naval war, blockading a Carthaginian port, and having to start a war with the Numidians, of all people. I think it''s an AI bug - their fleets all ended up by Segeta, the northernmost Mediterranean port on the West side of Italy, and they kept me out of the port there. So I built some biremes, and then was awarded a Deceres by the Senate, and I ran them off in 3 naval battles in one turn. Now I can build Triremes; I still can''t repair my Deceres, but it''s doing quite well anyway.

There are a lot of fleets running around the Med, transporting troops, cutting off trade and fighting each other. Sinkings are pretty unlikely, probably due to the scale - I''ve been in maybe 15 battles and seen about 4 or 5 ships go down, total. Most battles simply reduce the number of fighting sailors and force the loser to retreat. But you know that after they refit, they''ll pop up again.

Yes, it''s easy but a bit costly to replace casualties. Upgrading weapons is done by the same process, and also costs a bit. So repairing and refitting ground and sea units is an ongoing and very important task. You can only do that in cities, and only for the units that city can build, so that can affect a campaign''s pace. If your good units have to be sent to the capital to get new troops and the latest upgraded swords and armor, that''s gonna slow you done. And hope you sent enough to keep them safe if they are attacked on the trip...

Thanks for the tips. I just learned a new trick, send a spy into a city before you''re about to besiege it and there''s a % chance he''ll open the gates for you. My spy (had a 37% chance) must of failed because I had to bust it open.

Argh- you people suck! I shouldn''t spend money on this right now, but if it''s as good as you say I''ll probably give in.

Sanjuro, did you try the demo? That should be a half-assed way to tell if/how it''ll run for the most part, no?

I''ll admit, thanks to the wedding and parties I''ve attended over the weekend, I haven''t had as much time to get impressions of this as everyone else has. Suffice it to say, I dig the general''s pep talk at the beginning.

""Let your battlecry be victory! Victory for Rome!""

Any suggestions on how to get more named characters to govern my cities? I would like to be able to have generals leave a city, but they''re acting as the govenor. Another thing I''m wondering about, do members of your family just die, of old age or something, because I had one die and there was no apparent battle near him. I took a faction hit because of it.

This game really can suck up your time. ""One more turn, I keep telling myself,"" but of course that always opens up something else I need to take care of.

Since as far as I can tell all your governors are family members, my advice is more sex with the mrs. Or the same amount with different women, whichever floats your Bireme.

Indeed, it ran swimmingly on my unit Sanj, even with some sizable battles, and I haven''t had this much fun in a long, long, long time. I''m immensely glad I grabbed this instead of Fable. I don''t want to say Game of the Year yet, but it''ll take something absolutely spectacular to knock this off its throne. I want to post more, but I must play more now, so first, game.

11 playable nations are the maximum for the official game, but expect to see about 10 non-playables added via a mod in the next couple of weeks.

Apparently hard is where the game really shines, reports are that easy and medium really are for people new to the series and the AI isn''t really let loose on you until you ramp up the difficulty. Even hardcore fans are actually impressed with the enemy AI.

T minus 4 days for me.

Well, if someone says that during one of their battles with the Gauls, a short skinny guy, a tall fat guy, and a dog ran onto the field and started launchin men into the atmosphere with vicious uppercuts, I will be in my car headed out to buy the game quicker than you can say ""magic potion.""