A Total War Saga: Troy

[Brian Boru]

Threw another hour into the fray, it's going to take a few more before I figure out the UI and what I can/should do in the strategy layer—there's a lot going on!

UI is fairly different to anything I've played, so will take some time

Troy is kind of confusing

Yeah, what ^those guys^ said

 

[ZedClampet]

Threw another hour into the fray, it's going to take a few more before I figure out the UI and what I can/should do in the strategy layer—there's a lot going on!

You'll figure it out soon enough. I don't think it's as complicated as it looks when you first start playing, but I've played Total War games since 2002, so 20 years now, and it's hard for me to imagine what it's like to be new to the series. If you have any questions, let me know.

They changed the battle AI significantly in Troy, and I'm still getting used to it. I have only won 1 battle I wasn't supposed to, and that was because I managed to surround and kill the opposing general, which completely tanks their moral. If you are ever in a hopeless situation, go after the general. The thing is, if he just retreats from the battlefield, that doesn't help you much. You have to actually kill him, so you need to be prepared to chase him a bit because they almost always try to run.

 

[ZedClampet]

It doesn't help that units in melee have a hard time getting out of it, so even if you tell a unit to walk away from a fight, they usually get stuck and keep fighting.

You probably know all this. I'm mostly writing this out for @Brian Boru . If the unit is on foot and not flanking or attacking in the rear, I don't bother trying to get them out of the fight. What hopefully happens is that I have units who are flanking or behind the enemy, and I can move them to assist the struggling unit. Of course, flying units are great for this, although there aren't flying units in Troy unless you play the 3rd campaign. In Warhammer, spells can also reduce the number of enemies that unit is fighting and maybe give them an edge. This is also occasionally available in the 3rd campaign of Troy. If you spend some resources to venerate Zeus, for instance, you can cast a lightning bolt twice during a battle. As a last resort when I can't send anyone to help, I use my ranged units to attack the enemy unit, accepting a certain amount of friendly fire. It's the only chance they have barring change of morale. Sometimes it just hastens the end though.

 

[ZedClampet]

One piece of advice when playing Troy. If you are either the Greeks or Trojans (there's a third faction that's kind of neutral), the other one is going to come after you at some point, and it usually begins in the first 60 rounds. I point this out only because it's not immediately obvious that the game is following the story from Homer, but it is. Play defense and let them throw their armies at you, and you should be able to survive.

Also, if you are a Greek, try not to start early wars, if possible, with Achilles, Agamemnon, Ajax, Menelaus, or Odysseus. There are plenty of other Greek factions there for you to take. For the most part you want to stay on these guys' good sides. Even Agamemnon and Achilles like each other (in the game, not as much in Iliad). If you get this group against you, you are just making things harder on yourself. I'm not saying it's impossible to take them out and then face Troy. I'm just saying it's not ideal to go after these guys at the beginning of the game.

On the other hand, Agamemnon will eventually confederate them all. You don't need to defeat them to win the game, but some people want to eventually control the entire map, not just win the game. If you are one of those people, I suppose it could be helpful to take Agamemnon out early.

 

[ZedClampet]

Tonight my son and I will continue our co-op campaign in Troy. I'm in a world of hurt. My son, who's in the far northeastern corner of the map waging war with Troy, confederated with Agamemnon and Achilles. He then disbanded almost all their armies and sent Agamemnon and Achilles to help him with Troy.

The result of this is that the war in the north, south, east (but not the northeast) and west has been completely abandoned by everyone but me. I've never been stretched so thinly in my life. I told him right before we logged off last night that I hoped he realized I was making armies I had no hope of supporting to defend his homeland and that he was going to have to give me resources (his confederation means he controls a ton of resource generating settlements) or I was going to let the Amazons overrun Sparta and all of southern Greece.