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The
battle system
Fights and battles are a central part of Against Rome and will
be described briefly below.
Troop types
The warriors of your tribe can be divided into several groups
whose special features you should know about and take into
account.
Close-combat fighters and artillerymen: As the name indicates,
close-combat fighters can only be used in close-range battles,
while artillery units are equipped with long-range weapons
that they can use to inflict damage upon their adversaries
from a distance. It is also possible, however, to employ
artillerymen in close combat. If their long-range weapons
are unsuited to close combat (e.g., in the case of archers),
they will automatically change their weapons to suit the
new situation. Please note, however, that the special close
combat weapons of artillerymen are only meant for emergencies
and do not inflict any great damage.
Infantry and cavalry: Infantrymen go into battle on foot,
while cavalrymen ride on horseback. Depending on his or
her equipment, a warrior may have certain advantages over
one
of these two troop types. In an encounter with an infantryman,
for instance, a cavalryman will almost always benefit from
a height advantage over the infantryman. The weapon used
can also provide your unit with an attack bonus – e.g.,
lances and spears are ideal for fighting cavalry troops.
Formations
Battle units can assume various formations, each with different
advantages and disadvantages. With the exception of the
bunch formation, which every unit masters automatically,
your tribe leader must use his glory points to purchase
the formations as military options (see below) before the
battle units of your tribe can use them. Certain formations
offer advantages in battle by providing the warriors of
that unit either with a particularly large attack bonus
or a particularly large defense bonus. On the other hand,
certain formation types may result in limitations in the
unit's freedom of movement.
Long-distance fight
Long-range attacks can only be performed by bowmen and artillery
crews.
While your artillery units can only aim at individual enemy
characters and whole enemy units, a piece of artillery
can also be aimed at enemy structures or any free space
lying
within its field of fire. Just make sure that the piece
of artillery is manned and the target lies within its field
of fire.
Your artillery units will automatically switch from long-distance
fights to close combat as soon as an enemy has reached
close-combat
distance.
Close combat
All battle units, leaders and priests can engage in close
combat. Civil units and settlement inhabitants, on the
other hand, do not carry weapons and will therefore always
flee from enemies who come within close-combat distance.
Once a unit is engaged in close combat, it cannot be moved
in the normal way. The only way to detach such a unit from
the fray is the order to retreat.
A retreat of battle units is ordered automatically and
without any action on the part of the player as soon as
the morale
value of a unit has gone down to "0".
If the participants of a close combat are not instructed
to retreat, they will fight until one of the units has
been destroyed.
Artillery
Pieces of artillery are regarded as long-distance battle
units. They can be built by village inhabitants using
the resources from the main house or by civil units using
the
resources they carry on their packhorses.
A piece of artillery must be manned in order to be able
to be used as a long-distance battle unit. If it is located
in a settlement, it can be manned either by settlement
inhabitants
or by a civil unit. Outside of settlements, pieces of artillery
can only be manned by members of a civil unit.
Development options
The leader of a barbarian tribe can use the glory points he
has obtained to purchase a number of additional capabilities
for himself and his tribe. These capabilities are referred
to as development options and are divided into three categories:
personal options, military options and building options.
Once a development option has been purchased and paid for with
the leader's glory points, it is available to the tribe whenever
it is required.
1. Personal options
The personal options relate to the characteristics and skills
of the leader only. Every personal option can be purchased
in four subsequent levels. Each level improves the game
value obtained by then.
Command radius: Each newly obtained level of this option
further increases the command radius of the leader as indicated
on the game screen.
Motivation power: Each newly obtained level of this option
increases the value and duration of the morale bonus that
units can receive while in their leader's command radius.
Attack value: Each newly obtained level of this option increases
the leader's attack value.
Defense value: Each newly obtained level of this value increases
the leader's defense value.
2. Military options
All military development options improve the fighting strength
of the tribe in one way or another. Most military option
types contain several individual options that have to be
obtained one by one.
Formation types: Every individual option obtained enables
the battle units of the tribe to use a new type of formation.
The only exception to this rule is the so-called bunch formation,
which every unit masters automatically.
Warrior types: Every individual option obtained increases
the choice of warriors to be equipped and employed by the
tribe by one warrior type. At the start of the game, each
nation has three warrior types that do not have to be obtained
in this way.
Artillery: Every individual option obtained provides the
tribe with the capability to build and use a new type of
artillery. The nation of the Huns has no artillery options.
Special characteristics: With every individual option obtained,
the tribe acquires a new special national characteristic.
The special characteristics of the barbarian nations are
described below.
3. Building options
The acquisition of building options enables a tribe to erect
new types of structures and to upgrade existing buildings.
Initial options: A type of structure that the tribe has not
been able to build before can be acquired here as an initial
option. Now the structure can be built by the inhabitants
of your settlement.
The following types of structures are available to the barbarian
tribes straight away and do not have to be obtained in this
way:
- main house
- carpenter's workshop
- mine
- farm
- stable
- butcher's shop
- residential house
- armory
Upgrade options: Many types of structures can be upgraded
once they have been built in your settlement. The ability
to upgrade an existing building can be acquired here by purchasing
the desired structure type once more.
Heathen Magic
In Against Rome heathen magic is the
only area where the Barbarians are clearly superior to their
Roman oppressors who have nothing comparable of their own.
In order to be able to cast magic spells, you need places of
sacrifice and priests.
Places of Sacrifice
The leader of your tribe must first purchase the ability to be able to build
places of sacrifice as a building option.
Thereafter you can build as many places of sacrifice in your settlement as
you want. The number of places of sacrifice determines how many different
magic spells your priests can master. As a priest however can only possess
a maximum of four different magic spells, it doesn't make sense to build
more than four places of sacrifice in your settlement.
Places of sacrifice serve the purposes of supplying your priests with so-called
magic points that they require to weave their heathen magic. You have to
carry out human sacrifices in order to load up a place of sacrifice with
magic points.
The inhabitants of your settlement are prepared to give up their lives for
the gods at any time. Other types of figures are not suitable as sacrifices.
During a human sacrifice, the life points of an inhabitant of the settlement
are transformed into magic points and saved at the place of sacrifice.
A priest merely has to be within the settlement area of your village to be
able to tap into the magic point reserve of a place of sacrifice and thus
top up his own supply of magic points.
Priests
You can train inhabitants of your settlement to become heathen priests at
any time but each priest does however cost a considerable amount of resources.
As serving the heathen gods is considered a lifetime task, priests cannot
be converted back to become normal inhabitants of your settlement again
contrary to the members of a unit.
Priests are excellent close-combat fighters but their major strength however
is their capability of casting magic spells. Each priest can master up to
four different magic spells – the exact number depends on the number
of places of sacrifice you have built in your settlement as described above.
If your priest casts a magic spell, this costs him magic points. Each magic
spell can be cast as often as desired as long as priest has enough magic
points. A priest can top up spent magic points as described above as long
as the places of sacrifice that you have built have a sufficient reserve
of magic points.
Apart from when casting magic spells, a priest can also lose a portion of
his magic points if he retreats from a close-combat situation.
Magic spells
The four magic spells that a priest can master are categorized according
to their effectiveness and cost differing amounts of magic points. A detailed
description of all magic spells of the Teutons, Celts and Huns can
be found in the section “The Nations” under the respective “General” heading.
Special characteristics of the barbarian nations
Each barbarian nation in Against Rome has four special characteristics.
These characteristics must be purchased by the leader of the tribe
with fame points before they can be used by his people. Just as
for the other fame point options of the leader, the four special
characteristics must be bought in a particular order.
After they have been purchased by the leader, each special characteristic
is valid for a certain group of figures of the respective nation,
for example for all warriors with long-range weapons or for all
troops on horseback.
The special characteristics for each nations are listed below in
the order of their availability. The exact meaning of each special
characteristic can be found in the section The nations.
Teutons (Link)
1. Shield protection
2. Hitting power
3. Mead bomb
4. Battle high
Celts (Link)
1. Stone traps
2. Flaming projectiles
3. Barricades
4. Shooting skills
Huns(Link)
1. Berserk rage
2. Storm of the Huns
3. Cannibals
4. Poisonous projectiles
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