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The Roman Empire lasted a good, long time, and Rise of Rome takes you throughout that history with three campaigns. Each of the campaigns represents a different era of this dominant power of antiquity.

The basics
Four basic strategies and units seem to dominate the Roman Empire's blueprint for success; they apply throughout all the Roman campaigns you will engage in. Each minimizes the inherent weaknesses of the Romans and capitalizes on their strengths.

Scythe Chariots: At first it looks like the Scythe Chariot is little more than a Roman version of a poor man's War Elephant. However, properly deployed Scythe Chariots can have a devastating effect on opponents. In groups, their speed can allow them to bypass a city's defenses and engage enemy workers and priests (they receive double resistance to conversion attempts) at the core of an opponent's city. Plunge them into the center of workers/priests/fighters and they damage adjacent units like Elephants. With a little luck you can decimate the economy of your enemies and leave your forces free to catapult their buildings with impunity.

War galleys or triremes, placed at water bridges, make good alternatives to Roman towers
Legions: The backbone of the Roman Empire, these troops can often decide the fate of a battle. Because the Roman Empire enjoys a 33peed bonus with all sword attacks, barracks units are more formidable. Now add Logistics, which gives you barracks units at one-half population cost (allowing you to control a potential 100 units), and Tower Shield, which gives infantry additional armor against ranged attacks, and you have some very powerful infantry modifiers. Legion units are the most powerful of the infantry units, and if upgraded fully (including Tower Shield) can be quite devastating in combat. Having a horde of 90 to 100 Roman Legion units storm a city almost certainly spells doom for any enemy! A faster version of this strategy can be used with swordsman as they can be deployed much earlier in the game.

Triremes: Because the maps in the Roman campaigns tend to have both heavy tree populations and water bridges, Triremes will likely be core units across the missions.. The Roman Towers are limited to Sentry Towers at the highest technology level, but Triremes actually have superior hit points, damage rating, and range, and only cost wood, which is so abundant that you'll rarely run out. Position these units at key points like water bridges (thus having them double as towers), and when you take them on the offensive, attack en masse (the more the better) and focus on docks and towers. While the Catapult Trireme and Juggernaut are more powerful, they also cost gold, which would be better spent elsewhere, like on Priests. Speaking of which….
The taste of victory!
Priests: The Roman Empire lacks any Elephant units (which are the Legions' only real weakness) or heavy horse units. This can make defeating these units very troublesome. With Priest units the Romans can convert these units to their cause. Better yet, in a pinch you can sacrifice a priest to instantly convert a unit to your side. A good tactic is to have a Chariot unit ride out and find enemy units and lure them back to your priests (protected by some Legion units, of course), convert the valuable ones, and have your Legions kill the rest. Heal any damaged units and repeat. Using this strategy you can quickly build up a monstrous army while bleeding the ranks of the enemy dry.

Fighting the first Roman campaign
These basic strategies can help you win the campaigns with minimal fuss. In fact, the first campaign serves as an excellent example for the methods you'll need use to master the subsequent Roman Campaigns. The following summaries should help you to put these strategies in context.

The Mirror towers are formidable but can be overwhelmed
The Birth of Rome: Rome has broken free of the yoke of Etruscan rule. The birth of the mighty Roman Empire has begun! Your goal here is to build Sentry Towers at each of the flags. For this mission you only need to focus on being on the defensive. Begin by building Sentry Towers on all the flagged spots immediately surrounding your town. As soon as possible assign several workers to mine the stone quarry. Finally, build up a wall of Triremes to guard the water crossings (got to do something with all that wood). Now protected, take your workers with an escort to build the last few Towers. Station an extra unit or two at each tower to help defend those flimsy Roman Sentry Towers.

Pyrrhus of Epirus: Defeating the Semites has made the Roman Republic the dominant power in Italy. King Pyrrhus and his army have landed to challenge that claim. Alarmed, the Greeks have asked for aid from the Roman Empire. Start your workers cutting wood. Also build houses and a dock. Advance to the Bronze Age as soon as possible. Build a fleet of Triremes and place at least one of them at the water bridge to the north (up) of your city. Have the rest hug the north coast, and hunt and kill any opposition encountered. Then work your way west and then south along the coast taking out any enemy units or towers encountered. This would be a good place to use the Priest strategy of luring units and converting them.

The Legion rush in action
Syracuse: The actions of Hannibal have encouraged the people of Syracuse to rebel. In the face of some powerful inventions by Archimedes, the Roman Empire has to prepare for a tough fight. Until you have your fleet built up, leave your ships along the coast for defense. Concentrate your efforts on harvesting wood first, and build up a massive fleet of Triremes. As soon as possible, attack the small village to the southwest (lower right)—you'll need the resources there later. As soon as you have the largest fleet of Triremes possible, launch your assault on the main area to the north and northwest (the far northwest corner will eventually be a staging area). You'll find that Syracuse has a number of Mirror Towers (i.e., lasers) that take out ships in one or two shots. Don't panic. The Towers are slow—just overrun them with attacking Triremes and they'll fall quickly. Work your way northwest; there you'll find an ideal spot for setting up a new village in the far west end. With your remaining fleet take out as many of the towers along the coast as you can. If you should run out of wood set up small economy posts on the islands of the southwest and northeast corners. The staging area to the northwest will be a new town. A combination of Catapults and the Priest strategy would probably be ideal.

Finally, when you work your way into the city destroy towers, buildings and units, but be careful to avoid the Priest blocked in by the buildings (he's Archimedes). When the surrounding threats are eliminated, convert Archimedes and walk him out. Then walk ten Legion units in to the middle of the yellow flag area (failing to convert Archimedes can result in his accidentally getting killed by the Legion units); this should end the mission.

Never underestimate the value of catapults
Metaurus
Hasdrubal is seeking to join his army with that of his brother Hannibal. Together they will have the strength to threaten Rome itself. The game tips suggest moving your town, but that's unnecessary. Just set up either a Tower or Trireme zone to the north at the water bridges. The cost of upgrading to Triremes may be a little costly in the beginning so use the War Galleons for your defense. An enemy city is to the northeast, but once you get your protective zone set up, you can afford to ignore it for awhile, since they are essentially cut off from you. Instead, concentrate your efforts on the enemy city to the southwest. You can go with the Legion, Scythe Chariots, or Priest strategy, whatever you prefer. I would recommend taking a catapult or two along to take out those enemy towers. Then you can turn your full attention to the city to the northeast.

Zama
Rome's armies are sent to North Africa to threaten Carthaga itself. Defeat Hannibal and Carthaga and end the long bitter battle. This one can be a challenge balance-wise, but it is actually a pretty easy mission. Concentrate on victory through building a Wonder. Set all workers to gather food, gold, and stone only. Don't create any units other than workers, and load up on them until your reach the population limit. Then when 1000 of each materiel is reached set all workers to build the Wonder. Worst case, send your horsemen to eat up their workers to slow them down. After your Wonder is built concentrate on defenses and build towers and walls to block the passage near the flags at the east side of your city.

The priest strategy at work
Mithridates
Mithridates has captured Roman provinces and even invaded Greece itself. The Romans must break the power of this Eastern king. Build a small settlement to harvest the materials on the islands, but as soon as possible land your forces to the west-northwest beach. Build a town center here as well as a dock and then build up your town. Use the Scythe Chariots or Legion strategies and a few catapults to take the town at the upper northwest corner. Fortify your position up to the northeast walls of the enemy and build like crazy. Kill off any extra troops that have that walled area to the northeast under siege and then concentrate on building Triremes fleets. Take out all towers and docks and then destroy your fleet (except for a few transports). Build a large Legion army and don't attack the Wonder full-force till you have most of them transported over. For effect, go for broke and attack with the maximum possible units. There's nothing like seeing 90+ Legions surging through an enemy city.

You've completed the first campaign in the epic history of the legendary Roman Empire. Your adventures have just started, but you're now a seasoned veteran, ready for anything the enemies of the Eternal City can throw at you. Hail Caesar!

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Page Updated Mon Feb 28, 2000 8:25pm EST