In the early days of Rome 2 modding, Radious' works were definitely my mods of choice. However, I eventually grew bored with all the "fantasy units" he added and moved on to Magnar's mod. Magnar's reminded me a lot of Europa Barbarorum with it's focus on historical accuracy even at the cost of gameplay balance so I played it for quite some time. What pulled me away from it however, wasn't DeI itself but two modders whose works I'd been enjoying and following for quite some time: Dresden and Epaminondas The "Oblique".
Dresden had taken charge of the 'Traits, Talents and Toadies' mod after Hellbent resigned from modding so I'd been following his progress with this and his Hegemonia and Turn Per Year mods, while I'd been enjoying Epaminondas' 'Ancient Colors'. When both of them announced they'd be working together along with Selea (creator of the Ars Gratia Artis mod) on a new project called 'Divide et Impera', I immediately became interested and started following and supporting their new endeavor and the rest is history.
*****
To focus back on DeI itself, the battles are indeed one of my favorite parts. I was fighting a battle against the Persians as the Seleucids in one game and out of all the battles I've fought since I bought this game it's still my all-time favorite one (so far). I was outnumbered roughly 2-to-1 by the Persians whose army was mainly comprised of spearmen, hillmen with assorted light infantry and a few squads of Medean cavalry, while my army was based around a core of phalangites supported by hillmen on the flanks with 3 units of Medean cavalry and my general's Cataphract Elephant guard. The battle started fairly by the book with my phalangites pinning the enemy infantry in place, while my cavalry countered the enemy's but halfway through disaster struck.
One of the units of hillmen guarding the left flank of my phalanx line suddenly broke and began fleeing from the battle. Hillmen already have poor morale so when the other units saw one group running for the hills they soon followed suit. Instead of chasing after the routers, the AI sent its infantry charging straight into the exposed flank of my phalangites who managed to hold but were in dire peril. I would usually send my general to shore up such a calamitous break, but he was already busy countering the Persian cavalry on the right flank and I knew if I pulled him, and the morale boost from his presence, away that my hillmen there would break and the disaster would only repeat itself. With no other real options left, I decided to focus him and all my attention on routing the left flank of the Persian army before my own left could collapse anymore.
The rest of the battle played out as a nail-biting see-saw with some of my phalangites breaking and routing from the field, but thanks to my general's elephants (and some touch and go charging with my cavalry) I emerged triumphant though it was a somewhat Pyrrhic Victory.
"Life is more fun when you are insane. Just let go occasionally".- yakcamkir 12:14
"It is not numbers, but vision that wins wars." - Antiochus VII Sidetes
"My magic screen is constantly bombarded with nubile young things eager to please these old eyes. This truly is a wonderful period in which to exist! -
Terikel GrayhairAngel of
Total War: Rome II Heaven and the
Total War: Attila Forums