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Populus Romanus - A hex strategy game for Android tablets and phones
Populus Romanus - A hex strategy game for Android tablets and phones
Great game but Adriatic coast is pretty impossible. There seem to be indestructible spearmen around and you cannot heal wounds or gain status in cities.
ReplyDeleteUp till then great fun....
Adriatic Coast is indeed a bit devilish scenario, as you initially don't have any towns to build more units or heal existing units. It's completely winnable though :-)
ReplyDeleteOne possible strategy to beat that scenario is to establish a beachhead by conquering the southernmost enemy town, and setting up a defense line on the hills/mountains around it, and not advancing too far north before you're actually ready for it. Let the terrain defense bonuses work for you, not against you. Avoid attacking units that are on high ground unless absolutely necessary.
However, I think I'm likely going to make it a bit less hard on next update by adding a few more initial Roman units... the difficulty increase from previous scenario was indeed quite large.
The main pain is that even if you do conquer towns, the don't repair damage in the normal way. so your units just weaken and die.
ReplyDeleteIve tried establishing bases in the hills but the elite war chariots get you eventually. sitting in defence just allows the enemy to build more and more troops. as you cant heal they just weaken you intill you dissapear. why wont the towns heal you in this scenario?
Also all your comment fields are not in English. it makes it hard to workout how to post a comment...
Just had three more goes. it's certainly a challenge. establishing a bridgehead doesnt work, as soon as you take the town the other guys crush you. those elite chariots are too tough. they really swarm in. given a couple of turns before they declare war you might be able to get some better units and maybe two towns. ive just played where i attacked no one and i still get slowly crushed after the town is taken.
ReplyDeleteOh well Rome wasnt conquered in a day....
English comments is sorted...cheeers
si
I cannot crack it, or even got close. those elite chariots are just too fast and too tough. back to angry birds for me.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone cracks it post the strategy....
Okay, seems I found the issue that was making this particular scenario too hard. An update is currently in playtesting phase and should be available for download this weekend (on Android Market that is ... Amazon Appstore takes about a week to go through).
ReplyDeleteOn another note -- I just added Local Multiplayer mode. It's being made available in this same update as a beta version (first few maps playable as multiplayer, the final maps don't yet have multiplayer version of the scenario, I'm working on those).
P.S. A unit that is resting in a town, doesn't get healed if it is being attacked (rationale for this: one can't really rest and relax while being attacked ...)
Updated game uploaded to Android Market, should show up for downloads shortly.
ReplyDeleteI figured out that i was getting healed and then attacked hence staying the same level in the cities. Played 21 games now on the ammended Asiatic and no nearer working out the strategy.... I now last longer but still just find my forces get drained away. Even tried hiding a couple of legions in the corner behind the stream. I think with no base city and both enemies the rate of attrition is not sustainable. How long did it take to win when you playtested it? Any secrets?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, ensure that you're running the latest version of the game (version 1.1.1 from last saturday, not the faulty 1.1.0 from last friday). If you just updated from 1.1.0 but didn't restart the scenario, restart the scenario as some of the initial setup was changed!
ReplyDeleteSo, here's one winning strategy for scenario 6 :-) It's not the only way to beat it, but probably among the easiest.
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First, approach that lone Elite Bowman in southeast with nearby units. If it comes off the mountaintop position, kill it off with whatever unit you have. If it remains there, surround it with many (preferrably 4+) units to get flanking bonuses, and kill it.
With units in southwest, march most of them towards southernmost town, Sulmo. However, detach 2-3 units (at least one with 4 point defense and good offence, e.g. a legion, and another one that is fast) to advance along the west bank of the river, as far as the little forest across the river from Corfinium. Attack Sulmo with full force, you should be able to conquer it in a few turns. At this point the northern tribe (Marrucini) joins the war too, against you.
Split your forces that conquered Sulmo, in a way that some units with 4 point defense advance to the north across hills, as far as the edge of the hills, but don't go to the plains. Keep a defensive position across the hills. The remainder of your troops should advance along the road towards Corfinium. Kill off any enemies standing between town and your army, and then surround town as completely as you can. At this point, use your units from other side of the river to strengthen your siege by advancing them to river hexes (but don't attack with them, only use units on better ground to attack, since attack from river gives -30% attack penalty). The town is likely guarded by a hoplite so you might make some losses here, but the sheer number of your units should allow you to get the town.
After conquering Corfinium, it's going to get harder. There are Marrucini units advancing towards you from north where their towns are, as well as from northwest (on other side of river). If you have enough gold available in Corfinium, buy a hoplite at this point and place it one step northeast from town (on the hills next to the town). This is a super defensive position. If you can't purchase a hoplite yet, put any unit with defense 4 there instead and be prepared to replace it with another similar if it gets badly hit.
Now, do several turns of defensive war. Kill off any units that try to attack you across the river. Now you can take advantage of the little detachment sent to west bank of the river earlier: If you have two units attacking an enemy that is on the river, you can with a quick unit approach their rear and arrange +50% attack bonuses for the other units instead of the mere +10%, by having enemy surrounded on 3 sides. At the same time, see if enemy advances on the units that you have set up to guard the hills. Whenever you can, outflank and attack units on plains. If you get yourself outflanked on 3 or more sides, retreat from your position and regroup your defenses! Avoid attacking enemies that are on hills except if you have them well outflanked and have a veteran/elite unit attacking.
If you play your defensive tactics here well enough, you should be able to get some units advanced to veteran/elite status, heal them in towns, and purchase some more hoplites for defending. When the enemy seems to have exhausted their greatest strength, you can attempt to advance towards Ceio, the nearest Marrucini town along the river. When you manage to conquer it, there are likely very little chances to lose the war anymore.
Really appreciate the response!
ReplyDeleteI tried very similar approach. will try more now...
Tried 22 times now and cannot win with that strategy.... I think i have got close a couple of times using different schemes. I tried sitting on the lower edge and waiting to draw them out. this sort of works but as soon as you take the town you get crushed.
ReplyDeleteTaking town 2 is rarely possible when the hoplite takes over. You have to attack with everything and he wins most. even against elite and pretorian. this weakens you and he goes super elite which makes it harder... viscious circle. also if they take the town back a hoplite appears by magic...
Still trying. still dying...
Si
Hmm, couldn't resist doing some manual calculations for the battle "dice rolls" ...
ReplyDeleteA hoplite has a defense strength of 6, a town gives +50% so it's a total of 9 then.
Let's assume you have the hoplite surrounded on 5 sides out of 6 ... that would be normally +200% outflanking bonus for any attacker. However, attacking a town means you get only half of that bonus. That is still +100%. If you are attacking with an ordinary legion (attack 8), it has total attack of 16 due to that +100% bonus. Odds of 16 against 9 give you a 64% chance of winning the battle. And even better, if you attack with a veteran unit.
Outflanking on 4 sides in otherwise same setup gives 57% chance to win. Outflanking on 3 sides 52%.
Mercilessly singling out and surrounding individual enemy units is the key to win, when you're otherwise outnumbered.
Also, to avoid enemy getting to Elite status, move any wounded units off from frontline, and replace them with more healthy units. If the enemy succeeds in killing off several of your units, they are going to be on Elite level rapidly. (Elite level requires some kills in addition to just winning a number of battles)
About new units that emerge if enemy re-conquers the town - The enemy is quite likely to spend any remaining gold in that town (or nearby towns) to build good defensive units, to improve their defensive position there.
P.S. Are certainly playing with latest version that had this scenario starting units and stuff re-balanced? (1.1.1 from Android Market -- you can recognize that 1.1.x series is installed, by looking at start menu: if you see multiplayer related buttons, you have it.)
I had elite pretorian (20) fighting spearman (4). Spearman is surrounded on all sides - 8 - that gives +400% bonus. So 80 plays 4. Spear wins....
ReplyDeleteI really cannot get any further than town two - it just gets too congested in the middle. I get town two and then I get stuck and whittled down to nothing.
I fight nothing unless I have big advantage.
I just spent fifteen turns waiting for the enemy to come to me and made better progress on attack, but still never get further than town 2.
I will still play, but I can not see a way to win this one...
Please someone post if they have managed to crack it.
I think if there was a three or four turn delay in the second enemy declaring war after town 1 falls you could possibly establish a stable base across both towns. But you have to stand in the open to defend the towns and these units get crushed....
I tend to put the pretorian in town 2 when it's captured but when he gets surrounded by three elite hoplites; two in the river and one in the mountain, he eventually goes down and they take the town. To get the hoplite outof te mountain you have to have to elements in the open - no chance...
Oh well, I will keep trying. My wife thinks I am mad....
Victory!
ReplyDeleteI finally managed to gain access to the Adriatic coast...
I am now returning to Rome for my well deserved triumph!
Si
I think the key was to attack the lower town from the mountains, not the south.
ReplyDeleteAnd then just luck.
Then ignore the town north of Corfinium and go for the far west one - the enemy seems to congregate around Corfinium and the west town is pretty easy to grab with units you build in Sulmo
My strategy was (1) move some units 3 hexes from the bowman in the mountains. This draws him out into the open field without letting him attack in the first round. Then surround and kill him. (2) Completely surround both towns and all enemy units, only skirmishing to avoid losing any health if possible. Some of your units should become veterans as you do this. (3) Only attack after all enemy units have been skirmished successfully. Do not kill the units in the towns. Only kill units outside towns with veteran units have lots of battle experience; try to use your best units for killing to get them to elite status. (4) Continue rotating your units around the enemy and skirmishing until all your units are veterans. (5) Maintain your siege of the towns, skirmishing but not killing the defending units. This allows gold to build up because there is no space for the town to build new units. You will get this gold when you take over. Position your remaining units in good defensive locations. You can also scout out the enemy. As long as you do not attack, you have free movement through their territory. If you have enough remaining units with full health, you can take up good attack positions. (7) When you are ready, kill the defenders in both towns on the same round. Move in units from two hexes away: this prevents rebels. Also, use an injured unit to take over each town, because the unit can heal. (8) Heal units with two health first, so you have access to them sooner. Make sure to move injured units into towns before building a new unit so that the new unit doesn't occupy the town when it could be used for healing.
ReplyDeleteId agree with that strategy, although when i played that scenario you took damage for a failed skirmish.
ReplyDeleteNow how do you attack the punic scenario!!?
Si
Playing trial game some battles are bs why have% if they mean nothing my guy has 80/20% chance of victory plus they are in the river_30% and im flanking plus 50% then they win what the fair enough occassional upsets but not half the time cheers
ReplyDeletePlaying trial game some battles are bs why have% if they mean nothing my guy has 80/20% chance of victory plus they are in the river_30% and im flanking plus 50% then they win what the fair enough occassional upsets but not half the time cheers
ReplyDeletePunic: move all mounted units and Praetorians to attack Catania (south). Ford the river and press hard to take this city. Press south to Syracuse as soon as possible. Use Auxilia to skirmish along the northern road to Halaisa, retreating to save your units. The Carthaginians prefer to attack Catania over Messene and your units will retreat into strength. Let the enemy cross hills so you engage them on the plain. The Mamertines will slowly make progress toward Halaisa as long as you prevent them from being completely overwhelmed. Once you have conquered Syracuse, there is probably one more wave of Hoplites to defeat coming across the middle of the island. This should be pretty easy with your elite units backed up by the many spearmen/bowmen that you have built. Once you have one city, do not risk your high attack value units. Rotate troops in and out quickly and allow cheap spearmen/bowmen to absorb the damage. Retreat and heal often. By the time you've conquered Enna and Gela, the Carthaginians will be out of units and money. I took Thermae, Panormos and Drapana without a siege as no units were in the towns.
ReplyDeleteI want to try an alternative lightning attack on Syracuse with all the mounted units and using ground units to harass Catania.
One failed strategy I tried was to surround and conquer Messene on the first turn, and destroy the one Mamertine unit by the second turn. This seems to delay Roman momentum too much, though.
This game is too heavy. The carthagian missions are over in level 2. Can't find any strategie to finish the mission( or at least kill someone). The roman missions are similar to that. I made it to level 3:) the enemy always got better troops and it seems endless resources. If the ai would send a stone, this f*****g stone would be unbeatable. Strategie are useless, cause the status of my own troops are useless too. They can be killed by any enemy troops, even a stone i guess. Excuse my bad english and can someone give me valium, or some cheats? Jes i need cheats for a simply handygame:( But without, i'll never finish it. HELP ME PLEASE
ReplyDelete