Victoria (named after the Roman goddess of victory) is the campaign
advisor. She can advise you about production, recruitment, managing your empire, diplomacy, dealing with the Senate, trade and so on.
Centurion Marcus is the battlefield advisor. Apart from offering his
opinion about enemy tactics, hell keep an eye out for potential problems such as putting units into dangerous situations: he doesnt like it when cavalry are ordered straight onto spear points! When an advisor has something important to tell you, their portrait will glow. Click on the advisor to see their comments. The Speech button toggles the on-screen text of the current piece of advice. In some cases, you can ask the advisor not to repeat a particular piece of advice by clicking on the check box below the text. Click on the Show Me How button to have the advisor demonstrate how to carry out an action in the game.

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The magnifying glass button shows you the location that is relevant to the advice being offered. The X button dismisses an advisor. Pressing the ESC key also dismisses them. Buttons that are not appropriate for the advice being offered are always greyed out and cannot be selected. Sometimes, for example, there isnt anything that you need to be shown how to do.

Asking For Advice

There are several panels in the campaign game that include an advisor button. You can click on this button to get relevant advice on what you can do next in the game. For example, youll be told what Victoria considers to be the best unit to train if you click on the advisor button on the Recruitment Panel.

Advice Preferences

After youve been playing for a while, you may feel you dont need any more advice. Go to the Options menu at the start of play or press ESC when on the campaign map and select Options from the Game End menu. Youll have the ability to alter the level of advice. Change the level of advice you get by going to the Game Settings menu and choosing an appropriate level of advice from high to none. Your advisors remember what theyve already told you, so if you want to hear advice again, click on the Reset Advisor check box on the same menu. Once youve done that, the advisors will assume youre a new player and offer information and hints accordingly.

CAMPAIGNS

Gameplay in Rome: Total War divides neatly into Campaigns and Battles. These two parts of the game are closely linked, so actions you take in the campaign game such as constructing buildings, training units or appointing generals have major effects on the battlefield. This part of the manual concerns itself with Campaigns. Later, well discuss Battles and how to get the most out of them.

Unit Experience

Be careful when combining units since troops with low (or no) experience can dilute a high experience unit and reduce its performance in combat. The number and colour of the chevrons on the unit card in the Review Panel show unit experience. A unit with experience can be relied on in combat, and will usually beat an otherwise identical unit. Chevrons can also be gained by units under generals with high command values, or as a result of good training facilities (buildings). No chevrons indicate the unit has little or no experience. One, two and three bronze chevrons show the unit has been blooded in combat. One, two and three silver chevrons show the unit is composed of soldiers who have seen much hard fighting. One, two and three gold chevrons show the unit is composed of tough, grizzled veterans who know the business of war inside and out. A unit with three gold chevrons is likely to be one thats worth its weight in gold to a commander!

Generals and Governors

Generals are named characters, members of the ruling family of a faction who command. They can have traits and gain a retinue of attached ancillary characters to help them in their work. Each general has a bodyguard unit. Casualties taken by the bodyguard are slowly replaced over time. The size of the bodyguard depends on the rank and experience of the general. The type of bodyguard depends on the faction, the date in the game and so forth. Generals who end a turn in a settlement without a governor become the governor. When theres a choice, the general with the highest management ability is always the governor. The best general in a settlement is the commander of the garrison. His military abilities are used in siege battles. A governor who leaves a settlement becomes a general.

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Captains
Captains are limited, temporary leaders of armies. Theyre selected from the ranks when an army needs a leader and a named character isnt available to be a general. When a general joins the army, the captain returns to the ranks. Captains cannot: Recruit mercenaries Build forts and watchtowers Govern settlements When a settlement without a governor is besieged, a captain leads the garrison.

Recruiting Mercenaries

While a general is outside a city, he can recruit mercenaries from the local province. Click on the Recruit Mercenaries button in the Control Panel. When there are no mercenaries available, the button is greyed out. This brings up the Army Details Scroll, showing the general and the list of available mercenaries. Left-click on any mercenary unit to select it and add it to the queue of mercenaries to be hired. You can deselect a mercenary unit for hiring by leftclicking on it once again. Right-click on a mercenary to bring up details. When youre satisfied with your hiring choices, click on the Hire Queued Units button on the left of the scroll. Unlike a factions own troops who have to be trained for at least a turn before they appear, mercenaries instantly appear as part of the army in the review panel.

Repairing Buildings

Buildings can be damaged through natural disasters and during siege assaults. Its quite possible to damage a town without taking it, and the longer an assault takes, the more collateral damage is done. Left-click on the Repair tab to see which buildings need work. Repairing buildings works in a very similar fashion to new construction. The cost of repairs is usually substantially less than the cost of a new building, both in terms of cash and of time. Instead of being presented with construction options, there is a collection of buildings needing repair. Left-click on any damaged building to add it to the construction queue. It can be dragged and dropped into the queue and left-clicked to cancel the work as described above for new construction work.
The Building Information Scroll
This shows information about a given building. You can find out what each group of buildings does through the Building Browser Scroll. The Building Information Scroll allows you to destroy buildings. This is on this scroll to stop you from doing it accidentally! Click on this button to destroy the building. Youll receive a proportion around a thirdof the cost of the building as a refund into your treasury.
The Settlement Details Scroll
This scroll allows you to review the settlement in detail, and see what factors are contributing to the overall population growth, public order and settlement income. For each of these three areas, the positive factors are shown above the negative factors. Move the cursor over each icon and a tool tip appears telling you what it represents. The other important, perhaps vital, piece of information presented here is the length of time that the settlement can withstand a siege. This represents the surplus food that the settlement has stored.

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Left-click this button to bring you down into a battlefield view of your
settlement. It can be a great help in letting you get a feel for the streets and defenses.
Left-click this button to bring up the Trade Summary Scroll and see
how your settlement is generating taxable income.
Left-click on this button to make this settlement your capital.
This is where all new Generals and reward units from the Senate will appear.
The Trade Scroll and Province Resources
There are two ways to raise the income from a settlement: One is to change the tax rate (through the Settlement Scroll); The other is to improve the economic structures in a settlement. There are three potential generators of taxable income: trade, farming and mining. All of these can be improved by constructing buildings, although all rely on resources in the province. Any resources in the surrounding province will be traded automatically, if only within the local settlement. Slaves and grain are moved between settlements automatically as required. Mines are needed to extract mineral wealth from a province. These need to be constructed like any other building. Farming improvements increase the income from farming and the growth rate of a settlement as more food is generated. However, not all provinces are equally fertile, so dont expect farms to have the same affect in all parts of the world. That said, a settlement always benefits from farming improvements. Trader-type buildings in a settlement improve the efficiency of trade and the amount of money it generates. A port (and its subsequent upgrades) allows trade goods to be moved more efficiently and in greater numbers. Ports always appear on the coastline of the province, although theyre part of the settlement. They also help train naval units. Landlocked provinces cannot have ports. Roads allow trade goods to be carried to neighboring settlements automatically. They also allow the faster movement of armies.

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The Rome: Total War package includes a printed technology tree for the Roman factions in the game. All factions, however, follow a technology tree, some of which are very different from that of the Romans. The Building Browser Scroll allows you to review a settlements progress through the technology tree. Buildings in full colour have been completed. Greyed-out buildings are either not yet built or unavailable for the settlement. The Building Browser shows the government building you need before you can construct other buildings at the same level. Right-click on any building (including those not yet built) to bring up the relevant Building Information Scroll. All buildings keep, or improve on, the abilities of earlier structures.
The Building Browser and the Technology Tree

Wonders of the World

Some provinces contain wonders of the ancient world. Capturing the settlement in the province gives you control of the wonder, and these grant empire-wide benefits. If you lose control of the settlement (and the province), you lose the benefit for owning the wonder.

Trouble in Settlements

Settlements are not always good places to live, and sometimes the people will make their feelings clear by revolting. Victoria, your advisor, will warn you that problems are developing and suggest solutions, but prevention is sometimes better than cure. You can reduce the tax rate, send troops to quell dissent, send a better (or indeed any) governor and, if time permits, construct buildings that have a positive effect on public order. Sieges have to be endured or broken. See the section on How to Break a Siege on page 36 for more information. Plague is, perhaps, the worst thing that can happen to a settlement, and a sign of the gods disfavour! A settlement thats a squalid place to live is more likely to suffer plague than somewhere thats wholesome. Again, some buildingssuch as sewershave a positive effect on public health and lessen the likelihood of a plague.

Changing Your Mind

Construction orders are only executed when the end of turn button is pressed. Before then, you can undo any changes you have made.

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HOW TO TRAIN UNITS
Armies in Rome: Total War are made up of one or more military units under the command of a general (a member of the ruling family) or a lesser captain (a commander drawn from the ranks). One class of units can never be trained: generals bodyguard units. These are given free with every new member of the ruling family of a faction. They can, however, be retrained and equipped with better quality weapons. A generals bodyguard is disbanded when the general dies. Training all other units uses three resources: time, money and men. Every unit takes at least one turn to train, has a cash cost and uses population from the settlement where its trained. Units also cost money for salary, supplies and equipment after they have been trained. This upkeep cost is automatically paid, and can become a significant expenditure each turn! The military buildings in a settlement determine what units can be trained there. The Building Browser Scroll shows what buildings produce units. Barbarian factions have a different set of buildings in their technology tree, but the principle remains the same. A left-click on one of your settlements selects the settlement, and the Control Panel at the bottom of the screen changes to reflect the contents of the selected settlement. Click on the left-most tab above the central Review Panel to show the settlement garrison. This allows you to review the troops already present in the settlement. (A right-click on this tab produces the Military Forces Scroll: a list of all your existing armies). On the right-hand side of the Control Panel are two large buttons. Click on the lower recruitment button to open the Settlement Scroll with the Recruitment tab selected.

The Recruitment Tab

As youll see, this is very similar to the Construction tab. The Recruitment tab is where you order new units to be trained in your settlement. Immediately below is the Recruitment Queue, which shows training in progress. Down the left-hand side of this scroll is a set of buttons that are described in the How To Run Settlements section. Click here to ask Victoria about what unit to train. Shell suggest a unit and give reasons for her choice.

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Splitting & Merging Fleets
If you want to split a fleet, select the ships you want to form a new fleet in the Review Panel and then drag and drop them to the destination for your new fleet. They will automatically leave and a new admiral will be appointed for the new fleet. Any passengers stay with the parent fleet. To merge two fleets, simply move one fleet to the location of another. If the two fleets have more than 20 ships total, youll be given the chance to decide exactly which ship ends up in each fleet.

Fleets as Bridges

It is possible for land forces or characters to board a fleet and then disembark on the same turn.

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Storms
Storms can cause fleets to lose ships. Its possible that a fleet can be entirely dashed to pieces by a particularly bad storm. Ships in coastal waters are in less danger during storms than ships far out to sea. Any ship thats sunk is lost with any military units it was carrying.

How to Use Spies

Spies are trained in settlements that have a market (or larger trade building). They are your eyes and ears in rivals territory, and act as counterspies and secret police officers in your own lands. When a spy can spy against a rival, the cursor changes. A spy can only carry out one spying attempt per turn. Move a spy into a rivals settlement to obtain information. An infiltrated spy can cause unrest and open the gates during a siege. Theres a chance the spy will be caught and killed. Move a spy to the same location as a rivals army to obtain information about the army and its commander. The accuracy and completeness of the information depends on the ability of the spy. Move a spy to the same location as a rivals agent to obtain information about that spy, diplomat or assassin. Spies can be used to counter enemy agents and their activities: Spies always see enemy spies who would otherwise remain invisible. Spies can be attached to your own armies by moving them onto an army. Simply move them to the same location as an army. A spy can be removed from the army by clicking on the Characters tab, selecting the spy and then right-clicking a spot on the game map. Spies can be moved into one of your settlements to act as counterspies and to keep the local troublemakers under observation. This improves public order in the settlement. Over the course of time, a spys abilities may improve and he may gain various traits as a result of his missionsassuming he lives, of course! Diplomats are trained in settlements that have a governors villa, warlords hold (barbarians only) or larger government structure. Its their job to broker all kinds of deals and treaties. They can also offer bribes to rival forces. Move a diplomat onto a rivals settlement, army or diplomat to begin negotiations.The cursor changes to show a spot in the campaign world where negotiations are possible if a diplomat moves there.

How to Use Diplomats

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Diplomats can be attached to your armies like other characters. Simply move them to the same location as an army. This makes it slightly safer for them to travel. They can be removed from the army by clicking on the Characters tab, selecting the diplomat and then right-clicking a spot on the game map.

The Diplomacy Scroll

Youll see the Diplomacy Scroll every time you send a diplomat to negotiate with another faction. Youll also see it when a rivals diplomat comes to you with an offer of friendship (or even to threaten you). The Diplomacy Scroll summarizes your current relationship with another faction, including earlier treaties, and allows you to make new deals. The centre panel is the treaty thats being proposed. Build up a treaty by selecting items from the two lists: Left-click on offer and demand items in the lists to add them to the treaty. These include land, cash and information. Left-click on an item already in the treaty to remove it. The offers and demands do not have to be balanced, but treaties that are unbalanced will be rejected more often than ones with some give-and-take. When youre happy with terms, click on the Offer button below the treaty text. The other party will respond. Hell do one of three things: refuse outright, accept immediately or make a counter-offer. If youre offering money, territory or map information and not asking for anything in return, these can be a gift. Offers to attack other factions can also be a gift. Its quite possible that your proposed treaty was interesting, but not quite what the opposition wanted. In this case, theyll make a counter-offer to you. Once a counter-offer treaty is on the table, you can accept it or make your own proposals in response as a counter-offer. Again, you can change the treaty by clicking on either offers or demands and on the treaty itself (delete items). Its quite possible for negotiations to go through several rounds of offer and counter-offer before a deal is reached. Be mindful, though, that not everyones patience is endless and one mans haggling is another mans waste of time!

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How to Use Assassins
Assassins are trained in settlements that have a forum, agora or bazaar or larger trading structure. Assassins can assassinate characters or sabotage buildings. Move an assassin onto an enemy army, settlement or agent to attempt a mission. An assassin can only attempt one mission per turn. It doesnt matter when during the turn the mission occurs. An assassination can be carried out on any character at the location. Youll be presented with a target list including a chance of success for each hit.
Sabotage missions can only be carried out in settlements. Youll be given
the choice of an assassination (if theres a character in the settlement) or sabotage. Again, youll be presented with a target list on the Select Mission Target Scroll, including a chance of success for the mission. Unrecognized buildings in a settlement appear as ? which can be sabotaged. Use the tabs to move between the assassination and sabotage targets.

Character Traits: Vices and Virtues
Over time, characters pick up a variety of personality quirks and traits. Some of these are good and some are bad, but if a man is worthy, hell develop a good character. A man who runs from battle or is left to rot in a provincial backwater may develop a nasty personality! Its probably a good idea to have a look at your characters every once in a while to make sure they dont have a taste for the good life (at your expense), or turn into blood-soaked loonies!

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In Rome: Total War, the Roman empire is represented by four factions (you cannot play the Senate). They are all on the same side when it comes to dealing with nonRomans, but one faction will eventually take control of the whole empire. At the start, the Senate and other Roman factions are not hostile. You dont need to worry about being stabbed in the back by another Roman faction. At some point, itll become inevitable that youll have to march on Rome and stake your claim to be imperator (emperor) of the Roman world. The other Roman factions will be working toward the same goal. Its therefore likely a civil war will break out. An attack on Rome will only succeed if you have a strong military force and your faction is popular with the Senate and People of Rome.
How to Deal with the Senate
At the start of each turn, event messages appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Among these can be messages from the Senate requesting you perform a mission of some kind. These missions are intended to further the interests of Rome, not just your faction. While whats good for Rome is often the same as whats good for you, it may not always be the case. The Senate also sets a time limit for these missions. As you carry out Senate missions and your faction becomes stronger, the tasks the Senate asks you to perform will become more challengingand the rewards for carrying out the wishes of the Senate grow!

The Senate Overview

This summarizes all Roman politics in one place. Click on the tabs to review policy, missions or the floor (your popularity). The Senate policy section of this scroll gives you information on the senates attitude toward all non-Roman factions in the game. Left-click on a faction symbol to see what the Senate thinks of a faction. The Senate missions section of the scroll gives you a list of outstanding missions that you may want to complete. Its entirely your decision whether these missions are carried out or not. Factions that carry out missions will be well regarded by the Senate. Click on a mission to select it, and then click on this button to centre the campaign map on the target for an outstanding mission. The Senate floor shows your popularity with the senate and with the plebs or plebeiansthe ordinary Romans in the street.

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How to Get the Most from Unit Abilities
Many units have a special ability that makes them more useful in battle. Select the unit, then click on the special ability button (or press the F key). Most special abilities can be toggled, but a few are one use: The Cantabrian Circle formation is used by light, missile-armed cavalry to keep up a barrage on an enemy unit. Rather than firing a mass volley against an opponent and then retreating to reload, a unit executing a Cantabrian Circle gallops around with each soldier firing before dropping back to prepare a new missile. The effect is a steadyand demoralizing rain of missiles on a target unit, rather than a single volley. Many archer and artillery units can fire flaming projectiles instead of their normal missiles. These can set men and buildings on fire. Many spearmen, hoplites and pikemen, particularly those schooled in Greek ways of warfare, can form a phalanx. This is a solid mass of infantry who rely on mass and discipline to punch into an enemy line. A general can rally nearby routing units, recalling them to the fight by sheer force of personality. If this works, the unit re-forms, ready to fight on (for a while, at least). The later types of Roman Legionaries can form a testudo or tortoise formation by closing up and interlocking their shields. Snug inside an armoured shell, the Legionaries can then advance through missile fire and survive. A warcry gives a temporary boost to the combat power of the unit as it enters combat. Some cavalry units can form a wedge, a formation that aids them when charging into other units by increasing their shock value on attack. The mass of cavalry is concentrated against a small portion of the enemys line, and then the enemy unit is split apart (if the wedge charge works). Some barbarian units can chant or let forth fearsome keens and screeches. This increases the morale of nearby friendly units and decreases the morale of nearby enemy units. Should an elephant unit panic and run amok, the drivers can be ordered to kill their beasts. This is very useful if the elephants are running amok through your own troops!

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Unit Morale
Morale is the willingness of a unit to fight on while taking casualties. As long as a units morale remains good, it will fight. But sooner or later, even the bravest of men will realize that their lives are in more danger if they stay than run. Morale, therefore, is more noticeable when its lacking: a unit with no morale will run away. Not all units are equally blessed with good morale. For example, peasants arent keen on going to war. Professional Legionaries, on the other hand, are likely to stay and fight against great odds. Some units in the game have morale effects in addition to their combat value: Generals (usually) and captains boost the morale of nearby troops. There are some traits, such as personal cowardice, that reduce the morale of warriors under a generals command. The death of a general or captain is usually a severe blow to the morale of his whole army. Some units frighten nearby enemy units, either because of their terrible appearance and fearsome reputation or because theyre armed with cruel and unusual weaponry. Enemies are more likely to run when faced with frightening units. Routing units can cause other friendly units to rout: if lots of other people are running from the enemy, soldiers tend to think it might be a good idea to run, too!

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The check box for Arcade Style Battles turns off many of the realistic features of the battle system. The emphasis in arcade battles is on action and excitement, not on clever tactics and command skill. The Show Advanced Conditions tick box brings up more options so you can precisely tailor the battlefield and the conditions youll face. As youll see, these can let you practice sieges, face different weather conditions and even practice fighting at night!
Season allows you to choose the time of year for your battle. This has an influence on how much (if at all) the weather changes during the course of battle. Fighting in the depths of winter can affect how tired your troops become. Weather allows you to set the initial weather for the battle (but you probably guessed that!). Rain and snow have negative effects on bowarmed troops. Time of Day sets the starting light conditions for the battle. Time Limit sets the timer for the battle. Its entirely possible to run out of time before achieving victory when attacking, or deliberately run out the clock to achieve a defensive victory. Advice Level determines how active Centurion Marcus (your battlefield advisor) will be in giving you information and tactical hints during the battle. Settlement Level runs from none to Huge City. If you want to fight a siege or sally battle, youll need to include a settlement on the map. Settlement Culture only applies if theres a settlement present. This allows you to choose the look and layout of the settlement from the six cultures in the game. Barbarian settlements can be no larger than a minor city. Settlement Defenses only applies if a settlement is present. This allows you to choose the type and size of the walls around a settlement. A settlement without walls is pretty unlikely in the ancient world, and not much of a challenge to any besieging army.
When youre happy with your choices, click on the continue arrow. Return to the Single Player menu at any time by clicking on the U-shaped arrow.

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MULTIPLAYER GAMES

Multiplayer games allow you to battle against other people, either over the Internet or across a Local Area Network (LAN). You can create multiplayer customised battles or fight one of the special historical multiplayer battles that have been included with Rome: Total War. There are three options on the multiplayer menu: Online BattlesClick here to host or sign in to an online battle hosted through GameSpy Youll need an active Internet connection before starting. and any firewall software on your PC needs to be correctly configured. See the separate technical notes supplied on the Rome: Total War DVD-ROM for further information. You wont need a GameSpy profile to play Rome: Total War online. LAN BattlesClick here to host or sign on for a battle across your LAN. This battle will be fought on local machines and doesnt require an Internet connection but the process for setting up a LAN battle is the same as the Internet. Change CD KeyClick here to change the CD key used for multiplayer battles. You may want to do this so that two (or more) people can use the same PC, each with their own unique CD key.

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Setting Up a Multiplayer Battle
Once youve confirmed your name for the game, you are taken to the Lobby Screen for both online and LAN battles. Here, you can choose to host a game by setting up the initial conditions for the battle. Or join a game thats ready to play.
At the bottom of all multiplayer screens is the chat area. Type a message and it appears on-screen for everyone in the lobby. Between the message window on the left and the player list on the right are a set of toggle buttons that allow you to filter and/or ignore messages. Select the player you want to ignore (or filter) and then click on the appropriate toggle. You can change your mind later.

Hosting a Game

Hosting a game is similar to setting up a Custom Battle. See Customise Battle on page 72 for more information. The host gets to decide on the overall battle conditions, but each player gets to select his or her own army. Unlike a Custom Battle, the host has access to a special kick feature. This kicks a player out of the game at the hosts discretion, a useful tool for excluding abusive individuals!
Multiplayer Historical Battles
In addition to creating custom multiplayer battles, the host also has the choice of selecting one of the special versions of Rome: Total Wars historical battles. This limits the number of players to a total appropriate to the battle. Simply select the battle from the on-screen list.

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Joining a Game
Once youve decided to join an existing game, youre committed to the setup selected by the hosting player. Once youve made your choice on each screen, click on the continue button in the lower right-hand corner. Until all players have completed their choices, youll see a Waiting for message on-screen. When all players are ready, the multiplayer game moves on to the next part of setup or into battle itself!

After a Battle

When a battle is concluded, youll see a report on how well or badly you fared, and then be returned to the Lobby.

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CREDITS
Project Director Mike Simpson Production Ross Manton, Luci Black Production (CA Oz) George Fidler Design R. T. Smith, Mike Brunton, Jamie Ferguson, Chris Gambold, James Russell Programming Jerome Grasdyke, Robbie Austrums, Alan Blair, Ric Broadhurst, Lee Cowen, J. Guy Davidson, Charlie Dell, Chris Gascoyne, Tom Miles, Scott Pitkethly, Jon Raftery Programming (CA Oz) Ken Turner, Daniel Glastonbury, Artem Kulakov, Scott Lowther, Martin Slater, Martin Valigursky Art Kevin McDowell, Joss Adley, Paul Abbott, Greg Alston, Andrew Bedford, Peter Brophy, Ranulf Busby, John Carline, Jason Dalton, Zaq Foster, Will Hallsworth, John Harmon, Denzil O'Neill, Ben Potts, Brendan Rogers, Irina Rohvarger, Nick Tresadern, Mathieu Walsh Music & Audio Direction Jeff van Dyck Sound Effects & Post Production Richard Vaughan PR & Marketing Ian Roxburgh, Richie Skinner Testing Graham Axford, Simon Allen, Dion Lay, Gian Piras, Jeff Woods Supporting Roles Tim Ansell, Alex Chapman, Martin De Sutton, Gareth Hailes, Kevin Hoque, Melvyn Quek, Scott Ryan Additional Art Jude Bond, Tunde Glover, Alistair Hope, Howard Rayner, Ester Reeve, Nick Smith, Chris Waller Vocals Angela van Dyck Mandolin & Guitar Saki Kaskas Voices Kubler Auckland Management, Jonathan Atherton, George Baladinos, Andrew Buchanan, Adam Cooper, Karen Crone, Haskel Daniel, Michael Futcher, Damien Garvey, Terry Hansen, George Kapiniaris, Caroline Kennison, Todd Levi, Bruno Lucia, Anthony Mir, Errol O'Neill, Yalin Ozucelik, Simon Palomares, Jimmy Poulos, Akmal Saleh, Martin Slater, Leo Taylor, Matt Zeremes Musiclab (Brisbane), Roger Beames, Thanks Alkis Alkiviades, David Hamilton-Williams, Mark Milton, Steve OHagan, Phil Morris, Kerry Shale.

THE CREATIVE ASSEMBLY

EXPERIENCED TOTAL WAR PLAYERS START HERE!
If youve already played Medieval: Total War or Shogun: Total War , youll be tempted to jump straight into playing Rome: Total War. After all, you know how all this works! Its a Total War game! Its going to be easy-peasy! If you jump straight into Rome: Total War, youll find things have changed since Medieval: Total War. Shortly afterward, you may find that a barbarian is drinking from your skull, and laughing.

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STARTING PLAY

The Main Menu

Single Player Takes you to the single player menu discussed in detail in the next section of this manual. Continue Campaign Automatically loads the newest saved campaign game and lets you continue with your conquests! Multiplayer See the Multiplayer Games section of the manual for multiplayer details. Load Game Gives you a choice of saved games to continue. Options Adjust the video, sound and gameplay settings of Rome: Total War. See the Gameplay Options for more information.
Quit Leave Rome: Total War and return to Windows.
Quick Battle The fastest way of fighting a battle in Rome: Total War. Youre given command of an army and must drive your enemy from the fielda true test of command ability! Clicking on the U-shaped arrow in the lower left corner returns you to the previous menu. This return arrow appears on many screens in the game and always takes you back to the previous screen. The Backspace key also takes you back to the previous menu wherever you see the U-shaped go back arrow on-screen. Options that are unavailable appear in gray.

Multiplayer Menu

Online Battles Fight against opponents anywhere in the world using GameSpy. Youll need a broadband Internet connection to use this service. LAN Battles Fight battles across your LAN (Local Area Network). Each player will need Rome: Total War installed. Change CD Key Click here to change the CD key used for multiplayer battles. You may want to do this so two (or more) people can use the same PC, each with their own unique CD key. Options that are unavailable appear in gray. Youll find much more information on all these topics in the How To Play Multiplayer Games section of the manual.
Hereas with all the menu screensany options that are unavailable are grayed out so you cant click on them to bring up a new menu.

The Single Player Menu

This is where you choose the style of single player game you want to play. Prologue Start playing Rome: Total War right here! This tutorial introduces you to gameplay quickly and painlesslywell, not so painlessly for your foes! Imperial Campaign This is the full Rome: Total War experience, and your chance to conquer the ancient world! Build an empire and fight your battles on the way to world domination. Historical Battle This option brings up a choice of famous battles from the historical period of Rome: Total War. In some of the battles, you can choose the army you want to command. Custom Battle Create a battle between two armies on the field of your choice, then fight it out. This is a great way to try out new tactics and practice your battlefield command skills!

Load Game Menu

The options on this screen allow you to load a previously saved game. Load Campaign Game Reload a campaign. The auto-saved game is the one that was played most recently on your PC. Load Custom Battle Replay your favorite custom battles as often as you like. The custom battle system allows you to save your battles for repeated playing. Load Battle Replay Relive your greatest triumphs! At the end of every custom battle, you can save the action for later replay. Youll have control of an independent camera view of the battlefield.

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Options Menu
This menu allows you to adjust the game for best performance on your PC and to choose your own personal preferences for the games look. Based on your PCs set up, Rome: Total War adjusts itself for optimum performance when installed, but this may not match your preferences precisely. Clicking on any item takes you to the appropriate submenu: Video Settings Click on the downward pointing arrows to bring up a list of options in any of the dialog boxes. Select the option you want from a list by left-clicking on it. Left-click on a check box to toggle the relevant graphics feature on and off. Audio Settings Click on the sliders to adjust each element of game sound to suit your personal tastes. The Master Volume slider affects the overall volume. The other sliders adjust the mix of sounds in the game. Again, you can left-click on any of the check boxes in the lower part of the screen to toggle individual options.

THE PROLOGUE

The Sons of Mars campaign is an introduction to the world of Rome: Total War. Its your task to lead the Julii family to a position of power by conquering Romes neighbors. This is the way to greatness in Rome: Total Warattack external enemies and gain credit for doing so. When youre ready, click on the arrow in the lower-right corner of the screen to begin. Youll start the game with one of your advisors, Victoria, telling you a little about herself and her tasks in the game. All you need to do to start playing is follow her instructions and advice. If you decide you dont want to play the Prologue through to its conclusion, you can press the ESC key to bring up the Campaign Exit Menu scroll, but we recommend playing the Prologue through at least once.

ADVISORS

The advisors are your most useful aid when learning to play Rome: Total War (as you already know if youve played the Prologue). The advisors in the game are your first place to go for help when playing, and theyre watching whats going on so they can pop up at appropriate times and give you helpful hints, tips and general information.
Note: EAX ADVANCED HD provides realistic sonic effects to accurately

simulate the sound properties of different acoustic environments in Rome: Total War. The EAX ADVANCED HD acoustic models are dynamically updated as you move around in the game experience. For example, the sounds created in a forest have a different sound and reverberation trail than the sounds created in a flat plains region, which would have less reverberation and be more direct. Only the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy series sound card would be able to deliver great audio experience with EAX ADVANCED HD. Control Settings You can modify the keyboard shortcuts to suit your playing style. Double-click on any item in the key list and then press the key(s) you want to use for that function. You can press the SHIFT, CTRL and ALT keys in combination with another key to create a shortcut. You can revert to the original assignments at any time.
Victoria (named after the Roman goddess of victory) is the
campaign advisor. She can advise you about production, recruitment, managing your empire, diplomacy, dealing with the Senate, trade and so on.
Centurion Marcus is the battlefield advisor. Apart from
offering his opinion about enemy tactics, hell keep an eye out for potential problems such as putting units into dangerous situations: he doesnt like it when cavalry are ordered straight onto spear points! When an advisor has something important to tell you, their portrait will glow. Click on the advisor to see their comments. The Speech button toggles the on-screen text of the current piece of advice. In some cases, you can ask the advisor not to repeat a particular piece of advice by clicking on the check box below the text. Click on the Show Me How button to have the advisor demonstrate how to carry out an action in the game.
Left-click on the icon in the lower-right corner to load and save
key assignments. If you find a particular combination you like, we recommend saving it. Click on the dialog box in the lower part of the screen and then type in a name for your settings file.
View the Credits A list of the gods, emperors, governors and wretched slaves responsible for bringing you this fine product! Clicking on the U-shaped arrow at the bottom left of each screen returns you to the previous menu, as always.

How to Win

If youre playing as one of the Roman factions, the Brutii, Julli or Scipii, the basic victory condition for the game is to conquer Rome and much of the world. This isnt as easy as it sounds. Youll find yourself fighting against the forces of the Senate and the other Roman factions. If youre playing as any other non-Roman faction, the basic victory condition is very simple: conquer the world! If you dont want to play the game for quite so long, click on the Short Campaign check box. Once youve made up your mind, start playing! When you win, peasants cheer, trumpets sound and (probably) an angel gets his wings. And you have the inestimable pleasure of having crushed your enemies, seen them driven before you and heard the lamentations of their women. Cool, huh?

CAMPAIGNS

Gameplay in Rome: Total War divides neatly into Campaigns and Battles. These two parts of the game are closely linked, so actions you take in the campaign game such as constructing buildings, training units or appointing generals have major effects on the battlefield. This part of the manual concerns itself with Campaigns. Later, well discuss Battles and how to get the most out of them.

How to Get Started

When you start a Rome: Total War campaign, theres a lot to take in. The Advisors built into the game are there to help, but theres still a wealth of information to think about. So, where to start?
How to Get Started with the Imperial Campaign
The Imperial Campaign menu allows you to select and set all the options you might want in a campaign game: who youre controlling, how hard the game is to play and how you want to win. This screen allows you to do the following:

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Everything on-screen is there to help you run your soon-to-be magnificent empire. The screen is divided into two main areas: a view of the campaign map and the Control Panel at the bottom of the screen.
If you want to find out the name of a province or region, first left-click on an empty space on the game world map (to deselect everything). Then right-click and hold on an empty space in the province youre interested in. The underlying terrain, the owning faction icon and the province name will be displayed.

Moving Your Viewpoint

You can change your view of the campaign map in many different ways: Move the mouse cursor to the edge of the screen (without clicking), and your view down onto the campaign map will slide in that direction. Use the 1, 2, 3 and 5 number keys on your keyboard to move your viewpoint around. The arrow keys also do the job. Use your mouse wheel (if you have one) to zoom in and out on the map. Left-click on the mini-map to move to that part of the campaign map. As you move the cursor around the campaign map, tool tips appear that identify and explain terrain features and pieces on the map.

Getting to Grips with the Control Panel
In the campaign game, the control panel is an important element in controlling your empire. As you select and use different game elements, the panel changes to present you with the right options and information. Everythingthe round buttons and the tabson the control panel has an associated tool tip to explain its job. The mini-map shows the whole game world. When the cursor is on a mini-map province, the name and faction ownership of the province is displayed as a tool tip. (You need some kind of presence or you need to have diplomatically exchanged map information.)

The Review Panel Tabs

There are four tabs above the central Review Panel. These allow you to shift between elements of a settlement, army or fleet, or you can right-click on the tabs to bring up summaries for your entire empire: Right-click on the army/navy tab (the left-most one) to bring up the Military Forces Scroll. This is a list of all your forces. Right-click on any army or navy in the list to see more details. Right-click on the town/city tab (second left) to bring up the Settlements List. Right-click on any town or city in this list to see the relevant details. Right-click on the agents tab (third from the left) to bring up the Agents Scroll. Right-click on any of these characters to see their details. The fourth tab has no right-click function.

What You See

When the game starts, the view down onto the campaign map is always centered on your capital. Your forces and agents are positioned somewhere within your borders, which are marked with your faction color. Dark areas on the map are those you cant see because you dont have armies or agents nearby. Each settlement you know about has its name displayed, along with a banner showing ownership. Some banners include an indication about the garrisons strength. Your own settlements have a summary beneath the name, showing at-a-glance information. One of these will be your capital your best settlement and worth defending! Armies are shown as soldiers with banners to show the strength of the army. Some armies have stars indicating the command ability of the general. Agents are spies, diplomats and assassins. Ships represent fleets. These are used to keep trade routes free of pirates, carry armies overseas and attack enemy fleets. Whenever you select something, the Control Panel at the bottom of the screen changes.

The Review Panel

The central Review Panel (along with the large building and training buttons) changes depending upon whether an army, fleet or settlement is selected. The tabs along the top of the panel allow you to look at different aspects of the selected game world item, and you can right-click on a tab to bring up faction-wide summaries. Right-click on any unit card in a review panel to bring up further information. If a tab is grayed out, theres nothing relevant to see with the selected unit, fleet, settlement or agent.

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For tabs that show military units, ships or agents, you can select an individual unit card in the review panel by left-clicking on it. You can then drag and drop a selected item onto a spot in the game world, and the forces or agents involved will move there. You can make multiple selections by holding down the CTRL key and repeatedly left-clicking on individual unit cards until you have as many as you want. You can also press Ctrl + A to select all units. You can also make multiple selections by selecting one unit card, then holding down the SHIFT key and selecting a second unit card. All the unit cards between the first and second clicks will be selected.
There are a few simple questions you can ask yourself about your settlements, and the answers will help you decide what needs to be done to get the most out of your empire: Is everyone happy in the settlement? Is public order above or close to 100, so riots are unlikely? Settlements where there are riots and disorder may even rebel! Hint: try altering the tax rate; your people dont like paying taxes. Is anything being constructed? A new building always makes a settlement do something better, be it train military units, defend the location, trade, farm or keep everyone in order. If youre not sure what to construct, ask Victoria. Is a unit being trained? Military units are the building blocks of armies. Generally speaking, in the long run units are cheaper to train (and maintain) than to buy as mercenaries. Again, if youre not sure what kind of unit to train, you can consult Victoria, your advisor. Is the settlement making or losing money? One settlement losing money for a time is probably sustainable, but losses in all settlements for long periods will destroy your treasury. A faction with no money is in trouble! Therefore it makes sense to tweak the tax rates in settlements to balance public order and your tax income.
How to Play a Turn in the Campaign Game
Rome: Total War is a game that repays a bit of thought on the road to

Settlements

For each turnat least to start withits a good idea to check all your settlements and look after them carefully. When your empire isnt very big, you need to squeeze maximum value out of each settlement that you have!

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Agents
Diplomats, spies and assassins have their uses and should be quickly reviewed each turn. Agents may be needed to carry out a mission from the Senate. Are they in the right place to be easily deployed? Spies can be sent to scope out rivals territory. They can spot armies that could threaten your own forces or spy on settlements to learn the state of the defenses. Diplomats need to be within reach of a rivals settlement or army should there be a need to talk quickly. Assassins, if you have any, can be positioned near threatening rival generals. Perhaps a single knife in the dark can neutralize a threat more effectively than many swords.

HOW TO USE ARMIES

Armies are the basic pieces in the campaign game. Each army contains up to 20 military units; any collection of military units is an army that moves and fights together. Armies are ordered around the campaign map; units are ordered around the battlefield. The figure on the game map gives you basic information about the army: Generals or captains command armies. Well discuss the major differences between generals and captains later. Captains are lesser leaders, given temporary command of an army. These armies are always shown as foot soldiers (without cloaks) appropriate to their faction. The banner color and symbol shows the owning faction. The dark color that fills the banner shows the army strength: the stronger the army, the bigger the filled area. Any gold stars show the command rating of the general (0-10). The larger the number of stars, the better the general.
How to Deal with Messages and Events
Every turn its likely there will be a number of message notifications that drop down the left-hand side of the screen. Each kind of message has its own picture, and a tool tip appears if you move the cursor over a message notification. Left-click on any message that you want to read. A right-click dismisses the message and removes it from the queue. Clicking on the check button or pressing ESC also dismisses a message. You can close a message and leave it for later reference by clicking on the square close box in the top right-hand corner. Any message that youve already opened will be shown with a black-and-white graphic rather than a color one.

River crossings are marked on the campaign map by fords or bridges (after roads have been constructed). These are the only places where armies can cross, and are, thus, strategically important. Armies can hide in wooded areas and ambush passing enemies. Wise commanders choose their ground carefully to make the most of troops, so its worth checking out the terrain near mountain passes, river crossings and other choke points where the enemy must pass.

Ambushes

Armies can ambush passing enemy armies on the campaign map. Armies that can carry out ambushes are always shown kneeling down in the woods, even at the start of a game turn. Armies belonging to other factions that are lying in ambush arent shown on the map until the ambush is sprung! If your army is ambushed, its movement is halted and it must fight a battle. This can be auto-resolved or fought on the battlefield. The ambushed army is usually at a severe disadvantage!

Selecting the Next Piece

You can select armies, fleets, agents and/or settlements in any order you wish by clicking on them on the campaign map. To select the next force, agent or city, click on the arrows on either side of the name in the right-hand section of the Control Panel, just above the end of turn button. The vertical thermometer bar on the right shows the movement points remaining for that piece.

Attacking

When you have an army selected, right-click on the enemy army or settlement you wish to attack: The Battle Deployment Scroll will appear. This gives a breakdown of your forces and the enemy arrayed against you. The most important piece of information is the strength comparison in the center of the scroll. Move the cursor over the crossed swords to see the odds for the coming battle. Reinforcements are also listed, drawn from adjacent armies. See Attacking with Supporting Armies on the next page. You can fight the battle for yourself, taking control of your units on the battlefield. This gives you the most control and iswe thinkthe most fun! You can have the PC work out the result for you. Casualties may be heavier than if you fight the battle, and you cant protect your general from harm.

The Settlement Scroll

The Settlement Scroll is the key to getting information about, and issuing orders to, a settlement. The large arrows on either side of the settlement name allow you to scroll between settlements quickly. The main part of the Settlement Scroll is divided into four areas: The top part of the scroll shows the Governors Details (if theres a governor in residence). Depending on difficulty settings, without a governor, a settlement is always auto-managed for you. The governors attributes have an effect on how well the settlement is run. This brings up a scroll showing you the buildings in the settlement arranged according to their position on the games technology tree. This is useful for reviewing progress and planning future civic developments. Click here to ask Victoria what to construct. Shell suggest a building and give reasons for her choice. Click here to center the campaign map view on the settlement. Frontier settlements have different priorities than those closer to the core of your empire.

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Who Gets to be Governor?
The first named character to enter a settlement will be the governor as a right. His abilities are used to modify how well the settlement is being run. His unit card is marked with a scroll to show his status. Other generals (if any) in the settlement are shown with silver stars on their unit cards. During a siege, the general with the best command rating will be treated as the commanding general (and this need not be the governor). If the faction leader is present, he always outranks any other general regardless of his actual command rating. However, when a named character (a general, not a captain) moves into a settlement, he will be appointed as the new governor if his management ability is higher than that of the current incumbent. Its possible for the governorship to change hands many times if several characters move into a settlement in a single turn.
Shrines and Temples are special cases. You may be offered a choice of temple for construction. Once youve added a temple to the Queue, the other temples will be removed as construction choices. Each settlement can only have one temple, and they are mutually exclusive. Its possible to destroy a temple and start over with a shrine to a different god.

Wonders of the World

Some provinces contain wonders of the ancient world. Capturing the settlement in the province gives you control of the wonder, and these grant empire-wide benefits. If you lose control of the settlement (and the province), you lose the benefit for owning the wonder.

Trouble in Settlements

Settlements are not always good places to live, and sometimes the people will make their feelings clear by revolting. Victoria, your advisor, will warn you that problems are developing and suggest solutions, but prevention is sometimes better than cure. You can reduce the tax rate, send troops to quell dissent, send a better (or indeed any) governor and, if time permits, construct buildings that have a positive effect on public order. Sieges have to be endured or broken. See the section on How to Break a Siege on page 36 for more information. Plague is, perhaps, the worst thing that can happen to a settlement, and a sign of the gods disfavor! A settlement thats a squalid place to live is more likely to suffer plague than somewhere thats wholesome. Again, some buildingssuch as sewershave a positive effect on public health and lessen the likelihood of a plague.

Changing Your Mind

Construction orders are only executed when the end of turn button is pressed. Before then, you can undo any changes you have made.

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HOW TO TRAIN UNITS
Armies in Rome: Total War are made up of one or more military units under the command of a general (a member of the ruling family) or a lesser captain (a commander drawn from the ranks). One class of units can never be trained: generals bodyguard units. These are given free with every new member of the ruling family of a faction. They can, however, be retrained and equipped with better quality weapons. A generals bodyguard is disbanded when the general dies. Training all other units uses three resources: time, money and men. Every unit takes at least one turn to train, has a cash cost and uses population from the settlement where its trained. Units also cost money for salary, supplies and equipment after they have been trained. This upkeep cost is automatically paid, and can become a significant expenditure each turn! The military buildings in a settlement determine what units can be trained there. The Building Browser Scroll shows what buildings produce units. Barbarian factions have a different set of buildings in their technology tree, but the principle remains the same. A left-click on one of your settlements selects the settlement, and the Control Panel at the bottom of the screen changes to reflect the contents of the selected settlement. Click on the left-most tab above the central Review Panel to show the settlement garrison. This allows you to review the troops already present in the settlement. (A right-click on this tab produces the Military Forces Scroll: a list of all your existing armies). On the right-hand side of the Control Panel are two large buttons. Click on the lower recruitment button to open the Settlement Scroll with the Recruitment tab selected.

The Recruitment Queue

Military units require three resources when theyre trained: money, time and men to fill the ranks (money is also needed for ongoing upkeep costs): The number of different unit types shown under the Recruitment tab depends on the military buildings in the settlement. If you dont have the money, you wont be able to add units to the Queue. Units beyond your means are grayed out. Diplomats, spies and assassins are treated as one-man units. All boats and ships are treated as military units, but they appear at the port in the settlements province. Units may also be grayed out if there are insufficient spare men in the settlement population to fill the ranks. Left-click on a unit under the Recruitment tab to add it to the Recruitment Queue. The left-most unit in the queue is shaded red to show that training has begun, and the number of turns until training is complete are shown. The shading is removed as progress is made. Left-click on a unit in the Recruitment Queue to cancel the training order. The unit will disappear from the recruitment queue. Up to nine units can be in the Recruitment Queue. When the queue is full, units under the Recruitment tab will be grayed out. You can order the training of as many identical units as you like. Unlike settlement buildings, units are not unique. Units in the Recruitment Queue are trained in left-to-right order. You can alter the order of training by dragging-and-dropping the unit cards. A word of warning! If you remove the left-most unit in the queue, any progress to date will be cancelled, even if you move it back to its position at the head of the queue! Right-click on a unit card to bring up the relevant Unit Information Scroll.

The Recruitment Tab

As youll see, this is very similar to the Construction tab. The Recruitment tab is where you order new units to be trained in your settlement. Immediately below is the Recruitment Queue, which shows training in progress. Down the left-hand side of this scroll is a set of buttons that are described in the How To Run Settlements section. Click here to ask Victoria about what unit to train. Shell suggest a unit and give reasons for her choice.
The Unit Information Scroll
This Scroll shows historical background and the units game effects, including the all-important training and upkeep costs. The Unit Information Scroll also allows you to disband your units. This saves the upkeep costs of the unit. Click on this button to disband the unit. If the unit is disbanded in a settlement, the men are added to the settlement population.

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How to Besiege a Settlement or Fort
Sieges start automatically whenever an army attacks (right-click) a settlement. A besieged settlement is shown with a line of sharpened stakes around it. Only friendly forces or allies can joint besiege a settlement or fort; two or more neutral forces cannot besiege the same location. The Siege Details Scroll shows you all the information you need to control a siege: the cities defenses, your siege equipment and the time the settlement can hold out. In most cases, youll need to construct siege equipment to break down the settlement walls: rams, ladders, towers or saps. You wont be able to start an assault if you havent constructed some siege gear. Click on the items you want to build to add them to the build queue. Adding items to your build queue uses up build points. Your armys remaining movement points and your generals attributes, traits and ancillaries influence the number of build points you get on this screen. Build points are generated each new turn. You wont need to construct any siege equipment for settlements that dont have walls. You can assault these immediately, or choose to wait for the defenders food supplies to run out. When youre ready to attack, click on the Assault button. Youll see the Battle Deployment Scroll, and from here fighting a siege is very similar to fighting any other battle. You have the choice of resolving the siege automatically, fighting it out on the battlefield or withdrawing. If you decide to fight it out, remember that a siege requires you to break into an enemy settlement and take the central plaza or square. Killing the enemy isnt always enough to secure victory! Auto-resolution will simply tell you whether or not your assault was successful.
Unit Training and Experience
The men used to create units are raw recruits without experience. Unless there are special circumstances (such as the governor having a personality trait related to training), new units have no experience.

Armor and Weapon Quality

Blacksmiths improve the quality of weapons and armor available in a settlement. Units with better quality weapons and/or armor have this shown on their unit cards. Bronze (+1), Silver (+2) and Gold (+3) sword icons show improved quality weapons. Bronze (+1), Silver (+2) and Gold (+3) shield icons show improved quality armor.