Roman units are characterised by organisation and defense. Entity comments: "Romans have strong defence so, with a healer, your men survive a bunch more battles." They are well suited to many of the campaign missions where the player initially starts without a base or any means of recruiting additional troops. In many campaign scenarios there is no particular need to rush, which allows short sharp battles to be followed by a period of healing. The same time can also be used for scouting.

From nitroace30: "I think the Legionaries are the best standard fighting unit in the game - their turtle formation looks so good." Turtle formation is discussed below. From xtend13: "The Romans are the most balanced, and the square formations are easy to control." From Centurion: "Slingers are great for destroying siege weapons and wearing down the enemy so they can't charge. And don't forget the 30 troops to a unit either - makes their spearmen the best in my eyes." Basic regular Roman units generally have about twice as many men as other civilizations. In the case of Spearmen this is clearly an advantage, since the more Spearmen one has, the easier it is to hold a line with them. Having more men per unit should logically make the unit more combat effective. This is in part true - Romans are certainly better than most Egyptians man for man. However, the same logic does not always follow when compared to Barbarians - in offensive combat a smaller total number of Barbarian warriors can be quite effective, as discussed further below.

Shadow_Praetorian writes: "The Romans are the exact opposite to the Egyptians: They have awesome infantry but they lack in the cavalry department." FV Constantinus writes: "I love the speed of the Equites, very good for speeding to the aid of a failing attack." Superdroideka adds: "Never use them [Equites] for frontal assaults. They are best used to attack archers when your infantry are fighting enemy infantry." The minor speed advantage of the Equites is about their only advantage, especially when compared to the special cavalry of other civilizations (German Cavalry, Parthian Cavalry and War Chariots). The Roman commander must use native cavalry very carefully. From nitroace30: "Sure, the Romans ain't got the best cavalry, but what they lack in mounted units they make up for in infantry." Centurion writes: "Problems with the Romans are that their Legionaries are slow, and man for man they can't take Barbarians."

While the game punishes those who, for example, put archers in front of heavy infantry when entering battle, there is no single correct formation. Often formations need to be adapted for particular terrain or circumstances. Galen's suggested Roman formation:
- Skirmishers in the front of the pack, expendables who can absorb the first hit and reduce the ranks, for this Auxiliary Infantry.

- Spearmen, with archers assigned to protect them.

- Legionaries, assigned to protect Spearman.

- Second wave of two units of archers moving together, with a right or left flank Spearman unit protecting them.

- 2-4 Legionaire groups.

- The rear guard, auxiliary fighters and Spearman.

Telemach's suggestion is particularly useful when defending or ambushing:
- Spearmen (kneeling [stationary] if taking an assault).

- Legions (holding position, or they'll rush the enemy).

- Archers (definitely kneeling).

- Cavalry (ready to rush lone groups of archers/catapults).

RogueImpaler writes: "Have 9 sets of Legionaries stand in a cube form. Send sets of archers in that cube and line them up nicely. Have your Centurion and medics in the middle and line them up. Spearmen can form in the cube too. Now give all of these troops a CTRL key assignment... It's awesome to see what happens if you get rushed with this mega formation and you go to turtle formation."

Centurion writes: "When I'm moving to engage the enemy on open ground I have 2 Legionaries at the front and 2 archers behind them with a slight space so they don't get drawn into the melee. Then I have at the back another Legionaire unit to be thrown into the fight as reinforcements. Protecting the rear of the archers I have Auxillary Infantry."

From Athos: "I think the best use of formations in this game is when it comes to luring the enemy upon your stationary army. Three spearmen troops up front, with 2 ballistas on each flank. Then legionaries behind in standard formation, with archers in front of the Legionaries and behind the spearmen in stationary position. Then catapults behind all that with medics and leader. Cavalry to the right or left to sweep behind the enemy assault for archers or artillery (so they don't take out your stationary spearmen)."

Loki writes: "Don't move all your units at the same time. If you suspect an archer ambush in the woods along the roads, send your legions in turtle mode - they can't harm you much. When you encounter the enemy, use your legions to block enemy pikemen, then send your cavalry (which you had previously hot-keyed) to slaughter enemy archers who stand behind the pikemen. You really need to master the turtle/archers/cavalry routines if you want to travel with minimal damage. If the enemy archers are in the forest, your best bet is to send a turtled legion to attack them or 'deturtle' a legion and RUN to attack them. It's a lot bloodier, but archers are very nasty and can wipe cavalry/pikemen in no time when protected by forests. Of course, the same tactics apply to you when you are attacked - put your archers in forests, but ALWAYS leave a legion with them to protect them."

Centurion writes: "Turtle formation makes your Legionaries practically invulnerable to a small amount of missile fire (even Balaeric Slingers). When in turtle formation advance towards the archers. When near, come out of the turtle formation and charge. In turtle formation Legionaries' fighting capacity is severely lessened than in standard formation, so if an enemy is coming at you stay in standard formation. It's also a good idea to have a medic to accompany them, in case there is much missile fire." With modest arrow-fire, a healer can keep alive a few turtled Legionaries for several minutes. The healer is gerenally not fired upon, so long as he remains behind the Legionaries.

From Random: "I use turtle formation whenever possible. Use standard formation when walking across the map or it will take forever, but in combat it's best to use turtle formation. Especially if the enemy has archers, since the turtle is almost invincible against arrows." Loki adds: "Send a turtled legion if you suspect an archer ambush. Using the scouts, you send a turtled legion because you KNOW there is an archer ambush."

From superdroideka: "How to counter turtle formation? Move your archers to water or attack the turtle with melee warriors." Ballistas are also rather effective against turtled Legionaries - the target is slow moving, so easy to hit, and the troops are close together so casualties will be high.

From superdroideka: "Praetorians are extremely powerful melee troops. Use them to aid Legionaries against melee warriors. The only thing they are afraid of are archers using hit and run attacks." Athos writes: "The Romans may be boring, but when you see a unit of Praetorians fight their way out of overwhelming odds because of their immense defense, well, that . is amazing." From Centurion: "The Praetorian unit pretty much destroys anything in its path. I use Praetorians to burst through stationary spearmen lines followed with Legionaries and my own spearmen."

Prefect comments: "Praetorians are easily defeated by Berserkers, and Chariots." Mark OHearn writes: "There is no single unit capable of destroying a Praetorian troop. German Calvary are great but won't kill the troop, even with a charge. And the Bersekers simply don't have enough defence to last. Ranged attacks are great while melee troops engage. A troop of Praetorians with a medic is very difficult to stop. While I still love the fast-pace and aggressive nature of the Barbarians, and can certainly appreciate War Chariots and Nubian Archers, there is a good reason why the game was named after the Praetorian unit - they are the best single unit."

Barbarian units are characterised by a strong offensive attack, generally slightly faster infantry, and overall more power per man. Centurion writes: "They are the strongest fighters in the game, man for man they will always win, unfortunately they are the slowest to build (72 seconds for 16 warriors) and are usually swamped by enemy forces that out-number them. But with a Chieftain at a high level the Barbarians get an insane offensive bonus, and they can steal enemy mana/stamina." Barbarians are perhaps the most difficult army to use effectively: In my experience they are not as easy to keep alive as Romans, but lack the rapid replacement abilities of Egyptians. While their special units are excellent, some are very hard to use effectively, notably Hunters.

Shadow_Praetorian writes: "Barbarians have the best attacking infantry. Beserkers and Warriors throw rocks." From Lt_Kerensky: "Infantry are tough, but expensive and, due to throwing axes being slightly worse than Pilum, not as combat effective as Roman Auxiliary Infantry. As catapults and other siege engines use the same number of infantry to man them, this actually means that siege machines are more expensive for the Barbarians." Of course the 'cheapest' war machines and siege engines are produced by the Egyptians, by virtue of the low 'cost' of their slave units. Lt_Kerensky continues: "Warriors are the toughest standard infantry. In large numbers they are the masters of the open battle due their speed and power. Throwing stones can be a treat when pursuing a fleeing enemy. ... Berserkers excel when fighting large masses of foot enemies. They are 'mob' killers, and will dispatch, with ease, up to 2 Legionaire troops or 4 Soldier troops. Bad choice when fighting cavalry, Gladiators, Praetorians and ranged troops." Neoendofday adds: "Try Berserkers and pair them with slingers."

FV Constantinus writes: "The Noblemen are awesome. They are great fighters. I can send them to the front of the attack many times before they start to take big loses." From Lt_Kerensky: "Noblemen are the best standard cavalry. They are not as quick as the Equites, and are as vulnerable to spears and arrows. [But] They can defeat almost any unit on their own."

From Athos: "The Barbarians are great for the sheer power they have with their units, and how German Cavalry can dominate the field when put to good use. The fact that they can ride into the woods does make them almost uber units." Centurion notes: "They [German Cavalry] get severely kicked by Praetorians." German Cavalry are highly effective against the majority of single targets, particularly when they charge them. I find they perform less well when swamped by several enemy and are forced to fight their way out.

Hunters have the ability to hide, almost unseen in woodland, and pounce on passing enemy, causing huge amounts of damage. This ability sounds particularly dangerous, but in practice it is hard to make effective use of. From Kmorg74: "The ambush is a great leveller for the Barbarians. Best way is to avoid that wood area if you can do so. They cannot hurt you if you do not need control of that area. And if they come after you, cavalry slaughters them." Centurion writes: "I send Legionaries just outside their position. Then send a cheap unit such as a scout to the forest very close to were they are. When hunters use ambush tactics, they just kill the scout leaving me free to charge with Legionaries."

LordJohnDrinksalot writes: "If I have the time, I always send a scout's wolf ahead into the forests. I avoid attacking Hunters in forests with melee units, if I can help it. I have archers hit them. If the Hunters attack, they're easily wiped out in the open. When I've used Hunters in multiplayer, my opponents run them down with Germanic cavalry (which operate in forests) with no losses to them. One guy I played had three Hunter units in grasslands when my Wolf Scout found them: lucky I had some archers and flaming arrows... When I've used Hunters against the AI skirmish, I've found it was a time-waster: One good ambush isn't too important when the AI is capturing more villages than me."

Written by timski