New campaign TW: Rome II Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
After selecting new campaign option, you'll have to make the most important choice in the game: you have to decide which faction you want to lead to the victory. Factions are grouped in different cultural circles, which will be the great importance in alliances with other nations in the future. You should also remember that both the diadochi kingdoms, so Macedonia and Egypt, Greek cities: Sparta, Epirus and Athens, and one of the eastern empires: Pont, belong to the Hellenic culture, hence in most cases contacts between them will be easier to establish.
Once you decide which culture you want to represent, you have to choose a particular faction. This choice influences not only our starting position on the world map, but also additional advantages or disadvantages which characterize our empire. In the case of Rome or Carthage, regardless of the chosen family, you always start the game having the same provinces. The house or the dynasty you chose will affect the further gameplay, while the other two political factions will be active only in the Senate.
For the beginners I recommend playing the first large game part while controlling the Rome. I recommend here choosing house of Julia or Junia, because their negative traits are not as annoying as Disdain for Plebs in house of Cornelia.
The last step is to check victory conditions and campaign settings. Beginners should have checked Show AI Player Moves option, in order to better understand the situation on the world map. Unfortunately after several dozens of turns, AI movements take too much time, so I would suggest unchecking then this option.
Another important option is Battle Realism mode. It makes battles more demanding, so it should be considered to use only by most experienced players.
And I suggest leaving Battle Limit Time option as it is per default. If, in case of imminent defeat, the enemy flees and hides with one unit left, the battle will end regardless of the state and location of other units on the map, after the specified time.
The only thing left is to select game difficulty with a bar (if you're a beginner, choose Easy) and start the campaign.