Total Beginner’s Guide to Total War: Arena

Overview

A collection of tips and information that you may not already know, as an extension to guides already available.

Total War: Arena – Beginner’s Guide

Hello fellow Total War: Arena Testers!! (t.w.a.t’s for short)

This guide will inform you of things that you may not have already figured out for yourself in Total War: Arena.

It does not promote specific tactics, or offer advice on army formation or individual strategies.
The first half is merely orientation, and the last half contains useful tips for everyone.

I’m not sharing my winning secrets with you noobs, but with the information contained in this guide – you are well on your way to winning glory for Rome, Greece or Asterix and Obelix [TBA]!

This guide is dedicated to NylonGamer, for suggesting it, and to Legatus Legionaries, who encouraged me to go learn basic tactics after his archers were heroically cut down in the open field by a host of horsemen, while I decided I didn’t want to send my men to commit suicide alongside his today, thanks anyway, matey…

IMPERATOR!!!

The Main Screen

Here you can find all sorts of great stuff, so explore the screen a little.

Aside from the obvious commander selection, unit info and army tech-tree, there is a chat window in the bottom left. I troll global quite frequently, so if you see me, don’t forget to say Hi 🙂
It does not appear possible to /roll a “100”… I have been trying… please tell me if you get one.
In the bottom right, there are less obvious buttons to let you brag or get angry about your stats.
After battle reports (Glory to Rome!) will pop up here, too.
There are two kinds of experience points (XP) that you will earn:
– Unit XP (spendable on unit upgrades only, displayed on unit screen)
– Commander XP (spendable on any upgrade, required to advance abilities, displayed next to DOSH).
It is possible to convert Unit XP to Commander XP, by spending Gold that you win through daily victories.
By doing this, it is possible to level up units that you use more often with XP from units you do not, or advance your general with XP earned by his army.
You may only spend accumulated Unit XP on Unit upgrades. It can be converted to Commander XP. You cannot “mix” XP spends together – either convert all the unit’s XP into the commander pool, or allow the unit to save enough XP to pay for itself!
Try ALL the generals – each have specific abilities to build their army around. You could take 3 legionary units with Caesar, but they have only 3 javelin throws each – they will not benefit so much from Caesar’s ranged commander abilities. Just sayin’.
You win 100 gold and double XP for the first win of the day with each general. So play them all! The gold can be saved to unlock units or troop branches to complement your army, or spend on frivilous and colourful dyes…
(I bought sparta dyes, and now wish I saved the money to unlock some extra troops later on…)
Gold is the player currency.
Silver is the in-game currency.
You can use both to purchase consumables. You should never do this, because I auto-replenish my unit’s consumables and I want to have every advantage over you that i possibly can, so don’t ever buy consumables.
(they are far too expensive for you, anyway – you NEED all that silver sitting in your bank…)

Dig?
Cool – let’s hold our breath in prayer to Mars and press Play!

Loading and Setup Screen

Hopefully you haven’t passed out from holding your breath – a game can take several minutes to load.
On the Loading Screen, you can see all the players in the game. I sometimes play as CAP’N CAPSLOCK (WHO IS USING HIS NORMAL SPEAKING VOICE) or CPU19 (An advanced chatbot combat AI, out to destroy his inferior Creative Assembly counterpart).
Cultivate a rich and fertile imagination, and you will never be with nothing.
Use this time to evaluate the enemy and recognise the names of traitorous generals who once fought side by side with you, exposing their playstyle to your keen analysis.
If you are alt+tabbed from the game, the icon will flash in the taskbar when the game has loaded to the map screen.
Please try to refrain from doing this too much, as switching can cause system instability which can result in your game crashing.
Instead, use the time to study ancient battles, lift some weights or do some sit-ups or push-ups, stretch your legs, get a drink of water, goto the bathroom, troll the forums, etc… DO NOT just sit there staring, dribbling at the loading screen, for crying out loud! Do some squats, or roll out your neck and shoulders at least!
Look after your body – you need it to play games!
Hopefully, your blood is pumping lots of oxygen to your brain (and not your e-peen), and the map screen has loaded by now.

Map and Planning Screen

While you are here, you can find the buttons in the bottom right to ping locations on the map, or more likely to scribble some pointless arrows (try talking instead…), smiley faces, obscene messages and – a well known symbol of the great Roman Empire – a big fat john thomas pee’ing all over the enemy camp.
You can also cry about imbalance on this screen. Check it out: Tier 2 and Tier 9 in the same battle… Is this unfair..? I don’t think so. Sometimes you get fresh faces alongside seasoned vets. Look at reality… Deal with it. Sometimes it will work out for you!!!
On the subject of Tiers, it is important to note that you generally receive the same XP for fighting at any given tier. This makes high tier advancement slow, and might encourage you to hold back some generals in order to use them as XP cash-cows to pump into your “main” generals, смотри сюда:
Take note of the battlefield layout, the cover available to you, the routes the enemy may take, the hidden nooks, cliffs, ambush points, places to trap, etc… Then loosely base a plan around the terrain and the units you selected.
Cooperation with players isn’t mandatory, but bear in mind that a team with a few players working in concert will be playing the victory song more often than a team filled with those who play alone.
If someone’s name is quite long (like mine), then the [team] suffix will not be displayed unless what is typed is two lines long.
Be wary of this, and check that the chatbox displays, “team” before you talk tactics with your fellow Romans (not greeks – don’t organise with that rabble).
Perhaps things like “team leader” matter to you – in which case you can start a new poll for a team leader by typing, “/poll” into the chat box.
You can “/vote [name]” before anyone realises and grab yourself TEAM LEADER status by your own right, just like a true Imperial Emperor of Rome should.
Please do tell everyone to rush and draw big arrows, and tell ppl to hurry up and push play – this lets the other players know that there will be a gaping hole in the army where your patience should be.
The 60 seconds is up..? Ok onto the actual game then!

On the Battlefield

Your troops stand before you – I hope you have figured out how to move them, and also that dragging right-click allows you to face them as a group or individually.
The troop’s Tier is displayed in numerals, and the triangles next to the unit icon are for light / medium / and heavy unit type.
Terrain affects each type differently, and you can see these effects by hovering your cursor over any terrain.
Control or Shift, or dragging on the game screen will allow you to select multiple units.
If you select different units together, unshared commander or unit abilities will not be displayed.
The unit and commander abilities are shown in the hotbar, along with their corresponding hotkeys.

How you use these are up to you, however – it is worth noting that with judicious use of commander abilities, good timing and clever strategy – it is possible to defeat stronger enemy units, routing or killing them outright.
(However – don’t expect your Tier 1 archers to do much against Tier 3 shielded opponents, even with special arrows…)
Some special abilities are only available at certain times (such as Shield Bash or Vengeance that require the unit to be in combat to activate).
Unit consumables are displayed next to abilities. Some require activation, such as different arrow types.
Siege units must drop or destroy their weapon in order to act as engineers and lay traps.
Traps are placed by clicking and dragging, much like lining your men – only with the LEFT button.
If a player disconnects for whatever reason – their units are left as “grey” on the field – you can control these units as your own, but you will not earn XP for using them.
If your commander dies (he is the fancy guy leading the unit with the star attached to it [unit 1]), you cannot use his special abilities, but units may still use whatever abilities they have themselves, such as CHHAAARRRRGGGEEEEE!!!!

General Battlefield Tips

NEVER FORGET: LEEROY JENKINS!
Don’t be that guy who sprints off to die, and causes the whole team to fail – try to remain patient and aware of what is going on, if you want to help your team win.
Positioning the camera directly behind your troops is fine to begin, but be aware that you are looking down a narrow field. It is easy to be flanked like this.
It is possible to position the camera on top of viewpoints, where you can survey the field and still command your troops effectively.
A reverse angle is also helpful, if you are extended further than the rest of your army and fear being surrounded.

(incidentally, if you are over-extended – do not cry when you receive no support, and anyone rushing to save you will likely suffer the same fate as you in your screw-up 4:1 surround-sound slaughterhouse – that’s kinda your own fault for doing a Jenkins maneouver)
Double clicking a unit portrait is a faster way to navigate the battlefield, than scrolling with keys or mouse. Stay aware – your troops will not fight better if you are watching, and constantly double-clicking the enemy will cause them to re-engage instead of staying in melee.
If you press ALT+right click – you get an ALT fire: Melee for ranged, a few ranged volleys for melee or attack ground [if possible] for seige units.
This is very useful – especially if you are losing a ranged exchange – it is good to jump into melee instead, or try to chase them off – by the time you realise you will lose, running away will also destroy your unit.
If you click “our team” / “their team” you access a scoreboard!
Expanding the menu using the arrow tells you exactly how bad that guy is friendly firing everyone.
CAPS brings up a quick chat window, where u can find the cry for help command.
Holding TAB brings up a live 2D map of the battlefield.
In the bottom right are the same buttons as the map to draw on the battlefield or ping locations, as well as zoom or expand your mini-map.
Try to not quit straight away when you are defeated – watch the rest of the battle to learn from the other players’ mistakes and tactics, as well why your own caused you to be defeated.
If you quit the battle early, the general will be “locked” in battle. If you do it often, a general can remain “trapped” for a while longer than they ought to be… Teach you to quit!!!
Quitters never win and winners never quit (til they lose)!
You can always troll, I mean – help out – your team, by drawing symbols of the Roman Empire on their screens

Basic Unit Tips

Selecting all and double clicking the enemy will only get you so far…
Clumping all your units in a big pile means all three will be destroyed when the firey catapult balls and concentrated volleys of arrows find their mark.
Try to encircle the enemy, or at least make them fight on two sides. If this requires pulling a unit back – don’t be afraid to disengage and withdraw after a charge has had its effect. Perhaps they will follow you directly into another charge, or all the arrows that would have hit your men if you remained… who knows…
Turn and face the enemy unexpectedly, and let your friends close the trap.
Charging into a wall, friendly phalanx (spikes on feet) or another charge WILL knockdown and/or kill ALL YOUR MEN!!! Especially if they have an OP charge, but are weak themselves…
Charging through your own men in a melee will cause friendly fire!
Try not to charge thru the ranks if you can help it… Especially with cavalry!!
Charging is also good for getting places faster, or for running away…
Cavalry are quite capable of a last second charge that will disrupt and pass through an enemy formation, allowing the riders to escape and reform. Perhaps to chase the routers that the ranged, or melee troops break so easily, thanks to your heroic strategy of not sprinting directly to the enemy seige “artilery” and running straight into pikes and arrows.
You have 3 units – 1 can circle and charge from the back, while 1 keeps an eye out for enemy backup or to stop such a maneouver being pulled on you!
Chasing archers is laible get you killed unless you are careful – you will not catch them in straight run – think about the baited traps you lay yourself… It is good for the battle to push them back and allow troops to advance, but try to not over extend. Instead, try lure them so that your melee units (or another player’s) can charge them in the side and behind as they pass, or leave them to your army’s ranged defenses and cavalry to deal with.
Running from archers will get you killed if you are not at max range for them. Always push them away to the safety of their lines (where they will 90% of the time stay put) before running back to your own, else they will annihilate your poor defenseless soldiers.
Shooting into a melee is the worst decision you can make… unless the friendly unit fighting is almost dead – ALWAYS focus your ranged troops on enemy ranged troops over the melee that your friends would probably win if you weren’t shooting them all…
If you are melee troops and you are with some ranged units – don’t rush into the charge!!! Be patient and let the ranged guys do some damage first. Protect them, then charge into battle when you must, or the enemy’s morale is wavering… You will win more battles against damaged units running for their lives than against fresh ones who can’t wait to murder you!
Use your melee unit’s ALT+attack, while the ranged behind you also pepper them with projectiles – you will get points and not lose men, while making it much easier to break the enemy with a single charge.
Charging when enemy morale is low will guarantee you kill a lot more of them than they do of you!
If you have ranged and want to shoot a melee that is obviously lost – tell the person who is losing BEFORE you shoot, so they can withdraw. Killing them too, “cos they were dead anyway” denies a unit to the battlefield – rather, SAVE THEM!
Always, always use cavalry’s mobility to your advantage (this doesn’t mean sprint off to capture the enemy camp alone and die surrounded by enemies, raked down by arrows).
If you are charging through friendly lines, you are wasting your charge knocking down and killing friendly troops, while gaining no shock or flank advantage.
If you charge your horses through my men and let the enemy escape – I will make sure that I accidentally withdraw from melee and focus fire on you next time.
If you see your friends fighting next to you, don’t just stand there or wander off – close the enemy! Together you will (mostly) survive and be able to live on to earn more and more XP!!!
Once again: NEVER take consumables, because *I do every single battle* above since I want the advantage over those who didn’t take them.
Taking all the same unit in your army is nice, and it simplifies abilities and tactics – but it requires that you work with other players to cover all the rock, paper, scissors angles.
Don’t rely on other players to support your actions. Especially if you are not playing with psychics. If they are not psychic, you might need to talk to them before you do anything too heroic.
Experiment with troop mixes – 3x archers is great until the cavalry come and you don’t have a spear wall…
You may think 3x archers/seige = 3x damage, but that is no good if they are all destroyed or constantly running for their lives.
Similarly, do not be surprised when all three of your infantry units are lost to enemy skirmishers, and please do blame people for not protecting your siege units, since they are obviously the most important unit on the field and protecting your own units is obviously not your responsibility…
Make friends with other players!! You can support each other and win more with more XP, more frequently.
Try to have many plans, so you can pick from any of them at any time – it is hard to “stick to the plan” – this comes only with experience of playing the game, so GET STUCK IN!!!

Just one more thing…

Well, that is about it as it stands right now. Anything further I will add to the clip bin as we go, and please suggest your own noob tips in the comments!

Please refrain from telling people how to play the game, or how they should or shouldn’t play, and please don’t share your individual strategies!!! Keep them a secret, and let people learn them first hand, by gloating in public chat, as you are destroying them.

Thanks for reading! See you on the battlefield!

THROUGH ME, NOOBS FIND GLORY! MARS AID US!!!

— Epilogue —

Guys, it’s been fun – but, much like as with my Expansive World’s Hunter beginner’s guide – because I am no longer playing this game as much as I was… I think that I will not be able to answer so many questions, and I will not be updating the guide to reflect updates in new game patches as of today (Win10 release day, 28th July 2015).

It’s not that Total War: Arena is a not a good game, and I will still defend the “it’s not really pay2win” thing to a certain extent (although with the large increase in gold for unit cost, and the premium account feature being implemented – even though it’s technically free for us pre-testers if we take advantage of the incentive gold rewards to keep us playing – I’m finding it harder to do so…)…

I’m just not as into it as much as I was, and that is the simple truth.

I’ve logged nearly 100 hours of play time before losing interest in progression through the tiers or revelling in the glory that can be found on the battlefield. That’s considerably more than any other free game I’ve played on Steam, with the exception of No More Room in Hell.

Now 100 hours of enjoyment from a Total War: Totally Free game.. That is pretty damn awesome, huh..? Value for money or what? :p

I will miss Germanicus…

Consider that this old soldier has grown weary of battle, and has decided to become a farmer in the Elysium Fields (and to play another Atilla campaign).

Thanks for reading, and thank you everyone for your nice comments on the guide! I enjoyed making it and hope you all will enjoy playing TW:A and – who knows – maybe one day I will see you on the battlefield again!!! 🙂

Finally – thanks to Creative Assembly for making this free to play TW game, as well as every other TW game (that I have loved since I was a lad and was watching on that TV show where ppl played it to re-enact historical battles, before Shogun came out!)