Total War: ROME II - Beasts of War DLC pack available!

 Marshall your savagery, and strike primal fear into the hearts of your enemies with the Beasts of War unit pack for ROME II. Comprising seven new battlefield units, Beasts of War brings further variety to ROME II’s already diverse unit roster.
Terrorise your enemies and slow their progress with beehive, scorpion and snake-pot ballistas, or crush them under the weight of heavily-armoured Cataphract Camels and Mercenary Syrian Armoured Elephants. And when their will is broken and they flee the field, run them down with two new breeds of ferocious war-dogs.
Beasts of War brings introduces the following recruitable units to ROME II:


• Molossian Dogs

Can be recruited by: Epirus


A heavily muscled beast from western Greece, the now-extinct Molossian is considered to be the predecessor of many of today’s larger breeds, such as the Rottweiler and Great Dane. Used as both a guard dog and in battle, Virgil remarked “never, with them on guard, need you fear for your stalls a midnight thief, or onslaught of wolves, or Iberian brigands at your back.” These vicious dogs do not tire easily, and never lose the scent of an enemy.

• Beehive Onager

Can be recruited by: Athens, Epirus, Macedon, Sparta, and Syracuse

Whilst large-scale beekeeping for agricultural purposes was a later innovation, the humble honeybee nevertheless held an important place in ancient Greek culture. A trio of mythical nymphs, the Thriae or ‘bee maidens’, were loved by Apollo and Poseidon, bearing their children. Bees also have a practical application in battle, as a swarm of angry bees will always cause troops to stall and panic.




• Scorpion Pot Ballista

Can be recruited by: Pontus, Parthia

Home to the most lethal scorpions in the known world, whose sting can paralyse and kill a man within an hour, it was only a matter of time before a wily Middle Eastern general used them against his enemies. Spare a thought, then, for the Roman emperor Severus; whilst besieging the Parthian city of Hatra, his army was showered with pots of scorpions from atop the city walls. Like Trajan before him, Severus failed to breach the defences, even after two attempts.


• Snake Pot Ballista

Can be recruited by: Carthage

Perhaps the most famous use of potted animals was Hannibal Barca’s tactic against the fleets of Eumenes II of Pergamon. Hurling large clay pots full of venomous snakes onto the decks of Eumenes’ ships; he panicked the enemy fleet and won the day. Any unit struck by writhing, venomous snakes will pause to consider the wisdom of marching onwards!



• Camel Cataphracts

Can be recruited by: Parthia

The Roman general Macrinus was not noted for his experience, although had another fought the Battle of Nisbis in 217 AD, it’s hard to imagine he’d be any less stunned by the Parthian cataphract camels fielded that day. Wearing coats of tough, yet flexible, scale-mail, they made an awesome and terrifying sight as they punched through the frontlines and spooked the Roman horses with their camels’ earthy stench.



• Celtic Warhounds

Can be recruited by: Iceni, Cantiaci, Caledones, Demetae, Dunmonii, Brigantes, and Ebdani


Dogs have always been useful for guard, patrol and scout work. With skilled handlers they can also be used effectively on the battlefield. Attack dogs were specifically bred and trained to ignore the noise and chaos of combat. The Celtic tribes of the late Iron Age put them to great use. Their speed and ferocity made them ideal shock-troops, and perfect for running down fleeing stragglers.



• Mercenary Syrian Armoured Elephants

Can be hired as mercenaries in: Dura, Antioch, Tyros, and Palmeira


Indian elephants first came to the Middle East when Seleucus, one of Alexander the Great’s Successors, invaded India in 305 BC. 500 war elephants were handed over as part of the peace treaty between the Seleucid dynasty and the Mauryans of India, and the Seleucids went on to breed many more from this initial stock. War elephants remained an important part of the Seleucid army until their defeat by the Romans at Magnesia in 190 BC, following which they were forbidden from breeding more.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6oe3WJL4Qw

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Final Part: The End of Politics: Civil War

By now it should be fairly evident that playing the political game is about maintaining the balance of Influence. Left unchecked, it is possible for stability to deteriorate to a point where there is too big of a skew in the amount of political power held between the parties, causing a civil war. This event involves the emergence of a new enemy faction, coming about via a coup d’état that will either occur at your faction capital, or far away from it. In either case, this enemy faction will have appeared as a direct result of the opposition to your party's rule within your faction; they will always hate you, will never engage in any diplomacy with you, and will always try to capture or hold the faction capital if the coup did not originate there.  
Politics has greater importance in the last few Imperium levels, because this is when a civil war becomes an increasing possibility. As your empire grows, it will become more difficult to maintain stability within your faction. By the time you reach full Imperium, you will need to keep a very close eye on Influence levels because fluctuations may be more extreme. Also, keep in mind that you may not always be able to recruit a general from a party which will help in that respect, so it helps to be a little pro-active if you are trying to avoid internal war. If you have too much power you will end up having to fight a civil war against separatists; too little and it will be against those scheming to take advantage of your political weakness in an attempt to oust you, snatching the leadership for themselves. You don’t want this to occur when you are in control of a delicately balanced empire, possibly fighting wars on multiple fronts. Therefore, as the final bit of advice – use the early game to learn how politics can help you. Once your empire has grown and you reach the late game, actively try to keep the balance. Alternatively, you can purposely destroy the balance as much as possible. This would force the opposing party out so you can crush them, after which your faction will have achieved ‘political peace’. At least for the time being...

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 10: Spread Rumours and Political Events

Spread Rumours
Spreading rumours has the effect of discrediting a target, causing him to be held in lesser regard. This action causes his Gravitas to be reduced at a financial cost, which increases the higher that character's original Gravitas level. 
Political Events
From time to time, you will receive event messages detailing certain political actions being taken by opposition parties. For instance, they may be trying to adopt one of your characters or spread rumours about you. At these times you will be given the option to respond in various ways at a political and/or financial cost. You can block adoptions, or even counteract rumours to take the above examples, amongst other political counter-tactics depending on the action taken. 

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 9: Assassinate Wife, Divorce, Bribe, Adopt and Marriage

Assassinate Wife
This is the only political action that does not actually grant any directly political outcomes and only the ruling party's members can be targeted. The higher the character's Gravitas, the higher the financial cost to arrange the killing of his wife. Its only other side-effect is to remove the household trait provided by the character’s wife, freeing up the slot for a potential new one.
 Divorce
Same as Assassinate Wife except it has no financial cost and high political cost. Carrying out this action means losing the support of a good few more patricians than if you had just assassinated her. It also has a small negative effect on the targeted character’s Gravitas.
Bribe
Has the simple effect of removing a character from an opposition party and placing him in your own at a financial and a political cost. Useful if you need to decrease the amount of Gravitas within an opposition party and increase your own in order to readdress the balance. If successful, the bribed character will lose some of his Gravitas when he moves over. The financial cost is more for high-Gravitas characters.
Adopt
Same as Bribe except the target will not lose Gravitas when he moves over to your party. Note that party leaders cannot be adopted or bribed.
Marriage
This is the most effective of all the actions aimed at achieving better balance between the parties, but is also the most expensive, coming at a high political and financial cost. Arranging a marriage between the targeted character and one of your distant relatives instantly readdresses the Influence levels of the two involved parties, bringing them into better harmony. Only unmarried members of opposition parties can be targeted.

User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 8: Assassinate

This is the most self-explanatory of all the actions and has the most obvious effect – it outright removes certain characters from the game. Killing a troublesome member of your own faction is no small matter, so it comes with a considerable financial cost, alongside a small political cost. Troublesome could mean an ambitious character with high Gravitas who is upsetting the balance of Influence, by causing his party to attain excessive support. Rather conveniently, one of your own party’s commanders or statesmen can also be marked for death, with your faction leader being the only exception. Characters with higher Gravitas are harder to eliminate, so have a much higher cost. Also note that it is not possible to completely destroy a political party by killing off all of their members – the party will always remain regardless. Additionally, as turns are ended new statesmen will always spawn into their party to represent them.

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 7: Secure Promotion

Securing promotion can only be done with members of your own ruling party and its effects are not entirely political. What it actually does is give the target a higher civil status in political office. In doing so, it gives an immediate boost to his Gravitas. Such promotions also bestow characters with various different Cursus Honorum traits, which in turn provide different civil or military buffs. This action can be carried out multiple times up to a maximum level - as long as the target character is the right age and rank required for each successive promotion.  At the first level, the cost is the support of a few patricians. With each promotion after, there is an ascending financial cost in addition to losing that support.

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 6: Political Actions

Maintaining stability is about making sure the total levels of Gravitas are at comparable levels between the parties in your faction. In order to help achieve or maintain this balance, the player can use the various political actions available to them, most of which incur a financial and/or a political cost. The political cost will always be loss of support from a few individuals in your patrician class, which in turn immediately affects your share of Influence. But remember that these actions can affect party Influence levels in the long term; if your attempts to manipulate Gravitas are successful, you will see more favourable changes as successive turns are ended.
To start with, clicking on a character’s portrait in the faction summary screen brings up the buttons used to carry out these actions, the costs of which are displayed on the respective tool-tips produced by each of them. Not all characters can be targeted with all actions; only the valid actions will be displayed for each of them.