Why Rome Total War (2004) + SPQR TW mod is one of the best representations of total war.

First of all, I love Rome Total War.
I am a fan of many mods but SPQR TW is perfect for my playstyle and preferences.
I have been capturing screenshots and videos of my 2020 SPQR TW Campaign.
So I tried the video feature for the first time on a risky battle to see how things recorded.
It turned out to be and awesome battle! I thought I'd share the footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmAHmxggJpg

Enjoy! :thumbsup2

Video Description:

This is a small clip from a battle in my SPQR TW 2020 campaign. Yes I am still playing this gem of a game and this excellent mod. I usually play a world conquest campaign over a period of two years. Yes two years. The way the mod is designed is the ai is very tough and they have huge numbers of stacks which make wars long and drawn out. Also if you play by house rules and give the ai a chance to build up it can make a campaign last well over 1000 turns. This game is dear to me and honestly nothing compares, I've played the newer total wars but I stopped at Rome 2. The disappointment was too much for me and I feel the engine created battles that didn't feel quite right. In comparison, look at this video. There is so much of Rome Total War (2004) genius on display.

Look how responsive the combat is. Look at the elephants dropping from the use of coordinated javelins. Look at the disruption of the infantry formations as they charge through them knocking individual men over and creating chaos. Look at how men die when crushed by a nearby falling elephant. Look at the effect of the Carthaginian charge, with the front ranks breaking into a full sprint towards the roman ;line. Look at the small details of the Roman soldiers recoiling from the individual spears hitting their shields as the Sacred band's charge meets them. It's downright cinematic.

Later in the battle watch as I realize that despite killing over 50 elephants I have prematurely exhausted the last of my javelins and there is another echelon of Carthaginian elephants coming. I have probably several 1000 hours of gameplay experience in this mod alone and I still was so distracted I forgot to conserve my ammo for the next wave because the fighting was so intense. This is modded ai but still my god is it good. See how it formed a proper line, it tried to flank with it's cav, and best of all it denied me the ability to use my cavalry to full flank by constantly chasing them with their own reserve infantry. 10 times better than anything I have played in recent total war. This video is just an appreciation of how great he original is and I heartily recommend people to try it, along with all of it's excellent mods.

Background Info on the battle:

In the mod SPQR TW you track your legions outside of the game using an excel sheet. Yes it is that hardcore. It is awesome to see your campaign in data after two years of playing though and each legion really creates an identity for itself and it's commanders, which helps greatly with the roleplay aspect of the game.

This is Legion V, it's deep into Libya during the Invasion of North Africa proper. It's commander is Quintus Agricola. He was the last commander active in Libya after another Legion (the 8th) was wiped out just ahead of him. Determined to reach the regional capital and secure Libya he continued his push forward into Libya. His legion is already battered and has suffered relatively high losses in previous battles along the coast. This Carthaginian force is the last between him and his objective. The Carthaginians attacked first so we are on the defensive. I believed that I could used my 4 units of Velites to kill off the vast majority of elephants but it was going to be close. This commander obviously pushed his Legion too far and bit off more than he could chew in this battle. The Carthaginians controlled by the ai actually wear me down and force an all out rout. This actually forces a strategic withdrawal so two or maybe three Legions can be refit from the remnants and be thrown back into the Libyan deserts. The Carthaginians most definitely stopped this offensive in it's tracks.