Yuku free message boards

The AI cheats, simple as that. Have you never stacked out an enemy city with a spy while it's under siege. They can still recruit units.

I'm not telling porkies either!

Though I never play Vanilla but it seems unlikely that a mod could have any influence over such things.

Whereas I only play mods, so you may have hit the nail on the head!

Probably the best thing to do is have a look here:

http://www.totalwar.org/

and here:

http://www.twcenter.net/

It's very easy to get overwhelmed with the number of mods out there though but the above places have much to read and the first has a very good forum too. I'll list a few of the most well known ones out there.

SPQR (a long time favourite mod of many. Allows multiple unit recruitment and is centred on the battle experience. Battles can last a long time and be truly epic!) http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=105433

Rome Total Realism - the first real attempt at accuracy http://www.rometotalrealism.org/download.html

Rome Napoleonic 2 (battles only sadly, but allows huge armies on the map without stuttr - http://lordz.thelordz.co.uk/index.php?id=37,0,0,1,0,0

Invasio Barbarorum - this is the updated version of Barbarian Invasion (so you need that expansion game to play this mod). It's very very good and although it has a tiny glitch very rarely in battle (where a man will get stuck) this is a must mod to try if you have BI. http://files.filefront.com/Invasio+Barbarorum+v70/;7085976;/fileinfo.html to download or to read about go here: http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1115875#post1115875

EB - arguably the most realistic mod out there. some adore it while some really don't. I personally find it very slow but do find it satisfying when I mod it a tad to allow it to progress at a satisfying pace. That act is heresy to some! http://www.europabarbarorum.com/

---------------------

Make sure you read the instructions when installing mods. most display those instructions when you click install. Then read instructions and cancel if you need to install patches and such.

All the mods have teams who offer help if things go wrong. most are present at the .org or the twcentre (first two links). If you get stuck with where to ask just ask here.

In all my time with TW mods I've never ever had any virus or pc busting issue. In fact I've never had any catastrophic issues at all. Even when I've modded files myself amazingly enough.