Shogun 2 Battle Report Besieges Your Castle

[John Funk]

Shogun 2 Battle Report Besieges Your Castle

Holding a castle in feudal Japan is a lot harder than it looks.

I was pretty psyched for Shogun 2: Total War even before our very own Steve Butts took a look and liked what he saw [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/8409-Preview-Total-War-Shogun-2], and while I don't expect it to fully replace StarCraft II as my multiplayer strategy game of choice, I'm going to have a lot of fun conquering feudal Japan next year.

Judging from this Battle Report, I'll need to work for it, though.

[video=2562]

In the video here, Creative Assembly developers Kieran Bridgden and Ingimar Gudmunsson walk the viewer through an entire castle siege from start to finish. It's a great look at how the actual RTS portion of the game works, though if you're anything like me you'll probably be trying to armchair general the video - and getting frustrated when the players in question don't do what you would have done, dammit!

In all seriousness, this is exactly the sort of preview I love of games like the Total War series, with a full battle playing out as developers explain what's going on.

Shogun 2 is out March 15, when all of you can try your hand at defending this very same castle.

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[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Man I love Total War

The game looks awesome, I feel like reinstalling Shogun Total War 1 just to have another go :3

I hope Steam doesn't screw me around on install this time... I'd like to actually play it when it comes out! Exciteeeeed

 

[hansari]

The whole "climbing walls" bit leaves me a little unsettled...

I mean its suppose to be a challenge to bypass...here it seems like barely an inconvenience.

I hope this is only because select units can scale walls...or because that wall was only tier 1 or something...otherwise seems rather pointless.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Aaaaggghhh as I watched this I found myself trying to move the mouse! Very frustrating.

 

[BrotherRool]

The whole "climbing walls" bit leaves me a little unsettled...

I mean its suppose to be a challenge to bypass...here it seems like barely an inconvenience.

I hope this is only because select units can scale walls...or because that wall was only tier 1 or something...otherwise seems rather pointless.

To be fair, the guy was a little hopeless. You can clearly set units against he wall which presumably greatly hinders climbing, but the guy didn't despite all the hints.

I think he was really inexperienced because he barely did anything. It makes poor press for a good game

 

[hansari]

The whole "climbing walls" bit leaves me a little unsettled...

I mean its suppose to be a challenge to bypass...here it seems like barely an inconvenience.

I hope this is only because select units can scale walls...or because that wall was only tier 1 or something...otherwise seems rather pointless.

To be fair, the guy was a little hopeless. You can clearly set units against he wall which presumably greatly hinders climbing, but the guy didn't despite all the hints.

I think he was really inexperienced because he barely did anything. It makes poor press for a good game

I suppose that would be the strategic deterrent... just baffles me a bit that unlike the other total war games where sieging a city meant making careful choices with your siege weapons and units, we now have samurais that are so "leet" they can climb walls without grappling hooks or ladders.

The game isn't out yet, so this is just premature worry but I hope this is restricted to only certain units...for example, we know cavalry can't climb walls (makes sense) but heavy infantry should be too burdened to go wall climbing too. Otherwise sieges will all be about who brought more units.

 

[HentMas]

hahaha, i guess its a nice "showing" of the game, after all everyone seems to think "i could have won that!" so go buy it and do it!!!

hehe

 

[voetballeeuw]

The game looks awesome. It sucks that I don't have a good gaming PC; I've always loved the Total War Series.

 

[Kelethor]

No, fool! dont focus all your guys in one area! your enemy will exploit that and...

Ah screw it, your already doomed.

 

[Death_Korps_Kommissar]

No, fool! dont focus all your guys in one area! your enemy will exploit that and...

Ah screw it, your already doomed.

I was just thinking the same thing. No dammit don't leave your archers unsupported!

 

[Fishbro]

Saw the whole 'backattack' thing coming ages before he noticed because, when assaulting this castle, its just the logical thing the AI would do. I was kinda surprised that he didn't plan for it.

 

[lostzombies.com]

Wow did Japanese castles suck that bad in real life? Those 'walls' might as well have not been built.

 

[BrotherRool]

The people who climbed up, climbed up slowly and very dispersed. I guess they get pretty much insta-killed if there's anyone up there to stop them.

In a way I like this, because in Rome it was too easy just to place all your troops in the tiny crack in your wall and wait it out. This gives a much better feeling of being overrun and forces some withdrawals. There was no sense of rushing strategic withdrawals in the old games and that's such a cool feeling

 

[Wolfinton]

The whole "climbing walls" bit leaves me a little unsettled...

I mean its suppose to be a challenge to bypass...here it seems like barely an inconvenience.

I hope this is only because select units can scale walls...or because that wall was only tier 1 or something...otherwise seems rather pointless.

Actually, I remember reading something about Japanease castle slanted walls. These are actually historically accurate in the game, and they were built that way to "invite" the enemy into the castle -- but only if they were strong enough.

 

[DTWolfwood]

I suppose that would be the strategic deterrent... just baffles me a bit that unlike the other total war games where sieging a city meant making careful choices with your siege weapons and units, we now have samurais that are so "leet" they can climb walls without grappling hooks or ladders.

The game isn't out yet, so this is just premature worry but I hope this is restricted to only certain units...for example, we know cavalry can't climb walls (makes sense) but heavy infantry should be too burdened to go wall climbing too. Otherwise sieges will all be about who brought more units.

to be fair i believe they did away with needing siege equipment since Empire: Total War. I don't do enough sieges in Empire so i cant say with absolute certainty but all infantry units can scale walls. And i don't believe Grappling hooks are something you need to "build" before engaging.

Id like to think this means you have to put your melee units up against the wall instead of your ranged units.

on a separate note didn't the escapist already posted this Battle Report a week ago a la this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/trailers/2562-Total-War-Shogun-2-Battle-Report] O wells giving it more attention is always good

<33 Total War Series!