Total War: Rome II Offers Spielberg-Level Drama

[lancar]

Merging sea and land battles into one is a welcome change, but I for one hope that thay've made significant improvements to how ships are controlled. Right now (in Shogun 2) it's a very finicky affair to make the ships do what you want them to, and I tend to autocalc nearly all naval battles because thats the most viable way to win them if numbers are on your side.

For example, instead of just Attack and Move commands, I would like to assign those seperately. Ie, tell a ship to attack while moving to . Also, i'd like to simplify giving orders on how ships get somewhere. Sure, you can use SHIFT to make them follow waypoints, but what if it'd be possible to make them go somewhere following a circular path with just 2 clicks? And adjusting that path on the fly? I'm thinking of something like what you do in Adobe illustrator when drawing vectors.

Land battles are mostly fine in how they function already, and even though I autocalc most of them, I never feel any aversion towards doing them manually, like I feel with sea batttles.

 

[1337mokro]

I like the attention given to the battlefield forces but again I have to stress one major component as always.

What about the rest of the game? The Battles in reality are just a tiny portion of a high difficulty game. About 60-70% of all my time when playing is spent tuning my towns, moving my armies into favourable positions without losing to much points of travel distance, attempting to make diplomacy work, figuring out which research is needed, observing the enemies strength, sending out agents and dealing with unrest in my provinces.

What about that part of the game? How about spending more time and money on getting a proper diplomacy system, where the AI weighs survival vs profit vs demand instead of just holding onto a ridiculous points system or scripted events.

How about spending more money on making the AI better, the part that basically controls your entire game and decides how much players will eventually enjoy it unless they exclusively play competitive Coop. Instead of giving it a script with cheats and letting it work of that.

I think the major aspect you have to look at really should be the campaign. Making sure that when you say that your game has diplomacy you actually mean diplomacy. Not just a screen that most sensible players will entirely ignore in favour of churning out more units.

Especially in Rome the AI and diplomacy should play a massive role. With the thousands of treaties signed between nations and the internal political struggles this should be a great opportunity to focus on that.

In either case I'll be zoomed out to far conducting soldiers to actually see the face.

 

[Blunderboy]

I like the attention given to the battlefield forces but again I have to stress one major component as always.

What about the rest of the game? The Battles in reality are just a tiny portion of a high difficulty game. About 60-70% of all my time when playing is spent tuning my towns, moving my armies into favourable positions without losing to much points of travel distance, attempting to make diplomacy work, figuring out which research is needed, observing the enemies strength, sending out agents and dealing with unrest in my provinces.

What about that part of the game? How about spending more time and money on getting a proper diplomacy system, where the AI weighs survival vs profit vs demand instead of just holding onto a ridiculous points system or scripted events.

How about spending more money on making the AI better, the part that basically controls your entire game and decides how much players will eventually enjoy it unless they exclusively play competitive Coop. Instead of giving it a script with cheats and letting it work of that.

I think the major aspect you have to look at really should be the campaign. Making sure that when you say that your game has diplomacy you actually mean diplomacy. Not just a screen that most sensible players will entirely ignore in favour of churning out more units.

Especially in Rome the AI and diplomacy should play a massive role. With the thousands of treaties signed between nations and the internal political struggles this should be a great opportunity to focus on that.

In either case I'll be zoomed out to far conducting soldiers to actually see the face.

I'm sure they're also working very hard on that too. Bear in mind that the game is still at least four months from completion, and is probably closer to a year.
It's just statement they're making about the feel of the game.

 

[y04coopa]

Woo sounds awesome, hopefully lives up to the expectations of the hype, not to mention the bar is pretty high.

 

[1337mokro]

I like the attention given to the battlefield forces but again I have to stress one major component as always.

What about the rest of the game? The Battles in reality are just a tiny portion of a high difficulty game. About 60-70% of all my time when playing is spent tuning my towns, moving my armies into favourable positions without losing to much points of travel distance, attempting to make diplomacy work, figuring out which research is needed, observing the enemies strength, sending out agents and dealing with unrest in my provinces.

What about that part of the game? How about spending more time and money on getting a proper diplomacy system, where the AI weighs survival vs profit vs demand instead of just holding onto a ridiculous points system or scripted events.

How about spending more money on making the AI better, the part that basically controls your entire game and decides how much players will eventually enjoy it unless they exclusively play competitive Coop. Instead of giving it a script with cheats and letting it work of that.

I think the major aspect you have to look at really should be the campaign. Making sure that when you say that your game has diplomacy you actually mean diplomacy. Not just a screen that most sensible players will entirely ignore in favour of churning out more units.

Especially in Rome the AI and diplomacy should play a massive role. With the thousands of treaties signed between nations and the internal political struggles this should be a great opportunity to focus on that.

In either case I'll be zoomed out to far conducting soldiers to actually see the face.

I'm sure they're also working very hard on that too. Bear in mind that the game is still at least four months from completion, and is probably closer to a year.
It's just statement they're making about the feel of the game.

Well four months isn't really that much time, especially for an artist heavy, programmer light CA. They have always had polish problems and so far they haven't really taken any steps to address that. With SEGA putting them on a yearly release schedule to boosts it's record losses a bit up I don't see them being given much time either.

Besides what do the fans care about? The campaign mostly. Sure with this press release you might get new fans into the game saying "OMG such super detailed battles" but by releasing a statement about for example the new improved diplomacy they would cement guaranteed purchases from their already existing fans.

When you compare TW to some of the other grand TBS games out there it is really put to shame. The fact that it DOES actually have you fight the battles instead of watch float charts and numbers it what then puts it back up to snuff with the rest. It would be nice to once not have the battles be a compensation but instead a plus above having a great campaign.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I get really invested in my units anyone. I guess I'm just sensitive.

Like I was playing R:TW once and I had a cavalry unit I had managed to pull halway across Africa, but then I tried to take them across to Spain and they got slaughtered by some Gladiator rebels. I was so angry I marched about four massive armies down through Europe just to kill this one army of rebels because they killed my cavalry unit.

I get invested, sue me.

 

[PanicxBoss]

I get really invested in my units anyone. I guess I'm just sensitive.

Like I was playing R:TW once and I had a cavalry unit I had managed to pull halway across Africa, but then I tried to take them across to Spain and they got slaughtered by some Gladiator rebels. I was so angry I marched about four massive armies down through Europe just to kill this one army of rebels because they killed my cavalry unit.

I get invested, sue me.

This. So much this.

I lost an elite unit of legionaries and a battle-hardened General that I had active since the beginning of the game to some Briton barbarians who had invaded Gaul, and spent the next hour of game time feeling like Emperor Augustus after the battle of Teutoburg Forest.

Needless to say, I marched up two armies of garrison forces to the territory and burned every single Briton city to the ground in vengeance.

 

[KorLeonis]

I get really invested in my units anyone. I guess I'm just sensitive.

Like I was playing R:TW once and I had a cavalry unit I had managed to pull halway across Africa, but then I tried to take them across to Spain and they got slaughtered by some Gladiator rebels. I was so angry I marched about four massive armies down through Europe just to kill this one army of rebels because they killed my cavalry unit.

I get invested, sue me.

This. So much this.

I lost an elite unit of legionaries and a battle-hardened General that I had active since the beginning of the game to some Briton barbarians who had invaded Gaul, and spent the next hour of game time feeling like Emperor Augustus after the battle of Teutoburg Forest.

Needless to say, I marched up two armies of garrison forces to the territory and burned every single Briton city to the ground in vengeance.

I love these stories, I really do. I have a few like em. But really, how often were you zoomed in close enough to see the faces of these units you cared about? Give me a way to name the group, or make a custom banner for a veteran unit, or some piece of unique armor I can make for them so they stand out instead. Facial expressions are just a waste of system resources.

 

[gaiusimperator]

Am I the only one who actually gives names to each of my Legions in Rome Total War.

I really think Rome II should take a hint from Roma Surrectum and be able to have named Imperial Legions.

Losing Lec I Germanicae, Lec IV Scythia, and Lec XIII Geminae to the Parthian Army was so much more painful than just losing three legions.

 

[BrotherSurplice]

I'm definitely in agreement with you on the Victorian Total War part. I've wanted an RTS for the Crimean War for so long ;_;

There's a mod of the Zulu Era for Napoleon, but like I said, I'm more interested in the Early Victorian era, from the first Opium War to the end of the Crimean.

Could be very interesting to see the switch from Muskets to Rifle-Muskets, which were the British's primary advantage in the Crimean War.

I'm also a sucker for the Infantry uniforms of that era, still with the Regency splendour but with some of the Victorian style seen in later uniforms.

Spoiler: Example

Although as far as these games go, I'm a Cavalryman, and would love to be able to use the General creator from Shogun to create myself a leader in proper 11th Hussars regimentals.

Spoiler: Example

The way I see Total War though, is that every advance they make in a game with a setting I'm not particularly interested in, i.e. Shogun or Rome, is an advance for every game I'm holding out for, like Medieval III or a Victorian:TW.

Yeah I've played the Zulu/Khartum mod, but not for long as unfortunately it's buggy as hell and would CTD most of the time that I played it. But it was a lot of fun while it lasted.

I basically agree with everything else that you have said in this post, so there's not much to say, but regarding the uniform designer, I'd like to make myself a general in the regalia of the 17th Lancers.

Spoiler: What? Of course he wouldn't look like Flashman, who do you take me for? *shifty eyes*

I'm definitely in agreement with you on the Victorian Total War part. I've wanted an RTS for the Crimean War for so long ;_;

But really, how would they do the Crimean War? That was the era where trenches started to show up, and I really don't think Total War would work for trench warfare.

Captcha: armageddon. Awesome.

Except that the trench warfare in the Crimean was only used for sieges. The pitched battles like Alma and Inkerman would have looked more like something out of the Napoleonic wars. So it's still very do-able for Total War.

 

[AmrasCalmacil]

I basically agree with everything else that you have said in this post, so there's not much to say, but regarding the uniform designer, I'd like to make myself a general in the regalia of the 17th Lancers.

Spoiler: What? Of course he wouldn't look like Flashman, who do you take me for? *shifty eyes*

Good god, sir! Mine neither.

Spoiler: Most certainly not.

Captcha: khyber pass

Uh... That could be in the game too, actually.

 

[BrotherSurplice]

Captcha: khyber pass

Uh... That could be in the game too, actually.

If it is in the game lets hope that we can do a better job than Elphinstone. Though that wouldn't be difficult.


Captcha: rhyme nor reason

Yep, that describes the First Anglo-Afghan War pretty well.

 

[Alssadar]

And I was playing a bit of Rome beforehand...
If I'll ever be able to get a gaming rig capable of handling such a graphically advanced game, I'll waste a couple lifetimes on Rome 2.
Capcha: rhode island. Does that mean there are going to be some "SLINGERS OF RHODES" to scream into my ears some more?

 

[Drejer43]

whatever they do the soldiers are always going to be sticks glued with swords to me.

 

[IamQ]

Are the soldiers gonna shout out personal things while dying? "HRARGH! Who will look after my wife and newborn!?"

"Tell my wife... hello."

I would die laughing if they did something like that. I throw my support.

That would be fine in theory, but consider 1500 soldiers going like that:

Tell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarian Tell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarianTell my wife I said hello No I don't want to die Tell my wife I said hello Whos going to look after my children when I'm gone I'll gladly die for Rome! No I don't want to die Curse you you viel barbarian

 

[superbatranger]

Are the soldiers gonna shout out personal things while dying? "HRARGH! Who will look after my wife and newborn!?"

"Tell my wife... hello."

I would die laughing if they did something like that. I throw my support.

Damn it, it is too late to be laughing this hard.

 

[Easton Dark]

Are the soldiers gonna shout out personal things while dying? "HRARGH! Who will look after my wife and newborn!?"

"Tell my wife... hello."

I would die laughing if they did something like that. I throw my support.

Damn it, it is too late to be laughing this hard.

Glad I could help.

I just imagine it's a guy who sees this huge artillery rock coming at him, and that's just what comes to his mind.

 

[Blunderboy]

SNIP

We can only hope.
In the mean time I'm going to be quietly optimistic.