Rome 2: Total war is coming!

[Skott]

I wonder if my GTX460s are going to choke on this game; if it does, time for a new graphics card the end of next year.

The funny part is I still need a lot of practice with tactics on the first one.

Speaking of which let me ask a question: If the enemy engages me and I'm in defensive mode, only my direct line is doing any defending/attacking. The rest stand still. Is it better to engage the rest of the troops, or am I making a mistake to turning defend off in that instance?

That depends on your play style and the situation of the battle itself and your difficulty setting. Some people hold a reserve alwys ready to fill gaps and so forth and some people like to get all their troops involved at once. Lots of flanking and what not. The AI isn't all that smart(compared to a human). It can easily be bested with pretty much any tactic you choose unless you are severaly out numbered and have inferior troops.

 

[Regs]

http://uk.gamespot.com/total-war-ro...meplay-walkthrough-total-war-rome-ii-6398557/

First REAL game footage.

Im in <3

 

[thm1223]

http://uk.gamespot.com/total-war-ro...meplay-walkthrough-total-war-rome-ii-6398557/

First REAL game footage.

Im in <3

For a pre-alpha that was quite provocative

 

[Kelvrick]

http://uk.gamespot.com/total-war-ro...meplay-walkthrough-total-war-rome-ii-6398557/

First REAL game footage.

Im in <3

Looks like I'm headed towards and upgrade in Q2 for Haswell.

 

[Skott]

So hopefully in time for Christmas 2013. I havent decided if I like the dark grittier look or not. One of the things I really liked about RTW was the different units and their colors. Here the colors are not very bright due to the grittier look. Its early pre alpha game play though so I'll have to wait and see how it progresses before deciding.

 

[datalink7]

Looks like I'm headed towards and upgrade in Q2 for Haswell.

Same. I was maybe going to upgrade at the end of the year as I'm due for one, but I think I'll hold off until closer to R:TW 2 comes out.

 

[TehMac]

I likewise hope the game has a little more color. Not sure how big I am on the brown filter. That said, it does look fantastic.

 

[magomago]

Video looked awesome, but I hope it doesn't take away from the core game play at all...I would hate to see it turn into a brainless action game devoid of the deep strategy that the game offered.
That said I'm not terribly concerned because some of the ideas they brought up to expand the game was great...I always found it funny that you just need to control a town center to win a battle; I would think that the reality is more complex: You ultimately need some kind of conscious surrender by the other side (unconditional or not).
I would love to see more complex victory mechanisms:
- influence of the population in the battle area (ie: do they want to fight to the end and risk total extermination?)
- Destroying the morale as the whole army
- Watching generals attempting to be more conscious of their own lives (and noting that most of the time they'd rather surrender than risk their own life)
- Victories that amount to more than simply unconditional surrender

 

[magomago]

I likewise hope the game has a little more color. Not sure how big I am on the brown filter. That said, it does look fantastic.

Think about the color palette available back then....nowhere near as wide as now

 

[Regs]

Video looked awesome, but I hope it doesn't take away from the core game play at all...I would hate to see it turn into a brainless action game devoid of the deep strategy that the game offered.
That said I'm not terribly concerned because some of the ideas they brought up to expand the game was great...I always found it funny that you just need to control a town center to win a battle; I would think that the reality is more complex: You ultimately need some kind of conscious surrender by the other side (unconditional or not).
I would love to see more complex victory mechanisms:
- influence of the population in the battle area (ie: do they want to fight to the end and risk total extermination?)
- Destroying the morale as the whole army
- Watching generals attempting to be more conscious of their own lives (and noting that most of the time they'd rather surrender than risk their own life)
- Victories that amount to more than simply unconditional surrender

I would like to see that too. You should bring that to their attention on their forums since it's per-alpha.

 

[gingermeggs]

I am waiting for Total War;the American civil war
to be released......

 

[motsm]

I am waiting for Total War;the American civil war
to be released......

http://www.moddb.com/mods/american-civil-war-mod

 

[zinfamous]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/american-civil-war-mod

heh, I was thinking that would have to be an expansion campaign or mod. US Civil War isn't near the scope of a generations-wide, empire-focused Total War game.

 

[Dijeangenie]

heh, I was thinking that would have to be an expansion campaign or mod. US Civil War isn't near the scope of a generations-wide, empire-focused Total War game.

Also the gun-era based total war games have been worse than the other ones in my opinion. Two sides just lining up and shooting each other for a few minutes is far less interesting than two lines of infantry clashing etc - so I think any gun based total war game is at a significant disadvantage to begin with (in my opinion).

 

[Chaptorial]

New trailer out for Rome II named the "Cleopatra Trailer." Shows some new in game footage as well as some shots of the campaign map. Finally.

Rome II Trailer


Here's two pics from a Euro magazine showing off the campaign map:

Looking good so far. I like the fact that the Nile is now big enough to wage naval battles in. September 3rd can't come soon enough.

 

[datalink7]

I can't wait for this game.

 

[Pocatello]

I'm willing to wait until the game is patched so the game is some-what playable. Speaking from my experience with playing Total War games, such as Medieval II, Empire, Shogun 2. Even my beloved Rome Total War required a lot of patches for the campaign to work properly.

 

[Sulaco]

I'm willing to wait until the game is patched so the game is some-what playable. Speaking from my experience with playing Total War games, such as Medieval II, Empire, Shogun 2. Even my beloved Rome Total War required a lot of patches for the campaign to work properly.

I've purchased every single Total War game (save for a couple of the expansions) at launch. I didn't have any major issues with Shogun 2 at all. In fact, it was downright solid.
Every grand strategy game has balancing issues off the bat that have to be patched, but compared to Medieval, Rome, and especially Empire (shudder), Shogun 2 was excellent.

 

[irishScott]

I've purchased every single Total War game (save for a couple of the expansions) at launch. I didn't have any major issues with Shogun 2 at all. In fact, it was downright solid.
Every grand strategy game has balancing issues off the bat that have to be patched, but compared to Medieval, Rome, and especially Empire (shudder), Shogun 2 was excellent.

Yeah, Shogun 2 is an enigma. I purchased it a few weeks after launch and all I had was a VERY occasional (maybe once every 6 hours) crash to desktop, which stopped after one of their later patches. On the flip side I've heard people who say they could barely get it to run. Probably a driver issue.

 

[Regs]

Shogun II was solid for me. The Medieval II expansions were horrible, and Empire Total War was just too damn slow and big. As soon as you spend hours and hours of doing the conquest victory condition, you just CTD and have to start a new after conquering 2/3 the map. Having to also wait minutes in between turns for 20 other individual factions in Empire TW to make their moves was also too much.

Looking at the strategy map pics of Rome TWII, it looks like it's more about geographical and topography advantages, than large central fortified points. So hopefully that will help with the flow.

I hope they also worked on the battlefield maps. Sometimes it seemed like they would purposely put a 2500 ft mountain in the middle of the field and told us to figure it out. The AI would send 2 units to the slaughter one one side of the mountain, usually consisting of skirmishers or horses, then the rest of its force in smaller columns getting picked off one by one on the other side. Not their fault, there is a 2500ft mountain in the way which the developers decided to through as a practical battle ground.

 

[zinfamous]

Oh man--I can not wait to make purpose and place cock in ass of some Carthaginian scoundrels.

 

[Skott]

I'm willing to wait until the game is patched so the game is some-what playable. Speaking from my experience with playing Total War games, such as Medieval II, Empire, Shogun 2. Even my beloved Rome Total War required a lot of patches for the campaign to work properly.

I agree. CA is known for putting out a buggy product and then doing patches after the fact (release). Funny thing is the mod community usually comes out with fixes before CA does. I can't speak for Shogun 2. No interest in it. I've played the others though. Bugs galore.

 

[waterjug]

Yeah, Shogun 2 is an enigma. I purchased it a few weeks after launch and all I had was a VERY occasional (maybe once every 6 hours) crash to desktop, which stopped after one of their later patches. On the flip side I've heard people who say they could barely get it to run. Probably a driver issue.

LOVED Shogun 2. Can't wait for Rome 2

 

[Regs]

The Facebook page has a lot of information on the game now.

https://www.facebook.com/RomeTotalWar2info?fref=ts

http://totalwarrome.com/battle-of-teutoburg-forest-full-video/

 

[Regs]

Oh poo - there are limits to the amount of army stacks you can have and you need a general at all times to move it. Basically a general becomes the military's infrastructure of your faction. No more juggernauts. This is intended to make the results of your battles have much more of an impact on the strategic management of your campaign. Armies are now raised on the fields with their generals than built at the barracks in cities. That's all great, but the Total War series always demonstrated the AI having unfair advantages just so they won't be steam rolled over. Not sure what exactly raises your general recruitment cap, but one mentioned it is your factions fame and popularity. I'm obviously not a big fan of artificial pop caps. I liked TW because it gave you the opportunity to become godly in a time period you could only read about in books and all other gaps filled using your imagination. Though one more game falls victim to the Pop Cap to keep it "balanced" which to me really means : we restrict your usage of the game design, so we don't have to spend the time making the design work on a larger scale.

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/68061-Jack-Lusted-s-clarification-of-army-cap

He has some good points. I remember FOTS becoming auto-resolved most of time as I would march a full stack against 6 settlements with 2-3 units guarding them. Experience, general attributes, and logistics play a larger part in the armies. So if you have a well equipped, experienced, and properly lead army, you could likely do a good bit of damage. It just seems like the whole point of Total War was battles in numbers which no other game offered. It kind of diminishes their uniqueness from other turn based games.