Game News Want to see some Total War: Rome II gameplay?

[Mirthless]

I hope they shake up the strategic layer. The battle side of the game has been good since the original Shogun, but they've kept piling on stuff in on the strategy side, making it increasingly complicated to manage without having any real strategic depth. I liked the boardgame like simplicity of the original Shogun and Medieval better than the current detailed strategic map.

Also, we seem to have picked up some really shitty newfags in connection with the Obsidian kickstarter.

Actually in later titles (whereas ETW is the grand example) the campaign was simplified, yes sure new features were implemented every now and then but for the cost of toning down management and the whole economic system. Then again, TW games has some of the shittiest campaigns and I wouldn't recommend anyone playing it unless you'd like to reenact as a historical figure or whatever drags the SP audience nowadays.

The only thing remotely good about the franchise are the RTS battles (MP), unless of course you wish to reenact a pseudohistorical scenario (similar to watching and interacting to a movie rather than playing a challenging game). The multiplayer scene grew in medieval but really became big in RTW with lots of clans emerging and competing through tournaments.
By the looks of it, this will be extremely glitchy and I can already see people abusing bugs and what not (we witnessed how well shogun2 with all its new features worked out). The battle will even be more slow-paced probably for the degenerates to drool over the 'grim and dark atmosphere' of the battlefield and rather watch the animations of their footsoldiers fighting off their opponents than actually issuing orders or doing anything remotely difficult.

Hopefully CA will focus on balancing and making multiplayer challenging(fast-paced and dynamic) rather than putting in worthless shit like a ladder to rank players (which was topped by cheaters and still is) or a game completely focused on the atmosphere.

 

[Mirthless]

So let me see if I got this straight Mirthless; you didnt like the campagins of ALL the other games and somehow you hope they turn it arround now?

The campaigns were already shit but they keep simplifying them. The only people who endorse TW campaigns are people who want to reenact historical scenarios, a bunch of degenerate role players, or as codex calls them; 'LARPers'.

What I pointed out was that MP is the only redeeming factor in Total War games and even that they're trying to ruin. Making it more convenient for the single player audience to observe the grim atmosphere of the battlefield rather than issuing orders or doing anything remotely difficult. This game could be turning into a silumator for pseudohistorical cinematic reenactments rather than a challenging game.

 

[Trash]

That latest bunch of newfags really is scraping the barrel.

 

[Mirthless]

That latest bunch of newfags really is scraping the barrel.

TW multiplayer is scraping the barrel, that's grand.

 

[Serious_Business]

Looks alright I guess, but I ain't excited. Whatever they do it'll always be a throwback compared the greater Rome 1 mods. This setting has no hope for CA after things like Europa Barbarorum.

I'll admit it that the guy saying "gritty" and "viceral" so many times was rather perplexing, especially since I only watched about 2 minutes of the video and this is all I could hear coming out of my speakers.

Nah kidding I wont be reading it after all...into the ignore folder you go :X

I think you're in the wrong place

 

[ironyuri]

Looks alright I guess, but I ain't excited. Whatever they do it'll always be a throwback compared the greater Rome 1 mods. This setting has no hope for CA after things like Europa Barbarorum.

I'll admit it that the guy saying "gritty" and "viceral" so many times was rather perplexing, especially since I only watched about 2 minutes of the video and this is all I could hear coming out of my speakers.

Nah kidding I wont be reading it after all...into the ignore folder you go :X

I think you're in the wrong place

Europa Barbarorum should be dropping their EB2 Mod for M :TW2 in the next year or so, based on their last progress updates.

 

[Trash]

They're still having medieval towns with Roman soldiers in it? That killed that mod for me.

 

[ironyuri]

They're still having medieval towns with Roman soldiers in it? That killed that mod for me.

I thought they managed to get around it with mod tools, they said they were modelling unique cities for Rome, Carthage, etc. for example. It's been a few months since I visited their website. I spent months playing EB in 2007-2008~ but I only follow their current work sporadically.

 

[Trash]

They're still having medieval towns with Roman soldiers in it? That killed that mod for me.

I thought they managed to get around it with mod tools, they said they were modelling unique cities for Rome, Carthage, etc. for example. It's been a few months since I visited their website. I spent months playing EB in 2007-2008~ but I only follow their current work sporadically.

Damn, apparantly they don't.

• There will be no unique custom battle-maps for cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage, Persepolis, Babylon, Alexandria etc. for the reasons mentioned in this post.
• The initial release will not include new non-vanilla buildings. Though out of place buildings such as churches will be removed.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

"Humanising combat"
"Darker vision"
"Facial animations"

Sup' CA. You guys got your priorities totally straight. And dat horrible screen tearing...

 

[Brayko]

I'd rather play Dishonored anyday.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I'd rather play Dishonored anyday.

Until you beat it after 6 hours then get bored after the second or third playthrough.

 

[Brayko]

:facepalm:

 

[ironyuri]

They're still having medieval towns with Roman soldiers in it? That killed that mod for me.

I thought they managed to get around it with mod tools, they said they were modelling unique cities for Rome, Carthage, etc. for example. It's been a few months since I visited their website. I spent months playing EB in 2007-2008~ but I only follow their current work sporadically.

Damn, apparantly they don't.

• There will be no unique custom battle-maps for cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage, Persepolis, Babylon, Alexandria etc. for the reasons mentioned in this post.
• The initial release will not include new non-vanilla buildings. Though out of place buildings such as churches will be removed.

Fuck. Well, I always found the M2 TW game a hell of a lot clunkier than RTW, so if I ever go back to EB, I guess I'll stick with the first one on RTW. Hopefully they drop the M2 TW project, and recreate it from Rome 2, instead, but I doubt very much they've got the momentum anymore.

 

[JarlFrank]

They're still having medieval towns with Roman soldiers in it? That killed that mod for me.

I thought they managed to get around it with mod tools, they said they were modelling unique cities for Rome, Carthage, etc. for example. It's been a few months since I visited their website. I spent months playing EB in 2007-2008~ but I only follow their current work sporadically.

Damn, apparantly they don't.

• There will be no unique custom battle-maps for cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage, Persepolis, Babylon, Alexandria etc. for the reasons mentioned in this post.
• The initial release will not include new non-vanilla buildings. Though out of place buildings such as churches will be removed.

Meanwhile in Italy.

 

[ironyuri]

They're still having medieval towns with Roman soldiers in it? That killed that mod for me.

I thought they managed to get around it with mod tools, they said they were modelling unique cities for Rome, Carthage, etc. for example. It's been a few months since I visited their website. I spent months playing EB in 2007-2008~ but I only follow their current work sporadically.

Damn, apparantly they don't.

• There will be no unique custom battle-maps for cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage, Persepolis, Babylon, Alexandria etc. for the reasons mentioned in this post.
• The initial release will not include new non-vanilla buildings. Though out of place buildings such as churches will be removed.

Meanwhile in Italy.

What frustrates me so often is that people who make mods like this, aren't teaming up with the brains behind Europa Barbarorum, whose working knowledge of the classical era is brilliant. After playing EB for months, I ended up reading Tarn's works on the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, along with several other more contemporary works on the Bactians. I even toyed with the idea of pursuing classics into graduate studies, with a focus on the Greco-Bactrians, but decided learning Greek (and Persian and fuck knows what else) and being unable to access the archaeology (thanks Taliban) would have been a pointless endeavour.

 

[JarlFrank]

Well, that's an Italian mod team which makes a mod that is primarily in Italian (I think they already finished the English translation though). There's a couple of those around - a couple of great Italian teams, one great German team and also some Russians who make mods in their own languages with English versions being an afterthought. There's a couple of these more "local" modding teams that do their own thing rather than joining up with the internationals.

Which is kinda sad because those Italians, Germans and Russians are among the best TW modders out there. Do try the Italian mod Bellum Crucis 6.3, it's awesome. Also the German 1648, which, in its next version, will have broad walls that you can mount cannons on.

 

[Trash]

That mod looks fantastic. Graphic overhaul or do they add lots of new gameplay elements?

 

[JarlFrank]

Trash
I haven't been following it too closely but as far as I know, some of the guys responsible for Bellum Crucis (pretty much one of the best Medieval 2 mods based on vanilla that are around, since it adds shitloads of new gameplay elements and can actually be challenging on hard difficulty) are working on this one so I'm expecting the best.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Yeah the TW games are VERY optomzed to run wit al bells and whistles on medium range PCs

That's why they had v-sync turned off in the vid?

Anyway, i hope the battle-AI, diplomacy and economic system will deliver.

 

[Average Manatee]

<idiocy snipped> and imply that Supreme Commander has anything to teach the CA is beyond belief; SC is pretty good but there is a reason why the TW games are the most important franchise of PC ONLY RTS

The reason the TW franchise is important is the TB Grand Strategy layer. The RTS component has always been mostly shit. Primarily because of the fucking awful interface, and secondarily because the GS layer actively discourages the player from getting into genuinely interesting and challenging RTS battles.

Important? You mean popular?

but it is the other way around. TW games have always been praised for the RTS battles and that has always been the better part of the games. In fact the strategy part has always been lacking one way or the other and there is good reason many here ask to have back how that part looked/worked in the first two games.

and apart from you I never heard someone complain about its interface.

You still can't make a control group unless you have 2 units in it. So yeah, shit interface. It's mindboggling why this restriction still exists. Also group movement is fairly fucked where if you tell a large group to move forward without pausing to specifically drag out the correct line it will decide it needs to turn 40 degrees leaving flanks completely unbalanced and move 200 meters to the side, rather than having every group simply march straight forward 50 meters. So basically if you want to control small groups of units the interface outright stops you, and if you want to control large groups of units you need to pause the game for every order so you can make sure your group doesn't derp half of themselves into the center of the enemy force while the other half stands around twiddling their thumbs.

Non-multiplayer RTS in the Total War series has always been a joke due to the terribad AI. Not that the strategic map has any better AI, but at least there you can actually get into trouble and get hurt early on. Past that it's Total War: Map Painting.

 

[ironyuri]

<idiocy snipped> and imply that Supreme Commander has anything to teach the CA is beyond belief; SC is pretty good but there is a reason why the TW games are the most important franchise of PC ONLY RTS

The reason the TW franchise is important is the TB Grand Strategy layer. The RTS component has always been mostly shit. Primarily because of the fucking awful interface, and secondarily because the GS layer actively discourages the player from getting into genuinely interesting and challenging RTS battles.

Important? You mean popular?

but it is the other way around. TW games have always been praised for the RTS battles and that has always been the better part of the games. In fact the strategy part has always been lacking one way or the other and there is good reason many here ask to have back how that part looked/worked in the first two games.

and apart from you I never heard someone complain about its interface.

You still can't make a control group unless you have 2 units in it. So yeah, shit interface. It's mindboggling why this restriction still exists. Also group movement is fairly fucked where if you tell a large group to move forward without pausing to specifically drag out the correct line it will decide it needs to turn 40 degrees leaving flanks completely unbalanced and move 200 meters to the side, rather than having every group simply march straight forward 50 meters. So basically if you want to control small groups of units the interface outright stops you, and if you want to control large groups of units you need to pause the game for every order so you can make sure your group doesn't derp half of themselves into the center of the enemy force while the other half stands around twiddling their thumbs.

Non-multiplayer RTS in the Total War series has always been a joke due to the terribad AI. Not that the strategic map has any better AI, but at least there you can actually get into trouble and get hurt early on. Past that it's Total War: Map Painting.

So what you're saying is, successive Roman Consuls and later Princeps did not spend 700 years just map painting from Iberia to Assyria...?

 

[Average Manatee]

In R:TW you get it done in closer to 70 years.

In any case, the problem isn't lack of realism, it's that it's just pathetically easy and boring to do. Rome did actually have to fight those battles instead of pressing an auto resolve button 100 times over.

 

[ironyuri]

In R:TW you get it done in closer to 70 years.

In any case, the problem isn't lack of realism, it's that it's just pathetically easy and boring to do.

I think that's what Gaius Marius said too. "Bloody Numidians, might put up a harder fight, eh Sulla?"

That's why Sulla modded in the civil war mechanic, bro. Ramp up the difficulty.

 

[oscar]

Wonder what sort of civil war mechanics they will use. Just rip in the Shogun II system of your peers getting more jealous of you? Optimates and Populares faction system?