Rome Total War II

[JarlFrank]

Not yet, I'm waiting till they got proper late Roman looking cities for those.

 

[Renegen]

EB is great, I played it for far too long. Unfortunately, historical accuracy is almost a weakness because 50% of all factions use Hellenic armies that are identical. I enjoyed playing a lot with the Saba. They are the local arabs and use a lot of light infantry. They have this really powerful unit that's both a spearman and an archer and besides that depend on trade buildings.

Still, as all TW mods the AI is too big of a weakness and every mod resembles itself after a while.

 

[Trash]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=194253

If you want a fun Rome mod that doesn't look like all the others try this one. It's the remake of the Viking Invasion expansion for MTW in the BI engine and it rocks. Try playing as the saxons down south and have fun getting raped. First time I managed to stop the viking juggernaut was one of those gaming moments that stick with you.

 

[GreyViper]

They only mode is use for Rome TW is Extended Greek Mod (XGM) and ye gods can it be a pain with some civs. I mean sure I understand tackling Pyrrhos stack of doom is supposed to be hard in first turn, but where the hell does the second stack come from in second turn?

 

[Harpsichord]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=194253

If you want a fun Rome mod that doesn't look like all the others try this one. It's the remake of the Viking Invasion expansion for MTW in the BI engine and it rocks. Try playing as the saxons down south and have fun getting raped. First time I managed to stop the viking juggernaut was one of those gaming moments that stick with you.

Hardest TW mod I've ever played. Possibly the best one ever made from a gameplay standpoint.

 

[Trash]

Yeah, it boggles my mind that it isn't more popular. All the fluff can fuck right off for a genuine good campaign and VI2 delivers that more than pretty much everything out there.

 

[Oriental European]

I hope they'll include those videos at the beginning of each faction's campaign, like in the first game:
"These are our trees, our gods live here har-har"
"Greeks could pwn the world. Alexander did"
"The desert has a lot of sand and we live here"

 

[poocolator]

Shogun 2 was shit. Compared to previous games (even Empire, which at least had campaign-map->battle-map fidelity) Shogun 2 was a major step backwards. I have no hope that this will turn out any differently.

 

[Serious_Business]

Shogun 2 was shit. Compared to previous games (even Empire, which at least had campaign-map->battle-map fidelity).

NO YOU'RE SHIT MAN
YOU'RE A PIECE OF SHIT
SHIT
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT
AUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHH

 

[Icewater]

Shogun 2 was shit. Compared to previous games (even Empire, which at least had campaign-map->battle-map fidelity) Shogun 2 was a major step backwards. I have no hope that this will turn out any differently.

I don't see why people think Shogun 2 was incline—no unit variety, campaign map is too small and linear, AI is still fucking retarded, diplomacy has no depth, management has no depth, battles have no more depth than the previous games. Maybe they meant incline over the decline of Empire/Napoleon? To me it really just seems like CA is making the same game over and over at this point, and not even trying to improve them. I can't say I'm all that amazingly excited for Rome 2.

 

[Sergiu64]

Well, it's my favorite time period so might buy.

 

[praetor]

Shogun 2 was shit. Compared to previous games (even Empire, which at least had campaign-map->battle-map fidelity) Shogun 2 was a major step backwards. I have no hope that this will turn out any differently.

I don't see why people think Shogun 2 was incline—no unit variety, campaign map is too small and linear, AI is still fucking retarded, diplomacy has no depth, management has no depth, battles have no more depth than the previous games. Maybe they meant incline over the decline of Empire/Napoleon? To me it really just seems like CA is making the same game over and over at this point, and not even trying to improve them. I can't say I'm all that amazingly excited for Rome 2.

because with the limited unit variety the AI worked much MUCH better than all the previous titles combined (except maybe the first shogun, although it's been a looong time since i played that so maybe i'm wrong), the "small&linear" camp map was also there to "help" the AI and it wasn't that bad, AI (both on camp and battle map) wasn't even 10% as retarded as previous titles, "no depth"="more depth than previous titles" (more options in diplomacy [although the removal of the "give province" diplomatic option made me sad a bit], management had more depth with the tech trees and special resources), not to mention despite the enormous amount of bullshit it was very likely the most historically accurate TW to date. still, i'm glad i didn't remove it from inventory because their DLC policy is probably the most disgusting i've seen in the industry, matched only by the likes of activision with their 10$ map packs or whatever

 

[spectre]

^Agreed. Saying that management had no depth is poppycock.

Also, Shougn 2 was probably one of the first games in the series since Rome to be playable and enjoyable straight out of the box. It had it's share of problems, but after empire, it felt surprisingly polished.
They streamlined it quite a bit, and I think it actually did the game some good, because at some point around Medieval 2 it began to suffer from a serious case of feature bloat (princesses, merchants, etc.)

Yeah, the AI sucks niggercock, but it's still brilliant compared to the turd that came with Medieval 2 or Empire. And it can even be threatening at times, granted, it's due to the silly stacks of doom it summons out of thin air.

I actually welcomed the new Shogun (and I like the idea of a new rome) because I also think the total war games work best for time periods up to early gunpowder. It's simply not as fun in the age of rifling, imo.

 

[Whisky]

Shogun 2 was shit. Compared to previous games (even Empire, which at least had campaign-map->battle-map fidelity) Shogun 2 was a major step backwards. I have no hope that this will turn out any differently.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

Okay, I did not like Shogun 2 and I have no hopes for Rome 2. But worse than Empire? That is madness.

 

[poocolator]

Empire was far more entertaining for me thematically. The key though is that Shogun 2 actually worked on release, it wasn't dead on arrival. That probably instantly shoots it above Empire in a number of people's lists. It was definitely a big minus for Empire, which is unfortunate because Empire had a lot of potential. CA's laid it to rest, now, anyway.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Shogun 2 was shit. Compared to previous games (even Empire, which at least had campaign-map->battle-map fidelity) Shogun 2 was a major step backwards. I have no hope that this will turn out any differently.

Shogun 2 was still several step forwards in a few but important respects. The action started quickly. The AI didn't dawdle around, but rushed to occupy several other kingdoms within the first 20 turns. There were no buffer rebel provinces to prevent war, and the game starts with all of the land fully occupied. The Takeda, Uesegi, and Hojo clans are on each other throats, and one of them tends to disappear quickly. As opposed to HRE in M2:TW which takes an eternity to occupy Poland, if at all, or the Gauls who haven't even finished off the Iberians before your Romans arrive there.

Previous TW games made it feel like the AI had no real ambition or motivation; they stayed virtually idle. In Shogun 2, it felt like all the AI factions had at least as much ambition as the player did.

 

[poocolator]

At best, it was a well-conceived trick to compensate for the same sort of shitty AI we'd been seeing all along in their games.

 

[Endemic]

The AI seemed to work well enough for Shogun I and Medieval I, CA just never bothered upgrading it to cope with the extra features added in subsequent titles.

 

[Trash]

Actually their AI guy left and they were left flaundering.

campaign-map->battle-map fidelity

Absolutely not. Empire was the first game to use the new engine and it shows in that the battle maps had absolutely nothing to do with the surroundings on the campaign map.

I'm still pissed that CA dropped that gorgeous engine that actually provided a nearly 1:1 transition of campaign to battle map and even showed the surrounding terrain. Seeing a smoking vulcano, a fleet anchored at the coast, a nearby city or the alps during battle just as you saw them in the campaign map was part of what made Rome such a great game.

 

[Endemic]

Actually their AI guy left and they were left flaundering.

Should have hired an AI modder, like GPG.

 

[JarlFrank]

They did hire an AI modder for the newer games, which is probably the reason why Shogun 2 was better than its predecessors AI-wise.

 

[Endemic]

They did hire an AI modder for the newer games, which is probably the reason why Shogun 2 was better than its predecessors AI-wise.

I've seen some pretty stupid AI behaviour in that game, like reinforcements sitting there scratching their posteriors the whole battle.

 

[poocolator]

campaign-map->battle-map fidelity

Absolutely not. Empire was the first game to use the new engine and it shows in that the battle maps had absolutely nothing to do with the surroundings on the campaign map.

That's not entirely true. The engine didn't render large bodies of water, but it did render distant towns and rivers. It made a pitiful attempt at showing surrounding hills and mountains, too, but nuances can be barely perceptible. I'm not surprised that they decided to get rid of this feature after their sluggish attempt with Empire.

 

[MapMan]

Kinda unrelated but I guess it's the right place to ask after all. I just finished shogun 2 (with darthmod) grand campaign and I still need more total war. Currently I'm unsure what I should get into. Maybe I should get the fall of the samurai expansion? Or maybe I should try rome (what mods shall I use then)? What can you guys recommend me? Or maybe I should get into shogun 2 multiplayer? How's that?

 

[Rostere]

I can't really say I'm looking forward to this game. In order to not get disappointed, I'm going to replay Dark Omen and pretend for myself it's the brand new TW game...