Rome Total War II

[DeepOcean]

I think that in reality, you can't retreat your horse archers forever.

Yep.I think that come a point where the horses get tired too.

 

[Irenaeus]

And their moviment is affected by type of terrain, rivers, etc. Hard to properly model this in the game, though.

 

[Endemic]

I guess I'm the only one who got run over by the Mongols in MTW?

 

[Brinko]

More answers for R2


Will soldiers ever lose their swords, spears or shields when fighting?
Soldiers will drop them when they die, but not during combat as this would require individual soldiers swapping to a different animation set to the rest of the unit for the rest of the battle.

In a battle, can I disembark troops from ships anywhere or only at certain points?
You can disembark on beaches or in harbours.

Can buildings and grass be set on fire?
Buildings yes, grass no.

Can chariots and elephants cause casualties to friendly units if they run through them?
Yes they can. Best to move them around other units rather than through them.

I've not seen the movement compass UI in any screenshot, has that been removed?
It is not part of the user interface anymore, but the controls for it still work and we also have added an additional way to move units around. If you hold left click over a selected unit, or a unit that is part of a selected group, the cursor will change to a four directional symbol and you can drag the units around the map and they will keep their current formation and facing as you do so. You can hold the ctrl key to then rotate their facing as well.

Are province capitals captured in a single battle, or are there multiple if they are a port city?
The capture of a settlement is resolved in a single fight. The ports are part of the city, not separate parts of them.

How do garrisons work with limited armies?
The auto-garrisons that have been in since Empire make a return, but with better units and large numbers. Multiple different building chains can add units to the auto-garrison for a settlement. If you want more troops to defend a settlement you will need to station an army in it. As a player you will need to keep a balance of how many armies you are attacking with and how many are protecting your territory.

How do transported armies work? Can they be merged with navies?
Armies can embark and become transport navies. These can move around on their own, or can be attached to a navy and they can move around together and will fight together on the battlemap.

Are battlemaps generated from the campaign map like in Rome I, or are they preset tile maps like in Shogun 2? How many of them will there be?
So in Rome I battlemaps were generated via information from the campaign map. Culture, height details, terrain types, things like that. There was then code that took all of that to generate battlefields. Siege maps were big pre-made chunks dropped into middle of one of these maps.

With Shogun 2 battle maps were a mixture of tile template maps and premade maps. We use tiles as it allows for complete control over what kind of battle maps people will encounter compared to the old code solution. The tile template maps were tied to areas on the campaign, generally a few covering each region, and the game would pick the nearest one to where your army stood and fight a battle based on that. All of the templates were based on the geography and layout of the campaign map. siege maps were premade maps, including the outfield, and there were a few variations repeated across the campaign map.

Rome II takes a different approach. It is still tile based, but the entire campaign map is basically one giant tile map. There is a huge variety of battlefields and all based on where you are standing on the campaign map. Siege maps are also done as tile maps, not only is there the greatest variety of siege maps for settlements ever in a Total War game, the outfield will also reflect where that settlement is on the campaign map.

How big are the tech trees? Can you trade tech with other factions?
Big. Macedon has 56 techs it can research for example. No this is not possible in Rome II.

Do all families within a faction have the same tech tree?
Yes tech trees are done by faction.

Does the army cap affect all factions and cultures?
It applies to everyone.

Can minor settlements be upgraded in the campaign to have walls on the battlefield?
No only province capitals have walls and only they will have walled siege maps on the battlefield.

Will the city/castle split from Medieval II return?
This is up to players this time around. With the limited number of building slots in each settlement, and the number depending on if you've expanded the slots in a settlement, choices have to be made about what you specialise a settlement in. You might decide to turn a minor settlement with iron into a town for industrial wealth, or a big province capital into the heart of your military machine with every military building you can fit in it.

Will there be religious buildings like in Rome I?
Temples make a return, and there is a greater variety of them all with their own effects. The chain starts out as a basic building which then branches into all the different types.

With the new recruitment system, where units are recruited directly to the army, will there be any small scale battles?
Yes, it will take time to build up to 20 units in an army, so you'll see both large and small scale battles, though each with more importance than in previous titles.

What are the sizes of different units and what are they on the different unit size settings?
These numbers are by type, and then huge/large/medium/small unit size. Melee infantry 160/120/80/40, missile infantry 120/90/60/30, cavalry 80/60/40/20, artillery 40/30/20/10 and 4/3/2/1 engines.

 

[Heresiarch]

SHAMEFUL DISPLAY




CA must have reused this phrase to troll Shogun 2 players

 

[Dead Guy]

Rome II takes a different approach. It is still tile based, but the entire campaign map is basically one giant tile map. There is a huge variety of battlefields and all based on where you are standing on the campaign map. Siege maps are also done as tile maps, not only is there the greatest variety of siege maps for settlements ever in a Total War game, the outfield will also reflect where that settlement is on the campaign map.

Oh, so short answer it's exactly the same as in Shogun 2 but you can't say that because that'd lose sales.

Sounds to me like they still haven't made it even remotely possible to choose the location of your battle in an informed way (while the campaign/battle map correlation was at least OK in M2/Rome). Amazing. One of the most important tasks for a general was choosing where to fight.

 

[Disgruntled]

We're almost at release and its been pretty underwhelming so far. Im still looking forward to playing Rome 2 but its not the feverish hype I was hoping to be in by now. They were promising something big and its fallen way short imo. Not even jaw-dropping graphics to make up for it. A large campaign map and lots of melee oriented units are the only selling points for me.

The last stunning sequel was Empire, it was horribly buggy sure, but there was a wow factor with all the new features.
Shogun 2 had me disdained with redundancy. Didnt even buy it till it was 75% off.


Most exciting news ive heard is their twitter comment on Warhammer. A brand new setting will force em to break the mold somewhat.

 

[Emily]

What is the point in "features" that dont work, and are horribly bugged and unbalanced.
Id rather have a couple of good well implemented and balanced features then 100+ of broken mess.
Empire was unplayable, literally there was no game in it. It was just something to look at.

 

[Disgruntled]

What is the point in "features" that dont work, and are horribly bugged and unbalanced.
Id rather have a couple of good well implemented and balanced features then 100+ of broken mess.
Empire was unplayable, literally there was no game in it. It was just something to look at.

I managed to snag one of the somewhat playable versions (not through steam). I think they had a bunch of patches that fucked up one thing or the other and I had the one that seemed least broken.

I simply want something new, for them to expand and build upon the franchise instead of taking stuff in and out. Thinking back all the way to Shogun 1. I cant recall much that has drastically evolved; playable navies, better grafix and movement points for armies is about it.
Looking at the previews we've got of Rome 2. I dont see the perfectly implemented and balanced features that would justify the lack of innovation.

 

[titus]

Dynamic city growth

Hey all,

To showcase the incredible detail in ROME II’s campaign map, we thought we’d give you a Greek-peek of how city growth looks in the game, using the walled city of Massalia in southern France – or modern-day Marseille – as an example.

Settlements and cities in ROME II grow in a very organic way, and can expand in a number of different directions, while reflecting some of your key building decisions. Each city has a number of potential slots which can be developed ready for further construction, and it’s this process which physically expands the city. These construction slots can then accommodate new structures such as temples, training grounds, marketplaces and so on, which then appear within the city on the campaign map. You’ll also see greater works represented in the city too. As you can see here, we’ve upgraded our way through the Forum building-chain to a full-blow amphitheatre, with a typically Roman aqueduct thrown in for good measure.

As your city grows, it begins to impact the landscape around it. Urban sprawl appears outside the walls as the city increases in size. If your building choices support agriculture, farmland blossoms around the city, and forests are cut back to make way for new works.

Not all cities boast walls however, only provincial capitals. This gives the player a much greater range of battle types across a broader variety of settlements, and reduces the number of siege battles you’ll face compared to Shogun 2, which in turn keeps battle gameplay fresh and interesting. Across Rome II’s 49 different settlement, city and port-town battle maps, you’ll see a tremendous amount of urban battlefield variety while you’re storming your way through enemy provinces!

Too bad this won't affect sieges...

 

[KoolNoodles]

And that's TW games for you in a nutshell. So many times it starts off with you thinking, "Fuck yeah bitch, that is some cool ass shit and what I've always dreamed of in a grand strategy game. I can build my awesome empire and fight the battles??!! THANK JESUS". And then you realize your imagination has run wild with their beautiful, horrible tease, and you slink away....dejected and torn between the dream and the reality.

Every game they seem almost there, and you hope that maybe this time it will be right. It's enough to make a grown man cry.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

And that's TW games for you in a nutshell. So many times it starts off with you thinking, "Fuck yeah bitch, that is some cool ass shit and what I've always dreamed of in a grand strategy game. I can build my awesome empire and fight the battles??!! THANK JESUS". And then you realize your imagination has run wild with their beautiful, horrible tease, and you slink away....dejected and torn between the dream and the reality.

Every game they seem almost there, and you hope that maybe this time it will be right. It's enough to make a grown man cry.

Really? There are actually people that don't expect TW games to be dumbed down shit on release? That seems more like your fault than anyone elses.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Well there are two competing thoughts with any release. MTW2 does not feel like "dumbed down shit" as compared to their later releases. Sure, it's not a Pdox game, but it more comfortably scratches that strategy itch than ETW/NTW/STW2. Of course TW games are not meant to be brilliant strategy games, but they can still be competent ones, that aren't completely broken, with cool battles, like they used to be. If you played on hard, MTW:Viking Invasion was not a dumbed down strategy game. It did what it was trying to do quite well. Try playing as the Saxon's neighbor, against their armoured Huscarls, and good luck.

 

[Trash]

Meh, up untill Rome they were all incline. Sure, not to everyone's liking but the series moved forward. Not to mention that expansions like Viking Invasion and Barbarian Invasions were actually pretty damn great. Medieval II was the first botched release but that one got saved by a decent expansion and great moddability. Then they switched engine and came up with the botched abortion that was Empire and we landed squarely into decline territory.

The engine from medieval total war 2 already lost some of the stuff they introduced in rome total war and its expansions. Methinks they either decided to cut corners or lost some of their most talented programmers and designers. The story of Empire's AI would suggest they repeatedly are having problems holding on to their people.

Mind you, I enjoyed Shogun 2 and this looks enjoyable as well but with the switch of engine they really lost a lot of the interactivity that made the series so great to begin. All the stuff like random city maps, a few pre-made historical cities and random battle maps (they claim, it however seems they simply made a handfull per province. They did the same thing in Shogun 2 and lied about these being randomly made maps at first as well.) and city growth that simply does not make a difference to a siege battle are all part of the shit the new engine came with.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Meh, up untill Rome they were all incline. Sure, not to everyone's liking but the series moved forward. Not to mention that expansions like Viking Invasion and Barbarian Invasions were actually pretty damn great. Medieval II was the first botched release but that one got saved by a decent expansion and great moddability. Then they switched engine and came up with the botched abortion that was Empire and we landed squarely into decline territory.

The engine from medieval total war 2 already lost some of the stuff they introduced in rome total war and its expansions. Methinks they either decided to cut corners or lost some of their most talented programmers and designers. The story of Empire's AI would suggest they repeatedly are having problems holding on to their people.

Mind you, I enjoyed Shogun 2 and this looks enjoyable as well but with the switch of engine they really lost a lot of the interactivity that made the series so great to begin. All the stuff like random city maps, a few pre-made historical cities and random battle maps (they claim, it however seems they simply made a handfull per province. They did the same thing in Shogun 2 and lied about these being randomly made maps at first as well.) and city growth that simply does not make a difference to a siege battle are all part of the shit the new engine came with.

Completely agree. I think some part of the switch to a new engine either lost them some of their old talent, or their old talent just couldn't work with it as well as they did by the end of RTW's expansions, and MTW2's expansion. The new engine is complete shit. It has taken them three games to *hopefully* get sieges right with RTW2. That's just one part of what makes a TW game. There was a time when a cavalry charge of fully armored knights would obliterate a 100 peasants in about five seconds, as it would probably do. Now you just get a dozen guys flying through the air, half of them getting up, and then single combat bullshit which takes a minute or more.

 

[JarlFrank]

I actually found Medieval 2's cavalry charges to be way too overpowered. Well, in most mods that is.

 

[Cassidy]

I actually found Medieval 2's cavalry charges to be way too overpowered. Well, in most mods that is.

What is wrong with cavalry being powerful enough to save a mostly poorly equipped Hitman army from total defeat by hordes of Russians, skyways, well-equipped Teutonic knights, treacherous Poles and damned Danes invading Lithuania simultaneously?

 

[KoolNoodles]

Nice. From the little I've read, and I'm no scholar, just a fan of history....heavy cav were the tanks of medieval warfare, with no direct "infantry" counter for quite some time(like entrenched modern infantry can usually beat modern armor). Very few troops were trained or equipped to deal with them. Even the best archers(longbowmen with bodkin) couldn't easily harm heavy knights(see: Agincourt, where mud and terrain was the French downfall). It wasn't even until the square formation during the Napoleonic era, and much later with the prevalence of armored warfare in WW2, that cavalry were finally outclassed. That says much about their strength and staying power. If any unit deserves to be OP in a medieval warfare game, it should be cavalry. That said, I'm sure not everything is designed perfectly. I wish ancient/medieval warfare put a stronger emphasis on mercenaries/levies, for example. The former being well-trained and expensive troops bought for a specific purpose/battle, and the latter being the worthless masses you dredge up just to get by, and they leave you when planting season comes around. It would be interesting to model that dynamic.

 

[Dead Guy]

I don't remember if it was Real Recruitment for Stainless Steel or something else, but there are mods for M2TW Kingdoms that tried to model historical recruitment and army composition better. I felt it went overboard a bit because IIRC you only had three generals that could recruit professional units and they had to camp in the settlement for up to 14 or so turns to recruit one unit of knights for example, but yeah, I think a better solution to the OP cavalry problem would be to give them much higher upkeep and limit their recruitment pool like real recruitment did.

 

[Quilty]

I have been thinking of going back to Stainless Steel, I remember having a lot of fun with it. One thing that bothered me about it was the extreme balance between units. Basically, every country had a very, very similar roster of troops, which made everything somewhat boring.

 

[KoolNoodles]

I don't remember if it was Real Recruitment for Stainless Steel or something else, but there are mods for M2TW Kingdoms that tried to model historical recruitment and army composition better. I felt it went overboard a bit because IIRC you only had three generals that could recruit professional units and they had to camp in the settlement for up to 14 or so turns to recruit one unit of knights for example, but yeah, I think a better solution to the OP cavalry problem would be to give them much higher upkeep and limit their recruitment pool like real recruitment did.

That would be RR for SS, which I think you can disable in the setup you run for it now. I believe with the latest iteration recruitment fluctuates in an empire. Sometimes only the King and a couple other high lords can recruit professional troops, and sometimes the entire empire can. Also, mercenaries tend to be more abundant, cheaper, and restock faster, so that's something to keep in mind for your regular armies.

As far as unit diversity, it's pretty samey early on, but expands later. There are slight differences between regional powers however. For instance, England starts with the ability to recruit javelin light cav, a form of billmen, and decent archers, whereas France starts off very "medieval", with access to some men-at-arms, and countries like Genoa/Italy get a bunch of urban militia types(slightly better trained and equipped than the standard European levies).

The best way to get that new car smell is always either an Islamic nation or Byzantium though.

 

[titus]

 

[KoolNoodles]

Those all look pretty great, we'll see how they play. Especially like the harbor in Carthage. It's really too bad that most "cities" won't be sieged proper, so that they could make time to create these admittedly cool looking major city maps. Just hire one extra dude to design a couple dozen generic cities.

 

[titus]

Those all look pretty great, we'll see how they play. Especially like the harbor in Carthage. It's really too bad that most "cities" won't be sieged proper, so that they could make time to create these admittedly cool looking major city maps. Just hire one extra dude to design a couple dozen generic cities.

Well, IMAO they didn't had to create custom cities AT ALL. Just extend the campaign expandable feature on the battle map. That plus a little RNG and terrain data, and you would have plenty of unique cities without too much fuss.
Oh well...

 

[Trash]

Limitation of the new engine. The old one had cities that showed during the battles what buildings and fortifications and even size it had on the campaign map. These cities will be static, although CA said they will show persistent damage. We'll see.