Warhammer Total War: Warhammer III

[Elttharion]

I just wanted a pike and shot total war, is that too much to ask?

 

[Caim]

Oh God I hope no. I'm tired of slightly High/Late Medieval Europe. There is so many eras and places to discover come on!

Which one is guaranteed not to fail? Troy, despite being the best contemporary Total War, flopped hard; Three Kingdoms allegedly performed poorly, at least poorly enough for them to prematurely cut its support; Thrones of Britannia is set in an early-ish Medieval era and is considered the worst of the bunch; Rome Remastered barely scrapes 1k players a month although it also is one of the better TWs out there atm. CA even got a mini-heart attack witnessing WH3's disastrous launch. Soooo what era do you propose they do? I know nothing of this has anything to do with historical period, but good luck convincing CA that's the case. I'm sure they'll develop the safest TWs possible from now on. And tbh, I don't necessarily blame them for it because they did try to do something else numerous times and failed each attempt.

Unless they go full Egypt or do Empire 2, Medieval 3 is the best bet. But given the large amount of fantasy stuff they've been doing recently I wouldn't be surprised at Egypt.

 

[Lacrymas]

Safest historical period they can do - obviously Medieval, no contest.

Safest fantasy setting - Game of Thrones. Maybe LotR or even Witcher, but that's riskier, imo. Possibly Forgotten Realms?

Safest anything else - WH 40k.

 

[Lord of Riva]

Oh God I hope no. I'm tired of slightly High/Late Medieval Europe. There is so many eras and places to discover come on!

Which one is guaranteed not to fail? Troy, despite being the best contemporary Total War, flopped hard; Three Kingdoms allegedly performed poorly, at least poorly enough for them to prematurely cut its support; Thrones of Britannia is set in an early-ish Medieval era and is considered the worst of the bunch; Rome Remastered barely scrapes 1k players a month although it also is one of the better TWs out there atm. CA even got a mini-heart attack witnessing WH3's disastrous launch. Soooo what era do you propose they do? I know nothing of this has anything to do with historical period, but good luck convincing CA that's the case. I'm sure they'll develop the safest TWs possible from now on. And tbh, I don't necessarily blame them for it because they did try to do something else numerous times and failed each attempt.

Unless they go full Egypt or do Empire 2, Medieval 3 is the best bet. But given the large amount of fantasy stuff they've been doing recently I wouldn't be surprised at Egypt.

Egypt would be interesting.

I think Medieval 2 is a good thing though, medieval era needs an overhaul still since the series shifted in gameplay since shogun 2.

Still, their problem is, is that most games are simply not good so that is what they need to fix.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Which one is guaranteed not to fail? Troy, despite being the best contemporary Total War, flopped hard; Three Kingdoms allegedly performed poorly, at least poorly enough for them to prematurely cut its support;

3 Kingdoms was actually a fairly successful launch. The problem lies with the after sales DLC iirc. Cathays is pretty much made considering of 3K massive success in China.

 

[Fedora Master]

I have zero confidence in their ability to create a proper historical game again.

 

[Lacrymas]

Which one is guaranteed not to fail? Troy, despite being the best contemporary Total War, flopped hard; Three Kingdoms allegedly performed poorly, at least poorly enough for them to prematurely cut its support;

3 Kingdoms was actually a fairly successful launch. The problem lies with the after sales DLC iirc. Cathays is pretty much made considering of 3K massive success in China.

The Chinese aren't into DLC, right? That just shows that only they had any interest in the game anyway.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Which one is guaranteed not to fail? Troy, despite being the best contemporary Total War, flopped hard; Three Kingdoms allegedly performed poorly, at least poorly enough for them to prematurely cut its support;

3 Kingdoms was actually a fairly successful launch. The problem lies with the after sales DLC iirc. Cathays is pretty much made considering of 3K massive success in China.

The Chinese aren't into DLC, right? That just shows that only they had any interest in the game anyway.

Chinese are fine with DLC even for TW3 for example. It just 3K DLCs was considered kinda dogshit.

It is an understatement and just an easy scapegoat of "not being Yurop thus fails". It also had bad DLCs and iirc Multiplayer was dogshit and people actually dislike the patches as well. Their post launch was kinda disastrous like TW3 launch but they failed to restore confidence.

In the end of the day anything they make after TW WH series will probably never reach the peak of sales ever again unless they go for another popular fantasy setting.

 

[Gromoer]

The more I see how good the Chaos Dwarves look, the more I pity poor Kislev who got Disneyed so hard. Could have been such a fun faction to play.

 

[Fedora Master]

Their first mistake with 3K was making a DLC that wasn't about 3K.

 

[tabacila]

Medieval is definitely the safest choice after their misses with "historical" games like Thrones, 3K and Troy.
It's a "classic" tried and true setting, that is well remembered, hasn't had an iteration in the 'new'-ish warscape engine and it offers some diversity in units and fighting styles.

Only questions for me are:

1. Are they going to make it fantasy lite? Hopefully they have understood this lesson with Troy and 3K, but CA seems to be a slow learning animal.
2. Will it have the same pop-a-mole ... everything? From battles to settlement management, to faction "mechanics", eveything feels like a dumbed down gimmick to me in TW lately. I'm enjoying WH so far because in this over the top setting I don't care about what would normally annoy me in a historical game.

I just wanted a pike and shot total war, is that too much to ask?

Modders apparently got our back again:

 

[Elttharion]

Which one is guaranteed not to fail? Troy, despite being the best contemporary Total War, flopped hard; Three Kingdoms allegedly performed poorly, at least poorly enough for them to prematurely cut its support;

3 Kingdoms was actually a fairly successful launch. The problem lies with the after sales DLC iirc. Cathays is pretty much made considering of 3K massive success in China.

The Chinese aren't into DLC, right? That just shows that only they had any interest in the game anyway.

Not really, the problem was the quality of the DLC and the choices they made. Dont quote me on this but I remember hearing that they chose factions and characters that were disliked in China for the first few DLCs so the chinese dropped the game. Every DLC also introduced quite a few bugs that they never bothered fixing. I think it was Eight Princes (?) that had nothing to do with 3K and it was pretty much universally hated.

Also one of their CMs (a woman) went nuclear against the sexy female character mods and artwork and created a huge stink over it. In the end they banned those mods from the workshop. Ironically enough most of these mods were made by the chinese players but she didnt care and cried as if it was the fault of the western players. The chinese held a grudge against CA because of this too.

 

[Mitleser2020]

When Grimgor got buckbrocken by his old Masters...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq5m3F_gZW8

 

[tabacila]

The sexy 3k mod was a really lolzy situation and a classic case of inconsistent 'muh feelingz' shit that western companies do.
I mean their previous game had been WH2 with those almost buck naked dark elf sorceresses. Those 3K mods were kinda tame compared to those characters, but I guess CA_Grace (the CM) couldn't raise a public stink about it because lore.
So like a classic feminist she cashed her checks and only complained when she could get away with it.

 

[Average Manatee]

3K's problem was that there just isn't enough variety in a purely china-focused game to have replayability, which is what the modern DLC treadmill needs. It was a very polished game, especially after a few patches, similar to Shogun 2 I'd say. But Shogun 2 only had a few minor faction DLCs, the big standout DLC was FotS but there's no counterpart for 3K, all 3K did was make meh map changeup DLCs like how RotS was (and RotS was considered pretty crap). CA wanted 3K to be print money like Warhammer does with $300 or w/e of DLC but that just wasn't happening.

It remains to be seen if even a game like Medieval done well could sell DLC like Warhammer, I'd say probably not. Fact is that a DLC advertising "slightly different cav/infantry/archers/etc" is just not an eye-grabber the way dinosaurs and shit are.

Isn't there a cycle between full game - saga - full game - saga going on? What step are we on now?

It's not actually a cycle, I'm convinced CA just renames a normal release to be a "saga" when they realize its crap and going to mostly tank 6 months before release in order to save face.

 

[Fedora Master]

Any company that deals with China should be well aware that the bugmen are incorrigible coomers.

 

[Lacrymas]

There's no way a historical period game can sell as much DLC because there's only so many variations of real world armies you can create, so you'll be paying mostly for cosmetics. Troy's mythic mode had potential because there are a lot of mythologies they can draw inspiration from and they could've created a separate map like in WH to accommodate that and to curb the worst aspect of it, namely that every conflict ends with Greeks vs Trojans. Alas, myopic decisions were made.

 

[Luka-boy]

For me one of the biggest things they must do well in a theoretical Medieval 3 is generals.

In Medieval 2 they were one of the most fun aspects of the game. They felt really badass in battle, they had a ton of personality with their traits and a carefully nurtured governor could make any shithole thrive and be content while a good full Dread warrior one could pretty much cause a mass rout with a good charge.

1 - How would their stats/traits evolve? Semi-randomly depending on use/location like in the original games? A hybrid system like Shogun 2 where some traits evolved the old way and some other you selected on level up? Level-up/item exclusively like in Warhammer?
2 - How fragile would they be? Pansies that should remain in the back like in Empire/Napoleon? Decently powerful but still somewhat vulnerable like in Shogun 2? Complete hardasses like in Medieval 2?
3 - Would speeches return? I will never lose hope!

Bonus.

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[Cyberarmy]

Dwarves can handle it but it is going to be a blood bath. Just hope that Empire bothers the Counts enough for them to ignore you a bit.

Edit: Meanwhile my beastmen campaign hit a wall, hard. Savage orc tribe that I left with only 1 settlement came with a vengence with 2 full stacks that accompied by WAAAAAAGHSS!, no way to defend that much of a force even with back up from my herdstone army. Should've finished them first but Khorne was really vulnerable at that point and I had eliminate him, because he is killing and razing everything and I couldn't get enough power for the ritual.

 

[dsndo]

Volound was right about everything.

 

[Average Manatee]

Turn 38? Damn man what chaos god did you piss off to have that happen?

 

[tabacila]

As expected Mirror of Madness is just the laboratory from WH2 and some more survival battle shit.

Spoiler

MIRROR OF MADNESS FAQ​

TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III

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CA_oxfordcomma


April 4 2023

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Well fancy seeing you here!
We may have wrapped up our look at Forge of Chaos Dwarfs’ third and final Legendary Lord last week, but we’re back once again with yet more hot drops arriving alongside Update 3.0 on April 13th!
First teased in the autumn, the latest collaboration between Intel® and Creative Assembly features two brand new game modes and is completely free for all Total War: WARHAMMER III owners.
Introducing… Mirror of Madness!
( 中文版请在我们的Bilibili专栏查看 )

WHAT IS MIRROR OF MADNESS? ​

Mirror of Madness is a free addition to Total War: WARHAMMER III, releasing alongside Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs in Update 3.0 on April 13th 2023. It includes two new game modes: The Trials of Fate and The Infinite Portal.

HOW DO I ACCESS MIRROR OF MADNESS? ​

As free DLC, Mirror of Madness will be automatically added to your game with Update 3.0 and can be found on the Battle tab in the Main Menu.

WHAT ARE ‘THE TRIALS OF FATE’? ​

The Trials of Fate are a series of intense survival challenges where players assume the role of a newly ascended Daemon Prince of Tzeentch. Reaching back through time itself, you will fight for survival in four infamous battles from the past, before breaking through into the Realm of Tzeentch and taking the fight to Kairos Fateweaver in an intense final showdown.
Endless waves of enemy combatants will grow in strength the longer you hold out, until at last the masses overwhelm you. To help, players have access to some unique spells and abilities that could just tip the balance in their favour.
The goal is to defend a capture point called the ‘Shard’. Doing so grants access to Forbidden Knowledge, which in turn can be used to upgrade the aforementioned spells and abilities. Take advantage of cataclysmic powers and mighty vortexes to send your enemies ragdolling across the Realms in crazy physics-based chaos.
The damage dealt and kills secured contribute towards your score. Do well enough and you’ll unlock unique Tzeentch-themed Daemon Prince Parts for your Daemon Prince that, as well as looking dead swanky, can be used in both the Realm of Chaos and Immortal Empires campaigns.
Daniel has never looked better.

WHAT IS ‘THE INFINITE PORTAL’? ​

The Infinite Portal grants access to reality-bending features and settings, letting you tweak many aspects of battle as you please, including:

• Unit Size: Increases the number of soldiers per unit and their health
• Damage: Increases the damage dealt by attacks, spells, etc
• Impact Force: Increases collision impact, attack force and detonation force to send units flying
• Leadership: Increases base morale
• Winds of Magic: Increases the availability of Winds of Magic for spellcasting
• Explosions: Increases the size of explosions and vortex spells, improving their radius and detonation speed
• Vigour Cost Reduction: Increases the duration that units stay fresh, lowering the fatigue cost of actions
• Reload Time: Reduces the time it takes to reload ranged weapons
• Ammunition: Increases the total number of shots per ranged unit
• Projectile Penetration: Increases the distance projectiles can travel through enemies
• Gravity: Decreases the effect of gravity on units who are knocked into the air
• Ability Radius: Increase the effect radius of abilities
• Ability Recharge: Reduces ability recharge time
• Charge Duration: Increases the duration of the charge bonus
• Entity Scale: Increases or decreases the size of single unit entities like Lords and Monsters
• Blood Quantity: Increases or decreases the amount of blood emitted by entities emit

Have fun, go wild, become the Lord of Change.

DO I NEED TO PURCHASE FORGE OF THE CHAOS DWARFS TO PLAY MIRROR OF MADNESS? ​

No.
While they are launching at the same time, Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs and Mirror of Madness are separate pieces of content. Mirror of Madness is completely free to all owners of WARHAMMER III, regardless of any previous Total War: WARHAMMER titles or DLC they have purchased.

DO I NEED AN INTEL 13TH-GEN PROCESSOR TO PLAY MIRROR OF MADNESS? ​

No.
Mirror of Madness in and of itself makes no difference to WARHAMMER III’s performance. However, should you crank up The Infinite Portal’s more intensive settings (such as entity scale or unit size) you may begin to notice some performance drop-off, depending on the power of your PC.
The Infinite Portal can be best seen as… an experiment. It’s a fresh, isolated environment with the chance… should you so choose… to push your PC’s hardware to the limit.
The Trials of Fate will also maintain a similar performance to the main game, though players who survive for a long time may find that the sheer number of units on screen at once in later waves may stretch their system resources. Should you notice a drop in frames, you can opt to lower some settings.

UP NEXT​

And that’s Mirror of Madness! For a full breakdown of this latest addition to WARHAMMER III, check out our Mirror of Madness Showcase on the Total War YouTube channel! Otherwise, when the time comes please do hop in, try it out yourself and share some of your mightiest screenshots with us on our socials!
Don’t forget, Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs, Mirror of Madness and Update 3.0 all arrive at the same time on April 13th, and you can still pick Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs up for 10% less if you purchase it before April 20th.
We’ll be back next week, should we survive, with the absolutely gargantuan monster of an article that is the Update 3.0 Patch Notes. Seriously… there’s so much. It’s so big. So many words. More like UPDATE THREE POINT WHOA amirite?

 

[Elttharion]

>Shit, I forgot to check if they had a nuke
>Meh, it will be fine

 

[Aghoric Visions]

Dear god that UI.