Rome Total War II

[Kukulkan]

Haven't been following this thread in a while so could somebody fill me in if this game will be easy to mod?

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

Not in a million years.

 

[Brinko]

If there are mods the biggest I see coming out are changing the turn limit from 1 turn=1 year to 4 turns=1 year and unit packs if the selection sucks balls, which it most likely will to encourage people to buy their DLC.

 

[Malakal]

If there are mods the biggest I see coming out are changing the turn limit from 1 turn=1 year to 4 turns=1 year and unit packs if the selection sucks balls, which it most likely will to encourage people to buy their DLC.

That would be hard without modding the seasons ie the map and seeing as the map most likely wont be moddable at all you can at best get longer campaign without "seasons" being any different.

 

[Spectacle]

Staked-up longbowmen were the real problem. You'd often get Mexican stand-off situations with archer heavy entrenched forces refusing to abandon their position while infantry and cavalry-heavy armies refused to charge.

Doesn't the TW games have a battle timer for that reason? Or do people play with it disabled, they only have themselves to blame in that case.

Standoffs lasting for days are pretty common in the history of warfare, but every battle happens in a context, and eventually strategic concerns will force one side to make a move.

 

[Brinko]

If there are mods the biggest I see coming out are changing the turn limit from 1 turn=1 year to 4 turns=1 year and unit packs if the selection sucks balls, which it most likely will to encourage people to buy their DLC.

That would be hard without modding the seasons ie the map and seeing as the map most likely wont be moddable at all you can at best get longer campaign without "seasons" being any different.

Well the way they described how the turns work with seasons is that 1 year passes per turn but every turn is also a different season. So I see once the fan made editors come out just changing whatever makes 1 turn=1 year to 4 turns=1 year similar to how people could change the turn length in M2 by editing the 2 years per turn to .5 year per turn.

That is unless CA for some asinine reason hardcode that shit and I wouldn't put it past them for whatever dumbfuck reason they get in their heads.

 

[Malakal]

IIRC Shogun 2 map was hard coded and unchangeable so I wouldnt say they cant do this. Cant sell so much dlc then eh.

 

[Space Satan]

As I remember, CA promised that they'l release Mod Tools for Shogun 2 after a while after release. Then, they said, "Fuck you". And there were much butthurt from fans. That was one of the reasons Shogun 2 bugs lasted so long - in Empire, a lot of them were fixed in DarthMod.

 

[Trash]

Standoffs lasting for days are pretty common in the history of warfare, but every battle happens in a context, and eventually strategic concerns will force one side to make a move.

Up to the second Punic war the actual battles were heavily ritualised affairs. As in two armies lying opposite of each other in camp and marching out each day to form up (could take hours), yell, toss insults, have champions duel it out and so on. Could go on for days untill one side started to commit. Also wasn't uncommon for both armies to slowly disengage and go away.

 

[Boyarpunk]

So, they never really gotten the hang of regular diplomacy, and yet they want to slap in-faction diplomacy on top of that? That's gonna end well.
This may be just me, but imo Total War actually needs less strategic map micromanagement and more focus on the actual battles to prevent the autocalc all the way, baby, syndrome.

Ah yes, fond memories of vanilla Total War diplomacy:

Me: I have conquered every province (save one) that you once owned. I am besieging your remaining town/castle/fortress/city with 20 stacks of my best troops against 2 of your town milita units. I have declared war against your mortal enemy. You are in massive debt with negative income. You have no hope (none). How 'bout a ceasefire?
Them: That wouldn't be realistic.

 

[DeepOcean]

Standoffs lasting for days are pretty common in the history of warfare, but every battle happens in a context, and eventually strategic concerns will force one side to make a move.

It varies from culture to culture, greek, macedonic and roman armies tended to finish the thing head on and once the battle started, it was a question of hours and sometimes even less. Oriental and tribal armies had this indecisive style where a battle could take days but by the point of Roman conquest pretty much everyone that was civilized in the Mediterranean used macedonian style armies that were egineered to crush the opposition or be slaughtered without wasting time. Pretty much only the european/african/asiatic tribes used the traditional ritualistic style and that it is why the romans steamrolled them.

 

[Trash]

I was specifically talking about Roman (and Carthagenian) armies in that one and the time it could take for them to actual get to start a battle. Up to the second Punic war most battles were prepared in a very ritualistic way, with armies facing up to each other for days on end before finally commiting. It was only by the changes brought on by the Punic wars that the steps towards the Roman army as depicted in popular history took place. Once battle was commenced it usually was a win or lose in indeed, a matter of hours. Although it wasn't uncommon for armies to gradually disengage to fight another day.

Check out for instance Goldsworthy's The Fall of Carthage for a neat read on it.

 

[Brinko]

Time for image dump

Spoiler

 

[Zewp]

Why does the water in the third pic look like it has cellulite?

 

[Kukulkan]

Why does the water in the third pic look like it has cellulite?

To make it wavy and realistic looking.

 

[Irenaeus]

Why does the water in the third pic look like it has cellulite?

To make it wavy and realistic looking.

It does look odd, like an orange peel.

 

[Borelli]

Who are these camel riders?

 

[Irenaeus]

If they aren't, those are monstrously deformed horses.

 

[Trash]

Looks much better than the initial shots. Oh my, am I getting excited about a Total War game again?

 

[Cursed Platypus]

Looking at the Peloponese shot, I was hoping the map would be bigger : feature more greek cities, have small town on the islands in the agean sea.
So that I could properly simulate a Peloponese War II .

 

[Kukulkan]

Looking at the Peloponese shot, I was hoping the map would be bigger : feature more greek cities, have small town on the islands in the agean sea.
So that I could properly simulate a Peloponese War II .

There was a Peloponnesian War II. You see Thucydides recounted mostly the Second One but he digresses a bit and covers the first one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Peloponnesian_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Peloponnesian_War#The_Second_War
Now I think a good idea would be to make an expansion set during the second Peloponnesian War. That would be cool. Maybe a mod if they stick with a Hannibal's Ambition instead.

 

[Brinko]

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/three-things-i-loved-about-total-war-rome-ii-at-e3/

Creative Assembly’s demo of Total War: Rome II left us wanting more. Large-scale battles over huge landscapes, powered by an overhauled campaign system, are a given for the sequel to Rome: Total War. But the devil’s in the details: Here are the three new mechanics in Rome II that got us eager to play.
Defensive deployablesThe battle I witnessed pitted Caesar’s Roman army against the Egyptians, who held the high ground. One tactic the Egyptian army employed was flaming boulders, which were rolled downhill to decimate the Roman legionnaires. These are one of many defensive deployables Creative Assembly has added to help defending armies challenge aggressors. I spoke with Jamie Ferguson (lead battle designer) and Dominique Starr (campaign designer) from Creative Assembly, and between them I heard about caches of poison arrows, stakes that impale cavalry, sharp stones to stall enemy advances and hidden fire pits that light front-line assault troops ablaze.

Using these deployables to repel attackers isn’t as easy as it sounds. “If you place them in the wrong place, they’ll be totally useless to you,” Ferguson said. “It relies on a certain amount of common sense from the player.” He also described how using some elements can backfire on the player, citing how war elephants can run amok. “They go completely out of control but get much tougher,” he said. “The result of that is that they can smash through not only the enemy units, but yours as well. And you have to choose if you want to destroy them or not.”
In the case of the flaming boulders, they weren’t always effective. While some crushed the attacking Roman troops, others veered off course down the hillside. But when they worked, they did some serious damage.
More victory conditionsWhile past entries of Total War have had rigid victory conditions, Rome II will feature three distinct ways to win: military, economic and cultural victories. Any of the three can be achieved on the fly, giving some players the chance to switch up tactics depending on how the ages have treated their empire.
“These aren’t picked from the start,” Starr said. “There’s no pressure. No one ever told Rome, ‘Hey, you only have 200 years. Get to work.’”

The victory options mean more opportunities for the game to fit a specific player’s style. Some players will min/max their way to an economic victory, assuming everything goes their way. In other cases, Ferguson says, the additional victory options will help a player who may feel stuck because of forgotten victory requirements. Trying to control the most territory, but forgot about an obscure island? You may not have to start over if your cultural influence is great enough.
Another element that can affect your victory is the optional Realism mode, where players will be unable to reload save games. Realism mode also limits certain Battle mode user interface elements, like details on enemy units or their location.
Political schemingSince Rome II is recreating the feeling of running the Roman empire, adding a level of political influence (or political backstabbing) sounds natural. Each faction will have a number of political parties that players can choose to deal with. Rome, for example, will have three families looking to exert influence, as well as the senate with its own agenda. Using members of these parties in your battles will add further power not just to the unit, but to the political party as well. Players can balance this political capital between the different families or choose to favor their own—with all of the consequences that may bring.

“The balance in political power is constantly shifting,” Starr said. “If there’s an imbalance, whether you become too powerful or too weak, you’ll find yourself in a civil war.” And for the other factions, that political balancing act means trying to keep the power you have, without having another group overthrow you.
Players can also spend this political capital to adopt powerful generals into the family, or marry off children to appease groups that are growing dangerously close to influential. Ferguson says that the political system won’t feel like a micromanaging mess, but that the interface will alert you to political events and let you decide to deal with them or not.
Total War: Rome II launches September 3. Keep an eye out for the upcoming PC Gamer review, as well

Really liking the new defensive options you can have and the iron man mode. Expect to see people bitching about the economic victory though as gaining fucktons of gold has never been hard. All in all some good reasons to put down that preorder.

 

[spectre]

Expect to see people bitching about the economic victory though as gaining fucktons of gold has never been hard.

What is this shit? In my Total fucking war?

In other cases, Ferguson says, the additional victory options will help a player who may feel stuck because of forgotten victory requirements

"Holy shit, jeebus, all get this provice, take that province... ohh, they have diferent names? And I need to get a specific number of them?!
What the fuck am I doing playing a fucking total war game anyway?"

So, another option catering to the dumbfuck casuals... didn't see that coming. Here's hoping it's toggleable.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Total War's victory conditions have always been fucking garbage, anything new or different is fucking welcome.

 

[spectre]

What else would you have in games about... wait for it... total war? Rat diplomacy victory? I can agree that the TW series shine at the early game, late game is indeed pretty much garbage, and anything to help with that is welcome.
It will ultimately depend on what the trigger is, hopefully, it requires some dedication to achieve.

 

[Tigranes]

Why would you ever play till you meet the victory conditions? TW games get boring long before you paint half the map yours.

Defensive deployables sound great, totally expect even worse AI because of it though.