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Other Projects => Other Games => Topic started by: lordcooper on July 02, 2012, 07:58:26 am

Title: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on July 02, 2012, 07:58:26 am
(http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/392911_335546639853876_673488056_n.jpg)

I'm being super serious. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/02/total-war-rome-2-preview/)

Apparently naval combat and land combat are no longer separate :D
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: BuriBuriZaemon on July 02, 2012, 08:10:45 am
O.M.G.

My favourite era!!!

Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Ivefan on July 02, 2012, 08:12:15 am
Apparently naval combat and land combat are no longer separate :D
Good.. and bad. I thought the naval combat of empire & shogun2 sucked hard.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: NRDL on July 02, 2012, 08:19:20 am
ABSOLUTE FUCKING WIN.

I love Rome Total War, cannot wait for this. 
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: RedKing on July 02, 2012, 08:23:33 am
Meh. I'd have preferred a more original setting, maybe ancient Greece (the Peloponnesian War or the Greco-Persian Wars) or China (although Koei's done that to death) or maybe the Castillian-Ummayyad struggles in Iberia.

I mean, is this all they're going to do is rotate between Japan->Rome->medieval Europe->Napoleonic->repeat?
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: NRDL on July 02, 2012, 08:26:26 am
Probably not.  There are many periods of war, not featured yet.  A China: Total War is something I could get aboard.  But still, this is awesome!  Read the article, I like the idea about legions being more than just a collection of soldiers.  They are a unit, with their desire to outdo all the other legions, and a desire to crush all enemies.  Really makes you feel like you're in one of Caesar's commentaries. 

Hope the implementation is effective. 
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: RedKing on July 02, 2012, 08:29:08 am
I just remember the original R:TW...fun game but the historical accuracy left quite a bit to be desired. Only reason I played the hell out of it was because I found the excellent Rome: Total Realism mod.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: lordcooper on July 02, 2012, 08:33:35 am
PC Gamer interviewed the lead battle designer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBq_04CF0qc
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: ScriptWolf on July 02, 2012, 08:41:39 am
Would have prefered WW1 or something more modern I mean they made all this tech for ballistics and guns in shogun to see how it would work and now go fuck it back to swords !

I also found Rome boring as hell to be honest... I pla total war for the map and politics and agents and stuff mostly
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: mainiac on July 02, 2012, 08:48:28 am
So... AI gonna be any good?  New gameplay features gonna actually work smoothly?
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Ivefan on July 02, 2012, 08:55:10 am
I pla total war for the map and politics and agents and stuff mostly
You mean the unrational ai that randomly declare war?
Go play europa universalis if you arent already
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: scriver on July 02, 2012, 09:04:07 am
Hm... Well, a Total War game is always fun for a while... And it seems kind of cool. Following.

Also, I can totally see how the whole legion mechanic goes well with multiplayer. That would be neat as wel..
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Dohon on July 02, 2012, 10:58:08 am
Part 1 of a RPS interview here (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/02/total-war-rome-2-interview/).
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: revo on July 02, 2012, 11:02:07 am
Fanboying out right now. the original has given me YEARS of entertainment. I cant wait!
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Tibbz2 on July 02, 2012, 11:15:53 am
Oh. Yes.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Digital Hellhound on July 02, 2012, 11:48:52 am
Jeez, learn to name your threads better. I was looking for the words 'Rome 2' and maybe 'Total War', this flew right past me and I made totally pointless thread.

And err... well, you've linked everything already, oh well.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Aptus on July 02, 2012, 11:54:32 am
Excellent news, Rome was always my favourite in the series. That and Empire.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Glowcat on July 02, 2012, 12:35:10 pm
Yes! YES! YEEEEESSSS!!

I've been waiting for this for years.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on July 02, 2012, 12:35:52 pm
I mean, is this all they're going to do is rotate between Japan->Rome->medieval Europe->Napoleonic->repeat?

Goddamnit I hope not.

Still being cautiously optimistic. Prepared for disappointment.

Spoiler: My optimism summarized (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Rilder on July 02, 2012, 12:37:43 pm
http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

CA why do you have to stick your money grubbing hands into my Rome Total War, Get the fuck away and die already.

Gonna be an unmoddable DLC fest catered to high sales.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: lordcooper on July 02, 2012, 12:45:48 pm
http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

CA why do you have to stick your money grubbing hands into my Rome Total War, Get the fuck away and die already.

Gonna be an unmoddable DLC fest catered to high sales.

Luckily the game you already own is not going to be forcibly deleted from your PC.  Unless you annoy me too much.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: MonkeyHead on July 02, 2012, 12:48:48 pm
I am underwhelmed. Going way back, the Total War games had the advantage of being both original and pretty good. Now, over time, both aspects have faded and this sounds like a cash cow.

Of course, I could be wrong, and this newest version could be a near perfect grand strategy game with strong AI, and solid real time combat. Alas going by recent history I suspect dumb enemy empires, glitchy troop command, and exploitable bugged features galore.

I personally would like to see a Mongol: Total War, where the evolution of the horde is the main focus, not some kind of bolt on afterthought, add on or game event.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Heron TSG on July 02, 2012, 12:54:47 pm
Honestly, I like the Shogun-style map they're talking about. My favorite battles were in Medieval II, but Shogun had the best maps. I always disliked some of the games' focus on cities-only, and the fact that every important battle was a siege.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Digital Hellhound on July 02, 2012, 12:58:24 pm
http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

CA why do you have to stick your money grubbing hands into my Rome Total War, Get the fuck away and die already.

Gonna be an unmoddable DLC fest catered to high sales.

Wh... you... how does your world work? Are you forced to buy Rome 2? Does the first game just disappear from your hard drive when this is released? Gnngh?
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Rilder on July 02, 2012, 01:41:05 pm
Wh... you... how does your world work? Are you forced to buy Rome 2? Does the first game just disappear from your hard drive when this is released? Gnngh?

Since when can one not criticize a company for making a crappy sequel to one of their favorite games?
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Neonivek on July 02, 2012, 01:45:20 pm
I am still waiting for a fictional setting... such as World Total War
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on July 02, 2012, 01:46:37 pm
I am still waiting for a fictional setting... such as World Total War

War: Total War: World Conquests II
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Digital Hellhound on July 02, 2012, 01:48:59 pm
'Criticize' (get the fuck away and die). 'Crappy sequel' on basis of a few interviews (you probably didn't read) and an announcement. Unmoddable DLC fest because... err? Shogun 2 mod forums don't exactly look dead to me, and I always have trouble understanding why people see DLC as some sort of personal insult.

I mean dear god, I simply cannot see inside the minds of people like you.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Vendayn on July 02, 2012, 01:54:23 pm
My biggest problem with Shogun 2 was how small the map felt, compared to Rome Total War and Medieval 2 Total War. I felt way too closed in and trapped

Granted, Shogun 2 WAS about Japan...but it would have been a lot better if it included a lot more area, like China or something.

Hopefully Rome 2 doesn't have a tiny map like it was in Shogun 2, or I'll be skipping it. Because, it seems each Total War game after Empire, gets smaller and smaller.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Digital Hellhound on July 02, 2012, 02:00:39 pm
They plan on overhauling  the map system they have know (something about having provinces of recent games with multiple settlements/regions you have to take to conquer it), as well as expanding it further east than the original Rome. Still hard to tell if it'll seem bigger - I hope so.

I really wish they'll come back to the Medieval 2/Rome method of traits and character progression. I didn't much like Shogun 2's choosing-your-traits level up system. I like my generals useless and plagued by Pagan Magicians, damnit! Added more, well, character, to the characters. And pre-battle speeches based on those traits and the enemy you're facing, oh god yes. Some of them were simply gloooorious, especially stuff like Insane generals.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Karlito on July 02, 2012, 03:23:02 pm
I personally liked the crappy speeches that the crappy generals would give. All your dudes would still cheer and bang on their shields.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Megaman on July 02, 2012, 03:24:45 pm
Heh, I hope they do medieval next. Finally, now I won't have to settle with inferior game play for an era I actually like!
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Zangi on July 02, 2012, 04:20:08 pm
Meh. I'd have preferred a more original setting, maybe ancient Greece (the Peloponnesian War or the Greco-Persian Wars) or China (although Koei's done that to death) or maybe the Castillian-Ummayyad struggles in Iberia.

I mean, is this all they're going to do is rotate between Japan->Rome->medieval Europe->Napoleonic->repeat?
I'll have you know... Koei needs to do more 3 Kingdoms era strategy.  Well, anyone else is welcome to it too.

Greeks would be pretty cool too.  Can't say I'm a fan of playing gunpowder era games.  Got enough of those...
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: dennislp3 on July 02, 2012, 05:23:00 pm
I am interested to see how it turns out...

gotta say I am leaning towards the pessimistic side as I felt that shogun 2 was simplified in a lot of arcade-y ways that raped the depth of the game and tossed it out the window.

If they dont simplify more shit then I cant wait!

I have been playing Total War since the very first game (Shogun) and have gotten every game so far. Rome and Medieval 2 so far seem to be the best hands down (in my opinion). I hope to be able to one day say that Rome 2 and Medieval 2 are the best.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Johuotar on July 02, 2012, 05:29:58 pm
Well I was hoping theyd do this, Rome felt good but after so much shogun 2 it feels a bit too dated. Im not buying before I know it has some of the worst bugs fixed though. Start of shogun 2 was avsolutely terrible with crashing and no sounds.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Urist McScoopbeard on July 02, 2012, 06:40:47 pm
A new rome with shogun level graphics and possibly the new region system introduced in empire? YESH
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Elfeater on July 02, 2012, 07:08:18 pm
I personally liked the crappy speeches that the crappy generals would give. All your dudes would still cheer and bang on their shields.
The Gauls must have no friends or standing among nations, at all, HE STRESSES IT SO MUCH!
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Karlito on July 02, 2012, 07:16:30 pm
I personally liked the crappy speeches that the crappy generals would give. All your dudes would still cheer and bang on their shields.
The Gauls must have no friends or standing among nations, at all, HE STRESSES IT SO MUCH!

We're here today to, uh, fight, so uh, try not to die.
*cheers and shield banging*
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 02, 2012, 07:31:40 pm
My morning has been made and I am the happiest of chappies.

I mean, good god, Rome was and is fantastic, I still play it. I am so pumped right now it's ridiculous.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Hyo on July 02, 2012, 07:54:28 pm
RTW was a great classic, was and still is one of the favourite TW game. (If only for its not so horrendously massive game size so I can actually play it. Others... too much space and is a wreck on my computer, ugh.)

Still, the changes and concepts they've outlined there, if it actually all works out properly, it sounds like it's going to be great. If.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 02, 2012, 08:01:46 pm
Wh... you... how does your world work? Are you forced to buy Rome 2? Does the first game just disappear from your hard drive when this is released? Gnngh?

Since when can one not criticize a company for making a crappy sequel to one of their favorite games?

Well, you certainly shouldn't be doing it before there's any real indication the sequel will be bad. And going by past games doesn't count unless you hated Shogun 2 in which case we exist on two different planes of reality and no accord will ever be struck.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Hiiri on July 02, 2012, 08:04:24 pm
Hopefully Rome 2 doesn't have a tiny map like it was in Shogun 2, or I'll be skipping it. Because, it seems each Total War game after Empire, gets smaller and smaller.

Hey, how else could you display the map in brilliant new graphics at max settings with reasonable FPS? Not to mention you HAVE to be able to zoom in and see the worms crawling in the ground in high detail. This is the revolutionary new way of gaming!
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Nilum on July 02, 2012, 09:29:08 pm
Well, Paradox released Sengoku a few months after CA released Shogun 2. Maybe they'll put out a Europa Universalis: Rome sequel (which also may or may not be confusingly named Rome 2)  sometime next year. A double-dose of Roman strategy, catering to both the niche and the mainstream. In any case, I remain cautiously optimistic -- Shogun 2 multiplayer was quite fun. So long as this can deliver a similar experience, I'll probably enjoy it.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: LoSboccacc on July 02, 2012, 10:53:17 pm
I really hold no more hope on CA games, but I'll wait early buyers to give their impressions.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Rilder on July 02, 2012, 11:16:56 pm
err? Shogun 2 mod forums don't exactly look dead to me.

Have you actually compared these mods to the mods that exist for RTW and M2TW?  All you can do to Shogun 2 is pretty much surface changes, you can't do much.

RTW and M2TW are capable of amazing game changing mods that completely change the face of the game, new factions, new maps, the mechanics can be twisted and turned to the modder's vision. 

The modding community is what made total war epic and in my eyes and what CA should of made priority number one, but as it is they've made the vanilla games slightly better but destroyed the ability for the community to take their games and make them into masterpieces.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: LoSboccacc on July 02, 2012, 11:29:49 pm
Ca now takes connand from sony.

If you want to compare moddability, just look up third age total war and the fourth age, both kick asses at any mod for any subsequent ca game.

But it is not that: the problem is that they release alphas and push fixes as paid expansions. It happened three times in a row now.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Neonivek on July 03, 2012, 01:09:25 am
My issue with the Total War series is they kinda feel... done.

Empire Total War felt like a worse version of Medieval 2 total war and Shogun 2 total war also does away with many of its previous improvements (including a super cheaty AI).

The majesty of the Total war games is sort of being drained from my being. Which is odd compared that many a year ago I would have testified Shogun Total war was one of the best Strategy games ever made.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Heron TSG on July 03, 2012, 01:26:04 am
I don't know what it is, but I simply couldn't stand the battles of Napoleon and Empire, and the campaign maps didn't appeal to me much either. Perhaps the different weaponry. I thought Shogun's map was a little cramped, but the field battles were fantastic. (Barring the retarded gunpowder AI. "Alright, troop! One guy has to reload, we'd better wait here. Oh, enemies 20 paces away? START RELOADING. Don't move! Alright, now hit them with your guns while refusing to retreat!") The katana heroes and similar were a bit ridiculous, but even Rome had elephants and berserkers.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: LoSboccacc on July 03, 2012, 01:40:19 am
Medivel shogun and rome battle map where unrealistically cramped but so much better

In the recent games it's always plains. Yes, realistic. Booooring.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Heron TSG on July 03, 2012, 02:00:36 am
Shogun has some pretty neat maps, what with the narrow bridges crossing rivers that are in the process of plunging over cliffs and into the sea, mountains, etc. Most of the maps were kinda lame, though. The best tactical maps I've seen in a Total War game come from Third Age Total War (M2TW mod), particularly in the Misty Mountains. Defending against the goblins as the western Elves, I used three tiers of redoubts to win against 15:2 odds. (Good archers and lots of high ground.) Every time the goblins started getting too close, I had a unit of light lancers charge through a side pass to distract them and get them to chase the cavalry back down the pass a ways. Sometimes the camera freaked out at the height differentials, but it was damn fun.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: umiman on July 03, 2012, 03:12:48 am
On release, I'd agree that a lot of the Shgoun 2 maps were repetitive and boring, but if you load up Shogun 2 today after they added an assload of maps, it's honestly very entertaining. Massive mountains, deep valleys, ACTUALLY different castles. Then there are the maps which are 60% bamboo forest, maps where it's predominantly regular forest, coastal maps, etc. etc. etc.

And then there are the maps used in the campaign missions which are just barrels of fun. So much so that I wish they would use some of those maps in the actual grand campaign.

Still, I'm glad to see major populated cities making a return. Though I'll wait to see if they'll actually have proper ones outside of scripted missions.


------------


As for modding support, I'd cut them some slack. Honestly I believe them when they say the game is a lot more complicated than the previous ones with far more interrelated LICENSED software being used to produce content. After all, they can't just willy nilly allow people to use proprietary third person software that they licensed for free. So there's a lot more going on there.

You can't really compare this to older games like Medieval 2, which while amazing... is honestly a lot more simpler in every single way. The animations in Medieval 2 for example is almost nonexistant whereas the animations in Shogun 2 are crazy detailed. The modelling, voice acting, scripting, it's all just a whole lot more work. Even if they made the modding tools available, I highly doubt many people have the time or the energy to put in the same amount of work as CA's dedicated staff to produce something like Stainless Steel for Shogun 2. Even Stainless Steel took many many years to put out.

As quality of games increase, I think this is something we just have to get used to.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Digital Hellhound on July 03, 2012, 04:43:14 am
Mmh, well, I got Shogun 2 fairly late so I didn't personally experience any multiplayer problems or modding slowness people have been talking about. On this, I concede my point. But it seems to me they've fixed most of it, and there's some sort of planned mod summit coming up?

Personally, I'm not afraid of the AI. It was so much better in Shogun 2 (but still prone to the occasional glitch or exploit), they can't make it that much worse here.

Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Dohon on July 03, 2012, 02:19:57 pm
Part 2 of the RPS interview here (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/03/rome-total-war-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29).

lordcooper, any chance of changing the topic title to something more representative?
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Digital Hellhound on July 03, 2012, 02:36:35 pm
It doesn't really say anything not covered by other articles already, though.

Ah, I just love RPS. Not only are they sometimes damn funny, they also act can act much more professionally than some gamesites (for example, throwing out both pro- and anti-ending viewpoints on the ME3 ending debacle, not mindlessly hyping everything.). Off-topic, I know, I know.
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: lordcooper on July 03, 2012, 03:45:30 pm
lordcooper, any chance of changing the topic title to something more representative?

 :-[
Title: Re: The next Total War game has been announced
Post by: Dohon on July 03, 2012, 05:53:51 pm
lordcooper, any chance of changing the topic title to something more representative?

 :-[

Thanks, dude. :)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 is totally gonna be a thing
Post by: lordcooper on September 26, 2012, 09:27:08 am
TRAILER IS PRETTY (http://youtu.be/1OHV628oGiU)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 is totally gonna be a thing
Post by: pisskop on September 26, 2012, 09:30:22 am
PTW.  This is the first I'm hearing of it, and just had a gamer's orgasm.  Although I could do without the epic drama.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on September 26, 2012, 09:42:23 am
Hopefully they'll do the game right.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Zrk2 on September 26, 2012, 10:22:10 am
I am giddy. Hopefully it'll come out just as I get bored of Empire.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Hiiri on September 26, 2012, 10:46:39 am
Why do Romans speak English in the trailer?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: 10ebbor10 on September 26, 2012, 10:52:07 am
Why do Romans speak English in the trailer?
Translation covention. They did in TW:R I too.

Would be cool if they spoke actual Latin, but that's not going to happen since:
1. Lot's of people don't understand it.
2. The people who do will still find errors to point out.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on September 26, 2012, 10:55:11 am
But it would be cooler!  For once I'd like to use the time I've spent studying Latin for understanding Latin!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: 10ebbor10 on September 26, 2012, 10:56:31 am
Pretty sure it'll be modded in rather soon after release, complete with fixes for all other historical errors.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on September 26, 2012, 10:59:24 am
Why do Romans speak English in the trailer?

Why do the Japanese speak English in Shogun 2?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: kilakan on September 26, 2012, 11:13:16 am
Hum, I had thought the next total war game was supposed to be some sort of futuristic game?  Anyone else here actually remember when they were hiring for that Xeno project thing a few months ago?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on September 26, 2012, 11:30:44 am
Hum, I had thought the next total war game was supposed to be some sort of futuristic game?  Anyone else here actually remember when they were hiring for that Xeno project thing a few months ago?

That is an Alien game.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sirus on September 26, 2012, 11:34:14 am
Cautiously optimistic for this. I still have the original R:TW installed and play it whenever I get the urge for wiping out entire armies. Trailer looked pretty, but there wasn't any gameplay footage.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Rilder on September 26, 2012, 11:45:10 am
Pretty sure it'll be modded in rather soon after release, complete with fixes for all other historical errors.

No. It won't.

Total war isn't the super-moddable series anymore, won't be able to change a thing except tiny surface changes.. Don't expect any Europa Barbarorums for Rome 2 because modders can't do shit.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on September 26, 2012, 11:48:57 am
Pretty sure it'll be modded in rather soon after release, complete with fixes for all other historical errors.

No. It won't.

Total war isn't the super-moddable series anymore, won't be able to change a thing except tiny surface changes.. Don't expect any Europa Barbarorums for Rome 2 because modders can't do shit.
A quick way to kill replay value...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: revo on September 26, 2012, 02:24:18 pm
Pretty sure it'll be modded in rather soon after release, complete with fixes for all other historical errors.

No. It won't.

Total war isn't the super-moddable series anymore, won't be able to change a thing except tiny surface changes.. Don't expect any Europa Barbarorums for Rome 2 because modders can't do shit.
A quick way to kill replay value...

so you buy their next game when it comes out
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Dohon on September 26, 2012, 02:49:29 pm
While the trailer is very nice, I'm trying to keep my excitement to a minimum. The game doesn't come out until 4th quarter 2013 or so. That's over a year!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: darkflagrance on September 26, 2012, 06:32:58 pm
Pretty sure it'll be modded in rather soon after release, complete with fixes for all other historical errors.

No. It won't.

Total war isn't the super-moddable series anymore, won't be able to change a thing except tiny surface changes.. Don't expect any Europa Barbarorums for Rome 2 because modders can't do shit.
A quick way to kill replay value...

so you buy their next game when it comes out

Some people don't. I just watch Prince of Macedon and other let's players now and hope that the future brings news of changes for the better in this series :(
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: revo on September 26, 2012, 07:37:46 pm
Pretty sure it'll be modded in rather soon after release, complete with fixes for all other historical errors.

No. It won't.

Total war isn't the super-moddable series anymore, won't be able to change a thing except tiny surface changes.. Don't expect any Europa Barbarorums for Rome 2 because modders can't do shit.
A quick way to kill replay value...

so you buy their next game when it comes out

Some people don't. I just watch Prince of Macedon and other let's players now and hope that the future brings news of changes for the better in this series :(

I have a video up with PoM. Well actually it was more like PoM stomping two guys while I turtled with spartans in R:tw. it was from years ago
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 26, 2012, 08:13:34 pm
I had an earlier post up in this thread. Which pretty much says the same thing as this post I'm making.

Not that excited to be honest. And I'll laugh so much if all this is going to be just Rome against Carthage, with another tiny map and no modding abilities. Call me cynical...but man...if the map isn't as big as Rome Total War (or close to it), with no modding abilities and a lot less civilizations (which I liked playing a large variety of civilizations in RTW)...why the heck get it at all? I'll have Rome Total War, with the huge mods and a large game map. I guess better graphics...but I would rather have a good campaign map and the ability to mod it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on September 26, 2012, 08:20:53 pm
According to the devs, the map is actually significantly bigger than in the original Rome.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 26, 2012, 08:38:23 pm
Oh, that will be a nice change of pace then. I honestly pictured it going the route of their other recent games they have made. A lot more focused, but nothing really epic.

Still hope they support mod makers. Because recently, it just seems like they haven't supported the modding community at all...lots of DLC...very few mods and none very epic ones.

But again, at least they are making an even bigger map. That also probably means there will be a large variety of civilizations and unit diversity. Which were my other concerns with this.

Probably could have read up on it, but being so disappointed since Empire Total War (which did have a large map, too bad modding sucked so much)...I just haven't really been interested enough to read up on any of their games. Probably would have been more informed though.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Catastrophic lolcats on September 26, 2012, 08:45:24 pm
I had an earlier post up in this thread. Which pretty much says the same thing as this post I'm making.

Not that excited to be honest. And I'll laugh so much if all this is going to be just Rome against Carthage, with another tiny map and no modding abilities. Call me cynical...but man...if the map isn't as big as Rome Total War (or close to it), with no modding abilities and a lot less civilizations (which I liked playing a large variety of civilizations in RTW)...why the heck get it at all? I'll have Rome Total War, with the huge mods and a large game map. I guess better graphics...but I would rather have a good campaign map and the ability to mod it.

You hit the nail on the head in my opinion. I said pretty much the same thing in another Total War Rome 2 thread. Basically I don't see how a game of the exact same time period with no modding support can compete with a game that came out so many years ago which has such an ironic stance for many games AND years of dedicated high quality mods. To me it seems like suicide but we'll have have to see.

Still think the Total War series should expand into different eras. The Shogun series has already shown they're willing to do smaller regions. There are just so many interesting periods in history to keep recycling over the same boring stuff. Still think the early North American colonial Indian wars would be a good period, or India/Mughal Empire.

Tangential rant about modding support.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on September 26, 2012, 09:22:55 pm
Shogun 2 was disapointing because it just felt like a dumbing down of the series to make it more arcade like...

When I started and what I have played from the Total War series was the technical awe and prowess of shogun one (at its time) and then the depth and mechanics of Rome, Medieval, and then Medieval 2.

If this is just another shogun repeat, beautification and simplification, I will be upset in the utmost sense =(
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Zrk2 on September 27, 2012, 10:44:19 am
I will too. Rome was amazing, but that seems to be at least partly because it was unpolished. Cataphracts, Kretans, Spartans, Scythed Chariots and Urbans were all OP, and it was AWESOME. Now I enjoy a balanced games, but certain nations simply had superior troops than others and we shouldn't be debasing that for balance.

Give me ridiculously powerful elephants and terminator like legionaries and I'll probably be content.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: TripJack on September 27, 2012, 10:58:23 am
that is one of the lamest game trailers i have ever seen
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on September 27, 2012, 11:30:34 am
No gameplay whatsoever.  Just fancy words and cutscenes.  I would be fairly content with a graphical overhaul and a significant bugfix for RTW.  Maybe add a feature or modify some stats (and realism is always a plus for me.  Ill take an immpossible to win realistic game over many 'balanced' games anyday).
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Karlito on October 19, 2012, 04:32:37 pm
Here's some early alpha gameplay footage of the Siege of Carthage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua8YzfRsBUk).
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on October 19, 2012, 04:47:50 pm
Still too much Carthidge...  What about other wars/civs?  But otherwise not too crazy.  I do hope they keep it semi-real.

edit:  LOVE what they did to water, however.
edit:edit: Grafetti.  Awesome.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: warhammer651 on October 19, 2012, 06:04:51 pm
why so much brown and bloom?
That's my only gripe at the moment but seriously, real life does not look like that
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on October 19, 2012, 09:42:02 pm
I see lots of scripted stuff since what he does with the mouse seems very marginal to what happens in play
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on October 19, 2012, 09:45:59 pm
I see lots of scripted stuff since what he does with the mouse seems very marginal to what happens in play

The video had a mouse?

FAKEEDIT: Wow. It does. I didn't even notice it until now.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on October 19, 2012, 09:46:53 pm
I see lots of scripted stuff since what he does with the mouse seems very marginal to what happens in play

Watched a bit of it, and unless I missed him actually making orders, I think it's a replay of a prerecorded battle, and his mouse is just controlling the camera. That's been in since.. I want to say Rome 1 let you record battles? Might not have been untill M2 though. It's something I used to just see where things went wrong in some of my MP matches.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on October 19, 2012, 10:27:38 pm
I was trying to make another point: it is not a gameplay video, it is a scripted something or a battle replay;

The oerhead feature is nice however I hope it can be used to give orders
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Karlito on October 19, 2012, 10:29:35 pm
Yeah, I'm fairly certain they're commentating over prerecorded gameplay with the UI removed. It's probably still too early to see the kind of gameplay video that most of us want to see.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on January 06, 2013, 09:32:51 pm
I have to say, multiple capture points in large cities is awesome.

Sieges are going to be so much cooler, when they were already so awesome.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on January 07, 2013, 10:10:15 am
BUUUUUUMMMMMP!

Oh, you beat me to it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: ragnar119 on January 07, 2013, 12:31:44 pm
Lets hope they dont fuck up something.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on February 01, 2013, 09:09:03 am
Spoiler: Big pic (click to show/hide)

It's very pretty, but I do have to wonder how they got their hands on hair gel.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: RedKing on February 01, 2013, 09:26:04 am
The Charge of the Cross-Eyed Gauls.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on February 01, 2013, 09:28:25 am
You don't want to know what that hair gel is made of.

It does look very pretty. Especially the trees and hut in the background. Will be nice to stare at those in-game - here's hoping they improve the first-person camera somehow.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Stworca on February 01, 2013, 09:46:23 am
I'm hoping they improve the battle AI, and take a lesson on how to code diplomacy from Paradox (not perfect, but at least very good).
Extra kudos points for expanding upon the first game, instead of trying to create another Shogun 2. There are many great mods for RTW that make the game superb, the task to overshadow them and lure people to R2 is not easy.
Graphic improvements don't interest me in the slightest.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Brotato on February 01, 2013, 11:11:46 am
For those of you talking about the hair - That's actually factually accurate - Celtic hair was washed and spiked with Lime water which bleached it and the spiking of hair was very symbolic, men were forbidden to cut or spike it until they had killed an enemy. Hope that helps guys.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on February 01, 2013, 12:49:30 pm
Oh god... it's the last charge of the guidos.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on February 01, 2013, 12:58:05 pm

The oerhead feature is nice however I hope it can be used to give orders

In the vid he specifically stated they don't want it to be used for orders.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: miljan on February 01, 2013, 02:42:54 pm
Woo, that looks good, time for a new PC.... crap no money... well time for some old rome total war  :)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: BuriBuriZaemon on February 01, 2013, 06:02:32 pm
For those of you talking about the hair - That's actually factually accurate - Celtic hair was washed and spiked with Lime water which bleached it and the spiking of hair was very symbolic, men were forbidden to cut or spike it until they had killed an enemy. Hope that helps guys.

I am glad no goat was harmed to get that hairstyle.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on May 10, 2013, 04:09:19 pm
For Total War fanatics, GMG has preorders available for Rome 2 that activate on Steam with a 25% discount here: http://blog.playfire.com/2013/05/vouchers-worthy-of-roman-emperor.html?emst=dRxMAAyMV4_36801_101409_12

So the total price for preorder will be US$45.

I'm getting it because I'm a hardcore Total War junkie but others who are only mildly interested should probably wait until release.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: inEQUALITY on May 10, 2013, 06:45:48 pm
Welp, looks like I'm going to desperately have to save up to get a new computer; the last Total War game I was able to actually run was Medieval II, and that was hardly on highest settings. I need to catch up on the newer Total War games BADLY.  :P
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on May 10, 2013, 10:15:43 pm
I thought this with the release of Shogun 2: Total War but the graphical detail in this series is stupidly excessive! Don't get me wrong, it makes it really, REALLY nice to look at but... geez there's more detail in a bench in a single corner of a vast battle map then there was in the entirety of DOOM. Each one of those soldiers looks like they could be the main character of a 3rd person FPS. :o


I am always really impressed by the Creative Assemblies abilities to optimise their engines to the degree that they do, allowing their games to be played on computers with hardware that isn't the newest stuff on the market.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on May 11, 2013, 01:42:00 am
just preordered it via gmg, out of faith.

question is, gmg mail doesn't have the activation code said to be just below the email. am I missing something?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on May 11, 2013, 08:05:58 am
just preordered it via gmg, out of faith.

question is, gmg mail doesn't have the activation code said to be just below the email. am I missing something?
GMG generally sends out the activation codes for preorders just before release day.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Dohon on May 11, 2013, 03:04:08 pm
I was surprised to learn that the game is going to be released in September. I would have placed money on November, even Q1 2014. Not that I mind having the game in september, but still ...

Ah well, time to save up the monies!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on June 17, 2013, 06:45:58 am
I bought it full price. I'm an impulsive sucker.


Apparently because the Creative Assembly make a new engine for every game, they don't exactly make outstanding profits from them. Is why they had their big Hiatus on TWRTS games and instead brought out the recent pieces of critically reviled crap. Is also why they do so much DLC.

This is guesswork and word-of-mouth here. Who knows.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on June 17, 2013, 06:56:29 am
I seem to remember one of the developers mentioning early on that they were changing how the player commanded their troops. Does anyone remember the specifics on that? I watched the gameplay video on the Battle of Teutoburg Forest but it seemed pretty much as it is in Shogun 2: Total War.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Wiles on June 17, 2013, 07:48:38 am
I had a question for those who have played the latest Total War games. I was a big fan of the TW series up until Empire, after that I stopped buying them because I was very disappointed with that instalment. I'd love to pick up Rome II, but after Empire I've been hesitant to touch Total War games.   Have the following instalments in the series been better?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mudcrab on June 17, 2013, 07:49:25 am
Tbh I'm not entirely happy with the direction TW is going, although I am being cynical and will most likely play the shit out of this game...

Edit: Miles Wiles obviously Empire and Shogun played entirely differently however the engine was the same. Empires campaign was a lot different to Shoguns, I played Shogun quite a bit then got bored of it. I think it offers little re-playability and Creative Assembly are going down the action/graphics route to try and get more players, which sucks.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Xotes on June 17, 2013, 08:10:37 am
I had a question for those who have played the latest Total War games. I was a big fan of the TW series up until Empire, after that I stopped buying them because I was very disappointed with that instalment. I'd love to pick up Rome II, but after Empire I've been hesitant to touch Total War games.   Have the following instalments in the series been better?

From what I've heard, Empire was just plain ass. They've apparently stepped it up since then, however, so you should be good.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Man of Paper on June 17, 2013, 08:16:01 am
I must be the only person in the world that enjoys playing (as in like yesterday) Empire. Sure, it's nothing like Rome (which I also played very recently), but they're both entertaining. Sure, it's not up to what we expect from CA, but honestly, it's pretty hard to follow up the first Rome with anything.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Aptus on June 17, 2013, 08:27:50 am
I quite enjoyed Empire as well, but that might just be because I am a sucker for that era. The engine for the game was a major step down in my opinion though, a hell of a lot more closed down than previous installments. The time it took until a "play any faction" mod came out for example, and even then it was a work around of work arounds to get it to kind of, sort of, work.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on June 17, 2013, 09:52:10 am
Empire's combat is alright (though the AI is predictably horrible), but it just has no soul. The campaign is painfully dull to play. There's no fun in it anymore. Medieval had all the character traits and retinues (and other 'RPG' elements), different unit types, etc etc., but Empire is just dead. I know many people will disagree with me, but it's pretty much the gut feeling I've gotten while playing. It seems... empty, somehow. Even the visual side of the campaign map is somehow worse.

Shogun 2 is good, though, and Fall of the Samurai for it definitely worth getting. It also has cool multiplayer with persistent, experience-gaining units and whatnot. I hope they keep the army system (probably called your Legion there, I'm sure of it) in Rome 2.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on June 17, 2013, 10:09:05 am
I must be the only person in the world that enjoys playing (as in like yesterday) Empire. Sure, it's nothing like Rome (which I also played very recently), but they're both entertaining. Sure, it's not up to what we expect from CA, but honestly, it's pretty hard to follow up the first Rome with anything.
Empire was unplayable on release.

It pissed a lot of people off.

It's a lot better now though but I think it's still kinda crap. Napoleon is pretty good though.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on June 17, 2013, 10:11:59 am
I'm still hoping for an Amazon faction.

Even though it'll never happen.  :'(
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Man of Paper on June 17, 2013, 10:49:21 am
Yeah, I avoid first releases and wait for the fun Gold Edition sets and shit. Works out well for me (especially with another certain company that produces grand strategy games known for being unplayable right out of the box. Man, I feel old saying that. Who even buys physical copies of PC games anymore?)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on June 17, 2013, 09:28:29 pm
Shogun 2 followed Shogun 1 in that it had a number of cut-and-dried units available to every faction.
Which makes sense, because it was a civil war - everyone had the same units at their command.

However it also made the game a little boring after a certain amount of time because you never changed your playstyle, unlike in Rome and Medieval II, where different factions strengths and weaknesses in heavy infantry, cavalry, missile troops or exotic units made every new campaign a different experience.
Until you played the Seleucid empire and ruined it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on August 02, 2013, 06:50:29 am
Even for the great... Hannibal Barca! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtR_Q56ekig#at=162)

I dare say this is one bitchin' trailer. I don't usually expect high quality trailers from strategy games but this one is very well done.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on August 02, 2013, 07:37:28 am
Ayup. Hannibal Barca is one of my favourite famous ancient persons. Not only a great strategist and tactician, but also a great statesman and economist. He is basically as close to an Ubermensch anyone has ever come throughout history.

Also, Barcelona is named after him.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 02, 2013, 10:32:57 am
Hoping for obnoxiously advanced elephant/chariot mechanics. I want to see Scythe Chariots tearing up platoons dynamically.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on August 02, 2013, 01:24:21 pm
Hoping for obnoxiously advanced elephant/chariot mechanics. I want to see Scythe Chariots tearing up platoons dynamically.

It'd make elephants even more pointless though. Though I suppose that it could be neat having a squad composed entirely of trumpeters running around tooting their own horns.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 02, 2013, 01:42:31 pm
I believe the bladed chariots are in the game. I saw them in one of the gameplay videos.

They were the superweapons of that age anyway, I'd be more surprised if there weren't any.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sergarr on August 02, 2013, 01:50:50 pm
Are incendiary pigs also in?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Grand Nagus on August 02, 2013, 02:31:11 pm
I preordered this due to being a 10+? year total war fan and a lover of Roman history and RTW.
However I haven't followed its development and nothing has jumped out,as usual all screenshots on steam etc are of redundant gorgeous 3d graphics and not gameplay elements.

I have one question:
Does anyone have any info on how politics will play a role? it has in every total war so far including RTW, will they beef up the empire/napoleon politics? or just carbon copy that onto R2? any insight?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 02, 2013, 02:41:56 pm
From what I remember about the politic stuff, while nowhere near what CK2 can do, are things like:
1. Senators can conspire against you.
2. Legions and generals are more likely to revolt the stronger they become. This is a big issue since you no longer control individual units but legions, so the older your legions and the more reputation they get over the years the stronger they become.

Can't remember anything else. I wouldn't pin any hopes on there being any real politiking either since it's not really something Total War is known for. That's a Paradox thing.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on August 02, 2013, 02:42:53 pm
Politics is one of the big things in R2, supposedly. Carthage and Rome have rival Houses/Families that you have to deal with and you have to manage various characters and military commanders (who, as in history, love to march on Rome to overthrow the Senate/Emperor). Haven't really heard anything more specific than that, but politics, yay. Diplomacy with others is also a bit more complex/transparent, from what I've gathered.

What exactly do you mean by Empire/Nappy politics, though?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Grand Nagus on August 02, 2013, 02:44:49 pm
Yeah I wasnt planning on any major politics, but what you've mentioned may be enough to tickle my politics bone ;) thanks!

*By empire/nappy I was referring to those simple 'assigning/firing' ministers etc in the politics panel bit, I was hoping for abit more than that and it appears there will be!
(http://guides.gamepressure.com/empiretotalwar/gfx/word/-1335030140.jpg)
This^ very very basic stuff.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 02, 2013, 03:28:23 pm
I believe the bladed chariots are in the game. I saw them in one of the gameplay videos.

They were the superweapons of that age anyway, I'd be more surprised if there weren't any.

They were the superweapons of a somewhat earlier age. Though, unlike just about everyone who goes online talking about Rome: Total War, I unapologetically love the ahistorical units and elements. They range from awesome – BERSERKERS – to hilarious.

I build a stack of Roman ninjas every time I play a Roman faction, for example. :D
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on August 02, 2013, 07:11:56 pm
Arkasi.

And those guys were seriously useless in battles.


Edit: Also, to my chagrin I have to try and be intellectual here. Berserkers were a thing amongst the Norse and Germanic tribes, except they were kind of a happy accident rather than a dedicated squad of mouth-foamers.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 02, 2013, 07:40:35 pm
Arcani! And I found a use for them, or at least the AI found a use for them on me when I was playing Parthia or the Seleucids or somebody: turns out they murder horse archers if you don't watch out.

Not that it really ever comes up, playing Rome.

Other than that, they're... basically gladiators I suppose.

As for berserkers, yeah, but the guys who spin around and send urban cohorts flying are about as historical as the incendiary pigs. They are a lot more fun than incendiary pigs though!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on August 02, 2013, 08:50:35 pm
was a fan of vanilla war dogs.  A few of them launched into a weak flank and theyd win the fight.  I also noticed it was the human deaths that reduced the squad.  Dead dogs respawned so you could pull the humans back and the dogs kept going
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on August 02, 2013, 09:07:01 pm
was a fan of vanilla war dogs.  A few of them launched into a weak flank and theyd win the fight.  I also noticed it was the human deaths that reduced the squad.  Dead dogs respawned so you could pull the humans back and the dogs kept going

I've noticed that as well. No clue how effective an all-dog army would be, but at the very least it'd be an cheap and silly way to wear down enemy armies. Assuming that you could release the hounds from any distance, of course. I never used them myself...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Puzzlemaker on August 03, 2013, 09:16:32 am
was a fan of vanilla war dogs.  A few of them launched into a weak flank and theyd win the fight.  I also noticed it was the human deaths that reduced the squad.  Dead dogs respawned so you could pull the humans back and the dogs kept going

I've noticed that as well. No clue how effective an all-dog army would be, but at the very least it'd be an cheap and silly way to wear down enemy armies. Assuming that you could release the hounds from any distance, of course. I never used them myself...

Hilariously effective.  Dogs do a ton of morale damage, so against an inexperienced army it turns into a rout.  OH GOD THE DOGS
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on August 12, 2013, 01:10:50 am
As for berserkers, yeah, but the guys who spin around and send urban cohorts flying are about as historical as the incendiary pigs. They are a lot more fun than incendiary pigs though!

Uh... Don't wanna be 'that' guy, but incendiary pigs were a real thing.
Yeah, the romans discovered that the sound of pigs squealing seriously terrified elephants, so in order to make the pigs squeal near the elephants, they came up with the brilliant plan of covering them in tar and lighting them on fire. This also had the added benefit of them being on fire.

... PETA wasn't created until much, much later.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: BuriBuriZaemon on August 12, 2013, 01:22:22 am
At least the survivors of the engagement got to eat pork and perhaps bacon.

Has anyone pre ordered this btw?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on August 12, 2013, 05:14:13 am
Pigs were used as an elephant countermeasure, yes, but they generally weren't set aflame. Just boring old pink swines.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Drakale on August 12, 2013, 08:36:17 am
I can imagine a grizzled old veteran sitting atop his horse stoically as a herd of mounted elephants charge his unit, looking at his second and hoarsely commanding

"Light the pigs Decanus"
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on August 12, 2013, 11:09:43 am
Arcani! And I found a use for them, or at least the AI found a use for them on me when I was playing Parthia or the Seleucids or somebody: turns out they murder horse archers if you don't watch out.

Not that it really ever comes up, playing Rome.

Other than that, they're... basically gladiators I suppose.

As for berserkers, yeah, but the guys who spin around and send urban cohorts flying are about as historical as the incendiary pigs. They are a lot more fun than incendiary pigs though!

I really liked using the Arcani. Made great flankers, and were quite powerful when used properly. Also horribly inaccurate, historically, but...still fun.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 12, 2013, 11:18:54 am
I liked to make stacks of gladiators for the hell of it.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)


1/10th the numbers? Sure, I'll attack that, says the AI.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 12, 2013, 03:16:21 pm
In one of my playthroughs as a Roman faction (Brutii, maybe?) I'd maintain a half stack of gladiators and send them up north to chew up the armies Britannia or Gaul would send at me, sort of a "death in exile"/ Night's Watch kind of thing.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on August 12, 2013, 03:37:45 pm
In one of my playthroughs as a Roman faction (Brutii, maybe?) I'd maintain a half stack of gladiators and send them up north to chew up the armies Britannia or Gaul would send at me, sort of a "death in exile"/ Night's Watch kind of thing.

You must have been Julii. Gauls/Bretons were thier problem. Brutii went after the Greeks, while the Scipii went after North Africa and the rest of the Mediteranian.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 12, 2013, 03:53:10 pm
I'm pretty sure not – as Julii you tend to outright conquer the barbarians (well, I'm doing a Julii playthrough now that's pretty strange – I've got half of Greece and Halicarnassus and nothing north of Lemonum and I've been almost entirely following senate's orders) – in the playthrough I'm recalling I think I had been given the odd task of conquering something north of the Alps so I did, and being Brutii or Scipii I had no further interest in those poor barbarian provinces so I just had troops up there defending the one city.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 12, 2013, 03:57:56 pm
In one of my playthroughs as a Roman faction (Brutii, maybe?) I'd maintain a half stack of gladiators and send them up north to chew up the armies Britannia or Gaul would send at me, sort of a "death in exile"/ Night's Watch kind of thing.

You must have been Julii. Gauls/Bretons were thier problem. Brutii went after the Greeks, while the Scipii went after North Africa and the rest of the Mediteranian.

Pah, you have to conquer everyone! Playing as Scipii was easiest for me as I managed to get Massila and Appolonia fairly quickly to bottle in my Roman counterparts, in the end the Brutii had to go north to fight the Dacians and the Julii were stuck spending most of the time trying to siege Patavium, by the time the Civil War started the Julii only had like 3 extra territories but the Brutii were more successful and had like 7 or 8.

Looking forward to the new total war game, although some of the gameplay videos seem a bit arcade like
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on August 12, 2013, 04:00:13 pm
All this talk is making me want to play RTW again.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on August 12, 2013, 04:01:13 pm
All this talk is making me want to play RTW again.

I know that feeling.

Parts of RTW I like over M2 or S2, but then others... not really.

Also Amazon Total War is fun. For me. I'm always annoyed they just won't make actual Amazon faction in Rome 2.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 12, 2013, 04:58:09 pm
I'm always annoyed they just won't make actual Amazon faction in Rome 2. IN ANYTHING

FTFY. Mods of certain paradox games excluded; there's been absolutely zero effort at giving South American natives a fair shake. It's almost to the point where I think developers exclude it on purpose..
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on August 12, 2013, 05:42:02 pm
And as the Mayan god of the dead, I am sure you are completely unbiased in your wish to cause Total War and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands all over the continent :P
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 12, 2013, 06:13:24 pm
I'm always annoyed they just won't make actual Amazon faction in Rome 2. IN ANYTHING

FTFY. Mods of certain paradox games excluded; there's been absolutely zero effort at giving South American natives a fair shake. It's almost to the point where I think developers exclude it on purpose..
What about in Medieval 2? They were pretty freaking strong there.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 12, 2013, 06:58:27 pm
I don't know much history about South American natives apart from the Spanish conquest. I feel though that the Aztec and other natives were pretty much defeated vs the spanish as guns are powerful especially in areas without cavalry. Native Americans had problems as well but fighting on plains and having cavalry helped a lot especially vs muskets which are inaccurate and take time to reload while I don't think the south americans really had cavalry.

Honestly though I haven't really researched anything, just from what I know and my thoughts on it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 12, 2013, 08:13:37 pm
Weren't horses an import from Europe?

There's also plenty of South Americans in the Civilization series... though I don't think that really counts. They did make the Montezuma among the most vilified douchebags in the game though, what with his neverending warmongering.

Hrmm...

Yeah I can't think of anything else. Excluding the Paradox series of course.

To be fair, my civilization doesn't get a lot of attention either. The only time I see Malaysia or South East Asia as a whole in anything it involves terrorists, pirates, or prostitution. Or all of the above.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 12, 2013, 08:54:51 pm
Weren't horses an import from Europe?

You are correct sir, but the time from introduction of horses into "New World" and active fighting between Native Americans and European colonists was around 200 years. Maybe if the Aztec had 200 years and cavalry it would have been a different fight.

Anyway sincerely doubt South or North America will be making an appearance in Rome Total War, if there are Amazons it will be the female greek variety (who were bloody annoying to face in those damn cities which would revolt)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on August 12, 2013, 09:07:47 pm
I don't know much history about South American natives apart from the Spanish conquest. I feel though that the Aztec and other natives were pretty much defeated vs the spanish as guns are powerful especially in areas without cavalry. Native Americans had problems as well but fighting on plains and having cavalry helped a lot especially vs muskets which are inaccurate and take time to reload while I don't think the south americans really had cavalry.

Honestly though I haven't really researched anything, just from what I know and my thoughts on it.

I don't think that it was muskets that defeated the Aztecs or Inca. Most of Cortes's men didn't men were armed with melee weapons after all, yet managed to hold off thousands of Aztec warriors. Well, with help from their thousands of Mesoamerican allies of course. I think the primary reason that the Spainish were so successful was because they expertly manipulated the political situtations they were in. The Aztecs had thousands of cilent peoples who were happy to help overthrow their masters. If I remember correctly the Incas were in a succession crisis when the Spainish showed up. Hence why it took much longer to subdue some of the Native American tribes. Their political situation was more fluid, and some were willing to simply pack up and move somewhere else.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on August 12, 2013, 09:43:39 pm
Weren't horses an import from Europe?

You are correct sir, but the time from introduction of horses into "New World" and active fighting between Native Americans and European colonists was around 200 years. Maybe if the Aztec had 200 years and cavalry it would have been a different fight.

Anyway sincerely doubt South or North America will be making an appearance in Rome Total War, if there are Amazons it will be the female greek variety (who were bloody annoying to face in those damn cities which would revolt)

From what little info is out, doesn't seem there'll be any Amazons.

Which is kind of annoying when CA says they care for historical "feeling". Amazons are darn setting appropriate! But it just never happens... and I'll never see a like, Amazon 2 Total War, just because no one in that mod team can probably make models that detailed...

I can hope. I can hope. DLC?

/ranting of the depraved and foolish
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 12, 2013, 09:55:27 pm
I don't think that it was muskets that defeated the Aztecs or Inca. Most of Cortes's men didn't men were armed with melee weapons after all, yet managed to hold off thousands of Aztec warriors. Well, with help from their thousands of Mesoamerican allies of course. I think the primary reason that the Spainish were so successful was because they expertly manipulated the political situtations they were in. The Aztecs had thousands of cilent peoples who were happy to help overthrow their masters. If I remember correctly the Incas were in a succession crisis when the Spainish showed up. Hence why it took much longer to subdue some of the Native American tribes. Their political situation was more fluid, and some were willing to simply pack up and move somewhere else.

Didn't help that the Spanish white people caused massive smallpox plagues.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on August 12, 2013, 10:01:49 pm
Didn't help that the Spanish white people caused massive smallpox plagues.

Indeed. I think that came shortly afterwards though, and probably helps to explain how the Spanish managed to keep hold of all of their new territories.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on August 13, 2013, 08:04:15 am
Amazons are darn setting appropriate!

I fail to see how Amazons are setting appropriate in a game set almost entirely in Europe. Or am I missing something?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on August 13, 2013, 08:06:41 am
Amazons are darn setting appropriate!

I fail to see how Amazons are setting appropriate in a game set almost entirely in Europe. Or am I missing something?

The Amazons have nothing to do with the Amazon River.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons
On the other hand, it seems possible they were merely mythological, and we defiantly don't have a definate location for where they existed if their nation did. It seems more likley they were based on several nations simply employing warrior women.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on August 13, 2013, 08:07:59 am
Wait, which Amazons are we talking about? I was just getting more and more confused with talk of South America.

It is a terrible shame they won't do EUROPEAN Amazons for Rome 2, I agree.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on August 13, 2013, 08:10:37 am
This makes more sense. I dug a little and found this from their wiki page:

Quote
The legendary Amazons are believed to have lived in Pontus

Pontus is a faction in the game, perhaps they'll be special units?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on August 13, 2013, 08:38:31 am
The Amazons were a kind-of-easter egg in the first R:TW. They lived up in the Northernest Russia in a region that was pretty hard to get to, iirc.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 13, 2013, 08:42:51 am
They are sort of an easter egg in Rome Total War, you only see them in one city although they have chances to spawn when some cities revolt, maybe in some rebel armies as well but not too sure about that.

It's doubtful they will be anything more in Rome 2, I think the only regular female troops will be the Germanic Women

EDIT: 1, grr ninja'd and 2, also forgot about the Scythian Women Cavalry. It was mainly the area around Pontus and Sycthia that could spawn Amazon units when cities revolt iirc, I remember facing a large amazon army when that Thracian city rebelled.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on August 13, 2013, 08:45:58 am
Amazons are darn setting appropriate!

I fail to see how Amazons are setting appropriate in a game set almost entirely in Europe. Or am I missing something?

Amazons feature a lot in Greek mythologies, and I think they are the ones who actually started the rumor/legend/what ever you want to call it, of an entire tribe of warrior women.

They are generally thought to be less tribes of warrior women, and more just tribes that actually let women fight and people just happened to stumble upon them when the men were out doing something else, giving the impression that women were all they had to fight or... something.

Pontus, Scythia, and I think up in Russia, are usually depicted as maybe having Amazons - at least according to Amazon Total War's research. But from the stuff released so far about the campaign map, there isn't any kind of Amazon mercenary unit at least, and CA has not confirmed or denied anything.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 13, 2013, 10:20:40 am
Maybe if CA gave us cheats again they'll let you type in say "WARRIORBOOBS" and you'll spawn an amazon legion consisting of only women, with the catch being they're a highly trained, fully equipped, modern military unit from our time.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 13, 2013, 11:07:13 am
Someone remind me to preorder this when I get payed. Very much looking forward to it!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 13, 2013, 11:16:59 am
I think they are solving the problem of bridge battles, which are notoriously easy to win, by getting rid of bridge battles, units can cross rivers without needing bridges or boats so I doubt bridge battles will be there.

It's a bit sad but bridge battles are pretty broken so not having them is a much cleaner solution.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on August 13, 2013, 12:59:50 pm
Maybe if CA gave us cheats again they'll let you type in say "WARRIORBOOBS" and you'll spawn an amazon legion consisting of only women, with the catch being they're a highly trained, fully equipped, modern military unit from our time.

You had me going for a second, then I laughed. Good one.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on August 13, 2013, 01:00:17 pm
Catching units while they are slowed down trying to cross a river is much more fun than butchering them at some bridge, anyhow. Never could bother with bridge battles, always kind of dull.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 13, 2013, 01:14:22 pm
If they just made it so that 1) the other side of the bridge is well within arrow range and 2) missile units could stop in the middle of the bridge in formation and chuck javelins, instead of the bridge itself being a no-man's zone, and, well 3) units could march down the bridge in formation instead of in a rout-me mob, that would make bridge battles a lot more reasonable. (I don't know how Shogun 2 handles these.) Also that the AI would be less willing to attack at a bridge because of course it is a highly disadvantageous situation no matter how realistic you make it. Ultimately, you're just making a slightly wider bottleneck.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on August 13, 2013, 01:18:07 pm
If they just made it so that 1) the other side of the bridge is well within arrow range and 2) missile units could stop in the middle of the bridge in formation and chuck javelins, instead of the bridge itself being a no-man's zone, and, well 3) units could march down the bridge in formation instead of in a rout-me mob, that would make bridge battles a lot more reasonable. (I don't know how Shogun 2 handles these.) Also that the AI would be less willing to attack at a bridge because of course it is a highly disadvantageous situation no matter how realistic you make it. Ultimately, you're just making a slightly wider bottleneck.

From what I recall in Shogun 2, bridges only showed up in siege battles. They were also a bit wider. But mainly they were outside the castle, and generally in a siege, the defender isn't wanting to come out...

Now in FOTS, bridges were still deadly. If the defenders had CANNONS... you could decimate troops by firing at them when they bunch up there.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 13, 2013, 02:13:42 pm
Oh man, one thing I didn't like at all in Rome 1 was not able to use siege weapons if you had stone city walls. Loads of towns I didn't upgrade the walls so it was just wooden palisade so onagers can actually fire from behind the walls at enemies. It would be so great to have the option to have siege weapons on the wall with the caveat that they can't move so attackers can counter them by just attacking from another side.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 13, 2013, 02:40:10 pm
Also that the enemy's siege towers get upgraded along with your walls, so if you max out your walls your troops that happen to be on the walls wind up getting strafed by giant wooden mecha :D
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 13, 2013, 02:48:21 pm
Also that the enemy's siege towers get upgraded along with your walls, so if you max out your walls your troops that happen to be on the walls wind up getting strafed by giant wooden mecha :D

oh god yes, the final level siege tower I would just love as a normal unit for regular battles, I was horrified when defending against that in a siege skirmish battle and seeing it for the first time just ruin everyone on the walls.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sirus on August 13, 2013, 05:01:00 pm
Oh man, one thing I didn't like at all in Rome 1 was not able to use siege weapons if you had stone city walls. Loads of towns I didn't upgrade the walls so it was just wooden palisade so onagers can actually fire from behind the walls at enemies. It would be so great to have the option to have siege weapons on the wall with the caveat that they can't move so attackers can counter them by just attacking from another side.
Oh god, this. It's like CA forgot that siege weapons could be used defensively as well as offensively.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 13, 2013, 05:51:37 pm
They didn't forget. Plenty of defensive siege weapons / towers (towers are which what you guys are describing to a T) in Medieval 1, 2, Empire, Napoleon, Shogun, and FotS.

Rome 1 was really bloody old guys.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 13, 2013, 06:39:00 pm
They didn't forget. Plenty of defensive siege weapons / towers (towers are which what you guys are describing to a T) in Medieval 1, 2, Empire, Napoleon, Shogun, and FotS.

Rome 1 was really bloody old guys.

You couldn't mount your siege weapons on the walls, can't speak for Shogun/FotS but I don't remember it in Rome, Medieval, Empire or Napolean. I know you can have the high level wall upgrades which have siege weapons, and lots of cannons in Empire but your army siege units couldn't go on walls which doesn't make much sense, there are lots of cases of catapults and other siege weapons on walls and I wouldn't think it unreasonable that when being attacked by an enemy that you put your siege weapons on the wall, it's not impossible to think they could haul them up. though they would have limited mobility when on a wall.

Tbh the AI in Siege battles (in all Total Wars) were ridiculously bad both defending and attacking so hopefully that gets improved.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 13, 2013, 07:02:39 pm
You couldn't mount them, but you could build the towers and such. Which... you know... is kinda how it would have to have been.

Hrm... what's the best way to explain this.

Think of it this way. Imagine the lord of a castle. He just built a wall for the cheapest cost. It's a basic wall that as wall-y as can be. No special options, it has some fortifications and that's it. In Total War terms, this is what you're doing when you buy the regular walls. Then he poses the question to his Royal Architect... "hey nerdface, I want to put my sweet ballista that I collected on my campaign on my sweet new walls yo. Make it happen, douchenozzle." To do this, the Royal Architect has to bill the Royal Coffers again for a wall expansion to house enough room to put the ballistas, as well as make arrangements for easy transport of ammunition, etc. So this is what you pay for when you buy the towers. In this case the Royal Architect also bought an entire new set of ballista as well because he's collecting bribes from private contractors.

IRL you wouldn't have been able to just randomly mount catapults or cannons without building infrastructure to house them. That is of course what the in-game systems were designed to simulate. These things don't come out of thin air. In fact I'd say the Total War system was unrealistic not because you couldn't integrate the siege engines into your walls at whim... but because you couldn't TAKE OUT the siege engines you built into your fortresses.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 13, 2013, 07:58:33 pm
IRL you wouldn't have been able to just randomly mount catapults or cannons without building infrastructure to house them.

Of course you can, there are actual cases of siege engines being hauled up on walls for defence, can't be 100% certain in veracity but then you can't really be sure in many things in ancient history. The Siege of Syracause is an example of onagers and ballista being mounted on the city walls.

If there is space on city walls then it is possible for siege weapons to be hauled up onto the walls, obviously a purpose built turret would be better but if you have the weapons but not the time then hauling an existing engine up is certainly feasible and can be done very quickly. Obviously it depends on the wall and for the time period I don't think there are any surviving walls to see how thick and well constructed they were, however in the walls portrayed in the game they certainly are thick and wide enough to support siege weapons.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 13, 2013, 08:24:53 pm
But that's what I'm saying mate. The simulation in game just represents the cost of buying the towers as equivalent to the cost of making the walls wide enough to put your siege engines on them.

Instead of spending a cheap amount of gold to build this:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You spent a bit more gold to expand it to this:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's what building "towers" in Total War games essentially translates to. Just think of it as the additional cost of buying the infrastructure you need to put your siege units on the walls. Unless you think you can magically transport catapults onto a regular castle wall without making extensive modifications. Even the Eurialo Castle of Syracuse, one of the most defensive positions of the ancient world, had to be extensively modified numerous times by several different civilizations before it was capable of such a feat. Again, when you buy "towers" and "walls" in Total War, that's kinda what you're doing.

You can't technically hoist up the existing engines you built into your defensive structures within the games, but the net result of what you want is already modelled. Just not in the way you specifically want.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 14, 2013, 05:28:56 am
I'm always annoyed they just won't make actual Amazon faction in Rome 2. IN ANYTHING

FTFY. Mods of certain paradox games excluded; there's been absolutely zero effort at giving South American natives a fair shake. It's almost to the point where I think developers exclude it on purpose..

What with EU IV having been released, if you convert a Crusader Kings 2 save that has the Sunset Invasion DLC, both the Aztecs and Incas will wreck your shit from here to forever, all the time, always.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 14, 2013, 05:44:05 am
Yes I know, however it's not always possible to upgrade your walls whether its a time factor or cost or your city not being large enough etc....

If they want to make the Total War games accurate then the walkways on the walls will be much thinner and only allow 2-3 ranks of units rather then 5-6 as they did. If you have walls which seem big enough for 2 lanes of cars to drive along then you would expect to be able to put siege weapons on the walls or at least on the turrets. If you have walls which look like they are 4 metres thick then I expect to be able to mount siege weapons on them, if they are 1 metre thick then I wouldn't expect to be able to mount siege weapons on them.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That wall is more then thick enough to have siege weapons rolling along them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on August 14, 2013, 08:27:10 am
The thing is CA is more concerned with what "usually" happened. They don't build TW to take advantage of the rare quirks throughout history. If people had regularly hauled siege weapons on the walls, they'd probably let you do it. But it didn't really happen, unless they built specific things on the walls to house them and just left them there.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 14, 2013, 09:19:24 am
The thing is CA is more concerned with what "usually" happened. They don't build TW to take advantage of the rare quirks throughout history. If people had regularly hauled siege weapons on the walls, they'd probably let you do it. But it didn't really happen, unless they built specific things on the walls to house them and just left them there.

They don't "usually" have walls wide enough for 5 ranks of soldiers to stand on easily either yet they have them in the game, and then on the other types of walls, the wooden palisade walls would have walkways, and you can have ladders for attacking stone walls but you can't have ladders to get over a little wooden wall? The battering ram is easily the worse siege weapon in the game but it's the only thing you can use to attack places with wooden palisades instead of having ladders? Siege Tower though is probably excessive for a little wooden palisade :P
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 20, 2013, 10:44:06 pm
Whelp. (http://static3.fore.4pcdn.de/premium/Screenshots/33/e7/92466227-vollbild.jpg)

I don't think that's a permanent emplacement. They get deployed before the battle if you've got them in your army, according to the Steam page.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 21, 2013, 12:11:07 am
Steam page?

I would be a bit cautious about that statement. Especially considering that screenshot features more than a few telling signs that that's a scripted battle.

1. Walls itself are literally labelled "indestructible".
2. Infobox on the top right basically details a scripted battle.
3. The unit selection box on the bottom has two different tabs, one for normal units and one for siege units. Not to mention there are no buttons to undeploy it.
4. That commander's nose on the bottom left is too big. You can't trust guys with big noses. Also he hasn't killed a single thing even though he's supposed to have deadly accuracy. What a tosser.

But who knows. Here's to hoping. Would be nice if it were implemented.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Labs on August 21, 2013, 12:37:15 am
You can't trust guys with big noses.

u wot m8
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 21, 2013, 01:39:47 am
Oh, well, that wasn't helpful of me. It's actually on The Greek States Pack page (http://store.steampowered.com/app/212301/), specifically when it mentions : "Polybolos Repeating Scorpion – [Siege Deployable available to all Greek, Roman and Carthaginian factions].

Now, this is just a deduction, but since the siege weapon in the screenshot has wheels, I'm assuming that it's usable on the offense, too, but I can't see a logical way of getting it up there during the battle, which makes me think that it's possible to deploy it on the walls pre-battle when you end up defending whilst it's in your army. Specifically, this screenshot is of the tutorial, which means it's probably possible to do this in the regular game, and either the walls are indestructible because parts of walls always have been in Total War (excluding Shogun) and he just moused over one of those parts or it's set to indestructible for the purposes of the tutorial.

So yes, I think it's entirely possible that if you have a siege weapon in your army, you'll be able to deploy it on walls before the battle. I didn't notice the unit tab switching though, which could either be a quick way of accessing artillery during a siege or the death of my argument.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Blargityblarg on August 21, 2013, 05:56:15 pm
posting this everywhere I can because it's amazing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZt2BkutcYs)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on August 21, 2013, 07:17:33 pm
Doors are too thin for siege weapons, and there isn't any cranes.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 21, 2013, 09:30:00 pm
I would assume it's taken up in pieces and assembled up there. It's deployed before the battle, so you can abstract a way a lot of stuff.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Eagle_eye on August 21, 2013, 10:02:24 pm
According to wikipedia, the crane was invented in the 6th century BC in Greece, so I think it's safe to say they could have used cranes if they needed to.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on August 22, 2013, 12:24:26 am
According to wikipedia, the crane was invented in the 6th century BC in Greece, so I think it's safe to say they could have used cranes if they needed to.

Indeed. How do we think they erected statues and things like the Colossus of Rhodes? :P

I'll guess that the artillery is fixed on the walls and comes with a wall upgrade. If they were free moving there would be many potential problems with pathing, other units pathing around them and other small things. Like can they see over the crenulations. ::)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 22, 2013, 05:38:35 am
Don't even need crane, could just use pulleys, still this makes me happy and has increased my likelihood of buying the game to 99% now
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: iamthelol on August 22, 2013, 12:46:52 pm
uh huh :)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Whitefoxsniper on August 23, 2013, 11:22:41 am
PTW!

I've never really thought that artillery was effective against infantry in the total war games. With the exception of cannons against mounted units.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on August 23, 2013, 11:24:51 am
PTW!

I've never really thought that artillery was effective against infantry in the total war games. With the exception of cannons against mounted units.

Well, I had a blast using siege weapons against the Gauls last time I played RTW as the Julii, especially when defending up a hill. I also had good luck using them against phalanxes, who generally aren't too good at dodging anything because of the tight formation.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on August 23, 2013, 11:41:06 am
Catapults will destroy ai infantry, should they hit. Just put a line of legionaries on either side.  No fire!  bad!

For their parts scorpions and ballistas are great for sniping out ai leaders (or otherwise stationary units).  Fire is okay on these if no friendlies are in front of them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 23, 2013, 11:54:38 am
http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/23/total-war-rome-2-reveals-its-plan-for-post-launch-free-dlc/ (http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/23/total-war-rome-2-reveals-its-plan-for-post-launch-free-dlc/)

Well, that's interesting and nice to hear. So on top of paid DLC, they plan to add free stuff here and there too. Including the Seleucid faction in October. For free. Weren't people clammering about them? I didn't play the first Rome, and I don't know much about the period, but I'm pretty sure I saw a few  riots or some such when they weren't announced as playable.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on August 23, 2013, 12:14:52 pm
http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/23/total-war-rome-2-reveals-its-plan-for-post-launch-free-dlc/ (http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/23/total-war-rome-2-reveals-its-plan-for-post-launch-free-dlc/)

Well, that's interesting and nice to hear. So on top of paid DLC, they plan to add free stuff here and there too. Including the Seleucid faction in October. For free. Weren't people clammering about them? I didn't play the first Rome, and I don't know much about the period, but I'm pretty sure I saw a few  riots or some such when they weren't announced as playable.

If I remember correctly, the Seleucid faction had pretty much everything. Good pikemen, legionaries, heavy cavalry, chariots, even elephants. Their few downsides were also easily manageable too. I'm not surprised that they were one of the more popular factions.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on August 23, 2013, 12:27:31 pm
They were also very important historically, being the Persian remnant of Alexander the Great's empire.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 23, 2013, 01:29:06 pm
Artillery battles you say?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=22281170

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=22281171
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 23, 2013, 02:46:22 pm
In most field battles siege weapons are fairly useless unless you already have overwhelming odds in which case they can be useful for having to waste less men on the enemy, in an evenly matched battle I would prefer a unit of cavalry instead of an onager or ballista, that being said I have managed to win completely outnumbered battles by turtling up in the corner and having my siege weapons just go crazy on the advancing enemy but it's a bit mean because it's exploiting a limitation of the game to be immune to flanking and forcing enemy to bunch up.

I'm having fun in a new campaign as Scipii on hardest difficulty, managed to take Apollonium in turn 2 with the assistance of the Brutii who didn't siege it and actually did all the work in killing everyone and then handing over the territory for me :D
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 23, 2013, 03:01:22 pm
If I remember correctly, the Seleucid faction had pretty much everything. Good pikemen, legionaries, heavy cavalry, chariots, even elephants. Their few downsides were also easily manageable too. I'm not surprised that they were one of the more popular factions.

Their downside – in campaign mode – is that they are in a really crappy position to start with and you have to defend your cities against repeated Egyptian sieges with practically nothing but militia hoplites. :D Once you get past that point and your unit roster opens up you can do anything you want. "How would I like to kill Romans today? With elephants? With chariots? With cataphracts? With my own legions? With good old-fashioned phalangites and Cretan archers? Pass me the grapes, I must ponder this"
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on August 23, 2013, 03:02:22 pm
Yup poor, small, and under tension from the get.  But fun with just about everything in its rooster.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on August 23, 2013, 03:05:33 pm
Also there is little in RTW more beautiful than opening up a battle by smashing the Egyptian general's personal chariot with the first flaming cinderblock thrown from one of your onagers.

A cavalry unit may be strictly more useful but onagers are hard to beat for style.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 26, 2013, 11:14:09 am
I am extremley dissapointed in myself.
For the most part, I had pretty much ignored this, stayed out of the hype, not read anything. Then, 2 weeks ago, I preordered, and it was all downhill from there. I've ready every dev-post I could find, watched all the videos, and still have a week left till release where I can't bear to pick up another strategy game for fear that I'll wear myself out before I get my hands on the new game, despite my desperate craving for a good strategy game lately.
I had done so well...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tobel on August 26, 2013, 11:37:14 am
I am extremley dissapointed in myself.
For the most part, I had pretty much ignored this, stayed out of the hype, not read anything. Then, 2 weeks ago, I preordered, and it was all downhill from there. I've ready every dev-post I could find, watched all the videos, and still have a week left till release where I can't bear to pick up another strategy game for fear that I'll wear myself out before I get my hands on the new game, despite my desperate craving for a good strategy game lately.
I had done so well...

You really fell off the wagon. I've been playing EU4 to get myself in a strategy mindset. I tried booting up RTW but that just hurt my soul. One week mate, you can do it. Play some skyrim or something. RTWII is coming out the day after I'm done with my internship with nothing to do for a month. Joy of joys.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 26, 2013, 05:51:06 pm
September 3 can't get here fast enough. :P
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 26, 2013, 07:00:54 pm
Yup :P

Although I hope they improve the AI so it doesn't have to cheat, hardest difficulty campaign on Rome 1 is pretty damn hard.

I have killed 4 2000 man armies and they are still throwing more at me, it's also mean that all the factions I am at war with seem to only go for me solely, Greeks have lost all of Greece because they kept trying to take bloody Apollonia which is a tiny town yet still worth sending 6000 (4k i killed, then the last 2k killed my Eastern Army :( ) men while the Brutii conquer Greece with ease, and then the Gauls are like, "no fu Massilia is ours" and send hordes at me, not just any old hordes though 12 stacks of units who have experience level 6 and include swordsmen even though its only like turn 20. And then Carthage are being bastards as well! I didn't even attack them but they keep hanging around Syracuse and Messana with 3 20~ stack armies.... and bombarding me with spies to cause unrest :( .

I like challenges but it's ridiculous...bloody Carthage ruining my plans by attacking me!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on August 26, 2013, 07:30:54 pm
For those of you who are waiting in anticipation, may I reccomend watching the old BBC show Time Commanders. In it a team of 4 people commanded an army reenacting famous battles from antiquity (and a few from the middle ages). They used the RTW engine, with technicians controlling the army for the players so they can focus on orders and strategy instead of learning the controls and interface. Usually they (the teams, not the techs) fucked up hilariously.

One such episode is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MQ8gIxBj4Y

Warning, this team is possibly one of the worst on the show ever
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 26, 2013, 08:40:54 pm
Meh Time Commanders had potential but having 4 people try to control one army is a recipe for disaster especially if they don't even know what does what. Still I didn't miss an episode when it was airing :P

IIRC most of the time the team won is when they had like a huge numerical advantage.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on August 27, 2013, 02:51:43 am
Wanna know what sucks? Rome 2 comes out the day after I start college :(
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 27, 2013, 06:19:22 am
It comes out on my one week off. If it wasn't my week off, it'd come out at the start of my jam packed university week.

I'm pretty sure this is a sign from above.

Meh Time Commanders had potential but having 4 people try to control one army is a recipe for disaster especially if they don't even know what does what. Still I didn't miss an episode when it was airing :P

IIRC most of the time the team won is when they had like a huge numerical advantage.

Well, apart from the fact that disaster is funny, there's some pretty excellent winning teams.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Brotato on August 27, 2013, 07:40:57 am
College already started for me :(  Perhaps I'll be able to pick up and play this game come Christmas but I don't have time now.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sirus on August 27, 2013, 08:25:22 am
For those of you who are waiting in anticipation, may I reccomend watching the old BBC show Time Commanders. In it a team of 4 people commanded an army reenacting famous battles from antiquity (and a few from the middle ages). They used the RTW engine, with technicians controlling the army for the players so they can focus on orders and strategy instead of learning the controls and interface. Usually they (the teams, not the techs) fucked up hilariously.

One such episode is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MQ8gIxBj4Y

Warning, this team is possibly one of the worst on the show ever
Reminds me of a similar show (the name of which I have sadly forgotten), which I believe came out before Time Commanders. Instead of being a competition between two teams, it was more about "re-enacting" ancient battles using the RTW engine. I remember watching that show, and getting RTW later that year or the year after and immediately recognizing it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 27, 2013, 08:42:53 am
Reminds me of a similar show (the name of which I have sadly forgotten), which I believe came out before Time Commanders. Instead of being a competition between two teams, it was more about "re-enacting" ancient battles using the RTW engine. I remember watching that show, and getting RTW later that year or the year after and immediately recognizing it.

You mean Decisive Battles but that was after Time Commanders started
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on August 27, 2013, 11:36:10 am
Debating if I should pre-order or not...so conflicted...and I have a feeling I will get it anyways at some point...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 27, 2013, 11:51:21 am
If you know you'll get it anyway, and Greeeeccceeeeeee, then yes.
If you may buy it anyway, but do not care for Greece, then just wait.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on August 27, 2013, 12:02:57 pm
Nah they are bastards for pulling that card...I don't know how I could enjoy the game without Athens or Sparta...clearly my 2 favorite ancient civilizations.

Luckily Green Man Gaming has it for $10 off so that makes it an easy decision.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 27, 2013, 12:26:14 pm
Nah they are bastards for pulling that card...I don't know how I could enjoy the game without Athens or Sparta...clearly my 2 favorite ancient civilizations.

Luckily Green Man Gaming has it for $10 off so that makes it an easy decision.

It's not like they won't exist in the game at all, just that they will be as they were in Rome 1 as the Greek Cities while with the DLC the Greek Cities will be divided up into the 3 factions and you get a few DLC units and buildings etc....

What I'm interested in is how moddable the game will be, if it's as moddable as it's predeccesors I don't really see the need to have DLC.

But then again the the pre-order is probably going to be cheaper then buying the game after release and even the XMAS sale might not be cheaper then it is now, might have to wait till the Easter sale or even Summer sale next year to get it for a cheaper price. Anyone knows how much the DLC would sell for once the game is released anyway?

Also is greenman gaming that much cheaper for you? It's shaving off an amazing £1 for me when compared to Steam Store.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on August 27, 2013, 01:01:12 pm
Tw has been less moddable at every iteration

I have preordered because rome but so far everything shown is scripted an I really have no faith on the final product
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 27, 2013, 01:54:01 pm
I preordered it from GMG at a $15 discount.

This was back in the beginning of May though. I think I posted it in here. 25% discount I believe.

Total War is literally the only series I'm willing to preorder.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 27, 2013, 02:52:52 pm
I'm destroyed by Seleucid DLC.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 27, 2013, 02:55:27 pm
I'm destroyed by Seleucid DLC.
As in, the free DLC? Makes you sad? Or as in you were resisting but now that they're adding them for free you have to buy it? I'm not sure how you're using destroyed here I guess.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 27, 2013, 02:56:09 pm
The fact that it wasn't even in the game originally shows something to me about the effort put into the main rival of the series -- The Hellenistic-fucking-states. The things that kept Rome from going crazy.. If people had not complained, would they even had bothered?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Whitefoxsniper on August 27, 2013, 03:01:00 pm
The fact that it wasn't even in the game originally shows something to me about the effort put into the main rival of the series -- The Hellenistic fucking states. If I have to pay for a single faction this will be the worst RTW.

Maybe it's more of a without the dlc there like the original RTW where all of the Hellenistic states have all the same units, but after you install that they get their own units and descriptions based on Seleucid history?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 27, 2013, 03:02:26 pm
Maybe it's more of a without the dlc there like the original RTW where all of the Hellenistic states have all the same units, but after you install that they get their own units and descriptions based on Seleucid history?

AFAIK Hellenistic states had unique troop selections. Compare Pontus and Seleucid.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 27, 2013, 03:03:10 pm
The fact that it wasn't even in the game originally shows something to me about the effort put into the main rival of the series -- The Hellenistic-fucking-states. The things that kept Rome from going crazy.. If people had not complained, would they even had bothered?

It sounds like they're only doing packs as paid for DLCs. The 3 Greek states is a single DLC package, and the one in October (Nomadic states I believe) also sounds like it'll be several factions. So far the only single faction DLCs (Pontus and Seleucids) are going to be released for free to all players. Pontus on release and Seleucids in October. As for pricing, I don't think they've announced that yet, my guess would be maybe $5 for the Culture packs?

So far what we know:
DLC
Sept 3rd.
Pontus - FREE
Hellenic States pack - PAID

October
Selucids - FREE
Nomadic States - PAID


Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 27, 2013, 03:05:44 pm
Who cares what the listed price will be.

We all know we'll only pay for the DLC when they're like $1 during a Steam sale anyway.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on August 27, 2013, 03:09:43 pm
I enjoy how the main successor state is the one they will be doing after the others. Instead of just doing them before they release the game. It's like making HOI without bothering to work on Germany.

Sure, they'll get around to it, but why the hell is it not in the launch? So Pontus/entirety of Successors will be default nations with the same troop palettes for months before they even become playable? How the hell does that even work? Did they only make Roman/Gaul/Carthage factions, and decide those others weren't important enough to flesh out??
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on August 28, 2013, 11:32:17 am
I enjoy how the main successor state is the one they will be doing after the others. Instead of just doing them before they release the game. It's like making HOI without bothering to work on Germany.

Sure, they'll get around to it, but why the hell is it not in the launch? So Pontus/entirety of Successors will be default nations with the same troop palettes for months before they even become playable? How the hell does that even work? Did they only make Roman/Gaul/Carthage factions, and decide those others weren't important enough to flesh out??

AFAIK they are already done, is in game, you can fight with them, ally them, whatever you want with them, and if you have preordered, you get to play as the factions from day 1. It's just a poor marketing scheme.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 28, 2013, 12:33:21 pm
GMG just sent out the preorder codes and Rome 2 is now preloading on Steam. 9.9GB preload.

Woop!!!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on August 28, 2013, 02:17:30 pm
I have 5 more day of waits. damn region locks.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 28, 2013, 02:19:24 pm
I have 5 more day of waits. damn region locks.

It's a universal unlock on September 3rd, 00:00 PST. Nothing to do with region lock, we all have to wait. Preload is availibe now, that's all.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on August 28, 2013, 03:14:37 pm
So apparently the difficulty in Rome 2 will be similar in Rome 1. Normal Campaign difficulty the enemy factions will act as normal, hardest difficulty they will just target you so if your going to play in Hard mode campaign try not to have multiple wars going on, just fight one faction and crush them because they will go Total War on you.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on August 29, 2013, 08:49:40 am
Australians get it at 5pm. What a way to get off work.

PTW!

I've never really thought that artillery was effective against infantry in the total war games. With the exception of cannons against mounted units.

Rise Fall of the Samurai fixed that. Artillery is pretty much the king of the battlefield there. (Thank you umi)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 29, 2013, 05:07:35 pm
Do you mean Fall of the Samurai?

Wasn't the only arty in Rise of the Samurai those hilarious, man-pulled fire mangonels?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 30, 2013, 06:02:35 pm
Apparently you can get Rome 2 preorder at 44% off here: http://blog.playfire.com/2013/08/uk-offer-pre-purchase-select-console.html
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on August 30, 2013, 06:40:43 pm
Yes but that is the PC DVD version...so it has to be shipped to you likely after release...if you are pre-ordering to play instantly on release...probably not the best idea...if for the price? then heck yeah...that is a hell of a price
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 01, 2013, 09:48:38 pm
One day, 4 hours remaining.

You'd think it'd have been better if they had released the game before labour day weekend...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on September 01, 2013, 10:46:20 pm
Eh it would have been nice but they probably assume a fair share of people are gonna be busy with cookouts and family or whatever
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 02, 2013, 12:09:20 am
You don't ever want to release a game on a weekend really. (First release, I'm not taking about the bullshit that is regional release schedules.) There's always that one chance that things could go spectacularly wrong, and if it happens, you don't want your pants to be down by having all of your workers who could find the problem on holiday. Otherwise you wind up looking like Maxis after SimCity. (Not that that was a weekend situation as far as I recall, but you get the comparison).
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 02, 2013, 04:23:41 am
So I just found out I have Tuesday and Wednesday off. AWWWW YES.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: ScriptWolf on September 02, 2013, 06:21:55 am
I crumpled and pre ordered.

Would anyone be interested in doing a multiplayer campaign tomorrow ?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on September 02, 2013, 07:38:13 am
So I just found out I have Tuesday and Wednesday off. AWWWW YES.

Lucky bastard lol...I on the other hand will simply be getting no sleep and dealing with the consequences lol
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: MorleyDev on September 02, 2013, 07:54:36 am
Got given a £50 Steam token as a present. Pre-ordered this, bought "Sir, You Are Being Hunted!". Today I shall flee in terror from robots in tweed, tomorrow my reign of terror shall begin.

I'm usually not a fan of pre-orders but the £10 off, that it wasn't really "money I'd earned" and it was money I had to spend on a game anyway, and that I was deliberately looking for a game to buy kinda sealed the deal. That they've been very open about showing in-game footage and actual recorded plays of it helps. I'd definitely not pre-order if it was all CG-trailers.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 02, 2013, 09:51:22 am
Approximately 15 hours left!

Reviews are out:

http://www.vg247.com/2013/09/02/total-war-rome-2-reviews-are-go-all-the-scores-here
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 02, 2013, 09:54:01 am
You can see the achievements on Steam now, if you're so inclined. They're bugged, I assume as somehow more people have the 500 hours of playtime achievement, then people with 100 hours...

But looking at them suggests the MP aspect is just going to be like every TW before Shogun 2. Which I guess is good for me - I won't have to sink anytime into playing it. :P
Some of the achievements though sound pretty brutal.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 02, 2013, 10:02:55 am
Pre-ordered this, bought "Sir, You Are Being Hunted!". Today I shall flee in terror from robots in tweed, tomorrow my reign of terror shall begin.

Sir is a bloody good game even in it's current state; enjoy staving off your "oh god oh god rome is out TOMORROW" anticipation with it!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 02, 2013, 12:15:38 pm
I won't be able to play it till like the 20th :(

Still I hope in that time that there will be a mod so there are some unit card portraits.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I hate the unit cards and I hate the portrait in the bottom left, I either hope there is an option for it to be old style or a mod to do it.

I am looking forward to city/siege battles, in Rome 1 they were pretty buggy.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 02, 2013, 12:22:46 pm
I hate the unit cards and I hate the portrait in the bottom left, I either hope there is an option for it to be old style or a mod to do it.

Howcome you don't like them? I think they look really good and stylised.

I am looking forward to city/siege battles, in Rome 1 they were pretty buggy.

Well they were absolutely fantastic in Medieval 2, Empire and Shogun 2 so hopefully they shall continue this trend. (I omit Napoleon because holy shit were those sieges buggy as fuck.)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 02, 2013, 12:36:10 pm
I can see why he wouldn't like them. The faces look really weird (they look like shaved apes) and the unit cards are hard to distinguish at a glance. When you watch gameplay videos, there are more instances of those freaky faces and it gets very odd. Your advisors for example are quite bizarre.

It's not really a dealbreaker for me though.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 02, 2013, 01:44:14 pm
I hate the unit cards and I hate the portrait in the bottom left, I either hope there is an option for it to be old style or a mod to do it.

Howcome you don't like them? I think they look really good and stylised.

Because they aren't very informative as to what unit is what. Should it come down to it I will use the Rome 1 unit cards. I mean I understand what they are going for and can appreciate the thought it but I don't really like it. I would use them if I play a stick figure mod.

Quote
I am looking forward to city/siege battles, in Rome 1 they were pretty buggy.

Well they were absolutely fantastic in Medieval 2, Empire and Shogun 2 so hopefully they shall continue this trend. (I omit Napoleon because holy shit were those sieges buggy as fuck.)

I haven't played Shogun but even in Medieval the sieges were pretty buggy, and Empire as well with the manning the cannons was interesting but it didn't play out too well with the AI. I think I would go so far as to say the AI in Rome was better at defending sieges then in Empire, im pretty sure I took out a star fort which had like 10 units of regulars with 2 units just going in for close combat all the time.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 02, 2013, 04:49:26 pm
I can see what you mean about them being hard to distinguish, though I imagine they'll be easy to get used to after a while. This is the Dwarf Fortress forums after all, unfriendly UIs are our speciality :P

Also, how were the sieges in Medieval buggy? It's been a loooong time since I played. And if you think Empires sieges were bad, sometimes on Napoleon the castle would be floating an inch off the ground, so if your soldiers took the ramps down off the walls, they would fall off, drop an inch and instantly die.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 02, 2013, 05:24:15 pm
Sieges in Medieval were awesome. Especially in Stainless Steel where there were hundreds of different kinds of castles.

Waging war on the massive Ibreian citidels were just an awesome experience and you could feel why the design was meant to fatigue and destroy your men before they even reached their prize. All the tightly packed corridors, winding alleyways, massive towering and unreachable walls. Archers raining unassailable fire down upon your troops as you desperately try to maneuver a battering ram to the second walls. Men stuck in unwinnable trench wars while you try and get around them or hasten the siege.

Shogun 2 had none of that. Most because Japanese castles weren't designed like that but still. It's part of what makes sieges so awesome.

I really like that Rome 2 is bringing these proper sieges back. And now you can attack from sea AND land!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 02, 2013, 05:28:15 pm
I haven't looked into it for fear of overhyping myself, but how are the sieges in Rome 2? Like, will you be toppling walls with siege machines? Or patiently flinging torches at gates/climbing walls like Shogun?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on September 02, 2013, 05:40:44 pm
No shogun was a freaking joke...they are taking it back to the good stuff using actual siege equipment and none of that everyone-climbs-walls BS

Shogun2 was a failure if you as me
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 02, 2013, 06:10:27 pm
I haven't looked into it for fear of overhyping myself, but how are the sieges in Rome 2? Like, will you be toppling walls with siege machines? Or patiently flinging torches at gates/climbing walls like Shogun?
It's like the old days with mangonels and siege towers and battering rams.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 02, 2013, 06:42:36 pm
Except also beach landings and port invasions, can even break down walls with siege weapons on ships I believe.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 03, 2013, 01:14:54 am
I really like that Rome 2 is bringing these proper sieges back. And now you can attack from sea AND land!

I'm still on [citation needed] mode on this one, I only saw it happening on scripted trailers, not in the main campaign.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 03, 2013, 01:18:53 am
http://www.pcgamer.com/review/total-war-rome-2-review/

"For the first time in the series, land and sea battles can take place on the same map. Boats that survive the sea battle can run ashore and deploy troops directly into the land fight in scenes that would be extraordinary if the troops didn’t sometimes fail to disembark, or simply stand still on the beach unmoving forever."

The issue being with AI controlled ships trying to land on the coast not player controlled.

Edit: Basically in this game anytime armies meet any allies/enemies or extra troops within a certain distance are all pulled into the battle.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 03, 2013, 01:22:02 am
ok thanks, didn't get to read all reviews.


now, I am worried about this
Quote
troops cannot move at all unless they have a general, and the number of generals you can have is limited by the size of your empire

I'm never happy, I know...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 03, 2013, 01:25:39 am
Personally I am excited about the general leading armies bit as the first Rome had the AI sending tons of one stack armies around the map instead of the large groups that would be threatening. Not to mention getting constant sieges and or random stacks standing on various resources. We shall see how this actually turns out in about 30 minutes though!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 03, 2013, 01:28:05 am
Yeah Ill say I really wasn't a fan of the late game roving deathstacks, where every turn had 5 or 6 fullsize 20v20 battles. A limiting mechanic actually sounds like a decent idea in hindsight. That said if Generals are generated as quickly as in Rome and M2, it won't make a lick of difference. I remember never having enough cities to store all the extra fuckers.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 03, 2013, 01:34:20 am
The large max army fights were the fun part of the first one. It was having to lead your giant army through 15 one unit armies in your territories that was obnoxious. God forbid if you auto resolve as they will just move a few inches away and still be blocking a resource or trade route (Unless they were rebels). Half the time I made cavalry armies just for running around cleaning up these annoyances in real time battles.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 03, 2013, 01:39:31 am
1/2 hour to go.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on September 03, 2013, 01:45:23 am
Eh, in RTW 1 I send city garrisons after the tiny armies if it's safe and use the large ones to deal with big jobs (unless the large army happens to catch small detatchments on its invasion path). I enjoy the battles though – that's the whole point – if I didn't play the battles I think I'd rather play Civ.

It certainly does get cumbersome towards the endgame though.

Interested to see how this one turns out! (I will not be able to get Rome 2 for some time)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 03, 2013, 01:57:48 am
Done. See you in Rome guys.

My brothers.

My fellow Romans.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 03, 2013, 02:16:51 am
In medieval ii i had an army of spare generals - 16 of them - as a quick response unit against small stacks
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sebcool on September 03, 2013, 05:39:54 am
Ugh, the game is released, but I'm stuck in school and can't play  :(
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: SharpKris on September 03, 2013, 06:49:18 am
so how's the game so far? worth the 60$?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 03, 2013, 06:59:17 am
The silence seems to be a good sign. Reviews are iffy, but steam stats before release seemed to show a very small percentage of reviewers actually even completing a campaign...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 03, 2013, 07:00:57 am
So for the last 3 hours I've dicked about with the settings, done the tutorial stuff and begun my first campaign. This game is pretty awesome. The AI seems to have improved since Shogun 2, it plays more aggressively and less reactionary than in previous games.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 03, 2013, 07:09:16 am
I have to stop playing for now but so far it is amazing. It is quite a bit different from the first and there are a lot of things to learn. Espionage is way easier but costs money per action. From the start I am killing people off left and right without consequence. The building system is going to take getting used to. Right now I don't like the change to building trees but I will get used to it. The fights are pretty awesome as they are forcing massive armies with the change to armies only being allowed to move with a general. Also, all towns have automatic garrison troop types depending on the various buildings you have so sieges get large. Diplomacy is huge in this compared to the old one and making client states is not only easier but much more necessary with the way there are province wide morale issues. There is also internal political struggles you have to deal with depending on what people you play along with random events you'd see in 4X game like GalCiv.

Example: A local beauty is killed by jealous women in a town. If you do nothing Aphrodite is pissed and you suffer. If you put the women to trial or kill them then the population is pissed off. You could choose to try and appease Aphrodite but as I didn't choose that not sure what would happen.

Currently playing on hard difficulty with extreme graphics at 1920x1080 and I must say the game is stellar so far.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2: totally a game now!
Post by: pisskop on September 03, 2013, 07:43:27 am
Whoo!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: ScriptWolf on September 03, 2013, 09:37:33 am
The silence seems to be a good sign. Reviews are iffy, but steam stats before release seemed to show a very small percentage of reviewers actually even completing a campaign...

This is why I stopped listening to reviewers and only take opinions from you, but even then I will buy a game if I think it's good
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 03, 2013, 09:59:56 am
The silence seems to be a good sign. Reviews are iffy, but steam stats before release seemed to show a very small percentage of reviewers actually even completing a campaign...

This is why I stopped listening to reviewers and only take opinions from you, but even then I will buy a game if I think it's good

Wait, you buy games completly on my opinion? Wow, that's a lot of responsibility you've put on me, geez. Haven't even played the game yet (work). But ya, I'm in the same boat. Game reviewers are paid to nitpick, and do it quickly, which will ruin any game.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: MorleyDev on September 03, 2013, 10:21:03 am
On the otherhand, nitpicking is fun. Good reviews tell you the good and bad so you go in eyes open. If a few flaws made something unenjoyable, we'd never enjoy anything since everything has flaws.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 03, 2013, 11:09:18 am
True enough, though often they are flaws I wouldn't really notice until they point them out, and it just depresses me a bit. anyway, I should have a good time with the game when I get home tonight.
Also, this game is another reminder to avoid forums dedicated to specific games. Ugh.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 03, 2013, 12:09:38 pm
The biggest complaint that review sites seem to echo is that it's too complicated.

They say this and all their gameplay videos show them charging cavalry into spears or doing other incredibly stupid things.

I mean... You're always going to sound pretentious when you call someone dumb but come on... At least try to understand how it works.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on September 03, 2013, 12:34:48 pm
That's because most 'game reviewers' aren't gamers nor do they have brains. We have the later TWs to blame for the expectation of nil difficulty in battle. Right click to win does not apply when there's actual balanced mechanics to troop types that doesn't consist of just numbers.

I just hope the campaign AI isn't terribly pitiful.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 03, 2013, 12:42:41 pm
I just hope the campaign AI isn't terribly pitiful.

I've put 5 hours into a campaign and I can tell you it's not. While fighting a war with the something something League (I forget), I had them using agents to incite unrest really far away from the front lines, forcing me to pull troops out of the main fights to quell rebellions. I also had them use guerilla tactics on me after I took all of their provinces on the mainland; their armies scattered into visual cover (on the campaign map) and I lost sight of them all. Every now and then I get ganked by a hidden army. It's like when you spill lego all over the floor and you keep standing on pieces for days. Only fun.

The campaign AI also seems to be able to use navies properly now. Where in Shogun 2 their strategy consisted entirely of "make navy, sit navy on trade route, forget", I now have them blockading my ports, actively protecting (instead of reactively clearing) their ports, and using them to cover coastal invasions (which are AWESOME, by the way).

So yeah, campaign AI is definitely good, imo. The battle AI is pretty awesome, too. I had it split it's army into 2 groups and use the visual cover of a hill brow to sneak around my line and hammer and anvil me pretty hard. It was awesome.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: cartmann on September 03, 2013, 01:06:37 pm
SO, is it worth the £30 on steam, or the ~£25 elsewhere?

I still have R:TW installed and it's an incredible game. Will I naturally love this?

Shame we can't play as Epirus without the DLC, would be fun to kick Athens', Sparta's and Macedonia's ass with them!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 03, 2013, 01:16:27 pm
Athens, Sparta and Macedonia? It will be fun kicking Rome's ass with them. I certainly intend to change the meaning of of "Phyrric victory" into it's opposite ;)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 03, 2013, 01:17:19 pm
Athens, Sparta and Macedonia? It will be fun kicking Rome's ass with them. I certainly intend to change the meaning of of "Phyrric victory" into it's opposite ;)

A total, decisive victory, then? In the historical context, a total, decisive victory against Rome. Good plan.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 03, 2013, 01:18:33 pm
I told myself I wasn't going to get it...but its Total War. I was really disappointed with Empire Total War (that was such a huge screwup and they completely abandoned it for napolean that I didn't like at all) and played Shogun 2 but didn't like it...but that isn't my favorite era anyway. So that may be more personal than anything

I haven't even read any of the reviews or anything...and yet I see that its for sale and "must" have it. The roman era is probably my favorite era in history.

The only thing stopping me is the lack of mods compared to RTW 1 and Medieval 2. Unless they went back to support modding (and no, DarthMod, while great, isn't what I'm talking about. I loved europa barbarum for RTW. Third Age for M2 and Stainless Steel for M2).

Really, that is only reason I'm not jumping up to buy it. I do have the money, that isn't an issue at all. And even if they still don't support mods...ITS ROME! And I don't honestly care about launch day issues. Nearly every major game has those.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 03, 2013, 01:32:59 pm
Athens, Sparta and Macedonia? It will be fun kicking Rome's ass with them. I certainly intend to change the meaning of of "Phyrric victory" into it's opposite ;)

A total, decisive victory, then? In the historical context, a total, decisive victory against Rome. Good plan.

Or a loss with only one casualty, I suppose.

...I think I'll go with your one.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 03, 2013, 01:39:22 pm
What's it called when the losing side still takes out lots of enemies, like Battle of Thermopylae. "Phyrric Defeat" ? Although I do know that in the Phyrric Victory they didn't lose as many men as the Romans, it's just that they couldn't afford to lose the number of men that they did.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on September 03, 2013, 01:47:12 pm
Not sure what the term for that is. I call it 'Making them pay for their victory'.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Urist McScoopbeard on September 03, 2013, 01:49:13 pm
Its Phyrric Victory for them, its just a close defeat for you. As I recall there is no term similar to a "Phyrric Defeat"
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on September 03, 2013, 02:02:27 pm
A "glorious last stand" would be what you call it, I suppose.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 03, 2013, 02:37:25 pm
The AI on hard is pretty good. One interesting thing I saw during my short time in my campaign is barbarians completely abandoning their cities in the face of massive armies to go attack undefended cities like pirates. One instance was where my allied barbarian nation to the north was about to siege the last city of another barbarian faction to my northwest. As soon as both our armies were about to hit the enemy city (missed it by a tile) the massive army, which might have successfully defended the capital against us considering they also get free garrison troops, abandoned the city entirely by getting on boats and sailing south to my other cities. We easily took the city obviously but now I have a roaving group of death just moving through my smaller settlements areas attacking cities, regardless of owner, they can take with minimal resistance.

Edit: Just adding how frustrating, which is fun, it was that not only is the enemy causing a huge headache with their raiding nonsense now but that in the way they abandoned their capital my ally took their city instead of me.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: ScriptWolf on September 03, 2013, 02:44:24 pm
I have one niggle, before I had to put the game down I managed to get all three agents... They seem to all do the same thing to be honest it's just worded differently and what the hell happened to the little movies! They were the most enjoyable part. Atleast in shogun there was a buff enough difference between the ninja and the geisha were different enough to be enjoyable.

Also you would think the diplomat would do well diplomat things.

Liking the game, disappointed with the agents they were my favourite part of the other games
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 03, 2013, 02:48:15 pm
Might be strategic victory if it actually has a purpose like to delay/turn back enemy army, if it's just in pure defiance though with no real overall goal (other then kill as many of the bastards) then Last Stand is probably appropriate, the margin of defeat will signify whether glorious or foolish.

And to re-iterate be careful when playing on hardest campaign difficulty, any enemy you are at war with will treat you as their sole target regardless of how many other enemies they have.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 03, 2013, 02:52:27 pm
The spies and champions have some awesome differences and I believe what they were doing was making more of a rock-paper-scissors game with the agents. I for one love the champions ability to be stationed with armies and actively train them to gain ranks without fighting. If you train that tree on the champion the training gets insane. Spies have been invaluable for poisoning cities like crazy before an invasion as the garrisons are all dead which on harder difficulties is huge.

Spies beat diplomats, diplomats beat champions, and champions beat spies... at least they have advantages against each other in that order.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 03, 2013, 07:26:43 pm
don't know exactly what is wrong but it kind of lack epicness.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 03, 2013, 07:52:19 pm
don't know exactly what is wrong but it kind of lack epicness.

I demand your people become a client state and pay tribute for your horrible insults! Refuse and I shall taunt you over the internet!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 04, 2013, 05:32:20 am
lot is changed. some is good, some is bad.

here is a random collection of thoughts based on the first stages of a quick grand campaign

too many settlements, it looks like you are conducting one million petty wars not one grand campaign

generals arrow immunity is at its peak

very nice you can disembark from ships during sieges

you can embark anytime you want for 'massive instant free fleet' unless I missed some hidden cost
also you are sieging a port with three ships suddenly the army arrive and there are 20 brand new ships

seen enemy cavalry charge trough triarii formation just ignoring them and passing behind to kill leves
5 second later my cav was slaughtered while passing in a mob.

menus all over the places, finding the right tab is a mess (like when an army is in the city and you have to upgrade the general)

chose between super zoomed in campaign map or unplayable outline map

settlements don't readily shown garrison strength

AI is a bit better in battle, at least a bit more dynamic



Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 04, 2013, 05:44:46 am
seen enemy cavalry charge trough triarii formation just ignoring them and passing behind to kill leves
5 second later my cav was slaughtered while passing in a mob.

AI is a bit better in battle, at least a bit more dynamic

Is it heavy cav going through triarii and light cav killed by mob? Happened a lot in rome 1, get a phalanx lined up and heavy cav just smashes right through the spear points with fairly few losses. Might be a mass/hitpoints thing as well if it's general's cav going through spears, they should have enough mass and health to barge through (in game).

Also I hope the AI isn't buggy in it's being dynamic. It was far too easy in Rome 1 to literally run circles around an enemy and just keep them in a state of going one side then going to another. Being besieged was even worse AI if you sally forth, they can sometimes just stay at tower range for ages losing many units. It's sad going to the victory scroll and seeing 1200 enemies dead and your men only scoring 300 kills.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Evil Marahadja on September 04, 2013, 07:05:43 am
Anyone who want to try out an versus campain any time soon? It didn't took long for me to grow tired on the AI. (Not bad, just very....meh. Very little strategy is needed to win a battle.)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 04, 2013, 08:06:06 am
I'd be looking to try the multiplayer after playing a bit more of the campaign. Don't have much evening free-time, so I've just about completed the prologue at this point. Not sure I could commit to the campaign with anyone but the most patient of people, because I'm not availible for long stretches of multiplayer, a few hours most evenings at most.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Kanil on September 04, 2013, 05:34:12 pm
Initial thoughts: Play on normal, AI is really bad, life's generally quite easy.
Play on hard, literally every single one of your neighbors declares war on you.

Eugh.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on September 04, 2013, 07:35:29 pm
Initial thoughts: Play on normal, AI is really bad, life's generally quite easy.
Play on hard, literally every single one of your neighbors declares war on you.

Eugh.

So exactly like the first Rome then?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 04, 2013, 08:36:18 pm
Rome 1 Hard mode is pretty much sit tight and exploit stupid battlefield AI so Rome 2 sounds similar with maybe battlefield AI improvements for a harder challenge.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 04, 2013, 09:22:59 pm
The AI seems to be on par with Shogun 2, or perhaps a bit better. Saying it's better than Rome 1 probably wouldn't be a good comparison, because that's like saying you're better at baseball than a cardboard cutout with a bat taped to it. I remember Rome 1 having the enemy general just throw himself head on into Hoplite formations.

That said, I STILL don't understand why Battle difficulty can't be set seperate from Campaign difficulty until you're launched the campaign. I guess maybe it has to do with the difficulty based achievements? I think that's when Battle Difficulty got taken off the campaign setup screen, when they moved to Steam and Achievements with Empire. But they really could have just had a warning popup say "You can't get X achievemnt because your difficulty settings are out of sync"
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 04, 2013, 10:51:01 pm
I am not seeing some of the complaints from the above posts. As for the hard difficulty diplomacy I am in love with it. In Rome 1 I would play on the hardest difficulty and of course it was pointless to even try anything besides spam trade treaties. In this game I can actually, and generally do, make alliances or even client states. I am able to do this with people early and late game. In the first game. Rome 1, I was never able to make one. As for the generals being "arrow immune" I BEG TO DIFFER. There have already been a couple times, actually the first few hours after launch, where my general is safe behind my lines but the enemy range will shoot at my general while our lines are fighting (Edit: Haha the first time actually my general was in a hoplite group in hoplite formation which should of all things be awesome against arrows!). Each time the first few casualties end up being my general which is incredibly frustrating but fun (or !!fun!!).

Some interesting things I see with the AI are civilizations content to sit at their one town for the first fifty or more turns and then suddenly go on a rampage taking five of their neighbors on before settling down to nothing again. Your allies actually do what you ask and are always trying to help with armies (again playing on hard) which is amazing coming from Rome 1. Of course having anyone within a certain radius, as opposed to requiring people be literally standing next to you, be drawn into the fight is awesome. Many times I have gotten help by initiating fights somewhat near passing friends.

My complaint, or learning curve, having come from Medieval 2 and Rome 1 is the building system and the province nonsense which was mentioned earlier. I guess it will take getting used to.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 05, 2013, 12:55:39 am
My experience so far has been "hard" = normal.

"Very hard" = challenging.

I breezed through hard without any problems whatsoever; but on very hard, things took quite a different turn. I don't get the whole "everyone hates me thing" but then again I have a really powerful military (but extremely crappy economy).

As for that arrow and immunity stuff. Maybe people are getting confused between arrows, slings, and javelins. They all do massively different kinds of damage. Slings for example do almost nothing against armoured troops whereas javelins can easily punch through shields. Archers are quite rare.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: SharpKris on September 05, 2013, 08:04:12 am
is there a way to quicken the time it takes to pass the turn? atm it takes a almost a full minute -_-
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 05, 2013, 08:09:48 am
better computer?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Drakale on September 05, 2013, 08:44:53 am
Skirmishing javelin infantry are probably my favorite unit right now. Stick a few in front of your melee line and let the enemy come at them. They usually win against any other kind of missile troops and even do decent damage to the heavy foot soldiers before retreating behind your main force. In a pinch they can also support the melee by taking a flank or a rear. In comparison the archers are pretty useless, unless you are defending a fort or something.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sebcool on September 05, 2013, 09:52:49 am
Skirmishing javelin infantry are probably my favorite unit right now. Stick a few in front of your melee line and let the enemy come at them. They usually win against any other kind of missile troops and even do decent damage to the heavy foot soldiers before retreating behind your main force. In a pinch they can also support the melee by taking a flank or a rear. In comparison the archers are pretty useless, unless you are defending a fort or something.

Unless your enemy have war dogs or horses, in which case your skirmishers are fucked.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 05, 2013, 10:20:03 am
Having been playing near to or fighting towards the east I have come to loathe slingers. Many armies have 8-10 slingers with a few melee. In the first game you could laugh and walk right through them but I have had heavy armored troops and cavalry try to take them on or flank from a hiding spot to just get instantly torn down from the one or two volleys before a charge hits. Then I found Royal Scythia and made it a client state and had fun watching them come to aid me with two generals with max armies of ONLY horse archers... glad I made them my client or the name of the eastern equivalent.

I've had heavy cavalry demolish other heavy cavalry, spearmen from the flank, and axe troops with no casualties but trying to charge the small gap into ranged units causes half losses sometimes. It feels like ranged got a huge buff but still learning.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 05, 2013, 10:41:32 am
What kind of slingers are those, just curious. So I can avoid them if I see them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 05, 2013, 10:56:46 am
Anyone know good ways to make people like me more, so I can confederate them? Trying to join as many Celtic tribes without a fight as possible, but they're rather stubborn. Is giving money pretty much the only thing I can offer to sweeten deals?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 05, 2013, 11:04:59 am
Be really, really, really powerful.

They'll also ask to be your client state if they're losing wars with other nations badly. It's quite amusing.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 05, 2013, 11:22:49 am
Hey, that sounds reasonable! Trying to confederate though, not sure if that has different requirements than client states, since you absorb them in to your faction.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Simmura McCrea on September 05, 2013, 01:27:51 pm
Is there any way to integrate a client state into your faction or do I have to wait until rebels steal their cities and swipe them before they do?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Rakonas on September 05, 2013, 01:41:45 pm
I'm currently under the impression that absolutely nothing can counter Praetorians. My Praetorians kill hundreds with only a couple casualties, even going against pretty decently armoured troops they shrug things off. I've been manually doing battles where I just send my praetorians ahead of the main army, mostly being principes and triarii, just to minimize casualties. Part of that probably has to do with being built in a region with armour and weapon smiths and a training ground, but I've now decided that small armies of ~3 praetorians and a ballista will suffice to conquer the planet.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 05, 2013, 08:47:58 pm
The slingers are the first tier ranged unit that all the eastern people get. I have been playing as Pontus and not sure if they are the exact same as from Greece and further west. The slingers have longer range than archers, which really irks me, and apparently laugh in the face of hoplite or shield formation armored units. They die like nothing if you reach them it is just amazing what they do in a couple volleys sometimes. There is definitely no waiting out some ranged units like I did in Rome 1 with Romans or Greek hoplites.

As for diplomacy you just do what Umimam mentioned... be really strong. I always pick families with diplomatic traits as well. If someone refuses to give me what I want or to become my satrapy I show up with the army and watch how friendly they become. I also make a bunch of allies by finding neighbors I don't care about owning and offering to fight against their enemies, just make sure to ask for what it is you want at the time of offering. I got Knossos and Rhodus to ally me by going to war with the Seleucids.

Edit: Anyone else think that using forced march should incur a penalty... maybe something like 5%-10% troop loss?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 05, 2013, 08:50:49 pm
Did we want to start a steam group for Rome 2? In case anyone wanted to play around with the multiplayer game, ask questions in games, or just chat? Not sure if people are up for that knowing this is primarily a single player game... I think.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 05, 2013, 09:05:15 pm
There are some pretty hefty penalties to forced march but keep in mind it was fairly common in the old days. I think the main reason it's here is just to make the navigating of the massive map more tolerable. So instead of waiting 4 - 5 turns for one army to march from Rome to Gaul, it takes only 2. Quality of life change.

The weaknesses are you can't attack anything. You can't turn it off in the same turn after you selected it so you really can't attack anything. You can't recruit or do any of that stuff. And god help you if you get attacked, look at all those negative buffs.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 05, 2013, 09:10:52 pm
There are some pretty hefty penalties to forced march but keep in mind it was fairly common in the old days. I think the main reason it's here is just to make the navigating of the massive map more tolerable. So instead of waiting 4 - 5 turns for one army to march from Rome to Gaul, it takes only 2. Quality of life change.

The weaknesses are you can't attack anything. You can't turn it off in the same turn after you selected it so you really can't attack anything. You can't recruit or do any of that stuff. And god help you if you get attacked, look at all those negative buffs.

I actually got caught in am ambush during a force march. Yeah imagine all the fun of an ambush battle, but with a 25% morale penalty. Quintillius Varus indeed.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 06, 2013, 09:54:52 am
Is gravitas and the internal politics all a facade at the moment? It seems all actions lose influence points, even those that eliminate rival parties, which makes little sense if it succeeds. Almost all of my leading family members end up with a trait that removes one gravitas a turn but there seems no difference between members who have 0 and those that have 100. They come and go with the various families with no change occuring. When I try looking it up it appears others have no idea what any of the internal politics do and appear to think it is actually not a working system as of yet. Personally I have yet to play a Rome campaign but from forums it seems no different than the other families in that it seems useless at this point. In the few long term campaigns I have going it seems influence always steadily goes down to about 48% for the main family you choose then sticks that way for the rest of the game.

Thoughts?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on September 06, 2013, 09:57:58 am
Thought it was 50% morale penalty? Regardless it's a pretty big blow...I personally play with a moral mod to make battles longer and less arcade like...it's amazing...they average 5-10 minutes now rather than 2-3

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?618513-Radious-Moral-Mod-!!!!

plenty of other good mods as well...I would check them out!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lastverb on September 06, 2013, 11:16:33 am
Well, slingers are kind of OP compared to rome 1 or armour is bugged (i haven't found shield stat, anyone know if it's shown anywhere ingame?). Spartan hoplites with +2/+2 armor/shield (0 experience) in phalanx formation loose 40% men to unupgraded 0 experience basic epirus slingers as they empty their ammo. Javelinmans and archers barely keeps up and got much shorter range.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 06, 2013, 11:18:43 am
The slingers are the first tier ranged unit that all the eastern people get. I have been playing as Pontus and not sure if they are the exact same as from Greece and further west. The slingers have longer range than archers, which really irks me, and apparently laugh in the face of hoplite or shield formation armored units. They die like nothing if you reach them it is just amazing what they do in a couple volleys sometimes. There is definitely no waiting out some ranged units like I did in Rome 1 with Romans or Greek hoplites.

They should have. Remember, these weren't English Longbows or composite bows (and there's still theories that slings would have equal effective range to English Longbows if slung by somebody grown up in a slinger culture - but I take those theories with a large grain of salt). They should be effective against heavy troops as well, seeming as both stones and shaped bullets travel with enough force that even if they do not break the armour (which was well within their power) they can still break the mushy meat-and-bone-stuff on the other side of it.

Slings were basically the English Longbows of the Classical Age. They took a lifetime to master, but they dominated the battlefield. The reason the Greeks and Romans thought of it as a "dishonourable weapon" was, in my uneducated opinion, just because they were sour because they risked getting outclassed by a bunch of goat-fucking mountain-herders every time they looked east.

That said, that's pretty much the opposite of my experience. I'm having trouble killing anything with slingers.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 06, 2013, 02:01:06 pm
Also remember that aside from the chainmail all the legionaires wore, everyone's "armor" back in the day was little more than strapping what is basically bronze pots, pans, and pairs of jeans to themselves.

I can echo scriver's statement too.

My slingers and low level peasant skirmishers are all almost useless when it comes to killing things. They're just very annoying. At the end screen stats you have peltasts and other better skirmishers with good kill numbers but slingers with like... 20. This compared with wardogs that have hundreds of kills and cost the same price hahaha.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 06, 2013, 02:04:25 pm
Wardogs are just ridiculously broken- slash I don't think AI units can fight them properly. I once released an unit of wardogs into the heart of the enemy formation (towards spearmen, too) and a moment later started wondering why half of the enemy army was missing. At the end of the battle, with some war dogs still alive, I notice they have 645 kills. At that point I just considered getting rid of every other type of unit.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 06, 2013, 02:08:11 pm
What IS the counter to war dogs?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 06, 2013, 02:10:15 pm
Ships. Dogs can't swim. I hope?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 06, 2013, 02:44:49 pm
Is it similar like Rome 1 where as long as handlers are alive it doesn't matter how many dogs die? Roman armies in Rome 1 loved war-dogs, could face armies with 10 stacks of wardogs but they weren't too scary.

Also slings should not be that effective vs shields, they can indeed be powerful and have a long range but stones/bullets bounce of shields while arrows can stick in shields and weigh them down or cause more damage to them. Armour wise slings can be effective just because of the impact so a shot to the helmet can cause blunt force trauma and knock someone out while an arrow might bounce off without causing as much damage. Javelins are deadly vs shields and armour though.

Slingers should require a lot more room then archers though, a formation of archers or javelin-men can fire/throw over each others heads while slingers would need wide lines just not to entagle each other while slinging let alone to avoid hitting each other.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 06, 2013, 03:05:37 pm
So since the patch, my game now hangs for 30-40 seconds whenever the camera is moved automatically. Immensely annoying, anyone else having this problem?

What IS the counter to war dogs?

War cats
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: MorleyDev on September 06, 2013, 04:04:55 pm
I just had a rebel slaughter my about 5 stacks of farmers and 1 stack of slingers, only for another stack of slingers and some levy spearmen I accidentally forgot about and left floating in boats to drive the army back. The enemy cavalry all died in the initial charge against the Farmers, so the Slingers just skirmished some sword bands into submission whilst the levy's got a lucky flanking ambush and decimated the spread apart armies.

Playing as Britannia is fun :) Unifying Britain is pretty easy though once you take over another settlement they line up to enter the British Confederation. I always liked playing as a British in Rome/Medieval because it gave a very clear goal at the start before moving on to Europe.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 06, 2013, 04:35:29 pm
I see a lot of people complaining about the campaign and battle AI, saying it's too easy. Is this actually the case, or are people just whining? Because if it's true, then holy crap am I bad at this game. I get my ass handed to me on normal :/
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 06, 2013, 05:25:42 pm
I'll say what I told my friend when he asked me why everyone was whining about bad AI.

"Yeah, the siege AI is quite dumb, there's no doubt about that. But out in the field, the AI is monstrous, especially on the higher difficulty levels. The diplomacy and overworld AI has improved dramatically too, not being completely nonsensical any more.

The guys who complain about AI are the same guys who play on normal and then say it's too easy. You've also got the guys with selective memories who forget all the times the AI outwits them and only remember the moments when they outwit the AI. You've also got those who only autoresolve every single battle. Those who savescum nonstop and conveniently forget the reasons why they savescummed.

Dozens of roads leading to the conclusion that "the AI sucks".

What people say and what they mean are completely different things. If you looked to the root of the complaints, you'd probably find an answer completely different to what they were claiming."
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 06, 2013, 06:00:20 pm
the wiki article on sling is interesting, albeit ridden with [citation needed]

"The sling is mentioned by Homer[7] and by other Greek authors. The historian of the retreat of the Ten Thousand, 401 BC, relates that the Greeks suffered severely from the slingers in the army of Artaxerxes II of Persia, while they themselves had neither cavalry nor slingers, and were unable to reach the enemy with their arrows and javelins. This deficiency was rectified when a company of 200 Rhodians, who understood the use of leaden sling-bullets, was formed. They were able, says Xenophon, to project their missiles twice as far as the Persian slingers, who used large stones.[8]"

this passage in special shows how slingers were at least revered and respected by narrators, even accounting for their typical exaggerations, albeit it seems unlikely that 200 slinger could hold armies that numbered in thousands.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 06, 2013, 06:43:25 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGSsbCPeocU

I like this guy, lots of stuff about slings and other interesting crap
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 06, 2013, 07:03:51 pm
Huh, sudden massive performance improvement. Campaign turn waiting times are much less, and my framerate in battles has gone from ~20 to ~45 without any changes to graphical settings. This is weird since right after the patch downloaded it got much, much worse. Has there been a secret hotfix or something?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 06, 2013, 07:06:55 pm
As for siege AI. I had a group of four Eastern Spearmen (or whatever their base infantry is called) with one ladder each approach the walls of a settlement defended by five archer units... And not a single arrow was fired at them. I was kind of baffled.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 07, 2013, 05:04:42 am
Yeah, the AI seems kind of split, sometimes it's absolutely fantastic, using hills as visual cover, mounting flank attacks, harrying infantry with skirmishers, etc etc.

Then sometimes, as just happened to me, they bring all their javelin throwers down off their walls, run out the gates towards me like "COME AT ME BROICUS" and try to engage my spartan hoplites in melee.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: ScriptWolf on September 07, 2013, 06:12:30 am
if anyone is interested me and blank door are doing a stream of Rome 2 multiplayer campaign
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on September 07, 2013, 07:15:21 am
Yeah, the AI seems kind of split, sometimes it's absolutely fantastic, using hills as visual cover, mounting flank attacks, harrying infantry with skirmishers, etc etc.

Then sometimes, as just happened to me, they bring all their javelin throwers down off their walls, run out the gates towards me like "COME AT ME BROICUS" and try to engage my spartan hoplites in melee.

I had the AI attacking my city gate. They moved their troops into range of the gate to throw the torches at it, then when it was burning they moved back outside of tower range to wait for it to open. That was a neat bit of cleverness to see.

Though, I've also had enemy troops get stuck while jumping off of ships, not really unexpected that that can happen.

Another point had enemy troops sneak around behind my line and charge from hiding.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 07, 2013, 07:26:47 am
if anyone is interested me and blank door are doing a stream of Rome 2 multiplayer campaign

When, where, and why didn't you tell meeee
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: ScriptWolf on September 07, 2013, 07:35:58 am
if anyone is interested me and blank door are doing a stream of Rome 2 multiplayer campaign

When, where, and why didn't you tell meeee

Sorry we were then my Internet crapped out :( hopefully we will pick it up again soon :)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 07, 2013, 10:44:33 am
Yeah, the AI is absolutely worthless is a siege.

I think the sheer variety of the siege maps and how many obstacles there are confuses it.

In the field it is amazing.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 07, 2013, 02:25:57 pm
Has anyone else actually managed to successfully kill a character with assassination? I have literally never managed it at all, the best I ever do is wound. This is across multiple different campaigns, with different assassins, with success chances as high as 80%.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Whitefoxsniper on September 07, 2013, 02:40:02 pm
Has anyone else actually managed to successfully kill a character with assassination? I have literally never managed it at all, the best I ever do is wound. This is across multiple different campaigns, with different assassins, with success chances as high as 80%.
I've managed to kill a warlard with assassination, but all of the generals I've tried it on mostly end up wounded instead.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 07, 2013, 02:59:44 pm
I literally cannot kill anyone with anyone. I've tried with all three agent types, against many different targets, and the best I ever get is a wound. Wondering if it's a bug or just astronomical bad luck.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on September 07, 2013, 03:03:22 pm
Are they fresh recruits? I've been assassinating a lot with my spy that has like, 8 cunning.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lastverb on September 07, 2013, 03:05:56 pm
I had successfully assassinated a few generals (a spy with zeal action :D ). It just barely gives anything as it is instantly replaced by a new one.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 07, 2013, 03:21:09 pm
It will immediately replace the general with a 1 1 1 general. The next turn will have a 3 3 3 general provided the faction still exists. If you wiped out the last city, the army will immediately die since there's no one to replace it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 07, 2013, 03:24:15 pm
High level generals can get rather powerful with all the buffs they get, so I can see the benifit of assassinating sometime. On that note, do the AI follow the same internal politics rule? So if I manage to assassinate their leader, can it through their political balance off and maybe cause problems? Is there a way to get insite in to their politics?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: SharpKris on September 07, 2013, 03:35:11 pm
i feel there's a lack in actual politics...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 07, 2013, 04:26:59 pm
Are they fresh recruits? I've been assassinating a lot with my spy that has like, 8 cunning.

Highest rank was rank 6 or so.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on September 07, 2013, 05:14:00 pm
i feel there's a lack in actual politics...

It really depends on your faction and your playstyle, though.
When I was playing as rome, diplomacy was basically thrown out of window as everyone just downright hated me.

When I played as the Athens.. well, the politics were a lot more interesting and dynamic.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Glowcat on September 07, 2013, 06:46:09 pm
I'm ~120 Turns in as Gaul and so far enjoy the game despite a few large caveats. I absolutely love the way agents work now and hope CA expands on the formula instead of reinventing it for the next game. I couldn't stand the 1 turn = 1 year rate however and had to stop my game as Rome to download a 2 turn per year mod which, imo, feels far more natural and now I don't have people dying left and right unless it's from assassination. There are also a LOT of bugs still left... e.g. When attacking the Iceni starting city my transports would somehow teleport my general to the NE map edge instead of letting me into the city. Apparently the druids pulled an Evil Jade on me.

And balance seems to be all over the place. Oathsworn, especially when upgraded by the Averni bronze/iron smith, cut through pretty much anything with few to no losses. At this point it's me slogging through Africa and eastern Europe to get that culture victory while stomping on insurrection proactively. Even with no slaves, only level 2 fish ports, and a maxed tech line that adds public order I can hardly build anything thanks to squallor. Gonna see how Rome handles my war machine now :D

Also <3 Champions. I'd give one for every general if I could. Spies are also rather brutal if they've trained up mass poisoning.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 07, 2013, 07:14:15 pm
About champions. What is this adventuring thing? I can't find any option for it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Glowcat on September 07, 2013, 07:35:31 pm
About champions. What is this adventuring thing? I can't find any option for it.

Seems to be passively applied. At least it's listed underneath my champion's active effects always.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 07, 2013, 07:57:55 pm
You know the button where you select army stances?

Agents have them too. They get one for being in friendly territory and one in foreign territory. Adventuring is one of these.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Glowcat on September 07, 2013, 09:13:18 pm
Pretty sure the activated ability for Champions is Military Fervor (Your lands, improves public order) and Guerilla Warfare (does.. something. I haven't used it much). Adventuring just happens.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 07, 2013, 09:44:36 pm
So, my game as Rome may be fucked. I control all of Italy, including Scicily and those islands to the left, and the chunk of Africa from Carthage southward. So I moved north to deal with the Barbarians. I see the Helveti have one poorly defended settlement, and not much else. I delcare war.

15 years later, and I realize I probably should have sent scouts. They weren't some poor defenseless two settlement tribe. They were a behemoth that controls nearly half of Modern day France, and I essentially just punched an angry bear because all I saw was it's paw.

To make matters worse, Tylis isn't too fond of me, and they have united all of Greece, Macedonia, and Thracia(?) under their banner.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 08, 2013, 12:14:24 am
I was screwing around with Timferius with all sorts of MP games and in one of them we got this achievement!

(http://i.imgur.com/nCdCy44.png)

Also, an all war dog army totally does not work. You can't control the wardogs once they're released and they all like to attack one target together at the same time.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 08, 2013, 12:29:39 am
Yes, apparently, leaving your capital city as Athens, with an angry Sparta just to the south, ends poorly for all involved (except sparta).
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 08, 2013, 02:49:21 am
just found the page with the city development tree

now my mind is swamped with all the possible combos
(btw, the coloseum gives both +12 public order and -4 - wtf)


my question is, do the bonus stack for the city or for the province? like the +40% bonus wealth from pastures.. applies to city or province pastures?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 08, 2013, 02:52:07 am
All bonuses from buildings affect everything in the province. And yeah, they stack.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 08, 2013, 03:01:59 am
it is settled then:

italica will become a massive recruiting center, magna greca my food production province and cisalpina my huge wealth factory.

Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 08, 2013, 04:08:43 am
Just an FYI, unlocking factions is already being done by modders after CA helped them figure out why unlocking factions caused a crash bug (Non playable factions lacked a Political System, so they have to be added by the modder for each one).

This mod unlocks a few of them already, although it doesn't have any graphics for them (so the campaign selection screen is full of missing textures). It's at a very incomplete stage right now, with just the factions unlocked, but non of the strings filled in (So your family name is just a blank space for instance) but since this is within a few days of release, It still is a nice proof of concept.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?618568-Playable-Factions-(Total-23-Added-this-round-9)

The fact that they seem to be fine with letting modders  (To the point of assisting even) unlock non-playable factions leads me to suspect the faction DLCs will focus on adding flavor and units to the factions they add, that or it will specifically lock out the added playable nations. Either way with a bit of script editing you can play whatever minor tribe you desire.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 08, 2013, 08:29:20 am
Pretty sure the activated ability for Champions is Military Fervor (Your lands, improves public order) and Guerilla Warfare (does.. something. I haven't used it much). Adventuring just happens.

Pretty much this, yeah ;)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 08, 2013, 11:40:38 am
how do I cure provincial instability that gives cumulative -1 each turn?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 08, 2013, 11:44:45 am
Doesn't that go away at a rate of -1 per turn? I think it's just an effect from taking a settlement in the province, and disappears slowly.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lastverb on September 08, 2013, 12:12:18 pm
It is modifier from taking setlements, every time you conquer one you get instability based on action taken (occupy gives small amount, razing gives most and making a client state gives 0). It goes back to 0 by 1 point per turn and a hint given by hovering mouse can be easily misunderstood.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 08, 2013, 12:29:23 pm
It is modifier from taking setlements, every time you conquer one you get instability based on action taken (occupy gives small amount, razing gives most and making a client state gives 0). It goes back to 0 by 1 point per turn and a hint given by hovering mouse can be easily misunderstood.

tnx - the post conquer information lies, it say that it last one turn total, or something.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Simmura McCrea on September 08, 2013, 12:32:45 pm
That's just a single large hit of happiness for conquering a settlement. The instability is a seperate thingy.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 08, 2013, 12:52:52 pm
soo many stuff left to guessing..

did I get more training per turn the more barracks I have? it doesn't seem so, so I don't get the point of having it in more than one province.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on September 08, 2013, 12:55:49 pm
You get several types of barracks that produces different types of units. Which is why you build multiple barracks in a province.

For rome, you need to build temple of mars to gain additional recruitment slots. Not sure if other buildings (the training camp, for example) can do that or not, but temple of mars increases recruitment cap by 1 iirc.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Simmura McCrea on September 08, 2013, 12:56:39 pm
I don't think so. The point of having barracks in other provinces is to allow recruiting of good units in other provinces. Or recruiting of different units depending on which building tree you follow.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sneakey pete on September 08, 2013, 01:08:33 pm
Is anyone having any success playing multiplayer Campaigns? I've tried a few with my mate on launch day, but they kept desyncing on about the 4th or 5th turn, and after the patch they desynced during a battle on the second turn. However i'm wondering if its just because of the terrible laptop i'm playing the game on currently, which is getting to the low end of the minimum specifications.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on September 08, 2013, 01:12:09 pm
For some odd reasons it seems that it's dependent on the host's specs. I'm at turn 30 something, and we're not having any problems whatsoever.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 08, 2013, 02:28:45 pm
Is anyone having any success playing multiplayer Campaigns? I've tried a few with my mate on launch day, but they kept desyncing on about the 4th or 5th turn, and after the patch they desynced during a battle on the second turn. However i'm wondering if its just because of the terrible laptop i'm playing the game on currently, which is getting to the low end of the minimum specifications.
Worked fine for me.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 08, 2013, 04:26:42 pm
The total war team put out a 10 minute video talking about the various ranged weapons in the game: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/383dfm/total-war--rome-ii-projectiles-feature

By the way, has anyone figured out how defensive siege weapons work? I have the upgraded cities with the siege garrisons but they never appear in siege battles.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 08, 2013, 04:55:43 pm
An update. That mod I linked which unlocked some of the playable factions, has now unlocked EVERY MINOR FACTION excluding Rhodes.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?618568-Playable-Factions-(Total-23-Added-this-round-9
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on September 08, 2013, 07:30:04 pm
The total war team put out a 10 minute video talking about the various ranged weapons in the game: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/383dfm/total-war--rome-ii-projectiles-feature

By the way, has anyone figured out how defensive siege weapons work? I have the upgraded cities with the siege garrisons but they never appear in siege battles.

I didn't know there was sonic weaponry in the game. :P


Hm, are they catapults? Those appear on the walls now yes? I haven't actually got defensive siege weapons yet (Suebi campaign at the moment).


Also, uh... don't suppose someone could write up a piece explaining the political system? Elder Chiefs and Other Chiefs, which ones are mine or just how it all works in general. Simple like, the in game article doesn't really help me at all.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 08, 2013, 08:08:53 pm
You are the ruling party (in your case the Elder Chiefs). The higher percentage support you have, the more stable and less likely to have guys wounded by the other chiefs. You get percentigae through having Elder Chiefs with High Gravitas, and doing things like winning battles and being awesome. if your percentage drops too low, you may have a civil war, and get booted out of the city and have to retake it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on September 08, 2013, 08:18:23 pm
You are the ruling party (in your case the Elder Chiefs). The higher percentage support you have, the more stable and less likely to have guys wounded by the other chiefs. You get percentigae through having Elder Chiefs with High Gravitas, and doing things like winning battles and being awesome. if your percentage drops too low, you may have a civil war, and get booted out of the city and have to retake it.

Ah, right right. That makes more sense. Though one thing; I can recruit Other Chiefs as generals. This doesn't make them part of my faction but the increase in gravitas from winning battles would probably end up making them a threat yes?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 08, 2013, 08:28:11 pm
You are the ruling party (in your case the Elder Chiefs). The higher percentage support you have, the more stable and less likely to have guys wounded by the other chiefs. You get percentigae through having Elder Chiefs with High Gravitas, and doing things like winning battles and being awesome. if your percentage drops too low, you may have a civil war, and get booted out of the city and have to retake it.

Ah, right right. That makes more sense. Though one thing; I can recruit Other Chiefs as generals. This doesn't make them part of my faction but the increase in gravitas from winning battles would probably end up making them a threat yes?

Yes, such are the trials of leadership, you can't ignore the other party. Worst case scenario, charge them single handidly at a large enemy, problem solved.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on September 08, 2013, 08:38:45 pm
You are the ruling party (in your case the Elder Chiefs). The higher percentage support you have, the more stable and less likely to have guys wounded by the other chiefs. You get percentigae through having Elder Chiefs with High Gravitas, and doing things like winning battles and being awesome. if your percentage drops too low, you may have a civil war, and get booted out of the city and have to retake it.

Ah, right right. That makes more sense. Though one thing; I can recruit Other Chiefs as generals. This doesn't make them part of my faction but the increase in gravitas from winning battles would probably end up making them a threat yes?

Yes, such are the trials of leadership, you can't ignore the other party. Worst case scenario, charge them single handidly at a large enemy, problem solved.

Then they died in glorious battle against our many enemies, Teiwaz shall judge them. Thanks for all that, it was a bit the game didn't seem to explain much in the tutorial (or it explained it from the perspective of Rome, which I assume functions a bit differently).
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 08, 2013, 08:58:09 pm
I don't think civil war happens from too low family power.

I got a civil war even though I was king of the goddamn universe.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 08, 2013, 10:06:07 pm
I don't think civil war happens from too low family power.

I got a civil war even though I was king of the goddamn universe.

Well, from what I understand, Rome and Carthage are different, in that if they get too HIGH they ALSO start a civil war.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on September 08, 2013, 10:09:17 pm
I don't think civil war happens from too low family power.

I got a civil war even though I was king of the goddamn universe.

Well, from what I understand, Rome and Carthage are different, in that if they get too HIGH they ALSO start a civil war.

I believe that will be because they're Republics as opposed to a government with a single leader like barbarians or whathaveyou.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 09, 2013, 01:59:33 am
oh btw I can confirm that the number of the same barracks in each province doesn't influence how many unit you can recruit, only the type.

I wonder if there is a way to recruit more than three unit in the same province per turn.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 09, 2013, 02:38:11 am
One of the temples gives +1 recruitment slot.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 10, 2013, 01:55:10 am
Well, dunno if anyone likes this guy or not. And I haven't started the video (it is almost midnight here). But my friend said it didn't look good for the game. Though, don't know what that means as... well...I haven't watched that video. But, I'd probably trust more into a Youtube reviewer than someone who works in a big company like PCgamer or gamespot).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_QK-lcW8a8
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: BuriBuriZaemon on September 10, 2013, 06:23:27 am
Well, dunno if anyone likes this guy or not. And I haven't started the video (it is almost midnight here). But my friend said it didn't look good for the game. Though, don't know what that means as... well...I haven't watched that video. But, I'd probably trust more into a Youtube reviewer than someone who works in a big company like PCgamer or gamespot).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_QK-lcW8a8

AngryJoe and TotalBiscuit are two of the most respective reviewers on my book. Thank God I didn't take the bait and buy this game. Sticking to Shogun 2.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lastverb on September 10, 2013, 06:28:46 am
I'll just post a list of my issues:
1) Optimization - this game can, from time to time, lag like hell and noone knows why. Even in small battles. While other time it can run smoothly in max sized battles.
2) Unbalanced - it's all over the place. Pikes kills everything. Cavalry drop like flies charging on light spearman from back, even if spearman is engaged in fight. Elephants can't do shit. Fully upgraded and trained elite roman legionaries looses to out-of-box barbarians elite.
3) Armor is completly meaningless, thus making every single defensive formation useless (pikes excluded). Low armor values negates all damage they can, but every thing got astronomical armor penetration, which is damage dealt regardless. Testudo is formation against non-javelin missile infantry? Wrong. You will loose 50% more men to both slingers and archers. Shieldwall somewhat works against melee with very high damage (differnece is extremly low). Just don't use formations, they only got drawbacks.
4) Transports - it's enough to say that every army walking on sea is magically transformed into transports. But there is more - transport ships are even better than port militia and low tier navy. Against ai you might be successfull without navy entire game (army limits somewhat tries to enforce using navies).
5) Strategic AI is duuuumb - advanced strategy someone described that enemy is leaving settlement to attack their back provinces is not a strategy. AI simply doesn't know meaning of a word "defence". Put 4 unit army at their gates and they will either attack you or go far away with their 20 unit one, leaving their city free to take (elite units makes short work of militia).
6) If AI has access to sea, they will have all their armies stationed in transports. If your next conquer have access to sea and is currently at peace, make one port province on other part of the world be taken by rebels, every single one of enemy armies will go there to blockade port. Since you can only take a city from sea by assault, they will sit there to the end of days (unless there is enemy province closer to home or some neighbour actually go there by land). Using some one region island for that you can have all armies of AIs (at peace and with sea access) in single place.
I learned that when i tried to take rebelled sicily setlement from Cartagine. Even Syracuse send their army by sea. Had to declare war on cartagine anyway - libya was the first to blockade and you can't take city someone is sieging/blockading.

edit: oh and remember to buy a lot of cavalry, enemy armies got >50% missile units.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 10, 2013, 07:12:06 am
I, for one, am really enjoying this game. The key is not to get yourself massively hyped up before release :P
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 10, 2013, 07:27:28 am
I read a bunch of negative reviews before starting and was pleasantly surprised at the actual game. It's not a bad game by any means.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 10, 2013, 08:34:18 am
It's quite a lot of fun. Got a few niggles with it myself, too, though. I'll only mention ones I haven't spotted anyone else saying, though
1. Siege weaponry. Why bother? A unit of Ballistae can easily take down enough of the wall to render a battering ram, siege tower or set of ladders a waste of time and men.
2. Allied AI doesn't seem to understand why stationing its' dignitaries in territories controlled solely by me pisses me off and gets them assassinated.
3. I'm only playing on Normal (I thought the AI'd be normal. Not imbecilic), but the AI's tactic in defending minor settlements seems to be to stand in plain view and watch the Ballistae/Onagers I now have in every army bombard them. Then stand still and watch my slingers kill off the rest of them. Might be changed in higher difficulties, I'm too lazy to switch difficulties atm.
4. Siege AI. They'll charge straight ahead into my ambushes, through the gates with the boiling oil, etc etc. I've won far too many defensive battles due to the AI being too stupid to scout out city squares before sending all their melee infantry in there. Possibly invalidated by me playing on normal, though.
5. I really wish my units would stick to their orders. I don't damn well care if you clipped a single spearman from that unit as you ran past, Cavalry, stopping to fight them all is not what you were told to do, and it'll just waste your lives.
6. Sea battles. I see all these awesome Fire Pot Dieres, Tower Hemiolias, Ballistae Triremes, and my best boat is... a large raider with a bunch of painted nutjobs on it. Greaaat. I want to hurl pots of explosive at people, I mean there's even briton artillery boats in the encyclopaedia. But upon investigation, said encyclopaedia doesn't actually say anything about how I can get a boat that hurls rocks at other boats. Bluh.

3 and 4 are possibly just because I'm playing at too low a difficulty, I suppose.
Even with all that, though, I'm still enjoying it. Currently gets a 6.5/10 from me, and I'm hoping it'll get better as it's patched.

Oh, and the landship bug was hilarious. Only got it once, but having my entire garrison butchered was a small price to pay to see that.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 10, 2013, 08:56:36 am
This game still has the stupid sloppy engine and ai from shogun 1

15 years later if you move a group formation the cavalry arrives with a huge lead.


Wtf?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Shadow Creator on September 10, 2013, 11:54:14 pm
I have played Pontus on hard, Germania on very hard, and Rome on legendary. Slingers, and ranged in general, make no sense to me but as LastVerb has mentioned it seems my issues were greater because I was using formations which seem to work against you. I would have a unit of upgraded Hastatii in Tustedo formation get utterly destroyed by injured levy slingers. Odd since Tustedo should make them all but impervious to missile fire and did in Rome 1. It also explains why I lost generals in hoplite formations so easily. I also wanted to bring up war dogs since I am finally play Rome, on legendary, and they are like tactical nukes! A few war dogs sent at a 40 stack army decimate 1/3 with no effort or retaliation it is insane. I have even sent a group of three into a defended fort against a full garrison and watched them tear apart everyone standing near the gate I destroyed.

Still... I am loving this game and can't wait to see it after some patches, DLCs, and of course mods.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 11, 2013, 01:46:02 am
playing the bello mundi mod for medieval II, not looking back until next couple of expansion fix the battles
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: gigaraptor487 on September 11, 2013, 12:00:58 pm
Quote
playing the bello mundi mod for medieval II, not looking back until next couple of expansion fix the battles

Does that need kingdoms?, i have vanilla med 2 and can't find a copy of kingdoms.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Tack on September 12, 2013, 06:49:00 pm
I don't get the trouble everyone is having with ranged attackers.
While I was using legionaries and legionary cohort, slingers did actively nothing to me. I waited about a minute under constant missile fire and lost one.
(That being said, I never used testudo anyway. They take less arrows just from passively holding up their shields)

Also I'm looking to do a legendary co-op with someone, if anybody is up for it?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 12, 2013, 09:30:34 pm
I don't get it either.

Especially slingers, they do almost no damage. I've tested custom games with useless infantry like Egyptian Infantry and slingers could barely do anything against them.

Certain ranged units like higher tier javelins and especially peltasts have insane damage though and those hurt like hell. But slingers? No way.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on September 12, 2013, 10:54:51 pm
I guess in situations like you get hit from the sides or from behind, you may get some casualties.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on September 12, 2013, 11:05:14 pm
Beside the point that I don't really play as Rome much, I can't remember using Testudo formation that much in Rome 1 since it was so slow they got hit by more projectiles on the way to their target (thus negating the extra armour by an amount), they got tired while using it and had a smaller formation so were more vulnerable to being mobbed.

I'm sure I'm using it wrong, it's to be used on approaching targets while under heavy missile fire yes?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 12, 2013, 11:15:33 pm
It's better just to move normally with them. Testudo only makes them more vulnerable somehow.

Am I blind or has the 'loose formation' button disappeared? I find myself wanting to spread out units taking missile fire, but the option seems to be gone.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: hexedmagica on September 12, 2013, 11:19:44 pm
Hey guys, anybody got suggestions for opening moves for Egypt? I can never seem to get it right and just get dogpiled
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 13, 2013, 01:52:47 am
Beside the point that I don't really play as Rome much, I can't remember using Testudo formation that much in Rome 1 since it was so slow they got hit by more projectiles on the way to their target (thus negating the extra armour by an amount), they got tired while using it and had a smaller formation so were more vulnerable to being mobbed.

I'm sure I'm using it wrong, it's to be used on approaching targets while under heavy missile fire yes?
I'm not sure about the historical use of the tetsudo, but in Rome 2's it's probably better to advance outside of it and only use it when you can't move.

I.e: When you're waiting for gates to burn down or you're being attacked by horse archers.

It just takes way too long to move around inside a tetsudo and the units all raise shields over their heads anyway.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 13, 2013, 02:40:51 am
I think the tetsudo was used so that heavy troop could shelter lighter troops under their shield.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 13, 2013, 06:55:46 am
I only have trouble with slingers when trying to advance on them with lighter troops. As Parthia, they are my single biggest threat since they are the only thing that outreaches my horse archers and if I don't micromanage my troops to keep them moving at all times they will totally tear them to pieces. As long as I stay moving however I have no trouble defeating them without many casualties. And even my Median Cavalry ("medium shock cavalry" or something like that) are armoured enough to stand against them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on September 13, 2013, 12:27:51 pm
Sounds like the Testudo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testudo_formation) is bugged, then. It should make the unit pretty much invulnerable to missiles, which is what it did historically according to period sources. The drawback was movement speed and ability to actually fight in hand-to-hand combat.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 13, 2013, 01:19:09 pm
I'm generally more impressed that the Romans had the economy to equip every single one of their legionaries with so much expensive equipment.

I mean, I'm going to list off their equipment:

1. Full chainmail hauberk, individually hand-linked and smelted or full scale-mail hauberk
2. Steel helmet and shoulder guards, individually wrought
3. Steel shortsword (gladius)
4. Red dyed cloth tunic
5. Triple-banded wooden shield backed with tight leather and metal trappings, painted red and gold.
6. Two javelins (pilum)
7. One dagger
8. 15 days of food
9. 225 denarii a year in pay plus bonuses and land

Hell, it'd be like giving every single soldier today his own personal humvee, a few RPGs, three guns, and a few acres of land... along with everything else he normally got.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: 10ebbor10 on September 13, 2013, 01:35:34 pm
They didn't. The empire collapsed under the economical strain.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mephansteras on September 13, 2013, 01:36:20 pm
They didn't. The empire collapsed under the economical strain.

Eventually. They still kept it up for a very long period of time.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 13, 2013, 02:32:41 pm
They didn't. The empire collapsed under the economical strain.
If by collapse... you mean continue from 200 BC to 500 AD for a period of 700 years... then okay.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lastverb on September 13, 2013, 02:55:26 pm
Hell, it'd be like giving every single soldier today his own personal humvee, a few RPGs, three guns, and a few acres of land... along with everything else he normally got.
Two words: slave labour. It would be easily done, if more than half of population were slaves (yup, try to do that in rome2 happieness system). That equipment list apply to late/post republican era, when Romans controled most of known world. Most of it (exception of shields / pilums) lasted "few soldiers lifespan" and rome did suffer extremly-low losses for that era. Earlier roman armies used mainly spears/shields and leather armor.
On top of that is a whole army private funding topic. Rome wasn't republic in style we know. It was money=military power=political power. Even after Hortensian laws it was the same (changed only on paper).
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Urist McScoopbeard on September 13, 2013, 04:00:34 pm
Also, Rome (especially the Byzantines after the western empire fell) had a nasty habit of not paying its soldiers, the only reason they didn't revolt ALL the time was because they usually (USUALLY) got a cut of the loot from defeated foes, sacking cities.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Zrk2 on September 17, 2013, 12:27:31 pm
Also, Rome (especially the Byzantines after the western empire fell) had a nasty habit of not paying its soldiers, the only reason they didn't revolt ALL the time was because they usually (USUALLY) got a cut of the loot from defeated foes, sacking cities.

IIRC if one were involed in the sack of a major city one could take almost a year's pay in loot during it. War for fun and profit, indeed.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: mainiac on September 17, 2013, 12:32:03 pm
Also, Rome (especially the Byzantines after the western empire fell) had a nasty habit of not paying its soldiers

By the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Romans has mostly settled around the system of paying soldiers with a grant of land.  The heavy infantry would generally be given land in interior country and rent it out.  The auxiliaries would be given frontier land and would farm it themselves when the empire wasn't at war.  The system was changed numerous times, but that was a crux of it.  There were also mercenaries, such as the Varangians, but they weren't the real strength of the empire.  Loot was more a republican era compensation.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Zrk2 on September 18, 2013, 06:11:11 pm
It was called the Pronoia system or theme system depending on the period. They were very similar, but still subtly different. It was like more centralized feudalism.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 21, 2013, 07:24:12 am
So has anyone noticed the campaign AI improvements since the last patch? So much more aggressive now, it's awesome.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 21, 2013, 07:59:10 am
I've only noticed that the game is now always claiming that 'graphics memory is running low' and threatening to lower the settings... to absolutely no effect, as far as I can see.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 21, 2013, 09:39:28 am
I've only noticed that the game is now always claiming that 'graphics memory is running low' and threatening to lower the settings... to absolutely no effect, as far as I can see.

Did you check the 'Unlimited Video Memory' thing in Graphics? I haven't had that happen myself but... I tend to check it anyway. Can't hurt.
I think.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 21, 2013, 10:06:55 am
I'm getting a bit annoyed at the AI's habit of declaring war at my satrapies to avoid having to go to war with my allies. Yes, very clever, CA, you taught your campaign AI how to abuse a hole in your diplomatic system (they do it to allies as well, but at least that makes a lot more sense). Especially grating when the satrapy or ally shares no border whatsoever with the warmongerer or even is on the whole other side of the map. Like Nabatea declaring war on the Khorasmii Steppe People in the northeast or Egypt and Pontus both attacking Arachosia (in the very southeast corner) in my latest Parthia game. They have absolutely nothing to gain from starting those wars except to get to me. And that would be cool when and if they attacked an ally or satrapy (though attacking client states should still call in the allies of the state-major) that is nearby in the region, like Armenia or one of my Arabian Peninsula satrapies - that's a pretty tried and true tactic, after all. But no, it seems to be completely random which related faction they attack.

Edit: looked up the actual names of the factions ;)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 21, 2013, 10:47:01 am
What are the actual point of satrapies? It just seems so much cleaner to occupy. They only seem to want to be satrapies after I bring them down to 1 settlement and by then I would rather have the whole region for any edict bonuses.

I'm doing a Parthia vanilla campaign before I put in any (read many) mods in just to try and get a baseline on CA's game balance. It's a bit annoying though as my tactic is pretty much be a mongol horde with masses of horse archers and just wear down enemies. The logistics research for ammo and range building for ammo upgrade were early choices so I am at that annoying stage where gameplay is me just running around shooting people which can get a bit boring but I only have myself to blame.

The Siege AI is still a bit dissapointing, it's stupid seeing an auto-results being like 90% in favour of enemy when they attack a walled city and then playing out the battle they pretty much just die to the towers, conversely when attacking a walled city if you have the numbers it is much better to just auto-result it and only lose a few troops instead of potentially losing a few hundred trying to take the walls.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 21, 2013, 11:37:05 am
Eh? When I play on legendary (aka hard) or very hard (aka normal) I tend to lose way more in autoresolve than in regular battles. I think they skew the autoresolve results according to difficulty level.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 21, 2013, 11:54:10 am
What are the actual point of satrapies? It just seems so much cleaner to occupy. They only seem to want to be satrapies after I bring them down to 1 settlement and by then I would rather have the whole region for any edict bonuses.

I'm doing a Parthia vanilla campaign before I put in any (read many) mods in just to try and get a baseline on CA's game balance. It's a bit annoying though as my tactic is pretty much be a mongol horde with masses of horse archers and just wear down enemies. The logistics research for ammo and range building for ammo upgrade were early choices so I am at that annoying stage where gameplay is me just running around shooting people which can get a bit boring but I only have myself to blame.

The Siege AI is still a bit dissapointing, it's stupid seeing an auto-results being like 90% in favour of enemy when they attack a walled city and then playing out the battle they pretty much just die to the towers, conversely when attacking a walled city if you have the numbers it is much better to just auto-result it and only lose a few troops instead of potentially losing a few hundred trying to take the walls.

Much like vassaling in Shogun 2, the only reason to client someone is because you... can. Or maybe you like RPing a bit. From an entirely metagame POV, you don't gain quite as much as you would by just occupying it.

They DO pay you though, and it also means you have a buffer between your provinces and others (in theory). I typically just conquer people though. I might client some if they offer, and I don't care to take their land right now.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 21, 2013, 12:04:48 pm
At least 2 satrapies are needed to make the Parthian bonus objectives (which means moar monies!) I also keep satrapies at the edges I'm not particularly interested in expanding into (like into the north steppe areas) as a buffer against the barbarians. That makes me able to focus my armies on different fronts and if they attack me the satrapy will usually have 2-3 armies in it that can help hold the would-be invaders of while I regroup my own forces.


Eh? When I play on legendary (aka hard) or very hard (aka normal) I tend to lose way more in autoresolve than in regular battles. I think they skew the autoresolve results according to difficulty level.

It's the same for me on normal, except with unprepared siege battles - without any siege equipment, that is. There the autosolve can give me a 95% chance to win with little casualties, while the towers and stuff will absolutely devastate my troops if I try to fight it out. At least as Parthia.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 21, 2013, 12:45:22 pm
Autoresolve isn't a perfect system, higher difficulties will make you generally suffer more causalities because the AI unit's get buffed, so pound for pound, their units are superior to your own.

In most situations, manually controlling a battle will be better. Some exceptions apply, as like scriver says, sometimes the AI can win battles with very little causalities somehow. Typically I'd only autoresolve landslide victories, or sometimes if I don't need the army to be used for a few turns anyway, so they can stand to suffer some damage and replenish.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 21, 2013, 12:45:47 pm
The only time I've had troops (Mine or AI) die in significant numbers vs Towers is when they're assaulting one of the L4 forts with Scorpions in the towers. I found Boiling Oil was much better for causing horrific casualties. Just force them to fight while stood beneath it, and your Garrisons can fight off surprisingly large stacks.

The answer to sieges is Ballistae. Easy to get, useful in normal battles (Rocks > Cavalry, Elephants, Chariots. Explosives are just funny.), and they can usually take 2-3 sections of wall down. All of my Armies contain at least one set, usually two.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 21, 2013, 12:53:26 pm
Parthian Admirals get Ballista Boats as one of their unit choices. I love raiding coastal towns with it and a few Scorpion Ships crewed with archers.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 21, 2013, 01:13:01 pm
Parthian Admirals get Ballista Boats as one of their unit choices. I love raiding coastal towns with it and a few Scorpion Ships crewed with archers.
WHAAAAT!

And I thought the elephant generals were bad enough.

My current Iceni armies roam around with 4 sets of ballista. They're so freaking strong.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 21, 2013, 01:15:45 pm
I am so jealous. Iceni admirals get Painted Ones or Slingers in a heavy raider. Painted ones are Heavy Melee Infantry, and are seriously unarmoured, similar to gaulish Naked Warriors. I don't think it's even possible for me to get artillery ships...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 21, 2013, 01:20:19 pm
Iceni navy is extremely crap. In my current campaign, I don't think I've even seen a single ship-borne unit that has flaming projectiles.

Thank god that on land, the Iceni are a hell of a lot stronger. Sword brothers and sword bands are devastating. Nowhere near as ridiculous as Legionaries but it's better than most of the other barbarians.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 21, 2013, 01:23:51 pm
I find that satrapies and client states, like vassals in Shogun, help take some of the managerial load off by having the AI deal with development of those settlements. I don't know about anyone else but when I have a ton of settlements I always get confused as to what I'm building where, what my plans are for a specific province, what region can train what troops, etc.

Plus, I love having an AI sledgehammer that just rams into my enemies and pins their armies while I make precision strikes elsewhere.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 21, 2013, 01:36:06 pm
Satrapies just slow me down. Nothing can stop the golden horde! With all the ammo upgrades I have enough arrows to kill stacks of 40 units, if they are 40 well shielded troops I might have to conserve arrows until precision shot is ready.

I tried using a client state to help kill an enemy but by the time they even arrived I had already taken down all the enemy forces. The tribute they give as well is miniscule, might as well just get economic buildings in the provinces or food to help grow the rest of my regions. I put a few libraries where I can as well to get the research improvements which I feel more then make up for having any advantage of a satrapy.

I normally work the regions to get the ones on borders to have bigger garrison buildings but because of Mogol style horde mechanics I really don't need large amounts of armies. 15 horse archers and 5 cataphracts are more then enough for any enemy force.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 21, 2013, 02:57:35 pm
Yup. Iceni ranged ships are all slingers. As such, to sink something you either ram or board, and if some javelin unit with flaming shots decide they dislike you...

On land, I'm practically unstoppable. Chosen Sword Bands and Heroic Nobles are awesome, Ambushers are hilarious, and Chosen Spears will destroy any cavalry (And most infantry) that touch them. Added to that, Veteran Riders are adequate cavalry, Ballistae are awesome, and those Heroic Riders I get in my Bodyguard are pretty good. Slingers are adequate, but I don't think it's possible to get any flaming projectiles, even from my javelin infantry. So if I really want to set stuff on fire, I hire Mercenary archers.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 21, 2013, 03:03:35 pm
Yeah, the Iceni heroic riders is the only general unit I keep as cavalry. They're so potent it's scary.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 21, 2013, 04:39:26 pm
Did it seem like Legatus got severely nerfed? They have like a third of the stats of Italian Noble Cavalry. Or was it always that way? They just seem incredibly fragile - they have even less armor then the Generals & Bodyguard they replace!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 21, 2013, 04:41:41 pm
Any thoughts on Chariots? I find they're great for running through light/spread out units, reasonable for hitting melee infantry from behind, and terrible otherwise. Not sure why I'd take them over Veteran/Heroic Riders, though.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 21, 2013, 04:44:09 pm
Any thoughts on Chariots? I find they're great for running through light/spread out units, reasonable for hitting melee infantry from behind, and terrible otherwise. Not sure why I'd take them over Veteran/Heroic Riders, though.

Are Chariots not OP anymore? I remember them being stupidly powerful in Rome 1, capable of taking on 100's of units by themselves. I think a Chariot general solo attacked a settlement once, and wiped out half the garrison on his own. The balance of power, with just him, made it like 95% in his favor. It was stupid.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Burnt Pies on September 21, 2013, 05:06:44 pm
If they slow down in an infantry unit, they die. They slow down whenever they hit someone. As such, going through skirmishers means little-no speed lost, lots of skirmisher corpses flying around, etc, etc, while running into a melee infantry unit which has had time to brace will result in fewer casualties, along with your chariots being stopped, surrounded and poked until they break.

I've had units of chariots get 450 kills in a battle, where they just got ordered to move from one end of the enemy slinger line to the other. And then I've had units of chariots charge into the back of a hoplite formation, get bogged down and killed. All in the name of science, of course.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 21, 2013, 05:27:30 pm
Ugh in Rome 1 they were annoying in settlements, they could just get stuck in buildings and just die, I lost an Egyptian General to him crashing into a house apparently.

Elephants in Rome 1 seem to be much stronger then they are in Rome 2 though, could just tear through formations with them before, now they seem to die a lot more easily. On the other hand Cavalry don't seem to die when doing charges which was always a possiblity in Rome 1.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 21, 2013, 05:33:23 pm
So has anyone found a reliable way to get this to run fullscreen windowed? My usual programs for things like World of Tanks result in either the game being stretched off screen, of the screen being normal, but the cursor being off center from the actual clicking mechanism.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lastverb on September 21, 2013, 06:50:57 pm
True that if you can maintain speed with your cavalry you will not loose to any non-pike infantry. There is that one small anoying thing i call "wait for me, I need to play my animation", which is easily noticable if you are running down retreating enemies.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 21, 2013, 10:35:20 pm
The latest beta patch addresses that.

They've been pretty good on their promise to patch things frequently. We're at a patch a week so far and many things have changed for the better.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 22, 2013, 12:57:07 am
The latest beta patch addresses that.

They've been pretty good on their promise to patch things frequently. We're at a patch a week so far and many things have changed for the better.

Just don't go on Total War Center. They pretty much think Rome 2 is the biggest flop in the history of games ever.
Even worse then Aliens: Colonial Marines!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 22, 2013, 02:02:22 am
Same with r/totalwar and most other forums. Every game's forum is just people whining anyway.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 22, 2013, 04:22:43 am
This is why I make a point of avoiding official forums for games (apart from this one, of course). Such whiney entitled bastards. Remember the hoo-hah over the lack of same-sex romance in Mass Effect on the Bioware forums?

That said, it can be pretty entertaining to soak in the tears of butthurt fanboys. Case in point: the League of Legends forums whenever the EUW servers are down.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 22, 2013, 09:41:54 am
This is why I make a point of avoiding official forums for games (apart from this one, of course). Such whiney entitled bastards. Remember the hoo-hah over the lack of same-sex romance in Mass Effect on the Bioware forums?

That said, it can be pretty entertaining to soak in the tears of butthurt fanboys. Case in point: the League of Legends forums whenever the EUW servers are down.

Oh yes I agree on their tears, mainly because while some of them have valid concerns (things that can be fixed), a lot of them have just utterly wrong opinions on what Total War seems to be.

Also the historical realists are the funniest ones. I think some of them are saying Slingers need their range cut to be significantly lower, and their damage to go way down. There was a big thread arguing on how a slinger bullet would just ricochet off any armor, without leaving a scratch to the wearer. It was pretty hilarious.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 22, 2013, 10:17:28 am
Slingers are pretty pathetic from what I've seen when compared with archers, javelin men seem pretty poor as well, there aren't many ones who can stand in a line battle as they are pretty weak. The damage from slingers is so low that archers can go toe to toe with them easily. Higher armour penetration only matters if enemy has armour.

I also don't like the vast differences in unit stats. In Rome 1 unit stats would vary like offensive could generally be between 1-30 and same for defensive, and unit health was generally 1 or 2 apart from special units like elephants. Now though stats go like 1-100. It sort of makes training not very effective, in Rome 1 having skirmishers with 3 experience and +2 weapons and armour turned them into quite effective infantry even in line battles, now a lvl 9 experience skirmisher with weapon and armour upgrade is only stronger then other skirmishers, they will still fall pretty easily to almost any infantry. It sort of makes it seem like experience levels aren't really important at all, im not going to be scared of some unit stack with 9 experience as they will only be marginally better while in Rome 1 a 9 experience basic warband or peasant could kill many men.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 22, 2013, 10:23:20 am
Slingers are pretty pathetic from what I've seen when compared with archers, javelin men seem pretty poor as well, there aren't many ones who can stand in a line battle as they are pretty weak. The damage from slingers is so low that archers can go toe to toe with them easily. Higher armour penetration only matters if enemy has armour.

I also don't like the vast differences in unit stats. In Rome 1 unit stats would vary like offensive could generally be between 1-30 and same for defensive, and unit health was generally 1 or 2 apart from special units like elephants. Now though stats go like 1-100. It sort of makes training not very effective, in Rome 1 having skirmishers with 3 experience and +2 weapons and armour turned them into quite effective infantry even in line battles, now a lvl 9 experience skirmisher with weapon and armour upgrade is only stronger then other skirmishers, they will still fall pretty easily to almost any infantry. It sort of makes it seem like experience levels aren't really important at all, im not going to be scared of some unit stack with 9 experience as they will only be marginally better while in Rome 1 a 9 experience basic warband or peasant could kill many men.

If you ask someone on TWC, slingers are broken and slaughter entire armies of Roman legions head-on: which I think anyone who has played the game, knows is utterly wrong. Shields do a wonderful job of soaking up any frontal attacks. Now, if you fire into the flanks, the rear, or a unit engaged in melee... the causalities can rack up pretty fast. Exception being flaming javelins, which seem to have an armor-piercing ability, those'll do some serious damage even head on. (My pet theory is most people on TWC are just making up things that are wrong with the game or something, because many of their complaints never seen to happen in any game I've played)

I'm not too sure how the veterancy really works, in honesty. I've had some level 9 units, from Military Training, and they pretty much grind other armies into dust. I've had some level 9 Legionares rack up a few hundred kills with only losing under like, ten guys. I haven't tested ranged units, because what kind of Roman needs sissy archers? Just run up and smack them all in the face.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on September 22, 2013, 10:35:30 am
Playing as the Suebi, I use slingers in groups of 2 to 4. The large groups makes up for their lower accuracy and I place them on the flanks so they can retreat behind my infantry. Javelins (Germanic Youths for Suebi) are useful for pestering during combat due to their short range and the ability to throw flaming javelins which can burn down towers and gates.
I use slingers for pestering more then killing. Their longer range means the enemy have to advance or be whittled down and the slingers large amount of ammunition means they can pester for quite a while.

I have some archers around, Longbow Hunter I think. They're great in defence due to their longer range then slingers or javelins but the Germanic Youths are better in melee (On the off chance I need them to charge). Archers are better but are harder for me to come by, requiring some upgraded buildings or something.

A number of the Suebi infantry throws spears before charging as well.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 22, 2013, 12:57:43 pm
If you ask someone on TWC, slingers are broken and slaughter entire armies of Roman legions head-on: which I think anyone who has played the game, knows is utterly wrong. Shields do a wonderful job of soaking up any frontal attacks.

this is funny because it ignores reality (of the game) completely: armor shield and all that does nothing against armor piercing attacks in engine.

(I care nothing about realism, but wrong statement is wrong irregardless)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on September 22, 2013, 08:28:47 pm
Holy nutshits, I don't know about the hassle in TWC, I don't really care, but I can testify that slingers are broken at the moment.

Started a new campaign as rome.

Waited 1 turn, gathered 3 hastati under Legio I's banners.

Assaulted the town north to rome, and guess what?



The garrison slingers bring one of my hastati unit down to 60 men from 120, within the first 10 seconds of engagement. Yes, they were facing the slingers. No, they were not engaged in melee combat. and no, testudo did absolutely nothing.

That was scary. From now on, fuck velites, I'm going to spam slingers.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Urist McScoopbeard on September 22, 2013, 08:39:58 pm
I find javelineers to be quite useful actually, especially to soften up elite units before engagement.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 22, 2013, 09:58:37 pm
Holy nutshits, I don't know about the hassle in TWC, I don't really care, but I can testify that slingers are broken at the moment.

Started a new campaign as rome.

Waited 1 turn, gathered 3 hastati under Legio I's banners.

Assaulted the town north to rome, and guess what?



The garrison slingers bring one of my hastati unit down to 60 men from 120, within the first 10 seconds of engagement. Yes, they were facing the slingers. No, they were not engaged in melee combat. and no, testudo did absolutely nothing.

That was scary. From now on, fuck velites, I'm going to spam slingers.

That's crazy. I've done that battle by now, probably a dozen times. I usually get out if with losing maybe 30-40 men total. Just move Velites/Levies up first, draw them forward, then smash through them with Hastati.

I do hear the Testudo doesn't work right though or something.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Glowcat on September 22, 2013, 10:03:05 pm
It's more that due to how armor works in this game, the benefits are minimal and your troops move slower in the formation while clumping their little cylinder hit locations together. It ends up causing more harm than good while all weapons have high AP value.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on September 23, 2013, 09:09:14 am
Holy nutshits, I don't know about the hassle in TWC, I don't really care, but I can testify that slingers are broken at the moment.

Started a new campaign as rome.

Waited 1 turn, gathered 3 hastati under Legio I's banners.

Assaulted the town north to rome, and guess what?



The garrison slingers bring one of my hastati unit down to 60 men from 120, within the first 10 seconds of engagement. Yes, they were facing the slingers. No, they were not engaged in melee combat. and no, testudo did absolutely nothing.

That was scary. From now on, fuck velites, I'm going to spam slingers.

That's crazy. I've done that battle by now, probably a dozen times. I usually get out if with losing maybe 30-40 men total. Just move Velites/Levies up first, draw them forward, then smash through them with Hastati.

I do hear the Testudo doesn't work right though or something.

That's what I do, and that's what I thought. That's how it was for me before the update.

But now that the game has updated, it's no longer like that anymore.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 23, 2013, 09:23:20 am
Third patch notes. (http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/09/23/total-war-rome-2s-third-patch-launches-another-attack-on-performance-and-ai-issues/) They're cranking these out at a rapid pace, aren't they? Very nice.

Looking at the comments, I might've as well been playing a totally different game before. Apparently the game's been broken and unplayable since release, strange how I missed that!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 23, 2013, 09:46:12 am
An important thing is that they are looking and answering to user feedback instead of just fixing bugs and leaving the balance horribly broken.

Kudos to CA.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 23, 2013, 10:22:39 am
Looking at the comments, I might've as well been playing a totally different game before. Apparently the game's been broken and unplayable since release, strange how I missed that!

I wish I could quote that on some forums. Because it's so terribly true.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 23, 2013, 11:00:41 am
The fact you don't notice anything wrong contracdicts the patch notes so you may just have low attention levels.

i'd say people notice things differently and also have different pain threshold. I get frustrated easily when the interface plays against me and game interface place arbitrary restrictions to what I can do even if it is not only logical but also essential. Diplomacy is the worst offender when protectorates play a central role and you cannot act on their behalf begotiating paces and wars. Makes it hard to protect them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 23, 2013, 11:59:20 am
Considering a few pages back you couldn't even figure out provincial bonuses or spend the 10 seconds to read what the morale effects meant, I hardly think you qualify to insult Hellhound's attention level.

If you're going to be a douche, please go away to another thread.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on September 23, 2013, 12:06:31 pm
How that post is not consistent with what I said?
Bad, frustrating interface is bad. It boils down to expectations and the level of polish at release was at amateurish.

They even removed things! Remember when the flag had an actual wagon model?

Edit. I might have used poor wording bit if one doesn't see the basic missings things from diplomacy nor that the signature formation of the signature factuon aming other thing is broken doesn't mean the game is fine
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 23, 2013, 12:14:12 pm
He was just making a fair observation, as far as I can see. But to clarify; the game was unpolished and had some bugs at launch, but it was hardly unplayable, which is the impression you'd get from the PcGamer comments and various forums.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Glowcat on September 23, 2013, 06:08:53 pm
TWC in particular seems to have a horde of haters who seem confused/angered by others being able to enjoy the game. Maybe my expectations were already shattered by the game industry as a whole and I can't give a shit anymore. They do seem far more willing to interact with the community and share modding information than during previous CA game releases at least.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 23, 2013, 07:03:20 pm
I really don't think it's a particularly big issue. This is just one of those cases of an extremely vocal minority. I think this is very mild compared to what Skyrim, XCOM, Mass Effect, etc. all had to endure from their rabid fanbases.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on September 23, 2013, 07:30:57 pm
It's pretty strange though. The reception games get here tend to not entirely differ from reactions elsewhere. This disparity didn't happen with Shogun 2. But here we have a oasis from the hate cloud.

Like, with XCOM, the reaction was more like: HISS GRR DIFFERENT BAD DUMBED DOWN NO GOOD hey wait pew pew pew woot... and that was more understandable because it was an old game being revisited after a long time.

I won't be getting Rome 2 for quite some time I'm sure, but it's interesting to observe.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 23, 2013, 10:40:40 pm
I really don't think it's a particularly big issue. This is just one of those cases of an extremely vocal minority. I think this is very mild compared to what Skyrim, XCOM, Mass Effect, etc. all had to endure from their rabid fanbases.

Funny thing that, when I brought that up, one guy used a forum on the official forums to claim that, because of the results of their poll that by the theory of probablity that a staggering 95% to 97% of Rome 2 players demanded Family Trees added back into Rome 2.

And also that, "Well if TWC doesn't like something, and the majority of us agree on this, it is a clear indication that the rest of the fanbase agrees. We ARE the fanbase of Total War."

Something like that.

Also many of them thing Rome 1 was the greatest game ever... if you play it modded. Vanilla is garbage, and no one should play it. Mods only. Yeaaaah.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 24, 2013, 05:55:32 am
I noticed that too, except on a poll regarding who has issues with the game or something. It's like no one on the internet took a basic stats course, or intro science research paper. I mean, it even has an awesome quote: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Chattox on September 24, 2013, 06:36:48 am
Bad, frustrating interface is bad.

He says on the Dwarf Fortress forums. :P
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 24, 2013, 11:00:08 am
I would totally enjoy the family trees back. Who wouldn't? Family matters in the game. Most none-tribal factions have dynasties as.... In-faction factions. Being able to see your actual relation to people would be cooler than them just popping into existance like they do know.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sharp on September 24, 2013, 11:23:47 am
Yeah I don't really get the whole internal politics thing. Doesn't seem to have a huge impact apart from delaying/advancing civil wars.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on September 24, 2013, 08:43:45 pm
I would totally enjoy the family trees back. Who wouldn't? Family matters in the game. Most none-tribal factions have dynasties as.... In-faction factions. Being able to see your actual relation to people would be cooler than them just popping into existance like they do know.

Eh, I wouldn't really care, but it wouldn't offend me if it was put back.
I tended to rate generals in use of if they were actually useful, not if they were related to someone useful. Pull your own weight, you lazy slobs! No freeloading allowed.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 24, 2013, 08:49:06 pm
I still wish for the day CK2 gets merged into Total War somehow. Or should I say Total War gets merged into CK2.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on October 22, 2013, 10:01:45 pm
Rome 2: Total War currently has a spot of free DLC available on Steam. It adds three horse focused barbarian races (Royal Scythia and the like) and is free to download until the 29th of October.

Rome 2: Total War: Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on October 23, 2013, 09:00:01 am
Thanks for the heads up!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on October 23, 2013, 10:30:09 am
Many thanks, Mech. It's appreciated ;)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: DoomOnion on October 29, 2013, 05:04:03 pm
Apparently blood and gore dlc will be released in a few days.

I totally called it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on December 03, 2013, 02:44:09 pm
Anyone try the Radious Total War mod compilation?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?2000-Radious-Total-War-Mod/page2

Supposedly "fixes" RTW2 Total War and makes it playable. Improves battle AI (which early on was so stupid looking in the videos I watched) and a ton of other stuff.

If anyone has tried it, worth buying RTW2 on the steam winter sale for this?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on December 03, 2013, 03:18:45 pm
I'm always surprised when people tell me the game's broken. I'm not doubting they've had problems, but for me the game started out working (if flawed) and just rolled out with polishing in patches and free DLC. Guess it's just really good luck.

It's worth buying, mod or not. It's a game with a lot of missed potential and some flaws, but it's still enjoyable enough for me to have sunk plenty of hours into it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on December 03, 2013, 04:24:31 pm
I never really had any problems myself. But I have a pretty damn good computer, so I don't know if I merely didn't experience the problems. The only thing I dislike is the removal of the family tree, which was quite annoying. I also wish they actually put some more personality into the historical battles. I mean... look at all the trailers. Why couldn't they use those as the introductions instead of those stupid speech bubbles.

Other than that I like it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on December 03, 2013, 06:01:08 pm
Between the utterly retarded AI (admittedly it has never been great but this is a pretty major step back), blink-and-you-miss-it battles, obtuse political system, flat out lying in trailers/interviews, imbalances in the naval battles (transports are still among the best ships to use), plethora of 'magic' abilities, pointless/minuscule general/legion development, gate torching etc etc this is easily the worst Total War game I've ever played.

This is the only game (out of at least a hundred) that I regret purchasing this year.

The province system is kinda cool though.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: PrimusRibbus on December 04, 2013, 01:41:17 am
I'm always surprised when people tell me the game's broken. I'm not doubting they've had problems, but for me the game started out working (if flawed) and just rolled out with polishing in patches and free DLC. Guess it's just really good luck.

It's worth buying, mod or not. It's a game with a lot of missed potential and some flaws, but it's still enjoyable enough for me to have sunk plenty of hours into it.

Agreed. I held off on buying Rome 2 because Shogun 2 left such a bad taste in my mouth. There are some pretty obvious oversights in Rome 2 (the family system needs to be thrown out and redone from scratch, for example), but it's one of the most fun games I've purchased in a while and it makes me hopefully for the direction of the series after the awful Shogun 2.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Lukeinator on January 26, 2014, 02:30:00 pm
I thought this looked interesting, and I kind want to play it. Sadly I have mac.
Anyone know how to get this to run on mac? Thanks.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on January 26, 2014, 02:42:14 pm
You are doing two things wrong here.  Expecting to be able to game on a Mac, and planning to buy this game.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Urist McScoopbeard on January 26, 2014, 02:45:39 pm
You are doing two things wrong here.  Expecting to be able to game on a Mac, and planning to buy this game.

understatement. of. the. year.

Tell me, what can we, as a community, do to show you your better off with ANY OTHER TW GAME GAME? Self mutilation? A montage of the destroyed computers RTWII left in its wake? Maybe the a funny picture explaining the loss of my childhood happiness?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sebcool on January 26, 2014, 02:48:02 pm
I thought this looked interesting, and I kind want to play it. Sadly I have mac.
Anyone know how to get this to run on mac? Thanks.

I don't think the game is mac compatible, and it has some pretty hefty system requirements.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: MorleyDev on January 26, 2014, 03:00:31 pm
Honestly? I never ran into any real AI problems or game breaking bugs. I've seen videos, but never seen it in my games. The game works fine for me and is fun mechanically. From what I've played, it's a decent game.

It's just not a very good Total War game. It feels more like a Total War clone, like it was designed by people who only had a description of the Total War games and didn't understand what made them so enjoyable. On it's own merits, I genuinely do think this is a decent game. But I don't think it holds up in context of the series.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sneakey pete on January 26, 2014, 05:47:17 pm
If you never had any AI problems of game breaking bugs you obviously never played the release build :P

I think the best for me and my mate was... 8 turns before the game desynced playing multiplayer.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Karlito on January 26, 2014, 08:38:22 pm
I thought this looked interesting, and I kind want to play it. Sadly I have mac.
Anyone know how to get this to run on mac? Thanks.

I don't think the game is mac compatible, and it has some pretty hefty system requirements.

Yeah, while possible with older games, there's no way Rome 2 is going to run on modern Mac hardware.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: PrimusRibbus on January 26, 2014, 09:07:39 pm
I thought this looked interesting, and I kind want to play it. Sadly I have mac.
Anyone know how to get this to run on mac? Thanks.

Dual-boot Windows 7 or Windows 8 via Boot Camp.

I thought this looked interesting, and I kind want to play it. Sadly I have mac.
Anyone know how to get this to run on mac? Thanks.

I don't think the game is mac compatible, and it has some pretty hefty system requirements.

Yeah, while possible with older games, there's no way Rome 2 is going to run on modern Mac hardware.

The Mac Pros that we've LAN'd Rome 2 on at work with maxed settings would beg to differ :P I also have buddies that play Rome 2 on iMacs and MacBook Pros, albeit not on maxed settings.

Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sebcool on January 27, 2014, 12:16:05 pm
I thought this looked interesting, and I kind want to play it. Sadly I have mac.
Anyone know how to get this to run on mac? Thanks.

I don't think the game is mac compatible, and it has some pretty hefty system requirements.

Yeah, while possible with older games, there's no way Rome 2 is going to run on modern Mac hardware.

The Mac Pros that we've LAN'd Rome 2 on at work with maxed settings would beg to differ :P I also have buddies that play Rome 2 on iMacs and MacBook Pros, albeit not on maxed settings.
[/quote]

Welp, I stand corrected. Also, your mac is more powerful than my desktop.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: EnigmaticHat on January 30, 2014, 11:31:26 pm
So I might get this, but it has a 3.9 user score on metacritic.  Is that just fans being weird, or is the score justified in some way?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on January 30, 2014, 11:59:12 pm
I'd say that's mostly fan backlash. The game had problems on release but nowhere near as bad as Empire: Total War was. I think for me the most issue I had was frame rate drops during battles, which isn't really a big issue for me. Though from peoples accounts, issues had are very subjective. There's images of messed up troops for some people which I've never seen in my 200 hours playing.

I think it's a pretty good game, nice variation in cultures, large map to conquer, land/sea battles. It also has steam workshop support so mods to address some issues are bound to exist.

The ninth patch has just been released and as I understand it the majority of major issues people had have been addressed.

The issues people had upon release would certainly warrant a rather harsh reaction against the game, but I do think most of them are fixed by now.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sebcool on January 31, 2014, 03:28:41 am
So I might get this, but it has a 3.9 user score on metacritic.  Is that just fans being weird, or is the score justified in some way?

Mostly just the fans being disappointed. The game was pretty unfinished at release, (like every other total war game) but most of the problems have been patched out, and it's pretty decent now. Though the battle AI kinda sucks.

Also, the game has some hefty system requirements, although that might just be my system being outdated.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on January 31, 2014, 06:32:57 pm
So I might get this, but it has a 3.9 user score on metacritic.  Is that just fans being weird, or is the score justified in some way?

The game in its current state has shallower mechanics, worse AI and poorer performance (seriously, I even get the occasional framerate drop with crossfired 780tis) than any previous Total War game. 
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: EnigmaticHat on February 01, 2014, 02:40:09 am
worse AI 
Even Medieval 2?  I loved that game, but it takes a lot of tolerance to love 3 infantry getting wiped out by 2 archers because they marched back and forth in front of them instead of attacking.  Or the reinforcements that don't help for the whole battle and then steal your rams and march off to the map edge right when you have to take the citadel, making the fight unwinnable.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on February 01, 2014, 02:54:21 am
People's opinions are subjective. Some people's opinions are even more subjective than others.

Every person has to decide who to listen to and who to ignore.

I'm on the "the game is fine" side. But I believe my opinion has been made clear several times.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on February 01, 2014, 08:32:10 am
I think the game is fine as well. Never had any major problems since the first or second patch or so. As for the AI... Well, don't get me wrong, it's not super good or anything, but it's at the very least better than the previous games and equally bad at worst. Once thing in particular I've noticed is that the AI doesn't just stand dumbstruck while you're manoeuvering around it as much, and there's fewer stand-perpetually-in-one-spot-while-getting-showered-with-arrows moments (except for from ships - the AI really doesn't seem to understand how to deal with sea-to-land missiles, which can lead to some really stupid scenarios). During sieges, for example, if a unit is under fire, the AI will try shift units around to keep the point defended but move hurt units out kf harm's way. If possible (like during small town surges, where there is no wall) they might also attempt to charge the missile unit rather than just stand around like in previous games.. Oh, and walls actually help a little against arrows now, so you won't repeat silly scenarios from Shogun 2 where you could attack castles with mainly archers and kill every enemy without even setting foot in the keep. Well, okay - you won't get them as much - unless you play Parthians, anyway.

So yeah. The AI still isn't great by any means, and you'll certainly start noticing patterns (and be able to take advantage of them) sooner or later, but I still think there's been an improvement. And I'm one of those who's always complained about how their AI has been getting worse over the years (and I would still complain about them focusing on shiny graphics over better AI if you'd give me the chance - that's still an unfortunate truth).

Maybe it's because I really like the setting or just because of the sheer variety of units, but R2 is certainly the most fun TW game I've played since Medieval 2 or maybe the first Rome. The thing k would complain the most about is the continuing lack of campaign events and filler. The whole faction thingy had promise (and I particularly like the concept of having to watch out for "Caesars" among your generals) but proved completely biteless (at least if you prefer playing non-Roman factions, which doesn't get more than one faction and one "others" - which doesn't count because it's dull - to begin with*. Maybe factions were better done with Romans, I haven't played them enough to know), which was sad.

Spoiler: * (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on February 01, 2014, 09:44:27 am
worse AI 
Even Medieval 2?  I loved that game, but it takes a lot of tolerance to love 3 infantry getting wiped out by 2 archers because they marched back and forth in front of them instead of attacking.  Or the reinforcements that don't help for the whole battle and then steal your rams and march off to the map edge right when you have to take the citadel, making the fight unwinnable.

I've seen the 'infantry doing formation drills in front of enemy archers' problem crop up many times in Rome 2.  Can't comment on the second as nobody has ever tried to reinforce me.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on February 01, 2014, 01:13:03 pm
I think a large part of the perception of the games state comes from the fact that it started on a really negative note and the community over on the forums for it have been relentless and non stop negative and whiny since....one of the worst communities I have ever seen
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: EnigmaticHat on February 01, 2014, 02:50:20 pm
worse AI 
Even Medieval 2?  I loved that game, but it takes a lot of tolerance to love 3 infantry getting wiped out by 2 archers because they marched back and forth in front of them instead of attacking.  Or the reinforcements that don't help for the whole battle and then steal your rams and march off to the map edge right when you have to take the citadel, making the fight unwinnable.

I've seen the 'infantry doing formation drills in front of enemy archers' problem crop up many times in Rome 2.  Can't comment on the second as nobody has ever tried to reinforce me.

It was MY reinforcements.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sebcool on February 01, 2014, 04:11:27 pm
It's worth adding that pike infantry are more flexible in this game, they can actually turn on a dime now. They're also way better at maintaining formation than melee infantry, who can never seem to maintain a cohesive formation when in combat, which kinda sucks for romans.

Come to think of it, pikemen are kinda op, in my experience.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on February 01, 2014, 04:19:05 pm
As they should be.

I believe a recent patch made it so it's far more difficult for infantry to fall out of formation now though. In fact, I do recall being kinda frustrated that all my troops weren't engaging in the melee they were supposed to be engaging in. Content to stand there watching the men next to them fight and die.

You can remedy that by double clicking on the enemy.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on February 01, 2014, 05:54:19 pm
Pikemen? OP? Maybe that I've mostly played Parthians might be related, but I've never found them to be ;D
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: sebcool on February 01, 2014, 06:03:41 pm
Looking forward to getting my new pc, so I can actually play it without suffering from pc-induced heat stroke.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on February 18, 2014, 02:32:55 am
Rome II: Total War has recently gained a new bit of DLC. "Beasts of War" adds seven new units involving variations of existing units like Celtic Warhounds, Armoured Elephants and Camel Cataphracts, as well as some new units like an onager that fires beehives and ballista that launch pots of snakes and scorpions (two different ballista, not a pot containing both snakes and scorpions).

http://store.steampowered.com/app/267630/' (http://store.steampowered.com/app/267630/')


Other then that, there was a recent spat between the creators of Rome 2: Total War and Company of Heroes 2. The result was CoH2 won and gained a small piece of DLC including some new units. I don't know whether "Beasts of War" is what Rome 2 would've gained if they'd won or not. I would guess it is.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Hanzoku on February 18, 2014, 07:51:37 am
Honestly, I'd have just combined the two. I mean, yeah, the snakes might be stung to death by the scorpions before the pot lands on the target, but if it's raining pottery shards, snakes and scorpions around you, are you going to care?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on February 18, 2014, 02:17:40 pm
Other then that, there was a recent spat between the creators of Rome 2: Total War and Company of Heroes 2. The result was CoH2 won and gained a small piece of DLC including some new units. I don't know whether "Beasts of War" is what Rome 2 would've gained if they'd won or not. I would guess it is.

It would have been free for five days.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on February 18, 2014, 02:38:40 pm
some new units like an onager that fires beehives and ballista that launch pots of snakes and scorpions (two different ballista, not a pot containing both snakes and scorpions).

I am imagining a scammy cut-rate Archimedes trying to sell the Roman emperor on a whole new onager design. "Yes, Caesar," he says, "but my onager is designed to fire bees!"
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on February 18, 2014, 02:52:12 pm
Didn't realize Archimedes built a time machine as well. Should have pitched that.

Don't know about the bees and scorpions, but Hannibal used snake-throwing catapults to amusing efficiency in a NAVAL battle against the Greeks.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on February 18, 2014, 03:07:15 pm
Didn't realize Archimedes built a time machine as well. Should have pitched that.

Don't know about the bees and scorpions, but Hannibal used snake-throwing catapults to amusing efficiency in a NAVAL battle against the Greeks.

.... Well... that's terrifying.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on February 18, 2014, 06:29:30 pm
Just for the record, Hannibal was working for the another Greek state at the time. This was long after Rome had driven him on exile from Carthage.

Oh, and they also mention what historical event/tradition are the grounds for each unit in the DLC description. It's just short blurbs, but yeah. Good to see Epirus getting some love, anyway. Gotta love Phyrrus.

It's a shame they missed out on this perfect opportunity to give the Persians battle cats, though.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on August 13, 2014, 12:44:01 am
So...I don't get the negativity about this game. Got gifted it+all DLC the other day.

And...maybe vanilla sucks...or...people just on the hate train (which has happened with other games). Or maybe it has improved a lot.

But, I got Divide et Impera, some submods, unlock all factions...

And I'm having a blast. Way more fun to me than first Rome Total War, which was my #1 favorite Total War game (second was #2 Medieval 2 Total War).

Maybe it was because I never played Shogun 2 (I don't find the time period that interesting and the game was such a small map for me, but the Samurai's were awesome)

In any case...I also liked Empire Total War...and most didn't like it *shrug*

Then again, I never played Rome 2/Empire TW/Rome 1/Medieval 2 all with mods...didn't really play them vanilla. But R2TW with at least the mods I got are epic and a lot of fun.

Don't get all the hate though...maybe its just me or people refuse to use mods or something
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on August 13, 2014, 12:46:34 am
The game has improved a lot since it was released 11.5 months ago.  It'll be entering beta any day now.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on August 13, 2014, 01:01:12 am
I've never had major problems with the game, honest. The units for me controlled just as well as previous instalments and it is a lot more stable than "Empire: Total War" is.

The biggest bug I had was enemy troops getting stuck while disembarking their transports during a land battle. Couldn't shoot at them and they weren't moving.

While the release might not have been as good as it could've been, Creative Assembly have done quite a good job on continuing to patch the game frequently, quite a while after other companies would've let it be.


For interests. I remember seeing a mod for "Rome II: Total War" that introduced medieval units. I'll go dig it up... here it is. No release yet but the model work is nice so far, though I think some of it is taken from "Mount and Blade". (http://www.moddb.com/mods/medieval-kingdoms-total-war)
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on August 13, 2014, 02:19:30 am
So, have they fixed the testudo already? Followed patch notes for a year then get bored.  What's the situation now?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on August 13, 2014, 02:52:40 am
Testudo seems to be fixed...or at least better than it was...haven't used it much myself but it did seem to make the AI roman hastati last a good while against wall towers...


That said the siege AI is still broke as shit and mostly incompetent. Me and another friend usually play it with mods like Radious to polish it up to be more fun than I suspect vanilla is.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Dohon on August 13, 2014, 05:27:50 am
Rome 2 is more fun today than it was at release. But my main beef is that battles are over waaaaaaaaay too fast. A normal battle can be over under 10 minutes, a massive siege can be wrapped up in 20. Nice way to save time, sure, but it throws all sense of tactics out the window. A unit makes contact with one another, wrestles a bit and then POOF, bodies on the floor and one unit routing. It's just over in the blink of an eye and forget trying to do anything fancy as flanking. The fight will be over by the time your flankers hit the enemy.

My main beef with the game, that is. Everything else I can live with to some extent (even the AI that is less than stellar).
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Majestic7 on August 13, 2014, 05:31:09 am
Are there any good mods out there yet that fix the super quick battles? I haven't played the game for a long while, but after reading all the GoT books I'm getting the itch again.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on August 13, 2014, 07:47:36 am
I've been having a brilliant time with this recently, finishing up my Roman Empire game. The West has been mine for a long time, though the few vassal states look ugly on the map. Africa is an allied or vassal blue - I might take them in after I'm done otherwise. I'm at war with the whole of the remaining Hellenic world - that is, half of Anatolia, Seleucids, Egyptian Sparta (I kicked them off Greece), but crushing them one by one. The amount of agent warfare is ridiculous. I can get dozens of enemy agent actions in the same province in one turn. Hella fun, too - my spies have a Cappadocian nemesis who I've tried to hunt down for decades. I can imagine the shadow war so well.

Four legions are rolling up from the north - going through Crimea and all that and now striking at the huge Cappadocian empire from there - including the experimental Legio Scythica, largely composed of auxiliary horse archers (and led by Marcus Aurelius, heh).

I seem to have lost Titus Pullo, though. Pity. He was in someone's retinue, but I can't find him anymore.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: lordcooper on August 13, 2014, 01:36:45 pm
Divide et Impera is my mod of choice.  Half hour field battles in the early game aren't uncommon.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on August 13, 2014, 11:14:28 pm
If you are looking for a less historical mod that still tweak stuff to last longer than as I mentioned before I would recommend possibly using Radious
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 13, 2014, 11:30:37 pm
Radious is probably the best. He makes his mods super duper modular, so you can choose whatever you want instead of being locked into something.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on August 14, 2014, 06:39:37 pm
From what I heard, radious is fast more action-like battles than DEI. So I went for DEI, more strategy involved in slow battles and more epic.

For my faction, I went with Armenia. Great faction, really challenging and Armenia does have cool history.



 


Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on August 14, 2014, 07:08:36 pm
Yeah I am planning on getting DEI as I have not tried it...when I first found it was when it was still mostly a WIP fledgling mod
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: krisslanza on August 14, 2014, 11:43:18 pm
Yeah I am planning on getting DEI as I have not tried it...when I first found it was when it was still mostly a WIP fledgling mod

From my days on TWC, I seem to also remember the DEI mod maker seems to hate javelins for some reason. Like, he not only nerfed their damage but also their range and ammo heavily... whilst buffing the range and damage on arrows...

Then again, this was months ago. I'm generally skeptic of 'historical' mods, because they rarely seem historical to me. Particularly the ones that make battles last longer by simply increasing morale or something - after all, most battles in history are dictated via rout, not slaughter. I guess I can see the argument in wanting longer lasting battles sometimes, but personally, I feel if early game battles are taking like 30+ minutes, it's a little extreme. Early game battles should be pretty fast and bloody, with the battles increasing in length as everyone's units start actually getting good.

Just my personal view on it anyway.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on August 16, 2014, 03:06:30 am
Well, I did make changes for my own little tweaks to DEI.

Made Pontus an Eastern Culture. And turned on confederacy for Eastern cultures. I imagine, as Armenians, a strong Pontus/Parthinian/Armenian alliance :)

Realistic or not, oh well...I like it a lot more *shrug*. Plus the most important factor (for me)...it makes playing Armenians WAY more fun.

And I also am in more, larger wars.

Sadly, Parthia just lost...:( I think I can bring them back though if I re-take their cities? Persia took them out.

Though, right now it is Pontus (doing really good), Armenia (me) and random Trapezos in an alliance...dunno why Trapezos...but guess that is that. They aren't even eastern by DEI standards...oh well.

Fighting smaller factions, but Seleucids and Persia seem to be in an alliance together. They are going to be a rather big fight, that I hope can wait till we manage to secure our northern front...and after that, HUGE ass alliance vs alliance war. With obviously, Seleucids and Persia being the big guys. I think we can do it though, I've won fights where I've been WAY outnumbered due to my Cataphract generals (and now Medium cavalry that are great too).  But, I'd be fighting the same cavalry troops and stronger. Its definitely going to be a team effort.

Sadly, securing the north front is hard. I also have to deal with rebellions in newly conquered territories (which I'm trying to take one north of me, but no go so far)...that is fun. And realistic. But if I don't move faster, and strike them harder...this particular game is over with that huge alliance right on our borders pretty much.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on August 19, 2014, 06:22:37 pm
Took a break from Armenia to try others.

Doing a Baktria one, which is a lot of fun. Cool units, great position. Lots of allies.

Main one right now is Seleucid. It can be hard I guess, but I'm finding it really easy. Took a lot to the north, and took Armenia's capital. They have trebizod (I got their capital as they took Trebizod) and a small town to the south.

Also have two satrapies now (start of game I removed them all to avoid wars). Economy is great. Going to build up my economy and secure my new regions that rebel a lot.

A lot less stressful than Armenia :p kind of easy though, but a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: intense on August 20, 2014, 12:54:03 am
Bought Rome II from humble bundle deals and moded it with divide et impera, got my ass handed a lot of times.
Computer plays very good on hard campaign/normal battle difficulty. It's the only mod i haven't figured out yet
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: The13thRonin on August 20, 2014, 01:59:07 am
Is the game still horrible?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on August 20, 2014, 02:24:40 am
Is the game still horrible?

I love it. But I went right to DEI plus submods.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: The13thRonin on August 20, 2014, 02:36:41 am
Is the game still horrible?

I love it. But I went right to DEI plus submods.

Which sub-mods? Help a brother out.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: TheBronzePickle on August 20, 2014, 03:02:16 am
The base game is actually pretty good now. They've fixed the hell out of most of the things that were wrong with it. There are still a few minor issues with morale fading a bit too fast, especially against certain enemies, but overall everything works as intended.

Campaign AI is still mentally challenged, of course, but that's just how Total War works. AAA game designers always seem to have trouble hiring people good at AI.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on August 20, 2014, 03:38:02 am
Remember when the ai guy quit?

http://blogs.sega.com/totalwar/2009/11/10/battle-ai-by-mike-simpson/


Never seen it getting better since that. Then there where the apologetic post about the bug madness and the less apologetic blogs about fixing everithing in the paid expansion pack (napoleon) which didn't deliver, then sega closed the dev blog from devs and handed it to pr and since then it contains just lies
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Neonivek on August 20, 2014, 03:39:06 am
My rule of thumb is you never play a game with the intent that the game will be fixed in patches or expansions.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on August 20, 2014, 03:46:00 am
It is not like there are many alternatives and shogun was decent without mods, even if rockpaperscissor among units was heavily stereotipized.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mech#4 on August 20, 2014, 03:58:38 am
I don't think the A.I in Total War games have really ever been that good. Maybe more aggressive but not much more tactically minded. I do remember beating several whole stacks of Mongols (about 5-6) in "Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasions" with little more than 5 squads of barbarian cavalry. It was a siege against me as well, but I rode out and kept charging their generals, killing them since they were all lined up for a wall assault. Pity them, as they'd only built a few ladders and one battering ram.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: BurnedToast on August 20, 2014, 07:55:07 am
Campaign AI is still mentally challenged, of course, but that's just how Total War works. AAA game designers always seem to have trouble hiring people good at AI.

It's not that they can't hire someone who's good at AI, it's that such a person does not exist. If anyone could create good AI for a complex strategy game, they'd win a whole bunch of prizes and probably change the world.

Even a game as relatively simple as chess is only regularly won by computers because the endgame is "solved", which is to say after a certain point the AI just looks at a big database of all move combinations possible, and picks the ones that lead to it winning. Something like a total war game is many, many times more complex and it's impossible to brute force in that manner.

Any strategy game that's considered to have good AI is one of three things:

1. Cheating behind the scene and good at hiding it.

2. So overly complex (and/or annoying) that the human player can't (or won't bother to) manage everything, while the AI can because it does not get bored of playing with sliders

3. Has an AI that follows significantly different rules then the human by design.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on August 20, 2014, 10:20:58 am
1 would be best solution for me, problem is tw ai cheat routinely and gets caught pants down at every turn
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 20, 2014, 10:27:42 am
I like how this discussion just repeats every few pages. It's been doing this since the inception of the thread.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 20, 2014, 11:02:05 am
To break the cycle:
How is the Hannibal at the gates campaign map? I enjoy Ceaser in Gaul, so I have hopes, but money is limited, so I don't want to spend any on a meh map.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on August 20, 2014, 02:44:53 pm
Is the game still horrible?

I love it. But I went right to DEI plus submods.

Which sub-mods? Help a brother out.

You'll have to order the mods yourself. But, two things...load all factions unlocked on very bottom (below the main DEI mod. Otherwise it overwrites way too much). And load realistic movement on very top to overwrite any conflict issues. Anything else I leave inbetween.

I haven't done naval yet, I've been doing more land based factions. Which, I'm actually going to switch and try a naval based faction. I want to see how this mod works
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?661736-Submod-Historical-Naval-Overhaul-DEI-0-95x-Ver2-0-FINAL

Adds some flare. Kind of too many negatives, and the slave one is a bit overpowered...but that is only reason I use this mod. In honesty, it makes a lot of sense to sell slaves...especially for the time period.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?655050-SUBMOD-Strategic-Edict-Governance-%28Updated-for-9-Sell-Slaves-added%29

There are two battle submods for DEI. This one you may not like, as it focuses more on the campaign than small skirmishes all over (from experience and taken from mod page). From the creator, he focused more on routing than killing...I actually like it a lot more. It adds more challenge, battles are longer...and actually find them a lot more strategic. It is my favorite battle submod...it is actually really well done
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?651741-Ancient-Battle-Realism-submod-bubba777-revamp-compatible-with-DEI-0-95h-18-08-2014-update-release

the other one: www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?660867-DEI-0-95-Slower-Battle-Mod
it keeps it more like regular DEI, but slower battles (not as slow as above). Personally, didn't like it that much...but that is because I found battles STILL too fast. I think it is a R2TW problem in general, but I prefer the one I use...a battle can easily take 1+ hour. The second one its over in 15-20 minutes...not very fun or strategic for me. But you may find it to be more your preference.

Don't use both at once.

I like it. Used it so much I don't even remember really what it does. Goes completely natural in the game I guess! :P
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?661782-Official-Submod-Limited-Recruitment-BETA

As I said, load this last. No more paying for factions you have to pay to unlock! UNLOCK THEM FOR FREE!...stupid money grubbing companies
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?647998-Official-Submod-All-Factions-Playable-for-DeI
^and if you know how, unlock the lame ass DLC pay 50 dollars and 50 dollars there! 50 dollars everywhere! DLC scam...oh sorry got carried away...if you know, you can actually unlock even DLC factions for free. That is the most hilarious part of the DLCs. They force you to pay to unlock...when you can unlock them for free (through modding)...feels like EA...

This is, right with the battle submod...the most important mod for DEI
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?661038-SUBMOD-Conquest-Public-Order-Nightmare-%28Lite-version-added%29
Don't ask, just get it. And don't get the Lite version! GO HARDCORE

I just got this. Dunno how it is, but hopefully Carthage puts up more of a fight with it. Loses every single time in every campaign I've made. Maybe the roll of the dice...
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?661549-SUBMOD-Ultionem-Carthago-%28DEI-0-95%29

I'm not sure if this is working properly. So I loaded it first for any compatibility issues. Its supposed to reduce movement on the map, so along with the Public Order rebellions for newly conquered...it is meant for factions to expand a lot more slowly, and not blitz through everything (including for you). Should work great with the battle submod I use as well.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?662676-Submod-Campaing-general-movement-reduced-by-half










Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on August 29, 2014, 05:45:12 pm
Since there hasn't been a post in a few days, shouldn't hurt to reply again.

My Seleucid game is going well. Antiochos (think that is how his name is spelled) is my main general and has won three cities so far (the ones north of Tarsus) and subjugated a barbarian faction that declared war on Sardes who took one of their cities that I took back. They are my only Satrapy, because I canceled all the others in the first turn to avoid mass war.

My next goal is to bring Antiochos (or whatever his name is) and bring him down and take Jerusalem, which is my main goal from the start. That will be a huge victory. I just needed to secure the north a bit. I'm hoping I can force Egypt to make peace after taking some of their northern cities...but, I have a feeling it will be a long and bloody war. Not to mention I still have to be careful in the east (one general there to defend). North is fine, since two satrapies and my 2nd main general is there to defend the holdings there. After Egypt is subdued or conquered, I might use my eastern general to secure my eastern front, while mostly focusing on building and economy everywhere else.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on August 30, 2014, 09:45:00 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aukvxuZ1VcM

So apparently all owners of Rome 2 will get a free expansion pack and stuff soon. Nice of them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on August 30, 2014, 10:11:26 pm
That...looks like a big patch that is just being called an expansion...

nitpicking aside...as long as they keep fixing it I suppose I am happy...
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on August 30, 2014, 10:12:55 pm
Well, it has a new campaign thrown in, which has been the realm of the paid expansions so far, so it's both. Plus a political overhall is huge, and basically what people have been crying for since day 1. I've got to say, aside from a slightly rocky release, CA has really kept their name in post-release support.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on August 30, 2014, 10:38:19 pm
They've released quite a lot if free/free for a limited time stuff, though. I pike that. Especially since I haven't bought any of the DLCs.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 02, 2014, 12:05:23 pm
Well, I stopped DEI. I liked the realism, however was super easy and didn't fix AI. Unit variety sucked. Too easy to cause routes. Battles always quick. But mostly factions I love, aside from Seleucid were completely ignored.

But search toontotalwar Rome 2 mod on google, easy to find. Get the recommended mods, load his mod first. And get no marker mod for better ai (than vanilla) or its broken

I found a better one. A bit more arcadey than DEI, but the AI is vastly better. Did add a few submods, but not many. The recommended ones and a few extra.

Even if more arcadey, I'm playing Seleucids and its so much harder. Ai actually uses strategy and does stuff, like flank you or run out of trees to ambush. Never saw that in DEI. And attacked a city and lost first time because of a huge ambush. Ai left city to few at start, didn't know where they were. And battles are harder too.

(Edit) quick addition. But battle maps are better too. Cities look way more amazing than what I saw in dei. In dei, same city, was on flat ground. But in here was built on a hill, but still made sense. A strategic city/fort like area. And siege is intense, but be sure to get mod to remove capture points..
Break ai with it, but vastly improves ai without it.
(End edit)

Campaign map is a lot better too faction wise. Dei took factions out. And on top of gem plus other improvements toontotalwar made look great. Runs better than dei in huge battles too for some reason.

Also campaign ai is brutal. Seleucids were brokenly easy in DEI and ai never did war barely, just blitzed them. First time I just had to sit in conquered territory to build up and stabilize region.

Huge and amazing compilation in one pack. Plus the mods he recommended and a couple extra. Plus all the factions aren't boring as hell and actually have unit variety (and huge aor)

Really recommend it. Vastly better ai, bit more arcadey, but its amazing.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 02, 2014, 12:06:29 pm
You never said what you got.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 02, 2014, 12:13:25 pm
You never said what you got.

Edited in top of post. So excited about it forgot to include it. :p

Easy to find on google, may include link to submods and mod when I'm on my PC.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Silent_Thunder on September 02, 2014, 01:00:01 pm
Just so you know, the Emperor Edition beta patch is live now, doesn't include any of the new content like the new campaign yet, but includes the reworked production chains and game fixes and whatnot.

Of course, opting in to the beta branch will break all your mods that aren't updated, and will break any saves you have.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Delta Foxtrot on September 02, 2014, 02:29:51 pm
Just so you know, the Emperor Edition beta patch is live now, doesn't include any of the new content like the new campaign yet, but includes the reworked production chains and game fixes and whatnot.

Of course, opting in to the beta branch will break all your mods that aren't updated, and will break any saves you have.

Double installations ho!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 02, 2014, 07:17:51 pm
Just so you know, the Emperor Edition beta patch is live now, doesn't include any of the new content like the new campaign yet, but includes the reworked production chains and game fixes and whatnot.

Of course, opting in to the beta branch will break all your mods that aren't updated, and will break any saves you have.

Double installations ho!

Yup. Copy/paste r2tw from steam to different location. Change the exe (heh shrug) so it doesn't load steam. Then play steam version beta and modded version. :) otherwise when its officially released, it forces an update even if updates are turned off...which is lame. I've opted into beta, steam updated it but haven't had time to try it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on September 11, 2014, 05:06:25 pm
Been playing as Libya. Start as client to Carthage, but as soon as they declared war I broke it.

Took Carthage (city) as soon as I could. Went west all the way to new Carthago. Took them out, with help. Made client states of all African nations except Egypt and Numidians. So a huge African alliance.

Going up into what used to be Seleucid lands, but a barbarian faction took them and Armenia went to war after that. My goal is Antioch, even if I have to attack Armenia for it.

Libya is a lot of fun. But I lost first time. Waited to long to take city of Carthage, and lost. A key city for Libya to take. Really weakens Carthage too.

But got all of Africa (includes client states) and up east to Jerusalem. I won't have any non-african client states, but maybe give Seleucids Antioch back and client state them. That be only exception. I really want the city though. But love Seleucids. Otherwise "maybe" client state Armenia. But no one else.

What you guys think?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 24, 2014, 11:17:04 am
Fired up my 80%-complete Roman Empire world conquest save in Emperor Edition. I expected it to be a bit buggy, but I never foresaw the hilarity of Civil War one turn on, with my biggest, most experienced armies (incl. all border armies in regions where there's no other armies to fight them off) going over to the rebels.

Needless to say, I love it. The only formidable force not boxed in by rebels is in Hispania, which, uhh, is a bit worrying. I'm bound to lose Italy, Greece, the Balkans and Anatolia. Britannia is already lost; the south went to rebels with its only army and navy, and one Scottish city isn't going to raise an army against them. Germania might be saveable if I blitz across Gaul. Aaaaaaah. Those bastard rebels will probably change my city set-ups/construction too. LEAVE MY STEPPE AUXILIARIES ALONEE

Hehee. Very nice.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 24, 2014, 11:26:12 am
So do you have to defeat all of them to win? That seems kinda annoying.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: dennislp3 on September 24, 2014, 11:35:10 am
Emperor Edition = finally out of beta lol
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 24, 2014, 12:08:00 pm
So do you have to defeat all of them to win? That seems kinda annoying.

I'm not sure, but possibly. It's not supposed to hit this late in the game, I think - the previous one was much earlier, with only a handful of (new, randomly generated) legions. That civil war bugged out after the save undergoing several major patches, but it didn't seem like it was going to be too difficult.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 24, 2014, 11:44:57 pm
Looks like the next Total War game is going to be a Mongol or Hunnic one.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Majestic7 on September 25, 2014, 02:24:00 am
So what is the mod of choice to make battles last longer instead of guys dying super quick? Hardly any time for tactical maneuvers as it is.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 25, 2014, 03:03:37 am
Looks like the next Total War game is going to be a Mongol or Hunnic one.

Huh? Is there a trailer or something out?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 25, 2014, 03:05:07 am
Looks like the next Total War game is going to be a Mongol or Hunnic one.

Huh? Is there a trailer or something out?
http://www.incgamers.com/2014/09/total-war-egx-booth-images-hint-at-next-game-reveal
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on September 25, 2014, 05:54:44 am
Man that is one big head.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on September 25, 2014, 09:24:07 am
Though I've liked the game from release, I have to admit the version of today is much, much better than that. Even basic and very useful things such as legionaries automatically throwing their javelins when charged (previously only when attacking) and the withdraw button seem to have been added only now. Loose/tight spacing also only came in a while back.

I don't mind so much - better late than never, and I'm happy CA has kept adding and improving the game for this long (and giving me free DLC, oy), but... yeah, why wasn't all this stuff in at release?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on September 25, 2014, 09:57:58 am
Probably time constraints.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Puzzlemaker on September 25, 2014, 10:04:23 am
So according to the EGX website the creative assembly session happens at 16:00... which is now.  More info will probably be up in about an hour.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: timferius on September 25, 2014, 10:27:09 am
Already announced. Total War: Atilla

Edit: Advanced street fighting? Civilians? Fire Simulation? I watch with interest.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: PrimusRibbus on September 25, 2014, 10:59:43 am
Though I've liked the game from release, I have to admit the version of today is much, much better than that. Even basic and very useful things such as legionaries automatically throwing their javelins when charged (previously only when attacking) and the withdraw button seem to have been added only now. Loose/tight spacing also only came in a while back.

I don't mind so much - better late than never, and I'm happy CA has kept adding and improving the game for this long (and giving me free DLC, oy), but... yeah, why wasn't all this stuff in at release?

CA fell into the trap of "release immediately, we can patch it later", which is incredibly frustrating but (sadly) not that unique.

That said, Rome 2 has shaped up to be my favorite Total War game, which is really surprising to me given that Shogun 2 was my most disliked TW game. After Shogun 2 and the Rome 2 release, I honestly thought CA was in its death-throes, but I'm actually fairly excited for Attila now.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on September 25, 2014, 11:44:46 am
I'm not. I have no faith at all in the current iteration of CA to produce anything near the quality of Barbarian Invasion's expansion. I wish the base engine wasn't such a hackjob of terrible ideas, then I might have some excitement for BI2. Unless they completely overhaul diplomacy, AI decision making, campaign map stupidity.. Then it will be equally as tedious as RTW2. Just with hordes.. Well, hordes are already in.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: EnigmaticHat on September 25, 2014, 01:33:10 pm
To be fair, BI was IMO basically the best expansion pack ever.  It released both a new style of gameplay (the hordes), and an entirely new game map, vastly increased the scale of the armies involved, and changed the overall tone of the game to be darker.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sergarr on September 25, 2014, 02:35:15 pm
Are the game screenshots supposed to look like they were taken from Civilization V, or is it just me?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on October 15, 2014, 05:11:39 pm
Are the game screenshots supposed to look like they were taken from Civilization V, or is it just me?

Yeah, Rome 2 looks like a Civ 5 clone on the campaign map. In fact, when I first saw it I thought I started up Civ 5...and I greatly disliked Civ 5...personally liked Medieval 2 and the older maps way better. It felt more like a real map, not a fantasy looking map.

In any case...I keep trying Rome Total War 1 with EB, and Roma Surrectum and what not...tried to play M2TW with EB2 (the best one and only one worth playing to me, the other submods suck so bad for map detail. EB2 adds a TON of detail to the map. There is the other one alongside EB2 that adds a lot of detail, but its pre-alpha and unplayable for me till its closer to being fully released) and tried some other submods and I still go back to Rome 2 more often than not. Guess I ended up liking it more in the end. Once EB2 and that other one for M2TW are fully finished, maybe I'd play those more...but I find R2TW with mods the best to choose from...for me that is...

Oh...and finally got Radious+DEI+ToonTotalWar to work together :D I use ToonTotalWar as the biggest one (adds over 100 mods), had to remove all the DB entries for DEI (so a lot less DEI in my game) but all the DEI submods I got, work great so while a lot of DEI itself was removed, the submods take its place anyway). And Radious I had to make a few small entry removals in his campaign submod to get that to work.

So in the end, I get TTW huge gameplay variety. DEI (mostly from the submods) gameplay challenge, along with Radious who further adds unique and challenging gameplay.

And all work very well together :D It is a lot of fun actually. Very challenging like in DEI, but so much more variety and what not :) Actually harder than just DEI+submods by themselves. And lots more units to choose from too.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Majestic7 on October 16, 2014, 04:29:33 am
The thing keeps me most from playing the awesome M:TW2 mods anymore is the manual retraining. Recovering manpower to your units without needing to walk them back home, then manually retrain every individual unit is just so much nicer. That kind of micro is not missed at all.

I wish the provincial towns could be uprgraded to be fortified though, at the expense of a building slot or losing all income.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Sergarr on October 16, 2014, 04:41:30 am
The thing keeps me most from playing the awesome M:TW2 mods anymore is the manual retraining. Recovering manpower to your units without needing to walk them back home, then manually retrain every individual unit is just so much nicer. That kind of micro is not missed at all.

I wish the provincial towns could be uprgraded to be fortified though, at the expense of a building slot or losing all income.
You should have done like the historical Rome did and just recruit a completely new army every time the old one dies.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Majestic7 on October 16, 2014, 05:28:47 am
Well, you can't recruit a worthwhile army in just conquered provinces. Especially so with mods like EBII or Stainless Steel where recruiting is often regional and/or tied to culture etc.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: BurnedToast on October 16, 2014, 09:36:44 am
The thing keeps me most from playing the awesome M:TW2 mods anymore is the manual retraining. Recovering manpower to your units without needing to walk them back home, then manually retrain every individual unit is just so much nicer. That kind of micro is not missed at all.

I wish the provincial towns could be uprgraded to be fortified though, at the expense of a building slot or losing all income.

I agree.

I've never managed to finish a long campaign in M:TW2 (despite playing 100+ hours) because I always got sick of that and just quit halfway through.

it's really too bad because in a lot of ways I like the game better then shogun 2 (though shogun 2 was pretty good too imo) but I just can't play it anymore and manual retraining is 90% of the reason why.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: EnigmaticHat on October 16, 2014, 05:50:20 pm
I have the opposite impression actually, my friend told me about automatic retraining and it made me not want to buy the game.  What's the point of pitched battles if armies just magically regenerate casualties?

Granted I've never finished a long campaign in any TW, but its not because of that, its more the sheer time investment and also the fact that at a certain point its pretty obvious you're going to win.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on October 16, 2014, 06:32:13 pm
I dunno. But on very hard, normal battles...with radious+dei/submods+toontotalwar..

But as Seleucids, allied with Egypt..
Even with multiple allies and egypt herself its hard as hell.

Harder than any Rome 1 or m2tw with mods I ever played.

With submods+VH campaign, it is a massive challenge. Seleucids have tough units, but getting swarmed. Hope I can make it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Cthulhu on October 18, 2014, 09:44:05 pm
I have the opposite impression actually, my friend told me about automatic retraining and it made me not want to buy the game.  What's the point of pitched battles if armies just magically regenerate casualties?

Granted I've never finished a long campaign in any TW, but its not because of that, its more the sheer time investment and also the fact that at a certain point its pretty obvious you're going to win.

Having your troops automatically replenish while encamped in your territory or having to press a button to replenish troops are equally inequivalent to actually replenishing troops in real life.  It's one bit of micromanagement I don't miss.

I can't seem to get into the game enough to do anything.  I play a few turns as one faction or another and get bored and quit.  Any suggestions for a fun one that isn't too easy or too hard?  I'm feeling barbarians.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: EnigmaticHat on October 18, 2014, 10:05:59 pm
The idea is you can choose whether to pay for replenishing them or not, but you do ultimately have to pay if you want more guys in your army.

So if you lose half a unit, you lost ~50% of that unit's value.  With auto-replenishment if you lose 80% of a unit, you lost 0% of its value as long as the army survives, even if its utterly broken.  I guess all those heavy roman infantry carried their shields out, and their buddies' shields, so you don't have to pay to make more.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on December 13, 2014, 04:16:59 am
So, playing as Seleucids again. Migrated to Ireland and took British Isles. It was 50 game years of nonstop fighting for the isles. I lost a lot from ambushes, and hordes of barbarians.

I ended up friending the barbarians of Europe, got them to join the war and slowly took the isles. At one point I nearly lost my two main armies...which would have made me get pushed back or even lose.

But, now I am seleucids living on British isles, friend of barbarians.

Sure beats 100s of enemies hating me around Syria. :p
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on December 13, 2014, 04:43:39 am
I noticed the AI got some more buffs, especially on the campaign side.

On very hard difficulty I've been ambushed more times than I can count. Enemy armies flanking around my main forces to hit me in the rear. Navies coordinating with land forces to take my undefended positions. Enemy agents locking my forces in place while they use their armies to circle around. It doesn't feel like they're cheating, though I'm sure they still are, but at least it's more subtle and more enjoyable.

I also had some awesome battles. For example, it took me 70 in-game years to take the city of Massalia. It was just a ridiculous back and forth of armies across the plains in front of the city where the might of my forces were completely stalemated against that one single city and its allies. The highlight was a 12,000 soldier battle in a... crater? It was literally a crater. London was another one. Took me decades to capture it, mostly because they kept intercepting my invasion forces.

Also I like that diplomacy is actually possible in very hard now, as opposed to every single faction hating you from day 1 permanently.

The AI is still garbage at siege battles though.

The changes to the buildings and food and all that is so much better. Thank god for that.

Oh yeah, and the Iberians are so freaking awesome. Every single one of their infantry are also ranged units. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Not those lame spears that some guys throw when charging or chasing. No no. These guys are all skirmishers. It's like fielding armies consisting only of ranged units that are also really good at fighting in melee. It's so crazy. Charging into Iberian lines is so ridiculous as half your army dies before they reach the first guy.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on December 13, 2014, 06:56:24 am
What changes did they do to food/buildings?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on December 13, 2014, 10:59:36 am
I noticed the AI got some more buffs, especially on the campaign side.

On very hard difficulty I've been ambushed more times than I can count. Enemy armies flanking around my main forces to hit me in the rear. Navies coordinating with land forces to take my undefended positions. Enemy agents locking my forces in place while they use their armies to circle around. It doesn't feel like they're cheating, though I'm sure they still are, but at least it's more subtle and more enjoyable.

I also had some awesome battles. For example, it took me 70 in-game years to take the city of Massalia. It was just a ridiculous back and forth of armies across the plains in front of the city where the might of my forces were completely stalemated against that one single city and its allies. The highlight was a 12,000 soldier battle in a... crater? It was literally a crater. London was another one. Took me decades to capture it, mostly because they kept intercepting my invasion forces.

Also I like that diplomacy is actually possible in very hard now, as opposed to every single faction hating you from day 1 permanently.

The AI is still garbage at siege battles though.

The changes to the buildings and food and all that is so much better. Thank god for that.

Oh yeah, and the Iberians are so freaking awesome. Every single one of their infantry are also ranged units. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Not those lame spears that some guys throw when charging or chasing. No no. These guys are all skirmishers. It's like fielding armies consisting only of ranged units that are also really good at fighting in melee. It's so crazy. Charging into Iberian lines is so ridiculous as half your army dies before they reach the first guy.

There is a mod that removes capture points. It is supposed to greatly improves siege AI, might be worth a try.

Now I'm gonna try Iberians. That sounds awesome. So far I've stuck with Seleucids, but I need a break from them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on December 13, 2014, 02:53:52 pm
What changes did they do to food/buildings?
They just made it so you're not spending half the game managing happiness and food.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on December 16, 2014, 02:26:54 am
I am enjoying my Iberian play through a lot. Its more fun for me than playing as Seleucids. But could be cause I always choose Seleucids lol. But my Seleucid game I migrated to Ireland and took the isles. That is fun and makes a good story.

United Iberia and in war with new carrhago and Carthage. Huge battles going on, but winning thus far. Iberia has really strong units. Fun to use, too. Actually, they remind me a bit of a mix of barbarian units and civilized units to be honest. Kind of like a cross between them...is that just me that feels that?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: umiman on December 16, 2014, 03:21:35 am
Well... that and how all their units are ranged units. Their slingers are also insane.

Their naval sucks complete garbage though. Seriously, it's completely worthless. Even transport ships are better than them.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on December 16, 2014, 01:29:53 pm
Well... that and how all their units are ranged units. Their slingers are also insane.

Their naval sucks complete garbage though. Seriously, it's completely worthless. Even transport ships are better than them.

Well, that part about the navy isn't a big deal to me. I greatly dislike navy fights in Total War. Sea fights are confusing as hell to me in Total War. Never figured them out in Empire Total War in all my time playing even after watching literally 6 hours of video on it, nor Rome 2. I have better skill clicking the auto battle button for navy fights. :P I'm not much into the water anyway in real life either, don't like swimming or going into the ocean and don't like going into the pool (only the hot tub)...I prefer land or the voyage of space :P
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Digital Hellhound on December 16, 2014, 01:47:20 pm
The only TW naval battles that I've gotten the hang of/liked were Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai's (there was something delightfully destructive about the latter). Rome 2 is just an unholy mess in that regard. I can't ever actually seem to get my ships to ram or board anyone - they just kinda shuffle awkwardly and sink.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: loose nut on December 16, 2014, 06:02:19 pm
It is amazing how consistently I get my ass kicked in naval engagements in Rome 2. I blink and my general's ship gets rammed by some freaking slow-ass transport full of levy freemen.

I would think, on principle, that I'd be able to figure it out, but I've been sticking to autoresolve for a while now.

So many moving objects!
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Karlito on December 16, 2014, 07:16:36 pm
There was a patch today and transports can no longer ram, though I think most of my naval losses have been to transports with javelin guys that set my ships on fire.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: LoSboccacc on January 09, 2015, 05:37:51 am
There was a patch today and transports can no longer ram, though I think most of my naval losses have been to transports with javelin guys that set my ships on fire.

Finally! I complained since the release that army  to free transport made then ridiculously op

Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Mictlantecuhtli on January 09, 2015, 11:06:45 am
Well, good thing that only took, what, two+ years?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on February 21, 2015, 04:03:40 am
So, I'm gonna be playing Rome 2 again in a day or two.

I plan to be one of the eastern factions and migrate to Ireland.

The choices are:
Seleucids, Parthia, Armenia or Meroe/Blemmys/Axum (african factions, but still in the east)

I did this with the Seleucids, and it was a ton of fun. I never finished the game though because I had to reinstall my PC and forgot to backup my saves and I never turned on steam cloud save (tended to cause random crashes). Seleucids do tend to be my favorite faction, and its kinda funny leaving everyone who hates you and becoming a "civilized" barbarian. That and they get elephants, so elephants will migrate to Ireland and breed there :P

Parthia I never really played, don't know too much about them. I think being Parthia in Ireland would be hilarious lol. I love their units.

Armenia tends to be my 2nd favorite faction after Seleucid, but I LOVE their history. Good units.

The 3 African factions I listed (Meroe/Blemmys/Axum) are pretty similar to each other (unit wise, exactly the same) so I put them as one group. But imagining africans taking over Ireland sounds great. And they are one of the few darker skinned units in Rome 2, maybe the only ones in Rome 2 as far as I know. Their units are kinda weak, but they are still cool. I'd probably resort to recruiting elephant mercenaries to help take over Ireland.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on February 22, 2015, 05:30:08 pm
So, here are the mods I use/don't use.

Augustus seems to work fine, I tried a few factions and only Judea (that I tried, out of 5 different ones. Including Rome, Armenia, Parthia and a couple others) has that weird -100k money at the start. Probably easy to fix with pack editor program thingy. But, since I prefer the grand campaign its kinda minor and Judea is only faction with that bug for Augustus that I saw.

As for mods

I'm using
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?625637-ToonTotalWar-s-Rome-2-All-In-One-Mod-v3-9-5-for-Patch-16-1-Emperor-Edition-Updated-01-2-2015

And some of these mods:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=195892169

I'm using some of that. I ended up taking quite a bit out, since I didn't check between ToonTotalWar and his mod, so I removed most of the ones included in Toon Mod. I am not using (thought it be easier than listing the ones I'm using, but guess I should have done it the other way)...

-(testing) Grand Campaign on Augustus map (it isn't compatible with unlock all factions.) (edit note after typing this post up: I ended up leaving it activated, I lose all the cool faction choices...but guess I'll give it a shot. I mostly play seleucid anyway or Armenia, I didn't really play the custom ones except africa)

-I'm not using king's of the north as that is included in toontotalwar
-None of the Dresden ones, thats all included
-Kaziel's romans are already included in toontotalwar
-Better siege by noif is already included
-The TWH unit packs are already in toontotalwar
-Noif better horses is already in toontotalwar
-Smarmy is included in toontotalwar, but because it looks like the compilation listed on steam includes more stuff, I decided to keep it
-Not using the camera mod

Think thats all of what I didn't use.

The most conflicts come from Smarmy compilation. Also Radious and Farsovereign Unit Pack 3 seems to have a lot of conflicts, but I personally kept both. Unless Smarmy is all included (doesn't appear so), and Farsovereign wasn't listed but is in toontotalwar...I'll keep both.

As for the load order I did, went from least conflicts to most conflicts (with the custom mod manager, not the default Rome 2 one). All the "none" conflicts went to the bottom below as they don't really effect anything with other mods.

Now onto DEI submods (not DEI itself)

I went with Slower Battles 2.0, but I'm still testing things out. Doesn't seem as good as the one I was using before. I don't really like it.

www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?668061-Official-Submod-Faster-Slower-Battles-Movement

So I'll probably switch that with Drew's version on page 9 (in the link he provides a link to it)

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?651741-Ancient-Battle-Realism-submod-bubba777-revamp-compatible-with-DEI-0-96b-27-09-2014-update-release/page9

See how that works. I was using the original battle realism submod, which worked fine till I started trying out the other ones. Maybe Drew's will be better, if not its back to the original ancient battle realism

I got this mod too, diplomatic options for everyone. Dunno how realistic it is, but I like it...so...there I had the same type of mod for Attila lol. (though I haven't fully tested it)

www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?673644-Official-Submod-All-Diplomatic-Options-for-All-Factions


And I've always used this one, never had an issue with it. Maybe something similar is in ToonTotalWar already, but oh well lol

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?660875-Official-Submod-No-Public-Order-Negative-from-Garrisoning-Troops

This one is my favorite one of all DEI submods. It makes campaigns a lot harder, less zerg-like (vanilla total war is REALLY zerg-like, guess thats what people like these days oh well each their own.) and far more fun

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ns-Versions%29

I went with

@conquest=ponightmarenogarrisons(DEI1.0).rar (3.5 KB, 10 views)

Which I guess is the normal version. There is also Lite version which is more popular and the extreme (but I find it a bit much, but guess a small amount use it).


And this one I've always used as well. Slows down campaign a bit, but its better for more strategic gameplay and I find it more realistic

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?662286-SUBMOD-Reduced-movement-range-for-land-units-26-01-2015

With the above mod setup...and I'm still testing the battle ones. And the diplomacy one I haven't fully tried yet. And dunno if I'll keep grand campaign with augustus map mod or not, having all factions unlocked never really did much (personally for me, as like I said, I always play Seleucids/Armenia). So maybe for me, it will add more depth to the map. But in any case, outside of the first 3 mods I talked about...it should all work for you if anyone tries this particular setup.

But outside of Judea in Augustus...grand campaign didn't have any bugs in my 16 hour game. I'll be doing another long play through on probably monday night or tuesday...see how the few new mods I got (and mods I removed) end up doing. One thing I'll be keeping a closer eye on, isn't so much campaign (I already know that fully works in Grand Campaign) but the battles as that was my main complaint with Rome 2 vanilla and Attila (Attila was even WORSE for battles)...way too arcadey for me.

Oh, and I have 63 mods active. I think 63 is the Rome 2 limit or REALLY close to it.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Empty on February 22, 2015, 09:40:35 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Most of your latter links do not work.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on February 22, 2015, 10:17:28 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Most of your latter links do not work.

Fixed. When I was typing it in notepad, it auto shortened the links for some reason. Kinda lame, oh well lol. Links work now.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on February 27, 2015, 03:33:40 am
Well, my Seleucid game is going great. (or is it?)

Landed in Ireland, and had losses right away. It was really challenging still...I had a lot of elephants but I lost a little less than half from barbarians right in the beginning.

Landed, assassin takes out one of my generals (a good one too)

Two barbarian armies single out of one of my other generals who was attacked by a night fighter+ambush...so no help from the main army. Luckily this general was a crappy non-family one anyway, so I suicided him into one of the barbarian leaders. Who he did take out, seconds before death. Leaving only mercenary armies, I ordered all to attack the remaining general and no luck a 2nd time.

So already at a loss, next turn...

I use my main army to attack the remainder of the barbarians. Sadly, I didn't see they had ANOTHER army waiting...so now I'm greatly outnumbered. Actually needing to use strategy this fight, I arrive in the battlefield (7 elephants, some mercenaries and some elite infantry troops and 4 cavalry units).

My units, superior...I just end up using my usual strategy. Since I have to attack, I send my infantry troops ahead. Flanked by the cavalry and the elephants stay some ways behind the main army, till ready to strike.

Well...would have worked if the AI didn't send a flank of javelin cavalry at my sides and routed 4 of the 7 elephants.

From there, some of the mercenaries get stampeded on and route.

I pull back, regroup...send the remainder (3 squadrons) of mercenaries to deal with the javelin cavalry. Who ran out of ammo and charged into them, routing 1 squad, while the other 2 take on 5 cavalry units who keep pulling back and charging again. But the mercenaries did their part, distraction as I regroup.

Luckily, 1 group of elephants goes back to normal and I pull them back to my general. I follow with the other 3 who ended up charging through the javelin cavalry and routing them (lucky again, as I wasn't really watching them).

So now the barbarians have vastly superior numbers and coming toward my main army. I surround my general (if he died, it pretty much end Ireland...he is the best general I have) with the elite infantry, send my elephants to crash through the barbarian hordes and follow through with my cataphracts. Easy from here on...nope...

Their general stormed through my lines of elite troops with a horde of 1000 barbarians hidden in the trees. Now, keep in mind, I'm fighting a 11k barbarian army to my 3k seleucid army. At this point, there is probably 7-8k barbarians left and 2000 seleucids left (heavy losses). Most losses coming from the mercenaries and some elephants.

My general is now in the midst of fighting. Most of my troops are across the battlefield dealing with other armies. Can't really pull them back easily, so I just pull back one cataphract to hopefully make it in time to the leader.

Cataphract gets ambushed by a hidden javelin cavalry, and...one good volley of javelins ends that unit. Well...that was definitely bad.

And look it there, my leader took out the barbarian general and...there goes my leader :( Down by a volley of javelins. And a chariot was actually what sent everything to hell.

And...everything routes. Crushing defeat.

Yeah...that went bad.

Back on campaign map, I'm left with 4 remaining generals with crappy units. And surrounded by 7 barbarian generals, most with 2-3 units and two with full stacks.

And I left egypt alone so long, they are coming in hordes to my Seleucid cities.

Though, I DID take that island west of rome (the northern island, the south one carthage has). So, I'll try regrouping there. I took that place as a backup area, in case I lost my homeland.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: scriver on February 27, 2015, 03:39:37 am
What exactly are you doing in Ireland of all places?
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Majestic7 on February 27, 2015, 03:44:50 am
He is obviously looking for Leprechaun's gold.

I have a Seleucid game waiting for the motivation to continue, I think I'll win the grand campaign with it. I've conquered whole Egypt which kind of made the game easy, while a couple of strong Greek allies have been of great help. I just wish we could sell/give regions like in older TWs so I could feed my satrapies the areas I don't want to bother controlling.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on February 27, 2015, 03:52:52 am
He is obviously looking for Leprechaun's gold.

I have a Seleucid game waiting for the motivation to continue, I think I'll win the grand campaign with it. I've conquered whole Egypt which kind of made the game easy, while a couple of strong Greek allies have been of great help. I just wish we could sell/give regions like in older TWs so I could feed my satrapies the areas I don't want to bother controlling.

My leader actually did hear there was gold. It was supposedly a land of paradise, filled with golden temples and the most beautiful women.

Turns out, its filled with hordes of barbarians, bloodthirsty women and no gold anywhere in sight.

^that is the story behind it anyway
<--my version is that I wanted to avoid the land where everyone hates seleucids, and move to ireland as I actually prefer living on an island surrounded by fleets of ships :P Plus, more importantly...I find it a lot of fun to move an eastern faction to Ireland. My favorite one was moving Baktria to ireland :P That was a TON of fun, even though they lost.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: Vendayn on February 27, 2015, 03:53:52 am
If I was playing as Ireland, I'd take them and move to one of the eastern areas :P

I guess I just like taking one side of the world and plopping it on the other.
Title: Re: Total War: Rome 2 still totally has a trailer now
Post by: pisskop on November 14, 2015, 10:10:50 pm
Hey, does anybody know if the rome i total realism compares to the rome total realism mod and if its 'good'

Id totes buy the game if it is.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy5GRaHzFnI - Okay.