Rome II : Total War

[Nerraw]

I've stopped watching videos. I almost can't stand the wait as it is, and I'll hardly be able to play on the 3rd anyway. Won't have proper time until the weekend.

[Northy]

Good old Gamestar showing the good stuff again.





Plus some HoC

I'd give my left nut to speak German about now.

[fakaroonie]

OMG the terrains in the first vid are breathtaking.. I'm never going to use automatic resolve battle D
That ballista zoom in, wooowwowowowo. Now playing vid 3.
German language feels so relaxing to my ears somehow.

[Deleted]

You guys think we'll get a blood pack similar to shogun 2? Seems to me like blood and gore would amplify the carnage immensely in a rome era game.

[Faldric]

I'd give my left nut to speak German about now.

You dont miss that much. He mainly describes what he is doing, which you can see.

[SirRobin]

You guys think we'll get a blood pack similar to shogun 2? Seems to me like blood and gore would amplify the carnage immensely in a rome era game.

I've heard that "some" of the dust effects, like from impacts, are actually just placeholders for a blood dlc which will turn them red.

[Deleted]

I've heard that "some" of the dust effects, like from impacts, are actually just placeholders for a blood dlc which will turn them red.

I hope so, would seem weird to have it in shogun 2 but not in Rome.

Not that I get to see the animations in detail too often, but I tend to have 2 kinds of battles depending on my mood, the ones that matter I will play properly and make sure I have minimal losses which tends to mean I don't stop to watch much of the individual unit combat for very long.

Then sometimes on battles where I have a dinstinct advantage, I will stop and savor the carnage around me.

[Sy]

I did post an analysis of the AI on the official board the other day. Should probably have posted it here too.

i might be a little late, but that was a great analysis, thanks for posting! :]

I could care less if the AI is the exact same one from that game because I didn't play it. It will be new to me. I'm not sure what percentage of Shogun players will be buying this game, but its not being marketed to them. Its being marketed primarily to players of the original Rome, then to people who enjoy games like this, then to Shogun players.

like SirRobin said, in that case, you will most definitely find the rome 2 ai to be a huge improvement over the original. but that really is to be expected.

and while it's true that the marketing doesn't focus on shogun 2 players (probably because those will buy it anyway, most of them being total war fans for quite some time already) the official comments and interviews about the new ai very clearly are in comparison to shogun 2 (at least in anything that does not include big walls, as those were last present that way in medieval 2) and it's problems.

Looks a lot better than vanilla Shogun 2 naval combat tbh.

it better be, s2 vanilla was terrible, especially before patches! :D

but i agree, i quite like the different ship types and how they are used.

technologically inferior factions can gain access to new units and tech by conquering settlements belonging to advanced powers. A barbarian tribe can start churning out triremes instead of their slow, oak beamed vessels if they manage to make their way down to the Mediterranean coast, for instance. "


thats pretty cool! saves the barbarian tribes from sucking late game against the more advanced factions!

that does indeed sound pretty cool!

I'd give my left nut to speak German about now.

the interesting, although for the most part already known, things he talks about:

• enemy troops will only be visible to you if at least one of your troops can actually see them. that's why he sends a unit of cavalry ahead to scout in the beginning, and why only the enemies on the walls are visible in the siege attack, prior to moving through breaches and gates.
• when defending a temporary fort, you will be able to place a number of different defences and traps before the battle (which looks really cool, imo!) but they will break after being under attack for some time.
• one of the capture points in the big siege battle is actually located outside the walls.
• most settlements, aka not the provincial capitals, won't have any walls and only one capture point.

[theturn]

http://www.pcgamesn.com/totalwar/pla...al-war-rome-ii


not sure if anyones seen this yet, but i like this!

"Any playable barbarian tribe can, through diplomacy and conquest, create a confederation, essentially giving rise to a barbarian empire that can compete with the mighty powers of the Mediterranean. Likewise, technologically inferior factions can gain access to new units and tech by conquering settlements belonging to advanced powers. A barbarian tribe can start churning out triremes instead of their slow, oak beamed vessels if they manage to make their way down to the Mediterranean coast, for instance. "


thats pretty cool! saves the barbarian tribes from sucking late game against the more advanced factions!

That is cool, and historically accurate. Most of those tribes armed themselves by defeating their enemies specifically the roman ones.

[Faldric]

I've heard that "some" of the dust effects, like from impacts, are actually just placeholders for a blood dlc which will turn them red.

I just hope we germans dont have to rely on 3rd parties to enable it. I am a fully grown up adult, I can decide for myself if I can handle a little gore.

[serenka]

the interesting, although for the most part already known, things he talks about:

• enemy troops will only be visible to you if at least one of your troops can actually see them. that's why he sends a unit of cavalry ahead to scout in the beginning, and why only the enemies on the walls are visible in the siege attack, prior to moving through breaches and gates.
• when defending a temporary fort, you will be able to place a number of different defences and traps before the battle (which looks really cool, imo!) but they will break after being under attack for some time.
• one of the capture points in the big siege battle is actually located outside the walls.
• most settlements, aka not the provincial capitals, won't have any walls and only one capture point.

the setting the traps / defenses before the battle looked really awesome! you can create your own chokepoints is pretty neat! only watched the first video though.

[theturn]

Good old Gamestar showing the good stuff again.

So its official, I'm going to spend as little time on the campaign map as possible and then just drool over my units getting slaughtered because i'm not paying any attention to tactics.

Edit: Kinda bummed how the legionaries look though, they looked more professional in rome 1, o well

[Nirawen]

A berserker would get a nasty case of spear to the throat before he even started swinging his axe. Duh.

That may be true, but a spear to the throat is barely enough to slow the rampaging wildmen. The true Suebi would see it as a free weapon to kill the Spartan brethren.

[serenka]

So its official, I'm going to spend as little time on the campaign map as possible and then just drool over my units getting slaughtered because i'm not paying any attention to tactics.

Edit: Kinda bummed how the legionaries look though, they looked more professional in rome 1, o well

not sure how it works tbh, but they may have been early legionaries without any upgrades.

[Airlick]

That may be true, but a spear to the throat is barely enough to slow the rampaging wildmen. The true Suebi would see it as a free weapon to kill the Spartan brethren.

Jokes aside, berserkers did die upon taking damage that would instantly kill a man, and a spear to the throat (piercing blow, mind you) is definitely one of injuries that you just can't ignore. :P They could ignore their arm being cut off, they could ignore a sword in their stomach, but severing spinal cord is something more serious. :P Besides, even if that wasn't the case, the Spartan could just slice an artery of the berserker and wait until he bled out - and his martial prowess would certainly let him survive a few minutes.

Oh well, I guess I took this topic way more serious than I should have. :P

[Nirawen]

Jokes aside, berserkers did die upon taking damage that would instantly kill a man, and a spear to the throat (piercing blow, mind you) is definitely one of injuries that you just can't ignore. :P They could ignore their arm being cut off, they could ignore a sword in their stomach, but severing spinal cord is something more serious. :P Besides, even if that wasn't the case, the Spartan could just slice an artery of the berserker and wait until he bled out - and his martial prowess would certainly let him survive a few minutes.

Oh well, I guess I took this topic way more serious than I should have. :P

Tis but a scratch.

[Airlick]

Tis but a scratch.

I'll bite your legs off!

[Sy]

not sure how it works tbh, but they may have been early legionaries without any upgrades.

also keep in mind that in the original rome, every unit was only made up of clones of one man. since medieval 2, there are several models for soldiers in each unit, and that number increases with each new title (i assume). that might make them look a little less "professional", as not every piece of armor is exactly the same on every single soldier, and neither are face, height, horse color, etc. but it does look A LOT more realistic - especially for armies in which each soldier had to buy his own equipment, aka the roman units before Marius' reforms (hastati, principles, triarii, equites, etc) and those of pretty much all non-roman factions.

and if i remember correctly, there were also no visible blood stains and the like on soldiers in the original rome, so the ones in rome 2 might look less clean, which probably has the same effects as i mentioned above: less "professional" and elite, but much more realistic.

[theturn]

also keep in mind that in the original rome, every unit was only made up of clones of one man. since medieval 2, there are several models for soldiers in each unit, and that number increases with each new title (i assume). that might make them look a little less "professional", as not every piece of armor is exactly the same on every single soldier, and neither are face, height, horse color, etc. but it does look A LOT more realistic - especially for armies in which each soldier had to buy his own equipment, aka the roman units before Marius' reforms (hastati, principles, triarii, equites, etc) and those of pretty much all non-roman factions.

and if i remember correctly, there were also no visible blood stains and the like on soldiers in the original rome, so the ones in rome 2 might look less clean, which probably has the same effects as i mentioned above: less "professional" and elite, but much more realistic.

This is the video I'm referring to http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=bjlL7TS9bP8, I'm talking specifically about the kind of armor they are wearing. I'm all for diversity in the ranks and blood and dented armor. They really don't look at all like the legionaries from history, the helmets and armor is all wrong. Now if you go and watch the teutoburg forest video they look amazing (http://www.entdepot.com/site/wp-cont...reenshot-1.jpg). So I'm thinking that the footage from HoC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=bjlL7TS9bP8) is either using an older build or its some sort of un upgraded units.

[Sy]

This is the video I'm referring to http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=bjlL7TS9bP8, I'm talking specifically about the kind of armor they are wearing. I'm all for diversity in the ranks and blood and dented armor. They really don't look at all like the legionaries from history, the helmets and armor is all wrong. Now if you go and watch the teutoburg forest video they look amazing (http://www.entdepot.com/site/wp-cont...reenshot-1.jpg). So I'm thinking that the footage from HoC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=bjlL7TS9bP8) is either using an older build or its some sort of un upgraded units.

seems to me like their are different kinds/tiers of legionaries in the teutoburg forest video, with the weaker ones actually wearing exactly the same armor as those in the prologue campaign preview.
the armor of the stronger ones does look, well, stronger, but i don't think the weaker ones look unprofessional. this isn't the medieval era where everyone was wearing plate armor, after all :D

i'm surprised to see that the units in the prologue video are called "veteran legionaries" though, as they do indeed look more like hastati or principles to me.