Re: The Total War Thread

[leon the duque of birigui]

no problem, probably a cleaver modder wiil create a modpack to put in all the dlc civs.

[Synecdoche]

That spear-clothesline in the final frame of Sparta is physically impossible unless that spear is made out of solid wrought iron or something.

I'm quite irritated, as these DLC civs probably mean that modding will suffer yet another setback in the Total War series, which already have a narrowing scope compared to the heyday of Medieval 2 and Rome.

[peugeot407]

I'm not particularly bothered. Three civs in one DLC will probably mean they're nothing special, and all they've done is just change the playability from False to True...

As long their actual efforts are going towards the Seleucids, I don't mind this, and let's face it, it's going to keep all those Sparta-crazed lunatics happy. Having said that, they probably will complain when they can't actually defeat half a million Persians with a single unit of Hoplites.


peugeot407

[Synecdoche]

My favorite Hellene city-state isn't even represented

Everyone forgets about Thebes (Except the 0AD team, I love those guys).

Also, obligatory historical nitpickings: hoplite without hoplon, hoplite using an underhand thrust in pitched battle, etc. etc.

[spangopola]

Anyone going to buy this thing?

[super7700]

If I do get RTWII, buying this DLC would really depend on how much I enjoy the game.

And for some more historical nitpickings - Athens was completely insignificant by the time that RTWII is set (I would have liked to see the Achaean League instead), and the Greeks had stopped using the corinthian helmet (the Spartan's one in the trailer) a long, long time before the Hellenistic Era.

It is a shame that Thebes is usually left out in games and mods including Athens and Sparta, but by this period Thebes was even less significant than Athens, so I can see why it was left out.

[peugeot407]

As I've said before, the most powerful Greek city at this point was Syracuse, which rather shows how unimportant Athens and Sparta were.

Anyway, I'll probably end up having this DLC anyway, partly because I'll be preordering, but mostly because I end up buying every single bit of DLC on the shelf...


peugeot407

[HAL9000]

Syracuse needs to be in there, yes, but I think the soldiers shown in Athens were accurate, what with the lorica hamata and non-Corinthian helms, as well as the more oval shaped shields. Can't speak for Epirus, though, too short of an intro.
But Sparta... God, I hope they don't go down the road of 300 style soldiers and ruin it... that would be inaccurate to the nth degree.

[super7700]

You can now check out more info about Athens, Sparta and Epirus on the RTWII wiki page here. Below are the new images accompanying the faction pages:

Athens
Epirus
Sparta

Also, the release date has been officially announced as September 3rd 2013.

I'm glad that they've included thureophoroi and thorakitai for Athens, I guess they will be the Achaean League in all but name and starting province. Sparta on the other hand looks as inaccurate as ever, I hope that the corinthian helmets and breastplates are restricted to their most elite units. The rest of them should have to make do with a linothorax and cheap pylos helmet. I agree that Syracuse would have been an interesting addition, and I would also like to see Pergamon, another powerful city-state.

If RTWII continues doing these themed DLCs including a couple of factions, what would you want to have? I would like CA to create an eastern-themed DLC, with the Sarmatians, Seleucids and Armenians. Then they could have a further-eastern-themed DLC, with the Bactrians, Saka and Mauryans! While there is little chance of the latter being made, I could see them creating something like the former.

EDIT: Here's a site with more information about the new features and units available in the Greek DLC: http://store.steampowered.com/app/212301/

[The Dude]

I'm quite irritated, as these DLC civs probably mean that modding will suffer yet another setback in the Total War series, which already have a narrowing scope compared to the heyday of Medieval 2 and Rome.

Eh, no.

CA has already planned a modding summit (not sure if it has happened already) to discuss with major modders on how CA can help improve the modding scene. Not to mention Steam Workshop integration, with mod tools released, and full mod support for Shogun 2, leads be to believe Rome 2 will be the most moddable TW yet..


Regardless, I can't really so how this is truly terrible. More factions to play, and and actual Greek faction for that matter. (Macedon doesn't count ) And considering the fact Spartan hoplites aren't half naked and weaning bright red capes, I think they're not borrowing much from 300...

By the way, anyone else hopping for Han Chinese DLC? :lol:

[HAL9000]

Yes, but I think that falls outside of the planned purview of the game, sadly...

[super7700]

I know I'm bumping a very old thread, but now that Rome II has been released I would like to know if it is something worth putting on my Christmas list, now I've got a computer that could actually run it. I've been following the action at the Total War Centre forums, and it does seem like the release was a complete mess. However, while there are still some outspoken individuals crucifying CA and the game, it seems that with patching and mods it is turning out to be a relatively good game according to some of the more rational opinions I've seen.

At the same time, I could get Rome I for the mods such as Rome Surrectum and Europa Barbarorum, which still seem extremely popular, or I could get Medieval II for Europa Barbarorum II, which is coming out early next year apparently. My concern with buying more than one of these games is that I might end up playing only one of them while leaving the other/s to gather dust.

So in your opinion, which game, or games, do you think I should buy?

[peugeot407]

Don't buy Rome I or Medieval II, the gameplay is simply too outdated. If you are going for a TW game and it's not Rome II, I'd pick Shogun II or Napoleon instead.

Honestly though, there are a lot of unreasonable people currently active in the TW forums. Upon release, there were a fair few problems with the game, including bugs, crashes and performance issues, but they've mostly been solved now, and the complainers that remain are mostly plying their trade by blowing insignificant things up to immense proportions, the "This game no longer has a family tree, so it's unplayable" kind of thing.

Honestly, I think the game is very enjoyable at the moment, and I've already clocked 139 hours with it, almost as much as I've played with Empire (188h) or Shogun 2 (193h*) since their releases. It's a shame you're only about to pick it up now though, you'll have to pay for the Greek States and Nomadic Tribes faction DLCs, which you could've had for free if you got the game earlier...


peugeot407

* = This one's mostly FotS though, I've probably played only 10 hours or so with vanilla...

[super7700]

Thanks for your advice. I guess I will go for Rome II then, since it's a new game and it's from my favourite historical period. Do you play it with any mods?

Exactly, some people are acting as if CA have ruined their lives and killed their family or something. And then people trying to defend the game are accused of being paid by CA. It's quite amazing how one game is capable of producing so much hate.

The DLC's aren't very expensive so I'll happily pay for them if I enjoy the game.

[peugeot407]

I do have some mods, yes. I've got one that changes the texture of the campaign map water somewhat, which is quite nice, and off the Steam Workshop I've got "Maf's Nomadic Tribes Unit Pack", the very useful "AI Agent Budget Reduction" (which might as well be called Annoyance Reduction) and the "Carthage, Egypt and Seleucid Survival Mod", though I haven't played the game since I installed the latter, so I can't say how useful it really is at stopping the African tribes from steamrolling Carthage and Egypt...


peugeot407

[spangopola]

Just got my hands on R2:TW, and I gotta say it's getting a bit tedious... I dunno, I guess I prefer more on the battling then brushing buttons for way too much technologies.

Someone add me on Steam!

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