Total War: Rome II

[Ingmar]

Woop woop woop, send up the Paelos signal.

http://www.totalwar.com/en_us/rome2

Not out until 2013. There's all of one screenshot so far, but it does look pretty sexy. Hopefully they spend the next year figuring out how to not make the load times totally suck?

[Paelos]

 

[koro]

While more Total War is always nice to see, I can't be the only one who thinks another numbered sequel to a previous Total War game is a bit worrisome, especially since Shogun 2 is still pretty fresh. I just hope the Total War series being one of Sega's only profitable franchise pillars doesn't lead it down a road of eventually tired rehashes every year or two. I mean what's next? Medieval III in 2015? Empire II?

[Malakili]

While more Total War is always nice to see, I can't be the only one who thinks another numbered sequel to a previous Total War game is a bit worrisome, especially since Shogun 2 is still pretty fresh. I just hope the Total War series being one of Sega's only profitable franchise pillars doesn't lead it down a road of eventually tired rehashes every year or two. I mean what's next? Medieval III in 2015? Empire II?

Crossovers.  Total War: Shogun vs. Medieval 2015

[Ingmar]

Yeah I have the same thought about another rehash instead of a new setting. I'd love someday for some game designer to notice India and make a game there. TW seems like as good a choice as any.

[Morat20]

Don't look at me. I want TW games in fantasy settings. TW: Warhammer? TW: Codex Alera?

I mean I like smashing Romans together, or having knights run over archers, but sometimes I'd just like to unleash some space marines, or an army of Gorgons or something.

[Paelos]

I've wanted Rome II for a long long long time.

[Daeven]

Don't look at me. I want TW games in fantasy settings. TW: Warhammer? TW: Codex Alera?

+1

[JWIV]

Don't look at me. I want TW games in fantasy settings. TW: Warhammer? TW: Codex Alera?

I mean I like smashing Romans together, or having knights run over archers, but sometimes I'd just like to unleash some space marines, or an army of Gorgons or something.

I would happily pay money to see a a computerized version of a block of savage orcs with a big stabba run into well anything.  Or god forbid the shitstorm of fanatics eating your own troops in real time.

[Ingmar]

Well... there was Mark of Chaos. It was OK-ish (definitely did not reach "good"). I'm not sure anyone played it other than me and kildorn.

[satael]

Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen were great games though not all would agree with me. I wish they made a new game based on the mechanics of those games

[HaemishM]

I would like to see them do something like Civil War, World War 2, or I don't know, UNFUCK Empire with a sequel since Seven Years War is my favorite wargaming time period.

[Ruvaldt]

Civil War could work, but I couldn't see WWII working.  They'd have to play with the dynamics of the Civil War though; the CSA never really stood a chance in reality.  Maybe they could throw in some Turtledove alternate history possibilities?  And then there is the whole slavery thing...

I think the Renaissance/Reformation is ripe for a tactical/strategic level wargame like those in the TW series.  The religious wars in France, the Thirty Years War in the HRE, the English Civil War, etc.  That is ground that hasn't been covered other than the grand strategy games from Paradox, and those never have a tactical level.  China has all kinds of amazing possibilities.  Also, count me in for a TW: Warhammer 40k.  I'd pick that up in a heartbeat.  Though there are some full conversion fantasy mods for Medieval II; the Third Age comes to mind.

[Ingmar]

There really need to be more than 2 sides (way more, really) for TW to work IMO, unless you make major changes to the non-fighty parts.

[Morat20]

There really need to be more than 2 sides (way more, really) for TW to work IMO, unless you make major changes to the non-fighty parts.

Codex Alera could do it -- Magic Romans, Canim, Marat -- three sides at least. :) Hard to balance properly, but that's why they charge the big bucks for the game. (Theoretically).

I dunno, though -- there haven't been many fantasy games that worked out too well in the more 'tactical' games like TW. I guess Age of Mythology is probably the only one that sticks out as a big-budget name, and that was pretty pure RTS.

[Phildo]

Having only tried to play the original Rome for the first time a year or two ago, I'm glad this is getting an update.  The controls in original Rome feel terrible compared to Shogun 2.

[Ingmar]

There really need to be more than 2 sides (way more, really) for TW to work IMO, unless you make major changes to the non-fighty parts.

Codex Alera could do it -- Magic Romans, Canim, Marat -- three sides at least. :) Hard to balance properly, but that's why they charge the big bucks for the game. (Theoretically).

I dunno, though -- there haven't been many fantasy games that worked out too well in the more 'tactical' games like TW. I guess Age of Mythology is probably the only one that sticks out as a big-budget name, and that was pretty pure RTS.

You could try King Arthur, if you have a high jank tolerance.

[Teleku]

Very excited by this.  Rome, IMO, is the best of the series, and they've come back to form with Shogun 2, which I think is a very good game (baring the retarded loading speeds).  I mean, the AI actually gives me a run for my money in Shogun.  Last time that happened was Rome.  So yeah,  .

On the topic of the civil war, I also would love to see that.  Though frankly, what I want is Sid Meiers Gettysburg done up in the TW graphics engine.  Dear god that was a fun game, and it could totally work in a modified form of TW's combat mode.  Just need to add in the moral bar stacking for if units have their flanks covered plus generals/terrain, and probably slow down the rate units break a bit, and you'd be pretty close.

[Paelos]

I hope they make Rome 2 easily mod able, simply because there is a large community of freaks like myself that love the historical mods.

[Lemming]

I'm actually very excited for a sequel to Rome, despite all the sequels in the series.  I actually dusted off the original just a few weeks ago, and while I had a blast, I missed a lot of the features the newer Total War games have.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Yeah I've jumped between STW2 and MTW2 and the lack of the former's improvements really show in the latter. CA has actually made some decent progress over the years.

Not sure why so many people want musket/rifle era TW games, IMO it shines best with pre-gunpowder eras, perhaps renaissance at the latest, wouldn't mind some melee focused fantasy experiment either (Warhammer would work).

I think it's great CA revisits RTW/MTW every 3-5 years with a new engine/AI. I would like to see more depth added to distinguish the two though. Medieval should have strong feudal dynamics added (crusader kings style), so the player as king would have more trouble controlling his lords while Rome should have a strong emphasis on republican politics for Roman players. The player perhaps just owning his household assets, and being assigned commands/governerships/campaigns by the senate, and building his assets/prestige through that while competiting against other households and factions in the political realm. I didn't like RTW1 system where there were 3 factions running 1/3 italy each, and the senate just acting like the pope.

[Paelos]

I really disliked the map changes in Shogun. I felt like it really dumbed down the overland strategic and economic part of the game.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Like what? Agents?

When I play medieval 2 it gets really tedious moving so many agents around.

[Paelos]

Like what? Agents?

When I play medieval 2 it gets really tedious moving so many agents around.

No I don't like the way the cities work with their overland maps. They decreased the building options and really shoehorned in this system of controlling points on the map that offer no value other than the fact you don't want them burned. Also, I hate the stupid trading ship to random islands thing.

I'm all for making agents much more powerful, less populous.

[Speedy Cerviche]

That's to increase field/high seas battles, get people out of city turtles, which is way too easy to do in MTW2.

[Paelos]

That's to increase field/high seas battles, get people out of city turtles, which is way too easy to do in MTW2.

While it was great in theory, it didn't work in practice. All it created was stupid small armies harassing your farms from LOS issues, which was a pain in the ass to stop because upkeep was ridiculous on any good units.

Also, cities were all that mattered in these periods. There's a reason sieges took forever.

[Speedy Cerviche]

I only really had problems with that when I was getting bukake'd by the AI on legendary, and was infact turtleing in my cities. The prominence of sieges vs field battles is debatable, but it's tedious gameplay when every battle ends up being one. I do agree CA could do a better job on the economy and strategic depth, but I like the initiatives to get more battles onto the map.

[Paelos]

I'm not against more battles being on the map. I'm against a random army showing up, fucking up my farm, and running away all within their turn. There's no strategic counter for that, other than garrisoning worthless troops at a farm. They should at least have to hang around the farm and allow me to respond before they destroy it.

If they really want to have us fight for something, we should have to fight for what mattered in real battles (ie - bridges, key roads, mountain passes, etc).

[Dark_MadMax]

While more Total War is always nice to see, I can't be the only one who thinks another numbered sequel to a previous Total War game is a bit worrisome, especially since Shogun 2 is still pretty fresh. I just hope the Total War series being one of Sega's only profitable franchise pillars doesn't lead it down a road of eventually tired rehashes every year or two. I mean what's next? Medieval III in 2015? Empire II?

 I dont care. Total war games are awesome and Rome was my favourite. The only issue I had with their games is god-awful inept AI.  

I did actually like Empire very much  -but solely for the amazing sea battles. I just like 16th-17th century ships

[NowhereMan]

So just because I saw it up recently: More gameplay footage from the siege of Carthage with developer commentary

I've just had a playthrough of Rome again and had a blast, although the final stage of the game got pretty dull in terms of smashing whoever got in my way with stacks of elite legionaries and cavalry. I don't think I could be bothered to actually go fight through the civil war itself at the moment since the other two Roman factions control pretty much the other half of the map between them and have been spending the last dozen or so turns just cranking out half stack armies. Which is a problem all the games have sort of had up to this point, after a certain stage victory is inevitable and the amount of mini-management on agents and settlements is a pain (caveat, I haven't played Shogun 2 although hearing about the gameplay improvements has started to make me really want to).

It sounds like they might be trying to get away from that somewhat by making the campaigns more focused so you're remaining actually pressured even into the later game. After watching that battle I'm also worried my computer is going to seriously need replacing when this comes out.

Finally I've also been looking at the modding scene for TW games, something I'd not really bothered with before and the stuff that's out there for Rome and MII is pretty impressive. Third Age: Total War is Lord of the Rings Total War, definitely worth checking out if you want to see hordes of Orcs being crushed by the knights of Gondor, or regiments of halfings getting massacred. I also just installed Roma Surrectum II and by god the graphical changes are awesome, battles look much more impressive without any real performance hit. That said the Rome campaign sees you start off with Hannibal right on top of you and if you try and avoid battle or lose (and it's not an easy battle to win) all of Southern Italy rebels and craters your income, all while trying to figure out how the fuck the strategic map actually works with completely changed buildings. Some of these modders definitely do not think players should get any sort of hand holding.

For Empire, Darthmod's meant to have the best put together collection of stuff (including AI tweaks) as long as you can tolerate Star Wars splashscreens and other 8 year old type stuff.

I've got a lot of faith in the CA guys that they can make an awesome battle system, if it looks anything like the pre-pre alpha footage they've got there it'll be kick ass. I'm just hoping they can sort out the strategy level gameplay somewhat. It's never been that deep and I don't know to what extent they've got the AI sorted out in it but they're saying they've hired a lot more AI programmers this go round so hopefully we won't see anything like the shit that happened in Empire.

[Phred]

Just watched this gameplay vid they posted recently. Looks pretty cool. I love the satellite view for troop overwatch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUYfBfVUTbc
Heh over 120 days old. Arise my minions.

[Sheepherder]

I think it's great CA revisits RTW/MTW every 3-5 years with a new engine/AI. I would like to see more depth added to distinguish the two though. Medieval should have strong feudal dynamics added (crusader kings style), so the player as king would have more trouble controlling his lords while Rome should have a strong emphasis on republican politics for Roman players. The player perhaps just owning his household assets, and being assigned commands/governerships/campaigns by the senate, and building his assets/prestige through that while competiting against other households and factions in the political realm. I didn't like RTW1 system where there were 3 factions running 1/3 italy each, and the senate just acting like the pope.

The Roman legions as you know them didn't exist during the Republic.

EDIT: Damn you necromancer!

[Soln]

It's great.   Necro or not it's worth bumping this franchise.

[Paelos]

It's great.   Necro or not it's worth bumping this franchise.

I want this game to be out yesterday. DAMMIT.

[Phred]

I checked the date on the youtube video before posting and it's definatly new news IMO.