For the weekend 
Starting today you can play any total war game for free. They’re all discounted too, so if you like 'em (and who wouldn’t!?) you can get 'em for cheap after the weekend.
Perfect chance for me to finally give Attilla a try.
I’d heartily would recommend Shogun 2, Rome II Emperor edition, and Medieval 2, depending on your favorite time period 
(Oh man, screwed up the title!)
On Steam?
Indeed, on Steam.
Attila is still rough around the edges. Friendly fire is worse than enemy fire and corruption will bankrupt your empire as you expand. However, the new DLC campaign The Last Roman looks like a lot of fun.
Rome II has been patched significantly since release and plays much better now. Definitely worth picking up at deep discount prices.
Shogun 2 remains my personal favorite. If you don’t have it get it. Otherwise it will be a SHAMEFUL DISPLAY!
I’m liking Attila a lot more than I thought I would. The fire mechanic on sieges is cool. And of course I <3 the family tree ::sniff::
I picked up Attila in the steam summer sale, haven’t played it yet, and haven’t played any of the total war games. Just working through Prison Architect, but I don’t think that one has a lot of staying power for me, so should be onto Attila soon.
Mine too.
Rome II soured me so thoroughly at release I have never had the stomach to go back to it.
I have Attila but have played very little of it as other games grabbed my attention.
Shogun 2 for me had it all and is the best of the lot.
I think I’m Total War’d out. I have all the Total War games except for Attila, which I’m still not inclined to get. I have hundreds of hours in the earlier games, but I barely touched Rome II.
Any interest in the new Warhammer one? Looks like it’s going to be pretty different.
I am cautious about it.
I admit there is a part of me really excited for it.
I love Warhammer.
I love TotalWar.
A marriage of the two?
Sooo much potential and really exciting.
Their track record suggests I will be let down on release.
So, NO pre-order and I hope and pray for the best. So much potential here, so much chance for failure.
Fingers crossed…
It’s going to be interesting, to say the least. I don’t know how their engine is going to handle stuff like spellcasting and flying units. I also would have rather have seen them go with an original IP for their first foray into a fantasy setting, even if it were a somewhat generic one. Licensing has a way of dragging games down as often as they buoy them up.
I’m certainly aware of TW: Warhammer, but at this point I have even less interest in that than Atilla. It seems an odd way to go for the series.
Between Shogun 2 and Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai, is one clearly better?
There aren’t that many other ways it can go. Medieval 3, Shogun 3 or Rome 3 would really be pushing it. Other periods are too obscure or were recently done. TW and Warhammer means new world and well-known and interesting world.
Clearly better: no. It mainly depends on how much you like guns and artillery in your Total war. Like the name suggests, it’s about the end of feudal-type war. FOTS is probably more different from other TW games than Shogun 2 because of the prevalence of guns.
Shogun 2 is a purer medieval experience, with swords, spears, arrows, and horses; guns are largely ineffectual. FOTS introduces rifles, artillery bombardment, and Gatling guns.
They still haven’t done China. I’d love to see a Three Kingdoms Total War. Maybe a bit more obscure than Japan but equally worthy of treatment.
Artillery much more than Gatlings. Howitzers even in indirect fire will mess your shit up.
Gameplay-wise, how would it be different from other TW games? Would it be a kind of Shogun set in Ancient times?
How about Empire 2, this time with an actual AI ?
(yeah, I know. Total War AI is a contradiction of terms 
)
More seriously, the things they set out (but mostly failed) to do with Rome 2 would work even better in the shift from Renaissance to Modern Warfare era - stuff like named regiments/armies accruing glory for themselves, fighting over small hamlets to get your Pretty Borders province bonus, line of sight & bloody urban warfare in small but densely packed cities, religio-cultural fuckery aplenty (in Europe and the various colonies all the same), literally cut-throat politics, wars declared and waged not so much to take over the land but to loot the everloving fuck out of a semi-remote place (and prolonged wars and revenge-sacking turning entire swathes of Europe into devastated post-apocalyptic wastelands, though that’s more Attila than Rome)… All of that would be great with shitty muskets and glorious tricorne hats on top.
The only issue would be the battles themselves - early modern warfare was somewhat orderly. Battles in Rome 2 however immediately turn into an incomprehensible blob, even though the Legion (and phalanxes) were supposed to be pretty formation-heavy. Everybody looking sort of the same (and brown) doesn’t help figure out what the hell’s going on, either - but there the brightly coloured uniforms of the 18th would help !
Gatlings are more fun since you can switch to first-person view and mow down hapless samurai. Eat hot lead, Tom Cruise!
Beats me. I’m thinking more of the strategic layer, where you have a more open geography than Japan.
When I saw that Medieval 2 ended around 1530, I did think that the religion wars and the death of feudalism (from the fall of Constantinople to either the English or French revolution) would make for interesting strategic-level games. But TW requires that both the tactical and strategic levels be interesting: that’s its shtick.
Yeah, but CA really sucks at the strategic level. I mean, they’re just awful.
Yes, you’ve just described Europa Universalis IV.