Yeah, Total War games have a reputation for being resource hogs. I’ve tried to play Shogun II on my set-up, but it’s just not happening. We’ll see if I get enough overtime this summer to upgrade.
Last I heard, the devs said that a machine that can run Shogun II should be able to handle Rome II.
Never touched Shogun 2 or Empire. I’m largely out of the scene, unless it runs on my laptop, which it almost certainly won’t.
My laptop has an nVidia GeForce 320M, which can just barely run Shogun 2 with lowered settings and resolution.
I have zero clue what I have or can run.
If you have a windows machine, click control panel -> system and security -> system and you can see what kind of processor you have, how much memory, etc. This page tells you what CPUs will run Rome II. This page tells you what graphics chips meet the minimum requirements.
According to that site, my system doesn’t meet the minimum requirements to run Shogun II. That’s technically true, as no laptop does, but is patently incorrect since my laptop does indeed run the game.
I can’t believe my 5 year old PC can run this game. It can. But I remember I practically had to upgrade every year for the newest game.
It seems like growth in the reliability of computer parts and the fact that lots of the increase in computing use is dependent on internet connectivity speed, not processor power, has led to longer and longer life for desktop computers. It’s great, really, but my laptop from 2009 doesn’t run anything newer than Empire: Total War (I tried Shogun II but it was a bust) and I’ve begun lazily reading up on newer machines. We’ll see, but I bet I cave and buy a new laptop before Rome II launches.
Hmm… the site lists laptop cpus that will run the game. And I play Shogun II on my laptop, too. Laptops have really come a long way, no?
Does it? I guess I didn’t have the patience to hover over each one, since there’s no way to just get a broad overview.
Well first, go to your control panel and write down what kind of processor it says you are running. It is probably either Intel or AMD… anyway, then just scroll down the site to the Laptop CPU section and look for your chip on the list. If you have an i7, this will be over fast. If you have an Athlon 64 or something then I bet Shogun II (let alone Rome II) won’t run.
Or just head to Can You RUN It | Can I Run It | Can My PC Run It and find Shogun II.
You realize I already posted my system chipset and I’m already running Shogun II, right? [I’m also the OP.] It’s Least Original User Name Ever that doesn’t know about their system.
My compliant about the site is that there’s no quick way to tell which of the many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many graphics adapters listed will run a game, without individually pointing at each one.
All right, I got confused. Um, I bet Rome II will be pretty fun…
'Sall right. You were just trying to be comprehensive.
It looks pretty fun. I really hope they’re past this whole “Hey, looks like you’re churning along very well right now. Looks like the whole world has to hate you simultaneously, even though they’d get smushed for trying” mechanic they have to ratchet up difficulty in the mid-late game.
One issue with Total War is that there’s no such thing as logistics. A Roman Army could easily move across the entire Empire given several months and adequate shipping; Ceasar famously marched from central Italy to Spain and back in record time in the teeth of enemy forces. Where this comes into play is that fundamentally there’s nothing keeping you from immediately marching and conquering the map one point after the next. The player is frequently as strong as almost every other faciton put together, but there’s no inherent limiting or balancing factors to challenge that.
Hence the late game in Total War is usually pretty dull; you can put land forces into play which the enemy can’t match and are left playing a lot of seiges. In theory, the “Realm Divided” event was supposed to make the late game interesting. In practice, it ended being the exact opposite fo the real-world historical end of Sengoku Jidai. The real history was two great factions, each of which was composed to multiple allies to a powerful but not dominating partner, and which came down to a single decisive battle, after which the losers retained most of their lands and power but had to pay heed to the new Shogun. The game is one unitary faction which maybe has a tiny, irrelevant ally or two, and has to slog piecemeal through the entirety of Japan wiping out everyone else.
The old Rome had an obnoxious mechanic which made people go to war with factions they shared trade routes with, so your best trading partners were also your deadliest enemies. This was particularly obnoxious because it really messed with your trade options unless you knew how to manipulate it (in truly absurd fashion).
Obnoxiously, one expects a game called Total War to involve, well, a lot of killin’. I’m hoping they’re going to make it less about constant battle and siege and more about the war in its totality - diplomacy to keep potential foes away, manuevers to force enemies into weak positions, leadership to make the most of your new conquests, etc. There’s at least some implication that this is exactly where they’re going with the game, although how far is unknown.
With all of the playable factions announced, there’s one big glaring exception: the Seleucid Empire, which covered basically all the ground between the (playable) Macedonian Greeks and the (playable) Ptolemaic Egyptians. Whats more, all three empires have their roots in the same event, namely the division of Alexander’s kingdom among his generals. I wonder if it will be released later?
Probably, yes. They Seleucids were in Rome 1, and they’ve said they intend to release more factions.