They’ve already announced that Pontus will be released as free day-one DLC.
Rome itself is going to be a singular faction (albeit with the player’s choice of one of three “great houses”). I wonder how the inevitable Roman civil war is going to be handled?
The release date has been announced: Sept 3, 2013. You can already pre-order it on Steam and other fine places for $60. Pre-ordering gets you the Greek States Culture Pack, which includes Epirius, Athens, and Sparta as playable factions. There’s also a Collector’s Edition which includes a Roman board game, dice, a card game, a canvas map, and an actual working onager.
Oh my god I want this game. NOW!!!
New in depth look at the new campaign map.
Still watching it, so I’ll comment in a bit. It;s looking mighty pretty though at least.
Really liking the additional transparency in terms of the diplomatic AI. You can see what actions you’ve comitted that it cares about and how it affects it’s opinion of your empire, right there on the same screen.
Battles look friggin epic. Lots of different types of large weapons like Ballista, fire balls, war elephants that change up the tactics a bit.
Heard something about multi-player being 2 player on the campaign at least… sad face.
I had Rome back in the day, and i really wanted to love it. But every freakin game I had bogged down in the middle watching 200+ plus ships moving in the Adriatic. So I had to build 200 damn ships to defend it. The one time I got through with that, the entire rest of the Mediterranean had enough ships you could walk from Gibraltar to Lebanon blindfolded, and turns took forever.
Is the new one less micromanagy about the navies?
I think it’s a lot less micro-managy at pretty much all points, which is one of the things I’m really liking.
Instead of having to worry about a ton of individual cities, you do most management at the provincial level. Armies are recruited wherever your troops are, in friendly territory they are restored with native units to your faction, and on foreign lands you can recruit mercenaries.
Armies are more than just a collection of units too. They are entities which can level up, and hold their own traditions and bonuses.
So no more of the drudgery of moving units about though vast expanses in order to re-inforce your armies and no more worrying about like 100 individual cities by the late game.
The addition of the naval stuff worries me just because I’m not great at micromanaging battles, and having to worry about being flanked by ships is just another wrinkle.
Not that I won’t buy it. I’ll buy it and play the crap out of it.
Can’t wait for the next Medieval, though. Always been my favorite of the series.
I’m guessing they’ll go medieval 3 next. But It’ll probably be 3 years after Rome II.
QUO USQUE PRO ROMA IBIS?
Woot! New trailers and a hands on hit today citizens of Rome!
Hannibal Trailer:
The leaked intro:http://www.gamestar.de/videos/specials,20/total-war-rome-2,71178.html
Game play with PC gamer:
Hands on article from Rock Paper Shotgun:
So Sweet!
More recent news guys!
They’ve changed the way ambushes work.
In previous titles the ambushed side started in the middle of the map and had no time to deploy its troops. The ambusher, on the other hand, could deploy his own troops anywhere around the ambushed army. When the battle began, things would play out as normal, with the obvious disadvantage to the ambushed side of having to form up ranks before the enemy approached, and of course facing the possibility of attack from multiple sides.
Now, ambushes work a bit differently. Instead of a smallish map like in previous titles, ambush maps are 2x2 km sq. Instead of simply being auto deployed in the middle, the ambushed side starts near one side of the map, in column formation and marching towards the other side. The player/AI however has NO control over his troops as they march toward their goal.
The ambusher get to deploy in other areas of the map and has complete control of his own units. The goal here is to setup and follow the enemy army until the perfect time to strike. Think that scene in the Last of the Mohicans when the Huron war party attack the British as they leave fort William Henry: - YouTube
As soon as the ambushers strike, then and only then will the ambushed side gain control of its units. The goal for the ambushed is still the same, however, reach the other side of the map (or destroy the enemy).
Sounds like it could make for some sweet, tense moments.
The Teoutoberg forest play through is basiclaly what their aiming for for ambush battles:
Trailer: The Battle of Teutoburg Forest / Total War™: ROME II / Official Trailer - YouTube
Playthrough: Total War™: ROME II - Battle of Teutoburg Forest Gameplay - ESRB - YouTube
Want want want. Only thing I’m concerned about is with so much eye-candy that the load times will really drag. Hopefully a machine that does fine with Shogun II maxed out won’t spend ages loading.
If they do it like Shogun II they’ll actually preload assets. You know that “bug” at the splash screen where it lags for like two full minutes? That’s it loading every single texture and model in the game. This is why the battle load times are so short now, they’re basically just a small state transition. Apparently they did this because loading assets on demand was causing problems in multiplayer (specifically people lagging out).
Release date is Sep 3, but you can now pre-load the game on Steam.
Awww crap, I thought release was the 2nd and I’d get to play on a day off.
Yaaaaaay!!!
Just finished my pre-load.
It’s is going to be a looong week until the 3rd.
Two days guys! Two days!!!
There’s a couple of new gameplay videos. Both are of YouTube commentators invited to play through the prologue campaign, and show one specific battle during their playthrough.
Heir of Carthage:
Lion Heart:
I pre-ordered the game. I pre-loaded the game. I was ready to conquer the world. Then the fan on my gaming laptop conked out. The estimate is 2-3 weeks for repair so I’m going to miss the actual launch. FRAK.
I blame Carthage.
I have to teach Plato’s Republic on Tuesday morning before I get started. I think we’re doing Thrasymachus, the character who argues that justice is the advantage of the stronger. It will be a great way to get myself psyched up.
SPQR
I just pre-ordered and pre-loaded.
I wonder how smooth the launch will be. I remember how Empire was quite rickety for a month or so after it came out. Shogun II was pretty good for me right away, though.