Rome II: Total War

[Talleyrand]

Plus we'll no doubt see some factions made available through dlc like Shogun 2

[total1402]

But thats so awkward and I don't like giving my bank details away to buy dlc factions. I still have a hard time understanding why they didn't make all factions playuable in vanilla Rome. It literally takes five seconds to mod the game to let you play them all; each with unique unit rosters.

Plus, if you look at the DLC clan packs in Shogun, many of those factions unique units don't appear in single player. So unlike in Rome one we wouldn't get unique armenian and Pontus armies to fight against unless we bought the dlc as well. Which would make the game a much more lacklustre experience if they all shared Parthia's unit roster.

Also, I think they might try DLC campaigns that aren't quite following from Barbarian Invasion. Maybe the crisis of the 3rd century for instance.

[Slick Mongoose]

Modability is very important to whether I get this game or not. I still enjoy playing Rome 1 so fancy graphics isn't going to be enough in itself.

[total1402]

Most games after Medieval 2 were very limited in terms of modability, probably because they were put on Steam and that means whilst there are tons of Med 2 and Rome mods you hardly have any serious ones for Shogun 2 or Empire. I think it took them years before they gave people the tools to mod those games. So we probably won't be able to just copy the non-playable faction list and then paste it into the playable faction list like you can on the origional rome. Again I still don't know why they did that in the origional rome. You made the effort to make all those factions down to the last detail but made them unplayable...

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

DLC is the way of games, now. I don't know what game started it, but it gives developers a lot of incentive to leave off part of the game to be purchased later. I think we will continue to see a trend towards more DLC delivering marginal value (like the example of including a few extra units in a "playable faction" DLC) and games that are less mod able.

[Galactus]

Honestly, Shogun 2 did improve the game in a lot of ways (mainly the way agents/generals and supply was handled) I pretty much can't play Rome1 anymore due to the crappy way diplomats and stuff worked :P

[Castel]

Honestly, Shogun 2 did improve the game in a lot of ways (mainly the way agents/generals and supply was handled) I pretty much can't play Rome1 anymore due to the crappy way diplomats and stuff worked :P

Force diplomacy. When to use it depends on your conscience but it works.

I've never gotten into Shogun because A-Guns and B- I can't stand that Realm Divide mechanic. I just can't. Fuck that noise.

In terms of the real-time battles though Shogun seems much the same as Rome. A bit more...arcadey with special powers and the like but mostly the same mechanics (ignoring the obvious guns)

[Galactus]

Force diplomacy. When to use it depends on your conscience but it works.

I've never gotten into Shogun because A-Guns and B- I can't stand that Realm Divide mechanic. I just can't. Fuck that noise.

In terms of the real-time battles though Shogun seems much the same as Rome. A bit more...arcadey with special powers and the like but mostly the same mechanics (ignoring the obvious guns)

The battles were pretty much the same, true. Although with clearer buttons. The strategic game was a vast improvement though. (although it still had issues)

And guns are awesome :P FOTS makes it especially awesome, Revolver Cavalry!

[Corvinus85]

I'm sure there will be several other playable factions added through DLC, which pisses me off. I mean the concept of DLC pisses me off.

So far the eastern-most faction is Macedon. Also, it looks like they are following the pattern they did in Shogun 2, meaning you start with few territories, so I don't know if long established states from the east like Egypt or the Seleucids will be among the last two.

I personally hope for the Geti (Dacia).

[total1402]

Being historical. In 275BC the Seleucid Empire was huge. It had all of Persia, all of Mesopotmaia, most of syria and Asia Minor and parts of central asia more or less up to the Indus river. This means they probably won't be playable as they'd be bigger than all other factions put together. Likely they'll be like the Mughals in Empire Total War. Big, but meant to be gobbled up by upcoming powers. Egypt is very doable as a faction. Rome and Carthage have around five territories and if you could easily represent the ptolomay empire that way with egypt, Judea, cyprus and a little piece of asia minor.

Parthia would probably be the eastern most faction since they start off as a nomadic people north of the seleucid empire in central asia, roughly modern day Kazakstan.

Do you think they'll do a collectors edition with extra faction DLC included?

[Werthead]

That's... Less than Rome 1.

That's one less than Rome 1. Remember that Rome 1 had 3 Roman factions which were identical in every respect, and CA got criticised for that because it was BS. So they've reduced them down to 1 faction instead. That means that essentially Rome 1 has nine playable factions (Rome, Greece, Egypt, Seleucia, Carthage, Gaul, Germania, Britannia and Parthia) to Rome 2's eight.

So far Rome and Carthage are in. I'm assuming that the Iceni have replaced Britannia, the Suebi Germania and the Arverni Gaul. We've got Macedon and will possibly loose Greece instead. I can't see how they can do without Seleucia and Egypt, so I'm assuming Parthia is also out (possibly rising as a non-playable faction later on). Hopefully we also get historically-accurate Egypt, not the popular-history one in R1 which was fun (I conquered Europe with them) but also totally nonsensical.

The other factions everyone is talking about were all non-playable in R1, and will likely be non-playable factions in R2. A simple mod (or in R1's case, adjusting a text file) will unlock them, hopefully.

Most games after Medieval 2 were very limited in terms of modability, probably because they were put on Steam and that means whilst there are tons of Med 2 and Rome mods you hardly have any serious ones for Shogun 2 or Empire. I think it took them years before they gave people the tools to mod those games. So we probably won't be able to just copy the non-playable faction list and then paste it into the playable faction list like you can on the origional rome. Again I still don't know why they did that in the origional rome. You made the effort to make all those factions down to the last detail but made them unplayable...

The problem is that the old engine (the R1/M2 one) was based around text files, so everything is easily adjustable. The newer one (Empire, Napoleon, S2) is based around a propriety editing system which locks everything away inside it. Apparently allowing it to be moddable would also mean giving up the source files, which CA would not do unless they had abandoned the old system and moved onto a new one. Allegedly R2 will ship with a more comprehensive editor, allowing more modding than the previous three games, but it's generally accepted that total conversions like the ones we've seen for M2 (including Third Age and Westeros) will still not be possible.

[Castel]

Allegedly R2 will ship with a more comprehensive editor, allowing more modding than the previous three games, but it's generally accepted that total conversions like the ones we've seen for M2 (including Third Age and Westeros) will still not be possible.

Well, shit. Fuck progress :(

[Galactus]

Rome1 had the three roman factions, Carthage, Antigonids, Seleucids, Ptolemids, Gaul, Britain, Germania. Parthia.

With Thrace, Numidia, Pontus, Armenia and Spain as requiring editing a ..txt file.

[Grip]

I think that limiting the number of playable factions, even if not by much, is not such a big deal actually. I mean I was a big fan of the SPQR mod which focused mostly on Rome (as one faction), where the one who made the mod even recommended people not to play the other factions because they hadnt gotten the same amount of attention.

I guess it comes down to what factions people really are most interested in, I mean I for one mostly played as the romans in the vanilla game and the SPQR mod.

[Galactus]

I, OTOH, always felt the romans were kinda boring. But then again I'm not fond of heavy inf. :P

[Alex.]

Those heavy spears the Roman infantry chucked at charging enemies were absolutely bitchin'

[Theda Baratheon]

Did anyone ever watch the show Time Commanders when it was on TV? It's practically the total war games.

[Theda Baratheon]

Oh, nvm, just checked the wiki

''The game engine used was based on the real-time strategy gameRome: Total War, the game being released a year later. Rome: Total War designer and writer Mike Brunton said, "Time Commanders did use Rome code pretty much 'as is', with tweaks for different troop types and camera controls"''

i always thought it was a coincidence how similar they were :blushing:

[Castel]

I, OTOH, always felt the romans were kinda boring. But then again I'm not fond of heavy inf. :P

Romans in modded games like Roma Surrectum are pretty much beasts. Even though HI is Rome's strength you get all sorts of auxiliaries. You want archers? Horse archers? Heavy cav? You'll find them all. And if you have enough money to recruit Praetorians? Sheeet.

[total1402]

Yeah romans are OP. Compare a unit of hatastati to Iberian infantry. Same attack. But the romans get almost twice as much defence and a throwing javilin. Put them on fire at will and they will hammer enemy units.