Barbarian Invasion

[Shrapnel]

So, wishes for the upcoming expansion pack? Also it should have a preview of the net Total War in it! And so what wuld everyone like for the next Totalwar?

I personally would like a Napoleoinc Total War, I think that would be cool. But that's just me. :duel: ~:)

[Proper Gander]

OH NO!! someone from ZURICH!!! :eeeek:

*logs out immediately, never to return*


~;)

[Shrapnel]

:hide: :evilgrin: It's ok, i'm not swiss, i'm British. All the swiss are wierd. :hide: I just live in Zürich. :bow:



A

[Byzantine Prince]

The upcoming expansion pack will indeed be Barbarian Invasions. I beleave it' been confirmed. Damn swiss! ~D

[Proper Gander]

It's ok, i'm not swiss, i'm British. All the swiss are wierd. I just live in Zürich.

:laugh4:
i'm british too, i just HAD to say something like that, because of this stupid rivalry. :dizzy2:
i will probably be going to Zurich this weekend actually! to celebrate my birthday, better parties up your end! (NO... not THAT END!!)

and the swiss ARE weird, yes.

[Reverend Joe]

There's a rivlary between Britain and Switzerland? That is wierd. I thought you Britons hated the French more than anyone. As for the swiss, I thought they just hated everybody.

[Temple]

Actually, I think the rivalry is between Zürich and Basel..

[Foot]

Info on Barbarian Invasion From PCGAMERUK

- Not here until the autumn
- Set as Rome begins to fall 363AD
- Mini campaign that should only last 20 hours
- Ten factions to play as
- Each faction has their own objective
- Three factions mentioned:
...- Saxons who must invade and take Britain while Rome retreats
...- Huns (no objective given)
...- Rome (no objective given)
- Can choose to wait to attack at night if you are the army attacking
- Light troops can swim across rivers but will be dangerously exposed and tired upon exit
- And Romans can build elephants

Oh and there is a really disturbing picture of a unit of priests with clubs. I'm not entirely sure if that is particulary historical. (But the Saxons look incredible).

[The Stranger]

The upcoming expansion pack will indeed be Barbarian Invasions. I beleave it' been confirmed. Damn swiss! ~D

oh now you're not a hippiefobic any more mister starts to hate swiss

[Shrapnel]

Info on Barbarian Invasion From PCGAMERUK

- Not here until the autumn
- Set as Rome begins to fall 363AD
- Mini campaign that should only last 20 hours
- Ten factions to play as
- Each faction has their own objective
- Three factions mentioned:
...- Saxons who must invade and take Britain while Rome retreats
...- Huns (no objective given)
...- Rome (no objective given)
- Can choose to wait to attack at night if you are the army attacking
- Light troops can swim across rivers but will be dangerously exposed and tired upon exit
- And Romans can build elephants

Oh and there is a really disturbing picture of a unit of priests with clubs. I'm not entirely sure if that is particulary historical. (But the Saxons look incredible).


Sounds fab. can you post the screens please?

[Furious Mental]

I was rather hoping they'd do a expack set in the late empire. If it starts in 363 AD, hopefully it will have the Eastern and Western Empire in it, plus the Sassanids. I have a question for the history buffs here- what sort of troops did the Romans use att hat stage? I heard their infantry equipment was rather different to that of the legionaries in the era R: TW covers.

[eadingas]

They were moving out of using infantry altogether, towards using auxilia and mercenary cavalry, especially after Adrianople.
Seeing as the game is supposedly started at the year of the Great Split, I'd say there will definitely going to be two empires.
Too bad I won't be able to play as Julian, my favourite emperor... I think that will be the first thing I mod :)

[Mongoose]

Looks good, but not worth 35 dollars. Maybe it will start looking better at E3 ~:)

[Dux Corvanus]

I have a question for the history buffs here- what sort of troops did the Romans use att hat stage? I heard their infantry equipment was rather different to that of the legionaries in the era R: TW covers.

Yeah, armament and organization changed a lot after Constantine. Roman Empire soldiers from the era had a strong medieval taste, and the use of barbarian client troops was the rule. You should see no more lorica segmentata around there...


Oh and there is a really disturbing picture of a unit of priests with clubs. I'm not entirely sure if that is particulary historical.

Agh! ~:eek: :embarassed:



Too bad I won't be able to play as Julian, my favourite emperor...


An apostate! A pagan! :furious3: So naïve...! ~;p

[The Wizard]

Ah, but by 363 there was already a difference between East and West... East using armies that were increasingly more alike to those of their Sassanid neighbors.

Man, I can't wait until we can take this expansion to historical accurateness. The Sassanid Persians are my favorite historical subject! ~D



~Wiz

[Temple]

Wow.. Seems like the Exp will indeed suck, just like I predicted.. Shame, really..

[eadingas]

It will supposedly release limit on faction numbers. That's all we need to make it NOT suck :D

[Ranika]

Imagine the joy we could implement with increased faction numbers. There are so many factions worth adding I could almost cry. Just hope they raise the model limit too.

[Spino]

It will supposedly release limit on faction numbers. That's all we need to make it NOT suck :D

Well if this is the case that opens up a whole slew of options for modders. They can finally implement true 'minor factions' in the game such as single province city states, minor kingdoms, tribes and the like.

Increasing or doing away with the faction limit would be great but my biggest concern for RTW:BI is whether CA has taken great pains to improve the strategic and tactical AI, especially the latter.

But where did you hear/read this? Linkage man! I demand linkage!

[The Stranger]

I was rather hoping they'd do a expack set in the late empire. If it starts in 363 AD, hopefully it will have the Eastern and Western Empire in it, plus the Sassanids. I have a question for the history buffs here- what sort of troops did the Romans use att hat stage? I heard their infantry equipment was rather different to that of the legionaries in the era R: TW covers.

THE EAST and WEST ROMAN EMPIRE wil be in it, as are the sassanids. look at the Colloseum for more info

[Furious Mental]

Thanks for the heads up.

Crossbows?

[Foot]

http://img236.echo.cx/img236/1411/romanchariots1yc.th.jpg (http://img236.echo.cx/my.php?image=romanchariots1yc.jpg)

http://img153.echo.cx/img153/7473/saxonsiassume9xn.th.jpg (http://img153.echo.cx/my.php?image=saxonsiassume9xn.jpg)

http://img251.echo.cx/img251/9257/siegeatnight15qs.th.jpg (http://img251.echo.cx/my.php?image=siegeatnight15qs.jpg)

http://img59.echo.cx/img59/8717/siegeatnight24id.th.jpg (http://img59.echo.cx/my.php?image=siegeatnight24id.jpg)

http://img222.echo.cx/img222/9034/siegeatnight37vz.th.jpg (http://img222.echo.cx/my.php?image=siegeatnight37vz.jpg)

http://img96.echo.cx/img96/5913/siegeatnight49be.th.jpg (http://img96.echo.cx/my.php?image=siegeatnight49be.jpg)

http://img84.echo.cx/img84/6817/siegeatnight55ig.th.jpg (http://img84.echo.cx/my.php?image=siegeatnight55ig.jpg)

http://img26.echo.cx/img26/2940/priests2uq.th.jpg (http://img26.echo.cx/my.php?image=priests2uq.jpg)

These are the screenies from the magazines DVD.

As for linkage, I can't link to a paper-based publication. But it was the UK edition of PCGAMER, and the June Issue I believe (the latest one anyway).

[eadingas]

Are these chariots with ballistae on them??
And..um... the holy order of Christ's Clubmen?
Weird...

[SwordsMaster]

Are these chariots with ballistae on them??
And..um... the holy order of Christ's Clubmen?
Weird...


Havent you seen Constantine? They are exorcists.... or something... :dizzy2:

[eadingas]

You mean Constantine the Great? ;)

[SwordsMaster]

You mean Constantine the Great? ;)


No, Keanu Reeve´s film Constantine.

[eadingas]

I realized that... tried a bad pun there...

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

~:eek:

I think I will need a better computer to take full advantage of this. Is it just me or do some of the skins (like the germanic? one - the second pic) look really nice?

And I can see the need for an EB mod of this already. :help:

[eadingas]

Don't you remember preview screens for RTW? They were heavens better than anything you could produce in actual RTW on even best machine. I suspect the same here... notice how they use everywhere flaming arrows, flaming missiles, etc. all to inspire a sense of awe and divert our attention from things like those weird peasants with pitchforks in the siege picture...

[jerby]

yeah, just lik those damn revieuwists:"the great engine of RTW can pump out a great 100,000 units" or "this is a deep strategic game that is not fo rthe simple minded"

i think everybody who is becoming a paid revieuwer should first take an IQ test...

[Teleklos Archelaou]

After seeing those screenshots, I have even less of a desire to look into the expansion pack any more. If that's what is being used to try and lure interest, I hope (for their sake) that they don't have their hopes up too high. Much more interesting stuff (to me) gets posted on this board every weekend. Granted, I'm not as interested in late antiquity, but the only way I'd even think about the xp now is if it opened up stupid things like 64 complex building limits and unit model limits and faction limits and actually made negative bonuses possible and fixed AI problems and .......

[jerby]

stop it, I was just getting hope for EB...:'D

[cunctator]

Does anyone know if this carrobalistae showed at the first screenshot were still used by the late empire?

[jerby]

dunno, but i saw soembody (from who i think he has knownledge of the period) complaining. so i gue sthe ballista-chariot is fictional. just like the DAMN priests

[Meneldil]

Anyway, all things that are hardcoded in RTW will stay hardcoded in the expansion pack, so no new faction, unit, model, etc. etc.

[Idomeneas]

CA is gonna have her ass so whipped by EB work.... :whip: :whip:

[cunctator]

At least the expansion will (hopefully) rise some of the hardcoded limits. Everything else would be very poor for CA. So ten new factions to use and many interesting features like nomadic factions.

The ballista vehicles (carro ballista) are not fictional, also i don`t know if the late empire used them. The real ones were not driven by horses and look less than chariots. But i think that can be modded as well as their behaviour. (if they behave like chariots, plowing through everything)

http://www.stoa.org/trajan/images/med/1.12.m.jpg

http://www.stoa.org/trajan/images/med/1.11.m.jpg

Pictures from the trajans column: http://www.stoa.org/trajan/

[jerby]

omg, i can see it already. speeding chariots driving threw everything wihtout dying and shooting bolts here and there. next thing is a patch wich gives them scythes or soemthing. People will post on forums how effective the chariot-ballista is in flank attacks etc..thank god for EB

[The Wizard]

I can't hope for historical accuracies, but by God, do I ever hope that them fellas at CA improve the AI.

I mean, replace the damn MTW AI with an AI that can actually cope with the new challenges posed by the new 360° movement map! And for heaven's sake, give us back the MTW battle AI!

And while I'm still hoping, I might as well add that I certainly wouldn't mind better balancing, and better difficulty levels. I mean, attacking a phalanx (!) from all sides and seeing it rout all my units in turn in the Very Hard difficulty is just that little bit too much for my temper too handle. Just that little bit.



~Wiz

[jerby]

yeah, the difficulty sucks.
at easy you ahve a bonus versus your enemies. at medium your enemys have a bonus over you (?) and the bonus only expands. I want new tactis, formations and reactions. I want an ai that refuses to break formation!

[Razor]

Well I'm gonna buy it, but only to improve the Fall of Rome mod. Everything looks good but it can be made better and far more accurate. But come on CA, just 10 factions? :O:O We were having difficulties just having 18 factions...

[Furious Mental]

My suggestion is play against other humans. People are invariably much better tacticians than computers.

[Mongoose]

Question: are any EB members going to be boycotting the xpac?

[Pycckuu]

Question: are any EB members going to be boycotting the xpac?

Why would they even dream of doing a stupid thing like that?

[The samnite]

Well I agree with all the inaccuracies mentioned, but I do appreciate the less cartoony skins and overly bright faction colours. I think the mod community showed them it was completely viable.

[Mongoose]

"Well I agree with all the inaccuracies mentioned, but I do appreciate the less cartoony skins and overly bright faction colours. I think the mod community showed them it was completely viable."


Don't trust prerelease screens, they are fake.

Remember the RTW prerelease screens? they were 3 times better then the full game

[The samnite]

Yes, the first R:TW trailer was fake, but that was multiple years before the release when the engine was not finalized. These shots are in game and look done. I'm saying that the design is better, not the graphics. Those are two different things. However, the chainmail does look a little higher resolution than the original's.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this game will be the greatest ever, I'm just pointing out an area which has improved. It's much easier to say 'this rocks' or 'this sucks' than something in between and I'm just giving a voice to that.

[Sheep]

It's much easier to say 'this rocks' or 'this sucks' than something in between and I'm just giving a voice to that.

Word.

[Dux Corvanus]

My suggestion is play against other humans. People are invariably much better tacticians than computers.

That would be great if CA ever had bothered in make a multiplayer campaign mode.

Battles without a campaign are just ten-minute divertimentos. Like a fast visit to a brothel. ~;p

[jerby]

well, from, what I read. RTW:BI will remain hardcoed, and now with 10 factions...so unless the limit is removed either EB or BI is screwed

[GoreBag]

That would be great if CA ever had bothered in make a multiplayer campaign mode.

Battles without a campaign are just ten-minute divertimentos. Like a fast visit to a brothel. ~;p

I've been secretly hoping for a multiplayer campaign mode. Civ 3 enabled one with the latest expansion, and if Sid Meier could do it, CA certainly could. Or so I thought, anyway..

[Narayanese]

Gamespy mentions vandals, goths and vikings. isn't vikings a rather unconventional term for a 500AD group, and wouldn't their area overlap the goths'? Maybe vikings are included for mod-friendlyness, so that all soft mod can easily find a faction remove and remake into whatever kingdom they would like instead ;)

I hope the faction limit isn't lowered to 10...

[eadingas]

Maybe they mean Anglo-saxons... somehow...

[cunctator]

From the colosseum ,if somebody hasn`t seen it yet:


Just to clear up some mis-information in the news releases about BI.

There are no Vikings - The reporter must have got mixed up with Saxons.
The Saxons do not have horns on their helmets ~;)

The Romans dont have a chariot, its a Carrobalista.

The Priests are about as effective in a fight as a peasant but they can bolster the morale of nearby troops.

The game starts in 363 AD and finishes in 476 AD. Each faction has its own victory conditions, unless you want to win by world domination in which case just keep playing.

Playing the Western Empire will be rather tricky as you will have to deal with barbarian hordes, a lot of disloyalty and corruption, as well as an empty coffer and some Christian unrest.

INTREPID SIDEKICK
#C.A. Staff#

[Dux Corvanus]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Sidekick
Just to clear up some mis-information in the news releases about BI.

There are no Vikings - The reporter must have got mixed up with Saxons.
The Saxons do not have horns on their helmets ~;)


Nor did the Vikings. ~:rolleyes:


The Romans dont have a chariot, its a Carrobalista.


It's not its historical existence, but the role this exotic item plays, how it is used, and what importance is given, what worries me.


The Priests are about as effective in a fight as a peasant but they can bolster the morale of nearby troops.


Priests shouldn't be effective in any way. I have never seen a regiment of priests, and they're supposed not to fight -at least in their quality of priests. This Real Time Strategy classical item, just stinks. What a shit.


The game starts in 363 AD and finishes in 476 AD. Each faction has its own victory conditions, unless you want to win by world domination in which case just keep playing. Playing the Western Empire will be rather tricky as you will have to deal with barbarian hordes, a lot of disloyalty and corruption, as well as an empty coffer and some Christian unrest.

Christian unrest? Julian the Aposthate had just died. The main Christian unrest I know in the era was produced by the cismatic spreading of arrianism and other heretic movements among goths. I wonder what they understand as "Christian unrest", but after seeing those armies of evil Inquisitors and the naïve concept they seem to have about early Christendom, I fear the worst.

[Rodion Romanovich]

the cismatic spreading of arrianism and other heretic movements

Arrianism was no heresy, it was a last attempt to stick to the original Christian belief that among the catholics and orthodox was destroyed in the series of church meetings in the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries. The arrians only stuck to the Christian teachings that also those who later became orthodox and catholic had once admitted but found it useful to abandon, unless I'm remembering it completely wrong.

[Dux Corvanus]

Arrianism was no heresy, it was a last attempt to stick to the original Christian belief that among the catholics and orthodox was destroyed in the series of church meetings in the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries. The arrians only stuck to the Christian teachings that also those who later became orthodox and catholic had once admitted but found it useful to abandon, unless I'm remembering it completely wrong.

You remember it completely wrong. It had nothing to do with an original belief, but about the creation of a more complex and uniform doctrinal corpus to support and lead the growing Christian community. Those 'church meetings' were the concilia, universal debate meetings that joined representants from all the Christian world. Arrian of Alexandria was a bishop that negated the consubstantiality of Christ and God the Father. In the Nicea concilium of 325 AD, all church representants admitted this consubstantiality and adopted the Trinity dogma, which had been a constant teological topic since the early times. Arrian's doctrine was condemned as heretic, and he was exiled. One of his followers, bishop Ulphilas, preached Christianism among the germanic tribes, and thus arrianism converted into both Goths and Vandals version of Chriastianism, and a sign of identity against the influence of Greek-Roman Christian world.

Arrianism was an heresy since it was condemned as such by the successive concilia. And the topic about Trinity and the double nature of Christ, and how to concile this with monoteism, was a hot sophisticated debate that had nothing to do with the earliest Christian doctrines of St. Paul and such.

[jerby]

It's not its historical existence, but the role this exotic item plays, how it is used, and what importance is given, what worries me.


unless they finally give all cavalry and chariost a different speed it will get messed up. cause if they dont we got ourselves a new Horse Archer...or flanking tool since chariost in vanilla were unstoppable