The new screens on .com

[Catiline]

http://www.totalwar.com/community/medieval/gallery.htm

my interest is really in hte strat map, of which there hasn't been much debate.

the seem to be princess pieces, to move around.

There look to be cloth producing structures or something of the sort, which implies some significant economic gameplay. must also imply more region specific resources, the need to control trade routes and production areas, so no longer enough to just conquer the echigo - musashi - shinano line and tech up.

There's also alot more info about which areas are involved, eg papal states are a province, not a nation.

unless Russia gets the 'here be dragons" treatment, there are a lot of provinces as well

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Oderint dum metuant

[Catiline]

Oh, and the grass colour is better

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Oderint dum metuant

[JAG]

yeah the strat map looks great and quite big. . i am looking forward to all the economic management and things like the trade routes also . .i think it brings the game new life! http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Sarcasm . . . . . Never!


WarlordWarrior

[ShadesWolf]

I am well impressed.

[BakaGaijin]

"Here be Russeland!" http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

Well, it seems that the Russian Principalities are actually a playable "clan", so I hope they do have lots of provinces!

It also seems that most of the player nations will start off as single provinces, or perhaps small collections or 2 or 3. This is far more realistic, I think. Feels a lot like the 1530 game mode in Warlords.

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Disappear into the Darkness!!

[Funkybax]

To me the map is small.
Think to the one hundred years war that was fought in France. About one hundred years of war in four provinces???
Bye.
Funkybax

[Hirosito]

it looks better then shogun cos the continent isn't so 'tight' you can be attacked from so many provinces at the same time. there are just so many different opponents not like: first clan then the next one until the hojo horde. you have to ally and fight on amany fronts

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Hirosito Mori

Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

[Sir Kuma of The Org]

Originally posted by Hirosito:
it looks better then shogun cos the continent isn't so 'tight' you can be attacked from so many provinces at the same time. there are just so many different opponents not like: first clan then the next one until the hojo horde. you have to ally and fight on amany fronts

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Good point! I think that the added strategical depth will really please me.



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Yes the camel sprites do look good

[Obake]

I've got two comments that I want to make on the new screen shots that are up at .com.

First, regarding diplomacy. I'm sure I'm not the only one that saw the event screen where the Pope requests that the play back off from attacking the Italians and that they have 1 year to comply. Think about this and the role of the papacy during this time frame. Sure you could refuse to comply, but I'm willing to bet that you would then be ex-communicated from the Church, your lands forfeit and so on. In game terms, I would imagine that EVERY Christian faction surrounding you (including any allies you may have had) would stop fighting each other and start coming after you full force! Your options at that point would be to either destroy all the other Christian factions or to submit to the will of the pope and ask for forgiveness (whatever that would end up entailing, ie loss of "florins" and/or territory).

The other thing I wanted to point out were the map sizes from the battle screenshots. It looks to me like the territory maps are significantly larger than the maps in STW. It looks like they are at least the size of the medium maps in the WE/MI map editor, and perhaps even the large. This means that we are going to end up with battlefields that are anywhere from 50% greater than the provincial maps in STW and perhaps even larger! Assuming that they fix the deployment issue, we are going to have a HUGE amount of room to move around in during a campaign!

Funky, if the game were just about the 100-Years war then you would be correct. However the game is much grander in scale, encompassing not only the 100-Years War, but the Crusades, the Christian conquest of Andalusia, the Mongol Invasion of Europe and the Turk invasion of the Byzantine Empire just to name a few. To incorporate much smaller provinces into all the territory covered in the game would easily double, and more likely quadruple the provinces in the game.

This in turn would increase the number of required maps by at least 4 fold and probably even higher since a map is being created for each provincial border. From a logistical standpoint regarding development, this alone would delay the games release by 6-months at least, quite possibly as much as a year. All the additional provinces would also require their own production, leaders and so on.

Not to mention the fact that the new complexity of the game would turn away many of those who would have no desire to play that complicated a campaign. I'm not sure how many actual provinces there are, but I think it will be somewhere between what STW offers (around 65) and 100. That is a manageable level for the casual gamer even though is may not totally suit those of us who are hardcore.

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Obake

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.

[Dark Phoenix]

Obake I think there is over 100 mentioned in a article. Which is alot more than in STW which is 64 or 65 cant remember the number exactly.

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"DP is correct" - Shiro

[Obake]

Works for me!

So we are essentially looking at a strategic map that is roughly 2/3's larger than the Shogun map, with 3-4 times more tactical maps (since they will be based on provincial borders rather than provinces).

Combined with significantly enhanced diplomacy......... and other features we may not know about yet.............

I don't think that there will be anyone in the community that will be disappointed with this one when CA puts it all together!

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Obake

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.

[Kraellin]

Target mentions the number of provinces in another post in this forum...i forget the number. he also stated it's still subject to change.

i also still see no troops on the walls of the castles or in towers. this is going to be a disappointment to me if they cant work this one out.

the landscapes look more real. nice. the castles look good too.

the strat map and trade and diplomacy aspects all remind me very much of Europa Universalis. the big difference is, of course, the tactical aspect. shld be interesting.

K.


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I'm sorry, but i never apologize.

[Funkybax]

There's a strange strategic screenshots that reminds me a substantial difference from Europa Universalis.
In Europa Universalis there is a great campaign and many scenarios but in the scenarios the world goes on. Not only the historical part of the map.
Have you seen the strat screen on the official site with only Spain?
We know there will be a "Reconquista" scenario.
What do you think about it?