Lack of Information

[rajpoot]

Still better than every other game of its genre (of which there aren't many).

Exactly!

[Wolf_Kyolic]

I will buy nothing but Shogun reincarnate!

Actually I have enjoyed TW all the way along despite its shortcomings. Still better than every other game of its genre (of which there aren't many).

It is the only one actually. No other game in the world has such a concept + "moral issue" in it. That is why we all loved it. Until UK office released Rome and turned everything into a big lame! MTW2 was developed by Aussie branch (developers of the first game in the serie - Shogun) and it is sort of playable with Retrofit mod however now it is again UK office which is developing ETW and god knows what new "features" they are inventing!

The terrain and weather are a factor in the battles. Ranged units on high ground get a greater range and accuracy. Units fighting in mêlée are more effective if they are on higher ground than the enemy. Cavalry fighting in forests lose some of their maneuverability and effectiveness, whereas infantry do not. If ranged weapons are used on units that are hiding in forests they have less chance of getting hit. If it's snowing, heavily armored units get tired sooner. If it's raining then guns and bows become less effective or even useless. This adds depth to the game as attacking in different seasons means greater chance of a certain weather condition and some provinces are easier to defend than others. It also means that the mobilization phase of the battle is no less important than the actual fighting, as gaining the high ground may give a player the winning edge.

All units have honor. Honor is basically the experience of success the unit has, and higher honor means greater effectiveness and less chance of routing. Generals gain or lose honor according to their success rate and their honor affects all those who fight under their command. This means that fresh reinforcements are usually inferior to units that have fought before; sending units to battle that they cannot win not only costs you units but enhances the soldiers of your enemy and degrades the honor of your own general (causing the units below him to fight worse).

UK office thought all these were uncessary when they released Rome. DEPTH was something to get rid of so that they could sell more. Well actually CA was really successful with Rome in terms of sales. So noone can blame them. The great RTW (random total war)!

[Jack Lusted]

That is why we all loved it. Until UK office released Rome and turned everything into a big lame! MTW2 was developed by Aussie branch (developers of the first game in the serie - Shogun)

Just to correct this, Shogun: Total War, Medieval: Total War and Rome: Total War were all developed by the UK office, Medieval II: Total War was the first Total War game made by the Australia studio.

[Wolf_Kyolic]

Just to correct this, Shogun: Total War, Medieval: Total War and Rome: Total War were all developed by the UK office, Medieval II: Total War was the first Total War game made by the Australia studio.

Hmm I may be be misinformed on this one so I accept your quote as the correct one.

Ok so why did UK office suddenly decide to get rid of all those magical elements that made the game something innovational and genious? Just for sales? And then Aussie branch put them back in MTW2.

[pevergreen]

RTW brought the series into glorious 3D.

My first TW was RTW, I find MTW unplayable, i am quickly bored from it.

It's all to do with the type of person.

[TosaInu]

Hmm I may be be misinformed on this one so I accept your quote as the correct one.

There was something with Australia and original STW too. Ben from Dreamtime should ring a bell.

http://www.3dgamers.com/dlselect/gam...un/shogdem.txt

Shogun: Total War TM.
The 'Shogun' and 'Total War' logos are trademarks of Dreamtime Interactive. All rights reserved.

Shogun Total War is developed by Creative Assembly, produced by Dreamtime Interactive and published by Electronic Arts.

I don't know whether Dreamtime Interactive is Australian (name suggests yes) or whether CA or DT have offices outside the UK, but I clearly recall Australia to be involved with STW.

[Puzz3D]

My first TW was RTW, I find MTW unplayable, i am quickly bored from it.

I was quickly bored with RTW because the battles are less interesting tactically than those that use the first generation TW battle engine, and the campaign is a tedious and unchallenging exercise in micromanagement.

[Intrepid Sidekick]

FYI

Almost all of the staff who worked on Shogun and Medieval were based in the West Sussex (UK) offices. Jeff Van Dyke being a notable exception.

We started growing the CA Oz office during the development of Rome:TW and they (CA oz) got to work on a few of the graphics engine elements of Rome and the audio (Jeff Van Dyke).
After that CAOZ got to make Medieval 2 along with some UK staff that used to live in the UK but moved to Australia.

Empire is being made and designed in the CA UK offices. There are quite a number of the original faces from Shogun, Medieval and Rome still involved in making and designing the TW games.

In the end all of it is about teamwork.

[Puzz3D]

Actually I have enjoyed TW all the way along despite its shortcomings. Still better than every other game of its genre (of which there aren't many).

TW competes with itself. It's unfortunate that CA did the best job on the first version of TW because they set a standard that they couldn't maintain. What good are more features if they either don't work or aren't balanced properly? And, why accept inferior gameplay especially when you already own the the version that has the superior gameplay. I can see the better graphics and they still don't look realistic, and neither do the animations. It still looks like a computer game. You get a better suspension of disbelief with the first game in the series.

It appears that ETW will have a different enough game design that it won't compete directly with the other TW games. However, I'm not confident that CA has discarded their penchant for including more features in their game than they can properly implement within the development time. I have the impression that the managers are putting more work on the programmers than the programmers can handle. When ETW is released you can bet that information about the game is going to be held back so that you cannot make an informed purchasing decision. Oh you'll be told the system requirements, shown lots of still photos and get a gimmicked battle demo, but you won't get the necessary information to decide if you should buy a new computer or to know if all the features have been properly implemented.

Based on past experience and comments made by CA such as "not enough resources", "not enough time", "have to move on to the next project", "that would only be of interest to hardcore players", "the game isn't a history lession", "it's too much work to fix", etc..., all the features in ETW won't be properly implemented, and they won't be properly balanced because it's pretty hard to balance things when some of the stuff isn't working correctly. For instance, imagine trying to balance M2TW with the shield bug present and you don't know that bug is there. Now you fix that bug in a patch, but you don't have time to rebalance all the units again which is what would have to be done to do it right. Now most of the people who bought the game don't seem to care about that, so great just forget about it and make the next game.

[Wolf_Kyolic]

There are quite a number of the original faces from Shogun, Medieval and Rome still involved in making and designing the TW games.

I hope those Rome faces are the ones who get involved with ETW the less.

[caravel]

They are building a new engine, the screenshots alone prove that.

Do the screenshots really prove that though? I remember similar claims that M2TW was a "new engine", wheras in fact it was the RTW engine with a bit of a facelift. BTW I'm not against this. How many other game developers recycle and revamp the same engine over and over? Almost all.

The engine is not perfect. No engine ever is. M2:TW and RTW are on the same engine, therefore same type of problems and limitations.

Indeed, though using M2TW an indication, many of the issues in RTW/BI where not resolved in M2TW. IMHO this is because I don't think that much work went on the engine itself.

[Intrepid Sidekick]

If anyone from CA said MTW2 was a "new engine" they shouldnt have. It wasnt. It was based on the RTW engine. It was an evolution of an existing engine.

ETW is a new engine. As we have always said our products follow a revolution-evolution-revolution-evolution approach.

Shogun and Mongol Invasion -Revolution
Medieval and Viking Invasion -Evolution
Rome and BI -Revolution
Med 2 and Kingdoms -Evolution
Empire -Revolution

[caravel]

If anyone from CA said MTW2 was a "new engine" they shouldnt have. It wasnt. It was based on the RTW engine. It was an evolution of an existing engine.

ETW is a new engine. As we have always said our products follow a revolution-evolution-revolution-evolution approach.

Shogun and Mongol Invasion -Revolution
Medieval and Viking Invasion -Evolution
Rome and BI -Revolution
Med 2 and Kingdoms -Evolution
Empire -Revolution

Good to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

IIRC it certainly wasn't CA stating that it was a new engine, but certain forumites making this assertion.

There were plenty of people rubbishing the doubters back then on the basis that it was a "new engine" and that we should wait and see. This is basically why I've never bothered with M2TW, I'm waiting for the "revolution" this time. If ETW turns out to be that, then who knows I might pick it up (note to self: upgrade PC first).

[Wolf_Kyolic]

Rome and BI -Revolution

Most certainly!

[Forlorn Hope]

Oh you'll get more than wallpapers between now and March.

[PSYCHO V]

CAOZ got to make Medieval 2 along with some UK staff that used to live in the UK but moved to Australia.

In the end all of it is about teamwork.

And a great team of guys too!

my2bob

[Rhyfelwyr]

The terrain and weather are a factor in the battles. Ranged units on high ground get a greater range and accuracy. Units fighting in mêlée are more effective if they are on higher ground than the enemy. Cavalry fighting in forests lose some of their maneuverability and effectiveness, whereas infantry do not. If ranged weapons are used on units that are hiding in forests they have less chance of getting hit. If it's snowing, heavily armored units get tired sooner. If it's raining then guns and bows become less effective or even useless. This adds depth to the game as attacking in different seasons means greater chance of a certain weather condition and some provinces are easier to defend than others. It also means that the mobilization phase of the battle is no less important than the actual fighting, as gaining the high ground may give a player the winning edge.

All units have honor. Honor is basically the experience of success the unit has, and higher honor means greater effectiveness and less chance of routing. Generals gain or lose honor according to their success rate and their honor affects all those who fight under their command. This means that fresh reinforcements are usually inferior to units that have fought before; sending units to battle that they cannot win not only costs you units but enhances the soldiers of your enemy and degrades the honor of your own general (causing the units below him to fight worse).

AFAIK everything there is in both RTW and M2TW, except the guns not working in the rain.

[Caerfanan]

If anyone from CA said MTW2 was a "new engine" they shouldnt have. It wasnt. It was based on the RTW engine. It was an evolution of an existing engine.

ETW is a new engine. As we have always said our products follow a revolution-evolution-revolution-evolution approach.

Shogun and Mongol Invasion -Revolution
Medieval and Viking Invasion -Evolution
Rome and BI -Revolution
Med 2 and Kingdoms -Evolution
Empire -Revolution

Hi there. I know it could be hard, but you have then, with this "revolution" episode the keys to success if it all gets together. NAval battles, gun fire... Maybe a step to "engine + scenarios " approach?

[Ferret]

yeah it is March and all I can see is wallpapers... I want my money back!

[Rhyfelwyr]

There's a few more screenies out now, check the thread here...

[SirGrotius]

If anyone from CA said MTW2 was a "new engine" they shouldnt have. It wasnt. It was based on the RTW engine. It was an evolution of an existing engine.

ETW is a new engine. As we have always said our products follow a revolution-evolution-revolution-evolution approach.

Shogun and Mongol Invasion -Revolution
Medieval and Viking Invasion -Evolution
Rome and BI -Revolution
Med 2 and Kingdoms -Evolution
Empire -Revolution

Excellent information. From what I'd read of ETW so far, I got the feeling that it was somehow different than the other games (and not just naval mind you!).

I'm looking forward to it.

[Brave]

We must have information, its coming out soon isn't it?

[PSYCHO V]

We must have information, its coming out soon isn't it?

Sega have November 2008 as a release date on their website.

my2bob

[Generals_Bodyguard]

AnonymousTW Fan : We want Information! Information! Information!
CA : Where am I?
Anonymous : In the village
CA : What do you want?
AnonymousTW Fan : Information
CA : Whose side are you on?
AnonymousTW Fan : That would be telling
CA : You won't get it!
AnonymousTW Fan : By hook or by crook....We will!
CA : Who are you?!
AnonymousTW Fan : The new number 2
CA : Who is Number 1?
AnonymousTW Fan : You are number 6!
CA : I am not a number! I'm a free man!!!!
AnonymousTW Fan : Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

PS : Come on CA....you know what we want!

[rajpoot]

Nothing as yet......nothing at all on land battles apart from few precious screens :( ......why I've almost begun to think, that they got so busy with doing the new selling feature of sea battles, that they forgot all about the sweet old skirmishes on land, which were the game's firm ground......

[Polemists]

So now it's April,

Obviously when I started this thread I had hoped for something more intrepid, something really new, a video, a view of cities or the new map, who knows.

So I'm not going to ask for those things, because obviously your saving them for some big marketing gimmic like E3 or the like to cash in on marketing, which is fine.

Could you at least make a Empire Total War link on the main totalwar page up above where all the other big names are? You know how annoying it is to have the MTW2 link and Empire total war link take you to the exact same page?

So I'd like to see a little dedicated Empire Total War section on Totalwar.com, even if it is just wallpapers and faq's, and a few screenshots.

Thank you.

[Intrepid Sidekick]

There is information, awaiting release in to the wild, but somehow its got stuck in the pipes that lead out of our little bunker in Horsham.

Aparently there are plans afoot for something and thats got in the way of us releasing our normal FAQ's on the TW blog.

[Generals_Bodyguard]

Let me guess...Waiting to roll out a new website for Empire Total War?

I hope thats done soon

[Lt Nevermind]

As we have always said our products follow a revolution-evolution-revolution-evolution approach.

Shogun and Mongol Invasion -Revolution
Medieval and Viking Invasion -Evolution
Rome and BI -Revolution
Med 2 and Kingdoms -Evolution
Empire -Revolution

Thus, I take it that Empire TW already has a successor somewhere behind the scenes.

[TosaInu]

Thus, I take it that Empire TW already has a successor somewhere behind the scenes.

Most likely Lt Nevermind,

Different teams work on software. When coders work on a title, the designers are already working on something new (of course there may be some feedback and such).