PDA

View Full Version : New Info on MP Clan Campaign (named by CA as Clan Competition)



DthB4Dishonor
03-09-2011, 17:17
http://blogs.sega.com/totalwar/2011/03/09/multiplayer-the-clan-competition-and-you/


Hi guys,

To say the multiplayer elements of Total War: Shogun 2 are extensive is like saying that Neptune’s “quite far away”. We’ve overhauled the experience from top to bottom to hopefully provide hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay for keen Total War gamers and newcomers to the series alike. On top of the avatar progression system, match made battles, a new co-operative (as well as head-to-head) campaign mode, the retainers system etc, we’re including a clan competition for the first time. Thousands will compete to elevate themselves to the top-tier gameworld and become masters of Japan.

Without further ado, I’ll hand you over to our multiplayer ninja Will Overgard. If I can stop him from climbing the trees in the cark park for a second, he will talk you through some of this extensive play mode. Enjoy!

* * *

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” -Sun Tzu

Shogun 2 is rapidly approaching, with only 6 days and a fist-full of hours to go until our latest title in the total war series is on store shelves and with it comes one of our newest innovations, the multiplayer clan competition. I’m here to bring you all you need to know on our clan vs. clan contest and get you fully prepared so come March 15th, you’ll be ready to take your shot at total dominance.

The Clan Competition is a new feature coming to Shogun 2, which will allow mass warfare for groups of 25 clans to compete on their own map of Japan, with each group map representing a small part of the Clan Competition league. The winners are the clans which the own the most regions. Be in the top two at the end of the season and your clan will be promoted, be in the bottom four and demotion awaits you. Also, shame.
”Right, let’s get to war!”

Easy there, young Taisho! While your skills are sharp, planning and coordination are best weapons here (and maybe ninjas). The first thing you’re going to need is a Steam group.

This is the foundation of your clan: your group name and logo will carry over for your clan. Anyone you would like to join your clan will first need to be a member of that Steam group (so get recruiting now on the official forums, lest all the great generals join your foes first). Anyone within your group who you deign strong enough to lead can be promoted to officer from the Steam group administrator page. This will allow them to show your forces where to attack first via the clan conquest marker (but I’ll get to that in a sec).

Now you’ve formed your warband, you’ll need to link your clan within Shogun 2. This you’ll have to wait till release to do, but what you can decide now is your Clan Specialization. This will be a choice made when you first register your clan and, depending on what you choose, it will give your clan mates a specialised Retainer, as well as access to some very powerful Veteran skills. You’ll have to choose between the sword, spear, bow or even cavalry, so make your selection carefully.
”Wait, back up a second there. Specialised veteran skills?”

For winning multiplayer match made battles, while part of a clan, you’ll accrue clan tokens. With these you’ll be able to unlock veteran skills far beyond the standard set, some of which are only open to a Clan with a certain specialization. Take my little Bow Hero veteran. He’s looking pretty fierce on the battlefield, with all his veteran skills and custom coloured armour. If I have opted for the Bow clan specialization, spend 20 clan tokens and a skill point, he can deploy almost anywhere outside on the battlefield (the Kisho Training skill). Now he’s really a force to contend with. In this way, the clan competition will allow you to take your multiplayer army even further.


”How do I capture these regions?”

Now you’ve decided the focus for your group, you’re ready to bring the fight to the other squabbling clans. As I said before, to dominate in the clan competition, you must take regions on your group’s map of Japan. To take a region, simply place your army or navy marker over a region on the Clan Competition Map, then jump into a match made battle or a team battle. Despatch whatever petty opponent that should appear and emerge victorious. After the dust has settles, have another look on the Clan Competition Map on the region where you army marker was. There will now be clan influence points on that region next to the name of your clan. Whoever has the most clan influence points on a region owns it.

Now to the math(s): One victory on in a land or naval region will give you 20 influence points. Play your clan specialisation retainer during that battle and you’ll be awarded 5 more influence points. If it’s a battle won on a region that’s adjacent to one you already control, add 5 more. On top of all of those, for each member of your clan that fights by your side in team battles, you’ll add a further 1 point to garnish.

(20+20+20)+(5+5+5)+(1+1+1)+5=83).

To break it down, for a team battle victory, with two clan mates, each playing the clan retainer and with one region adjacency bonus would work out to 83 clan influence points;

This is a lot to take in, but as one who’ll lead your clan to glory, it may fall to you to plan your clan’s movements, so let’s make sure you have the edge. One tool you will have for this is the clan conquest marker, a golden (look at it shine!) marker that can be put on any region on the map. This is seen by every member of the clan, allowing you to coordinate your forces.

Please bear in mind that battle list battles or classic battles will have no effect on the clan competition at all, only battles fought via the quick matching system will earn you victory points and clan tokens.

In the coming weeks we’ll go into more detail on multiplayer and all the new features you will need to get to grips with, so head over to the official total war forums for further updates on tactics, units and the Clan Competition.

Gather your forces, forge your alliances and plan your stratagem. Be ready to challenge the world.

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88
03-10-2011, 15:24
This seems like good news for us MP'ers maybe?

Succi
03-10-2011, 16:18
Basically, you just need to play a lot of games to be top.

Huge clans = more games played = top rank = best bonuses


..So yes it sucks a lot

AMP
03-10-2011, 16:23
Sounds good at first until you really read into it and think about it for a minute. A system where having numbers and playing as much as you can for wins and suffer nothing from losses isn't that great. It's not even made slightly interesting by at least having each region it's own map that you fight on - that would be a lot of maps, but still, so what, you have people that would make those maps for free.

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88
03-10-2011, 16:59
Meh, why is everyone so negative :goofy:.

Kocmoc
03-10-2011, 17:32
Meh, why is everyone so negative :goofy:.

Simply as it is negative. Whats good on a system everyone just can gain, no punishment for playing crap or loosing = fail!
People will get bored about this is no time, since there is no real fight skill based. You could just create a "ORG-clan" and get us 500 people playing.... pointless. do the math.

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88
03-10-2011, 18:17
True Kocmoc.

But in that case then, just don't buy the game :yes:.

gollum
03-10-2011, 18:20
Just to make the devil's advocate - i'm not sure i understand this clearly, hence don't jump on me : )

It seems to me that clans will be "naturally" divided in leagues of 25 clans and each league will compete in its own Japan map with rules for league promotion and demotion. There are no points for defeat, but points for victory which pienalises the losers as they fall back in total available league point control.

What is not clear is how army marker move allowance is declared and how many markers each clan has.

If as a clan you have multiple markers relative to your clan size, then i can very well see the danger described, ie that hours and clan size account for everything. However, if there is only one counter assigned to every clan per league regardless of clan members size, then i can't see how what is feared can happen. In that case, clan size would mean less and battle performance more, as it should be.

Just sayin' now - Please feel free to rip apart the post but (if possible) refrain from shooting the poster : )

gollum
03-10-2011, 18:34
Right, i think i see through this a little better now - if the battles that count are the ones from the matchmaking service, then indeed having as many battles as possible and so many clan members as possible will unlock more experience, more bonuses etc

Still its not clear how much you can move around the army marker, which would determine how many battles you can have per day/week etc. If its as many times as you can/want, then what people say in this thread is indeed true.

DthB4Dishonor
03-10-2011, 21:29
Still not enough info to really truly judge it. I would prefer it if they penalized losses at least somewhat but it doesn't appear they will.

Nigel
03-10-2011, 22:01
The way I understand it, and I may be totally wrong, is that the army marker just serves to indicate which province a clan leader wants his men to concentrate their effort on. But then it is up to each member to choose their territory freely. With that you can decide if you follow your clan leader into battle, or if you want to make it your own personal target to hold province XYZ for your clan as long as possible.

But then again, I may be totally wrong in my understanding of it.

In any case, it seems that big 500 member clans will have it easy in the system as it is, simply because of numbers. It remains to be seen if those huge clans will exist for long or if eventually the smaller but well organized clans prevail.

Succi
03-11-2011, 02:10
When you can get updates from these MP points, then of course people will be in big clans to achieve it as easily as possible

DthB4Dishonor
03-11-2011, 04:05
Interesting which may give more insight into Clan Competition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjhCtFvEjl8&feature=player_embedded#at=336

CanCritter
03-11-2011, 05:46
Simply as it is negative. Whats good on a system everyone just can gain, no punishment for playing crap or loosing = fail!
People will get bored about this is no time, since there is no real fight skill based. You could just create a "ORG-clan" and get us 500 people playing.... pointless. do the math.


l kinda like this idea.....good way to piss everyoneone off and embarrass the game developers into changeing it.....right up my alley :O)