The BIG (american) RTW feedback thread!

[Silver Rusher]

:2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: Ah yes, in one day you americans will witness the release of RTW. As I come from the UK, I will not have this great honour/pleasure until a week on Friday, so I still have to wait quite a while. But, as always, I want as much info on the game as humanly possible, so could you post screenshots, info on factions, units etc and general feedback HERE.

Thanks,

Silver Rusher :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:

[Thoros of Myr]

Since I'm waiting for initial impressions of the folks here before I buy I'll be watching this space aswell...

[tombom]

Since I'm waiting for initial impressions of the folks here before I buy I'll be watching this space aswell...
So will I, but mainly because I coem from england.

[Stormer]

Well personally i wanna play the game and then get to see all the cool stuff its a lot better then reading other people experiencing the best parts of the game. So im offically banning myself from this thread. :whip: ~:wave:

[The_Emperor]

Well there you have it...

Your friends from across the atlantic you have a right to inform us in this thread.

:bow:

[Silver Rusher]

Hmm... Mods, do you think this could be stickied?

IMO it's a very useful thread for anybody, whether ur a brit or an american, to find out people's first impressions of the game.

[Colovion]

I'm actually Canadian...

[Myrddraal]

I want to see to find out more about the game, but I don't want to see because it will make me want the game even more...

*tears out his hair in desperation*

[Plantagenet]

I've purposely avoided reading anything about RTW for months because I wanted it to be a surprise. No previews, no screenshots, and especially no demos. Well, since its now upon us and I've just built a new system, I started reading this morning...

WTF is this about no provinces?! Why not? These are the people who INVENTED "provinces" for God's sake! If they're not appropriate here, then in what game are they? After seeing CA mangle the map of medieval Europe (a Google search will produce a more accurate map in 30 seconds), I thought "at least they won't have that problem for Rome" since province maps of the Empire are as easy to find as a cop when you don't need one.

If you want it based on cities instead, then make an ancient GREEK game. Their history revolved around city-states. This is Rome. Their empire consisted of territorial subdivisions called PROVINCES, for which they even coined a new term: PROVINCES.

If I wanted one big sloppy borderless spread of a map, I'd play Lords of the Realm III, Age of Empires, or any of the other "historical" games I've deemed too stupid to pay for. One of the reasons I loved STW & MTW was that they were refreshing and unlike the usual crap thats all too common in this genre. So why ruin it now?

[Barkhorn1x]

WTF is this about no provinces?! Why not?

You've not read enough, dude. ~;) There are provinces - and there is 1 city per province. See this link;
http://www.totalwar.com/community/provmap.htm

BTW, you're in the wrong thread.

Barkhorn.

[Barkhorn1x]

As a typical "Ugly American" who is damn proud to get the game first - because we can ~;) - I will be happy to give information once I've had a chance to play a bit.

I'll be back.

Barkhorn.

[Colovion]

I've purposely avoided reading anything about RTW for months because I wanted it to be a surprise. No previews, no screenshots, and especially no demos. Well, since its now upon us and I've just built a new system, I started reading this morning...

WTF is this about no provinces?! Why not? These are the people who INVENTED "provinces" for God's sake! If they're not appropriate here, then in what game are they? After seeing CA mangle the map of medieval Europe (a Google search will produce a more accurate map in 30 seconds), I thought "at least they won't have that problem for Rome" since province maps of the Empire are as easy to find as a cop when you don't need one.

If you want it based on cities instead, then make an ancient GREEK game. Their history revolved around city-states. This is Rome. Their empire consisted of territorial subdivisions called PROVINCES, for which they even coined a new term: PROVINCES.

If I wanted one big sloppy borderless spread of a map, I'd play Lords of the Realm III, Age of Empires, or any of the other "historical" games I've deemed too stupid to pay for. One of the reasons I loved STW & MTW was that they were refreshing and unlike the usual crap thats all too common in this genre. So why ruin it now?

easy cowboy - there are Provinces, but not like the Risk Styled ones in MTW - they're more realistic.

You seem to think that borderless spreads of the map are not historic - but since when if you invade someone's territory to they say "oh, they're coming over from Flanders - my army just so happens to be ready to fight!" and if two armies invaded that Province it also seems that all the armies find the same patch of ground to fight for.

As you can see I like the way the new system is setup.

[crazyviking03]

As with the MTW and VI, I will by Rome on the first day it is in stores. I will hopefully be able to pull myself away from the game to do some posting here eventually!

:barrel:

[Silver Rusher]

Ooh, I am the complete opposite of you. I must have knowledge, and although many of you agree that it is foolish to think that having more juicy, mouth-watering info actually lightens the pressure, but I am a TW addict, as was the path chosen for me by the Almighty.

:wall: Grr, if it gets delayed again I'm gonna commit suicide!!! :wall:

[Ldvs]

Ooh, I am the complete opposite of you. I must have knowledge, and although many of you agree that it is foolish to think that having more juicy, mouth-watering info actually lightens the pressure, but I am a TW addict, as was the path chosen for me by the Almighty.

:wall: Grr, if it gets delayed again I'm gonna commit suicide!!! :wall:


I think "addict" is not strong enough to describe yourself in this case ~;)

[Plantagenet]

easy cowboy - there are Provinces, but not like the Risk Styled ones in MTW - they're more realistic.

You seem to think that borderless spreads of the map are not historic - but since when if you invade someone's territory to they say "oh, they're coming over from Flanders - my army just so happens to be ready to fight!" and if two armies invaded that Province it also seems that all the armies find the same patch of ground to fight for.

As you can see I like the way the new system is setup.

Well, since the "borderless spreads" you mention are usually bordered by a big square or magnification box that arbitrarily cuts them off (LoTR3), no, I'm not fond of them. Every game I've ever seen like that sucked. The province system used by games like STW and EU2 is much better IMO as long as the game isn't RTS.

But thanks to yourself and Barkhorn, I see I had the wrong impression anyway (or maybe just read the wrong preview)! I'm looking at the Province Profiles now (thanks for the link!), and am more eager than ever to get my hands on RTW...I've never been so happy to be proven wrong! ~:)

[Colovion]

yeah - I understand that it can be annoying to have such borderless territories. I guess it depends on how they implimented it. In the Civilization games it was setup rather well and I could work with that pretty well. I've heard that the campaign map plays a lot like Civ3 (with some differences of course). I guess I have grown up with the Civilization Series so to me this isn't too big of a change (and a welcome one at that).

[Silver Rusher]

Help me out here, in GMT does the game actually come out today or tomorrow?

[Ldvs]

Ranging from GMT -4 to GMT -8 for North America.
The game is shipped today Silver, not sold yet.

[The Black Ship]

The game is on the way to my EBgames store today, Wed. 22nd, and will arrive tomorrow, Thurs. 23rd...I know, I just happened to stop by at noon today!

[Colovion]

Only one or two people I've heard of have the game through purchasing at a store. One on the .Com and one at TWC. Most stores should get the game sometime today so it just depends on how far away your store is from where it's being shipped and if they'll let you have a copy. Mine is being delivered to my house so I expect it here tomorrow. I wouldn't complain if I find it at my door when I get home from work though. :2thumbsup:

[Oaty]

Are the stores at any kind of disclosure not to sell until the 23rd or can they sell it as soon as they get it. I know some stores say the heck with the rules but the 1 I preordered from seems to making a statement that theres not a chance in hell I'm going to get this game. I wonder if they do that just to stop people from swarming all day or what the deal is.

[Thoros of Myr]

Today is the official release date, its fair game.

[Colovion]

Today is the official release date, its fair game.

Yep. Best bet is to call all of the stores in your area later in the afternoon to see if they have it in.

Now I have to play the waiting game..... damn you UPS ~:mecry:

[Oaty]

Well gamestop site finally says call the store woohoo!!!!!!! well time to go bother them

[Silver Rusher]

Arg, I am writhing with jealousy with you yanks right now. But I am also excited not only to get the game when it comes out in the UK, but also to see more screens and info on it that i haven't seen/read before.

[andrewt]

My gamespot is getting it tomorrow before noon and I live in Southern California.

[Jacque Schtrapp]

I just spent thirty repeatedly interrupted minutes talking to the manager of the Electronics Boutique near my house. He was constantly having to answer the phone to field "is it in yet?" questions. Looks like RTW may make a bigger splash than anticipated. :charge:

[Thoros of Myr]

It's huge, i'm not kidding. I just got off the phone with yet another EB, he says they almost have pre-orders enough to sell every last copy in thier first shipment and that I better pre-order now if I want it tomorrow. So I did, first time I have pre-ordered in 6 years.

The hype has cuaght me up for sure, I WAS supposed to be waiting for reviews and impressions first...oh well :shame:

[crushinator]

It's huge, i'm not kidding. I just got off the phone with yet another EB, he says they almost have pre-orders enough to sell every last copy in thier first shipment and that I better pre-order now if I want it tomorrow. So I did, first time I have pre-ordered in 6 years.

The hype has cuaght me up for sure, I WAS supposed to be waiting for reviews and impressions first...oh well :shame:

Wow this is fantastic news for CA & TW fans (except those fans who miss out on a copy tomorrow :dizzy2: :furious3: ~;p )

congrats CA, looks like all the hard work has paid off ~:cheers:

[Degtyarev14.5]

I just thought I'd tease you all a little... Rome's release here in Australia will co-incide in date with the American release, i.e. TOMORROW.

Of course, Australia is eight to ten hours ahead of GMT (depending on which coast one lives) while the US is several hours behind GMT. So I guess the Aussies among us will be the first to savour the experience of Rome: Total War. ~;)

I'll be claiming mine at precisely nine o'clock in the morning... Enjoy the ride. :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

A.

[andrewt]

4 more hours for me.

[Silver Rusher]

So... has anybody got the game yet?

If so, can you PLEASE PLEASE post me some info, say modding, screenshots or a report on your first campaign?

Thanks

[Thoros of Myr]

Here is 15 screens I just took in a rar file... enjoy

http://members.cox.net/brybo93/RTWpics.rar

[maestro]

Here is 15 screens I just took in a rar file... enjoy

http://members.cox.net/brybo93/RTWpics.rar

Shweeeeeet - thanks dude.

[Jeanne d'arc]

Here is 15 screens I just took in a rar file... enjoy

http://members.cox.net/brybo93/RTWpics.rar
Very nice screens, many thx from across the sea!

[Thoros of Myr]

Glad to help satiate your thirst for all things RTW :knight:

I'll take some time for specific screenie requests if you have any?

[Jeanne d'arc]

Glad to help satiate your thirst for all things RTW :knight:

I'll take some time for specific screenie requests if you have any?
A screenshot from a battle at night please.
I also wonder if its hard to manage your men when you are fighting at night conditions or in dense forests?
Can u save the progress of the game at any point?
What can u tell us about the multiplayer aspect?
Is it possible to asassinate generals and do the assasinations come with vids like it was in shogun total war.

[Soulflame]

Nice pictures!
In picture 7 I see the option "follow AI characters" what is that? And have you tried out what "arcade style" battles are?

[Thoros of Myr]

Here we go...

night shots
http://members.cox.net/brybo93/RTWN.jpg
http://members.cox.net/brybo93/RTWN2.jpg

As you can see it's dark in the sky but on land it's almost as bright as day...night really doesent seem to have an affect on battles as far as visibility but it probly aids hiding units? will have to investigate that further.

I found it easy enough to command troops in the dense forest, just zoom in to the ground level view. You can't really expect to do any super advanced formations in the dense forest though ~;)

I'll be back for the rest...was about to try to MP, need to install gamespy though I suppose heh :inquisitive:

***on/off for following AI charactors on the strat map when they move during thier turn***

[Jeanne d'arc]

Looks like your parthian army is getting hammered ~:handball: ~:)
On the second screenshot to the left of the picture, are those the screeching german women?
To bad u need gamespy to play in multiplayer, i really dislike using that horrible prog.I hope there will be other ways to play online with this game.
Thx for the pics, i can see the game lives up to its expectations and i will have a copy by the start of next month :thumbsup:

[Thoros of Myr]

Looks like your parthian army is getting hammered ~:handball: ~:)
On the second screenshot to the left of the picture, are those the screeching german women?
To bad u need gamespy to play in multiplayer, i really dislike using that horrible prog.I hope there will be other ways to play online with this game.
Thx for the pics, i can see the game lives up to its expectations and i will have a copy by the start of next month :thumbsup:

Heh, don't make fun of my Parthians :laugh4:

Correct, those are the famed, and feared German howling, screeching, crying, women :yes:

I'll have to agree with you on gamespy, just played an MP game and there were some frustrations...see my comment on the other thread about online play. It was fairly lag free atleast in the 2vs2 game I played (and won...don't know how but we did :sweatdrop: )

Sorry that you and others have to wait...it does live up to expectations I think
~D

[Praylak]

Well I'm not American but I would like to say a few things not frequently mentioned about the game after playing the campaign for the last couple hours.

CA did an awesome job with the campaign map. I salute you guys. This has to be the most significant advancement in gameplay. Everyone is drooling over the graphics of the battles but in time I think many will tend to agree this is what will make RTW, THE strategy game. Both tactical and strategic elements are equalling engaging.

Performance:
I'm impressed. I can't get the performance in MTW that I can get in RTW! And to consider it looks three times better than it's predecessor. It's troublesome at this time to play the game, as everything looks so damn good, I tend to drift away starring and gawking at stuff like mountains.

Audio:
This I really dig. If you have an EAX card, with the forward/rear speaker setup, ohh man. It's all real nice positional sound that is just gravy. Gave me goosebumps when I first heard the faint marching coming from behind me, getting louder and louder. Immersion factor +1

ok, back to the screeching cheerleaders.

[Icerian Rex]

Arrrrrrrrghhhh :furious3:
I went out, bought the game, brought it home, and started to load it. It took longer than normal, but that merely added to the excitement.

Unfortunately, right as the install got to the very end (past the part where it loads DirectX, asks me if I want GameSpy, etc.... (ya know, that final liiiiiitttlllle download part?) it tells me that there's an error in Kernel "such and such", and that's that. It won't finish loading.

So I says to myself, "self, this'll just be our little secret", and went ahead and tried to play it (after having first shut down and re-booted). Unfortunately, everything is now really herky-jerky acting (not just the video, but the music as well). I tried going right into the prologue, but watched for five minutes as it failed to properly load.

Any suggestions? I've got 128 Megs of Ram and (I believe) an 800Mhz Pentium. :wall:

[oblivious maximus]

Hold it there buddy!! your hotter than Georgia asphalt right now!

suggestion is to go get more RAM. Minimum is 256mb. If that is the exact prob,i dont know.

[Thoros of Myr]

Not sure what the first issue could have been but the herky-jerky performance is most likely becuase the minimum reqs are 256mb ram and a 1.0Ghz processor. Time for an upgrade I think.

[Scipio]

time to upgrade from the look of it, 800 mhz? I was scared of my 1.2 ghz and yeah more RAM

[ElmarkOFear]

I am of the opinion the veteran Single Player community will love it. The veteran MP community will hate it.

Here is why the MP community will not like RTW:

1. No logfile feature. If they are there, I cannot find them.
2. Replays do not show unit info on mouse rollover, which makes them worthless for training or even determining why you routed. Doesn't even show what player is what faction or even what faction is what.
3. No 4v4 MP. Only up to 3v3. Each player gets 20 units, which is nice, but 4v4 is why most play MTW. I cannot see them liking being offered less.
4. Sprites are very small, and will force MP games to use UNRESTRICTED CAMERA to be able to get close enough to enemy units to click on them to attack them. Camera seems very far away from the action.
5. I also found what I think is a bug already: I had a grouping of Macedonian Pikemen in a custom battle vs the AI. I could not move them as a group, and could not make them attack as a group. I had to click on each on individually before they would move at all.
6. When fighting the units get so bunched up and with the sprites being so small, you cannot click on the unit you want nor tell what unit you are clicking on.
7. On mouse rollover it is very hard to determine if the unit is yours or the enemy. You can figure it out if you try to give a command and it won't let you though. :)


All in all, I think the SP people will be very happy with the graphics, the sound, the campaign map, and the variety of strategic option in the campaigns. If they are looking for good battles with the AI though, they may be a bit dissappointed. The AI like to chase units all over the map and get exhausted, so you just gotta wait and then regroup and hit them if you are routed. Does give a feeling of a great comeback from death's door though, but not if you know you won because of an AI that made a bunch of mistakes.

[oblivious maximus]

Yes, the SP seems very good. They have implemented great little ideas to help manage your campaign.

[Skomatth]

Elmo I heard that the 3v3/4v4 thing may be based on the size of the map you picked, are you sure you had the largest map size when you said 4v4 isn't available?

[ElmarkOFear]

Nope I just picked one at random. I will try to see if I can find a bigger map. BRB . . .

[Thoros of Myr]

5. I also found what I think is a bug already: I had a grouping of Macedonian Pikemen in a custom battle vs the AI. I could not move them as a group, and could not make them attack as a group. I had to click on each on individually before they would move at all.


I've encountered this bug few times already in both MP and SP modes and it really is frustrating...
~:eek:

[ElmarkOFear]

Nope 3v3 max in MP.

Yup that grouping bug is a pain in the butt. Looks like play testing wasn't as good as I thought it would be given the game took an extra year to come out. I think I would have liked the year-ago version over this one! hehe ;)

[Thoros of Myr]

I'm not too worried about though, there will be a fix. As will other bugs that show up over time.

[ElmarkOFear]

If you have been around since STW days, you would be worried. Seems we get only one bug fix and it will be months from now and then we are on our own. :) Anyways, MP is a moot point since there are a lot of people getting the Invalid Cd Key message like me. Not sure if the Gamespy server is accepting any cd-keys now. LOL

[Gregoshi]

Elmo, the README file noted the change from 4v4 to 3v3. If the change is in the readme file, it must have been a last minute change. I wonder if it is a moddable thing.

[ElmarkOFear]

Gregoshi, I just got online and played some MP. My god the interface for MP is horrible! To host games you have to click click click it is a mess. Also, now to chat in game you have to hit 'T' then a menu comes up on the left side of screen and you have to choose who you want to chat with by either clicking on a persons name or "all" or "Team" or "Enemy". 2 clicks instead of just one. Forget about chatting in game while playing. Instead of making the game easier for new players, it will be twice as hard for them to play MP. It almost looks like they purposely made those changes to kill the MP side of the game. I am extremely dissappointed. I just hope the SP campaign game is good. I have never played a single player campaign, but that is the only thing left in this game. MP has just been killed off.

I had 35 archers die in less than 2 seconds by a charge from a horse unit that had 4 horses left in it and that was fatigued. hehe

Well I am off to play MTW see you guys later.

[Gregoshi]

That doesn't sound very encouraging Elmo. My only comment would be that this is day one of a new game. I'm sure we will be learning more about how best to use all the features of the game as the days and weeks roll by. For example, have you looked into all the game control setting? Maybe there is a short cut key for "chat all", "chat team" and "chat enemy" rather than going through the bulky "t"alk menu/submenu.

Don't give up hope just yet Elmo. Give MP another few weeks before you throw yourself off the city walls in despair. ~;)

[Del Arroyo]

Is it turbocharged like the demo??! :dizzy2: :duel: ~:confused: ~:confused: ~:confused: ~:mecry: ~;p ~:rolleyes: :wall: ~:confused: ~:confused:

[ElmarkOFear]

I am not sure about the speed. I DO know that I lost a unit of 34 archers to a unit of 4 horse cav in less than 2 seconds. The camera view is so bad, you can't tell what unit is what, who your allies are, nor which units are yours and which are the enemy you are fighting. There is little differentiation.

Gregoshi: Trust me. There is no saving the MP game. The lobby is the worst I have seen. You have no private chat and you cannot tell if someone is in a game or not. The lobby looks like an ICQ chat window. The last sentence typed by someone is cut in half and you cannot read it until someone else types another sentence.

Half the time, in the game, when you give orders to grouped units, they will not move. You have to go back and move them individually. There is no redeeming value in the MP side unless you enjoy Age of Kings or Empire Earth-type games, THEN all you have to put up with is the terrible lobby. It looks like they made it yesterday, before the game was released. :)

Oh well, I will devote my time to other games and seeing if I can get some people interested in an STW campaign.

Good luck with RTW MP: You will need it. It took me 20 minutes to log on and I had to use my old name to do so. My UglyElmo name gives me an invalid cd-key error.

[Silver Rusher]

Cool, Thor. I think I see some germanic phalanx in that screenshot...

People, thank you very much for posting. At least I know now that the american release still does mean something for us.


CA did an awesome job with the campaign map. I salute you guys. This has to be the most significant advancement in gameplay. Everyone is drooling over the graphics of the battles but in time I think many will tend to agree this is what will make RTW, THE strategy game. Both tactical and strategic elements are equalling engaging.
Praylak, I honestly couldn't aggree with you more. In the battle (not talking about sieges, btw) the only major change is that there are 3d graphics. That and I suppose the unique abilities. I don't know why that is. When I get it, I am immediatly going to get the unlock all factions pack so that I will have the ability to play Parthians at the start.


I've got 128 Megs of Ram and (I believe) an 800Mhz Pentium.
Hold it there, I do believe that the minimum is 256 megs of Ram and 1 Ghz. (gigahurtz) I have 500 mb and 2.4 Ghz :laugh4:


5. I also found what I think is a bug already: I had a grouping of Macedonian Pikemen in a custom battle vs the AI. I could not move them as a group, and could not make them attack as a group. I had to click on each on individually before they would move at all.
Don't worry, Elmo, I'm sure CA will make a bug release soon. Does this bug mean that you have to click *every* *damn* *single* little pike guy to get him/her (I know that's unlikely, 'specially if they come from Sparta, sorry if this sounds sexist, I guess I'll just have to shut up about it) to move?


Gregoshi, I just got online and played some MP. My god the interface for MP is horrible! To host games you have to click click click it is a mess. Also, now to chat in game you have to hit 'T' then a menu comes up on the left side of screen and you have to choose who you want to chat with by either clicking on a persons name or "all" or "Team" or "Enemy". 2 clicks instead of just one. Forget about chatting in game while playing. Instead of making the game easier for new players, it will be twice as hard for them to play MP. It almost looks like they purposely made those changes to kill the MP side of the game. I am extremely dissappointed. I just hope the SP campaign game is good. I have never played a single player campaign, but that is the only thing left in this game. MP has just been killed off.
Aww, Elmo, d'ya have to be like that?

Bring me more screens!!!

[Icerian Rex]

:dizzy2: Well, it looks like everyone but me knew the answer to my "performance" issues.

My girlfriend came in the room, asked me why I was so frustrated, and when I told her the game wasn't working she simply looked at the box, and five seconds later showed me the minimum requirements (holding the box two inches from my nose).

Well, I guess a person just gets so excited, and I hadn't even considered that minimum requirements would come into play. Oh well.

So, I know that getting additional RAM shouldn't be a problem, but is it possible to swap out 800MHz for something any larger? I'm not particularly "computer-inclined", but I could probably do it (or get it done) if the computer can handle it.

Still very excited.... awesome music, and it was nice to see the carry through of the "black silhouettes on red background" theme. I'm just excited to get in there and get started!

[Silver Rusher]

You should try to just go and get it upgraded. You don't have to get a new computer, but you can still get more speed and more ram without losing all ur data. Check ur local yellow pages.

[SpencerH]

So, I know that getting additional RAM shouldn't be a problem, but is it possible to swap out 800MHz for something any larger? I'm not particularly "computer-inclined", but I could probably do it (or get it done) if the computer can handle it.

Its just a guess on my part but I doubt that simply increasing the RAM will allow you to play RTW properly since its very likely that the video card is also 'under specs' and the HD is too small to be really workable (the game apparently takes 3 Gigs of space).

I'd suggest you add at least another 128 to your current machine and see what happens. It wont hurt yout pocketbook much, and it will allow you to run XP anyway (since I'm guessing you've got ME). However, if you're gonna upgrade RAM, CPU, VC, and HD for gaming, you're better off buying a new PC for games.

[Cazbol]

So, I know that getting additional RAM shouldn't be a problem, but is it possible to swap out 800MHz for something any larger? I'm not particularly "computer-inclined", but I could probably do it (or get it done) if the computer can handle it.


Before you go and buy a bigger CPU, make sure your motherboard supports the CPU. Otherwise you could make an expensive mistake.

[Essex_Cohort]

Thanks for the screenshots, looks nice. At least by the time we get the game here in the UK, CA will already be working on a patch, so we can play bug free :laugh4: roll on 1st October :charge:

[Soulflame]

Even so, if they'd release it now here in Europe, you have the option to wait a week for the patch and read the manual 'till it's torn apart...
Now we only have 1 option: wait ...

[JR-]

another UK'er here :furious3:

i'm glad people are so happy with the improved campaign map as for me thats the best bit. ~:cheers:

[SirGrotius]

:dizzy2: Well, it looks like everyone but me knew the answer to my "performance" issues.

My girlfriend came in the room, asked me why I was so frustrated, and when I told her the game wasn't working she simply looked at the box, and five seconds later showed me the minimum requirements (holding the box two inches from my nose).

Well, I guess a person just gets so excited, and I hadn't even considered that minimum requirements would come into play. Oh well.

So, I know that getting additional RAM shouldn't be a problem, but is it possible to swap out 800MHz for something any larger? I'm not particularly "computer-inclined", but I could probably do it (or get it done) if the computer can handle it.

Still very excited.... awesome music, and it was nice to see the carry through of the "black silhouettes on red background" theme. I'm just excited to get in there and get started!

As mentioned before, there is no hope for your pathetic machine. If you're stapped for cash, you'll need to save up at least 600$ for a decent machine. Make sure it has a good (Nvidia or ATI) graphics card, decent RAM (at least 256K), significant hard drive space (at least 40GB) and a Pentium 4 (you can get a 2Ghz machine for so cheap now).

I was wondering also if that grouping "bug" spoken about concerning the MP game also affects SP battles?

I don't understand why the game got such glowing reviews, yet seems to have a fundamentally flawed combat system, which system by the way is the game's namesake.

[Colovion]

My system specs:

Athlon 1600+
768 RAM
GeForce 4200ti

That's all that matters, really - mild overclocks on the CPU and Vid card. The important thing is this:

I'm running the game at 1024x32 res with everything at High or Highest with Low AA on. NO LAG

And I've already ordered a new computer. Yarg. I'll get FPS up later. It's amazing how much different the demo from the main game is.

It's amazingly addicting. Remember Civilization 3 or Diablo 2? Those games were addicting because you were building something huge from scratch - one small step at a time. The campaign map is no longer a chore to get to the battles - they are one and the same now and you don't say "well, I don't really want to fight that battle because it'll take too long". Now I can understand why CA made the battles "shorter" because they make it so that you never have a chance to get bored. I dislike this for MP but I think that could be changed for a MP specific fix. You contsantly say "well just one more turn, see - that valley looks nice, I'll move my army in there" and you find yourself defending your empire by staving off the Gaul or Rebel forces coming your way. Armies just wander around sometimes too - catching you off gaurd if you leave a city undefended. Seiges aren't boring anymore - you can't seige a city that has a certain kind of walls if you don't have seige weapons. The addiction for games like this come from the fact that everytime you click on a button or an icon you get satisfying little audio bites - change shuffling, cash exchanging hands for the End of Turn Summary - Wood being cut and hammers working in the background when a Construction is complete - the list goes on. It just draws you in; I usually go to bed at midnight because I wake up early - I didn't get to bed until 2AM - and that time felt like 5 minutes.

It's also much more realistic in the way you move your troops as well. I had an army going north through a pass and then across a river ford to take a city. I thought I needed some cavalry so I built two Equites and send them up. It would take two turns to do this as the line shows up when you tell your unit to go further than they can. My Equites were attacked by a unit of swordsmen and I didn't coordinate my attack on both sides well enough that I lost 50% of both of their units, they retreated back over the ford and sat between the hills. This is also true when you attack enemy units. If they think they can't win they will retreat and your soldier on the Campaign map will proclaim victory, you then have a chance to follow-up the initial attack with another. If you defeat the enemy enough without destroying them they'll retreat until they get to a city or can join with a larger army - which makes it so you must have light Cav to run down the routers.

I don't think you can take soldiers prisoners, there isn't any Unit Captured button and you don't have any option after the battle for ransom either - only in seiges.

Population is great and makes you really care more about your cities as a little more than objects which you use to do anything you want - you have to wait till you have the population to build certain units or buildings. This could get annoying but so far it has added to the immersion.

Governers are very important - or i should say - your family members are. I lost a key family member on my second turn and it made it more difficult to expand because I had one city that wasn't doing much besides what the AI told it to. This isn't terrible because you can set the kind of Theme you want the city to run as: Growth, Military, Financial - etc.

I've disobeyed the Senate because they gave me a goal which was a little out of my reach, no ill consequences - just no extra money.

I'm playing on Hard and so far it has been easy, but I'm still inside the Italian Penninsula and haven't gotten to the Gaulish homeland with their large armies. As you look out over the darkened areas you can really look and see where the strategical points are - and they're true to life such as where the passes are to send troops through the Pyrennes and so on.

This has gotten a little long but I'm at work and little to do but think about conquoring Gaul this weekend. :2thumbsup:

[Ldvs]

Good to see a demo skeptic like you enjoying the full game Colovion ~;)

[Colovion]

Heh, yea I didn't think it was possible either.

[Barkhorn1x]

I've disobeyed the Senate because they gave me a goal which was a little out of my reach, no ill consequences - just no extra money.


Well, in addition to no cash, they denied my faction any state offices and sent me a nasty note to boot - the bastards. :furious3:

Barkhorn.

[Red Harvest]

I'm playing as Scipio on the hardest settings for my first campaign. I've made a few mistakes, but I've fulfilled all of my Senate missions, and crushed Carthage in my spare time (they have one army left, but no territory.) The treacherous Numidians attacked me despite our trade alliance...so I have my hands full at the moment. I made a mistake by not enslaving most of the Carthaginians...loyalty is not as easily maintained as in MTW on the hardest difficulty settings.

The city sieges are pretty cool, although the siege towers don't work as one would expect. You really don't get a good indication as to when your troops will lower the ramp...I think they must all be at the top before it drops. This is awfully cludgy and could use some work. My first siege was a disastrous win as I tried to figure out how to use rams and towers. Getting your infantry near enemy gates or towers seems to be a real bad idea. Sapping works.

The battle speed is a big problem. Units kill far too rapidly in many instances, the effect of base defense should be higher I expect. Cavalry either kills or is killed in a few seconds. With the Numidians, this is proving a real problem. My cav and theirs are nearly indistinguishable on the field. Both sides rout and I can't tell what is going on. I'll probably have to start using pause every two seconds. Use of the pila and shield vs. cav does not appear to work right, but it happens so fast that I can't really tell.

The AI bribed my best army and 2nd best commander early in the campaign. That really sucked, but it did increase the challenge.

[Thoros of Myr]

Is it possible to asassinate generals and do the assasinations come with vids like it was in shogun total war.

Yes, assassinations are possible...there is no video..what happens is the strategy map charactors "fight" eachother with animations...if the assassin falls and dies your assassination failed the general will fall and die if it was a sucsess. There is also a pop-up window with details and a sound effect alluding to the results. It looks kind of like a battlechess fight.

**forgot to add you can also have a "missed" attempt where the assassin fails but it not cuaght and lives on to kill another day**

[Dimeola]

So far only see playing as one of three Roman factions.....how do you play as someone else? Thought there were others you could play as? Good source for a mod to play as any faction in game. So far as Brutii prosecuting the war vs Greeks....just took larissa. The senate hasnt mandated it but now the rest of Greece must fall.
Anyone playing MP yet? I tried but couldnt connect, not sure whats different from MTW....but could play that fine on this machine.
Dimeolas

[Silver Rusher]

To play as other factions you must conquer them (outlasting doesn't count) or win the game to unlock everyone.

[[DnC]]

If anyone could confirm this question I have.

I seem to recall reading that generals don't give 1 valour/experience every two stars to their troops anymore. Has it been implemented in the game this way? I really didn't like being able to put a bunch of rookies under a 9* general and have them suddenly be transformed into these über soldiers. I think more discipline, morale and such similar, not overpowering (or rather annoying), factors (depending on what kinda general you have) a far better supplement to commandrating. I like the idea of soldiers getting stronger (and better) due to battle-experience, not a general. Morale may be the best. For every star, 'bout 0.25 morale (depending on the affected strength per 1 morale to the game) per star or something and the general can add or distract morale and other factors with V&V. +1 attack + 1 defense + 2 morale is just far too much I.M.O.

Anyways this way it's also a lot more fun creating veteran units, have them be more special and make you less keen on throwing them into battle unless the situation requires you to do so.

I'm a bit tired of reading all the reviews now and going insane of anticipation!
So if anyone could help me out here I would very much appreciate it!
I've read this thread partly earlier in the day, but haven't remembered most of it, so it could have already been mentioned in this thread. If it has, then my apologies.

[Silver Rusher]

Hmm... it will take time to adapt to the new gameplay system.

[Quietus]

']If anyone could confirm this question I have.

I seem to recall reading that generals don't give 1 valour/experience every two stars to their troops anymore. Has it been implemented in the game this way? I really didn't like being able to put a bunch of rookies under a 9* general and have them suddenly be transformed into these über soldiers. I think more discipline, morale and such similar, not overpowering (or rather annoying), factors (depending on what kinda general you have) a far better supplement to commandrating. I like the idea of soldiers getting stronger (and better) due to battle-experience, not a general. Morale may be the best. For every star, 'bout 0.25 morale (depending on the affected strength per 1 morale to the game) per star or something and the general can add or distract morale and other factors with V&V. +1 attack + 1 defense + 2 morale is just far too much I.M.O.

Anyways this way it's also a lot more fun creating veteran units, have them be more special and make you less keen on throwing them into battle unless the situation requires you to do so.

I'm a bit tired of reading all the reviews now and going insane of anticipation!
So if anyone could help me out here I would very much appreciate it!
I've read this thread partly earlier in the day, but haven't remembered most of it, so it could have already been mentioned in this thread. If it has, then my apologies.
It is not easy to tell because, troops are now labelled with veterancy chevrons. (Bronze1-2-3,Silver1-2-3,Gold1-2-3) Although in the manual, it is said that when your troops are trained in a fine training facility, it can acquire bonus from a high ranking general.

I'm playing Expert/Expert and I beat high ranking general (4-5 star, I think) with a 1 star general - which is a great surprise ( although his troops was separate because of reinforcement army nearby). I did a rolling flank, broke the first army as quickly as possible (because he had much more troops overall). I barely did it because his other troops were close to charging distance when I got the others completely routing.

So far though, I haven't seen soldiers get bonus chevron because it is too early I'm only about to go to level 3 tech. Although I've alread raised that one star general to 6 stars. I'll check if it happens later.

:charge:

[[DnC]]

It is not easy to tell because, troops are now labelled with veterancy chevrons. (Bronze1-2-3,Silver1-2-3,Gold1-2-3) Although in the manual, it is said that when your troops are trained in a fine training facility, it can acquire bonus from a high ranking general.

I'm playing Expert/Expert and I beat high ranking general (4-5 star, I think) with a 1 star general - which is a great surprise ( although his troops was separate because of reinforcement army nearby). I did a rolling flank, broke the first army as quickly as possible (because he had much more troops overall). I barely did it because his other troops were close to charging distance when I got the others completely routing.

So far though, I haven't seen soldiers get bonus chevron because it is too early I'm only about to go to level 3 tech. Although I've alread raised that one star general to 6 stars. I'll check if it happens later.

:charge:

Thanks for the reply and so far it sounds good! I truly hope generals don't give these crazy valour/experience bonuses anymore! Allows for much more tactical play ~:) But I you have a 6* general and he hasn't given his troops extra chevrons because of his commandrating, then that says it all I guess ~:cool:

[SpencerH]

I've just started playing the prologue. So far the strategic map (and play) looks like it will have some very interesting possibilities. On the other hand, I cant help but feel that the tactical battles have really lost something compared to MTW and STW. I've watched units move battle maps around like they were cockroaches on my screen.

I'm already looking forward to the mods to slow down the combat/killing speeds.

Can someone please, please, figure out how to turn off that ******* Russell Crowe impersonation. Who in their right mind would use someone from an outback steakhouse commercial as a voice nag? I've already started yelling at the PC to 'shut up' every few minutes and my wife has been wondering whats going on.

[oblivious maximus]

Who in their right mind would use someone from an outback steakhouse commercial as a voice nag? I've already started yelling at the PC to 'shut up' every few minutes and my wife has been wondering whats going on.

:laugh4: know what your mean. It will be great when we can edit sounds as we could in MTW.

[USMCNJ]

have the game the graphics look nice in the movies. can't tell you what the game looks like cause it wont play.
it won't play on my year old labtop, that's ok it's a labtop. (i wasn't really expecting for it to work)
it won't play on my 3 week old $1,100 pc (that i build just for this game) that make me mad. It freezes everytime in the first tutorial battle.

I'm off to go get drunk. ~:cheers:

($1,150 in the whole, bunch of bs with bestbuy to get the game, and now it won't even run)
ps. my specs
3.0 Ghz P4 ht, 1gb ram, 256 Mb Radeon 9800, XP proffesional

[Jeanne d'arc]

have the game the graphics look nice in the movies. can't tell you what the game looks like cause it wont play.
it won't play on my year old labtop, that's ok it's a labtop. (i wasn't really expecting for it to work)
it won't play on my 3 week old $1,100 pc (that i build just for this game) that make me mad. It freezes everytime in the first tutorial battle.

I'm off to go get drunk. ~:cheers:

($1,150 in the whole, bunch of bs with bestbuy to get the game, and now it won't even run)
ps. my specs
3.0 Ghz P4 ht, 1gb ram, 256 Mb Radeon 9800, XP proffesional
OH!!! bugger my pc specs are almost exactly the same, i am getting worried now.

[Bob the Insane]

To both USMCNJ and Jeanne d'arc..

Did the demo work for you???

[SpencerH]

Radeon 9800's can suffer from overheating. Open up your case and cool it with a house fan. If that solves your problem think about upgrading your VC cooling (Zalman heatpipe and xtra fan is a suggestion).

[USMCNJ]

the demo was breath taking on my pc. i had no problems what so ever.
and now i run the tutorial and the game freezes in the first five minutes of the battle. i'm talking about the simple battle.
I have 3 case fans (plus 2 harddrive fans, cpu fan, video card fan, power supply fan) i've tried running the game with the a 18" house fan blowing directly at the open pc. it still freezes. i run the demo, the same battle goes without a glitch. this leads me to believe that its the game.
I've even tried running with the lowest video setting and muted sound, same results.
SpencerH can you suggest a good cooling device (link?)

[Thoros of Myr]

I'm convinced the game has a memory leak, It's almost to the point where I can't play anymore until the first patch :(

[Silver Rusher]

Mods, this thread is becoming popular, and there aren't that many stickies, so what about this to become a sticky?

[Jeanne d'arc]

To both USMCNJ and Jeanne d'arc..

Did the demo work for you???
The demo worked fine for me.

[Ldvs]

I'm convinced the game has a memory leak, It's almost to the point where I can't play anymore until the first patch :(


Nobody else has reported that, it's quite odd. Did the same thing happen to you with the demo?

[SpencerH]

the demo was breath taking on my pc. i had no problems what so ever.
and now i run the tutorial and the game freezes in the first five minutes of the battle. i'm talking about the simple battle.
I have 3 case fans (plus 2 harddrive fans, cpu fan, video card fan, power supply fan) i've tried running the game with the a 18" house fan blowing directly at the open pc. it still freezes. i run the demo, the same battle goes without a glitch. this leads me to believe that its the game.
I've even tried running with the lowest video setting and muted sound, same results.
SpencerH can you suggest a good cooling device (link?)

Heres a link

http://www.xoxide.com/zazmvgaheco.html

but if it still occurs with a house fan blowing on the card then its unlikely to be an overheating problem (especially if it plays the demo version ok).

Just a thought, I've been wondering why some people have had probs with loading and running this game with similar specs and OS compared to mine. I havent had a single problem despite SP2 and alcohol (both of which have been implicated as potential probs). One thing I did, and which may be different, was to remove the demo a couple of weeks ago. Why not give that a try? Maybe it causes a conflict.

[USMCNJ]

thanks for the link

i removed the demo before i installed.
a few hours ago i reinstalled it. the same battle ran fine in the demo. I ran it 3 times, all the way, it worked fine.
Then i tried to run the game. It froze once again.
i've tried to install an omega driver form my 9800, that didn't work.
i've pretty much wasted 2 days.

[Quietus]

']Thanks for the reply and so far it sounds good! I truly hope generals don't give these crazy valour/experience bonuses anymore! Allows for much more tactical play ~:) But I you have a 6* general and he hasn't given his troops extra chevrons because of his commandrating, then that says it all I guess ~:cool:
No. It says in the manual you can get bonus chevron if you combine troops trained in good facilities and a high ranking general. Well, I don't have good facilities yet so I can't make a viable conclusion at all. ~:)

[Thoros of Myr]

Nobody else has reported that, it's quite odd. Did the same thing happen to you with the demo?

No and check the RTW Bug thread, there is atleast one other report of the memory leak or something similar.

Right now I can play but I never know when it's going drop from a solid 40-50 FPS to a slideshow and massive stutters, actually they are flat out freezes for 3-4 seconds. If I close RTW and come back everything is fine, for another 1-2 hours or so.

[SirGrotius]

Those aforementioned computer problems are strange. a 3 ghz system w/ lots of ram and an advanced video card should eat this game up like so much candy. have you downloaded the latest drivers for your video card? you installed the latest direct x stuff too, right? i wonder how other demanding games play on your system? is it receiving enough power? i would pause the game and open up the windows task manager and view your memory specs and what programs are eating up all the ram.

[Silver Rusher]

wow, this is really turning into a specs thread.

Get back to the screens and stuff!

[USMCNJ]

Those aforementioned computer problems are strange. a 3 ghz system w/ lots of ram and an advanced video card should eat this game up like so much candy. have you downloaded the latest drivers for your video card? you installed the latest direct x stuff too, right? i wonder how other demanding games play on your system? is it receiving enough power? i would pause the game and open up the windows task manager and view your memory specs and what programs are eating up all the ram.
this is game only pc. i i've tried IL-2 on it. runs smooth. i've uninstalled it, before installing RTW. the only thing i have on this pc is Antivirus (which i disable before i play), XP proffesional, and RTW. that's it.
I've tried all driver for all my stuff. i tried new, old, direct x b and c. Nothing works.
i'v looked at com and some people have the same problem. I've sent my direct x diagnostic to tech support, waiting for a reply.

[Mithrandir]

Mods, this thread is becoming popular, and there aren't that many stickies, so what about this to become a sticky?

As long as it's popular it get's bumped to the top by new posts.
Stickies are mainly for anouncements.

[Sjakihata]

bump

[Blodrast]

for people who don't have the game yet, you should relax about specs.
I have a P4/1.8, 512RAM, and GF4 MX440/64mb, and the game runs absolutely fine, even though I've had several problems and crappy fps with the demo. I barely meet the video minimum reqs, and I can still play 1024x768 campaign, and at least 800x600 battle (can't remember if I can do 1024x768 on battle map).
So relax, you will most likely be able to run the game.

[Colovion]

Yeah specs aren't a big deal. I've hosted some 4v4 10,000 denarii battles online with my meagre setup:

1600+ XP
4200 ti 128mb
768 RAM

There was a little lag online after the memory leak kicked in but before that it's pure gold - and the campaign map hasn't lagged at all. Oh yeah and every setting is On, High or Highest on 1024 Res. Wheeee

[USMCNJ]

yeah, i've noticed that at .com most of the peole with problems have a mid-high end pcs.

[Spino]

The game runs great on my rig. I have an Athlon XP 2400 (333Mhz bus speed to match the ram), 1Ghz PC2700 RAM, a 128meg Radeon 9800 Pro and a 120gig 2meg cache, 7200rpm hard drive and RTW runs surprisingly well, so much so that I can play it at 1024x768 with anti-aliasing set to 4X (I despise jagged lines) and anistropic filtering set to 16X 'Performance' via ATI's control panel. I have all in-game graphics option set to the max except for the Buildings setting which is set to High instead of Highest. Battles and city assaults are nice and smooth, even with Large sized units enabled. Oddly enough the biggest frame rate killer on the campaign map is the water! I use FRAPS to check my framerate and I noticed when I'm zoomed in about halfway and there's no water in view the framerate jumps from the low 30s to the mid 40s/low 50s!

[USMCNJ]

Spino can you email me or post here your DXdiag?
i have figure out that the 9800 is causing the crash. i was forced to take it out. i want to compare my dxdiag to some one who can run the game using 9800

[Spino]

Sure thing, I'll do it tonight. But before you get extreme and yank that 9800 I suggest you try a few things first.

Reboot your machine and go to the BIOS screen. Find and disable Fast Writes and make sure your AGP aperture is set to 128megs or higher. Now boot up and open the Properties option on your desktop, go to the Settings tab and click on Advanced button so you can get to the various graphics settings. Click on ATI's SmartGart tab. Make sure the Fast Writes check box is empty or grayed out. Fast Writes offer negligible if any speed boosts and are often a source of graphics related system instability. You may also want to disable the VPU recovery option as ATI users have reported it causing more harm than good. Mine is enabled as it actually has saved my system from crashing or locking up a number of times.

If you still get crashes in RTW there is one thing left to do which helped me ALOT with system instability since upgrading from a 9700 to my 9800 Pro. Leave those previous settings where they are and reboot once more and go back into your BIOS. Now if possible, turn down the AGP settings from 8X to 4X. Save, reboot and go back into the SmarGart tab and make sure the AGP settings are at 4X. The performance difference between AGP 4X & 8X is miniscule if you have a 3D card with 128 megs or better.

Installing the latest Catalyst driver may help but hey, I'm using the Catalyst 3.10 drivers! They're old but they seem to be the most compatible, most stable Cats ATI has made to date. The only change I made was that I replaced the Cat 3.10 OpenGL dll file in my System32 folder with the one used in the Catalyst 4.9 drivers so that I could run Doom3 at maximum efficiency.

If this doesn't help perhaps it's a heat issue? Are you crashing to the desktop and/or locking up or is your system spontaneously crashing and rebooting? With my old 9700 I would get hard crashes now and again. When I got my 9800 Pro the system would hard crash... alot. This was on top of the occasional CTD and whatnot. This is because of heat buildup inside the case and the 9800 Pro puts out ALOT of heat. I put in three fans, two 80mm Vantec Stealth fans for intake and one Vantec Variable Speed Thermal Fan for exhaust and voila, no more hard crashes. For good measure I replaced my two ATA-133 cables with rounded ones to further improve airflow inside the case. I solved my CTDs and whatnot by using the AGP and Fast Write tweaks I mentioned above.

[USMCNJ]

thanks spino.
I will try those suggestion tomorrow. i've tried everything except playing with BIOS.
if the problem is caused by the heat its probably 9800 overheating, cause i had a 18" house fan blowing on an open case and it still crashed. After i took out the 9800 the game ran fine (except for the bad graphics)