Prima Strat Guide - Worth it?

[ToranagaSama]

Hello,

For the first time in my entire gaming life, I feel the need for a Strategy Guide.
There is so much in the Pamphlet, that's either completely not covered, or mentioned without any detail.

I don't buy the guides because I think they're overpriced with 50% or more of the info readily available or learnable. Yet, the RTW pamphlet is woefully lacking, much, much, much, more so than the pamphlets for STW and MTW. Those pamphlets may not have gone into great depth, but, at least, for the greater part, they covered the broad basics with little overlooked.

The RTW pamphlet has WHOLE sections of information not even mentioned!!! As well as, some things that are *mentioned*, but with absolutely NO detail whatsoever!!

Let me stop whinning, so does the Prima Guide fill in the blanks left from the manual? Before I got the game, I gave the Prima a quick *flip-over*, and it didn't seem to have much more info than the what I *thought* the Pamphlet would have, but then I got the game/pamphlet!!!

Thanks in advance.

[Oaty]

First of all do a search on Prima guides in this forum and you'll see how they feel jipped.

If you want a decent simple guide and is actually said to be better than prima's

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=37088&highlight=gamespy+guide

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=36833&highlight=gamespy+guide

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=36805&highlight=gamespy+guide

As far as Prima goes the guides have'nt changed price but there quality has and I remember the strat guide for railroad tycoon 3. 10 percent of the statements were either false or not completely correct. Heck 1 page of posts in the colosseum is probably better info than the whole strat guide, but since I have'nt bought it my comment is a bit negligable.

[Silencer]

I have the official Strategy guide of Total War: medieval. (BradyGames)
This was a really good one! (explaing all the vices-virtues, battle calculations etc)

but what I heared from the forums here, and on totalwar.com, the Rome:TW strategy guide sucks, and adds almost nothing to the manual as extra info.

I don't know if this also one from Brady Games though.

What I do know is the the one from Prima Guide is really bad, and not worth buying.

[Thoros of Myr]

Prima used to be pretty good but there's a few others in the strategy guide biz besides Prima and they almost always have much better guides then Prima, this has often been the case for years now. I wouldent reccomend Prima.

[ToranagaSama]

Oaty,

Thanks for the links, but I've already read those threads, AND gave the GameSpy guide a good lookover. There were a couple of interesting bits of info, but overall I'm hoping for something a bit deeper. Particularly, something or someone that provides a FULL explanation of the *Economy*. I've gone through the Prologe and have started a Campaign, but I still can't get a grasp of how Income/Expenses are being applied. I can't seem to comprehend with anything approaching exactness what is going on with the "Financial" Tab.

Sometimes, I'll look at that Tab, and see that a Loss should occur, and magically, I'll have in the stead a windfall profit, and vice versa. Doesn't seem to make sense.

Anyway, I was just hoping someone know of a great guide.

[Lemur]

I'm hoping for something a bit deeper. Particularly, something or someone that provides a FULL explanation of the *Economy*.
No such guide exists at the moment, and you certainly won't find that info in the Prima book. I'm still kicking myself for buying it.

If we want a comprehensive guide, we're going to (1) have to write a lot of it ourselves, and (2) beg CA to release some info. Which they will probably do at some point.

[crazyviking03]

Well, I dont feel totaly jipped, cuz EB was selling them for only $10 if you bought it with the game. It lists all units and buildins, which is nice (that is about it though, 3/4 of the book is units, no faction descriptions like in MTW book). If i had paide full price for it, i would have felt jipped

[ElmarkOFear]

Also the recruitment costs given for the units are incorrect for Custom battle and Multiplayer. The MP/Custom Battle units are mostly incorrect. Maybe 1/3 of the total units have the correct cost. There really isn't much there that you can't get from the game. There is nothing that shows you "how to" and nothing much is said about MP. There is a little bit, for the historical battles tactics, but other than that it is not worth $20 U.S.

[Tamur]

Having attempted a diplomacy guide, I know for sure that we're not going to be able to write one on the Economy without CA giving out info. Diplomacy is very easy in comparison to economics, but even so there are a number of areas in diplomacy that are very sketchy.

For economics, there are simply too many factors inter-related for a player to sort them out with only the data he/she can generate. I suppose if we were to pool economic data we could maybe come up with trends, etc, but precision is I think going to be out of our grasp in that area.

Other parts of the game, though, are a definite probability. The units/battles have got numbers accessible, and there are so many battles going on that a good unit/battlemap guide is a for-sure possibility due to the massive volume of feedback and consideration these things get.

Hmm, could get the Econ professors I work with to play the game for about a week and have an analysis of the economic system. Problem is, it'd all be graphs, charts, and really boring PowerPoint presentations :help:

[econ21]

Yes, the manual is inadequate and no the Strategy Guide does not fill in for it. This has probably always been true for Total War games - in a way, I like it. The game is so deep you cannot do it justice in a simple manual or strategy guide. The thing is when you find out what is "under the hood", it is often very impressive. (e.g in MTW when CA released an Excel file about all the unit stats could be derived from some tables about weapons, armour and troop quality). In SP, doing the research to figure out how the game works is alot of the fun - when you fully understand the system, it becomes rather predictable and strangely less satisfying as a simulation game (how well do we actually understand in the real world about the effects of population and squalor, combat unit effectiveness or even trade?).

[Doug-Thompson]

No Prima guide was ever worth it.

[Lemur]

No Prima guide was ever worth it.
Oh, now you tell us. Geez, couldn't you have piped up about four years ago? ~;)

[Daveybaby]

Prima guides are crap because they are written several months before the game is even finished. i.e. usually before most of the balancing is carried out, and sometimes before key features are finished/added/removed.

Interesting article on the state of strategy guides here (http://www.alanemrich.com/Writing_Archive_pages/decline.htm).

[Doug-Thompson]

Oh, now you tell us. Geez, couldn't you have piped up about four years ago? ~;)

~D

====

That was a very good article, Daveybaby. Ought to be required reading.

I strongly suspect that what the author of the thread really wants is a decent manual.

Folks, I get to say "Told you so" here.

There's no way in %&*@ to put a decent manual in one of these tiny boxes any more. This game needs a REAL manual on a PDF file. I said that on this forum long before the game came out and was drubbed for it.

I know everybody wants a big, readable, info-filled manual. I also know that it costs big bucks to produce, print and stuff a big, readable, info-filled manual into a box.

A decent manual could totally wipe out the profit margin on a $50 game. When's the last time you bought a brand new paperback with 100-200 pages on slick paper with illustrations at the bookstore for 50 cents?

You'd have to put a good RTW manual on microfilm to fit it in.

[Lord Ovaat]

I made the mistake of buying the Prima. Worthless. Most of the info is almost a direct copy of the description pages, or at least seem that way. Only thing it did offer of value was the Mariuis change, and I think it's wrong. They claim the first Urban Barracks, but I find it to be the first Imperial Palace. Anyone know for sure?