Happy Thread

[red comyn]

So to try and cheer up the patrons at the org and before the place goes up like rome after neros bbq party with the heat of all the flames in the posts hers a question.

"What features etc do you like in RTW?"

please for the sake of ease and to avoid repetition As my dear old mum (bless her grey haired head) says "If you cant say anything nice dont say anything at all". So lets not post anything like "nothing" "switiching it of etc. This should help the develpers see what is liked and should be kept in the expansion and for, hopfully, other games in the series although judging by the feeling here the might be doing it from Salman Rushdie's old flat. ~:)

[Big_John]

the water is pretty. hey, it's an honest answer.

[Cheater]

Well I don't really have such a poor opinion of RTW. Maybe it's because I never actually came by the errors that bothered so many people, or maybe it's because I just don't care all that much for the bugs and enjoy it for what it is... a game about conquring the ancient world! Which is probably one of my favorite settings! :)

Anyway, what I liked about it was the fact that you had a large variety of abilities to use diplomacy, a ton of units that allow for a fantastic variety of battles, and of course, the speech that the general/captain gives at the beginning of each battle. That got very old very quickly, but I still find them interesting every now and then, and I actually AM inspired by what he has to say occasionally!

So that's mostly what I like about it. The fact that can take control of what are my favorite ancient civilizations and take over the world!!!!

[Colovion]

Cavalry charges work better than before.

but that whole improvement has been a double edged sword anyway so...

[cunctator]

I have alot of fun with RTW. It`s not a perfect game, but i prefer it over it`s precedessors.
I like the new campaign map, the better movement and ship system, better diplomacy, the bigger armys, the time period, etc..

The only major problem for me is the stupid AI. Most other flaws of the game can be addressed by modding.

[HarunTaiwan]

I like how they approached the problem of Roman politics and the Senate.

I think there could have been more to it than it is now....but I also respect that it could have easily been a nightmare...

[player1]

I pretty much like most features of RTW.

Since I didn't played MTW, I'm not too close minded to not like it since it isn't MTW-wannabe.

Of course, there is one thing (bug/issue, strange animal) I dislike a lot, but since this is happy thread I won't go into it.

[Browning]

I like the whole family maintenance. How you grow your generals and administrators, how you try to overcome their bad traits...

[Mikeus Caesar]

I like the cavalry charge as well. They are much better than they were in MTW. In MTW, all cavalry was was just infantry, only running around at much faster speeds, and when they charged the enemy, they'd hit them at speed, only to hit the enemy like jelly hitting concrete. But on RTW, when cavalry hit the enemy, some horses go straight through the formaton, while enemy soldiers go flying everywhere.

[Browning]

(...)soldiers go flying everywhere.
Yesterday I watched same Makedon Light Cavs hit my Armoured Hoplites from close. A Hoplite got struck and thrown away, he lied there for a moment, then he got up, looked around, and returned to the fray letting his anger loose. I thought that was cool.

[tibilicus]

It really can annoy me to see some people kik up a fuss about miner falts. A game will never be perfect, its imposiblle. But to me rome total war comes prety close to that. And who can resist the fun of throwing a bunch of armoured elephants into a helpless unit of angry peasents. ;)

[Mikeus Caesar]

Hehe, elephants rule. I go on custom battles, and go on the Sarmatian Mound map. I give myself 4 armoured elephants, and make the enemy Gaul, and give them tonnes of Warband. Then i let the elephants rip. Because of dodgy physics, men get thrown for miles off the side of the hill, and it really is nice to watch.

[Craterus]

Hehe, elephants rule. I go on custom battles, and go on the Sarmatian Mound map. I give myself 4 armoured elephants, and make the enemy Gaul, and give them tonnes of Warband. Then i let the elephants rip. Because of dodgy physics, men get thrown for miles off the side of the hill, and it really is nice to watch.

Sounds fun, I'll have to give that a try.

[Atreides]

Like the cultural diversity.
The really large unit diversity.
I like the diversity of 'odd' units (chariots, war dogs and Elephants).
The Romans politics
The great temple influence
Building up your family.
The wonders!!!! Their fun (unfair) and are somehow historical.

Ect ect.

[screwtype]

I like the fact that unlike the previous games, the order in which you click on units when doing multiple select will be the order they line up when you stretch them across the battlefield.

I also like the way those units will retain their formation when they arrive at a new point you click on.

However I'd still like to see units retaining formation when they are actually moving, and I'd also like some more maneouvres for multiple units, like "Wheel Left", "Wheel Right" etc.

Oh, I also like the "man of the hour" feature. That is really cool. I love getting men of the hour to add to my swag of generals/governors ~:)

[tai4ji2x]

However I'd still like to see units retaining formation when they are actually moving, and I'd also like some more maneouvres for multiple units, like "Wheel Left", "Wheel Right" etc.


i thought that was already possible with the "," and "." keys (ie, " < " and " > ")

[aw89]

No not like that, i think he means that all the people turn 90 degrees where they stand.

[Quietus]

IMO, Sieging is the BEST facet RTW!! Some pathfinding problems aside, this is the most realized feature of the game. ~:)

:charge:

[The Stranger]

i think someone played too much Knights and Merchants

[FURRY_BOOTS]

the music's pretty good, sometimes i just play the music file if im surfin, or messin with me comp ~D

[screwtype]

i thought that was already possible with the "," and "." keys (ie, " < " and " > ")

Oh, is it? If so I never saw those commands.

Perhaps I've used the wrong names, because I've forgotten what the correct names are for the maneouvres I'm thinking of. I know there are ways in the game for an army or unit to pivot around its centre, but I'd like a command to pivot an army/unit around one or other of its flanks.

[The Stranger]

yeah i like th music, its relaxing

[tai4ji2x]

Oh, is it? If so I never saw those commands.

Perhaps I've used the wrong names, because I've forgotten what the correct names are for the maneouvres I'm thinking of. I know there are ways in the game for an army or unit to pivot around its centre, but I'd like a command to pivot an army/unit around one or other of its flanks.

yeah, those commands are just for pivoting around the center. for pivoting on the flanks, the closest you can get to that at the moment is to group at least 2 units together and right-click-drag to pivot them in formation along one of its flanks. not easy to do in the heat of battle other than to use the pause button however.

[screwtype]

That's what I thought. Pity though, I've wanted those commands ever since Shogun, and we still haven't got them :( Oh I forgot, this is the happy thread ;)

[Rapidly]

Rome is my first exposure to the TW series, and I love it! Sure it has flaws but just about all of it is great, in particular: the music is awesome! The designers had a good subtle sense of humor, e.g. all the little easter eggs from funny speeches to offbeat traits or retinue members to even the occasional city name ("domus dulce," or "home sweet home".) Great battle effects, e.g. saw a first the other night: in scanning across my battle line where the action was fast and furious I saw a guy go flying up into the air from a cavalry charge. Seen it before but never that dramatic, and it seems to be different every time. And so many strategic options! (I was going to say "so many ways to skin a cat" but thought that might be lost on our non-U.S. members...) Fantastic game.

[screwtype]

Rome is my first exposure to the TW series, and I love it! Sure it has flaws but just about all of it is great, in particular: the music is awesome! The designers had a good subtle sense of humor, e.g. all the little easter eggs from funny speeches to offbeat traits or retinue members to even the occasional city name ("domus dulce," or "home sweet home".) Great battle effects, e.g. saw a first the other night: in scanning across my battle line where the action was fast and furious I saw a guy go flying up into the air from a cavalry charge. Seen it before but never that dramatic, and it seems to be different every time. And so many strategic options! (I was going to say "so many ways to skin a cat" but thought that might be lost on our non-U.S. members...) Fantastic game.

must...say...nothing...this...happy...thread... :brood:

[Wilbo]

I've been playing Total War since Shogun v1.0 and although Medieval never really grabbed me, Rome has some great features!

I really like how the different factions have such different playing styles e.g. from Phalanx warfare to tactical Roman infantry to the brute strength and numbers of the barbarian Gauls and Germanians. I also love the way the units smack into each other, their formations melting away. Especially with a decent cavalry charge to the rear of a static unit.

This also seems to be the first game in the series where using different formations (well, more than one unit thick) really does make a difference!

[red comyn]

see folks wasnt all that hard was it ~D

[Quietus]

Thx for opening the thread red comyn. The siege-bug was really a downer. ~:)

[red comyn]

Awe shucks :embarassed: Spreading joy and happiness is just what i do. Its the buddhist in me. always fancied being one of the choppy fighty ones from STW though ~:yin-yang: , dont think the afore mentioned dear old (buddhist) maw would like it though.

Now if we all hold hands and shout that we belive in fairies, then tinkerbell wont die!!!!!

Well keep em coming folks, just remembered i didnt put what i liked. For my tupance worth I really liked the abilty to move freely on the campaign map far better than the province system of STW and MTW. Also the inclusion of the siege machines and buildings in the built up areas as you built them, or destroyed them with the sweet as siege machines :duel: were a joy to behold.

[Franconicus]

What I like:

it has a very good balance berween the building and the fighting
the battles are really cool
attacking towns is much better than it was in MTW
the units and tec trees are very colorful
the whole scenario is very realistic and close to history

[Kekvit Irae]

Successful cavalry charges. Unlike MTW, you can FEEL the pain when attacking an unprepared column from the rear when the enemy goes flying everywhere.

Another thing I love is being able to defend the walls in a siege. Heck, the whole revamped sieging concept is awesome.

Funny general/captain pre-battle speeches!

[The_678]

The Unit Diversity between factions, and the movement of campaign map. Seiges kick ass too now. And in MTW I never liked horse archers but RTW they are actually useful and I realy like them.

[Zatoichi]

I like the little details (as well as the whole shebang, gosh-darn it!) - things like chariot wheels coming off and rolling away after the chariot's destruction, the mad general pre-battle speeches, thousands of little fellas hacking each other up - you know, that kind of stuff.

[Kekvit Irae]

The Unit Diversity between factions

I second this. RTW makes me feel like I'm playing an actual unique faction instead of the same faction with a different name (ala MTW). Unfortunately, except for just a few select units (gladiators and the scipii ship), all four Roman factions are very vanilla.
And it's not just the units that make the factions unique, it's the temples sacred groves that make the faction you play a unique experience

[tibilicus]

Also forgot to mention it is nice the way eatch faction is more uniqe with its culture boundries. Also compared to mtw and stw the campaign map makes rtw feel more like a proper strategy game ~:) ~:) ~:) ~:) ~:) ~:) ~:) ~:) ~:) :bow:

[HarunTaiwan]

Because I've been bitchin' now I feel I need to some praisin'

I am happy today that an army with lots of Pontic Scythed Chariots won a heroic victory against my Roman forces.

They carved me up something fierce. It felt good to lose. It was cool that the two AI armies came at me from two sides.

[screwtype]

Here's some other features I like. I like the way the messages drop down in little floating boxes at the side of the screen. That is cute.

I like the way skirmishing units run out of the way of ANY enemy unit, not just the one they're firing at. That is very definitely an improvement over the earlier games.

And although combat is too quick in vanilla RTW, I must confess I like the relative speed with which you can clean up routing enemies after you've broken them. In MTW/STW it could take an interminable time. When I went back to MTW I couldn't believe how much longer the battles go for - two or three hours of real time, and a lot of that can be just chasing down routing enemies.

Also, in STW/MTW (perhaps we should just call them S&M for short? ~:) ) you could sometimes lose a battle because of one single soldier hiding somewhere you couldn't find. Or you'd spend an hour looking for the bugger so you could win.

You're able to avoid that in RTW because the "End Battle" button comes up as soon as you've got all the enemy routing. You don't have to chase down every last one to win. Even selecting Continue Battle, which I do most of the time, I've yet to lose a battle in RTW because of a handful of enemy troops somewhere I couldn't find. So I think that is an improvement too.

[doc_bean]

I think the pre-battle speeches and the campaign map add greatly to the atmosphere, I like the pretty graphics ~:cool: , I like that battles are shorter and I might even like that they are more arcady.

I still play MTW or the mods, but RTW is great for some instant fun, which is often just what is needed ~D

[Quietus]

Another thing are the unique unit voices (anybody remember when everyone didn't like the new unit voice feature?) :charge:

[A.Saturnus]

In MTW every third battle was a bridge battle, in which the AI was hopelessly lost. That's much rarer now. In general, the campagne map is hugely improved.

[Bhruic]

In MTW every third battle was a bridge battle, in which the AI was hopelessly lost. That's much rarer now. In general, the campagne map is hugely improved.

Er, what? I had maybe 1 out of 20 as bridge battles. And almost always with me as attacker, in which case the AI was well able to defend.

Bh

[doc_bean]

I actually forgot one of my favorite things : smaller battles !

I never liked the reinforcement system, nor do I care for the suicide generals, but in RTW I usually just use one stack armies to conquer and avoid the really big brawls (unless I have to).

[tibilicus]

AHHHHHHHHHHH eastern infantry running onto my selucid pikes. Still as fun as ever to watch the idiots plumit themselves towards there death

[Divinus Arma]

I have enjoyed placing a unit of levy pikenman at the gate of a castle, and watching an entire army fling themselves on the combination of spikes and burnging oil. Mostly chariots. It was stupid but delightful all the same.

Watch the walls crumble with onagers pounding them. Impressively done.

I seem to discover some cool hidden detail every week now, even after months of playing.

[AntiochusIII]

To the creator of this thread:

You are not a Buddhist, I know you're not! :P

Because our prophet is the Buddha and not the Buddhist. ~;p

Anyway:

1-5 % of what I like about R:TW

speeches
gay-looking units
cities
sieges
cavalry
cavalry charge
humour
more humour
crazy traits
clever, clever Greeks
when I beat those annoying chariots
fire onagers
hairy people
little touches
hidden potential (A LOT! Go scour the artifacts hidden within the data files)
phalanxes
crappy large units to kill with various cool ways
new map style
Antiochus the Mad
happy man-of-the-hour people
protectorates
killing Romans
elephants
ancillaries
Amazons
and the creatures of the God-of-shiny-things-that-man-does-not-need-but-want-anyway: namely Yubtsebs...

Now, for the patch deal...

[Kekvit Irae]

Er, what? I had maybe 1 out of 20 as bridge battles. And almost always with me as attacker, in which case the AI was well able to defend.

Bh

It was all based on the campaign file with the border info. If the border info specified that attacking blahblah from yaddayadda with a bridge, then you will get a bridge. Otherwise, no.

[Kekvit Irae]

And on that note, being able to tactically choose where I want to fight is a BIG plus. :happyg:

[screwtype]

I actually forgot one of my favorite things : smaller battles !

I never liked the reinforcement system, nor do I care for the suicide generals, but in RTW I usually just use one stack armies to conquer and avoid the really big brawls (unless I have to).

I always do that in S/MTW anyhow. It's partly an "iron man" rule and partly that battles in those games with more than one full stack don't work very well, and last too long.

I've carried the habit over in RTW now.

[Vlad Tzepes]

I like little details as well, secondary things that you discover when playing - things that happen and, for a short moment, distract and entertain you: soldiers coughing or sneezing, troops ouch-ing when trampled by cavalry, dogs squealing, people having inertial moves on the battlefield, (have you seen the huge difference between being shot by an arrow and impaled by a ballista?), different movement styles for spies, armies, diplomats and assassins on the campaign map.

Somebody invested a lot of work in that and I would like to thank him (them) for that.

[mfberg]

Diplomacy is much better than in MTW - I can give money, I can demand money, I can demand money over turns, I can give provinces, I can demand provinces. I can play a diplomacy game, with all battles autoresolved. ~D

mfberg

[Satyr]

"with all battles autoresolved"
Then you only play half the game, don't you. And not the fun half in my opinion.

I love cav archers.
I really like the strategy map, if only I could control the movement speed on it.
I like elephants.
ummmmm
ummmmm
ummmmm
Well I guess that's about it!

No actually I think the game is really close to being well realized. If it only had a brain!

[marcusbrutus]

"with all battles autoresolved"
No actually I think the game is really close to being well realized. If it only had a brain!

I love Total War because it's great. All it needs is a brain, so we should all hit the yellow brick road and head for the emerald city...

[iostream]

I like the fact that the men within a unit will form small columns or rows if other friendly units are going through them (most commonly cavalry) to allow them to pass more quickly. A small but neat thing.
Another more major thing is that CA actually allowed for minimising and maximising (alt-tabbing) the game. For alot of modern games, it's a huge hassle to minimise and maximise the game with many quirky side effects (eg the game doesn't minimise until repeated tries, graphic errors, keeps popping back up into the game even after minimised etc). Whereas for rome it's very smoothly done.

[econ21]

I like a lot of the stuff that's already been mentioned - especially the cavalry charge (starts drooling over a MTW where the knights could do what RTWs general's units can); the sieges; and the variety of army styles (legion, phalanx, horse archer etc).

I also really like the senate missions - they give a direction to an otherwise rather intimidatingly long and free-form game. I miss them when playing non-Romans.

I've taken a shine to the chariots - the careening, smashing into your line, circling around, their speed, their sheer destructiveness. They may not have been like that historically, but if not, they ought to have been!

I like the modelling of javelins and pila - I think they got the balance just right; never under nor over powered. I was afraid the legions would be just like MTW's AUM but I think they got their double punch just about right (if you give them time and use fire at will).

After hating Trebia in the demo, I've actually got to like the fast battles, at least in the context of a campaign. I think they make the long campaigns brisker than in STW and MTW, so you have more chance of making it to the end-game.

[Kekvit Irae]

I like a lot of the stuff that's already been mentioned - especially the cavalry charge (starts drooling over a MTW where the knights could do what RTWs general's units can); the sieges; and the variety of army styles (legion, phalanx, horse archer etc).

I also really like the senate missions - they give a direction to an otherwise rather intimatingly long and free-form game. I miss them when playing non-Romans.

I've taken a shine to the chariots - the careening, smashing into your line, circling around, their speed, their sheer destructiveness. They may not have been like that historically, but if not, they ought to have been!

I would SO pay for a MTW-to-RTW total conversion. I want my longbows, dammit! :blankg:

Personally, I'm mixed in emotions with the senate missions. On one hand, they can be interesting and fun, and very rewarding, but on the other hand, if I'm tied up with both Macedon and Gaul, a war with Carthage is the last thing on my mind.

And the chariots are a great addition, but I try to avoid the british heavy chariots. All they seem to do is just knock down the enemy, and get killed alot.

[King Edward]

I like the Description of Aqueducts (I wont spoil it for people who havent seen it)

And the Generals Speach about goats