Decision Time

[Cannibal]

I've been away for a while because I was playing a few <ahem> different games.

I was going to get Rome TW as soon as it hit the shelves, but something told me to hang on for a few months and see what people thought of it. Boy! am I glad I did! I've read many comments on several forums (including this) that have convinced me that it probably won't be my cuppa tea.

I was disappointed to see that Creative Assembly was acquired by Sega; there goes thought provoking strategy and tactics in favor of heavily marketed eye candy.

Anyway, one of the things that I was delighted to see is that a modding community has now grown for M-TW. I know that there are only certain things that can be changed because much is hard coded, but Kudos to all those people who work hard to fit in what the designers left out.

I'm wondering what people think of the mods? I don't want a vitriolic "this is better than that", I just would like opinions on how various mods compare to the standard game.

Cheers, and eat sensibly. (I do!)

Cannibal

[Crazed Rabbit]

On the subject of MTW mods;
There are many greatmods for many periods:

Hellenic Total War for fighting in ancient greece. A mod of the highest standards.

Napoleonic Total War for early 1800's fighting. Another amazing mod.

Samurai total war for a Shogun TW total conversion.

For improvements to the medieval era, the three main mods I know of are the XL mod, BKB's Super mod, and WesW's Medmod. These are all great mods, and all slightly different. If I had to choose one, it might be Medmod, but if you have the hard drive space I suggest trying all three.

And there are many other mods out there.

If this was about RTW mods; You might want to wait a little until BI comes out and get a combo pack. As it is, RTW is not that mod friendly.
There are some very good mods (Rome total realism, Europa Barborum, Chivalry total war, and others) Alas, all are hampered by many hard coded limitations.

Crazed Rabbit

[Cannibal]

Thanks for the reply Crazed Rabbit.

I shall indeed wait until BI comes out, then I will continue to wait until I can see that it has made some really positive changes to the hard coded limitations in RTW that modders cannot affect. I believe I may have a long wait, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The mods that use the MTW engine for other periods could well be of interest later. Right now, I'm curious about mods that stay in the medieval ages; how do they compare to the standard game and what are the pros and cons of the mod in practice?

People-the other white meat....

Cannibal

[Colovion]

I was disappointed to see that Creative Assembly was acquired by Sega; there goes thought provoking strategy and tactics in favor of heavily marketed eye candy.

Activision produced Rome.

We're actually hoping it will be quite the opposite, given the reality that is RTW.

[Cannibal]

Activision produced Rome.

We're actually hoping it will be quite the opposite, given the reality that is RTW.

As you know, there is a world of difference between producing a title and owning the company that originated the engine. Sega is likely to have more interest in porting what's selling well over to consoles and using the engine to produce new console games which then may be ported back to PC.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I would not have picked Sega as a company with a reputation for producing great strategy games with any element of realism.


Cannibal

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I would have also hoped for a traditionally PC oriented producer to pick up CA and the TW rights, rather than a traditionally console oriented producer like Sega. But if they keep making TW games for the PC and do not allow the game to be dragged down by focus on the console market I don't care too much.

[Cannibal]

I would have also hoped for a traditionally PC oriented producer to pick up CA and the TW rights, rather than a traditionally console oriented producer like Sega. But if they keep making TW games for the PC and do not allow the game to be dragged down by focus on the console market I don't care too much.

Neither do I; we can always hope!!

I guess we ought to ignore the launch of Spartan Total Warrrior???

Cannibal

[Colovion]

As you know, there is a world of difference between producing a title and owning the company that originated the engine. Sega is likely to have more interest in porting what's selling well over to consoles and using the engine to produce new console games which then may be ported back to PC.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I would not have picked Sega as a company with a reputation for producing great strategy games with any element of realism.


Cannibal

Given the direction RTW purports - produced by Activision - it can nearly only go up, but BI and the next full game will tell.

Also, CA are those who make the games, the Producers merely push the project with currency and advertising.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I believe the producers also have a lot of pull over how the game is made (This probably depends on the individual contract though). The also decide what games they will produce and what games they want, this means that Sega might have the power to switch to more console oriented games, such as Spartan: Total Warrior.

[SouthwaterPanda]

Neither do I; we can always hope!!

I guess we ought to ignore the launch of Spartan Total Warrrior???

Cannibal


What you ought to do, if you have any interest in console action games, is try Spartan: Total Warrior. Perhaps you'll like it. It's different. Perhaps you won't. It's different. But in either case, its development signals our expansion into exciting new territory, not a withdrawal from the Total War genre. Success means we can do both at once.

And I keep saying it, but people keep ignoring me... Sega bought CA because they wanted to publish a winning PC franchise, not because they wanted to destroy it.

[Cannibal]

Given the direction RTW purports - produced by Activision - it can nearly only go up, but BI and the next full game will tell.

Also, CA are those who make the games, the Producers merely push the project with currency and advertising.

I've got my fingers crossed that BI might improve RTW, but I have a feeling that it will just produce a few more factions and some more visual appeal without fixing any of the fundamental problems with RTW.

If they leave the hard coded senate and those three ahistorical families in with no changes, I'm certainly not going to buy it.

Cannibal

[Cannibal]

What you ought to do, if you have any interest in console action games, is try Spartan: Total Warrior. Perhaps you'll like it. It's different. Perhaps you won't. It's different. But in either case, its development signals our expansion into exciting new territory, not a withdrawal from the Total War genre. Success means we can do both at once.

And I keep saying it, but people keep ignoring me... Sega bought CA because they wanted to publish a winning PC franchise, not because they wanted to destroy it.


I have zero interest in console action games, so that answers the first statements. What you see as exciting new territory may not strike everybody else in quite the same way.

I don't know who's ignoring you, but it certainly isn't me ~;) I don't believe for one minute that Sega bought the franchise to torch it. The trouble is the current state of the art of this winning PC franchise (RTW) is very pretty to look at, but a complete and utter mess beyond surface looks.

What we have to hope is that Sega will want to fix the game so that it matches the looks, rather than milk the cow of the name to recoup the purchase cost as fast as they can without any regard to long term playability

My opinions only, ignore them if you wish.

Cannibal

[KukriKhan]

The purpose of this thread having been accomplished by yet another thread created by the starter...this one is closed.