multiplayer interface = horrible

thing is: in almost ALL the professional reviews i've read of Total War they described the tactical battles as the "RTS portion of the game" whereas in actual fact you guys have confirmed that those battles are NOTHING like what the generally-understood DEFINITION of RTS means. basically the reviewers lied and misled me into thinking that the battles in Total War should & do resemble RTS games since they were referred to by all the "big sites" as the RTS portion of the game.

that said; i'm trying REALLY HARD to like Total War but so far that's just not happening. i admit that i do suck at the game - and i'm not sure i'll be able to stick around long-enough to get the interface quirks learned and memorized. the gameplay during battles "just doesn't feel right" - my units never move HOW I WANT THEM TO... they are always going in the wrong direction and breaking my formations against my will when a click that i EXPECT to do a certain thing actually ends up doing something completely different than what i WANTED to do.

based on my current inability to control the gameplay in Total War - i find it to be an EXTREMELY frustrating experience. not sure if it's even worth putting up with that over the long-term to become good at the game.

btw thx to grizz for trying to help me out the other night. i need TONS of work to even become a decent player LOL

Well maybe you can say the reviewers lied. The problem is: what to call the battle engine in Total War?

No its not precisely what many RTS games have with economy building, but its still real time and there is tactics/strategy. I dont think we really have any fancy terms for this type of engine. AFAIK a game like Blitzkrieg is real time but have no economy but is still classed as a RTS.

Some people love this game and some hate it. Seems to me that you are trying the best to like it, as you are posting in forums and havent left yet http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wink.gif I hope you eventually will find it less frustating and see the good things in the game.


CBR

-Dionysos,

Yes to all your points on the "fight to the death" issue. You obviously know your history better than I do. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wink.gif I am still tempted to try to find 3 examples of such situations in history, merely because I enjoy fencing with you. But perhaps that should go into a topic of its own.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/ht_duel.gif


-Navaros

From your two previous posts it seems to me that you are (currently) looking for quite different things in your games than I am. 100% control over each detail, micromanagement, etc. I think TW is not designed to offer that. As I see it, it is more about planning a strategy, and then trying to execute it or adjust it if necessary. Certainly not "lean back and watch". More about keeping control of the big picture and not getting lost in micromanagement.

I very much appreciate the effort you are putting in. If I was that frustrated with a game, I probably would have written it off as a failed investment by now. Thinking of all the time put in, if that had been spent in a half-decently paid job, you would have earned twice the money back by now.

But I hope its not just about money for you. Your posts have sparked some very interesting discussions, from which I certainly have learned a good deal. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif And you have recieved a lot of helping offers.

See how it goes. I myself also remember a lot of frustration while I was learning to control my troops. It does take some time and getting used to a new way of thinking. If, in the end, the TW concept is not to your taste, then so be it. We are, after all, different individulas, and that is a good thing, too.
But if you want to keep trying, we are happy to help where we can.

Edit: typos

The only game even close to being similar to the Total War series is Sid Meier's Gettysburg. This is an old game, but it was the first to introduce morale, routing, formations etc. . Your men did not always do what you wanted them to do, and they would not fight until the death. Took me awhile to adjust to that game, since I was an old Red Alert player. Once I got used to it and learned how to use formations, terrain, cover flanks, and all the other factors that go into the game, I began to enjoy it. This experience allowed me to easily pick up the idea of how to play the Total War games. It STILL took me a long time to become proficient at it and even longer to learn all the group and formation functions.

For you vets: Believe it or not, I never use any group commands until after MTW was out for about 5 months. hehe :) MTW forced me to use group commands or lose every game. MTW & VI expansion, to me, are fun, but not as good as the original STW. In the original game, you had less units, but since you could vary the honor (valour) level from 0 up to 9, you actually had more variety than you do in MTW with its hundreds of different unit types. One other thing about STW which differs from MTW/VI is you could bring just about any army in STW and have a good chance of winning. This is not so in MTW & VI. AMP is correct when he stated army selection is much more important now, than before.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]One other thing about STW which differs from MTW/VI is you could bring just about any army in STW and have a good chance of winning. This is not so in MTW & VI. AMP is correct when he stated army selection is much more important now, than before.

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Except if you play the Reconquista mod (and ban use of arty section units, which are designed for a mp campaign and not normal mp games, or keep them at 2 max) ;)

Get info and download link at (read whole thread before, pls): Reconquista Mod

(oh, and yes, multiplayer interface is very poor) :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]For you vets: Believe it or not, I never use any group commands until after MTW was out for about 5 months.

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That explains a lot... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif

Navaros, just a friendly suggestion on moving, do you use alt + left-click while moving? (It is alt isnt it guys? I can never remember, seems to come as second nature in game) Will keep your army from breaking out of formation like you said yours was http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/cool.gif

hehe Muney. Yes I found it much more efficient when routing my troops to do it as a group and not just one by one. There were actually players beating me off the field of battle, so I was forced to learn group techniques http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif