Nomadic Culture DLC- out now, free until 10/29

Total War: Rome II - Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack out now!

http://cdn4.steampowered.com/v/gfx/a...er_292x136.jpg

New Rome II DLC out.

Total War™: ROME II – Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack

edit: the DLC is free!

About the DLC:
The Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack adds a new playable culture comprising three new playable Factions to Total War: ROME II, for use in Single or Multiplayer Campaign modes and Custom and Multiplayer battles.

The Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack enables ROME II players to take on the ancient world as the ruthless Roxolani, the independent Massagetae and the proud Royal Scythians. Accomplished raiders and legendary horsemen, the Nomadic Tribes are poised to sweep from the steppes and strike at the soft, sedentary targets of more established empires.

Defined by their independence, their excellence on horseback and their ability to swiftly assemble large armies, The Nomadic Tribes bring an entirely new cultural flavour to ROME II.

New Features:

New Playable Factions – The Roxolani, Massagetae and Royal Scythians each offer a unique new way to experience the campaign, with their own rosters of powerful military units, distinct traits and play styles.

The Roxolani gain wealth from their skills as migrant traders, and as committed conquerors, fight harder when in enemy territory; the Royal Scythians are experts with the bow, and enjoy increased wealth through their high degree of craftsmanship; and the fierce independence of the Massagetae leads them to fight harder when defending their territory, while their expertise in animal husbandry means increased income from livestock.

New Cultural Traits – All Nomadic Tribes benefit from extra recruitment slots in their home provinces, enabling them to raise armies swiftly. They have also refined raiding and looting to an art-form, and their forces gather greater wealth through raiding than other factions.

New Cultural Objectives – The Nomadic Tribes have their own new set of military, economic and cultural victory conditions, as well as sharing a unique set of bonus objectives drawn from the history of The Steppes. Additionally, each faction will have to contend with its unique events and dilemmas.

New Military Tradition – The armies of the Nomadic Tribes can benefit from a unique new military tradition: Nomadic Horde. This tradition increases the movement range of the army, increases its unit morale when fighting in enemy territory and, commensurate with the tribes’ heavy use of horse and rider, reduces the recruitment costs of cavalry units.


New Units:

Peerless horsemen and skilled archers, The Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack offers factions which rely heavily on cavalry for the backbone of their fighting horses. Among the numerous melee, bow, javelin and spear-armed riders of the steppes, the Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack also introduces a variety of unique and deadly mounted units.

MASSAGETAE: armour focussed

Saka Noble Armoured Lancers
Few can withstand a charge by these skilled and heavily-armoured noblemen.

Saka Cataphracts
Armoured from head to toe, these heavy cavalry are capable of flattening anyone in their path.

Saka Cataphract Horse Archers
Heavy armour and excellent bow-skills guide these natural riders to victory.

ROXOLANI: melee focussed

Sarmatian Royal Lancers
Deadly lances make these heavy cavalrymen a frightening – and deadly – force.

Sarmatian Riders
Born to the saddle, these spear-wielding riders like to get up-close and brutal with their enemies.

Sarmatian Horsemen
With the right man in the saddle, a horse and a spear make for a deadly combination.

ROYAL SCYTHIANS: ranged-weapon focussed

Royal Horse Archers
There are few more terrifying sights than Scythian horse-archers preparing to fire.

Scythian Royal Skirmishers
The enemies of Scythia rightly fear these natural riders’ javelins – and the swift swords which follow.

New Buildings:

The Nomadic Tribes are fiercely independent and make lives for themselves under canvas. You’ll see this reflected in their settlements and cities on the campaign map, which favour tents and yurts over brick and stone structures. In addition, their building chains are unique among the factions of ROME II; they reflect the nomadic lifestyle and bring bonuses which play to the nomads’ strengths as shepherds, horsemen and archers.

Food:
Given their itinerant lifestyle, the Nomadic Tribes’ food supply – and to a greater degree than other factions, their income – begins with animal herding. As such, their food-production building chain begins with Sheep Pens, which advances to the Weaver, then the Yurt Maker.
A second Camp chain replaces farms in the standard building chains, and offers increasing benefits to the income that livestock bring. The Camp chain begins with the Nomad Camp, which upgrades to the Wagon Camp, then the Royal Camp.

Research
The wisest of the tribe gather with the soothsayers to devise ways of improving tribal society. The Nomadic Tribes’ Research chain consists of the Enaree Tent, which upgrades to the Enaree Conclave, and ultimately the Royal Enarees, and brings boosts to the rate at which new technologies are developed.

Stables
The people of the Nomadic Tribes make great use of horses for trade, travel and war, and breed their stock on the wide-open steppe. The Stables chain begins with Wild Horses, which upgrades to Large Herd and finally to the Royal Herd.

Religion
The tribes of the great steppe pray to their own gods, and these are reflected in the unique groves, shrines and sanctuaries they build. The building chains relating to each god bring bonuses to many aspects of nomadic development, such as research, livestock income, agent levels and public order. Certain chains also bring bonuses to two of the nomads’ key military units: melee cavalry and horse archers.

In addition, the apex of the religious chain brings access to a unique new wonder: The Kurgan Field. This giant burial mound boosts the cultural influence of the tribe, and brings a considerable boost to income through livestock.

Faction History:

The Royal Scythians
The Royal Scythians are the social and tribal elite of nomad society, their skills in war matched only by their love of gold and ostentatious personal finery. Any who mistake this golden luxury for decadence usually die on the points of Royal Scythian spears well before they can change their misguided opinion.

The Massagetae
The Massagetae are a confederation of tribes, and fierce steppe warriors all. Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, fell in battle against them while leading a Persian army deep into the steppes. They have remained a dangerous people ever since, feared and respected by their neighbours.

The Roxolani
Every man has his day in the sun, and the same is true of entire tribes. As the Scythians grow weak, the Roxolani are ready to take up the sword in their place. From astride their hardy steppe horses, they are right to see the whole of the ‘civilized’ world as being filled with riches. What glorious battles await?

To add, the Nomadic DLC is only free for the next week. Good on CA for doing this, they had no obligation to do so.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

To add, the Nomadic DLC is only free for the next week. Good on CA for doing this, they had no obligation to do so.

---

Yep

Oooo I'll have to go get this when I get home. I like the DLCs like this.

And of course the lovely people over at the TWC are complaining about this...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I think you might be reading into his remarks too deeply. I don't think he was suggesting that it was some essential game mechanic for attrition to work, I think he was just stating that he prefers it the way it is, with players incurring attrition penalties for things like moving through deserts rather than being penalized for having your army outside a settlement during the winter season.

---

Oh, you're right, that's something I often do:wall:

Quote:

---

And of course the lovely people over at the TWC are complaining about this...

---

:wall:

What are they complaining about?

Basically saying that its pandering to the fanbase and that they need to fix the game before they put out DLC.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Basically saying that its pandering to the fanbase and that they need to fix the game before they put out DLC.

---

They can do both I think and - oh yea - it's FREEEEEE - at least this week.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Basically saying that its pandering to the fanbase and that they need to fix the game before they put out DLC.

---

That's baseless and simply sounds like bandwagon whining on their part. Have we not been getting weekly patches? Did CA not say patch 6 AND 7 are in the works as they released 5? Some people just can't be reasoned with :rolleyes:

Stop giving us what we want and give us what we want!

Might not be a bad idea to make this DLC topic its own thread to call it out. The way it appears to be implemented it is time bound AND not automatic. So a current owner could unwittingly miss grabbing it given that you have to proactively initiate the download/install.

I'm a regular in the main forum and here, so I saw the notes about it (the usual complaining basically), but if I was not a regular forum participant I could see many players who have bought the game and are legitimately qualified for this free DLC never availing themselves of it because they simply do not know.

Done.

Wheeee, cavalry!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

To add, the Nomadic DLC is only free for the next week. Good on CA for doing this, they had no obligation to do so.

---

They're not doing it because they're a charity, it's good (if cynical) business sense. Mollify those who are still unhappy with the state of the game, and it also serves as a time-sensitive incentive for people to buy the game now at the (ludicrous) full price. It's almost like a second round of the pre-order Greek DLC.

CA and SEGA are under no obligation to offer products for people to buy, but there's no need to praise them for doing their job.

I just took a look at them and eh.. yeah I can see why people are unhappy (though I may be biased cause I hate cavalry). They're literally (and I am not joking) 3x the same faction.

Fair point, but I remember reading a while ago that the Nomadic culture pack would be a paid DLC, so I guess this is an "Im sorry" from CA.

Personally, I don't mind the DLC thing as much as most people, but I can understand the people who howl about DLC's.

I love Scythia!!!! I was wondering if I would ever get to play AS them! Downloaded!!!!

I played 12 turns of a Legendary Scythian campaign. They're great but I'm worried at just how many long battles will I have to lead, if It takes me close to 20 minutes to wear down vanilla hoplites with my Armoured HAs.

Also, I stopped last night because of a really annoying bug. I attacked an army standing outside a settlement with a fullstack of HAs. The AI goes to its aid with the fullstack camping inside the settlement + the garrison. 2800 troops total. Out of which, I killed exactly 2800 at the end of the battle. It was no walk in the park though!

Then I expected to waltz right into the settlement but it turned out the reinforcing army somehow retained half it's troops absolutely unscathed :inquisitive:

I am so glad I found this site. The unbelivable noise from the main forum and TWC both are just awful. This game has its merits, and after an affirmable horrific launch, it has beena real pleasure to play lately, faults and all.

You all are reasonable people and I enjoy reading your posts instead of having to work through 20 ridiculous posts to find one good one...that will be derailed soon anyway. Good on you!

Anyway, I am glad to have these factions playable because I have no idea how to roll with cav armies. Cav has always been support for me, and after trying out these factions, I was promptly humbled. I have no idea how to fight with a full cav army. I never did it in MTW2.

Oh, and if you didn't know, these nomadic factions can train 5 units per turn when in a city. Yikes!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Myth

...Then I expected to waltz right into the settlement but it turned out the reinforcing army somehow retained half it's troops absolutely unscathed :inquisitive:

---

Hmm, seems like the reemergence of one of the earlier bugs. I used to encounter these mostly after completely destroying/sinking navies (with the resurrecting admiral being the most well known), or after destroying armies in the desert.

Is it possible they didn't actually field their entire garrison?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mhantra

I am so glad I found this site...

---

Welcome to the forums Mhantra! And I agree, this is without a doubt the most level-headed community of gamers I've ever come across. :pleased:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mhantra

I am so glad I found this site. The unbelivable noise from the main forum and TWC both are just awful. This game has its merits, and after an affirmable horrific launch, it has beena real pleasure to play lately, faults and all.

You all are reasonable people and I enjoy reading your posts instead of having to work through 20 ridiculous posts to find one good one...that will be derailed soon anyway. Good on you!

Anyway, I am glad to have these factions playable because I have no idea how to roll with cav armies. Cav has always been support for me, and after trying out these factions, I was promptly humbled. I have no idea how to fight with a full cav army. I never did it in MTW2.

Oh, and if you didn't know, these nomadic factions can train 5 units per turn when in a city. Yikes!

---

Hi and welcome Mhantra! Glad you like our little haven of all things TW! How did you discover the site by the way?

In regards to cavalry (and the obvious: charge from the rear, make cav sandwiches from isolated enemy units of infantry etc.) you can read this guide about HAs. Sure, it's for M2TW but the tactics are valid still.

Welcome Mhantra! I hope your stay here is long and fruitful!

As for cavalry tactics, my favorite tactic is to use a half horse archer half heavy cavalry approach: pin them down with the HA's while you hide your heavy cavalry, if you can. If they pursue they will be tired from chasing the HA's and if they dont they will be whittled down, making it easier for your heavy cav to rout them.

As for sieges, I dont really know, I always used to wait for them to sally.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Myth

Hi and welcome Mhantra! Glad you like our little haven of all things TW! How did you discover the site by the way?

In regards to cavalry (and the obvious: charge from the rear, make cav sandwiches from isolated enemy units of infantry etc.) you can read this guide about HAs. Sure, it's for M2TW but the tactics are valid still.

---

I actually found this site with a Bing search for any information about diplomacy, economics and confederation (which I found by accident in game) in Total War: Rome II. I was having a terrible time finding detailed information about the systems in this game, and your pinned forum posts came up.

Love the cav sandwhich term! I think for whatever reason, I haven't been able to get out of my melee formations style of fighting. Once I find a basic foundation for engagement, I hope I can get it going. I will read that guide, thank you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Welcome Mhantra! I hope your stay here is long and fruitful!

As for cavalry tactics, my favorite tactic is to use a half horse archer half heavy cavalry approach: pin them down with the HA's while you hide your heavy cavalry, if you can. If they pursue they will be tired from chasing the HA's and if they dont they will be whittled down, making it easier for your heavy cav to rout them.

As for sieges, I dont really know, I always used to wait for them to sally.

---

Thank you.

Ahh, hiding the melee cav...that makes sense. Nothing worse then trying to engage the enemy while they just keep moving backward firing on me. Or moving HA up to try to whittle them down, but getting whittled down in return. I figured there must be something else.

I chuckle at how dependent I am at formations using spear and sword, with support by archers and cav. More than any other game, it really pays off to have your large formation breakable into smaller, more tactical formations to allow, "inching" to get into the most advantageous position before striking. I tried that with horse and uhh...no. They charged my stationary melee cav, game over. Kind of dumb of me now that I think about it!

Thanks all for the welcome!

Well I would suggest if the range of your HAs cant outmatch their ranged units, I would concentrate all your fire to take out the enemy ranged units. Since they tend to be unarmored, they should fall quickly to a mass of arrows. With their ranged units out of action they are easy bait.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Done.

---

Well played, well played sir.

I ran a primarily cav army set up when I played Parthia. I typically ran with 4-8 units of eastern cataphracts and or blood cavs and the rest would be mounted archers of one sort or another. It worked pretty well but the AI seems really good at herding your MA if you don't take care to watch them. I got mine pinned on the edge of the map and destroyed a few times. Im disappointed fo rthe most part with the seemingly dismal damage of MA.

A good working build I came up with wast augmenting about 4 units of foot spears or swords in phalanx just to pin. Then I worked heavy cavs to the rear and flanks. little but of a hammer and anvil tactic

As for sieges... don't even try them if youre all mounted