Petition CA for MTW source code?

[gollum]

And yet they sell more than ever before. I read a post a ttwcentre that even claimed that the pre-orders for NTW made more sales than RTW to date.

There is no doubt that CA moved away from its core community. The guys in twc that have "started playing since Shogun" may be a dime a dozen, but in reality one can tell that the vast majority of them joined after RTW/M2. Despite the complaining waves and even the poor user reception for ETW,TW as a commercial venture is alive and well, and as far as this is so i cant see them quiting or SEGA letting them quit.

If and when CA makes a RTW2 or anything else there are enough fanboys and general interest from the pc gaming market to keep them going for another 10 years with or without mod tools. The multiplayer camp may also well be a huge success. I have to admit that it is cleverly implemented (only two players and one is playing against the other in any battle the other fights be it against the player or the AI factions), and would have loved to play such in the older games. If this is a success, complains about the AI, and indeed a need for a very advanced AI may well be a thing of the past.

[caravel]

The multiplayer camp may also well be a huge success. I have to admit that it is cleverly implemented (only two players and one is playing against the other in any battle the other fights be it against the player or the AI factions), and would have loved to play such in the older games. If this is a success, complains about the AI, and indeed a need for a very advanced AI may well be a thing of the past.

MP is only a small, though important, niche and will probably remain that way. The issue is still campaign map AI and diplomacy which have been found wanting. Yes the average player, or CA's "casual gamer" as they're referred to nowadays, that is to say their target consumer, may overlook crappy fastclicking battles but not shortcomings/bugs on the campaign map level.

[gollum]

Well that's exactly the point - that competitive mp play in battles only had a small fraction of the market, but campaign mp may well be a success in that, and in this case, diplomacy and AI won't be that much of a problem. A campaign mp game will be satisfying because the battles will be and because in the campaign the other player will also be trying to smack you.

To be honest its not that newer total wars lack tactical and strategic dimensions, but that these are terribly underworked and lack optimisation. The reasons for this are well known/suspected: there is an emphasis in graphics and presentation, an emphasis in additional features and games within the game t make the game more broad in its appeal and more pleasing etc However the core game has not been lost, its been simply carried over and used to fill commercial expectations rather than improving it. This is the major sin of ca and tw for me, that they wanted to succeed more than they wanted to succeed in their own terms. However, they had every right, from the start to do so; its their game.

To the point: i dont think that tw will dissapearany time soon.

[edyzmedieval]

I looked over this thread again and noticed the overwhelming majority at the poll - 38 for, 3 against.
This shows how much support MTW has.

I fired up MTW a couple of days ago, and all of those good memories, the "feeling" you had when you started up MTW came back to me. A glorious moment.

[Durango]

To be honest its not that newer total wars lack tactical and strategic dimensions, but that these are terribly underworked and lack optimisation. The reasons for this are well known/suspected: there is an emphasis in graphics and presentation

The market that was catered to starting with the 2nd generation TW games (Rome, MTW2) demand graphical updates at such a pace that further
improvements to the basic game mechanics and features are unlikely to occur. This is the biggest problem concerning the continuation of the
franchise. What the consumers want and will get are more polygons, higher resolution textures, and better particle effects that steal so many working
hours and resources to produce that increasing, say, the number of men on the battlefield (a real and tangible gameplay dynamic) becomes
extremely difficult. By fixating on updates to the textures of the troops, increased computing power will only be wasted to please the
graphics craving masses rather than increasing the number of men that can smoothly be displayed. Or think of the balance issues
that could be better sorted out with more time alloted.

And on the AI side of things, it will only get worse which we STW/MTW players are well aware of.

an emphasis in additional features and games within the game t make the game more broad in its appeal and more pleasing etc However the core game has not been lost, its been simply carried over and used to fill commercial expectations rather than improving it. This is the major sin of ca and tw for me, that they wanted to succeed more than they wanted to succeed in their own terms. However, they had every right, from the start to do so; its their game.

The direction taken by CA during the last 7-8 years do indicate that an expansion in features rather than meaningful and polished
gameplay mechanics is the norm. So yes, you are unfortunately right. We oldtimers are commercially insignificant due to not
providing a revenue stream to SEGA anymore. A petition changes nothing, and as said by others, complaining about lack
of support for older titles is a waste of time...

I fired up MTW a couple of days ago, and all of those good memories, the "feeling" you had when you started up MTW came back to me. A glorious moment.

Indeed

I reckon that the Main Hall needs a new story for the "Pics and History" thread. Maybe I'll step up....

[gollum]

You most certainly should step up Durango - you could even start your own thread. I love reading AARs.

[Vladimir]

The time honored "Risk" styled game never gets old.