Could MP ever Peak again?

**ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88** · 01-05-2009, 18:57

Could MP ever Peak again?

Do you think MP Could ever peak again?

I sersouly hopes so. This community suffered to long with shitty mechanis,etc...., Any more bad TW MP's, and we won't even have a group of players playing it, since the community is dead,people say.

**Swoosh So** · 01-06-2009, 06:12

Not for me, maybe for the new generation of players they can hit a nice place in the future. The community for me back in the shogun days was perfect and had many many memorable characters and great players not to mention a really well designed game. In terms of simple gameplay what alot of the newer players will never understand was the extreme importance of maps and every single feature on the map. Woods were of extreme importance as were hills even small ridges but there was also no hill that wasent takeable with the right team play or army movement.

Take the nagashima map for example there was many different ways to approach defence and offence, and battles were fought in stages, like stage 1 could the attacking army take the woods to the left of the defenders hill, then stage 2 could the attacking army use the treeline and their guns to outshoot the defenders on the hill (who had an advantage till this point) often more and more cavalry attacks would be made here to try to take away the attackers advantage of the treeline, the attacker could outshoot the defender at this point and the whole 4 armies each side would swivel to this new centre of the battle and the defender would have to cover their new left flank previously their rear, just too much to go into but it was absolutely amazing especially in heavy fog.

**Sir Beane** · 01-06-2009, 17:05

MP may peak again with the realease of Empire. If CA deliver on what they have promised, then we should get a well balanced and tactical game with a large variety of factions, and a much better mulitplayer system with a variety of multiplayer modes. Aaaand we get a multiplayer campaign!

If they don't... well I think that that will be it for Totalwar multiplayer.

**gollum** · 01-06-2009, 20:22

The *variety of multipayer modes* may or may not appeal to longtime TW mpers. Most probably it wont - it ll get a new audience as Swoosh is saying. Why that is so, you can understand if you play mp for quite a good length of time - mp TW is hard to master and you need people to show you the ins and outs of the game - one at a time.

Also you are wasting your breath talking about CA promises, particularly in this subforum. CA has been promising things about mp for ages now - but they always deliver something playable like the retrofit mod half unoficially and most importantly ages after the community has been split a million times due to horrific bugs, imbalances, incomplete patches and mods and after being hit hard in its numbers since the vanilla games favor rush armies with the *fight* mainly happening as to which team will have the overpowered units or factions.

Essentially every version means a new bunch of players that wont move to the others because they comfortably win with the x units/faction/exploit. MP is particularly sensitive to such things - the vanilla game needs to be working perfectly to even start talking about fixing gamaplay balance and that isnt the case with TW relases past RTW that have about a trillion bugs each at release date - you cant expect a healthy and growing mp community with the shield bug - various animation bugs like the 2 handed weapon bug and vanilla M2 cavalry charge power.

All this doesnt mean that CA dont care about their games - its just means that CA is splitting its efforts in fixing things in order to satisfy all customers in analogy to their share of the sales naturally - and since TW is aiming at attracting happy SPers like yourself these days, the SP gets the lions share.

CA didnt have to offer new modes to get an mp community - it had one and quite numerous, thriving and dedicated actually. It was actually CA itself that showed them the door.

Its best if one knows the subject he is posting about - Tolkien said it best; *the wise speak only of what they know*

!it burnsus!

**Sir Beane** · 01-07-2009, 01:20

You seem to assume that I only favour the Singeplayer game and know nothing of the multiplayer situation. While I do play mostly on Singleplayer I'm not a total stranger to Multiplayer. :P

I'm well aware of the problems facing the TW MP community. I realise that Rome and Medieval 2 had a whole host of issues that have fractured and driven away a good portion of the MP playerbase.

I have played both Shogun and Medieval in MP, although it was usually on large scale LAN, rather than Online. I have never even attempte to play Rome or Med 2 on multiplayer, because I know how unfair and unbalanced both games can be. (Also because the

Just because I'm enthusiastic, it doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about :P I stand by what I said. If CA can deliver a solid, balanced title with improved matchmaking and enhanced multiplayer features it might give the MP community something to rally around. If CA can make Empire the same kind of MP experience Shogun was, the community will quickly make a comeback. Especially with the influx of new players Empire should bring.

As for having a variety of modes (and I am assuming they mean things like King of the Hill, or something similar) it can't hurt can it? Different modes present different challenges. If Last Man Standing gets boring, or if you aren't any good at it, atleast there will be an alternative game type to try.

Give Empire a chance before condemning the multiplayer aspects? After all. We don't know how good it will be until we play it for ourselves.

**gollum** · 01-07-2009, 01:43

Yes, indeed i assumed so since you posted in the Empire forum that even you may be *temped to try* all the new mp options.

Please excuse me if i sound like determined to axe your enthusiasm or something - that is not my intent.

I hope Empire is good although i doubt it will be - call me what you will. That doesnt mean i condemn people who think that the game will be good - actually it will most likely be loved and be a success - however this is irrelevant to me.

As for modes i actually meant the mp campaign mode and the naval battles mp mode which are new officially. If CA makes a very good mp player in naval battles i am sincerely not interested at all - in fact i never wanted to play naval battles and this is a great put off for me in Empire. I doubt it will though and i ll tell you why; until now CA supported and balanced abyssmaly the land battles that were the only mp mode - now it seems that out of magic they ll manage to support and balance well three types of mp mode, all distinct and with their own individual needs.

Lets say that i am sceptical of this to say the least.

From preview videos the only thing that looks good about battles in Empire is the graphics - the gameplay looks boring and typically of latest TW games unbalanced and full of uneccessary graphical touches *for clarity*.

If you are thinking to try mp make sure you do it so through people you know and trust - it can be a very distressing experience if you just show up and play whoever from zero - unfortunately not all people online are honourable or pleasant.

!it burnsus!

**KrooK** · 01-07-2009, 22:55

You are wrong guys. Many people plays a lot. They just don't use .org due to political correction here.

**Swoosh So** · 01-09-2009, 08:20

I see they said they will include a mp campaign post release for empire totalwar (where i heard that one b4? hmm), still it will need an excellent battle engine and a well designed foyer and battle setups not the tripe theyre dishing out in rome and mtw2 for me to even consider coming back. What really got me aside from the dumbed down gameplay in rome and mtw2 was that the foyer was just about the worst id ever seen in a mp game black background? crap communication tools? and the effort to get into a battle half the time just wasent worth it.

**KrooK** · 01-11-2009, 01:36

on the other hand what we had into mtw 1
elite cavarly on flat area can't break cheap infantry
elite horse archers can't shot during move
artillery can't move - even during siege
everything has pros and cons Swoosh

**Swoosh So** · 01-12-2009, 06:09

Still doesent change the fact mtw 1 was a far superior game in terms of gameplay.

elite cavarly on flat area can't break cheap infantry - Orly?

elite horse archers can't shot during move - Yes but they werent supposed to in mtw1 and took more skill to play.

artillery can't move - even during siege - Yes because seige is such a popular mp gaming sensation.

**ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88** · 01-13-2009, 20:57

Like I said, I think CA needs to get on the ball already, if they ever will, and make a good quality MP game. I also think the MP players, old and new, need to start playing also to help out the MP community again.