M2TW recommendation

[HopAlongBunny]

The tactical AI has declined with each new issue: MTW=>RTW=>M2TW

Battles are what hooked me on TW; now I don't waste my time with them.

There is more to do at the strategic level. Hunting bandits, pirates, heretics, assassins, spies, inquisitors, ...etc. The AI at this level is no stronger...it just has more time and inclination to deal with all this crap :p

If you thought the Papacy was annoying in MTW, you ain't seen nothing yet!

[gollum]

M2 is terrible in the battlefield especially if you view it from a MTW perspective. The vanilla campaign plays best as a sandbox - set your own goals and pursue them - yet even so it gets very predictable and immensely boring once you are secured - that is after 100 turns at most no matter how slow you take it.

In order to deal with this you get to go to exotic *new worlds* and you are visited by cannon elephant and rocket launching eastern overpowered horrors - the Mongols and Timurids. The challenge does not come *heaven forbids* by the aptitude of these opponents but by the sheer power of them in terms of numbers, stats and command stars.

There are plenty of mods; Stainless Steel and Broken Crescent being amongst the most popular.

I of the storm says the whole story in terms of atmosphere and feel - the game feels indeed like a disney movie and throws all pretense that CA kept in the past to preserve the slightest element of historical plausibility. M2 is a mish-mash of eras, units, names and events held together in the most loose manner possible.

To get the idea how much CA is selling out the TW concept - take a look at the cover; you ll see King Richard having over his shoulders Western Europe as far east as Italy and Germany and the indispensible for the Medieval era... American Continent.

M2TW is simply, in my opinion, not worth the CD its played on. RTW at least had a decent atmosphere and preserved historical plausibility.

!it burnsus!

[drone]

M2TW is simply, in my opinion, not worth the CD its played on. RTW at least had a decent atmosphere and preserved historical plausibility.

Historically, M2TW is on a DVD.

[gollum]

Historically, M2TW is on a DVD.

!it burnsus!

[caravel]

Historically, M2TW is on a DVD.

Actually they wasted two DVDs on Mine is on two DVDs.

[gollum]

Mine is on two DVDs.

Oh tempora, o mores

!it burnsus!

[Tony Furze]

I'm giving it a go...I really am. I've got the Gold Edition-the only one available in Leeds when my brother went there for some work related business. (Leeds-Doncaster-Dublin-Karachi,Pakistan...that's some journey)

In spite of System Requirements giving my new pc a clean bill of health for M2TW + Kingdoms, there are just so many issues with running it.

To play "properly" I've had to undergo the MIB memory blackout of all previous experiences with MTW VI, XL and Shogun Warlords, etc,etc. To approach with a fresh mind. (Caravel gave me a good piece of advice about this on the RTW board when I asked there.)

The Campaign reminds me more and more of Knights of Honor-there's a kind of depth/complexity to it that can be quite fascinating.It's more interesting and colourful than RTW-which I will try again after this experience with M2TW. I have a hunch RTW will come out better...

The battles,well, this I suppose is what sold the game originally. I can see the point about Disney:it's more entertainment than real battle strategy as in MTW VI. Having said that, old habits die hard: I have a tendency to zoom out to see my units as a whole in lines as in Shogun/MTW; rather than zooming into the action.

Since the battles seem to have been designed to watch, it's a wonder a replay utility was not provided for the Campaigns battles.

I'm looking at the possibilities of roleplay, and narrative with M2TW at present.


But,Oh! I miss MTW VI immensely!

[Peasant Phill]

That's quite enough disuasion for the moment. I guess I won't consider getting M2TW for some time now.

Empire Total War probably won't be an improvement either. It's hard to be hopefull when you see the trend in the series.