Same engine as ntw.

[Swoosh So]

Shogun 2 runs on the same engine as ntw while this will be good in terms of the game having a good solid feel when it comes out i wonder how this will transfer to a melee based game. Lets look at the problems the engine has in particular with melee.

Banana Runs: when charging a unit in melee often your own unit will run off in a banana shaped charge even if directly in front of the target unit.

1v1 Fighting: Amp pointed out to me that units only fight 1v1, as far as im aware this is the first totalwar game to do this, if you actually zoom in you see 5 men standing around doing nothing while others just fight 1v1. This could be a really bad thing for a melee based game, did i say could? will be.

Buggy Ui: In ntw square 1 unit switch to another unit of the same type and it will show that its squared already even though its not? :o

Run!: This is one of my biggest gripes with ntw, i find myself more and more having to babysit my units pressing run 15 times till i realise the units running. It doesent show immediatly. Run toggle is fine and well but we need a HARDCORE run button it does nothing else just says oi you! RUN!

Cav: NTW has square formation and cav are VERY versatile in the game, i can charge 4 different units with the same cav getting 4 charge bonuses in around 25 seconds or so. This gives cav the potential in stw to be very overpowered especially if there is a lancer type unit. Countering cav with spears is a different ball game than easily countering with square. and your going to see sword armies etc in shogun2 which will be very vulnerable to this kind of tactic. I hope that they make the yari cav a unit thats weak against infantry and good against cav as a counter unit to cav heavy armies again, and that heavy cav is again too expensive to be spammed.

I have surely missed some stuff, anyone else can think of other stuff which may not translate to a melee game so well?

[Orda Khan]

Not sure how bad it is in these recent games but some men in a unit standing around while others fight is not a new thing. I remember seeing this in MTW and I'm almost sure in STW as well. Maybe it's more noticeable now but you would quite often see guys in rear ranks or left/right side of a unit that were just standing.
Shogun mod for VI is all I have on the PC now and I just ran a battle to check. I must add these units were not on 'hold formation' either.

[AMP]

Yeah I can't say if I remember or not how bad it was in the other TWs, but in NTW when you zoom in it's clear as day. I'm a bit shocked to not see anyone else bringing this up here or any of the other sites I looked at. This would seem to me like a pretty big deal esp in a more melee game like STW2.

I don't remember in STW if units stood there never striking or took turns striking a soldier that was surrounded. I can understand soldiers in the back of course not striking because they aren't next to an enemy soldier. I'm talking when it's more of a 2v1 and up situation and if anyone can confirm this... I don't have my STW copy anymore (broke the cd ). :(

[Orda Khan]

Oh don't get me wrong, it was there but not as bad as M2TW (my last TW purchase) where they introduced the individual 'killer moves' and it's another reason I dislike the 3D zoom in, 'wow look how cool this little guy is' approach. I loved the -ian feature for viewing replays. Find a location at one flank, high up and watch the whole battle unfold. Now that was what I would call awesome.

[Jochi Khan]

I loved the -ian feature for viewing replays. Find a location at one flank, high up and watch the whole battle unfold. Now that was what I would call awesome.

That can still be done in NTW by changing the default camera setting in the preference.script.

[Jack Lusted]

With Shogun 2 are focus on battles is definitely making sure they play smoothly and with all systems working properly.

Whilst the matched anims are only 1v1, the combat calculations are not. The game knows how many attackers are available when a man makes an attack and if there are multiple attackers the kill chance is greatly increased. So the anim may be 1v1, but the combat system is not.

Yari Cav are going to be the anti-cav cavalry, and different cavalry units will vary in their effectiveness against non-spear infantry.