First impressions thread

[Red_Russian13]

Been playing about a week now. Shimazu campaign on easy (yes, I said easy).

First let me say, once again, that I despise having to run games through Steam for a multitude of reasons. I presently live in Germany, and I had to purchase the game behind a VPN. Then I had to download behind a VPN, which took almost two entire days. I am not a fan of the whole "you need to be online" in order to play games that I purchase on a CD/DVD. I'm not a fan of the forced patches, which wrecked several Empire: TW games I had going. In closing, I do not like Steam, but I suppose that's the wave of the future...

Pros:
1.) I like this game. A lot.
2.) The campaign feels very immersive, and I hope that if they ever make Rome 2, they do something similar. The RPG aspect is a great addition.
3.) It runs well on my computer even at high settings. Napoleon did not. I find the campaign map and the interface to be beautiful.
4.) The AI seems, to me, to be improved. Both on the campaign map and the battlefield. I'll concede that I'm not as picky as most in this regard, however.
5.) Love the encyclopedia, though it's sometimes a little clunky. Heck of an idea though.
6.) It seems challenging; I suffered some pretty significant set backs when I tried to play blitzkrieg total war as I have in past games. Can anyone say food shortage...?
7.) I can no longer fight an entire stack of units and lose ~100 men. I sometimes will lose 400 or more in a battle I win handily. It's a bummer, but I kinda like it too. Very few lopsided victories.
8.) Agents are utterly awesome. I like the assassinations aspect. In previous games, I have perhaps assassinated 20 agents/generals ever, and this is coming from a guy who's probably dedicated a solid year of his life to Total War games. In this one, I may not kill outright, but I can injure them, which takes them out for a period of time. The success is a mixed bag, however. A good matsuke will imprison half my roster of agents! Good stuff though, and I love the RPG element of this as well.

Cons:
1.) I don't like how the map turns when it zooms into a battle. After that, my angle of view during the rest of an end turn process is different, and I have a hard time orienting myself to the action. It doesn't add anything to the game, and it really throws me off. Surprised this hasn't been mentioned before. It's really my number one gripe.
2.) The tech tree is fantastic, but it sometimes seems to take too long to research stuff. I'm at 1598, and I haven't nearly researched everything.
3.) Contrasting the slowness of number 2, battles seem to go way too fast. I mean seriously. Blink and you'll miss 1/2 of the battle. Yes, I know the katana was deadly, but really? Let's slow it down a bit.
4.) Not intimately familiar with this period of Japanese history and the warfare associated with it, but archers seem unduly powerful. Not that I mind, since I use them a lot... But some of those dudes are like WWI machine gunners, and an entire unit of Shimazu katana samurai will be decimated before they make contact.

Pro/Con Toss-up:
1.) Nanban...You know it. The little musketeers are virtually worthless, but it's neat to play with them. But good lord does Christianity put a hurting on your provinces. I like it to a degree, but I'm not sure why I can't lock those Europeans into their little port and ban the conversion of my people. The conversion bonus a port gets is insane...

All in all, I have to say I'm very pleased. The game seems balanced and immersive. I fell in love with RTW, even vanilla. Then fell in love again with the mods. Medieval 2 was pretty good as well. Empire was playable, but it didn't pull me in (plus it just didn't work for crap on my machine for some reason). Napoleon was pretty interesting sometimes, but I grew tired of it quickly. So I have to say, good job CA. I dig it. A lot.

[Zarky]

4.) Not intimately familiar with this period of Japanese history and the warfare associated with it, but archers seem unduly powerful. Not that I mind, since I use them a lot... But some of those dudes are like WWI machine gunners, and an entire unit of Shimazu katana samurai will be decimated before they make contact.

Pro/Con Toss-up:
1.) Nanban...You know it. The little musketeers are virtually worthless, but it's neat to play with them. But good lord does Christianity put a hurting on your provinces. I like it to a degree, but I'm not sure why I can't lock those Europeans into their little port and ban the conversion of my people. The conversion bonus a port gets is insane...

I absolutely agree with the archer part, especially in castle defense they easily tear any assaulting ashigaru units a new one so fast that they're then easily routed. And if AI comes with an army that is mostly archers, mine can still decimate their melee units effectively and then retreat to a higher level out of range and let towers to their business.
edit: It's gotten so bad I'm actually considering fighting castle battles like they actually did and start deploying outside of my castle.

I just don't see the Nanban trade ports as that big of a deal. Their conversion is easily outdone by a Buddhist temple and a single good monk, if you can't spare that much, should you really be letting the Nanban in? I think insane is overstating it, annoying is more like it.

[Red_Russian13]

I just don't see the Nanban trade ports as that big of a deal. Their conversion is easily outdone by a Buddhist temple and a single good monk, if you can't spare that much, should you really be letting the Nanban in? I think insane is overstating it, annoying is more like it.

Fair enough. I have not done any rigorous scientific studies, but I recall the port getting a 3.5 conversion bonus, and some have also lamented about having to use 3 monks or something to combat it. I cannot remember what a good Buddhist temple gives. I'll have to try it out.

[Dead Guy]

I agree with pretty much all your points, Red Russian13.

The zoom'n'twist thing is pretty annoying, even in your turn when, for example, an enemy fleet withdraws, and you don't get to see where to because you're looking at your fleet.

Not too bothered by not being able to complete the tech-tree though. I actually think that's a pretty good thing. I like choices and consequences in games. Instead of being done with tech and converting all your schools to textile mills ~100 turns from the end, you actually have to choose which arts you want to pursue in each campaign.

[Gregoshi]

Not too bothered by not being able to complete the tech-tree though. I actually think that's a pretty good thing. I like choices and consequences in games. Instead of being done with tech and converting all your schools to textile mills ~100 turns from the end, you actually have to choose which arts you want to pursue in each campaign.

Exactly. I like all the choices the game throws at you. I'll sit there and aggonize over such decisions.

[Red_Russian13]

I agree with pretty much all your points, Red Russian13.

Not too bothered by not being able to complete the tech-tree though. I actually think that's a pretty good thing. I like choices and consequences in games. Instead of being done with tech and converting all your schools to textile mills ~100 turns from the end, you actually have to choose which arts you want to pursue in each campaign.

Thanks, Dead Guy.

I'm sort of torn about the tech tree. I guess I figure if I dedicate time and energy to it, I should be able to get most of the tech. But like Gregoshi said, it's neat to sort of mull your options. Definitely makes it more challenging.

[quadalpha]

I remember reading somewhere that "not being able to research all the tech" was a design feature.

[ByzantineKnight]

Just as a heads up, Steam has an offline mode that you can use. It won't patch the game or require an internet connection. Not nearly as convenient as a CD copy with downloadable patches but workable.

[Zarky]

Fair enough. I have not done any rigorous scientific studies, but I recall the port getting a 3.5 conversion bonus, and some have also lamented about having to use 3 monks or something to combat it. I cannot remember what a good Buddhist temple gives. I'll have to try it out.

If you own a holy site, which are hard to come by starting as Kyushu-clan (closest in Mori starting province) and build Pilgrim hostel, that gives you 3 star monks available to recruit from that province. That +being a Buddhist clan +beginning level temple combined give 4 to conversion.

It's true that you need 3 monks to fight the conversion, if you have 3 1-star monks.