First Impressions?

[Madae]

You know what's funny? Most battles I've fought, I would probably think the AI is pretty dumb too, because I set up my cannons, my line, my flank protection and my generals to cover it all with their "aura", and then the enemy just marches right in on me and I pulverize them every time.

But, every once in awhile, I fight a battle that is genuinely close, or I am the attacking army, and it's a fight I need to win. Now the tables are turned - he sets up his cannons, his line, his flank protection and his generals, and I'm forced to march to his line while taking a ton of cannon fire. When I get there, my line has been chewed up by cannons and now has to go toe-to-toe with his, probably more fresh, line. Those battles are a difficult win, but not by much.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is; the closer you get to modern day, the harder it is to make a TW game seem "fair". You either make cannons terrible (Empire), or you make cannons too damn good (FOTS). That's the technology of the age, and they rock. It's easy to make a Medieval or Rome or regular Shogun, because the units are pretty straight-forward and the whole thing just requires one great, big charge. With guns, you really start to see the disparity, because you really can't march one army into another army in a game like this and expect it to be fair for everyone.

Would you laugh if I said this game is not entirely historically accurate? Even Empire; I know the whole "gentleman's war" thing where they all lined up and fired at each other, but most armies actually had the good grace to wait for the enemy to set up before they started taking turns murdering eachother. In this game, you don't have to, and that's why it's pretty damn easy. That, and you have a faction with swords trying to out match a faction with guns. We've all seen the movie - it just doesn't happen. I mean, if you actually thought for a moment that a bunch of guys with swords could win a war against a bunch of guys with guns... I don't even know what to say.

[Graphic]

Madae is on point. The BAI doesn't seem so dumb when you're attacking a defending AI stack that is fully modern with artillery (which is the position you force the AI into 9 times out of 10). You get messed up pretty bad too. Its the way it should be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickett's_Charge

[Sp4]

Both sides have guns. I actually thought it might be interesting playing as Shogunate and only making melee and bow units ^^

Actually, thinking about it. I will probably just end up spamming unholy amounts of cheap, quick to recruit people with spears and bows.. Oh wait, that's what I did in Shogun 2 as well >_<

[Gregoshi]

We have passed beyond the "first impressions" stage. I'm going to close this thread. Please feel free to open up new threads for any specific aspects of the game you wish to discuss.