Appreciation Of Total War games leading to Rome II

[Martok]

How about a little love for the original Shogun Total War, the one that started it all?


It was the first PC title to combine turn-based strategic gameplay with massive real-time battles. (Yes, previous games like Lords of the Realm 2 had already introduced the series' signature hybrid TBS/RTS gameplay, but not on nearly so grand a scale.) Never before had gamers been able to control literally hundreds/thousands of men on the battlefield (where they weren't abstractly represented by a single icon) at once; the strategy genre had forever changed.

I would add the Crusade mechanics to the MTW post. Picking up a handful of troops you couldn't normally recruit as the Crusade made it's was to the Holy Land was pretty cool, and I used to love bringing them back home when the Crusade was over. Didn't play much M2TW, but I don't think it worked the same way?

Likewise, Jihads were also fun (if not quite as epic) when playing as a Muslim faction. A little easy to abuse the mechanic (via spamming them), but still highly enjoyable!

More MTW love:

Epic, meaningful battles!

Indeed. The original Shogun also had these in spades.

Edit-> Almost forgot: Camels!

[[cF]HanBaal]

MTW: More love here too!!!

HELP: Any way to play it in Windows 7 64bit PRO? I have tried compatibility mode but no luck so far. I can get Win 7 64 Ultimate if needed.

- Best soundtrack imo

- Arguable but...still love its risk-like campaign map mechanics:

In land: Fewer and much more significant fights (no more wandering 3 units spam armies all around) and each battle pratically meant control of a region (decisive). No more cat-and mouse chases...no more slipping small units right under your nose (i understand the idea of sneak marching ala Hannibal in the Etrurian swamps and consequent ambush at Lake Trasimene...but in a turn based system it's flawed, weird and not realistic since, even if not hidden, the other army can roam around the other freely during its turn)

In seas: Only one where you could REALLY barricade significant parts of the seas. Probably not so realistic though but in a turn based system there's no perfect system.

- BEST MULTIPLAYER!!!...i used to spend several hours playing online and the chat felt really cozy, bug free and that way clan wars or simple duels were really easy to organize on the go. Alongside CS 1.6, my most addictive MP games ever.

[quadalpha]

MTW: More love here too!!!

HELP: Any way to play it in Windows 7 64bit PRO? I have tried compatibility mode but no luck so far. I can get Win 7 64 Ultimate if needed.

- Best soundtrack imo

- Arguable but...still love its risk-like campaign map mechanics:

In land: Fewer and much more significant fights (no more wandering 3 units spam armies all around) and each battle pratically meant control of a region (decisive). No more cat-and mouse chases...no more slipping small units right under your nose (i understand the idea of sneak marching ala Hannibal in the Etrurian swamps and consequent ambush at Lake Trasimene...but in a turn based system it's flawed, weird and not realistic since, even if not hidden, the other army can roam around the other freely during its turn)

In seas: Only one where you could REALLY barricade significant parts of the seas. Probably not so realistic though but in a turn based system there's no perfect system.

- BEST MULTIPLAYER!!!...i used to spend several hours playing online and the chat felt really cozy, bug free and that way clan wars or simple duels were really easy to organize on the go. Alongside CS 1.6, my most addictive MP games ever.

Yes! Someone who believes the RTW campaign system is worse from a game design perspective.

You should check out the Apothecary here for your Windows 7 problems. It solved my problems the last time I tried: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forum...?15-Apothecary

[Myth]

My list.

RTW:

- Population as a resource
- Reforms
- Animated cities that can be viewed outside of battle
- Wonders
- Epic (if ahistorical) units like Berzerkers. I know I'll get a lot of hate for this one No, I don't like the pigs and the Arcanii, but the Berzerkers are simply too fun to give up. Big naked men wielding historically inaccurate weapons and flinging elephants around. Can't you see the fun in that?
- This and this piece of music. I know I know - the Latin is broken. I don't care.
- Senate missions, early Republic generals being "old/true Romans" while the later Imperial era patricians are corrupt and decadent, and quite frequently incompetent.
- Forts and watchtowers
- Night Fighter from BI
- Horde factions from BI
- Interesting take on religion and temple bonuses
- Choosing your faction heir

What I do NOT like about RTW and it needs to be fixed:
- Historical accuracy (lack thereof) and imbalanced factions
- City growth turns from a benefit into a huge annoyance late game
- Broken culture penalty and unremovable buildngs that give penalties
- Severely imbalanced temple bonuses
- Incompetent AI
- Retarded diplomacy system
- Too easy

M2TW:

- Differentiation between castles and cities.
- Great unit rosters and historical events opening new units
- Guilds
- Expanded traits/ancillaries, truly the best way of leveling generals
- Pope
- Crusades/Jihads
- Eastern invasions (Mongols/Timurids)
- More unit special abilities
- More agents (and princesses)
- Extremely moddable

What needs to be fixed:
- Greater historical accuracy, more factions, larger map
- Challenge for the late game
- Better pathing for the AI

S2:TW
- Expanded agent system with leveling up, agent actions cost money
- Money is actually important throughout the whole game
- Smarter AI
- Better looking battles
- In-Game encyclopaedia
- Skill research makes your faction different and adaptable for each particular campaign
- Focused provinces, province bonuses and limited building choice
- Better diplomatic system and AI

What needs to be fixed:
- Remove skill trees for generals or reduce their significance
- Rebalance the effectiveness of Ashigaru armies vs. elite armies
- Rebalance autoresolve to give worse results than leading a battle
- Add forts and watchtowers
- Remove the calligraphy map
- Make the AI learn how to invade islands and how to recruit ground armies
- Allow regular retraining
- Population must be required for upgrading of cities
- Bring back castles/cities
- Fix the campaign map scrolling lag
- Increase font size to make it readable
- Make the game moddable
- Allow hotseat mode

[edyzmedieval]

Of course, the animated cities! I missed that, it was brilliant to see the city in all of it's splendour

[edbenedict77]

i simply love the suggestion for greater historical accuracy :) It would make the Total war games much more interesting as you try to re-write/change/role play it :)