Rome 2 has multiple Roman factions... does it bode well?

[I_damian]

I know this is the EB forum but I'd rather post it here, people tend to be more serious and give better answers. Shogun 2 was quite realistic. There weren't very many OTT units, factions shared units like the Ashigaru spearmen/archers and their proffessional units were more or less the same. They had few unique units each. Which is realistic for the period. Unlike RTW which gave a very "Hollywood" type of theme to each faction. Romans wearing segmentata and being all-powerful, "barbarian" factions being cultureless savages and completely misrepresented and... the Egyptians...

But Shogun 2's comparative realism compared to previous games gave me hope that Rome 2 might follow suit, that CA might be able to resist giving the Romans segmented armour, making the Gauls nothing more than shirtless, cultureless savages, and adding stupid units like flaming pigs, battlefield assassins with futuristic invisibility cloaks, gladiator units recruitable if you build a certain kind of temple. But now they announce that Rome will be 3 factions, like Julii, Scipii and Brutii (but not those 3, different ones).

Could it possibly be justified at all? I know it could be justified if the game started in the 3rd or 4th century AD because at that time the Roman Empire more or less WAS several factions, but we know Rome 2 takes place at least as early as the siege and destruction of Carthage. Could you at all justify Rome in the game being split in to 3 different factions that early?

[Arjos]

They published it as "Roman Faction Preview", I think it's going to be a single faction, but they must've introduced a new system, where you can play as the Pater Familias from one of those three gentes...
With all the talks about different governments for the factions, it's possible that the republic would be in power and you'd have to work within it or you simply choose the starting faction leader...

But that's speculation, fact is they didn't say factions and seems like there are going to be only 8 playable ones, if 3 of them are romans, count me appalled lol

[I_damian]

Only 8 playable? Sweet Jehovah. Shogun 2 had more than that and that was just one small-ish island, how can only 8 factions be justified for the whole of north, west, south and east Europe, North Africa and the middle east?

[Ca Putt]

I presume the magic word is DLC.

Shogun 2 vanilla only had 9 playable factions, all of which were somewhat similar.

I think they might find a really good way to implement the republic. Arjos may very well be on the right path there. simply dividing the Roman faction into 3 subfactions like in RTW(1) would suck pretty much.

[DaciaJC]

From the wording, I think it's pretty clear the Rome won't be split into three subfactions as in RTW.

As a playable faction, Rome benefits economically from its excellence in metalwork, enjoys enhanced military development, and can exploit the masses in order to maintain public order. Furthermore, the player will choose to conduct the affairs of Rome as the head of one of three great Roman houses: The Julia, The Cornelia, and the Junia, each of which bring further economic, military and cultural benefits.

Some factions are split into a number of playable families, which bring further unique benefits to their base faction traits.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Well, considering that this is CA, and considering that Rome will likely be somewhat overpowered in vanilla, then having a setup that can accommodate a full-scale Roman civil war wouldn't be a bad thing, really.

I won't be playing Rome II until 4-5 years after its release anyway, when I can afford a PC which will run it on maximum graphic settings, so I don't care. Quite happy with EB1 at the moment, and looking forward to EB2, which will keep me entertained in the interim.

[jirisys]

If RTW2 doesn't disappoint me right away, I'll find a reason to or make one up myself.

~Jirisys ()

[Blxz]

If RTW2 doesn't disappoint me right away, I'll find a reason to or make one up myself.

~Jirisys ()

Hahaha.

Although, I have to admit. I haven't bought anything Totalwar related since Shogun2 base game. I got turned off and have ignored all the expansions and will probably ignore Rome 2 as well. It just doesn't feel fun anymore, maybe it's the very fast/arcadey turn limits of the new mechanics or maybe I'm getting old. I still find Empire to be more fun than Shogun 2 anyway. Time will tell, but I sure as hell won't be pre-ordering like the old days. Maybe some great post-release reviews will convince me?