E3 info from German magazine

[Ituralde]

The original can be found here:

http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/total-...0,3014709.html

I'll just summarize the new information gleaned from the journalist playing Rome 2 Total War at E3.

Campaign Map:
- The camels seen on the Campaign Map are a tactical resource.
- World Wonders like the Pyramides and the Great Lighthouse will give bonuses for your entire empire.
- Wide rivers, like the Nile, can be used by ships.
- Cities grow organically now. Each growth adds one more section to the city on the campaign map.
- You can build one building for each city section.

Diplomacy:
- When dealing with foreign civilizations modifiers (+23 / -50) for different factors show what the other civilization thinks of you.
- Diplomats will no longer be needed.

Internal Politics:
- Senators will have individual traits.
- There will be independent Senators that are not affiliated with one of the three families.
- You can choose to either support them, discredit them publicly or have them assassinated.
- One example mentioned is Cicero, who is railing against Julius Casear thus damaging the Juliis reputation.

Recruitment:
- As new units can only be recruited by armies, this will be influenced by the position of the army. In foreign territory you can only hire mercenaries or local auxilliaries.

Battle of the Nile:
- The battle is a combination of land and sea.
- The player chose to engage the Egyptian fleet and in return was able to land some units in the back of the Egyptian forces and destroy their catapults.
- His advancing forces were harried by skirmishing Camel Archers.
- In the end he won without too much problems, as the AI was acting a tad too passive, whether this is an indication for the final product, remains to be seen.


I really hope there's more information coming out from E3. Can't wait to read all about it. So far I like the information I've heard so far. Of course the AI will always remain the Achilles Heel of the series and it will be hard to judge it correctly until after the release.