First Total War: ROME II Update this Friday.

[Fisherking]

From fb post:
At Creative Assembly we are very pleased with the response to ROME II, with hundreds of thousands of players enjoying the game so far; but we do know that, as with all large PC releases, the variety of hardware and general system specifications can cause issues for some people and we are urgently working to help get them the right experience.

As announced last month, we are also planning to tweak the balancing, AI routines and other features now that we’re getting real-time metric feedback from thousands of players.

The result is that the first update to the game will drop this Friday, with the intention to update the game on a weekly basis in the immediate future.

Full patch notes will be available on Friday, but the update will address known instances of crashes due to hardware conflicts alongside several other performance fixes.

In addition, anyone experiencing graphical issues including low resolution textures, should check our support forums at www.totalwar.com/rome2support which contain suggestions for settings which will improve visuals in almost all cases.

There are also a variety of other fixes suggested in our support forum, please head there to find out more or report your own problem directly to the CA team who will assist you.

[Barkhorn1x]

The fist comment to this post was classic:

Simon Hendy I'm thoroughly enjoying the beta. Any word on when the game is coming out?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

They need to do something because the game appears to getting more awful eveytime I play it! The AI seems even more suicidal than before but the collision detection and battle animations are terrible. All units seem to lose any cohesion once battle commences and is just a blurry blob. The whole game seems rushed. CA can't possibly be happy with this release can they?

Also, why can armies now build boats? That really needs to be removed and pronto.

[CaptainCrunch]

... The AI seems even more suicidal than before but the collision detection and battle animations are terrible. All units seem to lose any cohesion once battle commences and is just a blurry blob...

Yeah, the inconsistent collision model needs immediate attention, this for me has been the biggest disappointment. I wouldn't hold my breath about the AI, they just can't get it right. Maybe we'll get lucky with a few tweaks though, who knows?

This announcement from CA sounds like really good news, especially the part about weekly follow ups. I really, really hope they make good on this. I'm sure we all want this game to reach its potential. The unit balancing and magic weapons stuff can get addressed by modders if CA never gets around to it, but they need to sort out the technical issues for certain.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Simon Hendy: I'm thoroughly enjoying the beta. Any word on when the game is coming out?

As are these folks:

As announced last month, we are also planning to tweak the balancing, AI routines and other features now that we’re getting real-time metric feedback from thousands of players.

Metric feedback

Anybody getting this? A very poor traits system (IMHO) was my #1 beef with RTW 1

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...-going-insane?

[fallen851]

Metric feedback

Well, at least they aren't getting Imperial feedback...

As for generals going crazy, a lot people believe than dementia is something everyone would get if we all lived long enough... CA must be on that bandwagon.

I will say though, the weekly updates based on player feedback could really shape RTW: II into the best TW game ever. I hope CA follows through with this, and tailors their game to what the players want.

At the very least, if they fix all the graphical glitches and crashing and optimize the game to run decently so it doesn't take forever when we press end turn, we can fix the rest by modding.

[BroskiDerpman]

Hope CA completes the game with patches at least, quite sad to see the game at this state; it had a ton of potential but IMO CA screwed up badly.

If the game gets patched with content added back i.e family tree and small things like that at least the game provides a ok base for modders to fix up the rest and give the game some substance plus performance mods.

Currently I'm trying to complete my first Shogun 2 campaign H/H with UAI mod which made the game quite challenging! So I can wait while CA completes Rome 2...

I then got other mods to try out too for all other TW games. But Rome 2 is so tempting to buy now but I know it worth waiting for a sale or when the game goes gold...

[Hooahguy]

But Rome 2 is so tempting to buy now but I know it worth waiting for a sale or when the game goes gold...

Eh, it will be a while then. Will probably get a slight reduction for the Steam winter sale, and will see meaningful sales next summer. Maybe. Depends how well it does commercially. Generally, the better it sells the longer it will stay at the original price.

[nearchos]

Th battles are nothin near what the battles of the previous titles are.I feel like i have no control of anything since the units are not acting according to their abilities.
I.e. pikmen/hoplites dont fight as such, its like they throw away their pikes and fight as light infantry and more over durung the fight there is no fallanx formation, wich means very simple that a large proportion of the fuctions with the core of their armies beeing hoplites/pikemen are not worth to play.everything is unpredictable.

As for armies bilding fleets, i think that its interesting and quite historicaly realistic since to be honest, there was no way for war ships of the time to transport many troops.
So in order for an army to campaigne overseas they had to find/bild transports.
I find it an interesting adition, but one thing i noticed, is that in a sea battle, against a navy consisting totaly of trasport vessels carying troops my war ships were taking missile fire from every enemy ship, no matter what type of unit they were carying.
Its ok to have transports this way but in sea battles they must fight only by embarcation, according to troop types, exept those carrying missile troops.

[al Roumi]

I will say though, the weekly updates based on player feedback could really shape RTW: II into the best TW game ever. I hope CA follows through with this, and tailors their game to what the players want.

Don't hold your breath. It's quite unlikely they'll do what people actually ask for.

[Myth]

Th battles are nothin near what the battles of the previous titles are.I feel like i have no control of anything since the units are not acting according to their abilities.
I.e. pikmen/hoplites dont fight as such, its like they throw away their pikes and fight as light infantry and more over durung the fight there is no fallanx formation, wich means very simple that a large proportion of the fuctions with the core of their armies beeing hoplites/pikemen are not worth to play.everything is unpredictable.

As for armies bilding fleets, i think that its interesting and quite historicaly realistic since to be honest, there was no way for war ships of the time to transport many troops.
So in order for an army to campaigne overseas they had to find/bild transports.
I find it an interesting adition, but one thing i noticed, is that in a sea battle, against a navy consisting totaly of trasport vessels carying troops my war ships were taking missile fire from every enemy ship, no matter what type of unit they were carying.
Its ok to have transports this way but in sea battles they must fight only by embarcation, according to troop types, exept those carrying missile troops.

I can agree if we are talking about rafts or other such vessels meant to help cross shallow water like rivers and lakes. Crossing seas requires proper ships that take 6+ months to construct in drydock and thise require quality timber. I'm still on vacation so i've not tried the game yet, but armies foraging around and constructing sea worthy vessels on demand sounds more absurd than head hurlers riding incendiary pigs and throwing flaming heads at the enemy.

[quadalpha]

I can agree if we are talking about rafts or other such vessels meant to help cross shallow water like rivers and lakes. Crossing seas requires proper ships that take 6+ months to construct in drydock and thise require quality timber. I'm still on vacation so i've not tried the game yet, but armies foraging around and constructing sea worthy vessels on demand sounds more absurd than head hurlers riding incendiary pigs and throwing flaming heads at the enemy.

Well, armies can only embark from a city or a beach, so in my head I just imagine that they commandeer transports.

[Hooahguy]

Apparently the patch is live.

[Furunculus]

i hear it's only 25mb, so might have missed the update.

game currently says build no. 6858 453644

anyone know if this includes the first patch?

[Lemur]

Apparently the patch is live.

Woo-hoo! Can't wait. I will finish my workday, get the hell out of Chicago, go home, and then ...

... CARTHAGE SHALL REIGN!

[CaptainCrunch]

i hear it's only 25mb, so might have missed the update.

game currently says build no. 6858 453644

anyone know if this includes the first patch?

Yeah, I just updated and the build no. is V1.0.0 6858453644, so you're up to date.

Happy to report so far that 'The Darkness' issue with shading opposite the light source is fixed! Game appearance just jumped up dramatically for me.

I'll report back in a few with any other improvements I experience.

[Furunculus]

cheers

[BroskiDerpman]

Sorry for spamming around Volound's links but is the balance somewhat patched yet?

Why? https://youtube.com/watch?v=tjzd5ilKzMM

[FesterShinetop]

Hmmm, patch stopped at 81%... and it is stuck like that for a while now. Can't play the game like that. Anyone else has problems with this?

[Hooahguy]

Hmmm, patch stopped at 81%... and it is stuck like that for a while now. Can't play the game like that. Anyone else has problems with this?

Its a problem with Steam. Just wait until the timer for the download ends, it will download the rest at the very end. Its strange, I know.

[FesterShinetop]

Ah, it just finished all of a sudden. Guess just needed to be patient!

[CaptainCrunch]

Sorry for spamming around Volound's links but is the balance somewhat patched yet?

I seriously doubt it. First patch seems to be stability oriented.

[nearchos]

I can agree if we are talking about rafts or other such vessels meant to help cross shallow water like rivers and lakes. Crossing seas requires proper ships that take 6+ months to construct in drydock and thise require quality timber. I'm still on vacation so i've not tried the game yet, but armies foraging around and constructing sea worthy vessels on demand sounds more absurd than head hurlers riding incendiary pigs and throwing flaming heads at the enemy.

Yew you are right about that, perhaps there should be a certain cost acording to the no of units, in order for them to aquire the vesels for a sea voyage, as for the time, a single round represents 12 months of time.Or having transport vessels as seperate units, so you have transport and war fleets.
But still for me its better than use my war fleets to transport troops around, exept for protect them in the sea.

[The Stranger]

its fine for gaming purposes that land armies can just move into the sea. but they should restrict the boarding to coastal cities/harbour places for inland cities so that you cannot embark on every random beach... theyre not vikings =_= and perhaps a money cost as well.

[BroskiDerpman]

If that's the case I won't bother building navies in Rome 2 and just ninja attack everything like Vikings. Save some of that cash for developing buildings. (That's if buildings didn't get simplified by Rome 2)

[Hooahguy]

So on Monday CA will release a beta patch that will improve pathfinding, low poly models, performance settings, and a few other problems.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ut-this-friday