Is the game in its current state worth installing?

[JeromeBaker]

I just got my new rig going and got on the .org to start reading up on RTW2. I have already purchased the game, but havent installed it. I was shocked to see all of the issues popping up. Reading through the posts I see a lot of game issues that downright suprise me and I am starting to think i shouldnt install the game yet. Can you guys confirm a few things for me?

1. No cities have walls? I am seeing where some do not have them, but will you get walls once your city hits a certain size?
2. When you take over a city, instead of fighting to the city center and taking that, you have a series of set points you must capture with your units?
3. When you are defending a city, if you try to gaurd the capture points, the enemy can just walk through your line as if it wasnt there and/or it just takes a few seconds for them to kill your line and advance? It seems some people have posted that its very hard to stop the enemy AI from just pushing through your line with no desire to fight and simply marching on to the control point. What i dont get is why a few strategically placed strong defensive units couldnt hold a choke point between the enemy and the capture point.
4. If you corner an enemy army on the campaing map with two of your armies, the enemy can simply jump into magically created boats and sail away safely? Or if you set up a stack at a choke point (lets say at a bridge), the enemy AI can simply launch their magic navy boats and sail directly around your stack in 1 turn and land on the other side and keep on trucking? Can the enemy stack set sail and land on the same turn? If no, at least i could positition a Navy unit to take out the enemy stack and punish them for haphazardly taking to the sea to avoide a land conflict? Holding a bridge with a small stack of high end troops was a lot of fun, i hope this isnt gone from R2.
5. You are capped on armies? Are people saying that the game limits how many stacks you have? I am reading that the frequent revolts combined with enemy AI looking for weak spots means you must do a better job spreading out your forces, but if you are capped, how does this work as your empire grows to cover the massive campaign map? Will it allow you enough armies to cover all of the "fronts" to your empire?
6. Are people having generals that become powerful over time as in past TW games? I am reading on other forums how most leaders (almost all examples were of Romans) go insane no matter what they do to counter it.
7. Battles are obviuosly finished much quicker. Do you have enough time at least to create a battle line and still have time to move aux units around to attack from sides/behind or is the fighting done so quickly that it reduces the game to simply line everyone up and throw them all at once at the enemy? Is there any real strategy left in battles?


I got a new system really just because of this game as I have been looking forward to R2 long before it was announced. I know the forums are a perfect place to let CA know how you feel so they improve the game through patches and whatnot, but I couldnt have been more shocked about the total amount and depth of the complaints. As bad as the issues with ETW were, i still enjoyed the game to some level. Are you guys getting any satisfaction out of playing? I have not really seen anything postivie at all being mentioned. I am on the fence to wait it out versus jump in and at least enjoy the product now before its either patched up or a good mod comes out.

Fingers crossed on the patch tomorrow.

[Azi Tohak]

I've had no issues playing the game with my recent but hardly state of the art rig. No bugs, no freezes, and my only quibble is that I can't find a manual for it.

At any rate -
1. Only province capitals have walls. Silly and gamey, but it keeps from having to deal with huge siege fights all the time.

2. Right. And set points matter, Lord Help Us All, for regular strategic map defenses too. THAT I don't like.

3. Haven't had any issue with this.

5. Only if you've trapped them on a beach. I haven't had any bridge fights.

4. Yes, you are capped on field armies. But each city (even those without walls) have considerable garrison forces, which makes taking them harder than you might expect. As your empire grows you can field more armies. Again, very gamey, but I like how it focuses your efforts and I think it's quite reasonable in practice.

5. One nutty admiral, but the rest of the generals are fine.

6. Everyone moves too fast at a run, but the battles are otherwise very melee-total war (same general tactics since Shogun 1 have worked fine for me).

The game is really neat and I enjoy it.

I don't much care for the attempt at faction-leadership politics, but otherwise, I've enjoyed it.

Azi

[Sp4]

I just got my new rig going and got on the .org to start reading up on RTW2. I have already purchased the game, but havent installed it. I was shocked to see all of the issues popping up. Reading through the posts I see a lot of game issues that downright suprise me and I am starting to think i shouldnt install the game yet. Can you guys confirm a few things for me?

1. No cities have walls? I am seeing where some do not have them, but will you get walls once your city hits a certain size?

Not all cities have walls. Only the provincial capitals.

2. When you take over a city, instead of fighting to the city center and taking that, you have a series of set points you must capture with your units?

I have yet to win a city siege by capturing points. I just find myself killing all the enemies instead.

3. When you are defending a city, if you try to gaurd the capture points, the enemy can just walk through your line as if it wasnt there and/or it just takes a few seconds for them to kill your line and advance? It seems some people have posted that its very hard to stop the enemy AI from just pushing through your line with no desire to fight and simply marching on to the control point. What i dont get is why a few strategically placed strong defensive units couldnt hold a choke point between the enemy and the capture point.

Units in this game don't feel 'heavy'. There is no phalanx or unit of heavy infantry that can actually act like a wall or a line on the battlefield. Mostly it looks like blobs of people crowding around each other like puddles of differently coloured water. It's a bit like in Shogun, though in Shogun, I felt that some units had at least some 'weight' behind it.

5. If you corner an enemy army on the campaing map with two of your armies, the enemy can simply jump into magically created boats and sail away safely? Or if you set up a stack at a choke point (lets say at a bridge), the enemy AI can simply launch their magic navy boats and sail directly around your stack in 1 turn and land on the other side and keep on trucking? Can the enemy stack set sail and land on the same turn? If no, at least i could positition a Navy unit to take out the enemy stack and punish them for haphazardly taking to the sea to avoide a land conflict? Holding a bridge with a small stack of high end troops was a lot of fun, i hope this isnt gone from R2.

Yes, I think all of that is possible. Haven't seen the AI do it yet though. They seem to be avoiding my armies in general and prefer fighting in towns it seems.

4. You are capped on armies? Are people saying that the game limits how many stacks you have? I am reading that the frequent revolts combined with enemy AI looking for weak spots means you must do a better job spreading out your forces, but if you are capped, how does this work as your empire grows to cover the massive campaign map? Will it allow you enough armies to cover all of the "fronts" to your empire?

You have a limited amount of armies based on your empire level (3>6>9>...) Same with agents and edicts.

5. Are people having generals that become powerful over time as in past TW games? I am reading on other forums how most leaders (almost all examples were of Romans) go insane no matter what they do to counter it.

I can't really talk about the way generals and important characters grow and what sort of influence it has because I really don't get half of it.

6. Battles are obviuosly finished much quicker. Do you have enough time at least to create a battle line and still have time to move aux units around to attack from sides/behind or is the fighting done so quickly that it reduces the game to simply line everyone up and throw them all at once at the enemy? Is there any real strategy left in battles?

Heavy infantry or spear infantry in a line + flanking forces has been the way to deal with the AI since Rome 1. I'm afraid there isn't much change to that. Battles do end very very quickly though. I am kind of hoping that has to do with the shitty quality of units used in the campaign early on.

I got a new system really just because of this game as I have been looking forward to R2 long before it was announced. I know the forums are a perfect place to let CA know how you feel so they improve the game through patches and whatnot, but I couldnt have been more shocked about the total amount and depth of the complaints. As bad as the issues with ETW were, i still enjoyed the game to some level. Are you guys getting any satisfaction out of playing? I have not really seen anything postivie at all being mentioned. I am on the fence to wait it out versus jump in and at least enjoy the product now before its either patched up or a good mod comes out.

Fingers crossed on the patch tomorrow.

[JeromeBaker]

Cool, thanks for the reply Azi and SP4. Your feedback is much appreciated!

[The Stranger]

lol 5 so true... got "sometging is not quite right" in turn one, got insane within 6. its like a true epidemic lol. as if all family members are inbred XD

[AntiDamascus]

I had one guy go "something is not right" but it was early and I'd rather have it sooner than later before I dump a lot of time into him.

[The Stranger]

tbh im not even sure what the drawback is of being insane... you lose some authority but gain zeal. and i have no clue what these traits are for in the first place. all i got from the cyclopedia is that its somehow related to agents trying to murder your dudes...