Emperor Edition + free DLC announced (RELEASED)

[Hooahguy]

Marcommani and cheese.






That was a joke.

[lars573]

I am really excited and happy about this. The beta messes up the encyclopedia some and I wanted a suebi game. I'll wait for the live version. How exactly have they improved the Suebi? I noticed that blademasters now shred infantry. And they have some semi-elite skirmishers. Anything else?

They took the basic outline of the eastern Celtic Raiding horsemen and turned the scout riders into that. The old scout riders are now the mid tier cav unit with a new name, riders of the hunt. To fill the gap in melee infantry they now have round shield swordsmen, they come a recruitment building tier lower than Bloodsworn. And are actually better than bloodsworn (more armour, a bit more attack for the same upkeep and a little more recruitment), look for them to get nubbed eventually. Never had the chance to use horse runners yet. Spear wall same, but the stats say they're a more defense heavy version of spear brothers. Also hex bearers. These seem to be Rome 2 version of the screeching women. However they're only a garrison unit. Which is why you don't pay for them, like the spear ladies and bow ladies.

For me the only game changer additions are round shields and new scout riders. But I bought both the unit packs at once. So instead of 4 new Suebi units to deal with I got 7.

[Hooahguy]

There will be a live stream of the new campaign by CA in about an hour from this post, 10am EST/15:00 BST.

Link

[Hooahguy]

So there is a new politics screen and everything, its really cool! I will post a screenshot of it when I can find one.

[Crandar]

Here you go:

[Hooahguy]

There also seems to be more general potraits, so thats nice! But then again, I dont play the Romans so I dont really know.

[easytarget]

Does that replace current politics in all of the campaigns?

[Hooahguy]

From what I heard yes, except for the CiG campaign as it apparently has its own unique way of dealing with politics.

[easytarget]

I've downloaded the beta and it doesn't look like that screen is changed in politics.

[Hooahguy]

They said not all of the changes are in the beta.

EDIT: three more screens of the politics tab, and better quality-

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Im really liking how the new politics is shaping up, the more support you have the more benefits (and with low support you get negative impact like less morale apparently, but you also have more chance for civil war it seems. You seem to have to strike a balance between being really well liked and being hated/ignored.

[Sp4]

How do I get the beta? Gaaah! I didn't even know this was public!

[Hooahguy]

Well the politics was taken from the live stream today. The new politics screen isnt in the beta though, will be released when patch 15 releases from what I heard.

[Sp4]

Tease... >_>

[Hooahguy]

Only one more week!

[KLAssurbanipal]

[Hooahguy]

Alright, so the list of playable factions in the new campaign are Marc Antony, Lepidus, Octavian, Pompey, Iceni, Marcomanni, Dacia, Egypt, Parthia, Armenia (also now playable in the ROME II Grand Campaign). But we already kinda knew that.

Source

[KLAssurbanipal]

There is preview of new factions!

http://wiki.totalwar.com/w/Factions

[Hooahguy]

Kinda wished they posted one for all the playable factions in the new campaign, though Im sure they will be posted soon.

[Myth]

Armenia playable in Rome 2 + added family trees + new civil war mechancic + imrpoved building system. @ReluctantSamurai there you go man :)

[Hooahguy]

Since when did they add family trees? They did not, but did add new systems for politics.

[Hooahguy]

Apparently we are undergoing something of a graphics change as well.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[hoom]

So I've been trying out this beta patch with a Syracuse campaign. (Med/Med)

Combat balance changes are good, much slower & you can actually have a chance to look at combat, much more time for cavalry/other flank type play.

Liking the stronger garrisons, have saved my ass several times already.

Building tree rework seems better, easier to build a balanced army.

AI main factions are much more able to stick around & expand, enough that I'm actually in a bit of a bind.
Here is my current strategic situation at 167BC:


Rome doesn't look particularly strong but has been somewhat cramped by me.
It has been a loyal ally from early on & has even saved my skin with handily present reinforcement armies.

Carthage & associated states fell apart mostly without my action after I'd taken Lilybaeum & Corsica/Sardinia, at least partly because of actions of Rome.
My territory in Libya is primarily because of Rome messing up handling the takeover, there were a couple of rebellions & a sudden expansion by Cyrenacia which I was able to take advantage of, otherwise would have been even more stuck.

Diplomacy has allowed me to get pretty friendly with much of the Greek East, which is rather loaded with big empires.

Arverni is looking pretty terrifying, not sure how far North they stretch. Are allied with Rome so no room for Rome to expand North.

My problem right now is that I've expanded this far with essentially just the one army & I don't know where I can further expand given the sizes of my neighbours & my lack of armies (can probably actually afford a 2nd army now though)

[Sp4]

Get a second army and go to war with Egypt :D

[hoom]

Well as it happened I was setting up for the West push when I was asked to join war with Seleukids which I declined.
Next turn Arverni attacked my ally Sparta and the turn after Rome (Arverni ally) also attacked Sparta -> am now fighting Rome.

With the help of a couple of mission completions & Egypt offering 15k to join war with Seleukids (can't really decline that...) I've made a step up in my economy (more food + better temples -> more money stuff) so I have just finished recruiting up to 3 full stacks (2 on Sicily for the moment) & just finished clearing Africa of the Romans so I'll have 3 stacks to push up through Italy. (assuming Arverni don't start launching naval attacks on Corsica/Sardinia)

[edyzmedieval]

Will the graphics affect lower-end systems or only the high end will experience the upgrade?

[Hooahguy]

Alright gents, patch 15 + Emperor Edition has been released!

Full patch notes

[Sp4]

Whee now I just have to get home.

[AntiDamascus]

Gonna give it a whirl soon!

[Hooahguy]

Downloading the 1.2 gb patch now. I swear that time is slowing down with the anticipation.

[The Outsider]

Well guys I just started a campaign with Armenia and played for a few hour , I must say that it is really good. I like the new ui improvements, it's not much but it helps a lot with immersion. Politics is better as well now it actually makes sense for the first time. I am really pleased with the new edition. Well done CA, wellddone.