Tomorrow we have an interview for the new Total war game, taking your questions!

[Hooahguy]

Highlights of the interview include

-Map changes
-Disease propagation and army effects
-Turn vs Time (how many turns per year)
-Features feeding back into Rome 2.
-Multiplayer changes
-New agents
-Time period
-Siege differences
-How will Attila spread throughout the map
-Ai changes

Thanks for the interview! It was very good.

So I will try to summarize some of the points Im remembering off-hand from the interview:

-Map changes
Winter will get longer as time goes on, so in the northern areas they could see about three turns of winter a year by the end.
As many factions will be playable as in Rome 2.
The map cut off a bit of the far east (where Bactria is) but extended to add the Steppes and more of the Baltic.

-Razing cities
Rebuilding a razed city will be costly in money and manpower: it can only be done by an occupying army and it will consume half of the army you are using to rebuild. The larger the army, the faster/cheaper it will be to rebuild, but you will also lose more men. You will also start with a one-slot settlement so you are literally starting the city again from scratch. The places where you can build a city are fixed though, so you cannot choose where to put the new city.

-Disease propagation and army effects
We wont see disease directly on the battlefield (sick and coughing men) but they will have negative effects on the affected armies like lower numbers, morale, and attack capability.
Disease can spread to armies that fight infected armies so it might be best to ignore infected armies to avoid contamination.

-Turn vs Time (how many turns per year)
4 turns per year and will be about a 75 year period, so 300 turns.

-Features feeding back into Rome 2
They will see what they can do, but it is a standalone game so no promises.
They will also keep supporting Rome 2 past the release of Attila.

-Multiplayer changes
It will be basically the same as Rome 2's MP, so no avatar system like there was in Shogun 2.
Razing/abandoning of settlements will be in MP.

-New agents
There are now also priests who spread your religion and they take the place of dignitaries.
Agents start off with 2 actions available, and as they progress more actions become available.

-Time period
New weapons, new tactics.

-Naval battles
Will come back, less ramming and more about boarding actions, and non-naval units (i.e. unit transports) will be much less capable as they will get "seasick."

-Diplomacy
Aggressiveness/dependability will be somewhat dependent on the faction leader so you might get a peaceful AI leader and his heir could be a backstabbing warmongering warlord. -Siege differences
As the siege goes on the civilians will leave, so if you attack immediately there will be civilians who you see flee/fight back. They are independent of your general so wont be able to be commanded.
Fire will automatically spread as enemy advances, and can also spread via barricades. If you arent careful your units manning the barricades can be consumed by fire as it spreads.

-How will Attila spread throughout the map.
Attila is not born at the start of the game, and the Huns will do their own thing in their area of the map (so they arent starting out as a horde with no land) but then when he is born and comes of age he will take command and the Huns will get much more aggressive and more of a threat to the rest of the map.
Other than his birth and coming of age, Atillas movements are not scripted.

-Miscellaneous info
It will launch as a separate game like Napoleon did.
No info on pricing.Priced about the same as Napoleon and FOTS.
2015 is launch year, cant get more specific.
Totally new voice acting and music.
Mercenaries will be region-specific.
Skill trees are like in Shogun 2, so you can see the whole tree and not just the next level.
Army/navy traditions making a comeback.
Much more immersive in its narrative element as the theme of impending doom permeates through the entire campaign.
Different religions have different edicts, so your state religion matters as well as the religion actually in your provinces.
You are not locked into a religion.