Moar DLC! The Longbeards Culture Pack (released on March 4th)

[Hooahguy]

If Day 1 DLC wasn't enough for you, here is Day 10 DLC! You get a whopping 10% off for pre-ordering before it comes out on the 26th, so order now!

Link to Steam page

About the DLC:
The Longbeards Culture Pack brings three new playable factions to Total War™: ATTILA. The Langobards, the Burgundians and the Alamans may be used in Single or Multiplayer Campaign modes and Custom and Multiplayer battles.


After centuries facing the threat of Roman dominance, these three formidable and warlike Germanic kingdoms are ready at last to sweep forth in expansionist campaigns from their tribal homelands. The Western Roman Empire lies to the South, her border territories weak and ripe for the plunder. With their unique blend of new buildings, battlefield units and faction traits, The Longbeards are poised to exploit the chaos of the age.

In history, these factions would go on to found some of the great empires of the medieval period. Will you marshal their might to forge those empires yourself?


Cultural trait (Barbarian Kingdoms)
New Kingdoms: Building conversion rate -50%




Unique narrative event-chain: The Lay Of Ybor
Playing as these factions will present you with a new series of linked narrative events. The Lay Of Ybor is delivered in the style of a Germanic Saga, in which you direct the actions of a fabled hero through a series of branching narrative choices. As the story draws to its conclusion, Ybor himself becomes available as a general for your armies, complete with traits that mirror the choices you made.


Unique Faction Traits
These factions bear unique traits which differentiate their play-style in the Total War™: ATTILA Grand Campaign.


The Burgundians: Bred For The Hunt
Icy Determination: +25% unit replenishment
Harsh Sustenance: +10 food for every region with poor fertility


The Alamans: Germanic Unity
Frontiersmen: 15% increased melee attack versus romans.
Royal Splendour: +50% to general’s radius of influence in battle.


The langobards: Godan’s Chosen
Emancipators: +50% more men recruited from defeated enemy forces.
The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand: +10% unit morale when fighting armies of other religions.


Unique mission objectives
Players waging a campaign with the Langobards, Burgundians or Alamans will receive a unique series of mission objectives over the course of the campaign. Among these is a new optional objective which offers you a substantial injection of wealth to abandon your settlements and become a true migratory faction.




Unique units
Complementing the Germanic barbarian unit roster, The Burgundians, Langobards and Alamans each have access to a number of unique units in battle:


Burgundians
• Barbed Skirmishers
• Barbed Javelinmen
• Scattershot Hurlers
• Elite Scattershot Slingers
• Burgundian Mounted Axemen
• Barbed Lancers
• Royal Lancers
• Burgundian Axemen
• War Hounds


Alamans
• Bejewelled Nobles
• Scavenger
• Alamannic Scavengers
• Elite Alamannic Scavengers
• Chnodomar's Raiders
• Protectores Defectors
• Captured Cheiroballistra


Langobards
• Young Wolves
• Godansmen
• Godan's Chosen
• Horse Hewers
• Horse Slayers
• Langobard Clubmen
• Scaled Clubmen


Unique buildings


Burgundians
• New ‘Curing’ building chain: Curing Shack -> Smokeshed -> Salt Warehouse


Alamans
• Court of Countless Kings: level 5 upgrade to Hall of Elders
• New ‘Gem’ building chain: Gem Deposit -> Gem Cutter -> Gem Setter -> Gem Connoisseur


Langobards
• New ‘Freedman’ building chain: Emancipation Ground -> Freedman Commune
• Beheading Copse
• Court of Godan’s Dance


New Ancillaries
The Longbeards Culture pack features several new ancillaries with which to bolster the skills and abilities of your campaign’s key characters:


• Pforzen Buckle: Siege defence bonus.
• Sacrificial Dagger: Cheaper religious buildings and stronger religious influence
• Godan’s Inspirer: Increases damage and melee skill at the expense of armour
• Benevolent Swindler: Increases money gained from embezzlement.




Faction history


Burgundians
Although occupying the eastern part of central Europe in AD98 and surrounded by other tribal societies, archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests that the Burgundii originated on the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. By the first century AD however, the Burgundii were active in mainland Europe. As the centuries progressed, they solidified their position as a power in the north and east of the continent. Although defeated by the Romans and surrounded by enemies, as the 4th century begins and the authority of the Western Roman Empire wanes, many tribes have pushed further into former imperial territory. As such the Burgundii now have the chance to move across The Rhine and take their rightful place there – in a world free from the shackles of Imperial Rome!


Alamans
As the spirited successors of the Suebi the Alemanni intend to forge a new life for their people away from the nomadic terror of the Huns and their ilk. Regarding themselves as Rome’s nemesis despite several defeats – notably at the battle of Lake Benacus – they have nevertheless stripped the empire of much of its western territory and have the collective will to carry on the fight. Led by a tribal confederation of greater and lesser kings, princes and chiefs who claim royal blood, the Alemanni levy a diverse range of Germanic troops to fight for them. Their destiny, however troubled, lies in greatness beyond The Rhine; their tenacity and sheer bloody-minded determination will see their ambition realised!


Langobards
When the small yet noble Winili tribe faced the vandals, their god Godan declared he would give victory to the tribe he saw first on the day of battle. Seeing the Winili with their women warriors, he asked “who are these long beards?” and awarded them victory. The tribe were from then on known as the Langobardi. Now they live along the river Elbe, far from their roots. Led by their king, who shares power with his people wherever possible, they are a determined tribe who have weathered many storms to achieve greatness. Langobardi history is marked by struggle and bloody conflict, and their future doubtless holds more of the same. Yet the Longobardi will emerge victorious, with renewed strength, to face anything the gods can throw at them!


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To be fair though, these actually seems pretty fleshed out, plus the new narrative aspect makes it interesting.

[Kamakazi]

it would be nice to preorder this... but im still locked out of my account and after a week still no reply from steam for any assistance

[Veho Nex]

I think CA really pulled a stupid move on this one. They should have worked in the players favor by Free-LCing this first release. The fact that they announced it a week after the games been out shows some shady practices that don't bode well for a lot of peoples continued support in the franchise.

I hope they go back to the old days of releasing Expansions rather than the current DLC and micro transaction trend.

[Hooahguy]

This was the DLC that we were supposed to get for free if we won the Make War Not Love 2 contest. They kinda did mess it up because now everyone is mad over day 10 DLC.

[easytarget]

So they made a rigged contest and handed it to the COH crowd two years in a row. And in reality what we see here is not the 1st but in fact the 2nd day one DLC.

I have a technical word for this: scummy.

[Hooahguy]

Considering that they let COH count matches against all AI enemies (so it was very easy to cheat by playing against an AI opponent set to easy) but not custom battles in Rome 2, plus the fact that we were leading by a huge margin until the very end and still lost, kinda proves that it was rigged. It makes sense of course. Why give away a $7 DLC when you can give away a much cheaper DLC (they just got some skins and decals) to fewer people?

[easytarget]

Yeah, funny thing about it, the COH players were complaining about the DLC they did get, which according to those talking about in the steam forum was just some skins that looked worse than amateur quality. So, really a bit of a lose lose there for CA/SEGA as they failed to make anyone happy with their rigged contest. Certainly as you said it was the cheaper of the two to give away since apparently what they did give away wasn't worth the price (free).

Sort of reminds me of of 90% of all games on the market at any given moment, which if handed to me for nothing I still wouldn't play as time is the commodity I'm short on, not games to play. In fact, I'd go one step further and state I wouldn't play 90% of all games if they were free and came with 50 bucks taped to them if to keep that 50 I also was forced to play the game to completion.

P.S. I posted that I thought this business with DLC was BS on the main forum, took all of 5 minutes before it was deleted and what's left is pretty much anything supporting the idea. Looks like the forum censorship is kicking into high gear once again. I like the fact that CA doesn't even pretend to listen to criticism, it only reinforces my impression the company is not made up of anyone related to their past great games.

[Veho Nex]

It's kind of a joke when it comes to the way they did the scoring anyways. Matches in coh can be quick 15minute bouts or hour long slug fest but average about 20-30min. In totalwar, not only are there far less players in the MP side, but sometimes the battles last considerably longer. Or the fact that the majority of people playing TW mp are playing the MP campaigns. The whole Make war not love thing was a joke.

[Hooahguy]

So the DLC (and the patch) has been delayed a week.

But theres a contest for the helmet they used in the Hunboxing, so yay?

[easytarget]

Oh yeah, we need another contest, hehe.

[Hooahguy]

They already awarded the helmet to someone, so it was a rather short contest. By the comments on the reddit post on it, it was over even before most knew about it.

[Veho Nex]

Meh, you had to just like them on twitter or some crap.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I don't care about these factions or their new units, I assume that the units get patched in and the DLC is just to unlock the factions?

Well - sorry CA but you already gave me Rome, Saxons Geats and Jutes - that's all my ancestors, so you'll be getting no more money from me unless you offer me a new campaign with those factions.

Which, btw, makes the preorder for the game a freaking STEAL for me.

[JeromeBaker]

I started a new campaign with the Longobards last night. Godan's chosen looked stacked and I liked the guerilla warefare trait on the Horse hewers and slayers. They can be deployed outside your pre-battle deployement area which seemed like it would be fun to utilize.

I thought I was leaning towards the Alemani, but their elite melee unit (bejeweled noble) seemed to be lacking and they didnt have the variety in melee i was hoping for.

I liked the fact that you get to choose traits for a future general (Ybor). You get to choose a few directions for Ybor while he is on some sort of adventure and these shape his stats for when he comes back to your faction. I have so far pushed Ybor into the direction of being a warrior and resolute follower of Godan. Ybor just arrived back home right before I stopped last night, but I havent made him a general yet. Not sure this has great replayability but it did make spending 7.99 a little more worthwhile.

[Oleander Ardens]

I started a new campaign with the Longobards last night. Godan's chosen looked stacked and I liked the guerilla warefare trait on the Horse hewers and slayers. They can be deployed outside your pre-battle deployement area which seemed like it would be fun to utilize.

I thought I was leaning towards the Alemani, but their elite melee unit (bejeweled noble) seemed to be lacking and they didnt have the variety in melee i was hoping for.

I love the concept of light anti-cavalry specialists (+40!) which you combine with your (Germanic) horse or support the mainline to get an edge over enemy cavalry. The weapons themselves are kinda silly. Actually the Frankish Skirmishers get an +30 against cavalry with their melee weapon and the javelins and do a lot of harm...

The Alemanni can recruit their bejeweled nobles at once in their home region but they do look underwhelming especially compared to the renegade protectores.

Perhaps the most cost-efficient missile unit of the game can be found among the Burgundians. Their scatter-shot hurlers are amazingly cheap 100/70 and deal against infantry 75 damage spread among 3 shots. They even get precision shot, which boosts the overall damage to 105. Three missiles spread the damage, making it harder to get kills against undamaged units which means one will tend to understand their impact on the target's health.

The slowing effect of their shots, high rate of fire and their speed allow them to skirmish very well against melee units.

[Hooahguy]

Not only that, the elite scattershot slingers are heavily armored and can even hold their own against average infantry. So while i wouldnt make my main line all elite scattershot skirmishers, I wouldnt be opposed to having 3-4 of them and then using them to back up my line in a fight where they are needed.

Also the Burgundian barbed lancers and skirmshers are rather good.

The Lay of Ybor on the other hand, leaves something to be desired, but its a good step in the right direction. Would have liked a longer event timeline (so its not happening all in the first 20 turns) and more options.

[JeromeBaker]

The Lay of Ybor on the other hand, leaves something to be desired, but its a good step in the right direction. Would have liked a longer event timeline (so its not happening all in the first 20 turns) and more options.

I agree with you big time on this. It was a nice step in the right direction, but Ybor came back home way to fast. I made 3 or 4 decisions to lead his progress and then was suprised to see him come home so quickly. I was a little dissapointed because I already have 2 really good options at general and really didnt need Ybor yet because I cant afford to give him a worthwhile army at the moment. I wish the player had a little more control over the timeline Ybor is gone. Perhaps some of the choices you make casuses him to wander to further off lands and gives you more time to mold him before he returns. Dont get me wrong, for the first time seeing it, it made the game more fun, but perhaps this was really just something thrown in at the last second to make it appear we got more for 7.99 than just 3 unlocked factions..... they really could expand upon this idea in future releases of DLC or the next TW game.

[Bramborough]

Three missiles spread the damage, making it harder to get kills against undamaged units which means one will tend to understand their impact on the target's health.

But isn't the unit pumping out 3x as many projectiles per volley? I would think this means that many more of the enemy's individual troops would be taking multiple hits, leading to at least roughly the same kill percentages per volley, if not more. I guess that isn't happening?

My plan was to put off buying the DLC until after my current Ostro campaign (which isn't very old). But dang, I'm sorely tempted to spring for it now just because I want to check out these guys in custom battle.

[Oleander Ardens]

But isn't the unit pumping out 3x as many projectiles per volley? I would think this means that many more of the enemy's individual troops would be taking multiple hits, leading to at least roughly the same kill percentages per volley, if not more. I guess that isn't happening?

Well you make a good point but it both statistics and tests come to that result. Compare for example Germanic crossbows with Burgundian scatter-shots.

The Xbows have do amazing damage upfront with the compounding flaming bolts, precision shot and quick reload. Every bolt which doesn't get blocked inflicts 137 damage* (mostly non-ap one) the last time I checked. This is enough to one-shot most enemy soldiers and means that the first salvo will quite a few.

Now Scattershots do against infantry with precision shot overall 105 damage, 90 base and 15 bonus. But spread 30+5, 30+5 and 30+5 and with less projectile speed and seemingly accuracy. Absolutely amazing for a 100/70 gold unit in single player. It is obviously far more unlikey to get a 'one-salvo' kill with for example four missiles hitting the same target then with one bolt.

If one tests the Scattershots against units like the Royal Husacerls the first volley kills only few, I even had once zero victims. The second one has so far always cause more deaths. They coutperform btw their Germanic hurling brothers, who also have precision shot, with a large margin, despite it seems that their volley scatters wider. The latter has also it's upsides because in general if their slow penalty can affect multiple units, especially if they target the closest units as they naturally do...

P.S: The Burgundian javelineer's damage compounds greatly precision shot. As 100 of their 105 damage is base, they inflict 150+5 against infantry and 170 against cavalry...

Ah, and their javelin's reload speed seems to be far less then the usual one. The latter has still to be tested as one can not trust the stats shown. To much is hidden.


*Unlike flaming arrows the flaming bolts don't inflict bonus damage against big targets.

[Bramborough]

Compare for example Germanic crossbows with Burgundian scatter-shots.

Ah ok, in that context, sure, "less single-volley damage" makes sense. Deadly or not, they're still slingers and aren't going to be as devastating as crossbows, raw-damage-wise. Little bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

At least for the initial volleys anyway. Nice point about not getting many kills at first, but damage & kills mounting through subsequent salvoes. Makes perfect sense; I guess I just never thought about it.

[Oleander Ardens]

Ah ok, in that context, sure, "less single-volley damage" makes sense. Deadly or not, they're still slingers and aren't going to be as devastating as crossbows, raw-damage-wise. Little bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

At least for the initial volleys anyway. Nice point about not getting many kills at first, but damage & kills mounting through subsequent salvoes. Makes perfect sense; I guess I just never thought about it.

Thanks. Me neither before the Attila DLC. :)

For fun I ran some tests against the shock Alani cavalry general with the Scattershot Slinger or 3S and one Burgian javelineer with that almost shocking amount of raw damage with precision throw. In front a line of pikes behind them the javs and then the slingers. The shock cavalry gets devastated before reaching the pikes and generally not a single man is able to flee in part because it uses the wedge formation with zero missile block chance. Generally the javs have between 7-10 times the number of kills of the slingers because their first volley hits after the first slingershot one which softens up the targets and even slows them down. The latter enables the javs to get more hits and many of the softened targets just need one jav to die. Sometimes almost half of the Alans get killed by the first volley. Maybe later I will run the tests the other way around. In any case those 3S are well worth the money, in some battles with four of them practically the whole army takes the speed and charge hit.

All in all the Burgundians might have the best infantry missile line-up in the game. The great Germanic longbows with their huge range, the most cost-efficient crossbows damage-wise, certainly the most cost-efficient slingers* and the javelins with the highest burst damage.

They have a great unit mix overall as well with very cost-efficent Germanic horse, the decent Germanic noble swords, the great Burgundian (dane)axes and fine shock cavalry.

*The Elite 3S are a coold unit have amazing stats (amour, missile block chance, etc) but the normal guys give far more 'damage for the denarii'...

[lars573]

I hope they go back to the old days of releasing Expansions rather than the current DLC and micro transaction trend.

Swimming against the tide on that one. And remember these DLC's fund the increase in patching in Rome 2.

[easytarget]

There's no connection between DLC and patching Rome 2. If they had released Rome 2 in a state everyone in the world considered near perfect and released zero patches they would have the same DLC road map they do now.

[lars573]

Uh no.

[easytarget]

That then of course settles it. You'e no doubt never said anything here more persuasive.

[Greyblades]

Swimming against the tide on that one. And remember these DLC's fund the increase in patching in Rome 2.

You mean that the 30-40 pounds already payed wasnt enough for a game that isnt a mess?

[easytarget]

Hence why I've sat out Attila. When they're done w/ their DLC fan dance and patching I'll pick the lot up at half price.

[Hooahguy]

I picked up the Longbeards DLC because Im actually really into the Burgundians, but the only other DLC I plan on picking up is the blood and gore DLC. The game just doesnt feel right without it. Rome 2's B&G pack took about 2 months to be released, so Im expecting a similar timeline for Attila.

[easytarget]

I'm looking forward to checking this one out, maybe summer sale i'm guessing.

Meanwhile, having a blast in Rome 2, hate the GC, but love the DLCs (go figure, thought I'd mention it here just the same to prove I'm not somehow anti-DLC per se). Current campaign is the Imperator Augustus as Egypt. Maybe about half way through I'd say, allied with Antony, have nearly destroyed Lepidus and Octavian, but I suspect I've miscalculated a bit as Antony has now turned into a powerhouse controlling a big ole chunk of the central part of the map (nearly as big as what I control if not larger).

When it comes time for us to part ways, we're going to have ourselves a show down between two super powers who control the entire known world.