Which total war game is better?

[MoKus]

Which total war game has a better AI and gameplay? I bought Shogun 1&2 and Medieval 1&2 in a sale. For now I just played Medieval 1. I am not satisfy with the AI performance in managing their countries. I mostly fight against peasant while I am using Feudal Knight and Sergeant. Easy win in medium difficulty when the battle is auto-resolved. Needles to say that I am having difficultly to win the battle myself. Is the AI good on controlling battle? I think that is in my part who fail to control any battle well.

[Brandy Blue]

Which total war game has a better AI and gameplay? I bought Shogun 1&2 and Medieval 1&2 in a sale. For now I just played Medieval 1. I am not satisfy with the AI performance in managing their countries. I mostly fight against peasant while I am using Feudal Knight and Sergeant. Easy win in medium difficulty when the battle is auto-resolved. Needles to say that I am having difficultly to win the battle myself. Is the AI good on controlling battle? I think that is in my part who fail to control any battle well.

STW 1 has better AI than MTW 1 because it builds fewer bad units. However, in MTW 1 you can hand over management of your building and unit choices to the AI (I forget how) and then you have to use bad units just as often as your enemies do. I never played MTW 2 and STW 2.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I haven't played any TW games past Shogun II, but up to that point....Shogun I had the best AI, IMO. On Expert setting, it can, and will, kick your a$$ if you make mistakes

The AI strives to create mismatches: swords over spears, spears over cavalry, etc, so if you don't have balanced armies, the AI adapts and you begin to lose battles.

The primary (though not the only) reason the AI was better in Shogun I/Med I was because the map was 2-D (making pathfinding easier), the economy was far simpler than when the game engine was changed in RTW I, and there were far less units to deal with.

Not saying that later games weren't challenging and fun to play, but the original game engine allowed for a more challenging AI opponent, and if you played enough campaigns, you saw every clan have a chance to become Shogun, or at least emerge to challenge you for it. RTW was far too predictable...always the Romans in the western Med and Europe, and the Egyptians in the Middle and Far East. That speaks to imbalanced unit rosters, a lot of which was fixed in some of the great mods done by players.

Bottom line....want a real challenge? Play either of the two Shogun games.

[MoKus]

I haven't played any TW games past Shogun II, but up to that point....Shogun I had the best AI, IMO. On Expert setting, it can, and will, kick your a$$ if you make mistakes

The AI strives to create mismatches: swords over spears, spears over cavalry, etc, so if you don't have balanced armies, the AI adapts and you begin to lose battles.

The primary (though not the only) reason the AI was better in Shogun I/Med I was because the map was 2-D (making pathfinding easier), the economy was far simpler than when the game engine was changed in RTW I, and there were far less units to deal with.

Not saying that later games weren't challenging and fun to play, but the original game engine allowed for a more challenging AI opponent, and if you played enough campaigns, you saw every clan have a chance to become Shogun, or at least emerge to challenge you for it. RTW was far too predictable...always the Romans in the western Med and Europe, and the Egyptians in the Middle and Far East. That speaks to imbalanced unit rosters, a lot of which was fixed in some of the great mods done by players.

Bottom line....want a real challenge? Play either of the two Shogun games.

Does AI cheat in extreme difficulty?

[ReluctantSamurai]

There has to be built-in cheats to make the AI more challenging. In Shogun, the cheats are economic...in other words, the strategic map. On the battlefield, it's mano-a-mano.

[drone]

Does AI cheat in extreme difficulty?

Not sure about STW1, but in MTW1 you start with less money the higher the difficulty. There are also battlemap bonuses depending on the difficulty, and battlefield tactics get better the higher you go.
Easy - your units get +4 morale
Hard - AI units get a +15% bonus in combat
Expert - AI units get +4 morale and a +30% bonus in combat

The general consensus in MTW1 is that the best difficulty level is Hard, on Expert enemy units become very difficult to rout and tend to get decimated beyond usefulness and adds to your units valour, which hurts the AI strategically. MTW1 is also fairly easy to tweak with little mods, many players will eliminate peasants and ballista from the build tree, which really helps the AI unit choices.

Vanilla RTW was pretty bad on release, you could exploit the campaign map movement features and the battlemap had issues. Mods definitely improved it. I didn't play enough MTW2 or Shogun2 to be able to comment on them.

[folangji]

The pre 3d games such as Shogun 1 (2d map) and Medieval 1 (2d map) alongside Shogun 2 (ai cheats hardcore) and Warhammer 2 (ai cheats hardcore). Also these games are the most enjoyable imo, not including mods. If we are counting mods then a nice challenging gameplay in terms of Total War games can also include Rome 1 and Medieval 2.

[addy]

STW 1

[Lusitanio]

The best mod for the AI is with any dout RTW 1 with darthmod. When I played it was the first time in years that I saw the AI kicking my ass. Just try it
Then you also have Medieval II total war with mods like Europa Barbarorum II, TATW, etc

[segco]

I think that STW 1 is better, because it is easier to play, but has fewer options.

[edyzmedieval]

Original Medieval TW for me.

[Goalum]

STW/MTW, can't choose between the two..

played most others, not bad, not impressed..

[ReluctantSamurai]

To me the whole TW series cannot be better described than this quote from a poster on another forum:

I thought that the passion CA had for the subject matter was obvious with Shogun, it was like they made a game for themselves and said "hey lets let other people play this." With each release since it's seems more and more about getting the "casual gamer" interested

Thank you Johnhughthom

[heyanil673]

Rome II is one of the most famous Total War game and my favorite.
But you can go for others also like - Medieval, Shotgun or Empire

[ReluctantSamurai]

Arquebus perhaps, but shotgun?

Just messin' with you, welcome to the ORG

[Goalum]

Rome II is one of the most famous Total War game and my favorite.

Very good game for SP buddy, seriously Reluctant Samurai if you haven't tried, do so [as i know you play RTW]. Pretty good - some interesting mods as well..

[Crandar]

Haven't played the first two games and the fantasy titles. From the rest:

1. Rome I
2. Medieval II
3. Napoleon
4. Shogun
5. Attila
6. Empire
7. Rome II

[edyzmedieval]

Med 2 and Shogun 2 IMHO are places 2 and 3 in my list, behind Medieval TW.

[Xantan]

Also... no love for Attila TW?

[bunt0025]

Not sure about STW1, but in MTW1 you start with less money the higher the difficulty. There are also battlemap bonuses depending on the difficulty, and battlefield tactics get better the higher you go.
Easy - your units get +4 morale
Hard - AI units get a +15% bonus in combat
Expert - AI units get +4 morale and a +30% bonus in combat

The general consensus in MTW1 is that the best difficulty level is Hard, on Expert enemy units become very difficult to rout and tend to get decimated beyond usefulness and adds to your units valour, which hurts the AI strategically. MTW1 is also fairly easy to tweak with little mods, many players will eliminate peasants and ballista from the build tree, which really helps the AI unit choices.

Vanilla RTW was pretty bad on release, you could exploit the campaign map movement features and the battlemap had issues. Mods definitely improved it. I didn't play enough MTW2 or Shogun2 to be able to comment on them.

Drone, this has been my exact conclusion as far as MTW1 is concerned. Expert allows you to valor up your units too easily. Hard allows for a near 60% win before the 1231 invasion but your units don't get too much valor to be unrealistic.

Also, I think someone should reassure the OP that playing without the pause key makes the battlefield management heavily favored toward the computer. Playing with the pause key is horrible training for player vs player gaming but it is honestly about three levels of difficulty easier than without. This magnifies when you get more and more units in the game.

[edyzmedieval]

One thing to point about Expert is the amount of AI boosts that it gets - which make routing units very hard.

[NikolaTheGreat]

MTW 1 is my favourite vanilla on pair with Shogun 2, then Medieval 2 and Warhammer 2... Rome 2 and STW1 are pretty solid either.

My favourite total war when modded (only modded) is Medieval 2 and at second place Rome 1, with mods.


MTW1 is still so good and fresh, I want to mod this game and make the ultimate mod for MTW, even better than the already great XL, Wes mod and BKB Super mod

[Xantan]

Solid choice with the XL Mod / BKB Super Mod, it turns MTW into a very good game into an excellent game.

[Carac Caratacus]

I'll always have a soft spot for the first one, Shogun (+expansions) as it near perfectly created that very interesting period of Japanese history in a format us 'westerners' could enjoy and get into.

Having said that i will mostly want to be playing the first Medieval Total War game (plus mods, probably BKB Super mod the most) as culturally it is something i completely understand and enjoy the history off. I've just started replaying it after finally getting it to work on a modern system! :D

[edyzmedieval]

+1 on what Carac said.

I do wish TW would remaster the old ones to be honest.

[macsen rufus]

Weeeellll...... due to tech limits here, I've only been able to play STW(1), MTW:VI and RTW(1). If I was to say MTW wins hands down because of the available mods... that actually WORK .... I might seem a bit self-serving, but yeah, that's still my favourite. RTW is a bit arcadey for my taste, but I do still give it the occasional whirl, and Europa Barbarorum is exquisite (even though it kills my machine). And good old vanilla STW still has enough mileage left in it that twenty-odd years later or so, I'm still finding new ways to play it. One day I'll get a machine that will handle the later titles, but for now, I've got enough on my hands with those three titles plus mods...

[rockzzstud]

The best mod for the AI is with any dout RTW 1 with darthmod. When I played it was the first time in years that I saw the AI kicking my ass. Just try it

[jankihaii3]

The best mod for the AI is with any dout RTW 1 with darthmod. When I played it was the first time in years that I saw the AI kicking my ass. Just try it

[peedahai]

Rome II is one of the most famous Total War game and my favorite.

[peedahai]

The best mod for the AI is with any dout RTW 1 with darthmod.
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