Newbie question before i go buy game.

[jbmagic]

I am really thinking hard if i should go buy this game soon... how is this game? is it diffcult and hard to understand when i get it out of the box....


only games i played was Age of empire 2, praetorians, command and conquer games, warcraft3, starrcraft..


how are the campaigns and battles? what is that about..can u please explain what u do on those?

and is there skirmish like 1 vs 1 games vs the computer similar to game you played online with someone? is the computer challenging?


please explan how the online game is...what do u at beginning of game to the end..what the process..

this game really looks interesting..just scare it will be really hard to understand and learn.


thanks....

[Monk]

Campaign mode: pick a faction from thos avalible, build up your country's economy and military, make alliances with other factions and fight battles against mortal enemies. Think of the Campaign map like a big game of Risk, just with trading and building...and training armies. the goal is to dominate the map, having your faction defeat all others.

On the map you can see the status of amies and ur own lands (provences). once u have built ur troops up you can move them to attack. then a battle will follow.

battles: battles are fought in a 3d environment with 2d units. your goal here is to drive the enemy force from the field, select your troops by clicking on them and then make them attack ur opposing forces but clicking on an enemy troop. things must be understood such as, Spear beats calvary, calvary beats most sword (infantry) Infantry can beat spear, and Calv can beat arrows. ill let u find out more.

Custom battle: pick ur troops, pick a map, pick ur enemy and fight. much like skirmish mode in other games.

Multiplayer: much like custom battle only here you fight with people not the AI

AI: at times it appears that the Ai has no clue what its doing, then other times it will turn around and kick the crap outta you. the only predictable behavior for it is unpredictable.

difficulty modes: Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert...depeing on the difficulty of the game either you or the computor will have a slight edge on the field of battle. i think on med the player has a 10% advantage while on hard the comp has that 10%...not sure on that

anyway i hope that helps... sombody can pick up from where i left off if i missed anything (im sure i did)

[The_Emperor]

This game is awesome, it can be difficult at times but it is very addictive and very rewarding (you don't get the satisfaction of seeing an army of thousands of men turn and run away in C&C or Warcraft)

My vote is to buy it, but to wait until the Viking Invasion Expansion set is out, they may do a bundled box set like they did with Shogun.

[jbmagic]

thanks..


is the camapign mode and battle mode hard to learn it..when i get the game and read the manaul...is it easy to follow the game manual?


and how is it controlling alot of units at once...is it confusing and hard to control?


thanks

[Popeye]

What you had in Command and Conquer is purely real time, as compared to the board game of Risk, which is turn based. The Total War series is a mix of real time and turn-based gaming.

During a turn, you're looking at a strategic map. How much detail you can see depends on whether you own it, or have spies there or some other way to peek into enemy territory. You decide during a turn what you will move, what tasks to assign to agents, tax rates, what to build and train, and once you've done all the micro-managing you want to, you click the end turn box. After resolving the computer moves, combats are resolved. You don't have to run the battles yourself, but I suspect most people do, most of the time. Resolving it yourself puts you into the real time tactical combat mode.

What I like about the real time in TW as compared to C & C is that in C & C, you didn't actually have formations. You could group individuals, but they still functioned as individuals that had all been assigned the same task, not as a cohesive military unit. They also didn't have a front, which meant there was no advantage for hitting anything from flanks or rear.

To put it simply, do not be intimidated by the combat. In the first place, there is a tutorial that will give you a lot of help, I recommend it. If you don't really need it, it won't take long, if you do need it, it's worth the time.

Second, time moves slower than you might expect. Usually, forces start fairly well apart (not always though. ugh, that was a nasty experience, but never mind.) You'll usually have some time to adjust your deployment once you can see the enemy. My guess is that most people will be using the speed bar to make it go a little faster by the third battle.

Now, Multiplay is a little different; I only have done that on the older Shogun TW, but it was strictly the tactical real time aspect. Not only 1 on 1, but teams were possible, though I never did that myself.

The process for online was basically someone sets up a battle, choosing the map and how much you could spend on troops, and some other things like weather and time limits. You join the battle and pick your army, and after that, battle is joined like the single player version.

I don't advise jumping into online play until you have the mechanics down in singleplay. I'm not suggesting you should be able to win against the computer. If you are not tactically skilled, you'll learn more losing to a human than beating the AI. Just get to where if you lose, it isn't because you didn't know how to make your archers fight hand to hand, or set up waypoints so your cavalry would go around that unit of spearmen, or hadn't learned how to get your reserves onto the field (all of which have cost me battles at one time or another.) You also need to have a basic understanding of the game effects of Morale, Leadership, Valor, and Fatigue; not details, just know what they are before going online.

If you are one of many people that don't care about the turn-based game, you can play single tactical battles with the computer. Like online, you set the parameters of the battle, then the AI chooses its forces, you choose yours, and away you go, without all that pesky building and diplomatic stuff.

It's a great game. Why wait?

[NewJeffCT]

well, controlling up to 16 units at once can be a little confusing at first - though I'm a virtual newbie to any sort of strategy, or even video/PC game (the last one I had bought was SSI's 'Eye of the Beholder' that must be close to 8-10 years ago...)

However, if you take it slowly, it will come. I learned to pause mid-battle on occasion to survey my troops. And example would be that often, if you don't keep track of a unit, it could run to the edge of the map chasing down an enemy unit that is routing. Or, if you try to send a 'down' unit off the board (you need to exchange units for reinforcements, unless a unit is completely wiped out)- it may sometimes stop and attempt to rally on its own. (a down unit would be one that is exhausted, or has suffered heavy casualties - a unit of 100 spearmen is now 12)

[Knight_Yellow]

maybe downloading the demo would help u.

it has a very good tutorial.

(not sure but dont the demo also have the campaign tutorial)

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

jbmagic

MTW is highly recommended. Before purchasing this game, I was an avid StarCraft player, but after several years, I was looking for something on a much grander scale. Along came MTW. Haven't been playing anything else since it came out.

Llywelyn

[Monk]

im not sure if the demo includes the tutorial, But the tutorial will teach you what you need to know about controling units and battle, aswell as a campaign tutorial

[Popeye]

Don't worry about controlling 16 units at a time.

Your first few battles, you aren't going to have 16 units.

By the time you do anything that big, you'll have learned how to group them.