RTW has naval 3D battles? Why not?

[panchoamd]

RTW, has a 3d naval battles?
If not, why?
I lIke naval batles in 3d...


RTW, tiene batallas navales en 3D?
Si no, porqué?
A mi me gustarian batallas navales en 3D...

[eddeduck]

The people at CA wanted to do real time sea battles but decided not to because with the land battles and the sea battles the game would take too long. So they have done them abstactly as in MTW.

[Ldvs]

Unfortunately RTW don't feature naval battles. Answer quoted from the FAQ :

"Q. How important is Naval units in RTW. How do you get your men across the Mediterranean Sea, with out walking.

A: Naval combat is abstract in Rome: Total War. The emphasis in the game is on land battles - the Romans were, after all, soldiers rather than sailors - and we've been working hard to make them as insanely great as possible. Unlike M:TW fleets now carry passengers from place to place. An army has to march onto a fleet, be carried to its destination, and then disembark. While the army is aboard it can be lost through enemy action and natural disaster, and a storm can wipe out an invasion force just as surely as enemy triremes!"

[maestro]

I'm sure the Devs posted something about this. To paraphrase (and apologies if I have this wrong) they said:

It would have taken faaaaar too long to develop proper naval battles in RTW. Even with the game's release date put back yet another year (2005 release) there still probably wouldn't have been something they could be proud of which was as good as the rest of the game. And they really didn't want to do a half-assed attempt which would have been rubbished by the fans.

So they left it out innit.

[Colovion]

plus I can see naval battles being very frusterating and very long - once cannons were invented they got more interesting from a gameplay perspective but how would you like to slowly sail around perhaps missing other ships while trying to ram them, then sloooooly arcing around for another try while your crew and theirs gets pelted by archers in either boat, then finally perhaps boarding the other ship for a short battle which would be more suited to a pirate game than Total War.

I dont' see it happening for the pre-gunpowder era, ever - unless I'm sorely mistaken by the ancient naval warfare

[panchoamd]

To colovion: why no command a thouthands of ships, in battles like Accio?
No neccesary must slow...

[Samurai Steve]

2005!?

Huh!? I just pre-ordered it today, they said it shipped today and should arrive tomorrow!

[Tamur]

Steve, he was speaking hypothetically...

I have yet to play a really FUN naval battle simulation. Anyone want to point one out? I've played a few (Port Royale being one with cannons) and they become drudgery very quickly it seems. I think it's just the nature of ships -- they don't respond instantly to commands like a foot or horse unit can.

[Colovion]

exactly - it would take like 5 seconds (at the least) for the ship to begin to obey your orders, by the time they did it would be a sloooooooooooow turn and then ok... now it's time to put up the sails... ok not enough wind break out the oars.... ok now let's go like this for 4 miles..... hey there's an enemy ship..... turn towards it... slowly......... noooo it's turning away.... come baaack

[Adrian II]

hey there's an enemy ship..... turn towards it... slowly.........

LOL, Colovion, even though I think you're being a tad unfair here. Commanding a single ship in 3D might be a tedious affair, but commanding whole fleets could be much more interesting, particularly if it involved customized fleets and skills such as sailing, navigation, boarding and the firing of catapults, guns and Greek fire. It could be made faster by compressing the action in the same manner as battle resolution in STW and MTW (don't forget the "epic" battles being simulated in our 30-odd minute scenarios would in reality have taken a lot longer, possibly several days). Not unlike sieges in MTW, naval battles would have a slow start and a violent climax. Much would depend on the make-up of your fleets, which the player should be able to customize just like his siege train in the present MTW. There would be a gradual build-up of forces as fleets or squadrons manoeuver for positions to windward whilst evading islands, banks and reefs, commanders make decisions about whether to push their oarsmen to exhaustion, when to fire catapults, and whether to assign boarding parties to starboard or port side. The next stage would consist of ramming and boarding, followed by general mayhem in which flagships may go down causing morale to drop on one side and rise on the other. And not unlike sieges, some would love these naval encounters while others would autocalc. Hey, but what else is new?

[Ldvs]

I unreservedly agree with you Colovion, I think it'd rather be frustrating than exiting. Maybe you could manage to handle a few ships but anyway, the AI would eventually out manoeuvre you, thus you'll have to give up your command to the AI over at least half of your fleet, just to witness their fisherman's ships sinking your huge warships...

[panchoamd]

I play the game called Age of Sail 2, and found a lot of fun!!!
But the naval battles in MTW no necessary mus be like in this game,
and, i agree with adrianII in the same way of make a naval battle.
Must be very interesting see a fleet engage a enemy and charge with their...
(i dont know how write: "espolon" in english), and burn ships, or even an real amphibius assault!!!! or a bombing of a coastal castle, like Constantinopla in
1453...
No necessary be a hard to manage a fleet, like the whole game, must be simple and funny!!

[Colovion]

I agree AdrianII - I'm being a little pessimistic I guess because I haven't seen it. As we know - just because you haven't seen something done well doesn't mean it can't be done. I will hope that someone will mak a game like you depict. Here's hoping!

[Tamur]

I play the game called Age of Sail 2, and found a lot of fun!!!

I heard a little mention of these games (Age of Sail, Age of Sail 2) earlier this year. So they're worth checking into? I'll have to go look them up. Thanks for pointing this game out!