Interesting Activision Statement

[The_Emperor]

If terrain and fatigue have little effect doesn't that mean tactics suddenly become very limited? Suddenly having the high ground means nothing anymore as your supermen fight the same going uphill as they do on the plains...

Looks like troops in RTW are like the Duracell Bunny, they keep on going on and on, and on...

Anyway I hope the Captain is right and it is not the case, because if it is then the essence of TW (realistic battles with terrain and fatigue having a major impact on tactics) has gone.

[Captain Fishpants]

Don't panic!

Your troops will definitely get tired and then exhausted in battle. They may keep going a little longer if they're winning or feeling particularly enthused, but they are definitely not 'Duracell bunnies'. OK?

If terrain and fatigue have little effect doesn't that mean tactics suddenly become very limited? Suddenly having the high ground means nothing anymore as your supermen fight the same going uphill as they do on the plains...

Looks like troops in RTW are like the Duracell Bunny, they keep on going on and on, and on...

Anyway I hope the Captain is right and it is not the case, because if it is then the essence of TW (realistic battles with terrain and fatigue having a major impact on tactics) has gone.

[SpencerH]

Don't panic!

Your troops will definitely get tired and then exhausted in battle. They may keep going a little longer if they're winning or feeling particularly enthused, but they are definitely not 'Duracell bunnies'. OK?

I wonder if part of this opinion isnt due to the difficulty in seeing the energy levels of the troops. In STW and MTW it was very easy to see that level and the effect of charging. It may be just me, but I havent noticed any obvious change to indicate energy level during the battles, so it may be a matter of perception.

[Oaty]

The big difference is troops can be exhausted rest and become fresh again. So when its a long haul to the enemy, I'll stop within a decent distance from them rest the troops and if I feel/have missle superiority over them I will make them come to me. And if I do'nt have missle troops I'll just sit there and wait,if they want to come to me that's fine but I'll sit there and rest. Decisive battles was a good example of fatigue with pompei vs caesar. Pompei let caesar's troops rest after the initial charge wich probably proved to be second decisive factor for the battle.

Another thing is you still can force exhausted units to run, although they run slower they can still run. So if you keep equitites in reserve the enemy cavalry is just about doomed if they route and even then exhausted equitites are no joke.

Whereas in MTW you could have tired units in normal terrain before any engagement begins and you could not rest them to recover. So this kills camping on a hill exhausting the poor A.I.

Now I have'nt had any battles in the desert but I do wonder how that will be

[CBR]

Could we get a list of combat/terrain/fatigue modifiers like we had for MTW?


CBR

[The_Emperor]

Don't panic!

Your troops will definitely get tired and then exhausted in battle. They may keep going a little longer if they're winning or feeling particularly enthused, but they are definitely not 'Duracell bunnies'. OK?

Thats a releif, given i don't have the game yet I can only go by what I have seen in the demo... So I am understandably anxious about what I will read.

And do us a favor guys, the next Total War title you make... Get Activision to release it in a better way! I could get a batch of RTW CDs imported from the states in the time it takes to wait for this release to hit the UK.

C'mon its not like you need to translate the game or anything!

[econ21]

Could we get a list of combat/terrain/fatigue modifiers like we had for MTW?
CBR

I would second that. I've just got the Strategy Guide and assumed that it would have this information, as it did for STW and MTW. However, it only has some qualitative pointers, not the numerical information available for the previous TW games.

From the qualitative information, I would say, however, that a working assumption that everything was the same as STW and MTW would not be too far wrong. One thing I did not spot was anything about rank advantages.

There do appear to be a few new things:
- missiles are particularly effective against cavalry
- javelins (on loose and skirmish) are recommended vs elephants;
- woods make all units not trained for them suffer (esp. those in formation like legions and phalanx);
- the phalanx formation is said to best anything other than another phalanx in a head-to-head melee.

[GilJaysmith]

Can we ask everyone who reads this thread to help us stamp on this little bit of misinformation anywhere else it crops up? Chances are it's already been repeated as lore in another thread.

Ta.

[Encaitar]

I think people are misinterpretting that answer. It doesn't say "the combat advantage from terrain has been reduced". What it says is that "the terrain's fatigue impact on troops was reduced". i.e. Walking up hills and mountains doesn't exhaust your troops as quickly as it did in M:TW.

[Kraxis]

Exactly Encaitar.

I think CA needs to send a message to Activision so that they make the statement more specific so we won't ge any more misunderstandings.

And Gil, I'm on it.