Legion Arena

[TosaInu]

http://www.slitherine.co.uk/LegionArena/ArenaIndex.htm

[YAKOBU]

Thanks TosaInu

Unfortunately it's too late for me to Beta test

It does look like it may have potential. It's a shame it's only an on-line game but it may fill the MP gap that I am currently missing with RTW!

[phred]

Here's the Wargamers' impressions of the Legion Arena beta

http://www.wargamer.com/articles/legionarena_screens/

quote from the article
"soldiers on the battlefield are governed not only by the player, but also an excellent system of checks and balances. These checks and balances help to slow down the pace of the game, assuring that Legion Arena cannot be manhandled by RTS clickmeisters. "

[YAKOBU]

Hi everyone

Just refreshing everyone's memory about this game. It should be released this month.

http://www.slitherine.com/LegionII/index.htm

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Well that's just awsome guys. Thanks so much for the link!

[phred]

The demo for Legion Arena is out.
http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=2696

[Kraxis]

The demo for Legion Arena is out.
http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=2696

And it is finding its way onto my harddrive.

I don't think it loks anywhere near as good as RTW or BI, but it has the depth on its side. Upgrades and all that and a massive variety of units it seems. Very much my style. And of course the way it is played out might not be revolutionary, but it is possible the best there is when it coems to cost/benefit.

[Mongoose]

Downloading now. The demo is MP, right?

[Kraxis]

My goodness...

This was one sweet demo. It is good at explaining stuff for you and it is fairly long.

The game is a bit primitive in my mind, especially in regards to the looks, but the battles are refreshing and the AI is fairly bright (I got my carefully planned defensive lines flanked time and again, though I always won in the end).

One has to put RTW way while playing this as I got my Velites punished hugely in the first battle. They got some Gauls on top of them in no time. AUGH!!! No skirmishing. Velites are better at playing skirmishers a la MTW (standing behind the lines).

[Shahed]

THat looks great. THANKS for the link. Downloading now.

[The Wizard]

Looks interesting right there. I'll give it a joyride.

Hey Sinan, don't see you around here a lot these days old man!

[Shahed]

HAHA! Not much time to play. Just lurking and jumping in here & there. The download is well worth it IMO. RTW is something very different. This is a cool game too though, nice touches. Can't say evry much as I just tried it for 10 minutes. Great first impression though. See you around Wiz. Salute !

[Kraxis]

HAHA! Not much time to play. Just lurking and jumping in here & there. The download is well worth it IMO. RTW is something very different. This is a cool game too though, nice touches. Can't say evry much as I just tried it for 10 minutes. Great first impression though. See you around Wiz. Salute !

You get a couple of nice battles against the Gauls... But I just feel they are over too soon. And there is seldomly any lineaction. It just feels like a perpetual skirmish.

[Shahed]

OK i'm back after another 45 minutes of playing. I did not play the tutorial. I just played best I could and unlocked the Roman campaign. I really like the feel of it and I like the RPG-ish aspect. I have'nt a clue what I'm doing as the TW series is all the strategy I played (except for Paradoxx). I agree it should last much muhc longer, the maps should be waaaay larger. But it's a good demo. I enjoyed it. If I have time I'll play it some more tomorrow.

[CBR]

Yes I think its a very good demo. The game is interesting but of course is different than Total war as you dont have the same control. I would like it to be a bit slower so you can enjoy the battles more.


CBR

[TosaInu]

Thanks for reminding me.

Fine demo I think: it keeps you busy for a while.

I like several things in it: the slight variations in men inside a unit for examle to make it less of an android army.

I like the deployment phase, but it's a bit hard to tell the terrainconditions: are my archers on a slope now? I'm also having problems with the camera during the battle.

[Kraxis]

Thanks for reminding me.

Fine demo I think: it keeps you busy for a while.

I like several things in it: the slight variations in men inside a unit for examle to make it less of an android army.

I like the deployment phase, but it's a bit hard to tell the terrainconditions: are my archers on a slope now? I'm also having problems with the camera during the battle.

Yes the slope is the most problematic issue... You have to strain your eyes to find any slope and then you are not even certain it is a good one, it could be very slight.

I do like the options to change the looks of the troops. I couldn't help but make my Romans wear purple and my Auxilia green, it just fits so perfectly. And the designs on the shields are also changing so that makes it even better. Just too bad that the only times I ever see that is in the camp.

The Celts with their multitude of shields just look that much more lively, but I stress the primitive looks, especially the ground. It is extremely bland in my eyes.

Superimpose this on top of RTW and you have a superb game.

I think I will get it after I have run a 'black' game (all black army).

[TosaInu]

Terrain is a bit bland yes, but it also depends a bit on graphic settings (LOD for example).

The upgrade system is also pretty neat: diverse and after the battle.

I may have missed the option, is it possible to remap the keys?

[Ja'chyra]

Got to admit, I don't like it much. It seems like half a game to me, very unfulfilling compared to TW.

[Colt45]

This game is set up close combat style with rts battles and rpg upgrade/recruit in between. It actually makes this game more appealing because of the uniqueness you can implement upon any unit. I set up my legionnaires as pure infantry killers and my auxilia as calvary killers. I made my general use only general traits.

In case that game doesnt appeal to you, dont worry, Legion II will follow. It is based upon the games they have created previously, except with Legion arena battles and perhaps upgraded campaign map. There are many demos out to see what a slitherine game is like. Chariots of war, spartan, troy, legion (maybe) are some of their previous works.

In regards to Legion Arena, I hope they have upgrades in regards to unit sizes like they have had in previous games. Units of 48 feel like skirmish battles like mentioned earlier. In other games, they had 2 upgrades, but I cant remember the #s increased.

[Kraxis]

Hehe... I think it is very clear that the legionaries are best at that, so I too went in that direction. Initially I went towards the cavalrykillers for the Auxilia (mananged to ambush the entire Gaulish cavalry in some woods at Alesia with them, butchery I tell you) but after I recruited a third unit I began to realize that I wold face infantry the most so let that one go towards a more balanced approach. It ended up becoming my best Auxilia.
The cavalry I made anti cavalry, they were already great at beating infantry.
My general duked it out a few times so I felt obliged to give him a few melee abilities, and he ended up pretty strong.

[TosaInu]

In one battle my general was the only one left at the field. He was surrounded by quite some enemy cavalry, killed some, routed the rest and then killed the enemy general. Not that authentic afaik, but I know what I fed him :)

I don't like some victory conditions. There's a pretty tough battle for the army I have and I'm not doing that bad, I can see a victory actually :glorious_dreams: But then my casualty counter hit 100 and I lost :(

I've either go to get used to the camera controls and/or have to remap them. Then it's interesting for me to really check out.

[Kraxis]

Yeah those killcounters are a bit GRRR at times. But luckily I never lost.

I primarely don't like these things:

The ground is bland!
The troops are oddly detailed. Very detailed yet very blocky at the same time.
The odd victoryconditions (at least at times).
No chasing fleeing enemy troops.
And the big one... The perpetual skirmish. Ther is no battle-feel.

But I did check up on the previous games and it seems that you can get units of 80 men mostly, while skirmishers and so on are 64. So perhaps the demo was just scaled down?