IGN Saxon preview

[phred]

here's a preview of the Saxons' units and buildings
http://pc.ign.com/articles/645/645915p1.html

[Strike For The South]

Cool I will buy and it will be good

[SigniferOne]

Anyone notice the new video? It's REALLY good, realistic and epic looking, and brutal.

[Kraxis]

Heh... Until they talk aboutthe units they have just copy-pasted the faction description from the game. Look at the 187 screenshots.

[Sol Invictus]

Saxons should be fun to play. They sort of have Britain all to themselves and once that is conquered, then they have quite a strong base from which to launch further conquest.

[player1]

Interesting...
5 barracks levels
4 stables levels
2 archery levels

But only:
4 infantry units (not including peasants)
2 cavalry units (not including warlords)
1 archery unit

I guess some of the levels will give just simple +1exp to existing units.

[Kraxis]

Anyone notice the new video? It's REALLY good, realistic and epic looking, and brutal.

The siege right?
It is damned good. It has a very ominous intro where the barbs are marching into sight of the city, with all those torches in the distance.

[SigniferOne]

The siege video is fine, but the newest new video, the short one, is even better.

[Grey_Fox]

Looking at the videos now, looks interesting enough.

[Steppe Merc]

To me, it just looks very pathetic. Sea Raiders? On horses? Horses don't like being on boats.
And Chosen Axemen... again. Can't they get it into their heads that barbarians do not just have such stupid units!

[barocca]

(saxon keels)
Lightly equipped, .... Armed to the teeth...They are not heavily armoured or equipped

eh?

contradicting themselves repeatedly in one paragraph, that takes talent,
or a lazy editor...

B.

[barocca]

and once again

I AM NOT PAYING FOR STUFF THAT SHOULD BE FREE

high quality version of the video's requirng me to part with hard earned cash to view are not a good way of promoting BI.

B.

[edyzmedieval]

Come on Steppe Merc.

It doesn't matter the fantasy units, if the game is very moddable. It's easy to remove these fantasy units which are indeed very annoying, and also you can add new, historical units.

EDIT: Barocca is 2 times right. Contradictory information doesn't suit very well to a preview of a highly expected game. Second, CA doesn't have a marketing view. We shouldn't pay for stuff that it's supposed to be free.

[TB666]

and once again

I AM NOT PAYING FOR STUFF THAT SHOULD BE FREE

high quality version of the video's requirng me to part with hard earned cash to view are not a good way of promoting BI.

B.

The free videos have good quality so get those.

[edyzmedieval]

What?!

The Castrum?! At Saxons?! OMG. This is really annoying.
Only the Romans had the Castrum!!!

[Steppe Merc]

edyzmedieval, I know that all that matters is the moddability. It doesn't stop me from being irritated by this sort of thing, though.

[edyzmedieval]

Guess CA needs a historian like Stephen Turnbull and some TW players, like BKB and Steppe Merc.....

[Sol Invictus]

I must admit that when I saw Chosen Axemen, I was a bit disappointed. I just wish that name would disappear forever. Just call them Saxon Axemen and move on. So far though, I haven't seen any completely idiotic units that I would absolutely hate to play with. I figure the Dogs, Priests, Sarmatian Women, and Rocket Ballista will be the first to fall on the cutting room floor. I could even live with the Dogs and Priests, but the Raving Sarmatian Women and Rocket Ballista will have to go. I hope that modders can make the Rocket Ballista unable to fire on the move and move slower; then even they would be ok. A few months ago I was sure I wouldn't get BI, but now I almost certainly will. I will wait a few days or a week to read some feedback though.

[lars573]

I'd take that IGN faction preview with a brick o' sea salt y'hargh. I remember the previews for the factions from RTW and there were some whoping big mistakes in most of them. The preview make no mention of siege weapons or war hounds either of which is very likely for the Saxons to have.

[Hurin_Rules]

Other than sea raiders, which seem rather weak, do the Saxons have any distinctive units?

Seems a rather meager choice for them.

[KSEG]

Guess CA needs a historian like Stephen Turnbull and some TW players, like BKB and Steppe Merc.....

Well, they managed to ruin STW of historical accuracy even with the consultance of Stephen Turnbull so I doubt that would work.

[Sol Invictus]

Hurin, aren't Hearth troops unique to the Saxons? I think the Saxons will be fine as long as they confine themselves to Britain, but If they have to come up against some serious cavalry forces on the continent, it could get messy.

[Hurin_Rules]

Hurin, aren't Hearth troops unique to the Saxons? I think the Saxons will be fine as long as they confine themselves to Britain, but If they have to come up against some serious cavalry forces on the continent, it could get messy.

Oh, right, hearth troops. Yeah, I guess they do have a few unique units then. I was just hoping that they might have Saxons weilding their distinctive knives (Seax, hence their name, Seaxons, Saxons).

[Casmin]

[QUOTE=Steppe Merc]To me, it just looks very pathetic. Sea Raiders? On horses? Horses don't like being on boats.
QUOTE]

I agree the sea raiders are a bit weak. However, you've confused me with 'Horses don't like being on boats.' Because I'm sure you're aware that horses were transported on boats even though they didn't like it.

[Taurus]

Just watched the two videos and they are both very cool, especially the effects on the second one. Very epic indeed.

[doc_bean]

It doesn't matter the fantasy units, if the game is very moddable. It's easy to remove these fantasy units which are indeed very annoying, and also you can add new, historical units.

This is silly imho, mods should add something to the game, not be the reason a game is worth playing. They might as well box the engine and sell it.

And I also refuse to pay for a patch. They admit they had to fix a lot of bugs for the expansion, the decent thing to do would be to release a patch for the people who won't buy the expansion. Maybe if that made Rome better I'd actually buy BI.

[Steppe Merc]

I agree the sea raiders are a bit weak. However, you've confused me with 'Horses don't like being on boats.' Because I'm sure you're aware that horses were transported on boats even though they didn't like it.

Well, yes they were transported when they didn't like it. But horses need to be exercised a lot, and there often isn't a lot of room on boats. So a few could be transported, or more if on large boats. But they would have to be taken care of extremely well, otherwise, they'd be worthless in battle.
But I don't think an entire unit of horses would fit on a raiding boat of the Saxons, which is the main reason I thought it was silly.

[KSEG]

This is silly imho, mods should add something to the game, not be the reason a game is worth playing. They might as well box the engine and sell it.

And I also refuse to pay for a patch. They admit they had to fix a lot of bugs for the expansion, the decent thing to do would be to release a patch for the people who won't buy the expansion. Maybe if that made Rome better I'd actually buy BI.

Well, they are releasing a patch for people who don't want to buy BI.
Although according to them "you should buy it because it rocks!"
Read the latest FAQ at totalwar.com.

[SMZ]

eh?

contradicting themselves repeatedly in one paragraph, that takes talent,
or a lazy editor...

B.

In all fairness, there is a difference between arms and armor.

[Zenicetus]

To me, it just looks very pathetic. Sea Raiders? On horses? Horses don't like being on boats.

I agree the sea raiders are a bit weak. However, you've confused me with 'Horses don't like being on boats.' Because I'm sure you're aware that horses were transported on boats even though they didn't like it.

Hey, they're "raiders", right? Once they land ashore, maybe they're stealing someone else's horses.