MII:TW - Disappointed?

[babarian34]

Kinda dissapointed - I had hoped for something new rather than a rehash - Napoleon:TW would introduce gunpowder warfare as a major facet (not the side show it was in Shogun) along with cannons and cavalry and might well have seen the end of the Total Seige aspect of the other games (cannons > stone walls). With M2:TW I can see myself storming another 1000 or so fortresses with the rare, rare field battle.

If there was going to be a rehash, Id have preferred for them to do Shogun over again. With less variety of units the work on the battle AI, which is badly required, would be easier.

But M:TW2 is what we got. I just hope they dont repeat the annoyances from M:TW. I wept with joy when I loaded up RTW and saw Princess units were not reflected and marraiges were abstracted. The mention of them again is not filling me with nostalgia. It was annoying to shove them around the map trying to get anyone to marry them. Pure map clutter, and they should be abstracted. Diplomats should be abstracted as well - send them to open an embassy, then they "dissapear" and you conduct dip thru that embassy rather than chasing the faction round the map. Given how pointless diplomacy is in TW games why clutter the map with useless units? Merchants and Priests? Again, map clutter. And boost the units speed *dramatically* on the strategic maps. Its hard to imagine running a Crusade using RTW speeds. The trip to the New World would take 14 or 15 game years in RTW. One way.

Id like to see a bit of a change in unit recruitment to reflect the feudal structure and the fact that standing armies were hideously expensive/rare - make upkeep *very* high to prevent the forming of large standing armies, but offset it by having "mercenaries/vassals" recruitable in the summer period, that then disband in the winter. The core of the army would then be the "kings own", fleshed out by his vassals troops which campaign for the summer, returning to the harvest in the autumn/winter. The quality of vassals depends on the prosperity of the province/loyalty of the populace. It would reflect reality, and act to nerf "rushes".

If theyre thoughtful and work to improve the game in more than eye candy, then eventually it could be well worth the grave digging. If its just M:TW pimped up to look like R:TW itll be a case of why bother?

I agree with you, especially the part about standing armies and recruitment in medieval times.
However, I know already that CA won't do anything of the things you said (maybe the reduction of diplomat/princess micro, but thats it)
Why i know this? - Because CA is a conservative games studio, like most of the studios on the market. Why try something really new and exciting if the majority of players is happy to play the same sort of game again.


Mithrandir: edited language & insult.