Your favourite new features in m2tw?

[Furious Mental]

The Mongol horde.

[Cebei]

More realistic battles; I don't want the front line fighting and the back lines standing still like idiots.

[caspian]

I want to see how the new features (princesses, merchants, etc.) affect the campaign map. And how 'invincible' the Papacy will be this time around.

[CBR]

More realistic battles; I don't want the front line fighting and the back lines standing still like idiots.

What should the rear line then be doing?


CBR

[Furious Mental]

Good question. If you look at Roman warfare, you'll find that's what the formations behind the frontmost did- stood there while the front line fought, then when the front line was tired it withdrew and the next line went in to bat. Even if an army's tactics didn't revolve around wearing the enemy down by attrition, it is commonsense to have forces in reserve.

[King Bob VI]

Speaking of system requirements, do you guys think
2.8 Ghz CPU
1GB RAM
256MB Graphics Card
will be able to run M2TW on decent settings? I don't have Rome so I can't tell you how well it runs that.

[Alien_Tortoise2345]

For me the main draws are:

A: Great-looking and more so than Rome.
B: Seems to be more factions than Rome.
C: New non-combat units i.e. Princesses, Merchants, Cardinals, Witches, Heretics.
D: Option to make towns Fortresses or Castles is interesting.
E: The presentation seems nice in the trailer i.e. lots of nice movies.
F: Cannons on Elephants!

[Puzz3D]

Good question. If you look at Roman warfare, you'll find that's what the formations behind the frontmost did- stood there while the front line fought, then when the front line was tired it withdrew and the next line went in to bat. Even if an army's tactics didn't revolve around wearing the enemy down by attrition, it is commonsense to have forces in reserve.

What's Roman warfare got to do with RTW? Total War is now a tactical fantasy game, and that means every man should be flailing his weapon in melee just like every man in a ranged unit shoots even if he isn't in range. There is no need for a tactical reserve in the battles. Just throw everything into a giant furball then zoom in and watch.

[Tamur]

I'm looking forward to the rabbit of Caerbannog.

[Tiberius maximus]

i think i love all thats been told about it except i dont believe the whole "if you can play RTW then you cn play MTW2" that has to be a bunch of

[sunsmountain]

None.

Maybe glory goals, if they're in.

[r johnson]

For me it's the way how settlements can be developed in two ways.

Either as feudal lands with castles, or as cities.

Sounds interesting. Anyway i'm actually looking forward to see how the new diplomacy works if it's as good as it sounds.

[danfda]

None.

Maybe glory goals, if they're in.

Gods, I wish GA mode was in... I would upgrade my PC just to buy M2TW if that were the case. Unfortunately, I believe I heard somewhere that CA has already said no GA, and therefore I am a sad person.

That said, the major feature that would really interest me would be improved campaign AI (I know, saying that is like beating a dead horse, but what the heck). I'd also be interested in diplomacy that actually functions, but that is inevitably tied to improved AI. In short, I'm not going to be holding my breath.

[Fwapper]

It's very hard to advertise the AI. The graphics are upfront, in your face things which make you go "Hey, that's pretty damn cool" (More like "Uuurgh... yummy gore... blooood... mmmm..." *faints with pleasure*)

Anyway... graphics are easy to advertise compared to AI. While AI mentionings seem to be getting more frequent, CA, and the makers of any strategy game for that matter, still won't, and really can't give that much away. We'll need to wait for a playable demo to come out before we can get our first sample of the AI, but it will be our 10000th sample of the graphics. People really give CA a really hard time over this... I'm in full support of constructively critisizing the AI flaws in current games, but senselessly bashing the AI in a game that isn't even out yet is just harsh.

Just my five good British pennies...

Fwapper

[Furious Mental]

Well in all fairness the AI in RTW wasn't exactly Einstein, and unless CA says "The tactical AI is going to be much better than it was in RTW" people will assume that it is going to be the same old. As the inevitable release date approaches and the emphasis in press releases etc continues to be on things other than the tactical AI, people get crankier because it seems all the more likely that the AI is indeed the same.

[Fwapper]

Hmmmm... suppose you're probably right...

I'll just patiently wait for the demo... and be cautiously optimistic...

:despair: (<--What!! No despair smiley?! Outrageous...)

[Puzz3D]

I'll just patiently wait for the demo... and be cautiously optimistic...

Oh yes, the scripted demo with the unfinished skirmish AI ala RTW demo.

[x-dANGEr]

like every man in a ranged unit shoots even if he isn't in range.

So you think it would be realistic that a man can let his arrow fly and hit a target at the range of 100 metres, but not at 100.5 metres?

[R'as al Ghul]

So you think it would be realistic that a man can let his arrow fly and hit a target at the range of 100 metres, but not at 100.5 metres?

Puzz3D refers to M:TW and S:TW where it was the case that only the first rank fired when in range. To make all 3 ranks fire it's required to move in a bit further/ closer to the enemy. Range is therefore measured for the individual soldier.
In R:TW the range is measured per unit. If one soldier is in range all are.

You can of course argue that the soldiers that stand 1 meter behind, in 2nd rank can fire just as well, but why have a max range at all then?
In Total War arrows have a max range for gameplay purpose. Being forced to move all three ranks in range also means that all three ranks can be hit.
The Rome gameplay takes away a lot of this little details that have impact on the tactics. Anyway, the Rome gameplay is so messed up imho, that it hardly matters that all archers of a unit always shoot.

[redriver]

why everybody's so heavy on RAM? just don't run XP! did ya know that CoDII care less 'bout how much RAM/CPU power your system has. it's all 'bout the graphic card baby... that's what's gonna change the most. graphics. same for CoD vs CoD2...
anyways, my fav. feature is not the uplifted graphics engine. that's nice and dandy but in most battles ya wanna be zoomed out all the way to get a good grasp of the battlefield and don't get your a$$ flanked because ya stare at somebody's
my fav. feauture will be the new world and indians. hopefully they'll let us play one of the first nations even if that means losin' everytime

[danfda]

Hmmmm... suppose you're probably right...

I'll just patiently wait for the demo... and be cautiously optimistic...

I didn't think there was going to be a demo...

[Horatius]

Of what has been anounced I am seriously looking forward to actually getting use diplomacy for something other then "The senate requests for the good of the people of Rome for you to get a trade agreement with" and bribing.

[Ituralde]

Scrap what I said earlier!

My new favourtie feature are the Guilds, they're gonna be really awesome and I'm really looking forward to playing the game. Even if the battle AI was bad I would still play the game for the Guilds alone, the missions they give me and the things I have to do to get them in the first place. Really my favourite feature by far, so far!

[amadkiwi]

My favourite new feature will be the brilliant graphics, and the units as individuals. 10,000 soldiers in an army, all looking different from the person next to them, and they all look fantastic too.

[hoetje]

will I be able to run the game on high settings with :
3.0 ghz processor
ram 1024 mb
geforce 7600 gt 256 mb?