Anyone else a little worried by the interviews?!

[screwtype]

Wow, new screenshots! even though I think, the castle entrance is a little bit exaggerated :-)

Yeah, the castle entrance looks like a mock up to me.

Two things that strike me about all the screenshots so far.

First, there seem to be an awful lot of full face helmets. Too many I think. IMO, the units should contain a mix of soldiers both with and without full face helmets.

Secondly, there seems to be a lot of armour. I'm hardly a great medieval history buff, but I've always had the impression that knights in full armour were very much an elite. Most soldiers were men-at-arms with some plate armour but a lot of leather as well.

Most of the troops I've seen in the screenshots seem to be kitted up like full knights. Somehow this just isn't how I envisage Medieval combat.

[Zenicetus]

I wondered about all that armor too. Maybe they're using all elite units in the screenshots to make it look impressive and colorful, but the actual game might have more mixed armor types when you (and the AI) can't afford full stacks of elite knights. I hope that's the case. I'm not an expert on this period, but I also had the impression that full-kit knights didn't turn out in the numbers we see onscreen, and there should be other more pedestrian units on the field.

[Ludens]

Secondly, there seems to be a lot of armour. I'm hardly a great medieval history buff, but I've always had the impression that knights in full armour were very much an elite. Most soldiers were men-at-arms with some plate armour but a lot of leather as well.

Most of the troops I've seen in the screenshots seem to be kitted up like full knights. Somehow this just isn't how I envisage Medieval combat.

We complained ad nauseam about peasants hordes, so they give us knights and what do we do? Right...

These are just screenshots: off course they show the flashy bits. We'll have to wait until the full game before we know how the actual armies will be composed. Even then, I doubt it will be an accurate representation of medieval warfare. Small armies followed by large peasant mobs make for poor gameplay.

[screwtype]

We complained ad nauseam about peasants hordes, so they give us knights and what do we do? Right...

These are just screenshots: off course they show the flashy bits. We'll have to wait until the full game before we know how the actual armies will be composed. Even then, I doubt it will be an accurate representation of medieval warfare. Small armies followed by large peasant mobs make for poor gameplay.

I agree. All I'm really trying to say is I'd be happy with a similar mix of units that were available in MTW. In that game, your fully kitted out Gothic Knights and so on were very hard to get and expensive. Mostly you just had archers, spearmen, pikemen and men-at-arms of variable quality. And that, IMO, is how it should be.

[GFX707]

I wouldn't get your hopes up based on screenshots. Go look at the RTW pre-release screenshots and tell me if half that stuff will ever occur in a normal game....

[QwertyMIDX]

It would be nice if the CA crew solved the AI probably by adding the multiplayer campaign they've been promising since STW came out. If the AI can't be made to give the player a challange, let the player get a challange from other players.

[Kraxis]

Have anyone noticed how the scale of roads, trees and everything now fits?
No more giant trees (some does seem big, but that is to be expected in forests), that make your men look like hobbits fighting. That has got to be positive or can someone manage complain about that?

But it true that we won't ever have battles that look like this. These shots are structured for our benefit. They are meant to be flashy and dazzling. How else will you draw in enough customers? It is a fairly sad fact, but we just have to learn to read these shots like we read the annoucements of politicians. It is an entirely different language, just like diplomacy.

And what I can read from the shots is positive so far. But the shots can't tell if there is going to be RTW speed or the AI isn't going to stumble ahead. That can't only be speculated on. Yes even with Wikiman's comment on the matter. For has he really sai anything firm? Something that can't be bent if the reality doesn't fit the percieved comment?
Good, so let's just be happy that CA actually responded to it and seems to be working on it. Time will tell more effectively.

[screwtype]

Have anyone noticed how the scale of roads, trees and everything now fits?
No more giant trees (some does seem big, but that is to be expected in forests), that make your men look like hobbits fighting. That has got to be positive or can someone manage complain about that?

LOL. Yes I definitely noticed the properly scaled trees - not to mention their much greater level of detail. A return to appropriate scale would be very much welcome from my POV.

But whether we actually get these features in the game, is as you say far from guaranteed. I guess we'll have a better idea as development progresses.

[Puzz3D]

But it true that we won't ever have battles that look like this. These shots are structured for our benefit. They are meant to be flashy and dazzling. How else will you draw in enough customers?

Misrepresentation is surely not for our benefit.

[Kraxis]

Misrepresentation is surely not for our benefit.

Come on you know what I meant to say.
We can have such battles... Chances are just low enough for us to never experience them.
But we just have to apply the normal filters we use when we scan new games. They always try to put their game in the most beautiful light of course.

While people here would love to see Spearmen, Archers and other low-end units they are simply not flashy enough for the people who happens to click in for a peep.

[Ludens]

Have anyone noticed how the scale of roads, trees and everything now fits?
No more giant trees (some does seem big, but that is to be expected in forests), that make your men look like hobbits fighting. That has got to be positive or can someone manage complain about that?

Down with R:TW's bloody giant sequoia's!

[Orda Khan]

I agree. All I'm really trying to say is I'd be happy with a similar mix of units that were available in MTW. In that game, your fully kitted out Gothic Knights and so on were very hard to get and expensive. Mostly you just had archers, spearmen, pikemen and men-at-arms of variable quality. And that, IMO, is how it should be.

Correct. The first thing I thought when I saw the screenshots of MTW II....far too many great helms. Same thing with all the armour, there is just too much for the battlefield to look realistic

.....Orda

[TB666]

Well the screens are realistic with the troop selections.
If a faction is rich then naturally they will get the best troops money can buy.
No TW game has been realistic about that and never will be either since it goes against TW's "what if" idea.

[Watchman]

Correct. The first thing I thought when I saw the screenshots of MTW II....far too many great helms. Same thing with all the armour, there is just too much for the battlefield to look realistic

.....Orda

Given that the guys in the screenies look like High to Late-period heavy-end troops (which also had a tendency to get pitted against one another - it's not like the light stuff could be relied on to contain them), not really. Those fellows were well armed, and the normal practice was to mass troops of roughly similar capabilities and equipement into large formations.

And, put this way: if you're doing a PR shot on the topic of Hastings, what are you going to show - the cruddy spearmen levies poking at each other on the wings, or the Norman heavy cavalry and Saxon Huscarles going at it in the centre ?

[Kraxis]

Correct. The first thing I thought when I saw the screenshots of MTW II....far too many great helms. Same thing with all the armour, there is just too much for the battlefield to look realistic

.....Orda

Remember the shots for MTW back in those days... Chivalric Knights galore! It is the same here. We see the cool and impressive stuff. In time we might get to see more lowly Sergeants, Spearmen and Archers. Who knows, but I doubt these low-end units will be left out, or even neglected.

[Orda Khan]

Remember the shots for MTW back in those days... Chivalric Knights galore! It is the same here. We see the cool and impressive stuff. In time we might get to see more lowly Sergeants, Spearmen and Archers. Who knows, but I doubt these low-end units will be left out, or even neglected.

Yes I remember and I am aware that 'cool' sells, you are right of course but I was a little disappointed seeing all those great helms which were mainly used in tournament jousting. They were never really that popular and I can only hope that bascinet and chapel de fevre are more numerous

........Orda