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[Puzz3D]

While many of the new visual additions are basically for immersion and entertainment, there are some improvements to gameplay that are represented very visually as well. One of the big ones is the inclusion of impassable terrain.

Impassable terrain has been in all the total war games.

What's also intriguing is Creative Assembly's mention that AI is being set to be much more tactically competitive this time around.

They finally admit the battle AI in RTW/BI isn't competitive. Here's a suggestion: incorporate the battle AI from STW which can run circles around the RTW/BI battle AI.

While it might have been realistic to expect mortal men to freak out and run away from certain death, CA found it wasn't necessarily the best for fun gameplay.

After being told 10,000 times that the battles were too fast, they finally admit it.

While the real-time tactical battles in the Total War series get much of the face time in screens and videos, the meat of the experience is actually in the turn-based strategy meta-game.

What?

Diplomacy in general has been heavily updated to come across as even easier to manage and more fun to take part in. One of the best things about the process is perhaps the improved AI that will actually remember previous dealings this time around.

So, intentionally designing the AI in RTW/BI to not remember what it did wasn't such a great idea afterall. I hope the AI's new memory remembers what it did between savegames.

Finally, fans of the Total War series can make a happy note that assassination videos have made their way back into the series.

Removing them was supposedly an improvement over STW. Now putting them back in is an improvement? Maybe they should look at STW more closely to find additional improvements.