XPack: New Units for old factions?

[Monarch]

Well after BI which was basically Rome Total War 2, I'm kinda annoyed because I just took a look at a gamespot screen, the one with England n Wales on campaign map...look at the English army, all the units are existing ones. In BI not one unit was the same, I know these are simply mini campaigns but time period is slightly earlier afaik but I'm just wondering, will ALL the English units be the same?

To continue this a little, will the new factions have some old factions units? (will the Teutonics have some HRE units).

Its early days but I'm not really tracking this xpack much so I was wondering if you guys knew anything?

I know these are just mini campaigns but if the units are going to be recylced I'd have personally much preferred one BI like totally new campaign.

[Boyar Karhunkynsi]

Watching the trailer and saw all the pics I can find points out that there will be some, but few. The Byzantines have their flamethrower. The English have their Armoured Sergeants (which they should have had already). And plenty more that I haven't seen yet.

Any word on the release date?

EDIT: I rant waaaaaay to much.

-Max

[Lusted]

Release date? (been announced? I've been on holiday and can't see anything yet...)

ETA Autumn 2007.

The Grand Campaign is essentially unchanged, right?

I believe so yes.

Will the maps be different for each of the new campaigns?

Yes. 4 different campaigns with 4 different maps

Who will be invading the Americas?

Sounds like you can do it as a few nations.

Has the time period changed? If so, shouldn't some of the factions be starting in different territories (to the normal GC) in the new Grand Campaign? (ie. Byzantium)

There isn't a new Grand Campaign, there are 4 new seperare campaigns.

If playing the new British Isles campaign, what happens when you conquer it all? Does it go into the GC map like in previous TW games?

Erm, what you did in the expansion campaigns has never affected the main campaign in the TW series.

Will the territories boundaries (and new territories) be moved for the new campaigns?

All of the new campaign maps look like they have about 60 provinces in them.

I know these are simply mini campaigns but time period is slightly earlier afaik but I'm just wondering, will ALL the English units be the same?

Britannia campaign begins in 1258, so there's no need for CA to change the english unit roster.

To continue this a little, will the new factions have some old factions units? (will the Teutonics have some HRE units).

Well the HRE will be in the Teutonic campaign, i'd guess the Templars and Hospitallers will be in the Crusader campaign, i can't see the Byzantines, Mongols, Egyptians or Turks getting many new units. The Spanish will likely just have their late campaign units in the Americas campaign.

[Monarch]

Watching the trailer and saw all the pics I can find points out that there will be some, but few. The Byzantines have their flamethrower. The English have their Armoured Sergeants (which they should have had already). And plenty more that I haven't seen yet.

Any word on the release date?

EDIT: I rant waaaaaay to much.

-Max

Didn't notice the armoured sergeants, I mainly play mp and they can get them in mp.

Lusted, where did all those quotes come from?

[Lusted]

Lusted, where did all those quotes come from?

The 2nd post, Boyar Karhunkynsi's, he must have edited it after i posted.

[Monarch]

Sounds like you can do it as a few nations.

From what I've seen the Americas campaign is Spanish invading. Oh and doesn't look like any new spanish units either.

Britannia campaign begins in 1258, so there's no need for CA to change the english unit roster.

Funny, I always figured expansion packs were supposed to expand the game. I wouldn't be so bothered if say you just gave the Welsh a load of normal units but come on, England will surely be what alot of people look to play first (maybe not here at the org but think of the average joe who buys this game, 90% chance he'll go for english) and so they should get some new units, or at least change the look of the units.

AFAIK there were more types of troops in the 13th century than the M2 English unit roster.

[Lusted]

Not really, english armies of that time were a few knights, dismounted knights, billmen and spearmen, and later on large contingents of longbowmen. There isn't really anythng CA could add to the English unit roster.

[pike master]

i thought they said there would be 150-160 new units

[Lusted]

Yeah, factions like Ireland, Lithuania, Teutonic Order, Jerusalem, Antioch, Wales, Apache etc. will all have new units.

[Furious Mental]

The English should at least have crossbowmen added to their roster.

[Gaius Terentius Varro]

Prey tell why the English need armored spearmen in campaign

[Monarch]

Not really, english armies of that time were a few knights, dismounted knights, billmen and spearmen, and later on large contingents of longbowmen. There isn't really anythng CA could add to the English unit roster.

Thats like saying all the greeks had were hoplites, I've played RTR and theres a fair few different types of hoplites the Greeks can get, I'm pretty sure its possible to find a few more units.

Basically since the campaigns are smaller, they should be more detailed. I personally am not a big EB or RTR fan, I prefer The Crusades and am looking at in the future downloading Hegamonia (sp) and the italian peninsula (name is latin lol) mod.

I like focused campaigns with smaller scope, however like the mentioned mods, with smaller scope should come more detail.

[Lusted]

I suppose you could have Welsh Longbowmen, Cheshire Longbowmen, different bill levies for different areas which would have the same exact stats because all billmen units were basically the same. There really wasn't that much variety, M2Tw has it pretty much spot on for the English.

[HoreTore]

Well, we all want history to be exciting, don't we?

The fact is however, it is not. You simply have your heavy infantry, your light infantry and your cavalry. There really isn't much more.

[Traffik]

While I agree there isn't much one can add to the current rosters of many of the factions currently in M2TW (can't exactly add a flamethrower to the British unit lineup), I think there should be a greater level of detail and control one has over their units. Beyond uniform, I think CA can perhaps allow the player to manipulate things such as armor (in a different way than is currently used), weaponry, training and recruitment pools and make differences based on cost and geographical location. While the expansion probably won't do any of that, I really would like more detailed control over my armies versus just the generic levy spearmen or longbowmen unit. I think through this detail, one can make a game that provides enough diversity without taking too many liberties with history.