Quote Originally Posted by econ21
Well, one official rationale for starting with the Romans in RTW was that extra work had gone into them (primarily longer speeches & Senate missions but arguably also fuller tech tree, Roman-style advisors etc) and CA wanted to showcase that.

I suspect the same is true of the 5 Catholic factions - like the Romans, they will share a lot of common material (speeches, crusading, guilds etc.). The muslim/orthodox factions - as well as some smaller Catholic factions - may have a little bit less chrome (shorter speeches, perhaps less involved missions etc.)
That's probably all true, econ; I'd surmised much the same thing. It's not that I don't understand why these Catholic factions are receiving the especiale treatment, however.

I'm saying I don't understand why the Byzantines and at least one of the Muslim factions weren't included as well. I have no trouble understanding that the initial faction selection would probably be *dominated* by Catholic factions (whether that was 3 out of 5, 5 out of 7, or whatever). But to exclude the Muslims and Orthodox entirely? To not give them even one faction on the "starting line-up"? Why?

Most strategy games tout how each faction in their game is different, and how their play styles vary. CA, on the other hand, is going to force players (especially those people who don't know how to mod, which is a pretty large group) to choose between 5 factions that are fairly alike aside from their starting locations. I just don't get it.

Quote Originally Posted by econ21
There was an element of that even in MTW - some factions had far more interesting GAs and many more historical characters than others.

edit: now I think about it, aren't the 5 M2TW starting factions also the original 5 Catholics with interesting early GAs (Crusades)?
Yes, you're right--and it caused a certain amount of rumbling back then as well, although not nearly as much as now. The reason it wasn't as much of an issue back then was that of course most factions were already playable.

I really don't mind if CA has given certain factions a bit more spit and polish; I realize that's going to be inevitable in just about any strategy game. But to limit our initial choices so as not to "overwhelm" new players is quite honestly ridiculous, and personally I would be insulted if I were one of those new players they're targeting. Just about anyone that plays Total War games is going to possess at least a modicum of intelligence (and probably at least a passing interest in history as well)--enough intelligence to decide for themselves which faction they'd like to try out.

CA wants to reach out to a broader audience? Fine. But limiting faction selection is not the way to go about it, as it's a pointless and unnecessary restriction. Unless a lot of 5-year-olds suddenly start playing these games, I very seriously doubt letting us choose our factions is going to "overhwelm" anyone.