After Empire...

[Quintus.JC]

I vote for History: Total War. The first ever game in the series to feature a map that spans the entire earth! Now that sounds a bit ambitious I know, but I think it could be done and still in keeping with the feel of the previous games. The main features of the game would be:

1. A time period of about 800 B.C. to 700 A.D. allowing for factions to include ancient greece, rome, the mayan civilization, the han dynasties of china, india, persia, and so on.

2. Because the TW series is about re-writing history, the campaign would feature every tribe or civilization that could possibly have risen to power sometime during that time period, including the ones that failed historically! That's a lot of factions, so obviously there would have to be some overlap for region-specific units, but hopefully limited enough to retain the distinct character of each empire's armies.

3. A technology tree, resource trading, diplomacy that works, etc. and much more. Dreaming, I know.

I know this has been suggested before but I don't see it on the poll. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do if you keep the number of factions down to a dull roar, and the possibilities for modding are HUGE. Anyway I doubt this will happen for the next TW game, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.

Well, that is certainly very very ambitious, I'm not sure that would work. I think Civilization IV did a good job creating games of that calibre.

[Mangudai]

China would be very cool, either warring states or three kindgoms period, with a huns/mongols expansion.

If they were willing to really upgrade the battle engine a gunpowder era game would rock. The 30 years war would be cool. Someday a Napoleonic game would be great, but the engine is not well suited to it in the current form.

[Lokar]

Well, that is certainly very very ambitious, I'm not sure that would work. I think Civilization IV did a good job creating games of that calibre.

You're probably right, and the civilization games were very good. In that case I vote for Peloponnesia, as long as it has persians, thracians, etc.

[Wasp]

Well, a new Shogun would be very nice, but only if it has the same feel as the first game.

Otherwise, I'd like to see any of those China: TW games. Sounds interesting!

[Arcana]

I hope Dark Ages will be quite different, althought yeah; its still gonna have the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Franks etc.etc. So it might not be a great idea after all. But rise of the Islamic empire would be rather interesting.

I'd like Dark Ages. I'd like to see more about the warring factions of northwestern Europe and Britain - the Saxons, the Celts, Picts, et al.

I don't foresee that outside of a mod, tho. So even though I voted for it I imagine Shogun 2 is more likely.

[Chapien]

I personally want to see a Fantasy Total War...

[Chapien]

The Dark Ages Total War sounds WAY to much like Rome Total War: Barbarien Invasion...

[Aemilius Paulus]

Bronze Age Total War with factions such as Hittites, Mittani, Assyria, Babylon, Sea Peoples, Achaea, Jews, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Phyrgians, and Aiguptos (Egypt) would be absolutely splendid. Or a Total War game similar to Asia ton Barbaron, but with more of the East (including Japan) and less of the West (no Makedonia or Asia Minor). I have voted for a remake of Shogun though, because it was the closest thing to what I would like.

Going further than the 1840s would be very difficult for CA as melee combat was no longer important by then.

[Quintus.JC]

Bronze Age Total War with factions such as Hittites, Mittani, Assyria, Babylon, Sea Peoples, Achaea, Jews, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Phyrgians, and Aiguptos (Egypt) would be absolutely splendid.

That's a brilliant idea, most excellent suggestion.

[Thermal]

shogun 2 total war, but cover china, many parts of east asia and also australisia, with a intellienge ai, many provinces and intereting cultures, u get the idea

[Thermal]

I personally want to see a Fantasy Total War...

it may put some customers off but why not? i always prefer fantasy mods to real, there much more intresing

4 season s for medieval 2 (by anime) is amazing fun with a combonation of a santa faction, dark and light factions with excellently modelled dragons and the like

for rome eod series is superb (by halie satunus and mak...(someone)) get unit models and more or less a complete rome over hall, fantasy mods are my favourite because they have completely new content in them! and always have a great atmosphere, i rarely get bored of em

[PBI]

it may put some customers off but why not? i always prefer fantasy mods to real, there much more intresing

4 season s for medieval 2 (by anime) is amazing fun with a combonation of a santa faction, dark and light factions with excellently modelled dragons and the like

for rome eod series is superb (by halie satunus and mak...(someone)) get unit models and more or less a complete rome over hall, fantasy mods are my favourite because they have completely new content in them! and always have a great atmosphere, i rarely get bored of em

Santa faction?!

Got a link to download this mod? This is something I have to see!

[Koga No Goshi]

how about a pan-Asian Total War, not just samurai and not just China, but all? Including the Mongols as a playable faction?

Whatever it is, I just hope it's ancient or preferrably at least pre-gunpowder. Maybe they'll go back with new technology and knock our socks off with another game set in the old world in four years. If it stays in modern periods I'll probably not buy anymore TW's.

[cambovenzi]

i just thought of something.
maybe something to do with Indians?(as in native americans)

although, this is probably mostly covered in empire.
but maybe a pre-gun/pre-euro america game.
(or, on a more childish note, cowboys and indians)

idk, might not be great.

[Quintus.JC]

I think another area which hasn't been mentioned and would make a great game is India (as in Hindu India). My history about India is at best average but I think the Classical age from 600A.D - 1300A.D would be an very interesting era to play. The various changes including the introduction of the Muslim religion would be critical to the game as well, both culturely and militaryly. Or one of the earlier period of the Magadha empire would be nice as well.

[Mount Suribachi]

China/India TW is NEVER going to happen. Its just not mainstream enough, and doesn't appeal enough to gamers in core markets (Europe/N America).

Ancient TW isn't a bad idea, but I'm sticking by Rome2

[cambovenzi]

China/India TW is NEVER going to happen. Its just not mainstream enough, and doesn't appeal enough to gamers in core markets (Europe/N America).

Ancient TW isn't a bad idea, but I'm sticking by Rome2

i was thinking the same thing.

knights and samurai, etc are huge draws nd people have big interest.

india? not so much

[Aemilius Paulus]

China/India TW is NEVER going to happen. Its just not mainstream enough, and doesn't appeal enough to gamers in core markets (Europe/N America).

Ancient TW isn't a bad idea, but I'm sticking by Rome2

An Asia ton Barbaron-style Total War would be nice with China and India. I gotta admit it is true that it may not be "mainstream" enough, but then again, I am sure that all of the TW fans would buy it. However, I am afraid that TW fans are not the only people who buy the TW games. Much of the sales probably consist of people who simply see a "cool" new RTS game or just simply a game with huge amount of units that can be simultaneously played and buy it.

Despite the fact that both China and India both have more than two billion people, most of those people do not own computers. Nevertheless, huge numbers of people own PCs, mainly because that even a small percentage of Indians/Chinese amounts to large numbers. Despite this, I doubt any of them are stupid enough to get any type of software legally. Therefore it is, like Mount Suribachi said. It's like having a Russia: Total War - no sane Russian would legally buy/download it!

Still, I stand by my beliefs, while China/India TW may be unlikely, it would still be a fresh, excellent addition to the TW saga. RTWII, on the other hand, would be somewhat pointless as RTWI already has pretty good graphics and features. MTW had horrible graphics and it lacked many features of M2TW, which is why it had a remake. RTW is not the same. I seriously doubt that CA would consider doing RTWII. My hopes are that they will try a Bronze Age Total War, which isn't too far from reality. A smart thing to do in CA's place would be to do surveys to see what the fans want.

Anyway, I voted for Shogun II since the Shogun graphics and game mechanics do need a makeover.

[TheDruid]

havent voted.
but support for bronze ages (hitites thing) or rome 2 but with the gauls much differently

[Koga No Goshi]

China/India TW is NEVER going to happen. Its just not mainstream enough, and doesn't appeal enough to gamers in core markets (Europe/N America).

Ancient TW isn't a bad idea, but I'm sticking by Rome2

This wasn't an issue UNTIL they made Rome. Total War became famous because of its awesome gameplay, not because it was feeding the most mainstream possible eras of popular history. The forums used to be flooded with people who didn't touch the series until Rome TW came out. It was kind of annoying, like all the Tolkein fans who materialized after the movies were made.

[caravel]

STW sold well and was the making of CA. But it was a brave move. I doubt CA will be that brave again.

IMHO MTW was the first sign of decline in the TW series. It went for a map too large with two much variation in the factions, too big an area covered and 1 year per turn. The best thing about MTW could have been the VI campaign, if that had been well balanced, original, on a larger map with more provinces it would have been a great campaign.

The TW game engine lends itself better to the "civil war" type scenario. In MTW terms, Shogun would have been represented as a few provinces with you being asked if you wanted to back the rebels or not... It would have been better if MTW had implemented several different campaigns all on different maps to represent different wars in particular regions. If the Medieval era wasn't fitting enough for this then CA should have chosen another.

Admittedly the Sengoku Jidai was the ideal setting for the first game and will probably always be the ideal setting for any TW game. You have many small warring factions, intent on stabbing each other in the back and forming temporary "strategic" alliances. It's the perfect scenario. Medieval and Rome are sadly not. And the complex diplomacy and AI required for such campaigns is sadly lacking from both.

The next perfect TW game would be an Hellenic one. Again you have so many small factions to exploit. The small scale map is again ideal as battles seem in proportion (which they clearly do not in post STW titles).

ETW will also suffer from this "miniaturisation" problem. AFAIK Waterloo was a single battle involving troop numbers in tens of thousands and combined numbering in the hundreds of thousands. As with Rome and Medieval this won't occur because you're still basically playing a game that can only think in Sengoku Jidai. Small scale civil wars are what it's best at and what it should stick to. The reason it won't is because huge maps covering as many countries and as large a time frame as possible is where CA thinks the money is.

There are many different eras that would be very suitable to TW games, but in general I would like to see larger scale maps. So instead of e.g. "Ireland" as a province, I would rather have all of the smaller provinces/towns and have my armies fighting their way across the country. This is far more immersive than say "Ireland Conquered", "Ireland lost" etc.

[HopAlongBunny]

Totally agree with Caravel

Although I started with MTW I find the series has become less interesting as the scale has expanded.

The engine is forced to take on stuff that it doesn't do well, and the battles themselves have become less and less interesting; I auto resolve almost everything now...something I never dreamed of doing with MTW.

If I'm going to focus on the strategic and not the battles, might as well play Civ or Europa; they do it better.

[Monk]

Getting a bit off topic here, the question was "After Empire what's next?",

If you would like to start a thread on "What TW game is your favorite?" then by all means but please do not derail this thread any further.

[Celtic_Punk]

I vote for History: Total War. The first ever game in the series to feature a map that spans the entire earth! Now that sounds a bit ambitious I know, but I think it could be done and still in keeping with the feel of the previous games. The main features of the game would be:

1. A time period of about 800 B.C. to 700 A.D. allowing for factions to include ancient greece, rome, the mayan civilization, the han dynasties of china, india, persia, and so on.

2. Because the TW series is about re-writing history, the campaign would feature every tribe or civilization that could possibly have risen to power sometime during that time period, including the ones that failed historically! That's a lot of factions, so obviously there would have to be some overlap for region-specific units, but hopefully limited enough to retain the distinct character of each empire's armies.

3. A technology tree, resource trading, diplomacy that works, etc. and much more. Dreaming, I know.

I know this has been suggested before but I don't see it on the poll. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do if you keep the number of factions down to a dull roar, and the possibilities for modding are HUGE. Anyway I doubt this will happen for the next TW game, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.

lol i got a game that youd enjoy then. Hearts of Iron II. its pretty much that without the timeframe. INCLUDING WORKING DIPLOMACY. check it out.

I agree with the scale should be made smaller. Pelopennesian wars be it should!

[edyzmedieval]

I suggest a new Medieval Total War. Medieval 3 Total War is the best, followed by Shogun 2 Total War...

[anders]

what about some kind of "expanded medieval" starting in the dark ages(BI) and/or ending in the renaissance, that way covering the core medieval period, and geographiclly including more of the near east and africa?

[caravel]

Apologies, Monk, if I have unwittingly derailed the thread somewhat, though my post really was about "After Empire what's next?" and not "What TW game is your favourite?".

[Sima Yi]

I'd definitely go with Three Kingdoms. Simply because that's my favorite part of history.

[Quintus.JC]

I'd definitely go with Three Kingdoms. Simply because that's my favorite part of history.

I could of guessed that with your name.

[Beefy187]

I voted for Shogun II total war but looking at the Peloponnesian total war map... I cant really decide now.