After Empire...

[Aemilius Paulus]

I suggest a new Medieval Total War. Medieval 3 Total War is the best

Are you trying to provoke someone into posting a passionate response to this (just don't get me wrong here, I am not accusing you of being a troll or anything, just pulling a prank so to say), or are you actually serious?

Medieval TW has been done to death. Computers have advanced greatly between MTW and M2TW. It doesn't make sense to produce a remake so soon after M2TW's release. CA needs to wait some more time to make M3TW until the improved graphics and game mechanics make M2TW obsolete.

What CA needs to do is something new, not remakes. Everyone knows that with almost all movies and most (but not all; game remakes are on average more successful then movie remakes) games, the remake is not as nearly as good as the original. CA has to stop being so darn cautious; if CA doesn't come up with something new soon (not counting the Empires TW), the gamers are forsake it. I am however, pretty sure that CA is going to release either something new after Empires or just remake Shogun (which is going to be a piece of crap; nothing CA can do will even close to capturing the atmosphere of STW). It is also too early to do a remake of RTW, BTW.

[LordLaban]

Following the time line so far it would make sense with something like the american civil war.

It would then be *very* interesting what they could come up with for a TW:WWII game.

I enjoyed the older Close Combat games very much, especially a bridge too far and battle of the bulge where you at least did some management outside of the actual fighting, however adopting the TW approach to those games would be very exciting indeed.

[Megas Methuselah]

I find the American Civil War very interesting, I love the weapons and uniforms and such... BUT it's just not fun having a total war game composed solely of two major factions duking it out. That wouldn't be right.

I voted for the Dark Ages, but the peloponessian(sp!!) would be kool.

[Gleemonex]

I suddenly regret having voted for "Warring States" -- we're at least 4 generations away from a TW AI that can do justice to Sun Tzu!

What I'd like to see at some point would be an engine that can simulate ancient battles and logistics at full scale. Consider the following case:

From the strategic map, you attack an enemy army. This zooms into a sand table [1] where you set up camp, post watch, send foragers and spies. Divert some troops to ambush enemy suply trains, or try to raid their camp itself. Perform diversionary manoeuvres and out-think your enemy before battle even begins. [2]

From the sand table, array your forces, select a battle plan (L/R flank, double-envelopment, central push, feint retreat, hit-and-run, et al) and click a "prepare for battle" button, where you're taken to a battle map. Only the map isn't a static square zone -- it's centred around your general and his signals band. As you move him along the line, you can command the various troops (often numbering in the tens of thousands) and call on other generals to execute large-scale manoeuvres as planned on the sand table. Attack the enemy, and chase down routers -- but make sure they're not feinting a retreat or you'll get ambushed on the way to sack their camp.

But I think I may be waiting for this for a long, long while. I'd settle for Shogun 2 or a Chinese setting.

-Glee

------------------------------------
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Marine_table2.gif
[2] See Scipio Africanus' genius in the Battle of Ilipa.

[Joker Obama Girl]

I am betting on Mermaid: Total War! You may think I am being weird, but there really is some sort of historical evidence to support this (though the historiography is by no means extensive).



There are so many sailors accounts and such that you gotta seriously consider if they ever did/still do exist. It would be awesome to have mermaids throwing tridens at each other!
Anyway, that is my bet. (do not forget that the Age of Empires people put Age of Mythology out, so it may not be too far-fetched...)

[Gleemonex]

Consider the following case:

From the strategic map, you attack an enemy army. This zooms into a sand table ... divert some troops to ambush ... diversionary manoeuvres ... out-think your enemy ... select a battle plan ... execute large-scale manoeuvres ...

I am betting on Mermaid: Total War!

:facepalm:

[rvg]

I'd like the next game to be Nosecurom: Total War.

[Wausser]

Peloponnesia: Total War sounds like fun to me

[Darkvicer98]

Since Empire:Total War looks amazing and has many new tactics and strategies, after Empire it has to be set in the 1800's or early 1900's like Napoleon or WW1. With being able to garrison inside buildings, take cover etc in Empire TW on the battlefield surely SEGA and The Creative Assembly won't take any chances by going back in time when they have all this new stuff.

[Quintus.JC]

I'm sure there's no way SEGA and CA are going to make a WWI: TW... it just wouldn't be total war anymore.

[Martok]

Agreed. As I've said before, the Total War style of gameplay simply wouldn't translate well to modern warfare. Anything after the 19th century is right out.

[Wausser]

And the Western Front in WW I isn't even fun, it was mostly fought in trenches with modern weapons and old tactics...

[Aemilianus the Younger]

The problem with Empire is that they stopped too soon. If you stop at 1820, you dont get a chance to fully industrialize, and you miss things such as the American Civil War, the Crimean War and the majority of Imperialism. Hopefully they will be smart enough to put this stuff (up to about 1890 or 1900) in an expansion like Kingdoms. If they dont do that, then they may make an entirely new game, but that just seems like a waste of time and money and all that.

[Monk]

CA always leaves room to grow.

RTW stopped at 14 A.D when roman history quite clearly went further than that. This was done to allow freedom in crafting the expansion no doubt. Or, we could be looking at a "prequel" expansion after empire, ala STW.

STW's expansion was set before the Sengoku Jidai era if I am not mistaken (please correct me). So who knows, maybe instead of going forward the future Empire Expansion will go back?

[Martok]

A valid point, but I think you know as well as I do that it's highly unlikely CA will go back in time for an ETW expansion. Particularly if Empire ends in 1800 (and not 1820, as originally stated) -- which does seem to be the case -- a Napoleonic campaign is simply too good an opportunity for them to pass up.

[Monk]

A valid point, but I think you know as well as I do that it's highly unlikely CA will go back in time for an ETW expansion. Particularly if Empire ends in 1800 (and not 1820, as originally stated) -- which does seem to be the case -- a Napoleonic campaign is simply too good an opportunity for them to pass up.

Know what I would love to see?

If they do go the Napoleon route I would love to see a number of campaigns. One where Napoleon has just seized power and the other where his empire is already at its apex. True, it's highly unlikely.. but the TW player in me is starved for a challenge. I wanna fight the the new ETW AI with it having the full strength of Napoleon's army and empire behind it.

Bring it on I say!

[Arcana]

Although I'd like a Shogun II (I'm unable to play the first Shogun - nVidia 8-series and all that), or a Rome II with an up-to-date interface and not-quite-so-invincible generals as it ended up being after 1.3, I would also like a Mongol: Total War.

I know technically this would be set around the same yime period as M2TW but I was thinking setting around Mongolia, Indo-China and the Middle East. Granted, the Mongols would be WAY overpowered, but it's not the first time that's happened in a Total War game (I'm looking at you, Roman Empire...).

Whatever they do, I hope the emphasis can be shifted away from repetitive siege battles and onto more open warfare, as I think they've tried to do with Empire. There's something mightily annoying about the 'meat-grinders' you get when you attack a city...

[Owen Glyndwr]

I don't think I'd like to see the game get much more modern than perhaps the 1860s, after that, the battles grow too long in length, and it wouldn't fit in with the formula created in previous games. Shogun would be pretty cool. If it's about the civil war of the 1500s? Then you could make good use of the musket strategies already used by Empire (Such as in the battle of Nagashino.) However, it'd be fun to see Peloponnesian, as naval battles would be really fun. Overall, I think I'd prefer to see STW, I never got to see the original, and I have fond memories of playing an STW-esque game in my 7th grade history class.

[Pontius Pilate]

I think CA has to come up with a completety new idea for their next installment. Because lets face it, if they continue making total war games in the style of Rome, MTW2, Empire, etc., no matter what they come up with it's just going to be the same as the status quoe except with better graphics, new units, and an revampted map. But there will be nothing radical about it. I mean you could even say that MTW2 was just RTW with better graphics. I think they may have to change their whole underlying system and start from scratch. Of course this might end in disaster. But I think they will lose a lot of customers who aren't die-hard total war fans if they don't change completely after Empire. Because come on, it's just going to be the same thing over and over again...

[Quintus.JC]

I think CA has to come up with a completety new idea for their next installment. Because lets face it, if they continue making total war games in the style of Rome, MTW2, Empire, etc., no matter what they come up with it's just going to be the same as the status quoe except with better graphics, new units, and an revampted map. But there will be nothing radical about it. I mean you could even say that MTW2 was just RTW with better graphics. I think they may have to change their whole underlying system and start from scratch. Of course this might end in disaster. But I think they will lose a lot of customers who aren't die-hard total war fans if they don't change completely after Empire. Because come on, it's just going to be the same thing over and over again...

They could always go fantasy...

[Gleemonex]

They could always go fantasy...

-Glee

[Pontius Pilate]

They could always go fantasy...

Nah, not exactly what I had in mind. Because in most fanatsy it would probably be just like a medieval setting with swords and plate armor, etc. and you would still have two armies approach each other and fight face to face. I was thinking maybe something more radical, maybe some type of 20th century or modern warfare where the battle lines are less easy to see and you just don't have two large bodies of soldiers fighting in an open field. The problem here is that CA would have to completely remake their whole underlying system. The question is how well would this fit with fans of the genre and could it still even be considered a total war game, or would CA have to start a new franchise.

[Aemilius Paulus]

I think CA has to come up with a completety new idea for their next installment. Because lets face it, if they continue making total war games in the style of Rome, MTW2, Empire, etc., no matter what they come up with it's just going to be the same as the status quoe except with better graphics, new units, and an revampted map. But there will be nothing radical about it. I mean you could even say that MTW2 was just RTW with better graphics. I think they may have to change their whole underlying system and start from scratch. Of course this might end in disaster. But I think they will lose a lot of customers who aren't die-hard total war fans if they don't change completely after Empire. Because come on, it's just going to be the same thing over and over again...

Hah, that's what happened to my second most favorite franchise: Empire Earth. Age of Empires had the future in mind when they made their first game. They are making one game per historical era - one for antiquity, one for medieval, one for imperial, and maybe one for 20th century as well as possibly even the future. EE games, on the other hand, covered all of history, with no room for unique future releases. Empire Earth I was my most favorite computer game after RTW. Empires: Dawn of the Modern World was likewise brilliant, and I liked it just as well as EEI. However EEII was boring, and I never even got EEIII, which was a complete disaster. As you can see, the lack of room for unique future releases kills a franchise. One simply cannot make the same game over and over again.

[edyzmedieval]

They could always go fantasy...

You're joking right? If they go to Fantasy CA will lose their entire historical fanbase, which is pretty large. So let's say, 40% of the revenue is lost from the start.

[Quintus.JC]

Fair enough, we'll let the modders take care of Fantasy: Total War then.

[Aemilius Paulus]

You're joking right? If they go to Fantasy CA will lose their entire historical fanbase, which is pretty large. So let's say, 40% of the revenue is lost from the start.

CA could create a new subsidiary/subdivision that would work on the fantasy Total War while having the main branch working on some other historical TW title. If one fails, then at least CA will have the other to look up to. To tell you the truth, fantasy seems like the most viable option for CA, in my opinion. After all, they have already done all of the historical periods (except pre-Roman Antiquity) and even if they chose a more specific period (such as the one used in Shogun), the game would still lack freshness, having only news skins, slightly better graphics and a few new game mechanics.

The only other thing CA could do is go beyond the early 1800s for Late Imperial, or more likely a WWI/WWII Total War, which is a bit unlikely, since the whole Total War system will require major revamping.

[Cute Wolf]

Just a new idea...

What about South East Asia: Total War... In 1400 - 1800 AD (pretty same much as in late MTW & M2TW + some early Empire), there lies some of the most potentially superpowers of trade in the world... Indonesians, Philliphines, Malaysians, and IndoChina Peninsulla is the most contested colonial lands in asia... they produce spices, and capable to muster out great armies... and empires... giving the europeans don't wreck their chances by picking them off one by one ...

It would be nice to see an area full of "Swords, Spears and Bows" must hold themself up against an invading European invaders (as horde)...

[Pinxit]

Modern: Total War. It has an era system so you can start in 1914, 1939, 1960 or 2000. It has DECENT FLYING UNITS for a LOTR mod, strategic weapons and democracy. What else could you want?

Or Baselios: Total War with a great Byzantine Empire starting at the beeatum of the Imperium Romanum and ending in 1453

So... the player will have nothing to say about the survival of the Byzantine Empire?

[Spartan198]

Another "after Empire" poll?

Anyway, I'd go with either Rome II or Peloponnese, being partial to the time period.

[{BHC}HolySpagetty]

I think Warring States would be a good one, because it is the most creative in my opinion.

TW needs to do more than just things everyone already knows about, (i.e. all of the TW games)

I honestly didn't know about the Warring States war even.

I think it is a fantastic idea.