Do you....

[gollum]

Empire had different riflemen because the community was used to and wanted many units in a TW game. It would have been disastrous if they didn't do it thus from a commercial perspective. Even units sold online as extras was popular. It was also a game mechanic way to give character to different nations' armies.

The original RTW wasn't all that better than what you describe from the perspective you see it, but people loved it and it broke CA to the mainstream. I bet RTW2 will be just as succesful if not more; there is a huge fanbase for the Roman era that are period/historical accuracy fans, and with a new engine/graphics, lots of potential for modding and previous know how of the period by CA, RTW2, when made, will be a super hit. Practically all the post RTW TW fanbase is expecting it since it was made.

[gaelic cowboy]

Oh I agree that is what they will do and 90% of the people who buy the game will never use even half the units available even for the one or two nations they generally pick. If people want extra factions give em extra factions but keep the army rosters tight so the game stays balanced.

I always found I was picking the same sort layout for the army in Rome or Medieval 2 and then later in Empire or Napoleon again. Whats the point in having 20-30 riflemen for Britain, I bet if they had put in only 5 no one would have noticed.

[andrewt]

Empire had different riflemen because the community was used to and wanted many units in a TW game. It would have been disastrous if they didn't do it thus from a commercial perspective. Even units sold online as extras was popular. It was also a game mechanic way to give character to different nations' armies.

The original RTW wasn't all that better than what you describe from the perspective you see it, but people loved it and it broke CA to the mainstream. I bet RTW2 will be just as succesful if not more; there is a huge fanbase for the Roman era that are period/historical accuracy fans, and with a new engine/graphics, lots of potential for modding and previous know how of the period by CA, RTW2, when made, will be a super hit. Practically all the post RTW TW fanbase is expecting it since it was made.

I liked that they made Shogun 2 before Rome 2.

As for RTW, I have misgivings about that game. I love the time period and the setting, but it was one of my least favorite games in the entire series. It had the worst historical inaccuracies of any game in the series, especially with the anachronistic Egyptians. The large charge bonuses made gameplay too arcade-like and the battles over too quickly after engagement. CA also fundamentally messed up the army balance of the time period. It was supposed to be a transition period from phalanxes to legion but both were underpowered when compared to the overpowered missile units and the grossly overpowered cavalry in the game.

As for Empire, the problem with its unit roster was the number of units versus how little the units are differentiated from each other. I think the problem actually started out with RTW. The original STW and MTW had unit stats that are more differentiated.

[Swoosh So]

I love the Rome era but rome totalwar was the worst mp release i ever saw for totalwar talk about arcade like urg! I liked the campaigns and the mods were amazing for the time! id love to see rome2 with mod support that would be so amazing but for now im contented with shogun2 theres just something utterly cool about that era and honor and samurai i love it and love movies from that era like ran etc..

[gaelic cowboy]

I love the Rome era but rome totalwar was the worst mp release i ever saw for totalwar talk about arcade like urg! I liked the campaigns and the mods were amazing for the time! id love to see rome2 with mod support that would be so amazing but for now im contented with shogun2 theres just something utterly cool about that era and honor and samurai i love it and love movies from that era like ran etc..

I think we can take it that modding will not be supported or at least it wont be easy to do now that the DLC model has been embraced. They want us buying the next thing not playing MTW pocket mod.

I predict some kind of Mongol or Korean invasion senario for DLC although I suppose thats hardly a surprise for anyone who remember STW

[Zim]

I do, partly because I've enver played STW (started with MTW). I'm most a fan of the RTW time period, but that just makes the move to East Asia and interesting change for me. Plus, when RTW2 does come out any kinks features used for it from STW2 will be worked out (I hope ).

[Prussian to the Iron]

Yes. I started at Rome, so I never got to play Shogun. I'd love to finally see something so exotic as Dark Ages Japan in a Total War game.

[Phog_of_War]

Dark Ages Japan is such a bad description IMO. Japan, at the time that the Dark Ages were happening in Europe, was almost as advanced as the Chinese or the Muslim countries of the Middle East IIRC. I might be off by a few years or decades on that statement but its true.

Also, I'm not saying you're wrong, its just a bad description of the Edo and Jindai periods in Japan. But in terms of the unrestricted warfare you are correct.