Attila 1st Impressions

[Bramborough]

So...at this point I've completed the Prologue campaign (which has you play the Visigoths; took me about 50 turns) and am 22 turns into a Saxon GC. A few random thoughts, in no particular order:

- Game has been quite stable and non-buggy on my machine. I rather expected this, since TWA is an evolution of R2.

- Desolated areas are annoying. As far as I can tell, a horde army can settle a desolated region, but an established faction cannot expand into one. This doesn't make much sense to me, really. Right now I've got a perfectly good province capital next door that I can't take over unless I migrate...and therefore give up the 4 towns I already have.

- Early missile infantry (at least those available to the Visigoths and Saxons) seem rather ineffectual against quality troops, although they still shred low-end units quite well. My initial impression is that they're more effective in a morale-nerfing role than as outright killers.

- Both the Battle and Campaign AI seem much improved. The Saxons' most obvious first opponent are the Franks next door (and they'll declare on you anyway, so there's not really an alternative). It was a rude awakening; they did a nice job of isolating and destroying my secondary armies...and killing off two of my family members...before my FL finally kicked them out of Flevum.

- The political system is not terribly intuitive. I generally understand the concept of balancing Dominion and Control, but the nuts-and-bolts of actually managing these are not all that clear. That said, it's quite complex and fun. I like how the wives have a much bigger role. And the limited number of family members is a big plus for immersion; there's real risk in losing one in battle. I was forced to adopt an opposing character when FL's heir and son-in-law (both of them without male heirs) were killed in a rather bumpy war with the Franks.

- Agents seem to have a much diminished role in the game. Compared to R2, you have to go much deeper into the tech and building trees before you're able to recruit any at all. I'm sure their presence will increase in the later stages of the campaign, but right now it looks like the "agent spam" of R2 has been reined in a good bit (I hope I don't have to eat those words later...).

- The Prologue campaign is pretty well done. Re-creates the Gothic War of 376AD. Culminates in the Battle of Hadrianople, which you have to win (as the Visigoths, against ERE) to complete the campaign. Even on just Normal difficulty, it's not easy. Took me 5 tries, and even then it was a Pyrrhic Victory. Quite the bloodbath. Rather fun. The Prologue is well worth playing, even if you don't really need the tutorial.

- Fatigue is a bigger deal now. It depletes much more quickly, and seems to have a larger detrimental effect when low. Be stingy with double-click movements of any distance. That said, troops also seem to recover faster to "Fresh" status if they get a chance to stand still for a few moments.

- In the early stages, Sanitation isn't much of a factor. At least, not for small-start factions like the Saxons/Goths. Probably not the case for WRE/ERE/Sassanids.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my first couple of days of Attila. Game seems release-appropriate polished. I find it more complex, and more challenging, than R2. I found R2 mostly an exercise is carrying out a long-term imperial plan, with few really important campaign decisions...if something didn't work out, it usually didn't hurt too bad, you could just regroup and try again in a few turns. With Attila, you're more scratching for your life, with significant choices and potentially disastrous consequences nearly every turn. And that's with one of the easier factions...you guys playing WRE on higher difficulty levels must be pulling your hair out. Nice job, CA.