Hands up if you still play!

[Ironsword]

I rolled my sleeves up the other day and embarked on a MTW campaign for the first time in six months. The first sight of camels looming over the hill brought a great big tear of nostalgia to my eye!

There must still be a few of us left, so who's still here then? Hands up soldiers!

[drone]

Haven't played for about 6 months (time constraints), but I'm planning on resuming soon. Got to finish my Swiss campaign.

[marcusbrutus]

The lure is always there. And many mods to pick from. I want to play M2TW for the first time though. If you are techy help me out here: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...40#post2419940

[Brandy Blue]

The Volga Bulgars consolidated their hold on the steppes in my bedroom this morning. No camels in sight yet.

[The Lurker Below]

since discovering this site MTW has become a lot more than one game now. currently working my way thru Ancient TW and looking forward to Reducks as well as Pike and Musket.

[Trapped in Samsara]

Hi

I have to limit myself to about four campaigns of MTW a year. Typically I'll spent around ten weeks playing 15 to 20 hours a week when I indulge, so I have to consciously apportion my time btw MTW and real life.

What keeps me engaged are the mods - thanks all you modders. I think XL+Tyb is great. My next campaign will be Pike and Musket. Am also looking forward to Redux v3.

I have a machine that is pretty stable, and sufficiently spec'd, for MTW. Hence it is dedicated to that role and frozen in time.

Given the way CA/SEGA have gone with Empire (Steam, $$downloadable content$$, reneging on their promise to provide mod tools ["Most moddable TW ever." Yeah, right.], crap battle AI, hugely buggy, no more patches or support, over-emphasis on eyecandy, increasingly arcade-like gameplay [e.g., the ridiculous and unrealistic naval stats changes and combat mechanisms 'balancing'], obsession with attracting "sandbox" players, etc.) I feel the franchise has no future.

Regards
Victor

Sapere aude

[Lykos]

The Golden Horde has just emerged!!! Tears and disaster in Khazar. The finest of the Byzantine Empire are heading over to Khazar to face their destiny!!!

[Vantek]

I think I average a few campaigns a year ^^ In a very irregular manner though - sometimes play every day for a week or two, sometimes go months without, sometimes play a few hours a week over a few months.

One thing is certain - the game never gets old! I, on the other hand, am not so fortunate... =(

[bondovic]

I never stop playing. Even when I take a 6-month break... Interesting campaign now (2 months since playing) - House VI-mod, Italy in Early; finally reached the Gothic line!

[Rick]

I've played MTW and RTW usually mods, the choice being the era and drama injected into the game. When I say drama I mean the flow of the game and its machanics which creates excitement during play. The original MTW game has that, as well as some really creative mods.

My favorite mod is Pike & Musket, but admittedly I'm bias to that era. It brings all the aspects of the drama of the era into play and reflects the instability of the era very nicely. My only complaint is that the "one year per turn" being hard coded is very restricting. It will be interesting to see what changes Cegroach has included in his new, updated version he's currently working on.

The most challenging mod I've played is Redux where winning a battle is never a given. The deplomacy (and I'm assuming it was tweaked) has a more realistic feel to it. It also has more of a chess feel to it.

[Fagar]

I never stopped playing..I love the immersion and the old world charm...Always have....Still do....

[William the Silent]

In November last year I was looking for some lonely entertainment and found XL+Tyb 3.0 on my computer. I like MTW because it's kinda fastpace.

I'm at my third campaign now as the HRE. That's the only faction I cannot win on very hard. Right from the start everybody is ganging up on you (exept Pope) and there's no way to hide on the map. So I had to go to normal difficulty and I'm surviving.

MTW is still a great game thanks to the modders

[The Wizard]

The Volga Bulgars consolidated their hold on the steppes in my bedroom this morning. No camels in sight yet.

Ooooh...

I recently got it to work on my netbook via a flash drive (after a 3 year hiatus because of the infamous nVidia problem) and am now playing Lithuania, struggling with the Kievans over who gets to rule Russia, in MTW XL.

[Kralizec]

I reinstalled MTW two months ago. Since the holidays I can't find my disc

[Roark]

I've never stopped playing. The only thing that changes for me is my prefered faction.

[The Punish-ed]

Im a very VERY late arrival to the wonderful TW games; I got Medieval years ago, but didn't have an old enough computer to play it on, only getting one a year ago; and only playing since about july. I played Vanilla for a month or two, then got the Viking Invasion, and installed XL in December. Fantastic game - Im slowly reading my way through this whole forum, very rewarding. My great thanks to all those people who answered my questions before I'd even had them!

[Raz]

Urrgh, haven't played a campaign properly for about a year now. Funny, I've probably spent more hours modding, tinkering and fiddling with the game than I have actually playing it. Sooner or later all those hours will come together to create a wonderful, fully playable and mostly bug-free mod.... sooner or later...

Heck, it could well be the one thing I want to do before I see my 101st birthday.

[Roark]

Gonna package and publish that mod, mate?

[Knight of the Rose]

Well I guess I kinda have to raise my hand as well. One of the turning points in my life was becoming a boss a year ago, which forced my play time all the way down. And now the wife is pregnant with our third child... But still, I play once in a while, still hanging on to MTW after finding I'm through with Civ4. Latest campaign: Turks, Early, only training HA's in any form, no other house rules

And yaeh, I know I *actually* should play and write that rebel campaign, but the sad thing is I lost...

/KotR

[gollum]

MTW has enough quality and replayability to be a classic game, in the same sense that certain board games are classic, and so for players to never really leave it.

By implementing minor code fixes and improvements to known problems in SP (as in MP there are no major issues afaik) and compatibility fixes for new systems, the MTW scene could even flourish instead of dwindle, mp and sp wise.

Unfortunately, it appears that the developer has never had any further interest in the game after releasing v2.01, unlike other companies like say Paradox that kept up improving and supporting games like "Crusader Kings" that became better and better over the years. As it is, MTW interest is condemned to a slow but guaranteed and painful fade out.

Sad really.

[The Wizard]

QFT.

[marcusbrutus]

Now part-way through my 1st VI campaign as the Welsh. I never realised how amazing Welsh Bandits are - they absolutely destroy any other unit in VI. Fast, Hide in the open, mid unit size, Armour Piercing Longbows, Good hand-to-hand - *jawdrop*.

[Martok]

Count me in as raising my hand in a "yeah, sorta" way....

I think I average a few campaigns a year ^^ In a very irregular manner though - sometimes play every day for a week or two, sometimes go months without, sometimes play a few hours a week over a few months.

My own situation is very similar to yours. I still love MTW (and Shogun!), but I've not been in much of a Total War "mood" the last several months. (But then, I've not felt much like gaming at all lately, I suspect due in no small part to work-related stress.) I've probably not played a serious campaign in close to six months, but neither can I stay away from the game entirely. I believe the last time I fired up MTW was right around Christmas, when I was dinking around with Aragon -- I haven't played that faction in ages!

But anyway, yeah, I suppose you'd have to still count me as a player. I've not been getting into the game nearly as often as I used to (or as much as I'd like), but I've never been able to quit the game for very long!

[Prince Cobra]

I do. I've celebrated the end of my exam session with the last phase of the conquest with a High era Byzantium (it was supposed to be GA; it started in 1205 and took me about 175 years to conquer 60 per cent).I am too lazy to post screenshots, though. Nice... Already on hard level... I decided to try a Catholic faction and since the Spaniards ( I love border states... who knows, I may try one day the Almohads.. ) are the only real faction that rivalled the Eastern Roman Empire in my heart, I started with them... I still have difficulties with getting used to them... No strong archers (Trebizond and... ahem... the fast (love chasing routers)and multi-functional Bulgarian brigands), no mighty Varangians, fortunately they have Jinettes and Knights of Santiago but I feel strange.

[gaijinalways]

I still want to play it, but for some reason my current computers with the virus protection programs they have won't allow me. I can install, but then the program won't work. I have considered buying another computer just to play games since my old Gateway was abandoned due to a power cord problem (and my wife wanting to junk some things before moving). I wish I could....

[gollum]

Just go for the heavily armored robust catholic infantry backed up by crossbows/arbs Prince Cobra, while puting to good use the Western Knight.

By 1205 when crossbows/arbs are out, most bow units become semi-obsolete anyway, and all Catholics get the Chivalric line of troops as well as heavily armed and armored knights, whom are fast, have heavenly stats, good stamina, sky high morale and can in addition turn into the best (stat-to-stat) infantry unit in the game (Dismounted Chiv. Knights), all in one.

The Catholics can make use of brute force in attack, while being unbeatable in defence (defene posture/camping with an arbalest/pav.arbalest oriented force). Jinnetes shine particularly once catholic infantry becomes slow and heavy - such a force can always use fast horsies for screening and pursuits (making sure that broken enemy melee units do not return, since your units are too slow/low stamina to chase them), while leaving most of the flanking, frontal charging and killing to the Knights/Lancers.

In early the best bet is imo, knights with Feudal-men-at-arms, bows (no choice), Jinnetes and VanillaSpears with the odd Feudal Seargent/Mounted Seargent. Still a powerful mix. I wouldn't bother with javelins if i were you, although i'm sure many here will find good reasons to disagree with this statement.

[The Wizard]

Now part-way through my 1st VI campaign as the Welsh. I never realised how amazing Welsh Bandits are - they absolutely destroy any other unit in VI. Fast, Hide in the open, mid unit size, Armour Piercing Longbows, Good hand-to-hand - *jawdrop*.

They were such a terror in MP games back in the days when VI had just been released e_e

[Geezer57]

MTW (with about a half-dozen mods) will always have a permanent place on my hard drive. Don't have the time to play as often as I'd like, but it's still my all-time favorite!

[gregori99]

I still play fairly regularly. One problem though, is that I get bored with a campaign quite quickly, once I've established myself, because I've played them so often. I do think, however, that MTW could have a new lease of life, if ever the developers released the code and let the fans re-write it. It still has enormous possibilities if it was more easily moddable.

[naut]

Funny, I've probably spent more hours modding, tinkering and fiddling with the game than I have actually playing it. Sooner or later all those hours will come together to create a wonderful, fully playable and mostly bug-free mod.... sooner or later...

Likewise.

I've played a bit of Pike&Musket recently. Got inspired by a random documentary on the History Channel.