Poll for the 5 question to be answered by CA (with actual Poll this time)

[Shaitan]

General Cam - the camera is locked to the General of your army - you can only see what he sees - difficult, but a lot of fun

I loved using this in the demo. Definitely more difficult, definitely more realistic, definitely a lot of fun.

And I agree The_Emperor... Gil deserves a beer. Maybe even a whole case of beer.

This sounds very good. I think I will love that extra touch of realism (didn't play the demo. 36kb modem here).

Shaitan

[The_678]

I just thought of a great question. I don't know if it's been mentioned or not but will you ever be on the defending side of a siege? Since the siege part has been upgraded so much it would actually be fun to defend a town now, with placement of archers, running troops thru the steets to defend a breach, get men on the walls etc...

I hope there is siege defense at least.

[GilJaysmith]

Yep, you can defend against town assaults and sieges. I was just playing a historical siege assault at lunchtime, actually. Having streets to move through and a definite goal (the city plaza) is fun.

[crushinator]

Yep, you can defend against town assaults and sieges.

Thanks for the info

I was just playing a historical siege assault at lunchtime, actually. Having streets to move through and a definite goal (the city plaza) is fun.

but now you are just showing off that you have the game and we don't

[GilJaysmith]

>but now you are just showing off that you have the game and we don't


That's quite true. And by way of apology, I'd like to make the following statement:



HEE HEE HEE



... er, oops, I meant to say "Sorry" ;-)

[Tamur]

lol! Err... thanks Gil for that ray of sunshine.

[Colt374]

HA HA HA HA. LOL!

Now that's amusing way of sticking then boot in when we're down, Gil!

Col.

[Gregoshi]

Aw, let the CA folks show off a bit. They've been working their butts off for the past 3-4 years on this game, so let 'em have a little fun. Besides, I'm sure on the inside there is a butterfly or two fluttering around as they await feedback from the TW fans and those initial sales figures.

[The_Emperor]

Ok that does it, This taunting is too much!

Quickly raise an army, Grab some Ornagers, we go to besiege the CA Offices!

[Captain Fishpants]

Damn! He typed that out loud!

But then

HEE HEE HEE

I've got the game as well! Muahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahah!

>but now you are just showing off that you have the game and we don't


That's quite true. And by way of apology, I'd like to make the following statement:



HEE HEE HEE



... er, oops, I meant to say "Sorry" ;-)

[Tamur]

Quickly raise an army, Grab some Ornagers, we go to besiege the CA Offices!

Wait, I've just thought of another unit...

Total War Fan: A 8 D 8 M 34 Intense, Prone to Gripe, Can Sap, Can Lay Seige To Developers

[Soulflame]

This is asking for retribution ~:p.
If you guys are interested... can we do a CA versus Orgites battle when it is released?
Of course you defending a siege would be the most flavorfull

(Now I hope a game can be spectated by people in addition to its players.. hehe)

So... do you accept the challenge?

[Praylak]

Yeah,....I can see these next few days are going to be the longest days ever....

[The_Emperor]

Sounds like a siege battle is inevitable...

Perhaps we should ressurect the dreaded Pitchfork Phalanx from the mists of the Colosseum! (or at least Mod it in)

[Tamur]

*notices the sun is moving downward in the southern sky*

*notices supervisor walk in and demand code! eek, time to run *

[Steppe Merc]

An editor to create your own battles and Historical Battles will ship with the game as an unsupported feature. It's the same tool that was used to create the historical battle maps.

That's it?
When they said moddable I hoped it would come with a unit designer...
It's profe that their out to ruin our Europa Barborurum effort!

[frogbeastegg]

Assorted CA hee hee hee-ing

You are evil ... I like that.

Captain Fishpants, can I ask you a question that's been bugging me for months now? Where did you get that sig quote from? I recognise it but I can't think where from.

[Tamur]

So, err... did I miss the answers somewhere? Everyone can just tell me to be patient, and I'll happily wait till December...

[GilJaysmith]

Answers coming in the next hour.

[maestro]

w00000000000000000000000000t

[Myrddraal]

about 15 minutes to go before the promised answers deadline...

[maestro]

5 minutes.... guess I'll just wait here until then.....

[The_Emperor]

*The Pitchfork Phalanx shuffles sideways in anticipation, like in the demo*

[maestro]

Does sitting here pressing F5 make me very sad for a 28yr old married man?

[Sjakihata]

yes

[Gregoshi]

Patience, Gil is composing the post.

[Barkhorn1x]

Does sitting here pressing F5 make me very sad for a 28yr old married man?

Dude, that's like "Ebay" behavior.

Barkhorn.

[GilJaysmith]

OK, at last... here are Roxy's answers, compiled with the help of Captain Fishpants and Jerome.


1. How will logistics be handed in RTW? Will we be encouraged to maintain lines of supply?

Logistics aren’t simulated. We want you thinking like a great general, not the man in charge of the bakery! Building roads, paved roads and then highways will, however, increase movement rates. There are also various retinue characters that can aid logistics, such as the ‘Quartermaster’ who gives a bonus to movement points (you don’t have to wait for your nominal supplies to catch up) and aids you in looting attacked settlements.

2. Can you give some example of how moddable RTW will be? Will there be modding tools released?

Rome is much more moddable than Medieval or Shogun. Much of the engine is set up from text files, which we’ve purposefully left unencrypted to allow the mod community to really go to town with them, and the formats are mostly explained in comments at the top of these files. This allows you to do things as diverse as reskinning the unit models, changing the way dust behaves, altering the unit statistics, or changing the colours of the skydome or the weather effects. We’ll also release a historical battle editor in the near future, which allows editing of the terrain and the battle setup, which should allow the mod community can create its own historical battles. We’re also keen to have feedback from the mod community – with a view to helping out where we can in any future patches, etc.

3. How is it determined whether you fight during the day or at night?

Night battles can’t be fought from the campaign game, and normally campaign battles end at nightfall. But it is possible to switch off the battle time limit, and then battles will last into the night and even into another day. There is also an option to select a night battle for custom battles and online battles.

4. Will faction re-emergences still be in like they were in MTW (tied to loyalty of province etc)?

Factions can still re-emerge in Rome – but in a much more restricted way than they did in Medieval. In Rome the system works as follows: If a city that was previously owned by a now destroyed faction rebels against the player, and a family member from is still alive from that faction ‘s family tree, there is a chance that the army that rebels in that city will be a loyalist army from that old faction – thereby effectively bringing that faction back into the game.

5. Can we have the EXACT same controls as in MTW? What about alt-click commands?

Most of the controls in the game are fully modifiable to the player’s individual tastes. The original “Total War” camera is still selectable and, on the whole, the keyboard shortcuts and so on remain the same. The only real difference is the ‘left-click select, right-click action’ dynamic. This was changed to reduce the number of frustrating mistakes people make when trying to select a unit under the old system, when it would issue a ‘move’ order to the current selected unit. We’re yet to find anyone who didn’t get used to the new system very quickly – and most people actually prefer it once they’ve used it for a while.

MP Bonus Question. Are there any considerations at CA to ever try a MP campaign, or have they given up on that concept? (28 votes)

We’ve looked at this a few times in the past, and have looked again during the development of Rome, but we’ve not yet found the time to resolve the problems associated with doing it. The difficulties are not just technical but also gameplay related, and a big part of it is ensuring that the game stays engaging and some players are not kept waiting for long periods while other people fight or resolve their turns. The long and short of it is, there are currently no plans to do a multiplayer campaign, but we’ve not given up on doing it eventually, either as part of a future product or possibly even stand-alone.



So there you are... hopefully that assuages a little curiosity.

I'm on holiday until Monday so you'll be spared my rapid-fire wit and charm until then. In the meantime, from all at Creative Assembly: we hope you enjoy the majesty, the glory, the splendour, the towering gaming achievement that is ... Rome: Total War.

[crushinator]

*edit* woo! answer here

[Quid]

Thank you very much for answering these questions for us, Jil. I am sure it did take some time to write it up, at least (not a mounainous effort, but still ).

Enjoy your well-deserved time off !

Quid