Any questions for CA?

[econ21]

It looks like we may be able to put a few questions to CA about Total War: Shogun 2. Has anyone got any burning questions they would like answered?

For example, I'd like to know what general's command stars do? (Is it just morale within a perhaps larger blue circle and also autoresolve benefits?)

And what the difficulty levels do? (Specifically, is the BAI working to its best on normal or does it get smarter - e.g. flank more - on hard?)

What other questions do members have? Single player or multiplayer.

After a week or so, we will take stock of what questions we have and forward a selection to CA to get some their answers.

[Rothe]

It looks like we may be able to put a few questions to CA about Total War: Shogun 2. Has anyone got any burning questions they would like answered?

For example, I'd like to know what general's command stars do? (Is it just morale within a perhaps larger blue circle and also autoresolve benefits?)

And what the difficulty levels do? (Specifically, is the BAI working to its best on normal or does it get smarter - e.g. flank more - on hard?)

What other questions do members have? Single player or multiplayer.

After a week or so, we will take stock of what questions we have and forward a selection to CA to get some their answers.

Gameplay:
How does armor work?
How do morale effects work? Does flanking actually lower morale? (it seems there is an issue with morale penalties stacking)
Do fire arrows actually do anything vs. troops that is better than regular arrows?

General:
Are any expansions planned?
Will the game recieve major gameplay patches?

[Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout]

Why is there not a good amount of female presence ?Because reading the history of Sengoku Jidhai,there were female samurai's and they had lands and armies!It would be good if you added them in the game.

Aslo will you be making expanisons?It would be good to remake the Shogun 1 expansion The Mongol invasion,you could name it ''The Horde''.

[Prodigal]

Another call for info on any planned expansions. Also do all the archery accuracy bonuses stack?

[edyzmedieval]

Can they shed any light on the expansion pack/DLC packs?

And the most important to me, can we have some information about modding tools?

[frogbeastegg]

Remember that they will be restricted in what they can say, so they won't be able to discuss things like DLC, patches, expansions or sequels unless they have been officially announced elsewhere. As awesome as it would be for the first news of something like that to break on the org, it won't happen.

The original shogun had a reading list, IIRC it was on a PDF file on the disc. They gave the titles of some of the books they had used for research. I'd like it if they could provide some titles they used for shogun 2; people often ask for reading suggestions on the TW game periods and sengoku Japan has limited material available in English.

It would also be nice to hear about some of the art inspirations as it's obvious a lot of care has gone into bringing authentic aspects into the game's UI and art. Any particular artists or pictures they found inspiring?

Did the shogun 2 team play shogun 1 to help them design the new game? There are a lot of little touches which really call back to the original game, such as the parchment fog of war map.

Are there any plans for a soundtrack? There's a lot of nice music in the game. (I suppose they couldn't answer this one but it might make them consider a soundtrack if they aren't already)

[Gregoshi]

Are there any plans for a soundtrack? There's a lot of nice music in the game. (I suppose they couldn't answer this one but it might make them consider a soundtrack if they aren't already)

I can answer this one. The music is available for download on iTunes here. There are 28 tracks available for $0.99 USD each or the whole soundtrack for $9.99 USD.

[Forward Observer]

I have a couple of questions that are related to possible small tweaks that I would like to see implemented--maybe if not in this game, the next.

1. Concerning the tech tree: I realize that in Shogun II, they are now called "arts", but it still seems like they could be considered a commodity to some extent. I wondering it would be possible to to see some of them available for trading with other clans, or even possibly available to be stolen by agents. I have yet to get anywhere near the end of either of the two separate branches of the arts even if I concentrate mostly on only one--even in a total island domination campaign. Being able to steal or trade for some of the arts early in the game might help the aggressive player achieve a few more. I don't expect to get them all, but maybe just get to the last tier on one side or the other.

2. Moving ones capital: I remember this feature from Medieval II, and it sure would be handy in Shogun II. When one is playing one of the clans at either the western or eastern tip of the island, it get a little cumbersome when an agent gets apprehended at one end of the island and a few turns later released at ones capital at the other end--taking 10 turns or more to get him back into the action. At the very least, it would seem that after one captures Kyoto, they could make that their new capital.

3. The battle replay system: First, I wanted to comment that I really appreciate the elimination the time wasting replay of ones pre-battle set up moves. In case some haven't used the system, the replays now immediately start with the actual battle.

While, I also understand that this is not an actual video, but a recording of commands and A.I. reactions, I was wondering if there was any way to add a rewind function to this system.


4. Castle maps: In the advanced land tutorial there is a siege battle that includes the ability to re-supply your missile units by capturing an out building in the vicinity of the castle. I have yet to encounter such a building in a siege battle while in a campaign, and wondered if this feature actually made it into the game.

Also, I wonder if there is the possibility that any extra siege maps could be added. The small coastal fort map is quite dramatic with it's bridge and waterfall, but it gets a bit repetitive playing it in every coastal province in the game. I just noticed that the large castle coastal map is different, but because it has the same bridge and waterfall, I thought it was was identical at first. Still, I seem to fight the small fort map the most often and it would be nice to have an alternate map. Not a biggie, but it would be nice.

That's all of the off the wall stuff that I can think of for now.


Lastly, to CA, kudos for Shogun II. It's pretty darn nice game--right out of the box, and I'm sure if will only get better after you squash most of the inevitable bugs and get the DX 11 stuff ironed out.

[Azi Tohak]

I second wanting to know how the AI changes with difficulty level!

More hard info on morale and other battle mechanics are also appreciated.

[Fridgebadger]

Hello...

I'll start by saying that for me at least, this is the best TW since Rome, so thanks.

I was just wondered if you'd ever considered raising the 20 unit limit? Ie, either allowing the player to field a stack of more than 20, or letting them control two stacks in one battle? I'm sure there are performance issues, but I'd willingly turn my graphics settings down to accommodate extra units. 20 units is great for some pretty epic battles, but more would be... more epic.

Ta

[frogbeastegg]

I can answer this one. The music is available for download on iTunes here. There are 28 tracks available for $0.99 USD each or the whole soundtrack for $9.99 USD.

How very modern. I never thought they'd do something like that. Hmm, I wonder .... Yes! It's available on amazon's MP3 download service, and it's £2 cheaper with no need to get the apple software on my desktop.

:Sees a track named "Oyoiyoi": Is that a sequel to the shogun 1 battle track which went "oh-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho!"?

[edyzmedieval]

How very modern. I never thought they'd do something like that. Hmm, I wonder .... Yes! It's available on amazon's MP3 download service, and it's £2 cheaper with no need to get the apple software on my desktop.

:Sees a track named "Oyoiyoi": Is that a sequel to the shogun 1 battle track which went "oh-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho!"?

That track was brilliant.

On topic, I would just like to have a bit more information regarding the mod tools and especially the NTW uniform editor. Thank you.

[Gregoshi]

Why the mod tool questions when CA said there would be no mod support with TWS2? Or has that changed?

Also, try to be specific in your questions - see froggy's and FO's questions for examples. If you ask a vague or very broad question, chances are you won't get the answer you are looking for.

[Slaists]

OK, I have three very specific multiplayer one-on-one campaign questions. It seems, in S2 we cannot set battle and campaign difficulty separately when playing an MPC [please correct me if I am wrong]. Here are the related questions:

1) What are the battle-implications for VH difficulty in a multi-player one-on-one campaign? Who gets the bonuses (if anyone)?
2) What happens when my human opponent chooses to control an AI army in a battle? Does the AI side get the VH battle bonuses + the human control?
3) How does battle difficulty setting factor in for drop-in battles?

[Tellos Athenaios]

How does the game calculate dimension of tooltips? How does it calculate the width for height swap? (I.e. when it should include an extra row rather than make the one row wider) ?

[edyzmedieval]

Why the mod tool questions when CA said there would be no mod support with TWS2? Or has that changed?

I'm not aware there is no mod support for TWS2. I would imagine there is.

Also, try to be specific in your questions - see froggy's and FO's questions for examples. If you ask a vague or very broad question, chances are you won't get the answer you are looking for.

I am being specific, I just want them to release information to regards whether they will release the mod tools, at least the mod tools PROMISED for NTW, or whether we would get some help in any form to mod the Warscape engine.

So here's my question - Will CA release any sort of mod tools, or release any files to help modders decode and work with the Warscape engine?

[Gregoshi]

I am being specific...

I wasn't referring to you specifically, edyz. It was just a general comment on many of the questions we were getting. Sorry for the implication that I was referring to you only.

[edyzmedieval]

I wasn't referring to you specifically, edyz. It was just a general comment on many of the questions we were getting. Sorry for the implication that I was referring to you only.

No worries Gregoshi, I just wanted to make my point a bit clearer in order to perhaps attract a response.

[xploring]

Deadliness/potency of all missiles (bow ashigaru, bow samurai, bow monk, bow hero, bow cavalry, matchlocks, kisho ninja, bomb thrower, fire arrow, cannon, magonel, etc)
And effectiveness of armour against them.

Run and charge speed of all units. And speed when using special abilities too (e.g. Rapid Advance, Yari Wall).

Terrain effects on defense, speed of units (forest, river crossing, etc)

Agent's chance of success, chance of escape upon failure, and chance to avoid detection
in relation to number of star/zeal/subterfuge/cunning

What does "resistant to morale shock" mean? What kind of morale shock can units with this quality withstand? (death of general, charge into rear, war cry from enemy monks, whistling, flaming arrows...?)

[Graphic]

I'd like to know if matchmaking will be tweaked so that lower level players won't have to face 10 star players with every unit discovered and massive reserves of highly vetted units. Restricting the money to medium sized is not enough. In the case of naval battles it's literally impossible to win vs higher level players with cannon bunes.

[Nowake]

Uhmm, I'll bite and proffer just a handful.
Now, my questions are listed in accordance to what I find lacking the most, not by the importance of the subject they refer to.

Replays
Any plans to give this feature any type of attention, considering the potential for S2 as a spectator sport, especially when the replay is coupled with audio commentary?
Currently absent, yet very basic features required:
- playback; a slider, like any video software provides, allowing you to navigate back and forth.
- unit roster information for both opponents; the public and commentator should be able to see the various unit cards of both opponents at the same time.
- ability to toggle fog of war on and off completely and also to switch from one side to the other.


Campaigns
- while I read a statement where you wrote that there are no troops spawned by the AI during Single Player campaigns except for the ones belonging to the Ashikaga, Wako pirates and a couple more exceptions, to what degree does the AI receive additional funds (or simply reduced prices for unit and structures costs) on each difficulty level?
- the diplomacy system is not providing a player with information in regards to the various factors which will affect the penalties one receives to diplomatic relations. For example, a question would be "What amount of time must one wait to declare war after officialy breaking an alliance, or after one has signed a peace agreement, without receiving the the Breaking Alliances penalty and negative trait for one's daimyo?" and while I would not mind even an answer addresing solely that question, do you have any plans to update at least the Encyclopedia in that regard?

Controls
Any plans to allow for customization in this department?
One would want to be able to use all one's mouse buttons and functions as keybinds in game, and to change the already allowed mouse keybindings.
To customize the Camera (both by increasing the maximum viewing distance and by choosing to mix the way the camera rotates and spins in both setups: Classic and Standard). And in many other ways, like rotation around a fixed location determined by the mouse pointer etc.
To create one-unit-keybinds and to expand the keybinds for controling these and unit groups past just the 1-9 keys and to be able to move from one to the next on the battlefield solely through the assigned keys.
To be able to create one's own group formations, custom tailored for specific unit setups within the group.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Any word on what happened since the questions were posted?

[xploring]

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...post2053318958

A list of questions has been sent to them, but they haven't replied yet.

Don't worry, we'll keep you updated about this.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Thanks! I don't know how I managed to overlook that thread.

[Kagemusha]

If new questions could be asked. I would be very interested to hear if there will be more campaigns released as DLC material and will there be more DLC playable clans.