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I don't understand all the ETW hate. At least in that game it has a larger map and more playable factions! Is it because of the poor AI and bugs?
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Jan 3, 2013 04:15
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Dead Man Posting posted:I don't understand all the ETW hate. At least in that game it has a larger map and more playable factions! Is it because of the poor AI and bugs? You have to understand the bugs and AI were really bad. It's a game about the age of the sail that launched with AI that couldn't ship troops across oceans. Napoleon improves on it in pretty much every way except for scope. People hate on it in particular I think because of what it could have been; a lot of people here like the more local directed campaigns, but I think most people still prefer the huge open maps- and Empire could have been the hugest openest map with such a variety of cultures, more sophisticated interactions between states and massive differences in terrain for battles. It's about the most expansive a map can be in Total War (going to any later period gets too lethal- see FoTS) and CA bunged it up, and we're not getting another try for a very long time. Koramei fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Jan 27, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 04:31
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For me, It'll be the fact they've made modding the campaign map impossible so your game will be over by 1720 for most European factions.
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Jan 3, 2013 05:01
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The time between turns in Empire can be brutal. Usually at least 4-5 minutes, and it only seems to drag on longer and longer as your campaign goes on. I've seen it get up to 15-20 minutes in the late game. It gets to a point where if I'm going to play Empire, I pretty much have to have something else to occupy my time between turns.
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Jan 3, 2013 06:24
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SeanBeansShako posted:For me, It'll be the fact they've made modding the campaign map impossible so your game will be over by 1720 for most European factions. Didn't they do that because opening up the game for full modding would've increased load times by several hours? And while Empire was the weakest Total War game for me, I still enjoyed it far more then most other strategy games, because despite it's flaws it was still a fantastic rendition of 18th century warfare. Just wish it had been more refined.
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Jan 3, 2013 09:55
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FutonForensic posted:
Yes? (Look closer, there's an "or" you missed.  )FutonForensic posted:To contribute to Medieval 2 mod suggestions,Stainless Steel is often recommended in the Med 2 thread. Please don't download Stainless Steel. It is the epitome of pointless wanking over "realism," really isn't fun and the AI cheats like there's no tomorrow.
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Jan 3, 2013 11:01
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Lemon Curdistan posted:Please don't download Stainless Steel. It is the epitome of pointless wanking over "realism," really isn't fun and the AI cheats like there's no tomorrow. I don't know about all that. I've put more time into Stainless Steel than any other mod for any TW game. I have few problems winning a campaign on VH/VH, and I'm the kind of guy who never plays the very hard setting on any game. When you first set it up, it gives you the option of enabling or disabling real recruitment, and lets you choose which AI you want to use, among other options. So you make it a pain in the rear end slog, or you can make it as easy as vanilla. It's up to you.
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Jan 3, 2013 11:59
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I also feel Stainless Steel is quite fun. More unit variety, and though the AI cheats, it is nothing that a human player cannot handle - just makes battle a bit more fun as they tend to get bigger stacks. You will still be able to steamroll them once you get the momentum.
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Jan 3, 2013 13:10
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MadJackMcJack posted:And while Empire was the weakest Total War game for me, I still enjoyed it far more then most other strategy games, because despite it's flaws it was still a fantastic rendition of 18th century warfare. Just wish it had been more refined. Considering that Shasta points out and we all experince twenty minute turns at the tail ends of our camapigns anyways, It isn't a big deal this point down the road. I'm sure some guy in his bedroom will roll out his own personal fix for it too.
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Jan 3, 2013 16:36
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SeanBeansShako posted:Considering that Shasta points out and we all experince twenty minute turns at the tail ends of our camapigns anyways, It isn't a big deal this point down the road. I never reached what I would call the tail end of my campaign. Or indeed most of my campaigns. Hell, only campaign I fully completed was a Welsh campaign in Viking Invasion! I keep trying to stick to one faction but then I get bored and switch. I've only seen Realm Divide once, and haven't reached the FotS version yet 
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Jan 3, 2013 17:09
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I'm the same, if I'm doing too well I get bored and give up.
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Jan 3, 2013 17:15
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I'm weirdly the opposite, If I'm doing terrible by something like turn 50 I throw in the towel and start the game. If I'm kicking arse and taking names by the same turn number though I see it through the the bloody end.
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Jan 3, 2013 18:35
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quote:I never reached what I would call the tail end of my campaign. Or indeed most of my campaigns. Hell, only campaign I fully completed was a Welsh campaign in Viking Invasion! I keep trying to stick to one faction but then I get bored and switch. I've only seen Realm Divide once, and haven't reached the FotS version yet Yeah, when it gets to the point that it's just a long easy slog, (Or just me getting hammered every turn with no hope of turning things around.) I usually quit playing. I think my best record is winning a couple short campaigns in Medieval 2 and one long campaign with the HRE. The farthest I've gotten with Shogun 2 is taking the capitol with the Hattori. I don't think it's just a Total War thing, either. I have a hard time going back to the same save with any sandbox game. If I don't have a predefined mission or campaign/unlock structure or reason to keep going I just seem to play as long as it holds my attention and then next time I boot it up I reflexively start a new game. It worked better when I had time to play all day...
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Jan 3, 2013 19:28
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Was doing a legendary campaign as the Otomi when I got a crash during the AI turns, and now it crashes every time I reload. Guessing there's no way to save the campaign? And has there been any word on what Rome 2's multiplayer will be? I know the shogun avatar campaign isn't very popular but I liked the customization of it.
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Jan 3, 2013 20:02
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quote:And has there been any word on what Rome 2's multiplayer will be? I know the shogun avatar campaign isn't very popular but I liked the customization of it. I don't believe they've even begun to discuss multiplayer yet. That said, I would be very surprised if they backed away from the Shogun 2 model instead of improving on it. Edit: Checking the forums for other news, apparently they've confirmed only 8 playable factions this time, but with more options and depth blah blah blah. I'm sure Faction DLC will be a thing like in Shogun 2. If they're limited to 8, though...Rome, Carthage, Greece, Egypt, Gauls are pretty much locks, but who else? madmac fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Jan 3, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 20:19
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I hope the Rome 2 multiplayer is similar to Shogun 2 but with far less of the grindy poo poo. Having to do shittons of battles just to get decent units is the opposite of fun, especially when you're forced to fight people who have already unlocked some of the good poo poo and stomp all over you.
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Jan 3, 2013 21:13
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Trujillo posted:Was doing a legendary campaign as the Otomi when I got a crash during the AI turns, and now it crashes every time I reload. Guessing there's no way to save the campaign? Shogun 2s anti piracy software at least used to do memory checks every x turns, it may still be doing that. If it's a pirated copy it is probably that, if not then there are several programs that could interfere with its system such as memory editors or trainers accessing the process would trigger it and shutdown. If it is neither then your campaign is probably broken for good. If you can still reload the save and manually end the turn, maybe try changing some orders around, move an army a bit away or somesuch to change the saved seed, good luck.
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Jan 3, 2013 21:23
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madmac posted:I don't believe they've even begun to discuss multiplayer yet. That said, I would be very surprised if they backed away from the Shogun 2 model instead of improving on it. A Briton tribe will probably be playable.
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Jan 3, 2013 21:25
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madmac posted:Rome, Carthage, Greece, Egypt, Gauls are pretty much locks, but who else? Sparta, Germans, Seleucids, Parthians, English.. I forgot some others from when I made r:tr but there are plenty of medium to smaller factions they could add to fill the map.
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Jan 3, 2013 21:25
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I hate to use this thread as just my personal recommend me a mod resource, but what mods would you recommend for Napoleon? The main feature I would want is the ability to play France in the Grand Campaign. Spergy realism isn't required.
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Jan 3, 2013 21:36
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It may have changed with the latest total wars but I always find once you get a certain way it's not really that fun anymore. Like playing as Spain in M2TW once I had pretty much taken all of Spain and a bit of North Africa even though the world map is huge (doubly huge with SS) it just feels like a matter of (long) time before I take it all. I'd kind of like a bit more challenge to it like internal struggles or something.
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Jan 4, 2013 01:00
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az posted:If it is neither then your campaign is probably broken for good. If you can still reload the save and manually end the turn, maybe try changing some orders around, move an army a bit away or somesuch to change the saved seed, good luck. Yeah, it's neither and it saved after a battle on the ai's turn so guess I'm boned. Thanks anyways. madmac posted:If they're limited to 8, though...Rome, Carthage, Greece, Egypt, Gauls are pretty much locks, but who else? 8 doesn't leave much room (till the DLC). I miss the days you just had to edit a text file to unlock every faction. Scythians may be one of them if they want a faction to fill the cavalry niche. Since they're going for 8 they probably want each one to be somewhat unique so I'm guessing macedonia is out in favor of greece.
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Jan 4, 2013 01:51
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Cantorsdust posted:I hate to use this thread as just my personal recommend me a mod resource, but what mods would you recommend for Napoleon? The main feature I would want is the ability to play France in the Grand Campaign. Spergy realism isn't required. I usually recommend LME mod for Napoleon. Its kind of a realism mod but not in any way that makes the game less fun. The battles are also awesome to watch in it because of the large amount of sound, music, and smoke/dust effects that it adds as well as the larger units.
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Jan 4, 2013 02:02
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Sorry to resurrect the thread but I'm only just now getting around to playing Shogun 2 and was wondering if there were any mods or anything that would make the experience more enjoyable now that the games been out for so long. Note that I'm talking about vanilla Shogun - no expansions or dlc.
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Jan 6, 2013 21:39
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Brownie posted:Sorry to resurrect the thread but I'm only just now getting around to playing Shogun 2 and was wondering if there were any mods or anything that would make the experience more enjoyable now that the games been out for so long. Note that I'm talking about vanilla Shogun - no expansions or dlc. The DLC is pretty cheap and on the whole very good, it will really diversify your experience. There's a bunch to flesh out the vanilla campaign too if your problem is not wanting to do the other ones. Otherwise, a lot of people here recommend Radious' mods, they add a lot. I don't understand your problem with it though? It's still a fairly new game, currently the most graphically impressive strategy game on the market, and it's by far the most polished TW game in the entire series. If you haven't tried it at all it seems pretty silly to me to make the judgement that it's going to be boring by default; it really isn't.
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Jan 6, 2013 22:12
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I dunno I'm new to the series and bought Shogun 2 and a couple other TW games over the course of the Steam sale and the tactical battles are great but I don't particularly understand or enjoy the strategic map yet. I could be carrying a lot of bad habits from Civ to facilitate that, but I've started 3 vanilla campaigns and within 10-20 turns I'm at war with 4 guys I didn't do poo poo to. I can't tell if emphasizing military to keep up with the stack spam is working better than focusing on growth so I can build more stacks or what. I started a game with the Radious mod and it seems 'better' in the sense that he's reduced upkeep so I'm able to actually do things but so far that mainly means I'm just getting into massive stack battles sooner.
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Jan 7, 2013 01:49
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Antares posted:I dunno I'm new to the series and bought Shogun 2 and a couple other TW games over the course of the Steam sale and the tactical battles are great but I don't particularly understand or enjoy the strategic map yet. I could be carrying a lot of bad habits from Civ to facilitate that, but I've started 3 vanilla campaigns and within 10-20 turns I'm at war with 4 guys I didn't do poo poo to. I can't tell if emphasizing military to keep up with the stack spam is working better than focusing on growth so I can build more stacks or what. Ok remember the game is called 'Total War' for a reason. They've tried to spruce up the Risk elements but at the end of the day if you aren't at war with someone then you are doing it wrong. Build armies, crush your enemies.
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Jan 7, 2013 01:55
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Antares posted:I dunno I'm new to the series and bought Shogun 2 and a couple other TW games over the course of the Steam sale and the tactical battles are great but I don't particularly understand or enjoy the strategic map yet. I could be carrying a lot of bad habits from Civ to facilitate that, but I've started 3 vanilla campaigns and within 10-20 turns I'm at war with 4 guys I didn't do poo poo to. I can't tell if emphasizing military to keep up with the stack spam is working better than focusing on growth so I can build more stacks or what. In a lot of ways your Civ habits will be helpful, but it's important to note that the AI behaves a lot more like Civ on the higher difficulty levels, not the lower ones. Just like Civ, some clans will form power blocs that hate you. Trade is the best way to start alliances to form your own group of friends, but no-one wants to be a friend of the weakling. If you don't have sufficient troops (or have them in the wrong part of your empire) the computer will quite happily take advantage of your weakness and go to war with you. It won't peace out unless you threaten it's holdings in some way. This means you often have a better bargaining position for peace *before* you take a province, rather than after. Don't expect the AI to happily let you tech up or improve your provinces unless you have the muscle to hold what you have. Sometimes you just have to hold a front or two while you consolidate. It's not a difficult game, but it can be a little overwhelming. The computer respects numbers more than quality, so make sure to crank out hordes of Ashigaru as they fight well above their value in castle defence as well as giving the computer pause. It's a balancing act that takes some time to get used to, but even fighting 4 guys at once is rarely a problem. Just counterattack and wipe one or two of them out. Hell, you can often make them surrender and become your vassal if they are one province minors that just threw their armies to be obliterated on your walls.
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Jan 7, 2013 03:12
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Is vassalage in S2 even worth it? It seemed like such an amazing hassle trying to do it in Rome or Medieval 2 that I would just run down their last city and loot it or something instead. I mean, this isn't a Paradox grand strategy, so accumulating more territory never feels like it gets more overwhelming at all.
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Jan 7, 2013 03:52
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Sober posted:Is vassalage in S2 even worth it? It seemed like such an amazing hassle trying to do it in Rome or Medieval 2 that I would just run down their last city and loot it or something instead. I mean, this isn't a Paradox grand strategy, so accumulating more territory never feels like it gets more overwhelming at all. It most certainly is. Newly minted vassals don't suffer from Realm Divide penalties and start off well liked or neutral to all other clans, so they rarely get war declared on them. In addition they are a trade partner and give you a percentage of their income, so it can be quite lucrative and a good use of poor provinces (How else are you going to get a province with 1100 wealth make an effective 900 koku a turn?). This is in addition to the fact you don't need to recruit or maintain the army to defend it, as you only need a smaller stack to ensure loyalty. Since you are trading with them for some time (especially if they are newly minted) they tend to be rather friendly towards you and will often last into Realm Divide, not to mention they end up at war with the world too, so often don't want to add to their woes by declaring on you.
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Jan 7, 2013 04:21
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Sober posted:Is vassalage in S2 even worth it? It seemed like such an amazing hassle trying to do it in Rome or Medieval 2 that I would just run down their last city and loot it or something instead. I mean, this isn't a Paradox grand strategy, so accumulating more territory never feels like it gets more overwhelming at all. Yeah that is a definite problem with the series; it's more of a self-imposed challenge than anything else. Any vassals pre-realm divide in vanilla will turn on you just like everybody else, so unless you want to suddenly have to fight half your most pacified and allied territories far behind your frontline at that moment it's a pretty bad idea to take any. That said, maybe you do want to do that, extra challenges in my opinion are something of a necessity in the late game. Perhaps the only actual reason I can think of is if there's an especially worthless province; teching everything up everywhere is a huge moneysink- although it's still probably worth it in the long run. My main reason for taking vassals instead of conquering though is because I find a mosaic of colours much prettier than the massive blocks you get 10 years in though. Wish they had let you do that in Empire. e: ^^^^ is it really? I suppose I've just been doing it wrong then. I swear I've had my vassals turn on me in realm divide. e2: that's probably because I'm a horrible ruler
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Jan 7, 2013 04:26
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Koramei posted:The DLC is pretty cheap and on the whole very good, it will really diversify your experience. There's a bunch to flesh out the vanilla campaign too if your problem is not wanting to do the other ones. Otherwise, a lot of people here recommend Radious' mods, they add a lot. Oh sorry if I came off as saying it was boring or anything, I didn't mean to as you're absolutely correct in that I haven't played it yet so I've no idea how good it is! I wasn't asking because I assumed it was boring, it's just that the last Total War game I played was Empire and that game was definitely immediately better with AI mods and the like, I was just wondering if there was anything similar for this but you've answered my question already 
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Jan 7, 2013 04:29
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Brownie posted:Oh sorry if I came off as saying it was boring or anything, I didn't mean to as you're absolutely correct in that I haven't played it yet so I've no idea how good it is! I wasn't asking because I assumed it was boring, it's just that the last Total War game I played was Empire and that game was definitely immediately better with AI mods and the like, I was just wondering if there was anything similar for this but you've answered my question already Suddenly everything you said makes perfect sense. Empire was by far the worst of the bunch in terms of AI, you couldn't even remotely compare it with the Shogun 2 AI. Vanilla Shogun 2 is a perfectly enjoyable and fulfilling experience all by itself, something that could never be said for Empire!
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Jan 7, 2013 04:45
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shalcar posted:Suddenly everything you said makes perfect sense. Empire was by far the worst of the bunch in terms of AI, you couldn't even remotely compare it with the Shogun 2 AI. Vanilla Shogun 2 is a perfectly enjoyable and fulfilling experience all by itself, something that could never be said for Empire! I enjoyed Empire and found it fulfilling, putting 140 hours into it. EDIT: Shogun 2 is by far the best TW to date though. I agree that they keep getting better with each release
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Jan 7, 2013 07:54
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Dead Man Posting posted:I enjoyed Empire and found it fulfilling, putting 140 hours into it. 140 hours into Empire without mods? I must admit, you have a greater tolerance for that sort of thing than me. Once I worked out I basically couldn't lose if I did something as advanced as take an island, I lost all interest. Which is sad, I really liked the Age of Sail, but I just couldn't find the game in it, which could very well be me more than the game. e: I feel in the interest of full disclosure I should specify that I got burned so bad on Empire that I swore off the Total War series, one of my most cherished games, forever for screwing me that hard. In fact, it was only the glowing reviews of goons on Shogun 2 that got me to buy it (and I'm so very glad I did, 500 hours and one LP later!)
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Jan 7, 2013 08:01
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Welp, maybe it's been a while since I played a TW or maybe because I thought the Empire AI was "good enough" but I just got thoroughly whooped trying to start a Shimazu campaign that quickly went south. Mostly on the campaign end if anything. Too bad booting a trade boat = war, though I guess it was kind of my fault for losing a general, my starting daimyo and his son pretty quickly then having a 20 stack sit around for about 5 years doing nothing of importance (I think I forgot it was a total war game I was playing). Actually it maybe was Empire that made me forget how to hammer and anvil or use unit types. I vaguely remember, so I continued using a screen of spears (mostly yari ashigaru) with samurai behind them. I don't remember if I should be running them into the fight or trying to circle them around then charge in, which is what I usually leave cavalry for. Is having a group of samurai "merge" into an engaged ashigaru unit from behind worth doing or do they all just get tangled up and become sort of ineffective (besides 2 units versus 1)? Which is what I vaguely remember from RTW, M2TW. Also drat those rebels for spawning with all samurai units, even if I did outnumber them 2 to 1.
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Jan 7, 2013 08:53
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Sober posted:Welp, maybe it's been a while since I played a TW or maybe because I thought the Empire AI was "good enough" but I just got thoroughly whooped trying to start a Shimazu campaign that quickly went south. Mostly on the campaign end if anything. Too bad booting a trade boat = war, though I guess it was kind of my fault for losing a general, my starting daimyo and his son pretty quickly then having a 20 stack sit around for about 5 years doing nothing of importance (I think I forgot it was a total war game I was playing). Yeah, you should be looking at a pace of around 4-5 provinces every 5 years (20 turns), as any slower than that will give you real trouble with the time limit for the end game. Don't worry if you start out a little slower, as you can easily pick up pace by eating smaller clans once you are 4 or so provinces big with a decent general. Learn the art of the counter-attack and how to bait the computer into a poor fight and it will really reap dividends. As for Hammer and Anvil, if you outnumber the enemy and you can hold your centre line, you should deploy your army with wings of shock or quality troops to envelop and collapse the enemy flanks and roll up their battle line like so much cheap carpet. If you can't hold the centre line, you will need troops in reserve to replace them when they get worn down. Overcommitting can be as dangerous as under-committing, so always leave a little something extra, but don't be afraid to go for the killing blow if it presents itself. You lose out on the charge bonus by forcing your units to attack through the rear of your own melee, as your men wont make clean impact with the enemy, but other than that there is no downside to you. It's common to order reserves to fight through the rear of your centre line (you don't want you centre line to have broken before you commit your reserves after all!). Cavalry work best for Hammer and Anvil, but any troops attacking the rear has a huge impact on morale. Letting the Ashigaru take the charge is always a good idea, as they are cheap and easy to replace, but remember they can spear-wall to improve their survivability at the expense of their killing power, letting your wings flank for more devastating effect. Be wary of arrows and firebombs (Not to mention matchlocks!) if you do this though.
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Jan 7, 2013 09:24
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Turning off the radar was one way I made Empire slightly more enjoyable for myself and then they went ahead and introduced hardcore battle mode in Shogun 2, step in the right direction right there.
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Jan 7, 2013 12:15
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Rabhadh posted:Turning off the radar was one way I made Empire slightly more enjoyable for myself and then they went ahead and introduced hardcore battle mode in Shogun 2, step in the right direction right there. The Empire radar was shite anyway, far too cluttered to be of any use.
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Jan 7, 2013 13:46
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I was doing a date campaign last week and made some vassals after realm divide thinking they didn't get the penalty, but eventually they do. Not sure how long it takes. It may even be a long enough amount of time that most people don't even see it because they already win by that point but I got bogged down and had to fight the campaign for way longer than I should have. The relations penalty started out around 5-10 but I finished it before I could see if it was ramping up or not.Sober posted:I just got thoroughly whooped trying to start a Shimazu campaign that quickly went south. Mostly on the campaign end if anything. A tip for the campaign end: You can sell military access to other clans you have a land connection with for a decent amount of koku. Once you get a few turns in you can sell 20 turns of access for usually anywhere between 2000-5000 koku a clan. Doesn't have to be 20 turns I guess but you'll make the most that way. They'll give you the same price for indefinite access for some reason. Do it too early like on the first or second turn and they won't have enough saved up and won't give you the full worth. It can also help dissuade them from attacking you because it'll boost your relations. You can then use some of that koku they just gave you to buy an alliance or a trade route which will boost relations even more (not to say that a trade route and good relations will stop them from attacking you if you look weak) or just for a little extra recruitment or construction. It can make a huge difference early on. Just be careful of who you sell access to. You want to be able to expand quickly so you can keep up with the other regional powers that are always forming and who will take over everything if you just sit there. In my last game realm divide didn't even matter because I was already at war with the three other clans who controlled everything and were allied with each other before I even triggered realm divide. There's always going to be a few clans with a runaway lead early on. It's almost like random clans get some kind of lucky clan bonus like in eu3 because I've even seen Honma take over north Japan.
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Jan 7, 2013 20:20
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