Rome: Total War II

grizzly

Some new campaign map details via pcgamesn;

• Regions are now grouped into provinces. Each has a single administration centre, into which the surrounding regions report. The goal is to reduce some of the area micromanagement that occurs in vast empires.
• Another goal from this new system is to avoid the relentless siege battles of Shogun 2. It’s believed that players will attempt to take the smaller regions first, and tempt the opposing armies out of their castles to fight on the field.
• Armies are ‘raised’ on the field, and recruitment occurs at the general of that army. They’re not grown as single units in towns. Again, the idea is to reduce some of the micromanagement (‘Caesar doesn’t give a **** about an individual’ says Al) but also to create a stronger personality to your armies. Hence...
• Armies have their own skill trees, with improvements earned through battle.
• Armies have at least three possible stances that you can place them in during a turn. I’m not certain the mechanics of how they will play out in the campaign are quite fixed, but it was hinted that switching stances would take a turn. They are... normal, ambush (hidden from the enemy’s sight), forced march (quicker to move, but if caught on the hop, they’ll suffer diminished combat effectiveness), defensive (given a fort or pallisade to defend from)
• When moving armies over water, you no longer need to load them into a separate navy. They will automatically enter transport ships. You will still require a navy to protect them.
• The factions in the game are more clearly defined with starting bonuses and traits. There are ‘flavours’ of faction which should help organise your thoughts. For instance, Barbarians like the Gauls will have similar traits. In the barbarian’s case, that includes a +2 happiness in every settlement for every faction they’re fighting with.
• Naval battles are now fought over naval ‘regions’, rather than having a completely fluid ocean. “This was decided because having a completely organic map wouldn’t be something that would work that well,” says lead Battle Designer Jamie Ferguson, “you needed to be able to actually think that “this is the area I’m trying to defend”. It’s using things we have already got in the game but at the same time bringing back things from the past.
• During battles, units will have true line of sight, the distance of which they can detect changes according to their role. Armies can therefore be hidden behind trees or in valleys, and will require the use of scouts to be spotted.
• Armies that catch another in ambush will be able to place deployables like burning boulders, and place their forces all over the map. The army caught in the ambush won’t be placed at the other end of the battle map - they’ll arrive in a marching formation.
• Each nation will have their own UI decorators.

Outkast_IRE

grizzly wrote: »

Some new campaign map details via pcgamesn;

• Regions are now grouped into provinces. Each has a single administration centre, into which the surrounding regions report. The goal is to reduce some of the area micromanagement that occurs in vast empires.
• Another goal from this new system is to avoid the relentless siege battles of Shogun 2. It’s believed that players will attempt to take the smaller regions first, and tempt the opposing armies out of their castles to fight on the field.
• Armies are ‘raised’ on the field, and recruitment occurs at the general of that army. They’re not grown as single units in towns. Again, the idea is to reduce some of the micromanagement (‘Caesar doesn’t give a **** about an individual’ says Al) but also to create a stronger personality to your armies. Hence...
• Armies have their own skill trees, with improvements earned through battle.
• Armies have at least three possible stances that you can place them in during a turn. I’m not certain the mechanics of how they will play out in the campaign are quite fixed, but it was hinted that switching stances would take a turn. They are... normal, ambush (hidden from the enemy’s sight), forced march (quicker to move, but if caught on the hop, they’ll suffer diminished combat effectiveness), defensive (given a fort or pallisade to defend from)
• When moving armies over water, you no longer need to load them into a separate navy. They will automatically enter transport ships. You will still require a navy to protect them.
• The factions in the game are more clearly defined with starting bonuses and traits. There are ‘flavours’ of faction which should help organise your thoughts. For instance, Barbarians like the Gauls will have similar traits. In the barbarian’s case, that includes a +2 happiness in every settlement for every faction they’re fighting with.
• Naval battles are now fought over naval ‘regions’, rather than having a completely fluid ocean. “This was decided because having a completely organic map wouldn’t be something that would work that well,” says lead Battle Designer Jamie Ferguson, “you needed to be able to actually think that “this is the area I’m trying to defend”. It’s using things we have already got in the game but at the same time bringing back things from the past.
• During battles, units will have true line of sight, the distance of which they can detect changes according to their role. Armies can therefore be hidden behind trees or in valleys, and will require the use of scouts to be spotted.
• Armies that catch another in ambush will be able to place deployables like burning boulders, and place their forces all over the map. The army caught in the ambush won’t be placed at the other end of the battle map - they’ll arrive in a marching formation.
• Each nation will have their own UI decorators.

I like the sound of most of these features, although i must admit to being a fan of castle sieges in Shogun 2 . But in roman times i suppose this twist is welcome.

marko93

Have a computer that should run this. Can not fawking wait..


EDIT: Nevermind, realised it was a common "tactic".. Anyone got any tips they can pass on? :P Only ever mastered Shogun

Kiith

I like that individual armies get skill tree's.

Sephiroth_dude

marko93 wrote: »

Have a computer that should run this. Can not fawking wait..


EDIT: Nevermind, realised it was a common "tactic".. Anyone got any tips they can pass on? :P Only ever mastered Shogun

I wish I had a computer that could run this .