Warhammer: Total War

Twenty Grand

Tony EH wrote: »

That's a poor game mechanic.

It's the only thing that adds challenge to the late game.

My empire airs have beat off 4 waves of Chaos so far and it's been tough to keep them at bay.

Otherwise I'd have stomped all over the rest of the map with stean tank armies, gunners and greatswords.

Varik

Realm divided always pissed me off, if it had been that the AI was now more likely to ally with or against you that'd be one thing but the way it was is just stupid.

Tony EH

Twenty Grand wrote: »

It's the only thing that adds challenge to the late game.

My empire airs have beat off 4 waves of Chaos so far and it's been tough to keep them at bay.

Otherwise I'd have stomped all over the rest of the map with stean tank armies, gunners and greatswords.

It comes around 80 turns into the game. That's not late game to me.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a cheap way of "increasing" challenge. Spawn some silly uber powerful threat, instead of upping the quality of the AI in the other original factions.

Plus, Chaos wiped out most of the other factions in my Dwarf campaign, which meant that once I survived them, I had an easy run of things afterwards. Most of the map was a wasteland.

Tony EH

Varik wrote: »

Realm divided always pissed me off, if it had been that the AI was now more likely to ally with or against you that'd be one thing but the way it was is just stupid.

Yeh. It was the absolute worst thing about an otherwise brilliant game.

I think there was a mod made to eliminate it somewhere.

Remouad

Have taken a little hiatus from Total War for the last few months.
However this has me tempted to jump back in.

What do ye think?

ancapailldorcha

I hadn't realised that I wanted Giant Crab Calvary until I saw that. Wonder how the discussions were at CA on how ridiculous a sideways charge would look.

Varik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7tJELpDfKU

Just the sea shanty from the background of trailer.

A lot on the forums are very happy with this as it's cements that CA aren't limited to those factions from the table top with actual full army rosters/books and will take from the different sources.

Remouad

Think it would be great if there were quests to get new shanties
and that different shanties would give you different buffs in combat.
(loved the shanties in AC:Black Flag)

Think there's now more chance of them bringing out an Araby DLC.
(although it would look pretty tame next to undead pirates)

Don't know about anyone else but I'm in no rush for Warhammer 3.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I hadn't realised that I wanted Giant Crab Calvary until I saw that. Wonder how the discussions were at CA on how ridiculous a sideways charge would look.

Apparently they're based on hermit crabs, which scuttle forwards.

Gbear

I only got WH1 a little after Wood Elves came out, so I had most of the content from the get go and I never had to worry about any balance or performance issues there might have been early doors.

How does WH2 perform these days? How good is the performance of Mortal Empires?

I've heard of a few bugs, including one where reinforcing armies didn't work, so I wanted to wait until the game was in a good way before taking the plunge.

ancapailldorcha

Gbear wrote: »

I only got WH1 a little after Wood Elves came out, so I had most of the content from the get go and I never had to worry about any balance or performance issues there might have been early doors.

How does WH2 perform these days? How good is the performance of Mortal Empires?

I've heard of a few bugs, including one where reinforcing armies didn't work, so I wanted to wait until the game was in a good way before taking the plunge.

I've not played ME yet but I think the main game plays a bit smoother than the original though there is notable asset reuse. It also has some quality of life improvements. I'd recommend it but perhaps not at full price.

My landlord's sloppy painter is doing my room this weekend so I'm waiting to see if he doesn't trash my PC before picking up the Vampire Coast DLC though it looks great.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I've not played ME yet but I think the main game plays a bit smoother than the original though there is notable asset reuse. It also has some quality of life improvements. I'd recommend it but perhaps not at full price.

My landlord's sloppy painter is doing my room this weekend so I'm waiting to see if he doesn't trash my PC before picking up the Vampire Coast DLC though it looks great.

There's only so many ways you can make a tree or whatever, so I'm not too fussed about asset reuse. They do seem to have done really well with the breadth of of models they've used - surely far beyond anything seen before in Total War, where I assume there was only maybe 3 or 4 standard unit models with different skins dropped over them.

The monsters just look way more craic in WH2 and they've continued that theme with Vampire Coast.

I really want to get my hands on TRexs tearing rats to little bits, or the Tomb Kings giant skeleton archers. I'll probably pick it up next time there's a sale.

ancapailldorcha

Gbear wrote: »

There's only so many ways you can make a tree or whatever, so I'm not too fussed about asset reuse. They do seem to have done really well with the breadth of of models they've used - surely far beyond anything seen before in Total War, where I assume there was only maybe 3 or 4 standard unit models with different skins dropped over them.

The monsters just look way more craic in WH2 and they've continued that theme with Vampire Coast.

I really want to get my hands on TRexs tearing rats to little bits, or the Tomb Kings giant skeleton archers. I'll probably pick it up next time there's a sale.

I'm not talking about trees. I'm talking about pirates having the same units as the Empire from the previous game. There's a faction with Bretonnia's units along with a Dwarf one as well though the four playable races are all fresh and original.

I read that they got rid of some animations from the W1 factions in ME which I really hope isn't true.

I'm really enjoying the game and it does not suffer from the daft Politics systems of the recent historical titles.

killanena

Mortal Empires is good but prepare for a lot of down time for the first 150 turns or so even with it installed on an SSD it takes forever for each faction to take their turn.

ancapailldorcha

killanena wrote: »

Mortal Empires is good but prepare for a lot of down time for the first 150 turns or so even with it installed on an SSD it takes forever for each faction to take their turn.

Wonder how well they've balanced The Old World factions against the new ones. I can see the likes of the Bretonnians having issues as either of the Elven factions have a lot of counters to knights.

Shiminay

If you've not played an ME campaign, then you're doing it wrong It's fun, but a huge time commitment.

ancapailldorcha

Shiminay wrote: »

If you've not played an ME campaign, then you're doing it wrong It's fun, but a huge time commitment.

Aye, I figured that. So many campaigns I want to do. I suppose the first game is basically pointless now save for perhaps the mini-campaigns.

I was thinking Bretonnia or the Empire as with my clumsy campaign as the latter in the original I never really used their best units to the proper effect. The former are so heavily cavalry dependent so I'd be worried that they'd be nonviable save for the best Total War players. I'm just curious how viable the Old World factions are against both sets of Elves with their masses of AP missile units, dragons and elite infantry. The only thing they really lack is artillery.

Shiminay

Ah, the balancing had been decent, it was always meant to be balanced across the entire set of races in both games. Elves can be a bit squishy once you weather that storm of typical elf bs They've got lots of "specialist" units that allow for very different sorts of armies, but if they try picking some of everything, they get mashed. I still find the Wood Elves harder to play against.

ancapailldorcha

Shiminay wrote: »

Ah, the balancing had been decent, it was always meant to be balanced across the entire set of races in both games. Elves can be a bit squishy once you weather that storm of typical elf bs They've got lots of "specialist" units that allow for very different sorts of armies, but if they try picking some of everything, they get mashed. I still find the Wood Elves harder to play against.

Fair enough. Like how you used the term "Investment". My boss is a Destiny 2 addict and we debate now and then whether or not these are worthy uses for our time.

Don't see many Bretonnia let's plays on Youtube but figured they'd be more challenging which might help in late game. How are the Chaos invasions in ME?

Twenty Grand

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Fair enough. Like how you used the term "Investment". My boss is a Destiny 2 addict and we debate now and then whether or not these are worthy uses for our time.

Don't see many Bretonnia let's plays on Youtube but figured they'd be more challenging which might help in late game. How are the Chaos invasions in ME?

They're tough, and they keep coming back.

I had 5 different invasions iirc and some of their armies just hung around the North, not bothering to come south, so I had to hunt them down. Pain in the ass.

ancapailldorcha

Twenty Grand wrote: »

They're tough, and they keep coming back.

I had 5 different invasions iirc and some of their armies just hung around the North, not bothering to come south, so I had to hunt them down. Pain in the ass.

Thanks. Sounds like a job for Lightning Strike.

Tony EH

Twenty Grand wrote: »

They're tough, and they keep coming back.

I had 5 different invasions iirc and some of their armies just hung around the North, not bothering to come south, so I had to hunt them down. Pain in the ass.

It's what kills the original Warhammer for me.

Jumped back in for an Greenskins campaign. Chaos shows up at turn 100 and wrecks the game completely.

Rubbish stuff. :mad:

Remouad

Tony EH wrote: »

It's what kills the original Warhammer for me.

Jumped back in for an Greenskins campaign. Chaos shows up at turn 100 and wrecks the game completely.

Rubbish stuff. :mad:

There are mods for that

Warhammer 1

Warhammer 2

Tony EH

Remouad wrote: »

There are mods for that

Warhammer 1

Warhammer 2

I tried the one for WH1, but Chaos still came. By the time he reached my Orc settlements, there was nothing left of the map. Everywhere was destroyed and it made the game pointless.

killanena

I've had campaigns where chaos steamroll and ones where they flop very fast. If your not the empire or vampires, it really helps to power level a hero character for assassination early up to level 20 so they are immortal and try and assassinate all Chaos agents. As far as I know they don't get these guys back and it really helps the AI fight back

I do find it annoying how they keep coming back and the mod does stop that. I usually play all my campaigns with different combinations of mods these days.

Beast men are the guys that drive me nuts though, Raiding my lands and we have a defensive alliance! wtf! :P

Tony EH

Well, they are stupid. :pac:

killanena

Campaign I found the most challenging so far over both games is Clan Angrund on legendary difficulty in the vanilla game. I had to use every dwarf box noob tactic in the book and fight every battle until I retook Karak Eight Peaks nearly 200 turns in.. Also max tier garrison in every settlement as I couldn't spare to keep an army home when on campaign. It was one of my most enjoyable though!

Shiminay

That one always struck me as really difficult - Karak Eight Peaks is quite a journey away from their start point and you've gotta wade through Border Princes, Other Dwarves, Savage Orks and Regular Orks just to get to there.

killanena

Exactly,and you are near a beast men spawning point, you also have the wood elves who are no longer as aggressive sense they patched it but Im pretty sure that my pay through was before that particular patch release and wood elves would try take on the world lol.

I'm dying to start a new campaign now talking about it but I have the new dlc pre-ordered so I'm going to wait for that.

I saw a naval warfare mod in the steam workshop for the second game. Anyone use it yet? Comments seem positive. Must try it myself when I get home tonight.

ancapailldorcha

Is Mortal Empires worth playing as it apparently has a smaller map with some settlements missing?

Remouad

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Is Mortal Empires worth playing as it apparently has a smaller map with some settlements missing?

It's bigger than Warhammer 1 and the vortex campaign maps individually but slightly smaller than both of them combined.

It also has all the races from both games.

ancapailldorcha

Remouad wrote: »

It's bigger than Warhammer 1 and the vortex campaign maps individually but slightly smaller than both of them combined.

It also has all the races from both games.

Ok. I was under the impression that the W2 factions had fewer settlements and was wondering if it affected enjoyment or gameplay given the time investment (yeah, let's call it that). Still need to settle on a faction. Was thinking Bretonnia but they're a bit limited.

Shiminay

As I said above, if you're not playing Mortal Empire campaigns, you're clearly doing it wrong.

The faction's landmass sizes and settlement counts are comparable to the first game, the standard army of any race is biggest with the factions having smaller areas that they might traditionally call home with a few more being very out of place in the same way as the Vampire Coast being along Bretonia and the Karrak Eight Peaks Dwarves being in the centre of the WH1 world instead of the east with the rest of the race. I think they've done a really good job with the balance given the sheer volume of races and unit types to factor into their permutations. But as always, Auto-Resolve is a load of cobblers, it will rob you of very manageable victories if you'd played a fight out yourself.

ancapailldorcha

Ok. So the smaller map of both worlds doesn't actually hinder the experience then. Good to know.

killanena

I find the auto-resolve quite in favor of the NPC all the time, Fighting the bigger more important battles is always the way to go. The battle AI even on hardest difficulty is quite easy to manipulate. 2 examples are you can get enemy cav to charge into your spears quite easily and if you send 2 cav to an enemy flank guarded by 2 + spear or anti large units, they will always just send 1 to screen you and march the rest forward with the rest of the army, make its it pretty easy just to distract that unit with 1 cav and get into the back of more desirable targets with the other.

I played about 2 hours of the new DLC on release and haven't really touched it sense. Im kind of burnt out of the game I suppose.

ancapailldorcha

Right. I've bitten the bullet. Didn't want to pick a faction with an easy start, ie either of the Elven races, the Empire or the Dwarves so I opted for Bretonnia. Mistake.

killanena

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Right. I've bitten the bullet. Didn't want to pick a faction with an easy start, ie either of the Elven races, the Empire or the Dwarves so I opted for Bretonnia. Mistake.

Why was it a mistake?

Shiminay

Cause Bretonia is LAEM! :P

Twenty Grand

Shiminay wrote: »

Cause Bretonia is LAEM! :P

Brettonia are class.
Total horse armies charges against dwarves are amazing.

ancapailldorcha

I'd read that they were nerfed in the Aye Aye patch but ploughed ahead regardless. Was really looking forward to using some godly cavalry as I'm replaying the original Rome at the moment as Carthage on Very Hard which all but requires all cav armies. Was especially looking forward to smashing Dwarves but perhaps not the High Elves who seem to hate Bretonnia from the getgo.

Wasn't expecting constant greenskin incursions along with the Norscan ones. I research the confederation techs but the factions get wiped out before they do me any good. I managed to wipe out the trespassing Greenskins and take Marienberg but feel a little trapped between all the vampires.

ancapailldorcha

Going ok but confederating has caused Tyrion to declare war on me. I'm praying he doesn't spam Sisters of Avelorn.

Gbear

WH2 and old DLC are heavily discounted with the Black Friday sales, so I've finally taken the plunge.

I saw the Lizard boys got a big nerf there in the last patch but I'm still looking forward to using them. Giant bloody dinosaurs.

CA accidentally made the best Jurassic Park game of all time.

Varik

Norsca you will be mine finally.

Dave_The_Sheep

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Going ok but confederating has caused Tyrion to declare war on me. I'm praying he doesn't spam Sisters of Avelorn.

High Elves are the absolute bane of Bretonnia. Every ****ing thing they have is anti large, and those poxy sea guard and their "good in melee and ranged" is pure bull****.

I find the High Elves ridiculously OP in most games I play actually, regardless of race. They've no one to really threaten them early game and just swallow up that whole island, then go snowballing.

ancapailldorcha

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

High Elves are the absolute bane of Bretonnia. Every ****ing thing they have is anti large, and those poxy sea guard and their "good in melee and ranged" is pure bull****.

Pretty much. Then CA only went and gave them the Sisters of Avelorn which melt armoured units in seconds. I wouldn't mind but they really seem to hate Breronnia.

Remouad

Varik wrote: »

Norsca you will be mine finally.

Had my first battle against Norsca last night in my Grimgor campaign as they decided to pop down to the bad lands for a visit.

The bad lands were full under my control so they had gone on a bit of a rampage before I got to them.

On their turn they ran into the fog to and in my hubris I followed them only to find 4 full stacks waiting for me.

it did not end well....

Battle was good craic though. Norsca have a lot of monsters and I think they were all on the field.
Happy my Boyz put in a good show

Varik

Stolen from twitter.

Guy defended against the slayer king and got slayed. It's like the plot of ANTZ.



https://twitter.com/MurvelOskis/status/1065326125017124869

Gbear

Did anyone have problems with load times in the Vortex campaign?

I was zipping along fairly briskly, even after 200 turns in TWWH1 but 2 is taking 5+ minutes to load the map at the start and something similar after a battle.

Billy86

Is it loaded in HDD or sad? I know that makes a world of difference for just that on the xcom 2 base game.

If you've not got an ssd amazon seem to have a good few o sale today and tomorrow.

Gbear

They're both on the same SSD. Samsung 850 Evo 500gb, I think.