Total War Series, Shogun, Medieval, Rome, Empire, Napoleon, etc... Options

[SubRosa]

Here is a topic for the Total War games by the Creative Assembly. I own Shogun 1, Medieval 1 & 2, and Rome 1. I never played much of Shogun 1. In fact when I first tried the demo for it many years ago when it first came out, I was go creamed by the AI. It wasn't until I tried Rome years later that I was able to get the knack of playing a TW game. I never liked Real Time Strategy games, because you can never control all of your units. But I found that by pausing constantly I was able to make it essentially a turn-based game. After that I got really good. Especially in RTW.

In fact, I created the Amazon Total War mod for RTW. When I finally got burned out on RTW and stopped updating it, other people even picked up the torch and went on with it. It was my first foray into modding games, and was very rewarding. I put Amazon Total War up on Dropbox for anyone who wants to try it out, since I don't think my old versions are still around on the web anymore. This version requires the Barbarian Invasion expansion, as it uses the BI executable to make use of new things added by it, like night battles.


Here is a map of all the regions in Rome Total War

A map of Barbarian Invasion

An Amazon Total War map

A Medieval 2 Total War map


Froggbeastegg has an excellent guide to Rome Total War and Barbarian Invasion here. There is even a link to a pdf version of it on the same page.

Froggbeastegg has another guide for MTW1


In any case, I bought Shogun 2 a few days ago. Which makes it the most recent TW game I own. So far I am liking it. Though some of the changes are taking a while to get used to. I miss having the population of every province clearly listed, and being able to change my tax rate for each individual province, and being able to replace my losses in one turn.

I can see why they got rid of a lot of these old things. By the mid-game of RTW you spend more time administering your empire than actually going around conquering. By the late game it takes forever to get through one turn because of the micro-managing required. Obviously the Creative Assembly worked on finding ways to streamline all the management overhead, which is a good thing in general.

One thing I really miss in Shogun 2 is a proper manual though. The other games all came with an in-depth manual that told you exactly what everything did, what every little symbol on the maps meant, and so forth. The manual for this game is really shallow, and doesn't explain any of the real nuts and bolts of the interface. Some things I have figured out on my own, some I had to do forum searches to find out. Playing the past TW games helps of course. But there are changes with every game, and Shogun 2 is several generations ahead of my last TW experience with M2TW.

On the plus side, the graphics are incredible compared to RTW or M2TW, and it runs flawless even on Ultra settings. It is really nice to finally be able to fight out my sea battles on the tactical map as well. I am having a lot of fun with the Japanese setting too. I stared a Shimazu campaign, but gave up after a day when I got over-extended. I started again two days ago, and have concentrated on my economy first, and conquering second. Now I am the sole ruler of Kyushu. The latter half of the conquest was really difficult because my main rivals - the Otomo - were Christian. That make keeping order in every province I took from them a struggle. I have been knocking down all the Christian buildings, and construction Buddhist temples in their places, recruiting monks, and even a secret policeman (metsuke) to keep a lid on things.

Right now I am taking a breather to rebuild my army's losses and getting my economy back on track after the rebuilding. I have a ninja out scouting my neighbors to see who I should strike next. There is a land bridge to Honshu which I could take next. That would put me into the lands of the Ouchi clan, and the Amako after them. However, my ninja discovered an army of the Chosokabe clan that crossed over from their island of Shikoku into Honshu and took one of the Ouchi's cities. So those two clans are now at war. I am thinking this might be an excellent time to invade Shikoku and go after the Chosokabe homeland, They will have to divide their attention between islands and myself and the Ouchi. The only problem is that the Chosokabe have a powerful fleet. But one of the provinces I took from the Otomo has a pirate lair, which gives a +3 to experience to all ships recruited there. So I think I will be building a pirate fleet...

I even got tempted to fire up Shogun 1 and try it again. But it won't run on my Windows 7 computer. Still, I might try putting it on my old Windows XP box.

One of my Kobaya - the smallest ship in the Samurai arsenal

A medium Bune (which is technically a Seki-Bune) probably the workhorse of a Japanese fleet

A trading ship

My Seki Bune grapples a Wako (pirate) trading ship

Great plan!

Banzai!

My Katana Samurai (in green) battle Otomo clan Yari Ashigaru (peasant spearmen)

Slaughtering an Otomo general

Scaling the walls of a fortress

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 30 2017, 12:35 AM

[SubRosa]

Javelin troops like Velites and Peltasts are most effective against chariots and elephants. They have a bonus to their damage them.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Javelin troops like Velites and Peltasts are most effective against chariots and elephants. They have a bonus to their damage them.

These were the little sword guys Ha-something.

[SubRosa]

Javelin troops like Velites and Peltasts are most effective against chariots and elephants. They have a bonus to their damage them.

These were the little sword guys Ha-something.

Hastati. They also have javelins. Same with the Principes. Roman javelins are very dangerous. They are practically a super weapon. Once you get in range of them, you want to either immediately close into melee so they cannot throw their pila, or get away so you are back out of range.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Javelin troops like Velites and Peltasts are most effective against chariots and elephants. They have a bonus to their damage them.

These were the little sword guys Ha-something.

Hastati. They also have javelins. Same with the Principes. Roman javelins are very dangerous. They are practically a super weapon. Once you get in range of them, you want to either immediately close into melee so they cannot throw their pila, or get away so you are back out of range.

Heh learned that lesson the hard way!

[SubRosa]

In the Sarmatian campaign I recently did, the ERE did more damage to me with their javelins than anything else.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 10 2017, 07:25 PM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

In the Sarmatian campaign I recently did, the ERE did more damage to me with their javelins than anything else.

Yeah, if it wasn't for the pila, we would've taken far fewer casualties. The Julii were starting to retreat by the time Khajiit brought his infantry and heavy chariots forward.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Picked up Khajiit's Briton campaign for the first time in a couple of weeks. Things are degrading fast. We've got one last Gaulish stronghold standing between us and our victory conditions, which is a very good thing because we are bleeding funds like crazy. Tried assaulting the town with a force at about 80% strength and all of our infantry was destroyed in our haste to finish the game, forcing us to withdraw our chariots. With our chariot forces (numbering about 6 chariot archer units and a warlord melee chariot unit), 12 chosen swordsmen, and about 20 head hurlers parked a little ways away from their town, the enemy decided to throw a general's bodyguard unit at us. Either they have generals to spare or they are very desperate. We destroyed that unit to the man (no other outcome was possible), and now we have another full army on the way down to take the town. They should arrive in a couple of turns.

In Spain we took a Julii town and then moved south to threaten another. They sent a full stack army to meet us but when our forces attacked them, they mysteriously immediately withdrew. Sensing that these Roman dogs weren't much of a threat, we parked our army just east of their town hoping they will batter themselves against our chariot archers or leave us alone while we focus on Gaul. They left us alone. When Khajiit plays again he will finish his campaign. Growing a bit weary of it, to be honest.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Jun 23 2017, 03:12 AM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Ugh, finally finished it. We wiped out the last Gaulish stronghold, but had we continued playing the Julii would have caused us serious trouble. Things were so chaotic there at the end, Khajiit is really glad to move on from that campaign. Next we may try Egypt again.

[SubRosa]

Attila Total War is now on sale on Steam. I am downloading it now.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 23 2017, 10:14 PM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Attila Total War is now on sale on Steam. I am downloading it now.

Oooh! How much they want for it?

[SubRosa]

Attila Total War is now on sale on Steam. I am downloading it now.

Oooh! How much they want for it?

It was about $11 and change. I bought all the culture pack dlcs with it, which bumped it up to $21. I did not bother with the Charlemagne or Last Roman dlcs though. I don't know that I would ever play them.

One of the big downsides to the Britons and chariot-heavy factions in general is that chariots are awful in cities. It is not so bad on the smaller unit sizes. But if you play on Huge one unit winds up spreading out over the entire city. That makes sieges a headache. Especially when your general is a chariot unit.

You don't mean 20 Head Hurler units do you! That is a full stack of them. One or two is about all you really need of them. Those Chosen Swords are really good infantry though. An excellent backbone for any army.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 23 2017, 10:21 PM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Attila Total War is now on sale on Steam. I am downloading it now.

Oooh! How much they want for it?

It was about $11 and change. I bought all the culture pack dlcs with it, which bumped it up to $21. I did not bother with the Charlemagne or Last Roman dlcs though. I don't know that I would ever play them.

One of the big downsides to the Britons and chariot-heavy factions in general is that chariots are awful in cities. It is not so bad on the smaller unit sizes. But if you play on Huge one unit winds up spreading out over the entire city. That makes sieges a headache. Especially when your general is a chariot unit.

You don't mean 20 Head Hurler units do you! That is a full stack of them. One or two is about all you really need of them. Those Chosen Swords are really good infantry though. An excellent backbone for any army.

Yeah most of the time during sieges Khajiit's chariots would sit unused except for some covering fire for infantry as they make their way through breaches or the gate (of course this only applies to chariot archers). When our infantry forces reached the plaza and victory was assured, Khajiit then brought a chariot archer unit into the city that targeted the mass of enemy troops to make things go a little quicker. In our previous comment about head hurlers, it was only one unit that had about 20 hurlers in it. In that battle, we didn't even use the infantry or foot missile units. It was all chariots.

[SubRosa]

Attila Total War is now on sale on Steam. I am downloading it now.

Oooh! How much they want for it?

It was about $11 and change. I bought all the culture pack dlcs with it, which bumped it up to $21. I did not bother with the Charlemagne or Last Roman dlcs though. I don't know that I would ever play them.

One of the big downsides to the Britons and chariot-heavy factions in general is that chariots are awful in cities. It is not so bad on the smaller unit sizes. But if you play on Huge one unit winds up spreading out over the entire city. That makes sieges a headache. Especially when your general is a chariot unit.

You don't mean 20 Head Hurler units do you! That is a full stack of them. One or two is about all you really need of them. Those Chosen Swords are really good infantry though. An excellent backbone for any army.

Yeah most of the time during sieges Khajiit's chariots would sit unused except for some covering fire for infantry as they make their way through breaches or the gate (of course this only applies to chariot archers). When our infantry forces reached the plaza and victory was assured, Khajiit then brought a chariot archer unit into the city that targeted the mass of enemy troops to make things go a little quicker. In our previous comment about head hurlers, it was only one unit that had about 20 hurlers in it. In that battle, we didn't even use the infantry or foot missile units. It was all chariots.

I thought you might have meant one unit of 20. Way back when I played the Brits I would try to have two head hurlers in my armies. I would keep them behind my main line of infantry to throw their heads, and act as a reserve. Mostly I relied on Chosen Swords and Naked Fanatics, with some light chariots to chase down routers.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Attila Total War is now on sale on Steam. I am downloading it now.

Oooh! How much they want for it?

It was about $11 and change. I bought all the culture pack dlcs with it, which bumped it up to $21. I did not bother with the Charlemagne or Last Roman dlcs though. I don't know that I would ever play them.

One of the big downsides to the Britons and chariot-heavy factions in general is that chariots are awful in cities. It is not so bad on the smaller unit sizes. But if you play on Huge one unit winds up spreading out over the entire city. That makes sieges a headache. Especially when your general is a chariot unit.

You don't mean 20 Head Hurler units do you! That is a full stack of them. One or two is about all you really need of them. Those Chosen Swords are really good infantry though. An excellent backbone for any army.

Yeah most of the time during sieges Khajiit's chariots would sit unused except for some covering fire for infantry as they make their way through breaches or the gate (of course this only applies to chariot archers). When our infantry forces reached the plaza and victory was assured, Khajiit then brought a chariot archer unit into the city that targeted the mass of enemy troops to make things go a little quicker. In our previous comment about head hurlers, it was only one unit that had about 20 hurlers in it. In that battle, we didn't even use the infantry or foot missile units. It was all chariots.

I thought you might have meant one unit of 20. Way back when I played the Brits I would try to have two head hurlers in my armies. I would keep them behind my main line of infantry to throw their heads, and act as a reserve. Mostly I relied on Chosen Swords and Naked Fanatics, with some light chariots to chase down routers.

Britons don't have access to naked fanatics, did you mean woad warriors?

[SubRosa]

Attila Total War is now on sale on Steam. I am downloading it now.

Oooh! How much they want for it?

It was about $11 and change. I bought all the culture pack dlcs with it, which bumped it up to $21. I did not bother with the Charlemagne or Last Roman dlcs though. I don't know that I would ever play them.

One of the big downsides to the Britons and chariot-heavy factions in general is that chariots are awful in cities. It is not so bad on the smaller unit sizes. But if you play on Huge one unit winds up spreading out over the entire city. That makes sieges a headache. Especially when your general is a chariot unit.

You don't mean 20 Head Hurler units do you! That is a full stack of them. One or two is about all you really need of them. Those Chosen Swords are really good infantry though. An excellent backbone for any army.

Yeah most of the time during sieges Khajiit's chariots would sit unused except for some covering fire for infantry as they make their way through breaches or the gate (of course this only applies to chariot archers). When our infantry forces reached the plaza and victory was assured, Khajiit then brought a chariot archer unit into the city that targeted the mass of enemy troops to make things go a little quicker. In our previous comment about head hurlers, it was only one unit that had about 20 hurlers in it. In that battle, we didn't even use the infantry or foot missile units. It was all chariots.

I thought you might have meant one unit of 20. Way back when I played the Brits I would try to have two head hurlers in my armies. I would keep them behind my main line of infantry to throw their heads, and act as a reserve. Mostly I relied on Chosen Swords and Naked Fanatics, with some light chariots to chase down routers.

Britons don't have access to naked fanatics, did you mean woad warriors?

Ah that's right. The Woads. It has been a while since I played the Brits.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Ah that's right. The Woads. It has been a while since I played the Brits.

Lol, pretty much amounts to the same thing, they just paint themselves blue!

[SubRosa]

I installed Attila, and gave a quick try with the Danes to get a feel for the game. I wasn't thrilled. First off, the Danes have ugly colors. I mean, who picked that fugly mule piss yellow? But worse, I had trouble telling which unit I had selected. I think the yellow unit color made it hard to see the yellow triangles under the feet of the units I selected. I think the banner of the selected unit gets a yellow rim around it. But it was hard to notice during the one battle I fought. Back in RTW 1 when you selected a unit its banner would bob up and down and throb, so it was really easy to tell which unit you had selected. The banners also looked a lot better back then too. Now they are just square and plain, and rather lame-looking.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 24 2017, 02:29 AM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I installed Attila, and gave a quick try with the Danes to get a feel for the game. I wasn't thrilled. First off, the Danes have ugly colors. I mean, who picked that fugly mule piss yellow? But worse, I had trouble telling which unit I had selected. I think the yellow unit color made it hard to see the yellow triangles under the feet of the units I selected. I think the banner of the selected unit gets a yellow rim around it. But it was hard to notice during the one battle I fought. Back in RTW 1 when you selected a unit its banner would bob up and down and throb, so it was really easy to tell which unit you had selected. The banners also looked a lot better back then too. Now they are just square and plain, and rather lame-looking.

Hmmm, that's disappointing. Did you check and see if you could change interface settings?

[hazmick]

iirc the yellow colour is just to indicate that it's your faction - you can change it in the settings.

I'd also recommend this mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/file...s/?id=526513366 which reskins all of the playable factions.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

iirc the yellow colour is just to indicate that it's your faction - you can change it in the settings.

I'd also recommend this mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/file...s/?id=526513366 which reskins all of the playable factions.

Khajiit figured Haz would have some more encouraging information about this!