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The Total War website has a timer that counts back from 2006 to 1908. Possible indication of a new game in the series. Anyone care to speculate? obvious suggestion would be a WWI era game starting in 1908, or possibly a "Victoria Total War" ending on that date.

Edit: Crappy spelling is crappy

Good luck in making a WW-1 era total war game.

I hope they start where they ended in Total War 2 since TW2's implementation of the New World was grossly dissapointing. I also prefer melee-heavy combat over Empire's line infantry firing a couple of volleys at eachother.

It might not be a WW1 game, it might just be where the counter stops at for today...

I would like to see the Creative Assembly from a few years ago try their hand at a First World War game... not so sure about the current CA. I would really like to see a well implemented front line system which allows territory pushing along with breakouts and mobile war, but I fear all we will get is identical combat to the previous games with big army stacks simply substituting in WW1 weapons. That said if they do make one set in that time period and it allows the player to conduct strategic bombing with Zeppelins then I will simply be unable to control myself and buy it.

By the way I know this is a little off topic but I bought Empire last year when it was on sale somewhere; is it now in a fit enough state to play? I assume Napoleon is now the focus of their patching efforts.

Aaron Ash wrote: By the way I know this is a little off topic but I bought Empire last year when it was on sale somewhere; is it now in a fit enough state to play? I assume Napoleon is now the focus of their patching efforts.

They're still supporting Empire ; I've been playing it for about a month now, no crashes at all, and my system is barely capable of running the thing. The new 1.6 patch supposedly makes the AI much more challenging, though I haven't downloaded it yet since it supposedly does funky shit with savegames, and I want to finish my Maratha game first.

Yes, Empire is fine now and it's been quite playable for several patches. The AI has gotten a little better; I'm finding myself somewhat vexed in my Prussia game because they're actually threatening and taking territories from me now while I'm occupied on other beleaguered fronts. They also build real armies comprised of lots of line infantry and plenty of guns.

I share Aaron's thoughts; I've always thought a 20th century TW would be just ducky... but I am a bit burned on CA. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

They should make Rome 2 Total War instead. I never liked the medieval total war games as much as I did RTW. There is something about the mood and aesthetic of the ancient era that is absent in games set in other times.

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:
I share Aaron's thoughts; I've always thought a 20th century TW would be just ducky... but I am a bit burned on CA. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I question CA's ability to make a "World War Total War", but I don't consider it impossible. We've already seen modern tactical warfare sims like Theatre of War and Combat Mission which have good elements. Even if they are in need of serious user interface and AI redesign.

That, and watching CA try to explain the AI misbehavior in a modern setting would be fucking hilarious.

The games have been really euro-centric. Why don't they go back to their first game and make a Shogun 2? Having a focus on Asia would be pretty cool in my opinion.

Stofsk wrote:The games have been really euro-centric. Why don't they go back to their first game and make a Shogun 2? Having a focus on Asia would be pretty cool in my opinion.

I'm guessing it would depend a lot on who's buying their games. If their userbase is mainly in Europe/USA/Australia then western/europe centric games will probably be their focus.

Wonder if they'll ever do a US Civil War game, with the possibility of European powers getting involved.

A "US Civil War Game" is waaaay too narrow a focus for a Total War game. That's like making "Falklands: Total War".

What about Pershing's Expedition : Limited War?

Afghan: Proxy War?

I would be happy to have lower graphics if they could remake Empire with greater troop counts. I want to recreate events like the siege of Vienna, not 2000 vs. 1500 skirmishes.

CaptHawkeye wrote:A "US Civil War Game" is waaaay too narrow a focus for a Total War game. That's like making "Falklands: Total War".

I was thinking more of the era in general with the map being Northern America & Europe. Human or AI european powers could potentially ally with the north or south.

Stark wrote:What about Pershing's Expedition : Limited War?

Afghan: Proxy War?

Operation Urgent Fury1: Not so Total War.

1 The US invasion of Grenada in 1983.

atg wrote: I was thinking more of the era in general with the map being Northern America & Europe. Human or AI european powers could potentially ally with the north or south.

Could be fun, though pretty unrealistic. Or perhaps they could try to combine the US Civil War with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 somehow...

A US Civil War type campaign wouldn't exactly be unprecedented, though I don't think it should be a full game. More in the vein of Kingdoms or Warpath, or perhaps Napoleon. The current Empire engine supports the era perfectly fine so it would be easy to make; just generally increase range and accuracy across the board, make most cavalry behave like dragoons on crack and a bunch of other little tweaks along those lines and you essentially have it.

It may seem limited in scope at first glance, but that's more a matter of adjusting the scale of the campaign. Napoleon is a perfect example; turns needn't be several years of armies marching across the entirety of three continents -- keep the map the same size but "zoom in" so you're looking at detailed representations of each state rather than the continent being 500 pixels wide.

I don't envision a US Civil War game as being only focused on that. You have a lot of shit going on in the 40 or so years surrounding that particular tiff, like the Mexican- and Spanish-American wars, Second Opium War. And that's just in the West. On the other side of the Atlantic you've got the Crimean War, with the first real use of trains and telegraphs. Scattered around these fun events are the introduction of ironclads, semi-automatic weapons, and machine guns.

atg wrote:

Stofsk wrote:The games have been really euro-centric. Why don't they go back to their first game and make a Shogun 2? Having a focus on Asia would be pretty cool in my opinion.

I'm guessing it would depend a lot on who's buying their games. If their userbase is mainly in Europe/USA/Australia then western/europe centric games will probably be their focus.

I don't see how that's relevant. After all, Shogun was their first game, people from Europe/USA/Australia bought that didn't they?

Wonder if they'll ever do a US Civil War game, with the possibility of European powers getting involved.

Blech.

Just release an expansion pack to Empire for that. Then again I would have said the same thing for Napoleon too, but they ended up making that a full game didn't they?

Stofsk wrote:

atg wrote:

Stofsk wrote:The games have been really euro-centric. Why don't they go back to their first game and make a Shogun 2? Having a focus on Asia would be pretty cool in my opinion.

I'm guessing it would depend a lot on who's buying their games. If their userbase is mainly in Europe/USA/Australia then western/europe centric games will probably be their focus.

I don't see how that's relevant. After all, Shogun was their first game, people from Europe/USA/Australia bought that didn't they?

I've no doubt that a Shogun game would sell. Its just that I'd, and perhaps CA, would think that a 'western' centred game would probably sell better.

A fictional setting for a Total War game would be interesting; a sci-fi Victorian age where ironclads fight at sea, pre-modern armies still fight in the field but supported by proto-tanks and, of course, fleets of airships and early aircraft do battle in the sky; in the expansion pack you would use Cavorite spacecraft to colonise the jungle planet Venus (I can dream can't I?).

Or they could do some shit with Elves, I suppose.

atg wrote:The Total War website has a timer that counts back from 2006 to 1908. Possible indication of a new game in the series. Anyone care to speculate? obvious suggestion would be a WWI era game starting in 1908, or possibly a "Victoria Total War" ending on that date.

Edit: Crappy spelling is crappy

The counter now goes all the way back to 1824. Presumably 1824 - 1908 is the timespan of the next game. I'm glad that (it appears) they're not doing a WW1 game. There's no way in hell they'd ever pull that off properly. Those of you suggesting an American Civil War scenario may yet get your wish.

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:Yes, Empire is fine now and it's been quite playable for several patches. The AI has gotten a little better; I'm finding myself somewhat vexed in my Prussia game because they're actually threatening and taking territories from me now while I'm occupied on other beleaguered fronts. They also build real armies comprised of lots of line infantry and plenty of guns.

I share Aaron's thoughts; I've always thought a 20th century TW would be just ducky... but I am a bit burned on CA. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Indeed. Hey guys, we are finally going to release a good game with all the things we promised you would be in the first place. But: It will be another full-price stuff.

AAAARGH.

Rochey wrote:

atg wrote:The Total War website has a timer that counts back from 2006 to 1908. Possible indication of a new game in the series. Anyone care to speculate? obvious suggestion would be a WWI era game starting in 1908, or possibly a "Victoria Total War" ending on that date.

Edit: Crappy spelling is crappy

The counter now goes all the way back to 1824. Presumably 1824 - 1908 is the timespan of the next game. I'm glad that (it appears) they're not doing a WW1 game. There's no way in hell they'd ever pull that off properly. Those of you suggesting an American Civil War scenario may yet get your wish.

US - Civil war is one thing. But I bet the Crimean war, the Greek wars of Independence, the Italian and German wars of unification and the Franco-Prussian war is more likely.

Very true. There's certainly no shortage of interesting and important conflicts during that era.

A game spanning from 1824 to 1908 could have a lot of potential. The 19th century saw quite a few inovations in both land and naval warfare, both in terms of tactics and technology. It'll certainly be interesting to see how they model the evolution of warfare in the game itself.

Now I guess we just have to hope they ship the game without a swarm of bugs infesting it.

Awesome! Looks like they might be making just the sort of game I suggested and hoped for. If that pans out it might be the first Total War game I actually buy.

Hang on, is there any indication the countdown has now ended? Surely it's just as likely tomorrow to go even further back.