Screenshots from next Total War game!

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-01-21 08:40am

Vympel wrote:IGN interview
Playable factions, as listed:

Pity, I hoped to play as Flanders

(or low countries in general)

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-01-21 02:49pm

Arrow wrote:
Wow, that's just vicious! I can see this screwing with all sorts of plans. And when the Pope decides to have one of my generals wacked, I'll be marching on Rome. FUN!

Would the Inquisitors be lone assassins to route out or whole military units to fight a battle with? Whichever, it adds a nice element to the gameplay, given there's never any time you feel you've a content empire under control in these games.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-01-21 03:26pm

I'm thinking it'll work like the Plague did in civ3's medival senario. It'll just start appearing, and spread like wildfire, people will be dying everywhere, and generally no one will be too pleased.

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2006-01-21 08:02pm

So will Total War 5 be based on WW1?

Post by **Vympel** » 2006-01-21 08:42pm

Darth Servo wrote:So will Total War 5 be based on WW1?

As if. The Total War series will always be based on melee combat first and foremost, I reckon. Expect them to revisit Rome: Total War, perhaps even Shogun, before they touch WW1 with a ten-foot pole.

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba · Post by **Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba** » 2006-01-21 09:06pm

Or it will be a WWI scenario with a seemingly inconsistent volume of trench spike-based units.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2006-01-21 09:27pm

The Lordz made an awesome Napoleonic mod out of Medieval Total War. They're working on one for Rome, but I honestly don't think it will be as good (no volley fire, for one). It showed that ranged combat works pretty well with the Total War game system, though Napoleonic combat is ranged+melee rather than ranged with rare bayonet battles.

If got to choose, the next Total War game (after Medieval 2) would be:

Imperialsim - Total War

Begining in 1861 and ending in 1921, six or twelve turns per year. Factions: United States of America, Confederate States of America, Mexico, British Empire, Russia, France, Prussia, Brasil, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, China, Japan, Zulu, Ethiopia, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Persia, ?????.

The date and number of turns per year can be moved around. Other possible time periods: 1820-1920, 1820-1900 (so as to have no aircraft). Naturally this would require removing the CSA, on the other hand it adds the possibility of adding Great Colombia as a power, though it would be a royal pain in the ass keeping that toguether.

One thing though, they need to add naval battles. You can't have a game during this era without tactical naval combat.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-01-21 09:34pm

Another Shogun total war would be pretty sweet.

I'll add that ranged units (archers and later early muskteers) were, in Shogun, very powerful units.
One thing I miss from that game is the importance of unit stamina. Fresh troops fighting exhausted troops had a serious advantage, combine that with good terrain, and a keen general can win, despite the numbers.

Dominus · Post by **Dominus** » 2006-01-22 04:57am

That settles it. I’m going to need a new hulk to play this game, as the old laptop has not a chance of being able to run a game this sophisticated.

I’ll only be playing as the Byzantines, of course. (Long live Hellenic/Romaioi nationalism!)

Damn, I just happened to glance at the starting date - 1080. It means we'll have to play as the decadent post-Manzikert Empire and will have to spend an inordinate amount of time desperately trying to claw our way back into superpower status by annihilating the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Oh well, it's nothing that hasn't been done before.

Adrian Laguna wrote:One thing though, they need to add naval battles. You can't have a game during this era without tactical naval combat.

Actually, you can. Ever played Crusader Kings? It was a good game otherwise, but Paradox really dropped the ball on that project by removing even the slightest facsimile of naval combat for some indeterminate reason. They didn't even bother to indirectly represent navies as anything more than magical transport flotillas for your armies...

So, here's to hoping that the innovative minds over at Creative Assembly won't make that mistake with this game.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-01-22 02:44pm

Vympel wrote:

As if. The Total War series will always be based on melee combat first and foremost, I reckon. Expect them to revisit Rome: Total War, perhaps even Shogun, before they touch WW1 with a ten-foot pole.

You and I both know we'd like to see something later than what we've currently seen which is in Shogun: Total War. Going from the 17th century to the end of the 19th would be fun. Could have everything from the War of Independence to the Napleonic Wars to the Boer Wars. It could be done easily, given the combat isn't strictly melee anyway since ranged infantry and weaponry already exists. And there's always "company, affix bayonets, charge!".

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2006-01-22 06:28pm

Dominus wrote:
Adrian Laguna wrote:One thing though, they need to add naval battles. You can't have a game during this era without tactical naval combat.
Actually, you can. Ever played Crusader Kings? It was a good game otherwise, but Paradox really dropped the ball on that project by removing even the slightest facsimile of naval combat for some indeterminate reason. They didn't even bother to indirectly represent navies as anything more than magical transport flotillas for your armies...

So, here's to hoping that the innovative minds over at Creative Assembly won't make that mistake with this game.

I'm not talking about the new Medieval, the current naval system that is just stragic battles with no tactical combat works fine for me. I'm talking about my proposed Imperialism Total War.

Admiral Valdemar: Sounds like my proposed game, but starting almost 60 years before the time I proposed. Maybe if it starts in 1800. The US is there, but Britain has a chance to re-annex during an equivalent to the War of 1812.

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2006-01-22 10:32pm

Look at the shine on the armor.

wow Imust have this game.

LeftWingExtremist · Post by **LeftWingExtremist** » 2006-01-22 10:36pm

Sweet fucking zombie jesus christ. That game looks good.

*does happy dance*

Darth Quorthon · Post by **Darth Quorthon** » 2006-01-22 11:39pm

Good thing that the new ATI and NVIDIA video cards are just around the corner, eh? And AMD is preparing their socket AM2 offerings also.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2006-01-23 03:52am

First Supreme Commander, and now this. The desire to upgrade my computer is strong. But the idea of dead bodies becoming a part of the terrain is brilliant.

GuppyShark · Post by **GuppyShark** » 2006-01-23 08:34am

Adrian Laguna wrote:If got to choose, the next Total War game (after Medieval 2) would be:

Imperialsim - Total War

Begining in 1861 and ending in 1921, six or twelve turns per year. Factions: United States of America, Confederate States of America, Mexico, British Empire, Russia, France, Prussia, Brasil, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, China, Japan, Zulu, Ethiopia, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Persia, ?????.

I'm honestly astounded there hasn't been a serious Total War-style game set in this period. The ACW isn't exactly an infertile source of material!

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-01-23 09:26am

i can't bring myself to buy the total war series, they seem to require lots of thinking and lots of time. I played a demo of shogun and got confused within 10 minutes!!

Needless to say if these screenshots are anything to go by i might buy it for drooling purposes!

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-01-23 10:42am

Zac Naloen wrote:i can't bring myself to buy the total war series, they seem to require lots of thinking and lots of time. I played a demo of shogun and got confused within 10 minutes!!

Needless to say if these screenshots are anything to go by i might buy it for drooling purposes!

You can always let the AI do everything and just watch some nicely simulated battles (and likely lose if playing at any decent difficulty).

It's good RTS games are no longer the domain of pixellated sprites because the gameplay is all that matters. They've stolen the shiny tools of FPS and other games and applied the looks to something that is something more than point and shoot.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2006-01-23 02:42pm

For those of you looking for another Shogun: Total War Fix, this has been in the works for about six months now.

+http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39143

Don't expect a Demo though.

Vympel, are you sure that you can play AS the Pope? Fuckin' hell fit me for a pointed hat then.

Why more people aren't slavering over the opportunity to pound some Gothic Knights into Jaguar Warriors...it boggles the mind.

Post by **Vympel** » 2006-01-23 08:46pm

Falkenhayn wrote: Vympel, are you sure that you can play AS the Pope? Fuckin' hell fit me for a pointed hat then.

I'm just qouting word for word what the IGN interview with someone from CA said- they did say the list wasn't finalized, so it well could change.

I just hope they change "Byzantium" to the real, contemporary Greek term- Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων or Basileía Romaíon. Or in Latin- Imperium Romanorum. "Byzantine Empire" is a modern term, after all.

Heck, even Constantinople would be better.

Fire Fly · Post by **Fire Fly** » 2006-01-24 03:36am

New pictures that were not posted yet, courtesy of IGN.

Link 1
These trebuchets are rendered so beautifully and in such great detail.

Link 2
Knights charging and kicking up dust.

Link 3
Why did they even come out? Better to hide behind those huge walls.

And courtesy of Sega:

Archers

Infantry charge

Calavary

Trebuchet and cannon

Open battlefield

Melee

Dominus · Post by **Dominus** » 2006-01-24 04:30am

Ah, those screenshots make me so very, very happy.

But where are the Kataphraktoi and the Akritai? Surely they've got to warrant a screenshot somewhere in that massive collection...

Any chance that we'll see the thema regiments, however abstractly represented?

Vympel wrote:I just hope they change "Byzantium" to the real, contemporary Greek term- Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων or Basileía Romaíon. Or in Latin- Imperium Romanorum. "Byzantine Empire" is a modern term, after all.

Heck, even Constantinople would be better.

Seconded. Damn those Franks and their revisionist historians...

I've also heard the term "Romania" used informally by the lower classes, though the usage of that title might cause a fair bit of confusion amongst the less informed audience...

Though wouldn't "the Constantinopolitan Empire" suffice, clumsy a term though it may be?

Ubiquitous · Post by **Ubiquitous** » 2006-01-24 05:22am

I can't think of a more crappy name than 'Constantinople Empire'. Revisionist or not, there is no cooler place name than 'Byzantium'.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-01-24 06:22am

Fire Fly wrote:Trebuchet and cannon

Ooh... early gunpowder units as well?

*Does a happy dance*

Duckie · Post by **Duckie** » 2006-01-24 06:53am

wautd wrote: Ooh... early gunpowder units as well?

*Does a happy dance*

Well, considering the game goes to 1530...

And I think we're all missing the obvious- name the "Byzantine Empire" the Eastern Roman Empire. That's who they are.