Screenshots from next Total War game!

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wautd
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Post by wautd »

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

*Does a happy dance*
Well, considering the game goes to 1530... :wink:
Well, I couldn't really read the topic, with all this drool on my screen after watching the screenshots :P
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Post by Vympel »

ALI_G wrote:I can't think of a more crappy name than 'Constantinople Empire'. Revisionist or not, there is no cooler place name than 'Byzantium'. :)
No no no, not 'Constantinople Empire'- just Constantinople.

"Eastern Roman Empire" worked for Barbarian Invasion, because there was still a Western one in that time period. Just Roman Empire. :)

As for early gunpowder units- bah. For those who have played the original Medieval, they know that apart from the marvellous artillery advancements (cannons, culverins and the like), the actual gunpowder infantry units were totally useless. That's what happens when the game ends at 1452. However, this game ends almost 80 years later, so we'll have to see, but I doubt guns will be a big deal.

I suspect the early crop of screenshots doesn't show Constantinople units because they're not very marketable- when people think Medieval, they think Knights and such, and Constantinople units aren't instantly recognizeable as such.

Varangian Guards, that's what I want to see. Think the Emperor's guard from Star Wars, without the red outfits, and ... they're Vikings. :)

Another thing they should do, if possible, is model Constantinople and it's mighty defences with a certain level of accuracy rather than just have it as just another clone city like in RTW. It's fall was such an important part of history that accurately modelling what an attacker would have to do to attempt an assault would be a treat.
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Post by Dominus »

ALI_G wrote:I can't think of a more crappy name than 'Constantinople Empire'. Revisionist or not, there is no cooler place name than 'Byzantium'. :)
In my defense, I gleaned it from an old (and more than a little inaccurate, I admit) Byzantine history work I found in the public library many years ago. Amongst other such delectable treats, the author argued that the Bulgarians, Magyars, and other "non-European peoples" had originated from the "cesspit" of Central Asia. :shock:

I stopped reading after that point...
Vympel wrote:I suspect the early crop of screenshots doesn't show Constantinople units because they're not very marketable- when people think Medieval, they think Knights and such, and Constantinople units aren't instantly recognizeable as such.

Varangian Guards, that's what I want to see. Think the Emperor's guard from Star Wars, without the red outfits, and ... they're Vikings. Smile
Ah, the Varangians... well, to be deliberately asinine, they weren't always comprised of Norseman -- the Varangian units also included a great deal of Russians (or Slavs in general), Anglo-Saxons, Germans, and even some Magyars, though that's an unsubstantiated rumor I heard on the soc.history.what-if usergroup.
Another thing they should do, if possible, is model Constantinople and it's mighty defences with a certain level of accuracy rather than just have it as just another clone city like in RTW. It's fall was such an important part of history that accurately modelling what an attacker would have to do to attempt an assault would be a treat.
YES! Yes! I wholeheartedly second this motion!

The fall of Constantinople, much as though those damned Frankish historians might want to downplay the Empire as "singularly unimportant," was a rather significant event in European history -- some might even say the most important of the Middle Ages, in fact. (Especially considering that most historians today mark the end of the Dark Ages as occurring in 1453.)

But I’d love to play the forces of Constantine XI Dragases and show those bloody upstart Ottomans that no one besieges Constantinople on my watch, gigantic Hungarian-built canons notwithstanding.
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Post by Vympel »

Well, it's likely that if you're playing from 1080, by the time it's 1453 the Turks will be long dead, since you would've wiped them out centuries ago in pre-emptive defence :). That's what I always did in the original- you simply couldn't afford for them to still be around in the Late game, because the Turks got too powerful then (Janissaries and all that)- though I would've done it anyway, I suspect.

Of course, usually by the end of an MTW game, I had reconstructed the entire Eastern Empire at its zenith, at the minimum (I usually owned all of Middle East and Egypt as well).

Since Manzikert has already happened in M2TW, getting those holdings back will be a top priority.
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Post by Arrow »

Vympel wrote:Well, it's likely that if you're playing from 1080, by the time it's 1453 the Turks will be long dead, since you would've wiped them out centuries ago in pre-emptive defence :). That's what I always did in the original- you simply couldn't afford for them to still be around in the Late game, because the Turks got too powerful then (Janissaries and all that)- though I would've done it anyway, I suspect.
The fall of Constantinople could be one of the historical battles. They haven't decided on those, yet.
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Post by Dominus »

Arrow wrote:The fall of Constantinople could be one of the historical battles. They haven't decided on those, yet.
That's what I was hoping for -- a historical battle where you could play out the last hours of the Roman Empire.
Vympel wrote:Well, it's likely that if you're playing from 1080, by the time it's 1453 the Turks will be long dead, since you would've wiped them out centuries ago in pre-emptive defence :) . That's what I always did in the original- you simply couldn't afford for them to still be around in the Late game, because the Turks got too powerful then (Janissaries and all that)- though I would've done it anyway, I suspect.
Tell me about it. I was feeling particularly self-destructive the other day and opted to play the "Late Empire" scenario -- you know, the one where you start off as that useless dullard Andronicus II and have only Nicaea and Thrace to work with? May the memory of Constantine the Great strike down those gods-be-damned Janissaries! I ended up quitting the game in disgust after I had become all but a vassal of those bloody Ottomans.

But yes, if you don't take out the Turks immediately in 1080 and reclaim the rich provinces of Anatolia, you're going to have some severe problems late in the game (and the relative obsolescence of some of your units won't help matters much). Actually, that brings up another problem that I had with the first Medieval -- Byzantium owned far too much of Anatolia in the starting scenario. In OTL, Alexius had just barely clawed the western Anatolian coast away from the Seljuks and most of Anatolia was already completely overrun at this point anyway...

Damn that filthy Ducas traitor who lost Manzikert for Romanus Diogenes. I wish that the Empire were still around...
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Post by Duckie »

Dominus wrote: Damn that filthy Ducas traitor who lost Manzikert for Romanus Diogenes. I wish that the Empire were still around...
Amen, brother. Although I doubt the Emperor himself would be still powerful. Likely it'd have been made a republic eventually.
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Post by Dominus »

MRDOD wrote:Amen, brother. Although I doubt the Emperor himself would be still powerful. Likely it'd have been made a republic eventually.
Well, I'll respectively disagree on that point. I don't know, maybe I just subconsciously associate the Eastern Roman Empire with the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40k, but I can't picture the Basileía Romaíon ever becoming a republic, really.

If anything, I foresee a gradual delegation of political power towards the Senate, largely because the state had come to rely too much on individual emperors. Without strong underlying institutions that would always be there, whether the emperor was good or bad, the state was extremely vulnerable in times of crisis -- and I could see the Emperors grudgingly delegating a few menial tasks to the Senate over the eons so as to ensure for the success of future generations, even if the next monarch is a raving lunatic or an enfeebled imbecile.

The end result will probably be something more along the lines of imperial Germany -- with power being divided between the Emperor and the Senate, perhaps a 40/60 or 30/70 split.

Besides, the current situation in the Middle East would be so much more interesting with an Emperor on the throne of a (largely) Christian power on the very doorstep of a Turkish Iraq, don't you agree? :D

But anyway, have they released any screenshots of the political maps as of yet? I'd like to see whether they've resized the Anatolian/Russian provinces, which tended to be far too big.

And damnit, Constantinople should be the richest province in the game, at least for the 1080 scenario!
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Post by PeZook »

Oh....oooh....oooooooooooohh...

Ok, before I go to change my pants, let me just express the hope that Polish units won't suck this time. Still, even if they do...I'm getting the game anyways, just for that sweet heavy cavalry.
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Post by Ligier »

Unless I can play as the Aztecs, conquer Europe and sacrifice it's populace to my bloody, pagan gods, I'm boycotting the game.

Well, maybe not if they have Varangian guards.
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Post by Vympel »

http://www.totalwar.com/community/medieval2.htm

The main page has been updated. They're bringing back the assassination movies from Shogun!
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Post by InnocentBystander »

Vympel wrote:http://www.totalwar.com/community/medieval2.htm

The main page has been updated. They're bringing back the assassination movies from Shogun!
Sweet, I loved those. Those geishas were sick, once you get them, say goodbye to enemy generals :D
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