New Total War title?

[Artemas]

I was hoping for a Victoria: Total War. They would have to create a truly global map though.

[Steel]

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

Maybe they'll make the game in the period of the counter that generates the most buzz.. Quick! Go spam their forums!

[Ford Prefect]

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.

Shogun 2 would be boss. You could conceivably set it over a wider period than just the Sengoku period, too, depending on how ambitious you were feeling.

Or, I don't know, Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Total War? I'd probably be spending my entire time asking 'why can't Lü Bu knock a unit of spearmen over the castle walls?'

[open_sketchbook]

I've been thinking about what a Chinese total war game would look like and the whole "insane heroes murdering whole armies" thing keeps coming up in my mind, which inspired another train of thought. While I know they will never stray far from "real history" I think it would be quite spectatular to have a worldwide game set in a vaguely defined "middle of the last millennium" with an "all myths are true" attitude to the factions, basically playing everyone according to their own mythical histories. So you'd have Chinese factions with heroes that could run on water and beat the shit out of whole units, French armies with actual divine protection and armed with holy artifacts, Aztec warriors in golden armour calling eclipses over the battle area, and so forth. Not only could you bend these myths to make a campain map that is actually balanced for a degree of multiplayer, allowing the player to play as any side and still keeping the game playable, but you set up all sorts of awesome "magic vs technology" themes as the vague timeline advances and the cannons start killing off the dragons.

Such a game would be next to impossible to make, would probably cost a ton to develop, and nobody would buy it, but it's fun to think about.

[Gandalf]

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.

Shogun 2 would be boss. You could conceivably set it over a wider period than just the Sengoku period, too, depending on how ambitious you were feeling.

Theoretically you could take it all the way to Commodore Perry's arrival. You'd just have to deal with the fact that not a lot happens for a while. Maybe there'd be a way to have more foreign interaction and thus a chance of them trying to invade.

It'd be a pretty awesome game, but probably an annoyingly small map unless you included Korea.

[atg]

The timer now stops at 1777.

[Stofsk]

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.

Shogun 2 would be boss. You could conceivably set it over a wider period than just the Sengoku period, too, depending on how ambitious you were feeling.

Theoretically you could take it all the way to Commodore Perry's arrival. You'd just have to deal with the fact that not a lot happens for a while. Maybe there'd be a way to have more foreign interaction and thus a chance of them trying to invade.

It'd be a pretty awesome game, but probably an annoyingly small map unless you included Korea.

Not necessarily. Think M2:TW, where some of the scenarios take a small geographical area and turn it into a huge map, like in one of the Crusades scenarios or the one about Britain.

You could make an Asia: Total War game and have Shogun 2 be a kind of expansion pack. Or do the reverse, Have Shogun 2 focus on Japan but have expansion packs for China or elsewhere. Or combine the two.

[Bakustra]

Instead of expanding post-Sengoku (which would be pretty fun in its own way, but not really focused on war) you could start earlier and potentially include the Mongol invasions and watch Japanese warfare change markedly as your provinces grow in population until the Onin war begins. You could even include Okinawa and the Ryukus, potentially.

[Artemas]

An old mod for RTW called Blue Lotus made a fictionalized far east, with Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Indian, and Mongol factions, over a stylized east Asia. Also a demon faction.

I would certainly prefer a continent wide game, with multiple factions of each civilization type. Three or four hundred years starting in 1300 or 1350. With all of the east asian major players.

I've been thinking about what a Chinese total war game would look like and the whole "insane heroes murdering whole armies" thing keeps coming up in my mind, which inspired another train of thought. While I know they will never stray far from "real history" I think it would be quite spectatular to have a worldwide game set in a vaguely defined "middle of the last millennium" with an "all myths are true" attitude to the factions, basically playing everyone according to their own mythical histories. So you'd have Chinese factions with heroes that could run on water and beat the shit out of whole units, French armies with actual divine protection and armed with holy artifacts, Aztec warriors in golden armour calling eclipses over the battle area, and so forth. Not only could you bend these myths to make a campain map that is actually balanced for a degree of multiplayer, allowing the player to play as any side and still keeping the game playable, but you set up all sorts of awesome "magic vs technology" themes as the vague timeline advances and the cannons start killing off the dragons.

That would be fun, with an Arcanum-esque method of troop development, where you can decide what path you follow.

I would still prefer a Victoria: Total War, complete with lines of supply, and giant fuckoff siege guns. Alternatively, a steampunk type setting.

[Master of Ossus]

Master of Magic: Total War.

[ducks]

[Gandalf]

Not necessarily. Think M2:TW, where some of the scenarios take a small geographical area and turn it into a huge map, like in one of the Crusades scenarios or the one about Britain.

There's a thought.

Japan had some two hundred and eleven provinces under daimyos. I'd be fascinated to see that made into a game somehow. I guess not all need be playable.

I'd like to play as the Emperor;

"I have the best city! I'm gonna build an army."
"The Shogun won't let you. However you can partake in calligraphy and philosophical study."
"Bummer."

[Minischoles]

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.

Part of the reason i've refused to buy Napoleon Total War is that at best, it should have been DLC - it contains things that should have been in Empire at first. It's like they used Empire as one giant beta test for Napoleon.

And I rofl at the AI getting better - maybe on the normal difficult, but it's sill batshit insane on the harder difficulties. Boot up a new game as any faction in Europe, and watch as within 5 turns every single other european power will declare War on you. Regardless of any historical or ideological considerations, they'll just declare War - and never accept peace ever. Or if you ask for peace (and bear in mind you'll usually be doing nothing to each other but some naval clashes) they'll ask for something ludicrous:
eg playing as Britain and i've fought a few clashes with Poland, I ask for Peace, guess what they ask for - bet you didn't get it, they asked for fucking Scotland and Ireland in return for peace.
All they've done with the AI is turn up the aggression dial, it's still utterly retarded in every other way, and it still can't fight a battle vs any kind of artillery properly.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Playing as the Dutch using DarthMod, and the Campaign AI seems pretty good. I hear the mod pretty much rewrote the AI from the ground up.

[ray245]

Seems like the next game will be Shogun 2 Total war, based on the leaked news from Total war Turkey.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Hopefully they will not continue the trend of increasing the complexity and micromanagement on the strategic map. I didn't consider it an improvement when they shifted from moving assets a province at a time to Rome's model, and I certainly didn't appreciate individually upgrading each town, mine, port, etc. in Empire. The focus of the Total War series are the 3D battles, dammit! The strategic layer is supposed to be simple.

[ray245]

Although I do hope that they retain the recruitment system they had for ETW.

[Lord Relvenous]

BTW, the clock is now at 1744. If the amount of sand in the clock is any indication, we could be looking at an ancient era game. TW: Mesopotamia! I doubt they put too much thought into it.

So new Total War games seem to come out a lot. Am I the only one who wishes they would release less games and make the ones they do better? I know it's a reality of computer gaming, but the fact that patches to make the game even remotely playable are seen as standard annoys the hell out of me.

[Thanas]

So new Total War games seem to come out a lot. Am I the only one who wishes they would release less games and make the ones they do better? I know it's a reality of computer gaming, but the fact that patches to make the game even remotely playable are seen as standard annoys the hell out of me.

No, you are not.

[CaptHawkeye]

If they go into the Babylonian era i'll piss myself laughing. Lets make a game where literally the only two units on the field will be some groups of guys with rocks. Give me a fucking break. I'd rather play vanilla Empire AGAIN then play a game that takes place during a time when for all intents and purposes, war was about glorified mob fights.

[Ypoknons]

Part of the reason why the Total War series is so compelling is that presents pre-modern warfare in a large scale whilst everyone else wants to do Warcraft. A modern-era, large scale game would be cool, but please don't abandon old-school warfare. At least get the battlefield AI right....

Shogun 2 would be cool. Actually I think the All Under Heaven mod has an amazing timeframe, late Song dynasty with a nice diverse mix of fractions (Khitan, Tibet, Viet, Champa, Xi Xia...) and a relatively restrained China (not counting the Jin). But it might be too adventurous for CA to do a full Asia map, CA's prime audience is after all in the West and they would know little about all these relatively obscure Asian factions and there's no 'cool samurai!!' appeal.

[GuppyShark]

Also, it's easier to do a smaller-scale game well.

A more local conflict will be easier to represent to 1:1 (or as close as possible) on the battlefield. I think I would be annoyed to be presented with the full-stack Grand Army of China, 1000 strong.

[Ypoknons]

Yep - the roman legions look pretty small compared to some of these massive Chinese armies. But the other obstacle is that military conquest in China just doesn't have the same prestige or coverage as in Rome or even warring states Japan, the Chinese have always been more concerned about Du Fu - Total Poetry.

[Thanas]

Yep - the roman legions look pretty small compared to some of these massive Chinese armies. But the other obstacle is that military conquest in China just doesn't have the same prestige or coverage as in Rome or even warring states Japan, the Chinese have always been more concerned about Du Fu - Total Poetry.

The Romans actually managed to reliable supply and assemble far larger armies than China ever did.

[ray245]

Yep - the roman legions look pretty small compared to some of these massive Chinese armies. But the other obstacle is that military conquest in China just doesn't have the same prestige or coverage as in Rome or even warring states Japan, the Chinese have always been more concerned about Du Fu - Total Poetry.

Well, that's because the Chinese sources and literature ( like Romance of the three kingdoms) has a tendency to grossly inflate the size of the armies to a huge amount. If we look at the size of the Tang army, which is well-studied, you will find out that it's not really bigger than the Roman army during its height.

The Tang army has about 390,000 troops at the most, if we assume that all the troops are fully accounted for. The Roman army during Diocletian times has been estimated by some historians to be as high as 600,000 troops.

[ray245]

The next Total War game is Shogun 2 Total war

Title: Shogun 2: Total War
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Format: PC DVD
Players: 1 - 8
Ratings: ESRB Teen, PEGI 16, OFLC M, USK 12 – All provisional
Release Date: 2011

In 2000, the Creative Assembly re-invented the strategy genre with Shogun: Total War, an unprecedented blend of 3D real-time battles and turn-based management game and the first offering in the multi-award winning series. With over 7 million units sold and universal acclaim from the press and community, Total War has consistently been at the cutting edge of the genre and is today one of the most successful PC franchises of all time.

In 2011, the makers of Rome and Empire: Total War will release the sequel to the game that started it all. Shogun 2: Total War will take long-time veterans and newcomers alike to the next level of strategy gaming on PC. Based on 10 years of experience in making Total War, Shogun 2 is the perfection of the series with a new Artificial Intelligence (AI), revolutionary multiplayer modes, brand new campaign map options and epic 3D real-time battles.

It is the middle of the 16th century in Medieval Japan. The country, once ruled by a unified government, is now split into many warring clans. The player takes on the role of one Daimyo – the clan leader – and will use military engagements, economics and diplomacy to achieve the ultimate goal: re-unite Japan under his supreme command and become the new Shogun – the undisputed ruler of Japan.

Set during the golden age of Samurai warfare, Shogun 2 brings to life the most turbulent period of Japanese history.

Key Features:

Total War Redefined: Shogun 2 is the ultimate refinement of the original formula with a new, cutting-edge AI, more polish and online functionality than ever before. The result is the perfect mix of real-time and turn-based strategy gaming that invites both veterans of Total War and new players to experience the enjoyment and depth of the series.

New Character Progression: Choose from 9 different clans and compete on and offline for the undisputed supremacy of Medieval Japan. Gain experience to level up your own character-warlord as well as your generals and agents.

A Complete Single And Multiplayer Offering: Play through the Main Campaign in single player or invite a friend online to play competitively or cooperatively in Campaign Multiplayer mode. Join 8-player multiplayer battles with your own upgradable avatar and climb the online Leaderboard to show the world who reigns supreme. Also including exciting new modes of team play for clans, a first in the Total War series.

New Generation AI System: Developed according to Sun Tzu’s principles in the Art of War, the Artificial Intelligence constantly analyses its situation and reacts to your every move with greater precision and variety.

Improved Land And Naval Battle Gameplay: Land battles never felt so realistic with new multi-staged castle sieges and terrain features changing according to the weather and time of the day – turning each engagement into a tactical challenge. Set buildings on fire to force garrisoned troops out and use your units’ special abilities to turn the tide of the battle.

Naval combat also offers more variety with the addition of coastal battles. Islands can work as effective cover for your ships, while sand bars and reefs can be used as traps against an enemy fleet.

Accessible And In-Depth Empire-Building Gameplay: A streamlined User Interface makes management of your kingdom much easier. Build and govern cities, recruit and train troops, conduct diplomacy and manage your agents – each feature is now introduced with comprehensive tutorials, gradually revealing the depth of the Shogun 2 campaign map – the heart and soul of the Total War experience.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/55055 ... -Leaks-Out