Thrones of Britannia: Criticism Thread

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

My take on the game?

Blah.
It feels very hollow.. I'm an avid/loyal TW player and strategy buff.. all the way back to the original Shogun. Before the game came out I, I went back to Rome II with the new overhaul. With the new"system" in place, you felt a vested interest in your empire and coveted your legions. I played as Kush, and there was a real strategy to carefully decide who to invade, who to stop trading with.. to carefully check your neighbors' attitude towards you.
TB's campaign seems.. Meh.. barren.. hardly any intrigue with your kingdom
I get the stylized Alerts..they look cool..but after a while.. i ignore them.
The battles?..Attlila rehash.. they need to be more immersive...cinematic. I hate sunny weather battles.. the weather needs to be foggy, rainy more often.. If you choose to wage a battle.. sometimes you shouldn't have a choice of waiting out the weather.. You attacked?.. then you take a chance with the weather.
I'm showing my age.. but those of you who remember "Excalibur".. now that's immersion in a battle.. fog.. rain.. drama.. cool stuff.
Like I said I'm a TW fan, so I'll keep playing TB.. I just hope it gets better.

I know the feeling buddy. Started with the series almost 20yrs ago. I'm sure the modders will take care of all the extra stuff, plus the pending lighting and graphic presets will grant us the darkish feeling of that era. I'm already using my custom presets (made for Attila back in the day). But you could also use GEM's Ad Finitum Et Mortem version, it's pretty dark and gloomy.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Well this thread didn't take long to prop up!

[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]

I have some criticism but mostly praise in a videoclip here.

I feel rarely one is going to write a post because everything is great. He will just play the game. When someone does not like something or is confused about something, they are going to make a post. Personally, I think had I tried to make a game and came up with something like Thrones of Britannia, I would be very satisfied with myself. It is a huge achievement for Jack Lusted, compared e.g to his modest initial modding efforts, e.g. with the Lusted AI for Stainless Steel. I also do not see anything wrong with immersion. The game feels very immersive indeed. I cannot imagine it could be more immersive but perhaps I have a poor imagination.

My main criticisms concerning battles are (a) that battles are somewhat easy to win, although I have seen others making a mess, and (b) I feel arrow towers are a little too strong, especially in Roman forts, even after all enemy units have been routed from the walls. In one battle 6 out of 7 men I lost were from fire from the arrow towers. I am not sure I like that.

Finally, concerning the campaigns, I think diplomacy is a little too nerfed and I would have liked the option to give settlements my allies have lost back to my allies, after I have recovered them. Just a personal roleplaying thing. I don't see why this option is not there. It would also help to make some minor factions your vassals, again for me just a roleplaying thing. I have not really pondered on the strategic ramifications of creating vassals during the campaign rather than fighting the war yourself. In any case, I am not thinking of starting with vassals, more like making a somewhat weak faction into a vassal in a nice, honourable sort of way rather than obliterating them.

[Carracalla]

2. AI seem dumber than in previous titles. Keeps moving armies into dis-advantageous situations where it can be easily outnumbered.

I have hearing that a lot lately, as well as the ai strugglin with food. And from what I hear as well is that some factions are kneecaped from the beginning due to lack of food villages or something like that.

[AnthoniusII]

I have hearing that a lot lately, as well as the ai strugglin with food. And from what I hear as well is that some factions are kneecaped from the beginning due to lack of food villages or something like that.

Again? I thought famine was solved in Rome II last patches...Didn't the Thrones dev team even coppied that solution?

[Carracalla]

It applies to mainly to factions that dont have a village the produce food, wich is very important this time for recruting army's. Whats really stupid from CA is that the are gonna make it more difficult for all factions to get enough food.
This comes from a misunderstanding from CA. When people said some factions was to easy they mistook it for that the ENTIRE GAME IS TO EASY! That is what got from reading comments on reddit, youtube and several forums. Hopefully I'm wrong, but that is sadly currently state of drunkenes talking...

(I really hate to type drunk)

[Carracalla]

Keep in mind that i dont have, nor plan to buy the game so I cant verify how the game is other than to look at what others have to say. Sadly what i hear (that is'nt pretensius fanboy talk) is pretty damning. What little actually positive I hear seems to be glorified implementation of older mechanics. And give that CA still havent fixed that damn BAI in Rome II (despite giving it several pathces lately) and current track record of ignoring the cause of problems, namley the AI in general. During a session of Empire Divided the old problem of the enemy running towards me then do a 180 flight (was a unmodded game too). In attila the enemy split its forces when its not doing a retard charge agianst me, mostly on siege battles, making so damn easy to do the good old hammer and anvil that I have no problems winning. And people in this tread and all over the web say that thrones use the same BAI as Attila, wich is no-no for me. AI in general have major problem for CA it seems.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Again? I thought famine was solved in Rome II last patches...Didn't the Thrones dev team even coppied that solution?

Rome 2 latest development was made by CA Bulgaria or Sofia. AFAIK they are a new and completely different team.

[Jurand of Cracow]

As I read the critical comments it seems to me that most concern the balance issues. As such, most could be fixed by mods / balancing patches.
Do you see something un-fixable, that is detrimental to the game?
What about the strategy that I call "sniping group of armies"? Is it still present or not? (I hoped it wouldn't, but I don't see any mechanism preventing it)
JoC

[PurpleScotch]

I played it for about 6 hours and couldn't anymore. The game is soulless, I have played mobile games with more depth and soul than this game. With the next game being potentially an anime "one guy takes down a thousand" martial arts type of thing, I am not sure how confident I am in the series anymore. Without DEI I may have stopped playing long ago tbh. At this point, it's either CA gets their crap together, or a new serious developer begins developing proper TW-esque games (that way maybe CA can finally focus on making mobile games and childish "trendy" cartoon games like they seem to want to), or we bid farewell to this sinking ship and move on.

I also want to add that the battles, in my view, look very bad. The animations have become an eye sore, and the way all the soldiers vibrate, blob together, push and slide in the most unnatural of ways (including a lot of the same animation issues since Empire) makes battles painful to zoom into. Everything looks barebones and I find that the art is quite silly and feels like it's uninspiringly trying hard to be "dark".

I can go on and on. For those who enjoy this game I am happy for you, but for me this marks a new low for the series. The same series that I had thought would be on a whole new height and level by 2018.. sad really, though I am responsible for my own expectations.

[alQamar]

Cutting down features is their new design approach ?
Oh boy... how about cutting down features because they can't make them work, but usually modders can ?

Today I've downloaded Brittannia once more, thanks to a friend who's sharing his steam library with me.
I was very surprised how tiny the download was comparatively to Attila.



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[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]

As I read the critical comments it seems to me that most concern the balance issues. As such, most could be fixed by mods / balancing patches.
Do you see something un-fixable, that is detrimental to the game?
What about the strategy that I call "sniping group of armies"? Is it still present or not? (I hoped it wouldn't, but I don't see any mechanism preventing it)
JoC

Personally I have not come across anything game-breaking or anything that could be considered as a bug. I am having fun but others have whined about this and that, so that's just a fact that I'm having fun.

On your second point, the tactic you mentioned - the tactic with two full stacks - that would not work because by the time you have two full stacks the campaign has finished. At least the short campaign. But if you chose to go on playing and amassing armies to achieve a long campaign victory then maybe it would work, I have not tried a long campaign yet.

Range of movement can be a concern because there are undefended settlements. It takes 3 months to go from one village to the next village, which you could potentially accomplish while crawling blindfolded, but considering that a vast area may be guarded by a single enemy army, any movement capacity is too much movement capacity. You can mess up things, however, because if you have more than one enemy and no allies, your own territory with its undefended villages is at risk in the same way.

Let me say at this point that there is no easy comparison with Attila or any other game. I find that it is refreshingly different from other titles. For example, I don't think in any other Total War title you can finish a short campaign in under 4 hours. You cannot easily judge what the game is like by reading forum comments while not owning the game.

I also want to add that the battles, in my view, look very bad. The animations have become an eye sore, and the way all the soldiers vibrate, blob together, push and slide in the most unnatural of ways (including a lot of the same animation issues since Empire) makes battles painful to zoom into. Everything looks barebones and I find that the art is quite silly and feels like it's uninspiringly trying hard to be "dark".

I actually thought the battles were fun and I really liked the animations. Sure there is that occasional awkward sliding, but I think it was always there with melee fights in all games. I am not sure what you mean by saying that it looks barebones. Soldiers in those days were quite simple folk with a shield and a spear. I did not expect anything else. In fact the battles are well optimised and do not break up like they used to for me. I also did not find anything dark, Britain looks much prettier and often sunnier than what I remember from Attila.

[Theramines]

Reply to Jurand of Cracow: You can damage the AI's food supplies, thus their ability to field decent armies. So, now it is worthwhile to try strategies beyond just army sniping.

[zoner16]

Reply to Jurand of Cracow: You can damage the AI's food supplies, thus their ability to field decent armies. So, now it is worthwhile to try strategies beyond just army sniping.

The AI will actually start downsizing its armies if it's in a major food shortage, which is nice.

It'd be nicer if they actually prioritized getting more food and defending what they had when they were nearing a shortage though.

[Krieglord]

I downloaded a mod that lets me shoot fire arrows cross the map that turn into an explosion of fiery hay balls.. help me, I can't resist using it in sieges.

[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]

I downloaded a mod that lets me shoot fire arrows cross the map that turn into an explosion of fiery hay balls.. help me, I can't resist using it in sieges.

Sounds like what you need is a mod that provides better settlements for sieges in Warhammer.

[AnthoniusII]

Rome 2 latest development was made by CA Bulgaria or Sofia. AFAIK they are a new and completely different team.

British CA always had communication issues with CA departments on other countries. I can not explain the lack of the solution in that issue otherwise.
Not to mention the CA Australia that vanished M2TW codes!

[BlackFire Forge]

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[♔Greek Strategos♔]

British CA always had communication issues with CA departments on other countries. I can not explain the lack of the solution in that issue otherwise.
Not to mention the CA Australia that vanished M2TW codes!

Not sure why, but it seems more like a marketing issue than a communication problem.

To conclude my rant I made a review video for this game:

I'll surely check it.

[Halie Satanus]

A surprising and very frank assessment of ToB by Pixelated Appollo (watch the first 10 mins or so). Surprising because guys like PA get a lot of love from CA with early access and, as seen recently with another popular TW youtuber, disparaging comments get you kicked off the love in list...

I watched the series out of morbid fascination as the by the numbers battles, complete lack of battle tactics or any challenging campaign tactics reduced the game to a blitzing land grab. Something that was boring 10 years ago. Early episodes were promising but middle game slipped into a dire familiarity and the end game just became an impossible slog of attrition.



CA need to really up their game....