What's new in AE over DEI, EB2 or previous TW titles/mods?

[VektorT]

Hello, pals! First let me give you some insight: TW franchise is propably the franchise I play the longest, ever since the first Shogun, but I'm seriously disappointed with it and jumped out of the boat after Rome 2 HUGE mess to never ever buy or play a new TW ever since, only replaying the old ones with mods. I really don't want to give CA a single dime ever again (at least so far) so I never touched Attila Total War or any other TW since.

So in that sense, especially about Classical Era/Ancient Rome mods, I played the hell out of the first RTW, DeI and EB2, and I want to know how AE will be different from them, especially DeI, and that includes what Attila (that I never played) does different from Rome 2. While I think the combat in DeI is the best ever TW battle, they really did wizardry compared to vanilla, I really can't get over the broken CAI and the boring mess non-battle related features of Rome 2 that seens to be beyond any modder to properly correct. EB2 on the other hand does almost everything right, probably the best TW ever, but I already am playing MTW2 variations for so long that hardly anything feels new or don't become stale after a dozen of turns. So how new or fresh can AE in Attila be? I know that family tree is back, wich is nice, but character developments still is level based. I remeber reading somewhere that there are artifacts, but it doesn't seens to worth a whole new playthrough. There is those hordes that seens nice but I have no clue how it actually impacts the gameplay. Is the politcal system the same snore from Rome 2? Is town development anything better than Rome 2? Is the combat similar in quality with DeI? Is the AI, especially CAI, still the same old crap CA puts out every title until Rome2 (no idea after it)?

I am not asking wich mod is better or whatever, but the differences. For example DeI and EB2 stands on totally different fields for me, but given the similarities between Rome 2 and Attila, is AE like a DeI updated with some new features or is it fundamentally different? Is it too crippled by the same Rome 2 TW problems or did Attila TW improved anything over it? I know that AE took lessons from both DeI and EB2, even took some stuff out of them, this really makes my eyes shines since they are not trying to reinvent the wheel but learn and improve from premium quality pre-estabilished works, but I'm really skeptical about Attila engine, not AE team itself. In short: should I buy Attila and give CA some money just for AE like I totally would for EB2 and DeI? Is it too soon for AE since it still is in beta?

[Rana_sharun]

Hello, pals! First let me give you some insight: TW franchise is propably the franchise I play the longest, ever since the first Shogun, but I'm seriously disappointed with it and jumped out of the boat after Rome 2 HUGE mess to never ever buy or play a new TW ever since, only replaying the old ones with mods. I really don't want to give CA a single dime ever again (at least so far) so I never touched Attila Total War or any other TW since.

So in that sense, especially about Classical Era/Ancient Rome mods, I played the hell out of the first RTW, DeI and EB2, and I want to know how AE will be different from them, especially DeI, and that includes what Attila (that I never played) does different from Rome 2. While I think the combat in DeI is the best ever TW battle, they really did wizardry compared to vanilla, I really can't get over the broken CAI and the boring mess non-battle related features of Rome 2 that seens to be beyond any modder to properly correct. EB2 on the other hand does almost everything right, probably the best TW ever, but I already am playing MTW2 variations for so long that hardly anything feels new or don't become stale after a dozen of turns. So how new or fresh can AE in Attila be? I know that family tree is back, wich is nice, but character developments still is level based. I remeber reading somewhere that there are artifacts, but it doesn't seens to worth a whole new playthrough. There is those hordes that seens nice but I have no clue how it actually impacts the gameplay. Is the politcal system the same snore from Rome 2? Is town development anything better than Rome 2? Is the combat similar in quality with DeI? Is the AI, especially CAI, still the same old crap CA puts out every title until Rome2 (no idea after it)?

I am not asking wich mod is better or whatever, but the differences. For example DeI and EB2 stands on totally different fields for me, but given the similarities between Rome 2 and Attila, is AE like a DeI updated with some new features or is it fundamentally different? Is it too crippled by the same Rome 2 TW problems or did Attila TW improved anything over it? I know that AE took lessons from both DeI and EB2, even took some stuff out of them, this really makes my eyes shines since they are not trying to reinvent the wheel but learn and improve from premium quality pre-estabilished works, but I'm really skeptical about Attila engine, not AE team itself. In short: should I buy Attila and give CA some money just for AE like I totally would for EB2 and DeI? Is it too soon for AE since it still is in beta?

Beta is out Mate and its Playable with a few bugs here and there . But its totally amazing . AE team is frequently updating the Mod and fixing issues . I can promise you that Attila is worth a Buy just for the Sake of Ancient Empires Mod alone

[swissdragon]

I play TW like you since Shogun, I played the same mods as you did for a long time, I just like this historical settings very much and I had the same question regarding Attila.

After the first experiences with the public beta AE I can say: Best battles I ever had with TW or any mod is with AE on Attila. Close to perfection, really astonishing how this modder team enhanced the battles.
City building is clearly enhanced also, you will recognize some buildings from the old RTW mods, even the music (!) is partially imported. Atmosphere ingame is additionally enhanced with AE UI design for the different cultures.
So for me to get Attila was worth it (got it dirtcheap in a sale), but only because of this mod.

That said, AE is not finished yet. Right now this highly talented modderteam are patching the reported bugs, are polishing the balance and will add even more enhanced features to AE. For myself this is the TW mod of the decade.

[Maalek]

I concur with Swissdragen. Never had such nice battles since Rome I days. I directly compared it with DEI battles and the formations and units feel much better in AE. I think the game fun is all about the unit behaviour and Atilla vanilla had a really bad unit behaviour, you could not even use the formation march command correctly. Remember in Rome I when you could command the whole army in one formation? Well my friend, that command is back with AE. It is still beta and have some crashes from time to time. You have to understand the economy though. It is definetely not to soon to try it out even if it is still in beta. You will love it, give it a try!