Discussion about future TW games, Medieval, Pike and Shot and Empire
So, Medieval 3 would be logical next game. However, Pikemen never really worked too well in Medieval 2. They were acceptable if crossbows could shoot over your pikemen, but any kind of pike and shot failed miserably and did not work at all. Pike and shot is incredibly complex formation, especially if supported by artillery. It really needs it's own game.
Medieval 3 should be almost entirely traditional warfare, maybe even leave castles as kings (in other words, no siege cannons). Not sure when Medieval 3 should start, i would be fine with Fall of Rome, and it should end before gunpowder becomes too dominating - perhaps in 1400?
Pike and Shot would be beginning of gunpowder era. It would start with mostly traditional armies, little before Ottomans blast their way into Constantinople. And have it end before proper line infantry was a thing. So at latest it would end in 1700, but even 1640s could be fine.
Then Empire 3 would be all about line infantry. Arguably, line infantry started when tercios became more about firepower and became wider rectangles rather than sguares, so something like 1640s. But 1700s is good start date too. End it when line infantry was still main force in battlefield, so 1870s maybe? It certainly should not have machine guns, they need their own game and sguad based tactics which wont work in Total Wars.
So, why would i want to remove gunpowder and pikemen from medieval 3 even when they excisted in real life? Because you end up with something like Medieval 2, where most of the game focuses on traditional warfare but then you also have some gunpowder units. No focus is put to them, so they are really unpleasant to use and annoying to end the game withMedieval is about traditional warfare. It should be crowned with Knights. Knights should be your reward in end game - not something you need to get rid of.
Same with tercios. You work your entire game fighting with pike and shot formations, only for late game to be something entirely different...
People don't play Medieval to play with gunpowder units. They play it to fight traditional war with knights in heavy armor. And people don't play Pike and Shot era games because they like line infantry. People play Empire for that. End game should be best time of the game, something that crowns the entire game and brings it to epic conclusion. Just like in end of Rome Total War you got Lorica Segmentata Legionnaries so many are fans of. That is your reward for building up your empire. That is what you have worked towards your entire game. You don't want them taken away from you with something completely different that might not even work well in that game because of how different it is (though this is not issue in Rome (1 or 2) TW, it was big issue in Medieval (2))
So please, give us either games with certain theme that does not get broken in end game, or allow us to disable certain things both from campaign and multiplayer.
About gatling guns in Fall of Samurai, they worked because you could get rid of them with your own artillery and they were so expensive. Something like that might be acceptable. But if you would make gatling guns cheaper, game would be too much about them and that would not work at all. But when they are this expensive, they are not really worth it. So just dont include them at all/give us option to get rid of them.
And ironically, Line infantry works a lot better in Medieval 2 than Pike and shot that preceded line infantry.
Apologies for anyone who's message i may miss or not be able to answer
