RTR VII: Grand Campaign

[DoogansQuest]

When is it supposed to be here? I guess I keep seeing all of the work going into Europa Barbarorum and Roma Surrectum, but I've always been pretty loyal to RTR, so I'd like to know when it's expected (if that's not against the rules).

Also, will it use the M2TW engine? If this thread is wasted space, could someone link me to the appropriate location which may have this information?

Thanks.

[Tony83]

When is it supposed to be here? I guess I keep seeing all of the work going into Europa Barbarorum and Roma Surrectum, but I've always been pretty loyal to RTR, so I'd like to know when it's expected (if that's not against the rules).

Also, will it use the M2TW engine? If this thread is wasted space, could someone link me to the appropriate location which may have this information?

Thanks.

Hi DoogansQuest, welcome to TWC.

There are no rules about asking the question, and it has certainly been asked many times before, so I guess one more time won't hurt.

Our strategy for the completing The Grand Campaign is outlined in the RTR Manifesto (here) and, as you can see, is till firmly on the cards.

We are presently concentrating on RTRVII: Fate of Empires (FOE), which in some ways can be likened to a mini Grand Campaign concentrating on the western half of the Mediterranean. It begins in 280 BC and focuses on the epic struggles of the three major powers vying for influence and dominance there: Rome; Carthage and Epiros. Progress has been very good of late and we hope to start serious campaign balance testing in the very near future.

Once FOE is finished and released, then our next team objective will be the Grand campaign, which may very well be RTR's last statement using the RTW engine, as we look into the possibilities of porting to Empire: Total War.

[DoogansQuest]

How will FoE differ from TIC? I ask because I spent a good chunk of today downloading, installing, and patching it in, only to just find out about FoE.

Also, that's nice to hear about Rome porting to ETW. My only concern is the system requirements to run it, as my computer can't play vanilla ETW, let alone something with a mod.

If I do update, however, is the game good (for lack of a better term)? Will those of us who love, and are familiar with this engine going to enjoy that one?

[Tiberius Tosi]

Empire Total War (I am pretty sure) has not come out yet, so I would not necessarily worry about a complete conversion of a brand new game to an entirely different type of fighting and era coming out too soon.

You can check out the FoE previews (they are uhh, stickied or whatever its called). From what I can tell, there are a lot more factions (check the list, I think it's in the first preview?), more units, the map will cover from spain to southern Gaul to Italy, Carthage and Numidia, and I am not sure if eastern Greece is in there. The map is posted in one of the previews, so you can check it out yourself for more (not sure but I believe it is probably going to be subject to change). There is an entirely new government system for the Romans (don't know about other factions though) to simulate their foreign policy. FoE will (I imagine) probably not be as scripted as TIC, that is just my guess though.

[Tony83]

Absolutely right TT, RTR on ETW is a long way off! We have to get hold of the game and see if it's feasible first, and you're also going along pretty much the right lines with the TIC/FOE comparison.

Wheras TIC is focused almost exclusively on the the Iberian peninsular and has two playable factions, FOE's map covers the western half of the Mediteranean and will have nine playable factions, including the big three, Rome, Carthage and Epiros.

We are also introducing radically new government trees for all the new factions, as well as a completely different approach to trade and agriculture, which will challenge, diversity and depth to your campaigns. One of the resaons that progress on completing FOE is slower than we would have liked, is because these ideas are a lot more complex in nature than vanilla, and they have to be carefully written and tested, to ensure that the AI can cope with them, otherwise it would be a cake walk for the player - and we ain't having that!

Check the link in my post above, which will take you to a thread that has connections to all the FOE previews published so far. They will give you a good flavour of the scope of our next project (keep an eye on that thread also for the new periodoc FOE Beta progress reports starting soon!).

[DoogansQuest]

Absolutely right TT, RTR on ETW is a long way off! We have to get hold of the game and see if it's feasible first, and you're also going along pretty much the right lines with the TIC/FOE comparison.

Wheras TIC is focused almost exclusively on the the Iberian peninsular and has two playable factions, FOE's map covers the western half of the Mediteranean and will have nine playable factions, including the big three, Rome, Carthage and Epiros.

We are also introducing radically new government trees for all the new factions, as well as a completely different approach to trade and agriculture, which will challenge, diversity and depth to your campaigns. One of the resaons that progress on completing FOE is slower than we would have liked, is because these ideas are a lot more complex in nature than vanilla, and they have to be carefully written and tested, to ensure that the AI can cope with them, otherwise it would be a cake walk for the player - and we ain't having that!

Check the link in my post above, which will take you to a thread that has connections to all the FOE previews published so far. They will give you a good flavour of the scope of our next project (keep an eye on that thread also for the new periodoc FOE Beta progress reports starting soon!).

So will the Grand Campaign for RTR VII use M2TW's engine then? That would be awesome.

[Baldwin of Jerusalem]

So will the Grand Campaign for RTR VII use M2TW's engine then? That would be awesome.

In my opinion RTW is much better for mods of this type than MTW2. Equally good, if not better graphics but with much lower performance requirements.

[Tony83]

So will the Grand Campaign for RTR VII use M2TW's engine then? That would be awesome.

No, the RTRVII Grand Campaign will be based on the RTW engine. If we were to move engine at all for it, we would most likely use the new ETW engine as a basis. To be honest, a lot of us in the team are not too keen on the way Med II performs, in comparison with RTW, and with ETW so close it makes more sense to us to explore its possibilities.

However, the Europa Barbarorum team are doing great work in work on porting their mod, EB1, to the Med II engine as EB II, make sure you have a look at what they are doing.

[Pat89]

I don't see the benefits of M2 to be honest...

There are some mod out there which have graphics in RTW which look far better than the ones in M2 (especially environment). The only real improvment is the multiple skins allowed per units...

ETW will be better I think... With naval battles/ships allowed and such...

Also if the AI in ETW (especially the naval AI!) isn't improved, then that would really stink... But I think they're smart enough to not mess that up

Btw... Tony... it's six playable factions...