Why Don't People Play MP?

I'm not saying all people of course; there are actually quite alot of people I know who play MP frequently.But I can name a few as well who have never stepped foot in multiplayer or tried it once and never played again.I find the campaigns to be long,tedious,and boring, and so i'm pretty much exclusive to multiplayer,so i'm just wondering: if you're an exclusive SP guy,why don't you play MP?

Don't have any real reason why I don't. I used to LAN up and play Rome against a buddy of mine, but have yet to play against a human opponent in any Total War game since. I suppose I just enjoy the campaigns, and they take up a lot of my time as is. I rarely ever give multiplayer much thought, and I rarely play quick battles or historical battles either.

- On-line lacks any real infrastructure and is more just a overflow of the SP.
- Hardly any indepth ranking/stat tracking system.
- Lack of game-modes
- Most battles are simply replacing where the AI should go with a human player and negating the need to for any real victory conditions.
- Netcode really cannot handle a large amount of units at all. Games start to lagg even in 1v1's with large unit sizes.

I play mostly MP games and a lot of RTS MP games. TW games have never had good MP as there is just so little attention or thought given to them. There are no real distinctive game-modes that the game has developed it is mostly just camping as the only way to win is annihilation. There is no incentive to really have any other strategy than out-camp your opponent. I play the MP now and then and quite regularly with friends and it is just a utter frustration more than anything.

Originally Posted by Tim270

- On-line lacks any real infrastructure and is more just a overflow of the SP.
- Hardly any indepth ranking/stat tracking system.
- Lack of game-modes
- Most battles are simply replacing where the AI should go with a human player and negating the need to for any real victory conditions.
- Netcode really cannot handle a large amount of units at all. Games start to lagg even in 1v1's with large unit sizes.

I play mostly MP games and a lot of RTS MP games. TW games have never had good MP as there is just so little attention or thought given to them. There are no real distinctive game-modes that the game has developed it is mostly just camping as the only way to win is annihilation. There is no incentive to really have any other strategy than out-camp your opponent. I play the MP now and then and quite regularly with friends and it is just a utter frustration more than anything.

having played a couple housand hours online i agree with this poster

I played Shogun, MTW1 and Rome (to a lesser extent) MP religiously. The scene is totally different now.

i used to play MP alone for NTW, but i really like the game and i've had everyone of my online games drop since I got back. It's been incredibly frustrating, so i've taken to playing SP now. sigh

I do MP games, and have even finished campaigns, but it is difficult to get MP in because:

1) The time requirement - especially for MP campaigns, it is difficult to find someone who will meet at a specific time and not have to leave early for any reason. Just getting my friends together to watch football is difficult enough. Try explaining to the spouse that you need several hours to play a campaign game online.

2) The rage quitters- This happens more in battles, but people who are losing will often just quit. If they do that on a MP campaign, you are stuck.

3) Immature people online- There are a fair number of kids (I hope they aren't adults) who use the game as an excuse to hurl profanity at you. I really don't need to hear another 12 year old try to sound older by showing how immature they are in the first place.

4) Connection problems - games do sometimes just get dropped.

That being said, my favorite games have been MP. You just have to go through the obstacles to get there.

Originally Posted by Rotaugen2009

...

1) The time requirement ...

2) The rage quitters ...

3) Immature people online ...

4) Connection problems ..

That being said, my favorite games have been MP. You just have to go through the obstacles to get there.

All very true - although I've never played a campaign so I've never had a rage quitter. I've had people drop off when it was clear they were defeated.

Back when I first got RTW Gold, I played MP quite a bit. Prince of Macedon was still recording his RTW MP videos and was one of the first people I met. I remember he was very nice, and very smart, and basically taught me, though his videos and MP, how to play the battles in this game.

After that, I had a series of just annoying opponents. Either they wanted to talk trash during the game or, once they found out I was a girl, just chat nonstop about my personal life. Or as Rotaugen2009 pointed out, they'd just hurl the profanity - as if every F-bomb they dropped made them look one iota cooler. It quickly stopped being fun.

Time is also an issue for me. Any video game I play - I've played more this year than ever in my life - I play for about an hour or two at a time. It's just all I can fit it in with classes and a work-study job.

One thing though: I liked playing with people who were at Universities or in college or who otherwise had access to high-end internet connections. I can log in at my U and get a great connection. They could do the same, and if everything worked out, the games were fast and fun. I remember playing this one guy like nine games straight, one right after another. It was a blast.

I was actually thinking about multiplayer campaigns. How does that work? Do you fight all the battles or some of the battles? It would seem to take a lot more than a few hours ...

~ Dani ~

I just wanted to note that compared to other games, the NTW online community is actually fairy mature. With a bit of time investment, you figure out how to avoid games with those likely to camp and be annoying.

Also, there is a very large and healthy network of clans always looking for players - and not necessarily good players, either.

The depth of skill and tactics that this game is played at in high-level MP games will blow your mind if the only thing you've done is play vs. an AI.

I encourage you to try it. And yes, you will lose a lot at the start, don't let that discourage you.

Originally Posted by Aristotle's Folly

All very true - although I've never played a campaign so I've never had a rage quitter. I've had people drop off when it was clear they were defeated.

Back when I first got RTW Gold, I played MP quite a bit. Prince of Macedon was still recording his RTW MP videos and was one of the first people I met. I remember he was very nice, and very smart, and basically taught me, though his videos and MP, how to play the battles in this game.

After that, I had a series of just annoying opponents. Either they wanted to talk trash during the game or, once they found out I was a girl, just chat nonstop about my personal life. Or as Rotaugen2009 pointed out, they'd just hurl the profanity - as if every F-bomb they dropped made them look one iota cooler. It quickly stopped being fun.

Time is also an issue for me. Any video game I play - I've played more this year than ever in my life - I play for about an hour or two at a time. It's just all I can fit it in with classes and a work-study job.

One thing though: I liked playing with people who were at Universities or in college or who otherwise had access to high-end internet connections. I can log in at my U and get a great connection. They could do the same, and if everything worked out, the games were fast and fun. I remember playing this one guy like nine games straight, one right after another. It was a blast.

I was actually thinking about multiplayer campaigns. How does that work? Do you fight all the battles or some of the battles? It would seem to take a lot more than a few hours ...

~ Dani ~

So, are you seeing anyone seriously? How's your personal life? Just kidding...

MP campaigns in NTW actually work over the internet or LAN. You can either fight just your faction's battles or set it so that the two players fight every battle where one of the two player factions is involved. You can set it for autoresolve or do the battles in real time. Most of my MP campaigns have been LAN at home due to the difficulty of getting opponents to stay for an entire campaign. It does work well for me at least. And if the game drags too long, it can be saved and resumed later. I've done this a few times, so I know it works. One note though, I had to turn off the antivirus (in my case, Vipre) on both computers or they couldn't see each other for the games, but over the internet it would work on or off.

I'm a bad loser, that's it basically

Originally Posted by Rotaugen2009

So, are you seeing anyone seriously? How's your personal life? Just kidding...

Hilarious.

My funniest story with multiplayer "dating" was the guy who talked me into playing him several times. He started out nice enough and was fun to play with, but he began to reveal facts about himself: he had a collection of 80-plus video games, played them all, hadn't been to college, had NEVER had a job, and was thirty-five years old. Seriously.

So I asked him: "How is that you've never had a job?"

His response: "The economy's bad here."

I finally blocked him when he started PMing me at work ... "Where are you? Why don't you log on anymore?" Hmmm ... I'm at work ...

Originally Posted by Rotaugen2009

MP campaigns in NTW actually work over the internet or LAN. You can either fight just your faction's battles or set it so that the two players fight every battle where one of the two player factions is involved. You can set it for autoresolve or do the battles in real time. Most of my MP campaigns have been LAN at home due to the difficulty of getting opponents to stay for an entire campaign. It does work well for me at least. And if the game drags too long, it can be saved and resumed later. I've done this a few times, so I know it works. One note though, I had to turn off the antivirus (in my case, Vipre) on both computers or they couldn't see each other for the games, but over the internet it would work on or off.

That actually sounds fun. Getting a group of good players together and paying Empire would be great.

I did think of another issue that prevents me from MPing though. If you mod your game, you can't do MP, right?

~ Dani ~

Originally Posted by Aristotle's Folly

Hilarious.

My funniest story with multiplayer "dating" was the guy who talked me into playing him several times. He started out nice enough and was fun to play with, but he began to reveal facts about himself: he had a collection of 80-plus video games, played them all, hadn't been to college, had NEVER had a job, and was thirty-five years old. Seriously.

So I asked him: "How is that you've never had a job?"

His response: "The economy's bad here."

I finally blocked him when he started PMing me at work ... "Where are you? Why don't you log on anymore?" Hmmm ... I'm at work ...

Wow, so mommy and daddy were still letting him live at home? And you let that get away??????

I have over 80+ computer games too, but a lot of them only got a hour or two of play. I'm so jealous of that guy. I should just quit my job right now.

Originally Posted by Aristotle's Folly

That actually sounds fun. Getting a group of good players together and paying Empire would be great.

I did think of another issue that prevents me from MPing though. If you mod your game, you can't do MP, right?

~ Dani ~

You can do MP with a modded game provided that everyone you play has the same mod set up. It starts getting tricky there, as there can be different versions of the same mod. I actually have ETW and NTW on more than one computer so I can run modded versions and keep a vanilla for online or LAN play. But, not everyone has the option because they don't have multiple desktops and laptops lying around.

I think connection issues are probably the biggest reason! There are times when an hour or so can be wasted just getting into a game at all - the "no response from host" problem not to mention the numerous other problems as Rotaugen states above, once u actually get into a battle.

Most of the time I only play MP. I like to battle against other players instead of the AI.
Much more fun. And yes there are many campers and quitters and drop out of battle things etc. but when your through that part and you're in a good battle then it's really enjoyable.

I have yet to venture into MP in this current version of TW, however reasons for not are summarised below:

1) Time constraints, as well as trying to manage an online empire I do have a busy real life empire to run, well...small family unit actually, but this places some restrictions on dedicating time to playing. In SP I can hit pause, or save without upsetting anyone.

2) Experience from previous versions of playing online gives me the impression that the average age of the online player is well below mine, although there was a good crowd playing when there was just only the mod version of NTW. This I think is the problem when any game goes mainstream and online, you have to sift the wheat from spoilt-brat rif raff, I mean chaff.

3) Meaning, I like to fight battles that have some kind of purpose or history behind them rather than just for the hell of it and I know that this is probably covered by the online campaign but in this regard I re-iterate point 1.

That being said, once I have worked my way through the SP campaign,s I'm sure I'll give MP a whirl.

Compared to mtw and stw,empire and nappys campaigns have all the strategic depth of playing with a box of marbles. They are obviously trying to pull in the wii and console kiddies.

Originally Posted by Achilleslastand

Compared to mtw and stw,empire and nappys campaigns have all the strategic depth of playing with a box of marbles. They are obviously trying to pull in the wii and console kiddies.

That's a bunch of complete nonsense, Shogun had absolutely no "depth", and ETW and NTW are infinitely more complex than MTW1.

Originally Posted by Shabby_Ronin

That's a bunch of complete nonsense, Shogun had absolutely no "depth", and ETW and NTW are infinitely more complex than MTW1.

I agree. The earlier games did not have the number of resources, towns, variety of ships, real time ship battles, etc. MP LAN with a friend works best, but that makes for some rushed campaigns.

Originally Posted by Rotaugen2009

I agree. The earlier games did not have the number of resources, towns, variety of ships, real time ship battles, etc. MP LAN with a friend works best, but that makes for some rushed campaigns.

Not to mention diplomacy, trade, battle features, technology, detail and size of the map etc etc.

I remember like 10 years ago my first game of STW, the Mori clan offered me an alliance, then attacked me the next turn; all that game was was Ashigaru spam.