Rome II: Total War - News, Features, Articles & Interviews

[The Norseman]

I will update this thread with every info regarding Rome II so you can enjoy them. If you have found any news regarding Rome II then don't hesitate to post them here and I will add them to the lists. Feel free to discuss anything related to Rome II.

Rome II: Total War - Gameplay

Total War: Rome II - The Siege of Carthage Total War: Rome II - The Siege of Carthage - Gameplay Walkthrough

Interviews & Rally Points

Articles

We`re at Rezzed! Inside Creative Assembly’s motion capture studio Rome II: Total War - Motion Capture Rome II: Total War - Release Date Total War & Steam Total War with a Human Face Eurogamer Expo - Live Demo of Rome II Features & Battle Description Rome II Preview and Improvements Rome II - Preview, Interview and Screens Engine, Naval Combat, Multiplayer and Mods Everything We Know Detailed Interview Naval Combat IGN Article & Short Video CA On Rome II`s AI, Scope & Incendary Pigs! The Community, Modding & Engine Lead Designer Interviewed Regarding Ancient Warfare, Modding, DLC and Cooperation with the Community Features & Summary of Demo Summary of Demo & More Features Rome II: Total War - Software

Summary of New Features

Shogun 2 was set in narrow geographical areas, with limited sets of units - a comparatively small scale to what's being intended with Rome II. It was designed with a focus on game systems, such as engine polishing and improvements to unit pathing. With that in place, Rome II is going big - it's bigger than Rome 1 in geographical scale. The game's key design vision is in taking players from a macro to micro scale, such as jumping from a campaign map to a single unit. Despite that focus, Rome II is still attempting to make its macro scale bigger - we're guessing the senate will play a large part of that, but Creative Assembly won't say just yet. As you rise through the ranks, your success will attract less-than-favourable responses from some of your friends. You will almost definitely get betrayed. There's "more human-level drama on the campaign map" in Rome II. The bigger campaign map has "hundreds" of regions to move your units around, but the game buckets them into provinces to make management easier. The idea is to have you thinking about armies and legions rather than fiddling around with individual units. Ultimately, the game will allow you to decide whether to favour the republic or become Rome's dictator. The game's cameras have been redesigned. You can now lock the camera to single units. In this mode it functions like a sort of documentary cam, shaking while the unit walks – it's "a soldier's eye view" according to Creative Assembly. The demonstration takes place with a scenario set during the Third Punic War, which took place during 149BC to 146BC. The scenario here is the Siege of Carthage. Rome II: Total War features a new graphics engine, which features particle and deferred lighting. The game can now combine naval and land battles into the same conflict, including naval invasions: in this demo a Roman ship lands on the coast of Carthage. Naval units now have more than one ship per unit. Though expected, we see catapults and ballistae being put to good use. The demo has a big focus on Roman siege towers, and the snap-to unit camera takes the view of the game inside the siege tower itself. Conflicts take place over much bigger environments - much of Carthage has been recreated in the demo. To accommodate this extra scale, the game now features a top-down tactical map. There are multiple ways to capture cities. Walls can be reduced to rubble after they've sustained enough damage, for instance. It's designed to create cat-and-mouse gameplay: "You're not just sitting in the plaza once the walls are breached trying to defend that one area" There's a real oomph when units engage, with walls of shields colliding. The new graphics engine can show some impressive fidelity for a game of this scale. We can clearly see that Cathage's walls have graffiti. Buildings crumble in the background as Carthage deploys its war elephants and the demo ends. The unit camera has been designed so the game feels like it's "almost Saving Private Ryan at the beaches". Each unit has its own facial animations, and leaders bark out a stream of orders throughout. each confrontation. Units react to things, such as their colleagues being slaughtered - the idea is that these aren't idenikit clone armies anymore. The map he was playing was a scenario about the conquest of Carthage. Naval warfare and land warfare seems to be combinable in this sense. Ships can provide covering fire with their ballistas and catapults The walls are collapsing at different parts (you can also conquer the walls traditionally). The sheer number of ships and legionnaires is far beyond the numbers of previous games. The battle map is larger than Shogun 2 New Voices As they are taking the tower, one officer screams toward his men, "For the honor of Rome!" You will also see soldiers that will react to the death of one of their comrades Troop speed and movements seem faster New feature: by hitting tab, you get a 2D overview of the battlefield, displaying troops with colored symbols (much more detailed than the current radar map); you can't give orders in this mode, however The development team is currently pondering an ambush system specifically for siege battles. Certain troop types could blockade a street or hide on a side street and then fall into the back of the attackers. You can no longer simply retreat to the central plaza as a defender, but there will be several capture points within a city. CA is planning on giving (all or some?) battles scripted content to make each battle feel different. There will be more variation in the battlefields than ever before in a TW-game. CA said you'll be able to follow Romes growth from the beginning until the end of the empire, thus giving us some perspective in when the game will take place. CA will put a great effort in depicting the variation in each and every culture of the different factions and giving each factions a depth. And giving each faction an army and tactic specific for these different factions. Rome 2 is probably gonna field the greatest number of different units than in any other TW-game. Ca mentions that spartas general is going the be on foot, not on horse. If you can play as Spartans there is a good chance that the greek city states will be individual factions and not a united one like in Rome 1. The diplomacy is going to get a great buff. It has been said that there will be about 50 factions in ROME II. Not entirely confirmed. When the Creative Assembly announces a new Total War, strategists can not only expect new gameplay features, but also improvements in the presentation, historical battles, especially the graphics, physics, map size and number of combatants. To satisfy the high expectations of the fans, the developers are combining, for the first time in the series, land- and sea battles and introduces a Unit Cam for the observation of the battles on the ground. The selfmade cutting-edge engine uses the potential of the platform PC consequently, including DX11 and multicore support. The programmers Richard Gardner and Charlie Dell explain to us the technical changes necessary for the new features of Rome 2. The Creative Assembly has worked a lot on the graphics chip and both performance and in-game graphics have been enhanced. There will be one Roman faction with three families. Thanks to Diamat for translating one of the articles.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Merged all threads about info/interviews/news/articles and so on.
Stickied thread, please use this one for all discussion of that kind.

Thank you - MasterBigAb

Original post by fightermedic

hi folks, over at gamersglobal.de they have a 3 pages preview of rome 2 in german, written by Jörg Langer, who's kind of an expert of total war games, when it comes to german game critics thought i'd link it here since you might be interested if you do understand any german: http://www.gamersglobal.de/angetestet/rome-2

[SkyTrickster]

According to their site:
http://www.videogamer.com/pc/rome_ii..._detailed.html

Here are some details:

• SEGA and Creative Assembly have lifted the lid on Rome II: Total War, showing an impressive 15 minute demo revolving around Roman efforts to reduce Carthage to rubble. The headline new features are a redesigned graphics engine, a greater sense of scale and a stylish new cinematic unit camera.
  
• During the presentation, Creative Assembly walked us through plenty of details about what Rome II intends to offer when it's released in late 2013, and lead designer James Russell spoke about the game's intentions.
• Shogun 2 was set in narrow geographical areas, with limited sets of units - a comparatively small scale to what's being intended with Rome II. It was designed with a focus on game systems, such as engine polishing and improvements to unit pathing.
• With that in place, Rome II is going big - it's bigger than Rome 1 in geographical scale.
• The game's key design vision is in taking players from a macro to micro scale, such as jumping from a campaign map to a single unit.
• Despite that focus, Rome II is still attempting to make its macro scale bigger - we're guessing the senate will play a large part of that, but Creative Assembly won't say just yet.
• As you rise through the ranks, your success will attract less-than-favourable responses from some of your friends. You will almost definitely get betrayed. There's "more human-level drama on the campaign map" in Rome II.
• The bigger campaign map has "hundreds" of regions to move your units around, but the game buckets them into provinces to make management easier. The idea is to have you thinking about armies and legions rather than fiddling around with individual units.
• Ultimately, the game will allow you to decide whether to favour the republic or become Rome's dictator.
• The game's cameras have been redesigned. You can now lock the camera to single units. In this mode it functions like a sort of documentary cam, shaking while the unit walks – it's "a soldier's eye view" according to Creative Assembly.
• The demonstration takes place with a scenario set during the Third Punic War, which took place during 149BC to 146BC. The scenario here is the Siege of Carthage.
• Rome II: Total War features a new graphics engine, which features particle and deferred lighting.
• The game can now combine naval and land battles into the same conflict, including naval invasions: in this demo a Roman ship lands on the coast of Carthage.
• Naval units now have more than one ship per unit.
• Though expected, we see catapults and ballistae being put to good use.
• The demo has a big focus on Roman siege towers, and the snap-to unit camera takes the view of the game inside the siege tower itself.
• Conflicts take place over much bigger environments - much of Carthage has been recreated in the demo. To accommodate this extra scale, the game now features a top-down tactical map.
• There are multiple ways to capture cities. Walls can be reduced to rubble after they've sustained enough damage, for instance. It's designed to create cat-and-mouse gameplay: "You're not just sitting in the plaza once the walls are breached trying to defend that one area"
• There's a real oomph when units engage, with walls of shields colliding.
• The new graphics engine can show some impressive fidelity for a game of this scale. We can clearly see that Cathage's walls have graffiti.
• Buildings crumble in the background as Carthage deploys its war elephants and the demo ends.
• The unit camera has been designed so the game feels like it's "almost Saving Private Ryan at the beaches".
• Each unit has its own facial animations, and leaders bark out a stream of orders throughout. each confrontation.
• Units react to things, such as their colleagues being slaughtered - the idea is that these aren't idenikit clone armies anymore.

[Dominick]

Dat last screenshot *__*

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

Dat last screenshot *__*

Looks like the city battles will be awesome!

Thanks for posting this. Seems like there will be new cool features. Seems like mostly focusing on the eye candy.
I like that the map will be bigger. Finally a new game with a real Grand Campaign.

[Noif de Bodemloze]

The game can now combine naval and land battles into the same conflict, including naval invasions: in this demo a Roman ship lands on the coast of Carthage.


YEAHHHHHH.... NAVAL INVASION!!!!

[Zack-Stefy]

"The game's key design vision is in taking players from a macro to micro scale, such as jumping from a campaign map to a single unit."

that means that you can control your unit? just like a hero from mount&blade? <3

the game is still on the warscape engine?

[Noif de Bodemloze]

I hope these building are easy to be destructable! >

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

I hope these building are easy to be destructable! >

If units can enter them then they must be.

[Mr. Os]

I am excited beyond belief. I literally stoop up and yelled with joy when I saw the announcement pop up on Facebook.

"The game's key design vision is in taking players from a macro to micro scale, such as jumping from a campaign map to a single unit."

that means that you can control your unit? just like a hero from mount&blade? <3

the game is still on the warscape engine?

In one of the articles it mentioned its a brand new engine.

[ryder_alexander]

Where can I see the video?

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

"The game's key design vision is in taking players from a macro to micro scale, such as jumping from a campaign map to a single unit."

that means that you can control your unit? just like a hero from mount&blade? <3

the game is still on the warscape engine?

I think it only allows you to watch the unit's moves.

[emotion_name]

So first up is, imo, the most important feature is a NEW ENGINE! WarScape was great for graphics but it felt "choked" when trying to make Campaigns as deep as the original TW titles.

New 3rd person view - CA talk about being able to place the camera directly over the shoulder of a single unit and gain his perception of battle.

New "tactical view" - CA talk about a tactical view that allows players to zoom the camera out to a top-down, kilometer-square overview where units are represented by simplified icons. Commanding individual cohorts effectively from this perspective won’t be possible, but it should make getting your bearings easier and reduce the amount of time you spend squinting at the mini-map

Return of Coastal Artillery - A feature added in FotS, the video CA have released to mags and stuff shows Briremes pounding Carthage walls.

Beach Landings - "Beach landings are a confirmed feature, according to lead battle designer Jamie Ferguson, and there’s room for other non-traditional openings as well."

Reworked Siege dynamics - "Carthage is nonetheless still a stronghold, and a huge one at that, filled with multiple roads, hills, towering structures and multiple capture points. The canny general can plot the most efficient/least defended/most defensible path through Rome II’s cities, not simply rush for the central square – no more ‘headshotting’ cities, as CA put it."

Elephants Return - The units we all love to hate (unless your commanding them) have made an appearance already. Wonder if flaming pigs will return also?

Extended "east" Campaign Map - "The campaign map will be bigger still than Rome 1′s, with all I can glean of the new territories to be explored/conquered being that the game will be “going further East” in addition to containing all the countries and sates of the first the game."

Branching Storyline triggers - "The map will also be scattered with invisible, branching storyline triggers which demand consequence-laden choices and dilemmas beyond the merely military regardless of which nation/state/tribe/faction you play as."

Hero/Veteran units on the Campaign Map - One of the better features brought to TW by S2TW, the Veteran system seems to be coming from MP side of things to the SP - "It also means those legions, being more enduring, generate their own history – gaining new traits and perks as they win or lose great battles, their behaviour and abilities reflecting their experiences to date. " Legions are basically your stacks. Now, instead of "this stack needs some archers" and putting some units together, CA wants you to connect with all your units and think " This legion is depleted, move another legion up to assist".

No more Spiderman wall climbers? - Siege Towers are confirmed, nothing on battering rams or underground thingies (name escapes me now) from RTW, but the fact siege engines are included would suggest soldiers being able to climb the walls by hand will no longer happen? I think ladders have been mentioned as well!

What Factions? - "Gauls and Germanic tribes to the North, the ever threatening Carthaginians and Egyptians to the South and assorted Parthians, Dacians, Cappadocians and more to the East. And other Romans." In one feature the editor briefly mentions Nations/States/Tribes/Factions - could these be the different groups they fall in? Greek state? Germanic Tribes? Roman State? One tech tree and roster (with one or 2 unique units) for each type maybe?

Improved AI - Heard it before? Well hear it again! More staff employed who work on AI, and a link between Campaign Map AI and diplomacy AI. These are the quotes from James Russel - "By combining these systems we’ll hopefully be able to give the player some warning about these things, so you might be able to spy on the AI, and see it thinking about double crossing, building up forces about to attack you. Because these systems are integrated we can explain to the player not just the stuff to do with diplomatic relations, but also give you a reason. It’s not just it won’t do a trade agreement because you’re -83 diplomacy, but because strategically, it wants that region of yours and therefore it’s just not going to make a trade agreement with you. And it makes it more human, so that there’s real thinking going on behind it.”
The AI nations will also have there own "personalities" - "We acknowledge that AI is a key part of making the world believable and fun to play. We also want to make them more human and personality-driven; for example, those guys are vengeful, so you don’t want to piss them off because they’ll kick you back, whereas another AI might be more realpolitik and look at the bigger picture.”

Realm Divide returns? - "...more given that Russell hints at something similar to Fall of the Samurai’s Realm Divide mechanic for the Roman factions - Empire or Republic seems like a likely choice."

How many historic characters? - Well, confirmed so far ingame is Scipio Aemilianus, however CA staff have admitted to mocapping for Caeser and Cleopatra and the republican hero Tiberius Gracchus.

New Region/Province system on Campaign Map - “We want to take steps to reduce some of the management burden. So, for instant, we have a province system where you’ve got several regions making up one province. That means you have all the benefits of extending that map and making it huge, increasing the area for you to conquer with your armies, but at the same time you don’t have hundreds of regions to manage with your tax and development.”
The way they’re going to work is to have one ‘capital’ region at the centre of more agricultural and production-focused areas. Now, when invading a region, you can choose what you want to deny your opponent, rather than charging blindly at your opponent. The ultimate goal is to prevent the endless run of sieges of previous Total War games, and hopefully encourage more fighting in the open countryside."

Will we get bigger stacks/legions, like in FotS and TWS2? - Simply put, yes! The battles have a new sense of scale thanks to an increase in the size of units and the number of units you control.

So, will i need a new CPU? - Apparantly not. Even though it is a new engine, with CA using all new tricks to get a more cinematic feel rather than realistic, they have stated they are aiming for same specs as TWS2!

[Diglytron]

O GOD O GOD!!

[Rorarii]

All sounds fantastic, lets hope we aren't disappointed by lag or bugs etc. Get it right CA , we'll all help if required.

R

[Manuel I Komnenos]

Hope that there will be an Empire-like replenishment system because having to transfer your legions from Egypt back to Italy for replenishment was kinda annoying!

[Meraun]

Same in German:

http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/total-....html#comments

[BRKMS]

"With that in place, Rome II is going big - it's bigger than Rome 1 in geographical scale."

Best aspect of the sequel.

[Diamat]

For all those of you who don't speak German, here is my summary of what the guy said:

1. The Total War AI does not work well with gunpowder units (duh).
2. He was playing on a scripted battle map.
3. The map he was playing was a scenario about the conquest of Carthage.
4. It started with a generic cutscene and battlespeech off the coast of Carthage. Right thereafter, the scene cut into real play with boats landing on the shores and legionnaires getting off. Naval warfare and land warfare seems to be combinable in this sense.
5. As the landing party marches toward Carthage, the ships provide covering fire with their ballistas and catapults (me: epic!)
6. The walls are collapsing at different parts (you can also conquer the walls traditionally).
7. The sheer number of ships and legionnaires is far beyond the numbers of previous games.
8. The battle map is also bigger than Shogun 2
9. As the troops are entering the city, the ships are entering the inner harbor of Carthage to support the troops directly in their attempt to capture the city
10. As we marched with one of our units toward the walls in order to capture a tower, one centurion turns around and screams, "Prepare yourselves! Onwards!"
11. As they are taking the tower, one officer screams toward his men, "For the honor of Rome!"
12. You will also see soldiers that will react to the death of one of their comrades
13. Troop speed and movements seem to fast (me: even faster than Shogun 2?)
14. New feature: by hitting tab, you get a 2D overview of the battlefield, displaying troops with colored symbols (much more detailed than the current radar map); you can't give orders in this mode, however
15. The development team is currently pondering an ambush system specifically for siege battles. Certain troop types, for example, could blockade a street or hide on a side street and then fall into the back of the attackers.
16. You can no longer simply retreat to the central plaza as a defender, but there will be several capture points within a city.

[Asuryan]

That screenshot...
Amazing...
I'll fight to the death to conquer that city or fight to my last breath defending that city.
Still, I want all the buildings to be destructible
If my hopes aren't too high, options for barbarians to ransack buildings during the battle or options for soldiers to entrench in buildings or some sort. I need palace fights (that means I need castle fights for Medieval 3) What's the point of having a good looking palace or castle if my troops never run inside them & fighting along the walkways eh?

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

"With that in place, Rome II is going big - it's bigger than Rome 1 in geographical scale."

Best aspect of the sequel.

I must agree with you. Finally a new Grand campaign!
In some other thread it was mentioned that it's expanded to the East. So the map surely must expand to India.