Exclusive Content for TWC Discussion Thread (Updated 29th May)

[anandus]

Will we be able to view cities like in Rome 1?

[B. W.]

Thanks for setting this thread up. It's been asked about the time frame (span in years), the number of turns per year and I'm interested in these questions as well. Can you release this info now or is it too early?

One other thing, will we be able to name the legions or is that aspect going to be locked in?

[Rorarii]

(1) Can we create new settlements in regions ? to keep control of the natives and give land grants to soldiers?

(2) Soldier payments, can we use land grants and citizenship to pay for soldiers / loyalty etc?

(3) Will we be able to converse with lower classes within a faction - Patricans and Plebs?

(4) CAn we have a more realistic army command system, not point and click. Actual orders given by consul that army obeys - "Attack!" .. "retire" .." wheel right" .. etc

Thanks

R

[The Norseman]

Please for the love of god dont make us have to buy units and "clans"!

[Jezza93]

One surprisingly relevant question.

How many turns per year?

[Rhaegar1]

Hey Jack,

I'm wondering now that ship units appear to consist of multiple ships. How are orders like ramming implemented. With every unit one ship you could really get some nice naval action by ramming an helpless enemy ship as soon as it turns it's flank to you. With multiple ships I'm afraid you can only equip a unit of ships with a ram (or corvus or catapult I guess) and order them to attack and leave the rest of the steering to them.

O and I would really, really much like the ability to order a land unit to do a fighting withdrawel (slowly moving bakwards while keep facing the enemy) this would give us a nice way to do a Cannae.

Or is this something than can allready be done for a long time and I just missed it?

EDIT,

And o one more thing, I really like the idea of roleplaying a bit with my legions, but could you elaborate a bit more on the recruitment of them. I hope you still have a choice in which units you want to have in a legion depending on the area where you want to raise it?

[Antissa]

Thanks for opening this discussion, CA!

a) In regards to the traits & retinue system, do you plan to bring back the Shogun 2 skill tree or the system from the original Rome & Medieval II?

b) Will FMV videos return for agents and campaign events?

c) How long has Rome II been in development? When did the team decide to start on the project?

d) In regards to marketing, if CA can offer input to SEGA, please consider a universal Collector's Edition for all regions (i.e. Blizzard CEs), instead of different CEs per region.

[va_ghost]

A follow-up question:
You asked, "Q. Some of the previews have talked lots about armies, and you getting rid of individual units or controlling them?
There will still be individual units. Campaign side we are putting more emphasis on armies and them having a history or legacy. We will talk about this in more details when we begin to preview the campaign in depth as time goes on."

Please note nowhere was any acknowledgement of moving individual units or unit groups. Yes, I can still "have/make" individual units - say a light horse unit brigade to attach - as a component - to an army/legion unit and the Army moves around - NOT the individual units.

Do we still have tactical movement control of units or just armies - do we move them on the map or by province?

[Jack Lusted]

A follow-up question:
You asked, "Q. Some of the previews have talked lots about armies, and you getting rid of individual units or controlling them?
There will still be individual units. Campaign side we are putting more emphasis on armies and them having a history or legacy. We will talk about this in more details when we begin to preview the campaign in depth as time goes on."

Please note nowhere was any acknowledgement of moving individual units or unit groups. Yes, I can still "have/make" individual units - say a light horse unit brigade to attach - as a component - to an army/legion unit and the Army moves around - NOT the individual units.

Do we still have tactical movement control of units or just armies - do we move them on the map or by province?

Yes you can still move around individual units.

[King Gambrinus]

I'll say what was in the other thread regarding this laughable answer :

Q. Will there be DLC for Rome II?
Yes there will be DLC for Rome II. We will details this more closer to release and also talk about why we do DLC and why it is not cut content.

What CA don't seem to realise is that a growing amount of "buyers" are actually waiting for all the DLC to come out, then crack the game and get the content in one go instead of pissing about with DLCs. Obviously those who want MP are restricted (hence why CA or SEGA decided to brown nose Steam to discourage cracking, understandable but a sign of lack of trust), but with DLC and exclusives they've actually made an extra incentive for cracking the game. So the idea that this is somehow helping them financially is a myth that can probably be debunked. More and more casual gamers can't be bothered with their ludicrous unit packs and experienced TW fans just crack the factions.

This DLC is also the prime reason there is no modding, as the game developers simply cannot compete with benevolent modders. Take the Empire and Napoleon units packs : all they did was take an existing unit, give it a fancy name and way better stats (just to make MP more unbalanced ) then sell it as exclusive content or DLC. This is something modders could do easily with proper tools. There's the main reason you don't have modding, people, their DLCs would be worthless.


I'll certainly make more noise, especially when either Lusted (a former modder himself, he must be as bemused about it as we are!) or Craig come here with the feeble company lines ("We've worked extra on this feature" says he an entire year before the release ). The ridiculous strategy with the DLC is what killed modding and the trust between fanbase and developers, exploiting loyal fans, completionists and taking the rest of us for idiots.

[anandus]

I'm confused, I haven't played Shogun 2, but with 'individual units' do we mean real individual units or a group of, say, 80 soldiers? (a 'card')

[Captain Arrrgh!]

Oh, I have question Mr. Hatman!

...Why are you announcing this, causing such very early drama, when Shogun 2 is still a mess, and also why haven't we received any updates on the status of Shogun 2?

[Fabino79]

How about getting total war rome for free if you buy rome 2 some months before release? And...Where is the steam sale of TWR that was supposed to be happening right now to celebrate this announcement?

[Jungle Rhino]

And...Where is the steam sale of TWR that was supposed to be happening right now to celebrate this announcement?

You don't need Steam sales to shift copies of older games with quality mod support - something CA seems to have forgotten in this new age of DLC

[Jungle Rhino]

I'm hoping we will see some type of permanent army system which defines the army as some type of 'container' - you then slot in the units (and general) you want. The army would have a name i.e. the ninth legion, and it would have some type of battle honours system which grants the army XP or abilities that affect all the contained units. Should an army be wiped out the victor could capture their standard (i.e. their eagle) and that would then be attached permanently to the victorius army as a memorial to past victories

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

I heartily suggest that CA make units based on academic research, not popular history. Looking at the knowledge level of the average gamer, I am terrified that Rome 2 will be utterly unhistorical. Please avoid stupid stereotypes, no matter how popular they might be. Mail is NOT cheap armor, and is NOT easily penetrated. Barbarians were NOT numerous and crappy, they were, in fact, bound to be outnumbered by the civilized armies. And so on.

[Adreno]

Armies being able to have special retainers would be nice aswell

[bartozer]

I just want to ask about politics and how they will influence the overall gameplay. Is the Senate going to be of much help or are they kind of waiting for you to slip so they can stab you in the back? Also will the Consuls, Tribunes etc. have more power than in the first Rome?

[General George S. Patton]

Will there be a "eagle system". What I mean is, if a legion looses an eagle, its a huge disgrace, and rome tries to take it back, and whoever took it tries to keep it like in the eagle of the 9th.

[Valden]

Thank you Jack Lusted/CA for keeping the community informed where you can, I really appreciate it and it can only say good things about a developer when they keep their fan base involved.

You might be able to answer my questions:

will any of the RTW soundtracks be returning/remastered?

Will each and every city be 'unique' on the battlemap, or will this rule only apply to major locations such as Rome, Carthage and Alexandria? In other words will we be seeing a lot of generic fortifications, or more 'individual' sieges?

Keep up the good work!