Notification of Major battles that you did not take part in?

[Evillemon325]

One thing that annoys me as I play through the other total wars is that I have no real idea whats happening with other major nations and there wars. I see a bunch of Full french stacks go into an area covered in fog of war, I see a bunch of Austrian stacks go in as well, and then nothing. Some territories change color on my minimap. Over the next 10 or so turns some depleted armies leave the area. Napoleon's most gargantuan Super-Austerlitz type victory could have happened that changed the course of European history forever, of which novelists, philosophers, poets, and military historians will immortalize forever in the minds of all... and no one thought to mail a letter to Prussia or tell anybody in the entire country the deuce happened .

Even in the classical Era how could this conceivably come close to making sense? After Hannibal carves his way through the alps and has the entire Italian peninsula under siege, winning one of the greatest tactical victories in history at Cannae, yet the king of the Gauls had no idea it happened because once Hannibal crossed the alps he no longer has vision? And will also NEVER know that it happened?

This immense silliness combined with the fact that CA is going for much more singularly important, decisive battles that can change the course of a war, wouldn't it be nice if one of the millions members of the entire rest of the world be so kind to drop a detail or two about Hannibal using a single elephant to trample over 500,000 legionnaires? Unless I'm horribly mistaken and this is already in the game, shouldn't this be added in?

So for major battles (not 1 - 2 unit skirmishes) a battle report giving casualties, location, participating units, etc., amount of information dependent on allied status with participants and difficulty level?

[saxdude]

sure, sounds good.

[Stath's]

Yep!

[Bob Doad]

I could see that getting annoying if they are the pop-ups that actually POP-UP rather than drop down so you can read them at your own leisure. But it does sound awesome!

[ngr]

Good idea.

But I think giving full details would be unrealistic for ancient times. Imho it should be just who won over whom and where.

[DarthShizNit]

Here here! I would love it.

[Adreno]

maybe a sort of battlelog for all nations would be pretty nice, didnt shogun 2 have something like this for your own faction only? so you could go back and see what youve done over the course of a campaign

[Kinjo]

Good idea, I also enjoyed the pop up messages from the original Rome that would let you know who had the larges military or who was the richest faction.

[Titus Livius Patavinus]

I like the idea, but only if you are either bordering the area it is taking place, or are trading in that area. You shouldn't be notified about something going on half way around the world if you haven't even been over there yet.

Maybe news can come later for areas you haven't been to yet or have no contact with?

[Modestus]

It would be a good idea if you knew that Athens had fallen to the Martians, cant even remember if this is in Shogun II but you certainly should be notified when a region changes hands.

[Evalation]

It would be a good idea if you knew that Athens had fallen to the Martians, cant even remember if this is in Shogun II but you certainly should be notified when a region changes hands.

I like this idea, but i think it should only be for major/important cities like capitals. For instance if your at war with macedon and your allied to one of the greek city states and that city state takes control of Pella or a major city it should tell you.

Also if your ally that lives across say the aegean (pergamon) and they send troops to invade Macedon while you are you should be notefied, an example would be "Pergamon has landed troops in northern Greece." or "Pergamon has sent an army to aid you in your war".

[Smerka]

good idea. Maybe make it's so the further the nations are the less you know, but at least you should get who won.

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Sounds like a good idea, although I think it should only be for factions you are in contact with otherwise how would the news reach you?

[AzureNight]

All major battles could just be put into a single one of the notifications that come up at the end of a turn. It's a good idea, for sure.

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

^I like that.

Although what would we define as a "major" battle - anything resulting in a "Crushing Defeat" perhaps?

[Chris Death]

^I like that.

Although what would we define as a "major" battle - anything resulting in a "Crushing Defeat" perhaps?

You mean like a single general unit smashing down 5 enemy javelin thrower units?

What a crushing defeat and what a nice info everytime you click next turn.

:edit - btw don't take that personal - i was just using your example to show how this could get played out by the game.

~S~ CD

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

You mean like a single general unit smashing down 5 enemy javelin thrower units?

What a crushing defeat and what a nice info everytime you click next turn.

:edit - btw don't take that personal - i was just using your example to show how this could get played out by the game.

~S~ CD

No worries, in fact you have a good point which makes me thinks it isn't such a good suggestion.

How'd you want it implemented?

[Lord-Fisher]

Maybe it should basically be a less detailed battle report. Who won, who lost, and casualties rounded the the nearest hundred or thousand. Perhaps, if a some units kill a very large amount of enemies, you could see their after battle stats (I think this would sort of make sense, as it would act as though the units became famous, and word spread of their deeds yada yada)

[Doe3000]

This concept was sort of covered in the older Total War titles. I have some recollection of it in the original Rome. I remember that on the campaign map you'd often see a crossed swords symbol. If you scrolled over it, it would give you some very basic information about a major battle - for instance 'Seleucid Empire vs Egypt 274 BC, Winner: Seleucid Empire.'

Unfortunately there wasn't much in the way of information, so it would be interesting to know about the locations and results of some major Non-Player battles.

[Condottiere 40K]