Terrain Effects

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Does anyone know if this will be included in Rome II? I'm not just talking about craters (which I hope would be permanent during battle) and stuff, but even things as minor as mud tracks where soldiers have been. I thought about this today at a cross country meet in the rain when I noticed that the area outside our tent was completely and utterly mucked up and you could tell the difference where an entire team had been and where they had not. Surely entire armies would do worse, especially if they were fighting over a spot of land. No more than 50 kids did that much, imagine what thousands would do.

This should be represented in Rome II and future total war games to come, if only for aesthetic effect. I don't know why, but the idea of morphing and changing the very face of the earth sends a weird chill down my spine when I think of it.

If you wanted to go even more advanced, you could have the starting battle map look worse and worse on areas where a LOT of battles have been fought recently. Imagine fighting around the same area of the map, and at first the land is new and untouched, and then after 5 or so battles on the same spot it looks like no-man's land.

[Babri]

I hope that at terrain matters more in the upcoming game like it used to before S2TW. Archers should get benefit when placed on higher ground for example.

[Biggieboy]

Does anyone know if this will be included in Rome II? I'm not just talking about craters (which I hope would be permanent during battle) and stuff, but even things as minor as mud tracks where soldiers have been. I thought about this today at a cross country meet in the rain when I noticed that the area outside our tent was completely and utterly mucked up and you could tell the difference where an entire team had been and where they had not. Surely entire armies would do worse, especially if they were fighting over a spot of land. No more than 50 kids did that much, imagine what thousands would do.

This should be represented in Rome II and future total war games to come, if only for aesthetic effect. I don't know why, but the idea of morphing and changing the very face of the earth sends a weird chill down my spine when I think of it.

If you wanted to go even more advanced, you could have the starting battle map look worse and worse on areas where a LOT of battles have been fought recently. Imagine fighting around the same area of the map, and at first the land is new and untouched, and then after 5 or so battles on the same spot it looks like no-man's land.

It's a nice idea, but it's not like ww1, where entire regions completely changed in mudlands etc. The only thing I can think of is artillery barrages (which would still be limited in that time), or decaying corpses lying around from previous battles. Maybe it would be easier to implement in cities, after a long siege. I imagine it taking a long time to recover from that.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

It's a nice idea, but it's not like ww1, where entire regions completely changed in mudlands etc. The only thing I can think of is artillery barrages (which would still be limited in that time), or decaying corpses lying around from previous battles. Maybe it would be easier to implement in cities, after a long siege. I imagine it taking a long time to recover from that.

It's true, I wasn't expecting something as bad as that. However it might be nice to have bodies/decomposing corpses laying around. And you're probably right about cities, it would make more sense that way. After literally months of besieging I doubt the land would look as... pretty.

[Totalheadache]

dunno why we cant have some physx thrown in. borderlands 2 shows it can work on amd cards as well.

[Savoyard]

dunno why we cant have some physx thrown in. borderlands 2 shows it can work on amd cards as well.

Isn't PhysX used for 'micro' things like flags waving and smoke? I mean simulating thousands of soldiers sounds a bit steep.

[Totalheadache]

Isn't PhysX used for 'micro' things like flags waving and smoke? I mean simulating thousands of soldiers sounds a bit steep.

mostly for effects like crumbling walls, splintering ships as they are rammed etc.

[yuezhi]

this does make me think about moments in history where legionaries took advantage of uneven terrain against phalanxes.

[cinco]

this is ca we're talking about. details? screw details. put in more explosions, more sword animations, who cares abut accuracy and realism.

[benitezking]

this is ca we're talking about. details? screw details. put in more explosions, more sword animations, who cares abut accuracy and realism.

That has a point, however, I'm actually a bit optimistic that CA will patch up it's act for Rome II. It looks like they've been doing some progress in that department.

Either that, or ends up to be as disastrous as ETW was on release. Fun.

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

I am convinced that Terrain won't play any role in Rome 2 more than snow/desert= bad (for some), and hills, and wooded areas and long grass, as all the other titles have. Logistically, this is a major feature that CA simply doesn't care about as much as combined battlefields. personally the main thing I care about is the look of the terrain. in Med 2 it was pretty nice (for its time), and ETW and NTW were good too, but Shogun totally sucked! it made the battles dull and dreary because the ground was completely smooth all over until you zoomed right in. THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED CA, otherwise it looks like i'm playing on a slightly wooded, uneven, glossy tabletop.
I'd play Warhammer in my back yard if I wanted to do that.

[sleepyx732]

No.. I think the best we'll get is those silly little craters. I agree with the poster above as well. I disliked shogun 2 terrain. 90% of it was flatland with some trees thrown in the mix.

[Biggieboy]

An idea that suddenly occurs to me: people crucified along roads or during sieges! This was a common practice right? Imagine a battlefield, where a previous invasion has gone...bad, and people crucified all over the place (or other cruelties, they were imaginative back then in that field)