TWC goes to E3 - what questions would you like asked?

[Lord Tomyris]

Hello everyone. I suppose you think that nothing much is happening at the moment. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha. Well, that's what I want to talk to you all about: E3. I'm dispatching an ambassador to this grand event, and she will be tasked with locating Creative Assembly and asking them some incisive and penetrating questions about Rome 2. Hopefully some answers at least will be forthcoming - I'm not sure how much they'll want to let on right before the campaign map reveal at Rezzed! Nevertheless, we might be able to fill in some holes in our existing knowledge of the game.

So - put your questions here, I'll draw up a list, and we'll see if we can make anything of it come June!

[Toho]

Most Important Question: When will the Demo release and will it be available before the game release?

other questions:
1) how do you begin the legion recruitment system on the campaign map, when you customize your legion can you customize your army (color your units, put legion emblem on your shields, banners and etc)
2) how does the region system work compared to the what we are familiar with Shogun 2 in terms of what we could build, manage taxes and so on(we already heard about the battle map like 6 times) and how this relates to the province hub system
3) how many siege settlements (cities, villages, towns) will there be FOR EACH CULTURE and how many UNIQUE cities will be there in 1.0?

I think this is a pretty important question because it is a huge issue with shogun 2 and FOTS:

4) what has CA done differently with R2 to avoid having most factions killed off in less than 40 turns? also factions like the Oda in shogun 2 were historically immensely powerful and despite TW is about 'making your own history' it would be nice to play against famous factions (imagine rome conquered in less than 40 turns by some nameless small faction).


-will add more once I think of them-

[* Matolo Swazulu *]

Discuss what new diplomatic options have been added.

ask about some examples of the traits to armies

are the traits different from culture to culture/ faction to faction ?

When will we see naval battle gameplay?

why only two editions of the game? Why not three or four like Assassins Creed or GTA or COD or FIFA or ....?
those are the only ones I can think of at the moment. Try and record the interview(s) if possible

[torongill]

Inb4 Modestus : Ladders in siege battles?

A serious question about field battles - will there be an incentive for units to form battle lines and maintain these battle lines, in other words "HOLD THE LINE!"
Another one, again for field battles - will there be friendly casualties from cavalry galloping/charging through friendly formations of heavy infantry. The reason why I ask is because this usually results in suicidal AI cavalry attacking the center of my formation or the forward-based skirmishers.

A question about the tradition. What triggers the creation of "an army", what event begins the tradition tree? Can for example units from that army be transferred to another and what happens with their tradition skills?

[kamikazee786]

here are some of the most asked question (IMHO) that i and a few others feel need to have some light thrown on :

1. firstly she must ask for lots of details about diplomacy options, find out what they are and how they work? (i specifically want to know that will we be able to pinpoint where we want an ally to attack or to lend us aid in the form of supplies ?)

2. ask about forts, how will they be constructed and what kind of defenses do they have ?

3. ask about naval battle mechanics, how will the 2-3 ships in one unit system work, what tactics aside from ramming will be available ?

4. since we didnt see it in the Teutoburg battle video, will we have generals portraits or perhaps a marble bust to represent the general ?. I know its a minor detail but i want your ambassador to go all Prometheus style and ask anyway

5. ask about how unit cohesion will work, will they stay in formation and fight together. For example, the strength of a phalanx is due to the fact that each man protects the one next to him, i know that they will all "try to stay in formation" but will they actually work together to fight a single enemy ?

6. when we customize the banners and emblems, can we change the colors of the units themselves ?

7. due to popular demand, will you be taking inspiration and adding music from Rome I ?

8. since we know that trade nodes have been removed from the game, how will the trade system work, could CA please go into a little more depth about this ?

9. with over a hundred factions and greatly improved AI (according to CA) , how long will it now take the AI take to complete its turns

10. what role will ancient wonders play in the game,

11. could you tell us a bit more about agents and their functions and will there still be small in game assassination movies like shogun 2

12. what siege weapons are available and are siege weapons such as ladders, tunnels, rams etc going to be constructed on the siege site or will they be recruited beforehand by the generals in "muster mode"

and make sure she gets plenty of pictures and or tries to record a few things

pull this off and i will name my firstborn along with every legion in Rome II after you

[Sabre120]

here are some of the most asked question (IMHO) that i and a few others feel need to have some light thrown on :

1. firstly she must ask for lots of details about diplomacy options, find out what they are and how they work? (i specifically want to know that will we be able to pinpoint where we want an ally to attack or to lend us aid in the form of supplies ?)

2. ask about forts, how will they be constructed and what kind of defenses do they have ?

3. ask about naval battle mechanics, how will the 2-3 ships in one unit system work, what tactics aside from ramming will be available ?

4. since we didnt see it in the Teutoburg battle video, will we have generals portraits or perhaps a marble bust to represent the general ?. I know its a minor detail but i want your ambassador to go all Prometheus style and ask anyway

5. ask about how unit cohesion will work, will they stay in formation and fight together. For example, the strength of a phalanx is due to the fact that each man protects the one next to him, i know that they will all "try to stay in formation" but will they actually work together to fight a single enemy ?

6. when we customize the banners and emblems, can we change the colors of the units themselves ?

7. due to popular demand, will you be taking inspiration and adding music from Rome I ?

8. since we know that trade nodes have been removed from the game, how will the trade system work, could CA please go into a little more depth about this ?

9. with over a hundred factions and greatly improved AI (according to CA) , how long will it now take the AI take to complete its turns

10. what role will ancient wonders play in the game,

11. could you tell us a bit more about agents and their functions and will there still be small in game assassination movies like shogun 2

12. what siege weapons are available and are siege weapons such as ladders, tunnels, rams etc going to be constructed on the siege site or will they be recruited beforehand by the generals in "muster mode"

and make sure she gets plenty of pictures and or tries to record a few things

pull this off and i will name my firstborn along with every legion in Rome II after you

I...errr...don't really have anything to say other than this. Other than I want to see how the user interface works on the campaign map.

[Greve Af Göteborg]

1. How many units can you have in one army?

2. Will we be able to have onagers/ballistas on walls in sieges?

3. Have you improved the AI? both battle ai and the campaign ai.

[-=PHX=-Hades]

My questions are in regards to something that was mentioned in the latest Rally Point...

He said that when an army is recruiting it will enter into a "muster mode".

Can the army still move while in this mode? Or does it have to remain stationary?

Is there a limit on units an army can recruit at once?

I guess just some more details on how the recruiting works now.

[CelticPagan]

Simple question, but one I would like to know the answer to: How much of an influence did those skilled people that made the EB mod influence Rome 2's design and gameplay?

Note: No I never was an EB modder

[Sharpe]

What is the doughnut frosting of choice for members of staff?

I like pink icing with sprinkles.

[ScytheRayne]

1. Is CA/Sega going to release a comprehensive list of the factions present within the campaign?

2. Will Celtic/Germanic/Steppe/Iberian factions be able to manage cities of a high population? How is this facilitated?

3. Are we going to see a selection of battle map locations from the campaign map, and maybe even see the whole campaign map itself?

4. Will minor factions have a realistic chance of becoming a major power, and not be hampered by a skeleton roster nor building tree?

I suppose those are the four burning questions in my mind.

[DVersion]

Fairly certain CA isn't going to E3 this year.

[Lord Tomyris]

Fairly certain CA isn't going to E3 this year.

That's what I thought at first, too, but then I saw this:

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...l=1#post493685

Anyway - great stuff guys!

[DVersion]

But if you are going to 'track them down' you might actually want to call sega and set up an appointment for some interviews beforehand. It's the easiest way to get their time and you will most likely be able to check out the demo without waiting in a line.

[Laids]

1. Can they expand upon how protecting trade routes will work differently from previous games?.
2. Is Steam Workshop integration planned down the road?
3. How long was the actual development time of Rome 2?
4. They once said they wanted the minimum specs to be the same as Shogun 2, or as close as they could get. Have they been successful in this en-devour?
5. What have CA learned from Empire and Shogun 2's launch that they are taking on-board for Rome 2's launch?.
6. What direction have CA taken, in terms of the art style, much like how Empire felt different to Napoleon and Shogun 2 felt different to them and FotS. Is it a more grounded art style, based on realism, or is it more stylistic, like Shogun 2.
7. Clarify why their is free day 1 DLC, was it unfinished content they are simply releasing much like Pontus or did they have to deliberate over weather it would cost money.
8. Has there been any fun war stories coming out from testers?

Thanks for doing this.

[Lord of Tuft]

7. Clarify why their is free day 1 DLC, was it unfinished content they are simply releasing much like Pontus or did they have to deliberate over weather it would cost money.

I think that it's because this was something that they did outside their budget. They have their budget to create the game and, and then the Pontus DLC was something some of the workers made on the side outside of the budget. I might be wrong but I think this is correct.

[Mary The Quene]

Why didn't seleucids made it into the playable factions list?

can we name our generals in custom battles? (don't want to play vs CPU 1)

[Lockcaps]

Will there be a blood pack for Rome II?

[=Vastator=]

Will the new engine be able to distribute the work load between CPU/GPU better than it does on Shogun II (in which almost all people suffer of CPU bottleneck, especially in melee)?

[Pour Some Sugar On Me]

1.How will the general portraits look like, an image of the general (RTW style images) or busts from statues, or no general portrait at all (see teutoburg forest)?
1.1.How many general portraits will there be in the game? Will every general has it's own unique look?
1.2.Will there be generals in custom battles?
2.How many agent's are there going to be, what's their role precisely, will they have more options than RTW?
3.Is gangnam style included in the game?
4.For siege attack, will there be ladders? For siege defense, how about placing siege defense equipment on the walls, like a ballista? Would that be possible?
5.When will you release a demo?

That's all for now.