San Francisco Event Questions: ANSWERED !!
So I came into talking to a guy on the official TW Forums and he's going to be attending tomorrow's San Francisco Rome 2 event and I managed to get some questions to him to ask about the game
Hopefully by this weekend's end we will know:
How will elephants be represented in game? Will there be a visual and statistic difference between elephants from Africa and elephants from Asia?
Will musical instruments be represented in battle? If so, how will these instruments be visually represented between different nations and cultures?
These are the main questions I asked to be questioned so hopefully we will get some concrete answers !
edit: The full list of questions to be asked today. I'll likely have this list updated by tomorrow morning
- "Infantry Wedge Formation: Will it be in the game?" from Katsusand
- "Food system in Rome 2: Will food be transferable?" snipershot
- "How will the Pike and hoplite Phalanx differ?" Setrus
- "With all factions but Rome and Carthage having a "ruling" family set for them, what can we expect in terms of variety between these factions and their internal politics?" Setrus
- "will there be ways for the player to impede LOS in battles?" Setrus
- "Will there be a tech tree for Rome 2?" Vuorinorri
- "Will ask for clarification regarding campaign map and how units are represented on map. Mr. Jokee
- "Will music be customized for each faction? If so, how will that difference be represented?"
- "How will elephants be represented in game? Will there be a visual and statistic difference between elephants from Africa and elephants from Asia?"
- Will ask for and look into clarification regarding diplomacy in R2TW: Bestowing regions onto other factions and trading regions.
- Will look for clarification regarding how factions are compared: Timetable, graph, or other visual representation.
- Will inquire about Greek factions.
- Will ask about Parthia.
- R2TW Multiplayer: Will try to get some info.
- Will ask for clarification regarding unit movement stances on campaign map. (i.e:Normal, Defensive, Recruitment, Forced March)
- Will musical instruments be represented in battle? If so, how will these instruments be visually represented between different nations and cultures?
- Battle Phase Clarification- Unit Cap: 20 units or 40 units? Reinforcement process- Trickle or full stack?
- Free downloadable content for Rome 2: Is there other free stuff planned?
- Naval regions in Rome 2: How do they work? Clarification will be sought.
- Multi-core processors: Will Rome 2 be able to utilize them properly?
- Steam pre-orders of Rome 2: Will there be a pre-install option available prior to release?
- How will defeated units on the battle phase be treated? Will there be a capture/prisoner/slavery system present?
- Will the campaign city appearance affect how a city may look under siege during a battle phase?
- Armor upgrades: Are they present? Are there any visual pieces that a player can see to quickly identify them like in M2TW?
- Will there be "fantasy" units present in R2TW? (i.e: Tessakonteres)
- Will ranged units such as javelin throwers be able to throw on the move?
- Will armies still in the field stay in the field even if they lose all territorial holdings?
- Ranged missile fire: Archers and flammable weapons- How will they be implemented?
- Army Customization: How in-depth and complex can we customize our soldiers?
- Rome 2 Total War Mods: How accessible will the base game be for modders to access and make changes?
- Battle animations for units of different cultures: Will different weapons affect animations and battle theories for units?
- Resources and Wonders: How will they affect gameplay?
- Suebi names. Must have them pronounced by either Craig or Al.
- Cheats/Debug Option: Will they be available for single player campaign?
- Client States: How do they work? Will they be similar to protectorates from ETW?
- Clarification regarding Egypt, Seleucid Empire, and Cyrenania.
- Unit veterans: Any visual changes?
- Battle Speeches: What can we expect to see?
- Routing Units: Will they leave the map or reform behind friendly battle lines?
- End game: Will there be any unit advancements after base time span? (i.e Barbarian Invasion)
UPDATE:
Hey everyone, your friendly neighbor ShinoGH here once again.
And boy oh boy do I have some stuff for you. Just got back from San Francisco and have just justified an hour drive with two hours of pure strategic bliss. Considering the sheer amount of stuff that I have to format and prepare in order to show you what went down, I'm going to have to edit this post several times.
I even have pictures.
They aren't perfect pictures though. The lighting at the event wasn't exactly meant for great photography and I'm not that great of a photographer.
Stay tuned for info on the event and some of the answers that I was able to obtain from Craig and Al.
Oh. And just for your viewing pleasure,I'll have you look at some of the "shoddy"1 pictures that I was able to get. You'll have to wait a bit though as I have to create some photo account so that I can post pictures with a larger file size.
Pictures can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99461402@N08/
Now then, let's get started with some Q & A. Unfortunately, Craig and Al weren't able to answer all of the questions that you, my fellow forum-ites, were able to come up with. Time is a fickle mistress and I was not able to tame her. Fortunately, I am allowed to send an email to Al later on in order to have them answered in full. I'll have that email up and ready when it becomes available.
In the meantime...
Note: Not all questions from the questions thread have been answered yet. I am still waiting for an email containing these answers from CA.
Questions and Answers
1. Food System: Total War Rome 2 will have a food system that contains two parts. The first part will utilize "food" as it has usually been used in previous Total War games. Food will affect the income that a city will have. The second part of the food system will be similar to Total War Shogun 2. Players will have to carefully plan the development of cities lest they fall trap to a shortage of food and causing a drop in population happiness due to starvation.
2. Ruling Factions: Recently, we have learned that Rome and Carthage have three ruling families that players can choose from. Each family will have common traits that it shares with the other two families while having traits unique to itself. Al confirmed that only Rome and Carthage will have different ruling families. Other factions will utilize a single "family" or "tribe" to rule the faction. They will have options that are not available to Rome or Carthage. One of the possible diplomatic options that Al mentioned was that barbarian tribes will have the ability to form confederations with other barbaric tribes.
3. Elephants: There will be a visual differentiation between elephants from India and elephants from Africa. Stats-wise, I am still waiting on further clarification from Al whether the two units are similar or different.
4. Naval Regions in Rome 2: I believe mmurray821 asked this question at the Q&A. From what I recall, in order to "control" a sea region, factions must have a navy present. With a navy present, any hostile or un-allied navies will be forced to engage the controlling naval force before being allowed to land an army. (Correct me if I am wrong mmurray821; I was busy eating the pizza balls)
If your fleet is in a defensive/raid stance you control that region (raiding stance also used for reducing piracy). An ally or neutral fleet can sail into that zone but if a hostile fleet comes in a battle will take place. Also if a fleet tries to attack a port or invade it will generate a battle.
5. Multiplayer: Hmm... I think this was mmurray821's question, so mmurray, feel free to correct me if I make a mistake here. Multiplayer in Rome 2 will have the some of the things that we want like the Co-Op Campaign and what have you. The big, and I mean BIG thing that we learned at the event is that players will have a new way to pick out where they can fight.
Vs. and Co-Op are in, just like in Shogun. The big, and I mean big thing that has changed with multiplayer is how maps are chosen. You will have the entire campaign map in front of you and you can zoom down to whatever area you want and fight on that spot. You want to fight at the Hot Gates? Zoom down. Fight just north? Zoom down just north. Also you can set the coordinates as a favorite spot for future battles and you can also post your favorites to social media so if you find some out of the way area that has a really cool spot to fight on you can let your friends or the world know.
Stay tuned for more on this: Need to grab a cup of coffee real quick and read my notes.
6. Ranged Units: Ranged units such as javelin throwers must be stationary in order to throw. Confirmed by Al and other attendees playing demo. Other units such as legionary cohorts will be able to both throw while stationary and while on the charge.
7. Battles Speeches: This one came as a little bit of a shocker to me. If I heard correctly, there will be no pre-battle speeches for standard battles on the campaign map. The only battles speeches as of right now are those included in historical battles. Might be for the best though. I only listened to the battle speeches a few times before I just skipped over them to start deployment. Better usage of funds to dedicate elsewhere rather than battle speeches.
8. Slavery: There will indeed be a "slavery" mechanic in game. Al and Craig both pointed out that CA did not completely flesh out the mechanic because slavery is a rather controversial topic. As of typing, players will be allowed to: capture and enslave enemy units on the battlefield. Slaves will be treated as a resource on the campaign map. Will send an email in order to further clarify this topic.
Just to clarify, cities will also be subject to the slavery mechanic.
9. Campaign City Appearance on a Siege Map: Besides famous cities such as Rome, Carthage, Alexandria and what have you, other cities will not be specifically rendered on the battlefield. There will be a form of increasing points to capture similar to Shogun 2's castles. Higher tier cities will be larger and have more defensive positions in comparison to lower tier cities, similar to Shogun 2's building system.
Also the non-famous cities will be randomly generated on the battle map.
10. Fantasy Units: Units such as the "Tessakonteres" will not be present in Rome 2.
11. Unit Cap on Battlefield: mmurray821, I'm going to need your help on this one. I didn't really understand what Al was saying regarding this topic. 20 units will be the standard cap for a legion on the field but players will have the option to have another 20 as reinforcements? To the total of 40 units?
12. Routing Units: Was not able to ask about this question at the event, so I have sent an email regarding this. What I can tell you is based on what I gathered from my experience with the demo and input from other attendees at the event.
Playing as the Romans for the Battle of the Nile, I noticed that units that were particularly disciplined managed to stay in combat despite heavy losses, which makes sense. During one moment of my playthrough of the demo, I had managed to surround several Egyptian units from all sides. Rather than running and just being slaughtered like helpless sheep like in some instances of Shogun 2, the Egyptian soldiers stood their ground and fought to the death.
Another instance is when I routed a unit of pikes with my Evocati. Rather than just completely abandoning the fight, the Egyptian soldiers at the front of the line continued to fight while soldiers at the rear ran for their lives. At which point, my cavalry swooped down upon the few hardy survivors and annihilated them without an afterthought.
Additional Info via quotes:
Originally Posted by Will CAThe good gentlemen of the campaign team have some more info on sea regions:
- Depending on the ownership of adjoining port settlements, sea regions may be controlled, shared or contested.
- If a faction owns all port settlements adjoining a sea region, they CONTROL it.
- Penalties to maritime commerce from ‘Piracy’ are low.
- Replenishment rate is increased both at sea and at port.
- Naval recruitment costs are decreased.
- If a faction and its allies or neutrals each own a port settlement adjoining a sea region, they are SHARING it.
- Penalties to maritime commerce from ‘Piracy’ are moderate.
- Replenishment rate is increased a little in port, not at all at sea.
- No change to naval recruitment costs.
- If a faction and at least one enemy own a port settlement adjoining the same sea region, it becomes CONTESTED.
- Penalties to maritime commerce from ‘Piracy’ are high.
- Replenishment rate is not buffed in port, and is stopped altogether at sea.
- Naval recruitment costs are increased.
- If a faction owns no ports adjoining a sea region, it is either NEUTRAL or HOSTILE.
- In either case, no recruitment or replenishment can take place.
- Maritime commerce penalties are irrelevant to such a faction, but they may raid locally in order to further increase the penalties for the owning factions.
Originally Posted by mmurray821
I'm sure Shino is getting his answers typed up.
One quick thing I was asked to confirm:
How many units per army? Originally it was slated for 20, but Al confirmed that now it goes up to 40. There is no option in the game menu for this, it just can be done.
This has been debunked as FALSE information by Will of CA
Originally Posted by Will CA
Sadly no. You can control 40 units in a battle, but unit stacks will still be 20.
Another slight update for you guys. Not sure if this holds true but apparently there may or may not be certain stances your armies can take while autoresolving siege battles. From the looks of it there will be either an all out rush of the walls with ladders etc or more methodical well thought out sieges.
Hey guys that were at the event. I have been wracking my brain trying to remember the last half of something Al said. He was talking about autoresolving sieges and he said there were two stances you could take now. Aggressive and methodical. The aggressive way was mass assault with ladders and the like to get over as fast as possible but caused greater casualties and the other way was taking things slower with siege engines and miners and took less casualties.
He also said something along the like of the second way being slower and taking more time and I know he said more about how it worked but can't remember. Did it have the possibility of being spread out over the next turn? It is driving me nuts I can't remember.
Gah! I know what you are talking about but I don't remember specifically what was said. From what I can recall, the aggressive auto-resolve option enabled players to end assaults and battles quickly with a sort of high risk/high reward.
I don't know/recall if Craig or Al mentioned anything regarding splitting an attack over several turns when using the "cautious" auto resolve.
It seems to be an interesting turn on how the auto-resolve works primarily because the auto-resolve button has mainly been an "all-or-nothing" approach for most of the series. Maybe the aggressive assault enables players to push more soldiers onto the field and causing a higher kill rate/casualty rate with some form of reward?
He didn't say anything about multiple turn engagements, and actually his answer didn't do much to shed light on the question. What he said was that there would be two options for auto resolves, one aggressive and one methodical (as you said). What that means he didn't say. My impression was that aggressive would put your men at more risk, but would inflict higher casualties on the enemy. Meanwhile the methodical option would reduce the risk to your own men, but the enemy might be able to retreat with more of their army intact. Risk vs. reward stuff.
New Cinematic Trailer coming soon featuring Hannibal !!!
When everyone arrived, Craig greeted us and gave us drinks and food. Then we sat down to watch some brand new stuff (yes I said there was super secret stuff, didn't I).
They showed us a new trailer (much like the Cleopatra one) with Hannibal and a lot of new campaign map shots with siege attacks, elephants and the Alps. I'm not going into any more detail than that other than the trailer was freakin' AWESOME!!!! It will be out soon so you don't have to wait long.
Then they showed us the mostly finished Rome 2 intro. This is the first thing you will see when the game loads. Showed all the different factions in battle and in towns. Pretty interesting.
Battle Speeds:
Battle speeds were fine. No super sprinting Roman! The Egyptian units broke way to fast, but again this is because it is a demo and they want as many tries and people to play it as possible. With the moral put back to normal the battles felt really fluid and like real people were walking up that hill with shields up with arrows pelting them like rain. Well burning rain.
Seasons in Battles:
I'm sure this will show up in the other AAR thread but this was the first question asked and I asked it since it was driving me nuts:
Seasons!
Seasons show up in the battles. However, they are random but you can choose to wait if you don't like the weather/season that is currently chosen just like before (up to 3 times). Where you are in the world effects the chance of a certain season showing up. Fighting in the cold north and having a snow battle? Good chance. Fighting in the hot desert? Not so much chance for a snow battle.
Barbarian's Boats:
Al also talked about barbarian boats. I asked if they were a raft with a ballista mounted on it.
Turns out they aren't.
They are big, heavy wooden things that are full of men. Not very maneuverable but can take a pounding. It will be interesting to see them in action vs triremes.
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Originally Posted by Lord Dakier
