What was CA's premise regarding the balancing of factions?

[Jester]

What was CA's premise regarding the strength of different factions? (military power)

is this known yet?


and if not, what do you think was their premise? and what do you wish was their premise or how would you have done it?

total balance and equality for the sake of even balance especially in MP?

or historical accuracy and the fun of having factions of different strength and the possibility to play as a true underdog with inferior troops against superpowers? (numidians, gauls vs rome, egypt for example)

[JackDionne]

They did not beta test it, so we can rule that out. We can only hope they learned something from the development of SH II.

[Lord Dakier]

CA are all about offering good quality gameplay and a good guideline to history without it getting in the way of players. Europa Barborum comes to mind as a mod which wouldn't interest the more casual players who aren't too bent of realism whereas Rome Total Realism Platinum was a perfect example of having a little bit of everything.

As far as beta, it's all pretty much internal. They'll fix what they can on release and I don't mind that as long as there isn't too many bugs. The S2TW siege bug comes to mind.

[omzdog]

CA are all about offering good quality gameplay and a good guideline to history without it getting in the way of players.

Is there evidence of this other than what they say in videos and trailers?

[Revan The Great]

When CA is asked questions like this, they often give kind of vague answers like 'Well, we really pay attention to history, and follow that closely but want to ensure gameplay is good too'. Basically a 'please everyone answer', and they do constantly tell us that over the last month they've been tweaking and balancing stuff, so clearly there must be some sort of formula - we just don't really know what it is.

I'd wager that there's at least some measure of asymmetrical balance among the playable factions. Rome might have better infantry than Gaul, but they're less numerous and more expensive. At least, that would be my preference.

Though ultimately I'm sure that the Romans and likely Parthians will be relatively overpowered in multiplayer. But multiplayer alone isn't something you can balance the game around. You can't expect the Athenians to fight the Romans on equal footing in a 1v1 Multiplayer land battle, because they're supposed to have a great navy, for example. Likewise some factions might have more cultural bonuses, or advantageous economic/geographic positions that allow for them to get by with a somewhat weaker military than other nations.

Long-story short, I think the game is balanced around the campaign as a whole - taking into account army, naval, economic, and cultural abilities. Competitive multiplayer probably is a secondary concern, though still there obviously.

[BroskiDerpman]

How is EB not for "casuals"? I don't read much books on this time frame or care a lot for "accuracy" but I thought EB was an enjoyable experience with good polish, feeling of completeness, the art, immersion, graphics, and the typexof balance for the factions in game. I wasn't put off by the foreign names as there was english rght near it in parentheses. The unit balance felt right (EB online balance seems pretty good too) and I had a good time playing it. The atkosphere was believable in my honest opinion. That's why I enjoy EB for a playthrough once in a while. The first campaign I really played was an EB campaign if that matters.

[omzdog]

I doubt people look at mods like Europa Barbarorum and are disgusted in the level of detail they try to achieve.
In fact I truly believe it brings an added level of appreciation, even to people who have drunk nothing but Gatorade their entire lives.

CA would have little to lose going in the direction of EB. I doubt people would just drop out and not buy the game because it attempts to add detail.

[Jester]

ok, i see.... we dont know yet which way CA chose.

so, what would you prefer if you could decide? i d like it if it was like RomeI. it was always fun to play as the underdog once in a while.

the last games were too balanced and the factions too similar for my taste, although i do understand that it was because of the setting and timeline

[DarrenTotalWar]

Wonder why they decided against a beta/demo when Company of Heroes had a beta that was free for everyone on steam at one stage. Strange :/