how do you usually play?

[Flinn]

Sorry for the somewhat dark title, but I couldn't come out with anything better

Anyway, I'd like to ask to fellow players here, how they usually play and develop their game, I'm not speaking about difficulty or conditions, infact it would be nice to understand:

- do you usually try to bring your campaign to an end or when you get bored (something which happens always at a certain point) you switch to another campaign? and if you bring it on, do you really aim to reach the victory conditions?
- do you usually play the same faction(s)? are there some factions you have never played?
- apart from lore and personal tastes, do you prefer big factions with much to do in the beginning or smaller ones with a slow and continuos development?
- what really amuse you when playing TATW or one submod?

I'm curious, I'll post my answers later on

[Bladvak]

- do you usually try to bring your campaign to an end or when you get bored (something which happens always at a certain point) you switch to another campaign? and if you bring it on, do you really aim to reach the victory conditions?

I've never finished my campaigns. I usually start long campaigns and the victory conditions are there as guidelines than as actual requirements. I play for my own satisfaction, when I get bored of the campaign, I quit it. This can happen in 30 or in 200 turns.

- do you usually play the same faction(s)? are there some factions you have never played?

I almost always play good factions. The only times when I play evil factions is when I want to test something. Ok, so maybe Isengard is an exception to all of this. I've never played Rhun, Harad, OoG besides checking things for 1-2 turns. I've played Mordor to get a taste of what's it like, I played OotMM to get a taste of what's it like for orc factions playing against elves. That's it.

- apart from lore and personal tastes, do you prefer big factions with much to do in the beginning or smaller ones with a slow and continuos development?

I enjoy micromanagement and diversity, this makes Gondor my favourite faction. Lorien (southern SE) has 2 starting provinces and it ranks at 2 in my preferences. So size doesn't really matter, but the immersion and the military challenges - for example I dislike playing as HE since it's mostly a waiting game.

- what really amuse you when playing TATW or one submod?

Immersion, personal touch, in-game jokes or tidbits of humour or irony.
I'm also amused when I'm the target for some invasion, since I know it will be a great challenge, one that I will enjoy overpowering. As Dwarves, fighting off an invasion on Khazad-dum starting from turn 60ish is a memory that comes to life.

[DrDragun]

Good thread, things have been... quiet lately.

-I usually try to finish a campaign, and always use short campaign rules for this reason. In the past I did a few long campaigns but after you control 20-25 territories it becomes a repetitive exercise
-Haven't finished a Rohan or Harad campaign. They both have cool rosters but unexciting map position for me. I like good factions with heavy armor, or evil factions with interesting monsters. But they must have interesting map position.
-Small factions make things easy to manage in the early game and helps keep everything neat
-As I become more experienced, I am more interested in developing General and Governor traits. Although this is completely unnecessary to winning the game it adds some depth and replay value.
-I will always love heavy armored infantry and cavalry. Especially Silvans, with their golden armor and mix of green and blue capes. And trolls. Trolls and monsters and Sauron and Balrogs smashing little men.

[manekemaan]

Originally Posted by Flinn
- do you usually try to bring your campaign to an end or when you get bored (something which happens always at a certain point) you switch to another campaign? and if you bring it on, do you really aim to reach the victory conditions?

I try to finish my campaigns but i must be honest. I have only ever finished one... (finished for me is all evil gone, not just the victory conditions, those, i reach pretty often)

Originally Posted by Flinn
- do you usually play the same faction(s)? are there some factions you have never played?


Gondor, FpoE, Silvans are, in that order, my favorite. I tend to avoid evil factions since they just don't match my style.

Originally Posted by Flinn
- apart from lore and personal tastes, do you prefer big factions with much to do in the beginning or smaller ones with a slow and continuos development?




I like both, I like gondor for its management and great build up possibilities to a great trade empire but I also enjoy smaller more relaxed play styles like the silvans. I have recently started to appreciate the trade possibilities of dale.

Originally Posted by Flinn

- what really amuse you when playing TATW or one submod?


The lore, the immersion the world in itself. The satisfaction of kicking evil in the but one battle at a time.
and maybe most of all watching the fruits of your planning and building after a while. Seeing minas thirith harvest 5000 gold per turn and rebuilding osgiliath. Those stuff. The mods I love most have reuniting the kingdoms which is for me the most awarding part of all. The not being up to date submod of this for mos is the reason i'm currently not playing tbh :p

[Lortano]

I have never finished a campaign of any total war game.

[Vossie]

I have never finished a campaign of any total war game.

So I'm not the only one?:p I've been playing TW since Medieval TW ( 1st one ).

Campaigns always get boring at a certain point so I just start a new one. ( Never same faction tho.. except for mods when updated. )

Big or small factions dont really matter to me, I like both of them as long as the faction itself is appealing. ( I tried all factions for this particular mod. )

[LuckyPistol]

Sorry for the somewhat dark title, but I couldn't come out with anything better

Anyway, I'd like to ask to fellow players here, how they usually play and develop their game, I'm not speaking about difficulty or conditions, infact it would be nice to understand:

- do you usually try to bring your campaign to an end or when you get bored (something which happens always at a certain point) you switch to another campaign? and if you bring it on, do you really aim to reach the victory conditions?
- do you usually play the same faction(s)? are there some factions you have never played?
- apart from lore and personal tastes, do you prefer big factions with much to do in the beginning or smaller ones with a slow and continuos development?
- what really amuse you when playing TATW or one submod?

I'm curious, I'll post my answers later on

I usually just try to have good time role playing, I've always played Total War casually, as I've gotten way too intense about it before and pulled 6 hours straight my first campaign xD Sometimes I switch to a different or new campaign if I've gotten a little tired of facing stack after stack and I need a little break.

One of the coolest things about TATW is that you can play as the baddies I love playing as Gundabad, OotMM, and Isengard for role play value. But I've found that Dale and Rhun are very unique and satisfying games. However, MOS's Gondor is probably the most fun and interesting campaigns I've ever had. Those Mordor custom settlements are fantastic!

I prefer smaller factions to build up, it helps get me organized and gives you more options, especially in TATW since your big ones like Gondor and Rohan are a bit challenging income-wise, while Dale and Gundabad has enough rebel settlements in between enemies to develop.

I think the most amusing thing would be seeing character generals like Gandalf being bribed into other factions (I've found Gandalf bribed by the Wild Men of Dunland and managed to bribe Gimli into joining Eriador). But nothing beats seeing fully developed armies like Rhun and Gondor. The design on the units is breath taking. Oh and custom settlements, those are probably the best

[Redgrave]

I always play as good factions. I don't know why, but I just don't find playing as any of the evil factions fun (not to say that I dislike them because they are evil, though; I would happily play as an evil faction if I enjoyed it).

I usually get bored and don't finish the campaign- at the point where you know you've won and it's just a matter of micromanaging effectively to capture those last few provinces knowing that you cannot lose, I tend to quit. If a campaign is going too slowly, I use cheats to try out some of the elite units then quit after that.

I don't mind whether a faction is big or small, but I find that it is harder to make big factions interesting, so I tend to play with small (but with a wide unit range etc.) factions. My favourite faction is Gondor, then Rohan with any of the elven factions (I use DaC so there are a few) coming in at a close third.

[Leto Atreides]

I mostly like to play as Gondor, Eriador or High Elves because they have the best looking units IMHO.

I love the challenge as Gondor with the slow arrival of quality units that finally let you gain the upper hand. I get bored when Harad is defeated and Mordor contained at Cirith Ungol.

I like how as the High Elves you can win heroic battles with just a few very strong units. I get bored when the 2 Orcs factions are defeated and I have to move south to keep fighting.

Eriador is fun because reforming Arnor is challenging and you have to do it with mostly bland and weak units.

[LuckyPistol]

I like how as the High Elves you can win heroic battles with just a few very strong units. I get bored when the 2 Orcs factions are defeated and I have to move south to keep fighting.

That's when you turn on those lazy Hobbits and capitalize on their tobacco industry

[Kolaris8472]

I tend to stick to factions whose objectives stick closely to M2TW gameplay. It's easy to forget, when the mod has improved the game so much, that the core gameplay remains the same. Expand your borders, build up your settlements.

As a result I stay away from certain factions where that M2 behavior doesn't fit, i.e. Elves wouldn't expand their borders, and some of the evil factions wouldn't develop their settlements.

So my favorite campaigns are Eriador, Gondor, and Dale. They're all trying to retake lost settlements and build them up again.

Doesn't hurt that Arnor and Dale (and Gondor with MOS/Taro_M's mod) have some of the best looking units.

[Ngugi]

Back in the days i would had a list of answers. How I prefere smaller starting factions with smaller but more efficient units (if high mortality in a battle I consider myself to have failed) and thus never played much evil factions, and never more than begun as Mordor, Harad, OotMM and OoG, while I prefere to play long campaigns.


But now, well

[Veteraan]

(...)
But now, well

This caused me to have a vision about you frantically modding something, the sound of Wagner blazing and (imaginary) tiny Valkyries circling around your head.


And about the way I play.

I usually play MOS and the campaigns can take very long (400-600 turns) to finish. I think this qualifies as slow and continuous development.

About 50% of my campaigns last until victory is achieved. There is always a point where I get bored. Sometimes I quit, sometimes I play on.
This usually depends on how far away I am from meeting the victory conditions when the boredom strikes.

I like to play with huge archer armies which means I often play Elves. I do play other factions once in a while to keep things interesting.

Next point is not asked, but I think it's relevant.
Game difficulty is H/H. It used to be VH/VH for many years but at my age I decided I was entitled to take it a bit easier. Besides that it greatly annoys me to repeatedly have to route tiny enemy units that keep on coming back to the battle because of the morale boost on VH.

Nothing much amuses me playing TATW, but apart from the things I liked about playing MTW II in the first place, I enjoy the artwork, the custom units and settlements, some of the scripts and of course the Tolkien atmosphere.

[LuckyPistol]

Wow, way to lighten the mood of the thread Ngugi

[Flinn]

LAZY modders do not play, you would say ... oh mommy, I was so excited scrolling down and seeing your pink ears ..

anyway, bad parents apart, I've seen some interesting answers here, below are mine:

- do you usually try to bring your campaign to an end or when you get bored (something which happens always at a certain point) you switch to another campaign? and if you bring it on, do you really aim to reach the victory conditions?

well, I very seldom play above 100 turns, usually only bigger factions like Gondor or Mordor receives more attention; I think my record with Mos is about 220 turns during my first Gondor campaign. Boredom is a big problem, mostly there is a point on the campaign (a different one for each faction) in which you have to fight similar full stacks in the same area for variuos turns, and this usually kills my affection for that campaign

- do you usually play the same faction(s)? are there some factions you have never played?

every time I try a new submod or a new update I play Rohan, by far my favourite compound between lore and troop roster, those guys rock and Theoden is a badass! HE and Eriador usually follow (it's a good way for me to confront differences with other mods and releases). If I have time I give a try to all the factions, though some of them are really boring to me (mostly Ruhn and Harad, they are not a challange at all). Lorien also has a special place in my heart, but definitely both Gondor and Mordor always receive a try, maybe twice for Mordor

- apart from lore and personal tastes, do you prefer big factions with much to do in the beginning or smaller ones with a slow and continuos development?

it really depends on my mood, I love both the challenge of a big faction and the relax of a smaller one. Elven factions are usually my pick when I want to go slowly and turtle, I go for bigger ones when I feel the need for many battles.

- what really amuse you when playing TATW or one submod?

The challange. If there is no challange to my skills I get bored very quickly (in regular M2TW I got bored after 20 turns ), but TATW and submods offer a hard game; to be honest, I think I never really played a good TW game before I actually discovered TATW a couple of years ago.

[Mhaedros]

My answer is pretty much the same as Ngugi's, except for one campaign once per three months perhaps. Usually more seldom that that too, but I can still answer the questions

I tend to go for factions that start out small, and generally good ones. Dale and the Dwarves are my absolute favorites. I quit my campaigns when I get so OP I win every battle, which tends to happen around turn 70-120 *not at all boasting here* I have never played Rohan or Isengard I think, both really bore me Same with Rhun and Harad, except for a single 50 turn campaign each. I just don't like starting out with large empires I guess, and cavalry units usually require so much micromanagement, especially horsearchers.

[SilentHitman94]

- do you usually try to bring your campaign to an end or when you get bored (something which happens always at a certain point) you switch to another campaign? and if you bring it on, do you really aim to reach the victory conditions?
- do you usually play the same faction(s)? are there some factions you have never played?
- apart from lore and personal tastes, do you prefer big factions with much to do in the beginning or smaller ones with a slow and continuos development?
- what really amuse you when playing TATW or one submod?

As many already answered here, I think I finished only one campaign It tends to get boring for me when I have to cross many provinces to get to the front line(the logistics are so boring). So this is the point for starting a new campaign mostly, or I will stop playing third age completly for some time.

Usually I play the Silvan Elves,Gondor or High Elves. Now I play DaC so that's more diverse in factions etc, normal third age got somewhat boring for me. I never played rhun or harad, though I tried OoMM for a few turns, OoG and I tried to play mordor. But I don't seem to enjoy playing as an evil faction.

I do like a smaller faction with less to manage, also when your territory is quite large, the logistics(moving an army between cities for example) always annoys me.

The challenge and immersion amuses me, I just like middle earth

[jinjo]

i have played with all factions, OOTMM is an exception, but i will try it soon
i like to finish the campaign and i do it often
i prefer playing with elves (guess what, archers )

[Arond]

I've played through all the campaigns with every faction, but always the short victory conditions. Favorite factions are the ones with great archers like the HE and SE, but Dale with archer generals was also fun.

[Gimli2]

I've actually only played three campaigns, one with the Dwarves, one with Arnor and one with the HE. But played each one to and beyond the turn limit. I haven't played any other faction bar these three because they don't interest me very much. The only other ones I'd want to play are Gondor and Isengard. I love playing the likes of the HE and Arnor and those types because I love the idea of reforging or reclaiming old empires and former strength. This is why I like Gondor because though it is quite large it used to be much more powerful and larger and I find it fun to reclaim, the same for the HE, so it doesn't really matter to me if the faction is big or small to begin with. Arnor is probably my favourite faction because its units suite the way I like to play and I'm a complete turtler in the last 2 campaigns I've probably only attacked the enemy 3 times on the battlefield. By that I mean I do attack enemies but in the battles I stay on the defensive and let them charge me!
Nothing really amuses me I just find the whole game fun!