Attila - Introducing the changes (OP updated October 22nd)

[Anibal at portas]

the manpower is very important in a strategy game of this type.
the manpower give to the game realism,immersion and historicity.
the rome II campaigns is very arcade by many aspects and the lack of manpower in the game is one of this aspect that become the rome II campaigns repetitive,boring,no immersion,no depth and arcade.
hopefully that CA take good note about the manpower and implemented in the Totalwar attila.
in a realistic form,to the style games paradox.
also need to know that the population has a kingdom,clan or tribe for to know how much manpower is available.
the population is necessary in every province or in the whole faction.
historically for being warlike tribes as the huns having less population than other major nations,in relation have more manpower.
these details of forms of government and quantity of manpower should be also reflected.
CA again hopefully not make the same mistakes with campaigns making them as simplistic, repetitive and boring, they are many years repeating the same mistakes.
CA know what the community wants in their campaigns,something of a paradox games but with epic battles.
a campaign with multiple diplomatic options,a campaign with historicity,realism,immersive,depth and epic.
a campaign with historical units,generals,formations among many things.
CA is no excuse for not making the game asking people longtime.
a logical and historical objectives to win the campaign and not conquer the entire map, is very boring and without immersion,would be interesting as the objectives of the crusader kings II of paradox.
the most essential, a good AI both in the battlefield and in the strategic map that are challenging for the player.
trust that CA can do this once and for all.
is necessary:
realistic manpower in relation with realistic population and government form.
a good AI.
historical units and realistic uniforms and weapons,in the gameplay of attlila i see horrible germanic shields with bright colors and unreal,seemed that came from a circus.
historical generals and prominent persons of this epoch.
complex dìplomacy with multiple options.
many and varied historical events and dilemas ocurred in this epoch,for give immersion of the campaing.
exclusives and unique cities of the more important cities,monuments and famous wonders.
videos in the campaing for give immersion.
family tree.
political and military options in relation with logical and historical objectives for win the campaing.
rol with generals and prominent persons.
politic system.
kingdom,republic and tribe system as part of rol for give immersion and realism in the game.
armies with more units,40 units in every army and with the reinforcements can be 80 units,for epic battles.
military formations and fight style in every culture in battle map.
more varied in the cinematic for every fight style or every weapon used.

[LestaT]

Character Records
Actually not just character records, records on everything. A proper stats system for almost everything in your empire. Enough so that you could export a file, insert it in some application, and follow the progress of your empire across turns. I had a long talk with Janos on that, and now have some emails going as well. My idea is to build something for TWC that allows you to upload this in xml format and display it on your profile so that players can follow your progress and learn a few things from each other. I have no idea if we can actually make this happen, but it is possible and I will do everything I can to make it happen. I mentioned it to Squid 2 weeks ago and if we can figure it out and get ahold of some actual files we can probably build something for the site like this. I am not promising that this will happen, but that is the current goal.

This reminds me of some old Football Manager games where at the end of the season I can actually print my achievements and resume and can use it to apply to be the manager of Manchester United if I want.

[Abdülmecid I]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/tot.../1100-6422556/

Remember we are still a year or more out from release.

In the official site, it says that the game will be released in February, which is reasonable for a "standalone" like NTW.

[The Roman Republic]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/tot.../1100-6422556/ In the official site, it says that the game will be released in February, which is reasonable for a "standalone" like NTW.

That's not the most reliable source, Total war did have the February date stamped on the homepage, however they've now since removed it.

Perhaps it was some placeholder for a new page or something but whatever we think the date is, is now unverified.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

And yeah they say its pre-alpha, then it is pre-alpha, and if they think they are able to bring a pre-alpha up to a release state in 2min, sure good for them, but we are still able to give critic if it feels rushed.

[Causeless]

Is there infantry pushing mechanics? So units that are winning a fight will push the other unit backwards?

Also, I noticed there was no formation attack button - how well did units hold formation?

Of course they are. They have to be. You cannot code anything to have "unlimited" assets. Nothing. Any first year programming student will tell you that. TWC software has limits, Windows has limits, Linux has limits, everything has limits. Now the limits may not be as big as you want, but they also have to account for playability on lower end machines.

You realise that's not what he means. He means artificially limited... We can hold practically "unlimited" (as in, in this situation we'll never hit the limit) assets. An army in memory on the campaign map is gonna take maybe a few hundred bytes in the worst possible situation, with a long army name, full-stack, lots of traits... We have 4 billion bytes to play around with on a 32 bit game.

He's asking if we'll have the same imperium army limits as in Rome 2.

[Doge Almighty]

Problem is they push pre-alpha way further back, that is pre-prealpha i.e http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaDlihIqPws

[Akhenaton]

Hey GrnEyedDvl, thanks for delivering so much new info and posting some sweet screens

Waypoints
Nobody else I have seen has really commented on this yet, but the system for this is quite improved. Instead of the shift button you just right click and drag the mouse. I tested the crap out of it to the point that I lost a battle because I was busy watching how the units moved. They followed the path very smoothly, no stopping and reforming. Even sending them across a river and through a small set of woods worked well.

So it works like a click and drag system? And you can send your troops into complicated zigzag routes through the city streets if you so wish?
Also does it work for multiple units?If I have five units in formation selected, then click on one and drag a route will all five units just line up in a row?

Character Records
Actually not just character records, records on everything. A proper stats system for almost everything in your empire. Enough so that you could export a file, insert it in some application, and follow the progress of your empire across turns. I had a long talk with Janos on that, and now have some emails going as well. My idea is to build something for TWC that allows you to upload this in xml format and display it on your profile so that players can follow your progress and learn a few things from each other. I have no idea if we can actually make this happen, but it is possible and I will do everything I can to make it happen. I mentioned it to Squid 2 weeks ago and if we can figure it out and get ahold of some actual files we can probably build something for the site like this. I am not promising that this will happen, but that is the current goal.

That sounds really awesome. Reminds me of the Chronicle system in the new CKII DLC

And I really like the way the new zoom works especially in the Battle Map.

How is it different from the old zoom?

On Civilians: Did CA maybe tell you how many civilians would be on the streets if you´d attack in the first round of a siege?

One more thing: During the presentation i think CA talked about, how troops will get tired rather fast, but will also recover quickly, if you draw them back. This way you have a back and forth to keep the troops more effective. Did you share this experience, when you were playing the battle?

[GrnEyedDvl]

So it works like a click and drag system? And you can send your troops into complicated zigzag routes through the city streets if you so wish?
Also does it work for multiple units?If I have five units in formation selected, then click on one and drag a route will all five units just line up in a row?

Pretty much. I sent cavalry units on a pretty complicated route just to mess with them, and had no issues. They had to go out a gate, cross a bridge, go through some woods, cross back over the river through the water, go around a small patch of woods, then hit the onagers in the rear. I didn't try more than 2 units at a time because of how the battle was laid out, but those two units ended up placed however they were before you gave the commands. What I mean is, if you had them in a line to begin with, they formed a line at the end of the route. If you had one in front of the other, they ended up one in front of the other at the end.

How is it different from the old zoom?

From the battle map before you click Start Battle you can zoom out to see the campaign map so you can get an overview of how it will affect your campaign. Not sure how far out you can zoom once in battle, I didn't think to test it at the time. But when you hit End Turn and get snapped to a battle you can look around before you actually go in.

On Civilians: Did CA maybe tell you how many civilians would be on the streets if you´d attack in the first round of a siege?

I gathered it was sort of random and still a work in progress. It was mentioned but I did not see it live.

One more thing: During the presentation i think CA talked about, how troops will get tired rather fast, but will also recover quickly, if you draw them back. This way you have a back and forth to keep the troops more effective. Did you share this experience, when you were playing the battle?

Actually I reported it as a possible bug to Janos while we were sitting there playing, and he came over to look. In that same scenario described above the cavalry ran for part of the path, then I stopped them and changed formations. It just so happened that they went from Warmed Up to Fresh (whatever the labels are in game) exactly when I clicked the formation change button. He came over to look and then we ended that battle and started a new one just so he could show me how that new system worked.

We started a new battle, and took just the one cavalry unit on basically the same path and ran them the entire way. They were Exhausted by the time they got there, then I hid them in the woods and let them stand for a few minutes and you could watch them cycle back to Fresh. If I had to put a time on it I would guess 1.5-2 minutes.

[Kamos]

I just know one of my generals is going to be assassinated by a random civilian.

[Bethencourt]

Something about naval battles?

[RogueLeader]

Thankyou for the information.

[Bethencourt]

And what does viable mean in this torches context?

[The Roman Republic]

After watching this http://www.twitch.tv/totalwarofficial/b/572003665 some more information was revealed.

-Saxons will be a playable faction (they were really highlighting on the fact that you'll play as minor factions who will start really small, so perhaps as playing as the saxons you'll have to find a new home)
-Small RPG elements for generals, in that you can customize his skill tree to suit them for specific areas such as improving their melee on horseback to improving their governorship etc.
-Different diseases will be present in-game such as smallpox, measles, TB and the early signs of the plague.
-Trading with other factions will increase the likelihood of having diseases brought over to your cities etc
-walls will be an option to build for minor settlements

Trees/vegetation can be set on fire

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

New graphical improves, lighting, textures both in-game and campaign, this will however not be more demanding than rome 2.

As stated in the video below, "if you can run rome 2, you'll be able to run Attila with no need to upgrade your graphics card"

(which is good news for everyone)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Closer look at the in-game UI

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1.
-Option to right-click on enemy units to view more detail about it, perhaps displaying its stats and buffs possibly.

2.
-Units being able to fight to the death? view the increased section and you'll see a skull and bones icon (can anyone see what that downwards arrow would signify next to the skull and bones??)
-New interface, displaying the ammo amount and unit amount at the top, new unit card icons, displaying unit level and type at the bottom.

3.
-nothing new except position,
-option to drag out the map to a bigger size
4.
-faction flags on the units are now removed, this time it seems each faction will have its own personal colour that will represent them, in this case its green and red.
-also on these new representations are including the unit amount, ammo amount and whether its in combat or not, via the crossed swords icon
-also visible is an icon to signify the general via a star icon

5.
on the top tool bar, we can see the timer, battle ratio, faction icon, a "100" icon (which could signify the timer count down for the central plaza), the central plaza icon, and some siege icon. which could indicate whether the city has been broken into or not, perhaps.



Things that aren't visible or displayed

-unit Cinematic view

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Family tree upgrades
- you will get the full history and ancestry of your family, instead of the normal 3 generation,
-political and dilemmas involved
-bastards / adoptions
-diplomatic marriage
-strong link of character skill and traits that can affect your family tree in both a good and bad way, which would be represented on the campaign and battle

Multiplayer
-same style as Rome II,
- no player progression like Shogun II

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/t...interview.html


Campaign map
-climate change will effect everyone, (barbarians moving south towards Rome to "shelter" from the cold etc, effect economic output and food production)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...pire-or-end-it


Updated --

General
-New voice scripts/acting and music

Campaign
-You will need an army to colonize the desolated settlement, however by using the army you will actually lose some of the units that will go towards the revival of the settlement, the bigger the army the cheaper the colonization.

-there will be a priest agent, which will help with converting or spreading their nations culture and religion

-you will have more control over culture and religion of your faction, for example if you are playing as the WRE you will be able to revert to the ancient traditions and religious beliefs.

-the campaign is going to last 70 years, at the start Attila wont be born, however the hunnic hordes will be present from the beginning.

-the hunnic faction will not be scripted, but rather allowed the chance to become powerful, CA have added such implications that will direct them towards west. However they feel that they want it to be sandbox, and that history is re-created by you.

-smaller faction's attitude towards other factions are solely based on the faction leader, for example if you are friendly with the franks and their faction leader dies and the heir that comes into power hates you, then that faction will become far more aggressive towards you

-armies can still transport over sea but in doing so will inflict strong penalties such as sea sickness and other effects

-the map is bigger than Rome II, but focuses more towards the North East to include more the steppes

-diseases will only take effect on the campaign, not shown in-battle



Battle
-Civilians are not controllable, however it is a random generated choice as to whether they want to flee or fight. Civilians will be doing day to day stuff on the battlefield, (farming etc) and will then decide their action. If they flee they can either run into buildings and hide or (I assumed go off the map) if that building is on fire or about to be destroyed then the civilians will run out of them.

-sea warfare is more about boarding and missile attacks, rather than ramming (which is given due to the time period)

-fire is going to be a lot more apparent, in that ground, buildings, barricades, vegetation, trees can all set on fire


Multiplayer
-abandoning settlements/barricades/siege escalation/etc will be included in multiplayer,

http://gameovercast.co.uk/index.php?...es&episode=192

[anonimo272]

thanks for the link

[nce_wht_guy]

-Different diseases will be present in-game such as smallpox, measles, TB and the early signs of the plague.
-walls will be an option to build for minor settlements

These two really excite me. I think the lack of fortifications for minor settlements was one of the most disappointing features of Rome II. I got why CA tried it, but it just made controlling provinces way too difficult.

[Fraser]

I like the look of the unit cards.

[The Useless Member]

Some really amazing stuff so far.

[Altimis]

What strategically advantages for burning trees in this game? (you know what this game can do, burning trees?)

[The Roman Republic]

For example if you are playing a battle map where there are a lot of trees, you could burn them so your enemy can't hide there