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Thread: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

  1. #21
    Darios's Avatar Ex Oriente Lux
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by Belisarius1 View Post
    Immersion was broken for me when Justinian showed up. After all, he's the one who sent the expedition in the first place. In fact I can't recall any instance historically when where he personally led a military campaign once in power.
    I see it as the Emperor going to inspect his new provinces))

    Quote Originally Posted by Belisarius1 View Post
    The Roman expedition mostly consisted of Mercenaries. I don't see that represented here at all. Where are the Alani?
    I assume that the Feoderati infantry unit is made up of Germans and the Feoderati horse archer unit is made up of Huns. I think that the expedition could indeed use some Alanic light cavalry and Slavic javelinmen however. They were part of the reinforcements Justinian sent to Italy.

    Quote Originally Posted by Belisarius1 View Post
    It takes too long for the Vandals to start resisting in earnest. Hopefully these problems can be modded out though.
    In my campaign the Vandals did give me two major battles (which I won despite being outnumbered), after which I mopped up their cities. I think this is awesome and how the Grand Campaign should also function. Defeating 1-2 major armies should be enough to cripple/break an empire.
    ----------------

    My other thoughts: I did not encounter much resistance from the Ostrogoths. Does Totila ever show up anywhere?

    The missions from Justinian/Theodora/Antonina kinda dry up around 540. It would be cool to see more of them.

    The Lombard invasion caught me with my pants down in Italy, it's a nice touch. After the disaster that is the Grand Campaign, kudos to Mr. Lusted and his New Content Team for creating a nice campaign that sticks true to history and doesn't strive to be badass.
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  2. #22
    Huberto's Avatar Praepositus
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    What's with all the Roman 'garrison' armies showing up in N. Africa. From the Heir of Carthage playthrough it looked as though the player gets a full Roman army stack per region, once you conquer as Belisarius. Besides seeming incredibly unrealistic, doesn't that make the game too much of a steam roll?

  3. #23

    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Basically just playing as ERE but in Horde mode. In Carthage.

  4. #24
    Gäiten's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Has some tested the Battle of Dara?

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  5. #25
    Lugotorix's Avatar non flectis non mutant
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by AnonMilwaukean View Post
    Just finished the campaign on Hard as the Roman Expedition (and staying loyal rather than declaring independence), so I'll add the following to what I already wrote above:

    1) The Moors and Langobards just pop out of nowhere when they appear. I also found it rather hilarious that when the Langobards appear, the text is literally The Langobards Are Coming! I mean, that's hilarious to me... what, are the Langobards the Redcoats, and is the text being spoken by Paul Revere? But on a serious note, it's a little silly that full stacks appear out of thin air without almost any warning. The first time you play the Gems quest and decide to enter Berber territory, you have no way of knowing that the Moors will appear all along the south rather than in one or two spots on the edge of the Sahara. Found this to be annoying, and I commented on it above.

    2) The Roman Empire is not particularly good at doing anything useful offense-wise. Not a big deal since that would sort of defeat the purpose, but they are incredibly woeful much of the time.

    3) Fortunately, the Roman Empire is pretty sensible about immediately changing buildings in settlements you reclaim so as to increase happiness and provide a garrison. Was pleasantly surprised to check the garrison info and city info several times during the campaign to find that right away buildings were being changed up by the AI. Very little in the way of rebellions in reclaimed territory during the game, which helps keep things fun (as opposed to playing whack-a-mole with rebels every few turns).

    4) The map is significantly bigger than the HatG map from R2 (which is the closest equivalent for maps). Further, the terrain is way more detailed, with numerous rivers, forests, and mountains. It takes a long time to cross North Africa, and going up Italy also takes a good amount of time. It makes for a lot more campaign strategy regarding movement and positioning of armies.

    5) Too many free armies as reinforcements. I feel like the number of free armies you get throughout the campaign would be fine if it was just an occasional extra army via quest rewards. I mean, I'm used to playing as the Huns (who are one of my favorite sides), so maybe it's just me, but even before the first free army I had already turtled up a bit in the Carthage area and saved growth to pop out an extra horde. Even without having done that, I still feel like the last 1-2 armies I got I did nothing with except delete the units, build income-producing buildings, and then filling with slingers just to meet the victory conditions (140 units and 10,000 income are kinda lame objectives given that by the time you have all of Italy it's pretty much game-set-match anyways).

    6) Breath of fresh air to not have the Huns to contend with every end-game.

    7) Unit balance was great, and enemy armies had reasonable compositions (like an Ostrogoth army actually having 11 Germanic Warband, 2 Onagers, 4 Cavalry, and 4 Missile units to go with their general? That's outstanding compared to some of what I saw from non-Hunnic sides in the GC).


    Overall, I really, really like this campaign, and was not entirely expecting to given that I'd hoped for a wider, GC-scale Justinian campaign. Terrain-wise, I feel like this is the most detailed map I've played on in the entire series, with numerous rivers, enough mountain passes, deserts, forests, coasts, etc. Moreover, the different playable factions actually all seem like they'd be interesting to play as. Rather than a bunch of 1-settlement factions all in Germania (where the Huns eventually will come through), each faction has a good chunk of land in a very different climate from most of the rest (desert vs mountains vs plains/forests). That said, I have no idea how playing as the Vandals would go... they ended up getting attacked by myself (the expedition), the Sardinians, and even the Roman Empire (Carthage itself was under siege by the Roman Empire, a rarity of an event to see from the Roman Empire in my campaign just now).

    I did have a few nit-picky things, most of which I listed above, but by-and-large it's probably one of the best campaigns from either R2 or Attila, and it is a contended for Shogun 2's campaigns, even.

    The only big thing I could really point out is that I obviously played the faction the campaign was most meant for... I doubt the other factions have the level of detail and lore that the Expedition does. Regardless, now I'm interested to try the other sides (notably the Ostrogoths).
    The Vandals are listed as 'Hard.' start location, but I've found them to be easier than the Roman Expedition so far. It's very unlike WRE like Legend of TW suspected. I'll have to see whether the Moors are hostile to begin with, but I've already destroyed the expedition, signed non-aggression with both Goths and taken Corsica and Sardinia, and almost completely defeated the Berbers on H. Never a boring moment so far, but that might change after the Goths are my only bordering factions and both are friendly to me. That will give me ample time to build powerful navies, but I guess at some point I'll have to invade Italy. I'm hoping the Romans invade them, so I can be given a cause to intervene. The one thing that keeps things peppy is the small scale civil war- it's almost constant, and will evolve further.
    Last edited by Lugotorix; June 27, 2015 at 05:18 PM.
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  6. #26
    Darios's Avatar Ex Oriente Lux
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    So...I finished the Legacy Triumph (or whatever it's called...) as the Roman Expedition last night and I have a couple of criticisms:

    I have no real issues with the copy/paste generic Germanic roster of the Basques (what else could you give them anyway?) but why were the Bretons made into Germans? How hard would it be to simply give them a copy/paste generic Celtic roster? It would help spice up what would otherwise probably be an extremely boring Frankish campaign.

    The Roman victory conditions are a little bit silly. I like most of the objectives except the one calling for having 240 units while having an income of 20,000 coin/per turn. Roman units don't come cheap, horde buildings are hard to come by, and new armies aren't exactly falling off of trees. Essentially the expedition needs to be able to field 12 full stack armies while having a badass camp based economy. I ultimately found myself conquering every province on the map, then I spent another 50 turns waiting for my growth to build up so I could get 12 armies then I deleted all of my units and replaced them with slingers. It's a tedious and silly thing to have to go through in order to achieve the victory conditions.

    I still feel like taking Rome is not as dramatic as it should be. I would prefer to see some kind of cut screen or at least a notification (with bonuses) that shows the significance of capturing the city. Maybe something for taking Ravenna and Carthage as well (forming their respective exarchates for example). Just a little something that would add more life to the campaign.

    Overall though, I really love this campaign and enjoy playing it. The missions from Justinian/Theodora/Antonina do slow down after a while but they do still show up occasionally and it helps drive the story. Most importantly, with Warhammer on the horizon, it's nice to see that CA is still capable of creating a nice, story-driven, historical campaign that does the reign of Justinian justice.

    What Attila needs next (in my opinion) is a new Grand Campaign (Imperator Augustus style) scenario involving Heraclius and the Rise of Islam. The focus of the game really needs to shift away from Germanic tribes to the titanic struggles that occurred in the east while also dealing with the Slavic migration.
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  7. #27
    Lionheart11's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Is there any new mechanics in the game at all?, combat animations? any new animations or features?.
    "illegitimi non carborundum"

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  8. #28
    SeniorBatavianHorse's Avatar Tribunus Vacans
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by Gäiten View Post
    Has some tested the Battle of Dara?
    You can find a playthrough here:


  9. #29

    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by Darios View Post
    I see it as the Emperor going to inspect his new provinces))



    I assume that the Feoderati infantry unit is made up of Germans and the Feoderati horse archer unit is made up of Huns. I think that the expedition could indeed use some Alanic light cavalry and Slavic javelinmen however. They were part of the reinforcements Justinian sent to Italy.



    In my campaign the Vandals did give me two major battles (which I won despite being outnumbered), after which I mopped up their cities. I think this is awesome and how the Grand Campaign should also function. Defeating 1-2 major armies should be enough to cripple/break an empire.
    ----------------

    My other thoughts: I did not encounter much resistance from the Ostrogoths. Does Totila ever show up anywhere?

    The missions from Justinian/Theodora/Antonina kinda dry up around 540. It would be cool to see more of them.

    The Lombard invasion caught me with my pants down in Italy, it's a nice touch. After the disaster that is the Grand Campaign, kudos to Mr. Lusted and his New Content Team for creating a nice campaign that sticks true to history and doesn't strive to be badass.
    I can post the screen capture but in my game Justinian has been in a fleet watching the Sardinians besiege Hippo for several turns. Not sure what that's all bout.

    There should be new and unique units for this expansion. All I see here is re-skinned vanilla.

    I didn't have one significant battle in the first 15-20 turns. I assaulted one city instead of auto resolving which resulted in one of those Rome 2 battles where the AI runs back and forth while being pelted by skirmishers.

    ERE reinforcing each province with a full stuck is insane.

    The map is cool though, these are issues that will be modded out I'm sure.

    Also Belisarius's household regiment were armed with bows and lances. No bows in this expansion though. If my memory serves me correctly most Cataphracts were armed with bows and lances during this period.
    Last edited by Belisarius1; June 28, 2015 at 06:59 PM.

  10. #30
    Captain Arrrgh!'s Avatar I'z in yer grass
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by A Barbarian View Post
    Maybe there was a problem with your configuration/installation because I did some benchmarks and there wasn't the slightest change for me.
    No, I changed nothing. Not to my pc, my graphics card, the game, nothing. But my FPS increased to the point where I could put several settings on max.
    There must have been something done to improve the FPS, maybe what was listed about 'shadows'.

    Anyway, greatly enjoying the DLC and the base game now, due to this increase.

  11. #31

    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    I like the map, the historical characters, the unit skins, the dark effect from the volcanic eruption. I like the scripted historical events.

    I dislike all the hundreds probably thousands of bugs from the base game that still aren't fixed. My units in formation rotate out of position. Belisarius doesn't have his expedition fleet. I don't like how some of the events are done. It's just a guessing game instead of an informed decision. Antonina's event descriptions are really cheesy. The event descriptions cram all the text into a tiny box instead of using all the available space. I'm tried of watching the autoresolve animation for the millionth time. Belisarius is labeled as Emperor which doesn't make sense. The event pictures still fade to bronze when they look better with color. My characters are gaining traits that don't make sense or are just dumb. Voice acting is still the same. Units still get replaced/removed by research. Equipping items and clothing for stat boosts still doesn't make sense for this game. All characters sharing all these retinues/items still doesn't make sense. They should be unique to characters.

    Diplomacy is basically removed, but that doesn't really bother me because it's so bad to begin with. The objectives still seem hard to follow to me. I'm not really sure how you're realistically supposed to do some of them. The AI reinforced me in a few battles, but didn't actually do anything. The siege times seem way too long.

  12. #32

    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    I noticed when I besieged Neapolis that the city walls were actual walls, like at Rome and Ravenna, rather than the hill fort stone walls common on most walled settlements. I was glad to see that. Anyone notice any other cities that now have real stone walls?

  13. #33

    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by Belisarius1 View Post

    There should be new and unique units for this expansion. All I see here is re-skinned vanilla.
    This and as Riekopo said , Antonia's quests are cheesey , the voice acting is the same - horrible - it just feels like a very gamey , lazy expansion . Its something different, but thats about all

  14. #34
    Lugotorix's Avatar non flectis non mutant
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by Theo View Post
    I noticed when I besieged Neapolis that the city walls were actual walls, like at Rome and Ravenna, rather than the hill fort stone walls common on most walled settlements. I was glad to see that. Anyone notice any other cities that now have real stone walls?
    Salona does. But that was in Attila also.
    AUTHOR OF TROY OF THE WESTERN SEA: LOVE AND CARNAGE UNDER THE RULE OF THE VANDAL KING, GENSERIC
    THE BLACK-HEARTED LORDS OF THRACE: ODRYSIAN KINGDOM AAR
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  15. #35

    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by Indus_Valley View Post
    This and as Riekopo said , Antonia's quests are cheesey , the voice acting is the same - horrible - it just feels like a very gamey , lazy expansion . Its something different, but thats about all
    Quite a shame really since it's such a colorful period. There was an opportunity here for some really interesting units.

    Considering the issues I had on my playthrough, I don't think this was properly play tested at all.

    "Way, way pre-alpha" here.

  16. #36
    Darios's Avatar Ex Oriente Lux
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    I think that you guys are really nitpicking here. I sometimes think that Europa Barbarorum was the worst thing that ever happened to the Total War fans because now we expect archaeological level historical accuracy in everything CA releases. It makes us blind to exactly how far CA has come since the original Rome Total War in terms of historical accuracy. You can tell that they tried really hard to add a level of historical realism to TLR and I applaud them for that.

    A huge flaw in this DLC as a whole was that it came with NOTHING that adds to or improves the Grand Campaign. That is the main thing that I spent 3 months waiting for and I am extremely disappointed that TLR did not come with three new factions for the Grand Campaign like previous Campaign DLC did for Rome 2. TLR is fun to play but once you finish it you're kinda like..."that's it?"
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  17. #37

    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Quote Originally Posted by Darios View Post
    So...I finished the Legacy Triumph (or whatever it's called...) as the Roman Expedition last night and I have a couple of criticisms...
    Pretty much the same as my experience, and with many of the same complaints, despite enjoying the experience overall.
    I ended up taking every single province in the map, then checked the victory conditions, and it turns out I don't even have enough technologies to win, never mind 240 units. I quit at that point, because sitting on my ass doing nothing for 50 turns for a victory cutscene wasn't what you call an enticing prospect.

    What annoyed me playing loyalist was that I felt I had no real incentive to capture cities, doing it mostly of my own accord rather then because the game was incentivizing it. Aside from the victory condition, and being able to replenish lost troops faster in allied territory, you gain nothing from capturing cities. No extra funds, no extra troops, not even a (pointless and purely symbolic) relations boost with the ERE.
    Its a feeling I'm more used to getting from badly designed RPGs. Save the world (or reconquer a kingdom I guess), but nobody treats you any different, and aside from a game condition check box, nothing's changed. No sense of progress until the very end.

    I'm going to try to go for an independent victory next, which shouldn't have that problem. Though so far all I've had was false starts. The usual horde trick of sacking cities until you're as rich as the ERE before settling down doesn't apply to the expedition, which means I'm usually bankrupt within 5 turns (or alternatively have to dismiss half my troops, which is insufficient with the Vandals breathing down my neck, or I just keep marching and conquering, but then rebels tear the whole thing apart)...
    I wonder if one can declare war on Justinian, then sack cities until you're richer then the ERE before settling down? I ought to try it when I get the chance. Edit: Nope, doesn't seem to work. Can't declare war without ending the migration.
    Last edited by Caligula's_Horse; June 30, 2015 at 07:33 AM.
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  18. #38
    Yerevan's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: The Last Roman - your first impressions?

    Playing it at the moment. One good thing : the agent's system. At first they have just one action type available, and they get more as they progress. I waited for something like that since R2. It means for instance that spies don't have assassination from scratch : it comes only with jigher levelks. Well done CA !

    Many of the GC campaign map flaws have been corrected and The Last Roman could be very enjoyable. But the battles are still terrible. At least they are decisive an you don't have infinite useless battle repetition. But they are so bad, I didn't think something could be as fast and boring in the same time.

    EDIT : About the agents, the ostrogoths champion's spam proved me I was wrong. Not about spies, and probably not about priets, but champions seems to get assassination from scratch and it works ridiculously well. I play in high difficulty and every turn my general is out for one turn hurted by level one champions during assaults.
    Last edited by Yerevan; July 12, 2015 at 12:51 AM.
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