Re: Inform an old fan on which title to get.
As herne_the_hunter said, some people enjoy Rome II, even though some others hate it. I'll comment on my experiences of Shogun II and Rome II, in case this helps. (My computer can't play Attila).
Shogun II is a great game. I find it challenging and unpredictable. Some AI factions expand aggressively, as if they were played by human players - and different AI factions become dominant in different campaigns (unlike Empire Total War, which I enjoy a lot but which tends to play out in similar ways in each campaign, in terms of which AI factions expand). It offers exciting combat on land and sea. I think diplomacy works well. (If you play the Otomo, other factions tend to hate you, so diplomacy is difficult. Other factions can engage in diplomacy more effectively). You mentioned 'developing family members and commanders'. With Shogun II, you get a family tree and can appoint family members to official posts within your faction's government.
Rome II doesn't have a family tree. You can still develop characters, promoting them within your faction, appointing them to command armies and so on. Diplomacy takes time to get going (other factions usually will not trade with me until I have expanded and acquired more resources, but after some expansion, trade is possible). As herne_the_hunter said, there are plenty of mods to improve the experience. I particularly enjoy a combination of A More Aggressive AI with Guarantee Major Faction Empires (with this combination, some AI factions expand aggressively, like they do in Shogun II).
I like a lot of things about Rome II, including:-
- More variety in battles. In Shogun II, most of my battles involve attacking or defending a castle. Some people prefer sieges and might like that, other might find it repetitive. In Rome II, there are battles in region capitals without walls, with wooden walls and with stone walls, while port city battles have the combination of land and sea units - and I find that open field battles are more common (particularly when using A More Aggressive AI mod and especially in areas of the map where region capitals are further apart). I like bringing land units to attack a port from transport ships and sending warships to land their marines support them. One of my favourite battles involves a small army of mine which sailed to help an ally (Carthage) to defend its capital from attackers.
- The variety of factions. Rome II offers factions representing different cultures; Celtic/Barbarian tribes, Greeks and Greek successor states, Roman and Eastern culture are all represented. I like the hybrid factions which combine two cultures (such as Massalia - Greek/Celtic and Pontus - Greek/Eastern). Playing as, and fighting against, factions belonging to different cultures is quite different. Some factions have much stronger starting positions (Egypt, Rome and Baktria begin with four regions, while the Getae, Nervii and Odrysia have just one unwalled city, for example). Some factions start near powerful opponents (such as Carthage, starting near Rome) while other can more easily expand at the start (like the Iceni and Baktria). Some factions have more varied rosters (such as the Getae and the Seleucids), others have more restrictive rosters (such as Colchis and the Odrysian Kingdom). These differences offer alternative ways to increase the difficulty level. I prefer playing a weaker faction to increasing the difficulty level (because higher difficulty levels can create situations in which the enemy's militia are equal to your regular units, which seems artificial to me).
- If you like playing as a faction which uses guerrilla tactics, the Nervii, Suebi, Iceni and Lusitani all have at least one or two units with guerrilla deployment (the ability to deploy outside your usual deployment area) and the ability to move while remaining hidden. Some of these factions have a bonus which means that they can achieve ambushes more often. For me, the availability of these stealthy units works well in combination with the line of sight system in Rome II: attacking a Suebi army in the fog feels very different from advancing against a horse archer army on an open plain under a clear blue sky.
- The limits on construction which Inhuman One mentioned. We cannot build everything everywhere in Rome II. Some people don't like that; I prefer a game where it is necessary to specialise regions and make choices about when the convert regions from frontier towns with barracks to peaceful commercial centres (and when to convert them back again). I see this as more realistic, not less. This system offers more variety between different campaigns: in one campaign, a AI faction might use a city to produce powerful infantry (constructing buildings giving them bonuses), in another campaign the same faction might use this city to recruit higher-tier cavalry, or turn this city into a commercial centre (allowing them to recruit larger armies, but lacking the powerful infantry or high-tier cavalry which they could have had, if they had chosen different buildings).
- Constraints on expansion: if we expand quickly and keep enslaving defeated enemy warriors, we risk a slave rebellion. If we keep sending our armies to take new cities without pausing to consolidate our gains, we risk cities rebelling. If we continue to expand and if our faction politics become unbalanced, we risk civil war. (This, too, is historical, of course. The empire of Alexander the Great was divided after his death and Rome experienced several civil wars.)
- Some people don't like the province system (a province is a group of two, three of four regions, which share food, commerce, military recruitment and public order); I prefer it. This makes it easier to manage a large empire: if I have 30 cities, it's quicker to look at 10 province screens, compared to going through 30 city screens.
- We cannot recruit unlimited numbers of armies and navies. Some people hate that; I prefer it. If I cannot protect every border with an army, then diplomacy matters more. If I cannot recruit unlimited armies, then neither can the AI, so spying is more important (if a neighbouring faction is expanding on the far side of their territory, then I might be able to capture several of their regions before their armies can return from a distant front line.) Also, if the AI cannot recruit huge numbers of tiny armies (and take 30+ minutes to move them during the AI turn), then I should not need to worry about the Ottoman turn bug, which ruined some campaigns in Empire Total War.
- In previous Total War games, the units in an army could acquire more and more experience, becoming elite. In my campaigns, sooner or later, my elite army would find itself in a battle which it could not win and all of that carefully built experience was lost. In Rome II, the army traditions system means that all is not lost. In Rome II, there are lots of ways to give small bonuses to units: technologies, buildings, traits of generals, army traditions, resources (such as better iron) and unit experience. I like trying to achieve combinations of these bonuses. This can make it more possible to play weaker factions, to use more realistic armies (with a balance of elite, regular and militia units) and to experiment with more exotic units (such as some mercenaries and stealthy units) which are not necessarily powerful but can be fun to use.
If you would like to see some Rome II game-play, I recommend the tournament commentaries of Maximus Decimus Meridius (I find his comments on choosing good units and on tactics very helpful, for example in the Milk and Cookies Tournament. If you would like to see a campaign, I recommend Heir of Carthage's YouTube videos. Some of these videos illustrate problems with the game on release. For example, in his Iceni campaign, he easily defends his capital against attackers because the attackers stand by his gate, trying to burn it down, while they are cut down by his slingers. This aspect of the game has been improved, now - while it's not perfect, I normally see AI attackers using ladders or other siege equipment to climb the walls, not standing by the gate. Alternatively, you could look at After Action Reports to see Attila, Rome II and Shogun II in action - you'll find them in the Writers' Study (see the link in my signature.)
Last edited by Alwyn; May 01, 2017 at 03:31 AM.
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Originally Posted by Boxerbrad
