If you could add a new campaign to Rome 2...

[Welsh Dragon]

Hi all,

So in the recent Official CA Blog post What The Teams Are Working On 07-06-17 it said this:

HISTORICAL NEW CONTENT TEAM

The most recent project team to kick into full production is now working on a particularly large Campaign Pack DLC for one of our more recent historical releases. It’s an expansion we’ve been wanting to do for a while now, so very happy that we’ve been able to get it into the schedule for later in the year.

At the moment, this team is building art content and working on the update for the main game needed to accommodate the new expansion. We will certainly be sharing more details when we can.

We don't yet know if this large Campaign Pack DLC is for Rome 2 or Attila, but it got me thinking.

So I'd like to pose a question:

If you could add a new campaign to Rome 2, what would it be? When would it be set? And why?

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[musketer]

I want Alexander, but on a new engine as standalone expansion. Sorry, but rome 2 is such a trash that does not deserve new content.

Regards.

[Welsh Dragon]

I want Alexander, but on a new engine as standalone expansion. Sorry, but rome 2 is such a trash that does not deserve new content.

Regards.

*Sigh.* I respect not everybody likes Rome 2, (though some of us do, myself included.) But can we please keep the Rome 2 bashing somewhere else? Thank you.

And Alexander is an interesting idea, that could fit either as a DLC campaign for this, or possibly as the standalone "Flashpoint" title they also speak about in the post. As long as it offers the option to play more than just Macedon, like Rome 1's Alexander Campaign.

All the best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Daruwind]

New Flashpoint Team

We’re pleased to say that our plans for a new stand-alone title have come to fruition, and this team are now in full production on an exciting new release. We are planning to set this in an era we have already visited, but will cover a particular period we are very fond of and haven’t done enough justice to yet.



We’ve been thinking a lot about how our major releases cover eras, our character-based follow-ups span the events of iconic lives (like Napoleon, or Attila), but that we are also interested in flashpoint moments. Those shorter, intense periods where events could have unfolded in any direction, dramatically changing the course of history in only a handful of months or years.

-Short period of time
-Focusing on person
-Already visited that time perion but didnt done enough justice

From this it sounds to me much like Alexander and I think this could be for Rome 2. Why? 1) It´s older than Attila , so standalone means it´s not dependant on people having Rome 2 2)Short period of time = campaign without needs for family tree,

I would gladly has such campaign with much more extended campaign map to almost whole India. It could also flesh out more eastern factions maybe even fix some things for Rome2 overall...

[Huberto]

I want Alexander, but on a new engine as standalone expansion. Sorry, but rome 2 is such a trash that does not deserve new content.

Regards.

Agreed (+rep). Let's hope any new campaign DLC is attached to the Attila game not TWR2. In terms of any standalone content, it should be state of the art engine, AI, graphics etc.

New Flashpoint Team



-Short period of time
-Focusing on person
-Already visited that time perion but didnt done enough justice

From this it sounds to me much like Alexander and I think this could be for Rome 2. Why? 1) It´s older than Attila , so standalone means it´s not dependant on people having Rome 2 2)Short period of time = campaign without needs for family tree,

I would gladly has such campaign with much more extended campaign map to almost whole India. It could also flesh out more eastern factions maybe even fix some things for Rome2 overall...

I don't think you're interpreting what they are saying correctly. Flashpoint will not be focused on larger-than-life leaders like Alexander, Napoleon, Attila, etc.

See what I've bolded below:

We’ve been thinking a lot about how our major releases cover eras, our character-based follow-ups span the events of iconic lives (like Napoleon, or Attila), but that we are also interested in flashpoint moments. Those shorter, intense periods where events could have unfolded in any direction, dramatically changing the course of history in only a handful of months or years.

Flashpoint will be different from the "character-based" and "eras" based presentations.

[Daruwind]

I don't think you're interpreting what they are saying correctly. Flashpoint will not be focused on larger-than-life leaders like Alexander, Napoleon, Attila, etc.

See what I've bolded below:

Flashpoint will be different from the "character-based" and "eras" based presentations.

It could have both interpretation. And I could be very well wrong CA is speaking about shorter periods of time... months - 5-10 years? Alexander´s campaign would fullfill that very well. And his name is missing from the list of iconic lives yet we have expansion for Rome 1 with his name.... Napoleon, Attila, Alexander...

And the last part is

...are planning to set this in an era we have already visited, but will cover a particular period we are very fond of and haven’t done enough justice to yet.

Alexander expansion is not the best in many eyes....so all these hints point me to Alexander. But again....you can be right. :-)

[Welsh Dragon]

Agreed (+rep). Let's hope any new campaign DLC is attached to the Attila game not TWR2. In terms of any standalone content, it should be state of the art engine, AI, graphics etc.

As I said above, this threads for discussing possible Rome 2 Campaigns. I appreciate not everyone likes Rome 2, but some of us do, myself included. There's already discussion about possible Attila content on it's own boards.

And it gets pretty tiring seeing a game I enjoy a lot (to the tune of 1,100 hours and counting, mostly without mods) getting slated yet again, especially on a forum that is for that specific game.

I don't think you're interpreting what they are saying correctly. Flashpoint will not be focused on larger-than-life leaders like Alexander, Napoleon, Attila, etc.

Flashpoint will be different from the "character-based" and "eras" based presentations.

I also read the blog post to be saying that the Flashpoint game would be more focused on a specific interesting period (along the lines of Fall of the Samurai, Medieval 2's Kingdoms campaigns etc) and not a specific person (like Napoleon, Attila or Alexander.)

But I guess it could be read either way.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Huberto]

As I said above, this threads for discussing possible Rome 2 Campaigns. I appreciate not everyone likes Rome 2, but some of us do, myself included. There's already discussion about possible Attila content on it's own boards.

So you wouldn't be happy with a Rome 2 era campaign using the Attila game as the basis? Any campaign dlc would have its own map etc. but with Attila we'd have more features and improved AI etc.

[Welsh Dragon]

So you wouldn't be happy with a Rome 2 era campaign using the Attila game as the basis? Any campaign dlc would have its own map etc. but with Attila we'd have more features and improved AI etc.

Well, actually I wouldn't.

This is for a few reasons, including:

I don't like some of the changes made to Attila, like the "lenticular" animated notification messages over the still images, using "photos" of units instead of the stylised iconographic unit and building cards, shorter battle length, raze turning areas of the map into wastelands, the new fire effects (see below.)

Rome 2 runs better than Attila on my computer.

And another big reason is I can actually play Rome 2, where as Attila triggers my severe light sensitivity and migraine headaches, it seems no matter what settings I choose. Nobody knows why, including doctors, neurologists and the senior graphics people at CA who were kind enough to take a look at my settings for me, but that's just what I have to live with thanks to my crappy health.

So with all that in mind, I would much rather the new campaign DLC be for Rome 2, which is why I made this thread in the Rome 2 forums and not the Attila ones.

I also think it makes more sense for a campaign set in the Rome 2 era to be for Rome 2, and looking at it from CA/SEGA's POV, it also probably makes more financial sense as Rome 2 is consistently the second most played Total War after Warhammer, and usually seems to have more, and often double, the amount of players as Attila.

Note, I'm specifically talking about the new DLC campaign, not the Flashpoint standalone. I've already accepted that the Flashpoint title will probably be based on the Attila or Warhammer engines (which has the same problems for my health,) and that means I may well not be able to play it either. But I live in hope that the new DLC will be for Rome 2, and that the accompanying patch won't screw Rome 2 up for me as well.

So, like I said in the OP, I'd be interested to hear what ideas people can come up with for a possible Rome 2 campaign. The era is a large one, and it's fun to hear about different periods of it and how people think it would translate to Total War, in this case specifically Rome 2.

I posted this thread on Steam as well, where Mithridatic wars and Trajan's War with Parthia were both suggested. Rome's conflicts in the East haven't really been touched on in a Rome 1 or 2 campaign, so would seem to be an area they could expand on.

Meanwhile, talking with friends, they suggested the era of Brennos/Brennus's Sacking of Rome (around 390BC so pre-Rome 2 Grand Campaign, and before Rome had adopted it's more traditional fighting styles) and the era of Emperor Julian the Apostate (the last non-Christian Emperor of Rome, whose reign ended about 30 years before Attila: Total War starts... though that one could work for Attila too.) Again, periods that have yet to be touched on, and may offer different challenges and gameplay.

So I'd be interested to see what people think of those ideas, or any other ideas they may have for campaigns set in the Rome 2 era.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Aeronautico]

It could have both interpretation. And I could be very well wrong CA is speaking about shorter periods of time... months - 5-10 years? Alexander´s campaign would fullfill that very well. And his name is missing from the list of iconic lives yet we have expansion for Rome 1 with his name.... Napoleon, Attila, Alexander...

And the last part is Alexander expansion is not the best in many eyes....so all these hints point me to Alexander. But again....you can be right. :-)

And also, it says also:

but that we are also interested in flashpoint moments.

So it doesn't exclude but rather the opposite, possibly. And certainly Alexander's conquest of Persia fits the following criteria:

Those shorter, intense periods where events could have unfolded in any direction, dramatically changing the course of history in only a handful of months or years.

[Daruwind]

Basically I would like to see little different campaign map. We have very much the same one in Attila and both big Rome 2 campaigns...

So one option is to go more south east, include India. Maybe even the mids of Asia. But that´s probably too much so we will let it be for next Mongol´s game. I can either imagine Alexander´s campaign (short period of time -standalone DLC) or something like larger campaign - Ancient History (bronze age...) Egypt / Hitite / Asyrians / Summer / Akkad......yeah i know i´m jumping through centuries here. But i can magine opposite campaign features to Attila. Where you need to spread civilization to boost fertility, farming basically starting your civilization while rest of world is quite untamed, unfriendly, full of attrition and hordes of warlike tribes...

[Daruwind]

Or something like invasion of Sea people ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples )that would be pretty stormy times. Although records are not the best, there is a lot of mystery (or blank space for developers..depends on view).

Or alternatively getting back to Alexander´s setting I was looking at

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

What about Diadochy wars after Alexander´s death? Circa 322 - 275 BC ? A lot of smaller rulers, big India to the east, Carthagian Empire to the West (Pyrrhic Wars), Emerging Romans, with even Gallic invasion into Greece/Macedon in 280-287 BC.....lot of sides, lot of players..

[Alwyn]

Good topic! I like the suggestions which people have already made.

I would enjoy a campaign set at the time of Boudica's rebellion against the Romans in Britain. Admittedly, that would be close to the Imperator Augustus campaign which already exists. Like other campaign pack DLCs, this could unlock three playable factions and add new units to them. For example, the new playable factions might be the Caledonians in Scotland, the Ebdani in Ireland and the Demetae in Wales (on the faction selection screen, we can choose from several factions in most faction groups if we have the relevant DLC, but on the selection screen for British and Irish tribes we can only choose the Iceni).

Why would this be good? As I see it, playing as Boudica's rebels would be very challenging. You would have greater numbers of troops but the Romans would have much higher quality troops (more disciplined, better trained and equipped). The campaign could enable players to experiment with history. For example, playing as the Iceni, you could try to ambush the Roman army which historically defeated Boudica at the Battle of Watling Street, ending her rebellion. Even if you defeated the Romans at Watling Street, a larger Roman army could arrive from Gaul. If you defeat that army, then you could try to liberate Gaul from Rome. Perhaps your victory conditions could be to liberate the tribes of Gaul, rather than to either conquer or sack their settlements? Alternatively, there could be different ways to win, for players who prefer the 'liberate', 'occupy' or 'sack' options. I imagine that trying to liberate Gaul could be a bit like the Peninsular Campaign for Napoleon: Total War. You would be fighting against the dominant European army of the age, with a mix of guerrilla warfare, field battles and sieges. You could also play as another tribe in Ireland and Britain, you could ally with either Rome or the Iceni, or fight them both, and see how this changes history. The Battle of Watling Street could be included as a new historical battle.

Alternatively, how about a campaign set in the east? I was thinking of a campaign set around the Kingdom of Armenia in the first century AD, but realised that we can do that already with the Imperator Augustus campaign. As Daruwind said, expanding the map into India would be brilliant, if it could be done. If there was a DLC about Alexander's expanding empire, then I imagine it would be challenging to play as some of the factions which Alexander conquered, trying to defend themselves against this brilliant military leader and his powerful army. I would enjoy building up a kingdom, while sending scouts west to watch my frontiers for the advance of Alexander. Of course, in that era the threat would not only have to come from the west. This campaign could be even more challenging if there was the possibility of facing a threat from the east as well - from the Maurya Empire. Ideally, if they pursued this option, I would like to see them add to the Grand Campaign map (as they are doing for Warhammer with Warhammer II) by including the Maurya Empire. (This would make playing Baktria in the Grand Campaign a lot more challenging).

However, I guess that expanding the Grand Campaign map in a DLC is very unlikely. More realistically, perhaps there could be a special DLC map which would include less of Western Europe but include the Mauryan Empire instead. Also, Daruwind's idea of the Diadochy wars after Alexander's death sounds good to me.

[herne_the _hunter]

A campaign where Rome is a monarchy would be interesting on a super scaled map of the Italian penisular. Some might not like a limited roster ala Wrath of Sparta but that campaign was good becuase of the limited roster.

Alexander I'm not that keen and would prefer the warring factions after his death as more dynamic.

As to what we will get? I suppose a dlc campaign for Attila (they've got to fund their patching process some how) and a stand alone based on the Rome 2 period (as that period is more popular than Attilas hence looking at player numbers). I'm not impressed with what I have seen of Attila it's Rome 2 done badly with a nice horde mechanic thrown in.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

I think, the Campaign-DLC will be Chloderichs and the Rise of the Franks (because of the late Antiquity-Artwork), the Standalone will be the Alexander-Campaign or the Diadochi-Wars.

[The Guy With No Imagination]

If the map is expanded any way eastwards so as to include a north-eastern migrating tribal force that'd put pressure on Baktria, as well as the Hindu kush proper and a moderate map expansion (in terms of geographical reality, gameplay wise with the map scale as it is, it'd constitute a huge new chunk of the map.) that'd go to around the Hydaspes/Indus would be a huge boon to the overall campaign (regardless of what era it'd be set in honestly) and would likely allow for some interesting situations modding-wise. If the devs wanted to truly be daring they'd probably be able to include a bit of the Nanda Empire in central India, but that's just sheer dreaming at this rate.

All that said though, I somewhat doubt it'd be that perfect - the map would probably chop off a chunk of Europe and North Africa and we'd lose some fun stuff with Carthage, Rome, and the tribes.
Also a bit skeptical of the likelyhood that'd it'd be an Alexandrine or Diadokhoi wars

[GussieFinkNottle]

I agree with Alwyn. If I may quote myself from 2014:

"I have to say I'd really enjoy a Caesar in Gaul-style conquest of Britannia campaign. The Plautius campaign was far more knife-edge than the history books tend to say, in fact 43AD shouldn't be cited as the date of the Roman 'conquest' but rather 'invasion'. They came very close to being defeated and casualties were horrific, and Caratacus caused huge problems for the Romans. On several occasions the authorities came close to withdrawing, and for hundreds of years Britain required a disproportionate garrison, nearly a third of the Roman army at times.

A gradual campaign against ferocious foes could be every bit as fun and challenging as CiG, and late-game there could be a 'Boudica's revolt' event similar to the CiG Gallic revolt, where lots of tribes in the east rebel against you, or a Caratacus insurgency event in the West, where the Welsh Silures and Ordovices unite against Rome.
For playable factions there could be the Romans (unique leader Aulus Plautius), Iceni (unique leader Prasutagus, then later Boudica), Catuvellauni (unique leader Caratacus) and Brigantes (unique leader Queen Cartimandua). The historical battle unlocked would be the battle of Watling Street.
If the campaign stretched until Boudica's revolt, it could cover a 20-year period (6 or 12 turns per year?) or even 40 years if it includes Agricola and a map of all of the British isles, or at least all of Scotland/Caledonia.

+For anyone who really wants to get a feel for the tremendous difficulty for the Romans of subjugating Britain, the Simon Scarrow eagle series does an excellent atmospheric job (the 2 main characters are fictional Roman centurions in the middle of great historical events, rather like the HBO Rome series, but as books, and set in Claudius' reign).

The gradual conquest:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It would also give them the opportunity to include the unique design of Britannic hill forts.
Maiden 'castle':

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Badbury rings:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And they released a Britannia pic:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"

[Sir Adrian]

Alexander has been done to death. I want to see the battle of Kadesh or the Assyrians inventing siege equipment or the 10000 bows of Babylon ruining somebody's day. Even the siege of troy or the sea peoples would be cool at this point.

[Welsh Dragon]

So with the news that Steamdb shows a new Rome 2 DLC entry as of August 8th, this is looking a lot more likely. Wonder what it could be?

One idea I've seen talked about on other sites is the possibility of something bridging the gap between Rome 2 and Attila's time period. Maybe something like the reigns of Nero, Vespasian, Trajan (the Roman Empire was at its largest during his reign.) Or maybe something like the Crisis of the Third Century (which sounds quite interesting from things I've been reading,) or Constantinian Dynasty?

I keep coming back to what it said in the "What the Teams Are Working On" Blogpost, that it's a "particularly large Campaign Pack DLC" which makes me think it's more likely to be a large scale period/conflict, than one confined to just a small area like Britannia (much as I would love a campaign set there. )

Ah well, guess we'll just have to wait till CA gives us more details. But it's fun to speculate.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Alwyn]

Thanks, Welsh Dragon, I'm happy to hear that there will be a new Rome 2 DLC.

The Crisis of the Third Century does sound like an interesting period, when the Roman Empire faced internal and external threats at the same time (it sounds a bit like a Seldon Crisis in Isaac Asimov's science-fiction series Foundation.) I imagine that it would be fun to try to survive those threats as Rome or to try to cause an early fall of the empire. As well as Rome, playable factions might include the Persians under Shapur threatening Rome's eastern frontier, the Gauls who set up a Gallic Empire under Postumus, the people of Britain who tried to break away from Rome, Germanic tribes who had managed to remain independent and others.