Total War: ROME II - Empire Divided

[Welsh Dragon]

There should be 5 heroic facions with unkillable leader, he is probably one of them.. Rome, Gallic Rome, Palmyra, Sassanids, Gothi....Sounds like Cannabaudes from Gothi.

Could well be.

Lot of gameplay footage. CA gave early access to many famous Youtuber. Most playable factions seem to be covered by one or an other.

Units look like crap period. In most case CA re-used R2 and Attila models.

There is a disappointing poverty of creativity in creative assembly work
Immortal gaurd(rome 2 empire divided)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

elite immortal (Attila)

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I feel way too much importance is put on graphics in games these days. For me unit graphics in Total War reached a nice level around Shogun 2/Rome 2, and I'd happily have them stick with those sort of graphics for the next few years and invest any money saved into other areas of the game.

As for reusing unit models from Rome 2 and Attila, all I can really think to say is "And...?" The campaign takes place during a transition point between the end of Rome 2's era and the beginning of Attila's, so I would honestly find it rather strange if there weren't units and unit models recognisable from both. Empire Divided is also very much a test bed for this whole concept of going back to older games and making new content, so I don't expect it to have a vast budget. Which means trying to make the best campaign they can whilst operating within their means and budget, which to me they seem to be doing.

That it costs only £2 more than Caesar in Gaul cost us in 2013 (or £1 more if you factor in inflation,) for a campaign that's bigger with more playable factions and faction diversity, which will likely sell less copies (as it's coming out 4 years after the game's original release,) is to me in part because they are able to recycle or repurpose some assets, whilst also making new ones. And I'm fine with that. I never have seen the point of making entirely new models for something, if you have an existing model that works just as well, if both will just end up looking very similar anyway.

Finally, I think the units I've seen look pretty good. Looking forward to playing with them in 9 days time.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[VINC.XXIII]

This is not a wrong choice, if you consider that we are talking of the Third century, using models from Rome 2 is wise and logic as choice; if anything, as always the point is the units' quality, which (as always) is not high ..

Units are still among the most moddable fields, unlike brand new map or the missing family tree. I will just wait some decent historical overhaul to be released before buying this DLC. I never expect anything finished or outstanding from vanilla CA units.

[LestaT]

I dont like the unit card style since they deviated from Rome 2 style of which the game is based.

[douglas]

I dont like the unit card style since they deviated from Rome 2 style of which the game is based.

Nor do I. Still looking forward to the game though.

[Commissar Caligula_]

Age of Charlemagne deviated from the Attila style quite a lot, whilst The Last Roman DLC differed marginally. I reckon it's a good thing, I was never a fan of the Rome 2 style much and I like the look of this new style.

[Darios]

Personally, I prefer the new unit card style. They seem somewhat influenced by the style of AoC, and that's a good thing.

Do keep in mind, the Youtubers were given what is essentially a "beta" version of Empire Divided. What we are seeing from the images and videos may not necessarily reflect what shows up in the final product. With that in mind, if you see anything that could be improved, now is probably the best time to let CA know.

[Gäiten]

Well, I do not think that CA will do more changes compared to the Beta Version. Maybe a few very minor.

[LestaT]

Age of Charlemagne deviated from the Attila style quite a lot, whilst The Last Roman DLC differed marginally. I reckon it's a good thing, I was never a fan of the Rome 2 style much and I like the look of this new style.

TBH I dont play much AoC because of unit cards. It's just different from the main game.

I like Attila one. While not really a fan of Rome 2 card, since I kinda already got used to it, changing the style makes me less interested.

Guess thats why I prefer to play RotS more than FotS.

[Welsh Dragon]

I think the new unit cards fit the different time period Empire Divided is set (much like Wrath of Sparta uses a different style.) I wouldn't want the ones in the main game changed to this though, as I like the normal Rome 2 cards and in some ways find them easier to use than the Empire Divided ones (and definitely than the Attila ones.)

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[LestaT]

I think the new unit cards fit the different time period Empire Divided is set (much like Wrath of Sparta uses a different style.) I wouldn't want the ones in the main game changed to this though, as I like the normal Rome 2 cards and in some ways find them easier to use than the Empire Divided ones (and definitely than the Attila ones.)

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

I'm a bit OCDed regarding unit cards. I like uniformity because those cards are the one that I viewed the most in any TW games.

One of the reason I like and get involved with one particular mod compared to another more than a decade ago was because of unit cards.

[Ahiga]

Like Diocle said, there's no reason not to re-use assets from Attila. It covers some of the same period material. My complaint is that for some reason, presumably performance, they downgraded the resolution of Attila helmets from 512x512 to 256x256, which makes them a lot more washed out. Likewise, it'd have been nice for them to add in a few more 3rd century helmets. They have the major Niederbieber one, but there's a few others I'd have liked to see - Imperial Italic H mainly.

It's not too much different from other DLCs or works CA has done though. So it's pretty much what I was expecting.

[Gäiten]

Imperial Italic H is , IMHO, outdated in Aurelian`s era.However, I would like to seeBuch-Rheinau helmet:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Niederbieber variants:

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Biberweir Helmet:

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Cavalry Helmets:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Yerevan]

Did CA improved R2TW battle and campaign AI for the expansion ? This concerns me more than unit models and cards (which I find nice actually).

[Ahiga]

Your first cavalry helmet is ingame. Biberweir is kind of with the ridge helmets (heavy ridge or the belisarius ones) from Attila you can port over.

[Anna_Gein]

This is not a wrong choice, if you consider that we are talking of the Third century, using models from Rome 2 is wise and logic as choice; if anything, as always the point is the units' quality, which (as always) is not high ..

As for reusing unit models from Rome 2 and Attila, all I can really think to say is "And...?" The campaign takes place during a transition point between the end of Rome 2's era and the beginning of Attila's, so I would honestly find it rather strange if there weren't units and unit models recognisable from both.

Like Diocle said, there's no reason not to re-use assets from Attila. It covers some of the same period material.

Sorry guys but I dont agree with this. Especially considering how CA is re-using assets from R2 and Atilla.

Consider the unit posted earlier in this thread : Roman Levy

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

What did CA with this unit ? They took an easterner cloth model from R2 and added a steppe armor from Attila on it. The helmet used is the generic_spangenhelm_light model from Attila. The shield is the roman_augustan_legionary model from R2. That is the sort of mix I consider crap. After watching a few gameplay video my feeling is many "new unit" are in fact this sort of nonsensical mix of models.

I do not think the timeframe proximity is an excuse. The new DLC takes place 300 years R2 and 150 years before Attila.There is far less culture to represent in the dlc compared to R2. So I do not think it is too much to ask a majority of new models.

Finally as the DLC adds virtually no new gameplay and does not take place in a new campaign map, what can be get beside new units with new models ?

That it costs only £2 more than Caesar in Gaul cost us in 2013 (or £1 more if you factor in inflation,) for a campaign that's bigger with more playable factions and faction diversity, which will likely sell less copies (as it's coming out 4 years after the game's original release,) is to me in part because they are able to recycle or repurpose some assets, whilst also making new ones. And I'm fine with that. I never have seen the point of making entirely new models for something, if you have an existing model that works just as well, if both will just end up looking very similar anyway.

It must be the first time I see someone talking about inflation to justify the price and the content of a DLC.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In any case rest assure £2 is not an issue for me.

[Krieglord]

Having just recently gotten back into Attila I have some questions

As I understand it this is based on Rome 2 not a stand alone expansion like Attila? Even if graphics are somewhat dowgraded will they be able to transfer and perhaps even improve upon some of the physics (perhaps not the right term) but I finally felt they got arrows and catapults nearly perfect in AoC, would hate to see that rolled back :/

Also what is the end date for the new Sega game.. I feel like they are playing it safe with Vikings but still be great to see it end around 1066.

[Daruwind]

Having just recently gotten back into Attila I have some questions

As I understand it this is based on Rome 2 not a stand alone expansion like Attila? Even if graphics are somewhat dowgraded will they be able to transfer and perhaps even improve upon some of the physics (perhaps not the right term) but I finally felt they got arrows and catapults nearly perfect in AoC, would hate to see that rolled back :/

Also what is the end date for the new Sega game.. I feel like they are playing it safe with Vikings but still be great to see it end around 1066.

-Empire Divided - DLC for Rome 2 , no significant changes to physics as fas as it looks but adding things like politics, banditry, diseases..

-Saga standalone, based on Attila but improved. End date should be 1066 exactly...riiiight before Normans.

[Darios]

I'm no expert on Roman military equipment during the 3rd century but I do get the strong impression that the developers are randomly mixing and matching "classical" elements with those from Late Antiquity and from what I've seen in screenshots - it comes off as really weird. I know that historically, by the 3rd century - the social distinction between "Italian" legionnaires and non-Italian auxillaries had become sort of obsolete due to the widespread granting of Roman citizenship. Furthermore, as a result of endless campaigning along the Rhine, Danube, and Mesopotamian fronts, the Romans were forced to double the size of the army and began (I know that some elements can be seen as early as during the reign of Marcus Aurelius - his column being an excellent example) to find cheaper/more utilitarian ways of outfitting it. Maybe it makes more sense to base the Roman troops in this campaign off of the classical model and simply add more mass produced elements such as rounded scutums, spathas, Biberweir helmets, etc. I think that they are currently overdoing it...

[Ahiga]

Looks like they added some new stuff in the latest patch. Real pretty 3c_italic_h_helmet, was really the helmet they needed to add so I am glad to see it. There's a golden neiderbeiber variant, I swear the theilenhofen helmet is better quality now.

[James the Red]

I suspect Game of Thrones may have been part of the inspiration for using time period, because of the Queen in the East, ya'know. Not that I'm complaining.