SURPRISED; WHY is 3K forums so DEAD relative to other TW titles?

[Daruwind]

The number of people playing a single game day after day on Steam and $ earned from said game are two different things. We know Rome 2 sold millions and 3K is the fastest selling game to date. I suppose CA could just go with the GW audience and try to drag everyone else along but that actually doesn't make sense because of how well the historical games sell. I'm on Reddit almost every day and the "Empire 2 when?" or "Med 3 when?" posts are VERY common. Back when I used to check there were almost always more folks playing historical than WH titles. Right now for example 20:00 US Eastern Time 41,000 are playing historical and 27,000 the Warhammers.

Returning to old statement....New DLC dropped yesterday and WH2 got all time high peak. Even 3K is unable to break serious numbers with DLCs yet WH can. Just saying...And we will see what Wh3 will bring...

[WibblyWWonder]

It's the battles. They are so stale that there is nothing to talk about. If 3k had dropped in 2010 we'd be raving about it non-stop. But CA has long stopped improving battles in terms of positioning, tactics and manoeuvre and has instead worked on the spreadsheet simulator side of things. Exchanging spreadsheet data is boring.

[Arron4]

Maybe a good chunk of the players are chinese, so they don't post in an english speaking forum

[Ngazi]

But realistically what kind of mod would work in this game?

[zoner16]

But realistically what kind of mod would work in this game?

There's quite a few. Most of the big ones are for characters or unit overhauls. There's some really nice ones that add character biographies and historical weapon models.

On the general overhaul side, there's our SFO mod, which is primarily KAM's balancing with some changes to the Han campaigns to remove some of the more problematic elements and make progression and empire development more serious. There's TROM, which is more playing up the Romance and elemental balance angle. Then there's UAD which is a strict historical overhaul that's mainly focused on recreating the historical scenario and mechanics, which ends up feeling very much like a Rise of Three Kingdoms throwback remade in TW:3K.

[LestaT]

Using TWC to see whether if a game (like 3K) is popular or not is certainly wrong in 2020. Hell, I guess it's already wrong since 2015 already.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Using TWC to see whether if a game (like 3K) is popular or not is certainly wrong in 2020. Hell, I guess it's already wrong since 2015 already.

Reddit is not the answer either since the TW subreddit is 90% memes. And I love Reddit.

Game stats are the way to judge a game. And it looks like WH is the most popular.

[Palaiogos]

If I were to wager a guess, it's because of the mods. There aren't any large overhaul mods for Three Kingdoms like EB or Stainless Steel. We saw that in Shogun 2, after all the large overhaul mods were made and the ones that are still being made are moved to Discord, the Subforum is basically dead. The only reason why I check the subforum is because of the tutorials for my submod of Total FoTS and whether or not I could do some large things when scripting. Interestingly enough, there still hasn't been a good guide to scripting on the Shogun 2 forum, but that's off-topic.

Additionally, Three Kingdoms seems to be a bingeable game instead of a Long-Play game. Like, in the beginning of every campaign, I just love how polished and how the mechanics in the game are mostly balanced. This goes a complete 180 when I get to King and I have to conquer the other 2 kings because I then complain about how they made a worse version of Realm Divide. In Shogun 2, at least you were able to easily defend your settlements if they were under attack via chokepoints and zone of control or just recruiting a few units. In Three Kingdoms, your econ gets screwed so quickly during king to the point that of annoyance and campaign quit. Also, in the past few months, they have done some stuff with the morale which makes battles a lot quicker.

I really dislike the battles to be quicker because my frontline disintegrates and the perfect hammer charge that I was setting up just doesn't have its anvil anymore

[LestaT]

Reddit is not the answer either since the TW subreddit is 90% memes. And I love Reddit.

Game stats are the way to judge a game. And it looks like WH is the most popular.

Not even talking about Reddit. I went there once in a while for other stuff, never TW games.

The official forum still have traffic for 3K. Same with FB groups. In any case, TWC is no longer the place to find information about never TW games. The train has left post Rome II.

[The Noble Lord]

Therefore, if we take into consideration the appeal of Steam and Reddit

I can never imagine that STEAM and Reddit would be alternatives for the TWC..... Maybe I am old-fashioned but that's impossible for me

[Live2sculpt]

WOW!
I've been away from TWC for several months and hadn't returned to my thread.
THANK YOU ALL for contributing so constructively to this important dialogue.
It reassures me that TWC remains a hub for thoughtful consideration of the TW titles.

[alhoon]

OK, a bit late to the party but:

https://steamcharts.com/search/?q=total+war

In the end of 2021, 3KTW was the 3rd most popular game, about twice as many average users as the 4th (M2TW) and just a breath away from the 2nd (R2TW).

So I wouldn't call the game unpopular.

[Basileos Leandros I]

So in total, the TW series on Steam is played by about give or take 40.000 people a month. Is that a lot? Is that not a lot?

[AnthoniusII]

OK, a bit late to the party but:

https://steamcharts.com/search/?q=total+war

In the end of 2021, 3KTW was the 3rd most popular game, about twice as many average users as the 4th (M2TW) and just a breath away from the 2nd (R2TW).

So I wouldn't call the game unpopular.

Your comparison in NOT valid. Remember that while Rome II had to be activated via STEAM even if the owner has the CD version that is not apply for M2TW. If M2TW is 3rd in STEAM you must add the hundreds of thousands that bought the CD VERSION 15 years ago and still play with it .See that despite M2TW exists in STEAM most mods still refer for the CD version. So the numbers must be compared between Rome II, Attila and the next TW series but not vs M2TW that still dominates in TW HARDCORE FANS.

[zoner16]

So in total, the TW series on Steam is played by about give or take 40.000 people a month. Is that a lot? Is that not a lot?

It's played by approximately 40,000 people at any given time. Hard to figure out how many unique people that comes out to every month. There are still the few people playing Troy on EGS and few still using unverified physical or pirated copies, but those are likely in the realm of rounding errors.

Its pretty good for an entirely PC strategy game. It still puts us behind the combined Paradox lineup and maybe around Civilization. We can claim the largest PC strategy game launch I think though. We almost broke 200000 simultaneous players with 3K, and the closest one to that I think is the launch of Civ 6 (160,000).

[adellaisaacson]

Newer games also less accessable to people that can't afford them !

Gosh and look at the prices as well, I mean I can hardly provide myself with inflation and now these prices...

[The Noble Lord]

WOW!
I've been away from TWC for several months and hadn't returned to my thread.
THANK YOU ALL for contributing so constructively to this important dialogue.
It reassures me that TWC remains a hub for thoughtful consideration of the TW titles.

That is my intention my friend, that TWC always stays the hub of all the things, happenings and related issues in regards to the TW games.
If we are to talk about these things, it should be on here!!!

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

3K isn't that bad IMO. Just a bit out of the usual more popular (I guess) European historical timeline.
It's release wasn't bad either. Actually it was far smoother than the usual big TW releases.

[izzi]

Because it's garbage. Just as all newer TW games. Long live the old times!!!!

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Come on, 3K isn't that bad.
At least they tried something (quite) different