Attila: Total War

[Nefaro]

What's different about Aksum Gus? Who's your friends? Who's your enemies? What cool units do they have?

Aksum, and some of the other factions in the Desert(?) DLC, differ more than most other factions in the game.  Desert tribes, but not just low-tech tent dwellers!  What's more, some of those have two different options as to what religion/culture you want to use.  Which means different bonuses & different units per playthrough of each. 

Some good stuff in that DLC, although I've yet to campaign with most of them.  My Total War backlog is huge the past few years, despite all the hours I've put in.   Great problem to have.  :)

[jomni]

I somehow skipped Attila. Is it better than Rome? I kinda liked Warhammer but not Rome 2.

[Swatter]

I think its great if you like Total War games.  If you are only warm on Total War games, then its more of a risk. If you love the era, you really can't go wrong.

[jomni]

I think its great if you like Total War games.  If you are only warm on Total War games, then its more of a risk. If you love the era, you really can't go wrong.

I like TW in general but not Rome 2. So my question is, does it play more like Rome 2 or Warhammer (interface and mechanics)?

[Nefaro]

I think its great if you like Total War games.  If you are only warm on Total War games, then its more of a risk. If you love the era, you really can't go wrong.

I like TW in general but not Rome 2. So my question is, does it play more like Rome 2 or Warhammer (interface and mechanics)?

Like Rome 2 with improved interface info, better art.  But fewer different unit types for most factions, and a few poor design decisions.  Preventing recruitment of previous unit types after newer ones are researched, AI Hordes razing too many cities into nothing & not repopulating them quickly enough to prevent a post-apoc wasteland in areas, and giving diplomatic penalties for doing research via adding extra Imperium penalty. 

Most of those negatives were results of the design decisions behind implementing hordes (think Chaos faction in Warhammer, but with numerous different ones roaming about & razing/pillaging at once.) 

If you can mod or ignore these issues then it's an excellent TW game.  I just hope they don't fill up TW:W with too many Horde factions and create a dead moonscape of razed cities, like I've seen in vanilla TW:Attila.




Edit:  Like Rome 2, some of the factions have almost the same unit roster.  It also doesn't have the extensive leader levelling & equipment, and other such new stuff in TW:W.  Closer to Rome 2, albeit at the end of the Roman period instead of early on.

[Gusington]

I should probably do an AAR like I have been promising BB for months now. But in the confines of a post I can tell you that Aksum has some pretty exotic archer and hunter units, some awesome camel cavalry (armored and lancers etc.) and some interesting infantry and swordsmen related to the spice trade. The spice trade is huge for them and makes up the biggest part of their historical narrative and a big part of their building browser. Their strategic location for spices just happens to put them in the same neighborhoods as the burgeoning monotheistic religions and their starting borders touch on Eastern Romans, Sassanids and Armenia, just to name a few. I enjoyed the last campaign I played as a Viking faction, but Aksum blows that one away easily. After this campaign, I will go back to the Med and play as the Lombards. But I digress...Aksum! You will like the answer :)

[Swatter]

I think its great if you like Total War games.  If you are only warm on Total War games, then its more of a risk. If you love the era, you really can't go wrong.

I like TW in general but not Rome 2. So my question is, does it play more like Rome 2 or Warhammer (interface and mechanics)?

Like Rome 2 with improved interface info, better art.  But fewer different unit types for most factions, and a few poor design decisions.  Preventing recruitment of previous unit types after newer ones are researched, AI Hordes razing too many cities into nothing & not repopulating them quickly enough to prevent a post-apoc wasteland in areas, and giving diplomatic penalties for doing research via adding extra Imperium penalty. 

Most of those negatives were results of the design decisions behind implementing hordes (think Chaos faction in Warhammer, but with numerous different ones roaming about & razing/pillaging at once.) 

If you can mod or ignore these issues then it's an excellent TW game.  I just hope they don't fill up TW:W with too many Horde factions and create a dead moonscape of razed cities, like I've seen in vanilla TW:Attila.




Edit:  Like Rome 2, some of the factions have almost the same unit roster.  It also doesn't have the extensive leader levelling & equipment, and other such new stuff in TW:W.  Closer to Rome 2, albeit at the end of the Roman period instead of early on.

In all fairness, they are going for an "end of the world" feel. I thought it added more to the game than it took away.

Attila is not as leader focused as WHTW, but it has a nice family system full of intrigue.

[Nefaro]

In all fairness, they are going for an "end of the world" feel. I thought it added more to the game than it took away.

Attila is not as leader focused as WHTW, but it has a nice family system full of intrigue.

I expect the TW games to exaggerate history.  But my first couple campaigns were heading towards a 5th century Mad Max film, as shown in one of the examples people posted about it:







I can't really blame the AI for doing it, either, because the horde mechanics lend great reward for leveling cities to the ground.  Given the high cost of repopulating such razed cities, and majority of battles being siege fights due to how the TW series works, it's an expected outcome. 

Just a question of too hot or too cold, I suppose, but the TW situation is much more exaggerated than the myth of the European "Dark Ages", by reducing so much civilizaton to barren wasteland.  Maybe they've improved it in Vanilla recently?  Mods are still being used to fix it, though.  The TW series is known for requiring some improvements via modding, so nothing new.

[Gusington]

Yeah there are many mods that eliminate or at least reduce city-razing.

[Sir Slash]

I saw one 'Let's Play' video where the player, as West Rome, razed almost all his cities and disbanded his armies to put his budget back in the black and started over with just Italy and a few other provinces to rebuild his empire. It worked. Totally un-historical but possible in TW. You can do just as well ignoring history as trying to recreate it in this game. Like Nafaro says... Too hot or Too cold.

[jomni]

I can appreciate this sort of thing happening in Warhammer.

[Nefaro]

I saw one 'Let's Play' video where the player, as West Rome, razed almost all his cities and disbanded his armies to put his budget back in the black and started over with just Italy and a few other provinces to rebuild his empire. It worked. Totally un-historical but possible in TW. You can do just as well ignoring history as trying to recreate it in this game. Like Nafaro says... Too hot or Too cold.

Using a scorched earth policy, as Rome, sounds more fun to me than numerous AI hordes continually laying waste to much of civilization.

[Toonces]

Have any of you guys tried this mod?

Medieval Kingdoms Total War

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?696447-Medieval-Kingdoms-Total-War-General-Overview-(WIP)

I was watching a few YouTube videos and it looks pretty epic.

[Gusington]

No campaign yet for that, it's for custom battles only.

[Toonces]

Ah ok.  I thought I saw some campaign play on YouTube, but I didn't read the details.