Guys, there's a War Total Rome game coming! ...uh, Total Rome War. um...

[Boggit]

Holy crap Boggit!

I'll be starting a Scipii imperial campaign at some point this weekend.

Yes, I thought so too! O0

[JasonPratt]

Nice try with that naval mod. Here is what I play when I feel the need:

That looks interesting. Is it a Rome TW naval mod or another game? I'm intrigued. :)

I think it's a Matrix/litherine game called Mare Nostrum? (Did they have two such games from different devs at around the same time?)

Okay, no, Mare Nostrvm (indeed published by Matrix, and yes with a Roman 'v' in the second word) is a strategy game (turn based I think?) of ships from the period. The other game is a simulation calllllllled.... crap, I can't get the name to come to mind, it's the name of this style of ship. Argh, one of my neurons is laughing at me right now, aaarrghhh! Can't get the name to come up.

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, here's a nice reminder of what RTW does, with a (humorous) horse-archer campaign from The Spiffing Brit:

[JasonPratt]

"The Terminator" has been doing videos on TW games along with other things for a while, and has not been overly impressed with RTWRemastered (on the contrary, it has inspired him to talk more about Divide Et Imperia for R2TW, and by the way a new version of that mod is coming! Which has gotten me interested in going back to DEI again...!)

Anyway, here's the first main update for RTWR, and his commentary on it:

The update is on a beta branch right now, so he also shows how to opt in for it early through Steam's overlay.

[Sir Slash]

Yes, the DEI Team just released a big update and another one is in the works. Great to see such dedication to a mod that's, what, 5-6 years old?

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, first overhaul mod for RTWR arrives!

Apparently the Rome Total Realism and Roma Insurrectum teams are joining up to combine their mods for this!

[Destraex]

If there was a mod i'd want to play on remastered it would be europa baraborum. But to be honest I have only played 5 minutes of remastered.

[Gusington]

I put in about 25 hours as the Scipii and enjoy it very much. Put it aside to start a slightly modded Rome 2 Empire Divided campaign as Palmyra which has been epic.

Want to start another Rome TW Remastered campaign as Numidia soon. That Jugurtha (Numidian King) had some serious swagger and nerve.

[JasonPratt]

The mods are coming a little faster than I expected -- so if you preferred EuropaBarbo, I will not be surprised if it's on the way. Insurrectum and Total Realism teams are already combining for a supermod.

We had been theorizing earlier why Creative Assembly was bothering with this at all, since the remaster is pretty meh, aside from some cash generation. The current theory among fans is that this has been a rag tossed to those who prefer the historicals, since the next two games will be Warhammer3 and a remake of Three Kingdoms!

Yes, a remake. Yes, already. Yes, after only two years. No, the first game was a major hit. No, the game never actually reaches the classic Three Kingdoms period. No, there will be no further support or patches for it, the new 3K2 will completely replace it (as with Medieval 2 and Rome 2 for example.)


Some videos about the news:

[Destraex]

This is why I have essentially bowed out of the total war franchise...
a) I have done total wars style of history with little change over so many games that I am burnt out on it.
b) I absolutely hate the modern marketing machines influence on the series. i.e. A focus on the campaign map and away from furthering any realism in the game. Instead to fantasy and stats crunching. Something ancient warfare was less influenced by than things like moral and tactics.

[JasonPratt]

Yep, I can totally understand that. (Although mods help to a real extent with that.)

What I'll say in their defense (sort of) is this: for DECADES we had historicals for the game plots. (Sort of, {coughcoughflamingpigscoughswordsaintshackbattlefieldninjas}.) And sure we were all glad to have those (when they worked), BUT for decades fans were asking for two things: fantasy total war, and Rot3K total war (with or without some fantasy for proper 3K flavoring).

And they have finally, finally, at long last, delivered. And delivered big.

And sure, 3K was a broken buggy mess (not too surprisingly) at launch, which won't ever be fully fixed now (mods notwithstanding maybe, a la Empire), and sure the DLC plan was schizophrenic, but even so the gameplay stats prove the game was substantially a hit. They wouldn't be going back immediately to the 3K field if they hadn't made boocoos of cash (which is how we talk French in West TN. ;) )

So I don't begrudge them making profit on doing something the fans (myself included) have been wistfully begging for, for decades now. I'm genuinely glad 3K paid off for them -- and I say that as someone who hasn't even gotten around to buying a copy yet! (Which I now feel conflicted amounts of no regret about....  :hide: )

I would just like to see an actual balance being made going forward between the fantasy and semi-fantasy (exemplified by WH and 3K) on one hand, and the historicals on the other. Really, the original 3K plan to offer fantasy and also a purely historical campaign, looked a good compromise, although apparently not one that worked for some reason.

[Anguille]

 Already a remake of 3Kingdoms? i don't have that game yet. I just can't keep up with their production speed.

[Steel Panthers]

I think 3K will be my last total war game.

I am dead. The game really changed too much since early total war.

[Destraex]

Jason total war is like close combat to me. They keep releasing them but don't ever improve on them. Think the tank spinning bug in close combat. The compromises for wall melee rather than a fix in total war. These gsmes hit a wall then move sideways for the next 50yrs rather than forwards. There are so many things they could improve in total war, but apart from removing features or adding fantasy elements, nothing really gets added. It's flag battles in a fantasy setting. Heck they did not even get the remaster right. It's better than the newer total war games but some players have gone back to the original. Although I cannot vouch for this personally as I just cannot be bothered playing it.

[Sir Slash]

I've felt for a couple of years now that CA relies on the Modders to finish their games for them so to speak. Rome 2 was the first to make me feel like this. They hit their peak with Shogun 2 but have been in slow decline since.  :'(