Total war pharaoh - coming October

Started by Grim.Reaper, May 23, 2023, 04:08:17 PM

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Sir Slash

"Brain Dead" for sure. Not even zombies from Warhammer would touch theirs. I think the modern corporate culture centers more on what they think their customers should have than what they want to have.  :Loser:
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

solops

I am finding it increasingly hard to get excited about new Total War titles. MTW II and Rome-1 (both modded) keep popping to mind as my favorites.
"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly. - Winston Churchill
Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benjamin Franklin

Old TImer

Would they have been better off with Medieval TW 3 ?
Ancient Egypt is very compelling, if done right.
Is it possible they'll get it right?

Gusington

^...maybe?

Which pains me to say.

But at the end of the day I am just not that interested in the era.

Perhaps the game, if it's awesome, can make me interested.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Destraex

OK so this game is being done by the guys that did total war troy. So I am thinking that the main total war team is still working on a possible larger game. Does this mean we will get a larger historical game? Probably not, I think they have sidelined historical and will follow the money trail. Not unreasonable but hardly a boon to society and the original focus of the game, which was historical battles in the most realistic sense then possible. I am imagining meeting after meeting by corporate nutjobs that like quiet rooms brain storming stupid strategic map mechanics that would be "cool" while that tiny voice of reason in the corner, the historical advisor is ignored about a chariot mechanic needing to allow riders to jump off and fight and be able to ride through other chariot formations. The need for chariots to be infiltrated by both friendly and unfriendly light infantry while fighting other chariots. You know the battlefield mechanics nobody has done before and everybody would learn from. The kind of thing that would peak peoples interest in actual history.
"They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once"

JasonPratt

Pre-orders are up on Steam, woo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1937780/Total_War_PHARAOH/

Dynastic Edition, US$91.46. Includes the (first?) three DLC Faction packs and the Campaign pack. I suspect this means only Egypt will have a story campaign at first, although other factions can have sandbox campaigns.

Base game is $60. In that context, an extra $31 for three Faction packs and extra storyline campaigns isn't a bad deal. AAA games cost a lot of development cash.

On the other hand, past experience VERY STRONGLY suggests anyone buying in now will be paying a release premium to be a beta tester for God-only-knows how long, on a highly buggy initial release, for which you'll get some cosmetic bling for your commanders.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Grim.Reaper

Quote from: JasonPratt on May 28, 2023, 12:10:24 PMPre-orders are up on Steam, woo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1937780/Total_War_PHARAOH/

Dynastic Edition, US$91.46. Includes the (first?) three DLC Faction packs and the Campaign pack. I suspect this means only Egypt will have a story campaign at first, although other factions can have sandbox campaigns.

Base game is $60. In that context, an extra $31 for three Faction packs and extra storyline campaigns isn't a bad deal. AAA games cost a lot of development cash.

On the other hand, past experience VERY STRONGLY suggests anyone buying in now will be paying a release premium to be a beta tester for God-only-knows how long, on a highly buggy initial release, for which you'll get some cosmetic bling for your commanders.

Been able to pre order since the original announcement.  Guess just not as negative as everyone else on all the perceived bugs and issues.  What game doesn't nowadays?  I appreciate everyone not liking the material but let's see what it turns out to be before the pitchforks come out.

Gusington

The pitchforks are only out from me because of the choice of setting.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

SirAndrewD

My pitchforks are the pitchforks of disinterest.
"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

Gusington

^That is sad and funny at the same time. Also directly linked to my pitchforks.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Sir Slash

"You can have my Pitchfork when you pry it loose from my COLD, DEAD FINGERS".  :grumpy:
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

JasonPratt

I mentioned the pre-order because Steam told me the pre-order had started.

I for one am looking forward to using pitchforks in pitched battles!  :ThumbsUp:

(I honestly like the Bronze Age Collapse time period. I'm leery of buying immediately simply due to prior release-bug issues.)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Grim.Reaper

I saw a preview of this posted by someone who was able to play a handful of battles.  It was described as more deliberate and slower pace than past titles, along with the goal of streamlining the micromanagement of battles.  If this turns out to be true, this is exactly what I hoped would happen in these games as I find it near impossible to control all troops around the battlefield and battles were short lived.  With that said, I suspect this has been said before about their past titles so seeing is believing.  Part of the reason it may seem that way in this title is the heavy focus on infantry, without any calvary which typically speeds things along.  They do have chariots but the person indicated there isn't a lot of them so they don't dominate the battlefield quickly.

Personally I wish they would add a third mode to battle resolution beyond auto resolve and controlling the armies.  Basically provide a third option that would allow you not to control the individual units but instead throughout the battle make over arching strategy choices that have meaningful impact to the outcome without all the micromanagement.  Sort of how you give orders in Command Ops and/or Scourge of War series with dispatches.  This would be my utopia but it will never happen.

Anyway, still on my radar for sure, especially if the slower pace and less micromanagement ends up happening in a meaningful way.


Destraex

#43
Interesting concept Grim. Kinda reminds me of a WEGO setup where you get to pause every so often. But in your case you don't want it to take more than a few minutes.

I watched a video of the combat and some things I noticed were;

- The LOD black ant issue still seems to exist where you zoom out a bit and troops look more like stick shadows than men. Probably due to the fact that effects are used to draw on top of model polygons instead of polygons making up all of the models these days. Thus you zoom out... the LOD (level of detail) and thus the polygon count (triangles that make up 3D models) drops leaving the effects to try to cover what is essentially a stick figure. Basically the games troops do NOT look sharp even at moderate zoom out levels. It looks like centurion defender of rome at moderate zoom levels:


- Units are all homogenous in weapon type if not model. Every unit is armed with the same weaponry like they are all regular and well equipped. I would have liked by now, especially because total war games tout this individual melee thing that this would have been more advanced by now.

- Two headed axes.... hmmm I think this was actually more common back in the bronze age, something interesting to research. Certainly not common in any other era or considered ceremonial. I know of at least a few legitimate double handed axes in the bronze period however. I guess I am just saying that the devs are perhaps making some interesting choices to keep unit variety interesting.

- Troops still move too fast imho. Certainly faster than early total war games.

- Men seem to be weightless and move too fast. I am betting the animations are simplified as you zoom out as well just watching zoomed out men sliding around like they are on wheels.

- Also when zoomed in the combat does not seem impactful. Weapons seem to be slashing through enemy models and doing nothing to knock them back of bounce of them, or even contact with them at all to do damage. Older games were not as much like this.

Other than that it looks good. But these days I just cannot bring myself to buy total war games when the focus seems to be that the battles development has stagnated and regressed while the strategic layer is where the devs seem to love to play. Basically I think that now the battles exist to give context to the strategic map rather than the other way around.
"They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once"

JasonPratt

ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!