Attila: Total War - Charlemagne DLC?

[Toonces]

Bought and installing!

Gus, did you ever settle on any good books about Charlemagne?

[Grim.Reaper]

Dumb question.....is there anywhere you can see all the faction details prior to actually starting a campaign with the faction?  For example, I want to see how they are staring off with allies, at war, etc.  So far, could not find that information on the faction selection screen and seems like I have to start a game with each faction to find that detail information out.

[Gusington]

I've got some historical fiction titles queued up to read while playing, and some histories in my Amazon cart yet to be purchased to go along with the Charlemagne DLC. I'll post them here tomorrow - I'm on my ancient Apple laptop right now and not near my reading stack.

[Toonces]

So I finally booted this up for a few minutes.

Before I started the game there was this big exclamation point on the Start button warning me to update my drivers.  Whatevz says I, I don't need to update no sticking drivers!

As the intro is spanning around the campaign map it's not vertically synched very well.  Hmmm, that kinda looks like shit.  Then I click on a city, get this weird little stutter thing and then CTD.

Well, can't say I wasn't warned!  So I updated my drivers, the exclamation point is gone, and now when I get done "family time" in a few hours I'll be able to dive in.  I think I may try Mercia to start.

[Gusington]

OK Commander, here is what I already own and have queued up for companion reading for Charlemagne:

The Inheritance of Rome by Chris Wickham
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
Enoch's Device by Joseph Finley

Note none of those deal with Charlemagne directly but all deal with the early medieval period in Western Europe. The first one is a history, the other two are historical fiction.

Here's what I may purchase:

The Normans: From Raiders to Kings by Lars Brownworth
1066: The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth
Charlemagne by Derek Wilson

[Martok]

Gah, those pernicious Welsh! 

The kingdom of Gwynedd launched a surprise raid on Chester and sacked the town before my king and his army could reinforce it.  My garrison there fought bravely and well (I made those bastards pay, dammit), but it was a doomed effort from the start. 

At about the same time, Powys (who in hindsight was obviously working in concert with Gwynedd) sent an army after my king to try and prevent him from relieving Chester.  I defeated their army fairly soundly, but my king's army took heavy losses in the process and will need to bring in reinforcements. 

Nice to see the campaign AI not just sitting around waiting for destruction, while at the same time teaming up against me in a way that doesn't feel "gamey".   O0 

On the other hand, the battle AI seemed a bit wonky, although not terrible.  In its invasion of Chester, Gwynedd wasted its two cavalry units by having them attack my fyrd spearmen without any support.  Given I was defending a chokepoint (the one street leading up to the lord's hall), I defeated both units easily.  Only when the enemy AI then brought up its infantry -- including the all-important Welsh archers -- were they able to eventually wear down (and effectively assault) my formation.  It should've just kept the cavalry out of combat entirely (seriously, doesn't it know by now to not attack spear units head-on???), and just let the foot soldiers handle the battle.  Of course, given the AI was smart enough to invade with 3-to-1 odds to begin with, I suppose it didn't have to be *that* careful with it's troops, but still.  As I said, however, its overall performance wasn't bad. 

(Sidenote:  Ordering your men to form a shield-wall is pretty damn cool to watch, and quite effective to boot!) 




Random observation:  Playing Mercia is fun so far; it reminds me somewhat of the Viking Invasion campaign from the original Medieval TW. 


It's of course too early to say anything definitive, but at least for the moment, I'm encouraged by the Charlemagne DLC.  I'm liking the features/mechanics, the AI isn't a complete idiot, and it's got loads of atmosphere.  (Regarding that last point, it maybe isn't that different for those of you familiar with vanilla Attila -- I wouldn't know -- but for a newbie like me, it's definitely something of a delight.) 

^IIRC every faction had the ability to abandon specific buildings in a settlement, but only specific barbarian factions could abandon whole settlements outright.

Well I believe all the factions can do so now, at least those in the Chucky DLC.  In fact, I wish I'd remembered I could do that when Chester was attacked (oops!)...  :-[ 

Dumb question.....is there anywhere you can see all the faction details prior to actually starting a campaign with the faction?  For example, I want to see how they are staring off with allies, at war, etc.  So far, could not find that information on the faction selection screen and seems like I have to start a game with each faction to find that detail information out.

Not that I've seen so far, no.  I suspect you'll probably just have to start an actual campaign as whatever faction you're interested in playing as to discover all the details of their initial strategic situation. 

[Toonces]

^ That is exactly how my Mercia campaign opened up.  I just took back Chester and am about to lay some serious hurt on Wales.

I hate the food mechanism in these new TW games. 

[Toonces]

So to illustrate just how silly things can get, I'm looking up Gus's book recommendations on my library's e-library portal, but can't find any.  But plugging in "Charlemagne" by itself pulls up one book- an ebook of part of Bulfinch's Mythology called Legends of Charlemagne.

I'm looking at it and I think, "Wait, don't I have that book?"  And sure enough, I had bought a hardbound copy at B&N about 3 years ago but never read it!

So, I have something on Charlemagne after all.  And, to sweeten the deal, the Kindle version of the book is free (for now at least) on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Bulfinchs-Mythology-Thomas-Bulfinch-ebook/dp/B018HS7ODW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450050812&sr=1-1&keywords=bulfinch%27s+mythology

So it's win all around tonight!

[undercovergeek]

for the love of god someone post some screenshots!!!

[Gusington]

Yeah seriously everyone has it on Steam...hit that F12 key like it just insulted your mother.

[Toonces]

I've never been very good at Total War games and this one is no exception.  I am chasing enemies around like it's nobody's business.

I'm not going to lie...I have almost no idea what the hell is going on.   :-\

[Jarhead0331]

I suck at Attila. No other Total War game has given me trouble like Attila has. No matter which faction I choose, I can never gain a foothold and never feel like I'm making forward progress. I just don't understand the new mechanics and strategies required to succeed. Its very off-putting. 

[Gusington]

^Welcome, I've been waiting for both of you. Shogun 2 and Attila remain the two TWs I've never won. The mechanics are different for Charlemagne though, so I am hoping for a victory here. Thinking of playing my first campaign as the Lombards.

[Jarhead0331]

^Welcome, I've been waiting for both of you. Shogun 2 and Attila remain the two TWs I've never won. The mechanics are different for Charlemagne though, so I am hoping for a victory here. Thinking of playing my first campaign as the Lombards.

Shogun 2 is very challenging, as well, but I have managed to succeed by expansion and building a powerful Clan. In Attila, not so much. I think your entire manner of thinking must change. Its not always a matter of seizing and holding as much territory, as possible. Your strategy really needs to factor in the strengths and weaknesses of each faction.

[Gusington]

The key to Attila is survival. If you hold just one province until the end of a campaign but make it to the end and meet the other issued objectives (money made, units recruited, buildings constructed) you will have earned a minor victory. I have yet to do that :(

I was a hair away from winning a Shogun 2 campaign when the fleet I was counting on for off shore bombardment support (this was Fall of the Samurai) was attacked and sunk. Thus my siege of the final city I needed to take to win failed. Man, that hurt bad.