Total War: Troy - FREE to claim on Epic Games for first 24 hours after release

[Gusington]

Ho.

[Father Ted]

I'll give you 51 reasons. The list of games I have obtained through Epic for FREE:

...and your PC is now probably part of Skynet.

[Nefaro]

I'll give you 51 reasons. The list of games I have obtained through Epic for FREE:

...and your PC is now probably part of Skynet.

Too late.

Already has been for years.    C:-)

[Jarhead0331]

I'll give you 51 reasons. The list of games I have obtained through Epic for FREE:

...and your PC is now probably part of Skynet.

Too late.

Already has been for years.    C:-)

Seriously, Ted...You think yours isn't?  :nerd:

[Queeg]

My first impression is generally good.

After a few turns, I definitely like the new resource system.  It makes the choice of buildings and units more difficult yet separate, at least early on, since the more obvious choices are also limited by the less plentiful resources (stone and bronze).  Units also require upkeep of the same.  So should, hopefully, limit how many of the better units you can field while still encouraging you to fill out the rest with lighter ones which only require Food.  Really hope means the AI armies will also have a mix, although past AI army builds in TW have been wonky as hell.  Perhaps they had to adjust it due to the new system.

Don't have much opinion on the battles yet.  The battle terrain is an improvement, and more interesting.  The speed of units is like that of Three Kingdoms, which I wasn't crazy about, but I'll just pause when it gets too twitchy.  One thing I've hoped for in all TWs is more, perhaps soft, limits on army sizes in battles.  TW needs some kind of Command Limit mechanic or soft-cap penalties for reducing micro-management hell in multi-army battles.  I've not gone far enough in Troy to see if that happens, per usual, in the later game but I expect it like all the others.

The religious system looks like it will be pretty powerful.  Choose your favored God(s) wisely and build to keep up the Favor.

The Units aren't anything unusual in TW but the aesthetic of them, the UI, and the game in general is rather sexy.  It's growing on me.  Like hair or a fungus.

I mean.. its FREE.  I half expected it to be a failure, but thus far the new additions have been a plus.  Will see how it holds up in the late stages of a campaign.

I'm also liking it so far.  Much more so than Thrones of Britannia. 

It's also better optimized than ToB or Three Kingdoms.  Runs the best out of the box of any TW game.

Well worth the free.   

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

If you sign up for a Total War account with Sega and link it to your Epic account, you can get some free DLC (if you feel like you're not being tracked enough, that is.)

https://www.totalwar.com/games/troy/amazons/

[Gusington]

'Well worth the free.'

[Destraex]

I got it. But to be honest am not really interested. How closely does it follow history it homers writings?

[Gusington]

It's designed to be a mixture of history and myth.

[Sir Slash]

I think it may, 'myth' the mark.  I hope I'm wrong and this is the return of Total War greatness.

[Gusington]

 >:(

There are some reviews that have not been so hot (RPS) and the rest that I have seen have been very good - PC Gamer gave it a 75%.

[Destraex]

Had a quick look and at anything but very close range the game is the same stick figure contest on my PC as other total war games in this engine. Troy is a novelty though for me. I am interested but will probably not stick with it at all. It is very basic historically because not much is known about the fighting styles of the era it's set in. There is a lot of half-myth at work here in a similar way I would imagine the "three kingdoms" total war game did things. Any excuse to give a general special abilities. Some giants are in game but they are more depicted as giant men that are taller than most men by far, but not so gigantic as to look like buses. What looks strange is that the giants are all exactly the same height. Like they were a perfectly preserved race of obscenely large men. I guess this is the same problem most games have because they do not depict any differences in height.

Some pics of the giant units as I try to compare them to the normal soldier's size in game.

[Destraex]

Here is the blurry indistinct battles that I would be doomed to witness for the next 50hrs of a campaign. Consider that this is only a small battle and the graphics are on ultra by default for me. The problem is that the units are so ill defined I think. Blurry and indistinct. I suspect this is because the models are such poor quality at range and so easily get lost in the terrain and each other, rather than appearing as a more solid and distinct block. I should call the line the anaemic red line, due to how thin it looks. It's just not 4k elite hacksaw grapsix.  :D

[Destraex]

re-downloaded medieval 2 and had a quick look. The engine draws things in a lot more detail at distance. Also the units move and respond much more slowly. As it should be. It feels much more like a real battle to me. In troy the combat seems to be very quick and the animations seem really silly. A lot of the time they don't match up at all or the units even though engaged are standing their doing nothing in the midst of battle. The whole thing in the new engine just seems unbelievable to me.

Can you believe the screenshots from the above are from a newer engine and game?

[Nefaro]

Troy may have some minor issues, but it's been surprisingly engaging thus far.

Haven't seen quite as much army spam in my first campaign.  Thus far the new resource system seems to have a bit more effect on capping army limits, although I've not really seen a faction massively blobbing yet.

Definitely using the Diplomacy a lot more than in the past.  Especially with Agamemnon since he gets a big bonus for the Greeks.  Aside from the bonus, however, the new trade/resource system gives more encouragement to use it.  There's practically a map-wide war going on already, with three general alliances involved, and I've only barely reached one Tier 4 settlement building.  Kicked off quick!  Glad the "Set Allied Army Target" thing is kinda working, else I'd be overrun.

The battles also appear to be a bit more challenging against the AI.  Can't say for sure why, but the more varied and restricted terrain may have something to do with it.  Also being so heavily infantry focused, without artillery and having few mounted units.  There is still enough maneuvering to be had, but the mostly infantry battles has been more enjoyable, and a bit more of a challenge, than expected.

More good news:  The Auto-Resolve option for battles seems to have finally been adjusted for the better.  The pre-battle estimates are closer to what an average player could expect if played out.  I've been in the habit of having to fight battles that aren't complete pushovers in many previous TWs because the auto-resolve would almost always give you shit results regarding casualties.  Auto-resolve seems to be better balanced in {i]Troy[/i].

Don't know how much variety is to be had in the long run, but I've only just begun unlocking a few of the semi-mythical units and still can't really afford fielding them yet.   Can't complain for the free though.