Rome II

[undercovergeek]

In what I've read, starting as Sparta will be appropiriately difficult.

Yeah, at the point where the game starts, they're already long past their glory days.  (They never did truly recover from their defeat at Leuctra.)  I imagine resurrecting Spartan hegemony will require a great deal of skill and (perhaps) no small amount of luck as well.

Besides his awesome good lucks and immense charm Gus has these in spades

[Gusington]

Come what may, I will begin as Sparta. Getting an arse kicking will make me feel right at home.

[Martok]

In what I've read, starting as Sparta will be appropiriately difficult.

Yeah, at the point where the game starts, they're already long past their glory days.  (They never did truly recover from their defeat at Leuctra.)  I imagine resurrecting Spartan hegemony will require a great deal of skill and (perhaps) no small amount of luck as well.

Besides his awesome good lucks and immense charm Gus has these in spades

You forgot his humongous balls.  8) 

Come what may, I will begin as Sparta. Getting an arse kicking will make me feel right at home.

I'm curious as to how tough Athens will be.  With their potential naval abilities, I'm guessing they'll be at least a little easier, but by how much is hard to say. 

[undercovergeek]

In what I've read, starting as Sparta will be appropiriately difficult.

Yeah, at the point where the game starts, they're already long past their glory days.  (They never did truly recover from their defeat at Leuctra.)  I imagine resurrecting Spartan hegemony will require a great deal of skill and (perhaps) no small amount of luck as well.

Besides his awesome good lucks and immense charm Gus has these in spades

You forgot his humongous balls.  8) 

Rome II is so pure and awesome i didnt want to sully its discussion with mention of Gus and his balls (humongous as they may be)  :P

[Gusington]

Well too late for that now. At least it wan't I who brought them up this time.

Speaking of giant machines of vengeful destruction, anyone have any details on sieges amd siege equipment in Rome 2? Haven't much talk on that.

[Martok]

Rome II is so pure and awesome i didnt want to sully its discussion with mention of Gus and his balls (humongous as they may be)  :P

On the contrary.  Gus' titanic testicles can only add both gusto and panache to any conversation! 

Speaking of giant machines of vengeful destruction, anyone have any details on sieges amd siege equipment in Rome 2? Haven't much talk on that.

Now that you mention it, I haven't heard much (if anything) either. 

The only concrete thing of which I'm aware is that it's useless to debark siege-engine crews from ships during battles, as they won't bring their toys with them.  (Same with cavalry units; they don't bring theirs horses with them.) 

[hurryover]

Am I the only one who thinks the units are too fast in this game? I just hope Rome 2 will be as encompassing as Rome

[Kushan]

Am I the only one who thinks the units are too fast in this game?

Yes, but there will be a hundred mods released within the first few hours of the game fixing stuff like that.

I finally got around to watching the 30 minute PC Gamer preview. I didn't realize they added new victory conditions other then conquest. I like how cities physically expand on the campaign map. Knowing that other factions besides Rome also have internal political factions (Carthage) is easing my fears that its going to be solely focused on Rome.

[hurryover]

Am I the only one who thinks the units are too fast in this game?

Yes, but there will be a hundred mods released within the first few hours of the game fixing stuff like that.

I finally got around to watching the 30 minute PC Gamer preview. I didn't realize they added new victory conditions other then conquest. I like how cities physically expand on the campaign map. Knowing that other factions besides Rome also have internal political factions (Carthage) is easing my fears that its going to be solely focused on Rome.

But are the cities on the map ginormous and larger than the predecessors? I didn't like that.

[Gusington]

I forgot about the victory conditions, which I am looking forward to.

Sieges are usually hallmarks of TW games when they are done well...odd that they haven't been featured anywhere yet. That makes me a bit nervous.

[Sir Slash]

You're right. Not much about sieges at all. It was stated on the forums that the turns will be one year long and so no seasons except on the battlemaps. No word on how that'll be handled. And only certain factions will have General units, like Rome and Carthage. Others will have leader units like in the video-- Macedon has a Companion Cav unit for a general, the same as some units in FOTS did. On the good side, even Barbarian factions are supposed to have extensive tech trees and advanced, late game units and can form Confederations with other like-culture factions. Sea regions will be contested now with control depending on port ownership and affecting replenishment, trade and piracy. Also, almost no mention of agents either.

[hurryover]

You're right. Not much about sieges at all. It was stated on the forums that the turns will be one year long and so no seasons except on the battlemaps. No word on how that'll be handled. And only certain factions will have General units, like Rome and Carthage. Others will have leader units like in the video-- Macedon has a Companion Cav unit for a general, the same as some units in FOTS did. On the good side, even Barbarian factions are supposed to have extensive tech trees and advanced, late game units and can form Confederations with other like-culture factions. Sea regions will be contested now with control depending on port ownership and affecting replenishment, trade and piracy. Also, almost no mention of agents either.

Yes, the seasons were another turn off for me. Is Northern Europe supposed to always have snow, and North Africa always hot and sunny?

I am still bothered by the huge strategy map cities though. They absorb the areas surrounding them. Carthage (the town) takes up all of modern-day Algeria for God's sake.

[Kushan]

Also, almost no mention of agents either.

I was able to find this from a Strategy Informer preview:

There are three agent-types in Rome 2 – The Champion, The Dignitary and The Spy. For balance purposes they have the same function across all cultures and factions, but some cultures will have "flavour variants". When agents are spawned, they have a background skill or 'profession', which is determined by certain factors with regards to where the agent came from, like culture, for example. These 'profession' can be invested in in addition to or instead of the conventional skill-tree.

The only agent we know some details about is The Champion – passionate warriors, loners, but they are incredibly skilled warriors. Buff certain unit types and help with training when embedded in a friendly army. Can reduce enemy army morale, set traps, harass and can assassinate generals.

So basically the same sort of agents we've had for awhile now.

Original article:
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/totalwarromeii/1044/preview.html

[hurryover]

You're right. Not much about sieges at all. It was stated on the forums that the turns will be one year long and so no seasons except on the battlemaps. No word on how that'll be handled. And only certain factions will have General units, like Rome and Carthage. Others will have leader units like in the video-- Macedon has a Companion Cav unit for a general, the same as some units in FOTS did. On the good side, even Barbarian factions are supposed to have extensive tech trees and advanced, late game units and can form Confederations with other like-culture factions. Sea regions will be contested now with control depending on port ownership and affecting replenishment, trade and piracy. Also, almost no mention of agents either.

Yes, the seasons were another turn off for me. Is Northern Europe supposed to always have snow, and North Africa always hot and sunny?

I am still bothered by the huge strategy map cities though. They absorb the areas surrounding them. Carthage (the town) takes up all of modern-day Algeria for God's sake.

What I don't get is why did they have to go on and do that? Why are they fixing something that isn't broken? What was wrong with the old strategy map style of reasonably sized cities?

Has anyone noticed the cliff coastlines to designate non-landing places? It looks awful.

[Sir Slash]

No sooner than I say something and then I see this... http://youtube,com/watch?v=BYdtQT0UJs0 
   Looks basically like Shogun 2 with some tweaks which ain't a bad thing.