Rome II

[Gusington]

I have yet to win one Shogun 2 campaign, Rise of the Samurai or Fall of the Samurai! Despite that, Shogun 2 remains my favorite of the entire series. A work of art even! Hoping for the same in Rome 2.

[mikeck]

I've certainly lost campaigns in Shogun 2. The tactical AI might be lackluster but that strategic AI is a demon!

Truthfully, I have lost tactical battles. The AI in most TW games seems to be much better with non-gunpowder units. When I play a ROtS campaign, the Ai seems to do quite well.

[Toonces]

I have never had a problem with the AI kicking my ass in any Total War title.  That's my dirty little secret.  I play on normal campaign/normal tactical battles and am plenty challenged.  So I win, because these games have never been flawed on that front to me.

Of course, I just admitted how much I suck at wargaming, but that's that!

[Gusington]

To be perfectly honest I think a lot of peeps puff up their performance in these games. People talk about how the AI sucks but unless we see them actually winning the game we have no idea if they are being honest or not. Taken at face value a lot of these guys are armchair Napoleons.

I have always played all of these games on Normal/Normal too, with mixed results in each game. My best campaign ever was playing as the Egyptians in the Medieval 2 Crusades campaign...I won the whole thing in 19 turns. My worst campaign is whichever one you take your pick of that ended in my faction being a smoking ruin. There are many like that.

I also agree with Mike above...the AI is typically much better at using melee than more modern firearms.

[Bison]

There is no question that the TW AI is better at melee line on line combat than it is at dealing with ranged combat.  That was one of the initial issues with Empire.  The AI would either charge or continually move in and out of line formation getting massacred along the way.  I will say that CA did address this issue enough for me to enjoy the game and have some really good battles by the time Nappy came out.

I tend to agree with Gus about peoples performance against the AI.  I'd also like to note that 10,000s of players don't continue to play a game if it sucks so bad as to not even get them a reasonably enjoyable experience.

[Grim.Reaper]

I really never had a problem with the AI, it always gave me a reasonable fight and to be honest its not like I am some master general myself:)  I don't think this area will disappoint me.

The biggest thing I would like to see some day is finding a better way to control all of my troops across the entire battlefield.  I find it nearly impossible to effectively command my large troops all at once.  I think part of the problem is the graphics and battle action is so good that I want to sit there and watch some of the fighting going on....but when you do that, your troops are being slaughtered on the otherside of the battlefield.  I know you can put some of your troops under AI command, just didn't seem that worked very well.  At times I would like to be able to just draw up a certain overall strategy and let my on the field leaders handle the details and execute my orders while I set back and watch.  This is what I would like to see more than anything.

[Staggerwing]

Maybe Creative Assembly could license part of Panther Games' Battles from the Bulge AI.  :D

[Nefaro]

  At times I would like to be able to just draw up a certain overall strategy and let my on the field leaders handle the details and execute my orders while I set back and watch.  This is what I would like to see more than anything.

That would be excellent.  I also think it would help out the AI in tactical battles since it'd be handling more of the minutae on a common level with the player's forces. 

People complained about Legion and Spartan's combat benig so hands-off, but I think it helped the game overall and I quite enjoyed watching things play out with only minimal input after the initial setup.  Maybe someday the TW series will have this happy medium.

With the current system, I regulary just hit 'Auto-resolve' if the fight doesn't look much like a challenge (which is fairly regularly).  It generally does pretty good if you outnumber the enemy so there's not large casualties (in Shogun 2 anyway) other than castle assaults/defenses, which you should still do manually.

[Bison]

I'm not so sure that'd be a good direction for a total war game.  The appeal is complete control over your armies on the battlefield.

[Nefaro]

I'm not so sure that'd be a good direction for a total war game.  The appeal is complete control over your armies on the battlefield.

It'd be good as an option somewhere between auto-resolve and full control.

[Bison]

You can honestly already basically do this if you pause the game, issue orders, unpause and watch the results play out.  Rinse and repeat as the battle progresses.

[Grim.Reaper]

I'm not so sure that'd be a good direction for a total war game.  The appeal is complete control over your armies on the battlefield.

I think just something optional, not for everyone and every time.  I just think some of my unit commanders can handle the details without me having to intervene when there are obvious things they could do.  I understand it is unlikely ever to happen in this game, but to me that is personally something I would like to see someday.  I know I can pause/unpause but that interrupts the flow of the game as you have to constantly do that as you race across the entire battlefield to ensure all your troops are doing what you want.

Don't get me wrong, this is by no means a deal breaker...I eagerly await Tuesday!

[Bison]

I don't know, I guess it could break immersion into the game, but it's a pretty standard fair for RTS games.

[Grim.Reaper]

I don't know, I guess it could break immersion into the game, but it's a pretty standard fair for RTS games.

Agreed, all RTS behave this way....so I guess to be fair, I would love to see this feature in all RTS games:)  My mind just does not move fast enough for some of these games.

It's been a long time since I have really anticipated a games....Tuesday can't come fast enough!

[Gusington]

TW is one series that I have always eagerly anticipated before each release. Also, I have never ever accepted the offer of having part of my forces under AI control. Just one of my house rules. I have also become enamored with yet another possible first faction...Pontus.