Poll: Rome 2 Total War Excitement!

[Lord Kloo]

Well its now only one week until the release of Rome 2, the next installment in the Total War series. Now despite the many changes they have been talking about and my own personal worries that they have changed too much I am still (and I hope others are too) super-excited to play it finally.

So to pass the time I thought I would make a survey of which faction you will play first or any ideas for your first campaigns to dominate the world.

Also general chatter and excitement about the game is welcomed.

 

[Delerien]

Rome, duh.
I'm not sure what I'll play second though. I'll have to look at the game first. To be honest I don't even know which factions are in since I've done my best to avoid anything about the game as to not spoil the surprises

Last time I was really surprised by how much I liked Seleukia so I might look in that direction.

 

[A_Parked_Car]

I'm looking forward to its release, though I'm always quite cautious when it comes to Creative Assembly games. Granted, they did manage to release Shogun 2 in a functional state, which was quite remarkable. I didn't really like the first Rome that much, so I'm sure I will think this one is great while fans of the original will constantly compare it to their 'Jesus Christ' (Rome: Total War) and then go and endlessly whine on the forums that it isn't exactly the same.

I will be playing Rome first I believe, then I will probably move to some 'barbarian' faction. I don't have a huge amount of interest in this time period, so I can't nerd-out as much as I have over Total War in the past.

 

[Smeatza]

I'm hoping it will have Avatar Conquest like Shogun 2.
In which case I'll jump straight on the online, and get my fun out of that before DLC packs make it completely unbalanced (like Shogun 2).

 

[Bernzz]

I never played the original Rome: Total War, so for Rome II I'll start as Rome. After Rome, who knows? Probably either the Iceni or Sparta.

 

[Hargrimm]

I'll hold off until I know if they managed to finally improve the awful AI. The previews I've seen don't fill me with confidence.

 

[OneCatch]

I'll hold off until I know if they managed to finally improve the awful AI. The previews I've seen don't fill me with confidence.

Out of curiosity (not looking to flame), what's making you think that the AI is unusually crap?

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OT, probably Rome, though one of the Greek or Alexandrian factions might be tempting as well. I always liked the diversity of the Seleucids in the original Rome, even if their roster was horribly expensive. I imagine they'll have toned it down a bit though - it was patently unrealistic in the original.

 

[Xjin]

Carthage for the first go, and then I'll play Seleucids after they come out.

The Greek States would get some play with me as well. Not going to lie about how excited I am about the game next week. Rome and Medieval 2 got a shit ton of my life.

Also if they have the Avatar style online I'll love MP.

 

[JonB]

For the glory of Rome.

I always start with the "default" when I do games like this. I think it gives a frame of reference for later, when you turn history on its head by conquering the world as Numidia.

 

[Hargrimm]

I'll hold off until I know if they managed to finally improve the awful AI. The previews I've seen don't fill me with confidence.

Out of curiosity (not looking to flame), what's making you think that the AI is unusually crap?

Not reacting when they're being shot at, for example. Running against my spear wall without attempting any kind of flanking maneuver. Unnecessarily losing soldiers by climbing the walls in a siege instead of using the gates. General diplomatic idiocy, like blockading my port for a single turn for no reason at all.

The battle previews I've seen only showed me how terrible the devs are at playing TW.

 

[Eduku]

Like most people, I'll be playing as Rome to familiarise myself with the game. Then I'm tempted to play Parthia, cause I can't resist good cavalry.

 

[Hades]

I am very exited for Rome which in turns makes me somewhat depressed since I know I won't be able to run it and with the Wii-u and PS4 coming up I don't have anything left to spare for upgrading my PC.

I would most likely start with Rome to test things out and then move on to my personal favourite, the vast and diverse Seleucid empire.

 

[BeeGeenie]

I'm tempted to start as the Suebi or Iceni, but I'll probably start with Rome, because it's Rome.

So far I'm not a fan of the unit cards, but generally, Rome 2 looks awesome and I can't wait.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

My excitement went up considerably when I realized it was coming out in a week's time, and not late October as I originally thought.

Reading that unit diversity was back and that battles had been slowed down from Shogun II cemented my desire to get it. I don't care for the Roman time period as much as Medieval, but I like it a hell of a lot more than Shogun, and hearing that they've left that game's homogenous factions and arcade combat behind is a relief.

I will likely play as non Roman factions. Underdogs are more interesting.

Not reacting when they're being shot at, for example.

What kind of reaction would you be looking for? I've played a TON of Total War in my life, and the best "reaction" to getting shot at is to put your head down and engage the missile unit as quickly as possible. Faffing about trying to duck behind trees or retreating out of range is just going to give him a bunch of free shots. I'm not even a fan of adopting a looser formation unless you're going to get shot at for a good long time before engaging his line. Loose formations get murdered once the scrimmage starts.

Anyway...I generally agree that dubious AI is a series mainstay, and there's been some dreadful AI bugs to complicate matters, but it's never really slowed down my enjoyment of the series. Or at least, of Rome and Medieval 2. Empire through Shogun 2 can go die in a fire. =\

 

[Hargrimm]

Not reacting when they're being shot at, for example.

What kind of reaction would you be looking for? I've played a TON of Total War in my life, and the best "reaction" to getting shot at is to put your head down and engage the missile unit as quickly as possible. Faffing about trying to duck behind trees or retreating out of range is just going to give him a bunch of free shots. I'm not even a fan of adopting a looser formation unless you're going to get shot at for a good long time before engaging his line. Loose formations get murdered once the scrimmage starts.

I'd expect them not to stand around and get shot until my units run out of arrows. Only happens rarely, thankfully.

Anyway...I generally agree that dubious AI is a series mainstay, and there's been some dreadful AI bugs to complicate matters, but it's never really slowed down my enjoyment of the series. Or at least, of Rome and Medieval 2. Empire through Shogun 2 can go die in a fire. =\

At least they improved the dreadful pathfinding, especially during sieges. (At least in Shogun 2, I haven't played Empire and Napoleon.)

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'd expect them not to stand around and get shot until my units run out of arrows. Only happens rarely, thankfully.

Ah, yes. That was pre-patch Medieval 2 unit behavior. I actually saw it happen on rare occasions post patch as well, if you had a position the AI considered unassailable but they weren't ready to retreat. Pre patch, immediately post release you could walk an archer up to a melee unit, empty your quivers, and walk away. That was Very Bad.

At least they improved the dreadful pathfinding, especially during sieges. (At least in Shogun 2, I haven't played Empire and Napoleon.)

Shogun was a nice clean game, it was just so soulless and homogenous I couldn't get more than an hour or two into it before utterly losing interest. Which...it takes a lot to make me quit a game that fast, y'know? I've stuck with some real stinkers for longer. Game had the heart streamlined right out of it.

 

[kingthrall]

Germania, Germania! Going to stomp rome in 10 years or less.



I once took the origonal starting stack army as a joke and sent them directly to attack rome in RTW and slew the entire roman army including full stacks of cohorts and praetorians. Was pretty hillarious considering all I had was waves upon waves of spearmen all lined up behind natural rocks.

What ended up happening was due to the enemy surroundeding me, all my troops went into Fight to the death (morale mode) in the phalanx spear formation (the german spear troops have something like this in game) while 2 stacks of screaching women were screaming behind them for morale and took down the senates army amazingly, sacked rome and pretty much collapsed the entire of all the roman factions economy.
The Brutei took Rome back 4 turns later, however I had reaped so much gold from the sacking that my crappy villages at the start of the game were already teched up and 4 more stacks of cheaply made armies were spreading like wildfire across Gaul and back into Italy again.

Not only this but because of the S.P.R.Q faction was smashed, all the roman factions started fighting each other

So yeh, cant wait to play as my good old Fav the germanic Tribes. Though You had to play as Rome in RTW1 in order to unlock germany to play if I remember. So it might be rome I play to get to Germania...

 

[BloatedGuppy]

i am wondering will we get different roman families this time or just a single roman faction?

Not 100% sure, but it looks like just a single Roman faction.

http://wiki.totalwar.com/w/Factions

 

[Bombiz]

Like most people, I'll be playing as Rome to familiarise myself with the game. Then I'm tempted to play Parthia, cause I can't resist good cavalry.

I'm with you man gonna play my first campaign as Parthia. In preparation for Rome 2 i got the "De Bello Mundi" mod for Medieval 2 and wanted to try out an Eastern faction and since i am of Persian blood I went with Parthia and HOLY SHIT their cavalry rocked. I was running straight through groups of spear men and hoplites.