Poll: Your Favorite Total War Game

[Terminal Blue]

It's a close toss up between Empire and Shogun 2, but I've gone and picked Empire.

Even though I think Shogun 2 is by far the better game, I can't deny that I find Empire more fun (particularly now most of the bugs from its horrible release have been fixed). I think it's a combination of the time period, which I just find more interesting, the much grander scale and the annoying influence of those damn super-units in Shogun 2. Yeah, it's fun the first time you get a craft province and start churning out matchlock ashigaru who can shoot a fly out of the air at 50 paces for some reason, but the fact that it's a core strategy is really annoying. Also, I liked Empire's economy system best of all.

Shogun 2 does have amazing multiplayer, but I've been stuck on terrible connection since release so I haven't really been able to make the most of it so it's not going to factor into my decision.

I had a lot of fun with Medieval 2, and I got very into modding it at one point, but it suffers from the same problem as all the pre-Empire games in that once you hit a certain point of expansion you've already won. Also, it just kind of makes no sense from a historical perspective when you've got Scotland conquering the entirety of Europe (yeah, I fuckin' love Scotland in that game.. well, Scotland and Hungary).

 

[Brainwreck]

Toss up between Rome and Medieval 2.
On the one hand, conquering Europe and a bit of Africa and the Middle East as Hungary in Medieval 2 gives me a massive nationalistic boner, on the other hand, I like the time period of Rome better.
Also, oliphaunts.
Okay, Rome it is.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I bought Shogun 2 during that latest Steam sale, but I have yet to download it. The size of the file makes me want to download it at a Starbucks. Bandwidth caps are no fun.

Do you have any friends who already have the game? If you do you can copy all the files from their steam folder onto your hard drive, then just verify your game cache and you'll be able to install it as if you had downloaded everything yourself.

Oh and OT: Shogun 2 and Empire are the ones I've played the most and I can't really decide between the two. I know they get a lot of hate from fans of the older games but I always found the old games to be really clunky and unintuitive. =/

 

[BrotherRool]

The best combination is the Rome combat system with the later diplomacy/empire building mechanics. Empire building in Rome sucked.

I'm a bit worried about Rome 2, I'm not sure if its true, but to me it feels like their animation system is destroying the feel of the battles. In Rome theres was real sense of impact in a charge, you would run at an enemy and the whole front line would fall down, and there was really sense of positioning as you swarmed around a flank and hacked into people from behind.

But with the new system, a charge doesn't feel powerful because they show a 1-3 second animation of fighting before the people fall over dead and there's not a sense of positioning because they always end up in this little one on one battles. I don't know if it actually happened, but in Rome it felt like when 3 guys were surrounding one guy all hacking with their swords, they were all hitting, but now it feels like there's a one on one fight, which makes the positioning advantage more pointless.

I actually really liked the firearms in Empire, I thought there were neat tactics with it, timed charges etc and I loved that a lot of the upgrades (Fire by Rank etc) were actually just changing the discipline with which they fired etc. It was really neat.

The problem is everything was so ineffectual. Infantry battles looked like they'd be cool, but there's something very unsatisfying as lining all your men up perfectly, firing off a gigantic volley ...and 3-5 people drop dead. Artillery was even worse, a complete game of chance and normally basically pointless.

Maybe Napoleon fixes these problems. It as probably caused by being accurate to the time period. I haven't played it

 

[MrBenSampson]

It would be easy if those damn elephants weren't so OP.

It's easier if you hide behind tall sturdy walls. All those fancy horsemen and elephants sure are powerful, but they can't climb ladders or siege towers. Even if they manage to break down the gates or breach the walls, cavalry is still no good when fighting in the narrow streets, and the AI isn't smart enough not to trample half its' army with its' own elephants if forced to fight in a city.

That's what I was thinking, but the Timurids decided to attack my armies that are outside of the cities. I have half a dozen units of retinue longbowmen in each of my armies, which I have behind stakes, but the elephants use cannons from a distance. If I close the gap so that my bowmen can start shooting, the elephants charge and trample them. I also have bombards in my armies, but they haven't proved effective against elephants.

I'm thinking that I'll make sure that the armies in each city is as strong as possible, and having the rest of them retreat. I have cannon towers installed in Jerusalem, so that should give me an edge.

I bought Shogun 2 during that latest Steam sale, but I have yet to download it. The size of the file makes me want to download it at a Starbucks. Bandwidth caps are no fun.

Do you have any friends who already have the game? If you do you can copy all the files from their steam folder onto your hard drive, then just verify your game cache and you'll be able to install it as if you had downloaded everything yourself.

Unfortunately I don't, but that is a clever idea. I have a 70GB monthly cap, and it's unlikely that I'll hit that, even after downloading Shogun 2. The only issue is that I'm sharing the internet with my family, and I don't want to be selfish, since the game would take up almost half of the bandwidth.

 

[Tropicaz]

I remember being so excited to play Rome when it came out, and god was it awesome. Loved when you beat it I could play as the Greeks and the Gauls, too. Such an amazing game.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Unfortunately I don't, but that is a clever idea. I have a 70GB monthly cap, and it's unlikely that I'll hit that, even after downloading Shogun 2. The only issue is that I'm sharing the internet with my family, and I don't want to be selfish, since the game would take up almost half of the bandwidth.

Ah, that's a shame. I also share the internet with my family, I bought my brother some games in the Steam sale so we could play coop together but I didn't want him to hog the bandwidth downloading them so I tried just handing him the files. In theory it should work with any game, although it's better with steam because verifying the cache will fix any registry problems copying the files causes.

 

[IamQ]

Definetly Rome. I'm currently playing the Medieval 2 expansions, but I still love me some Rome. While it looks worse graphically, I like it's more tight combat, and responsive units. It's also fun with the roman generals with titels like "The horrible" "The handsome" and all the perks that come along with that.

Like a playthrough me and a friend are having now, where we have our general "Titus the Handsome" who has a special perk called "Godly Perfection" that apparently increases his assassination chances. In other words: He is so handsome that it makes people so jealous they want to kill him.

It has been out mission ever since we found this out, to keep him alive, as our now current Emperor of Brutii.

 

[BristolBerserker]

Medieval 2 because I love the gunpowder units, especially the Portuguese Arquebusiers. Also I really enjoyed the Kingdoms add on, especially the Teutonic Knights in their campaign and the Spanish in the Americas campaign.

 

[Bvenged]

snip snap paddy whack give this quote a click...

i discovered the aztecs were very vulnerable to attrition type battles. a circular formation composed of spearmen in schiltron? formation would mean you would loose alot of cheaper infantry but they would be decimated. more conventially dont ever take gun troops to the americas they dont load fast enough.. upgraded english archers on the other hand..

Ahh right, well I never had gun troops but I took a lot of family-member cavalry, heavy grounded knights and spearmen with a few longbow units for backup in a balanced high-morale force. I never though about that but then again by the time I realised I needed to send reinforcements if I wanted to take the Americas fully, I had 20 turns to go until game over and I still hadn't crossed the Atlantic and I had to own Jerusalem.

So I diverted my fleets full of reinforcements to cross the Mediterranean and used them as a main invasion force against the middle east. Had my several week game won within 2 hours of first setting foot on America. I take control of all my battles but damn were those Aztec tough. I was playing medium campaign, hard battles at the time too. Each army could only just-win a city siege against a couple of Aztec whatchamacallits.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I tend to have a blast in all of them though my least favorite right now is medieval 2 because there's no Darthmod for it. Darthmod for those who haven't used it changes everything and makes the games so much better. Darthmods do a lot of things like make the AI worth a damn, add new units, increase unit sizes (in Empire Total War I've seen 600 men in a regiment), fix unit balancing, and a whole bunch of other things.
http://www.moddb.com/company/darthmodproductions

Uh...yeah, there is

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/DarthMod_for_M2TW

 

[Hargrimm]

snip snap paddy whack give this quote a click...

i discovered the aztecs were very vulnerable to attrition type battles. a circular formation composed of spearmen in schiltron? formation would mean you would loose alot of cheaper infantry but they would be decimated. more conventially dont ever take gun troops to the americas they dont load fast enough.. upgraded english archers on the other hand..

Ahh right, well I never had gun troops but I took a lot of family-member cavalry, heavy grounded knights and spearmen with a few longbow units for backup in a balanced high-morale force. I never though about that but then again by the time I realised I needed to send reinforcements if I wanted to take the Americas fully, I had 20 turns to go until game over and I still hadn't crossed the Atlantic and I had to own Jerusalem.

So I diverted my fleets full of reinforcements to cross the Mediterranean and used them as a main invasion force against the middle east. Had my several week game won within 2 hours of first setting foot on America. I take control of all my battles but damn were those Aztec tough. I was playing medium campaign, hard battles at the time too. Each army could only just-win a city siege against a couple of Aztec whatchamacallits.

Just use heavy cavalry. The cavalry charge is totally overpowered in both Rome and Medieval 2. In fact, cavalry is the only type of unit you'll need, if you know how to use them. At least if you're playing against the AI.

OT: I'll have to say Medieval 2, simply because I like the period and mod selection better. Gameplay wise, they both have strengths and weaknesses that are about equal to my tastes.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I tend to have a blast in all of them though my least favorite right now is medieval 2 because there's no Darthmod for it. Darthmod for those who haven't used it changes everything and makes the games so much better. Darthmods do a lot of things like make the AI worth a damn, add new units, increase unit sizes (in Empire Total War I've seen 600 men in a regiment), fix unit balancing, and a whole bunch of other things.
http://www.moddb.com/company/darthmodproductions

Uh...yeah, there is

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/DarthMod_for_M2TW

I love you, I had no idea that existed. Guess I know how I'll be spending my day

 

[FallOutKing94]

RomeTotal war was one of the first games I ever played so It holds a special place in my heart.

 

[srm79]

Much as my first was RTW (haven't tried any mods yet), I think my favourite has to be Medieval II; mainly for the campaign map stuff being expanded since Rome, going back to Rome it feels a little barren on the strategic layer, although I'm sure the AI still doing bone-stupid things when outnumbered is one of the disadvantages of the Total War series...

That being said, haven't really got into Empire or Napoleon yet, despite owning both; haven't dedicated the time, cuz I know I'm going to love it

You, good Sir, need this:

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Roma_Surrectum_II

I'm playing through it for the umpteenth time at the moment. I've recently had the Marian Reforms, and my Hamata Legions are currently firefighting against incursions along my northern and eastern borders while I attempt to conquer North Africa once and for all.

I suspect this mod will address all your concerns about the strategic side of the game, with the overhauled building/tech tree. If you have Barbarian Invasion and Alexander the world map ends up bigger than Medieval II as well, going pretty far inland beyond the eastern end of the Med.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Much as my first was RTW (haven't tried any mods yet), I think my favourite has to be Medieval II; mainly for the campaign map stuff being expanded since Rome, going back to Rome it feels a little barren on the strategic layer, although I'm sure the AI still doing bone-stupid things when outnumbered is one of the disadvantages of the Total War series...

That being said, haven't really got into Empire or Napoleon yet, despite owning both; haven't dedicated the time, cuz I know I'm going to love it

You, good Sir, need this:

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Roma_Surrectum_II

I'm playing through it for the umpteenth time at the moment. I've recently had the Marian Reforms, and my Hamata Legions are currently firefighting against incursions along my northern and eastern borders while I attempt to conquer North Africa once and for all.

I suspect this mod will address all your concerns about the strategic side of the game, with the overhauled building/tech tree. If you have Barbarian Invasion and Alexander the world map ends up bigger than Medieval II as well, going pretty far inland beyond the eastern end of the Med.

Ooh, 'ello.

Was gon' try Europa Barbaorvm as well, but looking at it it seems a little long-winded for my tastes, being someone who doesn't care that much about historical accuracy, so this might just pip it to the post.

 

[srm79]

Much as my first was RTW (haven't tried any mods yet), I think my favourite has to be Medieval II; mainly for the campaign map stuff being expanded since Rome, going back to Rome it feels a little barren on the strategic layer, although I'm sure the AI still doing bone-stupid things when outnumbered is one of the disadvantages of the Total War series...

That being said, haven't really got into Empire or Napoleon yet, despite owning both; haven't dedicated the time, cuz I know I'm going to love it

You, good Sir, need this:

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Roma_Surrectum_II

I'm playing through it for the umpteenth time at the moment. I've recently had the Marian Reforms, and my Hamata Legions are currently firefighting against incursions along my northern and eastern borders while I attempt to conquer North Africa once and for all.

I suspect this mod will address all your concerns about the strategic side of the game, with the overhauled building/tech tree. If you have Barbarian Invasion and Alexander the world map ends up bigger than Medieval II as well, going pretty far inland beyond the eastern end of the Med.

Ooh, 'ello.

Was gon' try Europa Barbaorvm as well, but looking at it it seems a little long-winded for my tastes, being someone who doesn't care that much about historical accuracy, so this might just pip it to the post.

Europa Barborvm was pretty good, but I don't think it's had a significant overhaul in the 4 or 5 years since it released. RSII on the other hand, has. I think RSII pips E.B. visually as well. Don't be fooled into thinking RSII is just a re-skin and graphical update though. They've definitely gone for the "historical" angle, insofar as it's possible anyway. It's 99% accurate when the game kicks off, but obviously your actions and choices will change the course of "history" in all likelyhood. Major events and people are present, but I think a lot of the events are contextual - ie they won't happen until certain conditions are met in order not to overwhelm you too early.

Definitely my favourite mod for Rome: Total War, and I've tried a good few as I've been playing it more or less since it came out.

 

[Tdoodle]

Rome by a long shot. It wasn't the first Total War game I played (Medieval was my first), nor was it the last (working slowly on a Shogun 2 campaign) but Rome hit all of the right buttons and the modding community really kicked off for that game. Since, due to it being on Steam before they allowed modding, many games have faltered because we get the vanilla editions. I have nothing against those who play vanilla but when I want a real Ancient Roman campaign, I go for the the mods.

Are there any mods you'd recommend? I went through Rome a year or so ago but it was just vanilla, would love to go through it again before Rome 2 and feel like trying some mods with it.

Rome is probably my favourite, it's the first one I played and it's probably my favourite time period of the four they've explored. The only one I haven't managed to get into is Empire/Napoleon.