Full map from the Collectors Edition

More or less, some minor cutting at the edge in the east.

 

And now I'm depressed. Since I had to move to a hostel, in the other side of the country to start Law School, I won't be able to play Rome 2 for months. Even though I paid full pre-order price. And I scratched my ipad glass, the only thing that I can use internet with. Fuck my life.

 

Okay, I just pre-ordered. I hope this game is worth it. Of the three pre-order DLC cultures, I'm probably looking forward to Epirus the most. If the other Hellenistic kingdoms had supported Pyrrhus against Rome, he definitely would have defeated the Republic (and I don't mean in the sense of a Pyrrhic victory).

One thing I'm worried about is that this game will be really difficult to mod. Or else what would be the point of DLC cultures that modders could create/unlock for free?

 

From my understanding of the modding scene with Shogun 2, which followed a similar DLC format, Creative Assembly spent about a year and a half releasing DLC mostly faction and some expansiony types like FotS. After they were more or less done they released a dev/mod kit that made the game much easier to mod. So you might expect smaller scale mods in the beginning and larger, more comprehensive ones later. It's not too unusual though, Roma Surrectum II was released in 2012 I think some 8 years after the original rome release so there's plenty of longevity in the mod scene.

Considering how intensely... fanboyish people are about a song of ice and fire you can definitely expect at least an attempt at a scenario overhaul for that.

 

I really question why you would insult people's enthusiasm over and love of a book series and its live action adaption on a forum such as this.

OT: I remember playing M:TW as a young child at my cousin's house. Any recommendations for which TW game to pick up for someone with a PC that can't run this installment?

 

For the base game, I enjoyed Rome 1 the most. My favorite TW experience, though, is Medieval 2 with the Lord of the Rings Mod.

Its got as much work put into it as an entirely different TW game with its own submods.

 

Just about ready to begin playing, after this massive update (which should make Pontus playable) and the Greek States DLC have finished downloading. Getting pretty excited, but also worried my PC won't run the game very well. My specs are alright, but not really high-end. I know I can play Skyrim on max settings, but I'll probably have to run Rome 2 on just medium graphical settings, which is a pity. Oh well, that'll be good motivation to start upgrading this PC or saving for a new one, I suppose.

I think I'll start off with a quick custom battle just to check how my PC handles the game.

 

Soooo many factions when the turn is ended. At least in the co-op campaign I'm doing with my brother. (He's Athens and I'm Parthia)

 

Heh, I worried about nothing. Gameplay is smooth even with huge armies on the field on the highest graphical settings. Awesome.

This game is truly epic. Replays using the cinematic function are brilliant.

 

Hey Sechrima, could you please list your system specs? I really want to play this game but I'm not sure that I can play it at the highest graphical settings.

 

This rig isn't anything fancy.

Intel Core i5-2310, 2.90GHz
4,00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti

But apparently that suffices to get the job done in Rome 2.

I am experiencing one problem. Custom battles play well, but replays cause the game to stop responding after about one or two minutes. 'Tis odd, and annoying.

 

I've heard some interesting things about the Total War series, but never tried it. Can someone 'sell' Rome 2 to me?

 

Kinda hard really. You take the fichting parts of the Age of Empires, make it 200 times more epic, with up to 40,000 units, with hundreds of different types fighting in a battlefield, that can be either ina bridge, a small village, a huge city or the coast, with also huge naval battles, and in Rome 2, water-land battles possible. That's the battle aspect.

In the campaign map, you take the Civ V map, with turns. In this map you administer your empire, in wich you must balance social, economical and cultural needs and your objective.

And there are some RPG elements, with you evolving your "characters", your generas and agents, that with base on your choices and actions, they will change, for better or worse, lr simply change, gaining traits.

Also, it's epic. The perfect game to release the megalomaniac bastard that's inside of you.

 

Surprised how high I can run the graphics despite only having a 550 in my machine - though I daresay putting shadows on low has helped a fair bit there alongside water on low, though I've yet to have any Naval battles. If I had to hazard a guess, I'm probably getting a stable 45fps but dropping down to 20 - 30 in battles when moving the camera/zooming in on fights.

Only complaint thus far has been a couple of crashes mid-battle in the prologue campaign, especially in a battle where I was out-numbered but due to some great cavalry flanks was rapidly turning the tide in my favour; next thing the screen flashes and suddenly everything's black and, well, I can't see or do anything but hear the game audio - though it sounded like it had paused as nothing was happening. Forced to close the game, thankful for the auto-save every turn.

Performance on the campaign map was jagged too, but I expected that given the game's power. I also hate my scouts/spies, bastards can't poison anyone even with a 70% success chance - what am I paying you people for?

Edit; Waiting on the bloodpack too, battles just don't seem right when you watch your guys run someone through with a spear and they just gradually fall over.

 

So, what the other lucky bastards able to play the game think of it so far?

 

Got this downloaded and ready to run, but I'm too busy with university for the rest of the working week, so I've got to wait till friday evening. It will be worth it though.

 

Played the prologue this morning before going to work. It looks beautiful and seems like a real improvement over Shogun. Especially the sight improvement on the battlefield is cool and makes for a lot more interesting battles. It takes some time to getting used to the interface but nothing to extreme.
The only negative aspect so far, other than the AI, is that I really miss the old generals from Rome or Medieval 2.. the new ones simply lack a lot of personality (No more drunken conqueror with a needy wife or similar things).

 

Yeah, I actually really enjoyed the prologue, but I'm a big fan of the early Republic, and the Samnite Wars particularly.

Now that I feel comfortable with the game, it's time to build a new Macedonian Empire. I'll start by allying with Epirus and crushing those upstart Romans so they can't become a threat in the future. Then I think I'll expand my empire to the North, through Thrace, Illyria, Dacia, Pannonia, Hercynia, and Silesia, with Sarmatia as an ultimate goal. Perhaps I'll unite Greece under my banner eventually as well. This is assuming I don't get my ass kicked by the AI, anyway.

I haven't played a Total War game since Empire, and even then I was more of a Shogun 1, Medieval 1, Rome, and Medieval 2 fan. So it's been a bit of a learning curve to get a handle on Rome 2. But it's also a lot of fun. The combat animations are particularly awesome to watch. I only wished my game didn't crash whenever I watch a replay.

 

I have to get a bit more willing to spend the time to do some tactical battles. While playing with my brother last night, he had a battle that was predicted with the enemy's strength being about 75% of the armies involved.(He had around 500, and they had 1400 or so)

Due to fortification stance, and positioning, he routed the enemy forces, killing 7-800 of them, and only lost seven of his own.

 

It is interesting, sometimes individual fights in battles are determined fast. The option to choose what type of general you have is interesting, but I don't know what exactly the factions do in Rome/Carthage. I personally tried Parthians mostly, a mainly cavalry army can be interesting, but computer can't use it effectively.
And the province/population growth system can be tricky, especially if you start with a minor city.