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Total War: Rome II

Nephiλiμ

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vic Rookie

vic

Egypt_mon_256.png

Egypt

“Legacy, independence, power.”

Ptolemaic Egypt has close cultural ties to the Hellenistic world, while maintaining many Egyptian traditions. Founded by Ptolemy in 305BC following the death of Alexander the Great, it has become a centre of culture and trade under the influence of its Macedonian rulers.

A general under Alexander, Ptolemy was appointed to govern Egypt after his king’s sudden demise. With Alexander’s empire fragmenting, Ptolemy declared his independence, securing Egypt against his power-grabbing rival generals during the Wars of the Successors (322 – 275BC).

Embracing Egyptian religion and customs, the Ptolemies have since made themselves Pharaohs, continuing the long engineering tradition of great temple and monument building. Greek culture and learning are actively encouraged however, and an upper class of Greco-Egyptians has emerged. But things are not always harmonious; with Greek units garrisoned and veterans settling throughout the territory, the privileges of Greek citizens have led to frequent and bloody uprisings by the indigenous people.

The intermingling of Greek and Egyptian fighting styles provides the Ptolemaic Pharaohs with a military that is both advanced and balanced, yet still honours the role of the champion commander. Making great use of spear and pike, their forces are further diversified with skilled swordsmen, scythed chariots, and more exotic units such as African war elephants. Egypt's position on the Mediterranean Sea also requires a substantial navy to protect its colonial and trade interests.

While Alexandria has become a beacon of civilisation and learning, its rulers are power-hungry opportunists. This new dynasty may yet expand its territory and influence further – perhaps to unify the Greek-speaking peoples? Or west, to carry out Alexander's threatened conquest of Carthage?

As a Successor Kingdom, Ptolemaic Egypt is progressive and forward-looking. They are skilled statesmen and academics, and their naval prowess is unquestioned. However, as a recently established dynasty on foreign soil, the native Egyptians will take some convincing as to the value of their new rulers…

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vic Rookie

vic

New Rome Info - Creative Assembly Community Event : totalwar

Via - motormouth85

  • Cavalry smashes through enemy formations now.
  • Barbarian berserkers are back, and they are human steamrollers
  • Infantry units use their shields defensively when under archer attack
  • Switching in and out of testudo is very fluid and quick
  • Roman soldiers can throw their pilum while running
  • NO destructible environments (one of the questions was about starting forest fires during combat; CA was worried it would create too much havoc and detract from the combat)
  • The Line of Sight element was expanded upon - if your soldiers cannot see the enemy, neither can you
  • Flaming Pigs are coming back!
  • Naval warfare will incorporate ramming and boarding actions. The Corvus was hinted at.
  • Campaign map goes much farther east, though they would not elaborate how far
  • Multiplayer will be getting some TLC from the developers; expect more news on that soon
  • Viewing settlements on the Battle Map could be incorporated IF there is high demand for the feature. Some of us made a pretty good case for the feature as a way to devise a defense of a city, without actually being under siege, as well as get the satisfaction of watching the city grow and develop.
  • Enemy AI will be more intuitive; i.e., attempting to outflank you during pitched battles, or flooding a wall breach during a siege.
  • CA is trying to lure players into pitched battles on open terrain - they feel siege battles should not be the focus of combat.
  • Internal conflict and civil war will act as a check to balance gameplay should the player's empire become a rich military juggernaut.
  • Navies are able to control sea regions, and must be forcibly dislodged.
  • The system for seasonal rotation is still being adjusted to conform to the 1 turn/1 year play style.
  • Terrain covered with dead bodies will become bloodstained, but it is very mild. Craig from CA told me that a blood DLC is likely.

Via Mmurray821

  • You can put your navies in different modes like the armies, like raiding.
  • Routing unit flags not in the battle, may be added later (the unit flag turning to white) The unit flag just goes away and the men run.
  • Arrows bounce off armor and shields. Was pretty cool to watch when zoomed in. Some stuck and others bounced off.
  • Seasons will show up in battles. How exactly this works is still being developed
  • Characters have more movement points than armies. One example I talked with Mike Simpson about is Scipio Africanus where he gave up command of an army in Spain and was in Sicily in a few months training a new army for the African invasion. In game terms he boarded a ship and sailed to Sicily in the one turn/year.
  • PC specs are being developed toward the high end and refined for the low end. Example: People with high end machines will see the technology being pushed pretty close to what can be done. But, people with low end machines AND INCLUDING INTEGRATED GRAPHIC CHIPS will be able to run the game with graphic settings that look good. Mike was very specific about this that they worked with Intel and other chip makers to bring the low end, generic machines to be able to run RTW2 with as great as graphics as possible.
  • Armies can move over rivers without building boats/bridges
  • (I hate to say this as it will cause much vexation) Attrition is out. I got this from Mike Simpson himself According to CA_Thamis : This must have been a misunderstanding at the event. Rest assured, we most certainly have attrition in the game.
  • Battle maps will look just as good as the stuff you have seen so far. In fact, there is a tile for the area the Teutoburg Forest and if you start a battle in that area, you will get the same map as the historical battle is fought on.
  • The map will go farther east than RTW. I joking asked "To Japan?" and got hit with a roast pig.

Via Drtad^

  • Armies on the campaign map can be set to certain stances. For example, an army set to forced march will be able to go further, but the various drawbacks include a vulnerability to ambush. Other stances include the ambush stance, and there was another that I can't recall.
  • Someone asked about city-view, and they said that if there was enough demand they would put it in. Mike Simpson mentioned that he personally wouldn't use such a mode, but if enough of the player base wanted it then it was doable.
  • I asked about sea-regions. They explained that yes, the sea will be divided into several regions, and that a navy in a particular region will have dominance over that region. However, it was mentioned that a zone of control effect would still be in play in some ways, such as raiding trade routes. Like armies, navies can be placed in certain stances (raid, patrol/defend, etc). I think this will make more sense as we get more previews and some campaign map footage.
  • They reiterated the previous info about line-of-sight and scouting. Craig made a point to say that heavy infantry are bad for scouting, not that he was speaking from experience or anything.
  • The end game depends on how you have decided to play throughout the campaign. If you are wary and appease contending families/nobility/etc within your faction, your end game will be different than if you choose to defy all of them. For Rome, you could choose to either defend the Republic and the Senate, or challenge the other families and the Senate yourself. It was also noted that other factions would have similar, yet unique iterations of this idea.
  • The four seasons will be in the game, even though it is one turn per year. How exactly this will be implemented is still up for debate. Battlefields will 100% have different seasons. I think this will be elaborated on later.
  • It seems as though there will be a blood pack similar to Shogun 2, due to the ratings issues, but I don't believe anything was confirmed yet.
  • I asked about Armenia and Pontus as possible dlc candidates, and mentioned that "The Poison King" DLC pack would be a catchy title. Unfortunately there is not answer to this just yet. I also asked if Armenian legionnaires would be making a reappearance, but this was not confirmed either.
  • The CPU/GPU usage will be more efficient to a degree on the low end, but on the high end things will be pretty similar to Shogun 2 in terms of CPU/GPU usage. I'm not that much of a technically minded guy so perhaps someone else can explain that better than I can.
  • You will be able to see your cities grow more progressively on the campaign map. As you build individual buildings, you will be able to see them appear on the campaign map.
  • The map for the Battle of Teutoburg Forest will be available on the campaign map if you are fighting a battle on that particular tile.
  • The game looks GREAT! I'm sure animations will be made more smooth as we get closer to the release date. It was great to see the Roman soldiers raising their shields to block arrows.
  • The Eastern edge of the map MAY extend farther than Bactria. Perhaps I misunderstood but they said that the Eastern edge of the map has not been revealed yet.

One Year One Turn

Hi!

I understand that there is some concern regarding our decision to have one turn equal one year in Rome II.

Fundamentally, it boils down to the fact that our campaign spans a considerable period of time, from the build-up to the Punic Wars through to the establishment of the Roman Empire. We chose this period because we felt that, as well as encompassing some of Rome’s most significant conflicts, territorial conquests and internal struggles, it gave us the potential to explore the rise and fall of those factions which would play an important supporting role in Roman history (such as the recently revealed Parthians, a major power who would long keep Rome’s eastward expansion in check as of their first conflicts during first century BC).

So, if we assume a campaign length of around 300 years, that makes around 300 turns: we felt that to escalate this to 600 or 1200 turns would be detrimental to the campaign experience that we were aiming for. Bear in mind that the Rome II campaign is no longer time-restricted, however: the player can take as few or as many turns as they like to achieve their ultimate victory objectives and, as per usual, one is free to continue one’s campaign post-victory.

We understand that seasonal variety is important to campaign map flavour and that the four season cycle from Shogun 2 worked well both visually and in terms of gameplay. One year turns are not the only thing to overcome with regards to this: the map is huge, with many climates that would each require visual and gameplay representations of their individual seasonal variants. The climates themselves do cover the extremes that one would expect to experience at the height of the baking summer or the depths of the long, dark winter, and rest assured that we are continuing to explore effective methods of representing seasonal change regardless of the yearly turns and map scale complexities.

Movement is less of an issue. Yes, the map is huge and the turns long: why would it take my army one year to get from Roma to the alps? Forces are effectively moving in a state of battle-readiness but may be ordered into a ‘forced march’ (armies)or a ‘double-time’ (fleets) stance. Their movement extents are vastly increased, allowing them to assemble from afar in preparation for invasion or to support threatened possessions, albeit at the expense of their offensive and defensive capabilities: long-distance headshotting will not be a valid tactic.

We expect characters who survive the challenges laid out before them to survive a good 40 years in play. Obviously there is an element of chance to this, and a character may well die in battle or at the hands of an unscrupulous agent before succumbing to old age, but during their campaign map tenure they will have plenty of opportunity to make a difference to their faction’s endeavours. Furthermore, the intention is to have characters gain experience faster than in Shogun 2, allowing them to reach their fullest potential faster as long as they are deployed consistently and successfully against their foes. Lastly, every general is affiliated with a ‘party’ within their faction, such as one of the major Roman or Carthaginian dynasties or the royal household of an Eastern kingdom and their court rivals: as these characters act around the campaign map or retire to the homeland to scheme, they contribute to their party’s overall influence within the faction, with repercussions that will carry on from one generation to the next.

The military traditions established by armies and fleets over the years also persist beyond the lifespan of any one character or unit, a legacy handed down the generations by those who fought and died for the good of their people. This process will be slower than that of characters gaining ranks, but can span the entire length of a campaign: even if a military force is disbanded or destroyed utterly, it may be re-established once more, the past effects of its history and traditions intact.

Cheers!

-ds

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vic Rookie

vic

Pontus1.png

Pontus

“Ambition, Independence, Profit”

A mountainous region bordering the Black Sea, Pontus contains many fertile river valleys and ports upon which its largely agricultural and trade economy is based. This geography and location also dictate a military focus on infantry and warships. However, a mixture of Greek and Persian influences ensures the forces of Pontus are both advanced and reliable. Their bronze-shield pikemen represent a formidable military backbone, and their swift, deadly scythed chariots are rightly feared.

Its prized commodities, and the opportunism of its well-informed rulers, have enabled Pontus to remain one of the strongest Hellenistic states in existence. With connections throughout the ancient world, largely due to control of Black Sea trade and exports of timber, precious metals and valuable steel, Pontic agents are perfectly placed to gather information on their enemies abroad.

Originally of Persian origin and part of the former satrapy of Cappadocia, Pontus became a client state under Antigonus in 333 BC, after Alexander swept Darius' empire away. Essentially, Pontus is now a collection of Greek colonies, ruled by a re-emergent Persian dynasty. In 302 BC, under Mithridates Ktistes (‘The Founder’), it split from the Macedonian empire during the turmoil of the Wars of the Successors. Having successfully repulsed an invasion by Ptolemy of Egypt, Pontus is now poised to expand across Asia Minor, on into mainland Greece and beyond.

A progressive kingdom, Pontus enjoys healthy diplomatic dialogue with Greek states and successor kingdoms, and is noted for its resolution in battle, particularly against barbarian forces. However, the forsaking of its Persian origins means that eastern cultural influences within its provinces yield diminished public order benefits.

Pontus3.jpg

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Και το καλύτερο.

Pontus will be available day one through a free content update to the core Total War: ROME II game.

Και το κάλλιστο.

We might do more after release, too... they might also be free. Free-LC: it just became a thing.
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kezm Newbie

kezm

Δεν βλέπω Σελευκίδες καρδιά μου. :rofl:

Μακάρι να τους έβαζαν, αλλά είπαμε προτιμάμε να βάζουμε Εγγλέζους και Γερμανούς... τρομεροί πολιτισμοί... λάσπες στην μούρη... κοκ:rant:

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vic Rookie

vic

First post for a while and I want to take this opportunity to talk about the changes we have made to the combat system and tweaks we have made to the morale system as well.

Combat changes

There have been big changes to the combat system for Rome II. I will talk about these changes in the context of some new stats: weapon damage and health.

Weapon damage is split into two parts, base damage and armour piercing damage (referred to as AP damage from here on out). AP damage is always applied but base damage can be blocked by armour. Melee weapons and projectiles have this damage split. Health is the amount of hit points a soldier in a unit has, and damage dealt reduces a soldiers hit points.

This system gives us a lot more flexibility in how we balance units. Whereas before an axe may have been set as armour piercing which would reduce target armour by half, the new system allows us to give axes lots of AP damage but little base damage so that most of their damage cannot be blocked by armour. Other weapons may have the other extreme, lots of base damage but low AP damage which would make them fantastic against units with low armour but weak against more heavily armoured opponents.

All weapons do some AP damage so you can always guarantee that no matter who is fighting who some damage will always be done, though this may be very little.

Health has been introduced as the system that damage affects, most units will have a similar amount of health (more for cavalry when mounted to show the hit points of horses) and armour will be a bigger factor in a unit’s survivability as that can block damage whereas health can only absorb so much.

Melee defence is still a factor and is matched against melee attack to determine if a unit will hit and then see if it does damage.

Shields in Rome II do not just provide a bonus to melee defence, they now can provide a bonus to both melee defence and armour when a soldier is attacked from the front or left. How much of a bonus is given to melee defence or armour is dependent on the shield a unit has in the database. So a hoplite shield will give a big bonus to armour but less to melee defence due to how it was held close to the body and could not be moved around lots, but a celtic shield will give a big bonus to melee defence showing how it was used much more actively.

Charge bonus now affects both melee attack and damage to reflect the changes made to the combat system.

All these changes allow for a lot more flexibility and more depth to be portrayed in the unit balancing and combat calculations. This system has more depth to it than any previous Total War games whilst keeping the rules simple so players can grasp what each stat means. All the complexity of the previous system has been retained with more added to it

A brief note here on ranged combat. With the way we display arcs to show the range of missile units, dynamic height based range bonuses are basically impossible to do as it is entirely dependent on who the unit is targeting. Instead we have implemented a damage bonus for ranged units firing down on enemies, and a damage reduction for ranged units firing up on enemies. This allows us to have an advantage for ranged units on high ground without massively complicated code for dynamic firing arcs with very few benefits.

The new combat rules also have one v many combat coded into them. The animations may look 1v1, but under the hood every available additional attacker is factored in and will result in a person surrounded by enemies dying a lot faster.

Morale Changes

There have been less code changes to the morale system, the big one being a smoothing mechanism to soften some of the big jumps between different morale values that can be caused by balancing. This, when combined with units being in the wavering state for longer will allow players more time to react to units in trouble and to try and boost their morale.

The morale values themselves have had a lot of changes, for example the morale penalty from being under missile fire is much greater in Rome II to emphasise the harassment nature of missile units and allow those ranged units to be less focused on just killing opponents and so offer a wider array of tactical uses. The morale effects for lost casualties and flanking have also ben tweaked to help make the cause and effect of player actions more clear in the battlefield and put more emphasis on good movement and positioning.

Unit Stat Scales

As some people noticed in the Teutoberg trailer, the stats for units are a lot bigger now. This is because we are using a wider range of stats for units in Rome II. For example in Shogun 2 morale may have gone from 4 to 15 for most units (excluding heroes). In Rome II it can go from 10 to 75.

This greater range allows us much more granularity in the bonuses we give from experience and in the campaign and also a greater range to differentiate units over.

Additionally, I should point out that the Teutoberg video certainly showed barbarian units breaking earlier and Roman units surviving longer than they will do in the final game. We tweaked this for the video so that the guy demoing it could actually get through the battle to the end without dying horribly halfway through. It can be hilarious when that happens for the fifth time in a row, but maybe not so much when we are trying to record a video to show you….

Below are images of some of the Greek shield patterns.

Bull.png

Octoups.png

Gorgon_2.png

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