Current plan is:
1.1 on Tuesday, June 25th
Blood DLC on Thursday, a June 27th
Workshop opens up on Thursday, July 4th
Also a nice trailer
Wow. Great week for the game coming up.
Current plan is:
1.1 on Tuesday, June 25th
Blood DLC on Thursday, a June 27th
Workshop opens up on Thursday, July 4th
Also a nice trailer
- Blood scaler: increase or decrease the level of gore to your tastes
Highlights
This update addresses a number of areas, many of which have been reported by players. Some major areas of focus include:
- Stability (reduced crashes)
- Many battle AI fixes and behavioural improvements
- Further tweaks to vassalisation rules in order to reduce Yuan Shao's vassal dominance
- Improved tutorialisation
- Improved UI with key tooltips added (e.g. Food breakdown)
- Babies are now more likely to be born from marriages
- UI can now be scaled up to 200% for 1440p (2k resolution)
- Mousing over settlement names no longer causes performance stutter in the campaign map
CA said the blood pack had some sort of bugs that needed a few mroe days, however they felt it wouldn't be "fair" to delay the patch (don't quote me on the exact words but that was the idea i got from CA's post)1.1 is out!
Download is 323.9 MB (English version)
The actual patch notes are gigantic.
I thought for sure this would release with the blood pack.
Personally preferred medieval, and i suspect your laptop will as well!
Why not refund? (unless you are buying the laptop pretty soon)I bought this since it was 10% off, but it turns out my laptop can't run it. Fortunately I'll be buying a new one soon-ish that hopefully can.
Anyway, since the other Total War games are on sale I figured I'd get another one to play in the meantime. Between Medieval 2 and Empire, which would you guys recommend?
Why not refund? (unless you are buying the laptop pretty soon)
Personally i prefer medieval 2. The battles are more "dynamic" and the campaign (as catholic) is a bit different. The expansion is also pretty cool.
My main problems with empire are:
The only really good thing where the empire really shines is the naval battles. Not only are they well done but are surprisingly fun and depth.
- The campaign map is horrible (colonial superpowers such as france for example have only one province...)
- The battle AI is very drab since it doesn't focus fire on your units it means you can easily win any even fight
- The battles are a bit boring with very little strategy (essentially 2 lines firing towards each other until one breaks)
Do note that medieval 2 uses an older engine where while the melee is pretty good, ranged fire is not as good as new tittles.
Both games have really bad sieges with the AI having a really hard time to attack in an effective manner as well as the siege maps being filled with pathfinding issues.
Are those the only 2 total war games you don't have?
Atilla IMO is one of the best (historical) total war.Thanks for the writeup. I guess of the two I'd go with Medieval.
Yeah, I'm planning on getting that laptop in a week or two. Steam can refund within 2 weeks of purchase, IIRC? If I know for sure that I'll have to delay buying the laptop I can get a refund then.
I have Shogun 2 and Warhammer 1. I only have like 8€ in my Steam wallet, so Medieval 2, Empire, and Napoleon are the ones I can get without having to go out to buy a Steam card. But I might consider it if, like, Attila or Rome 2 are just that good. Not really interested in Britannia and I've had my fill of Warhammer for now.
Medieval II is super awesome. It has a really wide range of time which gives it some inherent unit variety. Plus the religion mechanics and pope are top notch. I'd love for Medieval III to be a remake with those mechanics plus maybe more subfactions (Burgundy instead of just France) or having to manage the election of Holy Roman Emperor with the Electors and Prince-Bishops. It's a giant game as it is but I can see elements from later games being real nice additions to a theoretical Medieval III.
Atilla IMO is one of the best (historical) total war.
What it does well:
What it doesn't do well:
- Campaign is all about survival instead of just "painting" the map. Most mechanics heavily punish losing key provinces as well as being in the maps borders (Mediterranean provinces are usually better then most nordic/ central african provinces). It is also the only total war whose objective is *survive until year XXX)
- Huns are an really effective end game threat, usually wiping most of europe
- Campaigns are very dynamic with rebels being "true" factions; which effectively means revolts can happen and they become the "true" faction.
- Battle Ai is pretty good with flanking maneuvers and harassing with ranged firepower.
- Siege escalation (the more the siege lasts the more defenses will be damaged; the higher the city damaged the higher the morale penalty the defender gets)
- Because of the above the Siege AI is relatively good
- Cultures (specially FLC/DLC factions) are very different from the buildings bonuses to the campaign events. It is the first total war to truly introduce different mechancis to some cultures. For example huns are hordes, migratory tribes can temporally become hordes, some barbarian tribes have vanguard deployment,etc.
- There is an in depth family tree
All this said, attila is an heavier game then shogun 2 so i'm not sure if your laptop can run it.
- The UI is horrible, any non total war veteran will have a hard time learning the game
- Very difficult start - 3 giant empires at the beginning of the game, huns, the ice age, civil war,etc. there are dozen or so threats that can end your game, playing the diplomacy game is essential as well as being able to manage your provinces well.
- Brown/bleak palete (while it makes the game feel apocaliptic it also makes the game bland from high above the battlefield)
- Naval battles are very unimportant because most sea titles are controlled by mighty empires.
- Campaign heavily forces hunkering down so if you like to paint the map this game might not be what you seek
Lastly Atilla DLC are really fun! (viking DLC is the only one that is boring) From expansions where you control a roman legion as a horde as well as becoming charlemagne to culture DLCs that change the campaign quite a bit.
I have played with it a bit but don't have screenshots nor GIFs.Anyone have a chance to try out the Blood and get some screenshots or GIFs? I haven't had the chance to try it out myself yet.
Anyone have a chance to try out the Blood and get some screenshots or GIFs? I haven't had the chance to try it out myself yet.
Oh wow, this is a big change. I had no idea.For the first time in the series, they've changed the AI algorithms for higher "battle difficulty" settings. So the higher settings fight smarter instead of just getting huge stat bonuses.
Unfortunately, they get stat bonuses too. So people who play on normal get fair fights against idiotic AI and people playing on very hard get smart AI with unfair superpowered units.
So, everyone should search for a mod called no AI battle cheats (sorry, on my phone, can't remember the exact name) and use it. Then turn the battle difficulty up to very hard.
As an example of the changes, the AI will no longer waste all its ranged ammo at generals or the invulnerable "turtle formation", and seems a bit better at holding its generals back.
Thanks, been waiting for this kind of mod.For the first time in the series, they've changed the AI algorithms for higher "battle difficulty" settings. So the higher settings fight smarter instead of just getting huge stat bonuses.
Unfortunately, they get stat bonuses too. So people who play on normal get fair fights against idiotic AI and people playing on very hard get smart AI with unfair superpowered units.
So, everyone should search for a mod called no AI battle cheats (sorry, on my phone, can't remember the exact name) and use it. Then turn the battle difficulty up to very hard.
As an example of the changes, the AI will no longer waste all its ranged ammo at generals or the invulnerable "turtle formation", and seems a bit better at holding its generals back.
IMPROVED FEATURES
BUG FIXES
- We've added the ability view the family trees for all factions. This feature is accessible from the Family Tree tab, where you'll find a new menu on the right-hand side
- Use this feature to work out where to disrupt an inheritance line, check on which factions have marital bonds, or keep an eye on your adopted spy
- Please note that, as per their playstyle, Yellow Turbans don't have family trees
- Satisfaction now has more importance. Your court having an overall high or low satisfaction now results in the following faction-wide bonuses or debuffs:
- High Satisfaction overall: Lower corruption and more supplies
- Low Satisfaction overall: Slower XP gain, less military supplies, and higher corruption
- You'll find your overall satisfaction level in the top left-hand corner, underneath the court and diplomacy icons
- The gender of newborn babies is now accurately weighted to 50/50
- This should make it easier to continue family lines and to organise marriages in the mid to late game
- You can now arrange marriage for any single members of your court
- This costs 4000 gold each time and can be performed on any court members, family or not
- There will now be more historical and fewer random characters spawning into the world
- We've made some visual improvements to Sun Ren and Zheng Jian's face models
- You will no longer get an Untrustworthy penalty when protecting vassals
- AI will not retreat while in Forced March stance
- You now won't take attrition damage on the same turn as being besieged
- The AI are no longer able to attack other factions (and you) while in Forced March
- To more accurately mirror their historical counterparts, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei will no longer betray their sworn brother, Liu Bei
- Alongside this, Guan Yu will never betray anyone
- New campaign set 100 years after the Three Kingdoms period began
- Eight new playable princes with substantially different playstyles…
- Supported by unique buildings, assignments and court options
- New elite units: pummel your foe with mighty cataphracts!
- Shape your faction development with four new alignments: Wealth, Spirit, Might, and Mind
- Key public order and faction-rank changes to reflect this unique conflict
The year is 291 CE, and a generation has passed since the tumultuous events of the Three Kingdoms period began. Despite the tripartite division of power which brought the conflict to a stalemate, and the brief unification of the kingdoms under the Jin dynasty, civil war is no more than a heartbeat away.
For the Jin is a dynasty divided. Its many ruling princes are hungry for greater power, each with ambitions – and methods – of their own. Eight stand above all others… will they rally to their emperor and empress? Or carve a legacy for themselves that will echo through the ages?
The Eight Princes Chapter Pack is set 100 years after the events of Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, and features a new cast of playable factions led by the foremost princes of the Jin Dynasty. These Eight Princes offer feature substantially different campaign mechanics, focussing their playstyles in fascinating and unique ways
Other games did have similar maps and were priced higher. example empire divided for rome 2 costs 16€. Uses the base game map (through with some changes). I don't think it adds any new units (just reskins). It does have a few events but i don't think they are worth 6€ more.I imagine the DLC campaign is relatively cheap since they can just re-use the same map from the main campaign. Though I'm not particularly familiar with the 8 Princes so maybe it wasn't quite as far reaching as the Three Kingdoms conflicts.
They said that Chapter Packs would be somewhere between the scope of a full campaign pack from Rome 2 and a culture pack, and this price is between them as well. So presumably the scope is less than that of some of those? I'm not entirely sure what that means though since I never played any of them.
They've set some very high bars with the TWW DLC and even the Yellow Turban pack, so I've no real reason to think this won't be a lot of content even for $8. Putting out crazy amounts of patches and free content alongside their DLC seems to be working very well.
Up until attila most DLC were reskins, a new starting position, a hybrid roster, a new map and 1 or 2 special mechanics. This pack, from what has been anounced seems similar to packs like ceaser in gaul; So i'm suprised at CA's low price.They said that Chapter Packs would be somewhere between the scope of a full campaign pack from Rome 2 and a culture pack, and this price is between them as well. So presumably the scope is less than that of some of those? I'm not entirely sure what that means though since I never played any of them.
They've set some very high bars with the TWW DLC and even the Yellow Turban pack, so I've no real reason to think this won't be a lot of content even for $8. Putting out crazy amounts of patches and free content alongside their DLC seems to be working very well.
why are you getting my hopes up! Sima Yi is my third favorite char so now i really want a sima start!I mean, it sounds like we'll be getting eight playable characters for this, which is nice. Dunno if this will impact the main game though. Maybe the FLC will be the addition of a Sima faction for the normal gameplay?
I assume that most payed content might not always expand the base campaign. FLC (which hasn't been announced) should add more content to the base game; so there is still hope.If all of the DLCs will just be new campaigns that can't interact with the base game at all, that's kinda killing my interest in them. I was hoping you'd be able to move through eras, sort of like Crusader Kings 2, with things weighted to fall into 'historical' norms, even if not set in stone.
I'd actually be pretty interested if this was the Vortex campaign to the ME that is the base game. That is, something shorter and more focused. Sometimes I don't really want to commit to some huge mega campaign.
Cao Cao is likely just biding his time until he can betray his master, but he will wait until Yuan Shao is weak, or maybe overextended, before striking.So I've never played a Total War game but I've managed to conquer most of the northwest map by defeating Kong Rong, Huang Shao, and some of the other smaller players. However, while I was doing this, Yuan Shao was able to vassalize Cao Cao and Yuan Shao was gonna be my next target. If I attack Yuan Shao, is Cao Cao gonna end up declaring war on me? Not sure I can handle a two front war....
Cao Cao is likely just biding his time until he can betray his master, but he will wait until Yuan Shao is weak, or maybe overextended, before striking.
You'll probably have to fight both, especially if Cao Cao was recently vassalised.