It's that time again

Anyone biting the bullet? From reading the reviews it sounds like it's better than its predecessors.

nem-x fucked around with this message on 03-15-2011 at 10:38 PM.

But they always said that

Still haven't beaten Rome.

Nah. While I'd do better at it than I did at Empire(since I can't handle gunpowder units to save my life, apparently), I just can't be arsed. And usually the Total War games are buggy as all fuck when they first come out.

Picked it up, love it so far but since my wow raiding nights are tues/weds/thurs haven't had much time with it.

I've never beaten a campaign for any of the TW games but they're always damn fun. Just so micro-managey when the empire gets big. Rome is definitely my favorite though.

Just bought it off steam and now it will take forever to download WILL REPORT LATER

I am thoroughly enjoying the EXP and levelling aspects of the game.

Your generals have ranks that they gain as they fight and win battles. Increased rank lets them earn skill points to do shit like improve their loyalty, boost infantry, learn to attack at night, etc. They also earn their retainers and you get to choose from several options that are given to you.

The exp and rank system also expands to your agents. There's metsuke (Diplomats, basically), Geishas (Assassination-only assassins), and Ninjas (Assassins + Saboteurs). Ninjas are the only one I've been using so far, and their skill tree is divided between spying, assassination, and sabotages. It's a lot of fun to send them out, too, since they have really awesome videos showing their missions. I'm certain that eventually the videos will get old, but for now I'm enjoying them. Especially the videos showing assassinations and attempts (Some of the bonuses I gave my ninja are costumes for evading capture if he fails, so I've seen quite a few fails-but-lives videos and they tend to rule).

Rome had all that built into one statistic that I had no control of and took eons to level; Levelling your agents in Shogun feels faster and more interesting since even a failure grants at least SOME exp. Take the least risky options as often as possible and pretty soon you can end up with an incredible elite ninja assassin (Or saboteur) to rape enemies with.

Khyron fucked around with this message on 03-21-2011 at 03:12 AM.

Just finished a long campaign as Shimazu.
The game relies heavily on trade for income which is kind of dumb... especially when the Shogunate decides you're too big and makes everyone attack you (even if they are currently at war with the Shogunate), which cuts off all your trade income and puts you into the negative big time. You cannot mass an army without trade.

Also to get vassals to very friendly, offer them military access to your lands, and they'll counter offer it by going to war with your enemies while demanding nothing in return? Trading with a vassal province create tons more money than just straight up owning the province for some reason. Whatevs

AI for land battles is definitely a lot better, especially when they have cavalry. Castle sieges are iffy since I've won 1000 vs 3000 matches as a defender. Some enemy units would just stand around doing nothing, which works in regular battles since the AI uses them as reserve units.. but while sieging they just stand around getting shot up by arrows.

I only used two agents for scouting so maybe I made the campaign harder than it should have been.

Finished domination campaign as Takeda. Go pure chi mastery after teching the sword building from bushido mastery. Then make lots and lots of markets and upgrade them along with farms since you'll be gobbling up food supply. I was still in the black by a few thousand after the realm divide with 6 stacks tearing shit up.

Rage quitters denying me a defense win!

So, it's good, yes?

The accents of the voice actors are borderline racist, and I love it

Video of fighting animations You actually see this stuff happening all across the front line if you zoom in during battle

They just need to fix multiplayer matchmaking since its somewhat erratic. And some pathing issues when climbing castle walls

Definitely my favorite total war to come out, although I didn't play Napoleon

I haven't played a TW game since the first Shogun, but I really might have to pick this up.

Just beat it on Legendary. People were not kidding when they said it was actually hard. Was on the final year and on an all out dash to capture provinces needed to win before time ran out. I had to declare war on an ally that was with me throughout the entire game, and he had a powerhouse of an army. Battles were getting crazy at the end

Here's the area around the capital of Kyoto before the final few years. (White/yellow Tokugawa was my ally fighting the good fight for me after the Realm divide, when all of Japan declares war on you.)

fuuuuuuuuuuu
One of the batshit insane battles, being attacked by three different factions

Won a 2v3 f yeahhhhhhh

I started a new campaign last night as shimazu and have been having such a blast. Shimazu Katana Samurai fucking own; I conquered an enemy capitol by sneaking around by sea, then when he counterattacked I was able to hold off almost double my army's strength thanks to lots of archers backed up with katana samurai.

I've never been terribly good at total war games but I still buy and play them constantly, they are so fucking fun. This one is no exception. I especially love the various in-game movies from shit like ninja actions. The ninja movies really own (though the very generic sabotage one gets old).

He has a point.

I found the solution to being moneyfucked by lack of trade : Use the foreign trade ports. I've just taken over three of them, and control almost all of the Silk, Cotton, and Incense coming in from overseas; those three make up over half my income. Everyone wants to be my friend now!