Total War: Attila

[Gelston]

Was announced. Can't wait to crush the Huns and create a reinvigorated Roman Empire.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl8Y_Cu6OQY

[Androidpk]

Lameballs. Total Warhammer 40k is the game that needs to be made.

[Gelston]

Lameballs. Total Warhammer 40k is the game that needs to be made.

Not happening. It'd be shitty on the warscape engine anyways.

[Androidpk]

Not likely to happen but it NEEDS to happen. Dawn of War is neat but doesn't quite do it justice.

[Taernath]

Mite be cool. Looks more like a standalone Rome 2 expansion though, so it will take more to get me excited. CA really needs to balance horse archers in this one.


Not likely to happen but it NEEDS to happen. Dawn of War is neat but doesn't quite do it justice.

DoW2 is the closest to the Tabletop Experience™ that we'll ever get, because GW will never allow anything that has the possibility of eating into tabletop profits.

[Thondalar]

Lameballs. Total Warhammer 40k is the game that needs to be made.

What needs to be made is Mechwarrior 6.

[Gelston]

It is a standalone the same way FotS was. It has a LOT of changes, including a family tree.

[Androidpk]

What needs to be made is Mechwarrior 6.

I would disagree but only because I've never played that game.

[Gelston]

I would disagree but only because I've never played that game.

That makes you a wannabe.

[Androidpk]

That makes you a wannabe.

Wannabe what?

[Gelston]

Wannabe what?

Gamer.

[Androidpk]

Gamer.

Pssh, I have 30 years of gaming under my belt. My nickname growing up (and also tech school) was videogame master.

[Taernath]

It is a standalone the same way FotS was. It has a LOT of changes, including a family tree.

Where does it say it's standalone? It looks like it's being marketed as a full game, like Napoleon was to Empire.

[Gelston]

Pssh, I have 30 years of gaming under my belt. My nickname growing up (and also tech school) was videogame master.

30 years? Can you even remember 30 years ago? Regardless, if you don't know what Mechwarrior is, you have no cred.

[Gelston]

Where does it say it's standalone? It looks like it's being marketed as a full game, like Napoleon was to Empire.

CA called it a standalone. Scuttlebutt is that it'll use the same launcher as Rome 2, as the standalone FotS did with Shogun 2.

[Taernath]

CA called it a standalone.

If it's priced as a standalone (say, $30), my Excitometer would go up a bit.

[Gelston]

If it's priced as a standalone (say, $30), my Excitometer would go up a bit.

I think it'll be 30. Falls in line with what they did with the last game.

[Androidpk]

30 years? Can you even remember 30 years ago? Regardless, if you don't know what Mechwarrior is, you have no cred.

I remember a few things from when I was 4. Being taken on space mountain and being terrified. Thanks mom and dad. I also remember playing the shit out of Atari and some cassette tape based computer. And I know what mechwarrior is, I just don't care for the mech style and never bothered with it. Besides, cred is for posers. I want skill. Top 20 in the world for DMRs in Battlefield 4! Or at least I was, when I was playing.

[Gelston]

The videos I saw for live play... this is what Rome 2 should have been... Even though Rome 2 is in an amazing state now.

[Gelston]

I remember a few things from when I was 4. Being taken on space mountain and being terrified. Thanks mom and dad. I also remember playing the shit out of Atari and some cassette tape based computer. And I know what mechwarrior is, I just don't care for the mech style and never bothered with it. Besides, cred is for posers. I want skill. Top 20 in the world for DMRs in Battlefield 4! Or at least I was, when I was playing.

Such a n00b.

[Taernath]

Top 20 in the world for DMRs in Battlefield 4! Or at least I was, when I was playing.

PSSH PSH PSH PSHH PSHH PSH


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hw0AgHjkC8

[Gelston]

Battle Tech > Space Marines

[Gelston]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXrXJSDCQ6Y

Game is being released on 17 Feb. Family tree, enhanced army management, and tons of other stuff added. Basically all the stuff people bitched about Rome 2 not having and/or wishing it had. It looks awesome.

[Androidpk]

Battle Tech > Space Marines


Heretic!

[Gelston]

Bunch of videos out on this game now. It has been confirmed that you'll be able to play as the Huns too. Hooray.

[Taernath]

I've been reading/watching up on some of the new features they're planning on adding, and it's looking better and better.

[Gelston]

Interesting, Huns won't be able to capture settlements and will always be fully nomadic. You'll basically just see them riding around and destroying everything.

[Taernath]

Interesting, Huns won't be able to capture settlements and will always be fully nomadic. You'll basically just see them riding around and destroying everything.

Wasn't there another group that did something similar in a previous Total War title?

[Androidpk]

Wasn't there another group that did something similar in a previous Total War title?

Yeah, Tyranids.

[Gelston]

Wasn't there another group that did something similar in a previous Total War title?

All I can think of is in Shogun 1, I think Mongols. I've never seen it before where you can't hold settlements though. The Horde Mechanic isn't brand new, but I've only seen it used in Barbarian Invasion for Rome 1.

[Gelston]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5ihy9aY0UM

The final horse trailer is released now. 12 more days.

[Gelston]

My current plan is to play as the Western Roman Empire first. I plan to create strong points in Britain (I'll probably copy the Royal Navy of many years later and attempt to make a wall of ships to prevent any invasions), Spain, and Italy and thereby keeping North Africa safe. I'll have a scorched earth policy with France... As barbarian tribes close in on a city, I'll raze it to the ground and leave them nothing. After I consolidate a bit and rebuild the ailing Roman economy and military forces, I'll push back out and retake what is mine. And kill the shit out of Attila. And then later reunite the Roman Empire... Which pretty much means going to war with the Eastern Roman Empire.

[Taernath]

http://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-attila-review/

score of 83

[Gelston]

English
PC Gamer 83/100
Gamewatcher 8/10
Gamereactor 8/10
PC World 4.5/5
IGN 8.1/10
Digital.Spy 4/5
Gamespot 7/10
Polygon 8/10
GamingBolt 8/10
Attackofthefanboy 4/5
GamesRadar 4/5

German
Gamestar 87/100
Gameswelt 8.5/10
Games.ch 91/100
Gamona 85%
Gamesglobal - 8.5/10
IGN 8/10

French
Jeuxvideo.com 15/20

Italian
Multiplayer.it 9/10
Gamesvillage.it 9.2/10
Gamesurf.it 9.1/10
IGN Italy 9.1/10
SpazioGames 8/10
EveryEye 8.7/10
videogame.it 5/5
Eurogamer.it 7/10

Spanish
HobbyConsolas 93/100
Meristation 9/101
3Djeugos 8/10
Vadejuegos 4/5
ZonaRed 7.8/10

Dutch
Gameliner.nl 4.5/5

Czech
Games.cz 8/10
Eurogamer.cz Recommanded

Poland
Gry-Online 80/10
PC Lab 90/100

[Androidpk]

How dare those French!

[Gelston]

Yeah. I don't know who the fuck uses a scale of up to 20 anyways.

[Taernath]

It's twice as precise as a scale of 1-10!

[Androidpk]

Famitsu uses a scale of 40.

[JackWhisper]

The scale to 11 > all.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o

[Gelston]

This game is fucking amazing. Rome 2, even after Emperor Edition, feels so ancient compared to this.

I... Don't think I'll be playing Rome II again.

[Gelston]

http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/32986178942359061/FE2CB77CB2C20AA40EB665BAB0F6C781F14EA94C/

My beautiful Ostrogoth army.

Probably about to get trounced. Full Western Roman Legion and a full Illyrian Army attacking me. The Illyrians haven't come into the battle yet, so the bar still looks a little even.

[Androidpk]

Ostrogoths?? You heathen.

[Gelston]

Ostrogoths?? You heathen.

Except they are Christians. Look at the Christian symbols on the shields.

[Androidpk]

Except they are Christians. Look at the Christian symbols on the shields.

Exactly!

[Gelston]

Looks like someone doesn't know the definition of heathen!

[Androidpk]

Looks like someone doesn't know the definition of heathen!

Yeah, anyone that doesn't worship the Emperor!

[Gelston]

So I won and get a sweet achievement: "Ride the Dragon's Breath".

I had to hammer and anvil the shit out of those dudes though. Cavalry superiority ftw.

[Taernath]

Dose scorpions and crossbows tho

[Kalishar]

I just played Rome 2 over the weekend when it was free on Steam. Man I sucked so bad at it, kinda humbling.

[Gelston]

Dose scorpions and crossbows tho

Didn't have any scorpions. Just crossbows. Crossbows are fucking awesome, btw.

Still, I wound up being outnumbered 3 to 1. The AI is retarded though and put everything at my center, when it should have kept a longer battle line and enveloped me. I'd have been a bit fucked then.

[Fallen]

http://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-attila-on-extreme-settings-is-designed-for-future-gpus/

What kinda rig do you have, Gel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tWRkvbWXnw

It isn't impressive until they zoom into the water. Then it looks amazing.

[Taernath]

I suspect they mean single card setups. My SLI 970's are handling max unit custom battles and the world map fine. The water is a little too blue though.

[Fallen]

I suspect they mean single card setups. My SLI 970's are handling max unit custom battles and the world map fine. The water is a little too blue though.

An ENB should fix that.

[Gelston]

http://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-attila-on-extreme-settings-is-designed-for-future-gpus/

What kinda rig do you have, Gel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tWRkvbWXnw

It isn't impressive until they zoom into the water. Then it looks amazing.

I got this about 2 or 3 years ago http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5653786

I run it at quality just fine, I run Rome 2 at extreme, but they upped the meanings of the settings for this one. So, high in this one = extreme in Rome 2. It still looks better than Rome 2 to me.. And I don't know.. It just seems to bee smoother all around.

[Gelston]

Playing as the Jutes. Fucking Viking Raid on Ireland.

http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/32986277518511624/B224067AE0761380DBDDEFB622EE5F1B8837BCB5/

http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/32986277518512017/7C6BD8E47810573499053345E9EAB75D57041ADD/

[Androidpk]

I'll fuckimg cut you for invading Ireland.

[Taernath]

The pathing is super awkward in capital siege battles. Once my initial guys got over the walls with their ladders, nobody else seemed able to use them for that purpose and kept trying to run their way in through the front gate. I was also really surprised by how effective enemy archers were - they managed to burn one of my ladders before it reached the wall, something that has literally never happened before in Rome 2.

[Gelston]

The pathing is super awkward in capital siege battles. Once my initial guys got over the walls with their ladders, nobody else seemed able to use them for that purpose and kept trying to run their way in through the front gate. I was also really surprised by how effective enemy archers were - they managed to burn one of my ladders before it reached the wall, something that has literally never happened before in Rome 2.

Yeah, sometimes it is better to wait the extra turns for escalation to put holes in walls.

[Androidpk]

Why arent you conquering the Mongols?

[Gelston]

Why arent you conquering the Mongols?

Because this game takes place over 700 years before Genghis was even born and it doesn't stretch to Mongolia. Huns are basically an ancient Mongol horde anyways, as far as fighting tactics.

[Androidpk]

Because this game takes place over 700 years before Genghis was even born and it doesn't stretch to Mongolia. Huns are basically an ancient Mongol horde anyways, as far as fighting tactics.

Why aren't you conquering the Huns!?

[Gelston]

Why aren't you conquering the Huns!?

If they come to Northern Europe I will.

[Androidpk]

If they come to Northern Europe I will.

Weak. You think the Imperium would wait for Horus to come to Terra?

[Gelston]

Weak. You think the Imperium would wait for Horus to come to Terra?

They sorta did.

[Androidpk]

They sorta did.

Not before Isstvan V and multiple assassination attempts.

[Gelston]

Not before Isstvan V and multiple assassination attempts.

The end result was still the same. Either way, I'm the vikings. I'm not going to go walk into Asia looking for the Huns. If they come to Northern Europe, I'll be more than happy to kill them all.

[Taernath]

Moooooooom! Total War's doing it again! The AI doesn't want to form trade agreements!

[Gelston]

Moooooooom! Total War's doing it again! The AI doesn't want to form trade agreements!

Fuck trade, we raid mothafuckas

(Excerpt from I'm on a dragonship, bitch)

[Taernath]

Fuck trade, we raid mothafuckas

(Excerpt from I'm on a dragonship, bitch)

You expanding past your initial starting area or just sacking your neighbors? I'm playing as the Geats so I don't get a sweet sacking bonus but I kinda want to just pillage.

[Gelston]

You expanding past your initial starting area or just sacking your neighbors? I'm playing as the Geats so I don't get a sweet sacking bonus but I kinda want to just pillage.

I conquered Britain and Ireland. Since that I've just been raiding everyone. Probably going to conquer a province over in southern Spain so I can operate into the Med easier. Probably Sicily too.

[Gelston]

When you take out the enemy general the battle is just over. Two stacks hit me in Britain from Ireland, from the sea. I only had like 700 garrison troops, but two were archer ships. I sank both generals ships in a matter of seconds and when the Army did land they routed on first melee contact.

I did get the Against all odds achievement for it though. Win a campaign battle where you are outnumber 10 to 1.

Oh, and I'm playing as the Western Roman Empire now. Just declared war on the Eastern Roman Empire and these other assholes start attacking me. No worries, I have a full legion within marching distance to fuck them up.

[Fallen]

Are you save scumming, Gel, or just accepting all situations as they play out?

[Gelston]

Are you save scumming, Gel, or just accepting all situations as they play out?

I only save when I quit the game for the night or whatever. If I lose a settlement battle, I'll just march a legion over there and retake it. I always fight them though, because I can generally do better than the autocalc, and I want to thin their numbers as much as possible to make an easier time for my actual army. I didn't expect to win that last one, I just wanted to make it as painful as possible for the enemy.

[Gelston]

Oh, and I've overrun Greece and am barking at Constantinople now. I'm also pushing in Egypt from my provinces in West Africa.

[Fallen]

Are you playing at a high difficulty, or are there no such settings?

[Gelston]

Are you playing at a high difficulty, or are there no such settings?

I'm playing at normal, since WRE is a legendary difficulty start already. Once I've gotten more used to the game I may go up, but in Total War, all difficulty does is give bonuses to the AI (like more money) and handicaps to the player. Or the other way around if you go easy. Normal is no bonuses or handicaps to anyone.

Basically, difficulty levels don't make the AI dumber or smarter.

[Fallen]

Sounds like the difficulty could have been better if they separated out each component.

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/11880-Difficulty-explanation

A slider for AI intelligence, aggressiveness, and for player/AI bonus penalties.

That way they could be more aggressive without getting stupid bonuses or you stupid penalties.

Also, hardcore mode should have been off on its own, like ironman on Xcom.

Just my opinion. Does sound like a fun game though.

[Gelston]

Sounds like the difficulty could have been better if they separated out each component.

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/11880-Difficulty-explanation

A slider for AI intelligence, aggressiveness, and for player/AI bonus penalties.

That way they could be more aggressive without getting stupid bonuses or you stupid penalties.

Also, hardcore mode should have been off on its own, like ironman on Xcom.

Just my opinion. Does sound like a fun game though.

Meh, he isn't really correct on those. The only way it effects AI aggressiveness is by messing with diplomacy negatives. If you are at war with someone though, they are going to be targeting you. As the WRE, you already start with everyone except the ERE hating you though. And you get NO bonuses for normal.

Although he is talking about Shogun 2, a game from 4 or so years ago.

[Fallen]

Fair enough. I had trouble finding an official explanation of the difficulty levels.

[Taernath]

One of my enemies keeps forming a horde and running off whenever I get close to their army. Pretty annoying.

[Gelston]

One of my enemies keeps forming a horde and running off whenever I get close to their army. Pretty annoying.

Seems like a legit tactic though.

[Taernath]

Seems like a legit tactic though.

Nah, it's a bullshit tactic. The AI did the same thing in Rome 2, where they'd go into forced march and the only way to catch them was to go into forced march yourself, but of course you can't attack in the stance. Here there's a horde that can apparently embark/disembark with no movement cost penalty so they just sit off the coast in their ships. Of course it's that faction's last army, who are half dead anyway.

[Gelston]

Nah, it's a bullshit tactic. The AI did the same thing in Rome 2, where they'd go into forced march and the only way to catch them was to go into forced march yourself, but of course you can't attack in the stance. Here there's a horde that can apparently embark/disembark with no movement cost penalty so they just sit off the coast in their ships. Of course it's that faction's last army, who are half dead anyway.

I mean as in, it seems like something a group of people would do. Nomadic and running and stuff.

[Androidpk]

They aren't running away, they're tactically retreating.

[Gelston]

http://cloud-2.steamusercontent.com/ugc/32986361083076966/6CB53A707EAAC608D053A10BE94C33C635663405/

Almost have the Empire reunited.

[Androidpk]

http://cloud-2.steamusercontent.com/ugc/32986361083076966/6CB53A707EAAC608D053A10BE94C33C635663405/

Almost have the Empire reunited.

Have you heard about Rome Sweet Rome?

[Taernath]

I'm still messing around in Scandza. Playing a pre-fab empire is intimidating.

[Gelston]

I'm still messing around in Scandza. Playing a pre-fab empire is intimidating.

It is actually a lot easier than people are making it out to be. All these dudes are like, razing their own territory and crap, which is a bad idea.

I just disbanded all but 4 of my legions, put two each in Italy and Spain, and concentrated purely on those provinces. Eventually I was able to get peace with the barbarian hordes you start off at war with, except the Suebi. I went ahead and wiped them out. I didn't really lose any provinces though, the AI was content with sacking. Anyways, I slowly built from Spain and Italy and begin upgrading ever further out. Eventually getting my 4 legions up to full strength and then reinstating others. Nobody can really touch me now.

Oh, something else that was vital, making sure my Emperor Honorius was a general and won battles. If you don't keep your emperor's influence high, people get disloyal tendencies.

[Taernath]

The DLC that's been released so far has been pretty good, except for maybe the blood DLC. The new factions each come with some fairly unique units and a 'storyline' if you want to call it that.

I took over Britannia as the Ebdanians. :thumbup:

[Gelston]

The DLC that's been released so far has been pretty good, except for maybe the blood DLC. The new factions each come with some fairly unique units and a 'storyline' if you want to call it that.

I took over Britannia as the Ebdanians. :thumbup:

The storyline things are neat. I imagine it is mostly so they can test it it for further development for the upcoming Warhammer title.

[Thondalar]

So, I finally got around to picking this up, and I went ahead and got the Viking Forefathers DLC because Vikings...might pick up the Celts one eventually, but fuck the Blood pack...not gonna pay 10 bucks for some extra graphics I don't even care about. Troops with plaque puke when standing around? Yay.

Anyway...started as the Jutes because I liked their opening position. First move was to take out the other two viking factions and "unite the peoples". After that, growth slowed pretty heavily...the main difficulty I found with playing this faction was food production, especially after the second and third "chapter" when climate change turns the fertility of all of your provinces to zero. About this same time, the Huns decided the whole area to the south and east brimming with wealth and food was somehow inferior to the frozen northwest and decided to attack my neighbors...I was ok with this at first, until I realized that without some sort of support I probably wouldn't be able to take them out on my own. I formed a few quick defensive pacts with the Langobards, Gauls, Rugians, etc, most of which weren't happy about it and took some convincing, but we finally got together against the greater enemy.

Somewhere along the way through all of this I managed to take the entire British Isles with one army. Initially it was going to just be a few raids along the coast to boost my coffers, I figured I'd go back and "empire" it after the Huns were dealt with, but...I started in the north and moved south, nixing taxes in the regions and making sure my first move after rebuilding was to change the religion buildings to Germanic paganism. It went a lot easier than I expected, and I eventually moved my main army (now pretty much full of one or two silver chevrons of XP) back to the mainland and left the governor of Londinium with about 10 units of skirmishers just to be on the safe side.

I was a bit disappointed to find out I had to kill Attila three times before he actually died, but I was finally able to defeat him...there are still three roving Hun armies in the area but they seem unwilling to initiate combat. I have a full military Alliance with the Langobards who have 2 regions in the middle of my controlled area, but everyone else is pretty much destroyed. Gaul is down to one province, the Rugians and others in that region are all gone. My northeastern flank, heading in to the area of present-day Russia, is all devastation thanks to the Huns...I control all of the northwest now, including the British Isles, and most of what is present-day France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg, etc etc. The western roman empire has broken up into three pieces, western roman empire, roman separatists, and western roman separatists...

Not really sure where to go from here. I have trade agreements with most of the roman empire...on the one hand, I'm thinking about just taking 20 turns or so to "empire build" before expanding any further. On the other hand, most of the regions I control are now in almost perma-frost, and only millions of goats are keeping my people from starving.

One thing I do love about the vikings though, and something that has given me a lot of heroic victories...berserkers. They are light infantry, and in a head-first battle with experienced heavy or even medium units they get cut down.

The tactical beauty of them comes from their "rapid advance" and "frenzy" special abilities, coupled with their scare (everyone) unit quality. I make sure to have 4 units of them in every army I make just because...let me tell you...I've played the Total War series since day 1. I have never...and I mean NEVER, in any iteration, seen an enemy unit break so quickly as when having frenzied, berserking Norsemen hit them from behind.

Engage with spearmen, use the "rapid advance" ability to swing the berserkers around the backside, charge them in and hit the "frenzy" ability about 2 seconds after they make contact...enemy breaks almost immediately, even stout/fearless/morale bonus units.

edit: even more so than bringing cavalry in, and it seems to affect adjacent units as well

[JackWhisper]

So, I finally got around to picking this up, and I went ahead and got the Viking Forefathers DLC because Vikings...

So what you're saying is I could make bank off a Viking game. Sweet. Now to start designing!

[Thondalar]

I'm having an issue now with other religions popping up in my home regions, areas that I have several Germanic Paganism buildings and that are completely removed from any other influence, well behind my lines. I kinda wish it would show you where the influences are coming from so you could deal with them...

[Thondalar]

Another issue that is really annoying....when I look at a lot of regions, I have a negative public order penalty for "characters".

I assumed this would be due to negative traits of governors, but this is in regions that don't have a governor. When I hover my mouse over the negative it says "the presence of this man..."

WHAT MAN? Who the fuck is it? I'm fully willing to assassinate that motherfucker, tell me who it is!

[Thondalar]

WTF where is Gelston. I need some protips here.

Temporarily gave up on my Jute campaign and started a new Sassid or Sanassid or whatever the fuck them eastern people are called. Kinda feels like cheating after the Jute start, these dudes come out the gates with pretty much no local enemies and trade agreements all over the place.

It isn't that my Jute campaign fell apart, or that I'm in an irrecoverable position or anything, I'm just getting a lot of negatives on my province screen and I have no idea where they're coming from. I fully understand the 1-2=negative, but it isn't telling me where I'm getting the negatives from, and as far as I can tell all my settlement buildings are in balance. If I could figure out who the fuck "characters" are, I'd be alright.

[Taernath]

Might be enemy characters, like priests, hanging around converting your people. There are also conversion factors from the presence of armies, so if there's a horde they could be doing it. If you're far enough along I think there are public order penalties from the ice age.

Sassanids have a pretty easy start from what I hear. They don't get hit as hard with the famine stick, but they do have to deal with the Huns earlier than most.

Right now I'm doing an Ebdani playthrough and most of Europe is a wasteland, either razed, abandoned or with skeleton crews of Western Roman Separatists.

[Thondalar]

Might be enemy characters, like priests, hanging around converting your people. There are also conversion factors from the presence of armies, so if there's a horde they could be doing it. If you're far enough along I think there are public order penalties from the ice age.

Sassanids have a pretty easy start from what I hear. They don't get hit as hard with the famine stick, but they do have to deal with the Huns earlier than most.

Right now I'm doing an Ebdani playthrough and most of Europe is a wasteland, either razed, abandoned or with skeleton crews of Western Roman Separatists.

This is why I'm really confused. There are no enemy or otherwise characters in the area, I moved all three of my 10-star spies there to scope things out, not seen a single anything. I also have priests of my own in these regions. The "ice age penalties" manifest in the form of reduced fertility, and that is calculated separately.

I'm not sure if it is set up for the Huns to always attack whichever faction the player is playing, but even in the frigid north they showed up almost immediately after the announcement of Attila's coming to power. Like within 4 turns. Its a pretty broad area to cover, I can't imagine them being able to hit the Sassanids and then moving all the way west that quickly.

The wasteland scenario is pretty much where I'm at now with my Jute campaign...there are a few regions in the Iberian peninsula still intact, but everything east of that is devastation with one or two towns scattered around.

[Taernath]

Can you identify the characters as belonging to your faction? Sometimes some random dude will get a bad factionwide trait. And what I meant by 'ice age penalty' was that reduced food in a province also lowers happiness.

As far as the religious influence, maybe your neighbors just have a higher-tier religion building next to your territory, causing their stuff to leak over?

[Gelston]

It is the cold penalties providing causing less food production and therefore lowering your happiness. With the Jutes you either want to take over the entire province you start in or leave it and go south. After you take it, then conquer a few provinces to the south and you should be alright. If you were just trying to be viking raiders and stay in your one region, well, that is fun and all, but you just can't keep it up.

Sassies are the easiest campaign, yeah. My second campaign was WRE, and it was so fun. Then I moved to the Sassies, and it was just so easy. I facerolled to victory with them.

[Taernath]

Sassies

Stop that right now.

[Gelston]

This is why I'm really confused. There are no enemy or otherwise characters in the area, I moved all three of my 10-star spies there to scope things out, not seen a single anything. I also have priests of my own in these regions. The "ice age penalties" manifest in the form of reduced fertility, and that is calculated separately.

I'm not sure if it is set up for the Huns to always attack whichever faction the player is playing, but even in the frigid north they showed up almost immediately after the announcement of Attila's coming to power. Like within 4 turns. Its a pretty broad area to cover, I can't imagine them being able to hit the Sassanids and then moving all the way west that quickly.

The wasteland scenario is pretty much where I'm at now with my Jute campaign...there are a few regions in the Iberian peninsula still intact, but everything east of that is devastation with one or two towns scattered around.

When Attila comes to power, the Huns get constantly spawning stacks so they are all over the map. You have to kill Attila like 3 times to really kill him. then the stacks stop spawning and you can go hunt them down. It is this games version of realm divide/civil war.

[Gelston]

Stop that right now.

That is what I call them bitches! :D

[Taernath]

I'm hoping the ice age famine will be reduced in a patch or through workshop support. The way it is right now is really br00t4l. At the end everything is infertile except for a handful of south provinces.

[Gelston]

I'm hoping the ice age famine will be reduced in a patch or through workshop support. The way it is right now is really br00t4l. At the end everything is infertile except for a handful of south provinces.

There are mods that totally wipe out its effects.

[Gelston]

Here is one that takes out fertility changes from climate change.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?681387-fertility-change-from-climate-removed

[Thondalar]

It is the cold penalties providing causing less food production and therefore lowering your happiness. With the Jutes you either want to take over the entire province you start in or leave it and go south. After you take it, then conquer a few provinces to the south and you should be alright. If you were just trying to be viking raiders and stay in your one region, well, that is fun and all, but you just can't keep it up.

Sassies are the easiest campaign, yeah. My second campaign was WRE, and it was so fun. Then I moved to the Sassies, and it was just so easy. I facerolled to victory with them.

I'm speaking specifically of the negative next to the word "characters" when I look at the province statistics.

I took over the entire "viking" region as my first move, took over the entire British Isles as my next move, and have now taken over most of modern-day Europe and moving into the Iberian peninsula.


As far as the religious influence, maybe your neighbors just have a higher-tier religion building next to your territory, causing their stuff to leak over?

It is happening in my home provinces that have no neighbors other than my other provinces. I have rank 4 religious buildings in all of them, and priests deployed converting.

[Gelston]

Playing as Picts, this is just fucking straight cheap. All you need is one full stack and make sure you are always attacking and no one can do jack to you, since you always have the option to night attack. I hit one Roman town in Gaul, it had 3 legions, two full and one was half, I just killed all three of them separately via night attacks and then to the town.

[Gelston]

So, decided to do a Hun campaign. I'm running around razing everything in the Steppes, when I notice one of the borders changes from black to red. The AI colonized a desolate land. Never saw that before. Of course, I then attacked it immediately and razed it again, making it easy since the army was at half strength from colonization. Heh, it was their king too.

[Taernath]

As the WRE, if you can survive long enough the invading barbarian tribes will eventually start offering peace treaties. If you accept, they pack up their cities and come crash on your couch and start raiding your lands, so as soon as they move in I surround them with my legions and wipe them out. Everyone hates me anyway, so why not?

I think I've killed all the Celtic, Norse, Migrators, and 4/5 of the Barbarian Kingdoms this way. The Burgundians, the gem guys, haven't really bothered me that much.

[Gelston]

As the WRE, if you can survive long enough the invading barbarian tribes will eventually start offering peace treaties. If you accept, they pack up their cities and come crash on your couch and start raiding your lands, so as soon as they move in I surround them with my legions and wipe them out. Everyone hates me anyway, so why not?

I think I've killed all the Celtic, Norse, Migrators, and 4/5 of the Barbarian Kingdoms this way. The Burgundians, the gem guys, haven't really bothered me that much.

I had a campaign where I wrecked all these dudes in the West, and then Attila became king of the Huns... And then Attila died.. And then the Huns all died. Oh yeah, I never saw the Huns.

[Gelston]

Was playing a game as the Franks, kicked the Saxons out of mainland Europe, they sailed to Britain, booted out the Romano-British who sailed to and conquered modern day Denmark. I now have a border with the British.

[Gelston]

There is a Total War weekend this weekend. Every title is available for free to play until Monday.

[Taernath]

It's to promote the DLC that recently got released. I dunno if I'll pick it up yet.

[Gelston]

It's to promote the DLC that recently got released. I dunno if I'll pick it up yet.

No it isn't. It is to promote 15 years of CA. The DLC isn't part of the deal, just the main games.

[Gelston]

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/447329487738880462/2CE172FFDF48EEA90084E1E47D765097FDF1E72C/

Look at that bad ass army. Got The Last Roman. This is my army led by Flavius Belisarius. I have declared independence and founded the Kingdom of Rome.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/447329487738879920/D1687A81FBC11BD8C4F04104A877289C8CC9F82A/

that was ONE hit from an explosive round from a large onagar. It ripped that unit to shreds.

It is so dark like that because a super volcano went off, and the world is covered in ash.

[Taernath]

How are crossbows anyway? I never really use them, it seems like a slightly more powerful/slow bow that can't arc. If I wanted that I'd just stick with javelins.

[Gelston]

How are crossbows anyway? I never really use them, it seems like a slightly more powerful/slow bow that can't arc. If I wanted that I'd just stick with javelins.

They can arc and they wreck cavalry. Notice I don't have any spearmen in that army? My tagmata cavalry also wreck pretty much any other cavalry I come across as well.

The crossbow is actually what Richard the Lionheart used against Saladin's superior skirmishing cavalry forces. They'd trail his army as the marched next to the water, and when they got too close, the crossbowmen would wreck them.

[Gelston]

And as for javelins, crossbows have a lot longer range.

[Androidpk]

Exploding super volcanoes?? Cool

[Gelston]

Exploding super volcanoes?? Cool

You don't get to see it, it happens in Indonesia or something. It effected the entire world with ash though. Obviously they put it in there to test out some stuff for the upcoming Warhammer.

It changes the campaign map too, but it has a bug. The campaign map goes back to normal as it should, but all the battles stay ashy.

[Androidpk]

Does it affect gameplay?

[Gelston]

Does it affect gameplay?

No, only visuals as far as I can tell.

[Wrathbringer]

So how much of your life have you wasted on this game so far?

[Gelston]

So how much of your life have you wasted on this game so far?

Less than you've wasted being a cocksucker.

[Taernath]

They can arc and they wreck cavalry. Notice I don't have any spearmen in that army? My tagmata cavalry also wreck pretty much any other cavalry I come across as well.

The crossbow is actually what Richard the Lionheart used against Saladin's superior skirmishing cavalry forces. They'd trail his army as the marched next to the water, and when they got too close, the crossbowmen would wreck them.

Huh, you're right... I tried a custom battle just now and crossbows functioned more or less as shorter ranged archers. I swear it was different earlier.

[Gelston]

Huh, you're right... I tried a custom battle just now and crossbows functioned more or less as shorter ranged archers. I swear it was different earlier.

When your troops are in melee, if you target the line they are fighting, it will shoot straight into your guys backs. I usually turn off autofire when it gets to melee.

Crossbows also seems to have a wider field of fire. They'll shoot directly to their side without turning, which is great for those Cavs that try to flank you.

[Gelston]

Ancient Empires finally released their first public beta.

Here is my legion under Lucius Julius Caesar attacking the barbarian hordes.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/920302854103035869/35F40E7E8E7F7A5C53A1DE32D0A58740C1C8E164/