In Salute of an AWESOME Series: Total War

[YOY]

OK fellow DU Gamers. If you've seen some of my posts here you can pretty much guess my favorite game to waste time with. I would like to dedicate this post to the game series I love with all my little heart. The TOTAL WAR series. I may be a peacenik but I loves some massive scale axe-on-skull, bolt-through-armor, lance-charge-into-peasant action! (Take that Jack Thompson!)

Shogun: Total War (Plus Mongol Invasion)
Medieval: Total War (Plus Viking Invasion)
Rome: Total War (Plus Barbarian Invasion)
Medieval II: Total War: (Plus Kingdoms)
Empire: Total War...not here yet but just you wait! Can you say "Naval Battles" in the time of colonization/revolution? I can! I can't wait to blast Le Bastille as I roll over my enemies!


1/2 Turn-based: The grand map that allows you to alter thing on a yearly or semi-yearly basis? You train and build and manage cities and empires. Move armies, holy men, assassins, princesses, etc... all about in a somewhat logical sense.


I could compare it to Europa Universalis but that's a class of it's own. It's like Risk meets civilization and then some. It could be a game in and of itself but the designers didn't stop there. You manage your Royal family, train merchants, take missions, build special guilds.

Real world events effect tech availability and such events as the (in MWII) Western discovery of gunpowder, the black plague, outside invasion forces (Mongols & the armies pf Timur the Lame) come at times close to their real time dates. Other events such as a papal election or a crusade are also interestingly added and give a special element to game play.


1/2 Real Time: Setting up and knocking down armies is a blast. Taking bridges and toasting castles is a blast. Defending castles, mountain passes, and open desert plains is a blast. I have yet to play the battle where I detest an illogical setup. The first battle when a player is severely outnumbered and outgunned when they come out victorious gives a glorious feeling of acomplishment.



The Total War somewhat trounces RTSs on the "realism" scale. Lets face it, although it makes for a great game to build a castle and have it start pumping out units in most RTSs, in "real time" it takes more than a minute to train a unit of swordsmen. It takes months or years to get a bunch of men up to snuff and upkeep is a constant thing. Comparing it to RTSs isn't fair. This series is in a class of it's own and is only getting better.

Five out of Five Enraged Former Peace Corps Volunteer Stars!

Fellow DUer Gamers what's your take on the series?

[teamster633]

1. I missed Shogun and Viking Invasion but have played all the others.

I've been thinking about starting up the Teutonic Knights campaign in Kingdoms while we wait for Empire. The Crusades and Britannia were fun, but I'm not really interested in The Americas campaign. Medieval II and Rome were my favorites. I probably would have enjoyed Barbarian Invasion equally well, but I made the mistake of attacking the Western Empire first and they bled me for most of the game. I didn't really lose that one, but if I'd kept playing, I don't think I could have beat it either. History suggested the West should have been the weaker target, but I should have gone after Constantinople first.

[YOY]

4. Right now I'm taking the HRE to it's maximum capabilities

They have kind of a vanilla army (like France and England minus the longbowmen) in the beginning but when they knights and zweihanders come...it get fun.

[Ignis]

2. I'm an EU2 junkie, and I found Total War: Rome to be...

A great game, but a bit heavier on the battles and lighter on the building/politics than I was hoping. I did enjoy the battles, but they seemed to take up much of the game. Perhaps I was doing something wrong--or perhaps TW:R is really more of a combat game than I'm used to.

I really liked the spying/questing/adventuring part of the game, though. Everyone should pick up a copy from the era they prefer and give it a try. :)

[YOY]

3. Try Medieval 2 if you haven't yet. It has a lot more focus on religion and trade

The guilds add a special flair to your building. Rome is great but there are far more facets to building in Medieval 2.

Although getting a master swordsmaker guild is a pain in that ass difficult.

[Ignis]

5. Ooh, that's great to hear. I'll give it a try, thanks! (nt)

[teamster633]

6. If the battles are getting a little tedious or if you just prefer to...

...concentrate on other aspects of the game, you can just auto-resolve them. In my most recent campaign, Britannia from the Kingdoms add-on, I rarely played the battles out.

[YOY]

7. Sacrilege!

Unless it's a massecre...even they are fun to play.

Of course when you beat an Army 2 to 4 times your size...that's only done in regular battle. Auto resolve will lose it for you 99 out of 100 times.