Total War

[Helm Lardar]

The Total War franchise, made by the Creative Assembly for Activision is a fantastic series of games revolving around the idea that you control an empire on a turn-based system and then fight the battles that result in real time (though you can pause).

 

I love these games, and people on Sal's have played them too (they say so in blog comments), but there's no topic here. Why not?

 

Please, share your conquests, victories, empires, kingdoms, republics, and so forth here. Also, Rome II's coming out. Yipee!

 

To start us off, here's a picture of a recent victory I won, a 1100v600 surprise ambush (I didn't have time to prepare) with Venice attacking me. Medieval II. Any game welcome.

 

Edited July 17, 2012 by Helm Lardar

[Jethraw]

I'm having issues screenshotting anything from in the game. I'll fiddle with it tomorrow so it stops capping my desktop instead of the game.

 

Basically trying to screenshot my game as the English, on one mode up from easiest ( :P ), it's the first and only time I've ever managed to take every single region on the map. The only other players who still move are the rebels and the papal states, even though there's been no pope for >200 turns, the damn inquisitors still love to kill my king.

 

Took me around 700 turns and it was the year 2300 (go figure?) by the time I'd conquered the map. I was only meant to be playing the short campaign and managed it in the allocated time, but just carried on and got a little carried away. I usually just auto resolve all of the conflicts, and I'm pretty much brute-force throughout. If there's a problem the best solution is just to throw as many soldiers at it as possible, and exterminate the populace of a new city to keep them peaceful.

 

Taking over the papal states was the most fun. I had every region except them surrounded, and was going to leave them alone, because I remember in Medieval Total War 1, I made the mistake of taking over them once, and sodding armies of thousands rose up in rebellion every other turn, and it was impossible to control them. But then the papal armies attacked one of my cities so I just took over the papal states in retribution. Turns out, every time a new pope is elected he's just the head of an army of 21 cavalry, so it's easier to kill him in battle until you get a friendly pope, rather than attempt to assassinate him :P

 

I have Shogun Total War 1&2, though I've never played 2, because Steam keeps trying to download a patch that my laptop wants to spend a week downloading, is it possible to play without having to update to the most recent form on Steam?

Edited August 10, 2012 by Jethraw

[Whiskas]

I only have Rome Total War and the two expansions, but for some reason whenever I take a screenshot it just shows a black screen... is there anyway to connect it to Steam? I don't know how, apart from reinstalling.

 

I'm very excited for Rome II!

[Docly]

I have Shogun 2. It literally took me a year to beat one campaign on easy. I usually got destroyed by losing my provinces after capturing Kyoto, but then I realized that Markets and not taking in Vassals until after Realm Divide allows me to spam huge armies of warrior monks (these things rock depending on how you build them up) and capture my remaining provinces.

 

I also can't wait for Rome II, but I might not end up getting it. Shogun 2 is enough as it is.

[John Adams]

I have Shogun Total War 1&2, though I've never played 2, because Steam keeps trying to download a patch that my laptop wants to spend a week downloading, is it possible to play without having to update to the most recent form on Steam?

 

No, it is not possible.

 

I have many Total War Games except for Alexander's expansion for Rome Total War, Napoleon Total War, and Shogun I Total War.

For Rome I started several campaigns. My latest one is as the Senate and People of Rome. By far the hardest campaign I have played (though admittedly I have only played as the other Roman factions), as you start with only one city, three enemies all allied together, and three times the people (as well as six cities) bent on destroying you. I play on the very hard difficulty.

In Medieval II Total War, so far I have started a campaign as the British. After having swiftly conquered the Scottish, as well as the rebel towns around the French I resolved to only attack only those that attacked me.

In Shogun II Total War I am playing as the Jozai, so far I have only made small inroads into the game :P.

If anyone is interested in a game on any of the above, let me know.

 

 

 

 

~John

Edited August 11, 2012 by John Adams

[Helm Lardar]

I only have Rome Total War and the two expansions, but for some reason whenever I take a screenshot it just shows a black screen... is there anyway to connect it to Steam? I don't know how, apart from reinstalling.

 

I'm very excited for Rome II!

 

If you have Rome: Gold it might be possible. There's a list of games you can buy elsewhere and connect to steam somewhere. I have an issue where whenever I try to screenshot the campaign map it gets rid of everything except the literal map. Not helpful! I wanted a screenshot of the time when the pope got elected by 4 cardinal votes while my 5 cardinal votes (for my candidate) got lost in a ballot box.

 

John-if you want a challenge, try Numidia. It's not available normally, like SPQR, but those people are very hard to use well because they never properly grow as a faction: despite their decent location they always die as a result as their troops never get much beyond starter level.

 

Has anyone here ever played Europa Barbarorum for Rome? It's the same period, but absurdly historically accurate and while it was very fun, it was also rather more slow paced. What did anyone else think of it?

 

Anyway, back to the HRE and learning how to use gunpowder units effectively. I can't wait to have imperial knights and reiters and arbuquesiers!

Edited August 11, 2012 by Helm Lardar

[Phoenix Rider]

I'm a big fan of the series and have played Rome, Medieval 2 + Kingdoms, Empire and Shogun II. I intend to get Napoleon and the Rise of the Samurai expansion pack later after I play another round as Spain in Empire.

 

For Empire, my biggest suggestion for Spain is to spam trade ships and galleons and send them to your trade routes. They will really pay off later. That and investments in trade ports and production infrastructures in your colonies. Spain is abit limited early on so your gonna have to be frugal and keep a close eye on your treasury.

 

Maintain alliances with Catholic states like France, Italy and Westphalia to act as buffer and assistance incase the Northern Europe Id up backstabbing you. They usually do especially Britain, the Dutch and Austria in the early game. Set up trade agreements with as much folks as you can. These long lasting relationships will really help you out in the late stages.

 

Though it's a slow start, with enough patience and care, Spain comes roaring in the mid-late stages of the game with surpluses up to 20k per turn. You will have towns and ports popping out everywhere. It really is a sleeping giant. It has alot of potential and I highly recommend playing it.

 

For Shogun, man it's a different ballgame. Waaay more rough. The pace of the game will seem slower after Empire and so called allies and vassals all end up becoming backstabbing traitors in the end, no matter what you do. Do not create vassals. Watch your allies. Simply peacefully occupy conquered cities to prevent pain after the Realm Divide. I failed to make the time limit objective of 40 provinces by 1600 once because of my central provinces and vassals either rise up to rebel or getting sacked by former allies.

 

I suggest Shimazu as the clan of choice for beginners. Hell, it's my clan of choice anyday of the week.You also have access to most of the trade theatres early on so one can have a smoothly running economy pretty early on. Plus, any expansion would simply be a march eastward so little worry of have a conflict opening up from multiple front. Mind you, you need to watch out for Chosakabe and Miyoshi once you near Kyoto. They can send landing forces to take your cities in the Mori regions mid-game which can be a real pain and slow down the war effort against the clans east of Kyoto.

 

Shogun 2 is really slow and really takes alot of patience.

Edited August 11, 2012 by Phoenix Rider

[Docly]

-snip-

 

I suggest Shimazu as the clan of choice for beginners. Hell, it's my clan of choice anyday of the week.You also have access to most of the trade theatres early on so one can have a smoothly running economy pretty early on. Plus, any expansion would simply be a march eastward so little worry of have a conflict opening up from multiple front. Mind you, you need to watch out for Chosakabe and Miyoshi once you near Kyoto. They can send landing forces to take your cities in the Mori regions mid-game which can be a real pain and slow down the war effort against the clans east of Kyoto.

 

Shogun 2 is really slow and really takes alot of patience.

 

What units do you usually focus on? As I play the Oda a lot, I usually make warrior monks since their my favorites mixed with the Oda ashigaru which seem to level up each battle and become really powerful. I also get a few metsuke and monks because usually for me the Ikkko-Ikki survive and Ikko-Ikkize every thing which leads to me converting everything back as well as getting samurai Ronin from bribing their armies.

[Andyana]

Was playing Shogun 2 the other day with Josh and we was in a 3 v 3 land battle. The third man on our time was a friend of ours and he ended up going afk. Everyone was playing Fall except Me and Josh as we was trying out the new Hero units out. Somehow me and Josh managed to take out all 3 of the enemy armies whilst our friend was afk and and only lost a few men each.

 

Grorious victory

[Jnr J]

Master of Total War games here! Been doing a lot of co-op campaigns on Shogun 2 recently, and half way through a legendary playthrough on Fall of the Samurai. They are quite simple to play as long as you have decent battle sense, and you know how to manage finances, and what buildings are a must.

 

If you're after big income, have your border cities and towns focus on military enhancements and castles. Get as many trade routes set up as possible, then all of your inner towns and cities pump all your money into buildings that focus on town growth (markets and roads, though markets require food, so don't forget to make sure you have surplus) that way as you make your turns, your towns will soon be making more money from tax, which is your first and most important form of income.

 

Building Warrior Monks is good, but I wouldn't focus solely on them for an army, their upkeep cost will destroy your income, don't under estimate the importance of ashigaru, if you can manage to use their spearwall formation to good use, you can kill a katana samurai unit without taking many loses.

[Phoenix Rider]

-snip-

 

I suggest Shimazu as the clan of choice for beginners. Hell, it's my clan of choice anyday of the week.You also have access to most of the trade theatres early on so one can have a smoothly running economy pretty early on. Plus, any expansion would simply be a march eastward so little worry of have a conflict opening up from multiple front. Mind you, you need to watch out for Chosakabe and Miyoshi once you near Kyoto. They can send landing forces to take your cities in the Mori regions mid-game which can be a real pain and slow down the war effort against the clans east of Kyoto.

 

Shogun 2 is really slow and really takes alot of patience.

 

What units do you usually focus on? As I play the Oda a lot, I usually make warrior monks since their my favorites mixed with the Oda ashigaru which seem to level up each battle and become really powerful. I also get a few metsuke and monks because usually for me the Ikkko-Ikki survive and Ikko-Ikkize every thing which leads to me converting everything back as well as getting samurai Ronin from bribing their armies.

 

Bow and spear ashigaru early on as they are cheap to maintain. You can simply overwhelm the enemy with volleys of arrows whilst spearmen hold the line and protect your archers. This technique works better on the defensive so I try to make them attack my settlements and positions rather than storming enemy samurai squads.

 

Once you have a good economy running, you can simply spam samurais (bow and katana) and light cavalry. Have the samurais hold the line with bow and spear ashigarus whilst light cavalry flanks and causes a route. Nice and clean.

 

Like Jnr J said, the ashigarus are capable of holding their own against samurais when in formation with plenty of support.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Phoenix Rider

[Clavius]

Medieval Total War is stupidly annoying to achieve total conquest in... I usually accept the minor victory because total victory is like impossible it seems.

 

One play through as the Aragonese (yes, the people with the worst starting position) I had all of Western Europe including the British Isles and Spain, but while I was starting a campaign against the Egyptians to the east my stupid provinces all decided to lower their happiness drastically and ruin my war effort. the Egyptians always do some stupid troop rotation thing where 80% of the troops in the army follow the King around, and they took a couple of my provinces because of it.

 

On a play through as the Italians, after I took over all of Europe excluding 5 provinces and started beginning to destroy these provinces with the tens of thousands of troops I amassed, my stupid king dies with no heirs. He was married for like 25-30 years, but his only son was 12 or something... Apparently when a son is 3 years younger than 15 the entire empire disappears in days when the king dies. On that save I had a ton of stuff built too, it was definitely my best building save.

 

 

anyways... Biggest battle in Total war games? mine was a battle near the end of the game, I was the Italians and the Egyptians sent their whole army basically to protect Constantinople. I amassed a ton of troops to assault it, and I think the troop count was like 8000 to 7000 or something. All of my troops by that point were well trained, and the Egyptians had a lot of good troops too. It was a tough fight, but I won by a good amount and pretty much defeated the Egyptians

[Helm Lardar]

I'm just starting a campaign now with Scotland using concentrated vanilla. This should be fun, I'm looking forward to learning the use of pikes and so on, though it's a shame that I know I'll never get gunpowder infantry. I'm still yet to be allowed to use primitive rifles, and that annoys me, because they are fantastic weapons when combined with a few pikemen.

[Whiskas]

Helm, have you got the game in windowed mode? When I take a screenshot, it shows a black screen.

[Helm Lardar]

Helm, have you got the game in windowed mode? When I take a screenshot, it shows a black screen.

 

As far as I can tell, I've got a standard fullscreen thingummy. It doesn't work if I'm taking screenshots of the campaign map, though.

[Whiskas]

I asked on the TW forum and they managed to sort me out, but thanks anyway. :)

 

Some rebels on Sicily destroyed my army! D:

 

Damn peltasts!