Total War: General discussion.

Iunnno, I found that everyone readily submitted as my vassal after I sent a horde of huscarls to their capital to persuade them.

With their axes.

Speaking of directly controlling territories, is it possible to use diplomacy to ask for territory in exchange for cash/some other diplomatic deal in ToB? (And while I'm at it, can you also do that in the Total War: Warhammer series?)

If that's not possible, then that might set a bad precedent for the upcoming Total War: Three Kingdoms looking forward.

Territory trading hasn't been part of Total War for a while, I think.

edited 12th May '18 6:59:02 AM by DrunkenNordmann

Damnit and blast.

When was the last time trading territories though diplomacy was a thing? Empire? (Incidentally the last Total War game I played that still had that feature.) Shogun 2? (Which I would be happy to play if not for that "Realm Divide" Scrappy Mechanic.)

Empire had it, but the AI in this game was completely bonkers. If I had a cent for everytime some European power wanted to trade one of their mainland provinces for one of mine (as Maratha)....

Empire had a lot of flaws as a whole. Maratha would blob very easily and eventually start pushing into Europe, nations would make little one or two unit "armies" that they would flood the map with, the AI didn't understand amphibious invasions so Britain was always invincible...

Just like Britain in real life

x3 OK, I'll admit that the AI almost always asking to trade provinces in Empire does get annoying. But in a way, it kept you on your toes and you can always refuse if it's not favorable. Though if they have the military strength to back that demand up, that's a different can of worms.

I also recall that option being available in the first Rome: Total War (I dunno if the number of wreaths your dignitary/diplomat has can affect negotiations in your favor), though once the trade is done, expect an army to instantly pop up in the territory that was traded to the AI. In Rome II, there's no option to trade territories via diplomacy like civilized...err...civilizations, so the only recourse is to take it by force. Never mind that your diplomatic reputation takes a hit as a result (even if you cancel treaties beforehand).

I'm in a situation in my redo Roman Julia game where the Seleucids willingly became my satrapy, but did nothing to consolidate the provinces that they hold, such as Syria, to the point I had to take Dura from the Bactrians myself. However, those cheeky Seleucids were good at cutting me off to the lucrative Red Sea/Indian Ocean trade as they took Myos Hormos and Diospolis in Egypt (leaving me with Alexandria and Memphis).

I'm considering cancelling the satrapy status of the Seleucids once my armies are in position to take Seleucid territories in Syria, Egypt, and Cilicia. But first, I'm aiming to do something similar (cancel satrapy status + declare war & take their land) with my other satrapy—the Cappadocians—who are currently holding Samosata and Edessa.

All while I'm aiming for Economic Victory... (*sighs*)

As far as territory trading goes, I love doing it right at the start of Medieval II playing as England. Buying Angers and Toulouse off of France in return for fat multi-turn installments of like 4000-5000 florins, as well as a marriage alliance and military access means I can establish control of basically the territory of the historical Angevin Empire by turn 15 or so. Spending the first eight turns deep in the red is a decent trade-off since England has no enemies to start, and controlling Angers and Toulouse means that any French armies trying to take Bordeaux stop trying, and link up with other French armies at Paris. They usually even throw in a few free units of Mailed Knights. It's such a reliable strategy, I've done in each and every playthrough, without fail, on very hard.

edited 14th May '18 7:34:24 AM by CrimsonZephyr

New ToB patch. Is a lot.

Considering the "Mixed" reception of ToB on Steam, they definitely need it...

Though I am wondering how many of the negative reviews are actually just people complaining about CA releasing a historical Total War game instead of releasing more Warhammer content. :/

Yeah, review bombing is a thing.

A >80% is probably good. A <80% should be strictly researched.

edited 16th May '18 1:41:57 PM by VutherA

Three Kingdoms Trailer featuring Cao Cao! Plus gameplay footage.

I LITERALLY KEPT MISSING THE CLICK BECAUSE I'M QUAKING WITH EXCITEMENT

Mmm. -catches breath- The graphics look a bit odd in some shots - bad lighting, jerky animations, oddly stiff banners. And the long delay is a bit of a bummer. But I do hope that we'll get more contents for the other TW titles in the meantime and end up with a polished final product.

The soundtrack also sounds great so far. I'd really hoped for Jeff van Dyck to return to the franchise (his work on Shogun 2 is an all-time great), but Richard Beddow did an amazing job on Thrones, and I'm really hoping that 3K will surpass it in terms of artistic direction and immersion.

Ah, good, they know the actual way to pronounce Cao Cao's name.

Combat looks nice, so that's a bonus.

And was that Zhuge Liang at the end?

It's Liu Bei, judging by the cinematic trailer.

There needs to be a licensed Total War: Westeros game sooner or later. The Medieval II mods just aren't cutting it, especially due to how most of them are incomplete and don't include the Motherfucking Targaryens.

Yeah, I'd love having more fantasy-style Total War games.

Also, I'm not a native Mandarin speaker, and it might just be the sound effect, but should they be pronouncing it "Saw Saw"? My Mainland Chinese friends IRL pronounce it with a bit of a dental fricative ("th-" sound).

Wondering because I also studied Arabic and the pronunciation I heard in the trailer sounds closer to its "ts-" (ث) consonant O:

It is indeed supposed to be pronounced "Tsao Tsao"

Well, they've said the default gameplay will allow the named characters to Dynasty Warriors it up while also having a "Classic mode" that will play more like you'd expect from a historical-based game, but the real question is...

Will the battle advisor's give us a Chinese-accented pronunciation of "Shameful display!"?

"CAO CAO!!" (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Speaking of Dynasty Warriors, my own real question is: Will Total War: Three Kingdoms include Zhang He?

I'm eager to know, especially after what Koei DID(!) to him in Dynasty Warriors 9.

Those and Total War: Middle-Earth. Too bad the current license-holder(?) for LOTR games is Warner Brothers, and a lot of people know what they initially DID to Middle-earth: Shadow of War: ORC. LOOTBOXES. (Not to mention messing with the established book and movie canon.)

Back on the Rome II front, it turns out I encountered a major, major hiccup with my Julia redo. Since the original start save file was from before Patch 19, Charmuthas and Eudaemon did not have the Spices resource, making it impossible to accomplish the "Economic Victory" objective of holding 15 strategic resources. (I only had 14 strategic resources available and I've taken most of Western Europe, North Africa, and a bit of Mesopotamia at that point. Plus I broke ties with the Seleucids—my former satrapy—and annexed their territories in Syria, Cilicia, and Nabatea.) Not to mention that I won via "Cultural Victory" instead.

So annoyingly, I had to delete the older start save file, restart from scratch, and redo my Julia campaign for a second time to properly get that Economic Victory. orz

On the upside, "Pontifex Maximus" achievement GET!

edited 7th Jun '18 5:38:14 AM by IncognitoNinja

I need to get back into my Rome 2 campaigns. I've got one where I'm going through the entire history of the Roman Empire in as accurate a time period as I can, and then one where I'm playing as Macedonia attempting to reclaim its former glory with Alexander's empire and this time keeping it, even if we have to trample the Successor Kingdoms in the process.

edited 7th Jun '18 7:05:54 AM by theLibrarian