Total War: General discussion.

Does anyone have any idea of why Empire: Total War can only go up to "Medium" in graphics quality?

Western Roman Separatist agent aides Langobardi forces during the Battle of Iuvavum (400AD, colourised).

A video preview for Thrones of Britannia's Anglo-Saxons, nothing really new, just summing what's been released so far.

Couldn't say, sorry.

edited 18th Jan '18 9:34:58 PM by VutherA

@ theLibrarian: I wonder if it has anything to do with your video card?

I did some checking on the video settings of my own copy of Empire: Total War and so far, all were on "High" (except for the Anti-Aliasing which causes performance slowdowns). Been a while since I last played, though. (Back on much older hardware from 2013.) Might need to do one skirmish each on land and sea to verify.

Running most of my games on a humble AMD A8-7600 Radeon R7 (3.10 GHz) CPU on an ASUS A68HM-K motherboard and an inno3D Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti (4GB) graphics card, with 8GB of RAM. Currently using one L7 EVO 240GB solid-state drive for fast startups and the OS, one 500GB hard drive for installed games and one 1TB HDD for media storage.

And continuing from the previous post, here's the conclusion to the Chapter V playthrough of my Seleucid campaign (though I'm already on Chapter VI at this time):

In Chapter VI, my sanity got tested by recurring sh*tty post-End Turn results... (e.g.: A family member with high ambition forms a new political faction, a beloved family member dies, some faction declares war from the other side of the known world causing a satrap to rebel, or some sh*tty dilemma pops up—and there are now two variants of dilemmas thanks to the "Power and Politics" patch^note the holdover dilemmas from patch 17 where you're given time to decide before ending the turn that can be reloaded if you choose wrong, and the new one that requires you to decide ASAP and cannot be closed, etc.)

edited 20th Jan '18 12:44:19 AM by IncognitoNinja

Double-post. A play-by-play of each turn throughout Chapter VI (and VII) would sound boring, so...

Long story short, the Seleucids managed to finally subjugate Baktria as a satrapy (with an army or two watching over them in case they rebel when some other faction declares war), secure the East (and Northeast), and is currently weathering Rome's (and its subjects') declaration of war, as well as that of the Spartans. Some Greek (or Greek-ish) factions I used to be at war with, like Colchis and Knossos (the latter declaring war on my cheeky satrap Sardes), agreed to confederate with me in exchange for peace, giving me their armies. Others, like Syracuse and Tylis, agreed to a peace treaty in exchange for them giving war reparations, because Rome is pretty much on their backyard. And for some factions who also declared war, like the Massagetae and their liberated ally Ardhan—they are already crushed. Ditto the Thyssagetae, who were at war with the former Colchis kings.

As for surviving family members...so far, only two died from natural causes: Patrocles and Cordylion. (OK, reloading and re-rolling the End Turn sequence also helped, even if it did a number on my sanity.) Antiochos is still alive somehow in his 80s, though I'm guessing the last thing he'll be doing before he meets his maker is training up new troops for reinstated armies (after transferring the reinstated army's old units to a "green" army). And on that topic, I've also managed to finish researching technologies for both Royal Barracks and Royal Stables and are currently training up those reinstated armies with Silver Shield Pikemen, Silver Shield Swordsmen or Shieldbearers (supported by Syrian Heavy Archers and Ballistas—I don't have Onagers/Heavy Onagers yet, sadly).

But I do have one question: If I'm going up against Roman army builds and I already have the best of the Seleucid cavalry to recruit, should I go for Azat Knights (Very Heavy Melee Cavalry) or Hellenic Cataphracts (Super Heavy Shock Cavalry)?

When I read the unit info about Hellenic Cataphracts, there's no mention of the dreaded "Very weak in prolonged melee" usually associated with most Shock Cavalry. Does this mean they can fight for a while in melee after inflicting that initial charge damage? I don't feel like ending the current turn without deciding which cavalry to get. (Though for lower-tier armies with Median Cavalry, I'm planning to replace those with Azat Knights once there are Royal Stables in select areas across the Seleucid Empire.)

Information on Thrones of Brittania's in-game narrative. Among other things, no characters will be immortal, so watch yourselves there.

I couldn't tell you what you'd be better off choosing since I never actually played them, but Azat Knights still have far superior melee defence and a bit more melee attack so it stands to reason they'd be better in a prolonged melee. I guess you should just think about which your armies will fear more, infantry or cavalry. Get the Cataphracts for the former, the Azat for the latter.

Thanks for the response. And apologies for the Bold Inflation.

Well, since most of those "Silver Shield Standard" armies will be basically fighting Roman armies (I saw some armies of theirs already having Praetorians... Oh, Crap! indeed) and the Romans also use a Horse Archer-esque auxiliary cavalry^Note another quirk of the Game Mod I'm using—the Blub mod (normal Roman Auxiliary Cavalry is a heavy melee cav in vanilla) I took the third option and had two squads each of Hellenic Cataphracts (for hammering Legionary-type infantry in the back while they grind against the anvil of Silver Shield troops) and Azat Knights (for countering cavalry and enemy missile troops, as well as grinding down Legionaries in the back once the first two tasks are done).

Also, I brought up another "support" army that's composed of an Indian Armored Elephant general and six Mercenary Syrian Armored Elephants. (If that sounds expensive, don't worry, the Blub mod also reduces mercenary upkeep costs so you can use mercenaries more often.) As a Shout-Out to The Lord of the Rings, I named that army "The Haradrim." And the army they're currently supporting? "The Easterlings." (Originally a Colchis army before confederation—thank Dresden's mod for that—that had a couple of bonuses for spear infantry. They were disbanded in the northeast steppes and reinstated in Syria with new units.) With their combined efforts (plus help from spies), they took Illyria from the Romans.

"Silver Shield Standard" army build:

• General x1 - Hellenic Cataphracts if he's a Seleucid Dynasty family member, Agema Cavalry if he's from other families—unit is still the same when adopted. Indian Armored Elephants in the case of the Haradrim.^Note This method bit me in the ass thanks to that one bonus objective requiring having 20 Hellenic Cataphracts or Azat Knights. orz
• Hellenic Cataphracts x2
• Azat Knights x2
• Ballista x2 - Will be upgraded to Onagers/Heavy Onagers once the tech (Torsion Techniques) and buildings are available.
• Shield Bearers ("The Easterlings")/Silver Shield Swordsmen x4 - Flank protection/flanking infantry.
• Silver Shield Pikemen x6 - Main battle line; the anvil.
• Syrian Heavy Archers x3 - Can be swapped with the mercenary version, or Mercenary Cretan Archers.

"Haradrim" support army build:

• Indian Armored Elephant General x1
• Mercenary Syrian Armored Elephants (or Indian Armored Elephants) x6

edited 31st Jan '18 9:13:24 PM by IncognitoNinja

Which of the expansion packs for the Total War games do you consider the best?

edited 1st Feb '18 12:10:05 PM by fredhot16

Like, in general? Or Historical? Or Warhammer?

But either way, my Tomb Kings campaign is going well still; I conquered the Knights of Origo today, apparently wiping them out when the other Tomb King factions had conquered the rest of their territory. I'm still mainly uniting the Tomb Kings under my rule in the Southlands before I go after the books. Arkhan is also at war with a certain faction next door to me (the Dune Kingdoms) so I want to go to war with them next in order to deny Arkhan more cities. Once I take him down, I'll go after the books.

edited 1st Feb '18 12:33:05 PM by theLibrarian

To clarify, I'm asking about any expansion pack before Warhammer.

edited 1st Feb '18 1:07:42 PM by fredhot16

Okay then.

I think Kingdoms is amazing.

FotS was neato, though admit I don't think I love it as much as a lot of people did.

I should probably try it again as a faction that isn't "Snowball harder than an avalanche" Satsuma.

ARE YOU FUCKING READY FOR SOME THRONES OF BRITANNIA INFO!? WELL, TOO BAD, HERE IT IS ANYWAY

Thrones of Britannia's release date is April 19th, and 25% of pre-orders' profits is going to War Child UK.

Single sentence rundown: Factions are divided into the English, Welsh, Gaelic, Viking Kingdoms and Great Viking Army groups.◊ Sieges are definitely toward the Attila-style. Weather's back. Tech tree chains will require the completion of basic quests (such as, building 10 spearmen units) to become available. TRADING IS AUTOMATIC WITH FACTIONS THAT HAVE A VALID◊ ROUTE AND ARE AT PEACE WITH YOU BY ODIN YES!◊ Armies have a supply stat that works like a more involved Integrity system again causing attrition when depleted, going up from being in friendly territory or raiding while going down in enemy territory. You can bribe incoming Vikings away.◊ Recruitment is global like Warhammer but units arrive at 25% strength, have recruitment "caps" that have a chance of being replenished every turn, and now have a food upkeep. Minor settlements have a single building that the particular settlement will always come with (such as a farm) and are undefended - in general, you'll be making do with smaller stacks. General skill trees are gone, and a variety of "followers" you put points into straight up replace them. Charlemagne's War Weariness is back, and there's also an inverse War Fervour. Family trees, politics and loyalty are also back. Agents are gone. Religion is gone, role-playing the Vikings eradicating Christianity from the British Isles will have to be headcanon.

Sources below if anyone else wants to go on a media binge like me:

Actual video visuals are more or less the same from each other, so putting all three of them here is basically for posterity.

https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/7ujbcx/all_10_playable_factions_in_thrones_of_britannia/dtknz1k/

https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/7ujaix/thrones_of_britannia_hands_on_campaign_and_siege/

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2018/02/01/thrones-of-britannia-hands-on-the-most-detailed-total-war-yet

https://www.pcgamer.com/thrones-of-britannia-makes-significant-changes-to-the-total-war-formula/

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/02/01/total-war-saga-thrones-of-britannia-preview/

https://www.mmorpg.com/previews/total-war-saga-thrones-of-britannia-hands-on-impressions-and-interview-1000012442/page/1

CAN YOU TELL I AM STOKED AS A BONFIRE!?

edited 1st Feb '18 7:59:03 PM by VutherA

Automatic trading as long as you're at peace with the other faction? Noice...

Man, I'd love to have some trade in my Seleucid game. Unfortunately, even though the British and Celtiberian confederations are already at war with Rome and friendly towards the Seleucids... They. Won't. Trade. Though I don't know if it's because my faction is labeled as "Unreliable", the fact that I asked for money in earlier trade deals (before updating to patch 18), or that I'm trading with Carthage in the case of the Celtiberians (who are also at war with Carthage). Or perhaps it's another one of those complications brought about by patch 18?

Heck, even vassal-states Sardes, Pergamon and Ma'in cancelled their trade deals, the buggers. (Sparta is also a vassal now, but won't trade. And I can't get levied Spartan Hoplites/Pikemen because Sparta no longer has a Hoplite Barracks. )

edited 2nd Feb '18 6:33:50 AM by IncognitoNinja

Here's a more official video.

Why so?

edited 2nd Feb '18 3:07:35 PM by fredhot16

It has a lot of different eras and different unit variety and whatnot, along with a number of mechanics that don't just rely on the original game to use. Like Fall of the Samurai is just "Shogun 2 with guns" and stuff like that.

A bit from the ToB's director about the battles - apparently, the mobile shieldwall from Attila/Rome 2 is gone, replaced with infantry being innately densely packed and their charge distance being lowered. Like many Rome 2 units, shielded infantry will be unable to loosen their formation, though infantry with two-handed weapons can do it. The horses of cavalry will rear from being ordered to charge the front of such formations. The battle duration they're shooting for is 12-15 minutes in a mutual full-stack battle.

edited 7th Feb '18 7:12:22 PM by VutherA

The Gaels of ToB, consisting of the Irish Gaelic faction Mide and the Scottish Gaelic faction Circenn.

Mide holds Fair of Tailtu every third summer as long as their capital is not under siege and it is paid for, granting benefits such as improved diplomatic relations with allies and better public order. Mide also has an innate diplomatic bonus with all Irish factions, and their roster favours their good javelinmen, and excellent swordsmen, including the famous Gallowglass.

Circenn, however, will search for the Stone of Destiny, and uniquely have the Souterrain building which grants immunity to snow-attrition as well as crossbowmen, along with other good ranged-infantry, all-round infantry, and quality spearmen.

Keeps looking good. Can't wait for March. This, Stellaris, Hearts of Iron 4, so many other cool DL Cs and stuff coming out.

A preview of Mide.

New Thrones of Britannia Q&A. The stuff in it that I haven't mentioned before:

No new diplomatic options compared to Attila unless faction options affect it. Welsh, Irish, English and Nordic VO accents will be in. Unit formations are the default, shield castle, and wedge. Specific historical battles are not in. Multiplayer options are identical to Attila. Agent removal comes with a much greater amount of sight range being available to the player. The AI personalities have been made more distinct and believable, and depend on its faction leader. Sounds like its new animations are mostly limited to the cavalry changes and shield castle ability. Food is global-based unlike Attila. Attila's raze is not returning, captured settlements are occupied or sacked. They're not ready to talk about Jack Lusted's red suit cost him around 1/1000th of a Charlemagne?

...and we'll have to wait and see what, if anything, out of ToB makes it into Three Kingdoms.

edited 13th Feb '18 12:31:49 PM by VutherA

Oh good, Attila's food thing was frustrating.

They probably should have just removed the global food counter in Attila. Confused us all when we first played, I'm sure.

Roses are red,

Peace is a farce,

Gods of the afterlife,

Spare my arse!

Here's the alternative take:

Roses are red,

This is a black day,

Our men are running from the battlefield,

SHAMEFUR DISPRAY!

This one's probably beyond most of us, myself included.

...ok I'm done, enjoy your Valentine's Day.

Official video on character systems in ToB.

edited 15th Feb '18 1:08:14 PM by VutherA

Whew! Finally completed my Seleucid campaign via Cultural Victory!

Achievements unlocked:

• "Hold Your Ground" - From a fort defense against three Boii armies. BTW, they were also at war with Rome at the time and were a good target for expansion (as well as testing those "Silver Shield" troops).
• "The Die is Cast" - Triggered a civil war wih the Greek Families who controlled Mesopotamia and had low loyalty (thanks to purges, poaching their younger members, and promoting my own family members), but only after stripping them of command of any army or fleet, as well as moving four armies on each settlement in Mesopotamia. That helped to end the the civil war on the same turn it started. (Shame about that one former admiral, though. RIP.)
• "When in Rome..." - Won by Cultural Victory. I wanted to play the "long game" with the intention of getting "The Great Library" achievement (research all technologies in a single campaign), as well as actually making a vassal out of Rome by leaving Neapolis as the last Roman settlement as I captured other Roman-held settlements elsewhere, but I guess taking Hercynia (plus a good chunk of the map) helped speed up that cultural victory.
• "Megas Basileus" - It took most of the lives of two Megas Basilae(plural?)—Antiochus Soter (who reached 100, BTW) and Atys—before finally getting that achievement, but Worth It.

I also got a Military Victory by subjugating Rome at Neapolis post-cultural victory, but I'll still try to research all technologies and get that achievement if possible. Also subjugated Massalia earlier at Tarraco (initially as a distraction/Sacrificial Lamb to the Romans) and took the Gallaeci and Celtici homelands, but war is still ongoing with the IrishEbdani and I might want to conquer the other nations that refuse to trade (e.g.: British and Celtiberian confederations). I'll also have to keep my eye on the Romans in case they rebel due to some other faction suddenly declaring war on the Seleucids (had to get trade with Nova Carthago to prevent that). Fortunately, there are two armies currently watching over Neapolis, plus the army I'm building with levied Legionaries. (Similar to this Macedon player.)

Also, I annexed both the Ma'in and Sardes beforehand as payback for the bonus objectives I failed. I've spared Pergamon for now because of the levy troops they provide, like Pergamene Thorax Swords, Pergamene Hoplites, Pergamene Citizen Cavalry and Attalid Pikemen. (Thank Sebidee's mod for that.)

And another thing: Bribing rival family members is indeed more difficult, but not impossible. All you need are deep pockets with lots of cash so you can repeatedly bribe a rival family member (most I've done is offered 15 bribes for one young statesman) until he joins. (Easy once you're raking in 100K per turn and reduced corruption with the right research.) The best candidates to bribe are the younger ones who've just appeared in the "Hire Statesmen" pool.

Vuther A: If you were swearing a lot about Gallic Oathsworn, mine was having to fight Praetorians with my Silver Shield armies. Praetorians practically outclass the best "Silver Shield" troops that the Seleucids could offer and the only logical way to make it a more even fight is to have that support army with Armored War Elephants to assist your main force. If you're unlucky enough to lack that support, then the only hope was that the artillery could take out most of the Praetorians (or were poisoned by spies before the battle), but even then, once the Praetorians make it to the Seleucid lines, expect casualties among the Silver Shield infantry. It also doesn't help that the Blub mod gives some game-breaking buffs to Romans.

Finally, I can relax to this. (Thank you Mr Piruja and your s**tty Seleucid campaign for introducing me to that sexy saxophone riff at the end—which was also played in an episode of Rick and Morty, apparently.)

edited 16th Feb '18 5:40:41 AM by IncognitoNinja