Total War: Rome 2

Strategy Game Design Theory: Total War – The Campaign Cycle

Leave a Comment / Total War: Rome 2 / October 17, 2014

The Total War series has had a long and successful place in strategy gaming. However, the series has not innovated its gameplay style in a long time, and as such, many games play very similarly to each other. No game is perfect, and the Total War series provides a good series to look at when considering strategy game design theory.

One thing I’ve noticed that I’m sure other experience Total War players have noticed is that the game series usually suffers from mid-to-late game slowdown/tedium. The basic premise of the game is:

Scout -> Attack -> Reinforce -> Develop -> Repeat

Scouting – as it is currently is too basic, too easy. You spot the town and see the garrison strength simply by being in proximity. There should be a more active component for scouting. Intelligence reports are too simple and reliable, especially considering how vital they are to strategy in reality.

Attack – in Total War, before an attack, you may sabotage an enemy army or the town itself, then attack with the army. You go through the field setup, then assault. The AI will usually set their units at the place in the perimeter closest to you, and you’ll fight it out. I think the idea of setting up siege weapons over a few turns works okay, and the act of attacking is probably the strongest part of the cycle for a typical Total War game.

Reinforce – After the battle, your army may be in various stages of weakness, and you may need to shore up your defenses in the event of a counter attack. This usually involves using agents to delay/harass nearby enemy armies, hiring mercenaries to fill in gaps in your army roster, or simply moving another army into proximity of the recently captured town.

Develop – You will end up developing the city, often by rebuilding damaged buildings, changing the structures to suit your needs, and providing you a place to launch new attacks from.

Strategy Game Design Theory – Analysis:

strategy game design theory
Scout, attack, reinforce, develop, repeat ad nauseaum.

If you think about it, over the course of a game of Total War, you’re repeating this process about a hundred times a game, once for each territory you take. It’s fun the first few times, but after your tenth city assault, they all start to feel the same. The AI reacts the same way, the units the AI chooses to defend a city with are set up the same, etc.

In the context of strategy game design theory,  how do you break the tedium? You do it by breaking the cycle. Make scouting harder and not completely reliable unless skill checks are met. Reinforcement should not be automatic through replenishment, but should require setting up safe supply lines and reinforcement route for new soldiers to come in.

Development speed should be dependent on how many forces you have, as well as how cooperative the local populace is. I should not be able to rebuild an entire city within a few turns, and I should be able to set aside or build a garrison of troops to keep a populace in check. I’m not a fan of the “units must be in an army, and all armies must have generals”. I miss being able to move units around on their own, like in previous Total War games.

Overall, I think the Total War development team has managed to streamline the gameplay mechanics for the series, but at the same time, has kind of “dumbed-down” the difficulty. Campaigns are almost linear in the way they can be conducted, as the gameplay is almost TOO straightforward.

There will be more posts about strategy game design theory, as I particularly enjoy looking at and breaking down the mechanics in the genre. What do you think of the Total War series campaign cycle?

Total War Attila Announced!

Leave a Comment / Creative Assembly, Total War: Rome 2 / September 25, 2014 / ,
Total War Attila
Total War Attila

So today The Creative Assembly has announced their new standalone expansion to Rome 2, Total War Attila. I speculated in a previous post that a game involving Attila the Hun would be the most likely expansion, as there is already a book out about Attila, and it would have been strange to have a book but no game tying into it.

So it appears to be a “Fall of the Samurai”-esque DLC with a new campaign map, new factions, and a later time period.

The Good

I like the focus on the later periods as I don’t think any Total War games touches upon Late Antiquity. The scorched earth component is fun, as being able to destroy cities was an important strategy that worked in real world campaigns.

The small touches like civilians running away as a city is attacked make sense. It was always weird to attack a city and it be totally empty of non-combatants. It looks like they re-designed the technology trees, and the new campaign map looks much better.

The Bad

My biggest gripe is that I dislike playing horse archer factions. I just don’t enjoy the gameplay style myself, although it poses an interesting challenge to go up against. I’ve tried playing Parthia and some of the nomad tribes in Rome 2; while field battles are great fun, city sieges were not.

I am glad they brought back the family tree, that way everyone will shut up about it. In the previous games, it provided ZERO gameplay value. Ignoring it would have no consequences whatsoever. I get it, people want it and they want it to matter, but this game isn’t Crusader Kings 2. If you want a family tree to matter, CK2 would be a much better fit.

Imperator Augustus Campaign Map Revealed

Leave a Comment / Creative Assembly, Total War: Rome 2 / September 8, 2014 /
Imperator Augustus Campaign Map
Imperator Augustus Campaign Map

The Imperator Augustus Campaign Map has been released. It features the original grand campaign map for Rome 2, but with different playable factions and starting positions.

The (Potential) Playable Factions of Imperator Augustus

The four major Roman factions appear to be:

  • Octavian
  • Lepidus
  • Sextus Pompey
  • Mark Antony

My thoughts are that each Roman faction will feature legionaries as the backbone of the army, but also include regional units as auxiliaries. So for example, Lepidus might have Iberian swordsmen and Libyan infantry, while Octavian might have access to barbarian infantry, and Mark Antony able to recruit perhaps a mix of barbarian and Greek units.

The remaining playable factions appear to be:

  • Iceni
  • Marcomanni – German confederation
  • Dacia
  • Egypt
  • Armenia
  • Parthia

Initial Campaign Analysis

I could see the Iceni probing and pushing Gaul, which would mostly consist of client states to Octavian’s faction. Octavian would have to keep control of the north against barbarian incursions, while dealing with the other Roman factions.

Lepidus would have to contend with local Iberian and African factions, while attempting to join the two parts of his territories together. Pompey is surrounded, but more than likely will have a powerful starting navy while his neighbors have little to none. The Pompey campaign will most likely involve him using his navy to delay an invasion while allowing him free reign to strike at any of the other Roman faction’s coastal territories.

Mark Antony and Egypt will most likely be allied, but he will have to contend with Octavian and Dacia, as well as potential encroachment by Armenia or Parthia from the east. That situation could easily turn into a two front war, which would give Egypt a decision as to whether they focus their armies west towards Lepidus or east to Parthia. As a side note: I think Mark Antony and Egypt would make for a good co-op campaign.

Marcomanni and Dacia will probably be look to confederate with their neighbors before pressing into Roman territory. Armenia and Parthia are at each other’s door, so it would be up to them to cooperate or battle it out for control of the east, before moving west into the Mediterranean.

Overall, the Imperator Augustus Campaign for Rome 2 is looking to be a pretty exciting new campaign. I think this is a great way to use the grand campaign map while creating a new dynamic. While I personally enjoyed the regional dynamic of Caesar in Gaul and Hannibal at the Gates, I missed playing on the grand campaign map.

You can read more about the new Rome 2 Emperor Edition and the Imperator Augustus Campaign here.

Rome 2 Emperor Edition announced!

Leave a Comment / Creative Assembly, DLC, Total War: Rome 2 / August 30, 2014 / ,

Total War: Rome 2 Emperor Edition Teaser
CA has put out some exciting news, Rome 2 Emperor Edition. This is an upgrade to the base game which includes all the free DLC up to this point, as well as a brand new campaign revolving around the civil war and Augustus. As reference in our previous post, it was one of the campaigns I speculated would be in the works. Check out the Rally Point episode below:

 

 

What I like so far about Rome 2 Emperor Edition:

 

  • Rome versus Rome: it wouldn’t be a proper Roman civil war if it there was not an emphasis on Roman unit combat. There will be three Roman factions to choose from. If I were to speculate, I would say Octavian, Marc Anthony, and one other faction.
  • Armenia as a playable faction: New factions are always fun, but we definitely needed more Eastern factions. The two we currently have are Pontus and Parthia. However, before they add Armenia, the faction needs a roster expansion and fix, as it looks almost like Parthia’s roster.
  • Better politics: The politics system in Rome 2 will matter more now. You can sort of ignore politics in the Grand Campaign, but with the changes highlighted by Jack Lusted, it seems as if you will need to be more aware of political developments, as well as strike a balance between the government families/factions.

 

What I am concerned about with Rome 2 Emperor Edition:

 

  • The final battle of the civil war was the Battle of Actium, which was a decisive naval victory for Octavian which led to his ultimate victory over Marc Antony. Most likely this will end up being a historical battle, but as naval combat still has a lot of issues, I may avoid it altogether. The Rally Point episode mentions that they are revamping naval combat, so I will reserve judgement until I try the new naval gameplay.
  • New civil war mechanics: the civil wars themselves are more an annoyance than anything else, but with the new political system, civil wars can now occur any time, not just at max imperium. It may make the campaign more chaotic, but not necessarily fun.

I personally enjoy the DLC mini-campaigns more than the grand campaign, as they’re quicker to finish, and also have a more focused set of objectives and specialized roster. I might try to do a legendary let’s play when the DLC campaign comes out.

Link to the Rome 2 Emperor Edition FAQ

The Creative Assembly’s Future Rome 2 DLC Plans?

1 Comment / Total War: Rome 2 / September 25, 2014 / ,

We have seen some good Rome 2 DLC campaigns so far. Caesar in Gaul was a excellent campaign centered around maneuvering through rough terrain, strong generals, and a resource based research system. Hannibal at the Gates focused heavily on diplomacy and long-term campaign strategy.

Based on this steamdb page, there looks to be plans in place to release another campaign DLC.

But what is in store potentially for the future Rome 2 DLC campaigns? Here are two that I think may be in store:

1. Barbarian Invasion 2.0 (Fall of the Western Roman Empire)

rome 2 dlc
rome 2 dlc

This is the most obvious choice for a DLC campaign. The original Barbarian Invasion expansion for Rome Total War was well received, and introduced new game mechanics that changed the way the game played.

The DLC itself would play differently from the ones released so far. In CiG and HatG, Rome starts small, and is often on equal footing with other factions. The setting of a Barbarian Invasion type DLC would have a vast Roman empire collapsing in on itself, with cities revolting due to low public order, budget deficits, and enemies pressing the borders on all sides.

A player could choose to play as Rome, attempting to save the empire, or as one of the barbarian factions, with the goal of sacking Rome itself. There was talk of a “Sword of Attila” book put out by The Creative Assembly, so it may be that any “Barbarian Invasion 2” style DLC would involve Attila the Hun.

2. Civil Wars during Augustus’ reign

We’ve seen maps focused on the Western Mediterranean, and also Gaul. I think it would be great to see a DLC focused on the Eastern part of the map, particularly the wars Augustus fought after Julius Caesar’s assassination. It could add a new dynamic where multiple Roman factions could vie for support, with other non-Roman factions playing a role in how the civil war plays out.

Final War of the Roman Republic

A Rome 2 DLC focused on Asia and Egypt would be a lot of fun, and I think would be a great area to explore next. Based on the historical record, the DLC could also focus on naval combat as it was integral to Augustus’ final triumph against Marc Antony.

3. Other potential Rome 2 DLC campaigns

I’d like to see a campaign focused on the Eastern Roman Empire as it comes into its own as the Byzantine Empire. However, that may fall outside of the scope of the original game, and fall more into the Medieval Total War series area.

Wars of the Diadochi would also be a great Rome 2 DLC campaign. With Alexander the Great’s death, his empire is split up and wars rage among his successors to grab as much of it as possible. It would feature most of the eastern part of the map, and would be mostly Hellenic units with a few other cultures thrown in (Egyptian, Eastern, etc.).