Medieval: Total War

[Cantacuzene]

Picked this up today. Ive played through the tutorials and it is really fun. I never played Shogun but I like this. ANyone else played this yet?

[mcs328]

I've played Shogun Total War: Warlord Edition. Some of the troops are missing like the Korean fighters. I have yet to beat any of the missions in that game. One of the reasons I got it was b/c it was like a super upgrade to that old DOS game Ancient Art of War that came in like purple, turquoise, black and white.

It's StarCraft WarCraft minues the resource gathering...hmmm...when I think about it's more like Risk. From what I remember, the more lands you control the more ppl you can make. The only resource I think is food production for each land you control.

How does Medieval play? From the screenshots I see that have catapults and such.

[gear02]

I played a little of this game and it looks good actually.

Graphics are terrible, though, for a game of this era (see UT2003, Madden, Doom 3), but they are good enough to play. Graphics aren't the focus.

Stragetically, this may be one of the most interesting games made. You can handle campaign level strategy as well as combat strategy. The battlefield is 3D so you can take advantage of hills with your archers and you can flank pikemen because it takes all those things into account. It's really a deep game with many historical battles available.

I'm not into strategy games right now, as Madden, Sunshine, and Battlefield 1942 have taken over my life, but if I was I would actually play this over WC3 because it's very realistic.

Bottom line: If you like historical combat or strategy without dealing with orcs and undead, try this game.

[Cantacuzene]

After playing for 5 hours last night when I only meant to play 2 (losing track of time sucks) I realized how good this game is. The graphics in the battles do suck, the characters are all 3d sprites and the buildingd are made from simple polygons with one texture. HOwever, the fact that you have thousands of units in the field at once makes up for it. If each unit was a high polygon 3d character, my computer would die when 4000 units are on screen at once, especially with a free roaming camera.

The best compliment I can give a game of this type is how deep it is. The game immerses you in the politics of your faction, as you have to deal with foreign ambassadors AND your scheming leuitenents and vassals, all who want to get more power at your expense. On top of that you have to manage the economy, which is simple for a game of this type, I am happy though they shied away from strategy industry standard crappy 4 resources gathering and went to a tax system. You collect taxes from each province you control, you adjust the rate of taxation and can improve the lot by developing the province with better farms, ports, tradehouses etc.

I was just about to get knee deep into WC3 but this game has me hooked and I will be playing it for some time now. War craft 3, maybe I'll get to that in a month or so...

[mcs328]

I'm done with WC3 and just playing the custome levels. I agree that the graphics are crappy in Shogun:Total War but when you got like hundreds of lil men and archers and horses riding around it would kill your system if they were fully rendered. The free-roaming camera is great. :P

[Cantacuzene]

Let me add one thing I noticed during a massive playing session last night: the computer AI acts realisticly in a human way. I was beating down the Turks and they keep retreating before battle and falling back, essentially playing scorched earth. I went behind their backs and made alliances with the fatymids (egpytians) and when the turks fell back to their last province they had all their army in one place and my army was spread out garrisoning the newly conquered turkish provinces so they dont revolt, and the massed turkish army could have picked me off 1 by 1. At that moment the egpytians attacked and beat down the turks from behind them. This is the first strategy game ive played where the alliance system was anything better than "allied units dont attack allied units." The computer AI stunned me, as they actually waited for the perfect moment to attack. It was great.

[gear02]

wow...that's great!

I played one battle where I had my archers on top of this huge hill with some swordsmen and pikemen halfway down the hill facing the enemy units who were getting pummeled by archers. However, I didn't realize there was another unit behind me and they completely flanked me. Let me tell you, archers not arching are sitting ducks...

[IrishSS]

I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. I was one of the very limited beta testers Activision let on this one. I've spent countless nights beating down the english, turks, byzantines etc etc.

About the sprites... It was probably my number one concern with the game. But when it comes down to it, having thousands of 3d models interacting with the terrain and each other on the same screen isnt feasible for even the most robust of systems today.

I think it came out pretty darn well. This was one of the first games where the developers let us have a real voice in how the game would progress. This is one of the games I am proud to be a part of.

[Cantacuzene]

Thank you Irish. One question, gameplaywise...

My king keeps dying without heirs and then I get game over. How can i get him married and producing children quickly?

[coleslaw]

Wow, this game looks really cool! I went through a medieval phase earlier in life, so I have always been interested in that kind of stuff since. I will definitely need to look into getting this game! (I'll check out the demo first) :)

[Showtime]

Friends a history freak and is raving about this game.
I saw it at BB for $29.99 with a strat guide, but they said they wouldnt get in till the 30th.
Looks fun, think its time for a new distraction.

-jel:halo:

[Showtime]

Picked it up, it looks decent and with all the little details could be a fun game.
I'm doing the tuturial. I'm trying to teach my troops some good ole American guerilla warfare but ole dude aint having it.

-jel:halo:

[Cantacuzene]

I just wanna mention how hooked I am on this game. Its one of those lose track of time games. If you liek strategy games at all, I really urge you to give it a try.