While waiting for Football Manager 2012 I've found a nice offer on Steam and bought a good bunch of TW titles: Rome and Alexander, Medieval II and Kingdoms, Empire, Napoleon.
Being a complete noob of the series, I'm needing Total Wargamers here to give me some general advice on these games, plus info on noteworthy or needed mods.
Bse assumptions:
- I won't multiplay
- suggested mods must not be too far from the vanilla version of the game
- having Steamed them, I haven't got a physical game manual, and i can't be bothered to read several-pages long PDFs of rules.
Thank you :)
L.
Play Medieval 2 first. It is nice enough vanilla to learn what the series is about, the graphics are still okay, but would be less so coming back from the visual feat that is Napoleon.
After getting a taste of vanilla Med2 (and it is rather nice if you forgive the ahistoric world conquesting going on), if you have Kingdoms, check out the 3 campaigns in it. The British one is a little meh but still nice, the Crusades one is cool but very frustrating as the Crusaders, and the Teutonic one is simply excellent.
Afterwards, you may skip Empire for Napoleon, imo.
I've never been impressed with mods for these games. The mod nerds usually add a bloated map, a kajillion units that all about do the same thing and make many computers wheeze as they try to process all the crap.
Quote from: Ed Anger on September 27, 2011, 08:44:48 AM
I've never been impressed with mods for these games. The mod nerds usually add a bloated map, a kajillion units that all about do the same thing and make many computers wheeze as they try to process all the crap.
Ed is wise.
Given that I'll play them mainly on a 18-months old laptop, this is exactly the kind of advice I'm needing about mods. :)
If there's something that cannot be renounced, though, say it now or shut up forever.
L.
For Medieval II, get Darth Mod: The Last Episode (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=120100)
For Empire, get DarthMod Empire (http://www.moddb.com/mods/darthmod-empire).
There's the American Revolution mod, but it's half-baked.
For Napoleon, I tried Napoleon Empire Realism, but it was still an early beta and i didn't really like it. They're now at 2.0, so it might be better.
As for any mods, you can still choose the number of units. Now, even if you were to play with a gazilion unit, Medieval II was released in 2007... You computer will handle it.
And don't play vanilla. Go for the mods right away. Wag tried the vanilla Empire and hated it.
plz play vanilla until you get bored with it. Ed Anger's take is actually spot on for this series. Mods are extremely noob-unfriendly.
Quote from: Tamas on September 27, 2011, 11:25:42 AM
plz play vanilla until you get bored with it. Ed Anger's take is actually spot on for this series. Mods are extremely noob-unfriendly.
I imagined all the mod makers as Spellus types who read way too many history books instead of getting laid.
OMG! R:TW doesn't have Spartan Skiritai! Boycott!
Which are the best nudity mods?
The biggest problem with the TW series has always been the AI. It's annoying to have the AI march units back and forth over and over again with no discernible purpose and in battle they tend to use the ancient tactic of forming a mob that attacks rushes your center. It was kind of sad with Empires when they did this with musket armed soldiers who ended up shooting each other.
Quote from: Tamas on September 27, 2011, 11:25:42 AM
plz play vanilla until you get bored with it. Ed Anger's take is actually spot on for this series. Mods are extremely noob-unfriendly.
no, really, no.
First, the AI is dumb. Extremely dumb. That is corrected.
Second, you got more units. Too many units, imho, but on the battlefield, it looks great.
Third, everything is better.
Fourth, the technical requirements are the same as for the original game, unless you want huge unit sizes.
Quote from: Ed Anger on September 27, 2011, 11:41:35 AM
Quote from: Tamas on September 27, 2011, 11:25:42 AM
plz play vanilla until you get bored with it. Ed Anger's take is actually spot on for this series. Mods are extremely noob-unfriendly.
I imagined all the mod makers as Spellus types who read way too many history books instead of getting laid.
OMG! R:TW doesn't have Spartan Skiritai! Boycott!
DarthMods were made to correct the AI first&foremost. Overtime, some other mods were added, like new sounds, musics, graphics and uniforms.
Quote from: viper37 on September 27, 2011, 01:07:12 PM
Quote from: Tamas on September 27, 2011, 11:25:42 AM
plz play vanilla until you get bored with it. Ed Anger's take is actually spot on for this series. Mods are extremely noob-unfriendly.
no, really, no.
First, the AI is dumb. Extremely dumb. That is corrected.
Second, you got more units. Too many units, imho, but on the battlefield, it looks great.
They help, but don't fully correct it. I used the Vader Mod on Empire and while the AI was certainly better it wasn't great. With out it, the AI acted very strangely. Declaring war but not actually attacking you. Just wandering about in your territory. The Darth mod helped this a bit in that the AI was merely bad rather then bizarrely useless. Actually I liked the 2D map from first engine better. The AI at least made sense then.
I miss the old 2D engine. :(
Quote from: Razgovory on September 27, 2011, 01:17:15 PM
Quote from: viper37 on September 27, 2011, 01:07:12 PM
Quote from: Tamas on September 27, 2011, 11:25:42 AM
plz play vanilla until you get bored with it. Ed Anger's take is actually spot on for this series. Mods are extremely noob-unfriendly.
no, really, no.
First, the AI is dumb. Extremely dumb. That is corrected.
Second, you got more units. Too many units, imho, but on the battlefield, it looks great.
They help, but don't fully correct it. I used the Vader Mod on Empire and while the AI was certainly better it wasn't great. With out it, the AI acted very strangely. Declaring war but not actually attacking you. Just wandering about in your territory. The Darth mod helped this a bit in that the AI was merely bad rather then bizarrely useless. Actually I liked the 2D map from first engine better. The AI at least made sense then.
have you tried 6.95? I think the AI is at its best, and the 7.0 beta apparently makes it better.
And while I agree that the the battle AI made sense in the 2D map, when it came to diplomacy, it was brain dead and alliances or trade agreement really meant nothing.
Nah, Haven't played it in a while. I still had fun with it. After a while I got fed up watching the Swedish Navy trek aimlessly around the Baltic or a dozen Polish Bishops pace back and forth the map every turn.
No one has suggested EB for Rome yet?
Languish is supposed to be cultured.
Cultured is not what I immediately think of when Languish comes to mind.
I should have bought Napoleon: TW when it was on sale. Oh well.
Quote from: Caliga on September 28, 2011, 06:25:37 PM
I should have bought Napoleon: TW when it was on sale. Oh well.
:hug:
It's a lot better than Empire (which I do have), right? If so I'll get it when it's on sale next.
I may not ever pick up Shogun. I just can't get in to the whole Japan thing. I liked the original Shogun: TW, but that's cause the engine kicked so much ass at the time.
Nappy doesn't have India invading Europe. Unless you are the Indians.
I lost my Rome disk...I am thinking of steaming up the complete Rome.
I found Medieval Total War II during the move. Never opened. Any good?
I loved the Kingdoms expansion to M:TW II, especially the Americas campaign. Reducing Aztec cities to rubble with my cannons never got old, and it was fun fighting battles with like 20 Spanish dudes and thousands of Indians (hostiles and my mercenaries) where the Spanish sat back on their horses and watched the slaughter. :)
Quote from: PDH on September 28, 2011, 07:10:36 PM
I lost my Rome disk...I am thinking of steaming up the complete Rome.
I've done that. Steam is just so gosh darn cheap and convenient.
Quote from: Lettow77 on September 28, 2011, 01:43:37 PM
No one has suggested EB for Rome yet?
Languish is supposed to be cultured.
that game is quite old, even by Languish standards...
Quote from: Caliga on September 28, 2011, 06:52:33 PM
It's a lot better than Empire (which I do have), right? If so I'll get it when it's on sale next.
Yes, a lot better. They even have attrition now. :)
It's a bit harder to walk over Russia.
Shogun 2 was on sale last week-end, 50% off, so I bought it. Have played a couple of turns, I quite like it so far.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on September 28, 2011, 07:16:00 PM
I found Medieval Total War II during the move. Never opened. Any good?
I found it similar to Empire, but since there's no muskets, the AI copes better. Charging a line of muskets with swords is not so good, but charging swords with swords is allright :)
I remember liking it, though it's been a while since I played it.
I'm not a huge fan of TW games as I am not a fan of RTS style but I have been having some fun with the Nappy game recently.
Rome crashes after few turns. :( And Medieval too :cry:
and my laptop is unable to handle Empire and Napoleon :weep:
L.
Zelda mod in the works.
They have a cool trailer
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=421448
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 23, 2011, 09:26:04 PM
Zelda mod in the works.
They have a cool trailer
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=421448
Well, I quit watching about a minute in. Bleh.
Quote from: Pedrito on October 19, 2011, 03:35:59 AM
Rome crashes after few turns. :( And Medieval too :cry:
L.
I managed to solve Rome's problems and now I'm enjoying A LOT the long campaign with the Iulii family.
The engine is maybe a bit outdated, but it's extr fun nonetheless.
I'm playing vanilla for now, after ending the first campaign I'll try some mods.
Kicking Gauls' asses around while conquering my home town and making it faction capital: PRICELESS.
L.
So, having got all the TW games, should I even bother playing Empire without mods? Seems the main two are Empire Realism and DarthMod, which one should I pick?
What about Napoleon, does it need mods or is it playable as is?
Quote from: Solmyr on January 19, 2012, 11:24:23 AM
So, having got all the TW games, should I even bother playing Empire without mods? Seems the main two are Empire Realism and DarthMod, which one should I pick?
What about Napoleon, does it need mods or is it playable as is?
I don't see any reason to play vanilla Empire with Darthmod already polished (I did it, and never went back once I'd upgraded). There is a Darthmod for Napoleon that looks worthwhile, but I haven't moved past Empire yet.
Quote from: Pedrito on October 19, 2011, 03:35:59 AM
Rome crashes after few turns. :( And Medieval too :cry:
and my laptop is unable to handle Empire and Napoleon :weep:
L.
You need some cash, bro.