[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

Syracuse needs to go. We must secure Magna Graecia!

But before I invade, I tell my northern neighbors the Veneti to stay their hand and not act on our settlements.

A remnant of the Etruscan forces attempts to take back Alalia. Not gonna happen.

Lacking any coordination whatsoever, they land piecemeal, and are easily driven off by our brave Roman soldiers. You don't fuck with the Capitolines, the Wolves, and the CAPUA FIRST FIGHT

Ouch.

Tight blocks of swordsmen block the streets. Velites rain death from above.

Tired spearmen are easy pickings even for shitty Leves.

They need to be taught a lesson. Enslave those we have captured! You can capture enemy soldiers by "killing" them when they are routing.

NOOOOO

Alalia stabilizes, Julius Libo gains another level.. He's a good strategist and pumps his men up with zeal, but has no authority. He finds it hard to reach out to others effectively.

Postumia is getting on in her years, but a wise, old woman is a wise, old spy. She will find out about Syracuse's military and let us know when to strike.

The third agent type is the Dignitary. He manages whatever region he is in and spreads your faction's culture to it, improving public order and income. He doesn't directly deal with other agents by physical action outright, but instead uses words or hired swords to get the dirty work done.

Our champion gains experience by training the Bittermelons.

With Alalia seemingly secure, perhaps it's time to move on to bigger and better things, like Karalis to the south

LEGIO EUSKADI BITTERMELON AVBT, MOVE OUT. WE SHALL TAKE SYRACUSE FOR THE REPUBLIC.

SPREADIN DAT LATIN CULTURE

Maybe it's because the southern portion of Magna Graecia is more Greek than the "boot" segment, but the mercenary diversity just went up quite a bit.

Merc Citizen Cav are pretty much identical to Equites except with higher health. This is historically accurate, Roman cavalry was incredibly shitty, and even Greek cavalry was better. They'd actually be called "Hippeis" in Greek.

Thureophoroi are like slightly worse Triarii. Hoplites are even heavier than Triarii.

Peltasts are Velites with armor, therefore able to act also as light swordsmen.

Tarantines are cavalry who use a javelin + sword fighting style.

Mercenary Veteran Hoplites are a hardcore dlc unit that comes with preorders. Yes, I preordered. Their upkeep is horrendously high though.

The dignitary gains experience as he Romanizes Alalia.

More research is needed for sanitation and other civic buildings to keep the plebs happy.

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

An Amphitheater shall be constructed in Rome for the plebs

Family matters. Well if marriage doesn't work, SEND HER INTO RELIGIOUS CAMP.

All appears to be well. Everyone has enough to eat.

Armies and agents can cross water at will. However, without an escort force they will only consist of transport ships, which are rather vulnerable to attack. Agents can't be attacked of course.

What the fuck is wrong with the family?!

With Manipular Reforms and Barracks in place, we now have access to other units such as the Principes and Triarii. The former consists of older members of society who wield swords yet wear more armor than the Hastati. The Triarii are the middle-aged members of society who don't fight until the situation is dire. They're also great spearmen.

Research is now spent on civil techs that improve wealth.

Julius' insanity grows worse; we might have to replace him soon.

The army of wolves and an insane commander is on the way to Atalia now.

The Champion is an agent who gives bonuses to the army he is in, including experience. If he works alone, he can harass enemy armies and settlements.

The army is still in transit to Atalia; Cattle are produced in the south

One more agent type to unlock...

Settlements that have an empty building slot for awhile will develop slums there. Slums lock out access to the slot unless dismantled, use up a HUGE amount of your food supply, and allow you to recruit knife-wielding low lifes with no combat ability.

Time to fight dirty, heh.

FINISH THEM OFF, ONCE AND FOR ALL!

Due to the fact that only 4 ships can dock at a single landing segment, it means I better pair up my melee and ranged units.

Cavalry units are automatically dismounted, turning them into spearmen.

I like how the galley slaves doing the rowing have a little chant.

Triarii and Principes look noticeably more armored.

EVERYBODY CHAARGE

There is no strategy. No tactics. Just grind through whatever open street there is, and toss your javelin in whoever is wearing blue.

I like how the market stalls crumble as your men march past.

Somehow the game didn't catch the victory screens. Either way, the Capitoline Wolves FIGHT have gained a level for the army, and can begin to specialize. You will choose, audience.

It would appear that to defeat a faction, you have to wipe all their family members off the map. Taking provinces is not enough.

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

With Supply Reforms implemented, we can finally start unlocking soldiers up the tech tree. Manipular Organization GO

The time has come. WE TAKE ON THE ETRUSCANS AND WIPE OUT THE DICTATORS.

Judging by how we're outnumbered, THIS IS GONNA BE A GRIPPIN' VICTORY BY THROAT.

Can't really see anybody except for the garrison fleet coming in to deposit their crew on the ground.

Velites look swaggalicious with those wolf caps. A pity they had no armor.

Those buildings are blocking my line of sight. Time to split the force in 2.

FOUND YA

The Etruscans meet my main force with theirs. My flanking force doesn't see anyone else guarding the side streets from the market side. We shall flank through there.

I only use 1 Hastati force at a time to fight, conserving stamina. My velites pelt the enemy mob with flaming javelins for maximum damage.

With the Etruscans surrounded, one of my units moves to capture the town square.

So much for a skewed balance bar. Upon taking a settlement, you can either Occupy (kill nobody, be honorable), Raze (kill everyone, burn everything, but no money just to spite your foes), or Loot (take captives, get money, annoy your foes) I decide to Occupy. We're a chivalrous bunch.

The Italic region will be ours. Ariminum will become a naval military base.

Next up, Veltathri. Time for Legio Capitoline Wolves FIGHT to shine.

With numerical superiority, let's see if I can just massacre my way through.

Not really. I throw javelins at the AI, baiting them to chase my skirmishers while my hastati proceed to flank the Etruscan spearmen.

With the bulk of their melee infantry distracted/flanked, I rush my reserves in to massacre the levy slingers and thus take the square.

I like how exhausted units look tired as fuck and hunch over as they run.

Either way, easy victory

With the Italic region under our control, we have increased our caps on armies, fleets, and agents.

Next up, Atalia.

I was wondering why Lucius Julius doesn't have Inspire or Rally abilities. He has Warcry, which lowers enemy morale. Turns out he's kind of insane in the membrane, hence why he lacks the ability to do supportive abilities.

Meanwhile, Cornelius could use some boost to his Zeal.

With Italia under our control, we can issue province wide edicts. This allows for a bonus to occur every turn. Giving out bread and entertainment and/or tax harvesting seems to be what we need at the moment.

Syracuse offers a Non-Aggresion Pact. I accept. Don't need to attack them for the moment, I need to get rid of the Etruscans.

And this is one of those events that require the player's attention. Someone in the family is acting up and I need to deal with it. In this case, we have a whore on our hands. What would HBO Rome's Atia do? Why, give the problem to a man to handle!

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

GLORIOUS UPDATE

We begin our campaign as the Junii, loyal upholders of the Republic, in control of most of the Italian peninsula.

We start off at war with the old enemies and ex-masters of the Romans, the Etruscans, who only own a few territories in the north and an island in the west.

Our family member Junius Brutus is an admiral in the "fleet". It's more like 3 boats, but we're Romans. Boats are like battleships to us.

We have a few objectives to do. Most of them are just to establish a foothold in the north and to proceed historically in wiping out Carthage. We may have other plans...of course.

The victory conditions may also be imitating Civilization, as instead of just conquering we can also seek to win via economic or cultural dominance.

The first thing I always do in a total war campaign is to build up the economy.

Taxes are a lot more adjustable; meaning instead of 5 levels, the slider is very incremental. It changes a little bit every time you move it a little.

The buildings are all unique in their bonuses, allowing for regional specialization. This is similar to Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai where you can opt for military ports that give you less cash but more units or commercial ones that give you more cash and less units, etc. It's a spectrum.

Apollo-what? FUCK THAT.

I'll start off with combinations of 3; names are chosen from your suggestions. As more armies are available to me, I will begin splitting them.

The general hails from the Julii. We're a small family, so we won't pull stupid things like replacing him with a Junii. Yet.

Meanwhile we have a 2nd army in the South. They're renamed and are led by a Cornelii.

Ambition and Gravitas seem to be things that I should look out for in the future.

It seems that unit stats now split between health & armor, weapon damage and melee skill, etc. This is interesting; I don't know if I should feel about the gameyness but as a FE fan it seems pretty cool.

Not much to say about Legatus. Roman cavalry sucked hard in real life.

Velites might be able to double up as flankers, though I'll welcome anything that can fight better than the Leves.

Rorarii only show up when the settlement itself is attacked. They're poor spearmen with the ability to form a square.

When a sufficient amount of "spare" people are available, a settlement can expand its slots, allowing for more buildings to be built. With 1 year = 1 turn, this sort of makes sense that I'm getting expansion notifications every 1-3 turns. However, I'm very reluctant in ending turns because the characters will end up aging rather quickly.

This certainly must be a throwback to the knife-wielding peasant unit from way back in Rome 1.

It would appear the crew of naval units can be customized, leading to multiple tiers of trade ships and such.

The Italic region is "shared" between us and the Etruscans, whereas the Magna Graecia region is shared between us, the Syracuse, and the Carthaginians. I'd like to secure both, if possible.

Here, the Faction Summary tab gives an overall report on the public order, characters, and special happenings in Rome. You can see there's characters from other families that aren't part of the main 3, yet they can do some things later on.

I move the southern army to the north. We'll do a joint attack on the Etruscans...soon.

There's only 2 mercenaries that can be hired: The Merc Italian Cavalry and Merc Italian Spearmen. For those of you who've played Europa Barbarorum or know your Italic history, I believe the former represents the famous Campanian Cavalry (Italy's tribe with an actual cavalry tradition) and the latter represents the light infantry of the Samnite style (or maybe Lucanians, though I think it's mostly Samnites)

It looks like agents also share the 3 stats that generals have: Zeal, Authority, and Cunning....

Put them in an army and they will keep you from being ambushed. Send them to a settlement and they can either burn things down, poison the garrison army there, or piss off the populace.

Look who I found.

Etruscans don't seem too special, though they seem to have their own cavalry unit.

Clicking on the diplomacy screen takes me to a zoomed out version of the campaign map. Here I can directly deal with my neighbors.

Let's start researching.

Noob spy is noob.

I like how random things pop up; it's a good break from Shogun 2 where generals get very fixed traits, and there was no variety at all.

Food is an important resource since Shogun 2. Always have a surplus if you want money and happy populations.

Armies cannot move as long as they are recruiting. It's best to move them to where you need them to go, and then recruit. Who they can recruit depends on the infrastructure of the REGION, not the settlement, they're close to.

This is the tech tree for the Romans. Also, Athens said they didn't want to trade with me. Fuck you too in the ass, Greek. We'll be coming for you someday.

So many choices, but what to pick?

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

Research is still in. Too bad the encyclopedia bugged out.

The interface for building buildings is different. Every province consists of several cities.

Each city's grouping is presented to you at once. Here, Campania consists of Capua and Salernum, the latter out of my control. Cities can expand their building capacity as you pay them, and as a result, you see it actually grow larger on the map

Dammit

Armies can adopt stances now, sacrificing movement for other effects.

THE SAMNITES ATTACK

My levy slingers do the scouting. The hastati line inches forward.

And then the game gives my cavalry reinforcements in the form of Equites.

The projectile bombardment begins. The javelineers are utterly devastated as they tried to get in range.

SUDDENLY BUTTFUCK.

Activating Draco keeps the enemy morale down.

The Samnite line approaches, having lost all their skirmishers. Their general buffs his surrounding troops. I pull the cavalry back and let my hastati charge in. I do my best not to commit all the units; I must maximize flanking potential.

With rear charges and liberal use of Draco, the enemies flee.

At this point I feel I''m ready for the grand campaign, and so I shall start there tomorrow.

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

Well, the game unlocked and here we go.

I decided to start off with the Prologue for tips on changes from previous total war games; I decided to ditch it after I felt like I've learned enough.

The prologue takes place before the grand campaign when Rome was young and didn't control even half the Italic peninsula. They were at war with the Samnites, another Italic people that lived in the more mountainous areas of Italy.

I am thrown into battle without any warning. LET'S DO THIS.

I am given command, but the rest of the interface hasn't shown up yet.

These are the Hastati, the most basic heavy infantry (Rome's specialty) unit. They consist of young guys who are able to afford armor and a sword.

Our general is guarded by Triarii, the wealthier, older Romans who can afford the best armor. They wield spears and historically don't commit unless the danger is grave.

Well here's the interface. The cards are much larger than in previous games, the numbers aren't there, instead replaced by a green bar....

Nice animation. As soon as we come under fire the men raise their shields as they advance.

Well, no time for historical fighting. I charge the slingers with my triarii. The enemy died quickly.

Next objective: Rescue Capua

Time to take out the siege engines.

The unit info failed to load for whatever reason.

The eye icon on my cards means that they're hidden. This is because the enemy units don't have a direct line of sight on them. The hill is hiding me, basically...

LET LOOSE

Units armed with Pila (a heavy javelin) will automatically throw them when ordered to charge.

Now onwards, to the main army...

The Samnites send some cavalry to meet us. I move a unit of Hastati forward and tell them to hold the ground.

There's just so many Samnite units, it doesn't seem winnable from here. Then reinforcements show up and proceed to charge the fuck out of all the Samnites.

Steamrolled.

Nice. We return to the campaign map.

Armies turn into horses when commanded to move.

Each army MUST have a general.

Recruitment is from settlement to general; you can't stockpile forces in a settlement anymore.

Armies can garrison settlements.

Troop choice is determined by the region your general is in.

Samnites screw over the Lucanians, it's up to us to save them

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

Junia: 3

Cornelii (including me): 2

WELL THEN. Heheheheheh.

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

Rome II will be out in less than a week.

I'd like some help in deciding which family to pick prior to playing the grand campaign

Picking a family determines some bonuses and penalties in the game, although I am unsure if it also affects units and/or technologies available.

Here are the Roman families:

Cornelia
+3% tax rate
+15 diplomatic standing with Hellenic factions
-2 public disorder from leaders (they hated plebs)

A famous member of the Cornelia family was Scipio Africanus, the general who defeated Hannibal of Carthage in the Second Punic War in about 204 BC. In 146 BC another member of the family, Scipio Aemilianus, commanded the final siege of Carthage in the Third Punic War and burned the city to the ground. Another member of the family, Tacitus, is considered one of the greatest Roman historians ever.

Julia
+2 cultural conversion
+10% morale when fighting barbarians
+25% public order penalties in foreign cultures

A famous member of the Julii family was Julius Caesar, who led to the demise of the Roman Republic in about 49 BC and the founding of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which included Caligula, Claudius and Nero.


Junia
Public order bonus in Latin cultures
+10% wealth from agriculture
-15 diplomatic standing with all factions

A famous member of the Junia family was Lucius Junius Brutus, who led the revolution to overthrow the last King of Rome and help found the Roman Republic in about 509 BC. Centuries later a member of the family, Marcus Junius Brutus, would plan the assassination of Julius Caesar in fear that he would overthrow the Republic.

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

So what are the sides in the war? Is it Germany-Austria-Turkey-Italy against UK-France-Spain-Russia, basically? Or did the alliances breaking cause it to change?

Also, what's up with this mod's battle-advantage bar? Every single time it says that one side is all but guaranteed to win. Only that last battle seemed like such a complete blowout.

The sides are right, and then the alliances broke so I think the Germany Austria union is sort of dissolved.

The mod team gave artillery a big factor in the autoresolve bar.

Not like any of this matters much anymore, the devs released a new update and it broke the game. I can't end turn without a crash even with a new game.

I'm giving up this LP. Maybe it can be revived when they finally put out a bug-free version. I am disappointed that I never got to the tanks and machine guns; I thought that in the span of 3 years the dev team could actually test out the campaign, but it seems that for the most part they were focusing on getting the units to work in battle.

For now...Rome 2 awaits!

[Let's Do It! XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN]

Hey Integrity, are you planning on doing a LP with this?

http://kotaku.com/xcom-enemy-unknown-gets-its-first-major-expansion-this-1175378649

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

We can now produce "light infantry" in the form of Somerset Infantry in both Conventinal and Trench doctrines. I suppose they are a subset of the Royal Marines?

The Germans advance deeper into France. Abercromby needs time for his army to recover.

Spain chooses a side.

Abercromby hides in the woods, evading a German army. Perhaps we can strike back and liberate that region for France?

Some time passes. With Caterpillar Tracks researched, we are on our way to acquiring tanks.

Romania bites the dust.

The time is nigh. WE ATTACK! As much as we dislike the Frogs, we dislike the Huns even more!

These are the King's African Rifles. I like how the officer uses a knife instead of a sword.

Light Mortars. That mortar is extremely small.

Napoleonic mortars sure look out of place on the battlefield.

The top picture is the Trench era Somerset. The bottom pic shows the Conventional era Somersets, with their archaic caps.

The Trench era riflemen.

And the conscripts.

I guess the uniform's the same, it's just their training that's different.

This should be a cakewalk. We're facing Armed Citizenry, a mob armed with knives, trenchguns (aka shotguns), or rifles. Keyword: OR. Some of them only have knives and look horribly outclassed.

I feel so guilty but...yeah...

With the liberation of I-forgot-that-region-name and the completion of a Cavalry Academy back in London, we have MORE NEW UNITS.

Royal Lancers - Lance-armed cavalry even more sorely outdated tan the Yeomanry. No pistol, just a sharpened lance.

Royal Hussars - Same armament as Yeomanry, but have lower stats but gallop faster.

Combat Engineers - Low unit size, said to be able to deploy mines and can easily hide in the battlefield. Otherwise similar to Riflemen but with higher melee stats.

Royal Dragoons - Rifle Cavalry with better melee.

Italy, I don't think you were supposed to join them.

Well, so be it.

And Belgium is being cowardly.

Thoughts thus far on the mod:

Things seem to be in working order thus far. Aside from the broken income that is, but that's beside the point. Germany is aggressive and sends full on armies my way, as it should be. The unit balance seems alright; I do take issue with the lack of friendly fire precaution that the men show. In NTW vanilla, units will take care not to shoot their friends if infantry walk into each other's sights. It doesn't happen here, my friendly fire numbers are much higher. Men will just ignore everyone standing between them and their enemy and keep shooting.

Otherwise, for a total conversion this mod is pretty fun.

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

What's left of the Howitzers bomb the opposing force's infantry. I wonder if they'll make it through this battle.

Some leftovers from the previous battle are coming in behind us. The Yeomanry show them cold steel.

It looks like they're concentrating on a single spot....

Well more like trying to cross the river.

Despite counterfire, our adept infantrymen repulse the assault. The cries of the wounded and the stench of death fill the air. The water from the river will be undrinkable for months to come.

Their general flees in dishonor.

Just when you thought it was over, the Germans pull a full army out of their collective arses and try to push. I am utterly outnumbered. Let's see if the conscripts can hold the bloody line.

The howitzers are still shooting. THEY WILL NEVER FALL

The war that destroyed an entire generation.

The pointless charging.

I shed manly tears for all those who died.

Our bullets can't stem the flow, sir!

CAVALRY. RULE BRITANNIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

GOD SAVE THE KING, THEY BROKE THROUGH

Where are they going though?

WHO CARES, SHOOT THEM. SHOOOOOOT

The German forces finally begun to open fire on our men. It wasn't pretty.

Fortunately for us their general galloped into the crossfire and met his end. The rest follow suit and melt away as a result.

With the conscripts spent, it was up to the regulars to advance.

At this rate, the conscripts would turn into regulars.

Ministers gain experience the longer they remain in a post.

Nations fall.

Napoleon Total War doesn't require the player to pay for troop replenishment. It's done automatically as long as the army is led by a general and is in a friendly province.

I can use the money and the artillery.

AND suddenly the economy breaks. For some reason trade income skyrockets and money is everywhere. I'll do my best not to cheat.

This is...interesting.

NEW UNITS AVAILABLE.

Australian Light Horse - Not tough fighters like Yeomanry, but these guys carry rifles instead of pistols....and I think the description might be wrong...I'll inform the modding team.

Rifle Infantry - Trench era unit, better stats

Rifle Cavalry - See Aussie Lights

King's African Rifles - See Rifle Infantry

Conscripts - The updated version of Pal's Battalion

Light Mortars - Very light artillery, I suppose.

Napoleonic Mortars - Very OUTDATED artillery

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

Mod said don't use leftover spies, so I won't.

Looks like Belgium has fallen. If I don't help France out, the balance of power will tip too quickly....

An army without a general is much worse off compared to an army with an actual general. I pay top pound for Abercromby.

More Researchers are always a good thing.

I don't have a use for an airfield at the moment, so industrial farming it is.

Sometime later Belgium got their shit together and ousted the Germans from the city. Good on ya.

Our first cargo ship from Gibraltar proceeds to obtain resources.

More money is poured into economic investment.

I'm sure sending a halfstack of men to the continent is a very bad idea.

We stop at bridges because they're much easier to defend than an open field.

THE HUNS APPROACH! FIRST BLOOD WILL BE OURS!

I think the Volunteers and the Pal's Battalion look exactly the same....

I think there's a crossing all the way in the corner.

As expected, the Germans decide to go through there. My howitzers can only harass them for so much.....the Germans 3 howitzer batteries have all targeted my own.

I quickly dismount my general so he isn't as conspicuous to artillery fire. Meanwhile, the Lahore Infantry take potshots at the German infantry across the river.

Time to get the Yeomanry out of there before the big KABOOM

The German cavalry get across first, but are turned back by gunfire from the Volunteers. More continue to run across the river.

Casualties of those under fire quickly skyrocket to the hundreds. Bolt action rifles are MUCH more accurate than the muskets of old.

CONSCRIPTS, ADVANCE ACROSS THE BRIDGE!

YEOMANRY! CHAAAAAAARGE. Insert Warhorse reference here. That was a pretty neat movie.

Pal's Men continue to cross the bridge.

My Yeomanry come under fire from Rifle Cavalry hidden in the trees. Their numbers drop incredibly quickly and I withdraw them.

As they withdraw the German infantry charge whilst still under fire from my riflemen across the river.

ONLY IN WW1 CAN YOU LAUNCH HUMAN WAVE ATTACKS.

Pretty good huh?

Well fuck, here comes the next wave.

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

Annnnd with some help of an internal beta which I was invited to participate in, a new patch has been rolled out and everybody is happy!

We can continue now.

The campaign opens up with the option to keep it historical or to keep it random. I chose the historical option.

Technologies have been given an overhaul to reflect the period.

This one looks bugged though

George V looks to be an alright enough sort....just a little messed in the head.

WW1's massive casualties came about as a result of using 19th century tactics with 20th century weaponry. Marching against machine gun fire and bolt action rifles wasn't the best idea at the time. Cavalry were...well...useless, for the most part.

This is reflected in-game by all nations starting in the "Conventional Warfare" era. Units that belong this period will be tightly packed shoulder to shoulder and tend to be vulnerable to attack of all kinds.

Due to game limitations, while techs for WW1 ships exist we won't actually be seeing mighty dreadnoughts in battle....they will be represented by Napoleonic-era units. Still, I doubt I'll be seeing much naval action, perhaps....

The most sensible thing to research is probably Trench Warfare Doctrine. Look at all the units it unlocks!

Actually maybe not. The economy is pretty bad. I should get a stable economy or I won't be able to afford any units at all!

Check out that 'stache. Researchers are Scholars; they hasten research rate to unlock techs faster. Since this is using the Napoleon Total War engine, each turn is half a month, I think. We won't see anyone age to death.

Upgrading the university also helps. We only have 1 in Oxford.

Barracks give you standard military units, and "autonomy" buildings give you militia and whatnot as well as increasing how many units the region can recruit per turn at the cost of decreasing your income.

Not much in unit choice at the moment.

We have Pal's Battalion, a militia/conscript unit that fights in the old style of shoulder to shoulder. Ignore the description saying they're professional. They're not. I hope.

We have Yeomanry, a cavalry unit that fights with revolver and sword. Horribly outdated by this time period.

We have Light Howitzers, an artillery unit with pitiful morale. However, they're our only choice at the moment....and I have no clue if they're the shittiest artillery or not.

We have the "Volunteers", a regular rifle unit that fights in the old style of shoulder to shoulder. Now if only I could produce more....

If I recall correctly, Belgium turned into Germany's gateway into France yes?

With my starting treasury I pour funds into improving the economy. I need the cash.

Gibraltar can be my trading center; it'll make cargo ships that I can send to do trade with nations outside of Europe. Recall that this was after the Victorian era where most major European powers had colonies throughout the world.

I researched mortars, but I don't have the facilities to make them.

Lahore Infantry are basically riflemen recruited from India. I believe they're actually from the Trench Warfare era. Their stats are rather high.

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

I'm afraid I can't say for sure what sites are better than Photobucket, but you've got things like imageshack or imgur that people use.

I'll vote for UK/Germany for unit diversity. Between the two I don't really care all that much.

It's okay, I contacted Jyosua and he added the new photobucket extension (they use .jpg~original now instead of just .jpg) so photobucket can continue.

Unfortunately the mod is bugged beyond ****. The team seemed to have underestimated that a self-made game patcher would not work uniformly for their audience and the campaign is broken (economy is dead, no alliances!!!, etc)

To be honest I'm not so sure how this many problems escaped internal testing but as a result they're now recruiting for beta testers from the public.

Looks like this LP died before it can even properly start....a testament to the casualty rate of WW1.

I'm betting Rome II will be out before this TGW can even be made playable for a LP. :\

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

IT'S HAPPENED.

They managed to fix the bug.

Now we can get started.

PLEASE CHOOSE FOR ME

Russia seems to have the most diverse infantry roster, but I don't seem them having tanks.

Germany and UK have the most unique units (UK seems to have NZ and Aussies and Canadian support too)

France has some uniques, but not a lot.

Everyone else shares a generic unit pool with 1-2 uniques here and there.

The main menu. Very very sad piano soundtrack in the background while a montage of machine guns mowing down soldiers plays.

The faction list. Choose!

One of the loading screens

I waited 3 years for this mod. I don't know what to feel right now.

Sorry for the small image size. I'd link them in original size here but the forums doesn't recognize the photobucket extension .jpg~original. Anyone know of a better site?

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

Annnnnd right when they're going to upload the modders found a bug that renders the campaign unplayable.

They'll upload a version with custom battles only.

I suppose we can use the unit rosters to decide which faction I'll be playing with.

[Let's Play: The Great War - A mod of Napoleon Total War]

Hi all! Skitarii/IGdood here!

Hope nobody's tired of the Total War LPs I've done on the forums. While I'm waiting for Rome 2, I received news that the The Great War mod, which is a WW1 complete overhaul mod for Napoleon Total War, will be released in approximately 13 hours from the time of writing this post.

Here's the obligatory post that I make for my Total War LPs as a quick introduction to the series.

For newcomers to the Total War series and those who just want to look at my Let's Play, I welcome you. Total War series is probably one of the most involved strategy games ever. I'll give some basics, but you'll be learning as I go through the campaign and such.

The game is mainly divided into two segments: Turn-based and real-time.

In the turn-based segments you move your armies around, manage your cities, train troops, make diplomacy, assassinate enemy generals, spy on enemy cities and whatnot. This is probably the part that turns most casual gamers away, it gets very taxing keeping track of everything.

Real-time occurs when your armies clash with others on the world map. The game will do a pretty epic zoom-in onto the map (or just go straight to the battle on the much older 2D games). Your general (or captain if you didn't put one there) will give a speech that could be heroic or shitty (if he's insane or cowardly) and you can position your men. After that you can begin the battle and start making your moves.


Units are not single individuals, but are groups of soldiers, which can range from 80 (knights, elites) to 200 (peasants, low quality infantry) Growths are static, with every level up increasing attack and defence by 1. There are named characters who are part of your royal family, and they become generals if placed in an army. They develop depending on the situations you put them in on the battlefield, which can lead to very awesome warriors or very....umm...insane people. This can boost or screw over your troops' stats.

The main goal of the game is to conquer your enemies, or if you're into roleplaying history, you can be merciful or just do nothing and watch what the other countries do.

In battle, the main goal is to rout the enemy, basically break their will to fight. So, with clever positioning and even with lesser soldiers, you can defeat armies who are theoretically superior. Usually if people are getting chopped from the front, shot at in the sides, and charged in the back, it usually guarantees a rout. You can choose to let them run away and fight you on a better day, or you can chase and cut them down like the dogs they are.

The game I will use is Napoleon Total War (NTW). For those of you who have read through my Empire Total War LP, NTW is basically a hundred years later in terms of the time period covered. Other than slashing out India and the Americas, firing drills, unit variety, etc. and improving the engine for smoother gameplay, there isn't much different other than changes in unit uniforms and better graphics. That's why I didn't do an LP for NTW.

However, TGW is different. It uses the game, but sends the time period into WW1. I don't think I've seen many games nor movies that cover WWI in my lifetime, so I consider this LP an obligation and also a review of the mod. It will also be a good time killer until Rome 2 is released on Sep 3.

So what is unique about WW1?

It was a time of military doctrine change. People figured out that marching into battle towards machine guns was a pretty bad idea. Colorful uniforms just got you shot, so soldiers made the switch to khaki/dimmer colors. Flamethrowers, gas shells, automatic weaponry, TANKS, etc. made the battlefield a grim place. Artillery was king and accounted for 70% of casualties. Cavalry was pretty much useless.

There was always the sort of myth that WW1 = trench warfare. Yes, trench warfare did happen but in places like the eastern front, warfare was more mobile.

Units can be named, I believe. Don't expect them to survive for long in such hellish conditions though.

Some screens and a little video so you know what I will be getting into.

I'm going to play as one of the major nations, but I will leave the choice to you.

France

Great Britain

Russia

Austria-Hungary

Germany

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

For all of you looking for a good deal on Rome 2 Total War it is currently on sale for ~ $37 USD (Originally $60 as it is unreleased yet) Comes with Pre-Order DLC.

This Brazilian site is trustworthy, as I have used it myself buying Borderlands 2 DLC.


http://www.nuuvem.com.br/produto/1213-total-war-rome-ii

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

Alright.

And damn, I cannot contain my hype boner. If the little guys are as reactive as they're shown here, this would certainly make for some excellent LP screenshots.

Those burning soldiers.

Those faces.

That elephant closing its eyes as it falls over and dies.

That music.

[Let's Play: Rome 2 Total War - Completed - ROMA INVICTA]

Newish video on the audio of Rome 2.

Hiring Mark Strong (from Sherlock Holmes) is worrying me though. I'm certain his price isn't low, but it seems he's only doing voice work for the Prologue. My concern is that the developers (or maybe it's Sega's choice) are wasting their money on little things instead of working to improve the game as a whole.

I'm pretty much going to LP the main game (maybe also the prologue as an introductory piece to the LP)

[You're suddenly thrown into the Fire Emblem world]

Dead. Killed by bandits in a harsh world.

[If you were to create a Fire Emblem Class... what would it be?]

Cataphract (or Kataphraktoi): A very heavily armored mounted unit (similar to FE 8's Great Knight) that wields a 2-handed lance and a bow. Can also shove/smite units and push them due to its mass.

Scythed Chariot/Chariot: A unit similar to Merlinus. Alone, it can only charge at and cut enemies quite ineffectively. What makes it useful is that any non-mounted character can join the chariot to receive +4 mobility through roads and plains and still attack from the chariot. So an archer would become a nomad (in a sense) for example. Perhaps in a promotion it can take up to 2 characters? Would be a horrible beast to fight against, imagine putting Nino and Raven on a chariot.....

[If you were to create a new Weapon Type... What would it be?]

Perhaps labeling them guns and firearms won't make them as attractive to FE players.

May I suggest more archaic names such as matchlocks or flintlocks?

FE's period would fit up to the Renaissance era where armor design has reached its pinnacle.

[What kind of character would you like the next new lord to be?]

I would prefer not so much a noble lord but perhaps a mercenary prince. May have royal ties but more or less leads a sellsword lifestyle.

This offers the greatest flexibility in terms of a player's moral direction. Do you fight for the "heroes" or the "villains", or do you fight for the highest bidder and follow where the money goes to the point of switching sides in the middle of a battle?

This also offers a lot of variety in terms of what characters you can have join your team. Maybe you can even mix together a psychopath with do-gooders.

Or....failing that, having a lord that acts more like nobility in a Republic/Greek democracy instead of a monarchy/Empire would be nice too. Fuck the sword, take up the spear like a hoplite or the bow + 2-handed lance like a Steppe noble.