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[Total War: Shogun 2] Laughs at Your Puny Computer (also general Total War thread)
Suriko
AustraliaRegistered User regular
AustraliaRegistered User regular
http://www.sega-australia.com/games/shogun-2-total-war/
As gentle wind blows
A sequel to Shogun is made
Turns out very good
There is more than one path to the top of the mountain.
The Total War series has had its ups and downs - Rome and Medieval 2 gained critical acclaim around these parts. Empire... not so much. But if Napoleon showed that Creative Assembly were able to pick themselves up and dust themselves off, Shogun 2 shows that they are still very much able to take the Total War series forward.
Shogun 2, and the Total War series in general, are strategy games very much unlike the standard fare. Where in other games one might build bases in isolated and meaningless rounds, The Total War series takes place on a strategic map, providing an overview of the region and allowing for management of territory and troop movement, and battle maps, which provide a general's eye view of epic, sweeping battles that other strategy series fail to capture.
Shogun 2 takes us to the Sengoku Period, or Warring States Period, of feudal Japan. The country lies fractured between powerful clans, led by both honourable and devious figures. You think modern games are all far too easy? Shogun 2 will show you how wrong you are. Creative Assembly have finally gotten their act together in battle AI, clans are extremely competitive, and you will be constantly aware that you are not the only figure in Japan aiming for the venerable title of Shogun.
It should also be noted that Shogun 2 is a Steamworks game (and hence, retail boxed copies can be registered on Steam). It features very heavy integration with the platform. Steam Cloud, Steam Clans, everything's very tightly connected, and it works very well.
Know your enemy, know his sword.
ChosokabeIncreased income from farms, reduced recruitment cost and upkeep for all bow infantry, can recruit superior bow infantry.
DateCharge bonus to all units, reduced recruitment cost and upkeep for no-dachi samurai, can recruit superior no-dachi samurai.
Hattori+2% to the success chance of ninja actions, specialist Hattori units can hide effectively in battle, specialist Hattori units possess kisho training.
HojoCastles are cheaper to build and repair, reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for siege units, can recruit superior siege units.
MoriIncreased campaign map movement range for all ships, reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for all ships, can recruit superior ships.
OdaImproved morale for all ashigaru, reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for all ashigaru, can recruit superior ashigaru.
ShimazuIncreased loyalty for all generals, reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for katana samurai, can recruit superior katana heroes, can recruit superior katana samurai.
TakedaImproved morale for cavalry, reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for all cavalry, can recruit superior cavalry.
Tokugawa+2% to the success chance of metsuke actions, bonus to diplomatic relations, reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for kisho ninja, can recruit superior kisho ninja.
Uesugi+2% to the success chance of monk actions, increased trade income, reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for warrior monks, can recruit superior warrior monks
From one thing, know ten thousand things.
Joining a multiplayer clan in Shogun 2 is advisable; there are in-game benefits to doing so. This being Penny Arcade, we of course have one: Cardboard Tube Samurai.
To join the clan, go to the group page in Steam for the Cardboard Tube Samurai, and join the chat. Eventually someone will invite you, and once you accept, you'll be in the Steam group. Then you can join the clan in-game, by going to the clan page in the Avatar Conquest area (first one to the right of the campaign map button, in the multiplayer menu). On the left will be a list of the groups you are in with the option to join one as your clan. Click on the Cardboard Tube Samurai group and choose it as your clan. Congratulations, you're in the clan now. Now get fighting, general, lest you show our clan a shameful display!
If you wish to control others you must first control yourself.
Modding Shogun 2 is possible. People are actively working on mods for fixing and changing various aspects of the game. They can be found here. Notable mods so far are:
Does what it says on the box. A very questionable design decision, but this mod fixes it. CA says this doesn't happen, but people do report results from this mod.
Gives individual soldiers a bit more variance in their visual appearances, reducing the "clone army" effect.
Adds colours to the backgrounds of the unit cards in the UI to help better distinguish them. Simple effect, but quite useful.
Changes the Realm Divide mechanic significantly. Hoz and Synthesis report good results.
Makes unit armour look less like polished glass and more like metal, and removes the gloss from rope and cloth. Not compatible with the Unit Variety Mod above.
When units are ordered to move forward, and when they're ordered to run, they verbally say "retreat" and a mistranslation of "double speed" respectively. This mod fixes them to say the correct lines.
Replaces the in-game map with a much more informative and useful one. The map can be accessed outside of the game here.
I made a game! A Tithe in Blood, a dark yuri VN set in snowy Sapporo. Demo available on Steam!
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Suriko on
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Posts
ALRIGHT
I'M ON BOARD WITH THIS
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
won't get fooled again.
Time to deliver on your promises of functioning AI Creative Assembly
Yeah, I've said it before, as poorly as Empire was handled I'll keep on buying these things.
Eh, I didn't buy Napoleon Total War in the end. As much as I'm looking forward to this, Empire/Napoleon are going to be in the back of my mind.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Look. I don't want to be a dick , but how does that make any sense?
I just buy them for the pretty graphics and commanding tons and tons of dudes
It's like I'm making my own big movie battle scene from the comfort of my desk chair!
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
I'm cautiously optimistic that CA learned from the experience and that Shogun 2 TW will be better supported and (at least a little) less buggy on release, especially if they use the Empire/Napoleon engine.
Edit: I expect a media bomb for this at E3.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
It's not like we've got a bunch of choice in this market. If Total War dies, that's one more sub-genre that goes the way of the space sim. Despite everything, I still had fun with Empire and Napoleon.
Maybe I've developed strategy game Stockholm Syndrome.
The character progression thing sounds interesting. One thing I've always thought the Total War games could benefit from is a little human/emotional investment, if you will.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Maybe they thought it would be swallowed up by bigger announcements if they waited?
But I'm cool with just Japan, bring it on!
Call me a loon, but I got really attached to certain generals during my time with these games based on character traits, memorable battles, ect.
-I still remember the Byzantine Emperor who had all his carefully groomed sons assassinated and died alone in Constantinople. He had sent them on campaign to get experience and not be spoiled by city life, but some hungarian assassin knifed him.
Bucharest was taken in retaliation; it's garrison and people slaughtered in an act of pure spite and revenge.
-The British king who was victorious in his crusade and defended Jersusalem in 3 massive sieges, only to die right before the final battle was won, leaving a tattered, leaderless force, too weak to keep the population controlled that had to abandon the city.
-The "Black Emperor"; another Byzantine Emperor that let the mongols beat themselves bloody in 4 massive sieges against a level 3 castle in anatolia. After that, he was the first to beat the Mongols in an open battle and with his veteran army managed to slaughter each and every last Mongol in a massive purge in Syria.
Of course, since letting 3 silver cheveroned Mongol units go was too risky, he slaughtered all prisoners he took, no quarter asked or given, and wound up with the max skull rating for dread.
His son, the "Dread Prince" took over his veteran army, purged the egyptians, then lead them up the boot of Italy. The common infantry were so experienced, they charged cannons without breaking.
-The shitty, throwaway 2-star Teuronic general I gave 6 light cavalry to go slaughter bandits and build watchtowers in my territory; basically gave easy police work to a crappy general who's bodyguard was more valuable than him.
However, I failed to notice that after winning about 10 battles and always being on campaign, his stats got so good that, when the previous Grand Master died, he took his place. Cool how a backwater, shit assignment was his path to ultimate glory.
Wow, this brings back memories. I could keep going, but you get the picture...
Margaret Thatcher
I know exactly what you mean, I love all of this. Empire felt so empty in comparison to previous games, the biggest reason I like Napoleon more (apart from the refined, not so buggy engine) is the human element to the game. In future games I would love the ability to be able to see the royal family and choose my heirs. Such small features that could be so easily catered to, that would mean so much to me (and others, as you've just demonstrated). Yet CA has seen the need to eradicate them since the release of Empire... I can only hope that with this character progression and hero unit talk that they're finally seeing the light.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Although slightly more seriously, for me to give this the time of day it would have to get great reviews with numerous reports from different sources that the AI isn't a disgrace, the game not buggy as hell, and it will need to be on sale.
Steam: CavilatRest
I was wondering if they'd ever get back to Japan.
I played Empire but not Napoleon, felt like they'd be too similar for the purchase to be worth it. Also too much merchantry.
I didn't get too deep (played like half an hour) into Shogun: Total War but I played the crap out of all the others except Napoleon. Excited for Shogun 2.
I'll also have a reason to go back to the twcenter forums again!
Slice like a god damn hammer. LoL: Rafflesia / BNet: Talonflame#11979
Am I the only one who vomited in my mouth a bit when I read this? I know this is sales talk, but did they seriously have to outright say "this game is better in every way, in fact it is perfect!"? I'll be watching this closely, but I am currently in the same boat as Rami.
They didn't say the game is perfect? They said it has the perfect mix of turn based and real time elements.
I too am glad they returned to Japan. Shogun was the only Total War game I enjoyed.
I'm awesome.
I was never interested in the Empire series, guns are not my favorite thing. I always wanted to play the original Shogun game, but right now I feel it would be too dated.
Yeah, I gave the original Medieval a go the other day, and it has not dated well at all.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Rome let you switch the designated heir though it would automatically assign one when you first had a new faction leader ascend.
Also, there's the twisted amusement in seeing the generals that were a wee bit off go totally bonkers later in life. By the end of my Brutii campaign I think my field generals universally had anger issues and demanded to bathe in the blood of their enemies.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
The triggers for some of the traits were always a little sketchy. Like, "using your general in battles will result in him being a bloodthirsty maniac." You'd think there'd be some middle-ground there for a guy who, you know, just kinda does his job?
Actually, thinking on it now, it might be that running down fleeing enemies is what caused it, and having your general run down fleeing enemies is something of a no-brainer. Cavalry and such always levelled SO MUCH FASTER because apparently killing defenseless, retreating enemies count for kills much more so than actually fighting duders. I guess the same applied for the trait triggers.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Also, Napoleon is great (just playing through it now, the most I've been immersed in a Total War game since the original Shōgun), and Empire is amazing when modded.
I was really hoping they'd return to the Japanese setting (kind of hoping was a warring-states China counterpart, but this is good too), and I will be watching this with great excitement. As some of the people have already mentioned, I'd love to see a return to the really complex personalities you could get in Rome: Total War (I played the 'Total Realism' mod for years).
apparently its so dated it doesnt even work on a lot of semi-modern machines. i tired to fire it up a few months ago, game crashed at the campaign screen. I looked up the error message and it pretty much equated to "sorry, your graphic card is too advanced, get out of here"
I'm actually surprised that they haven't gone for China/Ro3K yet. I mean, that is the quintessentially Asian war era. The whole Sengoku stuff is a distant second.