Total War thread

[I Know 孤独のせい]

Vampire rework seems to be nice at first glace, have to play an entire campaign to actually evaluate it. KRELL!!!!
Same with all the other stuff from the DLC and patch but can't really decide which one to start first.

Its also funny that Karl Franz stopped being a recommended campaign, CA clearly got the message that his start position is a mosh pit built to fuck over new players.

Apparently more Monkey King stuff got leaked which wouldn't surprise me if the next DLC will be Cathay again. And honestly from my surface level understand there is so much stuff left to add they could easily support the game for another 5 years.

 

[Snekposter]

The overall "balance" strategy seems to be making everything more powerful instead of each faction having an appropriate handicap. I'd guess that's because CA decided they want all the wh3 races to be all-around strong and now they need to modernize the races from 1 & 2. Which is not great but simpler than trying to balance the hundreds of different battle matchups available now.

In WH1 the Empire having a weak line was perfectly fine because the only nations that had really powerful lines struggled to counter the Empire's own line breakers. The Dwarfs didn't have much to deal with DGK's or Reiksguard and lacked magic, the VC's didn't have Grave Guard halberds, Chaos needed to deal with artillery before they could get there... but then WH2 gave us the other VC, which had vampire polearms on top of a solid ranged core simply from the sheer numbers they could wield, plus they and the Lizardmen got walking siege engines, on top of the bullshit that are Temple Guards on account of their gobs of HP and shielded polearms.

Kislev and Cathay are just the cherry on top, really.

 

[Kane Lives]

In WH1 the Empire having a weak line was perfectly fine because the only nations that had really powerful lines struggled to counter the Empire's own line breakers. The Dwarfs didn't have much to deal with DGK's or Reiksguard and lacked magic, the VC's didn't have Grave Guard halberds, Chaos needed to deal with artillery before they could get there... but then WH2 gave us the other VC, which had vampire polearms on top of a solid ranged core simply from the sheer numbers they could wield, plus they and the Lizardmen got walking siege engines, on top of the bullshit that are Temple Guards on account of their gobs of HP and shielded polearms.

Kislev and Cathay are just the cherry on top, really.

The only thing I disagree with this analysis is lizardmen using temple guards in any form.

In WH2 they were a deadend unit that nobody recruited because they were both tier 4, expensive and wasn't boosted by saurus techs (for some reason). The only place they had was in a Mazda stack because he had bonuses for them.

In WH3 post rework they gotten a little better but they're in the same pit with all other elite infantries: why recruit them when you can just shit out dinos and cheaper saurus spears?

 

[Snekposter]

The only thing I disagree with this analysis is lizardmen using temple guards in any form.

In WH2 they were a deadend unit that nobody recruited because they were both tier 4, expensive and wasn't boosted by saurus techs (for some reason). The only place they had was in a Mazda stack because he had bonuses for them.

In WH3 post rework they gotten a little better but they're in the same pit with all other elite infantries: why recruit them when you can just shit out dinos and cheaper saurus spears?

Fair. I don't play the lizardmen at all so you'd know more than I would. Its not like even baseline Saurus are exactly lacking in durability, either.

 

[I Know 孤独のせい]

The only thing I disagree with this analysis is lizardmen using temple guards in any form.

In WH2 they were a deadend unit that nobody recruited because they were both tier 4, expensive and wasn't boosted by saurus techs (for some reason). The only place they had was in a Mazda stack because he had bonuses for them.

In WH3 post rework they gotten a little better but they're in the same pit with all other elite infantries: why recruit them when you can just shit out dinos and cheaper saurus spears?

Temple Guards are ok but as you said why bother when there are better cost effective units. Apart from some fringe cases like Khorne, melee is still behind magic and ranged. But I don't necessarily agree that all other elite infantry units suffer the same fate. Chosen of Khrone with Dual Weapons are probably the best melee infantry in the game slicing through everything like a hot knife through butter despite and are worth using their premium cost. Chosen of Slaanesh ( Hellscourges ) are maybe the best anvil apart from something like Ghorst's Zombie stack. Bladesingers for the Woodelves are the viable option if you want to run a melee army apart from the usual doomstacks.

 

[Kane Lives]

Temple Guards are ok but as you said why bother when there are better cost effective units. Apart from some fringe cases like Khorne, melee is still behind magic and ranged. But I don't necessarily agree that all other elite infantry units suffer the same fate. Chosen of Khrone with Dual Weapons are probably the best melee infantry in the game slicing through everything like a hot knife through butter despite and are worth using their premium cost. Chosen of Slaanesh ( Hellscourges ) are maybe the best anvil apart from something like Ghorst's Zombie stack. Bladesingers for the Woodelves are the viable option if you want to run a melee army apart from the usual doomstacks.

Yeh, though to be fair, in Khorne's case, melee elite infantry are pretty much one of the few tools you have. So for Khorne, it makes perfect sense to go all in on elite infantry that pretty much blends everything else except like Swordsmen of Hoeth and that Delf equivalent which I never see anyone use. (I tried Skarbrand recently and got short victory in 30 turns which is very funny). So outliers do exist, but honestly melee infantry is just in a rough spot atm.

 

[I Know 孤独のせい]

Yeh, though to be fair, in Khorne's case, melee elite infantry are pretty much one of the few tools you have. So for Khorne, it makes perfect sense to go all in on elite infantry that pretty much blends everything else except like Swordsmen of Hoeth and that Delf equivalent which I never see anyone use. (I tried Skarbrand recently and got short victory in 30 turns which is very funny). So outliers do exist, but honestly melee infantry is just in a rough spot atm.

Your right Khorne was a bit of a bad example since you can only do melee, melee, and melee. Melee is okay, not the shitshow that WH1 and 2 were but you are right, its still in a rough spot unless we are talking about large and single entity units. FYI most respective elite melee infantry loses to Chosen of Khorne Dual Weapons even if just barely. I've done a bit of testing pitching them 1vs1. There are barely any exceptions, Har Garneth Executions lose unless Murderous Mastery triggers. Its also a bit ironic that Nurgle beats Khorne in this regard.The new Putrid Blightkings Dual Weapons win easily and in decent condition. Same with Skullcrushers who crush most things but lose to Rot Knights. There might be some units that are a coin toss and with magic,techs and skill this changes completely.

 

[Kane Lives]

The new Putrid Blightkings Dual Weapons win easily and in decent condition. Same with Skullcrushers who crush most things but lose to Rot Knights. There might be some units that are a coin toss and with magic,techs and skill this changes completely.

Holy power creep CA. God forbid Khorne is good at the one thing he has.

 

[I Know 孤独のせい]

Holy power creep CA. God forbid Khorne is good at the one thing he has.

GW loves Nurgle and CA probably does too. Cant sell DLC without power creep. Didn't test the Blightkings against anything else though but I went through the Chosen of Khorne testing a while ago and recently so unless the upcoming balance patch changes things they are still excellent. I haven't gone through all the past patch notes but as far as I can tell Rot Knights were this good since their release back in Thrones of Decay. To be fair they barely win against the Skullcrushers who themselves are unbelievably busted.

 

[Big Brown Schlub]

Cant sell DLC without power creep.

This has always been a problem not just with CA but any games that have some sort of competitive aspect to it in general, even if it's just against AI, for example most people play Paradox games to play singleplayer. With Total War, barely anyone plays multiplayer campaigns, they either focus mostly (or even exclusively) on singleplayer campaign or on multiplayer battles. If you release a shitty character or factions or whatever as DLC, then what's the fucking point? Who's gonna buy it? Same if they're "balanced", you gotta release some unga bunga retarded strong faction or character to get those sales numbers up and get people to play them.

 

[I Know 孤独のせい]

This has always been a problem not just with CA but any games that have some sort of competitive aspect to it in general, even if it's just against AI, for example most people play Paradox games to play singleplayer. With Total War, barely anyone plays multiplayer campaigns, they either focus mostly (or even exclusively) on singleplayer campaign or on multiplayer battles. If you release a shitty character or factions or whatever as DLC, then what's the fucking point? Who's gonna buy it? Same if they're "balanced", you gotta release some unga bunga retarded strong faction or character to get those sales numbers up and get people to play them.

That seems to be the unfortunate reality of DLC. But I don't know if that would be the case if people were conditioned to expect meaningful and balanced DLC that plugs holes in a race's roster or allows for some alternative playstyles. But that would require any developer to sit down and actually think about the shit they do and put into their games. I think the obligatory unga bunga unit seems to be some kind of reflex jangling shit in front of people to grab their short attention spans and appeals to people who play that game just for a couple of hours and move on. For example the Dread Saurian was a cool set piece but still sucks as a unit. I rather have a DLC with the equivalent of the Kislevite Warriors taking every unit slot because I think that would actually appeal to the people playing the game for any extended period of time.

 

[Big Brown Schlub]

That seems to be the unfortunate reality of DLC. But I don't know if that would be the case if people were conditioned to expect meaningful and balanced DLC that plugs holes in a race's roster or allows for some alternative playstyles. But that would require any developer to sit down and actually think about the shit they do and put into their games. I think the obligatory unga bunga unit seems to be some kind of reflex jangling shit in front of people to grab their short attention spans and appeals to people who play that game just for a couple of hours and move on. For example the Dread Saurian was a cool set piece but still sucks as a unit. I rather have a DLC with the equivalent of the Kislevite Warriors taking every unit slot because I think that would actually appeal to the people playing the game for any extended period of time.

Back when we called DLCs "expansions" things used to be better imo. Devs would have to justify printing more discs and would thus have to put in some effort in making them. Already good games would become even better, as seen with expansions like Frozen Throne for Warcarft 3, Conquerors for Age of Empires 2, Yuri's Revenge for Red Alert 2 etc. Contemporary fighting games have this funny practice where a new DLC character is dare I say purposely made OP as fuck at launch until they get nerfed to a more balanced state a month or two after release. I think the bigger problem today is the goysoomer himself, I don't think it's possible to condition them to like balanced releases, it's either powercreep NOW or they start sperging about it on preddit.

 

[I Know 孤独のせい]

Back when we called DLCs "expansions" things used to be better imo. Devs would have to justify printing more discs and would thus have to put in some effort in making them. Already good games would become even better, as seen with expansions like Frozen Throne for Warcarft 3, Conquerors for Age of Empires 2, Yuri's Revenge for Red Alert 2 etc.

Even though I fondly remember something like the Titans for Age of Mythology, Barbarian Invasion for Rome Total War, Dark Crusade for Dawn of War or even Wrath of the Lich King for WoW I have to say that I prefer the modern DLC approach. Though that has less to do with individual DLC but more with a consistent and/or prolonged patch cycle.

Contemporary fighting games have this funny practice where a new DLC character is dare I say purposely made OP as fuck at launch until they get nerfed to a more balanced state a month or two after release

Its not like the old way of doing super, ultra, or whatever versions didn't have its own set of issues. But the modern cavalcade of broken top tier DLC is certainly obnoxious. Though I think the last generation of fighting games were a bit worse in that regard. But the bigger issue seems to be the unwillingness of Japanese developers to patch games on a consistent schedule since the still pretend their selling us an updated version yearly or biyearly. SF6 is a perfect example of a supposed live service game that gets neither content nor balance adjustments consistently.

I think the bigger problem today is the goysoomer himself, I don't think it's possible to condition them to like balanced releases, it's either powercreep NOW or they start sperging about it on preddit.

That seems to be the inevitable way of every game and genre once it hits a critical mass where people will just buy without thinking or engaging with the developer or product. Nobody is safe from that and even smaller indies are prone to immediately backpedal the moment people complain instead of evaluating if that opinion has any merit or not.

 

[Big Brown Schlub]

That seems to be the inevitable way of every game and genre once it hits a critical mass where people will just buy without thinking or engaging with the developer or product. Nobody is safe from that and even smaller indies are prone to immediately backpedal the moment people complain instead of evaluating if that opinion has any merit or not.

In the end it comes down to this. Crazy to think that gaming used to be much healthier when the lowest common denominator was a 12 year old kid screaming how he's a Navy SEAL that's gonna fuck your mom because you killed him in the latest Cowadoodee. Now the lowest common denominator is a predditor theatre kid in their 20s or 30s or a retarded turd world brownoid. They literally fucking design games around DSP now and he still sucks at them.

 

[BiggestKai]

Has anyone seen this M2EX project for Medieval 2(or the corresponding REX for Rome)?
Basically a WIP engine rework by autistic modders claiming to add so much shit from fixes to camera expansions to AI improvements to 40 unit battles, the unit class icons from later games.
https://github.com/Pannoniae/rex

The whole thing seems to be driven by Discord groups so that's a red flag, but I'm curious if anyone's tried it?

There's even a sick looking Mount and Blade third person soldier control mod for it.

Also saw a demo for dismounting cavalry units which is pretty damn cool although I can't imagine what the purpose would be outside of like sieges.

 

[Big Brown Schlub]

The whole thing seems to be driven by Discord groups so that's a red flag, but I'm curious if anyone's tried it?

I personally only tried REX because I can still play M2TW on my current PC no problem but Rome Total War has made every computer I had since 2016 shit itself and refused to work properly. It works really well and that's all I care about. There's no stuttering, no weird mouse sensitivity problems, my game doesn't suddenly drop to <10FPS when I dare to scroll the campaign map and it doesn't crash after doing a siege with a ton of units anymore and if that's the only thing REX did I'd be happy but adding some QoL changes and removing old limitations like the faction limit is the cherry on top.

 

[I Know 孤独のせい]

Has anyone seen this M2EX project for Medieval 2(or the corresponding REX for Rome)?

I fiddled with it a bit since its the only way that the OG Rome works on my machine. A lot of the things they are implementing are interesting but at some point it feels like less of an engine modernization and more like a mod.

 

[OutInTheRain]

>Be me
>Buy new DLC lords
>Immediately play Karl Franz Empire campaign

But in all seriousness I do like the vamp changes and Neferata is fun. Toddy offsets the Karl Franz Royal Rumble a bit and I've been missing my boy Thanquol.

 

[Übertroon]

>Be me
>Buy new DLC lords
>Immediately play Karl Franz Empire campaign

But in all seriousness I do like the vamp changes and Neferata is fun. Toddy offsets the Karl Franz Royal Rumble a bit and I've been missing my boy Thanquol.

All Warhammer DLC exists only to challenge Karl Franz as he becomes the overman

 

[Snekposter]

Yeh, though to be fair, in Khorne's case, melee elite infantry are pretty much one of the few tools you have. So for Khorne, it makes perfect sense to go all in on elite infantry that pretty much blends everything else except like Swordsmen of Hoeth and that Delf equivalent which I never see anyone use. (I tried Skarbrand recently and got short victory in 30 turns which is very funny). So outliers do exist, but honestly melee infantry is just in a rough spot atm.

Its been that way for a while. CA can't help but make OP ranged units. You ever see what some archers can do in Three Kingdoms?

All Warhammer DLC exists only to challenge Karl Franz as he becomes the overman

I've got a legendary lord artifact mod named Artefacts of Legend that buffs Ghal Maraz to the point it gives Unbreakable to Franz's entire army.

Say "Hello" to Sigmar Reborn, motherfuckers.