Total War: Rome 2 Heaven

ARG! I'm gonna have to delete my saves again and play vanilla (plus some side mods) while the other mods get updated

I've really been tempted with all the video games lately. Between Skyrim, Rome 2, Battlefield 4 and World of Tanks (or whatever it's called) I don't think I will have any right to say I'm bored

ONTO ROME 2! Will give feedback after a few hours of gameplay.

I can't wait to see what modders will do with it, too. It seems like there's some cool triggers to play with.

What's the run down with the new building chains?

Here is a link to an unofficial guide that shows all the building chains of the Rome II factions. The most noticeable changes are the ones to provincial capital and minor settlement buildings. You can choose to have your provincial capitals become either garrison or civilian focused cities/colonies and minor settlements can now be upgraded to specialize in the market and agricultural building chain.

These changes seem to be mainly inspired by the work done by modders on DeI, R2TR, and various others but that's not a bad thing. It's awesome that work done by fans is being incorporated into the main game. The only downside is all the changes have wrecked the playability of major mods. It isn't that bad for mods with an active team like DeI, but for modders like Radious and Magnar the changes are near catastrophic. Radious himself has said it will take him weeks and maybe even months to get his mods up to date and playable

My word it's hard after this patch.

So far... I've been utterly crushed as Epirus after I could barely contain the Greek states, shortly followed by a Roman invasion. A second attempt involving my Macedonians dying slowly starving to death besieged by Tylis in Pulpudeva and Athens at Pella.

But they were both a lot of fun. I still hate the interface and campaign map UI but I have high hopes for this expansion (aka Rome finished)

Looking forward to the next announcement at the end of the month for the actual standalone too.

I've been playing the latest version of DeI with the patch and I've definitely noticed a marked improvement in the campaign AI. Even diplomacy seems to be improved as the AI appears to declare war only on factions that have negative relations instead of dogpiling on whoever is at war with someone else.

Quoted from Afty:

I still hate the interface and campaign map UI but I have high hopes for this expansion (aka Rome finished)

Here's a pic someone took from the CA live stream on Twitch yesterday. Glad to see they've lived up the politics tab a bit and added distinctive icons to the other tabs as well. Hopefully these changes will carry on to the Grand Campaign.

Quoted from Afty:

Looking forward to the next announcement at the end of the month for the actual standalone too.

I'm personally hoping for a Total War set in China during the Warring States period. Total War: Warring States has a nice ring to it

I'm all for China/Asian total war. Don't know how commercially viable that will be though. Still, I still maintain Shogun 2 is the best and most complete Total War game they've ever done. I know they said they don't want to do a '... Total war 3' so Medieval is out for now

Wouldn't mind Warhammer, would prefer a unique IP though. Maybe some fantasy universe CA copyright.

After all is said and done I'm almost certain it'll be a standalone Rome 2 expansion.

Quoted from Aftermath:

After all is said and done I'm almost certain it'll be a standalone Rome 2 expansion.

I could not agree more... Though I'm still hoping for a Bronze Age Total war...

Had a civil war a little while back. For lack of a better word, it was much more enjoyable and immersive to fight against armies I raised and commanded myself instead of instant spawn doomstacks. I felt a genuine sense of panic as well because all three armies that rebelled were in or near the core provinces of my empire when they rebelled and a few core regions of those provinces went with them when they turned.

With the EE going live today, I can't wait to see the full capabilities of the overhauled politics and civil war system in the Augustus campaign

I've dabbled a bit as Armenia in the limited time I've had with it so far.

The politics looks a hundred times better, as does the whole faction interface and character portraits.

I like the new colours for the most part too.

The campaign map looks excellent in Augustus, and with the 4 turn per year scale I can't wait to sink my teeth in properly and start creating stories as I play which for me is such a huge part of my enjoyment of the franchise.

Also, is it just me or did they change the starting regions for Carthage on the Grand Campaign??

Weren't they supposed to announce a new TW game?

Not till the end of the month.

Have not had time to really sink my teeth in to the changes yet, although the politics and modest UI changes look good so far. Looking to sink my teeth in to the Imperator Augustus campaign when I get time.

Also, is it just me or did they change the starting regions for Carthage on the Grand Campaign?

I cannot recall which patch it was without looking through the prior patch changelogs, but Carthage's holdings was adjusted in an earlier patch.