I d/l'ed the demo, and found it quite enjoyable. Has anyone else gotten it? (I remember a certain amount of apathy towards their first go, Shogun: Total War)
Reminds me of a Risk/Diplomacy game at the high level (not in the demo, but good screenies), and Myff on steroids at the battle level. Trebuchets, camel riders, peasants... Who could ask for anything more? :^)
Plus, it's multiplayer (or advertises itself as such, and CGW had a 1-on-1 write up).
Just debating if it's worth blowing a Christmas present on, or if I should hold out for the Vivid-DVD box set... ;^)
Unless they've improved the multi model substantially from Shogun, the game was a blast solo but the MP was a lot less so. Does the demo include MP at all? I'd be willing to give it a shot if so, but I'm not looking for more of the same solid solo Shogun still has. ;-)
Unless they've improved the multi model substantially from
Shogun, the game was a blast solo but the MP was a lot less so.
Does the demo include MP at all? I'd be willing to give it a
shot if so, but I'm not looking for more of the same solid solo
Shogun still has. ;-)
Ramses II
Hmmm... The demo is SP only. They use GameSpy(Ware) for a matching service. The CGW I referenced didn't make mention of any difficulties, but it was only a 1-on-1 best of three. What was SHogun like, and what were its shortcomings?
The real killer was that you couldn't turn your formations to face a particular direction easily. When the enemy gets a combat bonus for attacking you from the side or back it's pretty crucial to be able to tell your men which way to face when they get to the fight.
There were some exploits of the morale system as well, most of which I don't actually remember how to abuse. These should have been fixed, but you never know.
Giving units engaged in combat new orders sometimes caused them to rout, although some people felt this was realistic it's certainly irritating.
Patches to the game did not address fundamental conflicts with some Nvidia drivers as well, and this was a serious problem for my old machine where I had to jump through hoops just to play the game at an ugly resolution.
I did enjoy the solo game, and I've replayed it a number of times, but the few times I tried MP there were a lot of things that I found annoying to relatively few things I found fun. The game did have a solid following, however, and it's quite possible the developers fleshed out all the problems, but I'm not willing to pay full price for a game that I have reason to suspect may lack solid multi. It is worth noting that the game has met with superb reviews though, if you do get it be sure to post how it goes and I'll reconsider. :-)
The real killer was that you couldn't turn your formations to
face a particular direction easily. When the enemy gets a combat
bonus for attacking you from the side or back it's pretty
crucial to be able to tell your men which way to face when they
get to the fight.
Unless there's a major difference in SP and MP, being able to "stretch" your front line seems adequate to me. You just have to remember which end of the line to start with to get a particular facing. (IIRC, the left end of the line is first, as facing goes.) Granted, there doesn't appear to be a way to issue a "left face" command, and have your men turn in position. You always end up rotating the entire formation. (And sometimes, that's not quite as smooth a transition as I'd like.)
There were some exploits of the morale system as well, most of
which I don't actually remember how to abuse. These should have
been fixed, but you never know.
That's a little too deep for my game knowledge, I'd have to research it a bit.
Giving units engaged in combat new orders sometimes caused them
to rout, although some people felt this was realistic it's
certainly irritating.
Irritating for sure, but possibly correct. You want to confuse your *enemies*, not your troops... ;^)
Patches to the game did not address fundamental conflicts with
some Nvidia drivers as well, and this was a serious problem for
my old machine where I had to jump through hoops just to play
the game at an ugly resolution.
The demo plays fine on my nVidia card(s).
I did enjoy the solo game, and I've replayed it a number of
times, but the few times I tried MP there were a lot of things
that I found annoying to relatively few things I found fun. The
game did have a solid following, however, and it's quite
possible the developers fleshed out all the problems, but I'm
not willing to pay full price for a game that I have reason to
suspect may lack solid multi. It is worth noting that the game
has met with superb reviews though, if you do get it be sure to
post how it goes and I'll reconsider. :-)
I certainly will. It looks like I may have a chance to demo the full version on a LAN sometime Soon(tm). If that pans out, I'll see what sort of feedback I can give. Sadly, I'm not a detail whore or numbers monkey, so I can't tell you if something is broken unless it's quite obvious.
BTW, the Demo cheats. Teaches you some basics, lets you whomp up on some Byzantines and Almorachs(?), but then the "fun" bit (i.e., non-tutorial battle) is Richard the Lionheart, back against the wall (literally, the city gates are locked), and the Saracens on the move. You're outnumbered by about 4 to 1. They *claim* it's winnable, but I kinda doubt it... ;^)
Comments
Reminds me of a Risk/Diplomacy game at the high level (not in the demo, but good screenies), and Myff on steroids at the battle level. Trebuchets, camel riders, peasants... Who could ask for anything more? :^)
Plus, it's multiplayer (or advertises itself as such, and CGW had a 1-on-1 write up).
Just debating if it's worth blowing a Christmas present on, or if I should hold out for the Vivid-DVD box set... ;^)
Total War
Unless they've improved the multi model substantially from Shogun, the game was a blast solo but the MP was a lot less so. Does the demo include MP at all? I'd be willing to give it a shot if so, but I'm not looking for more of the same solid solo Shogun still has. ;-)
Ramses II
Hmmm... The demo is SP only. They use GameSpy(Ware) for a matching service. The CGW I referenced didn't make mention of any difficulties, but it was only a 1-on-1 best of three. What was SHogun like, and what were its shortcomings?
Rat
The real killer was that you couldn't turn your formations to face a particular direction easily. When the enemy gets a combat bonus for attacking you from the side or back it's pretty crucial to be able to tell your men which way to face when they get to the fight.
There were some exploits of the morale system as well, most of which I don't actually remember how to abuse. These should have been fixed, but you never know.
Giving units engaged in combat new orders sometimes caused them to rout, although some people felt this was realistic it's certainly irritating.
Patches to the game did not address fundamental conflicts with some Nvidia drivers as well, and this was a serious problem for my old machine where I had to jump through hoops just to play the game at an ugly resolution.
I did enjoy the solo game, and I've replayed it a number of times, but the few times I tried MP there were a lot of things that I found annoying to relatively few things I found fun. The game did have a solid following, however, and it's quite possible the developers fleshed out all the problems, but I'm not willing to pay full price for a game that I have reason to suspect may lack solid multi. It is worth noting that the game has met with superb reviews though, if you do get it be sure to post how it goes and I'll reconsider. :-)
Ramses II
Unless there's a major difference in SP and MP, being able to "stretch" your front line seems adequate to me. You just have to remember which end of the line to start with to get a particular facing. (IIRC, the left end of the line is first, as facing goes.) Granted, there doesn't appear to be a way to issue a "left face" command, and have your men turn in position. You always end up rotating the entire formation. (And sometimes, that's not quite as smooth a transition as I'd like.)
That's a little too deep for my game knowledge, I'd have to research it a bit.
Irritating for sure, but possibly correct. You want to confuse your *enemies*, not your troops... ;^)
The demo plays fine on my nVidia card(s).
I certainly will. It looks like I may have a chance to demo the full version on a LAN sometime Soon(tm). If that pans out, I'll see what sort of feedback I can give. Sadly, I'm not a detail whore or numbers monkey, so I can't tell you if something is broken unless it's quite obvious.
BTW, the Demo cheats. Teaches you some basics, lets you whomp up on some Byzantines and Almorachs(?), but then the "fun" bit (i.e., non-tutorial battle) is Richard the Lionheart, back against the wall (literally, the city gates are locked), and the Saracens on the move. You're outnumbered by about 4 to 1. They *claim* it's winnable, but I kinda doubt it... ;^)
Ratbert
Total War