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I hate to sound like an apologist, but you really should have expected this from a TW game on day one. That being said, this has Empire beat on the sheer number of launch day issues, which makes me think it needed more time in the oven.

The thing is, with every release the franchise has grown and what was once acceptable to a smaller user base won't fly as easily as the number of players grows. At some point, they need to scale up accordingly.

I wouldn't be surprised they set the date in stone because it was pretty much the last slot to launch before the fall madness truly begins (with GTA) and delivered the game in whatever state it was to meet that date.

 

[Kainazzo]

I think if they changed the retainers and didn't give you elite units so easily, it wouldn't be so bad.

I was surprised how quickly they give you elite units, and how I've ended up skipping tiers entirely because of it. Haven't used Triarii or Princeps once, and by about turn 50 I barely have a foothold in Africa, yet I can already recruit Praetorians. Wasn't trying to rush them, I've used Hastati for 90% of the game, then all of a sudden I upgrade to Legionaries and Praetorians and I can steamroll everything. Shogun 2 had it timed pretty well with elites.

Except when Libya only has two regions, no provinces, but is still fielding and rapidly replenishing 6 armies.

 

[s_mirage]

empire and shogun 2 ran in an acceptable manner when i bought both day 1.

If your talking about something other than performance then I think you need to take the rose tinted specs off. Empire was borderline broken at release. The AI was nearly pacifist and it couldn't even use its ships to move troops around. There were severe pathfinding bugs IIRC, brain dead battle AI, balance issues, units getting caught up on walls, crashes, etc. Oh, and come to think of it there were performance problems caused by some Iroquois troops.

Virtually every Total War game since the first Rome has needed several patches before being ready for prime time. Rome II will be no different.

 

[Merino]

Empire was easily the worst Total War launch ever.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I think if they changed the retainers and didn't give you elite units so easily, it wouldn't be so bad along with some decent matchmaking or at least letting you know what rank someone else is before joining a game.

I just think in a game with this much variety, it could have been done properly where you start your own ruling family, pick a side of the map to start on with some unique regional differences in units (elephants coming from the east/south-est, going into Greece to get Spartan units, etc.) and make it so retainers don't drastically improve your army, it could have been fun. It could have just been about good unit variety instead of making them absolutely unstoppable. That way, you could truly build your own dynasty but it wouldn't be about making them absolutely better than everyone else since there's enough unit variety in this game to focus on that instead of elite bullshit.

I do wonder how many people are going to play a few matches and then settle down on just spamming praetorian cohorts. Maybe only having a skill rating to work on is a bit sparse especially when total war isn't exactly on the esport radar.

But making elite units rarer just makes the game even more grindy and dominated by people who have them. In Rome 2 it looks like upgrades to units are balanced by cost with people deciding that numbers of troops are better.

But the quick battles seem to be large funds and the top end units are being spammed a lot. I did like the lower level 10k battles in base shogun 2 where you had to make some pretty hard budget decisions. That also launched with 22k or so as the top level which people complained about because not only was it top end units only but many people didn't even have enough expensive veteran units to fill out the budget in every battle.

So yeah I'm not sure that quick match itself is enough to bring out all the unit variety and possibilities out.

 

[WonkyPanda]

Kinda bummed reading all these impressions

Guess I'll wait.

 

[Lingitiz]

Kinda bummed reading all these impressions

Guess I'll wait.

I am enjoying it quite a bit, and I like most of the changes. A lot of these issues are things that can be fixed. It's in no way acceptable and there should have been a beta, but this game has a ton of potential that both CA and modders will have to unlock.

If you've got the PC and enjoy the franchise, I'd still absolutely recommend it, but it does feel like a work in progress. If you're not in any rush and don't want to deal with the issues that might pop up, waiting a week or two is probably a good idea.

 

[epmode]

I wouldn't be surprised they set the date in stone because it was pretty much the last slot to launch before the fall madness truly begins (with GTA) and delivered the game in whatever state it was to meet that date.

This is very likely.

I'm looking forward to the expansion I guess.

 

[huxley00]

Empire was easily the worst Total War launch ever.

Man do I remember that launch. I remember my first fort siege and literally saying "what the f***", completely dumbfounded. That release was sh**. At least this game works to some degree. It needs work but it isn't like Empire. Then again, even fixed up, I find Empire to be the weakest game in the series.

 

[Ikuu]

Hate when you march to a settlement and before you can attack someone else does.

 

[Facism]

beta patch is about as well tested as the game. Download hangs at 24.4mb.

Reading the forums it doesn't do anything for fps.

 

[MrPing1000]

Oversimplification of gameplay coupled with overly complicated interface has ruined total war. Building is utterly boring and trivial, has been that way since Empire.

Annoyed.

In the prologue, game crashed on the siege mission near the end, also forced me to siege with only 1 ladder made, despite then telling me to use siege weapons... erm.

 

[Lingitiz]

beta patch is about as well tested as the game. Download hangs at 24.4mb.

Reading the forums it doesn't do anything for fps.

Yeah it doesn't seem to. It's not doing anything for my FPS, although I wasn't having crippling problems to begin with.

 

[Smash88]

Naval battles are broken for me. I get 2-3 fps when it rains.

What a joke. Unplayable garbage. And this is with the best computer money can buy.

Like I said previously, I'm not surprised by CA's track record of releasing their games in a broken state.

 

[Aranath]

Anyone else having their GPU fried playing this? My 7970 hits 80c just sitting on the main menu and peaked at 102c, fuck that shit. No game has every pushed my GPU beyond 70c except this fucking broken excuse of a game.

Wow, that's insane. I've got a 7970 and my temp tends to run at 60-70c with my fan at 50%. That's with a mix of Extreme/Ultra.

 

[MrPing1000]

At the end of the prologue

Spoiler

Does Silanus kill Rutilus?

 

[bonesmccoy]

Others have commented on this. but the way the game determines which force is stronger is completely and hilariously broken. I sent an Iceni army (1 cav, 2 spear, 2 merc spear and 1 slinger) to take a city, and the game gave overwhelming odds to the defenders. The defender army consisted of 2 spearmen units, and 6 farmer units.

Needless to say, the battle was a one-sided affair, 1000+ casualties for the defenders, less than 200 for me.

And wow those unit cards are awful, especially now that you have to decipher those status symbols.

 

[Loris146]

Anyone else having their GPU fried playing this? My 7970 hits 80c just sitting on the main menu and peaked at 102c, fuck that shit. No game has every pushed my GPU beyond 70c except this fucking broken excuse of a game.

Use v-sync or frame limit at 60 fps. In the main menu the game use the 99% of your gpu. In game instead the game use only 50 % of my gpu. Bah.

 

[Lingitiz]

Radious Morale Mod to help battles last longer. Gonna give it a try and see if it works.

 

[Kainazzo]

Use v-sync or frame limit at 60 fps. In the main menu the game use the 99% of your gpu. In game instead the game use only 50 % of my gpu. Bah.

Yeah, some games do that, and always at the title screen. They'll ramp up your GPU to 100%, giving you several thousand fps.

 

[Chance Hale]

Yeah, some games do that, and always at the title screen. They'll ramp up your GPU to 100%, giving you several thousand fps.

Why do developers not take such things into account? I mean, why would you let a GPU render a menu at 2000 FPS or not think to lock it.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Congrats, OP. Your thread title just made me come in this thread. Hilarious!!

 

[Atraveller]

My recruit agent button is blacked out, any idea why?

 

[Chance Hale]

My recruit agent button is blacked out, any idea why?

You either have the maximum available from that province or don't have the required tech to hire the agent in question(there would also be a red symbol though) depending on whether or not you just started a new campaign. Otherwise I've no clue, would be interested to hear what else it could be other than lack of funds.

Shame about the one guy reporting the beta patch didn't improve performance much. Really a bit absurd.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Well upgrading my AMD drivers has made this game playable for me. Still in the prologue. Not very thrilled with the wack-a-mole campaign shit. This might be the last total war game I buy unless they happen to release a WW1 game, which I would have to buy on principle due to how underserved that setting is.

 

[Smash88]

Well upgrading my AMD drivers has made this game playable for me. Still in the prologue. Not very thrilled with the wack-a-mole campaign shit. This might be the last total war game I buy unless they happen to release a WW1 game, which I would have to buy on principle due to how underserved that setting is.

CA has a track record for releasing broken games. This is coming from someone who has been playing since Shogun Total War 1.

You should have seen Empire Total War on release, now that was the definition of terrible.

 

[Martian]

Has anyone tried the Radious AI mod yet?
I saw it was released but I would like some impressions.

Btw: has CA announced when the game will implement Steamworks yet?

 

[Atraveller]

Btw: has CA announced when the game will implement Steamworks yet?

What do you mean? The game is a Steamworks title.

 

[Lach]

Haha

I am playing as Rome on my first playthrough and was dreading the moment I had to face Carthage. But Carthage was pounded heavily (by the AI). Iberian Tribes conquered the land regions they had. They had to rely on Nova Carthago's(client state) help and Nova Carthago ended up with all the provinces Carthage had owned there. Carthage (the city) itself was conquered by some North African faction (don't know which one). They currently own Sardinia and west sicilly (though they are under siege by Syracuse....)

Once they're reduced to Sardinia I'll sweep in and give them the final blow!

 

[mercenar1e]

Official Benchmark running max settings at 1920x1080 doesn't reflect in game performance at all.. I am using a GTX 680 btw

 

[TheThunder]

Official Benchmark running max settings at 1920x1080 doesn't reflect in game performance at all.. I am using a GTX 680 btw

Not even close.

Load up a naval battle and watch your GPU weep.

 

[Pinktaco]

Ugh.. This thread is now boring. It's all about how poorly optimized the game is and hardly about the actual game. Am I the only one actually playing and enjoying it?

 

[LTWheels]

Ugh.. This thread is now boring. It's all about how poorly optimized the game is and hardly about the actual game. Am I the only one actually playing and enjoying it?

I would like to be able to play it, to find out if I enjoy it or not, but it runs so poorly on my PC.

I get a decent Framerate on Shogun 2 at a mid/high graphics setting. In Rome 2 I'm getting 10-15fps on the campaign map with everything on the lowest setting, with occasional freezes and long pauses when ever starting a new turn.

 

[GeoGonzo]

I'm playing and having fun, no issues or performance trouble so far *knocks on wood*

I started my campaign as Carthage, hoping it to be a faction with a strong starting position but hopefully not too powerful, like Rome apparently is.

Among the first things I learned: Elephants don't actually disembark (probably happens to all mounts, but it certainly made the battle a lot more exciting... I was counting on using the grey beasts as much as their riders, which were the only ones who stormed the beach).

I'm also having issues making money, I spend too much of it in my armies and find it really hard to rebuilt stuff in conquered provinces, nevermind upgrading it.

Also, Iberian people need to chill and embrace the punic culture already... enough with the weak uprisings, we aren't going away.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Haha

I am playing as Rome on my first playthrough and was dreading the moment I had to face Carthage. But Carthage was pounded heavily (by the AI). Iberian Tribes conquered the land regions they had. They had to rely on Nova Carthago's(client state) help and Nova Carthago ended up with all the provinces Carthage had owned there. Carthage (the city) itself was conquered by some North African faction (don't know which one). They currently own Sardinia and west sicilly (though they are under siege by Syracuse....)

Once they're reduced to Sardinia I'll sweep in and give them the final blow!

Heh.

If it's anything like the original then Rome is easy mode and the only thing you have to dread is getting bored before you finish the campaign. What you do is play Carthage and dread facing Rome.

 

[SirButterstick]

Anyone play the (I believe it's called) Emporo Barbarom mod for Rome 1? It really made the Rome faction a challenge.

I mean, I've read a lot about roman culture but not the military. I'm guessing they were really that badass. How does a legionaire compare against another night ranking unit from another faction? Are the stats that skewed?

 

[RulkezX]

Ugh.. This thread is now boring. It's all about how poorly optimized the game is and hardly about the actual game. Am I the only one actually playing and enjoying it?

Nope , I'm enjoying it a lot , and will even more once the AI is patched or modded.

The game runs and looks fine for me as well.

 

[Lach]

At the end of the prologue

Spoiler

Does Silanus kill Rutilus?

Yeah that's the impression I got! It really confused me because it's such a weird point to make at the end of the campaign.

 

[isual]

The trade agreement is all messed up here. asking for almost 70 percent of what you currently have.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Anyone play the (I believe it's called) Emporo Barbarom mod for Rome 1? It really made the Rome faction a challenge.

I mean, I've read a lot about roman culture but not the military. I'm guessing they were really that badass. How does a legionaire compare against another night ranking unit from another faction? Are the stats that skewed?

Well. A lot of the high ranking hellenic units are spear units compared to the roman sword units. In total war a balanced attacking sword unit will beat an equivalent defensive spear unit unless it's a pike formation from the front. But the heavy legions are also effective at dealing with cavalry unless used as morale shock. Their armour and health also makes them good at dealing with skirmishers.

I think that the barbarian faction also have some very nice longsword units since "barbarians" had better sword technology at the time and were also supposed to be taller and stronger.

The main thing about roman legions that makes them powerful is that you can win with select all left click while your opponent has to be hannibal barca.

 

[Almighty]

I have a 3ghz old dual core and a 6870, I'm not expecting it to run on max (or hell even high or normal only without some low) but when it looks worse than shogun 2 and runs worse at the same time there has to be some issue with something

The pretty much sums up my expectations as well. I knew that playing it on high or above was a pipe dream. What I didn't expect was that even on low the game would look worse then Shogun 2 did for me and still run like crap.

The good news is that beta patch fixed the extraordinarily dark shadows I was getting at least. So I have some hope in the coming months I might actually be able to play the game. If not I will just have to wait til my new PC and brute power the game.

 

[Twinduct]

Wooo saw a mod that makes the turn cycle per season again!
Well without the season, but at least it's no longer like 30 turns or so until my general dies.

Gonna install that one and the AI morale mod.

 

[valouris]

AMD has released 13.10, beta drivers with Crossfire support for Rome 2, haven't tried them, and I don't know if and what they do for single cards.

 

[GeoGonzo]

Well without the season, but at least it's no longer like 30 turns or so until my general dies.

About that, what happens to the army when the general dies? Is one of the regular units promoted to general?

 

[Berto]

Empire was easily the worst Total War launch ever.

Nope, not for me at least. Rome 2 still doesnt even start here without a no-cd crack. Empire always worked for me.

 

[Pinktaco]

About that, what happens to the army when the general dies? Is one of the regular units promoted to general?

You have several generals to recruit from at all time so you just pick one of those and he instantly replaces your previous generel

 

[Pinktaco]

I'm playing and having fun, no issues or performance trouble so far *knocks on wood*

I started my campaign as Carthage, hoping it to be a faction with a strong starting position but hopefully not too powerful, like Rome apparently is.

Among the first things I learned: Elephants don't actually disembark (probably happens to all mounts, but it certainly made the battle a lot more exciting... I was counting on using the grey beasts as much as their riders, which were the only ones who stormed the beach).

I'm also having issues making money, I spend too much of it in my armies and find it really hard to rebuilt stuff in conquered provinces, nevermind upgrading it.

Also, Iberian people need to chill and embrace the punic culture already... enough with the weak uprisings, we aren't going away.

I realize that playing the British faction is considered easy, however, I've bumped it to hard and I'm having way waaaaay too much money to throw around. I'm currently at 60k gold with a 5-6000g/turn income at turn 70-ish (can't remember exact turn).

I have no issue with public order nor food. So I'm kinda bummed out about it because there's no challenge in the city aspect of the game as it currently is.

Some turns back I payed Suebi 16000 gold for a trade agreement and I only get 400g/turn back from them lol.

Also concerning some of you who have had issues with trade agreements: I agree it's silly as it currently is, but in my current position the other factions are more or less begging me for all kinds of agreements. <.<

Lastly - Chosen Sword Bands (70 base morale) are beasts with a proper general/agent. They don't flee and they got no less than two buffs to be more killy.

 

[Slackbladder]

One thing that bugs me is that when someone offers a trade deal and wants money for it it's dependant on how much you currently have at the end of your turn. For example if you have 9000 they'll want 6000. If you have 900 they'll want 600. I mean, who the fuck is going to agree to a trade deal for 6000 when you can get it for 600? Stupid. And it's been in Total War games since at least Empire.

 

[Twinduct]

LOL
I love the silly Diplomatic stuff in this game.

a faction requests a trade agreement .. and like 3000 gold.
I counter with just a trade agreement. They refuse.

Attack them, they offer peace! I accept.
I ask for a trade agreement, they offer a counter demanding 3000 gold.

Assholes.

 

[MoonLightWave]

LOL
I love the silly Diplomatic stuff in this game.

a faction requests a trade agreement .. and like 3000 gold.
I counter with just a trade agreement. They refuse.

Attack them, they offer peace! I accept.
I ask for a trade agreement, they offer a counter demanding 3000 gold.

Assholes.

They rather die out than accept offers.