Total War series

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earthfell

Golden Knight of the Realm
730
145
I have never played these games before but picked up the Total War package during the recent Steam sale. I have all of them now and wanted to know which I should start with. Is Rome the one that started it all, and is that then a good place to go?
 

Zhaun_sl

shitlord
2,568
2
Shogun: Total War (I) was the first, but has probably been lost to history and not included anymore, not that there is any point with Shogun II.

Really though, just play whatever interests you time-period wise. Medieval and Rome are older and have an older UI, while Empire, Napoleon (which is really just a Empire variant) and Shogun II have a newer and in my opinon much nicer UI.

I think it is all a "to each their own" kind of thing. I didn't enjoy Medieval much, and find Crusader Kings II gives me a lot more of what I want from the same time period. My favorite is Empire (and Napoleon) which everyone else seems to hate, but I think that it is the time period, Napoleonics is very "love or hate" kind of thing I guess.

So I guess just pick one at random and play.
 

Nebuchadnezzar

Golden Squire
458
50
Medieval 2 is my favorite by quite a bit, get the Retro-Fit Mod and then the Grand Unit Add-On Mod. This takes all the units from the expansions and adds them to the Grand Campaign. I still get addicted at least once a year.
 

Dom_sl

shitlord
266
0
I found Empire to be awesome. I don't think you'll miss anything starting there.
He'll miss chunks of his lifespan waiting for battles to load, and recovering from lost progress due to crashes and plentiful bugs.

-

Fall of the Samurai is a decent place to start as it's the newest one, is easy to pick-up, and is probably their most polished total-war to date.

Go with Medieval 2 if you want a modded experience with a lot of depth.

Napoleon is excellent, but the way the campaign works is different from other TW games, and should wait until you're more familiar with the series.
 

Sulrn

Deuces
2,159
360
I have never played these games before but picked up the Total War package during the recent Steam sale. I have all of them now and wanted to know which I should start with. Is Rome the one that started it all, and is that then a good place to go?
Shogun started it all, but you won't miss anything by starting with M2/S2/Empire/(R2?)

I've played all of them and they each have their own downfalls, but like it was said before - choose a period and jump in. And yes, the AI cheats.
 

Grez

Molten Core Raider
939
489
I'd fucking kill everyone on these boards for a Civilization 4: Total War. Each and every one of you.
 

Dom_sl

shitlord
266
0
I'd fucking kill everyone on these boards for a Civilization 4: Total War. Each and every one of you.
Pfft.

Creative Assembly and Paradox Development have a baby: Grand Ages: Total War. TW battles integrated into a Paradox grand strat game spanning from Caesar to Hitler.
 

Zhaun_sl

shitlord
2,568
2
I never had a problem running Empire, but I only picked it up like two years ago, long after it was fully patched I guess.
 

Reiker

Golden Knight of the Realm
128
13
My favorite is still Rome: Total War, which may be because it was the first one I played. I was also really into multiplayer (and still play some RTW multiplayer occasionally) and Rome felt the most balanced. Medieval 2 had some balance issues between units imo (this probably doesn't matter much if you don't play multiplayer), but improved on some things from RTW.

Empire/Napolean I couldn't really get into. The time period doesn't interest me quite as much, plus the battles felt really stale. It all came down to marching your musket guys toward their musket guys while you tried to flank a bit with your cavalry. I felt the gameplay in RTW and Medieval 2 to be a lot more exciting and tactical. The different nations in Empire pretty much all play the same, whereas there was a big tactical difference between playing different nations in RTW/Medieval 2 since the units were a lot different.

Shogun 2 is very good as well, up there with RTW and Medieval 2 but since it's so much newer it's hard to compare them.

Rome 2 should be awesome and I can't wait to play it.
 

Scyfi

N00b
601
0
Rome 2 looks fucking amazing in their massive siege demo. I just hope they spend more time on the strategy too. A mix of Pardox with TW would be awesome
 

Dom_sl

shitlord
266
0
The main thing I'm looking forward to with Rome 2 is their return to being modder friendly. I don't think we'll see the amount of freedom we had with R:TW/M2:TW, but I think there's been mention of some tools and shit.
 
922
3
Medieval 2 is my favorite by quite a bit, get the Retro-Fit Mod and then the Grand Unit Add-On Mod. This takes all the units from the expansions and adds them to the Grand Campaign. I still get addicted at least once a year.
Pfft, Stainless Steel mod or BGR

Westeros Total war (game of thrones) is fun too.
 

Dom_sl

shitlord
266
0
Rome II footage/commentary



The game is looking fantastic. I just hope it's as stable/smooth as Napoleon/FotS
 

Sulrn

Deuces
2,159
360
Rome II footage/commentary



The game is looking fantastic. I just hope it's as stable/smooth as Napoleon/FotS
I do like that the Sergeants/Centurions actually do their jobs now in battle instead of the generic affirmation to issued orders. Still, it would be nice if you could cultivate them like you do nobles/agents -- preferably in a KUF manner... Especially since Rome/Greece were notorious for nepotism/cronyism.
 

Grez

Molten Core Raider
939
489
Rome TW 2 looks amazing! Holy shit! But, I'd fucking murder for Civilization: Total War.