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Rome Total War 2 Gameplay information
Total War: Rome II is set in classical antiquity, and focuses on portraying each culture of the era as accurately and in-depth as possible, as opposed to its predecessor which focused almost solely on the Roman Republic and its politics. The grand campaign begins in 272BC, and lasts for 300 years. However, the player also has the option to play further, as there are no timed victory conditions in Rome II.
The Warscape Engine will power the visuals of the game and the new unit cameras will allow players to focus on individual soldiers on the battlefield, which in itself may contain thousands of combatants at a time. Creative Assembly has stated that they wish to bring out the more human side of war this way, with soldiers reacting with horror as their comrades get killed around them and officers inspiring their men with heroic speeches before siege towers hit the walls of the enemy city. This will be realised using facial animations for individual units, adding a feel of horror and realism to the battles.
Armies and navies will also have changeable stances on the campaign map. These stances determine many things, among them total movement points per turn or the ability to deploy traps for an ambush. These stances will initially be called "Forced March" that will enable an army to march further, but will also tire out its men and reduce their fighting ability; "Defensive Stance" will enable the player to place stakes and perhaps build temporary forts and finally "Ambush Stance" will enable the placing of bales of hay that will be set alight and rolled into the enemy's formations when ambushing, for example. Armies in Rome II can be made up of a maximum of 40 units, including naval and land units and must have a general to lead them. There is also a cap on the number of armies a faction can have at any time based on the faction's power. A faction can gain more power by conquering more regions and filling its coffers with gold. This system has been implemented to make battles more decisive and for them to have a bigger impact on a war between two factions. Players will have the ability to name units in an army and change their emblems.
When the player creates a general and begins training his troops, the army enters a muster mode and it cannot move while in this stance. Generals acquire skills and traits independently from the army they command. Skills can be chosen by the player as their general levels up, while traits are based on what a general does in-game. Furthermore, if an army loses its general a new one will be immediately appointed by the player.
As with Total War: Shogun 2, the player will be prompted with decisions. Creative Assembly is expanding on this mechanic, with each decision leading the player down a particular 'decision path' based on the player's previous decisions. These decisions will then affect the way the campaign plays out, such as turning the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.Additionally, rather than solely assigning traits to generals and family members as with previous Total War games, the player can now assign traits to legions as they gain combat experience through their years of conquest. Players can also customise legions by choosing their weapon loadout. Meaning that players will still be able to determine the composition of individual cohorts, even though they will be building entire legions at a time, unlike in previous Total War titles where the player had to build all units of an army separately.
Navies also play an even more important role in Total War: Rome II than in its predecessor. Creative Assembly plans to introduce mixed naval and land combat for land battles and city sieges for the first time in the company's history. This will reflect the naval strategies of the classical era, where coastal cities were conquered and destroyed in great invasions of infantry disembarking from warships. Legions can now attack the enemy's ground forces and cities, while naval units provide supporting fire or engage in naval warfare on the seas. Navies can also conquer poorly guarded coastal cities by themselves. Creative Assembly also plans to make naval units bigger in size and as a result a player may recruit several naval units at a time allowing construction of a formidable navy more quickly. Creative Assembly has also revealed that naval regions will make a return from Medieval: Total War. It is yet unclear how they will be presented, but their purpose is to prevent players or the AI from slipping an invasion force right past a huge enemy fleet as in previous titles. Entering a naval region where an enemy fleet is present will trigger a naval combat automatically.
There are three core types of agents in Rome II: the dignitary, the champion and the spy, and each culture will have its own variants for these. When spawned, each agent will have a "profession" that is determined by its supposed background or ethnicity, for example. A player can invest points to an agents profession in addition to its skill tree as the agent levels up. Each agent will be able to assassinate other characters or convert them to join the cause of their faction. This is to make each agent type as useful as possible, but naturally different agents will have different skills and purposes only they can fulfil. When an agent is asked to perform a certain task, there is a deeper set of choices on how to complete said task. For example, when getting rid of an enemy agent, one could bribe him off, convert him or murder him.
Creative Assembly also seeks to capture the uniqueness of different cultures and fighting forces in the ancient times. Jack Lusted, Creative Assembly's lead unit designer, has stated that instead of the "rebel nation" of the original Rome: Total War there will be a large number of smaller nations and city states. Each ethnic group will have a unique play-style. A tribe of British barbarians will look and feel completely different from that of a disciplined Roman legion, for example. Different agents and technologies will also be implemented for different factions. After all, inland barbarian tribes were not able to research the technology for polyremes or the ability to manufacture advanced ballistae, historically speaking. It has been stated that there will be over 500 different land units in the game, including mercenaries, who will make a return from Rome II's predecessor. Also, over 30 different city variants will be implemented to avoid siege battles feeling and playing out the same every time.
In addition to the traditional sieges and field battles, a myriad new battle types are available in Rome II. These battle types include the following:
-Combined naval/land battles: These battles will occur when assaulting a coastal city, or when two armies are near the coastline. In the case of the latter, navies can arrive by sea to bolster the land forces with their marines.
-Settlement outskirts battles: These battles are fought near regional capitals, which are too small to have walls. In these battles the primary objective is to capture the city rather than destroy or rout the enemy army, although victory can still be achieved by routing your opponent.
-Siege battles: These battles occur when an army assaults a provincial capital or a fortified settlement. In these battles, the cities include multiple capture points which the defender has to defend in order to win the fight, as seen in the Siege of Carthage trailer. The attacker can build siege equipment in preparation of the assault.
-Encampment battles: These battles are triggered when an army attacks another that is in defensive stance. The defending army has had time to build fortifications around its perimeter, including wooden palisades or small forts. All in all, the battle will resemble a small scale siege.
-River battles: River battles are fought when an army tries to cross a major, navigable river and another army tries to stop it from doing so. Navies can aid in this fight, although armies will be able to build transport ships of their own when crossing rivers.
-Ambushes: Ambushes have been revamped in Rome II, and feel completely different from before. The ambushing army has the ability to place traps, such as flaming boulders, spikes and so on. The defending army must find a way to escape the siege area to win, although it can also attempt to destroy the ambushing army. These battles will be similar to the battle of Teutoburg Forest historical battle.
-Supply train battles: Supply train battles occur if an army intercepts another that is force marching. Since the defending army is unprepared for a battle, their supply trains are vulnerable and the men themselves are tired of marching and will therefore have morale penalties. The attacking army can win if it manages to capture the enemy supply train or destroy the army that was caught marching.
-Port sieges: Another combined land and naval battle type, port sieges are triggered when a navy sails into an enemy coastal city with a port. The navy will attempt to land its marines in the city, while heavier ships intercept any enemy vessels and provide supporting fire to the marines using catapults and other projectiles, like in the Siege of Carthage historical battle.
The Warscape Engine will power the visuals of the game and the new unit cameras will allow players to focus on individual soldiers on the battlefield, which in itself may contain thousands of combatants at a time. Creative Assembly has stated that they wish to bring out the more human side of war this way, with soldiers reacting with horror as their comrades get killed around them and officers inspiring their men with heroic speeches before siege towers hit the walls of the enemy city. This will be realised using facial animations for individual units, adding a feel of horror and realism to the battles.
Armies and navies will also have changeable stances on the campaign map. These stances determine many things, among them total movement points per turn or the ability to deploy traps for an ambush. These stances will initially be called "Forced March" that will enable an army to march further, but will also tire out its men and reduce their fighting ability; "Defensive Stance" will enable the player to place stakes and perhaps build temporary forts and finally "Ambush Stance" will enable the placing of bales of hay that will be set alight and rolled into the enemy's formations when ambushing, for example. Armies in Rome II can be made up of a maximum of 40 units, including naval and land units and must have a general to lead them. There is also a cap on the number of armies a faction can have at any time based on the faction's power. A faction can gain more power by conquering more regions and filling its coffers with gold. This system has been implemented to make battles more decisive and for them to have a bigger impact on a war between two factions. Players will have the ability to name units in an army and change their emblems.
When the player creates a general and begins training his troops, the army enters a muster mode and it cannot move while in this stance. Generals acquire skills and traits independently from the army they command. Skills can be chosen by the player as their general levels up, while traits are based on what a general does in-game. Furthermore, if an army loses its general a new one will be immediately appointed by the player.
As with Total War: Shogun 2, the player will be prompted with decisions. Creative Assembly is expanding on this mechanic, with each decision leading the player down a particular 'decision path' based on the player's previous decisions. These decisions will then affect the way the campaign plays out, such as turning the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.Additionally, rather than solely assigning traits to generals and family members as with previous Total War games, the player can now assign traits to legions as they gain combat experience through their years of conquest. Players can also customise legions by choosing their weapon loadout. Meaning that players will still be able to determine the composition of individual cohorts, even though they will be building entire legions at a time, unlike in previous Total War titles where the player had to build all units of an army separately.
Navies also play an even more important role in Total War: Rome II than in its predecessor. Creative Assembly plans to introduce mixed naval and land combat for land battles and city sieges for the first time in the company's history. This will reflect the naval strategies of the classical era, where coastal cities were conquered and destroyed in great invasions of infantry disembarking from warships. Legions can now attack the enemy's ground forces and cities, while naval units provide supporting fire or engage in naval warfare on the seas. Navies can also conquer poorly guarded coastal cities by themselves. Creative Assembly also plans to make naval units bigger in size and as a result a player may recruit several naval units at a time allowing construction of a formidable navy more quickly. Creative Assembly has also revealed that naval regions will make a return from Medieval: Total War. It is yet unclear how they will be presented, but their purpose is to prevent players or the AI from slipping an invasion force right past a huge enemy fleet as in previous titles. Entering a naval region where an enemy fleet is present will trigger a naval combat automatically.
There are three core types of agents in Rome II: the dignitary, the champion and the spy, and each culture will have its own variants for these. When spawned, each agent will have a "profession" that is determined by its supposed background or ethnicity, for example. A player can invest points to an agents profession in addition to its skill tree as the agent levels up. Each agent will be able to assassinate other characters or convert them to join the cause of their faction. This is to make each agent type as useful as possible, but naturally different agents will have different skills and purposes only they can fulfil. When an agent is asked to perform a certain task, there is a deeper set of choices on how to complete said task. For example, when getting rid of an enemy agent, one could bribe him off, convert him or murder him.
Creative Assembly also seeks to capture the uniqueness of different cultures and fighting forces in the ancient times. Jack Lusted, Creative Assembly's lead unit designer, has stated that instead of the "rebel nation" of the original Rome: Total War there will be a large number of smaller nations and city states. Each ethnic group will have a unique play-style. A tribe of British barbarians will look and feel completely different from that of a disciplined Roman legion, for example. Different agents and technologies will also be implemented for different factions. After all, inland barbarian tribes were not able to research the technology for polyremes or the ability to manufacture advanced ballistae, historically speaking. It has been stated that there will be over 500 different land units in the game, including mercenaries, who will make a return from Rome II's predecessor. Also, over 30 different city variants will be implemented to avoid siege battles feeling and playing out the same every time.
In addition to the traditional sieges and field battles, a myriad new battle types are available in Rome II. These battle types include the following:
-Combined naval/land battles: These battles will occur when assaulting a coastal city, or when two armies are near the coastline. In the case of the latter, navies can arrive by sea to bolster the land forces with their marines.
-Settlement outskirts battles: These battles are fought near regional capitals, which are too small to have walls. In these battles the primary objective is to capture the city rather than destroy or rout the enemy army, although victory can still be achieved by routing your opponent.
-Siege battles: These battles occur when an army assaults a provincial capital or a fortified settlement. In these battles, the cities include multiple capture points which the defender has to defend in order to win the fight, as seen in the Siege of Carthage trailer. The attacker can build siege equipment in preparation of the assault.
-Encampment battles: These battles are triggered when an army attacks another that is in defensive stance. The defending army has had time to build fortifications around its perimeter, including wooden palisades or small forts. All in all, the battle will resemble a small scale siege.
-River battles: River battles are fought when an army tries to cross a major, navigable river and another army tries to stop it from doing so. Navies can aid in this fight, although armies will be able to build transport ships of their own when crossing rivers.
-Ambushes: Ambushes have been revamped in Rome II, and feel completely different from before. The ambushing army has the ability to place traps, such as flaming boulders, spikes and so on. The defending army must find a way to escape the siege area to win, although it can also attempt to destroy the ambushing army. These battles will be similar to the battle of Teutoburg Forest historical battle.
-Supply train battles: Supply train battles occur if an army intercepts another that is force marching. Since the defending army is unprepared for a battle, their supply trains are vulnerable and the men themselves are tired of marching and will therefore have morale penalties. The attacking army can win if it manages to capture the enemy supply train or destroy the army that was caught marching.
-Port sieges: Another combined land and naval battle type, port sieges are triggered when a navy sails into an enemy coastal city with a port. The navy will attempt to land its marines in the city, while heavier ships intercept any enemy vessels and provide supporting fire to the marines using catapults and other projectiles, like in the Siege of Carthage historical battle.
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