Sep 26, 2012

Total War: Rome 2 trailer shows first in-game footage

Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition

Ouch! I've never seen someone get crushed with the head of a massive statue before, but this is WAR. The new Rome 2 trailer shows the first in-engine footage of the siege of Carthage. Legions of troops pour onto the beaches, wash into the streets and break against the grey, craggy fury of an elephant charge. It's a short teaser for a longer fly-through video of the siege that The Creative Assembly are keeping locked safely away in their trailer Trireme, but it offers a heady glimpse of the updated engine. Don't let me keep you. The video is right here ready to go.

Sep 21, 2012

Total War Darthmod creator retires

Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition

Nick "Darth Vader" Thomadis has announced that there won't be any more follow ups to the popular Darthmod series of mods for Total War after receiving no invite to The Creative Assembly's upcoming modders' summit. "There will be some support for older games, if needed, as all my mods are complete now but there will be not a new DarthMod for new Total War games and of course not for the upcoming RTW2," said Thomadis on Facebook.

"Do not worry about the future of the current DarthMods. They will stay and will be probably somewhat more improved. Maybe now I will have more time to play them."

The Empire, Napoleon and Shogun 2 versions of Darthmod offer some of the most comprehensive player-made updates to Total War games in recent years. They've gained a reputation for being ruthless, difficult and beautiful. Dozens of collaborators have updated each edition with layers of audio, visual and AI updates, making Darthmod a go-to choice for players looking for extra challenge from Total War. Thomadis mentions that Darthmod for Shogun 2 has amassed quarter of a million downloads since its release in March.

If you fancy trying Darthmod out, Moddb has the latest versions of the Darthmod updates for Shogun 2, Empire: Total War and Napoleon.

Aug 29, 2012

Total War Battles: Shogun out now on PC

Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition

If you don't have an iOS device, you may not have heard of The Creative Assembly's mobile take on Total War. How on Earth do you fit the scale and spectacle of a Total War campaign onto a smartphone? Well, you can't, so Total War Battles tries to offer an entirely different take. It merges building and combat onto battlefields overlaid by grids of hexes. You can channel your troops down lanes drawn across the map and harvest resources with structures placed nearby. It's designed to be quick and easy to jump into, two qualities that Total War titles have traditionally lacked.

Sega's blurb boasts a ten hour campaign with bonus challenge missions. The visuals have been spruced up for the big screen and the PC version will come with bonus concept art showing off TWB's loud, colourful style.

Total War Battles is available now on Steam for $7.99 / £4.99 / EUR 9.99. Find out more on the Total War Battles site, and get a feel for how it plays in this here trailer:

Aug 15, 2012

Total War: Rome 2 screenshots show close combat on the streets of Carthage

Total War: SHOGUN 2

Shakespeare knew what he was doing, which is why, when he penned the first lines of Mark Antony's most famous speech from Julius Ceaser, he didn't write "friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your eyeballs," which leaves it to me to make that demand. Come on now, your eyeballs, please. All of them.

I'll use them well, I promise. Let me just gather them all up in arms, like so, and saunter into the depths of this post, where four new screenshots for the tremendously exciting Total War: Rome 2 await, showing a bit of close combat and some epic snapshots of the Battle of Carthage.

For more on Rome 2, here are our video interviews with Creative Assembly with details on Rome 2's battles and campaign game, and here's lead designer James Russell on ancient warfare, modding, DLC and the importance of building community. You may also want to check out the live action announcement trailer, which sets the scene quite nicely, except hang on a minute, let me give you these eyeballs back.

Aug 9, 2012

Total War: SHOGUN 2 and Fall of the Samurai Updates Released

Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Valve

Patch Notes

Fix for Co-operative Multiplayer Campaign victory conditions. The campaign will end when the victory conditions are met.
Increased the variant texture cache size on low, medium and high graphics settings to prevent bodies from twitching on the battle map.
Added DLC requirement string to Saints and Heroes unit tool tips in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Czech, Russian and Polish on the veteran selection screen.
The download bar will now show for clients when downloading user generated multiplayer battle maps.
Unit names will now appear correctly above the selected units in the unit stats roster in the battle lobby.
Desynchronisation / desync fix for Multiplayer Campaign.

Jul 26, 2012

Total War: Shogun 2 Saints and Heroes DLC adds new units: spiked clubs and master ninja

Total War: SHOGUN 2

If you reckon there simply aren't enough spiked war clubs in Total War: Shogun 2, the Saints and Heroes DLC pack might be for you. It adds nine new elite units including Tadakatsu's Tetsubo warriors, owners of said spiked clubs, the mounted Spears of Shizugatake, a bold new form of cavalry, and elite ninja warriors, Hanzo's Shadows. They're masterful murderers, and pretty good at climbing walls, too. Take a closer look in the DLC announcement trailer and screenshots below.

The DLC is available now for £1.99 / $3.25 through Steam. Here's the list of new units contained in the DLC.

Kiyomasa’s Katana Cavalry
Katana cavalry hero
These heavily-armoured cavalry wield their blades with a brutal expertise.
Excellent in melee
Slower than other cavalry
Excellent morale
Vulnerable to Yari, Naginata and Matchlock

Yoritomo’s Yabusame Cavalry
Bow cavalry hero
Precise and quick, these men can snipe at enemies, and hold their own if cornered.
Fast moving
Can move and fire
Excellent accuracy and range
Excellent morale
Weak against massed foot missile-units
Average in melee

The Spears of Shizugatake
Yari cavalry hero
Masters of the spear, these expert horsemen boast a devastating charge, and resolute morale in the face of counter-attack.
Fast and very powerful charge
Excellent against other cavalry
Excellent morale
Vulnerable to Yari and Naginata

Benkei’s Blades
Naginata Hero
The long-bladed Naginata is effective against all-comers – doubly so in the hands of an expert.
Versatile: very good against cavalry and other infantry
Excellent armour high resistance to arrows
Excellent morale
Weak against Matchlock

Gozen’s Hime Heroines
Naginata Heroine
In the hands of a great heroine, the Naginata becomes a graceful whirl of steel and bloody death.
Versatile: very good against cavalry and other infantry
Excellent armour high resistance to arrows
Excellent morale
Weak against Matchlock

Tokitaka’s Tanegashima
Matchlock Hero
Armed with a beautifully crafted rifle, these heroes put their marksmanship to deadly use.
Good range
Devastating damage
Very good accuracy and reload
Excellent morale
Vulnerable to cavalry
Good in melee against infantry

Seigen’s Swordmasters
Nodachi Hero
Carrying the fearsome two-handed Nodachi, these heroes strike terror into the hearts of those they charge.
Devastating charge
Excellent morale
Average in prolonged melee
Vulnerable to cavalry and missiles

Tadakatsu’s Tetsubo Warriors
Tetsubo Hero
As strong as Oni, these mighty warriors are masters of the brutal Tetsubo, or war club.
Excellent in melee
Excellent morale
Vulnerable to missiles and massed enemy units

Hanzo’s Shadows
Ninja Hero
Masters of stealth, Ninja heroes are the ultimate dealers of swift and silent death.
Excellent at hiding
Can climb walls very fast
Devastating ranged attack
Very limited ammunition

Jul 26, 2012

Total War: SHOGUN 2 and Fall of the Samurai Updates Released

Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Valve

General fixes

• Fixed cavalry exploit where players could engage infantry with minimal losses and cause unit to rout.

• Fixed issue where blood would not appear on face and left arm of units in Blood Pack DLC.

• Various audio fixes.

• Correct banner is now shown by Tosa standard bearers.

• Fixed morale bug that could cause the player's army to rout if a reinforcing army had enough Gatling guns.

• Fixes for additional multiplayer campaign desync occurrences where identified.

• Fixed graphical clipping issue with Shinsengumi’s cape.

• Revolver Cavalry is now capped at 4 per army in multiplayer.

• Hosts should now correctly leave a multiplayer campaign when client quits after a battle.

• Fix for certain Daimyos portraits being stretched.

• Saga's clan attributes should now be working correctly.

• Pro-imperial clans should now be able to recruit Shogitai after changing allegiance.

• Clan Development "Modern Rifles" and the trait gained from "French Military Mission" will no longer affect artillery units.

• Daimyo retainer's "British Naval Engineer", "British Railway Engineer", "Francois Leonce Verny" and "Inudstrialist" should now be working correctly.

• Daimyo retainer's "Logistics" and "Scourge" should now correctly stack to provide a 15% replenishment rate.

• Daimyo retainer "Over-ambitious mistress" should now have an effect on Daimyo honour.

• Daimyo retainer "Sir Harry Smith Parkes" should now have a description attached.

• Dilemma "Koyosha" now correctly decreases research rate, rather than increases research rate.

• Various typographical fixes.

• Event "Security Matters" should now have a relevant penalty.

• Mission "Developing our potential" should now be correctly displayed when skipping the first cut-scene.

Unit rebalancing

• Katana Hero units used to cost 1500 Koku, now cost 1300 Koku.

• Yari Hero units used to cost 1100 Koku, now cost 1000 Koku.

• Naginata Warrior Monk Hero units used to cost 1500 Koku, now cost 1300 Koku.

• Bow Hero units used to cost 1400 Koku, now cost 1250 Koku.

AI improvements

• Naval AI will now repair damaged fleets in battle.

• Improvements to AI defending to take into account distance and relative strength between AI and human units when selecting targets.

• Improvements to AI defence when AI has missile superiority.

• AI non-missile/cavalry units will now more frequently move through missile units defending the front line of a battlegroup if they are being charged by a player.

• Further improvements made to reinforcing army AI to limit idle army behaviour.

• Fixed issue where AI would occasionally send in single, unsupported units to attack the player. Units will now co-ordinate better and attack in larger numbers.

• Other AI units will attack player-friendly units that are protecting the flanks of the AI’s primary target unit.

Jul 18, 2012

Total War: SHOGUN 2 Update Released

Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Valve

Change Log:
• Lighting shader tweaks to improve lighting in battles throughout the game.
• A Multiplayer crash on host machine when searching for a 4v4 Set-up team siege battle has been fixed.
• Fixed crash when attempting to play Fall of the Samurai Historical Battles when players owns the stand alone Dragon War Battle Pack and not Total War: SHOGUN 2 Fall of the Samurai.
• Fix for players becoming stuck during the Avatar Multiplayer Tutorial after searching for a Match Made battle.
• The "Season" drop down list should now display correctly after changing map in a multiplayer Battle List battle.
• Wako pirates now have the correct banners in naval battles via the Campaign.
• Fix to prevent AI trade fleets grouped around occupied trade nodes in Campaign mode.
• Fix to prevent Mixed Avatars being able to join Battle List battles with 'Mixed Avatars' option turned off.
• Fix for bug in Avatar Conquest mode where players receiving a clan promotion were shown a message telling them they have been relegated.
• Desynchronisation (desync) message has been localised to French, Italian, German, Spanish, Czech, Russian, Polish.
• Fix for multiplayer campaign desynchronsiation (desync) when playing between German and Czech players.
• Improved compatibility with AMD Radeon HD 7 series graphics cards.
• Fixes to prevent desynchronisation (desync) in Multiplayer Campaign mode.
• Improved combat animation blending for cavalry.
• Added localisation to the multiplayer lobby for the status of TEd created maps when they are being shared.
• Fix for Sea of Japan naval battle map crash.
• Players can no longer delete the "Sea of Japan" Naval Battle map, and can delete their own maps (Created or shared through TEd) on the battle setup screen UI.
• Added localisation for battle setup screen UI in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Czech, Russian, Polish.