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Messages - Sheridan

#1
Rome - Total Realism / Ptolemaic Kingdom
July 15, 2016, 09:08:56 PM
I started up a Ptolemaic campaign recently, having seen my blitzkrieg plan with the Nabataeans put in the dust swiftly by the same faction - mainly due to logistical problems and the overwhelming enemy numbers. Quite the early game challenge! In any case, having played a dozen or more turns into the Ptolemaic campaign, I can say that it plays well. AI factions, such as the Macedonians and Carthage, were inclined towards establishing an alliance with me. This seemed like a rather natural development, having declared war on the Seleucids shortly before - the big players choosing side. The economical situation is doubtlessly more managable with the Ptolemaic Kingdom than Nabataea, in particular should one aim for military superiority. That means one will need to adopt different playstyles, which makes trying out different factions more rewarding. In terms of battles, my main impression is they are rather well balanced, and more importantly, fun. Something worth mentioning here is the beautiful new environments, which add to the atmosphere when fighting a battle. There were a few missing sprites for Ptolemaic hoplites and levy phalanx, if that hasn't been addressed already. I've taken a handful of screenshots, hopefully visualising of some of the tense action in the campaign.

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#2
Rome - Total Realism / Pontus Campaign
July 07, 2016, 05:45:37 PM
Hello! Philip here. I've been playing something like 10 turns into a Pontus campaign. The mod is shaping up nicely, having followed it for a while. My general impressions of the campaign so far are that the economy is fairly balanced and challenging - you can recruit units, but pretty quickly you'll need to conquer new territories or raise taxes to provide their upkeep. I enjoyed starting out with two armies (as Pontus), allowing for some variety of military options early in the campaign. Public order was, perhaps, a bit too easily managed, at least in early game. Increasing taxes to the highest level didn't see public order go below 110%, even in newly conquered rebel territories.

Something that caught my attention was the implementation of a supply system via traits. Clever idea and execution. It's working well, and besieging enemy cities or staying for too long in enemy territory seems to yield some rather unpleasant, and realistic, problems for your army. I also liked the use of building chains as administrations in conquered territory - deciding on what conditions to impose on the vanquished. I didn't play for long enough yet to see this in effect, but culture appears to be playing a significant role in expansion, based on the tooltips I've read. This seems well considered, and I'm excited to see what the exact implications are for conquering a region with an entirely foreign culture.

In terms of bugs, I encountered a few missing sprites. Eastern skirmishers lacked such, as did flagbearers and officers in some eastern infantry units. See images in spoiler. There's also an issue with closing the game, which I'm sure you're already aware of.

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#3
Hello! Philip here (nickname Sheridan here and on TWC). Total War modder since three years back, working on projects such as Ancient Empires and Rise of Mordor. Was invited by Ahowl11 to try out this mod.