Total War: Rome II

Total War: Rome 2 is the latest Total War game by the Creative Assembly, announced in July 2012, it was released on 3rd September 2013.

General Information

Rome 2 Total War, like its predecessor, is set in Classical Antiquity. The campaign allows the player to take control of the Roman Republic and, if they choose, transform it into an empire.

Campaign Map

The game has a larger campaign map than Rome: Total War, and apart from encompassing the extent of the Roman Empire and its environs, features new territories stretching further to the eastern edge of the map.

The diplomacy system is claimed to be revamped with a better artificial intelligence, so players can also plan their way to power diplomatically. Creative Assembly acknowledges the various anomalies in previous games, where the AI could perform strange or even suicidal actions, such as small factions declaring war on the whole Roman Empire. The AI is said to be more "intelligent" and cunning as ever. The choices of the player will influence the AI's attitude toward him or her.

Engine

A new graphics engine powers the visuals of the game, encompassing a new lighting system, particles that cast and receive shadows,and new unit cameras that allow players to focus on individual soldiers in a unit 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 the war this way, with soldiers reacting with horror as their comrades get killed around them, and officers inspiring their men with brief heroic speeches before siege towers make contact with the walls of the enemy city. This is realized using facial animations for individual units, adding a deeper layer of humanity and realism to the battles, that allow the player to connect more easily with their armies and its troops. Along with new animations, lead designer James Russell stated in an interview that combat in Rome 2 was to be a "complete meatgrinder", as opposed to individual unit combat animations in Shogun 2. Furthermore, the campaign map is rendered with the battle map engine. This allows for a much more thorough and accurate terrain cell system, with cells as small as one pixel per meter on the battle map possible.

Gameplay

As with Total War: Shogun 2, the player is prompted with several decisions. The Creative Assembly is expanding on this mechanic, with each decision leading the player down a path which leads to a consequence the player must deal with. 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 become hard-bitten veterans through their years of combat experience and conquest. Players can also customize legions by choosing their weapon loadout. This probably means 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 play an even more important role in Total War: Rome II than in its predecessor. Creative Assembly has introduced mixed naval and land combat for land battles and city sieges for the first time in the company's history. This reflects the naval strategies of the classical era, where coastal cities were conquered and destroyed in great invasions of infantry disembarking from warships. Amphibious attacks are one of the few new concepts that are available in Rome 2 Total War. Legions can now attack the enemy's ground forces and cities, while naval units provide supporting fire or ram each other far away in the seas. Navies can also conquer poorly guarded coastal cities by themselves. Creative Assembly has made naval units bigger in size, so instead of building one ship per construction, a player can have a formidable navy in shorter time.

Creative Assembly also seeks to capture the uniqueness of different cultures and fighting forces in the ancient times. Jack Lusted, the Creative Assembly's lead unit designer, explained that instead of the single 'Rebel' faction of the original Rome: Total War they designed a large number of smaller factions, including one for each of the Greek city states. The different factions have diverse play-styles. A tribe of British barbarians should 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, an inland barbarian tribe would never be able to research the technology for polyremes and other naval weapons of war or have much hope of manufacturing advanced ballistae, etc.

Playable Factions

So far Eleven playable factions have been confirmed.

• The Roman Republic
• The Republic of Carthage
• Macedon
• Iceni
• Arverni
• Suebi
• Parthia
• Egypt
• Pontusas same day free DLC
• Seleucids as a future free DLC coming out in October
• Armenia included in the Emperor Edition

Greek States Culture Pack

Players who pre-ordered Rome 2 got a Bonus DLC that adds three more additional Factions from Greece.

• Athens
• Eprius
• Sparta

Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack

Creative Assembly confirmed that the second Culture Pack will come out at the same time as the Seleucids in October.

• Royal Scythians
• Roxolani
• Massagetae

Caesar In Gaul Pack

Caesar in Gaul includes three factions to play as.

• Boii
• Galatia
• Nervii

Hannibal at the Gates Pack

The pack includes three factions to play as.

• Arevaci
• Lusitani
• Syracuse

Pirates and Raiders Culture Pack

Players who purchase this pack will be able to play as three new factions.

• Ardiaei
• Odrysian Kingdom
• Tylis

System Requirements

Minimum:

• OS:Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8
• Processor:2 GHz Intel Dual Core processor / 2.6 GHz Intel Single Core processor
• Memory:1GB RAM (XP), 2GB RAM (Vista / Windows 7 or 8) GB RAM
• Graphics:512 MB Direct 9.0c compatible card (shader model 3)
• DirectX®:9.0c
• Hard Drive:30 GB HD space
• Additional:Screen Resolution - Minimum spec: 1024x768 minimum/ Recommended spec: 1280x1024 minimum

Recommended:

• OS:Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8
• Processor:2nd Generation Intel Core i5 processor (or greater)
• Memory:2GB Ram (XP), 4GB RAM (Vista / Windows 7 or 8) GB RAM
• Graphics:1024 MB DirectX 11 compatible graphics card.
• DirectX®:11
• Hard Drive:30 GB HD space
• Additional:Screen Resolution - Minimum spec: 1024x768 minimum/ Recommended spec: 1280x1024 minimum

External links

• Live action trailer.
• Computer and Video Games - New Engine Information