Total War: Rome II
Total War: Rome 2 is an upcoming game by the Creative Assembly announced in July 2012. It is due for release in 2013.
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The game is set to have a larger campaign map than Rome: Total War, and apart from encompassing the extent of the Roman Empire and its environs, will feature new territories "going further East".[3] A new graphics engine will power the visuals of the game, and new unit cameras will allow players to focus on individual soldiers in 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 heroic speeches before siege towers hit the walls of the enemy city. This will be realized using facial animations for individual units, adding an unbelievable feel of horror and realism to the battles.[4]
As with Total War: Shogun 2, the player will be prompted with decisions. The 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.[5] 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.[5] 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.[5]
Navies will 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 ram each other far away in the seas. Navies can also conquer poorly guarded coastal cities by themselves. Creative Assembly also plans to make naval units bigger in size, so instead of building one ship per construction, a player can have a formidable navy in shorter time.[6]
