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uboat53 · 2 years

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My Dream Total War Game: Part 1

Well, I've had a solid go of Total War: Warhammer III having played several races and I'm just waiting for Immortal Empires to drop. I suppose it's time to do the big project I've been thinking about for a while, what would my dream Total War game look like?

To start with, I've been thinking back to the previous games in the series. I've played every single Total War title except the original Shogun, Napoleon, and Thrones of Britannia, so I think I've got a fairly good background. Each one of them introduced something cool or different to the series, so let's take a look at those things

Here's what I really liked that I associate with each of them:

Medieval: Total War

My goodness, the original for me. I still love this game, though I am glad that we've moved away from that tile campaign map. One thing I remember about this game was being able to assault the gates of a castle even without building siege equipment. Infantry could undermine the foundations, scale walls, and attempt to torch the gates. It was way less efficient than building or bringing along real siege equipment, but there are times when you just need to take the dang thing and this option was great to have in your back pocket.

Princesses were also great. They weren't just pictures on a family tree that meant very little, they were very real agents in the campaign and that really brought the socio-political side of the game to life.

Finally, I loved the religion aspect of this. Fighting a war with troops and diplomacy is one thing, but adding religion to your arsenal really added another dimension to it. Being able to influence the Papacy as a Catholic faction especially was a ton of fun.

Rome: Total War

Oh my (George Takei voice), the realistic campaign map and 3-D units. I never want to play without those again. Definitely have to be a part of any perfect TW game.

Rome was also the first game with real diversity in factions. I mean, in Shogun the factions pretty much all use peasants and samurai and in the time period of Medieval the mounted knight is pretty much the main unit on the battlefield that all factions build their armies around. In Rome, by contrast, each faction has a very unique way of making war that forces different strategy and tactics than any other faction. The Romans have the legion, Greeks have hoplites, Macedonians have pikes, Gauls have warbands. Each one of those brings a totally different flavor to how they play and I love it.

Other than that, I miss the trade system. I liked it when a trade agreement meant that any territories that could trade with each other would do so instead of this new capital to capital link.

Medieval II: Total War

There's nothing quite like the feel and fanfare of medieval warfare and there were three things in particular from this that I'd want in a perfect TW game. The first is the synchronized kills, where the animation of an attacking unit matches the death animation of the unit it's attacking. Sure, I spend a lot of time zoomed out and issuing commands to the army, but there's nothing like zooming in and actually seeing dozens of men directly interacting with each other instead of just using stock animations without regard for one another.

The next one is the individualized units. Making different men in the same unit look unique was amazing and I was surprised at how well they were able to manage it. And, taking off from that…

…is my next point, the visual impact of armor and weapon upgrades. You see, Medieval II didn't just have armor upgrade by colors (upgrade to the bronze, then the silver, then the gold), it had types of armor. Leather, Padded, Lamellar, Light Mail, etc that were made in different kinds of facilities. Different kinds of units started with different types of armor and could only be upgraded to types of armor that made sense for them to wear. More importantly, you could SEE the change when you went into battle. Line infantry with heavy mail or partial plate LOOKED different from the same unit with light mail. This is a feature I'd really love to see again.

Empire: Total War

NAVAL COMBAT! I mean, seriously, the age of sail. No other TW game has done naval combat as well since and it's a feature I really want to see again (particularly in the Warhammer games, how do we have Vampire Coast and Druchii without naval combat?).

This was also the first TW game that featured automatic replenishment of units which is definitely a feature I would have to have in my perfect game.

I'm still not 100% sure I like not being able to just build every building in a single city given enough time, but I really loved the fact that not all buildings in a territory were in the central settlement and that new cities would spring up in a territory over time with enough growth. It made the provinces/territories more of a strategic battleground when you couldn't just retreat to the city and hole up while the enemy ran all over the place without accomplishing anything.

There's also the settlement garrisons. It was so nice having at least a rudimentary defense in place even if I didn't put an army in every. single. city. They've been balanced differently in different games to various results, but I think any TW game from now on needs them.

Finally, dismountable cavalry. There are so many situations where it would be more useful to take my guys off of horseback, so why can't I do it anymore?

Shogun 2: Total War

Shogun 2 for me is all about the multiplayer. I loved the clans system, I loved the progression system, and my favorite part was how you could save a veteran unit from your battles and customize it. No more nameless, faceless armies, I want my personal troops again!

Rome II: Total War

Let's face it, the combined land and sea battles really gave the navy its punch in this game. The ramming of sea battles was fine, but being able to use your ships and their full crews on land made them ten times as valuable. That would absolutely be a part of my perfect TW game.

Total War: Attila

Attila, more than any other TW game really had a strong feel. The world was getting colder and civilization was falling apart and it FELT like that was happening all around you. I'm not 100% sure how you would get that level of theming in another game, but I want it!

Total War: Warhammer, Warhammer II

So for me these are in the same boat, Warhammer II was a great improvement over Warhammer, but for me it didn't do anything new that Warhammer hadn't already done, it just did the things better. That said, I liked the single entity units and I liked the monstrous units, they really added some difference in gameplay. I also liked the magic which really opened up a ton of tactical and strategic options.

These games also brought in unique faction mechanics, different kinds of machinations and strategies that each faction could employ, further differentiating them beyond even their unique unit rosters and building trees.

Total War: Arenas

This one never officially launched and it wasn't even an official Total War thing by the end of it, but I love it so much I'm going to talk about it anyways.

Arenas was the greatest multiplayer experience I've ever played in any game ever. The gameplay was set up so that you controlled three units in an army with nine other players against an enemy army of ten. You had to cooperate over a divided battlefield in order to secure victory either by destroying all enemy units or by capturing their flag.

I'm sure there'd be a ton more work you'd have to do in order to get this to work and you'd probably want different modes because how often do you have 20 players at a time, but it was the coolest TW experience I've ever had and I really want to see it again!

Total War: Three Kingdoms

My goodness, the diplomacy. Give me the diplomacy system. This was the single most refreshing TW title I have played in a long time and it still holds a special place in my heart because of this. Yes, other titles since have used the diplomacy system to some degree, but in Troy and Warhammer a lot of the faction relations are hard-coded in. In Three Kingdoms the alliances and confederations can shift in a heartbeat, completely changing the shape of the campaign.

The way the diplomacy system interacted with the character relationships was also brilliant in that it allowed a real connection to your generals and officers. They were no longer just cogs in a machine, they had likes and dislikes and developed friendships and rivalries over the course of the campaign. It was great!

The personalities were also fantastic because they hooked them up to the play style. A brash and aggressive character would genuinely play in a brash and aggressive way which led to whole new level of strategic planning.

I also really like the idea of an army being composed of multiple generals and their retinues. This worked really well with the relationship and personality system, adding new depth to the campaign where you had to work to ensure that you composed armies not just with generals who complemented each other well, but also who got along well enough to work together.

Total War: Troy

I liked the mythological elements of this a lot. They weren't overwhelming, but it was just really cool to see a huge man dressed as a cyclops on the battlefield. It was impressive enough to be cool but still within the bounds of reason so it didn't break historical verisimilitude.

The other thing I really liked about this one was the currency system. It was really fun putting together the different pieces in order to buy what you needed. Three Kingdoms started this a bit with their food mechanic, but Troy took it to the next level and it was a great feature.

Total War: Warhammer III

Warhammer III separates itself from I and II based on one thing only, the Warriors of Chaos rework that's being prepared for the launch of Immortal Empires. You see, this rework has something I've been wanting from a TW game since I first started playing them back in 2001, the ability to upgrade a unit to a better type instead of having to disband it and recruit a new one. It's great, it's fantastic, and I'm super looking forward to getting to use this feature.

Conclusion

So yeah, that's what I love about each of the games and what I'd put in my perfect Total War game. The thing is, though, there's still some stuff that I've seen in other games that hasn't made it into a TW game yet. I'll do another rant in a bit with some of those things.

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