Newb question: This or M2TW?

[Moe45673]

My RTS experience lies pretty much with C&C. I've played every one of them (including Red Alerts) except C&C3, C&C4, and the FPS one. I must have played the first C&C back in 1996

I love strategy games. Citybuilding, turn-based, hell the simple and old boardgame Risk, they're all uniquely fun amirite?

For some reason, I've ignored the RTS genre aside from C&C. I want to catch up on the best this genre has to offer and TW is an obvious choice. I currently own King Arthur Roleplaying Wargame, Company of Heroes, CoH Opposing Fronts, and Warcraft 3 (though I have yet to play any of them as I finish up with Tropico 3 and Red Alert 3: Uprising).

I'm going to ask this question here and in the M2 forums as I'm guessing both forums are biased. I plan on buying the full complete version of either with all the expansion packs. I am slightly inclined to M2TW due to the prettier graphics.

Which one?

[Niscimble]

Honestly I think Rome is the best Total War game to date. All of the TW games have their place and they are all fun, but I have spent many more hours on Rome than any other. I suppose it could be the subject matter (I've always been a fan of the Roman period), or the fact that Medieval was basically a RTW clone with like two new things thrown in.

But my opinion is very biased. Still, I'd recommend Rome.

[Moe45673]

Thanks for the help! After much research, I think I'm gonna go with Rome mainly due to the fact that many say its difficulty curve is not as intense as M2. After I finish that, I'll either hit up Napoleon or Shogun 2, depending on how good S2 is.

As for subject matter, I'm a bit of a romantic and the medieval period holds more appeal for me! I already own King Arthur, though, so I think that's taken care of.

[Col. Hamilton]

Originally Posted by Niscimble

Honestly I think Rome is the best Total War game to date. All of the TW games have their place and they are all fun, but I have spent many more hours on Rome than any other. I suppose it could be the subject matter (I've always been a fan of the Roman period), or the fact that Medieval was basically a RTW clone with like two new things thrown in.

But my opinion is very biased. Still, I'd recommend Rome.

i liked how you could pick your heir in rome total war, they should bring that stuff baack

[Moe45673]

So I just played a bit of the tutorial of Rome Total War and all I've gotta say is I've never played anything like it. The scope is huge. It feels real (I have all the settings cranked). Wow. And this is the only 3D TW game where the graphics look really dated yet nonetheless, I'm just filled with excitement over this. I can't wait to move on to later releases after this, with their much improved graphics (at least) and support for multicore CPUs.

I'm happy. I think I've found my game for the next while.

[Niscimble]

Fortunately for you, Shogun 2 is coming out in 9 days. Before you play that though, I highly recommend getting either Empire or Napoleon (or both). The use of fire arms adds a new level of strategy in the game that I enjoyed thoroughly.

[Moe45673]

Empire is indeed next on the list, along with the DarthMod fixes (and possibly additions)

[senior pino]

You own a copy of company of heroes, one of the finest RTS on the market... play that instead

Originally Posted by senior pino

You own a copy of company of heroes, one of the finest RTS on the market... play that instead

Yea, but you honestly, can't compare TW games to Company of heroes. TW is like chess in a way that you have your units set. company of heroes (while being a great game) forces to make factories that make units. Also, it's in a much smaller scale (which may be for the better)

[TheOx129]

Originally Posted by Moe45673

Empire is indeed next on the list, along with the DarthMod fixes (and possibly additions)

When you get to Empire, definitely pick up Darth Mod Ultimate Commander. It's a big download (around 1 gig), but I honestly find Empire unplayable without it, and it's probably one of the best mods we'll see for Empire, considering CA never delivered on the promised mod tools for Empire. It fixes some of the most glaring AI issues, adds and tweaks a bunch of units, significantly altering gameplay (how CA managed to make 18th century warfare so bland and uninspiring in vanilla is beyond me), etc.

Also, when you get bored of vanilla Rome, definitely check out some of the mods. I personally recommend Europa Barbarorum or Somnium Apostatae Iuliani.

[DeadlyFred]

I got both along with Napoleon, simply because Empire glitches out like hell on my box for some reason. Otherwise I would've gotten all the old ones