To: The Creative Assembly
Re: Total War: Medieval Total War (MTW)
(I didn't play Viking Invasion yet)
Introduction: This in not a review of MTW but a plea to The Creative Assembly to develop the "dream" strategy war game. Because MTW is the closest I've ever played to the "dream" game it serves as the default. I'll highlight the positive aspects of MTW & suggest improvements. Sometimes I'll use examples from other war games.
1) Turn based with real time battles: This is the single most important aspect of a strategy war game because it allows for much more detail (as opposed to real time, like Age of Empires).
2) Three map "depths":
2.1) World: this we do have in MTW with some nice features like population loyalty influenced by the distance of the king from the province (you can make it even more difficult to hold non-homeland provinces far from the king), different agents etch.
2.2) Provincial: this map we do not have in MTW. The provincial management in MTW is not detailed enough. Lords of the Realm II (LotR) is preferred here:
2.2.a) Various resources that you need & can get hold of by exploitation or purchasing
2.2.b) Keeping the population happy by more than only low taxes (food, health, low conscription etch)
2.2.c) Armies on the provincial map destroying resources by marching over it
2.2.d) The calamities can be more severe: apart from what happen in MTW (floods, disease etch) the calamities must also infect the armies in the province where it occurs: army & population sizes may be reduced by disease & plagues. The bigger the army the higher the risk (see the game "Risk"). Armies & population can be protected against disease & plagues by high food quantities, bigger castles etch
2.2e) "Armies eat" - armies feeding from the food in the province: make sure you can feed the army AND the population (or your army only during a siege)
2.2.e) Desertion or revolt by armies due to non-payment or low food quantities etch
2.2.f) Moving away or revolt by the population due to low food quantities, high taxes etch
2.2.g) Dispatching resources between provinces
2.2.h) Buildings & exploitation of resources go quicker or slower depending on how many workers you assign
2.3) Battlefields: this justifies a separate paragraph:
3) Battlefields
3.1) Battlefields: this is the absolute highlight of MTW: high artificial intelligence, ranks of generals, fatigue, morale, valor, elevation, hiding in bush, group formations, re-enforcements etch etch. One big improvement needs to be made: the enemy generals practically commit suicide by storming into battle. I simply keep my general a bit to the background, protect my missile units by sending my hand-to-hand combat units into combat & then aim all my missiles at the enemy general. Once the enemy general is eliminated it's 70% easier to win the battle. Simply make the general 5 times more difficult to kill or figure out something else.
3.2) Castle sieges: give the attacker also limited time: practical factors like availability of food, desertion, disease etch may force the attacker to assault or withdraw, depending how long the defender can hold out (limited by similar factors, especially food quantities).
3.3) Castle assaults: why can MTW's brilliant battlefields not be extended to castle assaults? LotR is again preferred here (apart from low artificial intelligence & MTW's self-shooting towers). Moats, battering rams, siege towers, hot liquids, missile units on walls with advantage etch.
3.4) Enemy fleets in MTW don't combine, making it easier to destroy them one at a time.
3.5) Realistic naval battles shall be nice.
4) General: Other realistic features that can be added:
a) NB: The never-ending rivalry between heirs for the throne: princes murdered each other or their own father, kings murdered possible competitors (even their own sons), queens & concubines murdered kings etch etch. How many kings died peacefully? A heir inheriting the throne without incident (assassination, "accident" or downright civil war) was the exception rather than the rule. Build this reality into the game. My suggestion: the king & high-ranking generals must always be exposed to assassination by other members of their own faction (apart from civil war, which forms part of the game already). The risk attached to to a high-ranking official with low loyalty must not only be civil war but also assassination or "coup de tat". Every time a king dies there should be a high risk of civil war due to rivalry between royals even if all royalty was loyal to the previous king. The loyalty of generals may even change from time to time so the king has to keep an eye on them.
b) Instead of eliminating a faction you can choose to make it's king a loyal (or maybe not so loyal) vassal of your faction, paying tribute annually - in exchange for higher loyalty by the population, for instance - (or was this only a feature of antiquity, in the times of the city-state?).
c) This type of game for any age or location is possible, I suppose. You can, for instance, replay the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia, the Antique Greek civilization & the rivalry between Sparta & Athens, the history of antique Israel & the conquests of king David, the history of Rome, the Middle Ages, the age of (recent) colonization, up to the modern age with a replay of the recent Iraq War etch. I'm sure you can even re-play the Anglo-Boer War!
The more realistically one can re-play history the nicer. I'm looking forward for a realistic strategy war game for the older, more serious, historian!?
Well, if I didn't make my point by now I never will, I won't bother you again! I'll be waiting for that "dream" game!
To: The Creative Assembly
Re: Total War: Medieval Total War (MTW)
(I didn't play Viking Invasion yet)
Introduction: This in not a review of MTW but a plea to The Creative Assembly to develop the "dream" strategy war game. Because MTW is the closest I've ever played to the "dream" game it serves as the default. I'll highlight the positive aspects of MTW & suggest improvements. Sometimes I'll use examples from other war games. 1) Turn based with real time battles: This is the single most important aspect of a strategy war game because it allows for much more detail (as opposed to real time, like Age of Empires). 2) Three map "depths":
2. 1) World: this we do have in MTW with some nice features like population loyalty influenced by the distance of the king from the province (you can make it even more difficult to hold non-homeland provinces far from the king), different agents etch. 2. 2) Provincial: this map we do not have in MTW. The provincial management in MTW is not detailed enough. Lords of the Realm II (LotR) is preferred here:
2. 2.a) Various resources that you need & can get hold of by exploitation or purchasing
2. 2.b) Keeping the population happy by more than only low taxes (food, health, low conscription etch)
2. 2.c) Armies on the provincial map destroying resources by marching over it
2. 2.d) The calamities can be more severe: apart from what happen in MTW (floods, disease etch) the calamities must also infect the armies in the province where it occurs: army & population sizes may be reduced by disease & plagues. The bigger the army the higher the risk (see the game "Risk"). Armies & population can be protected against disease & plagues by high food quantities, bigger castles etch
2. 2e) "Armies eat" - armies feeding from the food in the province: make sure you can feed the army AND the population (or your army only during a siege)
2. 2.e) Desertion or revolt by armies due to non-payment or low food quantities etch
2. 2.f) Moving away or revolt by the population due to low food quantities, high taxes etch
2. 2.g) Dispatching resources between provinces
2. 2.h) Buildings & exploitation of resources go quicker or slower depending on how many workers you assign
2. 3) Battlefields: this justifies a separate paragraph:
3) Battlefields
3. 1) Battlefields: this is the absolute highlight of MTW: high artificial intelligence, ranks of generals, fatigue, morale, valor, elevation, hiding in bush, group formations, re-enforcements etch etch. One big improvement needs to be made: the enemy generals practically commit suicide by storming into battle. I simply keep my general a bit to the background, protect my missile units by sending my hand-to-hand combat units into combat & then aim all my missiles at the enemy general. Once the enemy general is eliminated it's 70% easier to win the battle. Simply make the general 5 times more difficult to kill or figure out something else. 3. 2) Castle sieges: give the attacker also limited time: practical factors like availability of food, desertion, disease etch may force the attacker to assault or withdraw, depending how long the defender can hold out (limited by similar factors, especially food quantities). 3. 3) Castle assaults: why can MTW's brilliant battlefields not be extended to castle assaults? LotR is again preferred here (apart from low artificial intelligence & MTW's self-shooting towers). Moats, battering rams, siege towers, hot liquids, missile units on walls with advantage etch. 3. 4) Enemy fleets in MTW don't combine, making it easier to destroy them one at a time. 3. 5) Realistic naval battles shall be nice. 4) General: Other realistic features that can be added:
a) NB: The never-ending rivalry between heirs for the throne: princes murdered each other or their own father, kings murdered possible competitors (even their own sons), queens & concubines murdered kings etch etch. How many kings died peacefully? A heir inheriting the throne without incident (assassination, "accident" or downright civil war) was the exception rather than the rule. Build this reality into the game. My suggestion: the king & high-ranking generals must always be exposed to assassination by other members of their own faction (apart from civil war, which forms part of the game already). The risk attached to to a high-ranking official with low loyalty must not only be civil war but also assassination or "coup de tat". Every time a king dies there should be a high risk of civil war due to rivalry between royals even if all royalty was loyal to the previous king. The loyalty of generals may even change from time to time so the king has to keep an eye on them. b) Instead of eliminating a faction you can choose to make it's king a loyal (or maybe not so loyal) vassal of your faction, paying tribute annually - in exchange for higher loyalty by the population, for instance - (or was this only a feature of antiquity, in the times of the city-state? ). c) This type of game for any age or location is possible, I suppose. You can, for instance, replay the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia, the Antique Greek civilization & the rivalry between Sparta & Athens, the history of antique Israel & the conquests of king David, the history of Rome, the Middle Ages, the age of (recent) colonization, up to the modern age with a replay of the recent Iraq War etch. I'm sure you can even re-play the Anglo-Boer War! The more realistically one can re-play history the nicer. I'm looking forward for a realistic strategy war game for the older, more serious, historian!? Well, if I didn't make my point by now I never will, I won't bother you again! I'll be waiting for that "dream" game!