Victory is usually assured for one side or the other before battle even begins, and skillful play on the field will very rarely tip the balances. This is the essence of combat in Total War. When my Rome was crushed it was not because I sent my army in to die, it’s because I was put in a position where my army was doomed to die and I was left merely to determine what the blood price for my capitol would be.
This has been learned by generals and businessmen as the essence of battle for generations, but never before has it been so relevant to my experience of conducting video game war. “Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.” –Sun Tzu I shudder to say this about a video game but it’s more… realistic? I’ve played a lot of video games in my time and seen everything listed above and more, but I’ve never had to approach combat as this game taught me to. Competition, strategy, teamwork, individual skill, player empowerment, gaining strength… combat isn’t always used in the same way or for the same reason, but it’s prevalence in games is unquestionable. Video games have perhaps explored the idea of combat more thoroughly than any other entertainment medium. The AI knows when it has the superior position and it will make you pay in precious blood to advance once it does. Superior numbers will envelop and eliminate smaller forces. Swordsmen who turn tail and run from a pitched battle will lose half their number or more in their retreat. Strategy games allow and even encourage to various degrees such nonsense as retreating from battle, attacking forces that outnumber you, and exploiting AI routines that don’t understand the game as thoroughly as the player. No, I was unprepared because those other strategy games had prepared me to play strategy GAMES. I was indeed prepared to go about the business of controlling Total War. Units move ponderously even at a charge, and I was never attacked by a force I hadn’t discovered at least two minutes prior. The real time battles are pretty manageable too, as every battle is preceded by extended marching maneuvers as the two forces jockey for position on the field. The turn based continental map has a lot of things going on, but the menus are pretty logical (though figuring out your income is a huge pain) and it’s not too hard to go from knowing nothing to understanding where everything is and how it works. Total War isn’t actually a terribly difficult game to play. I wasn’t wrong the way one might guess though. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but under my care that’s how long it took for her enemies to raze it. The hybrid turn based/real time nature of Total War was new to me but having some experience with both parts I thought I was probably competent. I had played turn based strategy games before, and I had also played real time strategy games before. Going into Total War: Rome II I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
As in, no amount of maneuvering or multitasking or cute little skirmisher raids will allow an unprepared force to defeat a battle hardened invading force with siege engines the likes of which you haven’t even researched yet.
#Total war rome 2 strategy series
Perhaps that seems obvious from the title or screenshots or just because it’s the latest installment in a long series of games that have all been strategy games, but I think that it bears repeating.