Oh happy days!
So, with the announcement of TWR2 (i still prefer R2TW, lol) i thought it would be good to have a thread that lists all the new features that are confirmed and/or hinted at/rumoured to be included.
So first up is, imo, the most important feature is a NEW ENGINE! WarScape was great for graphics but it felt "choked" when trying to make Campaigns as deep as the original TW titles.
New 3rd person view - CA talk about being able to place the camera directly over the shoulder of a single unit and gain his perception of battle.
New "tactical view" - CA talk about a tactical view that allows players to zoom the camera out to a top-down, kilometer-square overview where units are represented by simplified icons. Commanding individual cohorts effectively from this perspective won’t be possible, but it should make getting your bearings easier and reduce the amount of time you spend squinting at the mini-map
Return of Coastal Artillery - A feature added in FotS, the video CA have released to mags and stuff shows Briremes pounding Carthage walls.
Beach Landings - "Beach landings are a confirmed feature, according to lead battle designer Jamie Ferguson, and there’s room for other non-traditional openings as well."
Reworked Siege dynamics - "Carthage is nonetheless still a stronghold, and a huge one at that, filled with multiple roads, hills, towering structures and multiple capture points. The canny general can plot the most efficient/least defended/most defensible path through Rome II’s cities, not simply rush for the central square – no more ‘headshotting’ cities, as CA put it."
Elephants Return - The units we all love to hate (unless your commanding them) have made an appearance already. Wonder if flaming pigs will return also?
Extended "east" Campaign Map - "The campaign map will be bigger still than Rome 1′s, with all I can glean of the new territories to be explored/conquered being that the game will be “going further East” in addition to containing all the countries and sates of the first the game."
Branching Storyline triggers - "The map will also be scattered with invisible, branching storyline triggers which demand consequence-laden choices and dilemmas beyond the merely military regardless of which nation/state/tribe/faction you play as."
Hero/Veteran units on the Campaign Map - One of the better features brought to TW by S2TW, the Veteran system seems to be coming from MP side of things to the SP - "It also means those legions, being more enduring, generate their own history – gaining new traits and perks as they win or lose great battles, their behaviour and abilities reflecting their experiences to date. " Legions are basically your stacks. Now, instead of "this stack needs some archers" and putting some units together, CA wants you to connect with all your units and think " This legion is depleted, move another legion up to assist".
No more Spiderman wall climbers? - Siege Towers are confirmed, nothing on battering rams or underground thingies (name escapes me now) from RTW, but the fact siege engines are included would suggest soldiers being able to climb the walls by hand will no longer happen? I think ladders have been mentioned as well!
What Factions? - "Gauls and Germanic tribes to the North, the ever threatening Carthaginians and Egyptians to the South and assorted Parthians, Dacians, Cappadocians and more to the East. And other Romans." In one feature the editor briefly mentions Nations/States/Tribes/Factions - could these be the different groups they fall in? Greek state? Germanic Tribes? Roman State? One tech tree and roster (with one or 2 unique units) for each type maybe?
Improved AI - Heard it before? Well hear it again! More staff employed who work on AI, and a link between Campaign Map AI and diplomacy AI. These are the quotes from James Russel - "By combining these systems we’ll hopefully be able to give the player some warning about these things, so you might be able to spy on the AI, and see it thinking about double crossing, building up forces about to attack you. Because these systems are integrated we can explain to the player not just the stuff to do with diplomatic relations, but also give you a reason. It’s not just it won’t do a trade agreement because you’re -83 diplomacy, but because strategically, it wants that region of yours and therefore it’s just not going to make a trade agreement with you. And it makes it more human, so that there’s real thinking going on behind it.”
The AI nations will also have there own "personalities" - "We acknowledge that AI is a key part of making the world believable and fun to play. We also want to make them more human and personality-driven; for example, those guys are vengeful, so you don’t want to piss them off because they’ll kick you back, whereas another AI might be more realpolitik and look at the bigger picture.”
Realm Divide returns? - "...more given that Russell hints at something similar to Fall of the Samurai’s Realm Divide mechanic for the Roman factions - Empire or Republic seems like a likely choice."
How many historic characters? - Well, confirmed so far ingame is Scipio Aemilianus, however CA staff have admitted to mocapping for Caeser and Cleopatra and the republican hero Tiberius Gracchus.
New Region/Province system on Campaign Map - “We want to take steps to reduce some of the management burden. So, for instant, we have a province system where you’ve got several regions making up one province. That means you have all the benefits of extending that map and making it huge, increasing the area for you to conquer with your armies, but at the same time you don’t have hundreds of regions to manage with your tax and development.”
The way they’re going to work is to have one ‘capital’ region at the centre of more agricultural and production-focused areas. Now, when invading a region, you can choose what you want to deny your opponent, rather than charging blindly at your opponent. The ultimate goal is to prevent the endless run of sieges of previous Total War games, and hopefully encourage more fighting in the open countryside."