Which game are we talking about exactly? Shogun II?

Rawne had the misfortune of being my 1st multiplayer opponent. He's a great guy and very patient, I appreciate that - we played a quick battle and he wiped me out in about 5 minutes. Gosh, there's so much to learn in this game - I've had it two weeks and still on my first campaign (mind you, I am a s-l-o-w player).

I like the game but I'm not so keen on the almost endless variety of units. I can understand guys with swords, guys with bows, and guys on horses but when you get about 15 varieties of each, all with names like Twai-woo-doo-boo-hoo, it gets a little complicated.

Personally, I think the vastness of the units is a distraction, but the game itself it excellent. Like Rawne, I bought the gold edition for a song, and there is a huge amount of gameplay there. I just wish Rome could have been better.

We haven't really done anything yet as a clan and with the failure that is Rome II it doesn't seem likely I'll play that game much in the forseeable future.

However much it pained me to give CA/SEGA more of my hard earned money, I bought the Shogun II gold edition for a pinprick. It was a very cheap purchase and in return I got Shogun II, FotS, RotS and all DLC. I guess I'll be playing a real TW title soon.

If anyone wants to play some online matches (I'm terribly rusty) or better yet, a laidback very hard versus multiplayer campaign, please let me know! I can only play in the weekends though. If anyone is interested in a multiplayer campaign please let me know!

Rome 1 would be the first choice, no doubts. I also love (or at least used to) Age of Empires 3 and the Dune games although they were all quite different from the Total War series.

Have you guys any nostalgic favourites?

All that typing made me nostalgic for Games long gone:

Age of Empires 1

Dungeon Keeper – humour and the gameplay was really good.

Dungeon Master (Atari ST) – my first graphic adventure. I spent nearly the same amount buying a ‘walkthrough’ book as on the game itself – I just had to finish it!

Command & Conquer – I loved the Harvesters and the ability to build overwhelming forces.

Silent Service - watching your last torpedo run for 20 minutes whilst manoeuvring away from Destroyers and, if your calculations were correct, hit that enemy Aircraft Carrier - very satisfying.

Panzer General (my first hex based war game) after 8 hours, taking the final capture point at the far end of Russia on the last turn with an exhausted tank battalion – marvellous. Your General earning ‘Prestige Points’ to replenish or buy more units was quite an innovation.

Arnhem - My first computer war game. So finely balanced you had to try out different tactics.

I’m disappointed too. I was really looking forward to doing battle with and against you guys. The CA videos looked so promising, didn’t they?

Perhaps the focus should be more on gameplay rather than eye-candy.

Still, I see they are working on a number of patches so perhaps in a few months something good will come out.

This week, Amazon sent me a nice email extending my 'Amazon Prime' membership for a month and a £2 voucher for my ‘inconvenience’ for buying Rome 2 (no inconvenience really, they had even sent me a pre-paid return slip!)

Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but after the launch of Rome 2, I saw the price of the Shogun 2 'Gold Edition' drop by 20%; so I bought that. Early days yet, but it seems a good game.

You're not alone, I really wish that I could ask for a refund too but unfortunately I got the game through Steam trades. Luckily there are quite some people here who have CK 2 already, so I think we can set up some pretty interesting games there.

Coincidentally, someone gifted me CK2 so we could definitely play. I still got Rome and now that CA has officially said sorry, I hope they'll fix it. I'm just going to shelve it for a few more weeks and I hope they'll have fixed combat by then.

Hi all!

In light of the problems that many players have been reporting, and the disappointing gameplay, I've returned Rome 2 and got a refund. Of course, it means I will not be joining you.

However, I've compensated myself by purchasing Crusader Kings 2. This is proving a most absorbing game and, once I've understood it a little better, I hope we can meet up in a multiplayer.

In the meantime, good luck with Rome, I hope it works ok and you get a lot of fun from it.

Cheers!


Athelstan

Well, the game certainly has enough variety! The discs should arrive tomorrow, hope to find out then!

Morning, gents! See you on the battlefield, soon!

I've played Shogun but you can't really compare it to Rome because Rome has a lot more units, absolutely no gunpowder etc. But you are right about the Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanics - that's precent in all TW titles. You don't need to use "cross-over units". Some nations don't really have those such as the Arverni. As far as I know they only have infantry, cavalry and ranged infantry but no horse archers or elephants or chariots. That doesn't make them any less deadly. It's all about combining these different troop types into a viable army.

I never played Shogun, but those of you who did, may be able to give me some insight into how Rome 2's battles may work.

My impression is the game logic will essentially be Rock - Paper - Scissors; in other words, Ranged Units - Infantry - Cavalry.

If I'm correct, it suggests that 'cross-over units' like Elephants, Mounted Archers as well as terrain and formation type will be crucial.

What do you think?

Ah well we have the same word in our Flemish dialect for a coat like that. I just wasn't sure if it meant the same. Haven't heard of the methaphorical meaning though.

The cheap headset I'm going to buy will do fine. So you could just get that.

Headsets: thanks for all the tips.

I'm playing on a laptop so ambient noise will be an issue. Having said that, buying an expensive headset just for one game make no sense; so, I'm looking for something of an all-rounder.

One thing I don't know is how useful it would be in Rome 2 multiplayer. It's not a FPS and it may actually prove distracting. Presumably, text messaging it also available?

Perhaps it's best to play a few times then decide.

An Anorak is a cheap, plastic jacket worn to keep the rain off. The joke is that it's worn by deeply unfashionable men persuing an obessive hobby (typically train spotters who hang around for hours to note down a passing train number). An 'Anorak' is like a 'Geek' but with even less chance of having girlfriend. I'ts not a term of abuse, more a bit of fun.

(comment, second part)

Mainly because it's very cheap and it gets decent reviews. It's a headset made for skype/voice chat, not for gaming. So if you want to play a FPS and hear people creep up behind you then it's a pretty crappy headset for you. But if you want to talk to people and hear their voices (and they yours) loud and clear then this is apparently a good headset. And cheap. Don't want to throw too much money at it as I never game with a headset except when playing multiplayer with others.

Also, welcome to the new bloods. More meat for the grinder!

You can use a mic without earplugs or if you are using a laptop it probably comes with a built-in mic. But not using headphones/earplugs might cause intereference for the others (background noise and hearing our own voices/sounds coming out of your speakers).

I have no idea what an Anorak is so please enlighten me when next you get the chance.

I was going to buy this: Click! [www.amazon.co.uk]

Out of health/medical reasons I prefer not to use headphones/headsets. However I realise not having one for e.g. a co-op campaign is like missing a limb. Are there any solutions for that? Like using skype or such? Or just a mic without the earplugs?

I have the Roccat Vire, a very simple yet useful set of earphones. Bought them during a 75% sale and I definitely recommend them. (Plus they are rather durable). But there's a whole lot of other ones so try to grab a fancy model with at least some quality, it really doesn't have to be expensive.

Good advice! I had a quick look at Teamspeak and it does seem a much better system.

As for Headsets; there are loads to choose from, and I haven't looked at them all yet: but there are some useful and detailed reviews here:

www.pcgameware.co.uk/reviews/headsets/

The problem is buying them unseen, I would much prefer to try them first; however, two that have caught my eye are:

Qpad QH-90
Roccat Kave Solid 5.1

Anyone have experience with these?

Had a nice chat with Hades last night, another great member and experienced player. I think he knows what an Anorak is now :)

Steam is fairly useless for voice conversations, the moment you reach too many participants in the chat Steam crashes (I have some really bad experience of that). We do have a teamspeak channel which could be a good option otherwise, the quality is pretty good, but Skype works great as well.

I think using skype (or better yet) teamspeak is a better idea than using Steam's voice-over chat. I never used it but it always seemed a bit wonky.

I read (on wikipedia, not the most reliable source) that the IVth was disbanded because Vespasian didn't trust them (as they were loyal to a rival).

Anyway I'm glad you're happy with our "imperator". I'm going to buy a headset myself (a very cheap one) for teamspeak as my new desktop doesn't have an integrated mic like my old laptop. So we could go "shopping" together.

Come again? What's that, I'm sorry if I'm supposed to know that lol

Sorry Hades, I'm in the Anorak Cohort :)

I forgot to ask, does anyone plan to use voice-over chat while playing? I understand you can do that over Steam. Never tried it myself, but I have seen some headphones with mics on Amazon. Any thoughts, any recommendations?

Aside from the history lesson here which is quite confusing,
Welcome :)

I stand corrected! You are right! It was reconstitued by Vespasian after being disgraced and disbanded after the Batavian revolt. I was also wrong in saying the symbol was a Bull, by that time it had become a Lion. The Bull should have been the clue, which indeed dates it to Ceasar. Live and learn :)

Thanks also for the welcome, I had a nice chat with Phil this evening, I think this group is in good hands. I look forward to playing with, for, and against each of you - let's have fun!

Legio IIII (or IV) Macedonica did exist. There were several Macedonian legions though IV didn't exist that long. It was levied in 48 BC by Julius Caesar and disbanded in 70 AD. It reincarnated under Vespasian into Legio IV Flavia Felix which fought in Germania. Legio IV Flavia Felix is coincidentally also the legion of Maximus Decimus Meridius, the main protagonist in the Gladiator movie. Legio V Macedonica did exist as well but was levied later (as you said, in 43 BC). Both Legions got their cognomen Macedonica by being stationed in Macedonia for some time. So while you are 100% correct, we are too! :P Welcome, by the way!

Hi, thanks for inviting me! By the way, Macedonica was Legion V, founded in 43BC and was one of the original Augustan legions; the bull symbol is correct though, (sorry to appear pedantic - its not that important.)

Sweet

If you want to use the avatar, you'll have to change the file from .png to .jpg cause the file is too large for steam. I'll put a changed version online later but until then you can do it yourself by opening in gimp/photoshop and saving as a .jpg

Nice

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