Total War: ATTILA – The Last Roman Campaign Pack - we play as Belisarius

[Hellenikon]

The eastern front iwth the sassanids was very important to the reconquest of the west, it determined just how much resources Justinian invested and how much Belisarius and other generals had to work it. Not to mention that Belisarius also campaigned in the east agaisnt the sasasnids. And the franks were a non-issue to the romans in this period, they were quite friendly actually. I don´t understand why the map is so focused on the west and so little in the east, the better map would be one from wikipedia posted above, and the ideal map would be a grand campaign map.

[barry12]

Totally agree with you Barry. I think once you have completed the game, the re-playability will literally be zero.

I am not too sure about this dlc also. How can Constantinople not be included in the campaign map. Furthermore there are a few factions that are missing here..(so far anyway). I would have preferred a rise of Islam campaign over this or even focus on Justinian himself, rather than a general.

I think this will be similar to the M2TW KIndoms Americas campaign....where you keep getting 'presents' and 'money' from Constantinople for reaching every stage. Shame.

Thanks nice to see some consensus. Been waiting months for this, thinking it would be a map-spanning campaign, for like many have already said, Belisarius was not restricted to this geographic theatre. Damn shame.

I don't get CA's obsession with mini-maps. They have zero diversity and, as we've already played Attila, it won't be adding anything we haven't seen already. These kind of campaigns should be added on years later, grand campaigns are what we're after. Attila Total War's grand campaign map is awesome. I want to play more eras on that map so we still have all the diversity and gameplay options that these regions allow.

Has anyone got any news on a mod that changes the starting date, startpos and gets rid of the WRE?

[Gobo31]

Just because Persia and Constantinople aren't on the map, doesn't mean their presence won't be felt. I think it's likely the mechanic of being sent quests from the emperor, his wife and your wife will be used to represent interests from lands. I think it seems interesting, and I hope the campaign itself will be fun. I like that it brings the focus back to the western Mediterranean, a part of the map that didn't get a lot of attention in the Attila Grand Campaign.

[raycharles5]

I spent hundreds, possible thousands, of hours on Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion. This news of it being on steam makes me happier than pushing the kill prisoner button.
Also, excited about the Belisarius mini-campaign.

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

I might be mistaken, but is that crappy looking barbarian village Rome?
Is this the work of unwashed barbarians

[PointOfViewGun]

Thanks nice to see some consensus. Been waiting months for this, thinking it would be a map-spanning campaign, for like many have already said, Belisarius was not restricted to this geographic theatre. Damn shame.

I don't get CA's obsession with mini-maps. They have zero diversity and, as we've already played Attila, it won't be adding anything we haven't seen already. These kind of campaigns should be added on years later, grand campaigns are what we're after. Attila Total War's grand campaign map is awesome. I want to play more eras on that map so we still have all the diversity and gameplay options that these regions allow.

Has anyone got any news on a mod that changes the starting date, startpos and gets rid of the WRE?

1) One person agreeing with you doesn't really make "some consensus".
2) It's hard to call this a mini-map.
3) It's also wrong to claim that this has zero diversity. It probably has less diversity than Attila main campaign but it still has plenty of diversity. The 5 playable factions are Eastern Roman Empire (Roman), Ostrogoths (Italian), Vandals (Southern), Franks (Northern) and Visigoths (Iberian).
4) A lot of people love and expect such campaign expensions.
5) In reality, this isn't much different than an expansion that covers the entire main map. The scale is still quite large.
6) It's easy for mods to create new settings for the main map but it's currently impossible for them to create a smaller (but still large) portion of the map with greater details as this expansion does.

I might be mistaken, but is that crappy looking barbarian village Rome?
Is this the work of unwashed barbarians

Well, you're posting a picture of the Palace of Theodoric from Ravenna...

[EmperorBatman999]

Well, I hope that some modders can port this piece-for-piece into the GC. I might even get back into it and help the effort.

The problems with the map I see are this:
1. It's pretty much the same map as a previous DLC for Rome 2.
2. This area of the Mediterranean with the massive ocean is just awkward to maneuver around. I remember it took me forever to get my troops to Iberia and then down to Africa.
3. The AI has a known affinity for taking "pleasure cruises" for years at a time around the sea. The fact that this map is 70% ocean when you think about means that we'll probably have the wandering pacifist AI boat fleets floating around going nowhere and attacking nobody.
4. This was the Eastern Roman Empire very own Golden Age, yet we get none of the actual ERE. Campaigns like this have major context problems because of how isolated it is. This map was okay (I say okay because there were problems that I mentioned above) in HatG because you had all of Carthage and all of Rome, and their empires pretty much encompassed what you saw on the map. Now you just a few of the border regions of the ERE, have no clue what it is going on with the ERE and the Persians, etc.

Additionally, one of the things I liked about Augustus was the fact it added in new factions for the time period. I kind of wish I could've seen more developed Slavs, Avars, and Bulgars that Emperor Justinian did have to worry about. It would've been great playing and fighting those factions, but instead we just get copies of the main campaign factions without seeing anything new.

[FrozenmenSS]

Thanks nice to see some consensus. Been waiting months for this, thinking it would be a map-spanning campaign, for like many have already said, Belisarius was not restricted to this geographic theatre. Damn shame.

I don't get CA's obsession with mini-maps. They have zero diversity and, as we've already played Attila, it won't be adding anything we haven't seen already. These kind of campaigns should be added on years later, grand campaigns are what we're after. Attila Total War's grand campaign map is awesome. I want to play more eras on that map so we still have all the diversity and gameplay options that these regions allowed
Has anyone got any news on a mod that changes the starting date, startpos and gets rid of the WRE?

I do.The dates will be 395ad,410ad,450ad,480ad,533ad, 572ad. + 100-120 new units + 20 new factions - some of them playable. All this for the grand Campaign.

[Bethencourt]

Maybe CA should consider to make sometimes a reskin when the game is working, as modders do very successfuly. Make that "mistake" for a change!

And brainstorming needs a second more rational phase, not all ideas being original are necessarily good. Important note, put your self in the shoes of the AI, "will the AI use this original feature that has not been tested before?". And then test it before selling. This will avoid great mistakes.

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

Well, you're posting a picture of the Palace of Theodoric from Ravenna...

I am aware of that, I was merely pointing out that we are not speaking of old outdated ideas of barbarians. The Ostrogoths in Italy took up Roman ideas and culture and architecture. Not to mention the fact that the city of Rome would not suddenly become some barbarian village, just because it was ruled by another dynasty sitting in Ravenna

[Doe3000]

Great news to hear that they are realising the Last Roman campaign. It's such a fascinating period of history - I was reading The Secret History of Procopius earlier this year. Also the news about Steam releasing Shogun: Total War and Medieval: total War is just icing on the cake.

[Humble Warrior]

3. The AI has a known affinity for taking "pleasure cruises" for years at a time around the sea. The fact that this map is 70% ocean when you think about means that we'll probably have the wandering pacifist AI boat fleets floating around going nowhere and attacking nobody.

The fix for this is simple: Get rid of insta-ship armies. Get armies going to ships at ports to get anywhere like in Shogun 2 where it worked fine.

This will stop armies treating water like land and make them either return home properly (overland) or have to fight on land where the coast stops them retreating off it! It`s so damn simple, but CA stubbornly refuse to fix this. It`s ludicrous.

[Achilleslastand]

You can't beat classic games, especially those that get updated and compatible on modern technology.

That's the million dollar question isn't it.....
If memory serves correctly you had to do some workarounds on W7 to get Med to run and it had a mx resolution if 1600x1200.

[Lugotorix]

That's the million dollar question isn't it.....
If memory serves correctly you had to do some workarounds on W7 to get Med to run and it had a mx resolution if 1600x1200.

I'm confident they will be updated for newer machines. Probably dirt cheap as well.

[Huberto]

Well, I hope that some modders can port this piece-for-piece into the GC. I might even get back into it and help the effort.

The problems
AI has a known affinity for taking "pleasure cruises" for years at a time around the sea. The fact that this map is 70% ocean when you think about means that we'll probably have the wandering pacifist AI boat fleets floating around going nowhere and attacking nobody.

This is potentially quite a problem --going to wait and see how this turns out. Not a bad overall idea though!

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

The fix for this is simple: Get rid of insta-ship armies. Get armies going to ships at ports to get anywhere like in Shogun 2 where it worked fine.

This will stop armies treating water like land and make them either return home properly (overland) or have to fight on land where the coast stops them retreating off it! It`s so damn simple, but CA stubbornly refuse to fix this. It`s ludicrous.

Agreed, what was wrong with earlier titles? If you needed naval transport you built one and boarded it. To do this you would need a certain level of port. The Vandals (later) Goths, Saxons, Angles are known for piracy, but a Hunnic navy is just ridiculous

[FrozenmenSS]

Agreed, what was wrong with earlier titles? If you needed naval transport you built one and boarded it. To do this you would need a certain level of port. Thewe Vandals (later) Goths, Saxons, Angles are known for piracy, but a Hunnic navy is just ridiculous

Well this can easily be fixed - by making aarmy to w8 1 turn on the beaches before sailing into the water
it was done in Rome 2 and Attila already by the modders. and this helped the Ai a lot not not going. into the seas and stays therei while is beinng. attacked by another faction.

[Captain Arrrgh!]

I've actually enjoyed the campaign DLC decisions from CA for Shogun 2 and Rome 2. They address the spots in history relevant to the games, and provide sense of completion.
I also normally ignore the various complaints from TWCers regarding their favourite faction or location not included.

This time, however, I have to agree that this focus on west only with Belisarius and his band taking a 'boys Euro road trip', is really limited in scope. This DLC would have been great with the pressure of Persia from the east, and the problem of having both the ERE in the game while also having Belisarius could have been addressed by having the ERE itself non-playable, but as an imperious presence that the Player takes orders from or chooses to disobey, thus utilizing the re-create the WRE mechanic they have in place.

Meh, pretty limited DLC.

But what can we expect? The 'DLC content team' is just five guys, lead by a former TWC modder, relegated to working out of a CA office broom closet. They're doing the best they can, given the circumstances, I suppose.

Also, already wondering what the final few DLC's will be....

[Captain Arrrgh!]

I'm confident they will be updated for newer machines. Probably dirt cheap as well.

I've noticed nothing's dirt cheap on Steam these days, compared to what the deals used to be. Anybody else notice this as well? Within the past several months, not only are new AAA titles touching the hundred dollar mark, with DLC's, etc, but indie games and revived classics aren't as cheap anymore either.

[Fedual]

The more i listen to the video the less i care about Constantinople not being on the map, the fact that i can go around with my Belisarius army and recounquer lands for the ERE faction while upgrading my army/(horde i know) and really get this elite fighting force that it was. The fact that i only have my Belisarius Army and no lands will really make me connect and immerse myself with the army. I hope there are some really cool army camp upgrades so that i am not eventually forced to settle somewere and break off from the ERE.