Empire divided or rise of the republic ?

[Czar_Magma]

Hi, it might seem dumb but i really cant decide, wich one should i get first ?

[BennyBoi]

im down

[David]

empire divided

[Hori]

Empire Divided is when the Roman Empire grew so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ large and complicated that it nearly collapsed under its own weight. Your task is to either unite it again, or create a separate state - if you're playing as Zenobia or Tetricus, - or seize the opportunity and meet some goal of your own - if you're Shapur (the Sassanids) or Cannabaudes (the Goths) or something.

Rise of the Republic, on the other hand, is when Rome was but a bloody Etruscan/Latin/Sabine village and everyone around looked down on it. All playable factions here are absolutely different in their cultural background and goals. This is the old Italy, the age that Ancient Romans deemed 'ancient', when Etruscans were like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ aliens with all their money, tech and knowledge, and Samnites blocked expansion to the south. This campaign is the absolute opposite of Empire Divided: Rome is here too on the brink of its destruction, but not because it's too damn large and powerful, no. Here it's a bloody village in the middle of nowhere, and all around are ancient and powerful peoples who all see Rome as a potential new town in a country of their own. Or worse: the Celts come from the north, and these people only want to loot and pillage.

You decide. I'd simply buy them both if had the money

[Czar_Magma]

That's what i call a descriptive answer !
Thank you for all those info !
Unfortunatly as for now i can only buy one of them, and they both look pretty cool.
I guess i mostly want one that difer from the original game a bit, as starting faction and all.

[Pharaoh]

Originally posted by Sabhotep:

Empire Divided is when the Roman Empire grew so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ large and complicated that it nearly collapsed under its own weight. Your task is to either unite it again, or create a separate state - if you're playing as Zenobia or Tetricus, - or seize the opportunity and meet some goal of your own - if you're Shapur (the Sassanids) or Cannabaudes (the Goths) or something.

Rise of the Republic, on the other hand, is when Rome was but a bloody Etruscan/Latin/Sabine village and everyone around looked down on it. All playable factions here are absolutely different in their cultural background and goals. This is the old Italy, the age that Ancient Romans deemed 'ancient', when Etruscans were like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ aliens with all their money, tech and knowledge, and Samnites blocked expansion to the south. This campaign is the absolute opposite of Empire Divided: Rome is here too on the brink of its destruction, but not because it's too damn large and powerful, no. Here it's a bloody village in the middle of nowhere, and all around are ancient and powerful peoples who all see Rome as a potential new town in a country of their own. Or worse: the Celts come from the north, and these people only want to loot and pillage.

You decide. I'd simply buy them both if had the money

Dont Forget it was recently sacked by the gauls in rise of the republics timeline


Oh and the romans still haven't adopted the legionary system

[Welsh Dragon]

Originally posted by Sabhotep:

Empire Divided is when the Roman Empire grew so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ large and complicated that it nearly collapsed under its own weight. Your task is to either unite it again, or create a separate state - if you're playing as Zenobia or Tetricus, - or seize the opportunity and meet some goal of your own - if you're Shapur (the Sassanids) or Cannabaudes (the Goths) or something.

Rise of the Republic, on the other hand, is when Rome was but a bloody Etruscan/Latin/Sabine village and everyone around looked down on it. All playable factions here are absolutely different in their cultural background and goals. This is the old Italy, the age that Ancient Romans deemed 'ancient', when Etruscans were like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ aliens with all their money, tech and knowledge, and Samnites blocked expansion to the south. This campaign is the absolute opposite of Empire Divided: Rome is here too on the brink of its destruction, but not because it's too damn large and powerful, no. Here it's a bloody village in the middle of nowhere, and all around are ancient and powerful peoples who all see Rome as a potential new town in a country of their own. Or worse: the Celts come from the north, and these people only want to loot and pillage.

You decide. I'd simply buy them both if had the money

Good summary.

Originally posted by Cz@r Da Emperor:

That's what i call a descriptive answer !
Thank you for all those info !
Unfortunatly as for now i can only buy one of them, and they both look pretty cool.
I guess i mostly want one that difer from the original game a bit, as starting faction and all.

It's kind of tricky, as both offer factions and settings which are different in their own ways.

In terms of the the Campaign Map:

Empire Divided is on one that's similar to those used in Grand Campaign and Imperator Augustus, though in each case the actual factions on the map and the territories they own vary due to what they were like at that point in time.

Rise of the Republic is on a new map of Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and a small part of North Africa. While the basic geography is familiar from the Grand Campaign, because of the tighter focus the same area can be covered by a lot more regions/settlements. (For example Corsica is a 4 region/settlement province in Rise, rather than a single region/settlement in a province shared with Sardinia like in Grand Campaign.)

From a faction gameplay perspective:

The Empire Divided factions are probably closer to Grand Campaign in terms of basic mechanics, though I would say there's a fair bit of diversity to them as well. Even the three Roman factions play quite differently, as Aurelian Rome has the classic Roman Legionary style backed by some surprisingly good cavalry; Tetricus' Gallic Rome is more a merger of Roman and Barbarian ways of fighting for a more aggressive style; while Zenobia's Palmyra draws on Eastern and Hellenic styles of fighting, with for example her basic Legionaries being spear armed.

While they aren't faction specific, the addition of Cults, Banditry and Squalor/Sanitation in Empire Divided campaign also add new elements to the campaign gameplay.

Rise of the Republic factions have a surprising amount of variety, despite the narrow geographical focus. You have your classic Hellenics (Syracuse & Taras,) and Barbarians (Senones & Insubres,) but you also have Samnites, Etruscans, Italics, and the Iolei who are the only faction in Rome 2 that can literally punch someone to death with their spiked fists. Plus of course there's Rome, who are a more spear centric faction at this point (and have the unusual situation whereby your basic units from the Grand Campaign are your top Tier elites in this.)

They also get some faction specific mechanics, as well as the special "Government Actions" which also add to faction variety, as it means each gets ome kind of special ability that the others don't. e.g. Rome can appoint a Consul or Dictator in times of need (and get a two stage defensive battle for Rome herself, meaning an invading army must fight two battles to take the eternal city); Etruscans upgrade buildings in all their settlements by upgrading them in the capital (but you lose your faction capital and you lose the game); Samnites get special bonuses in different terrain (and can use the Ver Sacrum ritual to spawn an instant army, at a cost.) etc.

But like I said, it's tricky as each offers something.

For further information (apart from the Steam Store Pages):

You can look at faction rosters here: https://www.honga.net/totalwar/rome2/index.php?l=en&v=rome2

And there are various Blogs here: https://www.totalwar.com/blog?ca_page_number=1&catname=total-war-rome-ii&topic=All%20topics&orderby=post_date

And you can find videos, including faction overviews and Lets Plays on the Official You Tube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/thecreativeassembly/featured

But ultimately I have to agree with Sabhotep, that it's you that has to decide.

Hope that helps.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Charles XII]

ROTR is the prologue before the prologue. If you're new to Rome TW2 it will give you the back story to what happened before the main campaign starts, so probably makes sense to get that first. I 'm going to wait and play Empire Divided before I move onto Attila, as it fills the large chronological gap (3-4 centuries) between the main campaign of RTW2, which ends in the 1st century AD, and Attila which starts in the 5th century AD.

Empire Divided covers the late third century from 270 AD and introduces some new factions and game dynamics you'll encounter again in Attila, including the migrating Goths and the Sassanid Persians. So a good way to end Rome before playing Attila.

[David]

I recommend Attila, it is my favourite TW even with all that bugs, that´s why i like Empire Divided. But Rise of the Republic is including the Venetians in the North of Italy and that´s my favourite faction of all TW factions, so you are asking a very tough queston, dude, XD