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ps.
this is why many of us love such game campaign map is turn base and battle in sort of RTS
pause or slow play, but Legendary gamnplay there is no slow play, ( aka = true RTS as game was ment to be played, but that is not so simple then you have to control huge armies )
it dont matter what TW you want to play , but many steam users says Shogun2 is the hardest
and other TW dont match this game at all. they other semi to require lesser skills to master
so if you think you just can beat this on highest level, from day one then think again, but okay some can do that but aient this also how experiance you are at many strategic games ?
and dont feel bad if you get butt kicked, and this game have done this to many of us, included me, and yeah its nice to see a game that seem to match diffculty the right way without being a total overpower towards the player, you do have a chance to win if you are bold enough.
ps.
and not all is about armys, so many forget argents they have huge impact on game, and this was the first TW that did that, and this is why this game is a masterpiece imo.
Only qualifier I'd say about that is this: if you like muskets and 18th-19th century warfare, do NOT get Empire. Get Napoleon instead. Empire is just too screwed up to be truly enjoyable for most people with an interest in the era, even with mods. It was broken on release, and never fixed. All of the features they promised would be fixed or patched in were essentially put into Napoleon.
If you like medieval stuff, can't go wrong with Med 2, especially with mods.
The older games, Med 1 and Shogun 1, are fun, but they're really showing their age.
If you wait for a sale, you can get the entire TW collection for relatively cheap.
If you want to save more money now, I think it comes down to deciding between Attila and Shogun 2. Both of these are the best entries in the series, imo.
If you get Attila, you have a lot of bang for your buck, setting wise, because it covers Late Antiquity, and with dlc, the Early Medieval as well. Plus, you have a huge assortment of cultures and geography, from Ireland to Arabia, and from Sweden down to the upper Nile, as well as nomads, so you can play factions that don't even need settlements.
On the other hand, Shogun 2's campaign is arguably more engrossing, because it has a sort of meta narrative where you are taking the shogunate, and it is presented very well and with excellent production values, more so than Attila imo. Shogun 2's multiplayer is also regarded as superior by most online TW players: more depth and better balancing.
Finally, you have Fall of the Samurai expansion for Shogun 2, which allows you to play with the latest period (c. 1875) weapons and tech out of any of the TW games. It is a standalone expansion, so I guess it could be another choice altogether, as in you could buy, say, Napoleon and Fall of the Samurai if you want to just get a 19th century experience.
And like Iceira says, Shogun 2 is generally held to have the most challenging TW campaign: I agree with that 100%.
But, there are many people who find the Shogun 2 campaign to be a bit too...manic, I guess would be the word. Just do a forum search here for "realm divide," and you'll see what I mean :D
So, with Shogun 2, most likely you'll either love the campaign, or you'll find yourself blowing a whole through your screen with a 12 gauge. There doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground.
In Attila, you can have a fairly relaxed, leisurely campaign without dying, especially with easier factions.
Attila does the best job out of all the TW games with using tutorials and pop ups/tooltips to explain what you need to do and why. Imo, it's the most user friendly of the later TW's.
On the other hand, if you prefer the european setting with a plethora of varying factions, and the latest visuals, go for Atila.
Med 2 no problem.
Attila and Shogun 2 are much more demanding. Attila is more demanding than Shogun 2.
1. Medieval 2 (with Kingdoms)
2. Rome (With Barbarian Invasion)
3. Shogun 2
4. Empire
I value unmodded Rome over Medieval 2, but with mods Medieval 2 takes the 1st place simply because the engine is superior.
I would probably rank Napolean before Shogun 2, but I don't have it - decided not to purchase it until CA manages to fix Empire to the promised level (something that never happened). Rome 2 would take the very last place, preferably a dozen or so ranks lower than the last... No idea where to put Attila because to be honest I wouldn't give a damn at this point (last time I cared rubberbanding units and unnecessary "streamlining" seemed to be the main focus with the new Total War titles, as well as 18 quintillion DLCs). I refuse to list Warhammer anywhere because it's not a historical game and they went overboard with special cooldown abilities and other kind of "streamlining" (Shogun 2 has this problem too, at least to some extent, and it's one of the reasons why I don't like playing Shogun 2).
The next big Steam sale should come in a few days. Either get the complete pack or pick & choose. If you want to get the most historically accurate experience possible then grab Rome or Medieval 2, and get Europa Barbarorum mod. EB 2 mod for Medieval 2 is still under development, so for more stable experience I'd go with Rome. If you're willing to accept the risk that a bug can ruin your campaign after 300 hours then go with Medieval 2.
But then again these are only my 0,02€...
Edit: I think I should elaborate why I don't like Shogun 2:
- some unit abilities have cooldown timers. For example fire arrows can only be used for a few seconds and then you have to wait until you can use the ability again. As a comparison to older titles fire arrow was more like a sidegrade with cons than a pure devastating upgrade
- town construction is too simple because you can only build a few buildings per province
- you can't adjust tax rates per province. You can only set a global tax rate and then exempt some provinces
- battles resemble rock paper scissors too much. While it's logical that spears are effective against cavalry, in my opinion the game takes this too far. I'm surprised they didn't make it so that rock (cavalry) is completely immune to scissors (archers)...
- character level-up abilities. In Rome and Medieval 2 your faction members, generals and other characters gained "random" abilities, depending what they've done. Now you have an ability tree where you can minmax your character. In other words the characters lost their essence
- whole lots of problems because the fights are "cinematic"... It's worse in Empire and Rome 2, but still...
Agreed although I would suggest you get Napoleon over Empire if you want musket battles. Its battles are fantastic (in mp) but suffers from a rather streamlined campaign but the graphics still hold, especially with all the smoke and explosion effects.
Oh ya, I should mention that my ranking didn't take multiplayer into consideration simply because I play Total War games because of the campaign. So if OP is more interested about multiplayer than the campaign then he should most likely ignore what I say. :P
- dozens of building slots
- two settlement types: castles and towns
- highly moddable (even the AI!)
- battlefield reflects your position on the campaign map
- better combat mechanics
- better animation system (without mocapped 1v1 choreographies)
- heavy units can push light units away
- Dozens of excellent mods like LotR, Warhammer, Stainless Steel, Game of Thrones, Three Kingdoms, Europa Barbaorum 2 etc.
etc.
- diplomacy requires diplomats, who are yet another moveable characters. Not only that, you have moveable princesses and merchants as well (plus the typical spies, assassins and priests). It's tedious to move them around. The diplomacy system we got in Empire is a lot better (well, when it works...)
- in the older titles you have to manually replenish units by either moving them to towns and retrain them or merge with already existing units. The system we have in the newer titles will automatically replenish your troops as long as certain criteria are met (inside your own province etc)
- stock Rome and Medieval 2 are notoriously unhistorical: incendiary pigs, mummy pharaohs, 12th century kilt William Wallaces, etc (luckily there are fantastic realism overhaul mods out there...)
All in all, newer titles require less micro management and are less tedious, but some things are simply too streamlined for my taste. So pick your poison.