Yes. Shogun is unsurpassed!

I own a copy of Birth of America but have never played it. I'll give it a whirl sometime in the next couple of months, and if I generally like Ageod's modelling - I'll surely get this new stuff as well. The themes of the games are certainly appealing to me :yep:

Funny, I played the TW series since Shogun, and while I really do like Shogun, I always thought the first MTW was the best of the series actually :p

Being someone who played Shogun to death I could not find the same in MTW .. but there are a lot of people who feel like you. MTW was build on the same engine, so the two games are very similar.

From RTW onwards it went downhill for me because they sacrificed detail for scope .. imo playing with a map of Europe was only more appealing the market than having a super detailed map of Japan - but it was a big dissappointment for me. Thats why there is now so much hype about the "new" theatre maps. And lets not talk about the AI which was never again so competent like in STW/MTW. Ah those fond memories of having my retainers talk to me in Japanese.

AACW is the better game imo. BoA 2 will hopefully make up for that. I am already looking forward to it.

I loved the videos and all the nice touches of Shogun. I'll give it one thing, none of the other titles even touched the athmosphere and details in Shogun :D

As far as MTW, if you only consider the gameplay - I thought it was really more of the same as Shogun, except with a lot more new features and a generally more expansive use of the engine.

I should try playing a campaign with the Napoleonic Total War mod for that sometime, too :p

The athmosphere in STW is unsurpassed.

It was also a very difficult game that required a well prepared strategy.

Napoleonic Total War mod is really nice if you play against a friend. Unfortunately the engines pitfalls turned out to be a dead end. Without a campaign and without any perspective to have enjoyable gameplay against the AI it is really not that much fun.

I have lost interest in the TW games a while ago. CA does not have that enthusiasm anymore to create finely balanced wargames, and their grognard fanbase has been replaced by a new generation of more casual players. I have not bought the MTW2 x-pack and don't think I will buy Empire TW either.

[quote=GlobalExplorer]I hate to say it but I feel exactly the same way. I loved MTW and RTW (STW never really did it for me at all as I have zero interest in the era.) I took MTW2 off my machine after about three days when I realized how lazy they had been in updating the code from RTW. Even with RTW - a game I tanked for about two years solid - I eventually got quite irritated about a lot of the features.

Primarily, I think, the thing that really riled me were the claims that the TW series were historically accurate. On a very superficial level, sure. Anything deeper than that and they leave a lot to be desired. There are of course mods that do a far better job. My favourite was one called the Triumvirate mod ( I think?) that covered the period from Caesar's first attacks on the Gauls up to the fall of the republic. It was an incredible mod and truly pushed the boundaries of what was possible within the game. It almost made it an RPG. They planned a whole series of them but I'm not sure what happened in the end or even whether they are still going.

As a card carrying Paradox Fanboi, :p though, I must probably recommend EU3 with the Napoleon's Ambition expansion. No little 3d battles, no whoosh and bang graphics just a pretty darn good historical grand strategy game.No, it's not TW like in anyway but it rocks all the more for it.

Note: I do understand that CA games primary market probably doesn't include grumpy old moaners like me who are less interested by war dogs and flaming pig units than even a semblance of historical accuracy. I just get huffy when I hear the great aristocratic families of the Roman republic named as the Jullii, the Scipii and the Brutii. It makes me strangely annoyed, just like when I hear someone describe Julius Caesar as being the first Emperor of Rome....:nope:

Moan, moan, moan. I know. Sorry for derailing the thread. the TW series is a fine thing. I really did enjoy them very much. I'm going to go back to my Ivory tower now to underline all the historical inaccuracies in I Claudius. :up:

Birth of America looks very interesting though. I'll have to give it a look myself.

If you guys don't trust CA to do a good job with Empire: Total War you might want to check this out: http://www.thelordzgamesstudio.com/index.php

The creators of the Napoleonic TW mods are producing their own Napoleonic game that will probably compete with Empire: Total War. They have some interesting demo vids available at the site.

I've gotta check this out! thanks for sharing!:up:

Hey, have you played BoA yey, what do you think?

Tried quite a few demos for Napoleonic style games now and nothing is really grabbing me. Cossacks 2 is quite nice but I just find it a bit difficult to get my forces laid out ready for attack. By the time I have organised them into ranks and a nice line the enemy is there charging at me.

I think the style of game I need really is a hex/tile based. I have had a look around the underdogs and again can't really find anything.

I don't know if anyone has any little gems hidden away that could suit me?

<no abandonware links please, NeonSamurai>

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/c...g=images;img;2 < This is what I really like the look of...

The only thing I really don't like about Cossacks 2, is when the AI hogpiles all of its forces into one area.:shifty:

Been playing Cossacks 2 quite alot this month. Really enjoying the battle for europe campaign mode.

Was wondering about the 'expansion' for C2, 'Battle for Europe'. Is it worth buying for a few extra factions? I have read of problems with the game and it being fairly buggy. Any reports?

Histwar Les Grognards is shaping up nicely:

http://www.battlefront.com/products/les_grog/index.html

Gameplay video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lN3TTdg94