Which Total War is the best Total War?

[The Pancake Master DocTok]

Hey everyone! The questions kinda in the title. Which Total War is (in your own opinion) the best? If you prefer a DLC of one game then just choose the game in which the DLC is apart of. So I am interested in your answers. Thank you in advance 

 

-the DT

[Nameless]

I started playing Total War with Shogun 2, so I can't really say which one is the best. I remember playing a demo of Rome, but at that time my PC wasn't powerful enough to play battles without stuttering. After that it got of my radar, until Shogun 2

 

However it is really fun, love the big battles, even though I don't like turn-based games so much. It was a good idea to play battles in real time and the rest turn based.

[LightMonk]

Hard Choice, enjoyed them all.  

[Naros]

Medieval, also Rome is on a good second place.

[CyberianK]

Voted for Empire:

3 theater, naval, tech trees... lots of innovation and complexity

 

and with the ranged combat, formations for the first time really mattered instead of just charging with everything you got at the most valuable tacitcal spot or target

[Shane]

Rome was always the best and Rome 2 will be the next number one.

[Bearcat]

I played Shogun 2 for the longest time last year.  That was a lot of fun.  Are any more coming out?

[CyberianK]

3rd of September this year:

 

Rome 2

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zQIFpmdPDc

[Reavern]

Rome: Total War was definitely the best. It introduced so many innovations to the franchise, like the 3D-rendered campaign map, instead of the lame RISK-style map from Shogun and Medieval: TW.

 

The next significant leap forward was the real-time naval combat introduced in Empire: Total War. The naval combat was amazing -- the best I've ever played -- but Empire was totally screwed up. It was initially unplayable because it was so unstable; I started 4 campaigns in the first month and they all suffered chronic campaign-killing crashes after Turn 50. TCA eventually patched the game and fixed the chronic crash problems...

 

But with that patch came economy-killing changes that destroyed the economic balance between the player and the AI factions. The Player's unit cost and upkeep cost were dramatically increased on the higher difficulty settings; a single army stack could bankrupt the player's faction. Worse, not only were the AI factions NOT subject to these crippling changes, the patch removed all financial restrictions on the AI, which meant that the AI could train new units and construct buildings despite that they were bankrupt, and they didn't pay unit upkeep either! That's how the AI Factions could afford armies 3-4 times larger than the Player's faction. It became impossible to compete against the AI, because even if you destroyed one of the AI's armies in battle, there were 2 or 3 more full stacks waiting.

 

There was also the problem that the AI would share research technologies amongst themselves, but it was impossible to get even an Ally faction to agree to an equal tech trade. You had to offer the AI 3 or more techs for 1, and/or pay them 10,000+ in gold (usually gold worked better).

 

I stopped playing Empire for about 6 months after that patch, waiting for TCA to change it back, but they never did. Eventually, a friend informed me of a Gold Cheat for Empire, which I used to off-set the economic imbalance. I was finally able to complete campaigns on VH/VH, and Empire proved to be a wonderfully fun, epic war game -- it was just the economic imbalance that made it unplayable.

 

Shogun 2 was a great TW game, because it corrected Empire's mistakes, and was a smaller scale game, which somehow made it more fun. I didn't like all the DLC packs (one of which was the Blood Pack that added blood and dismemberment to the battles), but the DLC Expansions were great, especially the Fall of the Samurai.

 

 

Rome: Total War 2 is definitely another huge leap forward in the Total War franchise. I absolutely love the new campaign map; the detail, how you can see what building are in cities, and the map can finally be rotated. I also like the old-school strategic map, which is a more stylish version of the old RISK-style map, and useful for quickly identifying which provinces are controlled by which faction. The combination land and naval battles are INSANE! The Battle of Carthage is EPIC! And the battle on the coast of Egypt was spectacular. Seeing the Ptolemaic flagship ram the Roman trireme and crack it in half was the most awesome thing I've ever seen in a Total War game!

 

I can't wait to play Rome: TW2 in September. I'm far more excited about that game than any of the next-gen consoles or games.

[Independenz]

I feel like Rome was my favorite because it revolutionized the Total War series. If you look at EVERY Total War game since then, it has been based very much on Rome. Thus, feel like Rome II will freakin' be amazing... CANNOT FRIGGIN WAIT!

[Red-Coal]

I've been playing since Medieval 2 and the only one I skipped was Napolean. I loved both Shogun 2 and Empire. I'll have to check out that gold cheat, as I've noticed that the economics get a little rough in the late game for Empire. I honestly need to get into Shogun 2 more. 

 

I actually want to go play Shogun 2 right about now. Excuse me.

[Reavern]

Here's the link to download program required for the gold cheat for all Total War games, and possibly any game.

 

And here's the youtube video explaining out it works.

 

It's pretty easy. Just select Empire:TW from the program's Process list, type in the amount of gold you currently have, return to the game and change your gold amount (add a unit or building to the queue), return to the program and filter the new gold amount, and the program will isolate the string that determines your gold. You can then type any amount you want, and that'll be your new gold amount. You can also lock the amount, or set it so it won't deplete, but can be added to -- although this only lasts a couple of turns (I think because the year changes so the string name is no longer valid).

 

I try not to abuse it. From my years of experience as a Total Warrior, I know roughly how much income my faction should generate per turn, and I give myself that amount. Sometimes I'll lock my faction's treasury so I can give out diplomatic gifts to keep my allies happy, but it usually doesn't make much difference.

 

IME, about halfway through the campaign, I actually don't need it anymore.

[Red-Coal]

Thanks for the links. I'll have to try it out sometime this weekend once I'm back home. 

[CyberianK]

Why do you use cheats in Total War?

 

I don't understand it? The default game is easymode anyway. AI is so easy to beat and gold is not a problem if you upgrade your regions first before recruiting too many stacks of armies. I can understand if new players want to use it for a little help. But you could instead just lower the difficulty. But experienced TW players using cheats makes no sense. I am totally shocked by this. 

[azza1991]

I enjoyed them all but Rome is simply the best, so excited for Rome 2!

[Reavern]

As I explained earlier, I only use the Gold Cheat program for Empire:TW, because TCA broke the economy. When Empire was first released, the economy was similar to previous TW games, which was fine. Then they radically changed it -- as I explained above -- and made it unplayable at VH Campaign difficulty, which is the only difficulty that presents any challenge to me. In the initial release, a basic Infantry unit cost about 600 gold to recruit and 150 gold upkeep. After the economy-killing patch, Infantry cost 1060 gold and 260 upkeep. There were also changes to trade, taxation, and corruption systems that further crippled the player's economy. But the AI factions aren't limited by any of these rules; they can train new units and construct building improvements without any money, and they aren't burdened by upkeep. That's how they can afford a larger army than my faction when they only have a fraction of the number of provinces as I do.

 

That's why I have to use the Gold Cheat to play the game on VH/VH.

 

Fortunately, Empire:TW is the only game I need to use the Gold Cheat for. Shogun: TW2 returned to classic economic balance, so I don't need to use the Gold Cheat.

[CyberianK]

I play Empire with DarthMod on VH/VH and it is playable. With Darthmod general difficulty is increased. I am not sure though about the gold costs there.

[Bearcat]

Why do you use cheats in Total War?

 

I use cheats in pretty much every single-player game.  It's more fun that way, since then you can start out at full difficulty and learn all the game mechanics without getting stuck anywhere.  The pace of the story moves along at full speed.  If the gameplay is actually fun then I'll go back and play without cheats, which is how Shogun 2 went.

[CyberianK]

I use cheats in pretty much every single-player game.  It's more fun that way, since then you can start out at full difficulty and learn all the game mechanics without getting stuck anywhere.  The pace of the story moves along at full speed.  If the gameplay is actually fun then I'll go back and play without cheats, which is how Shogun 2 went.

OK thx for the explanation. I understand now why you do it. I normally start on normal to learn the gameplay and after that start a serious game again.

[Red-Coal]

Why do you use cheats in Total War?

 

I don't understand it? The default game is easymode anyway. AI is so easy to beat and gold is not a problem if you upgrade your regions first before recruiting too many stacks of armies. I can understand if new players want to use it for a little help. But you could instead just lower the difficulty. But experienced TW players using cheats makes no sense. I am totally shocked by this. 

I normally will play a game and beat it without cheats. In fact I rarely use them, mostly out of stubbornness, since I love the challenge. In some cases though it can make the game more enjoyable, especially when it's gotten stale over the years. I plan on trying out the cheat because I think it will mix things up a bit, especially at the high difficulties. I've played a ton of campaigns on Empire, and at this point it's fun to mix it up a little. 

[Scally]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Commanders

any of you guys remember this?

[Setochan]

Where is Rome 2 xD

[Heradon]

I must say Medieval 2 because I've been playing the mod Stainless Steel for hundreds of hours. Rome is on second place. Yes, I have pre-ordered Rome 2

[LightMonk]

I am still hoping for a Steam Offer on it :emot-sun:

[Setochan]

I am still hoping for a Steam Offer on it :emot-sun:

 

last summer sale they have Shogun 2 for 10€ so i think this year you will definitly get a low Price super Game XD