Nov 18, 2014 no scandanavia means I might as well not even play as the saxons tbh.Id rather conquer britian with the picts and form a neo-celtic empire. There should be a viking esque culture in scandanavia( not including denmark) other than the danes, saxons to keep balance. And considering they would be important later on for those that want a long campaign. And so I can roleplay as ragnar lothbrok lol. As the title says, I have recently been playing a campaign as the Saxons in TW:A. I'm about 20 turns in and so far, everything has been very.
Complete the prologue. In Attilaprologue serves as a tutorial, which consists of information about game basics, controls, managing the country or fighting. There are many valuable information in it, completing it will be good even for veteran players of Total War series. While playing the prologue keep attention to hints that show under your advisor image. There you will find many advices and explanations about each aspect of the game.
Use the encyclopedia. In-game encyclopedia requires internet connection to work, but consists of many useful information, such as buildings available for each culture, abilities of commanders and units statistics. There you will find instruction with explanation of game mechanics and control description as well.
Utilize hints. After moving your cursor on a name, icon or number wait a moment for a window with hint to appear. If you see a plus next to the text, wait another while and further information will show. Not always are they comprehensive, but in most cases they're enough to understand what specific name or icon means.
Plan carefully. Attila is a complex game, full of nuances and random situations. Sometimes a campaign planned for next ten turns can end after two of them because of lost battle, disease or political crisis. For that reason, avoid playing hastily and try to always have a backup plan in case of trouble.
Plan only slightly ahead. There are dozens of factions fighting each other in the game. New can be born during the game, as conquered provinces free themselves, rebellions outbreak or civil wars. Your influence on their decisions and actions is limited. Because of that, it might happen that a province that you wanted to conquer after the end of current war will be destroyed in the meantime by barbarians traveling through Europe. It is another reason not to plan too much ahead. It might happen that your plans become out of date one turn after you created them. It is better to give yourself one major objective - like conquest of whole Gaul - and then realize it with small steps, while always being prepared for change of situation. Be ready both for conquest and colonization of a province and you will be able to get control of it no matter of situation.
Don't search for a winning strategy. There is no strategy in Attila that works in every situation. Sometimes it is better to conquer your neighbor, other time you should trade with him or harass him with agents. It is different to play with stationary barbarian kingdoms, and different with Huns Horde that is always on move. In general, if what you do gives positive effects, then it is a good strategy and in most cases you shouldn't change it. Only modify and improve it, if in some cases it doesn't work. When playing, look for solutions to specific problem, not method for easy victory. With the level of complication found in the game, such strategy doesn't exist.
Slowly learn the game.Attila consist of many complex mechanics. Just households and bonuses they offer are few dozens, and it is only a small fragment of characters mechanic, that has impact on battles, province management and political situation. Because of that, don't try to learn whole game at once, instead do it gradually. It is best to sacrifice one or two whole games for calm learning and experimenting. Otherwise, you will easily get lost in the amount of options, dependences, complex menus and modifiers. Even after many hours of playing you might learn something new, so really, there is no reason to rush.
Listen to your advisor. How often he appears can be changed in the options, but the presence of advisor can be very helpful. He will be the first to inform you about possible bankruptcy, show you a possibility to use a terrain in battle or suggest you to lower the taxes to fix public order. His advices can be hard to utilize and not always correspond to your plans, but it is always a good idea to keep attention to them.
Keep attention to the color of icons. Green usually means positive stuff, red negative and yellow both positive and negative. It works similar with green arrows faced up and red arrows down near armies, division icons or public order. It is not always clear what they show, but the color is an obvious signal that something good or bad is happening. No matter of color, skull means bad news.
To get more comprehensive information read description of attributes or bonuses represented by icons. Especially since developers have made mistake in some cases of colors, as with the 'A Byword of Cruelty' attribute. Its icon is yellow, but all three modifiers offered by it are negative.
Don't focus on bonuses. At the beginning of the game check general details, best on the ruler or other member of ruling house. You will see, that he have lots of bonuses coming from his basic statistics, traits, skills, household, wife or province in which he currently resides. The amount of bonuses will increase with your progress in the game and will be influencing even those aspects of gameplay that you never know of. For that reason, it is futile to search for optimal skills and items set. All bonuses will be useful at some point and the number of sources where you can gain them is to wide to control them. It is wise to change the companion of the general to one that instead of more trading profits or ship speed bonus gives boost to stats of cavalry that he commands. But you shouldn't think too long whether a bonus for defense, attack or speed will be better - they will all come in handy.
Situation when you create character for specific task is exception, like a general to lead army of horse archers. In such case you should pick special bonuses so that your units will be more effective in combat. But in large, diversified armies it won't matter. If you lead all sort of units, there won't be many bonuses useless for you.
Play in window If there are 40 or more factions in the game, calculating turns can take very long. It especially affects large nations, worse computers and situations in which you see enemy armies on campaign map. Army hidden under fog of war is still being moved, but it happens far faster that in case of revealed army which every move you can see. When playing in window, you can use ALT+TAB shortcut and for a while do something else instead of watching for few minutes as faction icons change. However, you will need to check from time to time if you received diplomatic massage or have been attacked, it is the only serious inconvenience. Anyway, in both those cases the game will patiently wait for your reaction so you don't need to rush yourself.
Explore differences in controls on various maps. Moving the diplomatic map can be done with the left mouse button. Meanwhile, moving the campaign map is done with the middle button. It's a small, but troublesome difference. At first it might give you trouble, but you will quickly get used to it.
Check which game elements open the encyclopedia. You can get to game encyclopedia in two ways - by the icon on upper left corner of the screen, or with the right mouse button. The button will work if after moving cursor to a question mark will show next to him, but not always. For example, you can press the right mouse button after moving your cursor on the public order and nothing will happen. Do the same with the formation and you will immediately see its section in the encyclopedia. Because of that, experiment a lot, check earlier which categories can be found in encyclopedia. They should be a suggestion for you which icons and names will open it, and which won't.
Increase units movement speed on campaign screen. Press space during your turn. Thanks to that, all armies on Europe map will move faster. This option works during enemy turn as well, but sometimes need a few presses before it recognize the instruction.
Hold space during battle. It will show next to unit icons information about their state, such as morale level and tiredness. However, in case of large amounts of units it can be hard to read and force you to zoom o rotate the camera.
| Total War: Attila | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | The Creative Assembly |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Director(s) | Mike Simpson János Gáspár |
| Composer(s) | Richard Beddow |
| Series | Total War |
| Engine | Warscape |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Release | Windows & OS XLinux
|
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy, turn based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Total War: Attila is a strategyvideo game developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Sega, released on 17February 2015 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux. It is the ninth standalone game in the Total War series of video games.
The game begins in 395 AD, during what is now called Late Antiquity (the transition period from Classical Rome to the Medieval age in European history). While the title character will be able to become the leader of the Huns, he is not yet in power at the start of the campaign. Due to its setting near the Dark Ages, the game is possibly a spiritual successor to Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion.
Gameplay[edit]
Campaign map[edit]
The campaign map for Total War: Attila spans from Bactria to Lusitania and from Caledonia to Garamantia in the Sahara. Provinces are groupings of three regions, and each region within a province can be conquered separately. The number of cities and regions is different from Total War: Rome II, but the size of the map is similar. The map of Total War: Attila further extends into modern-day Russia in lieu of the eastern provinces of the Hindu Kush found in Total War: Rome II, shifting the player's attention to the nomadic Huns. The largest settlement in a province is designated as the province capital. These province capitals have more building slots than the other settlements and are also walled at the start of the game, though in a change from Rome II the small settlements can eventually be upgraded to have walls.
Historical setting[edit]
At the dawn of the Dark Ages the Roman Empire descends into chaos due to volcanic changes rocking the empire as apocalyptic signs foretell of a great scourge to sweep across Europe. Upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I in 395 AD, the empire is divided between his sons who each rule a half: Honorius in the West, and Arcadius in the East. Allow non administrators to run this program windows 7. Since the days of Diocletian it has become a custom to divide Rome as the pressures to govern the empire have become too much for a single emperor to handle. With the split of the empire both sides face multiple threats on all sides, including internal instability undermining each of the young emperors' control as part of the long-term repercussions of the Third-Century Crisis. When the game begins, playing as the Western Roman Empire, players will face waves of hordes entering their borders as the arrival of the Huns in the east and the devastation they have caused have forced them to flee in search of new homes. Since the death of Emperor Valentinian I and the division of the empire, the weaknesses in the West have rapidly begun to show and edge the empire closer to ruin. With depleted funds from centuries of internal mismanagement and corruption, the West is unable to muster an effective army to combat the invaders. While players will start the campaign with vast territories under their command, it will quickly become a game of survival as Rome's legions are stretched to breaking point to protect a decaying empire. The Eastern Roman Empire, however, has profited from the division to take control of the civilized world as it begins its transformation into a new empire. With the new administrative capital in Constantinople serving as the gateway for trade between Europe and Asia, along with economic reforms, the eastern empire has become an economic powerhouse in the game. Yet, the Eastern Romans face an initial threat from the Visigoths led by Alaric I in Greece, who makes a direct assault on Constantinople itself, and remain wary of the Sassanid threat in the East. The Romans must find new ways and technologies to cope with this changing world if they are to survive as the old technologies and antiquity systems no longer apply, along with the increasingly growing power of the Church becoming ever more influential. If players choose to play either of the Roman empires, they will be tasked with saving and preserving the once-great empire, and if possible unite Rome under a single emperor.
Features[edit]
As Total War: Attila embraces an era of great change with the people of Europe migrating across the campaign map, Attila adds a new dimension in the form of a faction's religious conversion in the game that brings an array of unique benefits across the player's empire depending on the religion that they choose to favour. The presence of a faction's state religion offers bonuses, including provincial edicts assigned, temple buildings, churches, and even character traits. These factors all play an important role in how dominant the player's religion is over a province. If a province has a population with several religions, it can have a negative effect on public order and thus lead to revolts. Factions also suffer or gain religious penalties when engaging in diplomacy with each other depending on their chosen religious affinity. Should the player choose to convert to a new religion, their faction's overall population must have at least 35% of that religion to convert. To find which religion is dominant in a region, the campaign map may be searched using the religion filter provided. For players who choose Christianity as their state religion, the five cities of Rome, Constantinople, Aelia Capitolina, Antioch, and Alexandria that formed part of the Pentarchy have the exclusive option for their churches to be upgraded to 'Holy See' status, which comes with major bonuses. The game includes a total of 13 religions available throughout the campaign map, although the effects of minor religions are not fully understood.
The game also introduces the ability for players to use their armies to raze settlements once they have been conquered. This new feature allows the player to enact a 'Scorched Earth policy' which destroys the land around the nearby settlement, crippling the enemy's food and money supply. Attila also lets a faction who did not originally begin the campaign as a horde to abandon its settlements at the cost of burning those former settlements or simply abandon a chosen number of cities which before being destroyed, will provide a small amount of wealth to the treasury. However, it is advised to analyze which settlements players destroy; recolonizing it would cost a faction a hefty amount of gold, a separate cost from building expenses to reach its former state.
Based on historical accounts, a mini Ice Age in this period plays a part for the people of Northern Europe to move to the more fertile south as the winter cold moves further down and engulfs Europe in longer winters as the game progresses. As an added new feature included in Attila, the Fertility of a region plays a crucial part when settling in a region if playing as a migrating horde or creating important buildings that deliver food throughout your empire. The campaign map is divided on various fertility levels that are color-coded and labeled; from highest-lowest: Rich, Good, Average, Poor, Meagre, Infertile. The greater the fertility level, the greater the amount of food can be cultivated with the appropriate buildings. However, the amount of food harvested is affected by a number of various external and internal factors. These include: building consumption costs, razed areas within your controlled province, provincial edicts, character traits, foreign armies raiding within your borders.
The game features 56 factions, 40 of which are unplayable. Each faction has their own unit roster and agenda. Ten factions are playable in the game at launch, with others added via downloadable content (DLC) packs.
Downloadable content[edit]
Several DLC packs are available and planned for future release. These add factions, units and new standalone campaigns to expand the original game.
The first of these, 'Viking Forefathers', was released on 17February 2015, adding three new playable factions: the Danes, the Jutes and the Geats. The second, 'Longbeards', was released on 4March 2015 adding a further three factions: the Langobards, the Alamans and the Burgundians, as well as introducing a new narrative chain, 'Lay Of Ybor', which when completed unlocks the titular Ybor as general, with traits tailored by the story.
A third faction pack was released on 25March that contains three Celtic factions: the Picts, Ebdanians and Caledonians.
On 29April 2015, The Creative Assembly released Assembly Kits on Steam, which is a pack that features modification or 'mod' tools that allow players to create, edit, process or customize campaign maps, database entries and textures as well as other features.[2]
On 25 June 2015, The Creative Assembly released its first Campaign Pack, titled the Last Roman. The Campaign focuses on the Wars of Justinian I in the former Western Roman Empire as he sends a Roman Expeditionary force led by his general Belisarius to reclaim the western provinces from the various Barbarian kingdoms that have torn it apart. However, the prospect of rebuilding the Western Empire may influence men to make other agendas such as becoming emperor themselves which is made possible in the campaign once a settlement has been taken. The campaign is unique in that the Expedition functions as a horde using Roman units, and that any captured settlements are controlled by the Emperor unless the general declares independence. It also allows you to play as the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Franks or the Vandals. In addition, the Campaign Pack also includes the Historical Battle of Dara. A free DLC pack, released the same day made the Suebians playable in the Grand Campaign as well.
A fourth faction pack, titled 'Empires of Sand' was released on 15 September 2015. This pack adds three new playable factions: the Tanukhids, Himyar and Aksum. Along with it, 3 new religions were introduced into the game each with their own benefits: Eastern Christianity, Judaism, and Semitic Paganism. A Free DLC pack, was released the same day and added the Lakhmids as well.
An expansion, titled Age of Charlemagne was released on December 10, 2015. It is set in the early Medieval Age and features new units and a new campaign that stretches from modern-day Portugal to Western Romania and from Scotland to Sicily. It is in this period from which the medieval kingdoms begin to form. The campaign begins in 768 A.D., depicting Charlemagne's rise to power as the King of the Franks with his brother Carloman I, later becoming the first since Imperial Rome to unite most of Western Europe under a single ruler with the title of Holy Roman Emperor. After centuries of warfare, a leader must rise to bring peace to an entire continent.[3] In addition, a free DLC pack was released the same day making the White Huns playable in the Grand Campaign.
On 25 February 2016 a fifth faction pack was released entitled 'Slavic Nations' along with a free DLC that includes the Garamantians as a free faction. These nations have been tipped to be the 'world's best hope to defeat the Huns'. This new pack includes the Anteans, Sclavenians, and the Venedians each with settlements in the nearby proximity of the Hunnic Hordes advancing into Western Europe. Each faction enters the game with a formidable cultural trait including immunity to snow attrition and becoming the only factions to recolonize razed settlements for no cost.
Reception[edit]
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Total War: Attila received 'generally favorable' reviews, according to review aggregatorMetacritic.[4]
Dan Griliopoulos from PC Gamer gave the game 83/100, praising the in-game representation of history, enjoyable multiplayer, stunning music, animation and sound-effect, improved army and character management as well as the themes, which he stated 'has reflected the era accurately' and the new family system, which adds new complexity into the game. He also praised the developer for fixing the long-term problems in the series. However, he criticized the extreme difficulty, AI problem, laggy chat in multiplayer, frame rate issues and bugs. He concluded the game by saying that '[Total War: Attila] is a barbarous twist on Rome II, with a handful of fixes. The Total War games still need work to reach that perfection they’re aiming for, and the bugs this close to release are worrying, but Attila shows that Creative have been listening.'[10]
TJ Hafer from IGN gave the game 8.1/10, praising its dynamic campaign, AI, improved interface, siege battles and utilities, new army types, and enhanced pacing in the real-time battle, which he stated 'adds an extra layer to the choice of army composition'. He also stated that the game has helped people understand 'the perspective of these ancient people, notorious for raiding and pillaging.' However, he criticized the game for its impenetrable, non-user-friendly and frustrating internal politics and diplomacy, occasionally nonsensical AI and the disappointing Celtic factions, which are non-playable and lack their own roster or models. He stated that 'Total War: Attila' is a cleaner, better thought-out experience. It is an adept refinement of Rome 2 instead of a glorified expansion pack for its predecessor. In fact, Attila is proudly its own game, and puts a firm foot forward in contrast to Rome 2's initially unsatisfying jumble.'[9]
Atlas Burke from GamesRadar praised the graphics, audio-design, and new additions. He stated '[New additions] seem to be direct responses to the Rome 2 backlash'. He also praised the satisfying gameplay, outstanding tactical battles, improved AI and UI, the option to turn settlements into armies, and the heavy emphasis on political machinations. However, he criticized the excruciating build turn, technical issues, over-simplistic interface, and unbalanced units. He summarized the game by saying that 'Total War: Attila is a damn fine strategy game in its own right, without having to compare it to its oft-lamented predecessor.'[8]
Writing for Destructoid, Greg Tito was slightly more negative about the game, giving the game 6.5/10. He praised the choice of setting and improvements to the real-time battles. But he was less positive about the campaign side. He criticized the changes to the political system and issues with trade and diplomacy. He thought there was 'a lot to like' in Total War: Attila, and that it 'doesn't need to reinvent its formula each time,' but 'setting even a well-made sequel in the crumbling legacy of the once-mighty may not have been a good choice.'[5]
References[edit]
- ^'Total War: Attila Performs Miserably On Linux - Phoronix'. www.phoronix.com.
- ^Nunneley, Stephany (30 April 2015). 'Official mod tools for Total War: Attila are now available'. VG247. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^Purchese, Robert (24 November 2015). 'Total War goes medieval with Attila expansion Age of Charlemagne'. Eurogamer. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ ab'Total War: Attila for PC reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^ abGreg Tito (12 February 2015). 'Review: Total War: Attila - Be the barbarian'. Destructoid. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^Griffin Vacheron (12 February 2015). 'Total War: ATTILA review'. Game Revolution. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^Nick Capozzoli (12 February 2015). 'Total War: Attila review: Horders'. GameSpot. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^ abAtlas Burke (12 February 2015). 'Total War: Attila review'. GamesRadar. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^ abTJ Hafer (13 February 2015). 'Total War: Attila review: Greatness from the Ashes'. IGN. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^ abDan Griliopoulos (12 February 2015). 'Total War: Attila review'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^Colin Campbell (12 February 2015). 'Total War: Attila review: The Empire'. Polygon. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^Thew, Geoff (13 February 2015). 'Review: Total War: ATTILA'. Hardcore Gamer. Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 13 March 2015.