Next total war game?

[fkizz]

Portugal was literally first European country to start Age of Exploration, the pioneer. It started in the 1400s actually. Why do you think it's Portuguese Emblema on Shogun 2 TW on "European traders"? Why was first European-Japanese dictionary ever made a Portuguese-Japanese one done by said Portuguese explorers? Why is Black Ship in Shogun 2 basically a replica of the typical Portuguese Carrack of the time?

On Exploration then came Spain (decades after Portugal had started), then the Dutch and the English. Last 2 ones benefited more since maps and sea routes already defined, less riskier to make business.

Any exploration age game without Portugal in the list will be doomed to be incomplete.
Portugal explored towards the Orient, while changing Silk Route price dynamics (most expensive tradeable goods of the time) and making Silk Route goods go through Portuguese Ships instead.
Spain headed towards the Western Americas. Spain brought so much Gold it actually started inflating highly in value, having several bankrupcies, difficulty in paying mercenaries which then led to a defeat against Netherlands.

There were also some big fights between Portuguese Empire versus Ottoman Empire in dispute of Indian Ocean. Even Venetians lended their sea fleet to help the (!) Ottomans because Portuguese route through South Africa was making Venice lose money.
There's so much potential.

To be put as DLC?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So much History and potential for a game in such timeframe. From 1400s to 1580, the exploration ride never ends.

[ChewieMuse]

IT wouldnt be a TW game without sieges and buggy siege AI.

[Diavodo]

A new Medieval game would be amazing. Early medieval times were both colorful in types of units, diplomacy, technology and included wars across the whole known world. Plus, we all know that we love close, bloody combat the most ;]

Another possibility is Asian empires. There is a huge potential in China, Japan, Korea, Tibetan kingdoms and various tribes. Shogun 2 gives us but a taste of it.

American civil war would work as a DLC campaign for game based on 19th century and wouldn't be much on it's own. Confederates fighting a defensive war against the overwhelming Federals and France with UK scratching their heads contemplating what to do.

Unfortunately, I could not care less about any upcoming Warhammer content. I'm repulsed by magic in total war game and single characters ploughing through whole companies of units. The lack of blood and gore addon on launch does not help either.

[Inhuman One]

Fair enough, its just that there's so many interesting factions in this time period.

I was just thinking about Spain's growing dominance in Europe at the time, they became the most powerfull faction in Europe. Also the inquisition and all that.

I suppose that Portugal could be included from the start instead of Burgundy due to their exploits.

But other than that I think it would cover a wide variety and the large players of the time, yes? And the time period would give a new experience?

Personly I just see a lot of fun to be had with it.

Making preperations as the Aztecs against invaders would be a great challenge, similar to defending against crusaders, mongol and timurid hordes in medieval 2 as egypt or the turks. No hordes like that, but instead you'd be fighting against enemies with superiour technology. They could also incorporate a way for the Aztecs to steal some technology from the invaders which could allow them to field some basic gunpowder units and some light cavalry, and better ships. It would be weird if they didnt learn to use any of those things if they'd be keeping conquistadores at bay for a hundred years.

On the other hand conquering the americas with Portuguese or Spanish conquistadores would be very cool to do as well, with the entire armies in that fasion instead of just some late game units. And of course conquering europe with the Spanish pike and shot army would be very appealing to, recreating history.

France would be interesting to play too, they'd have the famous royal musketeers in this timeframe! Also Cuirassiers and many other interesting units, to make them a powerhouse.

The struggling Holy Roman Empire could be a challenge to keep together and lead back to greatness. Zweihanders and reiters would be there of course, as well as Gothic knights. But this time supported by pike and shot era pikemen, crossbowmen, instead of medieval troops.

Eastern europe was also very interesting during this period, I'd say more so than in the medieval period or imperial period. A great age for Poland with its winged hussars, the teutonic order is still around, Russia is a powerhouse, Lithuania and Hungary are there as well, the Ottomans also providing a challenge. It just offers as much as medieval 2 and empire total war offer in that region and more.

Having Denmark as a dominant force initially is also quite interesting and different. A chance for them to shine without the viking image, and before they became much less relevant.

The Venetians and other Italian city states would also be a joy to play with, this was their golden age. I'd find them much more interesting here than in the medieval period. The Assasin's Creed games may have also helped to popularise and show more of them in this time period.

The Ottomans would have Suleiman the Magnificent, a legendary figure come of age and lead his people to greatness. He is already born in 1500 so could be in the family tree and maybe be assigned specific traits and a unique appearance when comeing of age.

The Scots would have their kilt wearing highlanders and this time it would be historically accurate. They could have units from various clans in addition to their regular troops. Their roster would be a lot of fun I imagine.

Burgundy is a faction I personally quite like, and in this time period they where at their strongest and had a chance to become dominant. A great what if scenario from a small european nation that did not survive. And personally I always like playing as factions that historically where destroyed in the total war game's period, changing history.

For that reason the teutonic knights will be great fun to play too, they should be DLC of course and not initially available, but they would definatly be a lot of fun to play due to a knightly order working differently than other factions and them being quite small. They also add something interesting and very different to eastern europe.

Would of course also be really cool if for an expansion they'd expand the main campaign with an asia map to travel to, in addition to the americas. That could allow Japan, Korea and China to become playable, which would also be great additions to have. China and Korea never where in a total war game before, and Japan would be in a total war game with non japanese factions. Both would be very interesting to conquer Europe and the americas with.

[Imperator Artorius]

Fair enough, its just that there's so many interesting factions in this time period.

I was just thinking about Spain's growing dominance in Europe at the time, they became the most powerfull faction in Europe. Also the inquisition and all that.

I suppose that Portugal could be included from the start instead of Burgundy due to their exploits.

But other than that I think it would cover a wide variety and the large players of the time, yes? And the time period would give a new experience?

Personly I just see a lot of fun to be had with it.

Making preperations as the Aztecs against invaders would be a great challenge, similar to defending against crusaders, mongol and timurid hordes in medieval 2 as egypt or the turks. No hordes like that, but instead you'd be fighting against enemies with superiour technology. They could also incorporate a way for the Aztecs to steal some technology from the invaders which could allow them to field some basic gunpowder units and some light cavalry, and better ships. It would be weird if they didnt learn to use any of those things if they'd be keeping conquistadores at bay for a hundred years.

On the other hand conquering the americas with Portuguese or Spanish conquistadores would be very cool to do as well, with the entire armies in that fasion instead of just some late game units. And of course conquering europe with the Spanish pike and shot army would be very appealing to, recreating history.

France would be interesting to play too, they'd have the famous royal musketeers in this timeframe! Also Cuirassiers and many other interesting units, to make them a powerhouse.

The struggling Holy Roman Empire could be a challenge to keep together and lead back to greatness. Zweihanders and reiters would be there of course, as well as Gothic knights. But this time supported by pike and shot era pikemen, crossbowmen, instead of medieval troops.

Eastern europe was also very interesting during this period, I'd say more so than in the medieval period or imperial period. A great age for Poland with its winged hussars, the teutonic order is still around, Russia is a powerhouse, Lithuania and Hungary are there as well, the Ottomans also providing a challenge. It just offers as much as medieval 2 and empire total war offer in that region and more.

Having Denmark as a dominant force initially is also quite interesting and different. A chance for them to shine without the viking image, and before they became much less relevant.

The Venetians and other Italian city states would also be a joy to play with, this was their golden age. I'd find them much more interesting here than in the medieval period. The Assasin's Creed games may have also helped to popularise and show more of them in this time period.

The Ottomans would have Suleiman the Magnificent, a legendary figure come of age and lead his people to greatness. He is already born in 1500 so could be in the family tree and maybe be assigned specific traits and a unique appearance when comeing of age.

The Scots would have their kilt wearing highlanders and this time it would be historically accurate. They could have units from various clans in addition to their regular troops. Their roster would be a lot of fun I imagine.

Burgundy is a faction I personally quite like, and in this time period they where at their strongest and had a chance to become dominant. A great what if scenario from a small european nation that did not survive. And personally I always like playing as factions that historically where destroyed in the total war game's period, changing history.

For that reason the teutonic knights will be great fun to play too, they should be DLC of course and not initially available, but they would definatly be a lot of fun to play due to a knightly order working differently than other factions and them being quite small. They also add something interesting and very different to eastern europe.

Would of course also be really cool if for an expansion they'd expand the main campaign with an asia map to travel to, in addition to the americas. That could allow Japan, Korea and China to become playable, which would also be great additions to have. China and Korea never where in a total war game before, and Japan would be in a total war game with non japanese factions. Both would be very interesting to conquer Europe and the americas with.

The thought of CA trying to attempt something this ambitious, especially using Warscape, makes me want to commit seppuku with a spoon.

Lovely ideas though.

Honestly, my next preferred TW is either a 30 Years' War focussed one specially, or Europe from 1494-1700, thus encompassing the rise and fall of Pike and Shot warfare, with lots of interesting bookmarks such as the Italian Wars, French Wars of Relgion, English Civil Wars and the aforementioned 30 Years' War. Although it would be interesting to see how CA would implement the mandatory mixed units of pikes and muskets, or even the Spanish tercios.

[Lionheart11]

Empire is the most neglected title and strangely the best game/ or most ambitious title of the TW series imo, there is no Empire 2 but there should be.

They will have to clean up the new kiddy team though, maybe bring back the Vets, bring back the Australian studios.

[Bavarian Grenadier]

it seems in the next years,development of streamlined fantasy product`s for kids will be continued, so it would be a great move realeasing some sdk tool`s for older dramatically abandoned titles like empire .
a way for editing the campaign map for example would be essential and appropriated.maybe i`m sounding like a bitter sweet vet ,but seeing every good frenshise dying and be dumbed down for the masses in the last year`s is really frustrating

[Nimitz_Class]

Given that Empire was the last ambitious game campaign-wise and they neglected to fix it, I doubt they'll try anything so complex as depicting the shift from Napoleonic squares to Trench warfare. Indeed God help us if they try WW1 off the back of the popularity of next battlefield. Planes and tanks might be cool in theory but how on earth they'd make an ai capable of trench warfare is a difficult question.

Hoping for pike and shot, Italian wars/Thirty Years War, but think China will be their next target if they don't pour all their resources into Warhammer

Well, to be honest the modding community has already done some pretty ambitious things with warscape that have worked out well, or at least playable. The best one that comes to mind is the Great War mod for Napoleon. While it doesn't quite get trench warfare right, and has to work within the limitations placed on modders, it's still an awesome proof of concept. It has tanks and infantry fighting side by side, machine guns, tons of heavy arty. It works.

With all of the siege weaponry, tanks, and flying units in TW:WH, it's obvious that it can be done. It's also possible that a 19th century total war would sidestep things like trench warfare altogether. The western front was the product of a very specific set of circumstances and technology, if the war had occurred a few years to either side of 1914 it might not have developed that way at all.

We've already seen most of the elements of the game I'm thinking of anyway. Empire had a transition from sail to steam, from muskets to rifled guns, from blocks of infantry to looser skirmish units. Napoleon was even more so a battlefield of massed units of muskets and artillery. For those saying that a totally gun based TW is impossible, well... it already happened. Medieval II and Empire both covered huge swaths of technological development as well, so it isn't so hard to imagine them finding ways to implement the rapid pace of change during the 19th century.

I think pike and shot is also a great idea, because it differs from what we already have. I think we've seen too many reskins already of a ancient/medieval game. CA is good at abstracting a government, but it's gotten very bad at managing characters like we used to have in Medieval II. It's boiled down its formula to the same tired hammer and anvil, infantry and cavalry battles we've seen so many times. They can do better and hopefully they will do better.

[AnimaMea]

Fair enough, its just that there's so many interesting factions in this time period.

I was just thinking about Spain's growing dominance in Europe at the time, they became the most powerfull faction in Europe. Also the inquisition and all that.

I suppose that Portugal could be included from the start instead of Burgundy due to their exploits.

But other than that I think it would cover a wide variety and the large players of the time, yes? And the time period would give a new experience?

Personly I just see a lot of fun to be had with it.

Making preperations as the Aztecs against invaders would be a great challenge, similar to defending against crusaders, mongol and timurid hordes in medieval 2 as egypt or the turks. No hordes like that, but instead you'd be fighting against enemies with superiour technology. They could also incorporate a way for the Aztecs to steal some technology from the invaders which could allow them to field some basic gunpowder units and some light cavalry, and better ships. It would be weird if they didnt learn to use any of those things if they'd be keeping conquistadores at bay for a hundred years.

The thing about the Aztecs is that there were at most 1,500 spaniards at the siege of Tenochtitlan, and 40,000 Tlaxcallans...before that the spanish had only survived a number of battles by the skin of their teeth, and it was only with Indian allies that they got anywhere...I'd love to see a game where colonial troops are much smaller in number to represent this, and where the Aztecs have to play a game of appeasing/instilling fear into their vassals to stop them defecting to Spain, and then getting the chance to learn new technology after repulsing Cortes' expedition.

[Alma69]

Pike&Shot Renaissance

But they would need to do actual formations to do that.

[Inhuman One]

Clearly they should ditch the warscape engine and move to a new engine, it seems about time for that.

They could do something interesting with colonisation to america.. since its quite a bit earlier than empire total war, it would make sense that its tougher to get troops to America or the other way around. When you send troops off the map to enter the america map, there could be a good chance they end up in a storm and lose a lot of people on the way since that is what happened, maybe even lose a ship or two.
Also, you could only be able to take one unit for each ship in the fleet, and some units like elephants and heavy siege equipment could be incapable of ship travel due to weight. This way it would really be quite costly to send a big fleet to America while you may need it more in Europe.

Also, the process of colonisation could be made tougher in some way.. I think that initially it should be mostly required to send reinforcements from the homeland since you wouldnt be able to get many in the americas, and would rely more on mercenaries.
Maybe additional buildings could be required in the regular chain, while in europe the same build trees could start at the second building? That might represent the struggle best, and these starter buildings could take longer to construct. And if others keep sabotaging those buildings, preventing their construction, then you might never gain a foothold.

But to make up for this toughness in the new world, they could allow factions to survive even if they no longer hold land in europe. If Portugal gets conquered in Europe for example but they have a family member in the Americas, they should survive.
Would be quite tough to rebuild from there if your foothold is still weak in the Americas, but it would be a lot of fun.

[nato69]

Id pay for either Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.
A proper/decent made strategy game of GOT would be sick!

[geala]

If it were WWI or II it would be the first main TW game I would not buy. The TW campaign and battlefield mechanics are just not able to give a immersive picture of such big scale confrontations. The building browers and the campaigns generally would also be boring. In my opinion the unit system of TW is best suited in antiquity and the period of 1600 to 1850. In the medieval times you did not have such organised small units and in the second half of the 19th century thinly spread lines became common. My main interest would be an "Empire 2" starting about 1500 which concentrates not only on the European powers but also includes some strong other factions in America, Africa, India and China. Perhaps too ambigious for a map.

[Imperator Artorius]

Id pay for either Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.
A proper/decent made strategy game of GOT would be sick!

The GoT mod for Crusader Kings 2 comes far closer to representing that world than Total War ever could. Total War just isn't about the dynastic politics that defines a world like GoT.
And as for LotR, there is always the incredible Third Age mod for Medieval 2, imo one of the best LotR games out there.

[warrior6]

a total war game from 1450 to 1650 would be amazing. just the thought of siege of constantinople as historical battle would be amazing and the siege of vienna where you control the polish cavalry. the campaign itself with so many varied factions like ottomans, muscovy, spain, england, france, egypt etc and minors like crimean khanate.

this would be a game with awesome juxtaposing units like great bombards, jannissaries, and horse archers, halberdiers, and arquibisiers (sorry about spelling)

[jollybadfellow]

In terms of marketing as well as game evolution, the correct choice would be a brand new WW1 game, fully incorporating naval and ground warfare and limited aerial..... Anything else would be a repetition...too little-too late... As to the timing, I would expect an announcement at least 6 months after the latest release (WH) and a release in 12 months...

[Imperator Artorius]

In terms of marketing as well as game evolution, the correct choice would be a brand new WW1 game, fully incorporating naval and ground warfare and limited aerial..... Anything else would be a repetition...too little-too late... As to the timing, I would expect an announcement at least 6 months after the latest release (WH) and a release in 12 months...

Okay but how could TW mechanics properly represent WW1? Sure we have The Great War mod for Napoleon, which while excellent work given the limitations of the game and engine its based on, doesn't represent Trench Warfare brilliantly. You also have the strategic aspects which I imagine would be even harder for TW to get right.

[TheRomanRuler]

I hope next Warhammer, i love this one so much. But i don`t mind Empire 2 with extended timeline from 1600-1900.

[jollybadfellow]

You have a point there....however, nobody can survive by recycling the same product for ever....a true step forward is necessary (there is a gap right now in the gaming market covering the period - there is much potential) ....and I am pretty sure CA has thought of that before me.... We'll see...

[Inhuman One]

Well they can return to warhammer in the future, but they should do some other games in between first otherwise we'd get pretty much the same game several times in a row and that would just make them very lazy as well.

Currently I think that its best for them to go with a historic game that offers something new.

IF they go with medieval 3, then they should put in moats and drawbridges for example, to get much closer to medieval siege warfare which actually can be quite interesting if done properly.

Just hoping that whatever game they make, they go with less annoying and confusing city building. Its just quite vague what each building does without reading the description, up to empire total war that was all quite clear.
I think that they should allow more building in a city again like in rome 1 and medieval 2. But to not make each city the same each province could have a characteristic that makes it attractive. Like exellent farm lands, good horses, trade bonus when its known as a trade hub, etc. And capitals could have two characteristics instead of one.
And next to the preset characteristic, as a player you can also choose a guildhouse or similar building to specialise a settlement. Which could synergise with the provincial characteristic. Building one would exclude all others, so would specialise a settlement in something. The benefits could be made bigger than what medieval 2 offered with its guilds, having a larger impact and being chosen instead of trying to get it through luck.
They could also allow for guild related generals to be recruited, which could function the same but would have a different starting skill and guild related outfit, creating greater variety.

Merchant's guild could not only boost trade, but also unlock some mercenary units that would be commonly hired to guard trade caravans. And allow a merchant general to be recruited, who could wear fancy clothes and could start with a skill that boosts trade income, but makes them weaker in combat since they are less trained in it.

A teutonic chapterhouse could allow for multible units of the teutonic order, as well as generals who are teutonic knights, wearing the familiar surcoat. This would really make it a millitairy city though, with strong troops.