***PBEM*** Part II

[BigFree]

210 AD to Soltz.

[Soltz]

Turn got delayed by a couple of Christmas parties but has now been sent on to the Ottomans.

[SpencerH]

230ad sent again. Hopefully, not garbled by excite this time.

[BigFree]

Cool. That was totally weird though.

230 AD to Soltz.

SpencerH: Regarding your Sig......it's 9.99 now! Do you think you'll pick it up now?

SirOsis: If you respect mine, I'll respect yours.

[Soltz]

250 AD sent to the Ottomans.

Enjoy the holiday!!!

[SpencerH]

There's no rush even at $10. It's still not properly patched and I'm currently playing medieval total war. Then there's RoN and WC3 'the frigid throne' (or some weird name).

[SpencerH]

250AD sent

[SirOsis]

I've been looking at medieval total war. How is it? I liked Shogun and med looks like it has more strategy. Unfortunately I don't really need another game.

[BigFree]

250 AD to Soltz.

[SpencerH]

MTW (I paid $20) is better than shogun, and as I understand it, the expansion improves it another step. The big change will come with Rome Total War (due out later in the year) which has much better graphics and a much better strategic component.

from the rome total war faqs

"A. Total War games are in genre of their own. If you love strategy games, you will love RTW, but this isn't an RTS, it's much, much more. You can tailor how you play the game to appeal more to your tastes. If you want a perfect balance of politics, micro management and real time epic sized battles you've got it. If you want to spend more time in the senate than on blood stained battle field you've got it. If you want to prove your might purely on how you master the art of war then you've got it.

The biggest change you'll notice is on the campaign map. The 'Risk-style' provinces have disappeared to be replaced by point-to-point movement for armies, and settlements with their own regions (hinterlands) that they draw on depending on the size of the settlement. A big, advanced city will have more influence on its surrounds than a small town. Armies and characters on this map are now fully animated and march (or sneak, in the case of spies!) to fulfil your orders.

Cities generate income and train new troops, drawing on local resources. Each city can be assigned a governor, who will do his best (well, probably) to manage the place and keep order.

What is cool and new is that when you fight a battle to control the city, every building that's in a city on the campaign map is there on the battlefield. Destroy a building in a siege, and it's gone on the campaign map. Storm a city and take it with siege towers, batterings rams or artillery and you'll find that you can use any buildings still standing to further your plans of conquest. Better still, the buildings in a town even show who made them, as each culture has its own style of architecture!

Q. Can you make your own treaties?

A. You will be able to negotiate specific treaties and other agreements with other powers. This lets factions agree military treaties, trade agreements, trade cities and territory, arrnage diplomatic marriages, demand tributes, pay blackmail money, swap information and so forth. Deals don't have to be symmetrical, so you can trade a city for military access, and some cash if you want!

Q. Are maps fully dynamic i.e. what happens on the battle map has a physical effect on the strategy map and vis versa?

A. Rome: Total War features a continuous 3D map covering the whole of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and any point on this map could be a battlefield. The Campaign map is comprised of thousands of 'battle maps'. This means that you could fight on approximately 10,000 battlefields, each of which can change according to your actions in the game.

Every mountain, hill, forest, farm, volcano, city and Wonder of the World that you see on the campaign map is right there on a battlefield. As the map changes with roads, forts and farms being built it is reflected on the relevant battlefields. As the seasons change you see snow on the north of the campaign map and on northern battlefields. This continuity between the two levels of the game opens up all sorts of strategic options. You can build forts to guard mountain passes, set ambushes in forests, make beach landings, launch fast raids into enemy territory, move your armies through allied territory to co-ordinate campaigns, capture Wonders of the World, ford rivers and generally try to out-manoeuvre your enemies. It all helps to make you feel like you are in one epic, continuous world."

[SirOsis]

Rome looks pretty nice. I see you can get Medieval for 30 with the Viking expansion. Have you tried that out?

Turn sent.

[SpencerH]

Not yet.

[SpencerH]

260ad sent

[BigFree]

260 AD to Soltz.

[BigFree]

270 AD to Soltz.