Shogun 2: Total War

[Proteus_MST]

When I still played RTW, I loved the Rome Total Realism Mod:

http://rometotalrealism.org/index-2.html

It changed all units/factions to historical accurate ones
and, if I remember correctly, even added new provinces,
expanding the game till almost india

[Al B. Sure!]

Yeah Europa Barbarorum expands the game to Northern India, as well.

I just looked at the maps.

This is Rome Total Realism:



This is Europa Barbarorum:



You get more of Africa and the entire Arabian peninsula with EB... so the Arab kingdoms in Yemen and the Hedjaz are in EB, but not in Rome Total Realism.


The wikipedia entries for the mods are pretty in depth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome:_Total_Realism

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

It doesn't look like RTR introduced new mechanics as much as EB did.


Invasio Barbarorum or something like that is also an interesting mod. It depicts 5th century Rome which is an interesting period. I never knew just how different the late Roman Empire's military was compared to the classical period.

[Proteus_MST]

I have to agree, this sounds great.
Maybe I will reinstall RTW someday the next week and try Europa Barbarorum out

[SpencerH]

I'm currently playing VI2 a "Fourth Age Mod" for RTW. It's pretty good but they couldn't change the stuff that drove me nuts with RTW.

[EPW]

RTW with EB? Get ready for some Heroic Victory CTD fun!

[Al B. Sure!]

RTW with EB? Get ready for some Heroic Victory CTD fun!

I've had no such problems. The only bug I've seen is as the Sabaeans, it keeps referring to me as Carthage in certain pop-up messages. No crashes.

[EPW]

You're lucky then.

[baying]

I always find the AI a let down

[Al B. Sure!]

Another cool mod from Rome Total War is this one. I haven't played it yet but it looks really good:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=386559

The depth of these mods is amazing, though. Like with EB, I played for a dozen hours with Rome but I'm barely into the game. I imagine it's a whole different experience playing with some of the other factions, particularly the barbarian ones.

[Al B. Sure!]

holy ****.

Roma Surrectum II looks incredible. It's like an entirely different game graphics-wise. Scratch EB. Check out RS2.

[Al B. Sure!]

Check it out. The graphics got an overhaul:






Okay, those screenshots were pretty selective and look better than it actually is but you get the idea. The graphics, particularly the terrain, are much improved from vanilla RTW. It appears this mod isn't even a year old yet so it's basically using an old engine but giving it a 2010 facelift.

[SpencerH]

I think those may be illustrations rather than screenshots. It looks interesting but it requires different type of install than the fourth age mods (which dont change the vanilla folders) so I'll stick with them for now.

[Al B. Sure!]

Nah those are screenshots. They're just very selective and might be altered in photoshop a bit but they're screens.

Here, I loaded up some custom battles and took some screens... I have to embed them in a smaller size so click on the pics to see them larger:


Roman legions make contact with Seleucid cataphracts and pikes:


Roman cavalry charging under a hail of pila thrown by auxiliaries:


Egyptians and Carthaginians collide in a dusty desert:

[Al B. Sure!]

This is actually kind of fun to set up battles, fight them, and take screenshots.

Seleucid elephants and cavalry rip through Egyptian troops:


Nearby Egyptian troops under a hail of javelins:

[Al B. Sure!]

Roman legions advance in the German woods:


And clash with Cimbri Berserkers:



Republican-era Legions hiding in the grass awaiting the Dacians to emerge from the fog: