total war series, any good?

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ive just come across the total war games on the pc, are they any good? and in your opinion which is the best and most noob friendly? I have never played a game like these coming from consoles but ive just seen a vid of total war shogun 2 on youtube and it looks wicked :)

not sure how hard they are to learn though and if they're noob friendly or which ones the best

all feedback appreciated
 
They are noob friendly on easy settings where it's as simple as build stacks of armies and kill people but if can also be much more in depth with micro managing skills and diplomacy and tactics required. It's what you make of it..

One of my favourite series though (have everyone since Rome 1) and I'd recommend giving it a try.
 
cool thanks, I think ill maybe wait until I see them in a sale again but they defo look like the type of game I could get into, when I was watching an online battle it did seem VERY tactical and I can see a noob like me getting wiped out very easy by an experienced player, they were flanking and hiding whole factions in the trees etc, seems like an amazing game but looks like it would take a lot of time to get used to.

thanks again for the input :)
 
TW Warhammer is fantastic, and second best is TW Attila.
Up to yesterday they were heavily discounted at 50% and 66% respectively :(

The games are great very deep and get ready to sink many hours.
And both play differently.

TW Warhammer has dragons, magic etc.

TW Attila and all previous historical games are bit more straight forward.

Rome 2 is great if you like the period, especially Rome or Greek states, however I would look for Attila as the best historical one.

Shogun 2 is nice even if bit ancient game, but gets tad boring very easily, since all units are more or less the same. Samurai over samurai etc. While you can get lost with the weird politics.

On the contrary Attila and to greater effect Warhammer, they have (some in case for Attila) unique factions who play differently than the rest.
(Word of advice do not try WRE on Attila as your first game, especially on highest difficulty is the most difficult TW campaign ever made, but FUN also).
 
TW Warhammer is fantastic, and second best is TW Attila.
Up to yesterday they were heavily discounted at 50% and 66% respectively :(

The games are great very deep and get ready to sink many hours.
And both play differently.

TW Warhammer has dragons, magic etc.

TW Attila and all previous historical games are bit more straight forward.

Rome 2 is great if you like the period, especially Rome or Greek states, however I would look for Attila as the best historical one.

Shogun 2 is nice even if bit ancient game, but gets tad boring very easily, since all units are more or less the same. Samurai over samurai etc. While you can get lost with the weird politics.

On the contrary Attila and to greater effect Warhammer, they have (some in case for Attila) unique factions who play differently than the rest.
(Word of advice do not try WRE on Attila as your first game, especially on highest difficulty is the most difficult TW campaign ever made, but FUN also).

thanks for the input, yes I saw them in the sales but when I looked today it was over :( will defo pick one up in the next sale though and dedicate some time to learn how to best play it :)
 
In the case of TW Warhammer each faction plays differently, so you have to adapt tactics. eg the Chaos & Beastmen cannot build cities, using the horde mechanics.
Wood Elves are restricted by the Amber production. Vampire Counts do suffer huge penalties on areas there is no vampiric corruption (so is a whole meta game there to expand the corruption).

Total War games are a notch up from where CIV is. While the period they span is limited to the game setting, they have proper field battles and are more complex.
Look around if you can find the TW Napoleon demo. Is 7 years old, but you will understand how they play, even if many things have changed these days.

Found it
TW Napoleon Demo
http://store.steampowered.com/app/34050/

TW Empire also was a good game, if you liked 17th century to late 18th. Including American revolution, and one of the biggest ever grand campaign maps ever.
Spanning from the American continent to Europe and Africa, all way to India.

EDIT

TW Empire Demo
http://store.steampowered.com/app/10500/

(is on the right hand side of the page as Download PC Demo).
 
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I'd either dive straight in with Warhammer, or pick up Shogun 2 (because it's cheap and probably the simplest modern Total War title).

From there, Rome 2, Atilla and Napoleon are all worth buying. Empire is a little rough around the edges, though the scope of what they tried to do is amazing (it really needs a sequel...). Medieval 2 is showing its age, though it's still the place to go for mods like Fourth Age: Total War. I wouldn't bother going further back than that.

Total War isn't that difficult to play TBH. It's simpler than Civ. Stick it on an easy setting and you'll find the game quite forgiving. Many of the titles have options for auto managing settlements, allowing you to focus on conquest.
 
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The original Rome Total War is highly rated. It has some mechanics that were taken out of later games. Also its battles take place within the actual map, i.e the distant view accurately reflects the position on the map the battle is happening.
I recommend Many A True Nerd on Youtube if you want a flavour of the game. I respect him and it's his favourite.
 
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Shogun 2 was great fun, and a good entry into the series at a low price point. Once you're experienced with that title, TW Warhammer really mixes it up with the very different factions as others have said. Very much worth playing both though.
 
I bought the Total War collection pack over Christmas. I installed Rome 1 last night and played through the tutorial (although I alt-tabbed and it wouldn't let me tab back in so I had to quit it - and it hadn't let me save up until then). So I'll need to play through it again but nm.

The graphics are showing their age, but I felt like starting from the beginning. I checked the two Total Wars before Rome 1, and they are a little too old for me. Rome 1 was great fun from the little I played. Watching Total War Warhammer on YouTube is what got me into it, maybe by the time I'm done with the previous editions; the DLC train on that game will have finished :)
 
I've played most total wars and i think Empires is the best one. Especially with darth mod.

The sound of the rifles firing, cannons going off and line infantry just mowing each other down is excellent.

All the other total war games are too hand-to-hand for my liking.
 
Total Wars Shogun 2 is your starting point. It will let you decide whether its worth purchasing more and give you a taster. I`m not to keen on some of the others but I managed to get bundles cheap and some free. I never tried Empires and after the above post I think I might give it a go. Just realised its in my library too.
 
I love the total war games. I have them all apart from warhammer. My favourite was Rome 1 but as it's a bit dated now i mainly play Atilla.
If you want to have a watch of it BBC 4 recently rebooted a series called Time Commanders which they use the total war engine to recreate famous battles but teams of 3 take control of the armies.

linky

It make me actually install Napoleon and give it a go when I had now interest in it before.

If you search on youtube there are older seasons playing the original rome game. I even think Richard Hammond hosted a season.
 
Empire with Darth Mod is my favourite. I prefer the scale in that with multiple theatres over the other games. AI can can be a bit dumb sometimes in all of them, even with mods so I would just pick a time period that most interests you and go with it.
 
I found Medieval II Totwal War to be the best and Rome II to be the worst, everyone's different though.

I've only played Rome 2 and I do find it enjoyable (although slow going) when I fire it up.

Who knows what year I'm on now, if only I had a clue when I first started :) Maybe a reset is coming! :)
 
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