I wasn't planning on posting, however, after watching three seperate attempts at a rome: total war thread crumble and die this week, I owe it to the developers to stir up some interest in the product, not out of sympathy, but because the game truly deserves it.
I remember when medieval: total war came out, i was really hoping they'd turn to something greek or roman as their next project, as my historical interests are primarily focused on those two great civilizations. I've always enjoyed the strategical aspect of the 3d battles in the total war games, but was always impatient to master the tactical, financial, economic, and military administration of the games. The tutorials for this "risk" like part of the game was never very indepth and feel its one contributer in hurting the game's popularity.
Thankfully, creative assembly announced rome: total war and it has really pushed me to sit down and patiently learn how to play the game. Actually, it's not all that difficult and rome: tw is an improvement in that they have streamlined the managerial aspects of running your empire. If you want full control over things like taxes, building projects, troop recruitment, popularity, and/or religion, they give you that option; however, if you're like me and find spending 30 minutes each turn managing the taxes of the provinces in your empire time consuming and exhausting, you can have the AI do it for you, leaving you only to focus on moving your troops amongst other things.
I"m inclined to believe from anecdotal evidence and my own experience that most gamers find the total war games simply too involving or overwhelming. I have several coworkers who think the 3d battles look absolutely fantastic--and they do--but they admit that the game is just too much for them, without even giving it a chance.
Perhaps, that's why these threads keep disappearing, for one thing the market is already saturated with games this season and secondly most gamers while fascinated/appreciative of rome total war simply don't get it--warped by an overabundance of traditional rts, i suspect.
P.S. I started the campaign as the julii. It's around 247 b.c... recently wiped out the gauls and the spanish(it will be fun to use them my next campagin game; you can choose to play as any faction you've conquered), looking towards carthage next. If i can beat them, i'll have all of western europe under my control. They have one small province in southern spain, just begging for me to grab, but they have nearly half my military might in that one settlement alone, hoping i don't bite off more than i can chew.
Definately, my most satisfying moment, was utterly crushing the spanish army. I approached their province with my army and they came out to meet me. However, since they initiated the attack all i had to do was wait for them to come to me. I set up my men on the top of a huge mountain, four units of calvary in front, and the spanish general came right up after me (i'm playing on medium difficulty and should've opted for hard; i've won 47 battles, no losses). It came to a huge calvary rush down a steep hill. I utterly obliterated them using only 4 units. 950+ troops vs their 950+..only 2 of their men left the battlefield alive, I lost 6 men, lol.
