Talk To Me About Total War

Warfare is pretty crucial to the game. You'll need to do other things, like develop your technology and pursue diplomatic relations with some of your rivals, but the bottom line is that you're going to wind up engaged in military conflict. You can auto-calc the battles if you really want to, but the tactical side of things is really the heart of the games and where they really shine, in my opinion. Skipping the battles is like skipping sex so you can get to sleeping faster. And really, most of the titles are pretty similar. Some of them have more complexity either on or off the battlefield, but overall things stay mostly the same. If you want a purely strategic game, they might not be for you, but if you want a heaping dose of tactics in your strategy, then you'll enjoy them.

I'll say Total War is almost all about battles. The managment part is an excuse to make more battles.

Well they're called Total War for a reason. :D Warfare is the only way of expanding your territory. If you want something more peaceful, and don't mind the lack of graphics, play Crusader Kings 2. You can expand your nation with minimal warfare, if you're sneaky(and patient) enough.

What is there to say?

War never changes.

But yes, you might not like the games very much. They're very battle focused, so they might not be your cup of tea, if that's not your thing.

Like said above Total War doesn't seem to be what you're looking for. I would much better recommend Europa Universalis and other Grand Strategy titles: minimalistic battles and a lot of strategy and "cultural expansion".

Thanks, y'all!

I may try one on for size anyway. I see another thread with recommendations on which, but is there one that does let you handle more economics, etc.?

I do like tactical games/situations, to some extent. One of the reasons I like Dragon Age is due to the cool "freeze frame" tactical option.

In re to CKII and EU-whatever, I'm still on the fence about whether I'll ever buy another Paradox "grand strategy" title. I love the idea of them, but real life dictates that it's not terribly fun for me to deal with crappy tutorials and dozens of hours of YouTube playthroughs, and then get treated like a simpleton on their forums when I can't figure it out.

On that note, what's the learning curve like in the TW titles?

Is this a good place to start?

Gamers Gate Deal

And if so, is the DLC worth it, or just do the base game?

I was thinking the latter to see if I even like the series...

Just bought Empire. Will report back for the 1% of us who have never played these. Lol.

30 gb of nothing.

You can't really play Total War and not get involved in wars and battles. They are actually the major part of the game. The research system and economy are somewhat limited in how many options you actually have.

I don't say it's impossible, but, it's not really the point of the game.

One game I can definitely recommend is Crusader Kings 2, it's really huge and centered on diplomacy (and to a lesser extent economy).

Try Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes or Master of Orion 2 or Europa Universalis series. Total War series is very centered on combat and severely lacking in other departments.

...its Total Hell.

You should try Rome Total War. Really addicting even if you don't play many RTS games. You can get a copy really cheap if you trade with someone because of the 90% off sale. I saw people ask for 1 TF2 key for it.

i played Rome Total War And all i can say is that its Totaly An Awesome Game which i got For a really Cheap Price of 1$ however its more focusing on the War Part and Nation Building / Deplomacy and Such things are a minor part of the game

I've had the most fun with Medieval 2. It also has a LOTR mod. If interested. Also while playing Fall of the Samurai I spend a lot more time on the strategic map than in battles. For some reason it's a lot more economical/numbers game than battle focused. Probably because of the way you can influence enemy troops and easily assassinate leaders. Though there is something special in sending hordes of samurais against gatlings.

This series is my favorite ever... i always find myself going back to them. ill admit the vanilla versions of the games are... rough... but stick some nice mods in there and the game becomes a masterpiece! Like Europa Barbarorum, this takes Rome Total War and makes it the game it should have been for sure. As far as from your description I would say Empire is the most "economical" of the total wars. and the battles are far less frantic in Empire (not saying they arnt frantic just a lot less). but the basis of all the total war series is make money to feed the army to conquer land to make more money to feed a bigger army to conquer more land, rinse and repeat. and if you dont like the military side of games, im not sure you could squeeze out what youre looking for in this series

There's katanas and guys and firepower and pew pew and it's a war so that's why is called Total War :D

the best one is the rome total war, because no cannons. This is really tactical, I once killed 2000 enemies with 400 men through strategy. Warfare is... pretty much the most common way to get your state bigger and economy in the old ones not so really.

Wanted to say thanks again, y'all.

Unfortunately, ETW freezes and crashes my entire computer. After multiple attempts of rectifying this through numerous user suggestions, I guess I'm going to shelf the game until/unless I figure it out.

It was cheap, but it's always a bummer when you pay money for something that breaks immediately.

Given the experience, I will likely avoid TW games in the future. Bummer. :(

The battles are where the games really shine in my opinion. There are definitely elements of strategy and diplomacy but avoiding warfare is almost impossible.