Total War

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Total War is a wargame franchise based on movement of groups of units on a battlefield map, and maneuvering armies in an overlay map. In many ways the series is reminiscent of tabletop wargames, which has made it a popular subject for discussion on /tg/.

Note that due to being a huge participant in the DLC craze, as well as the...lackluster, let's say, quality of some entries in the franchise the game has become quite Skubby in many circles, although when detractions are brought up others are quick to claim modding makes up for it, others say any game you have to mod is shit, which prompts references to games like Fallout and Vampire: The Masquerade, which results in the reply that those games are bad as well and since Medieval II is a better game that means Total War is by default objectively bad, which is when the conversation devolves into namecalling and Warhammer 40k reaction images. Yeah...

Gameplay

Total War has two main features: Turn-Based on the campaign map, and Real-Time on the battle map.

Games

Rome

Widely regarded as the best game in the series, Rome: Total War takes place in the era of Classical Antiquity, just before the beginning of the First Punic War. The campaign setting is that of the Ancient Euro-Mediterranean world.

Players have the choice to take control of a variety of factions, from the Elephant-riding Carthaginians, to the fierce and savage Barbarians of Iron Age Europe (Celts, Germans, steppe nomads, etc.), the pike phalanxes of the Hellenic States and Egypt, the superb cavalry of the Parthians, and finally the wrecking ball legions of Rome herself. Interestingly enough in the campaign, Rome is actually divided into four factions; the House of Julii, whom focus on the northern barbarians and securing Western Europe for Rome, the House of Brutii, whom primarily are concerned with expanding Rome Eastward and thus are in conflict with Macedon, the Greek city-states, and the Eastern kingdoms, the House of Scipii, whom vie with Carthage and Egypt for control of the Mediterranean and are focused on securing Africa for Rome, and finally the Senate itself, whom directly control Rome and thus boss around the Three Houses into doing their bidding. Another interesting quirk of the Roman faction is that if one House becomes too popular and decides to march to Rome to declare himself Imperator, then a huge civil war breaks out among the families, with a huge player determined battle taking place near Rome, usually.

Medieval II

Continuing on the success of it's predecessor, Rome, Medieval 2 is probably just as good as the previous titles. The setting is that of the Old World in the aftermath of William's conquest of England, with the Americas showing up near the campaign's end as the Age of Discovery begins in earnest.

Perhaps out of all the Total War titles, this one spawned the most mods, including several highly valued ones such as Third Age: Total War (a mod that transforms the setting into that of Middle-Earth on the outbreak of the War of the Ring.)

Empire

Here marks the descent of CA into darkness, as minor issues with playability, a lackluster musical score, and the beginnings of infamous DLC craze that would be cranked up to eleven with later titles such as Rome 2, all start to crop up during the game.

The setting itself is during the Age of Colonialism, during the 18th and early 19th Century before the rise of repeating firearms. Unlike in previous titles, emphasis is less on melee combat and more on 'shooting the fuck out of the other guys until they die.' A special campaign called "The Road to Independence" unlocks the United States as a playable faction, finally giving Amerifags their long awaited chance to spread freedom to the unwashed masses all over the world. Manifest Destiny, bitches!

Napoleon

Take everything about Empire, get rid of the bad stuff, and make better the good. That is Napoleon: Total War in a nutshell

Even though the title should be self explanatory, the game takes place during the Napoleonic Wars that tore Europe apart for 12 years.

Shogun II

Shogun II takes place in Medieval Japan during the Sengoku period, although an expansion called Fall of the Samurai places players in the era of the Meiji Reconstruction.

Many see Shogun 2 as the last subjectively good Total War title. Complaints were mostly focused on the long load times and the fact there's very little variation between the factions you can play other than their bonuses and start location, although given the period to do anything radically different would have been unfitting.

Notably, the game received a second life from the modding community and Steam Workshop support.

A tabletop game quite similar to Shogun 2 is Kensei.

Does have a bit of a problem with being unplayable even today if you have the 'wrong' video card. This issue was never patched or fixed, probably a foreshadow to the poor quality control latter down the line.

Rome II

The game where the series took a nosedive, due to various reasons.

Attila

Like Napoleon before it, in regards to Empire, it ironed out many of the flaws found in Rome 2, and is considered a good entry into the series, albeit with the difficulty cranked up to eleven. The main criticism being the ridiculously aggressive DLC policies Sega's been doing.

Total War: WARHAMMER

A Warhammer Fantasy Total War game (nicknamed Total Warhammer by fans, even before the game was officially announced). Due to the debacle and shitstorm that was and is End Times and Age of Sigmar, many Fantasy fans heralded the game as the last great stand of Warhammer Fantasy. That is, until the Chaos faction which had been previously promised to be core to the game was announced to be DLC, and the reveal that the preorder was full of Dorf goods. Que butthurt on the part of Chaos fans, and triumphant glee from the long-suffering Dwarf fans.