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Rome: Total War (often abbreviated to RTW or Rome) is a critically acclaimed^[2] strategy game composed of both turn-based strategy and real-time tactics, in which the player fights historical and fictitious battles set during late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire (270 BC–AD 14). The game was developed by Creative Assembly and released on September 22, 2004.^[1] It is the third game of Creative Assembly's Total War series.

Plot

The player takes a role equivalent to the head of one the three great Roman houses at the time; the Julii, the Scipiones (known as the "Scipii" in the game) or the Bruti (called the "Brutii"). Each of these factions has a different set of attributes and initial objectives. After a winning campaign as Romans (or using a simple mod) it is possible to play with other factions and take on a role similar to that of Hannibal, Commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian armies during the Second Punic War or the Gallic warlord Vercingetorix.

Gameplay

Gameplay consists of a combination of turn-based strategy and 3D real-time tactical battles. The 3D real-time action is uniquely different than most standard RTS games in that tactical maneuvering is critical to success whereas most RTS games take no account for the direction units are facing, flanking movements, breaking of lines, etc. The high-quality 3D graphics engine is able to render over thirty thousand men on a single battlefield. The strategic and tactical modes integrate such that the landscape for the battles is the same as seen on that particular spot on the strategic map where the armies meet.

The game is similar to its predecessors, Shogun: Total War and Medieval: Total War, although there are some changes to the mechanics of sieges and city fights have been added. Most notable is that players now move their units with movement points; in previous games units were moved by territory.

Armies can be built to conquer nearby provinces; to conquer a province, you must capture its settlement. Fleets at sea can also ferry troops, and blockade enemy ports, thus cutting down income from trade. While doing so, players can build certain buildings within their cities to move up through the tech tree to train more advanced units, increase a province's income, and/or keep the population happy. The ultimate goal, as in previous Total War games, is to conquer 50 provinces and capture Rome, thereby becoming Emperor.

Factions

The player takes control of a particular faction of the era. It is possible to unlock otherwise non-playable factions by a simple "mod" of the game's files; however, some may contain minor faults or bugs. The default playable status is listed next to each faction in parentheses.

Roman

There are three playable Roman factions: the Julii, the Brutii, the Scipii, along with the unplayable Senate, although it can be played in the Battle of Asculum, one of the game's historical battles, and in custom battles. The three factions start out allied to each other and the Senate, and may not attack each other. Each Roman faction can also view the others' map information without fog of war, a benefit not accorded to any other alliance. Even after the inevitable civil war, all Roman units are visible to a Roman player. However, the factions generally function independently, and a player controlling a Roman faction will rarely lend direct assistance to a Roman ally unless the player is somehow threatened. This could be because in the introductions for all Roman factions they speak of their hatred for the other families.

All three factions receive missions from the Senate, which are non-compulsory. However, the completion of Senate missions will increase the player's standing with the Senate, and possibly reward the player with rare and exotic units such as elephants, or standard units like triarii. Players in good standing with the Senate will receive progressively greater rewards for completing missions. Failure to complete missions reduces the player's standing with the Senate, and the Senate may demand that future missions are completed or else a penalty will be incurred. In extreme situations, the army of the Senate may declare war on the faction that isn't following its orders, a move the other Roman factions will soon copy. The senate can also ask you to leave an allied territory, usually within a few turns.

In addition to Senate standing, Roman factions must keep an eye on their popular standing within the Roman world. In general, popular standing tends to increase as a faction gains more territory; the public likes a conqueror. However, the Senate will get worried when a faction accumulates too much power. At a certain point, the Senate will request that the player's faction leader commit suicide. As with any Senate demand, the faction may accept or ignore—if it accepts, the faction leader dies and the heir becomes the new faction leader, giving the faction a few more years of Senate toleration before the demand is repeated. If the demand is ignored, the Roman factions are plunged into civil war. The player may also initiate a civil war once his popular standing is high enough by simply attacking another Roman faction. When playing as a non-Roman faction, the Roman civil war does not occur, unless the game files are altered.

Roman armies are focused on superior, well-disciplined and well-armored infantry and weak cavalry, relative to the other factions. Their main weakness is that they are slow so they are easy pickings for ranged units and are much weaker. Gladiators are one of the superior advantages that the Romans possess early on. The game simulates the reforms of Gaius Marius, which take place when the player's capital city becomes a huge city. (rather than the historical time of 107 B.C.). Prior to the reforms, the army is made in the traditional hastati-principes-triarii model. After the reforms the army is made up of the famous legions, and better, heavier cavalry and ranged units are unlocked, and can do formations such as the testudo.

In addition, each of the three playable Roman factions has a different starting area, as well as regions into which they can expand, although the latter can be influenced by the player. Each has different temples to build as well as their own type of gladiators, which can be fielded in battle:

• The Julii start out in the northern portion of the Italian peninsula and deal with barbarian tribes to the north, especially in Gaul. They also have Samnite gladiators, and can build temples dedicated to Ceres, Bacchus and Jupiter.

• The Brutii start out in the south of the peninsula, and they usually focus on the Greek factions to the east. Although, if the Brutii expand their territory quickly, they may go to the south east and challenge the Egyptians. They have access to Velite Gladiators, and temples for Mars, Mercury and Juno.

• The Scipii begin in Sicily as well as middle Italy and are primarily involved in conflicts with Carthage, Numidia and Egypt to the south. Their temples can be dedicated to Neptune, Vulcan or Saturn. They have access to Mirmillo Gladiators, and the Temple of Neptune, when upgraded, ultimately gives access to special ships, such as corvi, quinqueremes and deceres.

If the Senate faction is manually unlocked and played by a human player, its role in Roman policy is ignored. Senate missions no longer exist, there are no Senate officers, and there is no Senate or popular standing. If the player attempts to go to the Senate screen, which normally tells Roman factions about these things, the game will most likely crash. Another thing to note is that the provinces under control of the Senate faction will never revolt, no matter how low public order is. The Senate faction requires all factions to be destroyed, including Rebels, which makes completing the campaign significantly more difficult than other factions.

Barbarian

Barbarian factions have both distinct advantages and disadvantages. They are poorer than their Meditteranean couterparts and lack high level buildings to gain larger income and must rely on cities captured from the advanced factions. Unlike "civilized" factions, they cannot build stone walls, nor roads better than basic ruts, which inhibits their strategic movement. More importantly, their technology is limited to only three city levels, as opposed to five for civilized factions. Thus they tend to reach their most advanced units more quickly than other factions. Barbarian armies are undisciplined and rely on brute force and numerical superiority. Barbarian infantry are strong in comparison to infantry of other factions.

• Gaul (unlockable) starts out with a very large territory mainly in modern France, northern Italy and central Spain. The Gauls have good swordsmen and archers, but little cavalry and even fewer special units, making the Gauls a rather basic barbarian faction. Under AI control the Gauls initially take several provinces but are then taken apart by Britannia, Germania and the Julii.

• Britannia (unlockable) starts out in control of Great Britain, with a considerable foothold in Belgica on the coast of Europe. Its units include chariots, frenzied swordsmen covered in intricate woad patterns, and units that hurl severed human heads covered in quicklime to demoralize enemies. Under AI control Britannia usually takes most of modern day France from the Gauls before going to war with Germania and the Julii

• Germania (unlockable) begins to the northeast of Gaul and the east of Britannia, in what today would be considered The Netherlands and Germany. German forces include superb but undisciplined infantry, including the only barbarian unit able to organize into the phalanx formation, powerful Gothic cavalry, and a few different units of axemen. The Germans can also train powerful berserkers. Under AI control, they usually take over a large area of land, extending from the Netherlands right the way into Russia and sometimes Scythia.

• Spain (non-playable) begins on the Iberian peninsula, and controls all of modern Spain and Portugal except for the central and southern areas, which are controlled by Gaul and Carthage, respectively. They are a Carthago-Barbarian faction who combine elements of both cultures. Their units include solid infantry units, such as the scutarii who throw javelins prior to a charge and then fight with a gladius, a weapon that the Romans later adopted. The Spanish field several other similar units of Carthaginian origin, but they have relatively few cavalry and ranged units. Under AI control Spain rarely takes any additional settlements with the exception of the one owned by Carthage to the south.

• Dacia (non-playable) relies mainly on heavy infantry, notably the falx-wielding troops available early on in the game. The Dacians, along with the Scythians, are the only Barbarian tribes allowed to create siege weapons. They are located in eastern Europe around modern Romania. Under AI control Dacia usually takes several additional settlements in central Europe before going to war with Germania and/or the Julii.

• Scythia (non-playable) is overwhelmingly composed of horse archers. Historically, the Scythians were a small tribe by the time of the game's start, and the Sarmatians had largely taken over the steppes. Sarmatians do, however, appear in the form of heavy cavalry mercenaries. The Scythians control an extensive territory in Eastern Europe, roughly corresponding to modern Ukraine and the surrounding area. Under AI control Scythia usually takes most of the eastern part of modern day Russia before going to war with Germania and Parthia.

Greek

Phalanx Formation

The Greek factions are located in or near the eastern Mediterranean Sea, mainly on the Balkan peninsula and around Anatolia and also in modern Turkey. Greek armies tend to focus on extremely strong infantry which utilize the superior phalanx formation at the expense of other forms of infantry, cavalry, and archers.

• The Greek Cities (unlockable) surprisingly start out with very little control in Greece. They start out with two cities in Greece (not including Athens, which is actually initially Rebel controlled), one in Sicily, another in Asia Minor and a fifth on Rhodes. Its troop selection consists of hoplites, good skimishers and relatively weak cavalry. The Greek Cities can also field Spartan Hoplites which, although expensive, are some of the best troops in the game. However, their dispersed nature makes the Greek Cities vulnerable to many different enemies, such as the Scipii, Brutii, and Macedon, and thus they rarely have any great success. They have temples to Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, and Nike.

• Macedon's (non-playable) main force focus largely on hoplites, pikemen and shock cavalry, including the Companion Cavalry (also known as Hetairoi) which was originally led by Alexander the Great. Macedon begins with territories in the north and east coast of the Aegean Sea. They usually fight against Thrace, the Greek Cities, Dacia and, later on, the Romans.

• The main force of the Seleucid Empire (unlockable) is similar to that of Macedon, containing the same powerful hoplites and shock cavalry (including Companion Cavalry). However, its armies can also contain scythe-armed chariots, war elephants, cataphracts, and Roman-style legionaries, giving it the most diverse troop selection in the game. The Seleucid Empire encompasses a strip of territory running from the Aegean coast to the Middle East. However, the Seleucids are sandwiched between several different factions and, under AI control, it is usually destroyed by a combination of Egypt, Pontus and Armenia before it can deploy its powerful late-game units.

• Thrace (non-playable) is a Greco-Barbarian faction, with both Greek and Barbarian troops. They begin the game in modern Bulgaria and Romania, along the western coast of the Black Sea. Like both the Greeks and Barbarians in general, Thrace has little in the way of cavalry.

Egyptian

Egypt is a relatively strong faction that usually dominates the eastern map under AI control. Their main enemies are factions such as Parthia, the Seleucid Empire, Armenia, and Numidia. In the long term the biggest potential threat to Egypt is Rome and vice versa.

• Egypt (unlockable) troops tend to be lightly armored due to the climate of the area. While historically the armies of Egypt should be quite similar to those of the Macedonian factions (consisting mainly of phalanx troops along with light cavalry), the Egyptian army consists of large units of axemen, bowmen, phalanx spearmen and various types of chariots. In the game Egypt's location begins in today's Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus. When under AI control, Egypt usually attacks the Seleucid Empire and becomes the dominant power in the East. It rarely faces Roman factions until near the end of the game. The Egyptians get temples to Ra, Isis, Imhotep, Set, and Horus. This gives the Egyptians the most diverse selection of places to worship.

African

Carthaginian war elephants attack

African armies consist of fairly strong cavalry and, notably, elephants, but usually have weak infantry. This is a major disadvantage when facing the House of Scipii, as the Roman legions destroy most forms of infantry. Main elephant and cavalry support is required for Carthaginian success.

• Carthage (unlockable) has a variety of units which include a good mixture of infantry, high-quality cavalry and powerful elephants, but a poor selection of ranged troops, including a notable lack of archers. They are hurt by the fact that they cannot get infantry that is on par with the Roman legionaries until late in the game. They begin with territory in modern Tunisia and the surrounding area, along with colonies in southern Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia. Carthage is a very rich faction, and can often afford to employ units of mercenaries to bolster the ranks. However, under AI control, Carthage rarely gains much territory and is usually attacked by a combination of Roman factions and sometimes the Numidians.

• Numidia (non-playable) has fast mounted and dismounted skirmisher units , as well as some light spear-armed infantry. Many Numidian units receive advantages when fighting in deserts. It can however, train its own versions of the Roman legionaries. Numidia begins the game holding the North African land not possessed by Egypt and Carthage.

Eastern

The Eastern factions represent the major states of the Middle East not ruled by the Diadochi (Alexander the Great's successors). Their armies tend to heavily rely on high-quality cavalry, and sometimes evidence some Greek influence due to Alexander the Great's recent conquest of the area (which occurred some 50 years prior to the start of the game).

• Parthia's (unlockable) specialty lies with mounted units, such as Persian cavalry, and the horse archer. While its cavalry is extremely powerful, it has no infantry of any value, which can make sieges difficult. Historically, the Parthians inhabited central Asia east of the Caspian Sea. In the game, they still do, but also start with territory north of the sea in Asia. However, their borders rarely expand and are under constant attack by Egypt, Armenia, the Seleucid Empire and Pontus. Ironically, while the introductory cutscene for Parthia emphasizes their potential for wealth, the first few turns prove very difficult financially for them. Unlike the other factions, Parthia only receives access to one type of temple: The Temple of Zorastria.

• Armenia (non-playable), like Parthia, focuses mainly on cavalry. Armenia is the only faction with cataphract archers and Eastern heavy infantry, the latter being comparable to the Macedonian phalanx. They also have their own copies of Roman legionaries. The Armenian territory is located in the mountains of what is today Armenia, Georgia and eastern Turkey.

• Pontus (non-playable) is a Greco-Eastern faction, with Greek names and the Greek gods. Troops include fast-moving, javelin-armed cavalry as well as phalanx troops and chariots. In the game, Pontus starts in the north and east Asia Minor, with historical Greek colonies. They are generally the second superpower in the East after Egypt.

Rebels

The Rebels are a unique faction. Rebels can be informally divided into three groups based on how they operate on the campaign map: Brigands and Pirates, Deserters and Freed Slaves, or Independent Kingdoms and Rebel Cities.

• Brigands and Pirates will attack and rob factions for money in one or more ways. Brigands will sit on roads, blocking trade and ambushing armies that walk by. Pirates will attempt to cut sea-trade routes and blockade ports. Brigands and Pirates will grow in strength if they are allowed to roam freely, and may threaten important armies or generals if not destroyed quickly.

• Deserters and Freed Slaves are any troops or slaves previously belonging to a faction who abandon their homes. They tend to hide out in the countryside and do not usually rob factions for money, although this is not a rule. Freed slaves usually consist of large numbers of peasant units, along with some basic paramilitary or quasi-military fighting units such as gladiators or town-watchmen. Deserters tend to be more dangerous and well-organized, with many professional military units; they move in formation and are not quick to flee or back down when threatened. Sometimes, Deserters may be led by a Rebel General, a non-faction member military leader. When one is present, Deserter armies can be larger and more dangerous than those lacking such leaders, and may sometimes attempt to capture cities.

• Independent Kingdoms and Rebel Cities are Rebel-faction cities, and the only differences between them are their origin and their military capabilities. Independent kingdoms are independent, non-faction cities which have existed independently since the beginning of the game and have never been conquered. They usually have some very basic military units like Militia Hoplites or Town Watch, although if left unconquered, they may grow and develop a stronger military presence. Examples of Independent Kingdoms are Athens in Greece, Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople after becoming the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire) and Tara, a town in Hibernia (Ireland). Rebel cities, on the other hand, are cities which once were run by a faction, but which have revolted and come under their own management. The numbers and quality of the troops spawned through a revolt depends on the size of the settlement and the level of buildings present. For example, a Huge City will spawn more rebel troops of a better quality than Towns or Large Towns.

• Amazon Rebels are exclusively situated in the province of Hyperboria, located somewhere in modern Russia near Scandinavia which, in the game, is located far to the north and is difficult to reach due to surrounding trees and a small, "secret" gap bordering the northern edge of the map. They have their own very powerful unique units, including Amazon chariots, or the powerful Yubtseb Elephants(which can be accessed/recruited by a cheat code), which stand around 5 times larger than even Armoured Elephants, can send enemies "flying" up to a mile, and have some 13 Cretan Archers on a Platform on their backs. None of the ai factions will ever attack it or come near to it. The game system allows the Amazons to auto-resolve win a battle even when outnumbered 1:5 The Amazon faction appears to be an easter egg in the game.

• The Gladiator Uprising are units independent of region/location and may appear in revolting settlements that have an Arena building or above. Gladiator Uprising armies are composed mainly of gladiator units and are noticeably more difficult to defeat in comparison with standard Rebel armies. They generally appear when a Roman city with a coliseum or ampitheatre rebels or turns into a slave settlement. An example of a historical gladiator uprising would be that of Spartacus.

• Judean Zealots are units that are created whenever Jerusalem revolts against the faction that rules it. They are good all-around infantry with high morale. This, combined with the fact that Jerusalem is often a large city with good defences and that they are spawned in quite considerable numbers, can make suppressing the uprising very difficult if there are no powerful armies nearby.

• Helot Uprising is a group of rebel slaves that overthrow Sparta, generally having high morale.

Family

Each faction starts with a set of family members composed of that faction's leader, his spouse, their children, including a faction heir, any of their spouses, and any grandchildren. Only the male members of the family are controllable once they are 16, at which point they reach adulthood and become "full" family members. They govern provinces when stationed in a city, and, when fielded upon the world map, can command armies in the field, recruit mercenaries and/or construct watchtowers and forts. Male family members can be added to the family by the following methods:

• The birth of a son. However, as mentioned above, he must reach the age of sixteen before he becomes a playable character.
• Marrying one of the faction's daughters to a suitor.
• Adoption by one of two methods: a candidate for adoption proposed by a male faction member or the adoption of a "Man of the Hour", a captain of an outnumbered force who emerges victorious. This method and marriage imply that the candidates have extraordinary abilities.
• Bribing an enemy general with a diplomat. By offering a generous sum of denarii, some generals may betray their faction for the faction of the one offering the bribe. The new 'son' is adopted by an existing member of the family and is treated the same as any other male family member. Unfortunately, the loyalty of the bribed general is often weaker than 'full' family members, meaning that he can be more easily bribed by other factions.

Conversely, male family members can be lost by a family by the following methods:

• Bribe (cannot bribe faction leaders or heirs)
• Death of Old Age
• Assassination
• Natural Disasters
• Plague
• Death in Battle
• Riot/Revolt
• Will of the Gods
• Death at Sea (When traveling at sea, if a fleet is sunk, all military units and family members on the fleet die)

The death of a female family member by old age is also depicted by an in-game message.

In the absence of generals commanding field armies, captains are the commanders by default. Admirals fulfil a similar function for fleets. Neither are family members, but appear in the list of forces when displayed.

If an enemy force led by a captain is bribed, it disbands unless the troops are an exact match of the same type as the faction making the bribe (e.g. a Julii diplomat bribing a Brutii force), at which point they are added to the faction's army. But a Britannic diplomat, for example, can not add a Gallic warband to the Britannic army through bribery even though they are the same troop type. This is because the skins of the two factions' warbands are different and therefore not an exact match.

Julii family member with several traits and his retinue

Family members can acquire traits depending on their actions in battle or when governing a city. These can have both positive and negative effects on their command, management, and influence, which in turn affect their battlefield performance and how well a province they govern operates. Some of these traits are hereditary, and can be inherited by the children of a family member. Family members can also acquire ancillaries by the same actions. These are members of a general's retinue, but can only number up to eight. These ancillary characters can be traded between two family members if they are in the same army or city.

Agents

There are three types of agents that can be used by factions: spies, diplomats, and assassins. Like family members, agents can acquire traits and specific ancillaries, which can be traded, but only with other agents of the same type. They can independently cross into other territories (allied, neutral or hostile) without triggering a transgression message that happens when an army attempts to do the same. They can also be attached to an army, at which point they travel with them until detached to operate independently.

• Spies can be recruited once a city has built a level 2 trade structure. The spy's role is to gather intelligence on the composition of field armies and to infiltrate cities to determine buildings and garrisoned forces. Friendly spies can aid in the capture of an enemy city by opening the gates during an attack; the higher a spy's skill level, the higher the probability that he will be able to open the gates. Multiple spies can infiltrate an enemy city at once, thereby increasing their chances of opening the gates. Spies can be killed in several ways, such as failing to infiltrate a city, being discovered after they have infiltrated, failing to escape or by being targeted by an assassin. They can serve in a counter-espionage role when attached to an army or city that the faction controls, improving public security by helping to detect enemy spies. Spies can be used as a form of biological warfare, by sending a spy infected with a plague into an enemy city, spreading the plague into the city.

• A diplomat can be recruited once a city builds a level 2 government structure. Diplomats make treaties with other factions regarding trade rights, map information, alliances and peace offers. They can make demands such as bribing rival armies, cities or diplomats. Diplomats can negotiate with cities and any field army, but cannot neogate with spies or assassins.

• Assassins can be recruited once a city has built a level 3 trade structure. Assassins can assassinate enemy characters and sabotage buildings in enemy cities. They can be killed when attempting to infiltrate a city or if discovered by their target's bodyguards.

Mercenaries

On the campaign map, generals (not captains) can hire mercenaries for an amount of gold when there are mercenaries available in a territory. Mercenaries are already trained and can be put to immediate use. Infantry, cavalry, and missile troop types can be hired. Mercenaries cannot be recruited in a city by factions, but can only be hired in certain regions. They are usually suited for the local terrain, and can be used for various purposes, such as augmenting an army's strength, sustaining a campaign, or garrisoning a nearby settlement. Some mercenaries can be hired more frequently than others, while some are more geographically distributed and can be hired from more regions than other types. Although mercenaries can be used for many different purposes and allow a flexible management of an army, they do have their disadvantages. Mercenaries cannot be retrained other than improving their weapons and armor, thus their losses cannot be replenished except by merging, and their morale is usually lower meaning they are more likely to run in battle. If a general hires mercenaries frequently, he acquires the mercenary captain ancillary. However, mercenaries are notoriously known to be very expensive with a very high recruitment cost. When conquering a settlement, mercenaries will take part of the looting for themselves, thereby decreasing the amount of money the player can loot from a settlement.

Some mercenaries found in the game are:

• Barbarian Mercenary
• Barbarian Cavalry Mercenary
• Spanish Mercenary
• Belearic Slinger
• Lybian Mercenary
• Numidian Mercenary
• Bedouin Warrriors
• Mercenary Hoplite
• Sarmatian Mercenary
• Illyrian Mercenary
• Mercenary Peltast
• Rhodian Slinger
• Cretan Archer
• Arab Cavalry
• Mercenary War Elephant
• Eastern Mercenary
• Thracian Mercenary
• Bastarnae Mercenary
• Samnite Mercenary
• Cilician Mercenary

History

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)

A demo of the game was released on August 23, 2004 and is freely available for downloading. It features a playable version of the Battle of the Trebia, with the player taking the role of Hannibal.

Prior to its release, a preliminary but completely workable version of the game engine was used in two series of TV programs: Decisive Battles by the History Channel where it was used to recreate famous historical battles,^[3] and Time Commanders by BBC Two, where teams of novice non-gamers commanded ancient armies to replay key battles of antiquity. The game engine was fine-tuned specifically for these television shows by military historians for maximum historical accuracy.

The original music soundtrack for the game was composed by Jeff van Dyck, who received a BAFTA (British Academy) Interactive Awards nomination for his work. His wife Angela van Dyck features in some of the vocals; Angela also wrote the lyrics for the song Divinitus, the lyrics of which are in Latin. The game's most notable collaboration between Jeff and Angela is Forever, which plays while the game's credits are rolling. Forever was originally meant to be the game's main menu song.

Reviews and awards

Rome: Total War has been critically acclaimed by many reviewers and is generally regarded as one of the best strategy games of 2004, winning numerous awards and high scores from gaming websites and magazines alike. The review aggregator Game Rankings shows an average of 91.7% from 65 major critic reviews, with 48 reviews in the 90%s.^[4]

• PC Gamer (UK): All time 5th best PC game "95%"
• IGN: Editor's Choice Award, 4th Best PC Game of all Time.^[5]
• PC Gamer (US): Editor's Choice, Best Strategy Game of 2004
• GameSpot: Editor's Choice, Strategy Game of 2004
• Adrenaline Vault: Seal of Excellence
• GameSpy: Editor's Choice
• E3 2003 Game Critics Awards: Best Strategy Game
• X-Play: 5 out of 5
• PC Powerplay: 95%

Expansions

Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion

Barbarian Invasion was the first expansion pack for Rome: Total War. It was released on September 27, 2005. It allowed the player to take part in the fall of the Roman Empire and the events which came after it. There were also a lot of new features in the game such as generals' loyalty, religion, hordes and the "Sack" option for conquered cities. It was also commended for the fact that it did not have any unlockable factions; all the playable factions were available from the start.

Rome: Total War: Alexander

The Alexander expansion puts the player in the role of Alexander the Great and replays his conquests and battles.

Modifications

Rome: Total War could be considered to be one of the most moddable PC games around because of the ease with which its text files and its units' skins can be edited.^{[citation needed]} This has led to the creation of many modifications or "mods" made for Rome: Total War. Some of them change the game's units' skins and the game's campaign map to make it more realistic. Others still move the game's focus to a different time and place. Examples include:

• Europa Barbarorum, a modification designed to be a definitive, historically accurate, full conversion of Rome: Total War.^[6]
• Rome: Total Realism, a modification which aims toward a much more realistic and historically accurate Rome: Total War. Many new units, more historically accurate rosters and an extended map make it one of the most popular mods made for the game.

References

External links

• Official website
• Rome: Total War at the Open Directory Project
• Several Rome: Total War music files from Jeff van Dyck's official site

Medieval II: Total War, the indirect sequel to 2002's Medieval: Total War and the fourth game in the Total War series from The Creative Assembly, is a game of turn-based strategic rounds and real-time tactically-oriented battles. The game is set between the years 1080 and 1530. Like the original Medieval: Total War, it focuses on medieval warfare, religion and politics in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. However, unlike its predecessor, the game has a tech tree which spans to the gunpowder age at the end of the game. The timeframe stretches into the era of the historical discovery of the New World, and simulates the discovery and conquest of the Americas. Medieval II is built on the code base of Rome: Total War.

Gameplay

A group of English knights attacking French dismounted feudal knights

Similar to previous titles of the Total War series, the game consists of two modes of play: battles and single-player campaign. Battles can be played in multiplayer, in user-defined scenarios, or in historical scenarios which simulate real battles such as the Battle of Arsuf or the Battle of Agincourt. Battles are also featured in the campaign.

The campaign allows the player to assume control of a faction of the time period, and build a civilization, both economically and militarily in order to conquer other factions. Gameplay consists of controlling the faction's military, economic, and social systems in large campaign maps. During the player's turn, armies, fleets, and agents can be moved on the map. When an army engages another army, the player can choose to fight the battle personally in the battle mode, or automatically calculate the outcome.

The goal of the campaign depends on which type of campaign is played. The short campaign requires the player to defeat one or two enemy factions (for example, England must defeat its historical enemies Scotland and France) and control at least 15-20 settlements. The long campaign requires the player to control at least 45 territories and one or two significant cities, which are faction specific, such as Jerusalem, Granada, Rome or Constantinople.

Settlements

Each faction controls a number of settlements, and must conquer others in order to continue growing. Unlike previous Total War titles, there are two kinds of settlements, each with different advantages and disadvantages: cities and castles. Castles have better defensive capabilities and have access to a larger selection of soldiers, but generate less income, cannot train as many priests as cities, and have no access to higher civilian technologies. Cities generate much larger income and are technological centers of a faction, but are more difficult to defend and only have access to militia troops, which are generally inferior to those trained at castles except for a select few unique units. A small quantity of militia troops, stationed in the city where they have been trained, can be kept for free, without upkeep cost, otherwise required to be paid every turn for every army unit. Players may convert a settlement to a different type, although larger cities may not be converted into castles. Castles also need less population to be upgraded.

As in other Total War games, in each settlement the faction may construct a number of buildings, each with different functions, such as training troops, upgrading weapons and armour, expanding the economy, increasing the settlement's defenses or strengthening religion. A new feature of Medieval II is the ability to build guild halls. A given settlement may only have a single guild hall, although there are several different types. The guild hall provides certain bonuses such as increased movement for troops, better weapons, or better agents; some even grant access to new units, such as the ahistoric yet effective unit of "Sherwood Archers" available to England upon construction and subsequent upgrade of a Woodsmens' Guild. Guild halls may also be later upgraded to a "Master Guild Hall", which may provide a larger bonus or even grant a bonus to all of the faction's settlements while still retaining a more notable bonus in the city the structure is built, and then possibly upgraded to the "Guild Headquarters", which provides the greatest bonuses, although each guild can have only one headquarters anywhere in the world at the given time, and each faction can only construct one Master Guild Hall of each guild in their empire. It is possible however, to capture a city with an existing Master Guild Hall of a certain type, and have two of one kind.

Religion

Religion plays a large role in conquests and overall gameplay. The major religions in the game are Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Islam. "Heresy" and Paganism play minor roles; heresy causes disorder in a province and spawns heretic agents, who in turn raise the heresy level and must be denounced by priests, which if they fail, may become heretics themselves, or decrease the chance of denouncements becoming successful. Paganism is negligible in the Old World but is the religion of the Aztecs and is the only religion present in America by default. The player must monitor and safeguard the spiritual state of their faction's domain, maintaining it through building places of worship for their faction's religion and by training Priest or Imam units to spread their faith. The presence of faiths other than the faction leader's in a city tends to generate unrest, and so religious buildings and units combat this by converting people to their own religion and eliminating the heretics and witches that appear on the map. Factions that are not Catholic, such as Russia and any Islamic factions, are immune to the Pope's orders.

Catholic factions must also contend with the Pope, who can issue missions (similar to the Senate in Rome: Total War), call for Crusades, or even excommunicate factions. A player who strongly enforces the faith, builds cathedrals and completes the Pope's missions will receive favor from the Pope; a player who ignores his missions, fights with other Catholic nations and allows the faith to flounder will incur the Pope's displeasure and may be excommunicated – which also leads to unrest, which may cost the player's faction entire cities immediately, and the possibility of a Crusade being declared against a settlement belonging to the player's faction. It is most likely the Pope would send Inquisitors to your lands (see Agents List). Papal missions pursue the interests of the Catholic Church, and include the construction of religious buildings, cessation of hostilities against fellow Catholics (yet these will be rescinded if the target kingdom attacks you) and the assassination of heretics and witches.

The Pope also appoints Priests from the various factions as Cardinals; when the Pope dies, the Cardinals elect one candidate from among the three most pious to be the new Pope (unless there are fewer than three factions that have at least one Cardinal; A faction may only have one Cardinal in the running for pope). A player with many Cardinals can thus use them to influence who becomes the new Pope, and how the player votes in the election has an effect on the new Pope's relations with the player. However, a player with few or no Cardinals can still influence a Papal election by bribing other factions to vote in a particular way. A chosen Pope that had belonged to the player's faction before being appointed will begin with a more favorable view concerning the actions of that faction, while a Pope chosen from among the units of a player's enemy may look negatively upon that player's faction.

From time to time, Crusades (for Catholics) and Jihads (for Muslims) may be called at the request of factions. To call the Crusade, one needs to be at good relations with the Pope, while the Jihad requires only an Imam with high piety. Crusades and Jihads both use a religious leader's authority to single out a region for conquest by factions of his faith; each faction of the appropriate faith may then raise Crusader or Mujahideen armies by committing a General and an army consisting of at least 8 units. These armies gain access to special religious units to recruit for use in battle. Crusades and Jihads move significantly faster than normal armies, but will begin to suffer from desertion if they fail to make sufficient progress or lose their leaders. Successfully capturing the target region gives rewards to the faction; failure results in negative traits for the faction's leaders and the loss of the army. It should also be noted that, perhaps due to a game bug, factions of religions not pertaining to a holy war (be it Crusade or Jihad) may be rewarded in their participation against a target city; Hungary, for example, may be rewarded at the end of a successful Jihad if it captured Constantinople from the Byzantines and granted ownership of the city over to a Muslim faction despite Hungary being a Catholic nation.

Characters

Each faction has a ruling family. Once male family members come of age at 16, they act as units that can be used to govern settlements and lead armies in battle as generals. Each character has attributes that determine their prowess in both. They also have the ability to hire mercenaries, which may grant them a Mercenary Captain being added to their retinue. Mercenaries are competent and many of the units available cannot be trained by themselves. A character's actions can affect his attributes - for example, a general who routinely kills prisoners of war may see his "dread" increase, making him frightening to foes; a general who prefers to release prisoners may instead increase his "chivalry", which makes his own troops braver. Characters also develop (or regress) by gathering traits and retinue members. Characters can take after (or rebel against) their parents, traits like alcoholism are self-perpetuating, inbreeding tends to strengthen when inherited, naivete and paranoia are mutually exclusive but both detrimental, etc. Some traits, mostly positive, are brought out by victories in battle: for example, generals can become increasingly scarred as time goes on, and generals who successfully complete a Crusade gain chivalry, command, and piety points. Others accumulate while governing a city: poorly managed backwaters tend to bring out the worst in generals, reinforcing negative characteristics, whereas advanced, central cities improve a general's traits. Strong traits can earn the general epithets, such as "the Brave," "the Just," "the Lewd" or "the Corrupt." These are decorative.

Captains are leaders of armies that do not have a family member controlling them. They don't have any special attributes or retinue, but if killed in battle troop morale decreases, increasing the chance that the army will rout. If killed or assassinated, a new captain will instantly appear and take command of the army in question. If a captain is victorious in a particularly one sided battle or has shown excellent leadership, he may become 'Man of the Hour', and comes with an option to adopt him into the Royal Family. If adopted, he turns into a General and may gain attributes and retinue. If declined, he continues to be a generic captain. A unit left with only a captain may rebel and join the rebel factions.

Each faction has a number of agents it may use to maintain order and influence other factions. These include the Priests/Imams, as well as princesses, diplomats, merchants, assassins and spies. Each agent has attributes that develop the more he is able to successfully be used. Princesses, for example, have a "Charm" attribute that governs their success in diplomacy and the likelihood that a proposal in marriage will be accepted. Spies and Assassins have a "Subterfuge" attribute which governs how likely they are able to infiltrate enemy cities or find information about enemy armies. Except for princesses, all agents are trained at settlements which contain the appropriate buildings - for example, Christian priests can be trained in any settlement with a church or chapel. Princesses cannot be so trained; they are born into the player's ruling family, and become active as agents once they come of age at 16.

Diplomacy is performed by diplomats and princesses and functions much as in previous Total War games, mainly involving negotiating treaties such as cease fires, alliances and marriages. The interface for negotiation has changed from previous games, however; a new system has been integrated to show the other faction's attitude toward the player's faction, intelligence estimates (such as how wealthy the faction is and what other factions they are at war with), as well as how fair the other faction feels the player's proposals are.

Inquisitors are controlled by The Papal States and are sent to the player's lands if you have fallen out of favour with the Pope. They can accuse any agent of heresy, and if they are found guilty, they will be executed. Generals, and even a player's King, may fall prey to these agents of God. It is unlikely that your agents will survive the denouncement, only under rare circumstances. To get rid of Inquisitors, gain favour with the Pope by building churches and converting the population, and avoid attacks on any more favourable Christian nations, or perhaps even attempt to assasinate them.

Turn system

Medieval uses a system of "turns". Each turn represents two years, although the season still changes each turn, as in Rome: Total War. A side effect of this system is that there are inconsistencies. For example, while each turn represents two years, characters age six months per turn. Also, due to the movement system, when discovering America, it takes about 8-10 turns (i.e., 16-20 years) to get to America from western Europe; Christopher Columbus took about a month to make each of his first two voyages. The Date could be changed by a editing of the game files to 1.5 year per turn or 6 month per turn.

Battle system

One of the main focuses on the Total War franchise is its incorporation of battle within the greater sphere of gameplay. A battle consists of two or more factions' armies fighting each other. Battles play similar to those in Rome: Total War, with formations of various kinds of troops fighting. The objective of the battle is to defeat the enemy army by completely destroying it or causing the whole army to flee; in a siege battle, the objective is to completely destroy the army or to take control of a plaza in the center of the settlement. There is also an option which allows the player to allow for time limits on battles, meaning that the attacker must defeat the defender within a certain time limit (determined by the computer) or the battle results in a victory for the defender.

Unlike in previous Total War titles, a new system of modeling troops on the battlefield has been introduced. Each soldier has a varying number of elements to him, such as arms, legs, body armor, shield heraldry, and so forth; each element has a varying number of styles. When a battle is entered, the computer randomly selects elements for each soldier in the unit, thereby making each soldier look different from the soldiers around him. This can lead to some errors though, for example a general's bodyguard of the Holy Roman Empire can be portrayed with a shield with English or Byzantine twist upon it. Upgrades to a unit's armor are also depicted - a unit of unarmored spearmen upgraded to have leather armor will be depicted wearing it. Another departure from earlier Total War games is that combat is depicted more realistically, with soldiers performing motion-captured attacks - rather than one or two standard attacks - utilizing their shields, parrying blows and delivering killing strikes to downed foes, all sensitive to the weapon they are using and the weapon of their opponent. Blood can also be seen on the uniforms of soldiers who have been fighting and a mist of blood will be visible on soldiers hit by arrows. The amount of detail in the fight sequences can be turned up or down along with the other video options in the main menu. A player can also have up to 4800 (huge units option) troops in their army.

Factions

There are twenty-one factions, of which seventeen are playable in the Campaign game, although only five are playable in the beginning. The other factions may be unlocked one at a time, as soon as the player has defeated that faction in the campaign (regardless of whether the player wins the entire campaign). If the faction is already defeated, the player may unlock it by taking the last settlement they owned before being eliminated. For example: Scotland has fallen when the English took Edinburgh, their last city. If the player takes Edinburgh then Scotland should be unlocked, although if a fort holds out, the faction, while without territories, survives. The rest may be unlocked all at once by successfully winning the short or long campaign as one of the five initially available factions. Also, certain computer-controlled factions appear during the campaign game, but are only playable in custom, historical and multiplayer battles or by editing the game files. "Rebels" are also a faction, representing territories not governed by one of the other major factions. Their colour is grey, and they wander the map, disrupting trade and ambushing the armies of the other factions. Rebels can appear if the people are disgruntled with their rulers or if the entire family line of a faction dies (the faction is eliminated from the game), but the cities/castles remain, ruled independently by whoever was the governor at the time of the death of the faction's last ruler. In the beginning of the game rebels control several settlements that are able to be captured. Most rebel armies are led by captains on foot, though there are rebel generals that, while not surrounded by the bodyguard that aligned family members are, have mailed knights.

Flag	Faction	Overview	Starting settlements
	England	The English have high quality archers, and strong heavy infantry such as billmen, and strong but little variety in cavalry, and are completely lacking in late-period spearmen. The English goals include the destruction of Scotland and France, and the capture of Jerusalem. The English are one of the five factions that players can select at the beginning of the game. The English are a Catholic faction.	Caen, London, Nottingham
	France	The French possess superior heavy cavalry, such as gendarmes and lancers, strong professional armies and good all-around units in the late period. However, they lack effective early period infantry. The goals for the French include the destruction of England and the capture of Jerusalem. The French are one of the five factions that players can select at the beginning of the game. The French are a Catholic faction.	Paris, Angers, Marseille, Rheims, Toulouse
	The Holy Roman Empire	The Holy Roman Empire consists of units that are strong all around, with specialized late-period landsknecht units and other heavy infantry. The Germans also have some of the game's best cavalry in the form of gothic knights and pistol-carrying reiters. Imperial goals include the destruction of Milan and Denmark and the capture of Rome. The Empire is one of the five factions that players can select at the beginning of the game. The Empire is a Catholic faction.	Frankfurt, Bologna, Innsbruck, Nuremburg, Staufen, Vienna
	Spain	The Spanish kingdom of Castile has access to powerful cavalry in all periods, strong infanry and missle units, and good late period technology and has professional armies, but lacks spearmen in the early period. The goals of the Spanish include the destruction of the Moors and Portugal, and the capture of Granada and Jerusalem. The Spanish are one of the five factions that players can select at the beginning of the game. The Spanish are a Catholic faction. If the player converts enough of the Moorish provinces, the player can have one of their bishop as one of the leading Preferati.	Leon, Toledo
	Venice	The Venetians possess excellent infantry, militia and colonial units, but mediocre cavalry. The goals for the Republic include the destruction of Milan to the west and the Byzantine Empire, its Balkan rival, to the east, and the capture of Constantinople. The Republic is one of the five factions that players can select at the beginning of the game. The Republic is a Catholic faction.	Venice, Iraklion, Ragusa
	The Byzantine Empire	Byzantine units show a blend of Western and Eastern influences, with good heavy infantry and excellent missile cavalry and archers. Their units are high quality all around with early period infantry units like Varangian Guard and missile cavalry, but lack late period units,gun technology, and spearmen. The Byzantines can recruit professional soldiers in cities with proper construction of barracks, but until castles are upgraded to a Citadel, they are not of much use. They start in the area of modern Turkey, Nicosia, and Greece. For this reason they have a terrible starting point being the Crusade Target and constantly attacked by the kingdoms of Islam. The Byzantines are an Orthodox faction.	Constantinople, Corinth, Nicaea, Nicosia, Thessalonica
	Denmark	The Danes represent the Norse and Scandinavian countries, and have access to special units such as Vikings and huscarls. The Danes have very strong infantry and cavalry, but have limited missle troops. The Danes are a Catholic faction.{| class	Arhus
	Egypt	The Egyptians represent the Fatimid Caliphate and its successive dynasties. The Egyptians possess strong cavalry, such as Mamluks, but weak infantry. The Egyptians are a Muslim faction.	Cairo, Alexandria, Gaza
	Hungary	The Hungarians possess strong cavalry and strong offensive high period infantry. But in the early age they lack any form of good infantry. However, they can train battlefield assassins with proper building of Assassins' Guild. The Hungarians are a Catholic faction.	Budapest, Bran
	Milan	Milan and Genoa have strong Italian militias and can access Genoese crossbowmen. They have excellent late period technology but poor cavalry. The Milanese are a Catholic faction.	Milan, Genoa
	Moors	The Moors, representing the Almoravid dynasty, possess a fusion of camel cavalry and spearmen, and have few, but effective, late period units like camel gunners. The Moors are a Muslim faction.	Cordoba, Algiers, Granada, Marrakesh
	Poland	Poland possess excellent cavalry, such as hussars and szlachcic, and strong infantry in the late period, but produce poor infantry in the early period. The Polish are a Catholic faction.	Krakow, Halych
	Portugal	Along with Pamplona, the Portuguese possess improved units such as arquebusiers and javelinmen and have excellent late period technology as well as the best navy in the game. However, they lack late period professional armies and their heavy cavalry tends to be fairly weak. The Portuguese are a Catholic faction.	Lisbon, Pamplona
	Russia	The Russians possess the best cavalry and missile cavalry in the game and excellent archers, as well as dvoryane units and firearm troops. However, they have poor early period infantry. The Russians are an Orthodox faction.	Novgorod
	Scotland	The Scots have excellent pikemen, skilled archers and heavy infantry, but have poor cavalry and lack any kind of notable gun technology aside from artillery. The Scots are a Catholic faction.	Edinburgh
	Sicily	The Sicillians have a mix of units including Arab archers, Italian militia units and Norman knights. They can field chivalric knights. The Sicilians are a Catholic faction.	Palermo, Naples
	The Turks	Representing the Seljuk dynasty and later the Ottoman Empire, the Turks have the game's strongest siege artillery upon inclusion of gunpowder as well as powerful ranged units, especially Janissaries, but poor armour and mediocre infantry. The Turks are a Muslim faction.	Iconium, Caesarea, Mosul, Yerevan
	The Papal States	The Papal States possess strong militia and Papal guard units, but have little valuable cavalry. This faction is the home to the Pope, who possesses powers to influence other Catholic nations. The Papacy cannot be completely destroyed unless all Catholic agents are destroyed and the lands of the Papal States conquered.	Rome
	Timurids	The Timurids possess the strongest and most expensive single regiments in the game, such as war elephants, elephant artillery, monster bombards and rockets, although they lack in infantry units. The Timurids arrive in the late 14th century, from the Middle East. The Timurids are a Muslim faction.	Starts out as a nomadic horde
	Saxons	The rulers of England prior to the Norman conquest in 1066, the Anglo-Saxons appear in the historical scenario depicting the Battle of Hastings and the game's tutorial. They have very strong spearmen and shock infantry. The Anglo-Saxons are a Catholic faction.	Does not appear in the main campaign
	The Aztecs	The Aztecs have no armour or weapon technology, but can produce high-damage and cheap units, along with certain fear-inspiring troops. However, they do not have any cavalry. The Aztecs are a pagan faction.	Tlaxcala, Texcoco, Tenochtitlan
	The Mongols	Representing the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate, the Mongols have strong cavalry and archers but very limited infantry. They lack late period gunpowder, but can recruit rocket launchers. They are nomadic, and arrive in successive waves in any of the map's far eastern provinces, from Baghdad to Sarkel, in the early 13th century. The Mongols are a Muslim faction.	Starts out as a nomadic horde

Reception

[hide] Reception
Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B+ GameSpot 8.8/10 GameSpy IGN 8.8/10 PC Gamer UK 94% PC Gamer US 90%
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score Metacritic 88% (based on 39 reviews)[1]

The exclusive review was given to PC Gamer (US), which awarded it an "Editor's Choice" 90%. In its December 2006 issue, PC Gamer (UK) reviewed the game, hailing it as the "new king of war games". The graphics and depth of gameplay were highly praised and the game received a score of 94%. IGN gave the game 8.8/10, saying that the game was not as revolutionary as its predecessor, but still introduces some new ideas and builds on others from Rome: Total War, which would still be enough for anybody to buy it.^[2] GameSpot also rated the game 8.8/10, noting its "epic, engrossing gameplay" whilst criticizing its "beefy system requirements".^[3] The Australian magazine PC Powerplay gave the game a rarely awarded perfect score of 10/10 due to the sheer amount of content the game contained and the next generation graphics.

Swedish historian and member of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund reviewed the game for Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter where he made comparisons to traditional battle depicitions such as old copper engravings and paintings, and the more recent film medium. In the review, Englund concluded that Medieval II represents a form of battle depiction that is superior to the older art forms and far more dynamic.^[4]

Although most reviews were positive,^[3] some reviews have noted negative aspects of the game such as pathfinding bugs,^[5] some AI problems and some uninteresting new features.^[6]

Patches

The Creative Assembly developers stated on December 1, 2006 that they were working on a patch to solve reported bugs, specifically mentioning a major bug in how the game handles cavalry charges (the cavalry doesn't always use its lances when charging); the patch was released on December 15, 2006. A second patch was also released on May 4, 2007 solving many other problems not addressed in the first patch, though many of the pathfinding bugs in siege battles still remain.^[7]

An unofficial version of patch 1.2 was circulating in the community for a while. This patch 'escaped' due to the CA sending the download to various mirror sites before the official release time. They subsequently discovered some bugs, which where not resolved at that stage and decided to cancel the release of the patch, but the few of the sites that had been sent the preliminary patch released it anyway. This patch is outdated by the "final" 1.2 patch.

Many people have also commented on the size of the download for the second patch, being approximately 613MB in size (compared with the English-language version of patch 1.1 at 39.46MB)

Patch 1.3 for the game was released at the same time as the Kingdoms expansion and addresses some compatibility issues and is automatically installed with the expansion. It is another large patch, at 546MB. This patch includes online multiplayer fixes to allow owners of the original game to play with those who have installed Kingdoms. However, aside from making multiplayer games compatible between main game and expansion, this patch addressed none of the bugs still in the game, resulting in widespread disappointment among fans.^{[citation needed]} The 1.3 patch requires patch 1.2 to have been installed.

Expansion

On March 30, 2007, an expansion, Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms, was announced. It was released on August 28, 2007 in the US, August 31 in the UK and September 7 in Australia. It adds four new campaigns to the game:

• America Campaign - 7 playable factions (New Spain, The Aztecs, Mayans, Apachean Tribes, Chichimeca, Tlaxcalans and Tarascans) on a map of the New World from Honduras to Texas.
• Britannia Campaign - 5 playable factions (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Norway) on a map of the British Isles.
• Crusades Campaign - 5 playable factions (Kingdom of Jerusalem, Principality of Antioch, Egypt, Turks, Byzantium) on a map of Egypt, the Levant and Anatolia.
• Teutonic Campaign - 4 playable factions (Teutonic Order, Lithuania, Denmark, Novgorod), and 2 unlockable (Poland and the Holy Roman Empire) on a map of northeastern Europe from eastern Germany to Russia.

References

External links

• Medieval II: Total War Official Site
• Medieval II: Total War at Sega.com
• TotalWarboard - Strategy Guide to Medieval II: Total War

Medieval: Total War is a computer strategy game where the player builds a dynastic empire in medieval Europe, North Africa and the Middle East within a time span from 1095 to 1453. Gameplay is both strategic and tactical, with strategy played out in turn-based fashion on a province-by-province level, somewhat like the 1980 board game Empires of the Middle Ages, while military units of varying types and capabilities fight against each other in real time on a 3D tactical map.

Medieval: Total War is based towards the building of an empire in medieval Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It focuses on the warfare, religion, politics and empires of the time, to ultimately lead the player in conquest of the region. Similar to the preceding Total War game, Shogun: Total War, the game features a turn-based campaign map, where the player leads a faction through tasks such as diplomacy, construction and moving armies, and a real-time battlefield, where the player directs land battles and sieges.

Medieval: Total War divides the strategic map among twenty factions of the period, with a total of twelve being playable. The initial extent of each major faction's territory, and the factions available, depends on the starting period of the game, Early (1087), High (1205) or Late (1321), reflecting the historical state of these factions over time. The factions come from the major states of the medieval period, such as England, the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Turks. Most factions are in the game at the start of a campaign, although several such as the Golden Horde emerge later in their historical time. The factions vary in territory, religion and unique units, however many factions posess similarities to one another.

Medieval: Total War also features Historical Campaigns and Battles. Historical campaigns allows the player to control a series of famous battles from a war of the period, for example the Hundred Years War and the Crusades, featuring commanders like Richard the Lionheart. Historic Battles have the player controlling a historical figure in a single battle that occurred in the era, William Wallace and the Battle of Stirling Bridge is one battle contained.

Warfare

Battles take place on a 3D battlefield whenever two opposing armies are located in the same province. Full tactical control is given to the player, although battles can also be automatically resolved from the campaign map, which speeds up games with extremely large confrontations. The terrain shown on each province is represented on the Battle-map, with separate maps for each of the borders between provinces. In total there are over 400 unique maps in the game. Each map has a varied climate, surroundings and building style depending on the part of the world it is located in, for example a map based in the Middle-East will have a hot, sunny climate, sandy terrain and Islamic architecture. Sieges are an important aspect of the game, occurring whenever the defending army elects to retreat inside the castle in the province. The attacker then has to fight there way through the castle's defences, winning the battle once the enemy units have been defeated. In all battles, soldiers can lose enough morale to eventually rout off the battlefield. The opposing army can capture routing enemy units and ransom them back to the owning faction, with important generals worth a great amount of florins, the games currency. Units can be grouped together and formed into a variety of different formations, for advantages in different situations.

Land Warfare in Medieval: Total War can have hundreds of units on one map

Campaign

The campaign takes place on the strategy map, where the player controls construction, unit recruitment and controls the movement of armies, fleets and agents in the provinces that the player controls. The game contains hundreds of connected buildings and units, in a tech tree, which can be constructed in every province on the map. There is no specific technology research, but several advances, such as gunpowder, do become available over time. Castles are the base building in the game, with players having to upgrade to the next castle level to be able to build more advanced buildings, upgrades to the castle can be built such as a curtain wall and guard towers. Many buildings are either economic, such as Trading Posts, which generate money or military, which allow the training of more advanced unit types. Trading can occur between different factions provinces that have established trade routes by land or sea between them, unique trade goods are located in several provinces. There are many common unit types, although several, such as Spanish Jinetes, are unique units restricted to a single faction or units that can only be trained within a single province. Each of the units in the game has different strengths and weaknesses, such as Knights being stronger against Men-at-arms. ^[5][6]Rebellions can occur if the loyalty of a particular province falls too low, with a rebel army appearing in the province to attempt to assume control from the owners. Civil Wars can occur if several generals commanding large armies have low loyalty, attacking the ruling monarch. During a civil war, generals with higher loyalty will remain under control of the current ruler, while those with low loyalty will join the rebellion. The player is given the choice to back either the current rulers or the rebels. It had been planned to allow other kingdoms who had established a prior claim to the throne by marriage to princesses to join in a civil war to claim the throne for themselves. However, this was never implemented. Faction leaders, e.g. kings, emperors, sultans, and their family lead free elite units of their own. These 'royal units', such as Royal Knights, are more powerful than other unit types, but make them more expensive when training normally.

Navy

Ships can be built and organised into fleets, used to control the games sea-regions. Fleets can engage sea battles with foreign fleets - although unlike land battles these are resolved by the computer, and secure sea-lanes between several provinces. Sea-lanes are formed by fleets in adjacent sea regions, which allows trade and troop movement between provinces that have constructed a port.

Holy Wars

Crusades may be carried out by a faction through the construction of one by a province’s Chapter House. Once built, a target province for the crusade must be approved by the Pope, in the form of a donation to the Papacy. Military units may then be added to the crusade, which can peacefully cross provinces in the direct course to its target if the owner has allowed the crusade to pass. Only one crusade may be active for each faction at any one time.

Muslim factions have access to Jihads, which function similarly to crusades. Jihads may only be used to recapture former provinces, but do not require an additional cost, as there is no central religious authority for Muslim factions. Muslim factions may launch multiple Jihads at a time.

When first initiated, a Crusade or Jihad begins with a randomly generated core of soldiers; which may include un-trainable units such as religious fanatics and knights of crusading orders i.e. Teutonic Knights. Other units, from the same religion, may join voluntarily as a holy war proceeds through each province, although these units may desert from the war if it does not reach its destination quickly.

Non-military units

Non-military units, collectively referred to as 'agents', may be trained. The types of agent a faction is able to produce depends on its religion, but all factions have emissaries, spies and assassins available to them. Emissaries can conduct tasks such as start alliances between two factions, or bribe foreign armies. Spies allow detailed information to be collected from foreign provinces or characters, while assassins can attempt to kill both foreign and domestic units. Christian factions also have access to bishops, cardinals, inquisitors, grand inquisitors and princesses (who must be born, and cannot be trained). Bishops, cardinals and inquisitors increase the religious zeal of a province, with Inquisitors able to root out heresy and attempt to remove characters with little faith. Princesses function similar to emissaries, but are also able to be married to domestic or foreign generals.

Character Traits

Every character in the game can gain different types of “Traits”, labelled as “Vices and Virtues”, which define the characters personality and actions in the game. These traits can be acquired seemingly randomly, through actions that the player has no awareness of, or may be given to the character through actions in the game. For example, a general that retreats often in battle will gain the “coward” trait, decreasing his army’s morale, while a successful assassin will gain the “superior assassin” trait, increasing his chances of success.

These personality traits often influence characters attributes, which indicate characters skill in several areas, such as command and piety. Attributes directly influence characters actions in game, e.g. command improves the general’s skill on the battlefield, while piety improves the characters ability to spread their religion.

Occasionally in the game, a character will be trained bearing the name of a famous historical figure, with larger than normal starting abilities. A general such as Richard the Lionheart or Saladin are great military commanders, while a bishop trained as Thomas à Becket will have a higher piety than normal.

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