TROY: A Total War Saga

[Gusington]

I just did too, while dealing with storm damage and doing a few things for work. Gotta keep priorities!

[Bison]

I blew through a good portion of my annual gaming budget on LotR minis. This one will wait in my dreams for a major sale unfortunately.

[Martok]

Started a campaign in the historical mode as Hector.  It looks good so far. 

My most immediate, specific impression is that figuring out the economy in Troy is going to take a little getting used to, what with needing to manage multiple resources: food, wood, stone, gold, and bronze.  Fortunately, I play Stellaris, so I'm not wholly unprepared.   

[Gusington]

I poked around it a little bit yesterday too. It is uber-slick...but that is coming from someone who plays Attila: TW and Medieval 2 more than any of the others, so I am still living in the dim past. Still haven't touched Three Kingdoms!

I have never been interested in the Troy era but now I am. I know it is centuries before Persia became a threat to the Greeks, but is there some other faction here that is the 'big evil menace' a la Persia, the Huns or the Mongols in other games?

[Martok]

I poked around it a little bit yesterday too. It is uber-slick...but that is coming from someone who plays Attila: TW and Medieval 2 more than any of the others, so I am still living in the dim past. Still haven't touched Three Kingdoms!

Yeah, the game looks good, and -- importantly for me, at least -- it sounds good too.  I don't remember who's doing the soundtracks for the TW franchise these days, but I'm loving the music in Troy. 


You definitely need to check out Three Kingdoms at some point.  I'll be fairly astonished if you don't dig it. 

I have never been interested in the Troy era but now I am. I know it is centuries before Persia became a threat to the Greeks, but is there some other faction here that is the 'big evil menace' a la Persia, the Huns or the Mongols in other games?

If you mean like a massive "crisis"-style invasion in-game, I don't believe there is one, no. 

The nearest major power back then was the Hittite Empire over in Anatolia, but they didn't seem to have much direct interest in the Aegean.  They were more concerned with the Egyptians at the time, and (to a lesser extent) the Babylonians. 

[Gusington]

^Thanks Martok. The soundtrack is really being pushed by CA...you can buy it on CD or vinyl! I haven't heard it yet but I am expecting a lot of stringed instruments.

[Martok]

While again it's not my bag, I can sort of see the appeal for those diving into the MYTHOS campaign. 

Incidentally, I played a bit more Troy earlier today.  I'm probably just delusional, but I feel like I'm starting to get at least a marginal handle on what I'm doing now.  Perhaps more pertinently, I'm beginning to enjoy myself. 


I know not everyone is going to love it, but I'm starting to dig the multiple-resource economy, and how it forces you to really plan/budget carefully when it comes to recruiting troops and constructing buildings, as well as how it can factor into your diplomatic dealings.  There's a sense of genuinely beneficial mutual trade with other factions for different resources, such as actually existed in the late Bronze Age (though it's obviously simplified and on a far smaller scale in-game).  Score some definite points for atmosphere/immersion. 

I also feel compelled to add how happy I am with the diplomacy model (which CA pretty much lifted wholesale from 3KTW), as you now see a numerical representation of how happy/unhappy a faction is with your current proposal.  The addition of the "make this work" button to the diplomacy screen is a godsend as well.  I realize taking the guesswork out of diplomatic negoatiations is hilariously unrealistic, but it's a huge QoL improvement in terms of gameplay.  I sincerely hope this remains the model for all Total War games going forward. 


Anyway, those are my thoughts/impressions thus far.  Am planning to dive back in later this evening. 

[Gusington]

^The monsters and their dynamics look awesome - better than anything in the WH games, to me at least. This will get me playing sooner...

[Martok]

The devs talk about the Divine Will mechanic, and how it was revamped for MYTHOS: 


https://www.totalwar.com/blog/troy-divine-will-system-tutorial/




More specifically, those playing the new mythic campaign will have access to "Divine Boons", special army abilities granted directly by whichever gods your faction worships.  You can only employ one Boon per battle, but they can be pretty powerful. 

[Gusington]

Very cool mechanic.

[Bison]

How does everyone feel about the game now that the hype train has left the station?

[Gusington]

Haven't fired it up yet :/

[Martok]

My TL;DR recommendation:  Get it, but wait for a sale. 


Of course, I only have several hours in the game so far (my potato doesn't run it very well), and I've only played -- and only ever *will* play -- the historical campaign.  So you probably want to take my comments with at least a grain of salt.  That having been said, I've generally liked what I've seen thus far. 

[Martok]

Rhesus & Memnon are coming to Troy's defense: 



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1553060/A_Total_War_Saga_TROY__Rhesus__Memnon/

https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-troy-rhesus-memnon-faq/

In addition, the accompanying free update will add new features such as Island Trading, Settlement Abandonment, and Auto-resolve Predictions (like what was added to WH2) -- all features that will be very welcome to players (including myself). 




As for the pending DLC, I'm mostly happy about it, though I do have some mixed feelings... 


On the one hand, I'm genuinely glad to see CA still supporting and making DLC for Troy.  Just as importantly, both of these Lords/Heroes are accurate to the "lore" (they have fairly significant roles in Homer's epic). 

On the other hand, it seems an odd choice to add more Trojan Heroes/factions, when -- by pretty much all accounts -- the existing Trojan factions already make out far better than their Achaean (Greek) counterparts on average.  This new DLC appears to merely stack the deck further in their favor, whilst making things more difficult for the Greeks.  Hopefully CA has plans to balance this out in some fashion. 

[Gusington]

The Ethiopians were a power that far back?? Wow.