Total War Rome 2 Hands-on

We spend some time with the campaign and build Rome in a day.

Even in a season seemingly dominated by next-gen anticipation, Creative Assembly's Total War Rome 2 demands to be noticed. The original Rome was, in the minds of many fans, the series' best and most popular installment, and the upcoming sequel benefits from all the lessons the developers have learned over the last ten years. We've played through the tutorial campaign a handful of times, and are even more excited now to get our hands on the final game.

The tutorial is a sort of limited campaign designed to teach you the basics. If you remember the more direct A-to-B approach of the storied campaigns in the Empire expansion, Napoleon, you'll have a sense of what to expect here. Players take on the role of Silanus, an otherwise unremarkable patrician who is thrust into command during the final years of the Samnite Wars. Rome at this point is really just a small city state surrounded by hostile neighbors. Capua is an ally to the south, as are the Lucanians, but the Samnites have captured Rome's general and are now marching on the city itself. Silanus not only has to stop the invasion of Rome, but then turn the tables and lead a Roman counterattack on the Samnites.

As with Napoleon, Silanus spends much of the early part of the campaign just following orders; he won't be issuing civic construction orders or planning out decades of tech research. No, here he simply takes the army he's given and goes where he's told. After a few first successes build Rome's confidence in his abilities, the tutorial opens up more options. The idea is to gradually introduce game mechanics in a controlled environment that gives new players a foundation to understand what the Total War games are all about, while also giving veteran players an introduction to the new features and setting the stage for the grand campaign, which picks up in 272BC, just as the tutorial campaign ends.

In the first battle, Silanus is trying to lift a siege using just a handful of infantry units. As he defeats small pockets of enemy units, he's given skirmishers, and then cavalry, and eventually ballistae. While each unit is given a basic introduction in a specific context, the battle here is much more open-ended than the "go here, go there" tutorial from the original Rome. Silanus might cross the river to join forces with the city garrison, which is what he's told to do, but he might also decide to engage enemy forces in the rear on their side of the river. It's a nice concession to players who may already be familiar with the general pattern of these games and aren't interested in simply going through the motions.

After winning that battle, Silanus finds himself in charge of the army marching against the Samnites. There's not much of a plot to spoil here, but the general trend is to march from one enemy town to the next as you slowly make your way to the Samnium stronghold at Bovianum. As expected in a tutorial, everything is very linear, both geographically and narratively, so there's not much chance of getting lost on the way. Helpful voice-overs and bits of story text add a bit of drama to the events and definitely help set the mood.

More importantly, they teach you how to play the game. Silanus' first job is to understand army stances. Rome 2 allows each army to switch among a variety of postures that indicate what the army is focused on for that season. If the army is defending a pass or river crossing, it can fortify, which gives is significant defensive bonuses in battle. If the army is trying to recruit new units, it enters muster stance, which prohibits all movement but allows new units to be recruited directly through the army's general. In friendly territory, these units are drawn from nearby towns. In hostile territory, these units are expensive mercenaries. Armies also suffer attrition in hostile territory, and there are special stances that allow those armies to raid the enemy countryside for supplies.

After building up a sizable force and repelling a Samnite attack in a narrow pass leading to Rome, Silanus has a few options to consider with regard to this captives. He can release them, which doesn’t do much for Rome but it might soften the hearts of the Samnites. Or could simply enslave them, sending them to boost the economy (and the potential for a slave revolt) in nearby friendly towns. Or he could simply execute them, which will enrage the Samnites but might make some of the Samnites other enemies friendlier to Rome. Though the tutorial doesn't include any real diplomatic options, Rome 2 will not only give the player more detailed information on why a given faction hates another, but will also include diplomatic AI that understands the relationships of other powers to each other. In other words, the Samnites won't simply base decisions on how they feel about the Romans, but will also consider how other people feel about the Samnites and Romans.

After enslaving the captives (because, Romans), Silanus goes on the offensive and marches south towards the nearest enemy towns. Here he faces a similar decision to the one made about captives. Does he merely occupy the towns he captures, or does he loot them, damaging buildings and public order for the sake of a bit of cash. Or does he send a strong message by destroying all the buildings and killing all the people. If public order drops too low, rebel armies appear and begin causing trouble behind friendly lines. At that point, it's either march part of the main army back to deal with the problem, or raise a new army to quash them.

Good leaders shouldn't let things get that far. To ease the burden of late game management and per-province tinkering, Rome 2 includes a simple global tax slider that shows all your income and expenses, as well as the overall level of public order. During the tutorial, the entire problem of unrest can be addressed with this single tool. It even reveals the province currently experiencing the worst disorder, so special accommodations can be made. The tutorial also doesn't include a working trade model, which will be part of the game's diplomacy system.

The limited scope of the tutorial also means there's not much time to dig into the tech tree. There are two main categories here, military and civil, and each has three branches. On the military side, Rome can focus on management, professionalizing and standardizing the army and navy to make upkeep and recruitment more efficient. Or Rome can focus more on tactics, improving the speed and power of all of its units. If the campaign is likely to focus on cities, Rome can build up its siege technology, improving options on offense or defense. The civil tree divides up into economy, which boosts tax revenue; philosophy, which improves order and makes certain agent actions less expensive; and construction, which allows for faster growth and the spread of culture.

By the time Silanus marches on Bovianum, he'll find himself at the head of a large, well-equipped army, supported by a stable civil foundation. He and his army will also have earned special traits and characteristics that personalize the army. Maybe Silanus can wring every last sesterce from a looted town. Or maybe he inspires such dread in his enemies that they immediately suffer a permanent morale penalty. His troops will also have learned new skills, excelling at siegecraft, or moving more quickly on the march, or improving the reload speed of their ranged units.

As Rome emerges victorious from the Samnite Wars, she finds herself much more secular on the Italian peninsula. What started as a simple city is now starting to look like an empire, and bringing the Romans into contact with rivals in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. The player will have to decide where the game goes from here. Will Rome's alliances with the Greeks to the south draw them into a war with Carthage? Will a concerted effort against the empires of the Far East leave Rome open to attack from the Germanic barbarians on the other side of the Alps? And will the divisive, factional politics within Rome eclipse the danger posed by any external enemies?

We'll have answers to all those questions when Rome 2 is released September 3.

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