![]() ![]() This is the first full Total War game developed by Creative Assembly Sofia, and their ideas for Troy reflect a great understanding of what makes a good Total War tick. The fact that Troy will be given away free on the Epic Store when it launches is unlikely to dispel that sense. The Saga series has been pitched as a place to have more focused campaigns that fit with previous games’ designs and mechanics, but it’s easy to be cynical and say these are budget Total Wars. Thrones of Britannia was a poor opening salvo for the new spinoff series, and the bar for Total War has been raised pretty substantially by the combination of terrific expansions for Total War: Warhammer 2 and overall excellence of Total War: Three Kingdoms. That track record weighs particularly heavily on Troy because the Total War Sagas remain an unproven concept. Hopefully this AI simplicity is mitigated in the game’s final release, but there’s a long track record of otherwise promising Total War games getting dragged down by haphazard, scrum-like battles. The Greeks broke against this formation like a wave. But when I played as Hector, it was simply a matter of arranging my troops in a strong formation and putting them in “guard mode” so they wouldn’t chase defeated enemy units automatically. When I played as Achilles, the mighty Trojan guards were baited toward every point on the compass, making it easy for Achilles and his Myrmidons to swarm poor Hector to death. I could keep a rein on my units and keep units from chasing skirmishers to the ends of the earth, but the AI’s grip on its formations unraveled as units reacted to immediate threats. Which is well and good, but will the AI be able to take advantage of all this? As much as it was exciting talking to Georgieva and Vasilev about their plans for the game, I have to admit that the battle itself unfolded in the familiar, haphazard fashion of most Rome 2 battles. Taken together, ambush and hit-and-run tactics sound like they will be much more viable in Troy than they’ve been in other games in the series. Furthermore, muddy ground will hit heavy units with massive speed and fatigue penalties making it harder for them to maneuver to face threats and making them less effective once the battle is joined. ![]() Now, there is always the possibility that lighter units are concealed somewhere in there, ready to unload devastating flanking fire if they’re not scouted. ![]() Forests can conceal troops but as a rule if you can see open fields, you can see any enemy units that might be lurking there. With tall grass, even open ground becomes dangerous, which it almost never is in Total War games. Some of this sounds like it will feature in Troy as well (Milcho’s description of Odysseus certainly calls to mind the Wood Elves or Skaven of Total War: Warhammer 2) but the new terrains will also provide further dangers for armored units. Most Total War games have addressed this by making heavy units prohibitively expensive early in the game, or by introducing faction or commander abilities that massively buff skirmishers above their statistical strength. Eventually the skirmishers run out of ammo or space and then they get smashed by even depleted assault units. With limited slots for different units in every army, most Total Games end up rewarding armies who overload on heavily armored elites, because even if they absorb more punishment due to their disadvantages, they are far less likely to break and are more durable than the light units who run rings around them. Vasilev was particularly excited by the addition of tall grass and mud, both of which serve to increase the potential for skirmishers to turn the battle and reduce the advantages enjoyed by the game’s heaviest units. ![]()
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