As the title states, why isn't the Total War online scene more popular. I've always thought on paper this should be such a draw to nearly everyone interested in this type of game. The scale of the battles and spectacle is great, graphics are good, unit variety is good. There's no way all these people playing the game are just interested in the single player, the overworld is barebones surely no one gains satisfaction from how shallow it is, and the battles vs AI play out the exact same way how don't people get bored of it? I always get the idea I want to play the single player but I just end up quitting after the first few fights it's so boring.
Is it due to CA's mismanagement or are people really not interested in actual strategy/tactics vs another human?
people want to beat up a braindead AI and call it an achievement.
Also TWH2 had a very active MP tourney scene, but TWH3 dropped the ball and many left due to the constant shitty balancing and performance issues.
>people want to beat up a braindead AI and call it an achievement.
I can't understand it, it's so tedious and boring how can anyone enjoy it.
Because playing against another player carries the possibility of defeat. For some this is too much too bare.
Because games like Total War, paradox grand strategy and Civ are all bad for multiplayer. RTS is a million times better genre if you want strategy multiplayer games.
RTS games, at least SC2, have very little Strategy and it's much more foced on the macro and micro ability rather than picking a winning strategy. Just look at all the challenge runs people have done to GM, they are choosing "bad/suboptimal" strategies but they still manage to win due to their superior execution.
I also would have thought something like Total War battles would be more fun and less sweaty, requiring less mental badwidth from the player in comparison to asiaticclick RTS's.
opposite, you are mistaking tactics with strategy, winning trough superior execution is a valid strategy.
So if you want tactics you either play chess or video games like dominions, total war multiplayer is for total morons
>winning trough superior execution is a valid strategy.
I disagree completely, if you have a stratey game where X unit beats Y unit you should not be able to win a game by massing Y units while the opponent masses X unit and just win by dancing around with superior micro.
nta, but 'enemy produces unit X, I'll produce unit Y to beat him' sound like legit goyslop
>Is it due to CA's mismanagement
If you're ever wondering why x or y thing never happened to TW, this is always the best answer.
Reminder that if you have never played an online battle in Total War, you have never tasted its true potential. Total War really becomes great when you're dealing with actual skilled human players instead of moronic AI. This is where Total War battles truly shine.
Tourneys literally have to place arbitrary caps on what types and how many of each type of unit you can build because the core game play and unit balance is fricking dogshit. They literally have to enforce limits on kiting units because the game is so structurally shit and lacking in proper counters/unit weaknesses/specialized roles, that all games would result in boring kitefests.
have they considered allowing people to play the game and seeing what meta involves from thar? imagine trying to ref a fricking computer game. morons.
I cant imagine it ending as anything but single entity/hero unit spam with heal spells. I think automatch has no restrictions on units, but I'm not sure what thr meta actually looks like since I never play it or TW in general.
This. For example in Rome elephants are just better. That's it. You will lose if you pick anything else. And one faction has the best elephants, Seleucids. Pick Seleucids and you auto-win. There's nothing you can do, not even phalanxes backed up by archers. Incendiary pigs don't work either.
For MP battles, many factions rely on the "Pay to win" DLC units to be competitive. Balance is dogshit.
There are so many cheesey compositions, if you want a decent game you need to play with premade lobbies, and agree on ruleset. Banning or implementing a unit cap on certain units. Gentlemens rules about camping and kiting units. etc etc..
ditto for you, casual.
People on multiplayer play on the most boring and cheesy ways possible. It becomes a game of learning to perform the cheeses instead of strategy
>inb4 that is every rts ever
Because TW is a mix of a turn-based strategy map and a real-time battle map. Multiplayer is too long and boring if everyone plays on the turn-based map, so the multi is just real-time battles which while okay, are not great compared to purpose built RTS.
There's a fundamental issue with the sole MP modes in that the state of your army at the end of the battle doesn't matter, only that you win that particular fight.
It misses out on a layer of strategy that the campaign map has where you want to minimize losses as much as possible since you aren't just fighting in a vacuum.
This does tie back into the multimodes since some units are balanced (lmao) by offsetting their strength with glacial replenishment times. High elfs are a good example of this. Their units generally match or exceed their counterparts handily but every lose takes longer to recover from on the campaign, a problem which isn't present in MP battles.
troonyhammer killed the franchise
Saved the franchise.
how can they have saved it when it's now dead?
Because like another anon posted, doing MP battles has no context. You have your army that you build to the gold cap have a battle and then it's done and forgotten. There's no context behind the battle, no consequences for victory or failure, no wider strategic meaning, and heavy artificial restrictions with respect to the gold cap. If you love battles so much you just want to play them over and over against players then that's fine, but I find them hard to enjoy without some wider context.
>b-but AI is braindead and campaign is shallow
Yeah and? I'm not here to play my games like some stressful competitive asiaticclick moba. I'm playing to relax after a long day, to take my time thinking about where my armies are going to go, to enjoy seeing my faction colours and/or corruption paint the map. I think what people who look down on SP don't seem to comprehend is that playing against other people is intense and stressful and not everyone wants that at all times. If I'm playing against other people, I need to be at my best, I need to be highly focused, I can't make any mistakes, I need to be on top of the current meta units and tactics, I need to be putting in enough hours to stay competitive. If I'm playing SP, I can just enjoy myself. I have breathing room in battles to see my units fighting close-up and the effects of spells.
Why are you whining about people enjoying a niche corner of an already niche hobby? Everyone agrees multiplayer total warhammer is a tiny minority with no bearing on the game itself, and you gave your explanation in the first sentence. Why go on to seethe about imaginary accusations leveled by a group so insignificant they may as well not exist? What the frick are you worried about?
>imaginary accusations
Are you moronic? OP literally said the campaign was barebones and the very next person had a jab at people who play SP.
>waah stop bullying MP why u so mad
You stupid fricking moron I did no such thing. Where did I whine about the existence of multiplayer? Where did I ever say or even imply multiplayer shouldn't exist? Where did I express worry about anything to do with single-player and its future? Some people in the thread are astounded that anyone enjoys single-player because of how shit they think it is, and the follow up in my post was covering that particular point. Do you have no reading comprehension whatsoever?
>OP literally said the campaign was barebones and the very next person had a jab at people who play SP.
Is that all it takes? Some randos off in some corner of a barely active board?
>You stupid fricking moron I did no such thing.
Anon, you are presently seething about imaginary people playing multiplayer. Quit being obtuse; you entered a thread with people whining that the lack of an online presence who claim singleplayer campaigns are trash. And if you're not worried, why bother explaining anything to the ones who don't care? You're just here to fling shit with the other chimpanzees. Go do something you'll enjoy before ranting among morons is the only thing that gives pleasure in your life.
The most fun I had playing TW online, was Napoleon playing as Russia and playing matches with the intention of bayonet charging. Russian line got a slight buff for melee when compared to the other standard line infantry of other countries.
>17 pages of MPBlack person rules just to play online
Lmao frick off
This, and then you win by doing something "forbidden" and they send you a friend request just to shit on you for not knowing the discord troon rules
>waaah they add you to friends and say mean stuff waaaah
lmao.
Multiplayer players in strategy games tend to be socially inept. I love playing multiplayer with a closed off community, but a matchmaker? Miss me with that mental illness roulette