Found this while I was on the total war forums. Thought I'd share with you guys in case any of you are interested in Rome 2. This game will be [u]amazing[/u] Campaign Mechanics:•• Campaign turns will be 1 year each • Rome 2 will start around 275BC to 264BC and will be roughly 250-300 turns in length • Regions are now grouped into provinces. Each has a single administration centre, into which the surrounding regions report. The goal is to reduce some of the area micromanagement that occurs in vast empires. • Another goal from this new system is to avoid the relentless siege battles of Shogun 2. It’s believed that players will attempt to take the smaller regions first, and tempt the opposing armies out of their castles to fight on the field. • In diplomacy, you can now ask an ally to attack a specific town, at a specific time. (for better synchronization) • When moving armies over water, you no longer need to load them into a separate navy. They will automatically enter transport ships. You will still require a navy to protect them. • The factions in the game are more clearly defined with starting bonuses and traits. There are ‘flavors’ of faction which should help organize your thoughts. For instance, Barbarians like the Gauls will have similar traits. In the barbarian’s case, that includes a +2 happiness in every settlement for every faction they’re fighting with. • Naval battles are now fought over naval ‘regions’, rather than having a completely fluid ocean. “This was decided because having a completely organic map wouldn’t be • Naval warfare will incorporate ramming and boarding actions. The Corvus was hinted at. • Campaign map goes much farther east, though they would not elaborate how far • Internal conflict and civil war will act as a check to balance gameplay should the player's empire become a rich military juggernaut. • Navies are able to control sea regions, and must be forcibly dislodged. • The system for seasonal rotation is still being adjusted to conform to the 1 turn/1 year play style. • You can put your navies in different modes like the armies, like raiding. • Characters have more movement points than armies. One example I talked with Mike Simpson about is Scipio Africanus where he gave up command of an army in Spain and was in Sicily in a few months training a new army for the African invasion. In game terms he boarded a ship and sailed to Sicily in the one turn/year. • Armies can move over rivers without building boats/bridges • Attrition will not be vastly different from how it was in previous Total War titles. There are of course differences (including different types of attrition), but you will still find it rather familiar. • The map will go farther east than RTW. • Armies are ‘raised’ on the field, and recruitment occurs at the general of that army. They’re not grown as single units in towns. Again, the idea is to reduce some of the micromanagement (‘Caesar doesn’t give a hoot about an individual’ says Al) but also to create a stronger personality to your armies. • Armies have their own skill trees, with improvements earned through battle. • Armies have at least three possible stances that you can place them in during a turn. I’m not certain the mechanics of how they will play out in the campaign are quite fixed, but it was hinted that switching stances would take a turn. They are... normal, ambush (hidden from the enemy’s sight), forced march (quicker to move, but if caught on the hop, they’ll suffer diminished combat effectiveness), defensive (given a fort or palisade to defend from) • Mercenaries will make a return • Every general is affiliated with a ‘party’ within their faction, such as one of the major Roman or Carthaginian dynasties or the royal household of an Eastern kingdom and their court rivals: as these characters act around the campaign map or retire to the homeland to scheme, they contribute to their party’s overall influence within the faction, with repercussions that will carry on from one generation to the next. • Military traditions established by armies and fleets over the years also persist beyond the lifespan of any one character or unit, a legacy handed down the generations by those who fought and died for the good of their people. This process will be slower than that of characters gaining ranks, but can span the entire length of a campaign: even if a military force is disbanded or destroyed utterly, it may be re-established once more, the past effects of its history and traditions intact. • Forces effectively move in a state of battle-readiness but may be ordered into a ‘forced march’ (armies)or a ‘double-time’ (fleets) stance. Their movement extents are vastly increased, allowing them to assemble from afar in preparation for invasion or to support threatened possessions, albeit at the expense of their offensive and defensive capabilities: long-distance headshotting will not be a valid tactic. Battle Mechanics: • During battles, units will have true line of sight, the distance of which they can detect changes according to their role. Armies can therefore be hidden behind trees or in valleys, and will require the use of scouts to be spotted. • Armies that catch another in ambush will be able to place deployables like burning boulders, and place their forces all over the map. The army caught in the ambush won’t be placed at the other end of the battle map - they’ll arrive in a marching formation. • When Al charged a group of archers that were raining fire arrows on his infantry, a new dynamic appeared: the horse didn’t stop once they’d broken the line - they wheeled around as a unit and reformed for a second charge. • More importance to the depth, mass and formation of units so you will see a heavy unit pushing a lighter one back in combat for example. • Formations throw spears on the run • Order troops from the overhead tactical map • Baggage Trains • Multiple capture points on the battle map • Persistent terrain for battle maps • Ambushes • Manual firing of artillery (siege weapons) • Individual solider height will vary • Unit names will be their original names, but in English. I.e. Oathsworn, Naked Warriors, Painted Ones, Heroic Nobles, Sword Brothers, Thorax Swordsmen, etc. • The tactical map gives you a much more detailed view of the battle from above. We are currently only considering allowing movement orders to be given to units in this view. Orders related to Facings, unit depth and width, and special abilities will all take place in the normal game view. The tactical map can be accessed via a button on the HUD or via a hotkey. The transition to and from this view is swift and seamless. • Cavalry smashes through enemy formations now. • Barbarian berserkers are back, and they are human steamrollers • Infantry units use their shields defensively when under archer attack • Switching in and out of testudo is very fluid and quick • Roman soldiers can throw their pilum while running • NO destructible environments (one of the questions was about starting forest fires during combat; CA was worried it would create too much havoc and detract from the combat) • The Line of Sight element was expanded upon - if your soldiers cannot see the enemy, neither can you • Flaming Pigs are coming back! • Enemy AI will be more intuitive; i.e., attempting to outflank you during pitched battles, or flooding a wall breach during a siege. • Terrain covered with dead bodies will become bloodstained, but it is very mild. Craig from CA confirmed that a blood DLC is likely. • Routing unit flags not in the battle, may be added later (the unit flag turning to white) The unit flag just goes away and the men run. • Arrows bounce off armor and shields. Was pretty cool to watch when zoomed in. Some stuck and others bounced off. • Seasons will show up in battles. How exactly this works is still being developed • Battle maps will look just as good as the stuff you have seen so far. In fact, there is a tile for the area the Teutoburg Forest and if you start a battle in that area, you will get the same map as the historical battle is fought on. MISC: • PC specs are being developed toward the high end and refined for the low end. Example: People with high end machines will see the technology being pushed pretty close to what can be done. But, people with low end machines AND INCLUDING INTEGRATED GRAPHIC CHIPS will be able to run the game with graphic settings that look good. Mike was very specific about this that they worked with Intel and other chip makers to bring the low end, generic machines to be able to run RTW2 with as great as graphics as possible. • Multiplayer will be getting some TLC from the developers