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the NBA live 10 demo is good
Downloading the Dirt 2 demo now.
the NBA live 10 demo is good
2k10 combine is sick
Anyone play any of the Total War games? I'm currently playing Medieval II, and love it except that it's too easy against the AI.
Oh, and anyone played Empire - Total War?
Youre in my wheel-house.
Best one is Rome, followed closely by Medieval.
Empire is "meh". Guns kind of ruin it, sadly.
Yeah, I can see that... part of the fun of medieval is charging cavalry into reloading guys with guns, but i'm betting you get slaughtered if you do that in Empire.
Haven't played Rome yet. Have you played any of the Medieval mods? I've heard some of them up the difficulty, which is really what I need. At themonet i control half of Europe from Scotland!
I havent played any mods in a long time for any game (never did like mods, per say).Yeah, I can see that... part of the fun of medieval is charging cavalry into reloading guys with guns, but i'm betting you get slaughtered if you do that in Empire.
Haven't played Rome yet. Have you played any of the Medieval mods? I've heard some of them up the difficulty, which is really what I need. At themonet i control half of Europe from Scotland!
Difficulty is always the problem with these games, youre right. Once you figure the game mechanics out, its paper-rock-scissors and the same armies over and over.
If you like Medieval, get Rome now. Its almost the same game, with greater depth, cooler units, better graphics and a way better Diplomacy system.
Empire is just plain different from any previous TW game. Its still fun, but there is something to be said for soldiers in close quarters and the weight that lends to the game not being there. But, to answer your question, cavalry is still supremely important. Some riflemen are boss defensively. No amount of fire or infantry charges will break them...you have to engage them from the front and rear around with cavalry to route them (like irl).
Artillery is great in Empire, defensive battles are even better this time around, too. A defending army now has the ability to setup defensive emplacements (razor wire, trenches w/sandbags, etc). Artillery is the same, but if you entrench artillery, you cant move it the whole fight (kinda sucks, but you are defending anyway, so pursuit is best done with cavalry anyway). Another cool new feature are the different shots for artillery. Explosive rounds, fire rounds, cannister shot, multi-shot...a few well-placed (and well-timed) artillery shots can literally change the entire battle.
Another cool new feature in Empire is the Technology Tree. You have great people that lend their expertise to one (or more) of the 3 technology categories (military, enlightenment and the 3rd fails me atm...navy, iirc?).
Anyway, the Tech tree would be a bad-ass addition to the old TW games (Rome, Medieval) because it helps differentiate armies. The difference between an army that knows Fire by Rank and one that does not is readily apparent on the field.
It helps create a different kind of game by allowing the player to maybe concentrate on tech-ing up faster than the enemy so they have no interest in engaging you in combat. You can then demand money, territory, technology, etc with the threat of violence (especially weak neighbors, theyre always willing to capitulate to a world power who can walk into their territory).
The devs big addition was navy battles....theyre not nearly as cool as you think they should be. Moreover, the player will usually do FAR worse than the AI would, so its best to simulate those affairs (imo).
One downside to Empire...system requirements are off the charts. Better have a killer rig to run it properly.
I made a 6' PG... trying to play well enough to get him in the first round. So far, high second is the best.
Yeah, I bought Empire: TW and I actually went back to playing Medieval II. Reloaded my system and still havnt re-installed Empire. Its not that its a bad game, It just feels like its missing something, that certain "it" factor.
It being swords, shields and brutal death. Guns just take away from the war experience, imo. Pre-firearms, you had to see the whites of your enemy's eyes and that translates well to video games of TW's scale, I guess.
I just played the Fight Night Round 4 demo.
Man, I'm glad I didn't buy that game. The controls are so incredibly sloppy. It's like trying to eat steak with chopsticks.
i read somewhere ea sports is coming out with an update to give the choice to use buttons to punch. they got alot of complaints for making punches only with analog.
I got Madden 09 now, I like it, it's nice. I also took NBA Live 08 since they werent selling 09 or 2K9 anymore, but I think it sucks. Im waiting for NBA 2k10 to come out. Is NBA live 10 coming out for ps2 btW? some say it will some say it wont.
Any other cool games I should buy?
Resident Evil 4.
That game was very underwhelming.
mate most of those games that require thinkn and strategy...are only good if you have the hax and cheat codes...lolYeah, I can see that... part of the fun of medieval is charging cavalry into reloading guys with guns, but i'm betting you get slaughtered if you do that in Empire.
Haven't played Rome yet. Have you played any of the Medieval mods? I've heard some of them up the difficulty, which is really what I need. At themonet i control half of Europe from Scotland!
aoe2 + aok + aoe3
Does anyone here have Dirt 2? The demo is tight I'm thinking about getting it. I never got the first one cuz instead I got Forza 2 which was probably a mistake.
also does anyone know how much trade in value I can get for Street Fighter 4 and FNR 4? I haven't touched either of those games since a week after they came out.
If you like off-road racing, it's probably a huge step up over anything else out there.
I like the demo, but I'm still probably going to wait for Gran Turismo 5. I saw some NFS: Shift video reviews, and the game looks great but the damage modeling is horrible and doesn't seem to affect the handling of the car no matter how much you damage it.
So I'd say Dirt 2 is probably your best bet right now. The game is GORGEOUS in HD.
You could see what Gamestop will give you for them, and if it's not as much as you think, check out the going rate on ebay. You could probably get more for them on the latter, but if you're going to do it, sell them NOW, while they are relatively new.
NFS is awesome possum. It's also getting better reviews.
Thanks for the excellent rundown!
I'll get Rome as you suggest. I wish the AI diplomacy was smarter in Medieval II, so I'm hoping Rome improves on it.
As for Empire, sounds like they stole some ideas from Civ IV to improve the game, like the tech tree. I'm guessing naval battles aren't much fun because using wind is hard to get a handle on.
Back to Medieval II, I can own full-stack armies from most nations with my small combined-arms armies (I usually go with 3 archers, 4 swordsmen, 2 light and 3 heavy cav), although I'm yet to face the Mongols and Timurids and figure that they might take some cracking. I like to fight battles where I'm outnumbered at least 2-1 as it quickly improves generals and actually provides the odd challenge.
of the classic nations, I find the Poles and Spaniards most annoying with their Jinetes and Polish Nobles, both of which can destroy heavy cav very quickly unless you screen properly with light cav. I most enjoy demolishing huge stacks of Milanese with repeated heavy cav charges from the flanks followed up by swordsmen coming down the guts. You?
I will agree Fight Night round 3 was the shiznit, but dont knock fight night round 4 if you cant ing figure out the controls.
es used the hey-maker in FNR3 like a life line. FNR4, you cant use that and actually have to use skill. If you cant hang then thats on you.... bottom line.
no more bull 20 hey-makers in a row for you punk asses
Only chumps trade in games. Sell that online.
Its honestly been so long since I played Medieval, I dont even remember my army stacks. First, I dont have a good memory. Second, I dont replay games very much. Third, Rome is (imo, dont take offense) better in every way.Thanks for the excellent rundown!
I'll get Rome as you suggest. I wish the AI diplomacy was smarter in Medieval II, so I'm hoping Rome improves on it.
As for Empire, sounds like they stole some ideas from Civ IV to improve the game, like the tech tree. I'm guessing naval battles aren't much fun because using wind is hard to get a handle on.
Back to Medieval II, I can own full-stack armies from most nations with my small combined-arms armies (I usually go with 3 archers, 4 swordsmen, 2 light and 3 heavy cav), although I'm yet to face the Mongols and Timurids and figure that they might take some cracking. I like to fight battles where I'm outnumbered at least 2-1 as it quickly improves generals and actually provides the odd challenge.
of the classic nations, I find the Poles and Spaniards most annoying with their Jinetes and Polish Nobles, both of which can destroy heavy cav very quickly unless you screen properly with light cav. I most enjoy demolishing huge stacks of Milanese with repeated heavy cav charges from the flanks followed up by swordsmen coming down the guts. You?
Now, you want to talk Rome army stacks and matchups, I can do that. But Medieval I havent played in... , 6 years? Maybe more.
Ive played Rome (which came out 3 years ago?) twice in the past 2 months.
I play Civ4 (beyond the sword) about twice a week since release.
I play all TW games the same....defensively. I crank the AI difficulty to max (which isnt impressive) and let it fly. There is a far different "world" map in Rome that allows armies to be positioned inside a territory (unlike Medieval's Chess pieces and territory invasion upon entrance).
So, you can send an invading army into enemy territory. You'll be vastly outnumbered....vastly, especially during the campaign when you start as one of the three Houses of Rome (Julii, Scipii, Brutii) and inevitably the entire power structure turns against you all at once.
The strategy in Rome is more acute than previous TW's. Like I was saying, you send an invading force into enemy territory doesnt automatically initiate a battle...they must either hole up behind their walls (siege, defender) or engage you in the field as an attacker. I always want to be a defender...even when I am in enemy territory.
4 Archers, 8 Praetorians (or lower equivalent), 4 Misc melee attack (gladiators and such, high attack, low defense units) and 4 Cavalry (2 light and 2 heavy, no matter).
As defender, you get to setup for the oncoming attack (per usual). I setup in corners or near features in the land which an army cannot get around. I stash my light cavalry in woods somewhere on the map. I line my Praetorians 2, 4, 2 at 3 lines deep in a "broken U" shape.
I put the archers behind them, flaming arrows, but do not allow them to fire at will.
I put my general behind them. I put one heavy Cav behind each flank of Praetorians (the groups of 2 on the ends). Then I wait.
My large single stack, 20 unit army will usually be engaged by no less than 6-8 20 unit stacks. My defensive configuration is easily beatable by even the AI, but that is the point.
All an army needs is siege weapons....and they bring a whole mess of them. I absorb damage for quite some time from these weapons as the AI positions its army for an assault. As soon as though it looks like the AI has the majority of its army in position, I send the light cavalry out of hiding to hit the seige weapons, hard and fast, not thorough.
Best case, with each charge then move to the next, I take half the crew slowing the rate of fire and severly damagin morale.
Worst case, I have to make more than 3 passes avoiding their ensuing cavalry which most of the time ends with the sacrifice of the light cav.
Once that is done, theyre mine, they just dont know it yet. Roman infantry was unstoppable for its time. Praetorians were the class of Roman infantry. Morale is extremely high, defense is extremely effective.
The AI can literally send wave after wave after wave after reinforcement, after two enemy generals on the field, after wave after wave and they'll never win.
Praetorians do not yield, especially in the presence of a general and their flanks covered. Couple that fact with 4 archer units with flaming arrows that I directly tell who to attack, and I pick the AI's most dangerous units to concentrate their fire on...or, I concentrate on their weakest (break more easily, once one unit routes, the likelihood of the others around it increase).
At some point, the AI always gets desperate. The charge their elite infantry with their cavalry. Thats where my fresh, unmolested heavy Cav come in. I wait for their cav to hit my line, they move fast so archers arent particularly effective on them. So I wheel one Cav out and "bounce" down the line, quick strikes...no long engagements. I am looking to break morale, not pile up a body count (yet). When he makes it the other side of my line, he takes the place of my second Cav unit, who wheels out and "bounces" down the line.
In a pinch or somehow my line does look a little shaky, thats where my General comes in.
I do this all day, minimal losses,
This can go on forever and my army will never yield. I routinely have to route my archers off the field only because they run out of ammo.
At some point, the enemy is in a dire morale situation, with 15-30 units in total flight. Thats when you rack up the body count and get your general the experience he needs.
I kill every last mother er I can on the field. I run my 3 cav units (2 Heavy, General) to the three unoccupied corners in an attempt to funnel the routing armies in a particular direction...namely toward my now super-extended infantry tht takes up half the length of the battefield when stretched out to be only two deep and in "loose" formation.
Its a slaughterhouse at that point. The battles usually end with 10:1 kill ratios, but its not uncommon for 20:1 with a fully upgraded army like I described above (Praetorians instead Hastati, Heavy Cav instead of Light Cav, etc).
Anyway,
/lengthy geek post
Last edited by DarkReign; 09-16-2009 at 10:26 AM.
Something like that for infantry config.Code:_____ _____ _____ _____ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
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