14 DAY TRIAL // I now have three concurrent campaigns of Total War: Rome II going, one as the Romans, which will probably remain abandoned for some time, one as the Carthaginians, in which I got stuck while trying to take Sicily, and another as the Macedonians, which is currently providing serious amount of fun.
I want to try out as many factions as possible to see the variety of experiences they can offer, while playing enough to make sure that I see the depth of the strategy.
And it seems that regardless of the civilization a player loves, Total War: Rome II moves towards a rhythm based on attacks and counterattacks, with even the strongest armies having a hard time sustaining long-term operations in the field.
A 20-unit full stack can take a city or two even while suffering losses, especially if the player has set some money aside in order to recruit mercenaries in the field and replace his most depleted regiments.
But then, the army needs to stop in order to pacify the cities it has taken over or wait for a relief force that can do that in its place.
At the same time, plenty of enemies, including lowly Tylis, have learned to use agents well, sending champions and spies to slow down an advance or reduce the fighting power of my armies.
Money is also tighter than in other Total War titles and each assault needs to exist as only a small piece of a wider tactical plan.
The only problem is that the tactical battles in Rome II are a bit too fast and do not fit well into this picture of careful planning and solid ground work.
No doubt, The Creative Assembly will modify the game to suit the tastes of all categories of players via patches and the community will do it via mods.