Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Total War: Warhammer is real

It is real.
We knew that it was coming, but accidentally leaked on a few websites today is official news that TW: Warhammer is coming in the near future.  I've shared quite a few articles on this subject already so I'll make this one brief.

In my opinion, the design philosophy behind the Total War games work perfectly with Warhammer.  In WHFB, you have combat resolution which is played out perfectly in Total War because of how the morale system works.  Unfortunately, I don't believe the current software engine that's present in Rome2 will work if they want to add flying units, dragons and other monsters.  They really need a engine that can handle those kind of units to make the visuals convincing.  Otherwise, it's going to look like any other mod.

Aside from the engine, a few other things will need extreme thought in order for the title to be successful.  The biggest one is probably the SP campaign, the setting in relation to the current End Times scenarios.  How many factions will have in the game?  Will it be before or after the End Times?  Personally, I think it should sync up with 9th Ed.'s ideas of the future of Warhammer.

My other concerns lie around the design mechanics more than other aspects.  How will CA handle lords and heroes?  How will they make them stand out on the battlefield in such a way that's far more than your generic general's unit in most Total Wars?  How about challenges?  What about magic items?  Speaking of magic, how will they handle it to play fluidly in an RTS?  I have my own ideas of course, but I'm really waiting for CA to shed some light on how these complicated mechanics are going to work.

Warhammer is a world where epic heroes fight among thousands of troops, escorted by terrible monsters, with magic and sorcery flying all over the place.  While I believe CA will be able to do the title justice, I'm just hoping that their vision of the game lines up with.. well, mine.

Only time will tell.  I'll share some of my ideas in the future.

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