Total War Blog

Hi guys,

To kick
start our new Official
CA Discussion Thread on our Forums, we asked the community
what they would like to find out more about regarding Medieval II: Total War
Kingdoms. 

Your replies were fast and plentiful, and before long we
had four pages full of great questions.  Instead of just picking out a
couple of questions from the list, Brendan Rogers (aka Caliban) from CA Oz
stepped in and kindly answered 31 of them!  For the benefit of those who
may have missed it, here is the Q&A in full:

“Hi everyone,

I
thought I would stop by and answer some of the questions raised in this thread.
I’m really sorry if I haven’t answered your question, I will try and answer the
most commonly asked questions.

How will you be able to control
multiple armies on the field?
Via the control multiple armies
feature. You will have to option to control the reinforcement armies before you
enter the battlefield. From there you can swap between armies and issue orders
to your reinforcements.

Will
you be able to fight the new factions against the old factions in multiplayer?

Yes,
in multiplayer and custom battles you can choose most of the older factions to
play as.

Will the new “control
reinforcements” option be available in the “core” (original)
campaign?

We are currently looking into
it.

Will
boiling-oil be brought back?

Yes
Boiling oil will be back and available in all campaigns except Americas

Will
there be historical battles?
There
will be some multiplayer scenarios as well as some single player scenario
battles. But no historical re-creations.

Will
there be a multiplayer mode?
Yes,
you can play multiplayer battles in each campaign as well as the hotseat mode.

Will
money will be a problem for the Teutonic Order, which can only build castles
?
Castles
will be the main source of unit production for the Order, however we are now
looking at giving them the ability to upgrade their cities to increase their
income. The outcome will be decided based on balance testing.

The
English will have troubles with the 2h bug again, or will the patch fix that in
both games ? 
The
2H will be fixed in 1.2 as well as any future releases including Kingdoms.

The
game will have a new soundtrack or use the one from Medieval 2 ?
Yes,
there are new sound effects and so far, 35 new songs for Kingdoms composed
in-house by our award winning Sound guys

Also,
during the Crusades campaign will European crusading armies appear at random
times throughout the campaign?

Yes,
you will see a host of European factions arrive to take part in the crusade.
Off the top of my head, Venice, England and France.

How
many of the features in the expansion will be added also to the original game?

This
is still unknown as of yet and being discussed due to balance reasons

Will
you release the ***** Hot-Seat before Kingdoms so in the expansion we will see
a real Multiplayer Campaign

You
can still access the hotseat mode via command lines, but it won’t be fully
implemented until Kingdoms

*
Will factions from the core game have new units, any new siege units, ships??

Yes!
But you will all have to wait to find out what

Will
Kingdoms be fully modable and will the new features be hardcoded? For example,
could I make Ireland have no family tree or give Norway the ability to change
religions if I wanted to?

In
the Britannia Campaign we know of 5 factions that will be playable, will it be
possible to add (mod) other factions into this?

You
will be able to mod Kingdoms the same as M2 vanilla, there won’t be any
restrictions from modding the original M2 game to the expansion. We are looking
to include more modding features in Kingdoms as well as implementing some
features asked by the community. Some of the new features (most I think) will be
modable.

Could
you please add fires and famines to the descr_disasters events list, and also
add floods, storms, fires and famines to the descr_events file for
modding?

It will be added to the long list of
community modding requests. Only some of the requests will make it in because
of the huge amount of work involved to add them
all.

What will the colour of my pants be when I play M2:TW Kingdoms?

Brown, if you’re wearing any.. 

Please
bring Burning Oil back.

Sure
thing!

Please
bring Sapping/Under Mining back

I
already gave you one feature, don’t get greedy!

Please
answer these questions.

Is
three ok?

Apparently from what they have said in
interviews kingdoms is ment to be the most modable Totalwar project to
date(notice word apparently)
Correct!

Well
you be able to switch off/disable the hero’s, or their abilities, for the
people who do not want to play with them?

You
don’t have to use their abilities if you don’t want to. Just don’t press the
button.

Will
we see improved AI?
Yes,
the upcoming patch will see a lot of big AI improvements, these will be carried
over to Kingdoms.

Will
the option to view cities be available again?
Unfortunately
no, that feature was removed during the engine transition in M2.

Is
there any way they can change the name to have the word “Invasion” in
it?

Kingdoms
Invasion? Probably not, sorry

Of
the previously listed patch -”bug” repair requests, how many will be
addressed?
There are simply to many to list in one post. If you would (finally)
fix the items listed in either “R&R” or the patch request
posts this should make the day.

We
are well aware of the community bug lists and we have been using these for
some-time to help prioritise our in-house bug list. The upcoming patch will
contain some of the top priority bug fixes, we will be including more in the
kingdoms release as we get to them. I couldn’t give you an exact number as of
yet because we haven’t finished.

Campaign
modding – will we be able to add additional campaigns like we could in RTW, or
will we have to stick to modding one of the grand campaigns like we have to in
M2TW?

Yes
it is now possible to have multiple campaigns in the one mod. It requires some
menu work and maps to be placed in the correct folders. This is available in
the leaked 1.2 and will be available in the upcoming patch.

Will
the pope have any power and if so is it just gonna be the crusader and Teutonic
campaign. can he excom faction still?

No,
the papacy won’t be included in the expansion pack, however there will be
dialog from the pope but he won’t have any direct influence over the campaigns.

In
the Britannia Campaign, will there only be a map of Great Britain, or will
Norway be included on the map as well (not only as an invading faction)?

Only
the norwegian faction is available in Britannia, however you will be able to
visit them in the Teutonic campaign as most of Scandinavia is featured on the
campaign map.

 Will
the aztecs/native americans have their own distinct voices? I think in MTW2
they use the Mongol voice.

Yes!
The Native Americans will have new unique voices in
Kingdoms.

Will anyone from CA answer this
thread?
I hope
so, it’s getting pretty damn long..

Again, sorry if I didn’t get around to answering your
question/s, I hope this atleast sheds a bit more light on the expansion and
some of its features.

Caliban”

Thanks to everyone who took the time to ask a
Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms related question (and to Brendan for answering
them!). 

Head over to our Official
CA Discussion Thread now to take part in more discussions!

Cheers,

Mark
O’Connell

First off – hello. I’m Mark Sutherns, I
work at CA UK in the Studio Marketing department and hopefully, you’ll be
seeing a lot more of me on this very blog and on the forum in the months ahead.
Enough of the introduction though, let’s get down to business.

I wanted to make a post to follow up on
some of the comments and threads I’ve read on the Medieval II forum since the
announcement of Kingdoms. In particular, I wanted to post some more info on the
heroes and special abilities feature to give you some more detail and perhaps
put some people’s minds at rest. 

I would
have posted on this before now, but I wanted to get some additional info from
the dev team in Oz and with the time difference…well you know. Anyway, enough
of the rambling excuses, here’s the beef on heroes and abilities.

Firstly heroes have been added to
Kingdoms in order to reflect the role that certain significant leaders played
in battle. Up until now in Total War, you’ve developed your own Generals, their
traits and command abilities but with Kingdoms we wanted to take that a step
further by giving the player unique General characters that came equipped with
improved abilities in battle. These special abilities reflect the influence
that these great leaders of men had on their troops and their potential to turn
the battle in the favour of their armies.

By giving these heroes increased
abilities, it makes these particular Generals even more precious, therefore
introducing new strategies concerning how these heroes are used in terms of
where they are deployed on the campaign map and which battles they are thrown
into.

The special abilities included in
Kingdoms (we’ll reveal more detail on these in the weeks and months ahead) will
be limited to one per hero and will be carefully balanced so, while they have
an influence on the battle, they are not so powerful as to unbalance things
dramatically. Typically these powers will be limited to morale effects on your
own troops and in some cases, the morale of enemy troops. As you’ll see when
you get to play Kingdoms, these abilities make these heroes significant to the
campaign game so that the player you’re driven to keep them alive and to use
them strategically at the right time and in the right battles within the
campaign.

To give you even more detail, Dan
Lehtonen, a designer on Kingdoms from our studio in Brisbane, sent me this
overnight:

“The one ability that seems to have
spooked a lot of people is the Byzantine politics ability.  This unfortunately prompted by an inaccurate
translation from the Gamestar magazine preview in which it was thought that
enemy units would be made to fight against other enemy units, when in fact they
cause a ruckus throughout their own unit, causing a distraction and holding
that unit up.

This can provide many tactical opportunities on the battlefield
with possible flanks being opened or vital units being held up by infighting.

Manuel’s ability represents the skill
and cunning use of Byzantine agents’ provocateur. These men slip into an enemy
army before battle and bribe greedy members of enemy units to start a ruckus
when given a signal from the Byzantines. 

They do not kill anyone in their own unit!  Because if they did and the battle is won by
their army they would be strung up as murderers!  Of course Manuel has promised through his
agents that they will be spared if they lose… 

There is no magic at work here, just capitalizing on pure human
greed.”

So there you go. I hope this sheds some more light on this particular
feature. More will become clear when we reveal each of the heroes and their
particular abilities in a month or so. In the meantime, keep the feedback
coming and I’ll endeavour to keep you updated with extra snippets of
information and detail up until release.

Thanks

Mark

Official British Summertime has begun,
Easter is just around the corner, and pranksters across the land have been
making the most of their whoopee cushions on April Fools Day.  It can only mean one thing – it’s time for
another ‘Create A Calendar competition’ blog!

Sami Pesola from Kent kicks things off
this month with a gorgeous shot from Medieval II, entitled “Soldiers of
Eostre”. Intrigued by the name, Sami kindly elaborated:

“In my research of the month of
April I found Easter to be the most significant event (at least for the
majority of Christians found in Medieval II.) Upon reading into the celebration
of Easter I discovered that it was based around earlier rituals worshiping
Eostre, who was a goddess of the dawn. Most likely to do with the lengthening
hours and warmer days coming out of winter. 
So I looked for an image I had captured in-game with my Byzantine army -
which, being eastern Christians, I felt was appropriate – and after some
editing with Photoshop I ended up with this glorious sunrise: a fitting end to
the dreary winter months.”

Kyle Schwerman returns for a third time,
with a tribute to the 1980 Stanley Kubrick classic ‘The Shining’.  

“Well, I will dispense with the
pleasantries this time around, as it’s pretty obvious you guys know who I am by
now This month I am submitting something decidedly out of ‘character’, but
something that is of particular interest to me, being that I was born, raised
and still live in Florida. Furthermore, if one consults their map of Florida,
(I’m not the only one who keeps a book of maps in my desk drawer, right?) one
can see that I currently live only about a half hour’s drive from St. Augustine
itself, the spot where Ponce de León is traditionally said to have landed! It
truly is a small world, hehe. I have included one copy of the picture with a
few details on the event itself, as well as a copy following a more
minimalistic approach. Anyways, enjoy!”

 

Known simply as RB, this mysterious and
talented entrant sent in the following oceanic image, along with the following
message:

“Please feel free to post this
wallpaper for all to share at a port near you! Made with Vue 5 easel. There is
not much technique to it. The programming does most of work.  I just arrange the view that I’m looking for
with a photo eye.”

 

Andres Gomez, who divides his time
living in London and Madrid, sent in this image reflecting the impact of
religion and tradable resources in Medieval II:

“To make it quite basic, it’s April
“resurrection” month so, what other symbol represents something holy
more instantly than the chalice or holy grail… it has also been quite a
“productive” season for the church so that’s the reason for the
diamonds.  Religion and Economy have
always been and explosive combination, also represented are tradable goods such
as cloth, silk and leather (hides).

All work done with Photoshop and without
wanting to bore you, it’s a combination of three images, background materials,
cup and diamonds. Each image was treated individually first, giving them a more
drawn effect.

Once that was achieved and all three put
together in one PSD, I began to work on the merging and scaling of the objects.
Several texture layers and light effects, and a final color balance to make it
comic style, easier to implement once all images where treated before.”
  

Greg Larcombe from Wiltshire, England
sent this colourful tribute to April Fools Day.

“The image started as an idle
sketch on a note pad at work. I was thinking about April 1st and All Fools Day
which led me on to the medieval jester and for some bizarre reason the lyrics
of an early Elton John song “The King Must Die”. The sketch developed
well so I scanned it in to Photoshop and worked on it as a solid black top
layer. Medieval designs were borrowed from a website to add some interest and
the window was added later, thanks to a comment from a friend at work. The
colour was added to a base layer and I then experimented with some filters,
watercolour, sponge and fresco, a chrome filter seamed to work well for the
armour. I was quite happy with my stylized illustration and showed my children,
they all hated the picture but I chose to ignore them and send it anyway.” 

It’s a good job you decided to send this
fantastic effort in Greg, as it has won you the competition!  A copy of Medieval II, soundtrack, and signed
artwork are on the way.  Here is the
finished wallpaper artwork in all its glory, which is available to download in
two sizes here.

Thanks to everyone who entered our April
2007 contest. For those who didn’t win this time, I am pleased to announce the
start of May 2007′s Create A Calendar Competition! You have until Monday 30th
April 2007 to get your entries in, so take your time to come up with something
original and creative. Once again, think about events happening in the month of
May and any historical battles that took place. This month, another talented
individual will win a copy of Medieval II: Total War, Rome and Medieval II
soundtracks. They will also receive a personalized piece of Total War artwork
signed by the artist himself.

For full entry details, click here.

Best regards,

Mark O’Connell