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Medieval 2: Total War Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
20/03/2006
TVG returns to the Medieval age to chat to The Creative Assembly's Project Director on this latest Total War...
Creative Assembly's, award winning and top selling Total War series continues with Medieval 2: Total War, which is set in the period of 1080-1530. This epic and cinematically presented turn based strategy title will be vastly enhanced over its predecessors with an updated Rome engine that will present massive battles encompassing more than 10,000 individual onscreen troops along with many graphical enchantments. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Project Director, Bob Smith on the exciting aspects that is already marking this as one of the PCs most anticipated titles of the year.
Looking back on each subsequent release of the franchise do you see an improvement in the game through aspects from storyline, to gameplay, to presentation right through to manipulation of the units? What for instance have you learnt from the last release and what is your vision for this Medieval 2: Total War?
We've evolved the Total War series with each new title and expansion. This process has allowed us to improve on the "formula" and make great strides with every aspect of the Total War games. So, while the fundamentals like the turn based map combined with the real-time battles, remain intact - everything around them, from the graphics and animation to the AI, have been honed and enhanced with each new release.
For Medieval 2 we've set out to continue that process and raise the bar for Total War games once again. The aim is to improve upon and bring the awesome gameplay of Rome to the medieval era, while raising the spectacle of the Total War series to a whole new level.
"[In] Medieval 2 we've set out to continue that process and raise the bar for Total War games once again"
What distinguishing events made you choose the medieval period of 1080 to 1530 and set it across such a grand geography including Europe, northern Africa and western Asia?
Medieval 2's grand campaign spans a longer period than our previous games and this expanded time frame allows to take in some major events, the emergence and demise of key factions and a whole host of fascinating units and weaponry. It begins with the golden age of chivalry and the crusades, spans the Mongol invasion and the invention of gunpowder, and ends with gun toting professional armies, the renaissance and the discovery of America.
Medieval 2 will have a lot more attention to detail pertaining to the presentation with individual touches for units and armies and adding animation. How time consuming is this and is the work more than just cosmetic touches? More importantly how much bigger are the units and armies?
Doing all the little things is a lot of work, which is why we have a much bigger art and animation team on this project than on previous Total War games. As with previous games, the limits on army size really depend on the power of the computer you have to run it.
You're using the Rome Engine in the development of Medieval 2; apart from adding animations what other improvements will gamers notice? How much further can you go in your quest for realism?
The whole look of the game is a vast improvement on Rome. The grittier look of the soldiers, the variations in faces, clothing, weapons and shields, the lighting, the terrain, the weather, the texture detail. There's been a vast amount of work done on the engine. It's really unrecognizable from Rome.
"There's been a vast amount of work done on the engine. It's really unrecognizable from Rome."
There will be over 20 factions on view; how much research do you do on the whole experience and what is one big epic battle you are looking forward to creating and why?
We do a lot of research, and try to pack as many of the results into the game as possible. Usually where the game deviates from historical fact it is a deliberate decision, made to improve gameplay, rather than as a result of ignorance. There's so much cool stuff in history, that there's little need to make stuff up,
As for battles, certainly one I'm particularly looking forward to fighting is the clash between the Aztecs and the conquistadors. Battles where you have few against many are always tense and exciting.
"Battles where you have few against many are always tense and exciting."
Have you added or worked on new tactical or strategic ideas?
There will certainly be new strategies and tactics out on the battlefield. We don't want to reveal too many specifics in this area just yet as we're still experimenting with the scope of what we can do. But, as an example, some archer units will be able to deploy pointed spikes on the battlefield to prevent or certainly ward off cavalry charges.
Aside from specific unit abilities the new enhanced battlefield terrain will have a significant impact on the strategies employed. Battlefields will include more terrain features - cliffs and banks, walls and hedges that will introduce impassable areas to maps. Experienced Generals will be able to use these impassable areas to their advantage to protect flanks and disrupt enemy manoeuvres. The AI will certainly use these new terrain features to their advantage - so the player will also have to be wise to it.
How big a part, influencing factors, will both religion and politics play and how will this affect you and your allies?
Religion was a vitally important aspect of medieval life and so we have gone into more depth on the religious system in Medieval 2 as a result.
One of the key aspects of the game that concern religion and the politics that surround it, is that players will need to keep on the Pope's good side. The Pope will make various requests of you as the game progresses, and generally interfere in faction affairs. If you accede to his requests, he'll grow to like you. If not he'll become increasingly tiresome, and may even excommunicate you. The political benefits of claiming the Pope as an ally is significant. He has the power to stop other factions attacking you, or accept your suggestion about where to call the next crusade.
When the Pope dies (for whatever reason) it opens up a new political aspect of the game. The new Pope is elected by the collage of cardinals. If you have a cardinal of sufficiently high rank, he'll be entered as a candidate in the election. You can then negotiate with the other factions to get them to vote for your guy, or you can agree to vote for theirs. Getting one of your own cardinals elected will help a great deal in securing good relations with other factions and strengthen your political standing.
Can you give our readers an insight into the work and time, even testing that goes into the AI? It must work on many levels taking into account many parameters and decisions made by the player.
AI is more of a black art than a science, and is incredibly time consuming. In a game of the complexity of Total War, there are millions of different situations it has to deal with. You have to set it up with some solid generic algorithms so it can cope with anything, then keep testing it, find the areas where it behaves badly, and then write code to deal with them.
"AI is more of a black art than a science, and is incredibly time consuming."
The team has had a lot of exposure with the TV program Time Commanders; was this because of the Total War titles and has this created even more interest in your tittles and other benefits?
We definitely view the TV coverage that Rome: Total War earned as a major bonus that boosted the game by bringing it to a wider audience. Not too many games or developers get that kind of exposure.
Aside from the Total War series, there are some that say that the RTS genre has become quite stagnant. Has this to do with the time and resources a team can spend or is more complex and where do you see this genre going over the next few years?
Having developed the Total War series for many years now, we're in an excellent position in terms of the experience and expertise we have to advance the series. It's very difficult for a development team to start afresh and create a title, be it RTS or otherwise, to take on established franchises. As for the future - we just want to go on improving the Total War series. As I've said previously, we have a process by which we're develop Total War games and with SEGA's backing we have the resources to give us the ability to continue moving things on.
TVG would like to thank Bob Smith at The Creative Assembly for taking the time to answer our questions. Medieval 2: Total War is currently pencilled in for a release in Winter 2006 on PC.
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There is, however, a need for historical accuracy.
Attention to the reality of logistics is also as important as the use of the military units themselves.
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