Europa Universalis 4 -or- Total War Rome

[johnnybgood]

It's high season, time for my annual 'stay in' at home in my wee darkside but 'n' ben.

Kids get a school taxi, and the wifee can drive to Pattaya for supplies.

I've been an FPS nut for the last decade - until I discovered Age of Empires 3.

Now, thanks to Steam, I've d'loaded Europa Universalis 4 and Rome Total War 2.

Having checked out the beginners' guides on Youtube...I really can't decide which one first..........

Anyone played these? I'd love to read your comments. Decisions..... decisions

[crabdog]

I haven't tried any Universalis games but I've sunk many hours into Total War games Shogun 2 and Rome II in particular. I can definitely recommend Rome II, it's a fantastic game. Also looking forward to the new Total War Attila which is due to release in February.

[ExpatJ]

If you pick Rome 2 i recommend you also read a book on roman history at same time (im reading Caesars biography) it really gets you in the 'mood' and makes the game more enjoyable.

( I am a big strategy fan and never thought i would enjoy a sports game- but im loving FIFA 15's career mode- playing 1-2 hours every night these days- totally addictive and fun.)

[johnnybgood]

Thanks to you both.

Hail Caesar !

[SlyAnimal]

If you pick Rome 2 i recommend you also read a book on roman history at same time (im reading Caesars biography) it really gets you in the 'mood' and makes the game more enjoyable.

( I am a big strategy fan and never thought i would enjoy a sports game- but im loving FIFA 15's career mode- playing 1-2 hours every night these days- totally addictive and fun.)

Yeah or there's a more "story" orientated take on his history by Conn Iggulden called "Emperor" which is pretty good (Although it's been criticised a little due to the author taking a bit of artistic licence at some points during the series). It's a really good read though, and would give you a bit more of a feel for the game.

Although in saying that, the game is awesome with or without a good book to go with it. I really enjoyed it, although as with a lot of games, after I won a marathon length game of it, I shifted back into another game instead and haven't taken another look. As you do need to put quite a bit of time into a single game, and by the end of it it's almost a relief to finally win, as the constant rebellions can get frustrating after a while.

I love the series though, being not just a strategy game from a campaign perspective, but also being able to control the battles personally, is so much fun. Although the one weakness I found was that it was often too easy to defend cities if you control the battle yourself (Which is sorta great, because everyone likes winning lol, but can be frustrating having to manually defend every time because of the massive difference between manual/auto battles). Also difficulty scales by generally making your empire more difficult to control, rather than the AI getting smarter, which is a little frustrating, but it's still an awesome game.

[johnnybgood]

Before I disappear into this game, here's a torrent I got from the usual places........

An.Alternative.Reality.The.Football.Manager

It's an hour long documentary and it kinda justifies it all............