for a mere $12.50 (USD) you get Napoleon Total War, Empire Total War, Mideval Total War 2 and Rome Total War (Gold)...you also get a grunch of DLC (Alexander for RTW; Peninsular Campaign, Coalition Battle Pack for NTW; Kingdoms for MTW2; and more crap than I care to type for Empire TW).

If, like me, you're part of the 5% of the planet that doesn't own NTW or Empire TW, this might be a good deal.

save the money for shogun 2

Is it even worth it if you already own Napoleon & Rome?  My Napoleon copy is registered on Steam, but it won't accept my Rome.  I have both Rome: Total War and the Barabarian's add-on, but since I don't have the "Gold" edition, its not an exact match.  Steam doesn't recognize my key.

I prefer Empire to Napoleon (for reasons too numerous to get into here) and Medieval 2 to the lot of them.  I cannot bring myself to care about Shogun...courses for horses, I suppose.

I imagine it depends where your interests lie, but I've purchased two of these as gifts for friends.  Easy solve re: Christmas for people that don't have these yet.

Best,

Jim

"Cyrano"

:/7)

They've got this (Shogun 2 TW) on sale at $14.99 until the 28th.

Of course, since Steam is really a communist plot to deprive the working people of their money, I'm sure it'll be priced even more attractively for the Christmas sale.

Originally Posted By beatoangelico

save the money for shogun 2

Thank you for the heads up, I broke down and bought it lol.  I was a big fan of the original Total War, but could never get it to work correctly on Win 7.  What would you consider most similar to the original?  I am guessing they all may be, but if there is a favorite I would like to know

Rome Total War is good atmosphere, dated graphically and the AI is dorky. Siege options are good. Ladders, battering ram, mines, artillery.

Medieval Total War 2 is good fun and has great army variety and great graphics.. AI is a bit dorky. The medieval period is just a great atmosphere all round. Sieges are a bit of a joke and very lengthy affairs.

Empire Total War has amazing scope with its three theatres, AI is a bit dorky and it can be a little buggy. Troop variety is poor. Clone armies abound. Although over all it

has the most unit variety of all total war games... its just that you have to travel to india and america to find that variety. SHIPS are in the game. Sieges are fun but can be tedious. Siege methods are a joke.

Horse Dragoons can dismount and mount in battle.

Napoleon Total War... Good AI, good unit variety, good diplomacy and variety of faction. SHIPS are in the game. Sieges are very few which is a good thing, but are there which is also good. Siege methods are a joke. Horse Dragoons can dismount and mount in battle.

Shogun2... Best over all AI, clone armies are back, uninteresting period for a lot of people, insular campaign which amounts to civil war. SHIPs are in game but really do not add interest to the game due to the 

ships basically being archer boats. Lack of real broadsides, ramming, methods of boarding are not expanded upon and lack of other artillery until late game for the ships in shogun2 make naval combat a bit meh.

Sieges are good fun in this one actually, even though siege methods are limited. All horse can dismount. Very handy at sieges.

Personally I just cannot get into the whole Japanese thing at the moment. As with most total war games, late war can be a tedious grind, which is where I am at.

If your talking about the original shogun, well I guess the latest shogun is the best and most similar if you like that period.

As for the games you picked, it depends if you like muskets or not. But I would go napoleon.

Excellent, thank you for the synopsis, that is very helpful.  I will start with Napoleon!

Don't forget mods for every single game in the series. The mods alone make the purchase a no brainer...you could play til your last day on Earth and still not see what the entire series has to offer. Mods make the TW series twice as good as it would be otherwise. And I say that as a longtime fan of each game, with preferences of course. Empire: Total War was my least favorite but then modded became my most favorite for a time. Basically no other series out there does what TW has always tried to do...immerse the player in a detailed historical world and give a glimpse into the combat of the era. Each game has a great atmosphere if nothing else. 

I've been playing a lot of Medival 2 TW lately thanks to forum recommedations. I'm trying to get into Empire:TW but it just doesn't seem to grab me the same way (and I'm a US Colonial History nut).

Can somebody suggest a good Mod for Empire that might make it more appealing?

Darthmod^

Originally Posted By Onion

I've been playing a lot of Medival 2 TW lately thanks to forum recommedations. I'm trying to get into Empire:TW but it just doesn't seem to grab me the same way (and I'm a US Colonial History nut).

 

Can somebody suggest a good Mod for Empire that might make it more appealing?

Try out the American Revolution Mod if you like Colonial American history. The mod has several different American revolution campaigns that can be played as almost any faction-- US, Brits, French, Spain Holland, the Indian factions even the Pirates. There's also hundreds of new historically accurate or real units for all factions. And it's easy to download and simple to install. It's saved ETW for me.

I actually have all fo the games accept for TW:Shogun 1.  I however find myself most often play Rome WITH the Total Realism mod....it takes a game that really kinda sucked as far as historical accuracy and made it a freaking monster...check the other mods they(RTR maker) made and you will easily be able to play Rome well into 2013, and Hopefully a Rome 2 that handles everything much better.

Try to get a copy of the original Shogun...awesome game.

Originally Posted By Rocketboy

I actually have all fo the games accept for TW:Shogun 1.  I however find myself most often play Rome WITH the Total Realism mod....it takes a game that really kinda sucked as far as historical accuracy and made it a freaking monster...check the other mods they(RTR maker) made and you will easily be able to play Rome well into 2013, and Hopefully a Rome 2 that handles everything much better.

 

Whats the AI like in your mod?

I really don't know how to define a good or bad AI.  Understand the game starts out with some 16 factions and extends all the way out to India, with many many more town than the original.  So The game itself is completely different.  On regular I usually am able to fight the game to a stalemate of Rome(Owning all of Italy, Sicily, France and the Iberian Peninsula...going ass far north as Denmark.   Macedonia having all of Greece, the Former Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungry and Bulgaria.  Persia owning all of Turkey settlement on both sides of the Black sea, down to about Lebanon.  Egypt down from Lebanon all the way through modern day Egypt. Carthage covering all of North Africa and south of Iberia.  There are also more Oriental empires, but I seldom go that far east(I favor Rome's Heavy Infantry)The Game does use Naval unit for blockades but seldom does Amphibious assaults. (Carthage does fight like hell for Sicily but that is the only times I have seen it.  Macedonia just sends enormous armies in groups and has a conquer everything sorta strategy...but knows which towns are important and which are not.(some town sit astride mountain passes)  In the actual battles the computer seems....foolish.  Attacks when it shouldn't and dithers when it should attack.  Typical I form my legions into a square and slaughter them when they attack.  So my strategy and tactics are seldom thing s of brilliance, but if you don't use the cheat codes it will be quite a challenge.  I tend to get spanked by Macedonia's almost limitless resources.