Wow, lets take this peice by peice..

Regions are now grouped into provinces. Each has a single administration centre, into which the surrounding regions report. The goal is to reduce some of the area micromanagement that occurs in vast empires.

SOunds reasonable enough. I wonder if you can capture the indivual regions?

Another goal from this new system is to avoid the relentless siege battles of Shogun 2. It’s believed that players will attempt to take the smaller regions first, and tempt the opposing armies out of their castles to fight on the field.

Ah, that might let the smaller power gain a bit of territory easier, and buld their power more gradually.

Armies are ‘raised’ on the field, and recruitment occurs at the general of that army. They’re not grown as single units in towns. Again, the idea is to reduce some of the micromanagement (‘Caesar doesn’t give a damn about an individual’ says Al) but also to create a stronger personality to your armies. Hence...

Wow, i like this feature. alot more historically accurate. how will we garrison cities then i wonder?

Armies have their own skill trees, with improvements earned through battle.

I like this feature as well, but i hope it wont lead to a overpowered army..

Armies have at least three possible stances that you can place them in during a turn. I’m not certain the mechanics of how they will play out in the campaign are quite fixed, but it was hinted that switching stances would take a turn. They are... normal, ambush (hidden from the enemy’s sight), forced march (quicker to move, but if caught on the hop, they’ll suffer diminished combat effectiveness), defensive (given a fort or pallisade to defend from)

Sounds very good as well.

When moving armies over water, you no longer need to load them into a separate navy. They will automatically enter transport ships. You will still require a navy to protect them.

Good implementation. I didnt like the whole warship carrying an army thing.

The factions in the game are more clearly defined with starting bonuses and traits. There are ‘flavours’ of faction which should help organise your thoughts. For instance, Barbarians like the Gauls will have similar traits. In the barbarian’s case, that includes a +2 happiness in every settlement for every faction they’re fighting with.

That will defiantly be a big bonus to the gauls!

Naval battles are now fought over naval ‘regions’, rather than having a completely fluid ocean. “This was decided because having a completely organic map wouldn’t be something that would work that well,” says lead Battle Designer Jamie Ferguson, “you needed to be able to actually think that “this is the area I’m trying to defend”. It’s using things we have already got in the game but at the same time bringing back things from the past.

THis is different. It kinda sounds like a Paradox game. i am not sure how well it will work..

During battles, units will have true line of sight, the distance of which they can detect changes according to their role. Armies can therefore be hidden behind trees or in valleys, and will require the use of scouts to be spotted.

I like how scouts must be used, and the line of sight feature. Gives a sense of more realism.

Armies that catch another in ambush will be able to place deployables like burning boulders, and place their forces all over the map. The army caught in the ambush won’t be placed at the other end of the battle map - they’ll arrive in a marching formation.

Ah, i saw the Burning boulders in the Teutoburg trailer and it looked epic, sounds like a good addition.

Each nation will have their own UI decorators.

Not sure what this means..:/

Althoughether, i seems really good! Every bit of news i hear, i want it more..

Afty, if you see this can you check your emails please..

Great spot Dominicus!

Two of the best bits for me:

It’s even more pronounced when cavalry charges. In previous games, the riders would smash into a line but then come to a halt in a fixed position behind. When Al charged a group of archers that were raining fire arrows on his infantry, a new dynamic appeared: the horse didn’t stop once they’d broken the line - they wheeled around as a unit and reformed for a second charge. It was beautiful to behold.

This sounds awesome, but hard to imagine how you can save your units once the cavalry engage them if it is an endless loop.

Instead, the testudo continued moving, throwing their spears on the run, before pulling their shields back down and marching into the fray.

Brilliant.

Armies having different stances each with their own pros and cons sounds like a great innovation. Not sure how I feel about the armies crossing the sea without a fleet though, I forsee AI problems like not protecting it with a military fleet. Same with scouts - if my small scouting squad is near the enemy are they going to chase the small squad? I hope not.

But more importantly, perhaps, was the sense that Rome 2 was set to be a better engine for telling grander stories.

This quote sums up my impression of the game perfectly so far.

AE - The UI is user interface, the German PC Gamer told us that each faction's would be tailored to represent their own arts and such.

Great spot, DU!

All the tidbits of information sound great though the naval battles one is a grey area for me. But CA have me hooked.

Quoted from AE:

I like this feature as well, but i hope it wont lead to a overpowered army..

I'm certain it will give players and the AI a considerable edge against someone using fresh troops or quickly raised levies, and it'll be that much more painful when you do lose a veteran army instead of simply shrugging it off and raising quick replacements.

Quoted from Afty:

This sounds awesome, but hard to imagine how you can save your units once the cavalry engage them if it is an endless loop.

I'm guessing this will help deter players from stretching the front of their line to engage as much of the enemy as possible, but dangerously reducing the depth of their line. Players will be more inclined to maintain a realistic depth to their infantry formations, as well as having a tactical reserve to stop any cavalry that get past the first line from regrouping and charging into their flanks.

Quoted from Afty:

Not sure how I feel about the armies crossing the sea without a fleet though, I forsee AI problems like not protecting it with a military fleet.

I'm hoping there will be a penalty turn when you land an army in neutral or hostile territory like in Shogun 2. This feature will actually help the AI to conduct more naval invasions as well instead of having to code them to build a fleet then move an army onto the ships.

Quoted from LoH:

All the tidbits of information sound great though the naval battles one is a grey area for me. But CA have me hooked.

I was actually surprised by that bit, and wonder if there will be important resources or trade routes in certain naval regions to make them worth fighting over.

When I first saw the administrative centre point (something mentioned a long while ago?) I thought it would be just like ETW - has anything been said to distinguish it from that? I'd be quite happy with a mix - so the smaller regions could be captured, or maybe even settlements divorced from regions (other than the administrative centre) whereby you'd be able to hold a settlement in an enemy region. It doesn't sound like that would lessen the micromanaging though.

Was there any comment when they went from ETW to S2TW on the little towns within regions disappearing (except where a resource was present)?

I like the Naval regions. A strong part of naval doctrine has always been 'Sea Control' that is, dominating any region of water you see fit to.