Shogun 2 Total War Multiplayer Lan Crack
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While this might be explained away by some emotional clouding (read knicker-wetting terror) brought on by the loss of just too many brave Samurai warriors in my first, bashful attempt at Shogun 2's siege battles , I honestly believe it's more down to the depth and intricacy of what the multiplayer offers. It isn't just a departure from anything Creative Assembly has implemented previously; it's quite unlike anything anyone's attempted before.
So let's get the simple stuff out of the way: you can match up for man-on-man battles, pitching your army against a fellow-player's, which is no less than you'd expect. A nice addition to this is that you can unit-share with a pal who may not be in a battle of his own, and invite him to command selected units from your army. Neat.
But Napeoleon brought 1v1 multiplayer campaigns to life, and Creative Assembly's ambition brooks no acceptance of repetition for the sake of ease. In Shogun 2, large numbers of players can be involved in a single campaign, and in a considerably more subtle and complex way than you might imagine.
Your general and his attendant army begin the multiplayer campaign planted in one of 65 territory zones, over which you have ownership. As you expand and invade new provinces, the matchmaker hunts for other player-armies of your level, ready for a fight. The battle is fought, and ownership of the province decided. Certain provinces bring key battlefield technologies to your army, so they're worth striving toward.
The big-brain genius of this is that your general and army don't represent a one-man crusade, rampaging across the map like a plague of armoured locusts with bonkers hats. You play as part of a clan, and the territory you conquer on your version of the campaign map tallies points towards the clan total. Moreover, clan leaders can direct their members to specific provinces on the map by placing a marker on that province. This becomes visible on each clan-member's campaign map. You don't see your fellow clansmen's armies on the map, but through the use of various overlays, you can track territorial losses and gains, stronghold areas, point-tallies and general ownership.
So, you have choices. Do you go for tactical land-grabs which may improve your army, or kow-tow to the head Daimyo's wishes, and work towards the common goal? It might be worth impressing the boss, as he's able to dole out army-improvement points to his favourite generals. There are enough variables here to generate some really interesting in-clan politics, and potential skulduggery.
The next stroke of genius is achievements. And don't groan; these aren't just the 'I've won 20 battles, meh' variety. As you might imagine, they're earned by achieving specific victory conditions, or adhering to a peculiar set of rules while fighting. The joy of them is that key combinations unlock new battlefield skills and technologies, which improve your fighting abilities and, ultimately your ranking. And don't get me started on just how many crazy hats you can unlock to perch on your general's head. Visual modification of your army is a fundamental part of the experience.
Factor that whole state of affairs into your clan politics. You're fighting in a key territory for your clan, hoping to impress the big cheese, and realise that you're close to hitting a desirable achievement which will enhance your arsenal. But there's a risk involved: you'll need to play a certain way to get that achievement, and what if the guy you're fighting sees what you're not doing, and exploits that? Failure beckons.
Announced in early 1999, Shogun: Total War was The Creative Assembly's first high business risk product; previous products had involved creating video games for the EA Sports brand. The game was initially conceived as a real-time strategy "B-title" powered by 2D computer graphics following the popularisation of the genre through titles such as Command & Conquer. However, the proliferation of 3D video cards amongst consumers led to a transition to 3D graphics. Through the course of development, Shogun: Total War evolved into a real-time tactics game with a focus on historical authenticity; military historian Stephen Turnbull advised The Creative Assembly in this regard. The turn-based campaign map was added to include context for the real-time battles.
Shogun: Total War was well received critically, though complaints surfaced regarding glitches in the game. An expansion pack, The Mongol Invasion, followed only in Europe in August 2001, adding a playable version of the Mongol invasions of Japan. The game's positive reception and sales paved the way for the development of successive Total War releases set in different times and regions. Total War: Shogun 2 is a sequel which returns to the Sengoku period albeit with all the improvements in graphical technology and gameplay since the first game. It was announced in June 2010 and released in March 2011.
The game consists of seven factions which the player can choose to play as each one of Japan's historical clans. The island of Kyūshū and the southwestern end of Honshū incorporates the Shimazu, Mōri and Takeda clans, while the Oda and Imagawa clans control the central parts of Honshū. The northern parts of Honshū are home to the Uesugi and Hōjō clans. While each clan has access to the same broad units and technology and begins the game with roughly the same amount of land, each clan has a specific advantage in a particular area. For instance, the Imagawa clan trains more efficient espionage agents, while the Takeda clan can produce higher quality cavalry, etc. Smaller, independent factions are represented as rebel clans and rōnin.
The main campaign of Shogun: Total War involves a player choosing a clan and moving to eliminate their enemies and become shogun of feudal Japan. Each faction controls various historical provinces. Each province allows for the cultivation of farmland, and the construction of border watchtowers and a castle. Certain provinces possess natural resources that require a mine to be constructed to tap into. Coastal provinces may also construct ports to increase trade. Each castle has space to expand with a variety of military buildings and dojos, which allow for specific army units and agents to be produced. However, each castle can only support a certain number of auxiliary buildings. Castles can be upgraded to increase their defences and resilience to a siege. The production of units and construction of buildings is limited by the amount of koku the player has; koku is generated depending on the strength of the faction's economy and harvest. Units and buildings take time to produce; each turn represents one season.
When an army is moved into an enemy or neutral province, it will engage in battle with whatever hostile armies already reside in the province. An army may also lay siege to a province's castle; after a determined amount of time, a castle's supplies will run out and the garrison will be forced to surrender if it does not break the siege or receive relief. A siege may cause damage to the castle's buildings, requiring repairs to be sought.
Several agents are available to each faction. The basic agent is the emissary, which can be used to negotiate alliances and ceasefires, as well as attempt to bribe enemy or neutral armies to join the player's faction. As factions build up their infrastructure, other agents become available, such as ninja and shinobi, the former assassinates enemy generals and agents, while the latter can spy on enemy provinces or perform counter-insurgency in home provinces. Each agent has an honour rating that determines how successful they may be at any particular mission. As the game progresses, the player will come into contact with European traders; first the Portuguese Jesuits, who will exchange arquebuses for money and the adoption of Catholicism by the clan, and later the Dutch, who will sell arquebuses without requiring a conversion. If a faction changes from Buddhism to Catholicism, it is given the ability to produce Jesuit priests, who in addition to acting as emissaries, convert the population, therefore making rebellions due to religion less likely.
The battle system forms the second area of gameplay. Unlike the campaign part of the game, players control battles in real-time. However, should the player choose, the game can automatically resolve battles on the campaign map, taking into account factors such as the strength of numbers, the weapons used, and the terrain. Outside of the main campaign mode, players can participate in recreations of the historical battles that comprised the Sengoku period. In each battle, players are given access to an army consisting of a variety of units. Units come in the form of samurai and ashigaru, and fall into the categories of archers, spearmen, cavalry and heavy infantry. Each unit has its own intrinsic advantages, disadvantages, cost and overall level of effectiveness.
Players must use contemporary tactics and formations with the units they have available to defeat their enemies; the teachings of Sun Tzu's The Art of War are integral to the tactics used by the game's artificial intelligence and for the player to succeed. The terrain of the battlefield and the weather impact on how a battle is fought. Each unit has morale, which can increase if the battle goes well for their clan or decrease in cases such as heavy casualties or the death of the general. If a unit's morale is broken, they will rout; in certain circumstances, however, routing units may be rallied by the general. Victory in battle is achieved by causing every enemy unit to rout, or by killing the opposing army. Armies can lay siege to castles, replacing open land battles with close-quarters combat within the confines of the castle walls.
Originally, Electronic Arts hosted the multiplayer for Shogun: Total War. There were two separate servers; one for Shogun: Total War, and one for Warlord Edition. In the foyer, players had their points next to their names. These points were called honour. A player started with 100 honour. Based on winning or losing, the player gained or lost honour. In order to prevent an expert from playing a lot of beginners and gaining a lot of honour, an expert who had 49 more honour points than the beginner would lose points even if he beat that beginner. The honour system was implemented to make the multiplayer more fun and challenging. If players wanted to play without a change in honour points, then the host could simply set the game to 'friendly' mode. The Shogun servers had many players when EA hosted them. Role-playing was very popular and this period is considered by many fans as the best and most nostalgic. The battles themselves were very fast-paced, unforgiving to mistakes and highly reliant on individual skill both in army selection and, above all, army control. In Shogun, any army could win over another using clever, fast and precise strategies. In later Total War games, army selection was given more importance.
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