This is Empire 2 but for Medieval II - LUCIUM TOTAL WAR 3.5 REVIEW

You know that feeling when you discover a new Total War mod and it completely blows you away? Well, that's exactly what happened to me when I found Lucium Total War, a mod that takes place in the age of the end of Pike and Shot and modernizing armies - and it continues to blow me away with every update. And as lucky as I am, I got to test out the massive new and improved update, namely Lucium Total War 3.5, a mod that essentially functions as an Empire Total War 2, which will be released to the public early next year!
Lucium takes Medieval 2 into the 1700s and the age of empires, but don't think that just because you own a lot of land, that you're safe. Succession crises, internal conflict and external wars, including events and decisions make Lucium one of the best Medieval 2 mods I've ever played, and that's something I didn't expect to say about a mod for a 17 year old game in 2023.
But is Lucium better than Empire: Total War? And if so, in what ways? Let's find out, and make sure to let me know in the comments what you think of Lucium, and if you've ever tried it before! :D
LINK TO MOD: www.moddb.com/mods/lucium-tot...
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#luciumtotalwar #medieval2mods #totalwar #totalwarmods #besttotalwarmods #totalwar2023

[@seraphx26]

I loved Lucium when I first tried it last year but the campaign constantly crashed, it also lacks a much needed guide to explain the new building mechanics, if the campaign can be made stable, I said myself the first time I played that I felt it was better than Empire, though lack of naval battles does somewhat hinder it as Empire and Napoleon both had very enjoyable naval battles and it was a very important component of warfare in this time period.

[@Liberater4589]

more innovation and creativity in a mod for a game nearly 20 years old than the entire total war series has had in over a decade

[@IceniTotalWar]

Sad but true. I no longer have a need or desire to buy new Total War games. The modding scene is so vast and varied and more friendly than what CA could put out now.

[@arkwrightdubstep]

Thanks andy, i dont have time to play through these mods to find out if theyre good or not so its super helpful to have these really nice in depth reviews. Keep up the good work! (Please can we have some more campaign stories soon please)

[@IceniTotalWar]

Well as the new version is coming out next year that gives me time to make room in my upload schedule. Played the last 2 versions and never had any crashes in the South American campaign but the European campaign was prone to crashes, luckily figured out an easy fix for that.

[@seraphx26]

What was the fix?

[@IceniTotalWar]

It's called map.rwm it's in data/world/maps, i'll search the full path later but it's ok to delete as it get's rebuilt each time the game is launched, i'v used this fix many times but can't promise it will work.@@seraphx26

[@satyakisil9711]

I found that the CD version doesn't crash, the steam version does.

[@IceniTotalWar]

Wow you still have your disc's ? lost mine many years ago, luckily i've been able to complete my campaigns the South American campaign i have no problems with in the previous 2 versions.@@satyakisil9711

[@tamsama2396]

please

[@EvilEgg331]

Andy, I found a similar mod that many people don’t know about for Rome tw. It’s called Empires Total war and takes place around 7 years war/ Napoleon. There are three campaigns: 7 years war, French Revolutionary wars, and Napoleon (about 1805/6). The world map goes from North and some of South America to Europe, West Africa, and India. It is a seriously underrated mod but the only downside is that the city names are in Russian. So I hope you can give the mod a chance!

[@AndysTake]

it would be great if this mod was out for Rome Remastered! Don't know if I can go back to original Rome right now, but thanks for letting me know! Do you have a link?

[@EvilEgg331]

@@AndysTake KZbin keeps deleting it, but just look up “Empires Total War on Moddb”

[@bum_fozman7068.]

Excited for this

[@nightflyer40]

Great vid! Enjoy Your content subbed.

[@rogerpaul8918]

Just saw Ultimate General American Revolution (looks interesting) ; do you know if it will come to Steam ?

[@Charles2k]

Interesting update, looks great. I stopped playing after version 2.6 so I might get into it again. However, the battles themselves still fight like M2TW as the AI does not really know line formations very well. Not sure if this can be changed at all via modding.

[@dimostychalas9716]

I played Lucium a while back and I have to say I don't really see the perfect mod you guys are talking about.

[@pl-AthEE_Three]

It's really not to be perfectly honest. Sorely lacking in polish and I can't see enough concrete creative vision. I've had a bit of a relationship with the mod back in the day and leading up to the first couple of its releases and truthfully, it felt better than it actually was back then.

[@LuiDeca]

battles in lucium are a slog. just use napoleon darthmod (or the empire 2 mod).

[@inquerion8867]

@@LuiDeca Empire 2 battles are terrible due to that morale cohesion system. I can break AI armies in seconds and AI can break my armies in seconds. You sent some elite infantry, unit loses 5% of strength and immedietely panic and retreats. It's not fun for me. In my opinion, Lucium battles are flawed, but better than Empire 2 battles.

[@Ben-ek1fz]

@@inquerion8867100

[@Ben-ek1fz]

@@LuiDeca Battles in Lucium are genuinely better than the Battles in Empire mods for the sole reason of blend between 17th to 18th century combat especially with melee.

[@nghiachuviet1349]

Yesss, sorry porn, you’ll have to wait.

[@AndysTake]

based

[@nicklostable]

Is it impossible to break the hardcode for settlements?

[@microwavecaprisun8523]

what mod version are you using because it seems to have some updates that the mod link you provided doesn't have like non-medieval looking forts, just wondering?

[@urban_hoplite7593]

This is a preview of an upcoming release

[@tfkrazvan]

Medieval Total War with an updated world map we need

[@mroa6]

Yo just got a pc nothing crazy. I wanna get into total war games but don't know which one to start with. Been watching alot of your vids which do you suggest? Not a fan of the war hammer series btw.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Then I would suggest starting with Medieval 2 as it has the least amount of things to keep track of, giving you a chance to learn the mechanics that are the basis of the other TW games.

[@MrStaridever28]

Andy, where did you get 3.5 update? I can't find that version anywhere, all I'm seeing is 3.0 Thank you!

[@xWHITExEAGLEx]

Ah, seems version 3.5 tested in the video still isn't out yet. Better keep eyes peeled because the campaign looks really good.

[@Alll8607]

I can't find the 3.5 I only see ver.3

[@mariusbehm9874]

great now we need a remaster then we can have even more map expansion colony war Etc

[@AndysTake]

that's what I want as well haha, imagine naval battles if that was made possible (but very likely not)

[@mariusbehm9874]

haha yes and steam workshop @@AndysTake

[@Oberon117]

Lets go!

[@TheKinky4ever]

can you please one of these on pirates uber alles

[@Chris_MarMar]

I prefer older eras of warfare myself, so stuff like Empire and Napoleon aren't my cup of tea. Shit, in Shogun 2, my favorite campaign is Rise of the Samurai (with mods, of course). I'm currently playing Attila lately, and that game is probably tied with Shogun 2 as my favorite. The dark, grim vibe of Attila is just so damn good. It's also probably one of the hardest TW games I've played.

[@tibododo]

What are the mods you're using for ROTS? I never gave this campaign a shot but maybe I should

[@Chris_MarMar]

@tibododo It's a harder campaign imo. One thing that makes it harder is that instead of each province having a religion, they have a political affiliation with one of the 3 major clans in that campaign. If you are the Fujiwara and you capture a Minamoto settlement for example, there will definitely be unrest, and if not properly handled, rebellion. It's not uncommon to see rebellions everywhere lol. Battles are also more brutal for some reason. Troops die in droves a lot faster. I'm at work so I can't really look up the mods I use right now, but when I got time, I'll shoot you my specific list for Rise of the samurai. There's not as much unit variety I'll warn you because it's from an earlier time in Japan, but I think it's pretty fun. I tend to favor the Hiraizumi Fujiwara and Fukuhara Taira for the clans I play.

[@Chris_MarMar]

@@tibododo I'll try to shoot you my ROTS mod list after work today. I just remembered this thread as I was responding to comments.

[@mattgardiner614]

Tried it. I for one did NOT find it authentic. Unless it's changed since I played it, the game gives you free units every so often, and they are WAAAY out of their historical period. You can actually have late 19th Century-looking red coated, pith helmeted infantry (If you are playing Britain) in the 1740's!

[@pl-AthEE_Three]

That's still the case, and it was part of the reason for my falling out with the mod some years ago.

[@urban_hoplite7593]

Fixed in the next release, as in the one Andy's Take is reviewing here

[@phanboy3]

Oh, this looks awesome!

[@AndysTake]

bruh you've been subbed to me for 8 years, that's sick man, thanks for still being here!

[@phanboy3]

@@AndysTake Hey, how else would I be able to keep up with all the mods and new releases?

[@satyakisil9711]

That one game where you literally make dragoons and nothing else.

[@thadsul]

I had lots of fun in 3.0. It had formable nations!! Won't this be possible in 3.5?

[@urban_hoplite7593]

formable nations will still exist in 3.5

[@FifinatorKlon]

EU4: Total War when?

[@IceniTotalWar]

Any new formable nations in 3.5 or same as 3.0 ? @@urban_hoplite7593

[@urban_hoplite7593]

​@@IceniTotalWarThe same as in 3.0, as the faction limit has been reached unfortunately. Each formable nation takes up a faction slot each

[@IceniTotalWar]

Is it the same also for South America, i know you were going to add in Haitian Republic, are there any slots that can be used for that campaign ?@@urban_hoplite7593

[@guldentaifun406]

Can anyone tell me how to Download the mod please?

[@westhamhaz]

hmm strange, when i started as Britain I didn't get the choice of which king to pick

[@inquerion8867]

He is playing 3.5 which is not released yet. They are still working on it since 2022. Maybe they will release it this year since he got playable early access version.

[@jonpenny8600]

Someone needs to do a mod of America civil war... that would be awesome

[@baronobeefdip5870]

They already did.

[@manu_spawn]

at this point, everything in this channel puts ETW to shame

[@cristianoturbai2770]

Where is the link for 3.5 ?

[@urban_hoplite7593]

It hasn't released yet

[@YinYangTotalWar]

This is a really cool looking mod and a fantastic video highlighting all the strengths while remaining fair in any critiques. But the clickbait title takes away from all that by dunking on Total War while the video doesn't make any direct comparisons. I understand the desire to get views but it distracts from the real star of the show which should be the mod.

[@AndysTake]

Thank you for the feedback! That's fair, I changed the title :)

[@YinYangTotalWar]

@@AndysTake wow that's amazing! I once mentioned something similar to the great book of grudges and he attacked me personally over it. I've been a subscriber of yours for a while and I really appreciate your content. Thanks again!

[@IceniTotalWar]

There's more than a few of the big Total War channels that will take constructive criticism wrong and i've seen them get bent out of shape over it . Luckily some recognize it as a genuine attempt to help. @@YinYangTotalWar

[@pizzaman6784]

I bet part of the reason to not have the Americas was because of the lack of naval battles.

[@AndysTake]

That's likely too!

[@urban_hoplite7593]

It was mostly due to the AI not knowing how to handle the naval distance. As well as scale making not much of the Americas actually able to be on the map without severe crushing down of that map

[@DimitarFCBM]

I mean, putting Empire Total War to shame is not really difficult, is it? Great mod, however

[@Marex5341]

No need to be so racist

[@darkripper971]

nah it lacks naval battle

[@Shuaib_Aslam]

Finally they fixed that map though, they honestly should remove that Arabian emirate and useless arabian provinces and add either the Cossacks or Crimeans to the mod

[@Shuaib_Aslam]

Ok nvm they didn't the thumbnail got me lmao

[@IceniTotalWar]

The Kazakhs are in the current version.

[@Shuaib_Aslam]

@@IceniTotalWar Not good enough

[@IceniTotalWar]

OK well i think they're at the faction limit, so unless they do remove a faction or someone creates a sub mod there's only the Russians that cover that area of the map. @@Shuaib_Aslam

[@pl-AthEE_Three]

@@IceniTotalWar Kazakhs =/= Cossacks. Kazakhs are a Turkic khanate in Kazakhstan. Cossacks are an ethnically diverse group of European frontiersmen organised into warrior democracies around modern-day Ukraine and south-western Russia.

[@tuna1960]

The Spanish flag is wrong for 1700...

[@smudge7057]

There is something very sad about the fact that we are still modding Medieval 2, a game from nearly 20 years ago, instead of CA making the games they should @#$%ing make

[@inquerion8867]

Warhammer is the main reason. Fantasy sells a lot better than historical titles ever did. Sad (as a historical fan), but that's the reality. Now since historical Pharaoh flopped hard, CA will fully focus on more Fantasy Total Wars.

[@FifinatorKlon]

Who the hell is Lucium

[@Shuaib_Aslam]

No idea

[@silversoul2785]

i DONT Understand why not doing this with attila? or napoleon it self. they can just ask CA for permission

[@krekk2751]

because medieval 2 is better in every way?

[@the_marmottin]

Engine is much less modable, major problem is you can't change the map

[@Axel-qh5ed]

the units looks horrible.