Total War: ROME II - Naval Warfare

[@I_hunt_lolis]

The men are WAVEring

[@noahadams4749]

Awaiting O(A)Rders

[@genechengdai7714]

@@noahadams4749 Yes my lOArd

[@ahawkTW]

This never happens in my Rome 2 naval battles. It never lets you ram or board a ship that's already fighting off boarding troops. The whole "2 v 1 boarding ships" is BS, or maybe they took it out of the game IDK.

[@planetsec9]

2:57 onwards,. Beautiful, just beautiful

[@Tacronicus]

The animation quality is simply eye-watering! I'm so very grateful that naval combat has FINALLY come to the ancient world for RTW II. Well done, you game designers!

[@unab84]

Insanely superb game but incomplete when it came out.. Also requires a huge computer to play it to its max potential.. But insane game. :-)

[@skyanimal]

Yes! I want to be able to do this with a naval fleet that includes barges full of armed fighters. Boarding party action. You have heavy warships ram/damage-oars of other enemy warships, the troop ships follow behind and engage in animated-boarding-action. Have this action either pin the captured vessel to your vessel, or a guard of ten fighters is left on board the vessel. In which case, you boarding craft is now free to capture another vessel. The player in the meantime, controls the heavy warships and continues to harass and engage the enemies other vessels.

[@Wutzthedeal]

I'll wait for the next medeival

[@agamemnon7761]

Still waiting.

[@Praetorian349]

As has been said, the Romans revolutionised naval warfare with boarding. They were some of the first to do it, as they were adept at land battles but new to seafaring. So they took what they do best and changed naval warfare to it. It worked.

[@kozhedub]

Rome II is my favorite Total War, F the h8rs

[@MrThemedivalwarrior]

I've seen many mistakes: the shields that fly off a recently dead soldier float near the ship and disappear, when a small ship rams into a larger one it does do any visible damage, when a large ship rams into a small ship it destroys it but the problem is even if the large ship ram the small one from behind or front, the small ship breaks into two. When a ship is rammed and break in half, the decoration just vanishes and the units flew in a realty unrealistic way. Hope CA can fix that :3

[@slothfromthegoonies8201]

The naval battles are boring.

[@averageo2343]

Which is funny considering they're faster than the battles in Empire. They aren't even worth the load time.

[@slothfromthegoonies8201]

AverageO They were boring in Empire too

[@doinke]

would just like to say absolutely brilliant job very nice detail's and grand effects well done ! :)

[@Bretlu2010]

For a new tactic centred around ramming, the moment of physical contact felt lack of any weight or momentum; seems that neither the bigger ship nor the small one performed any movement that resembled rigid body dynamic. Hope this will be put in before the end of WIP phase.

[@michaelweston409]

Omg this is the best sea battle in a video game I've ever seen. The visuals are amazing.

[@Drageren]

Thank you for a lot of trailers. Very cool. Battles looks like 300 spartans!

[@patta8388]

that may is in the released version, as they already have shown that they have a "mass system" for each unit type. they may add this to a certain degree to the naval combat.

[@3Slim3Shady3]

oh I ve been hoping for a video like this, thank you

[@lkvideorang]

To clear this up!! The weak looking ship rams WERE NOT RAMS, they were boarding maneuvers! Creative Assembly has cleared this up today, ramming can break a ship in half upon impact which causes splinters and men to fly, this was shown in another video. Nile battle I think

[@klompyyyy]

This game.. there's just not words to how awesome it looks, every freaking video I watch about makes my hype go up. It's been quite a while since I have been this excited for a game.

[@patta8388]

in battle the sails of wargalleys were pulled up, so it wouldnt catch some fire-arrows and slow the ship dotn while maneuvering - take in mind, that this kind of sail configuration only could use wind from the rear of the ship.

[@thebatburger]

It's funny how a lot of games are coming out at the same day as I go back to school

[@AussieStarcraft]

Yeah there is definitely some work still to be done on the Naval warfare, but when it gets fixed it should be amazing. When things run smoothly the land/sea integrations is awesome.

[@mathoe87]

the rams protrude about out from the ship about 3 m, a few metres under water. But the shield glitch was a bit messed up, minor problem though I'm sure it'll be sorted.

[@amaturehour15]

I'm really looking forward to thinking of navel tactics now. I never needed to keep ships in Medieval 2 because they weren't important to battle. Now it opens up a whole new way to dominate the map. Or it could show you how week you really are. Also being able to do a co-op campaign means one person could get a royal navy and the other could command the ground. Awesome.

[@apgmk1970]

The roman soldiers in that battle are pre Marius legionaries. So it's safe to assume its's a copy of a Carthaginian quinquereme. That would make it about 37 m long. The larger version, 54 m long, appeared about 100 BC. So much for historic accuracy...

[@patta8388]

it has a several hour long tutorial-campaign, showing you the roots. problem for you may be, that this tutorial is as romans, so, as soon as you start as another nation, you have to learn everything about their army from the scraps - or from encounters with that nation in a war in an earlier campaign

[@Mynameismegalex]

Have you played Rome 1??? In Rome 1 there was: Julii, Scipii and Brutii. No my 'i' key is not broken it's spelt that way. In Rome 2 there is: House of Cornelia, house of Julia and house of Junia. In general, Caesar was the king, an emperor. Julius Caesar was King Julius. (I might be mistaken because apart from King Caesar could also be a name) You can check out the houses on this video: Let's Play - Total War: ROME II - Campaign - US It's on the creative assembly's channel so it's official

[@jarodestes3454]

To be fair, the guy in the video specifically said that that type of ship is not designed for ramming like the Mediterranean ones are. Did you see the Battle of the Nile video, how that one ship got completely destroyed? It looked awesome to me.

[@KevinWebb]

I'm excited about them doing such research into ancient naval warfare. Wonder if they'll make 10's, or larger available. Ptolomies 40???

[@patta8388]

the Corvus was only used for a short period, so i guess it will either be only on a special variation of the roman galleys or not in the game at all.

there was an invention called "the crow". designed by Roman architects during the Punic Wars. It was used to board the enemy ship. might be very interesting to use them in this game.

[@Forslimjims]

I believe the dust you are seeing is the arrows hitting the ship, so not really dust but wood chips.

[@aceyoyodude]

i actually like how it seems they have really done their research into this period, and applied it accuratley to the game

[@Praetorian349]

Corvus* And yes, it was key to the Romans outclassing the Carthaginian seamanship. The Carthaginians were incredible seafarers, possibly the best. But when they came against the Romans they had no idea that a nation whose entire naval force at the onset of the war was a few patrol Triremes, would be the ones to beat them. They came with fleet upon fleet of Quinqueremes armed with a Corvus and a compliment of tough as nails Marines, each. Turned naval warfare into a land battle.

[@NUFCMVFC]

Good video, wonder if there will be fluctuations on normal speed, fast speed speed, ramming speed and associated time limits due to exhaustion etc Also, wonder if that is the crew on board the ships, land units loaded onto ships or if their numbers become larger if the ships are being used to transport troops or if they'll only load if in a combined land/sea battle... Guess I'll find out

[@marioschr8181]

The environment is absolutely astonishing, can't wait!

[@patta8388]

probably not, in battle the sails were pulled up. it doesnt come very well, if you have to turn around and the wind suddenly comes from infront of you. those ancient sail configurations could only handle wind coming from the rear of the ship. oh, and fire arrows really suck, so they wouldnt keep those huge woolen targets up

[@eyarlan]

i must be blind but no ship exploded the only ones that did were the ships rammed by the Egyptian ships because they had fire pots on the front that explode when the hit a enemy ship or do you mean the big splash that's made because of the speed the ships hit i think they have done a good job

[@KarmakazeMike]

Actually its more likely Queen Teuta of Illyria who fits much more into the timeline of the game. She even fought against Rome when they invaded. Evidence towards that is the soldier behind her is wearing an Illyrian style helmet.

[@TheNgorso]

no you dont get it earlier. you just get it on release date which is the 3rd sept.

[@LaunoRosso]

This is the first time Im looking forward to playing naval battles!

[@TH3W1TCHKING]

You can do it over and over again but the big ships take a long time to build up speed and they're just slower overall so a small ship can usually get out of the way in time.

[@brandoko]

The large ships were splintering/blowing up the smaller ships when they were ramming them later in the video. I'd say that's fairly impressive.

[@mitchellscott-young5501]

Certain Areas on the Campaign map will cause attrition e.g. Mountain passes, Northern parts of the map and when you go into "Deep" oceans.

[@Aenigmaa]

The music at the beginning is simply epic.

[@RTO41]

The face of the general of the carthage infantry is from a guy, big fan of TW, who was going to die of cancer (maybe he is already dead now). So CA made that gift for him. They let him test the game in their offices and took pictures from his face to design the carthage infantry's general.

[@HJQB]

I think not, i also think that most ships can transport units, but there are specialized transport ships which you'd probably want to use.

[@Kurosaki2Ichigo9]

@Xenite227 I agree, I think it's something that is really going to take some getting used to.

[@Ragmulokos]

if you bought on steam, it'll already be downloaded when the game releases ( or when the dlc releases). i bought tomb raider on the pre sale, and thats how it happenned

[@aviranwow1]

Can not wait to play it! See longer clips please

[@DoddyIshamel]

corvus = crow fyi Its not mentioned in the later battles of the punic wars so it seems likely they stopped using, since it was probably behind them losing so many ships to storms. By that time all the experienced carthaginian sailors were dead so the advantage was gone anyway.

[@NikWire]

This looks incredible great job! Only one issue that I notice though and it's quite bothersome. The ramming doesn't look that realistic.. The ships just stop and both ships don't have any effect or noticeable damage at all. There's also little effect of the ships' crews.. Don't you think they'd get knocked around a bit? And the big ship at the end ramming the smaller one didn't look too.. Smooth? I guess. Idk. Either way, any bit of "life" I have will be gone September 3rd.

[@Blogwheel]

Any sequel with how good this tech is getting would be amazing.

[@DeusExSponge]

I'm pretty sure there will be an option to auto resolve the battle just like there are for land battles.

[@patta8388]

yeah, i preorder TW's for years now, started the series with Medieval 1, never had a missbuy

[@Helms472388]

I really like how Creative Assembly listens to their fans. Keep at it guys!

[@ecto1mir]

Haha. I guess it's Artemisia being the fact that there will be soon a movie in theaters, (the continuation to 300) that shows her commanding in the battle of Salamina... and it seems like if she was in a ship in the picture if you look closer

[@GASynstitute]

The Creative Assembly's music is just awe inspiring, mouth-watering, lovely epic music that reminds me oh so much of the game God of War. And it's PERFECT for a type of game where all we do is conquer others through war (for the most part.) Is this the first time this type of music has been used in any Total War game?

[@mulvad007]

ups forgot this in the last post... how good did the big ass Poseidon ship look? OMG, I love the details :D

[@Okoii]

Just 18 more days and i can say goodbye to my social life.

[@PhantomDruid]

The Gauls should have some interesting Veneti style ships. That's what I really want to see!! So far everything looks gret though. Very excited for this.

[@mamluksultanate8316]

yes those helmets are definitely illyrian.. There are 3 tribes (ardianet,dalmatet ,desidiatet). Maybe one of these will be unlocked after completion of the game.

[@GWFunside]

And once again, The Creative Assembly have done it - they've never ceased to excite me about a new Total War game, and this one is no different. For the first time since Shogun 2, I am genuinely excited about a new game.

[@muffing45]

A guy on the forums explained it saying that if the ship rams and then boards, it will stop like that. but if you just ram and don't board its better

[@Paintchk218]

It may seem difficult but you can have someone build it for you.(Geek Squad maybe?) But thats the bonus of knowing whats whats on your computer. But you don't have to upgrade it like 5 times a year or something along the lines. Once you got it together you won't have to touch it for 2 -3 years before you have to upgrade anything like space, ram, graphics card(Which could last about you 5 years depending). It all depends on how much you want to put into it and what you want to play.(BF4 for ex.)

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Absolutely fantastic!! Brillant CA ... but where is the RAVEN!!?

[@patta8388]

the difference between empire (and Shogun FotS) and Rome 2 is, the ships in Empire can be slow, because their purpose was to load one salvo after another into the enemy hull (or sails, if you prefered to play like the french), making speed undesirable because you had to position your ships and often fire the salvos yourself. and if you play FotS and zoom close in as it is in here, the ships (the steam-engine ones atleast) have a comparable speed.

[@Kinjoson]

You can see the light house of Alexandria at 2:41 in the background!

[@mr_girr3488]

I find myself oddly comforted by the powerfull sound of the rowing. Is this normal? I am only comforted due to its melodramatic and harmonious hymn.

[@aceyoyodude]

its funny how some would think the way the ships break is unrealistic, but if you learn a bit about how those ships were built, the front and back peices were very strong (for ramming) but the middle was actually rather weak. so going to physics, rather that the head of the ship breaking, the middle would instead disintegrate under the pressure from the front and back at the same time. the fact that the ship stops when this happens is the only part i find unrealistic.

[@GirlyKat9001]

Fire pots explode when you ram an enemy ship, or the when an enemy ships rams you from the front, doing a lot of damage to the troops on the enemy ship

[@Patrick3183]

weird how the vessel being rammed doesn't seem to move when it gets rammed. one would think it would move back in the water from the impact

[@halorecon95]

it doesnt stop, if you look closely you can see that the ship is still moving a little bit.

[@TH3W1TCHKING]

With the barbarian ships they weren't ramming. They were boarding. The ship does rock and splinter if you try to ram it. At the bottom there are two buttons, one for ram and one for board. It does annoy me though just how abrupt the boarding animation stops the boat.

[@Ferelare]

I think it's fairly realistic when those ships are torn in two, perhaps a bit sped up of an animation.. but yes, I've been on a ship many, many times, and even the tide can push you around on a rough day. A thing with that much mass and momentum hitting your hull and breaking it? You will be thrown, far. Actually, looking at the other ships, I'm less in favor of how they seem to just thud and stop there, without cracking or smashing in the hull at all.

[@EkErilaz]

I wish the Europa Barbarorum team will fix this game eventually. I'd love to see small scale battles between Hjortspring type boats in the Baltic and along the coasts of Northern Europe, but I doubt they had regular battles on ships. I think they would have prefered to do battle on land. Ships were the most important type of transportation for the North Germanic tribes, I think especially the Suiones were famous for their ships, mentioned by Tacitus.

[@RavingEuge100]

It gives the game character, like what they used to use on old pottery I quite like the unit cards.

[@nagual1992]

On the forums someone pointed her out as a Queen of the Ardiaei, I think a CA rep confirmed it on the thread. Forgot the name tho.

[@osamael-touny3326]

Athens had a strong navy too. Forgot about that. I'm not sure if Persia had a strong navy or not. The Barbarians as well seemed to have a decent navy but not really that strong.

[@VeniVidiRitchie]

Well done Mr. Bickham; prehaps you're more of a naval battle guy than a land battle guy..;)

[@Praetorian349]

Indeed, but by then they didn't need to change naval warfare into their favour. They were fine sailors by then, nearly matching the Carthaginians, and winning many great victories in straight-up naval battles. But yes, the main reason got scrapped them was they weighed a ton, and couldn't be used in storms (nailing two ships together in a storm is not safe at all).

[@MrPuarcu]

Best Strategy Game! Già preordinato, grazie Creative Assembly per questi capolavori!

[@rageofthemenace4972]

I'll be running on my 670 with an FX 8350. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to max out most of the settings... not all.

[@Gufberg]

Looking forward to this game ALOT. I do think the choice to make the arrows REALLY visible was wrong though. I much preferred the 'normal' arrows of the original Rome: Total War.

[@hal0dude7]

I wonder, will that adviser on the top left corner look different depending on cultures? Because until now we've only seen him as a Roman.

[@GhostKingviii]

this is one of the best animated, best graphics with the most animations and unit numbers in the whole gaming industry, i think ur asking for too much just yet, this game is perfect!!! but I am sure they will improve everything on the next one

[@reidy1012]

Good glad to hear it (that you're shutting up not the other part ;)), Well i've got to say its amazing compared to the other games but the patch released today is well needed to fix some crashes

[@mmstick]

Total War Shogun 2 would like a word with you. I had to buy a Radeon HD 7950 for it and even that still leaves room for improvement.

[@halorecon95]

Carthage and Egypt. And if you preordered Athens aswell.

[@Versmont1]

GUYS? is there Alexandria lighthouse at the background??? So why we don't see any wonders at battle maps!

[@xmasterchini6]

lets not forget that Carthage was the empire renowned for their naval skills

[@heinzie5]

i hope by the time this launches ramming will look a bit more impressive. would like to see the ships buckle and spintler on impact a little rather then just stop. i fully expected to see it in this video already....

[@XpVersusVista]

i was so hyped :( i was refreshing the forums like an idiot every day, 1 month before release until release :( i was so freaking hyped :'( I mean it is an enjoyable game (with certain mods) but all those videos hyped me (and a friend) to believe that this will be the by far best game ever :'( it is really sad what did (or did not) happen to the game :(

[@JonatasMonte]

Thats what happen when you see trailers and look at forums next time try to have less expectations

[@elasolezito]

They should be late tech ships or come with an expansion at least !

[@ChickenWilickers]

are the fire pods/lanterns one use only? Does the ship share general health with how many times they can ram enemy ships? Also, how much "alcohol references" can there be in a grand strategy? I get that its the romans, but still I doubt we'd see much.

[@hagersMD]

Is that a Corinthian soldier at 00:16-00:20 jumping from ship to ship? Either way, being the first guy to do that in Naval combat had to take some massive balls.

[@TomLe4593]

I feel grateful that they even make naval combat. I've already predicted how it will look like. Jeez, 300 B.C, dude. Don't put too much expectation

[@87robesz]

They should add some effect for the ramming.

[@Mr18TB]

Ok, I see what you're talking about now. While I think that the smaller ships look fine when they just bounce off some of the larger ships, I think that the death animations for the smaller ships being rammed needs some work. It's not bad, but it looks weird when a ship just suddenly cracks into tons of pieces when rammed from a single point.

[@patta8388]

North America between 1825 and 1900? if i remember right, those guys had a civil war over there in the 1860's.