Total War: Rome II
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Total War: Rome II

Total War: Rome II is a strategy video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It was released on 3 September 2013, for Microsoft Windows as the eighth standalone game in the Total War series of video games and the successor to the 2004 game Rome: Total War.

Rome II received generally positive reviews from critics on release, but was criticized for its significant technical problems. However, it proved a commercial success, surpassing all other games in the Total War series in both sales and number of concurrent players on its release day. In September 2014, an Emperor Edition was released, which added macOS support and addressed many of the technical problems in the game, as well as overhauled AI battles and upgraded certain visual elements. It was offered as a standalone edition and a free upgrade to all current players.

Total War: Rome II is set in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East in the Classical antiquity period. The grand single-player campaign begins in 272 BC and lasts for 300 years. However, the player also has the option to play further, as there are no timed victory conditions.

Like its predecessor, Rome II blends turn-based grand strategy and civilization management with real-time tactical battles. The Warscape engine powers the game's visuals and new unit cameras allow players to focus on individual soldiers on the real-time battlefield, which may contain thousands of combatants at the same time. Creative Assembly has stated that it wished to bring out the more human side of war, with soldiers reacting as their comrades get killed around them, and officers inspiring men with heroic speeches.

Rome II features more sophisticated portrayals of each culture and civilization of the period, which in its predecessor had been portrayed anachronistically. The Creative Assembly tried to ensure the uniqueness of different cultures and fighting forces. Lead unit designer Jack Lusted stated that instead of the "rebel nation" used to represent minor states in the original Rome: Total War, Rome II features a large number of smaller, individual nations and city-states represented by their own factions. Each ethnic group has a unique play-style. A tribe of Gallic barbarians looks and feels different from a disciplined Roman legion. Different agents and technologies are implemented for different factions. There are over 500 different land units in the game, including mercenaries. Over 30 different city variants avoid siege battles feeling and playing out the same every time.

The diplomacy system has been revamped with a new artificial intelligence. The Creative Assembly has acknowledged anomalies in previous games, where the AI could perform strange or even suicidal actions, such as very small factions declaring war on very large ones such as the Roman Empire; the AI is said to be more "intelligent" and cunning in Rome II. The player's own actions will determine whether or not the enemy AI will be a trustworthy ally or a suspicious traitor.

The political system of Rome II has been completely redone. The factions of Rome and Carthage each have three political entities that vie for power. Players will choose to be part of one of the entities once they select the faction they want to play. Other factions have internal politics between a single ruling family and a class of nobles. The political standing of different entities is based on a resource system, which is, in turn, based on the deeds and actions of its generals and characters. If one's standing drops too low, they may find themselves powerless to affect their nation's affairs, or if they become too powerful, rivals might unite against them. In certain cases, a player may attempt to take all power for himself to become emperor or king, which requires a civil war—another part of the game completely redesigned.

As with Total War: Shogun 2, the player is prompted with decisions throughout the game. The Creative Assembly has expanded on this mechanic, with each decision leading the player down a particular "decision path" based on previous decisions. These then affect the way the campaign plays out; for example, the Roman Republic may become the Roman Empire through civil war. Additionally, rather than solely assigning traits to generals and family members as with previous Total War games, the player can assign traits to entire legions as they gain combat experience. Players can also customize legions by choosing their weapons. Players can still determine the composition of individual cohorts, even though they will be building entire legions at a time, unlike in previous Total War titles where all units had to be created separately.

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