Octopus Overlords

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 1:24 pm That is a cool choice for the next Total War game.

WHAT PLAYABLE FACTIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH?

The base game contains eight playable factions from three diverse cultures:

• Egyptian: Ramesses, Seti, Tausret, Amenmesse
• Canaanite: Bay and Irsu
• Hittite: Kurunta and Suppiluliuma

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 2:58 pm Hebrews may still be a part of Egypt.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 2:25 pm What about Israelites?

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:34 pm I was hoping for some Assyrians too. Maybe a dlc.

On the border of Canaan in Sinai, we have Ramesses.

Begotten of the Sun God, Ra, Ramesses is young, ambitious and ready to follow the path of greatness shared by his namesake, Ramesses II. A martial prodigy, Ramesses’ youth brings speed and capabilities unmatched by his opponents. He’ll need to utilise both to deal with the incursions at the Canaan border from the great raider, Irsu, and the growing menace of darker challenges ahead.

Along the river in Hardai, Seri, the son of Merneptah, skirmishes with the western desert tribes to prove his superiority and worthiness to rule. While birthright sees him next in line to the throne, he yearns to prove his worth in a language more familiar than the parlance of the courts – battle. To him, the Sea Peoples are nothing but a group of barbarous thugs to crush beneath his heel.

Tausret, on the other hand, has a very different approach to power. She cares not for grandstanding and is uninterested in the notion of god given rights – she simply knows she will be a better Pharaoh than anyone else. A methodical genius, Tausret’s strength lies in her intelligence, her planning and her ability to ensure those machinations come to fruition.

Her campaign begins in the deserts of Yebu in Upper Egypt. Through synergising her provinces to bolster her economy and working alongside Seti – or whoever else she can sway to her line of thinking – she strives to maintain the majesty of this ancient empire.

And lastly, down in the South, lies Amenmesse, the Viceroy of Kush. Such a title may sound like a high honour, but to him it’s merely a backhanded compliment – and an unwelcome one at that. While Amenmesse is the eldest male heir, Seti is the designated heir. As grandiose as a title like ‘Viceroy of Kush’ may sound, it’s not nearly as powerful or attractive as ‘Pharaoh’ – a moniker which Amenmesse believes is rightfully his.

Being Viceroy of Kush does offer benefits, however. Benefits like control over Egypt’s gold mines. Amenmesse knows that true power over man isn’t forged in blood but bought with money. He’ll use his wealth to fight his way back up to Mennefer, buying whoever he needs along the way to fulfil his ambitions.

Welcome to the very first patch for Total War: PHARAOH!

We’ve been so excited to see people connect with the late Bronze Age. Now that the release of the game is behind us, we are focusing our energy on supporting and expanding it. We hope that you’re enjoying the game as much as we’re enjoying hearing about your experiences amidst the war-ravaged dunes of Egypt. This first patch is full of quality-of-life improvements that should make your ascendancy to the throne that bit slicker!

Here are a few of the highlights of what’s included in Patch 1.01:

• The Province panel no longer shows effects from regions that do not belong to the player.
• Added confirmation dialogue when the Commands button is pressed.
• Fixed a bug where Thutmose’s reinforcement army doesn’t spawn when the target settlement sallies out.
• Fixed an issue where a General’s portrait in the Recruitment panel differed from his portrait once recruited.
• Armour will now degrade at a much slower rate than before. Plus, there is a greater difference in how fast the different qualities of armour degrade.
• Slingers will no longer have access to flaming projectiles – Maat has been restored! We also applied balancing changes to several unit types, notably chariots and archers, following community feedback.
• Capturing all victory points in a settlement at the same time will no longer grant instant victory – it will instead now increase the rate at which the defenders lose morale.
• Reinforcements or additional armies can now properly be selected on the post-battle screen for performance inspection.
• The AI will now sally out from its positions in minor settlements less often when facing a superior enemy.
• The AI should now handle ranged units better – there will no longer be cases where it deliberately sends them into melee when shooting is more viable.
• Fixed several desync issues in Multiplayer.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 5:27 pm Out today. Metacritic rates it at generally favorable, with a metascore of 76 (34 reviews: 23 positive, 8 mixed, 1 negative).