쇼군2 토탈워 (IGN) Shogun 2: Reader Q&A

[RoastBullet]

The Creative Assembly answers questions submitted by IGN's readers!

Australia, September 6, 2010

by The IGN Community
IGN AU

A little while ago we asked you guys to submit questions for TheCreative Assembly on Shogun 2: Total War, the studio's long-awaited return to feudal Japan. We were inundated with responses... which... erm... were mostly lost due to a massive hiccough with the page, which reset the forum post attached to the article. 

Our sincere apologies if you submitted a question that was lost. Thankfully, we were able to pull questions from a Google cache of the first page of the forum thread (seriously), as well as from any questions added to the new thread. 

The end result is we were able to submit some great questions to The Creative Assembly, and Kieran Brigden, the Studio Communications Manager was kind enough to answer them. We've credited each question with the relevant user name so you'll be able to see whose questions made it in. We should also mention that a few of the questions with multiple parts have been split up and answered separately. 

SultanGold: What are some of the factions we can expect to play as? Will religion make a large influence in this game? What about family marriages? Will they make a return? Will there be factions other than just the Japanese clans? 

Kieran Brigden: Technically that's five questions! Whilst we're not able to give you a full list of factions yet (they're still being balanced) we can say that all the major Japanese families will be represented. In addition many of the smaller factions will be unique, historically accurate clans of a given region, so a lot fewer 'rebel' style factions. 

Diplomacy has been changed to suit the time period, so using your daughters as brides to form alliances will indeed feature, as will a number of other interesting options. 

The Europeans will arrive at some point, and whilst they don't have a physical empire on the islands of Japan, there are ways to bring them, and their technology, into your clan. 

The battles will be massive, but Shogun 2 sure isn't lacking in detail or atmosphere.

Frederik360E: What can we expect of the heroes in Shogun 2: Total War? How large a role will the heroes play? Will they be difficult to obtain? How many will you be able to obtain during a single game? 

Kieran Brigden: Heroes are unique units that are accessible at the top of the tech tree by building legendary buildings of a certain type (Sword dojo, spear etc.) You can only access one of each type, and you won't be able to get all of them in one session. This is because you have to chose to specialise your clan's technology tree, if for example you perfect the way of archery, you may not be able to master the way of the spear. Although you could potentially still unlock mastery of the sword, it's about balance. 

So you'll have access to several, but not all, hero types depending on the choices you make in the campaign. 

Heroes are very hard to obtain, as they're very skilled in battle. It's important to note that they're not one man armies, but they are a force to be reckoned with. 

JapanU.S.relations: What features from the naval aspect of Empire: Total War will you be bringing over to Shogun? 

Kieran Brigden: Naval battles in Shogun 2 are extremely different to those fought in Empire and Napoleon. Japanese ships are like floating castles manned by a variety of troops and for the most part do not feature gunpowder. 

They steer and react much more decisively as they are rowed rather than sailed, and the tactics that open up with them are very different as a result. 

Finally the big change is the combination of land elements into sea engagements. Rocks, coves, inlets and beaches all play a part in coastal warfare. Whilst fighting at sea you'll need to use the landscape against the enemy whilst avoiding having it destroy you. 

Naval battles will be an all new beast in Shogun 2.

TheUnkownGod: I understand that Shogun Total War is about the Art of Japanese Warfare, but will other foreign factions like the Koreans or Chinese be in this game, realizing historically Japan has had wars overseas with different Asian factions? 

Kieran Brigden: For the time being we're focusing solely on Japan and the Japanese clans, this allows us to give the game more depth in one culture. There are of course European elements that make an appearance, but more on them later... 

infinity_ward_fan: Will this cover the entire history of the samurai? If not what period of history will it be focusing on? It would be really cool to be able to experience the early days of the samurai all the way until the end of the samurai in the 1800s. If The Creative Assembly was able to cover the entire history in one campaign that would certainly be impressive. 

Kieran Brigden: The entire history of the Samurai is indeed amazing. What we're focusing on is the Sengoku-Jidai period of the country as a whole. What political, social, military and technological changes happened over that period and why? It's an enthralling point in Japanese, and indeed world history and it's something we're keen to express in detail. So for now, Shogun 2 doesn't go that far. That said, there's no reason we couldn't think about expanding the experience after release..

Yarichin: What's being done to address the shortcomings of the AI? 

Kieran Brigden: The simple answer is lots. AI has been given more priority and importance in this game than ever before. We recognise we need to get this right and we will. The battlefield AI for example is having its siege systems and combat mechanics drilled into, and in large parts rewritten. 

The campaign game is receiving as much attention, to ensure that we give everybody a fun and engaging experience out of the box. 

For more on the game's AI, watch this!

Yarichin: AI has been the Achilles' Heel of the series ever since Rome: Total War. With each new release, CA promises a revamped AI capable of handling both tactical and strategic aspects yet this never proves to be the case. From suicidal generals in RTW to armies incapable of conducting amphibious invasions in ETW, the AI is never, ever up to the task of providing the player with a capable opponent on the 3D battlefield or on the strategic map. 

Since your development team seems unwilling to focus their efforts on this portion of the game, will you at least make it so that the modding community can access the AI scripts in order to make refinements or alterations? 

Kieran Brigden: Whilst this is more of a criticism (albeit one with some legitimacy) than a question, it's a valid point. As above, the AI for Shogun 2 is receiving a lot of development resource and attention. There will never be an AI that completely satisfies the needs of all players. Some want something easy that offers a minor challenge, others want to be roundly beaten in unforeseen ways for hundreds of hours of game play. 

What we're seeking to do this time around is to provide something solid, robust and most importantly, fun. 

Modding is a separate issue. We remain committed to modding as a studio, however the code itself is becoming less easy to mod. This is not to deliberately omit modding, it's simply code progression. We've moved a lot of our files from scripts into binary for example, this speeds up processing but also makes them harder to access. 

So in answer to your question, some functions will remain open to the modding community dependent on the code. What those are, we'll be in a better position to judge closer to release. 

StrifebladeX: There is a huge difference between the economical and recruitment systems between Rome and Napoleon. Will the building be similar to Rome/Medieval (1 building in at a time, focus on cities), or Napoleon/Empires system (outlying towns that you can upgrade, with a focus on defending an entire region rather than just a city). Also, will the reinforcement system from Napoleon be returning or is a different system altogether being used? 

Kieran Brigden: The building system is a progression of that seen in Napoleon, so multiple structures can be built provided you have the resources and the time. Reinforcement on the campaign map has some similar functionality too. 

Attrition will be suffered by armies and (for the first time) by navies. Reinforcing in battles is something we're currently working on balancing too. 

It was at this crucial moment that Greg realised he'd forgotten to put in his contacts.

perryberry: My question is about the multiplayer experience in Shogun II. I've been a long-time player of the Total War series, having played Rome, Medieval II, Empire and Medieval. It has been a frequently frustrating experience, particularly during the last 2 Steam supported games, for an opponent to quit the game during a multiplayer battle as soon as I have the advantage. This is particularly annoying as I make it a point never to quit a battle, and to fight to the very end. 

Kieran Brigden: First, we respect your honour and integrity on the battlefield! Quitting in any game during a match where you may suffer defeat is annoying, and it affects us as gamers too. 

Multiplayer battles this time around will be properly ranked using the new multiplayer systems currently under development. The multiplayer designers are looking at ways to penalise quitters, however we have to remember sometimes people drop because they lose connection or the like and it would be unfortunate to affect them too. 

Therefore, its something we're looking into, as it concerns us as much as you! 

perryberry: What steps will Creative Assembly take to eliminate the problem of quitters? 

One option could be to introduce punitive measures, such as a timed lock-out of 5+ minutes increasing with each instance of quitting or a massive reduction in star rating. A player rating system should be introduced, easily accessible during the unit selection screen, about how many times a person has quit multiplayer battles. There should be a way for players to rate others on a variety of indicators, such as whether the person is a frequent quitter, spammer, or breaker of host-made rules. 

Kieran Brigden: As this is a repeat of the earlier question, with some helpful suggestions, I'll refer to my answer above. We're looking at ways of penalising genuine quitters whilst trying not to annoy those who have modem or connection difficulties at some stage in an otherwise well fought game. 

There are some very big multiplayer features in the works and that's something we'll be looking to talk more about shortly. 

Quick, cover yourselves with sheet metal and take cover under the tallest tree you can find!

perryberry: Another commonly frustrating experience during NTW and ETW multiplayer is for players to ignore informal host-made rules. Often these rules include the banning of fixed artillery, such as rockets, a cap on certain types of units, such as banning spamming. These should be an option for the host during the host battle screen. A drop down bar allowing the host to disallow types of artillery, or certain cavalry types, or light infantry types, or elite infantry types should be included. 

Kieran Brigden: There are many more multiplayer features coming which will make customising your battles easier and creating the types of engagements you want a lot more simple. Again, there will be more on this in due course. Multiplayer overall is an area we're really looking to ramp up in Shogun 2 and these type of requests are where we start... 

perryberry: And lastly, I think there should be more choice and variation in multiplayer maps. 40+ maps, or even the option for randomly generated maps, should be included. 

I know that parts of the above problems address NTW and ETW, but I'm sure they will have an equivalent for STW2, especially as IGN have indicated it will include early gunpowder units. 

Kieran Brigden: We're doing a lot more with maps this time around too, we know you need varied and interesting battlefields to play on, and we're also looking to give the battles a great deal more purpose too. As was said in Gladiator: "What we do in life, echoes in eternity". Wouldn't it be nice if all your battles went towards something, bigger? Anyway I've said too much... 

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Thanks to The Creative Assembly and IGN's readers for making this interview happen!

[tweinsen]

중간에 보니깐...확장팩은 임진왜란 확실할듯 ㅡ.ㅡㅋ;; 기대해봅시다.내년 후반쯤엔 발표되겠죠?

[CSman]

!!!임진왤한? 헉 CA녀석들 힘든 작업이 될텐데...

[쾨니히스티이거]

확장팩 문제는 추후 알려줄 거라고만 이야기했지 어떤 암시도 제공되지 않았습니다.