Total War (series)
Total War is a series of strategy games developed by The Creative Assembly for personal computers. They combine turn-based strategy and resource management with real-time tactical control of battles. The first of the series, "" was released in June 2000. The most recent major game released was "" on 3 May 2018. The series has sold over 20 million copies.
Medieval II: Total War
One of the main focuses on the "Total War" franchise is its incorporation of battle within the greater sphere of gameplay. A battle consists of two or more factions' armies fighting each other. Battles play similar to those in "Rome: Total War", with formations of various kinds of troops fighting. The objective of the battle is to defeat the enemy army by completely destroying it or causing the whole army to flee; in a siege battle, the objective is to completely destroy the army or to take control of a plaza in the centre of the settlement. There is also an option which allows the player to allow for time limits on battles, meaning that the attacker must defeat the defender within a certain time limit (determined by the computer) or the battle results in a victory for the defender.
Unlike in previous "Total War" titles, a new system of modelling troops on the battlefield has been introduced. Each soldier has a varying number of elements to him, such as arms, legs, body armour, shield heraldry, and so forth; each element has a varying number of styles. When a battle is entered, the computer randomly selects elements for each soldier in the unit, thereby making each soldier look different from the soldiers around him. This can lead to some errors; for example, a general's bodyguard of the Holy Roman Empire can be portrayed with a shield that has an English or Byzantine twist upon it. Upgrades to a unit's armour are also depicted - a unit of unarmored spearmen upgraded to have leather armour will be depicted wearing it. Another departure from earlier "Total War" games is that combat is depicted more realistically, with soldiers performing motion-captured attacks - rather than one or two standard attacks - utilising their shields, parrying blows and delivering killing strikes to downed foes, all based on the weapon they are using and the weapon of their opponent. Blood can also be seen on the uniforms of soldiers who have been fighting and a mist of blood will be visible on soldiers hit by arrows. The amount of detail in the fight sequences can be turned up or down along with the other video options in the main menu. A player can also have up to 4800 (huge units option) troops in their army.