Total War Arena (Free to play on the wargaming.net client) free4public no resets

[DennisS]

Dennis, the game spans a long time frame. So you get the various dominant militaries of the ancients thrown against each other. A good example is the Alexander the Great Commander and his macedonian phalanx and companion cavalry. Historically the Romans still found the macedonian style phalanx hard to beat and were even beaten by it in at least one battle iirc. Also Carthaginian armies were often led by Greek generals and had huge Greek Hoplite elements and won. I would say their are more Barbarian victories than we know of as well, not just the battles that Rome sent huge armies into.
Also remember that the victors write the history. There may be battles we do not know of that the Romans lost.

I play all factions and find that most are fairly well balanced in thier historical fighting style to mirror what the historical counterparts did. This goes for the Generals as well. In general terms these battles could mirror any total war force match up or even historical army.

The most interesting aspect of the game is the combinations of forces you can have with friends. Some support generals can buff friendly forces nearby!

I am only just at tier 3 now with my Carthaginians.

I get that the Romans were beatable..of course they were. Heck..they lost to the Germanic hordes in the fifth Century. But...for one hell of a long time, they won far more than their share of battles.

My own experience in this game has been small. I haven't unlocked the Carthaginians, or any other army. I will play the Roman infantry model until I feel comfortable, then I will branch out.

[Nefaro]

Have you ever been tempted to spend money on the game?

On these types?  Sure.  It just lets you advance faster.

I think of spending money on Multiplayer games as I did for MMOs, years ago, when I played those.  Like a monthly entertainment subscription fee, if I decide to spend a little. 

I justify it because when I get on an MMOA kick, I tend to just play one for a couple months straight and it keeps me from running around, purchasing other games willy-nilly, in the hopes I'll find THE ONE that keeps me interested for a long time.  Ending up not playing many of them.  These, at least, keep me focused for a time, and refrain from widespread game purchasing.

Added you as a friend Nef.. Hancock's been playing Rome II. .maybe he'd be into it..

Send me your s/n.  I probably have to add you manually, if it doesn't offer.

Hopefully be on tonight.   

[Tuna]

I definitely put a lot of hours into World of Warships.. I don't think I spent nearly as much 'money' as nef.. but I did get a ton of playing time in there and could definitely go back.

[Destraex]

A review:
https://www.pcgamesn.com/total-war-arena/total-war-arena-review-pc

[Nefaro]

I definitely put a lot of hours into World of Warships.. I don't think I spent nearly as much 'money' as nef.. but I did get a ton of playing time in there and could definitely go back.

I will eventually.  Need an extended break so it feels fresh when I return.  I started getting that "not so fresh feeling" after so much WoWs grinding.

Hopefully TW Arena will keep me interested until that time.  Nice to have other alternatives to switch between.

[Nefaro]

A review:
https://www.pcgamesn.com/total-war-arena/total-war-arena-review-pc

Haven't read yet, but my two biggest complaints are:

1) Elephants are apparently OP in later tiers. 

Judging from vids, it looks that way to me.  I'm sure they'll get a proper nerfing, but don't know how long it will take to get it done as it's still technically Open Beta.  So they're probably going to farm more data and feedback for a bit.

2) The matchmaking doesn't differentiate much regarding distribution of troop types. 

You could have one side filled with an unusually high amount of archers, and the opposing side with no archers but a high amount of cavalry.  It can lead to the occasionally strange lop-sided battle.

The troop type matchmaking thing isn't unusual for WG's games.  They never seem to tighten up the matchmaking code until after their games go public.  It was the same with WoWs and took them quite awhile to refine to the decent point it is now.  Of course, it's more reliable when there is a higher population on, too.

[Destraex]

I noticed the same thing about the match maker.
I actually like having lopsided match ups. It makes battles feel less cookie cutter and more interesting. But I am sure it will become like warships, where every battle is like a perfect mirror. :(

[Nefaro]

I noticed the same thing about the match maker.
I actually like having lopsided match ups. It makes battles feel less cookie cutter and more interesting. But I am sure it will become like warships, where every battle is like a perfect mirror. :(

I actually enjoy the types being a bit off, too. 

But I've had matches where my team had zero cavalry, and the enemy had a few players using them.  We couldn't do anything about their cav, since they were doing circles around us and eventually (notably!) just capped us out with ease, once the infantry got stuck in.

Another example is having no cav while the enemy had quite a few archers.  Our infantry were getting slowly whittled down while attempting to engage and those archers had nothing to worry about from other directions, having their infantry just waiting in front to repel the weakend attack.

I suppose that I just want SOME amount of each basic unit type for each team.  Being altogether without a type unbalances the "combined arms" flexibility of the team.

[Nefaro]

Tier 2 through Tier 5 units from Greek, Roman, and Barbarian factions are -30% upgrade cost for the next couple days.

Will add you guys to my Friends List if you left your TWA screen name here.

[jomni]

But I've had matches where my team had zero cavalry, and the enemy had a few players using them.  We couldn't do anything about their cav, since they were doing circles around us and eventually (notably!) just capped us out with ease, once the infantry got stuck in.

Another example is having no cav while the enemy had quite a few archers.  Our infantry were getting slowly whittled down while attempting to engage and those archers had nothing to worry about from other directions, having their infantry just waiting in front to repel the weakend attack.

I suppose that I just want SOME amount of each basic unit type for each team.  Being altogether without a type unbalances the "combined arms" flexibility of the team.

That's how Rome lost to Parthia.

[Tuna]

Tier 2 through Tier 5 units from Greek, Roman, and Barbarian factions are -30% upgrade cost for the next couple days.

Will add you guys to my Friends List if you left your TWA screen name here.

Htuna