Experience The AUT

"I guess I need to get off the computer."

then

<an entire blog post about how I plan to spend my entire summer playing on the computer>

"I guess I need to get off the computer."

then

<an entire blog post about how I plan to spend my entire summer playing on the computer>

Well no.. I plan on buying it to pass time but I'll get more active later as well.

It's not going to take up all my time.

You better hope Johan forgives you of your sins. /TOP

Soccer is still lame brother. What's your job?

You better hope Johan forgives you of your sins. /TOP

Soccer is still lame brother. What's your job?

TW >>>>>>>> PI

Soccer is not lame, it's the only thing that keeps me alive this summer. And pharmaceutical engineer.

HERESY /TOP

Try American football. It's a lot better. And nice. I went to the pharmacy today. Some of them have real large sticks up their arse

HERESY /TOP

Try American football. It's a lot better. And nice. I went to the pharmacy today. Some of them have real large sticks up their arse

What's nice about concussions and oddly shaped balls? Also pharmaceutical engineer, I make the drugs not dispense them. Also, pharmacists are miserable people since their job is increasingly repetitive. Btw I hope someone has N:TW to rescue my blog.

What's nice about concussions and oddly shaped balls? Also pharmaceutical engineer, I make the drugs not dispense them. Also, pharmacists are miserable people since their job is increasingly repetitive. Btw I hope someone has N:TW to rescue my blog.

I've gotten one concussion from my 13 years of playing football. And I got it from playing basketball :/ I also start at LB and a pretty hard hitter.

By the way, funny story about pharmaceutical engineers. So, my allergies are kicking my butt right now, so my mom got sent in the prescription bout 2-3 weeks ago. So, I didn't get it till today. But do you know what the funniest thing is!? Today, I went to the doctor's and I got prescribed a new medicine that health care won't cover! Because I just got the medicine today! So, I'm blaming you for that, Duder!

I've gotten one concussion from my 13 years of playing football. And I got it from playing basketball :/ I also start at LB and a pretty hard hitter.

By the way, funny story about pharmaceutical engineers. So, my allergies are kicking my butt right now, so my mom got sent in the prescription bout 2-3 weeks ago. So, I didn't get it till today. But do you know what the funniest thing is!? Today, I went to the doctor's and I got prescribed a new medicine that health care won't cover! Because I just got the medicine today! So, I'm blaming you for that, Duder!

Another thing the pharmacists have a headache dealing with is insurance coverage especially with the elderly. There's this whole thing of the doughnut hole which is a phenomenon that for whatever reason, some don't get coverage due to certain circumstances. Also I don't think you know what my job really entails. Thinking I work for fed-ex or something, lol.

No... It had to be made. I got a notice for it on Sunday.

Shoot, I love Starcraft and AoE. I had the opportunity to beta test SC2, and loved it.

Shoot, I love Starcraft and AoE. I had the opportunity to beta test SC2, and loved it.

It's just a really different type of gameplay, I just feel a bit cheated with it though.

Anyways, anyone watching the Cavs just pack it in? Lebron is so out of Cleveland he has 2 u-hauls out of the stadium right after the game.

It's just a really different type of gameplay, I just feel a bit cheated with it though.

Anyways, anyone watching the Cavs just pack it in? Lebron is so out of Cleveland he has 2 u-hauls out of the stadium right after the game.

I just tried to punch you through the computer screen.

(from Ohio)

try total war:shogun. It's getting up there in age and the graphics show but it's a kickass TW game..

I've yet to try the napoleon TW game yet though.. I'll check out your review once you put some hours into it

P.S. it's not summer yet.

From what I've heard, Empire and Napoleon are pretty much the same game, but you can only play as the French for the campaign in Napoleon. Not sure about multiplayer or anything.

I second the Shogun: Total War. It had one of the best war simulator of it's time, imo. I've played hundreds of hours.

I don't have much respect for resource gathering games (maybe it's because I'm bad at them). I've always felt games like that were for managers while games like Shogun was for strategists.

*Shrug*

Medieval II and Crusades are where the real joy is

*nods

I've always had a thing for real time and accurate simulations.

I recommend War in the Pacific (Admirals Edition).

I've been playing for 4 months the game clock is at March 5th 19412.

Edit: years is hard

Alright, here is the spiel with the series (from my perspective) ranging from worst to best.

1 [Worst]. Shogun: Total War

This game had a lot of potential, but it ultimately let me down. I just didn't care for the in-game mechanics and just didn't feed my appetite for strategy like Rome: Total War did. Shogun: Total War just seemed way too easy and even the hardest difficulty computer was a philandering joke. As much as I respect Japanese culture (I take Japanese swordsmanship and was, indeed, the New England Junior Champion a few years back , and I also do a variety of Japanese martial arts), Shogun: Total War did not rise to my expectations. So, perhaps, it fails in my eyes because I may have had too high of hopes for it. Regardless, it is a good simulation for strategy, but it never tickled my fancy. With that said, this game (I believe) revolutionized how RTS computer games should be done. Commander and Conquer is a quaint game (though the most recent one is horrendous), but it does not measure to the might of Rome: Total War. I rank it so high because of its originality, along with its dedication to stressing strategy over mindless 'zerg rushes' and 'right click auto-create armies'.

2 Medieval: Total War

I have similar complaints about this one as well, though the in-game mechanics and strategy were definitely more versatile. However, the lack in depth of many of the units (from what I could tell) was a major turn off. It wasn't that there wasn't enough units or specialty, but rather no succinct margin of cohesiveness between faction-based armies. The units seemed too different and drew away from the realism that the game is intended to provide. Again, this may be because I had high hopes for this game as well, but it does do some justice for its genre (definitely surpasses Age of Empires or Empire Earth in terms of Medieval simulation).

3 Rome: Total War

The game, itself, is impossible to compare to current games because of the vast leap in RTS mechanics and technology. However, with that aside, the game does get choppy at times and it is shallow in some regards. Your overall choices and plausible strategies are (seemingly) limited because of tunnel-vision based play in terms of what you can use, but this is absolutely no the case. I do believe more could have been done with this game, so I do amply wait for them to possibly make a Rome: Total War II in the future. There are mods available, though, that make the game rather interesting and you can find a variety of places to find them. I highly suggest this if you want a very versatile experience in [RTS] gaming.

4 Rome: Total War Expansion (Barbarian Invasion and Alexander)

This only ranks higher because you get added units and armies, along with a few tweaks to the overall play (but nothing drastically different). You get to play as Alexander the Great which is absolutely awesome, granted it does feel shallow at some points in the campaign.

5 Empire: Total War

This game is, be all accounts, a fantastic game that utilizes the most recent RTS mechanics and technologies for its own benefit. However, the game does consume a lot of space and requires a fairly powered computer to play. The similarity between factions is a tad disheartening, but as you play more and more, you do notice the subtle differences between each faction, especially in campaign (I hate Prussia for being so expensive, but man Superior Line Infantry are awesome). The game itself is fantastic, granted it does have a few glitches that were never sorted out (all games have these). They also released a beta for an online campaign. I tried it out with my friend, and although it failed epically, before the game crashed because of a glitch where I tried invading Savoy with Austria, it showed a lot of potential.

6 Medieval II: Total War Expansion (Kingdoms: Americas, Crusades, Teutonic Order, Britania)

An overall good game (as will be explained with its main benefactor game), but it isn't anything that new and exciting in comparison to (in my opinion) the expansions to Rome: Total War. If you are looking for a challenge, though, play the Americas campaign as the Aztecs on the hardest difficulty. It makes for a rather interesting time, and it also makes you respect melee units a helluva lot more than you did before.

7 Medieval II: Total War

Before the Napoleon expansion to Empire: Total War, I felt that Medieval II: Total War was, by far, the best in the series. There is so much versatility in comparable tactics that can be used. Likewise, the number of factions is greatly balanced and there isn't one faction that over-arches the rest if you know what you are doing. In an online battle, for instance, I beat someone playing as France as the Aztecs. Granted, my opponent had little idea how to utilize his knights effectively, I destroyed him with shear numbers. This game requires you to have the mindset of your environment along with how to effectively balance between melee, cavalry, ranged, and siege military units. In all respects, I find the game to be superb. The only draw back is its campaign, which can seem shallow and sluggish at points in time. Also, the religion feature gets obnoxious from time to time, but on the up side: the Pope actually fights. And it's also a lot of fun to conquer the Papal States. This is probably pure blasphemy, but you can, indeed, kill the Pope. Ah to Hell with it, it is fun invading Italy all together.

Napoleon: Total War

To clarify, Napoleon: Total War is not an actual expansion, but I see it as such similar to how Medieval and Medieval II are related. Empire takes place up to (around) 1800, and Napoleon takes place from 1796 onward. The game is, by far, the best so far in the series because of the number of risks that the game producers took that eventually paid off. The mechanics are stream lined, the campaign is epic, and the online capabilities are endless. The amount of strategy you have to invest in this game is enormous so if you can't play a game of Chess without getting lost (not saying you have to win, just know how to move each piece) or know that checkers move diagonally, I would advise against playing this game. Granted the "Easy" computer is an absolute imbecile, the game requires you to know your units intimately and how they function in optimal situations. You have to know how to correctly apply suppressive fire if you want to get far in the game or against live opponents. If you love strategy, this game is definitely suiting for you because it breaths critical thinking and contemplation.

So yea, I would definitely advise Napoleon: Total War. The only thing is: it's time consuming and addicting. You talk about how your life is consumed by the computer, well, just you wait. You will be chewing on your computer by the time you beat campaign because it's so damn delicious.

Hearts of Iron. Superior~

Hearts of Iron. Superior~

Hearts of Iron is great and all, but it depends on what kind of strategy you are looking at. In Hearts of Iron, you aren't controlling the battles, but rather the general direction by displacing units of certain specialty. In Total War, you are actually mitigating the battles by real-time strategy. The two are different in that regard. Though what would be truly epic is if Total War was as in-depth with the country maintenance as Hearts of Iron is in terms of infrastructure, etc., though Total War does a great job in its own right.

Just to note: I personally own all of the Heart of Iron games and I love every single one.

Hearts of Iron. Superior~

If I wanted an overloaded bloated map with unit cards and nothing more than stale gameplay, I'll get HoI. Until then it's Total War all day- everyday.

Btw I got the game. It took an hour and a half to load both disks and another 3 hours to load the "Updating Napoleon Total War" thingy. Ugh.. I hope it's worth it. I need to find Prince of Macedon and repay him a favor on the internet.

It's most certainly worth it. Just wait until they fix all the bugs so you can play campaign online with another player (or even a total of 4!).

Ah man busy all day got back from work than had to mow the lawn for the apartment (landlord asked if I could do it this time) and I can't wait to play some more. Napoleon Total War is: The. Greatest. Game. Ever. I've had so much fun playing it and going online playing others. The strategy the movements is just amazing. I finished up my Italian campaign which was easy with the exception of when I pushed into Venice. Those guys were tough to take down. The Austrians also put up a fight at Klagenfurt.

Anyways I'm about to start my Egypt campaign and will do a little write up on it. SoM, add me as a friend I'm anr70 look forward to seeing you online some time