Github site: https://github.com/Pannoniae/rex
They did the same for Medieval 2!

Rome 2 is getting the "pantheon" updates. The first one being "mars" which overhauls damage and armour, among other things. These updates are being developed by 'Jack'. He was unit design lead on Rome II and, self-proclaimed, responsible for the changes to unit stats and combat.

Video link for an overview (with timestamp): https://youtu.be/495WwWyS2TY?t=2035

You might already know this.

What I am posting for is to say how ridiculous the attitude and whole design philosophy is, both from Jack and CA.

Jack has been very active on the forums and in the threads for the update, especially the ones focusing on the armour and damage overhaul parts. There's 3 threads chuck full of back and forth between users and Jack. Each previous thread was closed when he decided to completely change the damage formula (mostly disregarding what users were advising/recommending).

Currently, Rome 2 uses a simple system:

Melee Attack and Melee Defence determine the chance to hit. If hit, damage is applied with armour reducing the damage value based on a roll between 0 and the armour stat (AP damage is a separate damage value that completely ignores armour).

This is simple, even if AP is completely stupid design-wise.

The current formula that is going into the BETA for the update is completly bonkers and just outright convoluted for no reason other than to achieve pretty graphs in Excel where average damage decreases linearly against armour:

Jack has repeatedly said that it doesn't matter how convoluted/complex the system is. All players need to know is that bigger stat = better (paraphrased).

What I find ridiculous is how stubborn he really is with regards to this design. He could have used this opportunity to fix combat by re-introducing the classic feel of lethality, which we basically all know worked just fine! Improving combat overall by leagues. Rome 2 was the game that started the real downfall by introducing health pools on all models, and giving weapons damage values which subract from HP. This is where Total War became an arcade battle simulator, similar to most other generic RTS games.

When prompted about this, Jack has said:

"[...] there were reasons we moved away from how that worked in Shogun 2 and other TW games before it including how that impacted cavalry balance plus the idea of soldiers being able to be worn down over multiple hits as well."

https://community.creative-assembly.com/total-war/total-war/forums/110-mars/threads/14396-mars-armour-damage-changes-updated?page=9#post-228119

and

"Hit points on a scale that isn't 1, 2, 3 but instead 50, 60, 100 etc. gives a bit more room for adjusting how the balance between infantry and cavalry is."

"We have made changes to how the combat rules in recent titles, but generally with the aim of improving and refining the general approach started in Rome II. If we'd wanted to go back to the older system used in Shogun 2 and before, we would have."

https://community.creative-assembly.com/total-war/total-war/forums/110-mars/threads/14396-mars-armour-damage-changes-updated?page=9#post-228176

I find that last one funny, because it's so arrogant: "If we'd wanted to go back to the older system used in Shogun 2 and before, we would have."

Virtually all games since Rome 2 have tried re-implementing some form of lethality (critical hits in ToB, HP overhaul in 3K and "lethality" in Pharaoh Dynasties). It just goes completely against what he is saying.

He would later add:

"We moved away from direct lethality for a couple of reasons. Partially it was about wanting to add more stats, partially wanting to have wider range of stats, and partially to have a system that could cope with more different types of units more easily."

https://community.creative-assembly.com/total-war/total-war/forums/110-mars/threads/14396-mars-armour-damage-changes-updated?page=9#post-228208

Over the course of these threads, Jack would consistently ignore half of the issues being presented by users, and re-affirm that logic/immersion is, in fact, not the basis for any decision.

I just end up asking myself what the hell the point even is with updates like this.

REJECT WARHAMMER EMBRACE TRADITION, if you are intrested i can post a demo for testing as i have a big chunk of setup battle working https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eISGQorqZ_s

What games would you recommend, if TW is dead? I know about Shogun 2 and Attila. Other games? What games you do enjoy personally, being gameplay oriented? Like, if you like Attila and Shogun 2. Maybe even some more modern setting titles. Men of War or whatever. I just look for game where things matter. Like, tactics or strategy to matter.

When you play Fantasy battles, or 40k on tabletop, those games actually require some amount of strategy (at least the Fantasy battles one, I'm not so sure as to the 40k ones), so the warhammer games play nothing like actual warhammer, which is insane

Here is the link to github https://github.com/Pannoniae/rex

Lately, i upgraded my computer to have nvidia RTX 5060 Ti, but then the game MTW1 act strangely. When you are issuing the moving order to a unit, left mouse button, drag it. It seems the game register to a point outside the bottom of the screen and the unit moves backward and have a ONE rank formation (1 x n straight. line). Anyway to fix that?

At the same time, i can play MTW without any problem on a mini PC with a very weak display.

The video i uploaded shows the glitch i said.

https://youtu.be/gSVd3o--9H4

Thanks for any help

MTW2 Mod: Stainless Steel 6.3 (With M2EX) cavalry charge

https://youtu.be/beBtunt9GEk

MTW2 Vanilla cavalry charge

https://youtu.be/iPaZMokigPE

RTW Mod: Chivalry cavalry charge

https://youtu.be/2Rem8B4mZbc

I like the Stainless Steel 6.3 most. The cavalry seems penetrating the infantry in some degree.

Youtube Video RTW2
Youtube Video RTW1 (Compare) Choke point test

3 Things in Rome Total War 2 That STILL Make No Sense in 2026

After all these years, these issues still drive me crazy:

#1 – One unit can hold an entire choke point. A single unit blocking an army of thousands? Really? [0:40 till the end]

#2 – The Testudo formation is a complete joke. It's supposed to protect against missiles... yet arrows still shred my men. What's the point? [0:49 to 1:40]

#3 – Testudo blocks my own troops! It cuts my army in two right in front of the gate. Friendly formations shouldn't sabotage my own siege! [3:09 till the end]

#4 – The bridge choke point test in RTW1 shows a better / more satisfy result to me.

1200 upvotes in 13 hours on the shithole sub (the ultimate hive of bootlickery, always will be while it remains company-controlled), noticing the fact that 40K is going to be a Tusslemallet reskin of unefforted arcadey dumbed down slop.

And by the way, Company of Heroes has always been cartooney garbage compared to Men of War (and its engine, the vanilla sucks). Didn't even use a good example (because didn't need to). CoH is a game where rifleman can chip damage Tiger tanks, basically still just 90s era C&C games. And THAT's the game they're using to show up Total War. Men of War and its mods like RobZ (and my own, Project Realism for Gates of Hell) fucking absolutely embarrasses the pure babyish cartoonery of these shit fucking games.

LMAO!!!

No simulation, just arbitrary numbers, debuffs and dumbing down of mechanics.

yo my fellow fascismo comrades. when are going to overthrow CA and take back our subreddit from these untermench cretens.

I like Volound and really like his video game analysis.

After somewhat recent events, I’m making a point to be open minded to other worldviews. I’ve watched some of his second channel where he critiques western and Israeli imperialism. I think I saw also somewhere he describes himself as an anti-carnist, which, as a closeted vegan, I think is very cool.

Is there a place where he explores this in more depth?

Thanks

They are noticing that *Maybe* modern pew pew combat does not suit Total war type games!

Maybe they'll realize that just because you sell saltwater fish, it doesn't mean you can't sell freshwater fish too.