Originally posted by hjarg
Comparing Total War and CK is about the same as comparing Command & Conquer with Civilization. Not alike. Not alike at all. Might as well compare Doom with chess. Pointless.
Total War focuses on battles, but in CK, battles is just a small part of grand scheme. If you fail politically or economically, you have lost the war already. Point.
You may think the comparison is moot. I think that indicates you don't know much about the competition.
"There are no time pressures on your strategic decisions in Medieval: Total War. You are not committed to a course of action until the end of a year. At that point, orders are carried out and plans, for good or ill, are set in motion.
You’ll also be informed of important events as they occur, such as the completion of a castle or building, a miraculous happening, or even the discovery of gunpowder. Historical events that changed the middle ages occur in the game at (approximately) the right time, but don’t bank on something unfolding just as it did in reality.
There are 12 playable factions in the game, along with some non-playable factions (these vary, depending on the start date you choose). Each faction has its own strengths, weaknesses and potential for European dominance. You’ll see that not all factions are the same by any means, and the game of Medieval: Total War you experience will be different each time you play a different faction. Some factions are particularly suited to all-out military conquest, others need to use a combination of military force and subtler methods to achieve their goals, and some are particularly well positioned to become trading nations and use wealth to achieve political dominance. Just to make it all even more interesting, the different start positions for 1087, 1205 and 1321 reflect historical reality - the relative power of a faction can shift remarkably, even in a hundred years!
Heirs: princesses and Generals When an heir is born it is an important event for a faction. It secures the future of the nation beyond the life of the current faction leader. However, heirs must come of age before they can inherit their father’s lands and, once old enough to be active, they can be as vulnerable as any other general to the twists and turns of fate. There are no Muslim princesses in Medieval: Total War. All princesses are valuable assets in the diplomatic process, and marrying them to a member of a rival faction can cement an alliance. If there is no heir, the line of succession passes to a general with royal blood. It’s possible for there to be more than one claimant, and this can cause the faction to split apart in a civil war. There’s also the possibility that other factions will have claims on your lands. If a faction leader dies without heirs (or his heirs are too young, or his family only has daughters) and there are no generals of royal blood, things are more serious. All the provinces that made up his kingdom become independent, under the control of local rebel warlords. This is the end of the game, as your faction has fallen victim to destiny and is no more.
Provinces and income Provinces are the places where you earn money and train troops. Without land, your faction will not last long in the face of harsh competition from other peoples. You’ll need to decide which provinces are important to your faction and hang onto them, and which provinces are ripe targets for your armies! Sooner or later final victory or ignominious defeat will depend on the number of provinces that your faction controls.
As Cicero wrote in Roman times, Nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam (The sinews of war, unlimited money), so goes warfare in Medieval: Total War. You’ll never have unlimited money, but making sure that you do have a strong treasury is very, very important in bringing your plans of conquest to a successful conclusion. Once you run out of money you won’t be able to construct new buildings, train more soldiers, bribe people or pay ransoms for your captured generals. All factions in the game use the same currency in their treasuries: the florin, a type of coin first minted in the Italian city of Florence. In the middle ages, providing a coin contained the correct amount of gold or silver no-one cared where it had been minted (some kings were not above ‘cheating’ when minting coins by putting cheaper metals into the mix).
Death and taxes
Taxes are your faction’s only guaranteed income, and tax rates are set on a province-by-province basis. Taxes come from farming, trade and mines. Constructing buildings in a province always improves it in some way for your faction. This can be by raising income (by improving farmland, for example), by making the defences stronger (by building or improving a castle) or by allowing you to train military units and agents there. No building in the game makes a province weaker or damages its potential in any way.
Trade can be an extremely profitable activity, but you can only trade where there are goods available. These are distributed across the map to accurately reflect the pattern of medieval trade. Some provinces have no trade goods at all (which doesn’t mean that there’s no business being done, just that it isn’t significant enough to bother the King!). The larger and grander the Merchant involved in trade from a province, the greater the potential profits. To sell goods overseas, you need a Port and a Trading Post or Merchant of some kind in a coastal province. You then have to create a chain or network of sea regions with one of your fleets in each linking your port with a foreign port in another province. This is a trade route.
Loyalty and Revolts
Despite the real power in Medieval Europe being the iron fist in the plate-mailed glove, few rulers survived for long without the support of the people and the Church or Mosque. If the people withdrew their support for a ruler, his days would be numbered - and fearful. In general, the people were loyal where they experienced strong -yet fair - rulers. There were many peasants’ revolts, but these usually occurred because a leader showed weakness, incredible cruelty or rank stupidity.
Armies are the tools of conquest you need to take over the world! But aside from such dreams of glory, you also need armies to defend your provinces, intimidate the locals to keep them loyal and make other factions consider attacking someone else instead. Before you can train agents and units you’ll need to construct a basic castle and some sort of training facility. Some units need the skills inherent in more than one building, such as Feudal Knights who will need a Horse Breeder, an Armourer’s Workshop and Royal Estates in a province before they can be trained there.
Generals Every unit in the game has a named commander, but not all of these commanders are equal in ability. When an army is created, a general is automatically picked to lead it. Generals are not simply identical leaders. Some are feared as bloodthirsty and ruthless, while others are renowned as being highly devout, good as provincial rulers, or particularly chivalrous. These differences are represented through a set of personality traits and their vices and virtues. Traits are used to determine how provinces and troops react to each general. The higher the value in a particular trait the greater ‘skill’ the general has in that area. Faction Leaders have these traits as well, but with influence instead of loyalty.
Vices and Virtues
Many leaders and generals have quirks of personality that affect their behaviour for good or ill. Vices and virtues are gained as a result of events that occur during a game. If a general gets into the thick of combat, he might become a Fine Leader or be a Good Runner, depending on how his battles turned out. And, for example, if a general is the victim of repeated assassination attempts, he’s likely to become a little paranoid!"
Game Feature Comparison :
Game Type
CK : RTS
MTW : Turn-Based
Multiplayer
CK : yes
MTW : yes, but only for battles
Economics
CK : highly developed model, army size limited by income, ability to pay, etc.
MTW : less advanced, but has income, trade, taxes, etc, which vary according to wealth of area. Very similar in many ways to CK. Also has maintenance.
Special Tasks
CK : Dynamically generated including "crusader" type tasks
MTW : Static tasks per nation / culture including "crusading".
Number of Players
CK : probably alot
MTW : up to 12 players
Feudal Loyalties
CK : central aspect of the game
MTW : central aspect of the game
Named Characters
CK : some
MTW : central aspect
Church
CK : central aspect
MTW : less developed than CK, but special characters and decisions of the player affect things like Piety rating, etc.
Tactical Battles
CK : none
MTW : central aspect.
I say again : CK will be in direct competition with MTW whether you realize it or not.
CK had then best look at ways to offer something far and above MTW is at least some aspects. This could be easily done by expanding the playable historical timeframe.
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