Do you have a laptop with NVidia? If so, you have to set BOTH the launcher and the game to the NVidia card and not the integrated one.
First thing I did after installing the game was update my Nvidia driver, based on suggestions on the Steam review page. I have an old 560ti and the game ran really, really well. Dare I say, better than Rome 2. Update your driver and it should run well.
I just updated my drivers before playing , and it’s still sluggish :-/
The updated driver worked for me. I’m using a 680 in my desktop. My laptop has like… an 840M? I’m not even going to bother loading Attila onto it.
I only fiddled around with it for a couple minutes last night before I had to go to bed. I looks pretty like Total War games do. I also like that they changed the unit cards back to actual pictures of the units instead of those paintings from Rome 2 (even though I had finally gotten used to the paintings).
Pshaw on upgrading drivers! I only upgrade software when it fails to work. A lesson hard learned at work.
Updating drivers doesn’t work for everyone on this game. There are numerous reports of people updating their drivers and they’re still getting worse performance than Rome 2 at comparable settings. CA needs to optimize.
Someone should try to talk me into this purchase ;)
Playing the Roman factions and switching over to a barbarian faction is really interesting. Rome starts with a bunch of stuff, but they can’t hold it all, so the initial strategy is figuring out what you can afford to lose and what you grimly want to hold onto. The barbarians don’t have much, but famine, Winter, and other barbarians push them into Roman territory. Their initial turns are figuring out how long they can hold out until it’s time to run for relatively undefended Roman land. The Hun are all about surviving until Atilla comes into his own, then it’s time to pull up and head into civilized areas to pillage the heck out of it.
This is like a turn-based zombie apocalypse game. It’s all about huddling with sometimes unpredictable survivors, holding on to resources, and defending against the encroaching enemy. The family dynasty stuff is like managing the personal relationships in a zombie game. Brad’s a jerk, so I don’t mind making him a general and sending him into Hun territory to hold off a larger army. His sacrifice is my double gain! Jack is a great manager, so I’ll put him in charge of a city, but I’ll put Dwayne and Mike under him. Olaf just broke off from my faction. Should I let him get swallowed by the horde, or hammer him back into service?
You’re eventually going to lose stuff when the shit hits the fan, but you have to prioritize and plan for the inevitable horde.
Jeebus, Nick, way to sell me on the game better than any of Sega’s marketing. Bought!
-Tom
No kidding. As someone who loves that period and history, and enjoyed the ebb and flow, this nails something important it sounds like. Anyone who listened to the History of Rome podcast would know just how important the sense of contraction and constant pressure was. A game that doesn’t nail that could not rightly be set in the 4th and 5th centuries.
I will say that in my estimation, this is a much harder game than Rome 2. The tactical battle stuff is pretty much the same (a few new wrinkles here and there like burning buildings, and morale effects being more punitive) but the strategic map gameplay is much harder to dominate due to the constant pressure.
Does it seem like melee combat is slower? Pike in sword combat seems quite slow. You can really sit back and watch a bit more now.
Catapults seem remarkably balanced and quasi realistic. Slingers are no longer so weirdly awesome.
I wouldn’t ever quite say these are exactly realistic games; more that they are Osprey Military book idealized versions of what an ancient army should be facing off against another idealized foe. What CA has done well and consciously is fashioning a Grand Campaign map that is full of nuance and regionalisms hat seem to reflect actual historic concerns. Their sense of how geography relates to the strategic questions one faces has been a strong point for them for awhile. I do like that they went all out and made “city-less” factions in this time of invasions and migrations instead of just plopping down some “Goths” in an eastern city somewhere and then start the timer running.
Also, just FYI, this is the first Total War game that has mixed gender units. At least the Visigoths (the only ones I’ve played) have several units that contain a small proportion of female soldiers mixed into the menagerie of soldiers represented. You can hear them in battle as well.
Damn SJWs, ruining gaming! :)
-Tom
Oh lord, it will happen too won’t it? It’s like you can see the future!
I should caveat my above statement on the strategic gameplay by mentioning that I’m only 22 hours into the game so far. I think I have a pretty good handle on the various menus and numbers that Attila throws at you, but I still miss things now and then.
To stretch my zombie apocalypse analogy further, I’m chalking that kind of thing up to the loose nail in the boarded up window or the cellar door I forgot to shore up. These are small things that I miss that can spiral my empire out of control when the horde hits it.
It’s more likely because CA loves to spread information all over the place, but I’m trying to enjoy myself dammit.
God damn it Telefrog; stop describing this game in such an interesting way. :-)
-Todd
Telefrog - Can you, in laymans terms, explain the whole family business side? I am having trouble getting enough Influence, and I*m actually also unsure whether its actually a good idea to have as much power and influence as possible, or not!
Is there any way to gain influence other than battles?
AA, let me dash some cold water on that. It’s still a Total War game, which means the meat is still the tactical battles. That’s where CA has spent their money in this franchise. If you didn’t like the unit-on-unit stuff in Rome 2, (post-patching) then you’re not going to like the majority of Attila.