DaC V5 - Anduin Vale 2: Clawing Forward 

So much life has been ripped from the later games. Your prime example is spot on, only having troops tied to generals means so small skirmishes, everything is always a full stack v full stack and you therefore miss having the little heroic moments that brings life to a campaign.

He needs to be something because at the moment he is less than nothing.

@@epmtotalwar yeah a shitty Diplomat might be accurate lore wise (its not really), but it feels like a disservice to one of the Istari. Even the two Blue Wizards get units

Agreed@@AkodoAkira1

It is many decisions to make with harsh consequences, makes for a really fun campaign. I'm sure you will enjoy it. You are playing Dorwinion though so... you already have the best seat in the house.

This is the only accurate answer.

There will be no transferring of troops until they are Gone-dabad 🤣

@@epmtotalwar Absolutely. Your poor soldiers in the vinicity of Rhosgobel must fend for themselves against a rather powerful enemy before that happens. And of course Radagast The Coward was nowhere to be seen at the start of Turn 1. Ran away right away when his wizards instincts told him Khamuls emissaries will be trying to take his home for themselves soon.

Radagast is just all round disappointment. Kind of expected him to have maxed out dipomatic abilities with some juicy movement buffs. Anything to make him stand out as a super tier diplomat. @@Cybernaut76

@@epmtotalwar Even in the movies AND books, he was kind of a disappointment. Some sources of information said Gandalf was the **ONLY** wizard who actually succeeded in his mission, in why he had stepped his foot in the Middle Earth. All other wizards failed (including Alatar, Pallando and Radagast). Worst of all, of course, failed Saruman The Traitor. If I understand correct, Alatar and Pallando failing is why no one ever heard of an Easterling tribe or faction, that was friendly to Free Peoples. And perhaps because Rhun was their area of responsibility is why Gandalf said he will never go there.

After reading the books, Radagast really is just a pleb but I believe he could have been better and in my Anduin Vale he is better (well not really but that's my point).@@Cybernaut76

I cannot win. I exterminate, I get told to occupy. I occupy, I get told to exterminate. In this case, I got unlucky. Second turn rebellion, Beorn would have held it if he had arrived next turn. Occupy is always better if it can hold, keeping the population high increases income and not having to rebuild/repair structures saves money. It wasn't even that bad that it rebelled, the main thing is that Gundabad didn't have it and couldn't expand to the eastern settlements.

I agree with your population strategy 100% much better in long run to occupy and a rebellion that early is extremely unusual.

Is his northern dunenain campaign, Epm exterminated celoniach (keep line, no access to port) upon taking it before turn 10, by the end of the campaign, it was still a keep, fully built up, but never got the population back to be usefull (This made for a dire situation in Tarbad around midgame when it was getting sieged back to back for 10 turns straight, since there weren't any settlements nearby that were able to provide reinforcements). Reducing the population of settlements that aren't at least tier 2 already (town, castle), with unlocked access to 2nd tier builder's guild, 4 growth buildings and the 1st tier of barracks, is a massive hit to even short term opportunity, especially if it's on the front line, it will have to be baby sat for a very long time since it won't be able to defend itself as a village or keep (tier 1 garrison, no barracks).

@@epmtotalwar btw, sacking is a great compromise for castles or strongholds (not keeps), it pretty much gives you the added public order you would have gotten if you could set low taxes (albeit temporarily)

True, I assumed, wrongly, a faction heir and his army could hold public order. But it's fine, I have it back. Thing is if I'd had it I might have been attacked, being neutral again allowed me to gather some more units and secure the area. @@Aldonoth

I guess if you joined late you don't know what you're missing. When you see so many core features just ripped from the game, it hurts. I think you are in the minority with Troy though, just check current player numbers.

@@epmtotalwar I get the feeling of features being taken away is bad, but on the other hand I've played the more historical games and I dont agree that those features were good/necessary. (Settlement battles being the big exception, they certainly are better in the older games.) Player numbers are zero reflection on the quality of a game in a series with so much factionalism and discourse like Total War. If the discussion puts people off of a game before they play, even if most people who play like it then the numbers may still be low. Anyway, I'm not trying to start that discourse here and now, just commenting on the way that there exists such different wants within the fanbase.

Agreed on all counts. Just another scummy thing to add to the long list. I do see that there are some decent mods being developed with the new remastered tools. I think that alone is the only positive to come from Rome Remastered.