First look & impressions of Total War: Pharaoh Battles! 

One thing I forgot to mention was that there's a new stat of sorts. 'Armour Degradation'. This is basically as it sounds. As your armour takes damage, it becomes less effective and you have a lower armour number. What practical use that would have, I'm not sure. As every unit in the army will be suffering from it when they fight. I guess if might make softening up heavy armour units with missiles more effective? Or perhaps certain units will be better at destroying armour than others? Not sure yet.

Each faction having physical banner carriers in their units would add a ton of needed visual variety and clarity that's missing because of the similar units.

What I want to see more than anything is the visual reactivity to upgrading units from Medieval 2. It was awesome seeing spearmen in leather armor upgraded to chainmail or even partial plate through blacksmith upgrades.

The ability to slowly have units move back will be amazing for tactics

SAND FOR THE SAND GOD STONE FOR HIS STONE THRONE

I would've loved it if the units had banners just like in three kingdoms, especially since in the trailer it looked like they did

Being confused when units clash in a battle is 100% historically accurate, I like it lol

I remember from the older games where you can set units up in formations individually... tight, loose, wedge, testeudo, shield wall, phallanx etc etc and it still makes me sad thats not a thing in any of the newer total war games I've played (which is mainly all the warhammers). being able to rush your infanty in with a loose formation to make it harder for missiles to hit you then tighten up right before the charge was awesome, or catching some pikemen out of formation with a cavalry wedge and watching bodies fly... I do feel we went backwards on that front... now for the most part its just 'what type of line would you like?'

What I like about these matched combat animations is that they are short and don’t move the models too much. Meaning the models won’t get out of position because they decided to stab a shield 40 times

I like that stuff about the stances. Imagine your enemy has a unit in advance and yours has a stancce that let's them move back. You could easily create a gap in your own line to encircle the enemy units like Alexander the Great liked to do.

I noticed from the battle footage that each person has a different weapon look from their comrades like the spear tips were not all the same, they had like 3 or 4 variants from what I could see, and I really enjoyed that, especially cause i studied the period in university and seeing that great variety non-uniform look for the period looks really nice.

Finally they add pushing and mechanics. This makes battles more dynamic and realistic. Kudos to CA for listening to the community.

Honestly having played most of the historical total war, lack of faction diversity doesnt bother me as much. I know that warhammer series has spoiled us all but when I replayed Shogun and 3K it still feels great in its own way. Sure maybe im just using the same ashigaru and samurai across all the clan but the location, general, faction strength do make up for distinction.

Seeing the weather effects now makes it more appealing to me, especially as it's more like the classic Total Wars and those sieges bring back happy memories. But I got Troy for free on Epic and only played it for a few hours, so I'm not convinced this will be any different. If it was £25-30 I probably would have picked it up, but I won't be paying £50 for it.

wonderful footage !! thank you, the images are beautiful !! So hyped !

Thank you for showing the Combat Animations. This is what I've been missing for that realism during the battles.

Matched combat animations and slower paced combat are two things I've been begging for for awhile. So I might give it a shot just for that

Love the dynamic weather. That’s going to add a lot more excitement to an already exciting battle system.

What you said about faction diversity really resonated with me. Shogun 2 is my favorite historical title (and possibly favorite total war game in total) but even though every faction had access to the same units (barring some uniques) they all had little bonuses that led to them having really different armies when it came to the battlefield. Shimazu running sword heavy armies vs chosokabe powerful ranged samurai as an example. It really made the factions stand out even though they literally had the same units. If Pharaoh can bring back that specialization, maybe it can channel some of that Shogun 2 magic and really pique my interest.

The environmental impacts to the battle map are intriguing and exciting! I love the mechanics

This is so great to see animations between warriors again ! This is really something i miss in warhammer, but seeing those dudes battle to the end against each other is quite wonderful. I do remember watching replay of my battle in shogun 2 or attila just to look at it. Try to follow one little soldier and see how it goes for him through the battle.

Regarding the "lack of variety" issue, I felt the same way about Troy and three kingdome. The issue i think isnt that there are too few units in those games its that they no matter the faction you are playing as they all "feel" identical. Look at for example medieval 2 (sure lots of units but mostly reskins), Shogun 2 or even empire to some extent. The unit variety wasnt huge but the factions all felt rather unique in the way that they heavily incetivised the usage of some units over others or even limiting which units you could recruit. That made the factions feel fresh with different playthroughs. I hope they implement it in some way with different cultures = entirely different units or something, else its 1-2 campaigns and the game is done for most people.

Finally weather means something other then attrition on the world map. And stances too, bannerlords make you realize fast the differences between charge and advance, let alone shield wall and loose formations. Some of the previous total wars went into it, but lately its just been special unit abilities if at all.

I really like the advance mechanic, assuming it works, reminds me of re-enactments when one side had the more aggressive commander pushing the other guys back, and sometimes overextending and getting slammed in the flank

I see the coolest change in the weather and terrain changes. Concerning matched animations, I feel this won't change much unless we actually got two additional things: - Multi-entity animations, where we see entities make use of numbers advantages - In animation entity interaction, as in other entities being able to influence, change or interrupt other animations, i.e. a spearman saving his losing comrade from the enemy swordsman's thrust.

Really glad to see the return to more classical historical total war mechanics and gameplay.

Loved the shield bashes in the video!

The dynamic weather is very cool! Would like to see that carried forwards to other TotalWar games (cough... Medieval 3, Empire 2.) Unfortunately, CA doesn't have a very good track record for maintaining and expanding features like this.

When you talk about faction identity and banners I'm immediately thinking of the banners in Medieval 2 and Shogun 2 where soldiers within the units would hold up some banners and liveries that would change depending on faction and rank. I feel like we should have bannermen back, even if it's unhistoric that one dude is holding a huge banner and a knife in a fight.

It would be wonderful if they added a nubian army faction from Kush to make some of the factions look and feel different.

Would love this weather stuff in warhammer. Rainy weather being good for wood elves units. Sunny being good for most factions except vampires and so on... Maybe the modders will get ideas

Something I've been saying for a while now is that having more similarities between factions is okay as long as they double (or even triple) down on the other campaign and battle mechanics that function around them. So far this does look moderately promising although I do agree that they could do with making some of the lighter units look a bit more distinct from each other.

Wasn't really all that excited for this one but that weather mechanic sounds really cool.

This is the first Total War in a while I have a lot of interest in. I thought it was going to be a single unit fest but it being (so far) 100% focused on historical gameplay rather than being stapled on is great.

Its good to see them trying out some new ideas in what would otherwise just be a reskin. I could see them working towards another Rome themed game on this foundation.

Looks pretty good. I love the weather and terrain effects.

Matched combat and pushing / being on the back foot is huge and a true innovation to the series! I love it. This also makes me play some Troy - I completely overlooked it, but with WH3 back in the oven I may give it another shot....

Excited for the matched combat! Now they just have to fix everything else. I was very cynical when this was announced, but it seems like they're listening to us at least a small tiny bit

There were weather conditions in ROME 2 as well and there is a Wait feature you can use 3 times at the start of a battle, to try to get better weather conditions, each change counted as 1 day, hopefully they do it like that.

It's really weird because in Med2 I never felt lost about not knowing wich units were mine of the enemy's ... Maybe the banners and distinct faction colors on the armors do the trick ?

This has added a lot of interest for me given its fully historical finally

really glad about the individual combat being back.

I was thinking the other day about the concept of like, "unit cohesion" in total war's battle system. Instead of single combat breaking out between individuals in either unit you could have little battle circles forming within units and between two opposing units. Dependant on cohesion level, which would probably scale with battle experience and equipment... something akin to training and longevity. It would mean that you could have the same two units that have differences in effectiveness across their front row of soliders, and flanks. Adds a dynamic element to the placement of each unit on the battlefield, not just "put this unit type here because it's this type," but rather poses a question as to which of these various units in your army would be most effective if oriented in this position, in this spot, and for how long. I know there is already unit experience and it generally does this - more experienced units are more effective. But this would aim to replicate camaraderie developed among specific groups of soldiers as a unit campaigns and survives, and provides bonuses for it. You could even let the player choose where specific soldiers stand in a unit, and when the unit takes casualties those specific individuals could be lost forever and reduce cohesion. This would mean a lot more animating for CA, and debugging. Which I'm sure means it will never happen. :)

Man this looks just amazing

Bro these chariots are worse than Rome 1. The horses just spin around

Hope fully after this they'll do a third for fertile crescent. Then add all 3 into 1. Warhammer style

Do the units have unit cohesion, or do they inter-penetrate like crazy, same as in Troy?

I've been waiting for push/hold/give ground options for so long in TW games. I guess we still don't have a fall back option, but I assume you can just put your unit on normal stance and let the enemy push forward. Maybe we can finally recreate battle of Cannae

i personally am really looking forward to total war: scarab, but ig pharaoh is also nice to have

They should combine Pharaoh and Troy's maps for people who own both to get that Total War: Age of Mythology going.

Thanks for this great video, you nailed it! Really hope they listen to your negatives, especially the visual differences between armies.

I think we need a sigh of the campaign map to have an idea of the factions and the future factions we could receive in the future. Most people (including me) want to see assyrians, babylonians, etc. And I was hopping the standard-bearers of 3K (and the cinematic trailer of this game). It's a good and simple add to make the game more realistic

Man, all of this acctually looks interesting I am impressed.

Love the idea that you have to capture the whole city, but I would also really love if there where cconsequences, like if you choose to bulk your army in a tight spot and only defend there you'd lose alot of population in the city by doing it. Like if each capture points and towers etc you capture will cause more damage to the city on the campaign map for example. You'd have to make decisions

I like the Advance and Hold. Add a Give Ground as well. Your units intentionally give ground to hopefully expose the center enemy's flank. And they can do the same to you if you don't adjust.

I do prefer mythical stuff to be honest but we have been getting more mythical ones recently so it is good that hitorical fans are also getting some games

I haven't been interested in tw in AGES! These O.G. tw features like "hold the line" and "advance" are totally essential for me. Weather effects and similar details are not smalls things. They add up and immerse the player. SO important.

The history of Troy shows us one thing.Cities at that time had high walls, but there was not this siege equipment.Likewise, the armies were not uniformed.This also came much later....

This is a great step in the right direction for total war. I'm glad to see they are actually listening to feedback

Half of these 'new improvements' are just things the old total wars had that CA took from us in recent titles

It sounds like this game will make for a great base to mod from if nothing else... I'd love to see some musket era warfare using that weather & siege system and improved performance!

The cities look great! Reminds me of siege battles in RTW.

The thing I'm most surprised about is the lack of butt ladders. I didn't expect them to change it back, but I love it!

This is looking good! I'm assuming that there's a reason why they didn't just make this an expansion for troy - this might eventually have a Greek DLCs, maybe a small discount for people who bought troy? Maybe a DLC for troy with Egypt? Lots of possibilities!

the weather and environmental effects sound great. kudos to the devs for that stuff

Some previous total war games did have weather impacting the battlefield if my memory is correct :). In Shogun2 rain and snow would prevent gunpowder units from firing and impact archers and also increase fatigue and ground snow also impacted fatigue. I think Empire also had rain effects on gunpowder. Its good to see its been bought back for this new game.

Gotta love those kick animations that make them get completely out of the formation

I will definitely be waiting for a big sale on this game 😅 Playing some Troy right now actually and it sort of bums me out knowing there isn't much change in Pharaoh. Don't get me wrong though, I'm enjoying the graphics and combat.

Some really cool and good additions like the terrain becoming muddy and heavy units get stuck, only in the least whiny and entitled way possible I would love to see it in an empire 2 or medieval 3. As you pointed out it feels almost as if it's a Troy DLC but maybe they're going for the ol' 'Empire then Napoleon' thing and this is going to have campaigns following historical conquests. I do like the 1v1 combat animations coming back but I still would like it to go back even further and develop the old system of 1v1 but someone can take a risk, turn around and attack them in the side or back, momentarily breaking the line but if successful creating a 2v1 for both of their 1v1's like in Rome 1

Matched animations looked pretty good!

I think 3 kingdoms does have matched combat but I liked how 3 kingdoms had historical mode and romance mode. Wish they would do that again

Matched combat lets goooooooo

This is actually looking like a lot of fun to me.

A lot of new interesting mechanics. I like weather, terrain and armor changes but I agree about banners. Does the game have ray tracing?

It seems pretty good. I am going to buy it. I also think that the siege rework for Warhammer might introduce some of the things we have seen here (gates that can be destroyed only by rams and monsters, ladders that you must prepare beforehand, no single capture point that ends the battle etc.).

The matched combat and the weather system sold it for me, very happy for the return and the addition of these features.

Shogun 2 had the best combat animation matching. I can still zoom in on battles and watch as individual soldiers block, dodge and roll away from enemies.

Will be interesting how they do Heros, being as they are in a unit now. In Attila, it was always possible that your Leader could catch an arrow right between the eyes at any moment. Or get trampled in a charge. Sure they were slightly better than a regular troop, but they were anything but invincible and could easily be killed if they get out of position

Why are all the soldiers standing so far apart from each other? How are you supposed to fight with such enormous gaps in your frontline?

I don't think the game will suck, but coming off of Total Warhammer 3 with the huge variety in terms of factions, units, magic and creatures, a historically accurate game taking place in the bronze age (where you had basically just infantry and chariots) is going to feel a bit bland in comparison. I'd be happy to be proved wrong though, guess we'll see when it releases.

The feature i want to see added the most to the historical battle system is some form of tactical "defending/ fighting retreat", i.e certain elite units that can step backwards from a melee in a defensive formation This was such a common occurence in 'controlled' or pitched ancient battles, especially those that went on for hours, that it always gets me when your heavily armored, tower shielded veteran warriors have no choice but to turn their backs to the line and take massive unnecessary losses

The sieges sound really good!

Looks pretty good and I like the innovations. But the lack of unit variety was predicted and is sadly a dealbreaker for me; I don't think I'll have fun for too long playing this. And you're right; medieval 2 and rome 2 had a lot more variety thanks to the broad focus of cultures. I really think CA should go bigger with these games.

I'm not so into battles, if they're all you ever do, like Warhammer. What I'm mostly interested in is the campaign itself, what can we do there to keep us busy, diplomacy, etc. For me Total War was 70/30 campign/battles as a good ratio. Too many battles and they don't become interesting or important anymore. I want a battle to have a good impact on the campaign, so I remember when and why I fought. Not just fighting for fighting's sake. I want battles to take a toll on the campaign too, lost many men, yeah let that influence the campaign too. Built too many armies too fast, then yeah, let that show as a drain on manpower and production too. Stuff like that.

7:43 that jump tho lol

Wow I might actually play this one

I am really excited for this, finally a new proper historic Total War game. And I absolutely love the bronze age history. The 8 starting factions are divided by 3 different cultures, Egypt, The Hittite Empire and Canaan. Each of which I would expect to be fairly different, like the Empire and Dwarfs are in Warhammer. And since Egypt is well, in Egypt, the Hittite Empire was settled around modern day Turkey, I would expect the campaign map to at least cover the entire eastern Mediterranean.

Troy reskin?

Honestly, so far so good. Looks good

YES! Matched combat is what I have been crying out for ages!

They need to bring those unit animations and sieges to Warhammer

Am I the only one who enjoyed Medieval II combat the most? Where they would have animations without really locking themselves into it.Made especially 2v1s pretty interesting, and generaly give weight to how the AI would move and which enemies lock in a fight.

Is the HP system like Troy? is the Cavalry able to just run through infantry?

Yes, in the interview the devs said that the attacker would need to capture all the victory points in settlements. From the footage it does look like one of those battles may have been Egyptians vs Egyptians although the siege battles was Hittites attacking the city and the guys with the golden shields at 10:15 are almost certainly Hittites or maybe Sea Peoples. Hittites and Egyptians certainly dressed differently and wore different armour designs. It should not be hard to work out who is who in most battles, barring rebellions and civil war of course.

An idea that would have been great to merge this with Troy. Troy was about 1000 years earlier before the bronze age collapse, but in terms of technology: its pretty much the same. What they should have done is add these two games together. If you begin as as Greek/Trojan faction: you get a MASSIVE political/morale penalty for going to Egypt. This way it, it stops you from messing with the historical timeline... you havev to say around the Greek Isles. And if you play as Egypt, same deal. So the "two worlds" can advance in teh same game but are kept apart using mechanics. As time advances, the seperation penalties are reduced slowly... this would have created such a unique and interesting campaign mechanic.

They've really added some creative mechanics to make Pharaoh standout. For one, the matched animation combat looks really good but it's the interactive campaign map and weather that really interest me. Where the map can go from prosperous to apocalyptic and weather from sunny to sandstorm, should make for some interesting gameplay

Loving the high def sprites! Some of the colors seem a little janky, but I'm sure that'll get better as they progress development. Excited for this one! Still would have preferred a return to the medieval period, but love this one too!

I wonder if the weather systems means that arrows are naturally high damaged in natural weather so that it balances out during bad weather. Or are they just pushing us to play high inf and cav and pre much abandon arrows if their damage stats are so unpredictable for each battle?

Still not interested in this game, _but_ there's quite a few interesting features that, when tweaked and fixed properly, I'd like to see implemented in future developments.

I’ll be waiting for post launch reviews