This series of articles explores our ideas for the next era that should be explored in Creative Assembly’s Total War franchise.
Overview and Scope
Setting: 1901-1930 – Greater Europe, The Middle East, Coastal Africa
Expanding on our earlier proposal for a Victorian-era Total War, we would like to present the Total War game we’ve wanted to see for years: World War One.
While the war itself only lasted 4 years, the entire era was a powder keg of changing alliances and messy follow-up wars of independence (looking at you, the entirety of South/East Europe…). The political turmoil that led to this epic conflict easily could have shuffled the core components of the Central and Entente powers. As-is, we already have seen Italy changing sides and a very probable scenario where the US would have been Neutral the entire war. (Thank God for the Zimmerman Telegram, I guess?)
Core Gameplay Changes
Should there be a more modern Total War, this is the perfect place to test it. It’s close enough in time to accommodate modern weaponry, but static enough to use regular battlefield sites. This is because trench warfare does not permit mass movement without major strategic changes as your forces are almost entirely infantry early in the war. Trench warfare with just machine guns would just be a stalemate which prompts you to innovate on new tactics and technology to break that stalemate – with elements such as tanks and aircraft requiring significant investment in R&D in order to use effectively in a time when every resource could instead be used to make more bullets.
Attrition: A Battle of Resources and Blood
The key change to gameplay that we’ll see is a fundamental change to Total War’s conventional RTS “point and click to send the line there” combat. That is, by this point in warfare battles are no longer won on a single field. One idea is instead of just 1 map for a given battle there are instead 2 or 3 battle maps or “theatres”. All this depends heavily on terrain and man-made obstacles. Buildings, ditches, and hills provide a series of defenses, bleeding your manpower in a way that you don’t win anything in a day. If one part of the map is fought to a draw, you can divert other troops to reinforce from other battlefields.
Spies and Ties
One new idea that could be introduced is corporate espionage. Going beyond just diplomacy, you also have the option to negotiate with allied corporations to sell excess aircraft/tanks or build them under a license like in real life. You also have the option of where you can send in spies to infiltrate corporations and steal technology so you don’t have to grind so many turns on your tech tree.
To the Skies
This will mark the first time the series can make use of aircraft. This is something that they should take to build an airfield near a warzone so you could have close support aircraft, this is where they can borrow some of the gameplay from other strategy games such as Star Wars: Empire at War land campaigns. If the battlefield is near an airbase call in a bomber strike to soften your targets.
Towards the late stage of the game, you could have a combined arms approach using artillery, tanks, aircraft, and infantry for one punch. Doing such would involve significant investment into your doctrine and officer corps, but to devastating effect on the stalemate.
Campaigns and DLC Opportunities
In recent years there has also been a number of downloadable content for the other games either set in a different timeline or on a different campaign map. There are so many timelines that a DLC can go for that are either a prelude to the Great War or spawned from it. Here are some ideas to throw down.
- Russian Civil War
- China’s Post-Imperial Warlord’s Era
- Far-East Colonization
- Russo-Japanese War
- Balkan Wars of Independence (there’s… a lot of these)
- Spanish Civil War
Tech Tree
There is a lot of elements to research that would make a large tech tree – but to be rewarded with a significant advantage in slowly breaking the early-game stalemate.
Aviation
Observation aircraft – interrupter gear + supercharged engines = Single seat fighters,
reinforced airframe, bomb rails = bombers
Maritime
Torpedo boats + water tanks + electrical batteries = Submarines
Armored Vehicles
Armored cars + caterpillar tractors = Mark Tanks, Revolving turrets = FT-17 and Whippets
Small Arms
Grenade, flamethrowers + wire cutters = Stormtroopers + Submachine guns
Domestic Reforms
Elected Parliament = social unrest, without economic reform.
Conlcusion
Out of all the Total war games, this has the most potential to be the most spectacular. The closest thing Creative Assembly would ever have to cover a modern conflict. While it is a far departure from the line formations and cavalry charges that defined their rise to prominence, a fresh breath of the modern era would be a welcome change of pace for even their most dedicated fans.
… Or maybe just for us – but we’re fine with this outcome 🙂
