The Best Total War Game for New Armchair Generals (opening 2 paragraphs repeated from previous draft)
A Singular Sensation: The Wide World of Total War
While each Total War game varies in mechanics and details, they share the same heart and soul: deep strategic layers married to intense tactical battles. Every campaign takes place on an epic turn-based map as you manage cities, recruit armies, conduct diplomacy and expand your empire. Politics, technology research, agent actions and more increase strategic depth.
When enemy armies meet on the campaign map, battles shift to real-time as you position units and give orders during clashes ranging from intimate skirmishes to titanic showdowns with thousands of soldiers. Victory goes to those who balance long-term planning with moment-to-moment tactics.
Through the years, the series has cultivated two distinct branches: historical titles recreating epic periods like Medieval Europe, Feudal Japan and the Napoleonic Wars, and fantasy titles bringing sorcery and monsters into the fray.
The divide between history and fantasy fans still rages fiercely over two decades later. Yet both branches showcase the series’ exceptional blending of strategic empire expansion and real-time warfare. As a newcomer more concerned with enjoying your first Total War experience than debates on setting, your decision ultimately comes down to personal taste in factions, aesthetics and gameplay themes.
Rich Heritage: Total War By the Numbers
With over 20 years under its belt, the Total War series has cemented itself as one of strategy gaming’s most acclaimed and enduring franchises. Some statistics showing its pedigree:
- Over 75+ million total units sold since first title Shogun: Total War in 2000
- Latest entry Total War: Warhammer III hit a series record of over 1 million copies sold in first month
- Total War: Rome II still sees ~15,000 peak players daily nearly 10 years post-launch
- Historical titles boast 291 playable factions to date; 146 fantasy factions
- Over 75 significant content DLC packs released across the franchise
- Adds new campaigns, factions, units and gameplay systems
Critics praise the consistent quality and innovations evolving a landmark series. But for newcomers, the rich history can feel intimidating. Rest assured the latest tutorials and friendly campaign options offer excellent on-ramps!
Veterans Reflect: First Step Recollections
What better way to assure new players than hearing from veteran fans on their positive starter experiences? Let’s ask a few nostalgic generals about their memorable first Total War games:
"Shogun 2 was my gateway drug in 2011. I loved Japanese history since childhood and the setting pulled me instantly in. The UI and tutorials gently introduced core concepts like stances and agent actions without confusion. Hundreds of hours later, I’ve played them all but still hold a soft spot those first glorious island conquests.”
"I dismissed the series as boring spreadsheets meets Risk. But my college roommate convinced me to try Warhammer 2 co-op and I became captivated by how intense and varied real battles played out. Plus, who doesn‘t enjoy mowing down enemies with a literal dragon! 2000 hours later, I’ve now “completed” two different Warhammer campaigns by myself.”
"As a child, Medieval knights and castles captured my imagination. So I convinced my parents to buy Medieval Total War 2 for my 14th birthday. The graphics amazed back then! Now it may feel dated, but that first joy of lining up English longbows to break Scottish charges endures. The series grows ever greater but I’ll never forget those first trembling battles.”
Now let’s survey top recommendations for new players seeking their own unforgettable Total War memory!
A Guide to Recommended First Steps
(Repeats Three Kingdoms / Shogun 2 / Warhammer 2 overviews)
Other Notable Starting Points
Beyond the top recommendations above, other Total War titles can deliver enjoyable inaugural times for open-minded newcomers:
Total War: Rome II
The sequel to the iconic first Total War visits the later Roman era with sprawling map and striking visual upgrades. Streamlined building trees help simplify city management while shared cultural bonuses unite your growing empire. High unit variety from legionnaires to war elephants offers tactical pop. And who can resist recreating legendary conquests leading Rome itself to glory? Just beware getting overwhelmed by a giant empire from day one!
Total War: Atilla
This dark-horse title reintroduces players to wartorn Europe facing barbarian invasions, revolutionary Pagan hordes and the vengeful Scourge of God himself – Atilla the Hun. Managing squalor and stability offer new garrison challenges while weather from seasons to volcanic eruptions keep tension high. Expert players praise the strong atmosphere and ferocity differentiating progression. But casually storming to quick conquest proves impossible. Survive first before dominating!
Total War Saga: Troy
Drawing straight from Homer’s epics, this tighter-focused game condenses gameplay into Heroic Age Bronze Age Greece and Troy. Gorgeous visuals showcase clashes between Achilles, Odysseus and Agamemnon amidst accurate Trojan topography. The divine blessings and mythical beasts add magical flavour distinguishing a shorter yet still engrossing standalone campaign. Especially for fans of the Iliad/Odyssey searching to recreate army stalemates, desperate duels or cunning subterfuge right from legend – this saga satisfies!
Key Commonalities – Core Concepts to Conquer
Despite setting or era changing dramatically between Total War titles, fundamental gameplay fundamentals connect them all for new generals to internalize:
Concentrate Force
When seeking battlefield advantages, quality tops quantity. A couple elite units supported properly consistently defeat more numerous low-quality foes. Manoeuvre detachments smartly to avoid leaving them isolated from mutual support. And target isolated enemy forces mercilessly!
Exploit Weaknesses
No two units match perfectly in capabilities. Spears readily fend off cavalry but struggle chasing down nimble archers. Ranged units shred tightly packed infantry but waiver against sustained cavalry charges. You must collide unit strengths versus unit vulnerabilities to sweep crippled foes from the field entirely.
Control Engagements
The circumstances of battles often determine outcomes long before swords cross or arrows loose. Funnel enemies through terrain like bridges or mountain passes to limit their deployment and encircle them. Defend castles and settlement perimeters to enhance archery and deny open maneuvering. And utilize ambush or night battles to offset numerical disadvantages for yourself.
Grasp these essential factors for disciplining unruly battlefields. Mastering warfare flows tactics and strategy together seamlessly.
More Than War – Wrapping Your Mind Around Total War’s Depth
Beyond combat, myriad systems intertwine across Total War’s sprawling campaigns. Hovering behind the glory of clashing swords and thundering hooves lies complex infrastructure for would-be emperors to master:
Settlement Development
Balancing building chains for unit recruitment, garrison security income generation and other functions occupies ongoing city oversight. Maximize specialization aligned to local resources and long-term strategy. Master navigating building browsers!
Technology Research
Steadily unlock incremental bonuses improving settlements, characters, army capabilities economic foundations across your kingdom through judicious research choices. But invest wisely judging short and long term gains since options multiply rapidly on the path toward a faction’s ultimate units and powers.
Character Progression
Agents, nobles, princesses and homicidal generals all shepherd along unique development paths with custom perks complementing their battlefield performance or campaign map roles. But talent trees again require deciding between boosting their existing capabilities further or expanding situational versatility.
Diplomacy and Deception
Beyond sending armies marching against defiant neighbours, tools like trade agreements and alliances (or coalitions and confederations for newer games) offer peaceable roads to shared prosperity. Occasionally. Until inevitable betrayal shatters fragile coexistence back into outright war! But careful reputation and non-aggression pact management expands options diplomatically.
Or dispense with treaties entirely to rule through intrigue and guile instead. Spies and assassins help tear down foes from within until their empires implode without drawing your armies immediately into conflict. Ruthless but efficient!
This only brushes the intricate edges of Total War’s full gameplay breadth. But absorbing concepts piecemeal while playing campaigns eases rather than overwhelms newcomers. Just approach learning as a gradual ramp, not sheer cliff!
Mods to Moderate and Enhance
Once comfortable with vanilla Total War experiences, explore the vibrant modding community supporting nearly every franchise title over the past 20 years. Tweaks abound moderating annoyances, enhancing immersion, boosting challenge or unlocking completely new campaigns!
Mod recommendations specifically helping introduce newcomers include:
QoL Improvements
Fixes quality of life issues around UI, visuals controls and usability issues. Especially valuable adapting older titles to modern standards.
Difficulty Adjusters
Allows granular tweaking of economic factors, battle modifiers and AI behavior far beyond vanilla options to tailor ideal challenge levels. Preventsnowballing economies or battle steamrolls!
Unit Variety
Adds wider visual and tactical diversity to existing unit rosters. Now field Hungarian mercenaries, Aztec jaguar warriors or Imperial Roman praetorians alongside the regular roster!
Graphical Enhancements
Better textures, new unit models, sharper lighting and other visual touchups overhaul games lacking modern graphical prowess into spectacular feasts for the eyes.
Mods let you creatively accent preferred gameplay paths and aesthetics past developer limits. Just ensure catching necessary compatibility patches when running multiple mods simultaneously to prevent conflicts behind the scenes!
The Road Goes Ever On – Future Releases to Watch
As a newcomer, you’ve joined the Total War community at a thrilling time. With a host of new settings, titles and features slated for the future!
Total War: Warhammer III
The explosive finale to Creative Assembly’s award-winning Warhammer Fantasy trilogy expands the iconic dark fantasy universe with four new playable Chaos factions. Alongside the eternity-spanning sandbox Immortal Empires campaign combining all three titles’ content together, this spectacular next chapter set to satisfy fantasy fans launches February 2023.
Total War Saga: INSERTNAME
CA’s tighter-focused historical offshoot series heads to Medieval Europe next with a title reportedly focused on the Hundred Years War between England and France during the 14th and 15th centuries. A more guided experience than the open Sandbox of main series historical titles makes an ideal onramp for newcomers plus focused gameplay opportunities around a seminal historical conflict with striking asymmetries.
Rumours suggest a 16th century Sengoku Japan followup to Shogun II may follow drawing on beloved early modern Eastern history. But nothing confirmed yet! Essentially, the Saga series guarantees more curated introductions into amazing eras of history new and old.
Multiplayer – When You’re Ready, Command Others
All Total War titles support online multiplayer where human opponents replace AI across custom and ranked battle modes. But competitive play often breeds highly punishing matchups for newcomers facing veteran strategies you‘ve scarcely encountered before.
My guidance? Enjoy single player first and don‘t rush into multiplayer before feeling gameplay mastery against AI. Many underlying combat dynamics and unit counters carry over. But battling live opponents poses an altogether shifted and accelerated style of play requiring solid fundamentals.
Once confident commanding your forces against bots, dive cautiously into multiplayer waters! Learning curves stay demanding, but pulling off victories against other fans through tactics and grit creates gaming moments quite like anything else.
Just beware the waiting Shogun 2 samurai horde patiently meditating to perfect their swift cavalry envelops until noobs arrive for merciless target practice. Their thousand yard Battle Meditation stares still haunt me years later…
Impact and Praise – What Makes Total War Special?
Before diving into recommendations on your potential first Total War game, let’s examine what makes this seminal strategy franchise so impactful. Both in revolutionizing gaming designs plus resonating deeply with players.
Pushing Strategy Gaming Forward
Many critics and developers consider Total War the exemplar par excellence for complex yet intuitive and attractive strategy systems. Execution clearly showcases best practices. As Viking-themed strategy Northgard‘s developers note:
"We have always looked up to games and studios such as Age of Empires, Starcraft, Warcraft 3 and the Total War series as the pinnacles of strategy game design in terms of tutorial, multiplayer and campaign."
By integrating many layered mechanics under approachable interfaces, Total War keeps expanding strategic scope without overwhelming newcomers. Clear presentation upholds the gold standard for navigating elaborate systems amidst sweeping game worlds.
Lasting Engagement
Combined arms historical warfare sporting incredible depth yet easy initial accessibility makes Total War endure as long-time video game obsessions rather than briefly finished products. Seamless transitioning between patient empire management and aggressive real-time battles means blood-pumping action eternally lies moments away.
Critically, no solitary optimal path to victory exists. Do you leverage light cavalry and ranged skirmishing or rely on heavy infantry? Do your expand peacefully through trade and diplomacy or aggressively burn neighbouring realms? Will you develop uniform region infrastructure or specialized economies? Countless strategic and tactical choices cascade across hundred-hour+ campaigns!
Such incredible array of factions, playstyles and customization options gift endless replayable campaigns. Allowing gameplay enjoyment spanning months to years rather than mere hours.
Passionate Fans
Beyond critical acclaim lies a vibrant community of passionate fans. Total War features prominently on Reddit, discord groups and YouTube creator circles. Fans share meticulously documented unit stats plus deviously cunning tactics and heroic battle tales!
The series harbours profound emotional resonance getting lost commanding epic armies or losing ourselves roleplaying legendary generals. We argue fiercely whether Shogun 2’s minimalist perfection bests Warhammer 2’s dizzying faction diversity or if Rome I’s janky yet nostalgic brilliance outweighs the polishing of Rome II.
Such endless debates highlight the series rich legacy. For every veteran boasting 1000+ hours played exists far more newcomers discovering timeless greatness. May your first steps only start lifelong journeys into incredible eras awaiting exploration on campaign maps and bloodied battle terrain!
Choose Your Road – Recommendations on Starting Total War Experiences
(Repeats Three Kingdoms / Shogun 2 / Warhammer 2 overviews again along with other starter title mini reviews)
Conclusion
The extensive bloodline handing Total War such a sterling reputation clearly intimdates newcomers feeling millions of veteran strategic hours judging their first clicks. But tutorial support and difficulty adjusting facilitates discovering abundant joy, not punishment from a landmark series.
Fantastical or factual, intimate or epic across scale, the perfect starting point awaits within a stellar catalogue spanning two decades of quality. Each Total War title ready to whisk you away on inheriting mighty ancient empires destined for ruin or resurrection based on your guidance alone.
Will new generals seize the reigns of history and claim destiny or shrink before the undertaking? Ultimate victory or defeat on countless fields of battle await solely on your strategic savvy. So where will you steer these worlds as would-be emperor? Now boldly march forth and let fame and acclaim cascade in your esteemed wake!
The rest unfolds to be written as legend by you now. Newcomers, welcome to Total War’s unmatched majesty. May your conquests thrill eternally!