Looking for realistic war game

A

APOLLO

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - March 2009
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I'm really out of the loop when it comes to computer war games, so I need your help. I'm looking for a game that realistically portrays ancient and medieval unit interactions. I need to do some research on hypothetical troop deployment and attack strategy for a fictional novel I'm writing. The game doesn't have to be recent as long as it can simulate as closely as possible warfare of the historical periods I'm focussing on.

Any suggestions?
 
try rome: total war for a recent game that portrays ancient rome and others. or medeival: total war, for medeival times.

the history channel uses rome total war to portray past battles.
 
Medieval:Total War and Rome:Total War for the medieval and the ancient ones respectively.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Does Rome:Total War concentrate on the Roman army or are there additional nations of choice available to the player?
 
Total War is much closer to being history based than the others mentioned. Still they are games so don't read in to much!
 
Yes, the Total War series has the best unit combat and deployment around. Rome: Total War is truly phenomenal. They've used it's engine for reenactments for the History Channel, even. Make sure you set the unit size to Huge (provided your PC can handle it). I've had battles where there were literally 10,000 troops running around killing each other.
 
JEEVES/whohasmyname?: said:
not to crap on your thread, but do you mind me asking what made you think of games when it came time to do research?
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Excellent question. I am writing a fictional work that includes nations deploying hypothetical forces as part of the overall plot. Think of it as a historical novel in an alternate timeline. Historical research can only go so far in my endeavor because it relates what has already happened, and I've done enough of this sort of research recently. I want something hands on. What I actually need is a simulation program that accurately depicts theoretical engagements between individual units and entire armies. Since I know of no such program, PC war games are the next best thing.
 
ThomasE66 said:
Yes, the Total War series has the best unit combat and deployment around. Rome: Total War is truly phenomenal. They've used it's engine for reenactments for the History Channel, even. Make sure you set the unit size to Huge (provided your PC can handle it). I've had battles where there were literally 10,000 troops running around killing each other.
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Thanks, Thomas. This is exactly the information I was looking for.
 
APOLLO said:
Thanks, Thomas. This is exactly the information I was looking for.
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Make sure you grab the 1.2 patch if you get it. There is a demo of the game if you want to see what's it's all about first.
 
APOLLO said:
I am writing a fictional work that includes nations deploying hypothetical forces as part of the overall plot. Think of it as a historical novel in an alternate timeline.
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As hypothetical as "Guns of the South", in which time-travelling South Africans equip the Confederacy with AK47's?

Total war is the best Ancients computer war game I know of. But I've an alternative suggestion.

Find a tabletop gaming group. That is, people who shove lead soldiers around on tables. They do sort-of historical battles with alternative troops all the time (like, I've got Carthaginians and you've got Alexandra's Macedonians; that's close enough for a good game). My group would be very happy doing historical battles with a twist. And with humans in complete contrl you've got the flexibility to change things the way you want.

Incidentally, Tom Clancy used a boardgame (Harpoon) for his Naval novels. Though he'd probaly use a computer version these days.
 
Slow Dog said:
As hypothetical as "Guns of the South", in which time-travelling South Africans equip the Confederacy with AK47's?

Total war is the best Ancients computer war game I know of. But I've an alternative suggestion.

Find a tabletop gaming group. That is, people who shove lead soldiers around on tables. They do sort-of historical battles with alternative troops all the time (like, I've got Carthaginians and you've got Alexandra's Macedonians; that's close enough for a good game). My group would be very happy doing historical battles with a twist. And with humans in complete contrl you've got the flexibility to change things the way you want.

Incidentally, Tom Clancy used a boardgame (Harpoon) for his Naval novels. Though he'd probaly use a computer version these days.
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No, not as hypothetical as Guns of the South, but hypothetical nevertheless. It doesn't involve time-travel where 'advanced' technology is introduced to an 'ancient' society. It's an alternate history, a 'what if' scenario where the level of technology is more or less the same, but the tactics of each side are very different. Citing your example, think of what would have happened had Alexander not succumbed to the fever/poisoning at Babylon and later moved to conquer the West as was rumored he had intended. How would the Macedonian/Greek army (led by Alex, not some wannabe) fare against Rome and Carthage of the time? That's not at all what my work's plot concerns, but you grasp the overall concept.

I used to play table-top war games 20 years ago, back in the 80s. The problem with that type of simulation is finding additional players (otherwise it's boring), finding the place (I have none), and scheduling/preparing everything. It quickly becomes a very cumbersome affair in a period of my life where there's very litlle time. Judging from the responses in this thread so far, computer games have evolved to the point where an acceptable level of realism has been achieved. For my purposes, it is far and away the best choice to ascertain the likely results of hypothetical scenarios of combat. If for some reason computer simulations prove insufficient to the task, I could always set up a table-top game, but I prefer to avoid the hassle if I can.

I have some other questions. How far does the Total War series permit the player to customize his infantry? How precise is the engine? Does it scale down as fine as an individual soldier? Meaning, will the change in positioning of single individuals in a unit make a difference in the way it plays, as it might in real life?
 
For medieval, Stronghold; Rome, Rome: Total war

Though you have to realize not any of these games can be really realistic in every since.

"medieval" combat changed quite a bit of the time from early/late.
 
APOLLO said:
Excellent question. I am writing a fictional work that includes nations deploying hypothetical forces as part of the overall plot. Think of it as a historical novel in an alternate timeline. Historical research can only go so far in my endeavor because it relates what has already happened, and I've done enough of this sort of research recently. I want something hands on. What I actually need is a simulation program that accurately depicts theoretical engagements between individual units and entire armies. Since I know of no such program, PC war games are the next best thing.
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You can ask some of us some questions if you need to, i know some things about medieval combat/weaponary/armor, espically the various "myths" around things (IE full plate armor wasn't that heavy, swords weren't that heavy, flails/maces/morning stars are 3 different weapons, etc).
 
http://www.twcenter.net/

The forums here feature a good number of people aiming to make Rome: Total War more realistic. Quite a few good mods, actually.
As to individual unit interaction: Each unit is monitored and has individual hitpoints but you cannot move individual people. They move in units and cannot be seperated.
But, for example, a phalanx's effectiveness depends not only opon it facing the right direction, but the soldiers must be in proper formation and their spears (or whatever the technical term is) must be held in the proper way, but since individual units are taken into account, trees and whatnot really mess up a phalanx's effectiveness.
 
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