14 DAY TRIAL // Total War: Rome II was launched a little more than one month ago and since then, the team at The Creative Assembly has expanded the scope of the game by adding four entirely new playable factions: the Seleucids, the Royal Scythians, the Roxolani and the Massagetae.
The core mechanics of the game are well explained in Softpedia's Total War: Rome II review, but the four new civilizations are great ways to show off new aspects of the experience.
The Seleucids were the first added and they start off with a fairly well developed empire and with plenty of satrapies surrounding them.
They also have a big enemy, Egypt, close by and that means there are plenty of opportunities for conflict or for a short period of peaceful development.
My Seleucid campaigns tend to involve revolts from my Eastern vassals and it’s hard to put them down while taking out the cavalry armies of the East and at the same time, battle the Greek type armies that come from the West.
The one big advantage of the faction is that it is really wealthy and has access to a wide variety of units as long as it develops correctly.
The nomads are even more interesting because they have plenty of horse archers, some powerful charge cavalry and a very limited selection of foot soldiers.
They might seem similar, but once a player stops looking just at bonuses and starting locations, the differences start to appear after just a few turns.
The Roxolani start of on the very edge of the map, in the North-East and are able to choose whether they want to roam sought and take out other steppe dwellers before they meet the Successor kingdoms in battle or if they want to go towards the west.
The Massagetae live to the south of the faction mentioned above and should battle the Parthians and the Seleucids to dominate the east with their ability to deliver arrows from afar and finally charge lines that are already broken.
But my favorites are the Royal Scythians because they start in the North of the Black Sea and can quickly drive west in order to battle the various Dacian tribes before fighting the might of the Greeks.
Campaigns that use the faction can deliver some impressive horse archer and light forces versus phalanx and heavy cavalry battles.
Total War: Rome II also benefits massively from patches and is currently faster and more stable than on launch, with more information for the player to consider and longer tactical battles.
