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Rob Zacny

Three Moves Ahead 619: Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties

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Three Moves Ahead 619:

Three Moves Ahead 619


Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties
Len is joined by Aftermath's Luke Plunkett and Dr. Bret Devereaux to discuss Total War: Pharaoh's expansive Dynasties glow-up. We dig into the sources that are and aren't available for Bronze Age warfare, how the latest historical Total War feels now with all the bells and whistles, and whether or not Creative Assembly's grand apology tour might be a sign of things to come, or just a one-off PR move.

Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties

 

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One thing that I thought might be interesting to you, based on the discussion about cultures, is that there are alternate strategies you can take where you do not have to focus on your core region necessarily that open up the variety/direction your campaign can take and allow you to interact with (fight) vastly different cultures. I recently played two campaigns, both as Ithaca (minor Aegean faction - I happen to like the start position) where I went the same route, but with different outcomes. In both instances, I conquered the island of Knossos as soon as I was able to, and used it as a base to launch invasions into Egypt. In one playthrough, I used the legitimacy, land and influence I gained in order to make myself Wanax of the Aegean despite only owning 7 settlements in the Aegean (the three islands that make up Ithaca's starting province and the four on Knossos). Narratively, in my head, I imagined that the power and prestige that your favorite guy Odysseus has managed to gain by conquering all these foreign lands has allowed him to command the rest of the Aegean people without taking their territory. I actually was able to vassalize Achilles, and the Boetions, so Achilles and Diomedes did all the grunt work of fighting the other Aegean factions for me if/when they declared war. 

 

In the second playthrough, I didn't join the Aegean court at all. Some minor factions aren't locked into the court for the culture of the part of the world they start in. So in that playthrough, I actually ended up waiting 30-40 turns or whatever until I had enough land in Egypt to join the Egyptian court and trying to make myself Pharaoh as Odysseus. Ended up not finishing because as you can imagine invading Egypt and gaining enough influence there over the long-established factions is pretty time consuming, and I just got tired of it, but it was a fun little fantasy narrative to play out. 

 

There's also the options to play as the Caananites, Bay in particular. He's a major faction that is not locked into any particular royal tradition, and he can decide to join any royal court even without holding any of their core lands. So you can become this regional power in the Levant and decide you're going to try to become king of the Hittites, or the Pharaoh, or move east and try to take Mesopotamia. Similarly, the Sea People, if you choose to settle rather than burn the world, can declare themselves part of an existing court. It's a fun way to spice up your campaigns if you want something different.

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