Interviews// EGX: Total War: Attila

SPOnG: The over-world map to Total War: Attila is somewhat more advanced than previous Total War games, can you describe it for us?

Ed Ainsley (EA): Yes, we've added load of new filters to the world over-view. It has Religion, Sanitation, Public Order, Wealth, Diplomatic and Ownership. There's also a new geographic mode, so it's not just a schematic map, you can actually see where roads are, where mountains are and how you can get between different regions.

JG: Yes this is a very important addition so players can step away and have a big overview map of their empire. We wanted to bring it to the next level so the player can access this information if they want it. It's not directly in your face but it's there, and the geography map allows the player to plan their strategy and movement of their troops at a higher level. The player can see different terrain types, which can influence what type of forces they will commit to the fight; it's a great addition.

EA: It also gives you a bespoke UI system. You can bring up this big map and you can chose what you want, so that it's not overwhelming. So rather than cram all of this information into a little radar map that's almost impossible to read we created this over-world map instead.


SPOnG: As a point of history, the reason why Attila was so successful was because he had certain technologies with regards to weapons and armour that Western Europe did not have. Being to be able to fire arrows from horseback, for example. Knowing this, is there not a concern that the battles could be one-sided in Total War: Attila?

JG: Actually no, Attila and the Huns were not that special in this regard. He was actually very good diplomatically. This allowed him to subjugate people and basically force them to fight for him so his forces weren't just Huns. He was regarded the harbinger of doom and he intimidated people to join him. The Romans had Parthia fighting for them and they had similar combat abilities to those that you mentioned, so that wasn't that important.

So it's really a combination of things: the Huns are coming, they're an unstoppable force from the East and they are pushing all of the other tribes as well. So all the Huns and German people are moving Westwards. The border between the Hun Empire and the Roman Empire was very long. The Romans had 600,000 soldiers fighting along this border, which is equivalent to the combined forces of contemporary Britain, France and Spain. Other factors included the changing of climate and the failing of crops.

EA: They [Western Europeans] were genuinely afraid of him. They thought he was the bringer of the apocalypse; they believed him to be the prelude of the end times.

JG: The Hun had other advantages as well, and we have included these in the game. They were a very powerful force so when fighting against them, the player has to adapt their strategies to meet this new threat.

EA: Yes. The player, when controlling Western forces, does have a massive problem in that they have a massive amount of territory to defend and not a lot to defend it with. This requires massive adaptation on the part of the player when facing the horde of Huns.


SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time!