Topic du travail en cours chez SEGA

[Stilgar]

28.09.2011

Spoiler:

Hi guys,

It's a short one this week. As I'm sure you can imagine, Rise of the Samurai's release has been keeping us very busy (as a result, the final part of my campaign diary is on its way, just a little slower than expected).

In the interests of full transparency and disclosure about what goes on at CA towers, I thought I'd talk you through what we have been up to since RotS came out.

The run-up to release is tense and exciting. We watch the clock like hawks to make sure that the game goes live when it's supposed to and that the Steam downloads work fine. Once we get the "go" from Valve, it's a strange feeling of excitement and nerves as we wait to see if everything's downloading OK. There's no amount of preparation you can do that will allay that - but we try to cover every base.

Once we see the playtime start clocking up, we move towards looking at reaction. I spend most of the evening and night trawling the forums, looking for potential issues with the game. Once I've got a "feel" for the reception to the DLC, I will compile a summary to let any developers who don't read the forums what issues are really sticking out, in order of severity.

I will also take this opportunity to verbally explain to designers, coders etc. exactly what bugs are out there and the circumstances in which they occur. This is then looped round to key players, including quality assurance, who will further investigate the issues in question, attempting to reproduce them in-house so we can see what's going on with the game and why the issues might be happening in a debug environment.

These issues are all now logged in the bug tracking software we use internally, with new issues reported as and when they come in. With all of the world's eyes on our game, sometimes things crop up that won't or can't be detected by our QA department, as large (and great) as it is. Developing huge PC games brings with it its own challenges that we're experienced in working through.

Today our coders, designers, QA and myself have been mostly operating in this reactionary role, keeping an eye on situations as and when they develop and acting quickly to identify their severity. So far, feedback has been very good on the whole for Rise of the Samurai, with a few issues we now know about reported.

21.09.2011

Spoiler:

PART THREE



In last week’s instalment, you might recall that I was sweeping westwards through Japan with my fearsome naginata army. Tragedy befell my great clan though – at the end of last week I’d just lost my Son & Heir, Fujiwara Kunihara. After a sleepless night of tossing and turning in my Rise of the Samurai duvet set, I awoke desperate to make amends for this dreadful travesty.

Having tackled the Minamoto army, I vow to crush it completely. Sending my remaining force against their lone Bow Levy unit, they last little more than a few seconds before succumbing. Not a glorious victory, but a necessary one. I want to let the Minamoto family know I mean business.

I set my sights on regrouping before continuing my assault. Looking through my buildings, I decide to upgrade to a pasture in Miyagi. This will enable me to recruit some cavalry and balance my armies somewhat.

I’m offered a choice by my retainers. Should I go down the route of war, or the route of civic mastery? Given my previously outrageous warmongering, it would seem somewhat hypocritical and duplicitous to go down the civic route, so I opt for further warmongery.

In the meantime, I use one of my junsatsuhi agents to bribe a Minamoto army. It can be nothing else now but all-out war. My brother clan, the Kubota Fujiwara, earlier decided to join me in my acrimony towards Kamakua Minamoto, but I also incur the ire of their brother clan, the Kiso Minamoto, who unite against us. Japan is now truly at war.

Immediately, the army I bribed (a single unit) comes under attack. I retreat heroically, hoping to preserve, rather than needlessly waste, the unit of Foot Samurai now under my command. I feel a tinge of dishonour at this, but I figure Sun Tzu would probably back me up on this one.



I sense a large conflict brewing as Kamakura Minamoto’s armies form on the border, so I begin to turtle slightly, conscious of not overstretching myself. These lulls, the calm periods before the storm, always make my stomach knot with anticipation. I spend several turns improving buildings, mastering arts and bolstering the attacking options available to me.

Meanwhile, I see an opening in the Kamakura defences and attack Musashi. Pre-occupied with attacks of their own elsewhere, I catch them only half-guarded and autoresolve my way to glory, pinching the region from under his nose. I expect he’s furious. I peacefully occupy the region and dig in for the inevitable reprisal.

It’s 1184, and time feels tight. I’m starting to feel the pressure of my turtling, and feel I need to get a move on. Moving my junsatsushi south-west, I notice the extent of the Kamakura Minamoto borders. Hampered by the rapid expansion of their sister clan, the Kamakura have suffered. They have just one remaining province, surrounded in all directions with Kiso Minamoto regions.

My next move was obvious. I had to take Sagami. Having taken significant losses in their battles elsewhere, their troops were few. A handful of garrison units, ripe for the taking. I autoresolve with my 15 stack and take the prize for myself. But wait, there’s a region I’ve missed. There is still a dark blue shaded region on the map, the tiny jut of Izu.

To my delight, I see the Kamakura Minamoto have been busy with their construction. Available to recruit (once the castle is repaired) are mounted samurai and bow warrior monks. I can hardly resist the opportunity to recruit these chaps, and so I do.

The very next turn, Kamakura Minamoto begs me to stop the hostilities against him. This dreadful, unprovoked war, it seems, has finally got the better of him. Honourably, I tell him where to stick it and prepare my invasion force. “This is most unfortunate”, blubs Minamoto Masako, “I hope you will have no cause to regret this decision”.

I send my junsatsushi across the borders of Izu and suddenly see why the poor chap was so desperate. His garrison is nothing to write home about – just a few units. He’s clearly suffered at the hands of his dominant sister clan’s rapid expansion. Each clan has its own ambitions, and even between families there may arise such power struggles.

I quickly push further west before Kiso Minamoto can provide backup, crushing the meagre forces of Tate Tadafuyu, the last remaining general of the Kamakura Minamoto force. I capture the province, eliminate the Kamakura Minamoto and increase the recognition of my clan to “noted”.

To be concluded...

07.09.2011

Spoiler:

Rise of the Samurai Campaign Diary

J'ai commencé à noter un journal de mes progrès dans "Rise of the Samuraï" depuis mes premières impressions.
Bien des gens ont demandé des informations sur la campagne et quelle meilleure opportunité de le faire que la mise à jour de cette semaine.



Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, "Rise of the Samuraï" est une nouvelle campagne téléchargable pour Shogun 2.
Prenant place quelques 400 ans avant les évènements dramatiques dépeint dans Shogun 2, cette campagne nous plonge dans la guerre "Gempeï", un conflit entre trois familles légendaires et les six clans dont elles sont composées. La guerre culmina avec le premier Shogun et la montée des samuraï en tant que classe dirigeante ce qui rend le titre de la campagne approprié.

J'ai passé un certain temps à choisir le clan que je prendrais pour cette campagne. Les choix étant; Kamakura où Kiso (sous la bannière de la famille Minamot, Yashima où Fukuhara (sous la bannière Taira) et enfin Hiraizumi où Kubota (sous la bannière Fujiwara). Je ne sais pas pour vous, mais je prends toujours une faction où un clan me permettant de dessiner une stratégie claire
dès le début du jeu.

Étant ce type de joueur, j'ai été immédiatement attiré par la famille Fujiwara; leurs positions étant très à l'est me permettant de balayer vers l'ouest répandant fièrement les couleurs de la famille à travers le Japon. Cela me laissais avec un choix entre les clans Kubota et Hiraizumi. Appréciant jouer avec les agants "junsatsushi" j'ai choisi le clan Hiraizumi vu qu'ils offrent un bonus pour ce type
d'agent (+10% chance de succès, -20% de coûts des actions). Ils débutent également avec l'art des prêts sur le riz déjà maîtrisé et j'aime le riz.



Je choisis la campagne courte qui débute en 1175. À la fin de 1199 je dois avoir pris et gardé 25 régions incluant Echizen, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Kyoto et Yamato. (Incidemment la grande campagne requiers 40 régions pour 1219 et la campagne domination, 60 régions pour 1219) Je choisis une difficultée normale et démarre la campagne. Mon clan débute avec les provinces de Iwate et Miyagi
avec les territoires de Ugo et Uzen appartenant à mes amis de famille le clan Kubota. Nous débutons alliés, mais il n'y a aucune raison qui vous empêche de leurs déclarer la guerre si vous etes un tyran. J'ai été tempté, mais tout bien considéré trahir ses alliés n'est pas exactement la meilleure façon de débuter une campagne.

Ceci dit en passant, la carte de campagne à été "rénovée" visuellement. Elle a une allure différente de Shogun 2. Il y a un nouveau ciel, les détails des paysages ont été augmentés, il y a des nouvelles textures, une plus grande variété de flore, de spectaculaire changement de couleurs dans la mer et de plus petites vagues également. C'est une série de petits changements, mais qui aident grandement
l'immersion; ça ne me prend pas longtemps à rentrer dans les choses plus sérieuses. Généralement j'utilise la résolution auto, mais je fais un point d'honneur de jouer les batailles importantes. je veux être là pour voir le général enemi tomber; cela me donne une excellente occasion de le narguer. Je me fous qu'il ne puisse m'entendre où qu'il ne soit qu'un truc virtuel.

Alors, voici ma stratégie. Je prendrai Fukushima en premier qui est présentement tenue par le clan Soma et nous sommes en paix, mais cette paix est là pour être brisée; il s'agit après tout de Total War. En double cliquant sur ma ville-château, Sendai, je note un nouveau morceau de texte: Influence suivie d'un poucentage. Ceci indique combien loyale est cette région à ma famille (et non pas clan,
ce qui donne de bonnes opportunitées de co-op avec le clan allié) En ce moment la région est à 100% de loyauté, mais des actions ennemies peuvent changer cela. Si la région succombe à un ennemi, la loyauté à notre cause faiblira et ira vers celle de notre ennemi. Similairement, si l'ennemi déploie des agents "junsatsushi" pour interférer dans mes affaires, cela augmentera également sa popularité
auprès de ma population. Vous voyez à présent pourquoi j'ai pris des bonus aux agents ! J'ai de grands projets pour eux ...

De retour à la tranquille terre du soleil levant, qui s'apprête à être dérangée par mon attaque non provoquée sur Soma. Aimant faire les choses "politiquement correct" je déclare la guerre via le panneau de la diplomacie où il est révélé qu'ils sont inamical envers moi de toute façons. Ceci clos le débat; ils doivent mourir. J'appelle mes alliés à se joindre au conflit et ils acceptent volontiers. Les liens entre familles sont
forts et ces liens amènent une certaine ferveur ... et un certain potentiel à la trahison a plus long terme. Gardez un oeil sur ce qu'ils font. La plupart du temps ils vous supporteront aveuglément, mais ce n'est pas une certitude. Gardez à l'esprit qu'ils ont aussi un agenda d'unification du Japon sous leur bannière.

Je recrute quelques Naginata pour ma cause et envoie une armée au sud commandée par mon fils et héritier. Avant longtemps, je reçois une mission d'utiliser mes agents contre l'ennemi. Je receverai une bonne récompense si je réussi, "Influence exponentielle", qui donne à mes junsatsushi un autre 10% de chances de succès pour huit saisons. Je commence également à rechercher le Confucianisme.



Dans l'intérêt de garder ceci bref sachez ceci: j'ai détruit Soma. Les livres d'histoire demanderont peut-être, "le méritaient-ils ?", mais nous savons tous que la réponse est oui. Un oui empathique. Ils se tenaient entre moi et la victoire après tout. Leurs défences ont été un passablement bon challenge (635 de mes hommes contre 810 des leurs), mais ils se sont écroulés après des échanges frénétiques. Mais, je savais
très bien que malgré cette victoire, des tests plus difficiles se tenait sur ma route. Des tests comme la famille Minamoto fesant front commun et se répandant près des bords de ma nouvelle frontière. Eux aussi doivent mourir. Je trace ma route dans les territoires précédemment bons voisins des clans Satake, Ashikaga et Nitta pour les atteindre ne m'arrêtant même pas pour savoir comment ils étaient avant mes
attaques vicieuses sur leurs villes. Prendre leurs provinces aida mon effort de guerre et bientôt je recrutais des unitées plus puissantes; les Attendants Naginata et les Lanceurs de Bombes. Le vrai test approche ...

(31.08.2011)

Spoiler:

Hi guys,

Bit of a short update this week, as things are very busy at CA towers in the run-up to the Rise of the Samurai release. It’s a big project with lots of people working on it, and right now we’re putting the final touches and polish to it ready for release in September.

Just to fill you in on what we’re up to this week - we’re currently putting together a campaign diary blog for you guys, which will hopefully make for interesting reading for those of you interested in what the new Rise of the Samurai campaign offers. I’m playing as one of the Fujiwara clans.

By the way, regarding the content of the campaign, you’ll find play centres much more around the system of allegiance. Each province has an allegiance rating which can be influenced. Provinces more aligned to your family are less likely to be unhappy. Agents play a big part in controlling this.

There are four new agent types: Shiabyoshi, Junsatsushi, Monomi and Sou. I’ll go into more detail on each in my campaign diary.

Also this week, I’ve been playing with some of the new units which will be available in the campaign, and in multiplayer. The “Tetsubo Monk Hero” unit is awesome. You’re capped to just one of them, but they have huge clubs, with which they beat their opponents. They’re pretty tenacious, and have a lot of lasting power on the battlefield. That’s countered by their limited upgrades, and their limited numbers. I had a battle against multiplayer designer Ian Roxburgh earlier and they survived (almost) to the bitter end, despite being right in the mix.

Oh, by the way - did you see this preview on Rock, Paper, Shotgun today? We had the folks in on Thursday to take a look at the campaign, and they got to see our patch notes for the first time. Remember, the patch will be released for free at the same time we release Rise of the Samurai.

While I’m talking patch notes, we’re up to eight A4 pages worth of them. They include AI tweaks, fixes to cavalry bugs, optimisation tweaks, changes to multiplayer (including new clan competition browser options, unit caps, 11 new maps, unit balancing, costing and veteran tweaks – plus much more).

Next week I’ll spill the beans on the campaign diary (when I’ve won or lost, it could still go either way!). Do you have any burning questions you’d like answering? I’ll do my best to address them in the next update.

Talk to you next week!

Best regards,

Craig.

(22/06/2011)

Spoiler:

This is something of a "special edition"! As our official forums are down and we're keen to keep you guys up to date, we thought we'd give you guys the lowdown here.

So, to update you guys on what's going on here at CA:

I just spoke to our QA guys, and they're noticing some improved performance after some changes we've made, particularly in the way we handle Steam disconnects.

Previously, if you disconnected from Steam during a battle you could be kicked out of it. Now the game will allow you to continue playing your opponent through the direct connection while Steam attempts to reconnect in the background. This doesn't require a patch - it should be live right now.

We haven't forgotten the single player guys, either. We're beavering away on a whole range of fixes for that, and when we're ready to talk about them you'll be the first to know in one of these updates. That stuff will go into a future patch and when it's fixed and definitely going in, we'll keep you up to date.

We are hard at work squashing any bugs we find as they come up and and still very much involved with the patching process. We're continually looking for opportunities to make the game better. We should have good news for you on that front in the coming weeks.

Thanks,

Craig.

(Si quelqu'un a le courage de traduire pour moi

[Le-Nain]

Je le ferai demain soir je pense

[Turambar]

En gros, ils préparent des patchs pour:
1)permettre de continuer une bataille multijoueur quand Steam se déconnecte
2)tenter d'éliminer les bugs
3)rendre le jeu meilleur

[von Blücher]

L'inverse aurait été inquiétant...

[Zaariel]

Je retiens quand meme que quelqu'un avait osé me dire que Shogun 2 ne serait pas buggé parce que c'était le troisieme jeu sur le meme moteur...
Oups!!

[Stilgar]

Mais non ce ne sont que des bugs mineurs Zaariel, voyons ! Si le jeu bug au 5è tour c'est mineur, du moment qu'il se lance on peut dire que tous les bugs majeurs ont été résolus !

[Stilgar]

Nouvelles informations aujourd'hui (mise à jour du premier post) :

Spoiler:

Rise of the Samurai Campaign Diary

Hi guys,

I’ve started recording a diary of my progress playing Rise of the Samurai, from first impressions onward. A lot of people have been asking for information on the campaign. What better opportunity than this week’s update?



For those of you who don’t know, Rise of the Samurai is a brand new downloadable campaign for Shogun 2. Set some 400 years before the dramatic civil war depicted in Shogun 2, it features the Gempei War, a conflict between three legendary families, and the six clans they’re made up of. The war culminated in the first Shogunate, and the rise of the Samurai as a ruling class, which is handy given the title of the campaign.

I spent a while choosing which clan I should go with. The options were Kamakura and Kiso (under the Minamoto family banner), Yashima and Fukuhara (Taira family) and Hiraizumi and Kubota (Fujiwara). Now I don’t know about you, but I always like to pick factions or clans that allow me to picture a clear strategy from the go.

Being that type of player, I was immediately drawn to the Fujiwara family. Their eastern position, I decided, would allow me to sweep westwards, proudly spreading the family colours across Japan as I went. That left me with a choice between the Kubota or Hiraizumi clans. Keen to play with the “junsatsushi” agent, I picked Hiraizumi, as they offer bonuses to that agent type (+10% success chance to junsatsushi actions, -20% cost for junsatsushi actions). They also start with the “rice loans” art already mastered, and I love rice.

I plump for the short campaign, which starts in 1175. By the end of 1199 I need to capture and hold 25 provinces, including Echizen, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Kyoto and Yamato. (Incidentally, the long campaign would require 40 provinces by 1219 and the domination 60 by 1219).

Plumping for normal difficulty, I kick things off. My clan starts with possession of Iwate and Miyagi, with Ugo and Uzen belonging to my family buddies the Kubota. We start allied, but there’s no reason why you can’t declare war on them, if you’re a monstrous tyrant. I was tempted, but I didn’t fancy such shenanigans would do me any favours right at the start of a campaign.



The campaign map, by the way, has been overhauled a little visually. It looks different to the map in Shogun 2. There’s a new skybox, the landscape detail’s been improved, there are new textures, better flora variety, there’s a specular layer on the sea and a smaller wave-set too. It’s a series of little tweaks and changes, but they really help the immersion - and it doesn’t take me long to fully get into the spirit of things.

I’m generally an auto-resolver, although I do make a point of fighting key battles. I want to be there at the moment the enemy general falls. That gives me an excellent opportunity to rub it in his face. I don’t care if he can’t hear me, or if he’s virtual… whatever.

So, here’s my strategy. I’m going to take Fukushima first. It’s currently owned by the Soma, and we’re at peace, but the way I see it, peace is there to be shattered. This is, after all, Total War.

Double-clicking on my castle town, Sendai, I notice a new bit of text: Influence, followed by a percentage. This indicates how loyal this region is to my family (note, not clan – this leads to good co-op opportunities with your friendly family member). At the moment, this region sits at 100% loyalty, but enemy actions can change this.

If the province falls to the enemy, loyalty to our cause will weaken, and the enemy’s sway will increase in turn. Similarly, if the enemy deploys junsatsushi agents to interfere with my affairs, it will also increase his power over my populace. So, now you can see why I went for junsatsushi! I have great plans for these guys…

So, back to the peaceful land of the rising sun, which is about to be stirred by my unprovoked attack on Soma. Keen to do things “the right way”, I declare war via the diplomacy panel, where it’s revealed that their natural disposition to me is “Unfriendly” anyway. That settles it then, they must die.

I call my allies to help, and they willingly join me. Bonds between families are strong, and such ties bring with them a certain impetus… and a certain potential for treachery further down the line. Keep an eye on what they’re doing. Most times they will support you blindly, but it’s not a given. They too have ambitious goals to unite Japan under their banner.

I recruit a few Naginata Levy to my cause and move an army south, led by my son and heir. Before long, I’m issued with a mission to use my junsatsushi against the enemy. I’ll receive a nice reward if I complete it – “influential exponent”, which will grant my junsatsushi a further 10% boost to his success chances for 8 seasons. I also start researching Confucianism.



In the interests of brevity, know this: I destroyed Soma. The history books might ask, “did they deserve it?”, but we all know the answer was yes. An emphatic yes. They stood between me and victory, after all.

Their defences put up a fairly strong challenge (635 of my men vs 810 of his), but they crumbled after some frenetic exchanges. Even so, I knew much sterner tests lay ahead of me. Tests like the Minamoto family, banded together and spreading close to the borders of my new frontier. They too must die.

I carve through the innocent, and previously very neighbourly, Satake, Ashikaga and Nitta clans to reach them, not even stopping to ask how they were before viciously assaulting their towns. Taking their provinces helped fuel my war effort, and soon I was recruiting more powerful units – Naginata Attendants and Fire Bomb Throwers.

With the blast of war blowing in my ears it was onwards, onwards into the breach. For the real test was yet to come…

Quelqu'un peut m'en faire une petite traduction rapidement - ce serait pour en faire une brève- ? Merci

[Stilgar]

Merci à Ahoskova qui nous a fait la traduction :

Spoiler:

Rise of the Samurai Campaign Diary

J'ai commencé à noter un journal de mes progrès dans "Rise of the Samuraï" depuis mes premières impressions.
Bien des gens ont demandé des informations sur la campagne et quelle meilleure opportunité de le faire que la mise à jour de cette semaine.



Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, "Rise of the Samuraï" est une nouvelle campagne téléchargable pour Shogun 2.
Prenant place quelques 400 ans avant les évènements dramatiques dépeint dans Shogun 2, cette campagne nous plonge dans la guerre "Gempeï", un conflit entre trois familles légendaires et les six clans dont elles sont composées. La guerre culmina avec le premier Shogun et la montée des samuraï en tant que classe dirigeante ce qui rend le titre de la campagne approprié.

J'ai passé un certain temps à choisir le clan que je prendrais pour cette campagne. Les choix étant; Kamakura où Kiso (sous la bannière de la famille Minamoto), Yashima où Fukuhara (sous la bannière Taira) et enfin Hiraizumi où Kubota (sous la bannière Fujiwara). Je ne sais pas pour vous, mais je prends toujours une faction où un clan me permettant de dessiner une stratégie claire
dès le début du jeu.

Étant ce type de joueur, j'ai été immédiatement attiré par la famille Fujiwara; leurs positions étant très à l'est me permettant de balayer vers l'ouest répandant fièrement les couleurs de la famille à travers le Japon. Cela me laissais avec un choix entre les clans Kubota et Hiraizumi. Appréciant jouer avec les agants "junsatsushi" j'ai choisi le clan Hiraizumi vu qu'ils offrent un bonus pour ce type
d'agent (+10% chance de succès, -20% de coûts des actions). Ils débutent également avec l'art des prêts sur le riz déjà maîtrisé et j'aime le riz.



Je choisis la campagne courte qui débute en 1175. À la fin de 1199 je dois avoir pris et gardé 25 régions incluant Echizen, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Kyoto et Yamato. (Incidemment la grande campagne requiers 40 régions pour 1219 et la campagne domination, 60 régions pour 1219) Je choisis une difficultée normale et démarre la campagne. Mon clan débute avec les provinces de Iwate et Miyagi
avec les territoires de Ugo et Uzen appartenant à mes amis de famille le clan Kubota. Nous débutons alliés, mais il n'y a aucune raison qui vous empêche de leurs déclarer la guerre si vous etes un tyran. J'ai été tempté, mais tout bien considéré trahir ses alliés n'est pas exactement la meilleure façon de débuter une campagne.

Ceci dit en passant, la carte de campagne à été "rénovée" visuellement. Elle a une allure différente de Shogun 2. Il y a un nouveau ciel, les détails des paysages ont été augmentés, il y a des nouvelles textures, une plus grande variété de flore, de spectaculaire changement de couleurs dans la mer et de plus petites vagues également. C'est une série de petits changements, mais qui aident grandement
l'immersion; ça ne me prend pas longtemps à rentrer dans les choses plus sérieuses. Généralement j'utilise la résolution auto, mais je fais un point d'honneur de jouer les batailles importantes. je veux être là pour voir le général enemi tomber; cela me donne une excellente occasion de le narguer. Je me fous qu'il ne puisse m'entendre où qu'il ne soit qu'un truc virtuel.

Alors, voici ma stratégie. Je prendrai Fukushima en premier qui est présentement tenue par le clan Soma et nous sommes en paix, mais cette paix est là pour être brisée; il s'agit après tout de Total War. En double cliquant sur ma ville-château, Sendai, je note un nouveau morceau de texte: Influence suivie d'un poucentage. Ceci indique combien loyale est cette région à ma famille (et non pas clan,
ce qui donne de bonnes opportunitées de co-op avec le clan allié) En ce moment la région est à 100% de loyauté, mais des actions ennemies peuvent changer cela. Si la région succombe à un ennemi, la loyauté à notre cause faiblira et ira vers celle de notre ennemi. Similairement, si l'ennemi déploie des agents "junsatsushi" pour interférer dans mes affaires, cela augmentera également sa popularité
auprès de ma population. Vous voyez à présent pourquoi j'ai pris des bonus aux agents ! J'ai de grands projets pour eux ...

De retour à la tranquille terre du soleil levant, qui s'apprête à être dérangée par mon attaque non provoquée sur Soma. Aimant faire les choses "politiquement correct" je déclare la guerre via le panneau de la diplomacie où il est révélé qu'ils sont inamical envers moi de toute façons. Ceci clos le débat; ils doivent mourir. J'appelle mes alliés à se joindre au conflit et ils acceptent volontiers. Les liens entre familles sont
forts et ces liens amènent une certaine ferveur ... et un certain potentiel à la trahison a plus long terme. Gardez un oeil sur ce qu'ils font. La plupart du temps ils vous supporteront aveuglément, mais ce n'est pas une certitude. Gardez à l'esprit qu'ils ont aussi un agenda d'unification du Japon sous leur bannière.

Je recrute quelques Naginata pour ma cause et envoie une armée au sud commandée par mon fils et héritier. Avant longtemps, je reçois une mission d'utiliser mes agents contre l'ennemi. Je receverai une bonne récompense si je réussi, "Influence exponentielle", qui donne à mes junsatsushi un autre 10% de chances de succès pour huit saisons. Je commence également à rechercher le Confucianisme.



Dans l'intérêt de garder ceci bref sachez ceci: j'ai détruit Soma. Les livres d'histoire demanderont peut-être, "le méritaient-ils ?", mais nous savons tous que la réponse est oui. Un oui empathique. Ils se tenaient entre moi et la victoire après tout. Leurs défences ont été un passablement bon challenge (635 de mes hommes contre 810 des leurs), mais ils se sont écroulés après des échanges frénétiques. Mais, je savais
très bien que malgré cette victoire, des tests plus difficiles se tenait sur ma route. Des tests comme la famille Minamoto fesant front commun et se répandant près des bords de ma nouvelle frontière. Eux aussi doivent mourir. Je trace ma route dans les territoires précédemment bons voisins des clans Satake, Ashikaga et Nitta pour les atteindre ne m'arrêtant même pas pour savoir comment ils étaient avant mes
attaques vicieuses sur leurs villes. Prendre leurs provinces aida mon effort de guerre et bientôt je recrutais des unitées plus puissantes; les Attendants Naginata et les Lanceurs de Bombes. Le vrai test approche ...

[Stilgar]

Nouvelle mise à jour :

Spoiler:

PART THREE



In last week’s instalment, you might recall that I was sweeping westwards through Japan with my fearsome naginata army. Tragedy befell my great clan though – at the end of last week I’d just lost my Son & Heir, Fujiwara Kunihara. After a sleepless night of tossing and turning in my Rise of the Samurai duvet set, I awoke desperate to make amends for this dreadful travesty.

Having tackled the Minamoto army, I vow to crush it completely. Sending my remaining force against their lone Bow Levy unit, they last little more than a few seconds before succumbing. Not a glorious victory, but a necessary one. I want to let the Minamoto family know I mean business.

I set my sights on regrouping before continuing my assault. Looking through my buildings, I decide to upgrade to a pasture in Miyagi. This will enable me to recruit some cavalry and balance my armies somewhat.

I’m offered a choice by my retainers. Should I go down the route of war, or the route of civic mastery? Given my previously outrageous warmongering, it would seem somewhat hypocritical and duplicitous to go down the civic route, so I opt for further warmongery.

In the meantime, I use one of my junsatsuhi agents to bribe a Minamoto army. It can be nothing else now but all-out war. My brother clan, the Kubota Fujiwara, earlier decided to join me in my acrimony towards Kamakua Minamoto, but I also incur the ire of their brother clan, the Kiso Minamoto, who unite against us. Japan is now truly at war.

Immediately, the army I bribed (a single unit) comes under attack. I retreat heroically, hoping to preserve, rather than needlessly waste, the unit of Foot Samurai now under my command. I feel a tinge of dishonour at this, but I figure Sun Tzu would probably back me up on this one.



I sense a large conflict brewing as Kamakura Minamoto’s armies form on the border, so I begin to turtle slightly, conscious of not overstretching myself. These lulls, the calm periods before the storm, always make my stomach knot with anticipation. I spend several turns improving buildings, mastering arts and bolstering the attacking options available to me.

Meanwhile, I see an opening in the Kamakura defences and attack Musashi. Pre-occupied with attacks of their own elsewhere, I catch them only half-guarded and autoresolve my way to glory, pinching the region from under his nose. I expect he’s furious. I peacefully occupy the region and dig in for the inevitable reprisal.

It’s 1184, and time feels tight. I’m starting to feel the pressure of my turtling, and feel I need to get a move on. Moving my junsatsushi south-west, I notice the extent of the Kamakura Minamoto borders. Hampered by the rapid expansion of their sister clan, the Kamakura have suffered. They have just one remaining province, surrounded in all directions with Kiso Minamoto regions.

My next move was obvious. I had to take Sagami. Having taken significant losses in their battles elsewhere, their troops were few. A handful of garrison units, ripe for the taking. I autoresolve with my 15 stack and take the prize for myself. But wait, there’s a region I’ve missed. There is still a dark blue shaded region on the map, the tiny jut of Izu.

To my delight, I see the Kamakura Minamoto have been busy with their construction. Available to recruit (once the castle is repaired) are mounted samurai and bow warrior monks. I can hardly resist the opportunity to recruit these chaps, and so I do.

The very next turn, Kamakura Minamoto begs me to stop the hostilities against him. This dreadful, unprovoked war, it seems, has finally got the better of him. Honourably, I tell him where to stick it and prepare my invasion force. “This is most unfortunate”, blubs Minamoto Masako, “I hope you will have no cause to regret this decision”.

I send my junsatsushi across the borders of Izu and suddenly see why the poor chap was so desperate. His garrison is nothing to write home about – just a few units. He’s clearly suffered at the hands of his dominant sister clan’s rapid expansion. Each clan has its own ambitions, and even between families there may arise such power struggles.

I quickly push further west before Kiso Minamoto can provide backup, crushing the meagre forces of Tate Tadafuyu, the last remaining general of the Kamakura Minamoto force. I capture the province, eliminate the Kamakura Minamoto and increase the recognition of my clan to “noted”.

To be concluded...

[Stilgar]

Mise à jour :

Hi guys,

It's a short one this week. As I'm sure you can imagine, Rise of the Samurai's release has been keeping us very busy (as a result, the final part of my campaign diary is on its way, just a little slower than expected).

In the interests of full transparency and disclosure about what goes on at CA towers, I thought I'd talk you through what we have been up to since RotS came out.

The run-up to release is tense and exciting. We watch the clock like hawks to make sure that the game goes live when it's supposed to and that the Steam downloads work fine. Once we get the "go" from Valve, it's a strange feeling of excitement and nerves as we wait to see if everything's downloading OK. There's no amount of preparation you can do that will allay that - but we try to cover every base.

Once we see the playtime start clocking up, we move towards looking at reaction. I spend most of the evening and night trawling the forums, looking for potential issues with the game. Once I've got a "feel" for the reception to the DLC, I will compile a summary to let any developers who don't read the forums what issues are really sticking out, in order of severity.

I will also take this opportunity to verbally explain to designers, coders etc. exactly what bugs are out there and the circumstances in which they occur. This is then looped round to key players, including quality assurance, who will further investigate the issues in question, attempting to reproduce them in-house so we can see what's going on with the game and why the issues might be happening in a debug environment.

These issues are all now logged in the bug tracking software we use internally, with new issues reported as and when they come in. With all of the world's eyes on our game, sometimes things crop up that won't or can't be detected by our QA department, as large (and great) as it is. Developing huge PC games brings with it its own challenges that we're experienced in working through.

Today our coders, designers, QA and myself have been mostly operating in this reactionary role, keeping an eye on situations as and when they develop and acting quickly to identify their severity. So far, feedback has been very good on the whole for Rise of the Samurai, with a few issues we now know about reported.

[Rem]

Nouvelle mise à jour du 02/11/2011. CA laisse entendre que nous aurons bientôt de nouvelles informations sur ce sur quoi ils travaillent...quelque chose "qui est demandé depuis longtemps". Les débats sont ouverts

Happy November!

I hope you all had a great Halloween, whatever you were up to. Did you check out our ghoulish wallpaper to mark the occasion? If you didn’t catch it this time, maybe save it for next year’s festivities!

We’d like to thank you all for your incredible response to our polls over the previous few weeks. We’re really enjoying the direct line you’re giving us – it’s good to know how our hardcore fans feel about the franchise, and that’s something we’re really keen to keep on the agenda.

Your feedback is crucial to us – as a company, that’s been key to our success over the past decade and beyond and anything we can do to close the gap between ourselves and you, the better. So, we’ll be doing more of those in future for sure.

In terms of what we’re up to here at CA, we’re currently very busy. As well as the patch we’re working on, we’re actually busy with lots of other things too. We’ll start revealing some of that stuff soon. What I can say is that one of the things we’re working on is something that’s been requested for a long time.

Regarding the patch, I have a bit more news for you on that front. We’ve been putting in some multiplayer balancing again, so there will be a few subtle tweaks to retainers, unit balancing, costing and unit caps. I’ll fill you in on the specifics closer to release.

That’s all for this week. Have a great one!

[elrond petit pas tapons]

La combinaison bataille navale et combat terrestre par le biais de débarquements !!!

[Inquisitor]

Sa serai trop bon sa ! j'était au anges quand cela avait été annoncée à l'époque.

[Elanion]

Reste plus qu a savoir avec quel type de navire on débarquera : galère, drakkars, caravelles, barges...

[Inquisitor]

peut ètre dans hypotétique Rome 2 ? mais d'abord qu'ils l'intègre à shogun