Creative Assembly has announced a new Total War in the world of Warhammer 40,000. In a developer stream, there were new details about the upcoming strategy game. The highlights: completely new factions and a different way of playing Total War.
This is what the developers are talking about: With the announcement, it became clear that Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will do many things differently than its predecessors, especially regarding battles and campaigns. In the latest stream, on YouTube, the developers go into more detail.
A major focus was on the different factions, three of which are supposed to be fundamentally different from what you are used to in Total War:
- Space Marines are the absolute elite, but there are relatively few of them. They must plan their strategies carefully and call for reinforcements from orbit.
- Orks are significantly more numerous, but they must constantly fight to avoid becoming literally bored. This will apparently affect their game mechanics.
- The Aeldari, a species currently endangered with extinction, are the only ones who cannot reproduce. Every soldier and every life matters here. They focus on targeted attacks – or even try to avoid fights altogether.
Of the three factions, the Aeldari are supposed to represent the greatest difference from previous Total War titles. Recruitment occurs via world ships outside of the map, and units are teleported directly onto the battlefield.
If you do not want to stray too far from the known formula, then the Astra Militarum, or the army of the Imperium should be the right choice: here, the focus is on mass and an infrastructure that aims to promote war.
What other information was there? Additionally, the developers provide more insight into the scales of the campaign and battles. Every fight is supposed to have an impact on the “big picture,” albeit at different scales:
- Individual skirmishes, the real-time battles, are the “smallest” form of battle.
- Planetary battles are about dominance in worlds.
- Multiple planets combine into systems.
- The “biggest map” is the “Crusade Theater,” which is the site of the current crusade.
While some maps are handcrafted, others are randomly generated, and it is possible to change them permanently – although rarely. With an Exterminatus, for example, planets can be completely destroyed and this is irreversible, unlike the destruction of cities in the past. A destroyed planet does not return.
