So, it's been quite a while since I was at Gamescom, where I got to check out a number of titles, including Total War Saga: Troy. I wrote a preview about the game at the time, though I never got around to transcribing the interview due to one thing or another. That's now been resolved!
So, I'm actually pretty happy about that because I love to talk about Total War. It's even better if I'm getting to chat to somebody behind the development of Total War and I get to pry whatever bits of information I can get out of the person. This is exactly what I tried to do with Todor Nikolov, the lead designer for Total War: Troy, talking about all the important topics, like Brad Pitt, the inclusion of mythological units and... Brad Pitt.
Chris Wray: So first, could you just introduce yourself for the tape?
Todor Nikolov: My name is Todor Nikolov and I am the lead designer for Total War Saga: Troy,
CW: Excellent. So, Total War Saga: Troy. What was the inspiration behind the choice of Troy?
TN: Well, first of all, is the story. You know, we don't actually know whether this war was real or not. What we believe happened is that it was the late Bronze Age. After the Bronze Age passed, civilizations collapsed all across the Aegean Sea. For roughly two centuries, we know nothing about what happened during those 200 years. After that civilization reappeared. Out of the darkness from those dark ages, there came people who carried the story of the Trojan War. About the whole conflict, about Paris and Helen and Agamemnon, Achilles and Hector.
Afterwards, these people who told the story associated themselves with the Aegeans. Those were the Greeks and the Romans believed that they were descendants of refugees who fled the burning Troy. So this is a very important storey in relation to the civilizations at whole. It's also perfect for the setting of a Total War: Saga title.
CW: Yeah, you're not wrong there. Just with the characters you've got. As you mentioned, you've got Achilles, likely Patroclus and the whole love story between Paris & Helen. So with Thrones of Britannia, there was a lot of folks on different choices, dilemmas, will Troy have the same sort of system within?
TN: Well, you could say that. We have certain aspects of the game, sometimes faction mechanics that are related to picking choices in dilemmas. We're trying to keep it as sandbox as possible, in that sense, you might never experience decisions in the game. You might actually be playing as Hector and you might be a capable Hector, who manages to drive all the invaders, even before they reach Troy. Perhaps even a Hector who takes the battle on the Greek mainland.
CW: With your characters, with Hector and others... So, the video I saw showed one on one fights, will there be singular battles, like duels between the characters, such as in Three Kingdoms?
TN: It might look like that at first glance but Total War Saga: Troy has its own thing. We have tried to make the duels between heroes as visually appealing as possible, we have created tonnes of new animations just for the combat between two heroes. When two heroes fight, they can use certain abilities that they might have available. One of those abilities is a challenge ability, which locks the two heroes for a certain amount of time, they cannot flee the battle is to the death or until the timer expires. But apart from that, is just two heroes meeting on the battlefield, fighting and using their abilities according to their skill and ability availability. So, it's different, it's different from Three Kingdoms.
CW: So, I've got to say, regarding you mentioning the increase of animation development for the heroes. So, there's an older film which I absolutely love - that would be Troy - and I would argue that the fight is arguably the best in cinematic history. Has that been an inspiration at all?
TN: Yeah, it's famous for not being historically accurate at all [laughs] but it is spectacular and it's great to watch. So it's something that we've kind of use as a sort of inspiration for our own animations. There's great variety in the number of combat animations. They depend on what the element of the hero is, so when you see a hero who is armoured with a spear and a shield against another hero armoured with a spear and a shield, they will use one set of animations. If they're facing a swordsman, it will be different for an axeman, it will be still different. There are various combinations.
CW: So one aspect that is quite interesting is how it's mentioned you're going towards the reality of things, but you're bringing in your realistic versions of mythical creatures. For example, the Minotaur. Are you thinking of bringing in more mythical beings, just making them more realistic of sorts?
TN: Yes, yes, there are more to come and more in the game already. For example, Minotaur is one of them. You saw him. He's this single entity unit, he's very powerful. He's got a certain set of abilities that are available to him only. He's actually in strength comparable to a relatively well-levelled hero, making him a mid to late game unit. Some of those mythological units that you will see in the game are actually whole units. For example, we've got the centaurs. The centaurs, we know where they've lived according to myth. If you conquer those regions on the campaign map and build certain buildings, you can recruit units of horsemen which are our grounded version of the centaurs.
Back in the Bronze Age, they hadn't adopted that style riding a horse into battle, they used them for the chariots. So if a civilised person saw another person on a horse, they would perceive them like a beast. In this way, we show the origin of the Centaur myth and it allows us to incorporate cavalry units in a game about the period where there was no cavalry.
CW: Excellent. So, that's one thing that was mentioned with the unit choice. You've put a lot of focus, due to era, particularly on infantry units. You've got your variety in light, medium and heavy infantry, limiting other styles. What I'm curious about is if you have any sort of special units that you can talk about, other than the ones based on the mythological ones, such as siege units?
TN: Well, we're going to have a certain amount of siege equipment to help you overcome some walled cities
CW: The walls of Troy maybe? [laughs]
TN: [laughs] Yeah, for example! Apart from that, we have introduced many tweaks, and many updates on how infantry units interact with one another. Some of them are much quicker than others. Not only are they quicker, but they are also quicker to turn so they can easily perform a flanking manoeuvre. They're much more deadly. We have introduced a weapon switching ability for certain units, which makes them more defensive when you need them to be defensive and more on the charge and more deadly if you're attacking.
There are also certain new terrain types like high grass, which allows certain units to hide and wait for others to approach, and mud which causes heavier infantry units to move much slower across it while lighter units will have an easier time crossing it. So there will be certain places on the battlefield where you will want to lure the enemy units, so a lot of the tactics are expected to be related to that
CW: So, you've been working in further tactics to your terrain types, such as mud, but the question I have is will there be a weather system in Total War Saga: Troy? So, if you're fighting on a grassy plain and if it's raining, it'll be muddy in areas or if it's sunny, it won't be muddy?
TN: We are going to have a weather system in the game. it's already there. So raining will bring a certain amount of debuffs. In some cases, units will fire their arrows with reduced range and it will take more to move in any certain direction. It won't have any effect on terrain, but it will affect the entire army.
CW: So you will have regular debuffs to do with the weather. Moving back to units, you're fighting in the Aegean Sea, have you got any ideas of naval units or a style of naval combat that's different to the auto-resolve?
TN: We did our research related to the question that you're asking. We're not sure whether naval combat ever took place back in the late Bronze Age, even if it did, it would not have been a large engagement because it would require a certain amount of coordination, we're not sure about that. It will be overwhelming to represent it in a Total War game but, apparently, we need naval combat because a large part of the campaign map is covered in water.
Our solution came from the vampire DLC of Warhammer two. We basically have this system where when two seaborne armies meet at any point in the sea, they will be deployed on a conveniently nearby island. Luckily, in the Aegean Sea, there are plenty of islands around. A land battle will ensue with the major difference that this particular battle will depend on the favour of Poseidon because people that were fighting know that even though they are on land, they are in the realm of Poseidon, the sea.
CW: So, that links into the gods and favour system. So, Mars, the god of war, Poseidon, the god of the sea, how will the other gods like Hera and Zeus come into this? How will you earn their favour and what areas will they oversee?
TN: Well, we've got seven gods. You will earn and lose favour basically with most of the actions that you would naturally perform as a Total War player. For example, Ares, straightforward. You kill your captives after the battle, you get favour because Ares is bloodthirsty. If you flee from battle, you will lose his favour. You also have the ability to build temples. You also have the priest agent who is capable of performing rituals at temples and can increase your favour while reducing the favour of other factions. So if you send your priest agent to another settlement, you get to reduce the favour of that faction.
You have a bespoke interface where you can pray through the gods or make sacrifices. Gods will also occasionally enter conflicts. For example, you might have Ares and Athena suddenly proclaim that they are into conflict. So, you know, the priests have told you that the gods of Olympus and quarrelling. You'll get to choose sides, there are plenty of things to do with that system. The gods themselves, each is related to a different aspect of gameplay.
So, as you said, Poseidon, everything sea-related, whether it's battle or campaign movement across the sea. Ares, battle, damage related stuff. Athena is more related to the strategic part of warfare. She's related to your heroes, she helps them in battle and she also helps you perform sieges or defend while sieging. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, can's do without her although she's the least Total War God that we have in the Pantheon, she's related to diplomacy. Hera is related to resource production, unit replenishment, stuff like that.
At this point, it was almost the end of my allotted time for the interview
Third Person: We're getting close to the time, so the last question, make a big one!
CW: Okay, tell me everything about Total War Saga: Troy!
TN: [laughs]
The third person: [laughs] That's not a question
CW: Foiled again. Okay, can you tell me everything?
TN: [laughs] I don't think we have the time
CW: It is a question though! Okay, on a serious note, let's end on something based on the aesthetical quality of the game. Particularly, I mentioned is when I was watching the presentation. You've got the parchment style on the ocean which burns away. Then it's the skybox, is it a sort of clay pot style design?
TN: Yeah! So, we've built the concept of truth behind the myth, as you know. It also encompasses all parts of the game. So, when you're looking at realistic objects, such as everything on the campaign map and what you see in the battle maps, you see Bronze Age reality. How units are armed, how the cities looked. But parts of the interface, gameplay pieces and art, are what the ancient Greeks imagined the Trojan War would be.
Examples are the shroud or the skybox. As background, in the game, for example, you play as a kid is might receive a message event about Achilles, it will contain art. And in this art piece, which follows the art style, the ancient Greece, you will see Achilles not as he's in the game, you will see him as like the Greeks imagined he would look like.
CW: Brad Pitt.
TN: [laughs] exactly!
CW: Excellent. Thank you very much for your time.
TN: Thank you. Thank you. It was a pleasure.
CW: The problem for me is that I could talk about this all day long.
TN: Me too. Me too. I wish we could tell you more!
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