Total War: PHARAOH DYNASTIES

While in a lot of ways, it may seem like a copy/paste of Troy, it's a lot more than that. Dynasties is very easily one of the most asymetrical total war games on the market (excluding WH3). This, along with all the primary systems present from the OG Pharaoh release (resources, families, Pharaoh kingdom mechanics, gods, legacies, etc.) create one of the most replayable games in the series. It captures nearly the entire Eastern Mediterainian, and it's really beautiful to look at. The only things holding it back are non-similtaneous 2-player multiplayer and a kind of boring roster for troops. Other than that, this game is easily one of the best in the series. Pharaoah wasn't worth the time, however Dynasties very much so is. Really underrated game, and a legitimately good historical title.

The AI Does Not Play the Same Game as You I have played every Total War game, including the original Medieval, Medieval II, Empire, Napoleon, Rome II, and everything between them. After eight hours with Pharaoh: Dynasties, this is easily the worst-balanced Total War campaign I have played. Eight hours is more than enough when the game’s fundamental problems reveal themselves within the opening turns. Pros The battles are fine. The different unit weights can create legitimate tactical considerations. Combat is functional and can still be enjoyable once armies actually reach the battlefield. The dynasty concept is interesting in principle. Unfortunately, none of that compensates for a campaign economy that feels fundamentally broken. The AI receives resources from nowhere Meanwhile, a minor AI faction controlling one settlement can field more than 40 units, including medium and heavy troops, while my faction cannot sustainably maintain 20 units across multiple settlements. That is not clever AI. It is not superior resource management. The AI simply does not operate under the same practical economy as the player. Players inspecting the database have specifically identified the table: db/faction_potential_handicap_effects_tables According to those reports, it contains a chance-based AI resource bonus providing 5,000 food and 400 bronze. That matches exactly what happens during the campaign: factions with no believable food economy continue producing and maintaining full armies as though resources do not matter. This database interpretation is community-reported rather than officially documented, but multiple players and modders have pointed to the same table. I do not object to the AI fielding multiple armies. I want it to field multiple armies when its territory and economy can actually support them. If I cannot afford one full army with three settlements, the AI should not afford two full armies with one settlement. Despite what Creative Assembly says, the campaign settings do not actually fix this. Increasing AI upkeep to Medium does not create economic parity. It overcorrects and causes the AI to field only one army. That is not what I want. I do not want a passive or crippled opponent. I want an opponent that plays by economic rules resembling my own. The choice should not be between: AI factions producing armies from thin air; or AI factions barely producing anything. Creative Assembly acknowledged concerns about AI army production shortly after release, but its official answer was essentially to "adjust the starting budget, upkeep, and recruitment-capacity sliders". That does not repair the underlying imbalance, it merely asks players to choose which direction they want the imbalance to lean. But why should the players have to change the default sliders to fix your imbalance? the sliders are to adjust the default settings, not to fix your bugs that you fail to realize is a bug or an imbalance. The UI is the worst in the series for gathering combat information The UI is not necessarily uglier than previous games, but it is far worse at communicating useful information. Comparing your units with enemy units takes more effort than it should. Important details are scattered, visually unclear, or harder to interpret quickly than in older titles. After playing the entire series, this is the worst implementation I have encountered for rapidly understanding the relative strength and capabilities of opposing units. A strategy game should not make basic strategic information unnecessarily difficult to retrieve. Diplomacy remains completely irrational Factions several territories away will declare war and march entire armies through other kingdoms merely to reach you. Any diplomatic consequences for crossing foreign territory clearly are not serious enough to discourage this behavior. The diplomatic offers are equally ridiculous. A faction may demand that I give them my daughter in an arranged marriage while simultaneously demanding hundreds of food, wood, stone, gold, or other materials and offer absolutely nothing in return. Why would I surrender both a dynastic marriage and a pile of strategic resources for no benefit? That is not negotiation. It is the AI generating demands without understanding the value or political meaning of what it is requesting. Other players have likewise reported meaningless or heavily one-sided AI proposals and diplomacy that behaves unpredictably. If you look at the workshop, you will notice the top subscribed mods are primarily around fixing what the devs refuse, and with what they can, its not perfect, but it does help. However, mods should not be required to make the opening economy function This is artificial pressure produced by giving the AI resources the player does not receive while simultaneously imposing an administration system that punishes the player for recruiting the troops required to survive. Hence, why one of the top subscribed mods is to fix the administration issues. MINOR FACTIONS SPECIFICALLY Like most Total War campaigns, the game begins by placing you at war with a nearby minor faction that you are clearly expected to defeat in order to secure your starting area. The problem is that some minor factions begin with the weakest units imaginable. light troops carrying crude clubs, sticks, and basic weapons, while the supposedly introductory enemy already fields medium and heavy infantry. Creative assembly even acknowledged this and yet again, left it up to the mods to submit a hotfix that removed some factions from having the infantry templates of troy. You must also construct your first military building in order to recruit said basic units, yet that takes 2 turns. The obvious solution to combat said templates involving medium and heavy infantry on turn 2 from another minor faction is to overwhelm them. if you cant fight toe-to-toe then overwhelm them with number. Except recruiting enough low-tier troops to field a single 20-unit army can immediately push you into Administration Tier 2, causing upkeep to increase so drastically that you may begin losing roughly 3,500 food per turn just for maintaining the minimum force needed to fight the enemy the game placed beside you. Again, look back at the metadata that was found where the AI is GIVEN food and materials to compensate their armies rather than just making the economy actually balanced. The administration system scales completely out of proportion to what the player actually controls. One basic army of low quality troops should not be treated like the bloated military establishment of a developed empire. Your units are vastly inferior, so you need more of them. Recruiting more units raises administration, which makes your economy collapse before you can conquer the territory needed to support them. Meanwhile, the introductory enemy can begin with superior troops and enough forces to make an immediate attack suicidal. The game is not giving minor factions a difficult opening. It is giving them an economy that actively punishes the player for assembling the army required to complete the standard opening war. Overall, i give this game a 3/10. beautiful graphics, great battle gameplay, atrocious in game mechanics.