There are over 500 different land units in the game, including mercenaries. Different agents and technologies are implemented for different factions. A tribe of Gallic barbarians looks and feels different from a disciplined Roman legion. Each ethnic group has a unique play-style. Lead unit designer Jack Lusted stated that instead of the "rebel nation" used to represent minor states in the original Rome: Total War, Rome II features a large number of smaller, individual nations and city-states represented by their own factions. The Creative Assembly tried to ensure the uniqueness of different cultures and fighting forces. Rome II features more sophisticated portrayals of each culture and civilization of the period, which in its predecessor had been portrayed anachronistically. Creative Assembly has stated that it wished to bring out the more human side of war, with soldiers reacting as their comrades get killed around them, and officers inspiring men with heroic speeches. The Warscape engine powers the game's visuals and new unit cameras allow players to focus on individual soldiers on the real-time battlefield, which may contain thousands of combatants at the same time. Like its predecessor, Rome II blends turn-based grand strategy and civilization management with real-time tactical battles. However, the player also has the option to play further, as there are no timed victory conditions.
The grand single-player campaign begins in 272 BC and lasts for 300 years.
Later purchases bundled the expansions together as "Total War: Eras" (which also included the original Medieval and Shogun games), so now most mods are playable on RTW, BI and Alex executables.Total War: Rome II is set in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East in the Classical antiquity period. To cater for players who might not have purchased all the games some mods were designed solely for the base RTW game, or perhaps solely for the Barbarian Invasion game if they thought the additional features in that were needed. Early versions of the game supplied on disc required separate purchases of the Barbarian Invasion & Alexander expansions. Rome: Total War's format allows extensive modding including 'Total Conversions' with new campaign maps. Total War Mods By Game Total War: Three Kingdoms Mods If you are interested in making your own modification please visit the Modding Portal. For a compilation of the News Team's recent modding announcements see Modding News Front Page Announcements 20.
TWC posts regular Modding News and Announcements which include news of new mod releases and updates. TWC holds Modding Awards each year for mods with a presence on the forum, mod users nominate and vote for their favourite mod, the awards forum can be viewed here. Mods have also diversified the areas where they choose to interact with fans, with some opting for Reddit, Discord, Facebook, or MODDB. For some later games, the availability of Steam Workshops has meant some mods no longer prioritise a forum presence. Nearly all Rome: Total War and Medieval II: Total War mods have a presence at TWC. The modifications found there range from large mods with their own hosted forum, to released minor mods or sub-mods, and to work-in-progress (WIP) mods or mod ideas. The Total War Center has forums and sub-forums dedicated to modifications for each of the games.
Due to licensing restrictions modifications for the Total War: Warhammer series have to remain true to the Warhammer lore as published by Games Workshop. Later games based on the Warscape engine tend to have less potential due to limitations to the way the campaign map can be changed. Rome: Total War and Medieval II: Total War are widely regarded as the most versatile and modifications for those games can form "total-conversions" which transport the player to a whole new universe or era. The amount that can be achieved by a modification varies per game. Many players are content with the experience given by the original games (and the DLCs and expansions) as created by CA, however, many players choose to use modifications which expand, improve or completely change the game content. Numerous user-made modifications have been created for each of the Total War Series games from the first Medieval: Total War onwards.