And while showing mercy m war may make your generals a target for big girly girl' remarks from opposing armies, at least the people will love them should you order them to liabysit a settlement. 'A general's attributes can also change, depending on how they conduct themselves on the battlefield.' Mercilessly slaughter the prisoners you capture during a battle (a feature reprised from the original Medieval} and your general's 'dread' rating will rocket, making enemies fearful on the battlefield and civilians more obedient within cities. 'Each general's personality will have different effects on the battlefield or within cities,' roars Roxburgh. Little more than whores in expensive garbs, these harlot diplomats can be prostituted to make alliances with rival factions (through arranged marriages), or sent to seduce enemy generals to your cause. It'll then base its stance towards you on all of those factors.'ДЄnother new addition to the strategic map are princesses - pawns that can be used in a variety of underhand ways. 'In Medieval2, the Al will not only remember previous dealings you've had with it but your dealings with other factions, too. 'We've spent a lot of time improving diplomacy,' screams Roxburgh, as blood begins to seep from my eardrums. You'll no longer have to use the Diplomacy screen to find out how a nation feels.' While Total War has been at the forefront of strategic innovation for the best part of six years now, one area that's lacked depth has been diplomacy, a failing that the team are keen to rectify. If a nation is amenable to you, they'll greet you, while a hostile nation will be far more aggressive.

'Click on any faction on the map and it'll give you a voiceover that reflects how it feels towards you. 'We're adding loads of new features,' he bellows.

But the strategic map's enhancements run far deeper than cosmetics. Roxburgh zooms into the campaign map, which radiates a refined clarity and depth of detail when compared to Rome's worldview. We've even ensured that each nation has the correct accent.' Shout It Out We've also doubled the textures on the campaign map, and there are twice as many voiceovers and sound effects. 'The battles have double the polygons, each troop is unique and there are numerous combat variations with thrusts, parries and fatality moves. 'Everything is bigger and better than Rome' yells Roxburgh as he begins his presentation. It's been just five months since we broke the news that the Total War family was soon to have a fourth arrival, but with Roxburgh and Sutherns in the mood to extol the virtues of their game, it's immediately apparent that they're keen to spill enough Medieval 2 beans to cover almost three pieces of toast.

The Creative Assembly's Ian Roxburgh and Mark Sutherns have been sitting next to these beat boys for the past two days, so much so that they've perfected the art of presenting Medieval 2 at a volume rivalling a pneumatic drill. I'm sitting here at the world's largest games convention about to see one of the highlights of E3 2006, and all I can hear is the incessant poundings of a bunch of music student hippies hired by NCsoft to piss off anyone within a 30-mile radius of their stand.

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