Ten Tech Improvements in A Total War Saga: TROY (and Then Some)

A Total War Saga: TROY has seen the introduction and improvement of many aspects of the Total War engine – check out some of the cool tech changes made to the Total War engine especially for TROY below 

Graphics

The TROY team spent a lot of time working on graphical improvements for the game, which include:

Arrow Trail Opacity

Particular about your arrow trails? Fret not – in TROY you can specify your arrow trail opacity from 0% to 100% in order to suit your taste.

Colour Saturation

You can also customise the colour saturation of TROY, from the default richly stylised 100% down to a more subtle 50%.

Glow and God Rays

Unique glow and god ray effects have been added to the engine for TROY, while vegetation shading has been reimplemented for more dramatic lighting when the sun is low in the sky.

Screen Space Ambient Occlusion

Screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO) has been reimplemented to allow for better object outlines.

Grass Rendering

For those of you wanting full, lust fields for your units to march through, grass rendering has been completely reimplemented for denser and more interactive battlefield vegetation.

Battle Water Shading and Interactivity

Similarly, battlefield-based water shading has also been reimplemented, and water interactivity has been added.

Campaign Map Water Shading and Interactivity

The water on the campaign map view has also had some TLC, with water shading having been reimplemented as well as shore waves and caustics (light rays refracted by the surface of the water). Screen space reflections have also been reimplemented on the campaign map to improve visual quality and performance, and rivers now support interactivity.

Campaign Strategic Map Rendering

The campaign strategic map has had rendering reimplemented for greater performance and visual fidelity.

Shadows

Shadows have been improved to support baked shadows for distant objects, thus improving the quality of dynamic shadows nearby and allowing to use the baked shadows on the low graphics setting without much impact on performance.

Curved Roads

Curved road rendering is now supported so urban features like roads and paths can be more accurately – and prettily – portrayed.

And Beyond…

It’s not all about looks, though! In addition to plenty of graphical improvements, A Total War Saga: TROY also includes the following nifty engine tweaks:

Faster End Turn Times

There’ll be no time for your IRL errands with TROY, which has faster end turn times during the campaign.

Faster Loading Times

Self-explanatory, really – TROY benefits from the recent engine update that has resulted in faster loading times across the board.

Improved Video Playback

In-game videos playback now play with buttery smoothness.

In-Game Mechanics

TROY also benefits from a lot of mechanical additions derived from Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, including its in-depth diplomacy system, 360 sieges, battle AI improvements, and more.

Digging Deeper into TROY’s tech

Which of these bits of TROY tech are you most interested in learning more about? Let us know over at our official TROY forums or on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll see what we can do…