'Total War: Rome 2': New Gameplay Video Details Factions, Houses, Faction Bonuses, More

Creative Assembly, developer of "Total War: Rome 2," has released a new gameplay video of the upcoming RTS. In the video, "Total War: Rome 2" campaign designer Dominique Starr takes us through a number of features found within the game.

There are seven factions in the game and three houses per faction that you can choose to play as. Part of the appeal that playing different factions offers is the fact that each comes with different bonuses and unique victory conditions, allow you to achieve victory in multiple ways.

For example, the seven factions are Rome, Carthage, Eastern Empires, Britannic Tribes, Gallic Tribes, Successor Tribes and Germanic Kingdoms. Faction bonuses that Roman players get include a 10 percent experience boost for all infantry units and +1 food production across all Roman provinces. Each player gets five of these attributes, but the first two are faction-specific, like the two mentioned above, while the other three are House-specific.

For instance, Roman players can choose to play as the House of Cornelia. Cornelia's bonuses include a 3 percent tax bonus and+15 diplomatic standing with all Hellenic factions. However, Cornelia players suffer a -2 public order penalty, which increases the probability of your citizens rioting against you.

The House of Julia, another house that Roman players can choose to play as, gets the same first two bonuses we mentioned previously, but instead of the tax bonus and increased diplomatic standing stat, Julia grants the player a +2 conversion bonus, a public order penalty and a 10 percent morale boost when fighting barbarians.

House of Junia players will receive the same first two bonuses as well, but unlike the previous two houses, they benefit from a public order boost and gain a 10 percent boost from agriculture buildings, but suffer a -15 diplomatic standing penalty with all factions.

Depending on what faction and house you're playing, conditions for achieving victory will differ. For example, if you're playing as Carthage and your house/sub-faction is the Magonid Dynasty, conditions for achieving a military victory require you to maintain 90 total units, with 50 of those being naval units. Why? Carthage was historically known as a naval power. Cool, huh?

Achieving economy victory as Carthage/Magonid Dynasty requires you to maintain trade relations with 12 factions, hold at least one of every strategic resource, have an income of at least 20,000 per turn and research at least 15 civil technologies. There may be more conditions that need to be met, some of them may have been shrouded, and Starr didn't scroll to the bottom of the screen that displayed the economic victory conditions.

In "Total War: Rome 2," one of the things you can do is issue an Edict, which is essentially an order that all of your provinces need to follow. The new gameplay video reveals that one of these edicts when you play as Carthage is called Stimulate Trade, which gives you 25 percent increased wealth via trade.

According to Starr, Carthage was also known for its use of mercenaries, so another benefit you'll enjoy as a Carthage player is Rally Mercenaries, which decreases the cost of using for-hire killers by 10 percent.

There are tons of factions in "Total War: Rome 2," which you can interact with only by encountering in the game world. Judging by the immense side of the game map, there will be no shortage of places to conquer and armies to defeat.

Watch the latest "Total War: Rome 2" gameplay video below, courtesy of YouTube.

What do you think of the latest "Total War: Rome 2" gameplay video? What features are your favorite and why? Did you or do you plan to pre-order "Total War: Rome 2?" Why or why not? Sound off in the comments below.