The closed alpha of Total War: Arena has allied itself to a new patch today (Patch 10, apparently), bringing to a close the era of movement spamming to escape combat.
Prior to this patch, it was possible to get out of a sticky confrontation by just click-spamming until your unit was “pulled through” the enemy and able to disengage. That wasn’t exactly intentional design, so fleeing from unwelcome combat will now be more difficult in Total War: Arena with the addition of ‘soft collision’.
As demonstrated in the video below, it’ll now be much harder for (say) archers to leg it away from a stampeding cavalry charge once the two are joined.
The rewards system has had some reorganisation with this patch as well. You’ll now get points for de-capping your own base (which might encourage more people to defend it) and for blocking damage (making defensive skills more attractive). There are new additions to the UI as well, like an indicator for the number of team points earned in the top right corner.
Have a look at the video for more changes, and for a mini-preview of what’ll be coming in Patch 11. Including changes to some Commander skills. If you want to get on board the Total War: Arena alpha, you should try this page and sign up.
As I learned in this impressions piece, it’s not bad.
