Premium Patching: Total War Rome 2 Emperor's Edition

I lead a high-end life and have high-end tastes: penthouse suites, the finest champagne, custom cars, and Cuban cigars the size of your forearm. I demand the same from my video games. The Premium Edition, that's the one I'll buy with my many dollars. Gold Edition. Titanium Edition. Blood Red Edition. Deluxe Edition. Ultimate Sith Edition. Collector's Edition, oh yes; I collect the finest.

Total War: Rome II is now up to my standards, as it's getting an Emperor Edition. Technically it's only a renaming of the base game to mark the launch of a big patch and a free new story campaign, but just look at that name: Emperor Edition. That belongs in my Steam display cabinet.

The main feature of the EE is the new Imperator Augustus campaign pack, with a new war (the Second Triumvirate War, warfans) and a new campaign map to war on. Some words from The Creative Assembly's Jack Lusted:

"We wanted to recreate the vast civil war which erupted after Julius Caesar's murder ... You can tackle the campaign as various Roman and non-Roman factions, including Armenia for the first time. Our aim was to represent the titanic power struggle that led to Octavian becoming the first Emperor of Rome."

TCA say the Emperor's Edition launch will also bring "improved politics system, overhauled building chains, rebalanced battles, and improved visuals in both campaign and battle," which will mean a patch. It's a new Edition in name only, see. Everyone who already owns Rome II will be updated to the EE version for free, as will anyone who buys it in future. No word yet on when it'll launch, but it'll be preceded by a beta testing some of its new bits. Here, some men talking: