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Total War

2019-05-02T09:07:16Z

2601:1C0:5C80:28EF:1573:1F0D:2CE6:79A9: /* Gameplay */

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[[File:P7pnr.jpg|500px|right|thumb|The Total War fandom in a nutshell...]]

Total War is a wargaming franchise based upon movement of groups of units on a battlefield map, and manoeuvring armies in an overlay map. In many ways the series is reminiscent of tabletop wargames, which has made it a popular subject for discussion on [[/tg/]]. That and having a rather great ''Warhammer'' trilogy among its catalogue.

Note that due to being a huge participant in the DLC craze, as well as the...''lacklustre'', let's say, quality of some entries in the franchise the game has become quite [[Skub|Skubby]] in many circles, although when detractions are brought up others are quick to claim modding makes up for it, others say any game you have to mod is shit, which prompts references to games like [[Fallout]] and [[Vampire: The Masquerade]], which results in the reply that those games are bad as well and since Medieval II is a better game that means Total War is by default objectively bad, which is when the conversation [[Fail|devolves into name calling and Warhammer 40k reaction images]]. Yeah...

==Gameplay==

Total War has two main features: Turn-Based strategy on the campaign map, and Real-Time strategy on the battle map.

In the campaign map, you must manage your economy, keep the peace amongst your subjects, ally, trade, or war with other nations for vital resources, assassinate your rivals, and crush brigands and pirates as soon as they show their filthy hides. In other words, you're pretty much playing [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones, without the ice demons or dragons]] (unless your playing warhammer total war or a mod).

In the battle map, you must prove yourself [[Creed|a genius of tactics]]. The rules pretty much work like this throughout most of the titles save for Empire, Napoleon, and Shogun:

*Spear Infantry: Great for bracing and taking down charging cavalry, but only do OK against melee infantry. Usually best if placed on the flanks. (Which, of course, is strange, considering the fact that the spear was the mainstay of most ancient and medieval armies, as moderately trained blokes armed with a spear, a shield, a helmet, and inexpensive padded jacks/gambesons usually made up the biggest portion of most armies.)

*Melee Infantry: The hard heart of your strength. These are used to form the main line most of the time, as well as the reserves, and are absolutely vital in siege assaults. Usually tanky with decent defensive stats to grind down the enemy and pin them in place for whatever shenanigans you have planned. Good against spear infantry, can hold its own against most cavalry except when charged by shock cavalry or withered down by archers. Usually pretty useless vs horse archers except as pincushions.

*Shock Infantry: The big blokes with big weapons. Typically armed with huge axes, poleaxes or two handed swords. But can also have other weapons such as sword n board but being bat shit crazy enough to be considered shock infantry regardless. Work as a foot version of shock cavalry and will usually be charging around flanks or bashing their way through infantry lines. Will usually destroy the things they charge and take less micro than shock cavalry since they'll have the numbers to smash through other infantry with a flanking attack, but with high attack and less defense they are especially vulnerable to archers and cavalry charges themselves.

*Ranged Infantry: Your slingers, archers, javelin men, and crossbowmen. These guys are extremely useful for softening up an enemy force or clearing out a wall of defenders. Be warned, however, that they are very vulnerable to most forms of cavalry. Place them behind your main line if you value them.

*Pike Infantry: A virtual wall of death for anyone foolish enough to charge head on. The best thing to use for defending a narrow choke-point or holding a battle-line. Immune to cavalry from the front but very scared of archers and generally are only barely better than ranged infantry when flanked.

*Ranged Cavalry: Your horse archers, primarily. These guys are great for flanking shots, ambushes, and harassing the enemy. They are vulnerable to the faster light cavalry and will get shredded by foot archers however.

*Light Cavalry: Primarily the scouts and vanguard of the army. Useful for quick movement around the map harassing and killing soft targets like skirmishers, artillery and horse archers, or chasing down routing foes. Not great for direct charges but can be great at rear ramming.

*Melee Cavalry: The jack of all trades of cavalry. Can charge units decently enough but preferably in the flanks or rear unless they are light. Will beat most shock cavalry in a melee fight.

*Shock Cavalry: Your knights, cataphracts, and mounted men-at-arms. These are the hammers to your melee infantry's anvil, breaking a foe like water upon rock. Used primarily for exploiting gaps in enemy lines, charging into the rear of an unsuspecting foe, or flanking attacks. Depending on the game, they can also go straight at anything without a spear and watch them die beneath lances and hooves on their charge, but probably then have to withdraw for another go or they'll get ground down by any serious infantry unit (even without spears).

*Artillery: Ballistae, Scorpions, Onagers/Mangonels, and Trebuchets, mostly, with the odd cannon here or there. Used mostly for smashing down some poor chap's walls, though it is also useful for flinging hate at an enemy during a field battle, [[Troll|And possibly killing their leader in one shot, completely ruining the battle.]]

*Siege Engines: Ladders, battering rams, and siege towers, used for getting through those pesky things called battlements.

*Special Units: Any number of units not in the aforementioned lists, such as war dogs, incendiary pigs, and most importantly, elephants. Hilariously, [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|elephants make for excellent distractions.]]

Players can use any number of tactics from actual battles of yore, such as hammer and anvil, forcing an enemy to turn his flank to you, Mongol-style shenanigans, etc.

With the release of [[Total War: Warhammer]], it introduced even more special units with even more specialty (being a fantasy setting and all). These are:

*Monsters: usually have twelve models or less in a unit. They are generally taller and bigger than an average human sized model, having high health pool per models and most of them deal great armor piercing damage meaning, they are fucking dangerous and they tend to be the number one priority and are targeted by the likes of ranged units like crossbows. Having larger models mean they can be targeted by even more enemy models in melee combat. But having the ability to hurt armored units as well as having a lot of health meaning they are good against high tier armored units like the Empire Greatswords unit. They gets countered hard by units with Anti-Large trait like cavalry so it is best to have them fight side by side with high model count units like a low tier infantry unit. It's also noted that some monsters tend to be very dumb and cowardly like trolls which results in them routing most of the time, but they have regeneration ability so it's actually a good way for them to heal back up. Most monster units also have the fear trait and terror trait, which helps them rout enemy units as well as not to be terrified of enemy units with the same traits.

*Flying Monsters/Infantry: The newest addition to the Total War franchise available only in [[Total War: Warhammer]]. They have the ability to fly so they are safe from the feel of cold steels shoved into their spleen, but are vulnerable to the likes of range units, especially the fast projectile range units like hand gunners. Due to their ability to ignore terrains and melee units, they are often tasked with raiding enemies artillery line or range units. The fell bats of the Vampire Counts are designed for this purposes. Since they are not obstructed from anything, it is easy for them to charge into enemy line like Calvary, especially for the likes of dragons and wyvern(an orc boss mount) who possessed fear and terror trait. Total War: Warhammer 2 gave dragons breathe attack and it can deal a fuck ton of damage from up in the air to anyone that is blob up.

*Lords/Heroes: Every army has a lord. But in likes of Warhammer, they are single unit entity with the health equivalent to a units with 90 models or so. Your agents from the campaign map can be embedded into your army and served as model killing machines. These special single entity units can cause a shock wave of area of effect damage every time they attack and are much more powerful than a regular unit. Although they are still single unit entities, meaning that they can be easily surrounded and hit by many other enemy models if there's no sufficient back up. Casters are a type of hero who cast the lore of magic from the tabletop games. They are single unit entities too but most of them are unsuited for melee combat due to their low health and low melee attack.

==Games==
===Total War: Shogun===

The first, somewhat obscure game in the series, (and for good reason), but set a good standard for the series to come. Difficult as fuck, as early rebellions spawned enough forces to overrun even major clans, and an assassin unit called Geisha was so overpowered, legendary Geishas could off entire Dynasties giving the Ordo Assassinarium a hard on.

===Total War: Medieval===

Much larger strategy map and benefited from better graphics for 2002. Improved politics and strategy. Truth be told, the cleanest, lowest system requiring, simplest and most user friendly interface in strategic management screen of the series.

===Total War: Rome===

Rome: Total War takes place in the era of Classical Antiquity, just before the beginning of the First Punic War. The campaign setting is that of the Ancient Euro-Mediterranean world, with its borders stretching from the coast of Portugal to the West, just past the Caspian Sea to the Northeast, and the edge of the Sahara to the South.

Players have the choice to take control of a variety of factions, from the Elephant-riding Carthaginians, to the fierce and savage Barbarians of Iron Age Europe (Celts, Germans, steppe nomads, etc.), the pike phalanxes of the Hellenic States and Egypt, the superb cavalry of the Parthians, and finally the wrecking ball legions of Rome herself.

Interestingly enough in the campaign, Rome is actually divided into four factions; the House of Julii, who focus on the northern barbarians and securing Western Europe for Rome, the House of Brutii, whom primarily are concerned with expanding Rome Eastward and thus are in conflict with Macedon, the Greek city-states, and the Eastern kingdoms, the House of Scipii, whom vie with Carthage and Egypt for control of the Mediterranean and are focused on securing Africa for Rome, and finally the Senate itself, whom directly control Rome and thus boss around the Three Houses into doing their bidding (and unfortunately no, you can't play the Senate faction and boss people around). The advantage to this is that you only have to worry about attacks from a single direction, as the other Romans quite literally have your backs. The disadvantage is that if one House becomes too popular and decides to march to Rome to declare himself Imperator, then a huge civil war breaks out among the families, with a huge player determined battle taking place near Rome, usually.

The game was also very historically inaccurate with Gaul, Germania, Britannia, Scythia, and the Greek Cities all being one unified faction (from a gameplay perspective, this is a game balance to ensure that each faction has at least more than one province to start out with so that they don't immediately get steamrolled). The Egyptian units are all based on New Kingdom Egypt when by the year 272 B.C, the Greco-Macedonian Ptolemy's were ruling Egypt, Rome's lands being divided into three separate factions (though Rome being a Republic with decentralised rule makes sense), Greek Hoplites wielding fucking pikes like Macedonian phalangites (to be fair, many Greeks at this time did adopt Macedonian tactics, but the models and formations are still closer to pre-Alexander hoplites), and the Parthians looking like they were ripped off of Miller's depiction of Achaemenid Persia even though Parthians were more central Asiatic than Iranian around that time. But perhaps the biggest (and coolest) inaccuracy is a special little easter egg, where if you manage to get an army all the way north past a massive forest, you'll discover the home of the [[Amazon]]s. Yes, the fucking Amazons are in this game.

Also of note are the two expansion packs; Alexander (takes place during Alexander the Great's conquest of the Middle East and Central Asia and sadly only lets you play as Alexander.), and Barbarian Invasion (takes place during the Germanic Migrations). The latter was an incredible update around the time of Hunnic invasions and all factions were polished to perfection, including the new Horde system: meaning desperate Iron Age clans of Europe fleeing before the Huns and dog piling the Romans who had fuck-all armies to contend with. Notable for the Sassanids, Parthians' grandchildren being monstrously overpowered in the strategic screen: fertile and stable middle east, Germanic Migrations ruining your enemies, Clibinarii cavalry who are basically Iranian [[Mongols]] who wore armor fit for a [[Dreadnought]], wielded maces AND composite bows, and a safe Map edge to expand.

This game is either: The best Total War game ever and no other Total War game will ever supersede it because it was the first I played and all the current games suck because its not a remake of it.

OR

It is a great game. In 2004. But now it's just a mess that hasn't aged well and literally every aspect of it sucks compared to all games released after it and the only people who like it are a bunch of nostalgic neckbeards who still wish it were the early 2000s.

OR

With mods such as Europa Barbarorum and Roma Surrectum, it is still a fantastic game both in terms of graphics and gameplay.

N.B.. The game is so simple from a graphical point of view that is had been ported to the I Pad, making it light years ahead of most of the competitors on the platform.

===Total War: Medieval II===

Continuing on the success of it's predecessor, Rome, Medieval 2 is probably just as good as the previous title. The setting is that of the Old World in the aftermath of William's conquest of England, with the Americas showing up near the campaign's end as the Age of Discovery begins in earnest.

Each turn took 2 years sucking hard, but the plague was an interesting new event.

Heavy cavalry is also pure unadulterated broken [[lulz]], with a general's bodyguard being able to handle half of an early, poor-quality army by itself (and if the general's Dread is high, they might be able to handle it ''all'' by itself), with only good quality spears, pikes and kiting horse archers being able to hope to deal with them. Oh, and expect Milan to backstab you, which is a bit of a [[meme]] to this day.

Out of all the Total War titles, this one spawned the most mods, including several highly valued ones such as Third Age: Total War (a mod that transforms the setting into that of Middle-Earth on the outbreak of the War of the Ring) and Call of Warhammer: Beginning of the End Times (a mod that turns the game into as close a recreation of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] as possible given the game engine's capabilities), the latter serving as a pretty viable alternative if your PC is too old or weak to run CA's official, well-made adaptation (see below). While a few individuals see this as superior to the official Warhammer Total War, they are usually laughed at by crowds posting images of barely animated (and awfully modelled) griffons, and an extremely archaic spellcaster system. Everything after MTWII bar Shogun 2 and Warhammer tends to be seen as having serious flaws to many [[grognard]]s.

It also includes the kingdoms expansion which adds a bunch of new campaigns to the the game as well as new factions and units, including the eternally bad ass Teutonic knights.

The downside to this game is that even though the Mongols are featured in the campaign map, they are: A) an absolute bitch to fight (as it should be),and B) Not available as a playable campaign faction, only as a custom battle faction. C) MOTHERFUCKING TIMURIDS. Yes, a second wave of Mongols arrived with cannon-mounted elephants. ELEPHANT TANKS MAN. SERIOUSLY.

===Total War: Empire===

Good old Enlightenment Era and Revolutions with authentic voice acting for nations.

Here marks the descent of CA into darkness, as minor issues with playability, a lacklustre musical score, and the beginnings of infamous DLC craze that would be cranked up to eleven with later titles such as Rome 2, all start to crop up during the game. This is probably the least popular entry in the series by modern eyes (not considering the even older titles that probably the majority of Total War players at this point haven't even played), and even its fans are probably going to say "The game's great, but only with mods."

The setting itself is during the Age of Colonialism, during the 18th and early 19th Century before the rise of repeating firearms. Unlike in previous titles, emphasis is less on melee combat and more on '[[Dakka|shooting the fuck out of the other guys until they die]]', city management, industry, and research, making decaying martial empires like Ottomans need dire reforms to get back on track. Also the game had a crude, but entertaining commercial, colonial and societal system, changing to a new order with industrialisation.

The societal evolutions of the era were played well: modernisation, factories and research for new technology made lower class citizens want extra entertainment, and republics rather than kingdoms. Upper class populations just want to stay in power and low taxes. Either social strata revolting meant a choice: one could side with loyalists or rebels in a do-or-die mini campaign, winners changing the government and leadership. Research buildings would also bring modernisation demands AND new researcher characters. You *could* stay a totalitarian kingdom with few technologies but have fun being ran over with Dreyse needle guns.

A special campaign called "The Road to Independence" unlocks the United States as a playable faction, finally giving Amerifags their long awaited chance to spread freedom to the unwashed masses all over the world. Manifest Destiny, bitches!

Crunch-wise: FUCKING MARATHA AND MOTHERFUCKING MORTARS WITH PERCUSSION CAPS DAMNIT.

===Total War: Napoleon===

Take everything about Empire, get rid of the bad stuff, and make better the good. That is Napoleon: Total War in a nutshell (though Empire definitely still has the advantage of a much larger map if you're really into that). It also helps that the short man himself delivers [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7RHiyWHuV0 one amazing monologue].

Even though the title should be self explanatory, the game takes place during the Napoleonic Wars that tore Europe apart for 12 years.

===Total War: Shogun II===
Shogun II takes place in Medieval Japan during the Sengoku period, although an expansion called Fall of the Samurai places players in the era of the Meiji Restoration.

Many see Shogun 2 as the last subjectively good Total War title. Complaints were mostly focused on the long load times and the fact there's very little variation between the factions you can play other than their bonuses and start location, although given the period to do anything radically different would have been unfitting. Particularly an event called Realm Divide turned the violence up to eleven: After a certain amount of player expansion, *every* other clan would unify against you just to deny victory by any means necessary. Put as a method to prevent a snowballing victory, it became a [[Skub]] matter amongst gamers for arbitrarily having pretty much ''all'' of the AI gang up on you to stop you and rather invalidating diplomacy or bothering to make vassals of anyone, though it has some basis in reality with the Sengoku period being full of political backstabbing (though probably not literally everyone else against one clan...) and can be easily worked around with the prior knowledge by getting ''almost'' enough territory to trigger Realm Divide and sitting around building up your armies and stockpiling cash to deal with losing significant territory to the inevitable doomstacks before you place the straw to break the camel's back.

Notably, the game received a second life from the modding community and Steam Workshop support.

A tabletop game quite similar to Shogun 2 is [[Kensei]].

The game had 2 expansions, the first being Rise of the Samurai which was basically the vanilla campaign with a 500 years prior flavour, and the second being Fall of the Samurai which is considered to be one of the best expansions for a total war game to date, with many fans of the expansion pack calling it the better-version of the Empire entry of the series. It is essentially that one movie where Tom cruise becomes a samurai the game but is much more accurate than the film as all sides possess modern (by 1870's standards) weaponry including gatling guns, which when added to a game automatically increase its inherent quality because gatling guns are awesome. Icing on the cake is that *you* can control gatling guns and artillery units, giving the game an extra, unbalanced but fun feature.

Also you can fire across the map using ships and calling artillery strikes to shred entire armies if the timing is right, preventing turtling by a huge margin and forcing both sides to close in and get slugging as soon as possible. Also Realm Divide is fairer now: Pro-Shogunate and Pro-Imperial sides would ally *together* into two huge blocs to combat each other when it happens, and the player's choice would make him the "Shogunate/Imperial Vanguard" Faction and make every clan on his allegiance unbreakable allies...unless you want to declare yourself as an independent republic to get the old "absolutely everyone wants to murder you" treatment.

Does have a bit of a problem with being unplayable even today if you have the 'wrong' video card. This issue was never patched or fixed, probably a foreshadow to the poor quality control latter down the line.

===Total War: Rome II===
Rome 2 was announced and everyone was hyped, but then it was released apparently in a broken state with DLC. Cue rage.

Now, 2 years later...is the game good? Well, it's at least finally bug free. The campaign was noted to be horrible, but at least multiplayer is better than base game Attila. Newfags and Oldfags are fighting over it like they do in every other game series. A better question to ask is: did Creative Assembly really "fall into darkness" with this game? The game was presumably rushed with the number of bugs it had, but those have mostly been fixed though it did take 2 years. And DLC, the game had 4 culture packs which added 3 factions each, the quality of those seem to vary from pack to pack. And a bunch of useless unit packs which were blatant money grabs, there was also 3 campaign packs which each added a mini-campaign that focused on a specific conflict and (save for Wrath of Sparta) added cultures pack worth of factions to the main campaign. There were also 6 Free-LC factions added while the game was being fixed, and a free campaign pack (Imperator Augustus) so maybe Creative Assembly has not become an evil corporation that cuts games to sell more DLC since one of those would not give free stuff. Pre-order factions are still scummy as hell. And even after all the bugs were fixed, snowballing is still probably among its worst out of the Total War games because Rome 2 doesn't really have a way to hope to challenge after you've gotten big, unlike Shogun 2's Realm Divide or Attila's...Attila. Unless another faction got really lucky or you've gotten extremely powerful politically among your faction which you'll generally kinda have to try to do by avoiding letting any other political factions' men become generals and gaining any influence (and with that's civil wars causing an army to spawn inside your borders and try to take your capital, why would you want to?) - looking for mods that improve AI's late-game power is advisable.

On a more positive note, Rome 2 does get the history of Classical Antiquity more correct, namely that:

* The Roman Republic is now a unified, patriotic entity controlling most of Italia, though the wheeling and dealing between the Gens still exists

* The Greek city-states and European tribes are now independent of each other.

* The hoplites are actually hoplites now, and not phalangites (Granted, the city-states still use some pike units in the game, but this is now due to Macedonia's influence than anything)

* Mostly, the Egyptian faction now looks like it actually belongs in the Ptolemaic period, although some of their more crappy units still look like they belong with Ramses II than Cleopatra Philoraptor.

* Individual soldiers now look varied, as the concept of a modern uniform didn't really come into being until the late 17th Century

There are six expansions to the game: Caesar in Gaul (Gallic War), Hannibal at the Gates (Second Punic War), Imperator Augustus (Antony's Civil War), Wrath of Sparta (Peloponnesian War), Empire Divided (3rd Century Crisis), and Rise of the Republic (Early Republican Era).

===Total War: Attila===
Like Napoleon before it, in regards to Empire, it ironed out many of the flaws found in Rome 2, and is considered a good entry into the series, albeit with the difficulty cranked up to eleven, due to the fact that the game is less focused on building and maintaining an empire and more on [[Grimdark|surviving the wrath of Attila the Hun]], [[Doombreed|Daemon Prince of Khorne]], [[Imperium|and rebuilding your cities and economy after the Apocalypse passes, but your civilisation are permanently diminished by the changing weather and religious climate, with only the mythical relics of it's founders left]]. The main criticism being the ridiculously aggressive DLC policies Sega's been doing. The DLC is generally all over the place, ranging from mediocre - Celtic tribes culture pack - to downright great in terms of gameplay offered -empires of the sand or the slavic cultures pack- CA also releases a free to play faction in the same culture group for the DLC they release, with the exception of the celts. And again, though the title should be self explanatory, the game takes place during the Fall of the Western Roman Empire (hence the apocalyptic feel of the campaign), with one expansion taking place during Belisarius' campaign to reclaim Italy( In all honesty, it's kind of a 'meh' DLC.), and the other taking place during Charlemagne's conquest of Western Europe 400 years after the events of the base game, in the Early Medieval Period.(This one was noted to be quite good, with good balance to actual battle mechanics, more reasonable AI behavior, great multiplayer, and a setting perfect for those yearning for Medieval 3.) A "Saga" game based on Attila's engine named Thrones of Britannia was also made, set during the Viking Age on the British Isles soon after Danelaw start fighting against Wessex again. With a large variety of changes to the series' formula in recent years and a bit of a rough release even in its supporters' eyes, it is very, very, very [[Skub]].

Also reintroduced and remade the Horde play-style from Rome: Barbarian Invasion. Now instead of a faction just spawning a bunch of stacks out of nowhere when their last settlement is taken. Horde factions can switch between in encamped stance where they set up camp to build migratory buildings and a regular army stance. Playing as a horde is also completely different since you do not have any home territories and are constantly moving from place to place. This will inevitably make people around you like you less since you crash on their couch and eat all the food in their fridge, unless you vassalise them. It is one of the major features of the expansion, and it provides the player with a new way to play a faction instead of settling down like in previous game.

Cavalry is also only slightly less nutso than in Medieval 2, with even ranged cavalry standing a very good chance of beating actual spear/melee infantry if successfully charging them while they're not braced/in the flanks or rear, though the game's flanking penalties are so severe that even cavalry will probably take significant losses from breaking off from a successful rear charge.

However, the game DOES have its flaws, namely in that the base game, the AI has a ridiculous tendency to default to the "Raze" option when capturing new settlements, meaning that by 300 or so turns into the game, three-quarters of the map is already desolate wastelands,(although it was toned down a lot by the end of the game's product cycle) and the stupidly high required specs to run Attila smoothly on even average settings. [[Troll|CA has stated that the game was designed for future graphics cards]] (If you want a game with amazing graphics, be prepared to fork over several thousand dollars for a high-end gaming computer) The game's actual visual design itself is also a bit [[Skub]] with some finding it utterly brown, drab and boring, unlike, say, Shogun 2 where the entire game still looks beautiful years after and only people that don't care for it in that regard just don't care for its setting in general.

===[[Total War: Warhammer]]===
The real reason the series has such relevance on /tg/. A [[Warhammer Fantasy]] Total War game (nicknamed Total Warhammer by fans, even before the game was officially announced, and probably bemoaned by a few to this day that it wasn't the official title). Due to the debacle and shitstorm that was and is [[End Times]] and [[Age of Sigmar]], many Fantasy fans heralded the game as the last great stand of Warhammer Fantasy. Then they heard of the [[Chaos]] faction was announced to be DLC, and the reveal that the pre-order was full of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dorf]] goods. Cue butthurt on the part of Chaos fans, and triumphant glee from the long-suffering Dwarf fans who were soon joined by [[Bretonnian]] players as their faction was announced as a free DLC (soothing the pain of being entirely [[squatted]] in [[Age of Sigmar]] somewhat). Chaos was later made free to anyone who pre-ordered the game or bought it in the first week of release.

Besides being the first game based entirely on a fictional setting, this is also the first time it will feature air units, tanks, magic, and so on.

The game was met with almost unanimous praise both from Warhammer Fantasy fans and the <strike>/v/irgins</strike> video gaming community with many saying it is the most entertaining, or at least unique, Total War game to date. Campaign was extremely well received, known to be fun, and challenging at the same time, as this time, the horde has more realistic behaviors, unlike Attila who raped everyone with the armies appearing from thin air. Instead, Archeaon would just spank you with the armies that spawned out of nowhere. but CA managed to fuck up the multiplayer balance yet again. Games Workshop rushed to put a link to sites to purchase the game on their main page along with a link to the models featured in the game...[[Fail|which consisted of only nine models thanks to massive Squatting of the Fantasy range only months before, almost all in the $50-$90 range, and the named character now simply called generic names with absolutely no realization that any fans of the game visiting the section would be wanting the tools and paints as well.]]
Warhammer Fantasy fans on /tg/ were quick to explain to inquisitive cross-board visitors how the tabletop of Fantasy was destroyed in favor of a...[[Skub|''vastly different'' game]] and were pointed towards early editions/[[The 9th Age]] and [[Reaper Miniatures|alternative]] [[Shieldwolf Miniatures|companies]] [[Mantic Games|to]] [[Mierce Miniatures|buy]] [[Avatars Of War|similar]] [[Ral Partha|looking]] models from.

Total War: Warhammer was announced to going to be a trilogy, an entirely logical decision for CA since its first game was definitely their most popular. The announcement of the sequel caused massive [[butthurt]] in fans of more historical settings, even after CA stated and teased a bit about how they've got separate teams working on expansions for their previous historical titles and a whole new one. Despite already covering the vast majority of canonical armies by the launch of game 2, CA has shown an excellent job of representing underdeveloped armies, signaling the possibility of creating entire workable factions for those that never saw the limelight when Warhammer Fantasy was still around. With only so many booked armies left for game 3, this may indeed be the case.

===Total War: Three Kingdoms===
The latest Total War game takes place in the infamous Three Kingdoms period in China, as well as the third game that takes place in Asia (counting Shogun and Shogun 2 as being the first and second for taking place in ancient-16th Japan). The initial reaction to this game's sudden teaser was so popular that it made even [[heresy|the Total War: Warhammer fans to forget about the upcoming Tomb Kings expansions for Total War: Warhammer 2]]. <s>Sorry Settra.</s> SETTRA IS NOT TO BE IGNORED!! SETTRA. DEMANDS. ATTENTION!!. Turns out there will be a dueling system for lords to shank each other in melee without being interrupted. Losing the duel incurs penalties while winning grants advantages. The gameplay is also character focused, where the player gets to control many special characters at once with many units serving under each of them. All of these characters have personality traits, moods and stuff like that which makes them compatible/incompatible with others in your court - so the Ambitious Vanguard may end up hating the Humble Strategist you put him with. Another cool new feature is revamping the spying system; instead of generic agents being sent to investigate enemy armies and cities, your own characters can potentially be spies. Even better, if you discover a spy, you can potentially turn them into a double agent to feed false information to the enemy.

Interestingly, the game will offer two different modes; one that’s based more on the historical text of the period which is called "Records of the Three Kingdoms" which is generally regarded to be accurate, and one based on the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The modes are unsurprisingly called ''"Records"'' and ''"Romance"''. One of the differences is that in Romance mode, unlike in Records mode, your lords will be able to have three powerful abilities and wipe the floor with any mooks who come after them, much like how it works in Total War: Warhammer. While the game has yet to truly happen, it's been discovered; to the [[Rage]] of many fellows knowledgeable about the Three Kingdoms' period; that simulated naval battles are not going to be a mechanic within the game.

Funnily enough, this game also comes with a Day 1 DLC for the Yellow Turban Rebellion faction (You know, that mook faction you always gets to fight first in every Dynasty Warriors game?) like when Total War: Warhammer was released with their Warriors of Chaos DLC but without even the fig leaf of an excuse of the Chaos Warriors needing different animation models and rigs compared to other factions. As usual, CA has already receiving backlash in the form of dislikes on its release trailer just like the Chaos DLC. Will CA ever learn?

[https://twitter.com/totalwar/status/1082681118711865346 As of 2019 January, CA has tweeted that the development of Three Kingdoms will delay the Skaven vs. Lizardmen DLC Lord Pack until after Three Kingdoms release.] The news angered many Warhammer fans, especially the Skaven player base since their faction's win-rate is so low that they can't win without their new ratling guns and jezzail toys. But the Lizardmen player base suffered the worst for not having any new content releases (even a legendary lord like Tretch) since the games release... which eventually turned to joy, and mockery of the historical fanbase, as CA eventually delayed Three Kingdoms and announced the DLC Lord Pack in question would be coming before it after all. Keep in mind this does not mean the fantasy DLC will be coming sooner as its release date or announcement date remain unchanged. It however gave the fantasyfag an advantage in their usual shitposting contest against the historyfag on [[Board-tans/vg|/vg/]]'s /twg/ (total war general) thread. [[fail|In short, both games were delayed]].

Exterminatus

2019-05-02T09:05:19Z

2601:1C0:5C80:28EF:1573:1F0D:2CE6:79A9: /* Just Shoot the Shit Out of It (Orbital Bombardment) */

{{Topquote|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_Béziers Kill them all, The Emperor will recognize His own.]|Inquisitor Arnaud Amalric}}
{{Topquote|Y'know what, they're just running around shooting each other down there, better just lay the Exterminatus upon these heretics, alright, FIRE!|Inquisitor Headsmash}}
{{Topquote|I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.|Ellen Ripley in Aliens}}
[[Image:Exterminatus Retribution.jpg|right|450px|"[[TTS|...FUCKING HERETICS!"]]|thumb]]
'''Exterminatus''' is the biggest middle finger the [[Imperium of Man|Imperium]] can give to [[xenos]] and [[Chaos]] infestations on their own planets. It basically involves UTTERLY DESTROYING THE PLANET SURFACE via heavy orbital bombardment if they decide that it would be impossible to retake the planet by drowning their enemies in corpses, like they usually do.

And, of course, there is no kill like overkill.

Before you go into some sort of sanctimonious tirade about the morality of blowing the fuck out of an entire planet, understand the context. A world deemed worthy of Exterminatus is one considered past the point where anything can be salvaged from it - whether because it's about to be lost to [[Tyranids|countless ravening giant insects that will zerg-rush and eat fucking everything]] or [[Ork|reality-warping omnicidal fungi that reproduce into millions of spores every time one dies and will all kill you because they think it's fun]] or because it will be turned into a fucking [[Chaos|daemon-and-tentacle-rape-infested shit-pit where neither sanity nor time has any meaning]]. The alternative is fucking glassing a planet and trying to deny it to the enemy or ensure SOMETHING can be saved. It's the last-ditch measure and it's there because the alternative sucks even worse. It is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth Scorched Earth] strategy on a planetary scale: if you can't have it, burn it, and that shit's broken the back of more empires and armies than we can count.

...[[grimdark|Or, you know, because the Inquisitor who ordered it decided he wanted one for his birthday]]. Oversight on Exterminatus orders is fairly nonexistent and it's easy to see why. The problem is the same one real life atomic weapons have, who do you want to have to be able to launch them? You want the most powerful, highly ranked people to have that authority, but if they're so highly ranked and with so much power, who watches them? Who second guesses an Inquisitor's judgement about if a world is to be blown up or not? Nobody. [[Kryptman|The Imperium's only solution is to just declare the trigger happy sod Excommunicate Traitoris afterwards if they don't agree]]. The [[Just as Planned|over the top villainy of Warhammer 40k]] means that some fuckholes within the Imperium do get trigger happy with this, ordering an Exterminatus on worlds over things like a few of its people coming into contact with alien technology, or a small hint of [[heresy]] that would probably not require killing everything, or a loose pubic hair being in the Imperial's cereal this morning.

On the bright side, these instances are few and far between, and anyone caught destroying an uncorrupted planet, either for the [[lulz]] or [[Derp|stupidity]], is seen as wasting the "Emprah's Resource, Time and Money", and is forced to explain their [[Heresy|legitimate reasoning]]; though their excuse would most likely be something along the lines of "Chaos was there!" (or [[Kryptman|this could actually save Holy Terra here]], but he was still <s>called a [[Heresy|heretic]]</s> publicly sidelined from active duty for going overboard (yet being kept as 'consultant' by his colleagues because he just might be right).) and they would proceed to get a light slap on the wrist... [[Salamanders|unless they unfortunately meet a giant, angry black dude in green.]] What, you're surprised that an Empire of "Space Nazis 2.0" can have actual legitimate excuses, common sense, reasoning and sensibility? You're in for a whole new series of surprises...

(Joking aside, it's somewhat fluff dependent; in Seventh Retribution by Ben Counter, for instance, the Exterminatus is never even mentioned as a 'solution' despite the fact that the planet got infested with half a dozen [[daemons]] with great powers. They use said power to mind control thousand of civilians to use them as cannon fodder against the [[Imperial Guard]], or sacrifice hundreds of innocents to raise a well known flaying daemon to wreak havoc (although part of this was because the [[Officio Assassinorum]] had to be 100% sure that they had absolutely killed the antagonist with no margin for error). Also in both the ''Space Wolves Omnibus'' and in the Ultramarines ''Nightbringer'' books, we get Inquisitors saying they have been at it for well over a century without calling down the Exterminatus even once. Even in Retribution, Lord General Castor admits that the world was lost anyway.)

[[Deal with it]]. Bitching any further will rile the [[Commissar|Commissariat]]. You have been warned.

==Methods of Exterminatus==
The Imperium has several means for dealing with hopeless infestations:

===Just Shoot the Shit Out of It (Orbital Bombardment)===
Saturating planets with over-sized cannons larger than apartment buildings is the stereotypical way of nuking the fuck out of something you don't like. Nuclear warheads, Space Marine battlebarge bombardment cannons, Nova cannons, Lance batteries and any type of HUGE lazor is often used. Examples of this include the [[Dark Angels]] destroying their homeworld, Caliban, <s>after it was lost to heretics within their chapter</s> {{BLAM|AFTER SOMEONE THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO HUNT FOR DINNER FOR OUR TOTALLY NON-HERETICAL AND OBVIOUSLY LOYAL BROTHERS USING THE ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT CANNONS}} and the [[Night Lords]]' purge of Nostramo. If we take the purging of Typhon from dawn of war II as canon, this method can be used during the opening stages of the Exterminatus before you unleash one of other bigger toys upon it.

===Virus Bombs===
Virus Bombs are warheads loaded with the Life Eater virus, a biological payload that causes living tissue (plant or animal) to rot and decompose (which probably gives Nurgle a massive boner). The gist is that they release a virus that spreads by contact and causes necrosis of tissues and rapid decay of plant and animal tissues. This immediate rot causes a buildup of flammable gases, which in turn can be ignited by one of the lazors above (or any still smoldering Lho sticks, or any other source of flame), sweeping the area in firestorms. A relentless bombing of these fucking things is what reduced [[Tallarn]] from a verdant forest world to the desert hellhole it is now. They were also used by [[Horus|Warmaster Horus]] to kill off loyalists in the Traitor Legions during the Istvaan Campaign of the [[Horus Heresy]] (Life Eater virus eats through any filters and corrodes power armour till it gets to the gooey marine inside, though a Dreadnought can endure it easily). Though a popular method of Exterminatus during the [[Great Crusade]], according to [[Amberley Vail]], virus bombs are only rarely used in the "present time" because the Inquisition has figured out that every time they're used, they feed the fucking [[Nurgle|Plaguefather]]. Whoops.

===Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo===
Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedoes are [[plasma]] torpedoes that burst in low planetary orbit and super-heat the atmosphere of a planet until all combustible material ignites. This method of Exterminatus was used on Medusa IV. Pretty much like the Virus Bomb, except it skips right to the firestorm part and directly turns the planet's surface into an endless expanse of raging hellfire. It is said that the aftermath of the planet's surface (Medusa IV's case) was melted to glass and that the entire world burned like a piece of amber in space even a month after the attack had been launched. They are only effective on planets with relatively stable atmospheres made of flammable gas, however, and plasma torpedos are both somewhat rare and expensive.

===Modalis Atmospheric Missile===
Another weapon that has similar results from the Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo but its function is completely different. Regarded as the most powerful incendiary device accessible in the Imperium. The Modalis Atmospheric Missile is one ECKS BAWKS HUEG Phosphex weapons used to burn a planet into a crisp. Think White Phosphorous on steroids. A salvo of several Modalis Atmospheric Missiles from orbiting warships will blanket an entire world in deadly Phosphex. The resultant firestorm of green mist will eat away at every carbon-based element on the planet, rendering it uninhabitable. All that would be left would be dust and echoes.

===Cyclonic Torpedoes===
The primary method of Exterminatus used in the 41st millennium, these are basically nukes OD'd on steroids. These capital ship-fired warheads each generate a series of massive, self-sustaining nuclear reactions, which, when fired in bulk, fuels a much larger reaction that causes the devastation to spread and multiply, eventually glassing the entire world with a thermonuclear holocaust given a sufficient barrage. If you fire enough in the same spot it will break through the crust of a planet, causing part of the mantle to erupt out, royally buttfucking the entire planet in the process ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYXj9xOUFIM see ''Fire Warrior'' end cinematic]). [[Krieg]] is an example of a radioactive perpetual-winter world that survived multiple cyclonic torpedo strikes, though in this case it was on a much smaller scale and in some sources are described as standard nukes. This was the method that probably killed Typhon, in combination with the above shoot-the-shit-out-of-it method. (Another theory holds that the bombardment is used to remove anything that might prevent the torpedo from reaching the surface or to weaken planets crust.) Only the [[Inquisition]] and the [[Space Marines]] are authorized to carry cyclonic torpedoes in their warships, the former because the Inquisition has the authority to do anything, and the latter because the Imperium figures that if the Space Marines can't beat it, nothing else will.

Cyclonic Torpedoes are pretty variable in their strength, either due to there being different classes of torpedoes or the fact that the strength of a single cyclonic torpedo has never been nailed down in official materials. In one case, ol' Abby dropped a dozen to fry a single hive, in another a single torpedo is a qualified planet cracker. Similarly, this method is the easiest to thwart with shields, as they disrupt the stacked efficiency needed for ongoing detonation. Presumably this variability in strength is due to "Cyclonic Torpedo" being as broad a description as "atomic bomb", which can refer to both a Davy Crockett and a Tsar Bomba.

===Two-Stage Cyclonic Torpedoes===
In the two-stage torpedo, a [[melta]] charge activates first to allow the weapon to burrow into the planet's crust and down to the core. The second stage thermonuclear charge then goes off, causing the planet to break apart Death Star style. This is really the only way to deal with Necron Tomb Worlds since, due to their tendency to make everything subterranean, they aren't overly bothered by the other methods which devastate the surface but leave the planet as a whole mostly intact. Talos of the Night Lords used a smaller version of these when a Genesis Chapter strike cruiser tried to hide behind a moon. So he [[Awesome|blew a continent-sized hole through the moon]], and watched the loyalist ship get torn apart as a new asteroid field got shotgunned into space.

===Smashing It with a Fucking Moon===
This method involves radically altering the orbit of a nearby moon or large asteroid and placing it on a collision course with the planet, and therefore requires the use of several Mechanicus voidships. This method was used to destroy Phaenon Prime when the Virus Bomb failed to wipe out the planet's corruptive influence. It was also used during the [[Horus Heresy]] by renegade Iron Hands commander Autek Mor to destroy the World Eaters recruitment world of Bodt and during the Badab War to finally smash through [[Huron Blackheart]]'s defensive Ring of Steel around Badab. Needless to say, this pretty much fucking annihilates the planet in question (or whatever else it's thrown at like Huron's defensive systems). Despite its flair and effectiveness, [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Rocks_Are_Not_Free! the Administratum vehemently requests that Imperial commanders avoid this method whenever possible], because it's stupidly expensive -- it can take weeks or even months for the moon or asteroid in question to actually strike the planet, which costs rations and sublight fuel while the ships sit around doing fuck-all; orbital bombardments only cost about one day's worth of rations and fuel, plus the ammunition, which comes out to be less expensive.

===Release the Krourk===
Krourk [[Ogryn]] are known as the most brutal, powerful, and primitive tribe of Ogryn in the Imperium (and that's saying something). They are so well-known for their frightening savagery in close combat that they're considered a solid match for Orks, and are also known for being so primitively stupid that the Imperial Guard can't even teach them to use traditional Ogryn weapons like ripper guns. Their reputation is so fearsome that it has gotten to the point where deploying thousands of these things is considered a crude method of Exterminatus amongst Imperial commanders, given that they'll attempt to kill anything within visual range, friend or foe.

==Non-Imperium Exterminatus==
Several factions outside the Imperium do things similar to the Imperial Exterminatus (adding any examples from the lore would be greatly appreciated). However, most of them don't use these methods often. Some examples:

===Craftworld Eldar===
The [[Eldar|Craftworld Eldar]] have some respect for life (and not nearly as many weapons of mass destruction as they had before the [[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]]) so they don't do it often. Didn't stop them from purging all life in the Octarius system to clean up [[Kryptman|Kryptman's]] mess, though (in that case the Dark Eldar provided the WMD). The most well-known Eldar engines of planetary destruction are called [[Blackstone Fortress|Blackstone Fortresses]], which are ancient weapons they designed to fight the [[C'tan]]. To put it simply, think of a floating citadel with a distort weapon (like the ones the [[Wraithguard]] have) the size of an Emperor-class battleship. During the Gothic Wars, three Blackstone Fortresses combined their power to cause a star to go supernova, destroying an entire solar system.

In Apocalypse War Zone: Valedor, the Craftworld Eldar from [[Iyanden]] procured another type of ancient WMD, the Fireheart: a complex nodal resonator capable of causing a planet's molten core to enter violent death throes and send lakes of lava to the surface (or just explode two-stage torpedo style, the tie-in novel plays the fireworks up to a big degree). The [[Dark Eldar]] originally had this, but they gave it away because they didn't have the psychic power to activate the weapon. The Fireheart was used successfully on Valedor and prevented Hive Fleets [[Hive Fleet Kraken|Kraken]] and [[Hive Fleet Behemoth|Behemoth]] from joining forces. If they had, the [[Tyranids]] would have had all of the genetic data of the Orks and the Eldar, enabling them to fashion unthinkable monstrosities.

Before the fall (and possibly still kicking around somewhere) they had devices that fired entire suns or black holes at their enemies.

===Dark Eldar===
The [[Dark Eldar]] as a whole lack a good stockpile of planet-killing weaponry and prefer to keep planets intact for slaves, although they are still capable of exterminating the populace of entire planets if they wanted to. One method is pillaging the shit out of it. It has been proven time and time again that an entire major kabal or dozens of separate, smaller kabals, is more than capable of kidnapping an entire planet of its populace, faster than that local PDF trooper can finish his scream of agony. Granted, being taken captive isn't part of an exterminatus' MO, but if you know the fate of a hapless mortal in Commoragh; [[Fist of the North Star|they are already dead]].

There has also been one instance of an entire Hive World being poisoned by the Dark Eldar, smashing a Space Hulk at a realm and havings its warp drives detonate to release hordes of daemons, and there's also counting the DE's ability to steal entire suns; allowing them to turn entire habitable planets into ice worlds if need be. Like the Craftworld Eldar, they also possess a psychic doomsday device called The Fireheart to implode a planet's core. However, the Kabal of the Dying Sun actually does have a stockpile of WMDs - some of which are powerful enough to destroy stars - and Vect keeps black holes in his back pocket to control people. The former is kept in check by several things; they don't know how all of them work, many are psychically activated - psychic powers being forbidden in Commorragh on direct orders from Vect, if other Kabals found out about this stockpile they'd gang up on them and it's usually more lucrative for them to conduct raids. For the latter, portable black holes are a special occasion weapon.

The Dark Eldar can also just have other races kill planets for them. [[Just as Planned|Through manipulation from the sides; they could convince (and managed to do so at one point) the Imperium to declare Exterminatus on a planet.]]

===Necrons===
The [[Necrons]] have lost many WMDs, but may have several more just waiting to be awakened. ([[Not as Planned|Maybe the Necrons are more trigger-happy with Exterminatus than the Imperium, but they're better at ensuring there're no witnesses]]). One of their most notorious Exterminatus-tier machines was the [[The World Engine|World Engine]], which was a planet-sized vessel equipped with the largest [[Gauss|gauss weapon]] known to man. It looked like the combination of a Death Star, Unicron and a Forerunner Shield-World all rolled into one. A [[Rape|flying rape-machine of ungodly proportions]], it took a coalition of several Space Marine chapters and the entire Imperial fleet of the Vidar Subsector to destroy it. For some reason, it had shields that could withstand the [[Awesome|bombardment of an ''entire navy'',]] yet it was [[What|vulnerable]] to a ship [[Meme|impacting at sufficient velocity.]] (Although it is likely that the shields weren't designed to deflect speeding projectiles the size of a city, moving at them at top-speed.)

The Maynarkh dynasty deploys a peculiar device that causes supercharged solar flares that incinerate the daylight-facing sides of ALL planets in a system. Unfortunately for the population on the side of the planet facing away from the sun, incinerating half a planet's surface would also incinerate its atmosphere, stripping the whole planet bare of its life giving biosphere, or whatever gases it had trapped. Even more unfortunately, Maynarkh Necrons are even more interested in making a planetfall and skinning them alive.

Maybe under certain circumstances, if the Necrons wanted to destroy a world, they could just unleash a particularly powerful Transcendent C'tan shard on it without a Tesseract Vault. Though it would most likely escape and be nearly impossible to return to Necron control, it would achieve the same effects. Also, the Tombworld of Thanatos has a giant hologram map of the galaxy known as the Celestial Orrery, and if [[Derp|you were to destroy a star on it, the real life counterpart would go supernova]]. While this makes the Necrons seem like [[Matt Ward|the most powerful faction in the entire galaxy by far]] who could [[Bullshit|instantly kill everyone else in the galaxy without any risk]], the lore also states that a star detonated this way could set off a catastrophic and unpredictable chain-reaction of dying stars which in turn could destroy the whole galaxy. It could also destroy the Necrons of Thanatos, which would destroy the Celestial Orrery and guarantee the death of the entire galaxy, something even the Necrons are not willing to risk.

The Necrons can also employ an [[Abattoir]] when directly terraforming a planet. They are large, [[monolith]]-like devices except that they physically carry what they're transporting, are the size of a small city, and are covered in tentacles that disintegrate organic material while harvesting its anguish. Also, given that their standard guns can disintegrate adamantium, and they don't mind waiting a few million years to achieve their goals, an enterprising (or bored) Lord could just order his legions to start shooting rocks, making for a thorough but hilariously slow exterminatus.

===Tyranids===
No, [[Tyranids]], you are the exterminatus.

A Tyranid fleet's primary objective is to devour entire planets and systems for biomass. After they're done, the world they invaded is left a lifeless rock, utterly devoid of life.

The Tyranids also travel through sublight via gravity manipulations, and these can rip apart asteroids, voidships, space stations and small moons entirely before the 'nids make planetfall.

In one special case however. It is proven that even Tyranids can accidentally cause an Exterminatus that doesn't involved being devoured. In the Doom of Hesp where an escalating Chemical/Biological war between the Death Guard and the Tyranids using Venomthropes and Toxicrenes led to the planet being so toxic that the biomass on the planet was inedible and the bioship got destroyed out of fear by fellow hiveships when it tried to devour the biomass to replenish itself.

===Orks===
In theory, the [[Ork]]s could develop an Exterminatus-size weapon (as much by accident and luck as by design); they grab an asteroid, put engines and weapons and armor on it, fill it with Orks, and then ram it full speed into a planet. It wouldn't matter if it turned out to function as a giant transport or just a suicide missile; it generates tremendous amounts of [[lulz]] and serves its purpose of making a big boom, which is all the Orks are concerned with. This haphazard design and construction process would limit the amount of these contraptions the Orks could build (if any). In general, however, Orks want to avoid wiping out everything on the planet from orbit, as it would leave them with nothing to fight on the ground. Although a Big Mek in need of roks once smashed a moon into a planet and took his pick from the best bits.

Ork Roks. Big hollowed asteroids they slam into planets as one way reentry vessels. Used during the Third War for Armageddon.

===Tau Empire===
While the [[Tau]] almost certainly have the technological capability to destroy entire planets, there are a number of philosophical, political, and strategic reasons that they would avoid doing this in all but the most extreme circumstances. For one, the Tau Empire is in the process of expanding, and it isn't exactly conducive to your expansion efforts to blow up perfectly colonizable worlds; thus the Tau would likely see Imperial Exterminatus orders as an egregious waste of resources. Also, the Tau are arguably [[Grimdark|the only race in the 40k universe]] who operate by something parodying a moral compass, so the idea of obliterating a planet and its inhabitants is likely appalling to their [[Noblebright|naive wittle sensibilities]].

On the other hand, the Tau have officially declared some races (Orks, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, and Necrons) "lost causes" to be destroyed wherever encountered, so one could plausibly imagine a situation hopeless enough that they would sacrifice a planet to be rid of them. Still, they would probably try to at least leave the world itself salvageable and only exterminate the infesting species. This might not be a concern on a lifeless rock that happened to be a Necron tomb world, however. There are stories of populations being sterilized or generally dispatched, which is about as mean as the Tau get; one such case was the Poctroon, who were the first sapient species they ever encountered. Their planet was ripe for colonization, and when the Tau arrived, the Poctroon all died of a 'mysterious' contagion, though the Tau obviously have admitted no diabolical fuckery.

As their expansion accelerated deeper into Imperial space, the Tau started to deploy more and more experimental technologies to both battlefields and production lines, some of which weren't properly tested. As a result, quite a few moons, planets and even stars have been accidentally destroyed by various mishaps. While such destruction sometimes happened to be advantageous to Tau forces (for example, by shattering Imperial defenses with massive tidal waves and earthquakes after the destruction of a planet's moon), they have shown no attempts to weaponize it.

The Tau also have orbital high-yield nuclear warhead options, but they generally use them to generate EMP pulses to blackout a wide area. They can also use these warheads to scatter toxic radiation over an area instead, though, burning through flesh and killing those below.

The Tau are also one of the few factions in 40k who still possess functioning terraforming technology (the Eldar lost theirs during the [[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]], Tyranid "terraforming" is more just them going about eating everything, and Necron terraforming is an Exterminatus on its own), so they can restore exterminated planets to habitability again, provided they haven't been utterly destroyed Deathstar-style. So yes, [[Meme| in the Tau Empire, Exterminatus get purged by YOU!]]

One of the notable examples would be [[Commander Or'es'Ka]] from [[Dawn of War|Dawn of War Soulstorm]], where he had this huge ass gun called "Ar'Ka Cannon" installed on the moon of Kaurava system. The cannon can fire anywhere in the Kaurava system (including the moon where the cannon is), obliterate his enemies before he moves in. The said [[ork|BIGGIZT GUNZ]] is also the most Eco-friendly WMD ever built in the grimdark future, as it is capable of damaging only advanced life forms while incapable of harming plants and buildings.

===Forces of Chaos===
Being former servants of the Imperium, fleets of [[Chaos Space Marines]] often still possess the good old Imperial Exterminatus weapons, like virus bombs for the old legions, cyclonic torpedoes for more recently turned traitors, or Just Shoot The Shit Out Of It for any warband with ships in their fleet big enough to carry the guns. Occasionally they will [[Looted|pillage]] Imperial Exteminatus weapons, or else invent some of their own with technology, sorcery, daemonic shit or some combination of the three. [[Honsou|Some]] Chaos guys tend to be quite inventive in finding ways to kill planets.

During one of his Black Crusades, [[Abaddon]] managed to steal or destroy all of the Blackstone Fortresses that the Imperium had in their possession. Naturally, they work just as well for Chaos as they did for the Eldar (and far better than they ever did for the Imperium). He also commissioned an incredibly huge destroyer of a spaceship, the front half of which is basically a battery of miles-long energy cannons. This "Armageddon Gun" can split a planet in half with one shot.

Then there is World Eaters, who live up to their name when they are united. 50,000 of these motherfuckers slaughtered 70 Sectors in Angron's Dominion of Fire campaign. [[Derp| Then all the planets they conquered were retaken. It seems like they forgot to salt the earth.]] To be fair though, Imperium needed four Chapters, two Titan Legions and more than thirty Guard Regiments (''However, WAAAGH Skargor took on fifty Guard regiments and SIX space murheen chapters. Perhaps World Eaters lack the power of [[dakka]].''). Back in Great Crusade, these butchers manually killed everything on the planets they went to conquer. Most of the time, it took them one day. This gave birth to another problem: There were no subjects on these planets to rule over. So the Emprah had to sent fleets to colonize planets left over by World Eaters, which was a pain in the arse for him.

Uniquely amongst 40k factions, the armies of Chaos can make planets Exterminatus-proof by turning them into [[Daemon World|Daemon Worlds]], where the laws of physics are fucked up so hard by the power of the [[Warp]] that all weapons just cease to function on and around it, or even achieve the opposite effect by nourishing the daemon patron of the world and making him even stronger (don't even think about virus bombing a [[Nurgle]] Daemon World). Though admittedly, from literally any point of view besides that of Chaos, Exterminatus is a preferable option to Daemon World transformation, as it would just kill you, rather than damning you to the eternity of torment.

Of course, there's also the act of summoning [[Aetaos'Rau'Keres]]. Keres will turn any planet he's summoned on into a lifeless husk. He doesn't care what side you are on or even if you're the cult that summoned him; he will murder ''everyone'' unlucky enough to be on the planet he's currently on. Such is his methods that he's the closest thing the Chaos Daemons have to a true planetary exterminatus.

==IRL Exterminatus==
''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risk see Global Catastrophic Risk]''

===Thermo-Nuclear Holocaust===
Apparently, even when we aren't in the 41st millennium we still mastered the art of royally buttfucking a planet. In this case, it's ours, and a full-scale thermonuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union (who each have thousands and thousands of nukes) would be enough to kill off humanity multiple times over. This is how Mutually Assured Destruction works, threatening each other and our own planet with Exterminatus with zero chance of survival, just so we won't begin another World War. Because [[Imperium of Man|we're bastards like that]]. The Cobalt Bombs described by Dr. Strangelove above are actually possible, though currently theoretical. Nuclear weapons designed to be deployed as bombs or missiles aren't strong enough to destroy the world with only 50 warheads, but if you don't mind moving the weapon once it's built, the only limit on how big your nuke can get is how much material you're willing to use on it. In theory, the doomsday device of Dr. Strangelove could be achieved with a single massive bomb.

This is further worth mentioning because automated retaliation systems that could activate nuclear weapons in response to a detected threat ''actually existed''. The Soviet Union had the "Dead Hand" system, based off of seismic, air pressure, and EM sensors. The system was normally kept inactive and was only supposed to be turned on during a crisis to guarantee that the Soviets would still be able to use their weapons even if their leadership was taken out by a first strike.

Some believe that elements of the Dead Hand system may have been lost or buried, and are active to this day. [[grimdark|A ticking automated Exterminatus waiting for a signal from aging cold-war era sensors.]]

An old quote from the film ''WarGames'' summarizes the game of Global Thermonuclear War/Exterminatus: ''The only winning move is not to play..."

===An Asteroid===
Really, all it takes to kill everything on a planet is a big enough rock traveling fast enough. Normally it's the cloud of dust that is kicked up into the atmosphere and blocks out the sun that does most of the work. Dinosaurs learned this the hard way. Of course, this doesn't really work too well on a forge or hive world which is already like that. For raw destructive force, however, the damage is a function of the speed and size of the asteroid. The former has some practical limits (though a civilization looking to weaponize this sort of exterminatus could possibly bring the rock up to relativistic speeds), but the latter can be nearly unlimited. A collision with a near planet-sized object would be more devastating than most ''fictional'' exterminatus weapons, obliterating the target world entirely. There could be any number of so-called 'rogue' planets floating in the empty spaces between stars, ready to slide into the solar system and crash into Earth, assuming humanity fails its collective ''Save or Die'' roll for the week. They'd have to [[fail]] incredibly hard because the overwhelming chance is that the rogue body will end up into the Sun (or Jupiter as a distant second choice), but yeah. [[Just as planned|Shit happens, yo!]]

===Super Volcano===
Works on the same principal as the asteroid, that if you get enough shit into the atmosphere you've royally fucked all life bigger than a mouse. This may not be very likely though on Earth as one of the biggest volcanoes (see yellowstone park) wouldn't wipe out humanity, probably. Maybe.

Unless, of course, seismic activity from that eruption managed to trigger the [http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-25598050/ OTHER NINETEEN] super volcanoes.

==The Fall of Typhon==
Good to know there's a ceremony for blowing up a planet.

''"We have arrived, and it is now that we perform our charge. ''
''In fealty to the God-Emperor (our undying Lord) and by the grace of the Golden Throne, I declare Exterminatus upon the Imperial world of Typhon Primaris. ''
''I hereby sign the death warrant of an entire world and consign a million souls to oblivion. ''
''May Imperial Justice account in all balance. ''
''The Emperor Protects."''

==The Words of Gabriel Angelos==
{{Topquote|It is human nature to seek culpability in a time of tragedy. It is a sign of strength to cry out against fate, rather than to bow one's head and succumb. Inevitably many will fault the hands upon the sword which felled Typhon, the Ordo Malleus. But the Inquisition merely performs the duty of its office. To further fear them is redundant; to hate them, heretical. Those more sensible will place responsibility with those who forced the hands of the Inquisition. With some fortune, they may foster this hatred into purpose, and further rule their own fate by coming to the Emperor's service. Yet ultimately, it was I who set these events into motion, with a single blow from my hammer, God Splitter.|Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens}}

Fuck, that's deep. The use of a properly modified version of this quote from Dawn of War Retribution has proved highly effective in sageing furfag troll threads and thus has been sanctioned by the holy /tg/ Inquisition for public use (keep it on /tg/).

==Battlefleet Gothic: Armada==
{{Topquote|Admiral Spire, it is said that heresy is like a tree. Its roots lie in darkness while its leaves wave in the sun. You can prune away its branches, even cut the tree to the ground. Yet it will grow again, ever stronger. Such is the nature of heresy and why it is so difficult to destroy. Some may question my right to destroy a world of ten billion souls. But for those who truly understand, realize I have no right to let them live. No sacrifice is too great. No treachery too small.|Inquisitor Horst}}''

==Exterminatus on the Tabletop==
Though not the most effective of lists, it is particularly hilarious and surprisingly fluffy to declare Exterminatus on large table games of 40k. In general Exterminatus is used when one player with a large force of 3500+ points of space marines and is in danger of losing the field of battle. In which case the player grabs the closest heavy object and begins to smash the opponents models screaming “EXTERMINATUS IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR EXTERMINATUS” until the opponent’s army is destroyed and (or) he is forcibly removed from the table . Another relatively simple way is to simply take a [[Grey Knights]] army, field a single Bro-Capt. or Grand Master with an orbital Strike Relay, [[Witch Hunters|Karamazov]] (who also has one) and two troop choices (if you're playing a regular game -- if you're playing [[Apocalypse]], you can skip the troops) Then cram in as many Techmarines as you can, give them all Orbital Strike Relays and watch the bombs drop. For the average 3000 point game, you can get Krazypants off and 20 bare-bones techies with the relays. that's 21 Strength 10 AP1 pie-plates smashing down on your opponents Baneblades, Warhounds and other special hard-as-balls to kill shit your opponents have! Also great for swarm-busting (the relays can fire D3 pieplates each per guy but at Strength 6). Picture Krazypantsoff standing on a hilltop, pointing at buildings and going "Bang.", then watching them all blow up. Of course, if the Inquisitor dies, you're fucked. So maybe just camp him in cover. But that's only if you're lame.

For those of you with enough money to field the Horus Heresy army list from Forge World, Horus can call down an orbital strike with infinite range and S10 AP1 from anywhere on the map. Now you can reenact the Istvaan III atrocities yourself!

For an Apocalypse game you can also field an exterminatus guard force.
All you need is:
n * 6 guardsmen (one with a vox).
The list is fairly simple - Just field as many Company Command Squads with nothing but Master of Ordinance and fire away (for a 3k game its almost 38 s9 ap3 blasts a turn)
Don't forget to field some epic(troll) music to laugh at your opponents face, and after the battle proceed with knocking the table down to finish with a speech gritty nuff to make Sturnn himself proud.

As of 7th edition, it's now possible to forego the FoC chart and take whatever models you want. This means you can take 15 Chapter Masters in a 2k list.

In 40k terms, you can get some SERIOUS Exterminatus going with the [[Necrons|'Crons]] and their Doomsday Arks. In one Primary Detachment, for example, you can take a fully viable 1500-point Necron army as so: Overlord with Warscythe, 5 Immortals, 10 Warriors and 3 Doomsday Arks. If the Doomsday Arks don't move, they can provide one 72" Strength 10 AP 1 Primary Weapon Large Blast each, allowing for some serious [[butthurt]] from your opponents (and this may make you [[That Guy]] if done well because this is a level of cheese on the table that France would be proud of). If you're trying to break into a bunker-sized fortification, use these three things on the doors. Then you can re-enact the dying moments of [[The Conquest of Uttu Prime]] sans the [[Megalith]]!

==TL;DR==
You fuckers just backed Chaos and now you have a daemon infestation? Your planet 'gon git [[FATAL|raaaaaaaaaaaaaaped]].

<gallery>
image:exterminatus.jpg
image:exterminatus2.jpg
File:Red nuke button turned into EXTERMINATUS.png|Suffer not the Furry to live
File:Exterminatusthread.jpg|The E-quisition vigilantly purges the Emperor's internets of chaos taint.
File:Foxy Lady.jpg|If the inhabitants of a planet remotely resembles this creature, it's guaranteed to be exterminatused upon discovery. If pictures like this are found on a thread in /tg/, it's guaranteed to be saged and trolled upon discovery
File:Fall_of_Reach_1.jpg|If said inhabitants started space-faring like a certain [[Chakat|Chakat]], then you could call your local Inquisition or any Xeno manly enough to [[Get shit done|get shit done, just like the Covenant shown in the image.]]
File:Hello exterminatus Warhammer 40k sister of battle rule 34.jpg|See? The Internet can even make the end of the world look sexy!
File:Rocks are not free citizen.jpg|Don't suggest bolides as a method of exterminatus.
File:Sherman.gif|War is Hell, and Hell is beautiful.
File:Ohara Incident.png|Although this is not a planet, it's just too B-E-A-[[weeaboo]]-TIFUL.
File:ExterminatusButton.gif|Not ''actually'' how the Inquisition works...mostly.
</gallery>

Vidya:
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNc242mbiUs&feature=channel_video_title
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYXj9xOUFIM
* The unofficial theme-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_tIw9Il934
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEGo41443iI The heresy scene mentioned in the quotes at the top.]
[[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Meme]]

Harpy

2019-05-02T05:53:25Z

2601:1C0:5C80:28EF:1573:1F0D:2CE6:79A9:

{{Monstergirls}}
[[Image:HarpyMG.jpg|thumb|right|They have power over the loins of men.]]

Yet another Greco-Roman mythological monster that has deeply embedded itself into /tg/ culture, harpies are a race of avian women who made their mythological debut in the story of Jason and the Argonauts, where they tormented a blind blasphemer of a king whom Jason had to rescue in order to find the Golden Fleece.

Harpies are best known for being "half woman and half bird", but since the myths are kind of unclear about how that works, there's quite a diverse array of possible interpretations that have popped up:

# - A giant bird with a human woman's head, and sometimes boobs, sort of like the traditional depiction of the [[sphinx]].
# - A human woman with bird-like wings and the legs & tail of a giant bird.
# - A human woman with bird-like legs and wings instead of arms.
# - A [[centaur]]-like creature, in which the upper torso of a human woman replaces the head of a giant bird.

The second and third form choices are the most common nowadays, but traditional the first was the most common depiction in Greek myths.

There's also the argument about whether or not harpies should be hideously ugly (or at least old crones), or beautiful. [[Monstergirls|Naturally, most people prefer that they be beautiful]].

Because the Greco-Roman myth of the Odyssey also features bird-women with hypnotic voices, the Sirens, it's common for harpies to be portrayed as having hypnotic voices or just being good singers, despite the fact that "sirens" are often mistakenly lumped in with [[merfolk]] these days.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
{{stub}}
A classic monster in [[Dungeons and Dragons]], the '''Harpy''' is at once a perfect horror; beautiful and horrible all at once. Known for their ability to sing and draw prey, inexorably, towards them, they are notoriously sadistic and have a well-deserved reputation for [[Slaanesh|playing with their prey in an excessively cruel way, only killing it when they've gotten their rocks off by subjecting their "plaything" to unspeakable torments]].

Avian [[Dark Eldar]] for the win, really. They can pose a serious threat to low-level adventuring parties, except in 4th Edition, where they're kind of useless as anything but a speed-bump, like most monsters in 4E.

Traditionally, D&D harpies are fucking ''ugly'', with the AD&D version being a cranky, weathered old hag and the 3.5 version being a withered crone-bat. 4th edition made them more attractive, essentially winged elves with clawed hands & feet, but the 5th edition artwork basically slid back towards the "ugly" side of things.

{{D&D1e-Races}}

== Pathfinder ==
To [[troll]] any [[monstergirl]] fans who might be into the setting, [[Pathfinder]] explicitly made its harpies rather good-looking, but gave them three very important negative traits.

# [[Luke|They have absolutely no sense of hygiene, meaning they never wash or clean themselves]]. As a result, they ''stink'' to high heaven of blood, shit, rotten meat and worse. Fortunately, they can be taught to bathe themselves, and it's mentioned some harpies make dangerous urban predators simply by learning to get rid of their distinctive odor.
# Being [[Chaotic Evil]] means they are very rough lovers, often outright sadistic; sex with a harpy is often a very painful, humiliating experience. Still not bad enough? There's trait number 3...
# Sexual cannibalism. In Golarion, harpies ''eat'' their partners after they're done screwing them. This is usually done for shits 'n' giggles after just casual nookie, meaning you might survive a casual fling with one, but their messed up culture declares that any harpy who does ''not'' eat the father of their child is a weak slut. Which means that if the harpy wants a baby, the daddy is going to be a post-coital snack once she's knocked up.

All the same, they're still sapient creatures, and one adventure tree explicitly allows the PCs to take one on as a sidekick and help her get over her "bad habits."

Pathfinder also has the [[Siren]] species; these are a [[Chaotic Neutral]] race who appear as giant eagles/hawks/owls with the faces of beautiful women. Being all-female like their "cousins", they need to grab human men to procreate; unlike their harpy kindred, sirens are actually a very devoted and loving race. Yes, they will kidnap potential husbands in addition to just trying to seduce or rescue-romance them - they're Chaotic Neutral, after all - but they treat them well and fall very deeply in love. So much so that they've been known to commit ''suicide'', or outright ''die of heartbreak'', if the man they have their eyes on is stolen away or resists their charms. They have a very powerful magical song that can be used to captivate, fascinate, charm or put to sleep those who hear them, can use the Bardic Performance ability of a 4th-level [[Bard]], and can cast Cause Fear, Charm Person, Deep Slumber and Shout as spell-like abilities, each one being usable thrice per day.

==Warcraft==
In [[Warcraft]], Harpies are creatures native to Kalimdor and look like a combination between a Night Elf and a bird, and they appear to be exclusively female. They're typically trash mobs that serve as a threat and kill quest targets for leveling players; thus individual tribes serve either as a nuisance or a localized threat to the Alliance or Horde, but have not had a major role in the grand scheme of things.

They're a lot like Pathfinder harpies above. Just read that entry, and you'll have a good idea of what these harpies are about, just more PG. Most references of how they reproduce has been removed, but old Tabletop RPG noted a number of rumors. They would resort to abducting males of other species to mate with until they served as food, and also providing information that harpies may reproduce parthenogenetically when times were tough. There's also a certain emphasis on their being highly unsanitary, noted for their stench, throwing fecal bombs, and strong immunity to diseases that they were carriers of, up to trying to seduce members of other species into kissing them [[Troll|as a means of spreading disease]]. Also of note was that they preferred to use nature magic, though they would use it to largely to exterminate the wildlife of where they would set up their nests, and their only ally was the [[Ratfolk|Kobolds]], another minor species.

They were descended from the Wild God named Aviana, who was much more benevolent than her kids would turn out to be. Aviana died fighting the Burning Legion during the War of the Ancients, but would be resurrected during the Cataclysm to protect the world again, and survived long enough to fight off the Burning Legion again during the Third Invasion just years later.

==Warhammer==
{{stub}}

Harpies exist in the world of [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. They are associated with both the [[Beastmen]] and the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer)|Druuci]] armies.

In [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]], the Khinerai of the [[Daughters of Khaine]] are former Dark Elf women mutated into harpy-like forms, with long tails and bat-like wings.

==Yu-Gi-Oh==
"Harpie" (ハーピィ) was one of the first deck archetypes in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'', and the first to have actual archetype support instead of being a bunch of themed cards. It was prominently used by one of the most prominent secondary characters in the anime, ensuring it indefinite support. Harpies swarm and gain power from swarming, but are weak on their own.

==Monstergirls==

===Living With Monstergirls===

===Monstergirl Encyclopedia===

While [[monstergirl]] harpies tend to be kinder and much more gentle than the classical sort, Harpies have a much deeper and more sinister reason for luring individuals off - they need males (preferably humans) to breed during the mating season. Though they will let a mate go once their mating season is over unless it's a black harpy. Competition between Harpies for mates is fierce, and a Harpy will go to extravagant lengths in order to impress a mate and win them away from a rival. In the ''Living With Monstergirls'' series, a Harpy's lover takes her out to the fields to exercise her wings every now and then, an activity which usually gets her amorous enough to enjoy "quality time" with her betrothed.

The [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]] is full of different types of harpy. Aside from the common Harpy, a cheerful and friendly flyer, and her vastly more aggressive and intelligent "Black Harpy" sister, harpy variants include:
* [[Cockatrice]]: A flightless harpy/lizardfolk crossbreed with a timid disposition.
* Crow [[Tengu]]: A Zipangu variant of the Black Harpy, which is more scholarly and intellectual - and less belligerent.
* Gandharva: A dusky-skinned and unusually voluptuous harpy that serves as a musical [[cleric]] to the goddess of love, taking its name from Hindu nature spirits who served as musicians to the gods.
* Jubjub: A busty, fluffy and hyper-horny harpy native to the Wonderland region. Infamous for the fact its so horny its unhatched eggs sometimes explode if men get too close, as the fetal chick inside is warped by her lust into a [[slime]]-girl called a Humpty Egg.
* [[Siren]]: A harpy variant with a natural knack for singing and the ability to enthrall others with its voice.
* Thunderbird: A fierce and aggressively lusty harpy variant with powerful electrical abilities.
* Owl Mage: A wise owl like Harpy. She can cast a spell on people that clouds their minds by locking eyes with them.

<center>
<gallery>
File:MGE Harpy.jpg
File:MGE Black Harpy.jpg
File:MGE Cockatrice.jpg
File:MGE Crow Tengu.jpg
File:MGE Ghandharva.jpg
File:MGE Jubjub.jpg
File:MGE Siren.jpg
File:MGE Thunderbird.jpg
File:Owl_Mage.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

==Harpies in Terraria==
[[Image:HARPY.gif|thumb|right|RUN, BILLY, RUN!! SAVE YOURSELF!!]]
Harpies are one of the more dangerous enemies in [[Terraria]], though not one of the more powerful. Encountered at high altitudes far from the initial spawn, these free-flying fiends are largely considered Terraria's equivalent of [[Dwarf Fortress]]'s infamous [[Carp]] in that they exist to ruin your shit.

With 100HP, they're one of the most durable normal enemies, and they tend to appear in large groups (often 5 or more; god help you if a Blood Moon's going on when you're in their territory). They do a huge amount of damage (nearly as much as Terraria's feared [[Daemon|Demons]]), fly very quickly (making them rather hard to hit without long-range weapons), and fire volleys of feathers off in strafing runs as they zip around the area. They only appear high in the air (and even then, far from the starting spawnpoint), but they can turn any attempt to build at high altitudes into a frustrating and frequently-fatal endeavor.

Trying to build a curtain wall at the edge of an island whilst under siege from 4-5 of these fiends will result in an immediate need to [[Anal Circumference|roll for Anal Circumference]]. Whilst most well-known for their ability to knock you off ledges and bridges and sending you hurtling to a horribly mangled death on the ground far below from fall damage, they are far more dangerous if, god help you, one manages to get inside your base, where they can set about crashing into you, killing important NPC Shopkeepers, and in most ways doing a bang-up impression of a [[Dwarf Fortress]] Carp. That flies. [[RAGE|And shoots]].
[[Image:Cutelilharpy.jpg|thumb|left|Almost d'aaaw enough to make you forget that they want to slit you open and feast on your innards.]]
''Fucking Harpies''.

It's not all bad news, though - Players who build their homes high in the sky will frequently come to enjoy the safety and security that comes from having flocks of the goddamned things swarming around their base at all times, providing a constant diversion and harassment against any foe [[Indrick Boreale|bold and foolish]] enough to approach in PVP maps. Harpies can't burrow or teleport (like a lot of monsters that otherwise occupy dangerous terrain in [[Terraria]]), so a walled-in area with reinforced walls will generally keep the fucking things out of your home, and provide you with useful guardians all in one stroke. Sadly, this means you need to actually build a base in Harpy territory, which is easier said than done. Harpies also have a rare chance of dropping a Large feather which can be used to make Harpy Wings in Hard mode which surpass the Angel and Demon Wings in terms of flight range. The Normal Feathers can be used to create Featherfall and Gravitation Potions, which when before you can get the Lucky Horseshoe, makes it much easier to navigate the skies to find more islands.

Note, however, that once you reach Hard mode, the Harpy is no longer the premier threat of the game, especially if you build bases in the air. The Wraith is a far more ubiquitous and annoying threat, freely moving through walls, dealing ten fucktons of damage with each hit and easily obliterating your NPCs. Evil Clowns answer the age-old question of what could happen if there was a monster equivalent of a TNT-spamming jackass on your server, throwing bombs and destroying structures. But by far the worst of a very bad lot on Hard mode is the Wyvern. With over 4000 HP, the ability to go through walls, and one of the highest damage values in the game, Wyverns are the [[Carp]] of Terraria's Hard mode - such is their power, in fact, that they cause the Harpies to say "fuck this" and start flocking at lower altitudes; you'll start seeing them the second you crest a low hill.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Races]][[Category:Greek Mythology]][[Category:Monsters]]