Just as with Shogun 2, the armchair warlords over at The Creative Assembly are returning to one of the most famous and well received Total War games to update it with a modern coat of paint. Announced via press release, SEGA and The Creative Assembly have revealed Rome II: Total War.

Set to be the biggest, most expensive Total War game to date, Rome II returns players to the era of the Roman Empire, this time during the Third Punic War, specifically the battle for Carthage. As expected, Rome II will adopt the changes and advances made to the Total War series since original’s 2004 release, including deeper unit management, a more complex campaign map, and naval battles.

For Rome II, The Creative Assembly is aiming to give greater personalisation and importance to specific unit groups, adding “human drama” to the politics and scale of war. Instead of units existing as simply numbers and assets for war, long lasting battalions and legions will earn their own traits and perks to make them even stronger in the long run. As the team describes it, they want players thinking less about “what to do with a specific unit of archers”, and more about “where the tenth legion is”. To express a more personalised element to battles, a new cinematic camera angle will allow action to be viewed from over a soldier’s shoulder.

The campaign will too see numerous advancements. As with past Total War games, players will be able to command a number of era specific factions and nations, each with their own tech trees and special units. The campaign map, larger than the original Rome, will have numerous, hidden story triggers that allow players to engage in both military and political decision making. A sense of non-linearity and randomisation to these story triggers allows the campaign to be played multiple times to encounter new stories and events.

There’s a host of other new additions too, such as combining both naval and land unit management in a single battle, the new rendering engine that supports advanced particles and deferred lighting, individual facial animations for troops as they react to events around them, and much more the team is being oh-so-quiet about.

Rome II: Total War is scheduled for a release late 2013. Rocket Chainsaw will be sure to have more on the game as soon as other details slip. In the meantime, check out the first two screenshots.