One of the significant differences between most historical Total Wars and the Warhammer games is that the factions aren't comparable with nations. In Total War: Warhammer 40,000, the Space Marines and Astra Militarum, for instance, are effectively two branches of the same military.
So when I was playing Total War 40k at Gamescom as the Ultramarines, I noticed that my settlement garrison was full of just ordinary soldiers—members of the Planetary Defense Force. These units only served to defend the settlement, like a normal Total War garrison, but they weren't the same units that I could recruit as a Space Marine faction.
"The way that the Imperium works together is going to be very important," Dave Petry, battle product owner, told me. "And working as a Space Marine with local planetary forces and governors to be able to get the support that you need in order to be able to be that tip of the spear, we want that to be the case."
How the Imperium works, and your relationship to it, is still a work in progress, but Petry added that Creative Assembly has been playing around with concepts like "gaining support to be able to bring along units with you to fight your battles". So we might be able to bring in some meat shields from the PDF, or units from the Astra Militarum, to fight alongside our Space Marines.
I already saw a hint of this in the demo I played. In both the medium and massive-sized battles, my Space Marines arrived to find the Astra Militarum already fighting orks. I wasn't able to control them—they were just an allied force—but hopefully this is just a taste of something meatier.
Petry also teased what sounds like a reputation system. "Collaborating among the Imperium is something we really want to be able to do, and managing your reputation in the Imperium as a Space Marine is also something that's very important. Like not doing things that look too much like building an empire or becoming too powerful." So you'll need to keep the Imperium happy and avoid being accused of heresy.
Creative Assembly wants to "fill the galaxy out," says Petry, so we can expect to see other elements of the Imperium appearing. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for some Adeptus Mechanicus fun in the near future. And the studio has already been teasing other Space Marine chapters, like my beloved Space Wolves, as well as xenos threats like Genestealer cults.
The good news is that you won't need to buy three games to see it all this time. Unlike Total War: Warhammer, Total War 40k is going to be a sandbox that Creative Assembly keeps adding to, rather than a series of separate games.
