Total War: Rome 2 is out now; here’s our Total War: Rome 2 review.

Rome 2 may be halfway out the door and on its way to market, but that hasn’t stopped the Creative Assembly from chasing after it with their art-brushes and code-saws. Once it’s released, I imagine lead designer James Russell will be hiding out in your Steam Library like that Japanese lady in the cupboard, sneaking out at night for more playtesting. Anyway – the result of this mania is a whole new faction, bringing the total to nine for the game’s launch.

“Hailing from the mountainous lands around the Black Sea, The Kingdom of Pontus is distinctly eastern in outlook and attitude,” explain Creative Assembly on the Total War wiki. “Resolute in battle and feared for its swift, deadly scythed chariots, Pontus stands poised to sweep South into the Arabian Lands, or West, to threaten Asia and Greece.”

Pontus is a “fully-fledged faction”, and joins Rome, Carthage, Macedon, Iceni, Arverni, Suebi, Parthia and Egypt in Rome 2’s starting roster.

“We’ve locked down the content for the game now and have started the long road to fixing and optimising the game before it gets manufactured to disc,” said the developers, by way of explanation. “However, thanks to the way we use Steam, we can make sure that everyone gets some day one DLC for free in the form of a playable Faction – Pontus.

“Not only can we spend more time on content after the game goes off to get printed – but Steam means everyone will get it when you install the game,” they added.

In Creative Assembly’s Rally Point series, the developers also hinted that more free DLC would arrive at a later date:

Which is all quite nice, isn’t it?