Empire: Total War

Maximilian

The Creative Assembly have been secretly working on this new Total War game for over a year now. It will finally feature proper naval battles. It will obviously be brilliant.


There are some screenshots here

Sephiroth_dude

Any european release date yet?only 3 screen shot....looks good though!

Maximilian

Next year some time apparently.

Sephiroth_dude

COOL,the expansion pack for medieval total war is out next wk =D

Maximilian

Yeah, looking forward to that. Now that PBEM games will be possible, we will be starting one no doubt over at Rev's Darkkeep site, if you are interested.

Sephiroth_dude

any idea what the specs for that expansion are ?

stagolee

Maximilian wrote:

Yeah, looking forward to that. Now that PBEM games will be possible, we will be starting one no doubt over at Rev's Darkkeep site, if you are interested.

cool! how do you play pbem?

I've always liked pbem games but the only decent one i have ever found was lasersquadnemesis and that requiers a subscription so it means there is zero chance of convincing me mates to play:(

Maximilian

Sephiroth_dude wrote:

any idea what the specs for that expansion are ?

I imagine the specs for the expansion are no different to the current specs. I don't think they are adding anything radical to it

stagolee wrote:

cool! how do you play pbem?

I've always liked pbem games but the only decent one i have ever found was lasersquadnemesis and that requiers a subscription so it means there is zero chance of convincing me mates to play:(

If you take a look over at Darkkeep, you will see how our Civ IV games work. As far as I know, the Medievel TW games will be similar - ie. you simply post on the game forum thread and upload your savegame file for the next person.

If these turn out anything like the CIV games, then expect them to last months!

Maximilian

Some more info has appeared on E:TW. Looks like this has potential to be the best game in the series yet.

http://www.totalwar.com/index.html?page=/en/communityandforums/empire.html&nav=/en/6/8/

Petruccio

Looking forward to Empire Total War. Im thinking of going out for the Medieval II expansion pack to keep me going until then. Really want to try out the Kingdom of Jerusalem faction.

peteballagh

Xpack is great I conquered the whole map with Ireland, and it was great craic

Maximilian

peteballagh wrote: »

Xpack is great I conquered the whole map with Ireland, and it was great craic

First things I did though were the following:

1. Conquer Dublin
2. Move Capital from Cork back to Dublin.

peteballagh

First I drove out the English, then I got back Dublin. Then I made an alliance with the welsh, and got them to be a thorn in the side of the English, while I attacked southern england with King Brian and about 4,000 men. When the english were wiped out, the welsh turned on me, but I had way too much land by that time and I eventually crushed them. With all of Ireland England and Wales under my belt, I started to push up through the south of scotland, at the same time attacking their northern islands with fleets from ulster. (The Vikings had long been vanquished by the scots) I eventually won by wiping them out of the shetland islands. Brings back happy memories!

Sorry if it was a bore . . . . .

Pride Fighter

When is this out? Is it the 16th-19th Centuries? If so that would be sweet.

Maximilian

Pride Fighter wrote: »

When is this out? Is it the 16th-19th Centuries? If so that would be sweet.

They are aiming for the end of this year I believe.

Pride Fighter

Maximilian wrote: »

They are aiming for the end of this year I believe.

Awesome, that will be a nice xmas present. Gives me time to upgrade my machine as well.

Sephiroth_dude

am really lookiong forward to this,hopefully i'll have my new rig by the time it comes out :pac:

Sephiroth_dude

this aint coming until 2009 now ffs :mad:

anonymous_joe

Any idea of the 09 release period yet?

Tbh I'm still happily playing Medieval 2. Download Stainless Steel mod and you'll never look back.

Maximilian

6th February 2009 according to the trailer just released.

Shame its not out this year but on the other hand, I really want this to be the best it can be.

Sand

Ive seen some video of them fencing which makes me put my head in my hands and say "For the love of christ, fix the AI....."

madrab

i want to see some actual ingame ship battles with nice physics

Pyr0

The modders over at Total War Center have done a great job with the Kingdoms AI and over all gameplay. Stainless Steel 6.1 is worth the fairly big download for anyone that wants that little more out of Kingdoms there's your mod. There's also a Campaign and Battle Map AI mod for Stainless Steel too.

So if the AI turns out to be a little bland in Empire, then hopefully we'll see the modders getting down to business to fix what they can.

Sand

Ive been playing EU3 a bit lately and I only have one thing to say --- EU3 Strategy Map, Total War battle map. Make. It. Happen.

Maximilian

There's a clip showing in-game footage of naval warfare over at Eurogamer. Scroll down to the bottom of the page

It looks really slick.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=212569

Sephiroth_dude

I have this preordered :-).

Sephiroth_dude

Just watched it there,only makes me want it more now :-(.

madrab

yeah looks good, hopefully the ship to ship boarding actions can be controlled somehow & its not just an automatic "i have more crew=i win" action

kowloon

I'd be interested in seeing how they'll make lines and columns interesting to the average gamer.
They might need to go back to the multiple formations of the earlier games than the dumbed down system in Rome and Medieval II with effectively 1 special command for each unit.
I'd also like to see mixed formations.

Maximilian

There's a preview up here. It's looking rather nice too from the screenshots.

One guy spent an entire year just making the Sea! How cool (and sad) is that.

I really want this game!

valen

kowloon wrote: »

They might need to go back to the multiple formations of the earlier games than the dumbed down system in Rome and Medieval II with effectively 1 special command for each unit.
I'd also like to see mixed formations.

What would you mean by 'mixed formations' ? Half the spearmen in a phalanx with spears down, the others with spears up, just in case they get flanked ?

Usually, people are so confused in the middle of a scrap you can't tell them to do much at all, never mind do different things based on their line position. Golden rule is one bannerman per unit, and look to him to see where he's going & what he's doing.

john

Maximilian

There's a more comprehensive preview over at Eurogamer here. One thing I'm glad to hear about is the AI improvements. It's also looking fantastic, judging from those screenshots.

anonymous_joe

/sigh

I want it now. :P

Maximilian

Yes, as do I.

Here's some new footage (in-game) of land battles. Animation is pretty staggering all things considered.

http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=14941

anonymous_joe

Damnably tantalising.

Been playing Stainless Steel a lot anyway as it is. Really looking forward to this.

Can't wait for a Jacobite Rebellion and a chance to switch factions. :pac:

Maximilian

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Damnably tantalising.

Been playing Stainless Steel a lot anyway as it is. Really looking forward to this.

Can't wait for a Jacobite Rebellion and a chance to switch factions. :pac:

Goddammit I checked out that Stainless Steel Mod & it looks great. Now I have to re-install M2TW again.

anonymous_joe

Sorry about that. ^^

Maximilian

Another little interview here.

Sand

One thing I'm glad to hear about is the AI improvements.

Yeah, but they said the same thing about MTW 2.0 and the AI in that game was like a puppy chasing its tail. Funny and puzzling at the same time.

RPS: It seems like AI was a big issue for players of Medieval II, can you explain how AI changes will improve play Empire: Total War?

Russell: We’ve put a lot of effort into improving how the player’s behaviour impacts diplomatic relations with different AI nations, and into making the AI behave in an intuitive manner. It’s very important for the player’s sense of immersion in a believable world of rival countries that other nations respond in a way that makes sense in terms of how the player has been behaving. For example if you back-stab your allies, the whole world will see you as dishonourable and you will lose friends quickly. Religious and political differences will all impact how the AI views you, as will your alliances and wars with other nations. In addition, different nations will have different personalities with preferences for different kinds of activity - for example a preference for naval power or for research and building up economically.

The battle AI has also been much improved and is aware of the significance of the battle in terms of the campaign map context - is the battle a vital fight to the death? Or might a tactical withdrawal be the best tactic if the battle starts to go the wrong way? Different nations will also use different tactics and strategies, which gives battles more variety and makes the AI less predictable.

You see how the Dev views AI? As something that doesnt have any strategy or plan itself, but instead just reacts to the player in some fashion? I mean the AI will distrust you if you backstab them....WOW....no one has ever done ANYTHING like that before. Ever! Thats how retarded the AI in Total War is.

As it is, mostly the AI backstabs you stupidly....even if youre like imperial France and theyre ....liechtenstein. They then flail about uselessly before you take pity on them and put them out of their misery.

Maximilian

One of the reasons the AI was so poor in the previous games was that there was two AI's for effectively war & peace, which didn't talk to each other. They've fixed that for this game with one all-encompassing AI.

Not revolutionary, sure but should hopefully be a big improvement.

Maximilian

Another trailer released here
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41950.html

Shows the campaign map. Looks a lot more detailed.

Animation on the whole seems a lot improved. The cavalry looks fantastic.

Sephiroth_dude

I want it,I want it,I want .

gaius c

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Any idea of the 09 release period yet?

Tbh I'm still happily playing Medieval 2. Download Stainless Steel mod and you'll never look back.

I prefer the retrofit mod to be honest. There's a guy (from Mongolia) who has made a mod based on retrofit that makes the Mongols and Timurids even more insanely overpowered than they already are.

Spear

Pre-ordering the special edition gets you Rome: Total War Gold for free.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55636

Not sure I like the SE getting extra units the normal game doesn't though.

Sand

Not sure I like the SE getting extra units the normal game doesn't though.

They will be modded in inside 36 hours of release, and probably released in a patch a few weeks after that.

Anyway, if its RTW version of flaming pigs, then they wont be that much of a miss.

gaius c

Sand wrote: »

They will be modded in inside 36 hours of release, and probably released in a patch a few weeks after that.

Anyway, if its RTW version of flaming pigs, then they wont be that much of a miss.

Chances are that the special units will be quite strong but I don't see the problem as long the units are not available in online battles or they are prohibitively expensive to use. I have my copy ordered from www.play.com already and it's a good bit cheaper than the Steam version.

P.S. Love the new skin. The old one was very boring.

grizzly

Demo is up on Steam now.

Maximilian

God, judging from the demo, this will be worth the wait. They nailed the naval battles - I love them.

Sephiroth_dude

Its out today week,I cant wait

DirkVoodoo

Right, I just probably preface this with the fact that I have never liked Total Wars Demos. In fairness, the games are so deep there is always going to be lots of gameplay that has to be left out, but I don't like tutorials bundled as demos. Especially when the tutorials are as archaic and restrictive as the TW series.

Anyway, I downloaded the "demo" last night, played it for a bit and felt slightly underwhelmed. I have played all the TW games since they were first released, my favourite probably being Rome. I was a bit disappointed with the graphics, setting the preset to "High" treated me to some nice water effects but nothing else has evolved since Medieval 2. That's a minor gripe for me, my poor old rig would probably struggle on Ultra and TW games have always looked amazing. My major issue was the sound. I remember the first time I got arquebusiers in Shogun, I was outnumbered and a swarm of Yari samuri were advancing up a valley towards me. The little info panel went from "Aiming" to "firing" and a thunderous clap echoed around the room. Now it sound like one or two muskets are firing and I seem to have one guy doing all the death cries, which is a bit weird and certainly takes a huge amount away from the atmosphere.

Anyway, I'm gonna go take on Washington at Brandywine Creek, the change in tactics from swords and sandals to gunpowder should be interesting.

Game looks good, need more time with it obviously, but the sound was really a big let down.

nesf

3 days to get as much thesis work done as possible....