So...its out

[Vuk]

What are your first impressions?

[Vlad Tzepes]

...it's all so quiet...

I remember the ETW release on Steam - people were furiously posting first impressions... Today's silence it's not a good sign for NTW.

[Lemur]

Checked the gaming PC upstairs, it's downloaded, but won't patch, which means it won't launch. If I get a chance today I'll play a bit and post, but I'll be very lucky if I get game time in before 8-9 p.m.

-edit-

Ah, almost forgot my lesson from ETW's launch; when the game won't patch, just keep exiting and logging back into Steam. That does the trick.

[Beskar]

The game is not out here untill the 25th. So we got to wait.

Looks like it is only a North American release.

[pevergreen]

So not keen for this game its not funny.

[Belgolas]

Well I just played around for an hour and I got to say WOW!!!!!!! There are a lot of improvements so far that I have seen. First off the graphics on ultra at 2560 x 1600 are just insane and not only that the performance I think is better than empire! The graphics are so incredible. One time I shot at the enemy cavalry and an enemy soldier fell off his horse but his foot was still stuck in the saddle and was being dragged along as the horse ran away. It was hilarious and satisfactory as it was one of the generals body guards. There are also some other improvements like generals not just have a rally button but also an inspire button. Cannons are very deadly and I think grape shot is even more deadlier. There are even ironclads in the game which is basically a giant 80 cannon steam boat. The repair feature for ships is kinda cool. Basically your soldiers put up planks where there are holes it doesn't give your cannons back but just fixes the hull damage. You can't move but the men can still fire. The AI from the 3 battles I have played seemed a bit improved. They at least marched and stayed in formation. The general stayed at the back of the lines. The AI only went to charge me as I was winning in the shoot out. Now there are long lines of skirmishes and the smoke and gun fire just looks incredible. There still are bullet traces but I think they are less noticeable.

I can't comment on the campaign side other than it looks better in visuals and does not stutter when moving around. The tech tree is a lot smaller but there are some new ones there. There are also some new buildings. Different building like mines can make recruiting certain units cheaper.

Oh and now one the loading screen you get to see the battle map so that is cool too.

I can't really judge the whole game yet but so far I am blown away. This looks and feels like what ETW should have been.

[antisocialmunky]

This looks and feels like what ETW should have been.

:-p Any improvments to ETW while we are on the topic?

[Megas Methuselah]

I'll probably buy it in the summer when this semester is over.

[Dradem]

I'm getting my copy in a few hours the shop is still unloading the shipment :D

[Husar]

I'm not going to believe any release enthusiasm anyway, there was a lot of it with ETW as well, but somehow it changed with time...

[Marten]

Mmmmh ...

I watched "justin.tv" yesterday, saw someone playing campaign and campaign land battles ... i have to admit: Seems to be a proper AI (in comparison to empire).

Would have been a nice marketing btw. to see someone from CA doing this in the last 2 weeks. But back to this campaign yesterday:

The AI formed lines, fired 2 rounds, "fix bayonets" and attacked. That's completely different to what i saw in empire and no "melee bug". The guy was in real trouble in 2 battles (saw 4-5 battles), the defending AI in the first battle i saw was acting really good. It took troops out of battery range, charged 2 of his regiments from the back with cav and advanced in a gap in his front. Defending AI seems to work.

In another battle the guy was nearly beaten by the AI. He attacked Danmark with Prussia, in the end the better prussian troops won. But it was long time not sure ... i have to say i was really impressed from the ai behaviour in this battle. So i've started this morning with a look on amazon.de ... but not sure right now.

Edith says: Did i mention the flutes? That was awesome ... advancing prussians with a nice tune ... great moment! Someone at CA took a long look on popular mods ...


Marten

[Lemur]

Yeah, Marten is right, CA clearly took inspiration from some of the better ETW mods.

Played about 2 hrs last night, tried to blitz through the Italian and Egyptian campaigns to get to the general campaign. Didn't quite make it. Graphics improved, lots of interface tweaks, definitely some improvement in the CAI, but I'm going to need a lot more time before I can qualify that. BAI seems better, but due to a graphics glitch (time to update my card drivers?) I was only able to play one battle.

One thing that drives me nuts about Steam—I fired up NTW and walked away for several hours before I was able to really play it. So now Steam says I was playing it for eight hours or something like that. Gah! I wish my offline mode weren't borked. I like to leave games up so that I can just jump into them when I get the time, and find Steam's tracking irritating. Is this irrational on my part?

[Vuk]

That is encouraging to hear. I heard something about being able to design uniforms or something, is that true?

[gollum]

Originally posted by Husar
I'm not going to believe any release enthusiasm anyway, there was a lot of it with ETW as well, but somehow it changed with time...

Bingo... lets see what people say in 3 months or so...

[gollum]

Originally posted by Lemur
Is this irrational on my part?

Nope, if you ask me.

[Lemur]

I heard something about being able to design uniforms or something, is that true?

Haven't seen anything like that yet, but then I haven't gotten to the main campaign. Maybe I can finally have my hot-pink grenadiers. Who knows?

Diplomacy options seem to be a good bit improved. You can ask allies to join in a war, for example. We'll see about asking them to make peace ...

[Dradem]

c**p not able to play my game untill friday, I have my copy already. But steam says hey in your country this game can't be installed. :-(

[Nelson]

You can let someone else who is online enter your single player campaign long enough to control the opposing forces in a battle. You can limit this to a friend’s list if you like. Or you could just call a friend and ask them to login and join your game for a key fight. I don’t need to elaborate just how huge a difference this could make to a campaign. When my son had someone take over the Austrian Army in one of his battles he got a close and bloody victory instead of the waltz the AI would have given him.

[Vuk]

You can let someone else who is online enter your single player campaign long enough to control the opposing forces in a battle. You can limit this to a friend’s list if you like. Or you could just call a friend and ask them to login and join your game for a key fight. I don’t need to elaborate just how huge a difference this could make to a campaign. When my son had someone take over the Austrian Army in one of his battles he got a close and bloody victory instead of the waltz the AI would have given him.

Ah, now this sounds like lots of fun. The campaign map will actually be a challenge for once now. :P

Haven't seen anything like that yet, but then I haven't gotten to the main campaign. Maybe I can finally have my hot-pink grenadiers. Who knows?

Diplomacy options seem to be a good bit improved. You can ask allies to join in a war, for example. We'll see about asking them to make peace ...

lol, I was thinking of a second Fekete sereg, but whatever turns you on.
It is good to hear about diplomacy though, asking people to help in a war is a much needed feature.

[Lemur]

One thing that made me quite happy last night — you can now repurpose buildings instead of tearing them down and starting over. Anybody who has torn down a level 4 naval dockyard 'cause they need more trade routes will appreciate this feature.

[Beskar]

One thing that made me quite happy last night — you can now repurpose buildings instead of tearing them down and starting over. Anybody who has torn down a level 4 naval dockyard 'cause they need more trade routes will appreciate this feature.

Reminds me of my super income set-ups, where I basically just had factories+tradedocks+governorhomes everywhere

[Braden]

Initially I'm tempted but (luckily?) I can't buy it until I get time to install a new hard-drive...21GB of space needed! Good job I already have a new hard drive ready to install, now just have to find the time to install it and ghost everything over! I like the sound of the improved performance as ETW really stuttered recently (and its not for want of power).

[Royce]

I'm with you! I think I'll wait until I see how things go...ETW leaves so much I wouldn't know where to start. I'd love to get Napoleon and I have them all. I waited to purchase ETW and was still disapointed. They should have gone with French & Indian War then maybe went into the American Revolution. That would have been better. I do not remember the Prussians attacking Britian etc. too many silly factions attacking each other in ETW.

[Durallan]

Wow! theres a Napoleon Total war forum, I didn't even realise there was one... anyway the Emperor's Edition is sitting on my desk! I don't know whether to open it or just stare at it, hmmmm

[Beskar]

Wow! theres a Napoleon Total war forum, I didn't even realise there was one... anyway the Emperor's Edition is sitting on my desk! I don't know whether to open it or just stare at it, hmmmm

How long can you stare at it without opening it?

[Durallan]

My Bioshock 2 Special Edition is also sitting on my desk in its protective plastic wrap! just because I haven't had time to play it lol, so theoretically it could sit there for awhile! But if anyone would like some hi res photos of the box and whats in it I have a Digital SLR I can take pictures of the box and contents with, and at that point there'll be no excuse not to play it!

[Ethelred Unread]

Can we have some NTW and Bioshock 2 one on one action shots please?

[Durallan]

Sure! I was gonna leave the bioshock 2 box to open later but if I'm going to open it anyway... it doesn't really matter! lol won't be able to do it tonight but hopefully tomorrow I'll have some screens up, I'll see if I can find some place that will let me upload decent sized photos.

[Wausser]

I'm going to have brunch and then I'll grab my bike and get a copy....

[Jasper The Builder]

Yes it's out and the game is amazing.