Kind of expecting Martok to update this now.
Confirmed:
Battle map:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
- New engine
- Naval Warfare included
- Weapons will jam and misfire, cannons will seize up and explode
- Bagpipes, drummers, flautists and trumpeters will fill the air with play out over the crack of musket fire
- Formations will affect units, line formation for better firing, square for receiving charges etc
- An overwrite of the fire command is implemented (hold fire, then all fire at button press)
- Siege Battles are less important
- Infantry can occupy buildings. They will automatically take up defensive positions and fire out of windows/doors.
- Wind will play an important role in the battles. You can set the sails of your ship according to your desired speed. You can choose between three types of ammunition, damaging hull, sails, or crew respectively. (chain-shot for sails, lead balls for hull , shrapnel for crew)
- Dragoon units -- mounted men that you can order to dismount and fire and attack the enemy as infantry. Then you can order them to mount up again and chase across the field on horseback.
- Artillery units, some of which can be limbered up and moved around the field at speed by teams of horses. You can develop all kinds of exotic ammo for them to fire.
- On the battle map (both land and sea), the increase in visual quality and the number of men on the battlefield is incredible. The new engine has allowed huge improvements in graphics, terrain & vegetation, destructible buildings, as well as more advanced unit behaviour and abilities.
General:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
- The game will run from early 1700’s to around 1820
- The campaign map will be larger. It includes Europe, North and South America, North Africa, Central Asia, India, and Indonesia
- You will be able to build colonies. It will make a difference, whether you settle in the wilderness of the Americas, or whether you can use pre-existing infrastructure in India.
- Multiplayer battles are supposed to be improved. A ladder will be implemented.
- A technology tree that lets player's research pure technologies as well as construct and upgrade buildings. We have a host of different technologies that the player can choose to focus on. Some will give units new abilities on the battlefield, or allow your artillery to develop new types of ordnance. Some will improve ships' sailing and fighting performance, others will develop your economy and enable new buildings and infrastructure, and others will advance the educational level of your nation and speed up future research.
- really beefed up the diplomacy side of the game, and tried hard to make the AI factions behave in a more human way and respond to the player's treatment of them. Religion does play a role in terms of factions' attitudes towards each other, and it can be harder to maintain a close friendship with a faction with a different religion.
Campaign Map:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
- Agents: Gentlemen who can turn their hand to increasing the speed of your nation’s research, steal enemy technology or duel with enemy Gentlemen and Rakes. Meanwhile Rakes will assassinate, sabotage and spy on armies.
- The campaign map is no longer tiled as RTW and M2TW
- You can now recruit units on Generals.
- Historic Generals will appear (given examples: Peter the Great of Russia and Charles of Sweden)
- All infrastructure built within a province, will be represented on the Strategic Map. You can upgrade buildings, by clicking on them on the Strategic Map (eg ports). There will still be a capital though.
- Enemy armies can plunder or conquer buildings within provinces.
- Revolutions can happen, leading to the separation of countries. (As an example, a rebellion of the Scotts was given).
- You can change the form of government between: absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, and Republic. This will directly influence how you can deal with revolts and how fast you develop new technologies. Other factions will treat you according to your form of government.
- Taxes can be set seperately for Nobles, Burghers, and Peasants.
- The AI system will be reworked and improved. An example given is that the AI will be unified, meaning that no longer the military AI will try to conquer a territory, while the diplomatic AI is working towards an alliance with the owner of said territory.
- Diplomats, Spies and Assassins will no longer be represented on the map. A new system will be introduced.
- The mercenary system will be reworked. While you can still hire mercenaries they won't be incorporated into your regular army. How this works out exactly is not clear yet.
Regions in the Americas tend to start the game with low populations, and CA do model the migration of people from Europe to the Americas as a result of dissatisfaction with their lives in the Old World. Therefore, American regions can see extremely fast development, with population and hence new towns growing much faster than is possible in Europe. Colonial regions also tend to produce exotic commodities such as sugar and tobacco.
If I've missed anything, PM me.
Thanks to:
Icek - information
Omanes - some pictures rehosted
Ituralde - a load of information from the gamestar preview
J0Be – information summary from the IGN Q&A.
Playable Factions:
One of those is the Mughals of India.Originally Posted by Jack LustedConfirmed factions so far in Empire:
Britain
America
Sweden
United Provinces(Netherlands)
Poland-Lithuania
Russia
Prussia
Venice
Spain
France
Ottoman Empire
And there will be around 50 factions in Empire.
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