Expansion...

[rvg]

I hope that the ETW expansion instead of being the usual stand alone game would open new areas on the main campaign map instead. So that we would have maybe China/Korea/Japan area or Brazil/Patagonia or some of the sub-Saharan Africa. That would be neat.

[pevergreen]

It may happen.

I hope it does, I was never a fan of the new expansion, new campaign thing.

Though they may just do what they did for Kingdoms and call it 'Empire: Total War - Empires'. Or colonies.

[Monk]

Empire: Total War - Napoleon's Day Out.

Seriously now, it's too early to be thinking about an expansion imo (it's only been 4 months since release, even though it feels like much longer). I would see CA's efforts be spent on bug hunting and AI fixes rather than building for an early expansion. :shrug:

[antisocialmunky]

Hopefully they package the DLC with the expansion. Otherwise I'm not going ot buy them(they'll be modded in by that time anyways, you might as well add them to pad the numbers on the back of the box).

Empire: Total War - Revolution wouldn't be a bad title considering all the uprisings, the French Revolution, and the ramping up of the Industrial Revolution that would take place in a 1800s based campaign.

Turreted ships would translate wonderfully into a WWI mod.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Truthfully, I'd rather have a bunch of different campaigns (Western europe, Eastern/Central Europe, Mid-East, America's-to include all of south america-, and asia) with the regions you described in them. that way, we get the new campaigns, as well as new regions. kind of like how M2 America's unlocked more of america and some of South america.

[antisocialmunky]

Why not have an African Campaign, Asian Campaign, and an Americas Campaign with an expanded N,C,S America and include them as new theatres in the World Map?

[Prussian to the Iron]

that's what i meant to say basically:

several different campaigns, with lots more regions (like 3-4 in Egypt rather than 1), and then the expanded view added to the campaign map for the grand campaign.

[Veho Nex]

I'd love to colonise africa. Also moving into Japan and China would be loads of fun.

[Prussian to the Iron]

The only thing is that China wasn't touched by any europeans (miilitary-wise) until the mid-1800's, and Japan wasn't touched at all 'til 1940.

[A Very Super Market]

I assume you mean 1840.


The problem with expansion into Africa is that it most of it would be half a century too early. And after a while, rifles will start to develop, and the battle engine doesn't quite support them.

[Daveybaby]

Empire: Total War - Napoleon's Day Out.
Yeah, this would be nice to see. It'd be great if the expansion covered several very different campaigns, as with the Kingdoms expansion for M2. I could see a campaign for the american civil war working quite well using the ETW engine, but it wouldnt really justify an expansion all by itself.


Seriously now, it's too early to be thinking about an expansion imo (it's only been 4 months since release, even though it feels like much longer).
I expect CA have been working on the expansion since before ETW's release - these things arent knocked up in 10 minutes or so these days.


I would see CA's efforts be spent on bug hunting and AI fixes rather than building for an early expansion. :shrug:
Expansions tend not to involve drastic rewrites of the game engine, i'm pretty sure bug hunting in the game engine and unit/campaign/map design work for an expansion can comfortably be performed side by side.

[Daveybaby]

I assume you mean 1840.
The problem with expansion into Africa is that it most of it would be half a century too early. And after a while, rifles will start to develop, and the battle engine doesn't quite support them.
If it's a separate campaign then the time period doesnt matter too much - and the mechanics of these types of battles would fit quite well into the current engine, with tweaked weapon accuracies, ranges and reload times, same goes for china/japan. Basically, you could have campaigns covering pretty much anything up to WWI using this engine.

[Fisherking]

I would imagine that the Australian branch is working on the next game to fallow ETW using this game engine and that the UK office has decided on what the expansion will be.

However, we won't likely know what the expansion is for another year and the next game if we are lucky, the next game will be announced in about 18 months.

[Slaists]

I assume you mean 1840.


The problem with expansion into Africa is that it most of it would be half a century too early. And after a while, rifles will start to develop, and the battle engine doesn't quite support them.

All they (CA) would need to do for Africa is to give massive stat penalties (due to climate and disease) to all foreign troops there. That + the fierceness of the locals was what stopped early European expansion in Africa anyway. CA could even adopt EU-style "attrition" to reflect the effects of disease. Most war-time casualties at the time came from disease even in such theaters as North America.

The rifles are an issue though. All light infantry is quite bugged for now.

[pevergreen]

I would imagine that the Australian branch is working on the next game to fallow ETW using this game engine and that the UK office has decided on what the expansion will be.

However, we won't likely know what the expansion is for another year and the next game if we are lucky, the next game will be announced in about 18 months.

Thats a good point. I should find out.

I rang them a few years ago, made a post about it. Didnt get many answers, but it was fun.

However, they may have a phone system my company looks after. THQ Australia did...

"Hello CA, just routine check on your phones"

*sees next product*

OH YEAH.

[antisocialmunky]

Can't you get sued and thrown in Aussie butt rape prison for illegally monitoring private phone traffic?

[pevergreen]

I meant go into the office.

And probably.

[Lucius Verenus]

As far as expansion into Africa goes - UP had Cape town in the 1600's and if they hadn't been so determined to keep it just for replenishing ships going to and from the Indies could well have expanded well up into Africa - 'Zimbabwe' and even beyond by 1800...

There were also various other bases used for the slave-trade - so Africa would be perfectly feasible as an expansion.

[KHPike]

My speculation for an expansion...

Remember Rome Total War: Alexander?

My guess would be Empire Total War: Napoleon????

Anyway, it would be great if they added regions (South America, Straits of Madagascar, etc.) into the trade theatres as an expansion...

[vicsrealms]

Right now I just want them to fix the current game. It won't help much if we still have this buggy mess, and they add another buggy mess on top of it.

Still, I would love to see and have access to a map of the entire world to conquer and trade with. If I'm not already at war with the entire world by the 10th turn.

[antisocialmunky]

It would be nice to see a campaign based on the return of Napolean from Exile. :)

[Krauser]

Right now I just want them to fix the current game. It won't help much if we still have this buggy mess, and they add another buggy mess on top of it.

Still, I would love to see and have access to a map of the entire world to conquer and trade with. If I'm not already at war with the entire world by the 10th turn.

Yeah, if they could guarantee awesome AI in battle and campaign map I would support just expanding the campaign map. I don't think they are going to improve the AI much so I'm more interested in seeing scripted campaigns where the fake AI at least feels like it knows what it's doing.

[Rowan]

What I'd really really really like would be Empire: Total War: Siegecraft.

Proper Vauban-style star forts. With buildable improvements: proper bastions, bastioned towers, extra ravelins, earthworks, ditches, hornworks, crownworks, lunettes, demi-lunes, etc.

And better siege battles. Since a proper star fortress doesn't fit on the map play the siege out against a single section that crosses the map, with victory location on the other side and the attackers on the other side. All the previously built additions adding depth to defense. Attacker directs his cannons where to shoot and infantry on where to dig trenches. Defender has to shuffle infantry and artillery around balancing exposure to enemy fire against harrying the attacker.

Stupid infantry charges/sallies optional.

I shouldn't have read that book about Vauban and his methods... Now I just get angry about how stupid the sieges in E:TW are. :wall: :furious3:

[Furunculus]

I hope that the ETW expansion instead of being the usual stand alone game would open new areas on the main campaign map instead. So that we would have maybe China/Korea/Japan area or Brazil/Patagonia or some of the sub-Saharan Africa. That would be neat.

agreed. +1

I would also like CA to roll all of the patches into the expansion disk so i am not dependent on steam for a stable game.

[Nelson]

What I'd really really really like would be Empire: Total War: Siegecraft.

Proper Vauban-style star forts. With buildable improvements: proper bastions, bastioned towers, extra ravelins, earthworks, ditches, hornworks, crownworks, lunettes, demi-lunes, etc.

Yes, Vauban fortresses would be great.

But we will surely get Napoleon.

[Hermann the Lombard]

Japan wasn't touched at all 'til 1940.
Tell that to the Russians at Port Arthur or Tsushima...or for that matter tell that to the Chinese!

(Still not "period" I agree.)

[vicsrealms]

What I'd really really really like would be Empire: Total War: Siegecraft.

Proper Vauban-style star forts. With buildable improvements: proper bastions, bastioned towers, extra ravelins, earthworks, ditches, hornworks, crownworks, lunettes, demi-lunes, etc.

And better siege battles. Since a proper star fortress doesn't fit on the map play the siege out against a single section that crosses the map, with victory location on the other side and the attackers on the other side. All the previously built additions adding depth to defense. Attacker directs his cannons where to shoot and infantry on where to dig trenches. Defender has to shuffle infantry and artillery around balancing exposure to enemy fire against harrying the attacker.

Stupid infantry charges/sallies optional.

I shouldn't have read that book about Vauban and his methods... Now I just get angry about how stupid the sieges in E:TW are. :wall: :furious3:

Vauban? Title and Author please. Sounds interesting.

[Rowan]

Vauban? Title and Author please. Sounds interesting.

Paddy Griffith: The Vauban Fortifications of France (Osprey Fortress Series) (Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Vauban-Fortifications-France-Fortress/dp/1841768758))

Very nice illustrations :2thumbsup:

[vicsrealms]

Paddy Griffith: The Vauban Fortifications of France (Osprey Fortress Series) (Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Vauban-Fortifications-France-Fortress/dp/1841768758))

Very nice illustrations :2thumbsup:

Thanks, I will have to add it to my next book order from them.

[Hermann the Lombard]

Vauban? Title and Author please. Sounds interesting.
There's also a *lot* of material on Vauban online. Note that while people talk about Vauban's fortifications, he was far better at taking them than at building them. In fact some of his forts changed hands so often that his reputation suffered.

[Equilibrium]

So...


14th August:

Hi guys,

Please excuse our radio silence for the past couple of weeks. Things have been incredibly busy in The Creative Assembly offices. While I cannot elaborate too much at the moment, I can confirm that CA will be in attendance at the Games Convention in Cologne, Germany next week and we have an announcement to make. All will be revealed soon so stay tuned....

Have a fantastic weekend,

Mark O'Connell
(aka SenseiTW)

[Servius]

I too would like to see an expansion to the original game. In particular, I'd like to see Africa and Southeast Asia added.

I'd also like to see the time period expand to encompass the Napoleonic Era.

[Zenicetus]

My $.02 on an expansion... Ca would be crazy to do anything other than Napoleon as the expansion. It's the only big name-recognition title that can be linked to the game engine without major changes, for example the rifles and longer engagement ranges that would be needed for an American Civil War expansion. The naval battles will still be relevant for a Napoleonic campaign, which they wouldn't be for the Civil War (the South basically had no navy).

An expansion of the current map into Africa or Asia for the sandbox campaign wouldn't be as interesting for most people. It would have no new major power opponents, it's politically touchy (Europeans dominating Africa), and it also gets into that rifled weapons problem. Napoleon will sell better. It could also be more heavily scripted as a canned campaign, which can bypass all the broken strategic/diplomatic AI issues.

I won't buy an expansion unless they fix the strategic/diplomatic AI in the main campaign, but I might consider it if they do.

[antisocialmunky]

The campaign should add new theatres which would be added to the grand campaign.

[Discoman]

I really hope we aren't forced to only play as Napoleon, cause I'd like to explore the different nations of the period, and actually play as America in a balanced campaign game (In ETW everyone starts off with full tech but you) . I recall Alexander getting lukewarm reception because they did that, so I think they'll avoid it.

I would like new theaters, it'd certainly be better than just re-skinned units. I wonder what new features they'll add in the game anyway. Any new guns, or strategies come out in this period? Maybe they'll revamp artillery, and make cannons more effective.

[Martok]

Further pre-confirmation (http://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=367209&mpage=1#msgNum1) that Napoleon is going to be the expansion.

No surprise, of course. Indeed, I've been shocked if he *hadn't* been the focus of Empire's x-pack.

[Tsavong]

http://www.sega.co.uk/games/napoleon-total-war/?t=EnglishUK

Well there we have it Napoleon: Total War comeing next year

[Rowan]

http://www.sega.co.uk/games/napoleon-total-war/?t=EnglishUK

Well there we have it Napoleon: Total War comeing next year

Now that was cheesy...

[Tsavong]

Oh btw it is not an Expansion I think it is gunna be a stand alone game.

[Nelson]

The question is: Can the game be played normally through the Napoleonic War period without doing the story driven campaign business?