Interested in buying ETW...

I'm going to buy next week ETW and purchase the additional DLC packs to make it a Special Forces, hopefully an enjoyable one, and I was wondering how stable ETW is with the latest patch. I know people are still having serious problems but for those who have minor or no problems, how is ETW in terms of:

- stability - CTDs especially
- overall depth of content
- replayability (as in, after you finish a campaign, do you want to play with another faction?)
- trade and economy
- battles
- campaign map (how immersive and interesting it is...does it draw you in?)
- overall feel


Worth the 35 euros?

I've never had a CTD
Depth is good, plently to play around with
Same as all TW games, dependant on the person. Theres not as much variety, as say, RTW, where you could be fighting warbands then next campaign, horse archers, but the fun is there to be replayed. TW would not work if it was just a single playthrough
Trade and economy can be managed more in depth than other TW, removal of diplomats helps a lot here
battles are fun, but early on, charging into melee will cause you less casualties then a firefight, even on VH.
Map is more detailed than others, and the changes make it the best yet IMO

Its a good game, but my opinion is clouded by the simple fact that I'm not really a fan of this era.

Those are not easy questions even for us who have spent a long time with the game through every change. Some of it is just down-right confusing after all the ups and downs.

But I will give it a try.

- stability - CTDs especially: I would say GOOD. There are a couple of likely causes of a CTD or two, usually in the late game but as you always have an auto-save from the end of the last turn it usually is of little consequence. But just in case save before each battle.

- overall depth of content: It really is a deep game with layer after layer, some not even explored because of changes to the original. There is a lot to do and to know in each turn and you neglect it at your peril.

- replayability (as in, after you finish a campaign, do you want to play with another faction?): I think it is as or more replayable than any of it‘s forefathers. Much more than M2TW. Even taking the same faction again can result in a completely different game. The variables are legion.

- trade and economy: This is a game within a game. In fact trade is a game within a game and so is the economy. They are both complex and can lead to headaches and frustration. Just when you think you know all there is to know about them something comes up and makes you scratch you head or take a hammer to the computer...

- battles: They are okay. A lot depends on how you fight. At times the AI can surprise you but it is not too often. It is a part of the game that has not come up to its true potential.

- campaign map (how immersive and interesting it is...does it draw you in?): It is pretty. There is a lot to see and most of it is represented in the battle maps. There are some quirks though and the empty lands take some getting used to.

- overall feel: I felt it was awesome when I first started to play. In 1.1 I felt there was an 18th century feel to the game, but I felt it lost some of that with various changes. That could have been just becoming jaded, I don‘t know.

You will just need to decide that one on you own.

- stability - CTDs especially
I haven't had a single problem There used to be some problems but they are mostly fixed

- overall depth of content
I can't comment on depth in comparisson with RTW or M2TW as my previous game from the series was MTW VI.
The economics, the diplomacy, the balancing between technology and happiness of the populace, ...
ETW has a lot of content even outside the pure military. And the best part is, although you have to keep an eye on everything, you can spend mostly as much time on any aspect as you like.

- replayability
The factions aren't that different from each other on the most part. However, due to the depth, you have many ways to play even with that similarity.

- trade and economy
As others said, this is all but easy. It can even be your main goal and your campaign will still be great.

- battles
Due to most factions having the same/similar units, most battles will look and feel the same. Just try to experiment with different approaches. (I'm still laughing maniacly when the enemies front line is hit by numerous cannonbals/shrapnel/grapeshot at once)

- campaign map (how immersive and interesting it is...does it draw you in?)
Again in comparisson to the MTW chessboard, sure it's a lot more immersive. otherwise nothing more I can say.

- overall feel
I disinstalled MTW VI for ETW and I don't think I'll ever install it again. ETW is on par with what I know of the series and has a lot of additional depth.

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Originally Posted by edyzmedieval

Worth the 35 euros?

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There is a lot of negativity on the .Org about ETW but this is mostly because of broken promisses and unfulfilled potential. ETW is a great game but it could have been a lot better with some more effort and a bit of honesty.

Stability depends on your operating system, if its vista 64bit, then you can forget stability.

Go buy it when it goes on sale with NTW...

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Originally Posted by Durallan

Stability depends on your operating system, if its vista 64bit, then you can forget stability.

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Uh oh... I have Vista 64 bit and I'm using it successfully for the past 2 years.
What about Windows 7?

- stability - CTDs especially

Working on a 2core, 32bit system running XP SP3 I have had NO issues with CTD's

- overall depth of content

Compared to any previous titles the depth is massive!! One turn can take hours if done right, in particular Alliances are sensitive meaning you have to play a much more intelligent diplomatic game than in previous titles where you could overcome such things with either money or violence

- replayability (as in, after you finish a campaign, do you want to play with another faction?)

Good>High: Variables for differing factions and even the same ones makes is very replayable

- trade and economy

Good because its sensitive again to world politics. Trade is exceptionally vital, you cannot exist by just taking land...the seas where its at in this game]

- battles

Land battles are to the normal standard. Difficulty settings are a tad nasty however...I now stick with Hard level battles. Sea battles are hard to do well, I fail at nearly every turn to be honest so have to spam lots of ships to compensate

- campaign map (how immersive and interesting it is...does it draw you in?)

Personally..not much..don't like it. Lacking faction leaders or generals I can get attached too but it may just be me, and not my favourate period of history?

- overall feel

I like it, keep coming back to it...worth 35Euros definately but I also say wait until NTW to buy

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Originally Posted by edyzmedieval

Uh oh... I have Vista 64 bit and I'm using it successfully for the past 2 years.
What about Windows 7?

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I hear that windows 7 works just great.

I enjoy Empire, right now I'm playing a Spanish campaign one of the fist things I did was get my upper classes to revolt put a new king in place heh.

One of the things I like the most about empire is the size of the map you have Europe North America and India as well as the trade zones I think the size alone gives some replayability as you could play as say a continental power one time and the next focus on colonies and use them to fund your fight. And sort of on maps they added an area of influence around each army and fleet so if an enemy force gets close to your army or fleet you can choose if you want to attack them or let then past unlike Rome and Med 2 when you could just walk past an enemy army if you had enough movement.

Oh I do get the odd CTD so I quick save a lot several times during a turn just in case now so if it dose crash I can load it up close to were I was.

Sorry i really should ahve said more. I believe 'some' 64bit vista systems may have had no problems, but mine and many others have a random crashing issue with ETW, that no one seems to know what the cause is and CA can't be bothered fixing it. Having said that ETW is very stable on my XP 32bit install and I do not have random crashes with ETW on my XP 32bit install. So if you play it its recommended on xp. On 7? I ahve no idea I haven't installed my free copy yet.

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Originally Posted by Durallan

On 7? I ahve no idea I haven't installed my free copy yet.

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I've been playing ETW on Windows 7 64-bit, and it's stable as a rock. The only gripe is that it doesn't alt-tab to the desktop properly, but there are few games that do (kudos to Dragon Age).

"Replayability" is a biggie. I'd say ETW is as replayable as any other CA game, with one caveat; it's the mods that make the games long-term investments, and I'm not seeing many for ETW as yet. Apparently the modding tools are MIA. Once this is corrected, ETW should be a more-or-less permanent fixture on my hard drive.

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Originally Posted by Lemur

Apparently the modding tools are MIA. Once this is corrected, ETW should be a more-or-less permanent fixture on my hard drive.

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I think they're KIA now, aren't they. Didn't Kieran say in a recent interview that modding tools for ETW aren't going to happen?

You know, Napoleon is around the corner, should wait and get that or get ETW at a big discount some where.

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Originally Posted by Owen Glyndwr

I think they're KIA now, aren't they. Didn't Kieran say in a recent interview that modding tools for ETW aren't going to happen?

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No he didn't. People are twisting his words as usual.

He said that they wanted to finish everything first before jumping into the mods just like they did with the MP campaign. People kept crying about the MP campaign will never be released and blah blah blah and next thing you know they release a beta version of it now that they're comfortable with the system.

They stated specifically it'll be after the game's released. It's not an "if" it's a "when".

I should also point out that CA wants to release a unit editor which will allow us to make our own "regiments" but this will be after the game is released.

Though I'm with Beskar on this OP, wait for NTW unless you really want to fight and colonies the Americas and India.

Problem with products these days is that the next one makes the previous one obselete.

I finally bought it today, I managed to get the last copy of the Special Forces edition. Packaging looks good, I'm eagerly waiting to see how the game goes. :yes:

And?

Tell us your first impressions. I'm quite interested in the opinion of someone who isn't jaded by the unfulfilled promisses and bad patch upon bad patch.

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Originally Posted by edyzmedieval

I finally bought it today, I managed to get the last copy of the Special Forces edition. Packaging looks good, I'm eagerly waiting to see how the game goes. :yes:

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OUCH!

It just came out at 50% discount on Steam.

I hope you didn't pay full price for it some where.

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Originally Posted by Beskar

OUCH!

It just came out at 50% discount on Steam.

I hope you didn't pay full price for it some where.

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I paid full price for it, but I paid because it is the retail version. Special editions always make me get the cash out of my pocket, but it's only because of TW. The only special editions I buy are from the TW series.

I just like the fancy packaging, the map, the extra paper with the code and outlining the bonus you have...