factions?special units? Strategies?

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Originally Posted by geala

Infantry carrees were beaten not seldomly by cavalry charges (mostly when shattered before with fire). In the Prussian army of Frederic II. in the 18. c. the making of carrees was forbidden, the Prussian infantry had to face cavalry charges in line. Well trained Infantry in line often beat attacking columns.

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I agree. If they fight in the classical two men deep line formation, the whole batallion could fire at the enemy at once. It would be suicide for the enemy to attack in a column where most of the soldiers can't do anything.

Iirc the column formation was a french invention of the post-revolution coalition-wars of the 1790's. It wasn't so much about fighting, it was about moving. The french invented the levée en masse and had the advantage of soldiers being more willing to fight for their country which made this new formation possible and so gave the French the advantage of increased tactical flexibility. The mercenary armies of the absolute monarchies were bound to a much more rigid formation. They had to start the battle advancing in line-formation because otherwise the mercenaries would have most likely broken up the formation because of them trying to flee from the battlefield.

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Originally Posted by Warluster

I really wish they had a Australia. They might, as they are including South East Asia, but...

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hmm, mass spamming Ned Kelly and his Gang of Invincible Armoured Bush- Rangers against some local natives with spears and boomerang would be overkill :)

It just dawned on me that we probably won't see the almighty camel in this TW game. :sad: And even if they include it with the ottomans, it won't be almighty anymore.

That said, I'm really curious about the ottoman roster and how they will play. I suspect something similar to HRE/Seleucids from previous games, i.e. huge empire with everybody gnawing at them right from the start. But - depending on the design of the economy - they could and should be a powerhouse in the hands of the skilled player.

I'm an American, and I am psyched that finally the US gets a chance to whoop some European ass for once.

I do think that early American forces should be lower in quality/ability than that of their European counterparts, which only makes sense.

*HOWEVER*

The US should be able to develop into a colonial power after upgrading buildings, expansion, etc. just to make the game a little more interesting and not just a re-telling of history. Afterall, half the fun is changing history when you play, not just playing the same thing over again. Afterall, a US invasion of Portugal would be ridiculous, but who knows, it would probably be really fun building up the US like that and taking the fight to Europe.

When it comes to units, I think American forces should start out more like militia and minutemen with some regulars here and there. Also, I think a form of frontiersmen would be cool also, where they can maybe hide on the battlefield or excel in hand to hand combat from contact with the native americans. Who knows, just some ideas.

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It just dawned on me that we probably won't see the almighty camel in this TW game.

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Don't forget the almighty elephant :laugh4:

Merc armies?
First I have heard of them. The Lin was used in order to maximize firepower. It also meant that infantry was less likely to be destroyed by artillery.
Most armies fought three lines deep (the Prussian only changed to two due to heavy casualties), the British officially two by '59.

I dislike having to drag the infantry into lines. Every single time. I would rather just a simple CTRL+L for line, CTRL+C for column of march. Simple.

Platoon fire? Yes. Especially for the Dutch

I also hope that veteran battalions should be able to fire more quickly than newbie battalions from Sussex.

Personally, I hope that they have more interesting names. For example
2 regiments from Sussex? On the campaign screen, they are now the 1st and 2nd Sussex, instead of just 2 regiments.

I believe you can name you're units.

I am unclear on what it is they have planed with sieges. What I read said buildings were not confined to cities etc. forcing more open field battles to protect infrastructure.

So far as special units go, I am hoping for the option to land most of a ships crew to assault towns, small garrisons etc. That is how it worked in some areas, though they were usually raids and they didn't try to hold the area. But it is loot for the treasury:idea2: .

I wonder if they will make Indian troops (Native American) colonial militias or allied armies? I know they were treated as allies and often had to be handled with kid gloves to get them into action but their presence could be devastating under the right conditions.

I don't know too much about what was going on in Africa and India at the time but I am sure there would be some cool situations to manage as the Colonial Powers.

The mechanics for colonial rebellion will also be important as the Napoleonic Wars also brought on colonial revolts almost everywhere.

Thinking about it I am wondering if only 50 factions is enough:laugh4:

i will be very dissapointed if all the playable factions are European)western

it will be too much of the same thing.

i never understood why they cant make most factions playable, even if they have little chance of success.

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Originally Posted by Bopa the Magyar

I believe you can name you're units.

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666th Guards Brigade :2thumbsup:
Nappy's finest :2thumbsup:
1st Cannonfodder Brigade :2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Daithi MacGuillaCathair

i will be very dissapointed if all the playable factions are European)western

it will be too much of the same thing.

i never understood why they cant make most factions playable, even if they have little chance of success.

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CA is a company, and companies like money. That is why Great Britain, France, etc. get the lime light while other nations from say eastern europe or the balkans get shafted. CA's audience is more western european and american, so of course that will be reflected in the game's semi-neglect of certain parts of the world.

but i could be wrong.

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Originally Posted by Daithi MacGuillaCathair

i never understood why they cant make most factions playable, even if they have little chance of success.

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It probably comes down to two reasons:

1) Special touches and "localization" for the major playable factions, like battle speeches that are appropriate for the faction, architectural details for the buildings, and historical names for family members, agents, advisors, etc. The developers don't have the resources to localize every faction to the same degree, especially for things like voice acting and the 3D building models.

2) Playtesting resources are probably also limited. It's easier (and you get the game sooner) if most of the player testing is done with a few major factions. You might have noticed when unlocking some of the "non-player" factions in RTW and M2TW, that they aren't always as well-balanced as the main player factions.

Just my opinion, but I'd rather have a few factions with more attention paid to them, than having limited resources spread out among all the factions. Later on, modders can take up the slack and do any tweaking needed for balancing the "lesser" factions, although apparently some things like the voice acting are still determined by the core design.

It makes sense to me that since Empire is showcasing naval battles (and big ones!), that their main focus for initial player factions are the major seafaring powers. I know that upsets people who want to see, say, the Swiss as a major playable faction. :inquisitive: But that seems reasonable to me.
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Originally Posted by Daithi MacGuillaCathair

i will be very dissapointed if all the playable factions are European)western

it will be too much of the same thing.

i never understood why they cant make most factions playable, even if they have little chance of success.

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Exactly!

I'd like to see ships to have more and more movement points as they get better. I also hope it doesn't take years to cross the Atlantic.

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i never understood why they cant make most factions playable, even if they have little chance of success.

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Because
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showp...9&postcount=57
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showp...9&postcount=57

now Russia will be totally awesome to play with in this time period, but how far to the east can you get? I wonder what the map is gonna be like, and thanks to the new engine there probably won't be nomore of those huge provinces we got in the russian region in medieval and rome

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Originally Posted by Trax

Because
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showp...9&postcount=57
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showp...9&postcount=57

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Thats not a good excuse. In the last game with unplayable factions, the most challenging and fun faction (Numidia) was unplayable. And I believe the Arabs in Barbarian Invasion were, too.

Well, as long as the old text file change works, no use complaining about it. Pretty easy fix.

lets just hope they are as easy to make playable as in the last games.