Napoleon: Total War (Official Expansion Thread)

Total War brings a legend to life


Step into the shoes of the legendary French general, Napoleon Bonaparte, in the new chapter of the critically acclaimed and massively popular Total War series.
In Napoleon: Total War, aspiring generals have the chance to play as the legendary French general Napoleon Bonaparte or as one of his rivals.
The turn-based campaign is split into three different story-driven episodes, following the rise and fall of Napoleon, from his Italian and Egyptian campaigns to his famous showdown with the Duke of Wellington at The Battle of Waterloo.
Napoleon: Total War expands on the successful Total War series by taking all the features from previous games such as the full 3D land and naval battles, the detailed campaign map, and an in-depth diplomacy system and taking them a step further.

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LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (August 19th, 2009) – SEGA Europe Ltd. and SEGA of America, Inc. today announced Napoleon: Total War, the first in an all-new story driven branch of The Creative Assembly’s multi award winning Total War RTS franchise. Napoleon: Total War will keep the franchise’s genre-leading 3D battles on land and sea. The turn-based campaign is split into three different story-driven campaigns, telling the story of the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte through his most famous battles.

In Napoleon: Total War, aspiring generals have the chance to play as the legendary French general Napoleon Bonaparte or as one of his opposing factions. Battling through his three biggest military campaigns, the game will take you through Italy and Egypt, narrating the early years of the fearsome commander, while the third campaign will tell the story of his fateful drive towards Moscow and, ultimately, his showdown with the Duke of Wellington at one of the most famous battles of all – The Battle of Waterloo.

“In Napoleon: Total War you get to actually be Napoleon - to face the problems he faced, to win the battles he won, and to build the Empire he built. Or better,” commented Mike Simpson, Creative Director at The Creative Assembly and father of the Total War franchise. “However, the game allows you to step in the shoes of his opposing generals as well, allowing the player to rewrite history as they see fit.”

Napoleon: Total War expands on the successful Total War series by taking all the features from previous games such as the full 3D land and naval battles, the detailed campaign map, and an in depth diplomacy system and taking them a step further.

Napoleon: Total War hits shelves in February 2010.



For more information please visit www.totalwar.com/napoleon or www.sega.com

For assets and press registration please visit http://www.sega-press.com

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http://www.sega-australia.com/news/?n=3411

Just received from SEGA

David, (my name) can you rival Napoleon?
http://www.sega.co.uk/games/napoleon-total-war/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7RHiyWHuV0

Yup, thats what the first part is, the email to all subscribers.

The question is will it be “In Napoleon: Total War you get to actually be Napoleon - to face the problems he faced, to win the battles he won, and to build the Empire he built. Or better,” commented Mike Simpson, Creative Director at The Creative Assembly and father of the Total War franchise. “However, the game allows you to step in the shoes of his opposing generals as well, allowing the player to rewrite history as they see fit.”

Or will it be ETW with slightly different Napoleonesce fantasy uniforms, refighting the American Civil War in Europe using mythical weapons.

Isn't it a stand alone game not an expansion.

This is going to make modding strange if its stand-alone...

Also, what happened to Spain? Italy, N. Africa, and Moscow but no Spain? I don't think he was actually there but still.

IGN Napolen Total War Preview

Damnit CA... FIX YOUR GAME FIRST PLEASE!! Don't go expanding till your sitting on a stone chair not a sand one...

Its no being released for 6 months...

The simple fact that they have improved so much so quickly makes me sad. This should have been E:TW.

Regardless, if they are releasing their evolution so quickly, their next revolution must not be that far off... Think 2011/2012 for...Shogun and Rome 2?

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Originally Posted by pevergreen

Its no being released for 6 months...

The simple fact that they have improved so much so quickly makes me sad. This should have been E:TW.

Regardless, if they are releasing their evolution so quickly, their next revolution must not be that far off... Think 2011/2012 for...Shogun and Rome 2?

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They'll be wanting to use their shiny new naval combat engine so I'm betting on Rome 2.

Just thought i'd give you link to how they're taking it on TWC

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=288217

Boooooring! :juggle2:

Ok, it picks up where ETW ends but I'm not going to buy this one right away, possibly never, maybe if ETW actually has a campaign AI by that time.

Ugh, an expansion already? I think the one who summed about it about fighting with mythical weapons is right. ETW sucks, NTW (not the Lordz thing!) will prolly suck even more. And be mod unfriendly to boot.

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Originally Posted by Husar

Boooooring! :juggle2:

Ok, it picks up where ETW ends but I'm not going to buy this one right away, possibly never, maybe if ETW actually has a campaign AI by that time.

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I'm not buying anymore TW titles. Don't think the majority in EB team are either, if the recent comments on the internal fora are indicative.

Story driven campaigns? This is what I feared. I guess this means that we can't conquer certain parts of the map, or play as certain nations. If it was just the Napoleonic era, and you could play as anyone you wanted. I'd be much happier with this.

Right now, it's a pass for me.

There is a grand campaign style campaign on Europe in Napoleon.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

There is a grand campaign style campaign on Europe in Napoleon.

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Ok ...and? Is it same shallow , no-AI campaign that we have now?I am sorry , but CA has done seeing my money , and judging on response from 3 different forums i am not alone.

What happened to "magnificent AI", moding tools and "most modable version of TW " that we were told about prior to ETW release.I guess we consumers were beta testing game for you, and payed to do that in addition.So no thanks...ever again.

Saying that , i suggest to everyone to keep away from any CA product, until they make their words count.Otherwise we will never see decent game from them again.

Cynic says: This is CA's way of saying "Sorry guys, we screwed up with ETW. Here's another game that works. $60 please."

Optimist says: This is a good opportunity for CA to actually listen to the community this time around. They can screw with ETW and turn it into Starcraft all they want, while making NTW into a good and somewhat realistic strategy game.

College Student Says: Where am I gonna get that $60?

Temporarily stickied.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

There is a grand campaign style campaign on Europe in Napoleon.

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Well that's something, at least. Although to be blunt, I too feel CA has no business working on an expansion when the original game still needs some heavy-duty patching before it's worth playing again.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

There is a grand campaign style campaign on Europe in Napoleon.

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That sounds good - the Napoleonic wars are very well suited to the TW model: lots of warring factions at each other's throats. Losing India and America may be a plus if it allows more provinces in Europe. I think restricting the number of homeland provinces in ETW made it too easy to permanently knock out a major faction. Contrast that with the Spanish ulcer or the invasion of Russia, where two factions were almost impossible to knock-out. Some kind of faction re-emergence or other mechanic would be good, e.g. to model the re-emergence of Prussia and to some extent Austria after their defeats (heck, even France itself in 1815).

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I'm going to give this one a shot. Aside from the fact that I love the era and was devastated that they left this out of ETW proper, the past two installments in the Total War series have seen expansions that were better than their original counterparts. Kingdoms in particular. I think the trend will continue here.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

There is a grand campaign style campaign on Europe in Napoleon.

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So that means no Americas or India? How will this effect things like the Louisiana purchase, or Britain's income from controlling India? Will there still be trade spots that we can get resources from? Will we see new resources now that the player probably won't be able to get tobacco, coffee, and tea?

Well if it's standalone at least I don't have to buy Empire.

I agree with you Alexander the Pretty Good!
My thoughts precisely! :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

There is a grand campaign style campaign on Europe in Napoleon.

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Yet the IGN piece stated this was the evolution, so, keeping to your trend, next should be a new engine, with the associated revolution.

Which leads us to believe that there will be no expansion pack for E:TW though this could easily be seen as one.

Nope. Not getting it. The current state of ETW is appalling. The game has gotten progressively more and more unplayable as the patches have progressed. Give me some AI that treats individual nations as actual nations, not speedbumps that throw themselves upon the player to halt progress. Give me AI that has at least some concept of how to resolve a war. THAT is what I need improved in the game. Not fancier animations, not fancier uniforms, not elimination of clone armies.

Grr...

No War of 1812 (in its entirety and playable as both US and England)? :bigcry:

I understand this is a very exciting time for CA but...

whatever happened to the multiplayer campaign beta? Is that now planned for N:TW? Will we need to buy N:TW for MP campaign? Is it even on the drawing board at this point? Understand this was a huge selling point of ETW for me and was hyped like crazy right before launch.

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Originally Posted by Monk

I understand this is a very exciting time for CA but...

whatever happened to the multiplayer campaign beta? Is that now planned for N:TW? Will we need to buy N:TW for MP campaign? Is it even on the drawing board at this point? Understand this was a huge selling point of ETW for me and was hyped like crazy right before launch.

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I think they're hoping we'll forget about that.

I'll wait for the reviews from players.

I did not buy ETW; the games leading up to it were progressively worse. From what ppl have said about ETW I think I made the right choice.

Napoleon sounds like a dream come true; everything is there in the engine to make it work, I just don't feel CA can. CA has demonstrated an inability to deliver an opponent AI worthy of my time (let alone money)

Just MHO, I would be very happy to be proved wrong.

What it's really starting to sound like to me, is CA rolled out this "new engine" for N:TW and charged us $50 for it so they could receive our feedback and appropriately finetune the engine so they could paste the tested engine onto N:TW and sell this to us as a finished product...for another $50.

In essence we have been their unwitting Guinea Pigs. Paying Beta testers, in the fullest sense of the term.

I'm sorry CA, but you will not get another cent out of me. I don't care if N: TW turns out to be the masterstroke of strategy games and one of the greatest video games of all time. I'm tired of the empty promises. I'm tired of the simulated hype. I'm tired of the falsified p/reviews, and most of all, I'm tired of playing unfinished products.

Come back here once you learn how to treat your long-time fans as valued customers and not walking wallets waiting to be scammed out of their money, and then we can talk games. Until then I'll be playing EB, thank you very much.

CA is starting to sound like EA before the big spore scene...

It sounds great, but then again ETW sounded great too - and it has gotten worse as more "fixes" (non reversible ones too) have been released. :furious3: They really should fix the current game rather than devote all those resources to a new one. :wall:

I will definitely not be buying this one until there has been lots of player feedback about how good or bugged it is, unlike previous TW games. Sad, but the whole once bitten twice shy thing comes to mind...

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Originally Posted by Monk

I understand this is a very exciting time for CA but...

whatever happened to the multiplayer campaign beta? Is that now planned for N:TW? Will we need to buy N:TW for MP campaign? Is it even on the drawing board at this point? Understand this was a huge selling point of ETW for me and was hyped like crazy right before launch.

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The MP campaign beta is still coming for ETW.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

The MP campaign beta is still coming for ETW.

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Hm. Well, okay then! Good to know you guys haven't forgotten.

Thanks Lusted.

I still can't get ETW to work on my computer (CTD when you are going to battle screen but ONLY in campaign mode not custom mode), so they are not getting any more of my money. I have been hugely disappointed wth ETW having been an avid fan of the series prior to it.

The most important question for me is:
Is it now possible to invade another country, maybe even claim one or two provinces and get a favourable peace treaty without destroying the other faction.
With the exception of Poland no other great countries during this timeframe were totally "absorbed" form the winner.
Maybe the winner installed a puppet regime, but it was still a independent( minus taxes, vassalage tributes or something else) country.
I would find it rather boring to conquer Europe with Napoleon and paint the map in my french blue colours.
Also the re-emerging of counties is not the same thing. Austria and Prussia for example were not destroyed by Napoleon. They still existed, although defeated.

Have anyone thought that it's SEGA who pushes CA to make another game? Perhaps CA would finish ETW if they could but with SEGA on their back they can't? AFAIK, ETW was very popular and it would be easy to use it's popularity to make another game with the same time period.

EDIT: Also, Orgahs should consider the fact that many of those who bought ETW never visit any of the forums and actually don't know how many faults ETW have.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

The MP campaign beta is still coming for ETW.

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Very appropriate name for it , considering that rest of the game is still beta also.And thank you for letting us pay for beta testing your game :thumbsdown:

Now we will move on and waste yet more money for finished(highly unlikely) product that we actually were suppose to get at the first place.:no:

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Originally Posted by Ibn-Khaldun

Have anyone thought that it's SEGA who pushes CA to make another game?

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Yes. It also doesn't matter. An inferior product is just that; I do not doubt that CA could produce something worthwhile, its just that they don't. Point fingers anywhere you want, in the end I have to judge them on the product I receive.

Its simple fact that the community will never be happy.

I made a big post somewhere else, but this gmae is unfinished = unhappy.
Blizzard delays games until finished = unhappy.

deal with it. :shrug:

Interesting find on the CA website:

Job vacancy:

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Auction systems programmer -
ideally you will have worked on a shipped title including an in-game auction system, but you will certainly have good database and networking skills, including scalability and security.

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Uhh...what? Like Auction as in MMO auction, selling items and so forth? If so...wow. What could this be for?

Is it the same CA studio that's doing NTW or is it the main one that did ETW?

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Originally Posted by pevergreen

Interesting find on the CA website:
Uhh...what? Like Auction as in MMO auction, selling items and so forth? If so...wow. What could this be for?

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Doesn't sound like a great development to me, especially if it has anything to do with the mp beta...

Maybe you can buy your general Napoleon's saddle-cloth for a a morale booster to your army or something equally idiotic.

This whole thing is completely absurd. Who on earth at CA or SEGA thought it was a good idea to cut and run from ETW so quickly? And the cheek to email all subscribers to SEGA about being "ready for a challenge", well they are bloody running away from one.

meh.

Just to be the Devils Advocate for a minute and throw a spanner in the works and make everyone think outside the square,

Most of the programming has been done in Empire Total War, considering NTW is using the same engine there isn't going to be a whole lot for the programmers to do, which they would more likely be spending time on getting the Campaign and Battle AI up a few notches, but as an open letter to CA and Sega, Again, if the CAI and BAI isn't up to scratch in your expansion (or up to scratch by the time its released), No more Total War games for me.

I do not expect the AI to do everything I think they should do (life isn't fair generally) but,

1 The AI needs to figure out how to play the game and have a chance of winning (forming alliances allying with like minded countries, Good relations etc) cause right now none of them get that big without player intervention or intentional non-intervention

2 There has to be some way to randomize the outcomes of the game or influence it (random events?), after all it is a game and we do not want to see history repeat itself everytime we play a campaign (do historically minded people agree?) unless the randomization process is the faction that the player choose's themselves and the world organises itself into its different alliances and factions. (or is this too much for the historically minded people?)

3 AI should learn to trade, utilize the trade nodes and manage its economy, they have given up in the later patches (is it really that hard to program the AI to be good at managing the empire? I suppose you want a bit of randomness so not every faction is the same but still...)

4 The AI needs to figure out how to protect its countries, IE don't guard the village, guard the fort or the capital, and don't send raiding parties unless they are excess units, DON'T BREAK UP YOUR ARMY to do it!

5 Better Sieges would be nice, I really don't know how you would do that but it is so lame that they run up to the walls, climb the walls, run to the flag and try to capture it one regiment at a time, coordinated assaults are needed! I know that must be hard for a bunch of routines but it must be done before the expansion is released!

I'm sure there are many other things that can be added to the list, but thats pretty much a bare minimum of STANDARD that I would expect as a consumer if I'm to purchase this expansion as well ( I Pre-Ordered Empire I thought it would be so awesome, and while I was pleasantly suprised with naval battle ( I know a few people were disappointed, but me being so desperate for some sort of age of sail naval simulator thats half decent, I didn't complain) and the shiney graphics, you hurt my feelings CA, you did.):fortune:

Nope. Wasted $50 on Empire, which won't work on my computer, so CA is all done getting money from me. :skull:

If you want me, I'll be playing M2TW.

Gamestar, a german pc gaming magazine has published a preview from the gamescom at cologne:
http://www.gamestar.de/preview/strat...total_war.html

So I knocked up a quick translation for all you non-german speakers.

Napoleon: Total War

At the Gamescom we took a first look at Napoleon, the expansion to Empire: Total war.

Napoleon: Total War is not only gonna feature one campaign, but three. In the stand alone Addon for the strategy hit Empire:Total War you will follow the career of the just as powerhungry as well as small frenchman - from general to emperor. The first campaign will lead you to Italy, the second one to Egypt and the near east. The thirds campaigns focus will be the struggle for Europe.

In the first two campaigns you will only command the french army, while having the option of playing as another european nation in the last one. Just like the tutorial campaign in Empire: Total War, you will have to win one campaign to unlock the next. Hence if you feel like going to war as Prussia, you'll have to lead the French to victory beforehand.

Smaller campaign maps

The three campaigns of Napoleon: Total War do not take place on the regular Empire globe, but on special and smaller campaign maps. Napoleons first campaign focuses on northern Italy, the last one on european nations and the western russian border provinces. Take a note: provinces, plural.

Contrary to the very rough world map of empire(with France consisting of just two regions) the scenarios of Napoleon: Total War are divided up into many more areas.

In the campaigns of Napoleon: Total War historical missions will give you a general guideline. In Italy for example, Napoleon does not have to conquer all cites but just important population centres like Milan or Turin. Additionally there are different kind of troops available to the general in each theater. In Italy he commands only unexperienced regiments, in the near east battle proven veterans and mercenaries like camel riders.

Supply lines and Resources

Contrary to Empire you will have to care about the supply of your army, as your troops will continously suffer losses in difficult terrain like snow steppes, deserts and mountains. If one doesnt make sure his suppy lines are intact, he will soon face his Waterloo. To secure the supply of your troops you have to build depots and build up conquered farms. There are also new resources in place on the campaign map of Napoleon: Total War, contrary to Empire though they will not be a source of money but instead bring specific advantages with them. One certain italian province will provide especially robust horses, and through conquering that province you improve the strength of your cavalry.

Cities and Agents

You will expand cities in Napoleon: Total War in three different development paths: industrial, economical or intellectual. Industrial metropoles will provide you with the most advanced troops, economical centers will earn you more tax income and improve the supply of your troops. "Intellectual" cities not only make your citizens happier with buildings like operas, but also allow the recruiting of spies. These agents will replace the rakes of Empire and of course are used to spy on enemy armies and the like - an immense tactical advantage.

Armies and Generals

In the first two campaigns of Napoleon: Total War you'll best avoid casualties as much as possible, since supply is not only costly but recruitment is scheduled to take a lot longer than in Empire. Only in the last campaign there will be more troops at your disposal, since as an Emperor, Napoleon commands the whole french army.

You will not just recruit generals in Napoleon: Total War by clicking a button, but instead choose historical persons from a list of generals. Every one of those leaders will offer certain skills - one might be good at sieges while another one is more efficient at mountain combat. Hence you should choose your general always depending on where your armies are gonna be fighting.
In the real time battles every general now has an area of influence, all allied units within that area profit from a boost in morale. Therefore sending your general directly to the frontline now makes sense. Napoleon himself rides over the battlefields as well and has special talents like a warcry that improves the attack value of all nearby french troops.

Advancements on the battlefield

The developers are promising further gameplay innovations, for example cannon balls will leave their mark on the terrain, i.e. craters - just no major ones. "Our terrain is not completely deformable", says Creative Assembly director of communications, Kieran Brigden. But the craters will have an actual gameplay effect by hindering cavalry and providing limited cover.
Assaults on cities will play out more dynamically as it will take less time to garisson or clear buildings with infantry, which will allow the player to move their troops around more to be able to push back the enemy house by house.
In naval battles the warships profit from new abilities like being able to repair smaller damages themselves - limited of course.

Diplomacy

In the first two campaigns of Napoleon: Total War you won't have to mind about diplomatical finesse as the short frenchman is just a general, not a leader of a country. Only in the last campaign you'll have to care about dealing diplomatically with other countries.
There will be additional options like getting other nations to fight each other, Kieran Brigden did not want to reveal anything detailed. "Let's put it this way", he oracles "You'll be able to do more good to your friends and more bad to your enemies."

AI and Multiplayer

The AI combatants are supposed to be smarter in Napoleon: Total War, and be able to hand the new gameplay mechanics. At least Bigden says so. We can only wait, as Creative Assembly made the AI issues bigger with the patches for Empire: Total War rather than patching them.
Those who at last want to fight against a human adversary in the real time based campaign should be happy as Brigden promises that the beta test of the multiplayer mode for the regular Empire campaign will start before the release of Napoleon: Total War. You will be able to play together both via LAN or the internet, and the european campaign of Napoleon will be playable in this multiplayer mode as well. If this beta test will start early enough will will see at the latest point in the 1st 1. quarter of 2010, which is the scheduled release date of Napoleon: Total War

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Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Contrary to the very rough world map of empire(with France consisting of just two regions) the scenarios of Napoleon: Total War are divided up into many more areas.

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Contrary to Empire you will have to care about the supply of your army, as your troops will continously suffer losses in difficult terrain like snow steppes, deserts and mountains. If one doesnt make sure his suppy lines are intact, he will soon face his Waterloo.

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These are two very welcome changes. :2thumbsup:

Sounds interesting.

Ohh... I get it now.....

colour me red and spank my arse

I was the idiot who bought ETW!! when I shouldve waited and bought the finished NTW instead

Im sorry, silly me for not reading the small print that ETW was a testing release

Im a little DISAPPOINTED about this.

Oh NTW sounds wonderful ... ITs sounds like its everything ETW was sposed to be but wasn't

and yeh it makes me want to buy it


but...

Im afraid I will be the one to suffer for punishing this company for cheating me with ETW

so like Kingdoms I wont be buying NTW and yep I'll probably miss out on the best of the game

Ive really goto learn not to buy the testing title next time if I ever buy a TW again

I feel like I been POKED!!! and it may take some time for that feeling to pass.

:thumbsdown:

If I had known that CA is going to release a new stand alone game based almost on the same period, same engine, same system requirements and with many improved features, I wouldn't have bought Empire:TW for 60$ considering its current condition. Worst video game investment of my life.

To me it looks like a standalone add-on or an expansion in all but name. But based on about 3 images and the little info that has been released to the public I could be wrong.

Hopefully some of the fixes and improvements to the AI etc for Napoleon will make it to Empire as they use the same engine and we have this steam thing to give us updates.

As I like Empire, I prefer it to Rome and M2TW not as good as the original and best Medieval. I will probably buy it at some point.

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Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Gamestar, a german pc gaming magazine has published a preview from the gamescom at cologne:
http://www.gamestar.de/preview/strat...total_war.html

So I knocked up a quick translation for all you non-german speakers.

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Waow, thanks for the effort taken to translate that! :balloon2:

Well I don't think this is doing right by the fans who bought Empire, but it sounds pretty good.

Lets not forget that it was the same with ETW, its easy to say this and that and the game is going to be awesome but it failed. All in all im very dissapointed and for the first time im not really looking forward to a CA title.

I simply will not buy this game. ETW was a major scam IMO, and I stopped playing after a week, cause it was simply boring, I refuse to believe NTW is that much better.

One day CA might release a game again that is worthwile playing, untill then I'll be waiting for EB 2.

Lusted, can you confirm whether or not this is an expansion (Like V. I., B. I., Alexander, or Kingdoms etc) or this is a brand new game in the sense of M2:TW is to R:TW.

Edit:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...68#post5804568

According to this, N:TW is a stand-alone game, they have done to E:TW what Valve did to Left4Dead. Pour honey in your ear with promises then repackage those into a new game for you to buy.

Perhaps I should have done what I did with the previous titles I own. Buy them all in a Era's boxset for £15 play them and enjoy them, and all the mods that go with them from over the years.

Also, when does E:TW actually get the mod tools released?

I doubt there will be a response, but I feel compelled to ask as well.

Jack Lusted, what is your response to all the people who feel that ETW was basically a very expensive beta CA essentially conned them into? I'm feeling a little that way myself. I haven't moved into either the "OMG BUY" or the "OMG NEVER AGAIN" camp, but I feel the latter side has some legitimate concerns.

Why so soon? I mean, really, CA's marketing department REALLY should have anticipated this backlash. Do they just not care? What, if anything, will be done to address the concerns and objections brought forward by current ETW owners?

Cynical response: "We don't care about you, the silent majority will still buy the game and we will be rolling it in, especially after we bribe reviewers to rate it higher than they such."

Optimistic response: "We will actually deliver on our promises, plus add even more to the game."

What will happen response: "-doesn't reply to question-"

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Originally Posted by Beskar

According to this, N:TW is a stand-alone game, they have done to E:TW what Valve did to Left4Dead. Pour honey in your ear with promises then repackage those into a new game for you to buy.

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L4D2 will be compatible with L4D. Obviously not new content, but still.

As my post above yours somewhere says, the IGN article states it is a new game, the evolution in the series.

So this thread title is wrong.

I found a link to this at the TWCenter, GameSpot Napoleon: Total War Impressions

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Best of all, owners of Empire will be able to upgrade their existing game with the new Napoleon engine, giving Empire a new visual lease on life.

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If true it seems good news.

Whoopee, so you can see the men’s faces now. How very exciting in a game add-on when the game is still very lacking in function and more importantly, enjoyment...

Fix what’s wrong without breaking more stuff before you hype another title to us, okay.:inquisitive:

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Originally Posted by Zerg

I found a link to this at the TWCenter, GameSpot Napoleon: Total War Impressions



If true it seems good news.

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Okay, that's alot better since we won't have a split mod community and hopefully any new AI enhancements and naval combat features carry over too.

I won't believe anything until I read about it actually being in the released game. All these vague promises and possible features mean nothing.

I remember when all the reviewers were giving E:TW 100/100 before patch 1 when the game didn't even load for 90% of the player base.

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Originally Posted by Beskar

I remember when all the reviewers were giving E:TW 100/1000 before patch 1 when the game didn't even load for 90% of the player base.

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I think %10 might be considered a very fair review by some people :P

But I'd say it was more like 1/3 of the user base that couldn't load the game at all.

The vocal ones came and complained, for those that it worked, they didnt.

How it has been, how it always shall be.

So.....are we going to have to still buy NTW to update ETW to the newer graphical improvements, or will this be featured in a 1.5 or 1.6 patch?

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Originally Posted by pevergreen

L4D2 will be compatible with L4D. Obviously not new content, but still.

As my post above yours somewhere says, the IGN article states it is a new game, the evolution in the series.

So this thread title is wrong.

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A stand-alone expansion can still add content to the original game (Dawn of war and Dark Crusade, for instance). The stand-alone aspect just means it comes with the core files so people won't need to buy ETW to have it, they will just sacrifice in content in some areas if they don't. "Stand alone addons" are still considered expansions, so the title is fine. :thumbsup:

I think it's telling the reactions of many within the community, I've already outlined my feelings as to why in the "How much would you pay" thread and my feelings have not changed. When I bought ETW i knew it was buggy, but I stuck with it because I knew how much potential it had. CA, you surprised me by keeping at the patching process despite the difficulty and pledged to continue to patch. But when you made that pledge I didn't expect to be facing down the reveal of (what amounts to) a $40 patch hardly five months later. IMO making N:TW a stand-alone when E:TW is still so new was a huge mistake.

Also, I'd like to post a friendly reminder to my fellow Orgahs. Lets keep the focus on ETW and N:TW and not CA, putting words in their mouth and putting specific devs on the spot won't get us the answers we seek.

I don't think that they could get away with this sort of thing withey didn't hold such a monopoly on the niche genre.

Oh well, depending on how it connects together, it might work out pretty well. Supreme Commander had the same thing with a standalone expansion and that completely fixed a ton of things and made the game balanced.

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Originally Posted by IGN Preview

Napoleon Total War will build on the engine and framework of Empire Total War, but will add a whole host of new features and extra touches that the developers didn't have time to include in the first game. Kieran Brigden, Communications Manager at Creative Assembly, explains: "The way that Total War development works is we do a kind of evolution-revolution cycle. We create revolutionary technology for one title - in this case Empire, which had a brand new engine written from the ground up - and all new AI. Then, for the next game, we take that technology and evolve it - in this case with Napoleon. We've taken everything we've achieved with Empire and Empire's engine and just pushed it to the limit. Napoleon is essentially the culmination of what we wanted to do with Empire, given the time to take it further."

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Bold is what I'm referring to, underline is the part that will anger people.

Lovely, a 50$ patch after 5 months. Great job CA. *applauds ironically*

:no:

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Originally Posted by pevergreen

The vocal ones came and complained, for those that it worked, they didnt.

How it has been, how it always shall be.

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Actually you have it reversed. Most that have problems never bother to register on a forum and just toss it aside and move on to another game. Thats how it is with items costing less than $100. Thats how its always been and always shall be.

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Originally Posted by Sheogorath

I think %10 might be considered a very fair review by some people :P

But I'd say it was more like 1/3 of the user base that couldn't load the game at all.

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Online polls seem to suggest otherwise, that is if they lasted long enough to be meaningfull before being removed by mods. They vary from between 40 - 50% but in reality this figure would most likely be higher.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sheogorath

I think %10 might be considered a very fair review by some people :P

But I'd say it was more like 1/3 of the user base that couldn't load the game at all.

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I meant 100/100, add an extra zero by accident. What I am saying, the reviewers knew nothing of what they were doing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nebuchadnezzar

Online polls seem to suggest otherwise, that is if they lasted long enough to be meaningfull before being removed by mods. They vary from between 40 - 50% but in reality this figure would most likely be higher.

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%50 or %33, both are unacceptable, but all too common these days. I wasn't suggesting that CA was in the clear for making a broken game, just that %99 was a bit hyperbolic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beskar

I meant 100/100, add an extra zero by accident. What I am saying, the reviewers knew nothing of what they were doing.

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I know, I was just playing around. And I agree. I have to ask myself if there was something going on behind the scenes in that case.

Of course, just about any hyped game is going to get at least a 90 in every major review forum, so it doesn't matter much :\

What was funny was the IGN Prototype review. You must really think there are sometimes backhanders or something, because in the review, it sounds like they didn't give any at all and the reviewer was pretty much:
"I don't even review this genre."
"I wish I could put this down and walk away, but I have to review this as part of my job"
"going around mincing civilians into bloody mess, it is just a tad too much fun for me."

To make it even funnier, Activision used the quote "...a tad too much fun." to sell their game.

Its official:

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Napoleon is a standalone game due out in February 2010, but it will also integrate into Empire, adding units and new tech trees appropriately as the timeline progresses. The first video can be found on Eurogamer TV.

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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/na...preview?page=2

Its a $20-30 patch. That's not too bad. Still won't buy it day one though.

PS. Did anyone rewatch the trailer and realize it was alternate time line where Napolean defeats Russian and invades Britain? He's burning HMS Victory :-p.

This is ok then, its a Dark Crusade to Dawn of War. A stand alone that is really an expansion.

We can relax. It wont be $100 for pever.

Jack, what i really want to know is whether this new "standalone" expansion will upgrade the ETW?

I want to know this because i hate being dependent on Steam for updates and patches, so what i really want is an ETW Gold Edition with all patches applied on install.

Will this be the case?

Cheers.

Define upgrade.

See the post two above your own for a likely answer.