November 2008

[Martok]

Sega.co.uk has an 'Autumn' release date, instead of 'November 2008' like Sega.com. I wonder if Empire will be released in Europe before the US?

While that would be somewhat logical (given that CA is based in the UK), I still doubt it. Games are nearly always released here in the US first, and the Total War titles have been no exception to this rule.

I always get confused when it comes to weather patterns outside Asia. Sega UK saying game is due for an Autumn\Fall release would mean it's due for sometime around September\October right?

Or November; it's certainly possible.

Don't forget that autumn runs from approximately September 21 to December 21, so strictly speaking ETW could be released anywhere in that time frame. Of course, I've never heard of a game not coming out until December, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a November release date.

[Furious Mental]

Actually speaking of this, now that we are having a truly global game and with naval combat, they had better have a proper weather system, with equatorial, tropical, temperate and sub-arctic zones at least. I mean, it would be pretty ridiculous if they had European style summer, winter, autumn and spring in Sri Lanka!

[rajpoot]

On the world map, weather has little effect, apart from storms affecting the fleets on the seas; Atleast as yet.
Most of the weather effects we see are on battle map, and even their affect is pretty slight, save rain and fog which I believe makes a difference with archers.
What effects can weather have in ETW is a topic of discussion, Indian summers and monsoons should cause some sort of negative thing for European troops and not affect local and mercs.......meanwhile the cold winters of Northern regions should affect the people from South and stuff like that........but all the same, it'll still be quite slight on land........on the seas however...........now that will be something.......

[Furious Mental]

Well if they want to make it arcadey they can have ships putter about on the world map like motorboats, but given the fact that it's a global game and that sea transport is going to be even more important, I would hope they at least have trade winds, monsoons, and doldrums. There is a reason they are called 'trade winds' after all. You could invest in research by your fleets to map weather patterns, giving you the advantage in directing your fleets and so forth, and advances in meteorology generally could reduce the incidence of ships being lost at sea.

[rajpoot]

Sounds nice, but I just hope that they make this actually worth what it should be.........like, they are having this new system for tech development, now I've been afraid right since they mentioned it, that the tech 'development' would mean nothing but clicking on a button and losing some of your gold and after a few turns you have a whole new technological advantage..........that'll make it a bit too simple and unrealistic and kind of take the fun out of many a great developments of the era.........I mean, you just pay a lot of gold, sit back for a few turns, and suddenly you have locomotives.............that'll make getting tech superiority too easy, and if I'm not wrong, once you manage to get technologically superior, winning is just a matter of some time.
I just hope they implement it right and don't use the click-pay-research thing for each and every bit they can do it on.

[Furious Mental]

Well, in my opinion technology should be accrued at least partly through practical application. For instance, say there is this 'technology' I suggest, where improved meteorological knowledge leads to faster ships and fewer accidents- it should be acquired through having lots of ships and sending them on lots of voyages. Using artillery would lead to artillery technologies, etc, etc.

I would suggest that you have the ability to build and fund institutions of learning and they could accelerate this process- this would represent in the abstract the role that academics do in collecting and analysing practical knowledge, turning it into coherent theories and disseminating those theories. By allocating resources to particular areas one could further speed things up.

[rajpoot]

Exactly, it should be more than the clicking thing we have in RTSs like Age of Empires and all, actually it was that kind of tech researching that I was afraid of.
This way there'll also be more variety in gameplay, for infantry development use more infantry and so on; will give the game an even more open ended feel.

[aftzengeier]

Moin Eve!


Yes no simple klicking... I think it should also go by buildings. You expand your cannon or musket manufactures more and more until the people invent some speed-production-up/make-it-cheaper technologies. Or another excample: Building larger and larger mines makes more advanced railways needed and the people start developing lokomotives. Building roads should also be good for all parts of the economy - roads simply make things easier!

The other thing that you should be able to do is to back up this development by giving the money needed. Many technologies were delayed in their development because the rich people saw no potencial in it and gave no money to the projects (like the "Eiserner Seehund", an early prussian submarine). Subsidy is the Key!!! (do not believe Iron Maiden)

Of course it shouldn't be so easy with the financials. You beeing the player should be forced to really think if this investment is worth its money or not! Are there enough places in my country to use it? Are there things that I better spent my money for? That would be a nice thing CA!






Maybe you should think about november 2009?

[Martok]

Some interesting ideas there, aftzengeier....one of which brings up a question I'd not yet thought of: I wonder if we'll be able to construct both roads *and* railways? It seems logical that we would, but it's probably wiser to refrain from assuming that's the case unless & until we hear otherwise.

Maybe you should think about november 2009?

Heh. We should only be so lucky.

[Matt_Lane]

I wonder if we'll be able to construct both roads *and* railways?

I'd like to see the ability to build canals and then railways in the second half of the game. If the player invested in developing these they should benefit from an increase in industrial production and therefore increased financial income. In a similar way, as stated elsewhere in the forum, developing sailing technologies (sextant, mapping trade winds) should have a positive effect on trade income.

[Fisherking]

Railways?
You know the first locomotive wasn’t invented until 1803 or there abouts, don’t you?
I don’t think they would have that much of an impact on the game. It would cover less then 1/6th of the game anyway and they didn’t have a major impact until the mid 1830s.

[Furious Mental]

Well the published concept art includes railways. That suggests to me that railways come into it somewhere.

[Matt_Lane]

Wagon ways were used throughout the period but there development increased in pace around the mid 18th century with the needs to haul the bulk goods of the industrial revolution. True steam locomotives did not make an appearance until the early 19th century (Trevithicks Puffin Devil 1801 and Pennydarren 1803) but I would like to see them make an appearance at the end of the game. I'm a little dubious about CA's artwork as they seem to be depicting Locomotion No.1, which pulled the first passenger service in 1825, a little out of the proposed time frame.

[Polemists]

So first since the dev that posted didn't seem to deny the release I suppose that's as close to a unofficial confirmation as we are gonna get.

Second, so does this mean we get a website for empire total war sometime before August now? :)

[Gaius Septembris Minor]

Greet news can't wait!!!

[batemonkey]

hi guys

may i introduce you to The Middleton Railway (in mighty Leeds) the oldest railway in the world, bulit in 1758 (without steam trains but still)

http://www.middletonrailway.org.uk/



picture painted in 1814

[Templar Knight]

Gamespot UK has the release at Q3, Gamespot US has it at Q4. Also Medieval 2 was released in the UK and Europe before the US, although only by about a week.

[rajpoot]

What does Q3/Q4 mean? After 3/4 months?

[Martok]

What does Q3/Q4 mean? After 3/4 months?

It means 3rd quarter and 4th quarter of the year. So 3rd quarter refers to the months July, August, & September, while the 4th quarter refers to October, November, & December.