The latest Q and A is now up...Happy Holidays

[Intrepid Sidekick]

http://totalwarblog.com/

Something to chew on over the Christmas period

[Viking]

Q: Will you be able to see men jumping off the ship when it is sinking?
A: Yes. Some will be holding on for dear life as the ship slips beneath the waves and visits Davy Jones’ Locker. As most sailors of the 18th Century weren’t good swimmers, this is a very sad sight to see. The designers are still angling for ambient sharks (but without frickin’ laser beams on their heads).

Sweet.

[Herkus]

What has to be remembered is that most ships have two broadsides to fire, as well as boarding actions to fight.

Very nice

[Vuk]

Would be kewl if you could individually order some of your men to the masts board from above! :P If the mast got shot off while they were up there, that would be fun. :P

[Barbarian]

This game seems better with each time I read a new info about it

[LadyAnn]

... until you play it :D

Annie

[S.Selim_1]

i didn't like this Q&A coz:
1- talking only of navy
2- many of the Qs will be "answered/talked in another time"......just answer another Q

[Jack Lusted]

1- talking only of navy

Naval battles is the big new feature in Empire(though of course we've got forgotten the other parts of the game), so it should come as no suprise we want to talk about them first, but do not be worried we'll talk about all the aspects of the game as time goes by.

2- many of the Qs will be "answered/talked in another time"......just answer another Q

That's more to let you guys know that we've read some of the things people have been discussing a lot(like how will players be ableto get to India), and we will answer them when the time is right.

[Vladimir]

It's good to see the heavy focus on naval combat. Arrrrrgg!

[hoom]

how will players be ableto get to India

I'm picking an inset showing the area around capetown

[I Am Herenow]

Cape of Good Hope? I'm confused - what's wrong with the Suez Canal?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Cape of Good Hope? I'm confused - what's wrong with the Suez Canal?

If i remember correctly, the game goes up to 1820 at the very max - the canal wasn't even begun until the late 1850's.

[I Am Herenow]

Oh, right - I could have sworn EB had it in though

Anyway, will it be possible to build it (or something similar) during the campaign, then, to let your ships get to India faster?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

There has been a canal in the Suez region, on and off, and to various degrees of size and efficiency, since the time of Ancient Egypt.

[keravnos]

Oh, right - I could have sworn EB had it in though

Anyway, will it be possible to build it (or something similar) during the campaign, then, to let your ships get to India faster?

This was a canal from Nile to red sea created by Dareios I and rebuilt by Ptolemy III, I think.

[S.Selim_1]

This was a canal from Nile to red sea created by Dareios I and rebuilt by Ptolemy III, I think.

they also included it in M2TW..so i don't think it would be much of a problem if they included in empire

and no offense Jack if i thought not answering some Qs is a problem..i'm just curious 2 no as much info as possible :D

[LadyAnn]

The "Nile-to-Red Sea" Canal completed by Darius I was "wide enough to accommodate two triremes crossing each other with oars extended" (according to Wiki). However, it was not usable at all at later time, and certainly not during the 17th century (as Napoleon Bonaparte considered repair it or construct or new canal). All ocean-going ships must go around the Cape in South Africa. Cargo may be unloaded, transported on land, then loaded again. Warships certainly could not go through Egypt.

Annie

[Paradox]

i didn't like this Q&A coz:
1- talking only of navy

This month we are taking the fight to the seas with an indepth look at Naval warfare.

That's the whole point...

[Rhyfelwyr]

I think the naval battles sound incredible, I am going to pre-order one of the limited editions of this game if that is possibe, and I've never done that before.

I would like to see a little bit more on the campaign / land battles though, and I want some Jacobite screenies. Highlanders are not gorillas as in M2TW. I love M2TW but I was a bit disappointed with the Highlander skins, although the armoured Highland model as with Highland Nobles is IMO very nice.

Has anything been mentioned about a release date BTW?

[Wolf_Kyolic]

Q: Do you agree that etw is the final nail in the coffin for the mp community?

A: Yes.

[Puzz3D]

Q: Do you agree that etw is the final nail in the coffin for the mp community?

What irritates me is the attempt to once again sucker people into buying the game by using words such as realism and depth. You'll be playing naval battles and having fun in less than one minute, but the battles are going to have depth? Sounds like double talk to me. It's academic anyway because this company is no longer able to get the coding details implemented correctly. So, what good is a great concept if you can't get the details right?

[Fenix7]

What irritates me is the attempt to once again sucker people into buying the game by using words such as realism and depth.

After RTW was released, multiplayer community probably represented only 1% or 2% of all who bought RTW. I always get the felling that I don't found out nothing new about the upcoming TW game until it is released and I can read other people opinions.

If by any chanse in near future anyone from CA will be addressing multiplayer issues, then there are only few questions:

Q: Will there be multiplayer included at all?
A: Yes./No.

Q: Will be lag problem solved?
A: Yes./No.

Q: Will be MP balanced as it should be (at least like retrofit mod)?
A: Yes./No.

Q: Will there be any new features in MP? If so which one?
A: Yes./No.

Q: Will there be any desync problems?
A: Yes./No.

Q: Will there be a feature for a simple mod upload?
A: Yes./No.

I won't bother you with this no more, because this are most cruical issues which multiplayer community is interested in it, but we guess they won't be addressed as they were not in RTW/BI as not in MTW2/Kingdoms yet they got closer to this, still far away. Thank you for your consideration.

p.s. I would personaly like to thank CA for hosting retrofit mod - it balances the MP aspect of the game. This is how MTW2 and Kingdoms should be done in first place to satisfie MP community expectations.

[Wolf_Kyolic]

p.s. I would personaly like to thank CA for hosting retrofit mod - it balances the MP aspect of the game. This is how MTW2 and Kingdoms should be done in first place to satisfie MP community expectations.

Retrofit fixes balance issues that's true but lag and connection problems will be there forever so the stituation does not seem so brilliant for the future. People won't be bearing those mp problems forever and since next tw is "ships", the end is very near.

Well we cannot blame CA because everyone knows that it takes some rocket science to release a game that does not lag and does not have connection problems. It is soooooo very complicated (especially if you have no clue about what is causing those problems). They tried hard but it was beyond their devs' coding skills. Ces't la vie.

lmao

[BeeSting]

This is all good but I’m concerned that the game mechanics might be too overwhelming and complicated for the battle and campaign AI. Could we get some more details assuring us that battle AI will be an improvement from the past? Love the graphics and new features but AI can spoil the overall game play in a heartbeat.

[NimbleNota]

Q. Will I regret buying this game too?

A.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Q: Will merchant ships be part of your fleet, so that the warships need to guard the merchant ships in a battle?
A: There are two types of merchant activity in Empire: trade routes and trade fleets. These can be guarded by your navies. There is a boatload to say about this so I think we are going to leave that for another time.

Sounds interesing. So will this mean parking some ships on those little dotted lines that represent trade routes block them like armies on roads? And will trade fleets function as individual, controllable units like merchants in M2TW?

Q: Will we be able to use captured ships in our own naval and merchant fleets?
A: Yes. There is a whole chapter that can be written about this but that’s for another time

A very cool feature. But can you just use captured ships if your faction can normally recruit them. Like when you bribe armies and M2TW, only units available to your faction switch sides, the rest disband.

Q: Will my faction’s navy be able to take on repairs at neutral or allied ports?
A: No. There are a number of issues involved in allowing the player’s warships to enter friendly/neutral ports that don’t really add anything good to gameplay. One of the challenges in Empire will be to maintain a fleet at sea and have sufficient ports around the world to carry out repairs and replacement of lost crew and ships. If you want to do well, you’re going to have to emulate the Royal Navy!

This doesn't sound like much but it could turn out to be a massive feature. That alone would encourage realistic growth of colonial empires, rather than great empires over landmasses I was a bit afraid would appear...

Q: Will Pirates/Privateers play any roles in the game? Can we hire them to harass ports of call or go after enemy nations merchant ships to disrupt their trade?
A: Yes. They will raid your trade routes and on occasion attack ports that are poorly defended. If they think they can outgun an isolated naval vessel they will give it a go too. The player can raid the trade routes of enemy factions and also blockade enemy ports with their naval vessels during wartime.

Ports are defended? So can battles be fought in Ports?

Q: How will we get to India? Will you incorporate a ‘warping’ system where you warp around the map or do we sail around the Cape of Good Hope?
A: We have a cunning plan but we can’t give too much away just yet. Keep an eye out as we reveal more in the fullness of time. You will like it.

Not the old Suez Canal trick then?

And BTW, I can't believe how negative some people here are being. This game sounds incredible, and any TW game, even if its had its problems, has always been a top quality PC-game to buy.

[NimbleNota]

And BTW, I can't believe how negative some people here are being. This game sounds incredible, and any TW game, even if its had its problems, has always been a top quality PC-game to buy.

I agree 100% for SP, TW is the best, no questions asked there

But you should try playing MP....... then tell me how top notch it is

[Wolf_Kyolic]

I agree 100% for SP, TW is the best, no questions asked there

But you should try playing MP....... then tell me how top notch it is

Ye try MP and then tell us what you think. lol

[rajpoot]

MP?

[Cheetah]

Multi player.