But what about this ??

[amritochates]

Empire is the first Creative Assembly game set on a truly global scale, with conflict spanning multiple theaters, so it does much to sidestep the perils of realism. A separate campaign, “The Road To Independence,” covers the era spanning the initial colonization of the Americas through the point where the colonies decided they wanted to keep their tea, thankyouverymuch. You’ll flex your military might in three main theaters - Europe, America, and the Near East, each with its own map - but to minimize donkey work, you can choose to set tax rates at the upper level, rather than for individual regions within each theater. Then there are the trade theaters - such as the Caribbean, East Africa, and the East Indies - to which you’re unable to send land forces, and so must dominate by naval power alone. The more ships you send - and the fewer enemy ships cutting your supply lines - the greater your profits. The desired effect is whole-world scale without a whole world of meaningless clicking and map-scrolling.

This is from the games radar hands-on preview, whereupon I would like to draw your attention to the above point:

Does this imply then that there are 3 non-connected maps that we administer with a singular government, i.e all 3 maps are autonomous however the administrative mechanism is unified by utilising a common treasury. So far all evidence Screenshots as well as previews point to my assumption being true, or does anyone have any data to suggest otherwise.

[Martok]

It was stated in another recent preview (although I forget which one offhand) that you can also scroll across the global map as a whole. The three "separate" maps are simply there to aid the player if s/he wishes to utilize it.

[amritochates]

Yup- in the game reactor interview. But scrolling around the world opens a whole new package of worms or in other words: Pathfinding, of which very little is spoken of or reported. Especially now since with buildings existing outside of settlements acting as a whole new system of obstacles. In fact a worse case scenario would be units funcioning on the strategic map as they now do in siege battles, with reinforcements taking years to circumvent minor obstructions.

To illustrate, in my recent MTW2 Hre campaign, the pathfinding ai of my army decided that the best route to invade milan was not directly through the alpine passes rather by circumventing Bern. All because a single unit of militia cavalry was outside the city and its Zone of control was conflicting with mine.

[Marius Dynamite]

Does this imply then that there are 3 non-connected maps that we administer with a singular government, i.e all 3 maps are autonomous however the administrative mechanism is unified by utilising a common treasury. So far all evidence Screenshots as well as previews point to my assumption being true, or does anyone have any data to suggest otherwise.

Which type of map would you guys prefer if you had to chose one?

I am thinking the separate maps would be better if one was still able to dispatch troops between the maps. If I am sending an army of troops from Britain to India, I dont mine them disappearing off-map for a while and showing up near India. The AI would have to do this effectively aswell I think.

[Polemists]

Long as it dosn't take me 60 years to do send my army across europe again....ugh

[Sir Beane]

Long as it dosn't take me 60 years to do send my army across europe again....ugh

Could not agree more. With the huge area Empire's new map will cover Medieval 2's unrealistic travel times had better be a thing of the past. Otherwise we had better be prepared for generals dying of old age before getting anywhere near where we want to deploy them.

Can you imagine a Medieval 2 family member trying to travel from India, across Europe, across the sea to America and then up to Canada? The game wouldn't have enough turns!

To add to this ships should really be able to travel long distances, as they historically could. It would certainly not take a ship of the line about four years to sail from the English channel to the Mediterranean.

It's a shame it looks like we won't get four turns per year, that would have gone a long way to solving the problem.

[Sol Invictus]

I figure a mod will be released in the first week that adds 4tpy.

[Megas Methuselah]

However, a lot of triggers would have to be changed. So, don't buy Empires and expect to see this mod out in the next week. Chances are, it'll take longer.