Forming a Empire, where to start

[Pantsalot]

Actually, neither canal existed at any point during the time period covered by Empire. The Suez didn't open until the late 1850's, and the Panama wasn't finished until 1914 or 1915 (I forget which). So unfortunately that will not be a factor in ETW.

They'll probably make it an event you have to unlock by researching specific technologies
As I don't think to get to India we would have to go around Africa every single time.

It's still a mystery on how the travel to the next area will be, like the current thought
brought up is that you put your ship to the edge of the sea in the direction of which
continent you're going for, so if they don't ever have the suez canal then that would
be far more likely. But the thing is that if Africa is going to be another trade theatre
than that is really dull the fact that all you can do with it is have trade rights..
It's included in the map of Europe without them slicing off the bottom so I hope you're
wrong as it's just next to Ottomans who would probably be allowed to attack the
tribes down South, & how we Brit's fought the Benin people who also had a good bit
of gold for trade, though I can't really tell if Benin is on the map, probably not really.

[Martok]

They'll probably make it an event you have to unlock by researching specific technologies
As I don't think to get to India we would have to go around Africa every single time.

I don't know. While it would certainly be convenient if it were possible to "unlock" the Suez, I'll be fairly surprised if that's an option in the game. Of course, one can always hope that that's one of the things CA hasn't told us about yet....

It's still a mystery on how the travel to the next area will be, like the current thought
brought up is that you put your ship to the edge of the sea in the direction of which
continent you're going for, so if they don't ever have the suez canal then that would
be far more likely.

Yeah, so far there's not been much information on how ship travel between "theatres" works. I know CA did say something to the effect that apparently you can view the entire game map at once, and that the three separate maps (Europe, Americas, & India) are merely there for convenience's sake. If that is in fact the case (and I'm remembering the details correctly), then I'd suppose that the player can simply use the large overview map to facilitate ship/fleet movement between the 3 sub-maps.

But the thing is that if Africa is going to be another trade theatre
than that is really dull the fact that all you can do with it is have trade rights..
It's included in the map of Europe without them slicing off the bottom so I hope you're
wrong [snip]

That makes two of us.

Personally, I would really like to see the entire continent open to European exploitation. From what CA has said, though, it sounds as if only the lands along Africa's Mediterranean coast can be colonized/conquered.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'll be sending small forces all over the map right from the start. There are so many areas in the world never covered in the TW series before.. I am desperate to try them out!

[ULC]

Actually, I think trades theaters will be normal expanses of the map that will be unconquerable but will have things like ports which require a naval battle to take, so therefore it will only take a bit of modding to throw a few settlements in there.

[LadyAnn]

So I take it you're going to be playing as Prussia first, then?

As England, I could go to war with Holland and Spain simultaneously. As Russia: war with Sweden and Ottoman at the same time and still could grab Africa, trade in America and India. As French, have war with England in America, grab Africa and attack the rest of Europe.

Everything I said happened in history, just not at the same time :)

Annie

[The Blind Samurai]

i will go for north America and the Caribbean and maybe south africa with tid bit of India and most of france as Spain

[Majd il-Romani]

I'd go for the Caribbean, it would give the Ottomans an easily defensible foothold in America, from which we can launch attacks on New Spain and North America

[Pontius Pilate]

Originally Posted by Pantsalot
But the thing is that if Africa is going to be another trade theatre
than that is really dull the fact that all you can do with it is have trade rights..
It's included in the map of Europe without them slicing off the bottom so I hope you're
wrong [snip]

What?!?! How can you have a game set in the 18th and early 19th centuries and not include Africa!! That was like thee place to conquer and colonize in that time period! I really wanted to raise that American flag in Tripoli if you know what I mean. Oh well, I guess I just have to plant the flag in the heart of the British Empire and squash the Brits, who doesn't like that?

[Martok]

What?!?! How can you have a game set in the 18th and early 19th centuries and not include Africa!! That was like thee place to conquer and colonize in that time period! I really wanted to raise that American flag in Tripoli if you know what I mean. Oh well, I guess I just have to plant the flag in the heart of the British Empire and squash the Brits, who doesn't like that?

It does appear that most of the continent won't be in the game. However, the northern coast of Africa is in (just like in the past three Total War titles) -- you'll still be able to take Tripoli, never fear.

[Pontius Pilate]

It does appear that most of the continent won't be in the game. However, the northern coast of Africa is in (just like in the past three Total War titles) -- you'll still be able to take Tripoli, never fear.

Still though, I'm greedy for more!

[Zaleukos]

I'd go for India or the Carribean. India has rich developed places to simply take over, while the Carribean sugar colonies are the great moneymakers of the era.

What?!?! How can you have a game set in the 18th and early 19th centuries and not include Africa!! That was like thee place to conquer and colonize in that time period! I really wanted to raise that American flag in Tripoli if you know what I mean. Oh well, I guess I just have to plant the flag in the heart of the British Empire and squash the Brits, who doesn't like
that?

Not in the games timeframe. Africa was mostly untouched until 1860 or so.

It would make a lot of sense to make it a trade theatre. Except for South Africa it has a pretty hostile climate and nasty diseases. Europeans only built trading stations on the coasts and generally died like flies. Inland trade was almost exclusively handled by locals. The scramble for Africa only came almost 100 years after the game when the Europeans had better medicine.

Tripoli should be reachable though. The corsair states of North Africa were a major nuisance and are very close to Europe. But their land should be rather useless, there are barely any resources in the area:p

[Eusebius86]

Depending on how privateering/piracy works in ETW, I might be tempted to just take the British merchants treasures and trade at sea, instead of bothering to colonize the west indies

I'm not a huge fan of colonizing, better to be strong at home and focus on expanding your own borders... unless of course you're on an island with nowhere to expand.

[Pontius Pilate]

I'd go for India or the Carribean. India has rich developed places to simply take over, while the Carribean sugar colonies are the great moneymakers of the era.



Not in the games timeframe. Africa was mostly untouched until 1860 or so.

It would make a lot of sense to make it a trade theatre. Except for South Africa it has a pretty hostile climate and nasty diseases. Europeans only built trading stations on the coasts and generally died like flies. Inland trade was almost exclusively handled by locals. The scramble for Africa only came almost 100 years after the game when the Europeans had better medicine.

Tripoli should be reachable though. The corsair states of North Africa were a major nuisance and are very close to Europe. But their land should be rather useless, there are barely any resources in the area:p

Yeah, about the Tripoli thing, I was just joking. Anyway, they should still have put the whole of Africa in the game because it would be something new, we already have seen enough of North Africa in the Rome and MTW2. Even though it might be a little bit out of the time frame we should be able to rewrite history.

And the slave trade was big during this time too, but then again the Europeans didn't actually go into the continent to get the slaves, that was done by other Africans. So I guess I can understand Africa just be a trade theater.

[a completely inoffensive name]

All the other countries can split apart the world. I just want New Zealand.

[Yoyoma1910]

Caribbean.






Everyone loves sugar.

[Haxorsist]

It depends on what faction I'm playing. I'm planning to start as Sweden and will kick some Russian and Dano-Norwegian ass. I'll probably go for North America after that just cuz. I might go for a huge navy and try to gain control of the Mediterranean.