ShackNews interview

[Martok]

ShackNews has done a rather extensive interview with CA's Kieran Brigden. In addition to talking about ETW, he also discusses the franchise in general and CA's perspective on it. A pretty interesting read overall.


Of particular interest (in regards to Empire) are some more details dropped about the Road to Independence campaign:

Shack: Can you explain what the Road to Independence campaign entails?

Kieran Brigden: Road to Independence is a story-driven campaign that sits alongside the grand campaign. It's another campaign for you to play in the box. It's separated into three chapters, so if you imagine it like, the first timeline, kind of comprises of the foundation of Jamestown by the British, the defense of those new colonies, surviving the winters, and defending your people essentially.

You then go into a second phase, which is the battle to remove other European powers from the sphere. So you've got George Washington fighting on behalf of the British as a Virginia colonist, not as a Brit but as a Virginia colonist, and you've got to get the French and everything else alongside the Brits out of North America. And then finally you move into the last phase of the campaign, which of course is Washington and the revolutionaries kicking the Brits out of North America and establishing the thirteen colonies as an independent nation.

Now what that means in real terms for players: it's a focused, goal-driven campaign. So you've got a number of resources, there are certain options available to you, and you always know what your next move is and why. So you're not going to go, I need to achieve this objective, maybe I'll attack this, defend that, make this treaty or whatever. The point is, that decision is made for me by the timeline in which I'm playing.

So it's a nice introduction for people who haven't yet played Total War games. It's also a really cool way of playing through a very interesting story. So in that respect, we hope it'll offer something new for both parties.

[Mailman653]

French and Indian wars, cool.

Too bad you can't play as the French in that situation. Maybe one of Native allies is named Magua

Magua

[fenir]

Interesting.

So you've got George Washington fighting on behalf of the British as a Virginia colonist, not as a Brit but as a Virginia colonist

Thought that was funny. Considering he held a British Army Commission. And that all subjects of the "Nova Albion", where Subjects. Therefore British. Same as Canada, Australia NEw Zealand et cetera...

Most seem to forget that the americans. before america, where british.


Sincerely

fenir

[SpencerH]

Interesting.



Thought that was funny. Considering he held a British Army Commission. And that all subjects of the "Nova Albion", where Subjects. Therefore British. Same as Canada, Australia NEw Zealand et cetera...

Most seem to forget that the americans. before america, where british.


Sincerely

fenir

George Washington never held a commision in the regular british army. He held a commision in the Virginia militia which was looked down upon by the brits. In fact, he actively sought a royal commision in the british army for himself and the Virginia regiment but it was denied.

[Hosakawa Tito]

George Washington never held a commision in the regular british army. He held a commision in the Virginia militia which was looked down upon by the brits. In fact, he actively sought a royal commision in the british army for himself and the Virginia regiment but it was denied.

Spot on. In fact, a Virginia regiment led by Lt. Col. Washington fired the first shots of the French & Indian War by ambushing a French Canadian scouting party in Pennsylvania.

[CBR]

Most seem to forget that the americans. before america, where british.

I'd say many of the German colonists would have disagreed with that statement.


CBR

[Sol Invictus]

I'd say many of the German colonists would have disagreed with that statement.


CBR

Probably a few Dutch as well.

[Wausser]

As we founded New York

[Martok]

*Ahem*.


I'm rather curious about the first phase of the Independence campaign. I hope we won't be expected to fight Native Americans all the time, as the settlers in Jamestown and Plymouth benefitted from the friendship and assistance of local tribes for quite a few years. Not that they didn't have to deal with hostile natives as well, but they weren't constantly skirmishing with them either.

In general, I just hope that the campaign's first phase will focus more on developing your colony and conducting diplomacy with the locals than with warfare.

[PBI]

It sounds to me as though the three phases seem structured to introduce and explain different aspects of the game. I would imagine the first phase will primarily be about learning how to manage and build up your colonies on the campaign map and handle diplomacy with the natives, so I imagine large scale fighting is unlikely. The second phase sounds like it would be the natural place to introduce land warfare, against the Native Americans and the French. Then I imagine the third phase, the war against the British, will be the "apply what you've learned and bring it all together" phase.

[Hosakawa Tito]

*Ahem*.


I'm rather curious about the first phase of the Independence campaign. I hope we won't be expected to fight Native Americans all the time, as the settlers in Jamestown and Plymouth benefitted from the friendship and assistance of local tribes for quite a few years. Not that they didn't have to deal with hostile natives as well, but they weren't constantly skirmishing with them either.

In general, I just hope that the campaign's first phase will focus more on developing your colony and conducting diplomacy with the locals than with warfare.

Sorry bout dat, back to topic. The Jamestown and Plymouth settlements had numerous violent squabbles with neighboring tribes over land and scarce resources. Most of it was small scale fights with small bands, but then that was normally how the native tribes interacted with each other and amongst different groups within their own tribe. Annihilation was rarely the goal between native groups, though it did happen occasionally. However as the European settlers expanded in number much more pressure for the resources forced dislocations and mass migrations of native populations farther west and the violence increased along with it. Diplomacy was crucial for the survival of the early European settlements, less so as these settlers became more proficient in frontier survival, much of it learned from the natives themselves. Let no good deed go unpunished.

[Polemists]

Too bad you can't play as the French in that situation. Maybe one of Native allies is named Magua

Long as he's not guarding my noblemen's daughters through the woods, we are good :P (If you don't know what movie the above quote refers to, it's a good Empire Total War Period piece )


Well I think it's good. I'm wondering though, and this is probably not true but if you can choose which year you actually fully go independent. Almost a situation like the Teutonic Campaign playing as Lithuania. Where there are unique benefits for being a British Colony you will lose when you go independent, but benefits gained when you do become it. So for instance you may want to keep british on your side till the natives are pushed back firmly, before declaring indepedence.

Then again it may just be a date-event, type situation, which is what I assume.