More previews!

[hoom]

I'm curious about some of the comments to the Bit-Tech one: Suggestion that Nvidia has been claiming that ETW would be supporting Physx
Every report that I've heard previously is that ETW uses an entirely inhouse CA physics engine like previous TW games.

I'm assuming that someone mis-interpreted Nvidia making a comment that ETW would be a game making extensive use of Physics rather than using Physx


As an owner of an ATI graphics card, I would distinctly not appreciate CA going proprietary Nvidia on the physics engine

[Polemists]

As an owner of an ATI graphics card, I would distinctly not appreciate CA going proprietary Nvidia on the physics engine

I don't think they are, but I will say that there's usually that little Nvidia thingy ad or mark or whatever on Total War Games. So eventually they probably will turn that way.

So far tho I don't think they have and I don't think they will this time.

[hoom]

Ooh, wow!

Wind strength and direction is modelled as a physical force in Empire, so it’s entirely possible to draw alongside a ship and steal its wind.

Hadn't expected the wind model would be detailed enough for this

[hoom]

Ahh, OK, page 3 of the Bit-tech, no Physx in ETW.

CA says that it’s not currently using Nvidia’s PhysX physics API in Empire but that the development team is playing with it. This is in contrast to Nvidia’s claims that CA is using PhysX for Empire. The sails certainly reminded us of the better PhysX cloth demos, but CA is adamant that the physics engine of Empire has been developed in-house.

[Polemists]

See and that I am all for. I love in house engines. I loved Infinity Engine and i'm sure TW engine is up to the challenge (as proved by awesome screens)

[Fisherking]

Wow! I found this interesting. Does it mean literally what it says? Could we have situations like Clarke’s attack at Vincennes? Then there was the Indian technique of looking weak and drawing the enemy into a trap…. How cool would that all be! But I do have my doubts…

It all has an impact, though - present your forces as more impressive than they are, and it'll be intimidating to the AI. It's a matter of presenting your troops in the strongest possible light, even if it's just you and a bunch of scarecrows. Bear in mind who you're fighting, though - as usual, every general will have his own style.

Also this piece caught my eye. So you could win as some of the minor players…

The developer, Creative Assembly, promises that the Grand Campaign victory conditions for Empire will be tighter and more relevant to the faction you’re playing. This will be especially true of the smaller factions which will have more manageable goals than having to conquer half of the known world as was the case in so many previous Total War games.

And I haven’t finished reading the last one yet!

[Sol Invictus]

The Bit-tech preview had some really juicy details. And yes, Lords of the Realm II was one of my favorite games ever. It was really the spiritual predecessor of TW. It was a biter disapointment when LotR III was released. How could they have taken such a classic and completely trashed it like that.