Empire: Total War Hands-On

[Fisherking]

Don't know how it got missed by all the greats around here!

Thanks for the heads up Polemists

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/939/939779p1.html


More new stuff...

[Megas Methuselah]

Thx, Fish! And Polemist.

[Lord Nelson]

Oh my god I think ive just wet myself with excitment. Im excited again now.

[Fisherking]

I don’t know what happened to the IGN I had in the title, but it is gone!

However here is the most detailed description yet on the Road to Independence:

Controlling ships at sea isn't the only new feature in Empire. One of the more notable additions is a Road to Independence mode, something that follows the founding of the colony at Jamestown through to the eventual revolt. The mode proceeds through three episodes, the first being the defense of Jamestown against Native American tribes. In the second you play as a combination of the British soldiers and Virginia colonists as they tangle with the French. In the third episode, the one we got to play for the demo, the focus is on the war for independence, and you play as American forces under general Washington as they attempt to kick out the British.

It also describes how units on the Campaign Map seem to exert a zone of control and units moving into the area are intercepted.

I knew that it did it for ships but this made it sound like all units.

[Polemists]

I would have posted link but at work and no ign at the moment.

That said, it's a good article. By far the most broken down article I've seen in terms of Road of indepdence and actual gameplay. As usual there is a naval description but it's interesting to hear that the user lost against superior british forces (England has a stronger navy then America? Who knew :P)

I liked it, a good bit of reading while we wait.

[Fisherking]

The one disturbing thing, also noted in another thread, is that the units are all more uniform than their Uniforms.

Maybe CA has not gotten around to updating their screen shots form the earliest form, but it makes them all seem rather inbred.

The one of the men marching look a lot like 50 or 60 Wallace Beerys!

So will the Errol Flynns be cavalry or sailors? ;)

And by the way…does the chap shouting in all the stills put anyone else in mind of Ioan Gruffudd?

maybe it is just my imagination.

[Sir Beane]

The one disturbing thing, also noted in another thread, is that the units are all more uniform than their Uniforms.

Maybe CA has not gotten around to updating their screen shots form the earliest form, but it makes them all seem rather inbred.

The one of the men marching look a lot like 50 or 60 Wallace Beerys!

So will the Errol Flynns be cavalry or sailors? ;)

And by the way…does the chap shouting in all the stills put anyone else in mind of Ioan Gruffudd?

maybe it is just my imagination.

Maybe they rediscovered the cloning technology left over from the old Roman days?

Indeed, cloning could be a researchable technology, its just a little high up on the tech tree, just after you research Dolly the sheep.

[Sheogorath]

Who looks at their faces anyway? In the middle of a battle you'll either be zoomed out or focused on the vicious bayonettings going on ;)

[Oaty]

Did anyone catch that pepsi add ................... hilarious

[Megas Methuselah]

Who looks at their faces anyway? In the middle of a battle you'll either be zoomed out or focused on the vicious bayonettings going on

Not good enough. M2TW already spoiled me in terms of individual soldiers.

[Polemists]

Not good enough. M2TW already spoiled me in terms of individual soldiers

MTW2 had armor, shields, heraldry and a variety of blades.

Empire has almost no armor, no shields, identical flags for every unit, standard uniforms, and mass produced muskets.

Not sure how they can differentiate it much. If you look at the units there are differences, it's using the exact same random eight guys that are different, rinse repeat through a unit of 50 it did in MTW2, the differences just arn't as striking.

[Megas Methuselah]

They could at least have the decency to try making different faces. Judging by some units, this is not happening, although I have no doubt that it will be taken care of.

[Martok]

Great find, guys.


While I normally don't care much about visuals, I have to admit this part sounded kind of cool:

What was really neat about this particular small-scale conflict was that we could see inside the garrisoned structure, meaning there was an actual interior space there with troops moving back and forth and between windows. By moving the camera so we could get a better view, we could even catch a glimpse of our soldiers running in and engaging in hand-to-hand battles.

However, I found the following passage somewhat worrying:

which gave us the impression that with Empire there'll be more battlefield micromanagement than in games past as closer attention must be paid to each unit's behavior.

And later on:

As it turns out there's quite a bit of micromanagement to be done with the ships since you need to take into account which direction they're facing not only to allow to them to hit enemy ships with cannon volleys but also to get out of the way if the enemy catches them in a vulnerable position.

I hope that's an erroneous impression on IGN's part. IMHO, units in previous TW titles have to be micromanaged (read: baby-sat) too much as it is; we don't need more of it.


On the other hand, this made me happy:

Every unit on the field also has a sphere of influence, represented on the map by a red disc extending from the unit on all sides for a limited range. If any enemy unit happens to wander in it has to engage in combat, meaning the area of the discs can be used to create choke points on the map for defending territory.

Spheres of influence. At last.

....a rebellion might break out in your capital city. In these cases your army splits between loyalists and those striving for a new type of system. At this point you get the choice to align with either side and decide which system of government to go with. You don't actually lose control of your settlement in these cases, but if you pick the losing side you're forced to go with the style of government championed by the victors.

So unlike in MTW or RTW/BI, you don't lose the game if your chosen side loses the civil war, but instead you simply have to deal with whatever government the other side wants. Interesting.

Who looks at their faces anyway? In the middle of a battle you'll either be zoomed out or focused on the vicious bayonettings going on ;)

Indeed. I really couldn't care less if they look alike. They all fight and die the same anyway.

[Fondor_Yards]

Every unit on the field also has a sphere of influence, represented on the map by a red disc extending from the unit on all sides for a limited range. If any enemy unit happens to wander in it has to engage in combat, meaning the area of the discs can be used to create choke points on the map for defending territory.

Spheres of influence. At last.

Hasn't that been in since Rome? That little bit of red surrounding armies and cities that you can't move through.

[Fisherking]

Hasn't that been in since Rome? That little bit of red surrounding armies and cities that you can't move through.

I think we are in hopes of them being more than just the adjacent square, hex, space of the unit.

I hope this time they have done something about the retreat priorities of the units too.

It is irksome to have the little ugh-humms retreat into your rear areas past a solid line of troops.