Getting around in Empire

**Fondor_Yards** · 01-20-2009, 22:43

Well admiral wise, there is this. In the 3/5 trailer, you can see in the french navy before it attacks the british one, are 3 units. 2 are SOL I think, or some

I don't know. But the 3rd is the admiral *why isn't he at the front of the stack that he's leading like a general? very odd* by the name of Antoine-Laurent de Costentin. He has 2 stars, which I assume are his total command rating. He has 47 men in his unit, compared to the 37 of the other two.

And now that I'm looking at a big screen of it, you can also see the left side hull health, right side hull health, and sail health of all three units right there on the campaign map. So apparently specific damage done to a ship will carry over between battles.

**Megas Methuselah** · 01-21-2009, 03:08

Originally Posted by Fondor Yards

*why isn't he at the front of the stack that he's leading like a general? very odd*

You can probably pick which boat you want to put your admiral on. There's probably more units in his boat 'cuz it's a bigger boat than the other two.

**Polemists** · 01-21-2009, 05:18

why isn't he at the front of the stack that he's leading like a general? very odd*

Well since CA has stated that Generals no longer lead armies as a battle unit perhaps it's the same for admiral. Perhaps he works best when his ship is in the back giving orders rather then charging at the fore front.

Plus most screen we've seen are beta, so could be they plan on changing it.

**Megas Methuselah** · 01-21-2009, 07:50

Originally Posted by Polemist

Well since CA has stated that Generals no longer lead armies as a battle unit perhaps it's the same for admiral. Perhaps he works best when his ship is in the back giving orders rather then charging at the fore front.

Polemist, old friend! It's good to hear from you again!

However, I am inclined to point out a fatal flaw in the expanse of your understanding. You must understand what Fisherking meant was that the General was not in the first slot of the unit cards at the bottom of the screen in the campaign map, not that the General was not at the forefront of the battle line on the high seas in the battle map. What the general was not in life was what he was not in death, do you not understand my not-with held Nottingham knowledge was did not originate in Nottingham, as it did not come from England at all!

Enjoy life, my friend! Now, to the drinks and women! Woot woot!

**Fondor_Yards** · 01-21-2009, 07:55

Originally Posted by Polemists

Well since CA has stated that Generals no longer lead armies as a battle unit perhaps it's the same for admiral. Perhaps he works best when his ship is in the back giving orders rather then charging at the fore front.

Plus most screen we've seen are beta, so could be they plan on changing it.

Huh? Generals still lead the armies as they always have. They still have their special general guard of various sizes and can die in battles. And I meant he wasn't the first unit in the army when you look at it in the campaign map.

**Polemists** · 01-21-2009, 08:17

Well my understanding may not be supberb.

However CA has stated in a interview, and I don't remeber which one. That generals will now not be as useful in combat as in previous games. They will die far easier, they are not as armored, etc.

Basically the idea, that generals are now just a normal unit of soldiers, not a uber unit of elite guards.

There was even a whole topic on these forums about how people were scared that now a few sharpshooters could just randomly kill a general and troops would route.

**Sir Beane** · 01-21-2009, 12:12

The idea now is that Generals will not be an unbeatable charging melee unit like they were in previous games. Especially with cavalry being much less effective in Empire.

Instead Generals will boost the combat ability of nearby men, as well as boosting their morale. They will act like a 'buff' class in an RPG. They are there to offer support to allies rather than to get into the thick of it themselves.

I expect Generals will still be harder to kill than a normal unit however, but probably not to the extent they were in Medieval 2 or Rome.

Basically we should be keeping our General close behind our line, protected by a wall of men, using his 'aura' to boost the morale of weak parts of the battle line.

**Polemists** · 01-21-2009, 12:27

I assume this will work similiar to the abilities of generals in Kingdoms.

While not one time use, I think the abilities will be things like, better aiming, better in a area, (infantry, Calvary, artillery), or maybe better discipline.

The general will probably not be one shot kill, but I doubt he's going to be able to solo entire units either, if he gets in the thick of it, he's toast with probably a few shots or one cannon shot. Unlike the barrage of arrows you could let hit your general's unit in MTW and RTW again and again