I first came to the TW series when I bought STW for some friends' birthday.

I bought MTW for myself later. To me, it was the height of the series gameplay wise.

RTW I bought, or rather got for Christmas, and played for several weeks than abandoned. Partly because my comp sucked. It abandoned gameplay for graphics and gimmicks.

MTW2 I didn't bother with.

I recently reinstalled RTW, downloaded the latest EB version, and started playing. But I stopped a day later because the core game is terrible - so much AI stupidity - that even with all the magnificent work put in by the EB team I couldn't be arsed to play - it felt like pulling teeth. While getting my own teeth pulled.

I do hope they get good AI and good gameplay, and not just fancy graphics, in Empire.

CR