The Daily Update at the Com

[Monsieur Alphonse]

They are beta testing patch 1.4

2 September:

Patch 1.4 has just gone live to our public beta group, so it's now in final testing.

Kind regards,
Kieran

[Krauser]

This patch should be good but will not address everything. It's a shame there will probably not be another patch (or any expansion to fix bugs).

[Durallan]

I just want the patch without the naval changes :P

[Servius]

We'll just have to take the patch for a spin once it's release and see what the naval, dragoon/light dragoon, artillery, and AI changes look like in practice.

[NagatsukaShumi]

This patch should be good but will not address everything. It's a shame there will probably not be another patch (or any expansion to fix bugs).

This is a quote from there recent press release on 1.4.

"To show their continuous support for Empire: Total War, The Creative Assembly announces that this patch will pave the way for forthcoming DLC, including the first Expansion Pack which will be unveiled soon. "

It would appear there is one to be unveiled, I don't think they mean NTW do they?

[Mailman653]

I think it was stated that NTW would be a stand alone therefore, the expansion would be something different. Although it does raise the question, what will the expansion include given that NTW would of been the logical step for an expansion.

Would it maybe take place from 1815 untill 18XX? Or less likely, 1600-1699?

[Durallan]

it would be from the time he became general to the time he became emperor and then when finallly he was killed. Ah but I see your point, an expansion pack aswell? How random, I must say that does throw me off, although the gall to ask us to get an expansion pack as well as NTW after ETW is quite sneaky. It had better be the world map! lol

[Krauser]

With NTW coming out so soon, any expansion pack is going to have to be small. That's why I think War of 1812 is a good bet.

[antisocialmunky]

1812 was pretty much a random sideshow during the Napoleonic Wars ...

Except for that hilarious surprise Hurricane that saved Washinton DC.

[Slaists]

How 'bout including Africa... Or South-East Asia...

[Sheogorath]

1812 was pretty much a random sideshow during the Napoleonic Wars ...

Except for that hilarious surprise Hurricane that saved Washinton DC.

Hey. The War of 1812 had Andrew Jackson in it. The most awesome man in the history of the universe and the inventor of the bear. He single handedly swam across the Atlantic and punched George III in the face, freed all the prisoners from the Tower of London and made the British promise to stop putting people on the rack. Then he swam back to America because there weren't any Indians to kill in the UK.

...
Quick, somebody make a unit for ETW that's composed of Andrew Jackson clones with 500 in every stat.

[Mailman653]

Spoken like the Madgod himself.

[antisocialmunky]

Lol, yes. Gold old Jackson. He was actually a sent back through time by Skynet to kill the Native Americans to prevent John Connor from being born or something.

[Durallan]

No doubt it was Chuck Norris under an alias otherwise people would have figured out he was immortal and he didn't want to be in too much limelight.. at least until they invented movies.

[A1_Unit]

I don't think an expansion for ETW would take place so close to the time period of NTW.

[peacemaker]

Well, m2 had kingdoms, which was roughly the same era. Plus NTW is pretty much just ETW with sligthly different units. The battle tactics and such were similar-form up in a line and shoot. It requires less work than trying to apply the engine to a different era.

[A1_Unit]

I could uderstand if a mod did it but if CA does it then that's way too much focus on one time period.

[peacemaker]

How is that too much focus? The combat of the era is virtually identical and therefore easy to replicate, not to mention Napoleon is big and important and stuff.

Think about previous games: The medival period had MTW,M2TW,Kingdoms, and maybe MTW expension I dunno what that was. RTW had BI, which was only a hundred or two hundred years later. I don't think that ETW and NTW is too much focus, because they're virtually the same game but..a little different.

Am I just crazy here?

[Peasant Phill]

How is that too much focus? The combat of the era is virtually identical and therefore easy to replicate, not to mention Napoleon is big and important and stuff.

Think about previous games: The medival period had MTW,M2TW,Kingdoms, and maybe MTW expension I dunno what that was. RTW had BI, which was only a hundred or two hundred years later. I don't think that ETW and NTW is too much focus, because they're virtually the same game but..a little different.

Am I just crazy here?

It's to focussed because a campaign will only have a span of a few decades AND it's virtually identical.

Every other expansion/follow-up game had a span of at least 100 years (except ATW).

P.S. MTW had Viking Invasion.

[A1_Unit]

BTW, I posted at TWC my discovery of a table of historical battles; all taking place in the 17th century (they aren't active battles either). Hmm... what could this mean?

[Durallan]

Patch should be comin soon... Anyone still playing this? lol

[Krauser]

Patch should be comin soon... Anyone still playing this? lol

Not right now, but I will do one campaign after patch to see how it plays. Might even play more if it turns out to be really good.

[peacemaker]

I've been meaning to but wiped my hard drive of old stuff and have been too lazy to reinstall it...I'm scanning this thread every once in a while to see if it comes out so that I'll go start playing the game again.

[Sheogorath]

Patch should be comin soon... Anyone still playing this? lol

I've been playing it with Imperial Splendour. Really improves things. Sadly I'll have to wait for them to update it after the patch to fix all the stupid gameplay changes CA's forcing in.

[Servius]

I too am waiting for the patch to start another campaign. I haven't tried Imperial Splendor yet, might have to check that out. My biggest beef is the AI, particularly the Diplomatic/Campaign Map AI. If/when that gets fixed, next on my wishlist will be the MP campaign.

[antisocialmunky]

Has anyone seen that game that 1C's just announced? I believe that they are the Russian company behind Cryostasis so I'm not expecting to be blown away but it seems like they are making a TW clone for Alexander Nievski(sp).:-p

[Lemur]

Patch should be comin soon... Anyone still playing this? lol

I tried to do a short British campaign, just for giggles. The campaign AI quickly forced me to quit in frustration. Such a good game engine, hamstrung by such idiotic AI.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

I tried to do a short British campaign, just for giggles. The campaign AI quickly forced me to quit in frustration. Such a good game engine, hamstrung by such idiotic AI.

Last night I started a British campaign. It was the first time since the middle of July that I played ETW. I have ended all my alliances and I ant to play it very slow. I will see if that is possible or that I have to go back to RTW/M2TW.

I really hope that the patch will restore the original diplomacy.

[Peasant Phill]

Like so many others it seems, I put ETW in the fridge until 1.4 comes out. Here's to hoping that It'll become enjoyable again.

[Slaists]

I've been playing it with Imperial Splendour. Really improves things. Sadly I'll have to wait for them to update it after the patch to fix all the stupid gameplay changes CA's forcing in.

The diplomacy triggers seem to be the same in IS. I guess, those are "under the hood" and the modders cannot do much about it. The game is much more engaging and in general harder than vanilla though. Beware though, that one of the ways IS achieves it is by letting the AI's army upkeep be about 50% of the player's (and less) on medium settings.