EXCLUSIVE: PYRO'S NAPOLEONIC COMPLEX
Pyro Studios bangs a drum for its new Total War-beater in our exclusive Imperial Glory interview
Pyro Studios is the Spanish developer responsible for Eidos' hugely impressive Commandos strategy outings. With a freshly announced Commandos first-person shooter this very morning, in Commandos Strike Force, you could be forgiven for thinking Pyro had abandoned its long standing commitment to strategy and the impressive heritage of the Commandos series.
But of course that's not the case, as Pyro has been working quietly in the background on an epic new strategy title Imperial Glory, which takes the developer back to the blood, guts and thunder of the Napoleonic era.
A potential and extremely good looking challenger to Creative Assembly's epic Total War series, we managed to slip a dispatch rider through enemy lines to interview César Valencia, Pyro's project lead on the new title and he's just returned post haste with dispatches from the Imperial Glory front line. Here's what we've learned.
First off, it's a new title to many people can you give us a quick overview of Imperial Glory?
Valencia: Imperial Glory is a historical strategy game that presents the player with the possibility of taking tactical and strategic decisions as well as leading land and naval battles, with the goal of conquering Europe and the North of Africa.
The player will choose one of the five leading empires of the time, Russia, Prussia, England, France or the Austro-Hungarian empire, and decide the way of becoming the leading empire by economic, diplomatic or military ways.
According to a press statement, "Imperial Glory promises to be the most comprehensive strategy game ever". How or in what ways is it "the most comprehensive"?
Valencia: I have to say that I don't write press releases, but let me try to explain what my PR colleagues want to express with this. One of Imperial Glory's key points in its development has been the effort that's gone in to letting the player make his empire grow using different aspects such as the economic, diplomatic, commercial, political and military.
The player may take, if he wishes to do so, many involving decisions that will completely change the evolution of the gameplay. We wanted the player to be able to make those different types of decisions, and not just make him follow a path, that would require few or very similar decisions in order to achieve victory.
Imperial Glory can be played in many different ways, and after a few turns the player will appreciate that even playing with the same empire, by taking different decisions, that they will experience a complete different game.
In what ways, if at all, is your experience with developing Praetorians influencing development of Imperial Glory?
Valencia: Most of the people working on the development of Imperial Glory did not work on Praetorians, including myself. Nevertheless, I would say that we have learned a lot from Praetorians. Imperial Glory is a completely different type of game if we compare it with Praetorians, but Praetorians has helped us to place our targets and ambitions.
There's two distinct gameplay modes, turn-based imperial management model and real-time land and naval battles in full 3D. Can you tell us more about these, about how they work and when they're used during the game?
Valencia: All the tactical and strategic decisions will be taken in the management model, in which the player can interact in a lot of ways with the rest of the empires and neutral territories. At this point it is important to mention that there are many ways to achieve victory, so we may decide to use military power or to choose a more pacific approach.
In the management model the player will be taking decisions in order to grow the empire's economy, develop the technology tree, form troops, construct buildings,
establish commercial routes, invest on different provinces, and work on
diplomacy, establishing alliances and invading or declaring war.
The land and naval battles will be the result of how the player wishes to do things, and both will be completely influenced by your global status.
In the battles we have tried to present a different view from the classic 3D battles. We wanted the player not to just send the troops against the enemy but to have the opportunity to use strategies, taking advantage of formations, skills, terrains, buildings, etc.
Accuracy and authenticity are mentioned as key features of Imperial Glory. How much time have you had to spend researching the period, and what have you used as source material?
Valencia: We have spent a lot of time researching the period, and we have used many different sources: from lots of specific books, to world history teachers, not forgetting fans from the period that from the beginning brought suggestions and comments. We also have some very big enthusiasts of the period among our designers.
In any case, what we have tried in Imperial Glory is to have a historical background, but not to give history lessons. We don't want the player to recreate history, but to drive his empire in the way that he wishes to, so in a game we may find things like alliances between Spain and the British empire in order to attack the Russians.
Apart from the normal campaign we are also working on a mode that will allow you to play historical battles, as it is something that many people have asked us to include.
Which parts of the world are represented in the game, and are missions/campaigns for each nation different or is the aim for each the same - to conquer the entire 'region' or game world?
Valencia: The game takes place in Europe and the North of Africa, through 55 different land regions and 29 maritime areas. It is not based on various campaigns or missions, but in one campaign with the possibility of choosing the empire. This selection will be definitive during the rest of the game and will define the starting resources, the diplomatic possibilities and the commercial options with the rest of the territories.
There are several game goals that can be defined at the beginning of the campaign, from conquering the entire world to achieving victory based on a score or by conquering the capitals.
How accurately do the tactics players can employ reflect those used in battles/combat of the period?
Valencia: One of our goals has been to recreate the battles and fights from the time, reflecting the formations and the different abilities of the different troops. So we will find things like the square formation that was used by the infantry in order to sustain a cavalry charge. You may also do things like improving the shooting abilities of certain types of infantry units so they can shoot forming two or three lines of fire.
Going to the opposite end, you may fight with infantry units that have not been trained, so they will not carry any kind of shooting weapons but just wood sticks. Exactly the same as the generals from the time had to plan their battles, the player will have to plan his strategy in order to achieve victory.
Similarly, in what ways can players use the battlefield tactically?
Valencia: The battlefield will be a key element during the course of a battle. Apart from the advantage that taking a higher position will give you, in terms of shooting range among other advantages, you will be able to use constructions and natural resources such as trees in order to place our units inside or behind them and get more cover.
You'll also find different types of terrain that will affect the movement of your troops. For example, you will not be able to cross an ice platform with the artillery, although you will be able to do it with the infantry. To give you another example, if you haven't developed the right type of equipment for your troops and you try to fight in extreme conditions with them (in a dessert or in the extreme cold) your troops will suffer the consequences.
As you mentioned earlier, gamers can choose to play as Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia or Austro-Hungary - could we get examples of strengths and weaknesses of each Empire?
Valencia: The most obvious difference is that each empire has a different starting position. Apart from that, they start with a different combination of resources. Russia for instance is heavily populated and has a great production of raw materials, while Great Britain is more prepared to start establishing commercial routes and trading. This is one of the game aspects that we are currently working on in order to balance the game while at the same time we make sure that it is fun and different to play with each of the empires.
Could you tell us more about the non-combat side of the game, that is the politics, trade, diplomacy, resource management and technology research?
Valencia: The first thing I would like to say is that, although the management part is quite deep, we have made great effort to keep it simple. Our goal is not to present to the player more options that the ones he or she will be able to handle, but to ensure that there is a great variety from one game to another.
For players that prefer the management part, both the land and naval battles can be auto-calculated. Apart from that, it is up to the player to decide the level of depth he wants to reach; and for the less experienced players there will be advice available on the type of decisions that they should be making.
In order to expand our empire you will be using the resources generated by your provinces, you will be building constructions in order to increase and manage those resources. You will be developing technologies that will affect both the battles and the management side (i.e. artillery pulled by horses or mines to increase the production of raw materials).
You will be using diplomacy among other things to increase the number of provinces belonging to your empire or to create commercial routes that will improve our empire's economy. You'll be competing in order to complete historical quests before other empires and get their benefits. And you will also be deciding the type of government that you want for your empire with the implications that this will have.
Basically, as I said before, the key point in Imperial Glory is the possibility of developing everything from the beginning. The player will not need to make a lot of decisions, but each decision will be an important one, and mistakes will be penalised. So the player will soon learn that it is a wise decision to think before acting, same as the generals at that time did.
What's your most memorable moment from playing the game so far, and who do you most like commanding out of military leaders Wellington, Napoleon, Blücher, Kutuzov and Weyrother?
Valencia: I already enjoy playing Imperial Glory even though the enemy's AI is very basic at this time, and there are a lot of things that we need to balance.
All leaders start as lieutenants being able to command a small amount of troops, and after succeeding in a few battles, they are promoted, so they may end up being field marshals. I don't have a favourite commander, but I like to play with the famous ones (the ones that you just named). The disadvantage of this is that after taking the time to promote them, let's say to generals, if they get killed, it makes you to swear in Swahili.
CVG.com Staff
Imperial Glory - It's coming...
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