Shogun II Total War

[Puzz3D]

From the recent interview with PCGamer:

"We've always wanted to do naval battles," says Mike Simpson, "but we've always wanted to do them properly - that's why we haven't tackled them in previous games. It's a big chunk. If you're going to do it, you have to do it really, really, really well."

Then he says:

"The cannonballs can damage the hull, they'll damage the panels they go through, they'll kill individual men, they also knock down masts, tear sails off... that obviously affects the manoeuvrability of your ships. You can tell your ships whether you want to aim at the sails or at the hull, or at the men on the decks."

You can aim cannonballs at the men? This is Mike Simpson's idea of doing naval battles really, really, really well?

Also in that interview he says:

"It's easy to design a complicated system. Hard to design an easy system that retains flavour"

The only complicated systems that are easy to design are ones that don't work properly. The problem with using an easy system, as he is apparently trying to do in Empire Total War, is that simplistic systems don't simulate complex physical processes very well. The elegance of the original STW battle engine is how well it simulates the battles with a moderately complex system.

Also in that interview James Russell, lead designer, says:

"We will have a fire button. It's a sort of override tool so you can time your shot when you want to. And timing is critical. Let off muskets too early, and you won't do enough damage. Let off your muskets too late in the face of a cavalry charge, and you've got every chance of being crushed by a flying dead horse."

Flying Dead Horses?


BTW, I have news for James Russell and the new fire button feature. You can shoot when you want to in the original STW engine as well.