Empire: Total War Screenshot Thread

[NodachiSam]

Am I the only one who considers screenshots about the campaign map just as interesting if not a little more so than screens of battle? I've always enjoyed building empires not just killing hoards of enemies, though that obviously is a good portion of the fun.

[Proletariat]

I agree totally, NodachiSam. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll just rampantly autoresolve through a short campaign trying different building and taxing schemes. Have you seen any campaign map shots yet? I'd like to see it as well, but haven't stumbled across any yet.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

And this landlubber wants to see the bloody infantry in action.

[Tamur]

Are there any campaign map screens anywhere? I'm very curious about the mentioned revisions that (apparently) show buildings on the campaign map itself. If this is true, I'm curious to know if they've integrated those locations into gameplay.

Since the RTW campaign map changes I've been hoping for an infinite zoom, like Black & White or the forever-being-developed Spore. They've still likely separated the campaign map and battle map, but LESS separation would be wonderful.

[Vuk]

I disagree. That would be very unrealistic. Right now the battlemaps are supposed to be small areas sampling terrain from the area. If you were to make it seamless, the scale would be absurd. At the distance from the earth that you view of the campaign map, the earths crust would look about as thin as a nickle. If you could zoom all the way in, there could only be two very absurd possibilities: 1. The entire earth in full scale would need to be created (The reasons this wouldn't work are apparent), or 2. They would need to pull and AoE and have the different continents tiny.
If this is what they intend to do, I don't think I will be buying the game. I think the idea would be a total leap from realism that would really pollute the Total War series.

Vuk

[Nelson]

And this landlubber wants to see the bloody infantry in action.

Me too!

I have long thought that TW as we know it could work all the way through to the advent of massed rifled weapons. This ought to be the end of the line, timeline-wise that is.

[pevergreen]

Screenies are up in the summary thread as well

To my knowledge, no Campaign map screenies have been released.

[IsItStillThere]

A lot of the released screenies have focused on naval battles...I SO hope CA follows through instead of deciding to punt once more.

Land battles become a little less complicated in this era (armies have become more standardized) but well-done naval battles would more than make up for it

[The Wizard]

I have long thought that TW as we know it could work all the way through to the advent of massed rifled weapons. This ought to be the end of the line, timeline-wise that is.

Indeed. I mean, how fun are the battles still going to be, what with two opposing lines simply standing around and blasting away at each other (to charge the image, so to say)? Unless cavalry is put into the equasion to the level it was used by, say, Frederick the Great or Bonaparte, I don't quite see much potential for excitement on land anymore (save, perhaps, for the occasional bayonet charge and maneuver warfare like the Prussians did at Rossbach). Methinks most of the fun to be had will be seen at sea.

[ninjahboy]

wait, i think i can make somethign abotu australia out!

[Warluster]

wait, i think i can make somethign abotu australia out!

WhooHoo! I can already see Aussie as a emerging faction.... Either that or I have got a Mod Idea!

[RoadKill]

wait, i think i can make somethign abotu australia out!

That is not cool you have the same Avatar as me..... Anyway this game is looking pretty sick.

[Monarch]

Indeed. I mean, how fun are the battles still going to be, what with two opposing lines simply standing around and blasting away at each other

Ye and MTW/RTW is just about lining them up and slashing at each other...I also used to share the same blinkered view, but then I played the Napoleonic Total War mod...

[Noir]

Tactics mattered a lot as well as changing formations during the battle (in game terms that is control). The main way to win was by flanking and envellopment so most of the action (as in mp) was happening at the flanks often. Cavalry would play the vital roles of harrasing the flanks and key "weak" artillery units as well as having to perform charges on depelted and weavering lines and flank charges to advancing units.

The problem is not the absence of tactics in the period chosen, the problem is how the engine and AI will cope. Napoleonic Total War 1 SP is a very well done, but extremely easy mod, because the AI cannot realy cope with this sort of warfare since his shooters are on skirmish mode while the player's are on hold formation and position often. The same was true for STW and SWs at the periods wereguns are introduced the player consistently can outperform the AI due to this inherent weakness. On the other hand NTW 1 was popular for mp as NTW 2 that was made for mp only and STW is considered by many the most balanced gameplay for mp.

These things mean that there is plenty of potential in this sort of gameplay, but that the AI as we know it so far, can't really make it happen in the SP game.

All TW engines and AI's so far were having as their Achile's heel shooters; so going on to make a new game with also another completey new component (naval battles), on a new engine (more development time) and without having shown signs of TW AI being able to handle shooters correctly, in a period were shooters dominate is a very very big risk as i pointed out in the "Happy with the decision made" thread.

CA consistently bites more than it can chew and although SP players are satisfied as long as there are good visuals, flavor and variety, you can see how low gameplay has fallen in TW in the mp game and in the levels of participation. CA has good ideas but the implementation is often rushed and incomplete.

RTW & M2TW feel like "just about lining them up and slashing at each other" as Monarch says because the units and gameplay are unbalanced and rushings are the main way to go; it could be done much differently.

Noir

[Azi Tohak]

I agree totally, NodachiSam. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll just rampantly autoresolve through a short campaign trying different building and taxing schemes. Have you seen any campaign map shots yet? I'd like to see it as well, but haven't stumbled across any yet.

Me three! The battles will always look nice, but the closeups are useless since I don't run battles in from the max-zoom setting. The campaign map is what I find the most interesting (e.g. with M2TW).

Azi