The latest Q and A is now up...Happy Holidays

[Wolf_Kyolic]

p.s. I would personaly like to thank CA for hosting retrofit mod - it balances the MP aspect of the game. This is how MTW2 and Kingdoms should be done in first place to satisfie MP community expectations.

Retrofit fixes balance issues that's true but lag and connection problems will be there forever so the stituation does not seem so brilliant for the future. People won't be bearing those mp problems forever and since next tw is "ships", the end is very near.

Well we cannot blame CA because everyone knows that it takes some rocket science to release a game that does not lag and does not have connection problems. It is soooooo very complicated (especially if you have no clue about what is causing those problems). They tried hard but it was beyond their devs' coding skills. Ces't la vie.

lmao

[BeeSting]

This is all good but I’m concerned that the game mechanics might be too overwhelming and complicated for the battle and campaign AI. Could we get some more details assuring us that battle AI will be an improvement from the past? Love the graphics and new features but AI can spoil the overall game play in a heartbeat.

[NimbleNota]

Q. Will I regret buying this game too?

A.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Q: Will merchant ships be part of your fleet, so that the warships need to guard the merchant ships in a battle?
A: There are two types of merchant activity in Empire: trade routes and trade fleets. These can be guarded by your navies. There is a boatload to say about this so I think we are going to leave that for another time.

Sounds interesing. So will this mean parking some ships on those little dotted lines that represent trade routes block them like armies on roads? And will trade fleets function as individual, controllable units like merchants in M2TW?

Q: Will we be able to use captured ships in our own naval and merchant fleets?
A: Yes. There is a whole chapter that can be written about this but that’s for another time

A very cool feature. But can you just use captured ships if your faction can normally recruit them. Like when you bribe armies and M2TW, only units available to your faction switch sides, the rest disband.

Q: Will my faction’s navy be able to take on repairs at neutral or allied ports?
A: No. There are a number of issues involved in allowing the player’s warships to enter friendly/neutral ports that don’t really add anything good to gameplay. One of the challenges in Empire will be to maintain a fleet at sea and have sufficient ports around the world to carry out repairs and replacement of lost crew and ships. If you want to do well, you’re going to have to emulate the Royal Navy!

This doesn't sound like much but it could turn out to be a massive feature. That alone would encourage realistic growth of colonial empires, rather than great empires over landmasses I was a bit afraid would appear...

Q: Will Pirates/Privateers play any roles in the game? Can we hire them to harass ports of call or go after enemy nations merchant ships to disrupt their trade?
A: Yes. They will raid your trade routes and on occasion attack ports that are poorly defended. If they think they can outgun an isolated naval vessel they will give it a go too. The player can raid the trade routes of enemy factions and also blockade enemy ports with their naval vessels during wartime.

Ports are defended? So can battles be fought in Ports?

Q: How will we get to India? Will you incorporate a ‘warping’ system where you warp around the map or do we sail around the Cape of Good Hope?
A: We have a cunning plan but we can’t give too much away just yet. Keep an eye out as we reveal more in the fullness of time. You will like it.

Not the old Suez Canal trick then?

And BTW, I can't believe how negative some people here are being. This game sounds incredible, and any TW game, even if its had its problems, has always been a top quality PC-game to buy.

[NimbleNota]

And BTW, I can't believe how negative some people here are being. This game sounds incredible, and any TW game, even if its had its problems, has always been a top quality PC-game to buy.

I agree 100% for SP, TW is the best, no questions asked there

But you should try playing MP....... then tell me how top notch it is

[Wolf_Kyolic]

I agree 100% for SP, TW is the best, no questions asked there

But you should try playing MP....... then tell me how top notch it is

Ye try MP and then tell us what you think. lol

[rajpoot]

MP?