3D Units and Faction Info Over At the Official Empire Site

[Sheogorath]

"General winter"......does that mean weather will actualy play a big role in planning a campaign? There is a huge difference between invading Russia in the spring than the winter.

Quite.
In the spring you have torrential downpours and calf-deep mud. ;)

As I've said in other places, General Winter is typically a poor sideshow to Generals Overconfidence and Underestimation.
He just wears a fancier uniform than those two.

[Mailman653]

I thought Sargent Pepper had the fancier uniform?

[Megas Methuselah]

I wonder if their uniforms are going to be green or (ugh) brown...

[Noncommunist]

Huzzah!

I do hope they don't go overboard with 'General Winter', if that is an actual in-game effect.
But I also don't want to end up in another argument about it. :|

How would they even do it as an actual in game effect? Would it simply involve destruction of large parts of armies that wander into Russia during winter?

[Sol Invictus]

Russia should be a fun faction. I hope that CA includes some sort of attrition effect for all armies and to a greater degree in Russia.

[The_Doctor]

I do hope they don't go overboard with 'General Winter', if that is an actual in-game effect.

I hope there is a button you press and it starts snowing and then the snow forms together into a giant Russian(General Winter) that starts attacking the enemy army.

[Martok]

Wow, I'm surprised Monk hasn't already shown up drunk, singing Russian! Ah well, once he sobers up I'm sure he'll properly celebrate.

I do hope that the season plays a larger factor this time around. Russia could probably use winter's help....

[Martok]

Merged thread with "3D Units and Faction Info" thread.

[sassbarman]

How would they even do it as an actual in game effect? Would it simply involve destruction of large parts of armies that wander into Russia during winter?

movement and moral.

[Sheogorath]

I thought Sargent Pepper had the fancier uniform?

General Winter gets all the credit, so he gets all the medals :P

I wonder if their uniforms are going to be green or (ugh) brown...

Ugh indeed. I hope CA doesn't give the Russians brown uniforms. That would be the equivalent of making the British wear orange or something.

How would they even do it as an actual in game effect? Would it simply involve destruction of large parts of armies that wander into Russia during winter?

Attrition amoung units, morale lowering, speed slowing...but then, you'd have to do that for spring too (for the rain and mud). And lower morale and cause attrition during Summer too (for the heat).

I hope there is a button you press and it starts snowing and then the snow forms together into a giant Russian(General Winter) that starts attacking the enemy army.

It would be even better if the Japanese were represented and could attack with giant samurai robots that transform into hot air balloons :P
They can all fight the Indians elephants and the thirteen colonies cowboys.

[Polemists]

Ugh indeed. I hope CA doesn't give the Russians brown uniforms. That would be the equivalent of making the British wear orange or something.

Yea i mean that would be like a Parthian Army dressed in entirely purple, crazy. That would never happen.

[Sheogorath]

Yea i mean that would be like a Parthian Army dressed in entirely purple, crazy. That would never happen.

They looked pretty FABULOUS for all that, though

[Megas Methuselah]

But brown doesn't carry purple's liveliness. Brown is just... depressing.

[Polemists]

Wasn 't the axe wielding german faction of Rome in brown? I don't recall anyone complaining then

[ULC]

Wasn 't the axe wielding german faction of Rome in brown? I don't recall anyone complaining then

No, they were an interesting dark shade of Red

[Polemists]

Hey i'm just hoping not to have forests of banner flags in my army this time around.

As for colors, there are 12 factions, the color spectrum isn't that big. Somebody's got to get a sucky color :P

[Megas Methuselah]

You may be right, but Russia, historically, has green uniforms. Give brown to the Sardinians or something. You can't rob Russia of their trademark colour.

[Sheogorath]

A rather snazzy green/red combination, until they adopted Prussian-style uniforms. Christmasy ;)

But yeah, give brown to a minor faction. As one of the Big Five, Russia hardly deserves a second-rate uniform color.

[Mailman653]

New ship is on the website, the Razee

[Sir Beane]

Just like Mailman said:

Razee

A razee is a robust frigate, created by cutting the top deck off a larger ship of the line.

Frigates are a vital part of any balanced sea-going fleet. They are cruisers that can operate independently and are swift enough to hunt down enemy merchantmen. the chance for prize money makes them popular postings among officers and men alike!

One way of creating a large, powerful frigate is to take a two-deck ship of the line and, in effect, saw off the top deck creating a single-deck frigate. The first result is that a 64-gun ship can now only carry 44 guns, but the ones that remain are the heavier than those normally found on a frigate, typically 32- or 24-pounders rather than the expected 18s! The second result is that the razee retains the strong timbers of the original 64, making it a robust ship in combat. Thirdly, having lost its upper works, the new ship generally handles rather well under sail. All this work takes time and valuable dock space, of course.

Historically, one of the most successful razees was HMS Indefatigable, commanded by Edward Pellew. In the company of another frigate, Pellew took on - and defeated - the Droits de l'Homme, a French 74, in 1797. During the next year or so, Pellew and the Indefatigable went on to take a further nine vessels.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Historically, grenadier regiments and battalions began as ad hoc assault forces. All line infantry regiments had grenadier companies; collecting these sub-units gave commanders a useful group of heavily armed, aggressive and skilful soldiers. Grenadier companies remained in line infantry regiments after the creation of grenadier regiments, but they abandoned grenades. Instead, each grenadier company became a “heavy mob” of the biggest and strongest soldiers in a regiment.

Wow, I'm impressed with CA's sudden shift to historical accuracy. Looks like they're really staying true to the promise. For gameplay reasons, it could have been much more feasible to just let the grenadiers throw grenades, however inaccurate it may have been for late to middle 1700s.

[Sheogorath]

Wow, I'm impressed with CA's sudden shift to historical accuracy. Looks like they're really staying true to the promise. For gameplay reasons, it could have been much more feasible to just let the grenadiers throw grenades, however inaccurate it may have been for late to middle 1700s.

I always hated that in games set in the 17/1800's. 'Grenadiers' ALWAYS throw grenades. They did it in Civilization, and pretty much every one of those 'stone age->future' RTS'.
I hate grenades. Give me badass hats and awesome 'staches and the ability to watch my men gut lesser soldiers like fishes.

And furthermore, GIVE US SOME MORE INFO ON LAND UNITS, GUYS. C'MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON.

[ULC]

And furthermore, GIVE US SOME MORE INFO ON LAND UNITS, GUYS. C'MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON.

What I hope is that I can stare at NTW2's unit roster and not need to look at Info at the site to know whats in ETW. Then I'll know it will be a good game

[Megas Methuselah]

I wonder if, as a Native American faction, I can capture a lone Razee with a stack of canoes or something and incorporate the technology into my own, thus enabling me to eventually build up an impressive fleet...

[PBI]

Give me badass hats and awesome 'staches and the ability to watch my men gut lesser soldiers like fishes.

If nothing else, this should be the era of awesome facial hair.

I wonder if, alongside all the machine guns, ironclads and repeating rifles, one of the key military technologies it will be possible to develop ahead of time given sufficient resources will be the sideburn?

[Sir Beane]

I wonder if, as a Native American faction, I can capture a lone Razee with a stack of canoes or something and incorporate the technology into my own, thus enabling me to eventually build up an impressive fleet...

I hope so. I really really hope so. Imagine the situation. Out of nowhere the pride of the British fleet is swarmed by stack after stack of lowly Native war canoes. Eventually the crew succumb to fatigue and numbers and the ship falls.

A year or so later and the European powers have been driven from the North American continent. The mighty Iroquois navy with its top of the ling first rate, 100 gun war canoes is threatening shipping in the Indies.

Five years after that the first of the Native American armies lands on the coast of France. The french buckle from this suprise attack on their homeland.

Thirty years after the first ship fell all Europe bows before the mighty Warchief, buffalo roam freely across the countryside of Prussia. The age of empires never happens and the world lives in a golden age where mankind lives in harmony with nature.

Or something like that

[Pinxit]

I hope so. I really really hope so. Imagine the situation. Out of nowhere the pride of the British fleet is swarmed by stack after stack of lowly Native war canoes. Eventually the crew succumb to fatigue and numbers and the ship falls.

A year or so later and the European powers have been driven from the North American continent. The mighty Iroquois navy with its top of the ling first rate, 100 gun war canoes is threatening shipping in the Indies.

Five years after that the first of the Native American armies lands on the coast of France. The french buckle from this suprise attack on their homeland.

Thirty years after the first ship fell all Europe bows before the mighty Warchief, buffalo roam freely across the countryside of Prussia. The age of empires never happens and the world lives in a golden age where mankind lives in harmony with nature.

Or something like that

I actually did just that. I Conquered the entire world except the natives in America, then I gave the world to them except for Great Brittain. Just to see what would happen. It seems that it was a tactical error (duh) because even though they were happy to have been given the world, they apparently saw little meaning in my existence and exterminated me a few rounds later.

[Sir Beane]

I actually did just that. I Conquered the entire world except the natives in America, then I gave the world to them except for Great Brittain. Just to see what would happen. It seems that it was a tactical error (duh) because even though they were happy to have been given the world, they apparently saw little meaning in my existence and exterminated me a few rounds later.

Some people just don't know how to show gratitude. Maybe all the new found power went to their heads?

[Mailman653]

Spain

[Fisherking]

One could get the impression that this game is lacking in depth, with only three ships, three land units, two buildings, and two technologies to divide up among these seven listed factions.

Of course the unspecified March date could easily slide to April Fools’ Day too…