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

[Fisherking]

Already beaten you to it Check a few posts up.

[Sir Beane]

Just be pleased that Austria in in game as a playable faction! I can understand your excitement lol.

Now let us all pray for poor Portugal.

[Polemists]

While Portugal may or may not be in what are we at now, 10 of the 12 playable factions?


I'd assume next week you'll probably get Mughals.


Then it's all a question of whether or not they consider the 13 colonies a "playable faction" or not.

[pdoyle007]

I think the 13 colonies might become an unlockable faction once you have completed the 'Road To Independence'. It would give you a tangible reason to go through it, rather than just plow straight in with your usual favourite factions.

A demo would be nice

[Polemists]

It would give you a tangible reason to go through it, rather than just plow straight in with your usual favourite factions.

It sounds plausabile,

as does

a

DEMO

[Sir Beane]

I don't know about the unlockable part. Because even if you unlocked them as a playable faction in the Grand Campaign they don't actually have any lands or citiies at the start of the game. CA would have to find a way around that problem first.

Wheras Portugal has a base in Europe and territories in India and America. They seem a much more logical choice for playable faction than a fledgeling nation that didn't exist at the time and was not a superpower even when it did form.

[pdoyle007]

How about if there is a single rebel faction in Northern America, however once you have completed RoI this then turns into the US and you have the option to play as it?

However on the grand campaign for say Britain this is simple a rebel faction. Basically a placeholder with designated land?











Or (and less likely) the 'US horde' that attacks with no cities but stacks of rocket elephants........

[pevergreen]

I think that once you complete the Road to Independance, you can simply start at the end of the 3rd chapter, playing as the US. It gives a proper way to play the US, with a story behind it, yet leaves the other countires in the grand campaign at historical starting points.

[Mailman653]

That does make sense albeit a bit boring in the sense that all your campaigns will be the same, founding, colony, rebellion. Then you'll have about 19 years of game play that won't be scripted, I doubt it will be possible to start having ideas of empire like having possessions in India, Africa, or even Europe; the best you might be able to do is grab the Caribbean. Although since you just got through a long war with the English, is it really wise to start picking a new fight with someone else?

Thats just speculation on my part.

[Polemists]

That does make sense albeit a bit boring in the sense that all your campaigns will be the same, founding, colony, rebellion. Then you'll have about 19 years of game play that won't be scripted, I doubt it will be possible to start having ideas of empire like having possessions in India, Africa, or even Europe; the best you might be able to do is grab the Caribbean. Although since you just got through a long war with the English, is it really wise to start picking a new fight with someone else?

Thats just speculation on my part.

My thoughts, is however unhistoric you may get to play the 13 colonies as a faction but you will pay taxes to england, basically you'll be playing as protectorate. The more you build up a military, the more they tax, and eventually this leads to unhappiness, which leads to a revoultion.

Otherwise, players are going to only have 40 turns of gameplay after the RTI campaign, or maybe slightly more if they start as England and go that route.

Either way, in a 188 turn game, it seems kind of silly that your major advertisment faction would be unplayable except in scripted campaign.

You could be right though.

The best way to know of course

is with

a

DEMO

[GMaximus]

My thoughts, is however unhistoric you may get to play the 13 colonies as a faction but you will pay taxes to england, basically you'll be playing as protectorate. The more you build up a military, the more they tax, and eventually this leads to unhappiness, which leads to a revoultion.

Otherwise, players are going to only have 40 turns of gameplay after the RTI campaign, or maybe slightly more if they start as England and go that route.

Either way, in a 188 turn game, it seems kind of silly that your major advertisment faction would be unplayable except in scripted campaign.

You could be right though.

The best way to know of course

is with

a

DEMO

Wait, wasn't it supposed to be possible to keep on playing after 1799/1800, when the points are counted? I seem to recall something about years not advancing, but probably if I'm not wrong about this the rest of the gameplay is the same, and you've already won with the USA when you've gained independance.

[Fisherking]

Wait, wasn't it supposed to be possible to keep on playing after 1799/1800, when the points are counted? I seem to recall something about years not advancing, but probably if I'm not wrong about this the rest of the gameplay is the same, and you've already won with the USA when you've gained independance.

That may be true. But if technologies don’t advance either, which I seem to remember was at least implied, it may not make for that interesting an option.

I think most want the sea battles of the War of 1812...not remembering they most US ports were heavily blockaded and the British raids did some serious and embarrassing damage.

[Fisherking]

You know that more than a week ago it was stated that we would soon have another faction and a unit or something out.

The last time we had Official News was the 3rd of February. It is now nearer release date than to that date.

No units, no techs, no factions…no demo…if this is soon, or very soon, when the heck are we going to see SOMETHING!

I understand they are busy, but if they have the front office PR staff in back writing code, that is panic and not very promising…




Is anyone home?






.

[Monk]

You know that more than a week ago it was stated that we would soon have another faction and a unit or something out.

The last time we had Official News was the 3rd of February. It is now nearer release date than to that date.

No units, no techs, no factions…no demo…if this is soon, or very soon, when the heck are we going to see SOMETHING!

I understand they are busy, but if they have the front office PR staff in back writing code, that is panic and not very promising…




Is anyone home?






.

Maybe there is no news because they've got nothing to report, or PR is preoccupied with something else? It might be as simple as the hours got away from the PR-person who was intending to post the info, or it might be as drastic as they are diverting more man-power to iron out bugs before release.

Silence, unfortunately, breeds many questions.

[Polemists]

Yes they said we would get a unit and a faction yesterday, we didn't. I can only hope it do to fact they want to roll it all out with a demo and get a big release of info, demo and goodness.

We will find out around 6pm english time today I guess.

[Mailman653]

Well, with the Marathas in (see other thread), all that's left is to speculate on the last playable faction. Anyone have any guesses?

[Sir Beane]

Woo new faction! Finally the mystery of the Indian faction is solved. The butler did it.


Marathas

The Maratha Empire or Confederacy was born in violence, as the result of the successful overthrow of Mughal rule less than a generation ago. Raja (king) Shivaji managed to gain control of the Pune region, and from then Mughal power was no longer invincible. As might be expected, the Mughals and the Marathas still nurse a dislike for each other.

Unlike the foreign (in origin) Mughals, the Maratha rulers are Indian princes and kings. They know the value of the Indian way of doing things, of the age-old strength of their lands. Their armies may look old fashioned, possibly quaint, to foreign eyes but that makes them no less effective. The empire exists solely because it has the military strength to withstand the Mughal threat.

Perhaps now, though, it is time to think of expansion. It may no longer be enough to hold off the Mughals; perhaps they should be driven from India altogether, and a new empire with Indian rulers established. Perhaps only Indians truly have the ability to withstand the Europeans who are starting to demand much of India. For now, the Europeans want only money and trade, but soon they will be after concessions, a little piece of land here, another piece there, until all is ruled by foreigners from across the sea. Unless a strong hand guides India, it is possible that the rule of Mughal outsiders will be replaced by the lordship of European outsiders.

And perhaps, one day, a Maratha could demand concessions from a European, in his lands…

[Fisherking]

Gosh! I guess I posted this in the other thread…but what the heck, it fits here too…

I hope the US doesn’t take up the slot. Portugal with unassailable overseas possessions in Brazil, and Africa along with Goa seems good. Also Denmark with three provinces, Venice may have the same, and the Iroquois.

I have doubts about the Iroquois and Venice was very weak at the time. Of the two remaining Portugal would be my favorite but I don’t think Denmark can be ruled out.

[Sir Beane]

Gosh! I guess I posted this in the other thread…but what the heck, it fits here too…

I hope the US doesn’t take up the slot. Portugal with unassailable overseas possessions in Brazil, and Africa along with Goa seems good. Also Denmark with three provinces, Venice may have the same, and the Iroquois.

I have doubts about the Iroquois and Venice was very weak at the time. Of the two remaining Portugal would be my favorite but I don’t think Denmark can be ruled out.

And I answered in the other thread to, but I really have nothing better to do than post.

In short, Portgual is the only contender if CA care about representing actual Imperial colonial factions rather than pandering to the American market. I know you yanks love your country (and who can blame you?) but at the time it really wasn't up to global scale warfare. Especially given that it doesn't exist at the start of the game.

Please CA, give Portugal a chance.

[Incitatus]

More news from the Official site: star forts and Elite Light infantry!
http://www.totalwar.com/empire/units/?id=1

Certainly not as good as the demo, but hey, now we have that too!

[Sir Beane]

I was so close to posting this first! So close!

Star Fort

The basic concept of a star fort is that at least one, and preferably many, field of fire should cover every part of the defence and the approaches to the fort. These killing zones can be extended and made even more deadly by, at the very least, a long sloping glacis around the fort for the attackers to scale. The glacis need not be very steep at all, but the attackers face an uphill struggle with no cover at all, under murderous fire ever step of the way. The glacis also acts as a passive defence, a sloping armoured earthwork for the fort proper. Beyond the glacis a hidden counterscarp awaits: a retaining wall (sometimes with firing positions for the defenders) that drops down deep ditch that must be crossed before the actual approaches to the fort are even reached!

All of these defences are before the military architects add additional ravelins (detached triangular bastions or gun positions) in front of the fort’s own walls and hornworks and crownworks (both elaborations on the basic bastion design). The whole effect, when viewed in plan form, is baroque in its complexity, each projection of the central star giving the defence another firing position towards any attacking force. Wall length is limited to that which can be covered by flanking musket fire, as experience showed that a fort with only cannons in its defence could be taken when the cannons were knocked out.

Elite Light Infantry

Light infantry forces form a skirmish line to slow the enemy advance and keep their own line unmolested by enemy skirmishers.

Whether they are called light infantry, jaegers, tirailleurs or chasseurs à pied, it is the job of these men to screen the main battle line, harass the enemy and, if possible, pick off important men in the enemy’s ranks. Unlike their fellows in the line infantry, light infantrymen are trained to think for themselves, use the ground and cover intelligently, and not fight in rigid lines. Instead, they form a loose skirmish line and fire independently at their own designated targets. The effect is a constant, low-level barrage rather than the crashing thunder of a volley but the effect is quite deadly as officers and sergeants are picked off and removed from the fight. Against cavalry, however, their best defence is to withdraw to their own battle line.

Historically, the Austrians were widely regarded as producing the finest light infantry forces in Europe. Other nations did catch up, but in the case of Britain and France it was their experiences in fighting in North America that persuaded them of the wisdom of light troops. Battle lines were simply impossible to manage in the dense woodlands, and largely pointless against the native tribes!

[Fisherking]

Everyone must be expecting the demo and the second coming from there any moment now.

It took 7 min. to load…and that was just the infantry!

I am still waiting for the Star Fort to pop up!

[Sir Beane]

Everyone must be expecting the demo and the second coming from there any moment now.

It took 7 min. to load…and that was just the infantry!

I am still waiting for the Star Fort to pop up!

I can't get the infantry to load, which is why I can't post it yet.

[Fisherking]

This is getting slow too.

The tag a moment ago said 49 viewing Parliament.

That is in the middle of the day!

I am sure traffic will drop off in about half an hour though!

[Sir Beane]

This is getting slow too.

The tag a moment ago said 49 viewing Parliament.

That is in the middle of the day!

I am sure traffic will drop off in about half an hour though!

The highest I ever saw was 65 viewing, at about 7pm (GMT) a couple of days ago.

Traffic will plummet in a few hours.

[Polemists]

Yes the only ones of us left on these forums are those who either A. Have cool demo things to post B. have slow net and therefore don't have demo yet or C. Have a job and must be at it when they'd rather be playing demo (i'm a mixture of B & C)

Starforts sound interesting, I personally want to see if they operate like the old forts or if they are more of a circle of attack like the other units.

Plus as I've heard nothing on seige weapons and obviously you won't build rams or ladders I'm curious what kind of Seige weapons you can build before assault this time.

[A Very Super Market]

As far as I know, 18th century sieges mainly involved bombardment by both sides. The attacker would try and get their mortars (High-angle) into range, and if they did, the defenders more or less had lost the battle.

[Polemists]

Yes I recall seeing this in Last of the Mohcans(sp) which I saw last night.

I wouldn't mind that, if they could hold out based on how long it took your men to trench up to get your mortars in range.

[A Very Super Market]

Hmm... overzealous preparation I see?

Anyways, I was horribly wrong. The attackers still needed to get through the breach in the wall, and the defenders were perfectly capable of holding it off. So, I think the "Turns until surrender" thing will still be related to food.

[Polemists]

Yes but what will you build when you seige?

I mean the battering ram, ladders, and seige towers are all out,

so unless you are building mortars or special artillery...not sure what would be in....