dismounting cavalry

**tarem** · 01-03-2010, 05:11

thank you for those links, i did not really play that much of MTW2 or ETW although i do have them installed on my pc at all times. i just can't get back to vanila TW games after playing EB. so i never knew they kicked out the dismount option. i often wonder how or why do sequels turn out to have less complexity then the oriinals ?

**-42-** · 01-03-2010, 05:32

Originally Posted by tarem

i often wonder how or why do sequels turn out to have less complexity then the oriinals ?

CA wants to appeal to a broader audience, I don't really have a problem with it, but a little more attention for us historical geeky types would be great. EB pretty much fills that demand (and then some).

**Smeel** · 01-05-2010, 15:33

I didn't enjoy Empire very much at all, but I really don't think the core mechanics of the game where that less complex than other tw games.
The only "trying to appeal the broader audience" I've felt is the marketing is more pointed to the american audience rather than the european.

The only things tha comes to mind is the family tree and sieges that got the big axe, but neither of them where that essential in the 18th century, though I would have enjoyed cultivating different noble families waying for control of the empire. *sigh*

I mean, trading and resources are more complex and have some meaning now, which it didn't have in earlier games.

The building mechanics where streamlined, and at least I thought they did a better job this time.

The same with diplomacy, it was just annyoing that you needed to send diplomats through the whole map to ask for something, a big improvement. Of course, one of the reasons I don't enjoy empire, is the incredibly broken AI diplomacy.

**tarem** · 01-05-2010, 17:35

the only thing i really like in Empire is tactical naval battle. out of maybe 20-30 game hours spent on ETW, i probably used more then 2/3 on playing naval battles through the custom battle creator. just think of the possibilites this openes. yes, the AI is not really creative, but then again it never is. the best we can expect from a commercial game is to prevent the AI from doing extreamly silly stuff. in that point, the naval AI is not that bad. as for EB1, i've played it on rtw, bi and alex exe-s and i think the AI is slightly better (in tactical battle) in bi and alex, with alex maybe being a bit less silly, but lacking night battles and stuff.

anyways, when i thought of the sequels being "dumbed down" i mostly ment MTW VS MTW2 and RTW. vanilla RTW was really really bad. i ever play it anymore. BI and Alex are menageble. MT2 is ok-ish too. as i said i don't have enogh exereince with it, or with ETW.

**Smeel** · 01-06-2010, 02:14

Ah, I hardly remember playing Mtw, I was like 13-14 or something, and I probably didn't understand half of the english I had to read. Good times though, I remeber having a great time playing it!

If CA ever release tools for E:tw, that game might have a really bright future, but that is of course, if they don't figure it's easier to have the game unmodable with DLC content

**tarem** · 01-06-2010, 05:48

there are 2 things i really like about MTW that i can remember and that do not apear in later TW games. one was the dismount ability, that came in handy when you thought that you knights (who might charge without orders anyway) would not be of much use on their horses for whatever reason (terrain or enemy army composition). the other was the very aproach of defending a province and the local settlement. there was just no way you could cramp a full stack army inside a fortification, thus sieges were really acts of desperation on the defender's part. namely the fort could only support a limited number of soldiers (depending on the fort's level) and if the enemy decided to retreat inside the said fort, they would have to relly only on a limited garrison. this lead to a field battle before almost every siege or a total evacuation of the army, which i consider much more realistic and initiative demanding than the current aproach which actually incourages full stacks camping inside fortified cities. i wonder of something like this coul be moded, to only allow fo a limited size garison to defend a settlement...

**A Very Super Market** · 01-06-2010, 06:29

Probably, but it would be more trouble than it's worth. The AI won't care about that, for one.

**Owen Glyndwr** · 01-08-2010, 18:10

Originally Posted by Smeel

The only things tha comes to mind is the family tree and sieges that got the big axe, but neither of them where that essential in the 18th century, though I would have enjoyed cultivating different noble families waying for control of the empire. *sigh*

That bit about family trees is hardly true, especially when you consider that in this time period most all of Europe was dominated by 5 major families: Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hannoverians (a little after the game starts), Hohenzollerns (come to prominence at the tail end of the game?) and the Romanovs.

If anything, I think family trees should be even more important in that game.

Sorry for the off-topic response, just had to say it.

**Watchman** · 01-08-2010, 18:36

Excuse me but since when weren't sieges rather very important in 18th-century warfare...? States didn't dump small fortunes into building and maintaining those "Vauban" fortress systems because they were irrelevant you know.