So I Played Empire Total War Last Night

[Chirurgeon]

Do not worry. It will not distract from my work here with EB. I was actually a bit disappointed. The bright point of it was the naval combat. Very cool to watch enemy ships splinter apart in vivid detail. However the land combat is not as good as I hoped. It seemed clunky and the graphics on land were not nearly as good as that on sea. I was surprised that the units looked less detailed then I thought. I thought they might be a little more crisp. Sigh...I guess all the good fighting ended with the invention of gunpowder. I will probably buy the full version and hope it gets better. However I think that the Creative Assembly has reached the near limit of their timeline. An American Civil War strategy game would be cool but what then? Trench warfare in WWI?

[SwissBarbar]

Nay. The only purpose of Empires is to be a base for EB III, of course with naval battles between Triremes and Biremes etc.

[A Very Super Market]

I dunno, maybe they would combine the powers of all the games and make a 272BC to 1850 game. With the entire world.

[We shall fwee...Wodewick]

However the land combat is not as good as I hoped. It seemed clunky and the graphics on land were not nearly as good as that on sea. I was surprised that the units looked less detailed then I thought. I thought they might be a little more crisp.

Unless your demo was different, the highest settings you could use were medium, so I would expect the full game to be a lot better. Not that my computer could dream of handling it. It could barely handle the lowest settings.

[mini]

Aye, I tried the demo aswel, and was utterly disappointed.
Then again, I never liked TW games vanilla.

The land battles feel like a step backwards for some reason... Maybe it just has been to long since I played any vanilla. Or the fact that I also dont like gunpowder battles :)


Has anyone seen those screens from the campaign map? Now that was the biggest turnoff of the whole game for me.
Nonetheless I preordered the game, will prolly allocate yet another particle of my so precious time to it.
Only reason why I bought it, is 1) to complete my collection 2) to be able to participate in hotseats/PBM's here. 3) just hoping that awesome mods will come for it eventually :)

[Βελισάριος]

I haven't gotten the E:TW demo yet... not sure if my old chug-a-bug can take it.
But I am definitely looking forward to naval battles. I'm a seadog, born and bred.

And as for the TW series continuing... trench warfare in WWI would be the next logical step. I'm very curious about how they might handle that.
Could be a step up in tactics for the series, you know.

[mini]

If I had anything to say about it, they'd remake Rome in co-op with the EB team ;p

[A Very Super Market]

No. They really couldn't. CA has to stay in the pre-1860 period, otherwise weapons start getting so accurate and long ranged that it'd be boring. Not to mention how weird it would be to have separate formations of men running around. There are no field battles pro-1860, there are military operations, thousand mile fronts, and loose formations that just wouldn't work with our point-and-move system.

[Subotan]

Curses! I was going to start a thread like this!
Anyway, I was very satisfied with the demo. I felt that the AI was challenging (Or maybe I was just a bad player -_- ) I found the ship battles very interesting, although were EB III to use E:TW engine, I don't know how they'd use broadsides...
I also thought it was interesting because warfare becomes all about setting up positions and angles, rather than a random flankage. I think it has the potential to be really, really good though.

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Well, I must say that after a brief period of euphoria I'm back into EB. CA has once again made a so-so game with short fun lifespan.

[mcantu]

Nay. The only purpose of Empires is to be a base for EB III, of course with naval battles between Triremes and Biremes etc.

the problem with that is it seems that ships are not able to collide in the demo...

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

The modders will find a way. They always do...

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Hontely CA isnt limited by the 1860 limit the TW series as we know it is.
They will do one of two things.
1.Abandon the TW title in their 1860+ games.
2.Abandon the TW engine and still call the games TW to attract sales.

[the man with no name]

Hontely CA isnt limited by the 1860 limit the TW series as we know it is.
They will do one of two things.
1.Abandon the TW title in their 1860+ games.
2.Abandon the TW engine and still call the games TW to attract sales.

lolzerz

[Βελισάριος]

Or they could make Rome II: Total War.

Oh, the epicness of it all!

[Antinous]

Hey Chirurgeon could you tape the demo of the sea battles or take pics. I couldn't get the demo running on my computer.

[Lucio Domicio Aureliano]

Or they could make Rome II: Total War.

Oh, the epicness of it all!

Rumours are that the next title is Rome II: Total War.

[Silence Hunter]

Well Rome: Total War was a huge success, so it would be logical to make Rome II TW. Many players (including me) were introduced into TW franchise by RTW. There are also alot of people who were dissapointed with MIITW, or generally not interested in time period. I bet this will happen with Empires too.

[Βελισάριος]

Personally, I'd rather have a Shogun II: Total War. After all, that was the first in the series, wasn't it?

And I still think trench warfare could work. Gatling units, Howitzers. It'd be arguably a lot more static than Rome or Medieval, but it can still be done. CA may have to revolutionise the way that the engine works. With more commands for each unit, more formations, a general that is otherwise occupied and away from the battlefield, and, of course... aerial combat.

To me it seems like a logical step for the franchise, because, after all, World War One was the first "total war" in history. Of course, the definition may vary, but that's what most historians would call it. Because it was fought on air, land and sea (and in cabinets too, heh).

[A Very Super Market]

I don't possibly see how trench warfare could work in the TW engine or anything like it. They would need to make a completely different game.

What would be the objective? How would would it even work on the campaign map?

[bobbin]

Rumours are that the next title is Rome II: Total War.

How would that fit in with their "revolution/evolution" game making process? one would imagine they would stay in the gunpowder period for the next game and then move on to RTW2.

That being said i wouldn't mind RTW2 at all or maybe even a game based around the warring states period of china, it being, i feel, one of the only times in history that the tw series has not touched on.

[Rilder]

I
What would be the objective? How would would it even work on the campaign map?

Hearts of Iron 2 + Theatre of War could work.

[desert]

Theater of War is just too small in scale, though. And sooo slow.

Hearts of Iron I haven't gotten to play yet.

A WWI game in the TW style just wouldn't work. Although seeing von Beneckendorf charge his cavalry or whatever right into my trenches at the beginning of a battle would be lol.

[A Very Super Market]

If you take different games, then it isn't TW anymore. I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy it,but it would be stupid to market is as Trench: Total War or something.


Yes, I know that is a stupid title.

[Ardri]

the problem with that is it seems that ships are not able to collide in the demo..

I am not sure this is actually true as I had one of my ships ram full bore into a french ship in the demo and the two became stuck together for the remainder of the battle. I brought in another ship to board the french ship since it couldn't move. Granted I can't say for certain this was by design or was simply a glitch.

Back on topic I think they could do a WWI type game, the fronts weren't always active so they could have you go to real time strategy map on the segment of the front where the enemy was launching or defending one of your assaults. Just a thought.

[Ibrahim]

well, If CA wants to continue as a success, I think they should revamp the way they make computer games, as they need to make he games more user friendly (i.e, workable on normal PC's and laptops, as most won't be able to properly run ETW, or even run it the first place. Its laggy on my laptop, and mine is above average).

helps too if they work on that AI. I swear its almost as if they were building those latest ones for my fellow biology students, its too dumbed down on the battlefield.

[antisocialmunky]

Well they are making that futuristic RTS as well. I forget what its called but you can search for that game on Wikipedia by going through the CA related entries.

[desert]

Yeah, that's Stormrise.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...ise/index.html

It's coming out in 3 weeks.

Sounds interesting.

[Ibrahim]

Well they are making that futuristic RTS as well. I forget what its called but you can search for that game on Wikipedia by going through the CA related entries.

I am well aware of that, and I look forward to trying out. nicely done.

but the point is, if they apply improved AI to their total war series, it would do much to add to an already superlative game series. I just find that the AI in the latest games (ETW included), to be sorely dissapointing. It can be manipulated too easily(taken advantage of), and as I said, its like they make them for my fellow biology student.

[Husker98]

well, If CA wants to continue as a success, I think they should revamp the way they make computer games, as they need to make he games more user friendly (i.e, workable on normal PC's and laptops, as most won't be able to properly run ETW, or even run it the first place. Its laggy on my laptop, and mine is above average).

helps too if they work on that AI. I swear its almost as if they were building those latest ones for my fellow biology students, its too dumbed down on the battlefield.

I agree when i play vanilla total war the whole game feels like an empty canvas. they could have done more but chose not to because they have no real competition. yea Europa Universalis is a great game but they are still firmly number two behind the total war series.