I was wondering if any dopers besides me are following the development of this game and have any thoughts on it. It sounds to me like pretty much what I’ve been wanting from the game since…well, since the first Shogun game. Naval warfare! Raiding the enemies sea lanes and trade networks! Bayonet charges! Lines of battle! Desperately formed hollow squares of infantry fending off cavalry charges! Artillery duels! America actually in one of these games! Short Frenchmen who walk around in funny hats while keeping one hand tucked into the vest of their coat!
For anyone who hasn’t read anything about it as yet here are a couple of links . Myself…I can hardly wait! It sounds like it may be the best Total War game to date. And because of the way these Total War games work it means there will be ANOTHER full blown game developed from this same engine sometime in the fairly near future (well…fairly near to whenever THIS game actually finally gets shipped anyway :)).
I’m intrigued but maybe not as much as you are- I start losing interest in history once gunpowder starts to dominate. The naval portion is a much-needed addition, though, and if it works well (I don’t know if anyone has ever simulated naval combat in an RTS way before) it’ll be excellent. Sheesh, we’ll actually have to keep an eye on wind as a factor, won’t we?
Yeah, if you read the blog forum link they have physics models for wind and wave as well as various weather conditions…and a bunch of shot model damage factors as well. Up to 20 vessels sounds like its going to be a blast…so to speak.
Imperial Glory was a Total War-style RTS, set in the Napoleonic era, that attempted to model sea battles. Not a very good game. Particularly the sea battles.
I actually have a copy of Imperial Glory around somewhere. You are right…it wasn’t particularly good. Not even the land battles were very fun. The sea battles really sucked. I HOPE that Empire will do both much better.
I absolutely love the siege models in M2TW, and I’ll be disappointed to see the massive defensive ramparts go. The pathfinding bugs in and around buildings were awful, but I love fighting sieges and siege defenses. Still, if the naval battles are good, that’ll be extremely exciting.
I also caught this bit “use your armies to attack and destroy individual buildings [on the campaign map].” That would be excellent; as it is, the campaign map armies are either on siege, at a bridge or ford, or blockading a port or a road. More options for invading armies would be an excellent addition.
Plus you can apparently use buildings and even rubble for cover for your troops. Supposedly terrain will play a bigger part to…and it will translate even better from the strategic map to the tactical map.
Interesting, but I never got into the Total War series. I tried Shogun a while back on a budget purchase, but the learning curve seemed incredibly steep.
Now that I can’t get a remote control to turn the TV onto the AV channel and thus my Gamecube can’t work, I’m trying out some of my old PC games again. Perhaps I’ll give Shogun another try.
I haven’t been following this at all…I didn’t even know it was coming out yet,
Naval battles could be very glitchy. I’m not so sure about this one…not only that, but lining rows of people up and unloading musket fire into each other doesn’t sound too fun.
I admit to loving the cannons in MTW2 more than anything else. I’m invading France right now and I swear I have this one grand bombard that has a heatseeker trained on the ass of every general that goes against me. I’m not kidding, this one cannon has single-handedly gelded the entire House of Bourbon.
But I’m not big on the proposed TWE era, so I guess I could play it or not. Could be interesting. But then it seems that with every game Creative Assembly puts more and more emphasis on graphics, and less and less on gameplay and design. If I do play it, I’ll probably wait for the bargain bin expansion-included combo pack.
I’ve had fun with gunpowder artillery in M: TW too, like one time the opening salvo of a battle took the Polish king’s head clean off, and I’ve nailed one or two skulking in castles too. Doesn’t happen often but it’s fun when it does.
I for one will probably not be a fan of the naval battles. I dislike naval battles in general both tactically and strategically: even in M2:TW it becomes boring since once someone has established naval supremacy it’s hard to knock them down, although easier than in most games.
But I am a fan of Napoleonic Era warfare, I just hope they will have an option to start off that way rather than the pike an arquebus era. (I’ll just have to play a continental power, too, so I won’t have to keep fighting the Brits in boring naval battles.)
Yes, I had something like that recently where a speculative catapult shot just happened to waste the Hungarian general at about four hundred yards - when you’re doing well even to hit a hundred-man unit at that distance.
goes “Joinn usssss!!” at Pushkin - though I’m strictly Medieval, not Shogun
I love it when an artillery shot just happens to go exactly right and do that- it’s almost as satisfying as massacring the remnants of a defending force in a fortress by using ladders to put your crossbows on the walls and crossfire the last, pitiful, terrified remaining forces. It’s worth a point of Dread most times, too.
