# Napoleon: Total War announced **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 19, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959 "2009-08-19T15:25:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/1 "2009-08-19T15:25:44Z")
> **[PC Games, Wikis, Cheats, Walkthroughs, News, Reviews & Videos - IGN](https://www.ign.com/pc)** > > IGN is the leading site for PC games with expert reviews, news, previews, game trailers, cheat codes, wiki guides & walkthroughs Looks like it’s going to be a stand-alone game, not an expansion. I thought this quote was interesting: > [@](#): > > Napoleon Total War will build on the engine and framework of Empire Total War, but will add a whole host of new features and extra touches that the developers didn’t have time to include in the first game. Kieran Brigden, Communications Manager at Creative Assembly, explains: “The way that Total War development works is we do a kind of evolution-revolution cycle. We create revolutionary technology for one title - in this case Empire, which had a brand new engine written from the ground up - and all new AI. Then, for the next game, we take that technology and evolve it - in this case with Napoleon. We’ve taken everything we’ve achieved with Empire and Empire’s engine and just pushed it to the limit. Napoleon is essentially the culmination of what we wanted to do with Empire, given the time to take it further.” What do you think, Empire players? Do you appreciate CA using you as beta testers? Will you purchase this game? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/2 "2009-08-19T15:39:54Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > What do you think, Empire players? Do you appreciate CA using you as beta testers? Will you purchase this game? I don’t mind being used as a beta tester, but I will not be buying this next game. Empire just runs too slowly on my computer and I got tired of minute/minute half turn times. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/3 "2009-08-20T00:04:21Z")
I’ll buy it, though I’ll be annoyed at having to pay the price of a full game rather than an expansion pack. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/4 "2009-08-20T01:38:59Z")
Wonder if it runs on my laptop, although I highly doubt it. That saddens me, because I had to skip Empire for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/5 "2009-08-20T02:18:13Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > [PC Games, Wikis, Cheats, Walkthroughs, News, Reviews & Videos - IGN](http://pc.ign.com/articles/101/1014877p1.html) > What do you think, Empire players? Do you appreciate CA using you as beta testers? Will you purchase this game? I found Empire to be easily worth the price I paid for it. I imagine that Napleon probably will be as well. I’d like to see more info about the strategy portion of the game. This business about three separate shorter campaigns isn’t what I’d prefer. I really enjoy Empire’s grand campaign much more than the episodic format of the road to independence part of the game. I just hope they don’t rely on Steam this time. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/6 "2009-08-20T05:56:29Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > I’ll buy it, though I’ll be annoyed at having to pay the price of a full game rather than an expansion pack. Maybe not full price - Alexander was a stand alone game, but since it was essentialy just a different single player campaign for Rome, it costed only 30 bucks IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/7 "2009-08-24T03:11:20Z")
Not for me, thanks. Empires was an extremely half-assed attempt, and I really don’t buy their “hey yeah so it was really just a $60 engine test, THIS one will rock, we promise” story. I played it for about three days before suffering an overwhelming bout of apathy with the game. It was also very opaque to modification which is the only way CA games get good in the first place. Oh well - I’ll be interested to see how it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/8 "2009-08-24T05:13:34Z")
Looking forward to it. I loved the tighter narrative in the America campaign and Napoleon is one of the most interesting military historical figures that I’ve ever read about. Of course, Machiavelli: Total War would have been awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/9 "2009-08-24T06:36:33Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > What do you think, Empire players? Do you appreciate CA using you as beta testers? Will you purchase this game? I was hearing the evolution/revolution comments since Medieval: Total War it’s nothing new from that company. Personally I’ll probably get it day 1. I enjoy the series and always get my money’s worth. It’s strange to me that so many people seem to have bug issues with these games. An occasional crash is just an annoyance in an turn based game. Buggy AI is a bigger flaw but I’ve never found it game breaking. Yet people constantly complain about how horribly buggy the series is. Compared to many other releases I buy Total War is usually pretty average bug-wise. Oh I’d certainly appreciate a smaller map just to get the time between turns to shrink. That is my biggest problem with Empire. It’s a real slog when you don’t have much to do for a few turns and just hit ‘end turn’ and wait several mins to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/10 "2009-08-24T06:54:23Z")
I wish they would make a game like this that was about the Thirty Years’ War. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/11 "2009-08-24T06:55:53Z")
I’ll probably steer clear- Napoleonic-style Warfare has already been covered in _Empire: Total War_ and I’m not paying AUD$60+ for a glorified expansion pack. I’m willing to bet the next game in the series is _US Civil War: Total War_, although to be honest I was hoping for an Indian Mutiny expansion for _Empire_. Perhaps we’ll get lucky? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/12 "2009-08-24T10:33:20Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > Not for me, thanks. > > Empires was an extremely half-assed attempt, and I really don’t buy their “hey yeah so it was really just a $60 engine test, THIS one will rock, we promise” story. I played it for about three days before suffering an overwhelming bout of apathy with the game. Why don’t you buy it ? It’s how Creative Assembly make their games, and always have. Shogun was a bare-bones proof of concept, Medieval built on it a heck of a lot, and is probably the best game in the entire series. Rome was a piece of crap both AI wise and mechanics-wise, but it was purdy. Medieval 2 still needed a lot of work in the AI department, and on release day it was just… awful, but these days it’s also a grand game. Empire is a shiny piece of crap to demonstrate a new engine. I strongly suspect the next game built on this engine will also become a great game. I doubt the next game will be US Civil War : Total War, because there would be only two, well, maybe 4 with Mexico and Canada to play with. My money’s on a Shogun remake going all the way to the Bakumatsu, or maybe 1914:Total War. The battles for the latter would be blissfully short, too. “Men, at the whistle, get over the top ! TWEEEEE buddabuddabuddabudda - You have been defeated” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/13 "2009-08-24T10:38:46Z")
_Scramble For Africa: Total War_ would be pretty awesome, I think. You could have lots of factions there, interesting historical backdrop, plenty of opportunities for, well, Total War, and if you did it properly you could run through to the 1930s tech-wise. I’d certainly buy it. 😃 A _Shogun_ remake would be awesome, too, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/14 "2009-08-24T10:40:19Z")
I agree, although it would be way too politically-incorrect for today’s times. ---
**Author:** ![DeafAngelboy23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@DeafAngelboy23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeafAngelboy23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/15 "2009-08-24T19:04:39Z")
As long they includes Battle of Leipzig aka Battle of the Nations. It was part of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Over 500,000 soldiers and it was largest battle in Europe until World War I. Of course, it would be impossible to have 500,000 soldiers in the game but someday it will happen with better technology. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/16 "2009-08-24T22:46:58Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > _Scramble For Africa: Total War_ would be pretty awesome, I think. You could have lots of factions there, interesting historical backdrop, plenty of opportunities for, well, Total War, and if you did it properly you could run through to the 1930s tech-wise. > > I’d certainly buy it. 😃 > > A _Shogun_ remake would be awesome, too, actually. You’re thinking too small. I’m willing to bet that the next big game will be _Empire II_, and will cover Europe, North America, India, South America, Africa and parts of East Asia, between 1815 and 1914, will include factions like the Zulu and Paraguay, and will trace military technology from the musket to the Maxim gun and from the ship-of-the-line to the Dreadnought. They won’t be able to resist. I mean, when have they ever gone for smaller scale? The current game covers 3 continents - the next game will cover 5. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/17 "2009-08-25T12:44:15Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You’re thinking too small. I’m willing to bet that the next big game will be _Empire II_, and will cover Europe, North America, India, South America, Africa and parts of East Asia, between 1815 and 1914, will include factions like the Zulu and Paraguay, and will trace military technology from the musket to the Maxim gun and from the ship-of-the-line to the Dreadnought. > > They won’t be able to resist. I mean, when have they ever gone for smaller scale? The current game covers 3 continents - the next game will cover 5. If they actually make that game, and make it well, it could be in the running for Greatest Computer Game Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-total-war-announced/506959/18 "2009-08-25T17:57:37Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > If they actually make that game, and make it well, it could be in the running for Greatest Computer Game Ever. I agree. I love the big map of Empire’s grand campaign; anything that makes it bigger and more complex means more fun in my book.