Try moving up some troops into the trees just ahead as a secondary force distraction, sending a major force through the left to flank. In the mean time protect ur cavalary untill its needed and keep ur cannons occupied, though I found they weren't that effective all together. You could only really hope to take out maybe 1 or 2 enemy cannons or the same amount of good hits on troop formations.
I just find it interesting that DoW 2 was slapped with a 9, particularly when taking into consideration its extremely repetitive and limited nature, but Empire gets slapped with an 8 for being too hardcore (what?) and having a problematic naval aspect (even though you can skip it.)
Steam worked fine for me other then the no preload fiasco, I left it downloading during the night and started playing when I got up.
Game is great so far and the grahphics are much sharper then the demo, using full Ultra settings. Anti-aliasing works fine now so you can see alot more troop detail, at the expense of a big hit to the frame rate of course.
I started playing the Road to Independence Campaign and am enjoying it so far, if I was getting a friend to try the game this is easily where they could start. Reminds me alot of the Rome Campaign in R:TW.
A.I. troop battle is the best it's ever been, exploiting your weaknesses and going after your general when possible. I love the new campaign map too. Contrary to some thoughts of it looking too complicated, I found it felt bright and alive. The way cities, buildings and troop orders work is a big improvment as well.
Originally Posted by Baz One sentance review - Not as good as Medieval 2: Total War.
I for one was sorely disappointed by the Sea battles and they have turned what was a "Must Buy" game into a "I'll play it once i've finished Dawn of War 2" game. Which as a huge fan of the total war series is a huge shame :(
Surely thats not fair basing it on the sea battles, as surely you still ahve the option to auto resolve sea battles, which puts that part automatically better than medieval 2's as you can either do it the old way, or play them yourself.
Originally Posted by CowBlazed Contrary to some thoughts of it looking too complicated, I found it felt bright and alive. The way cities, buildings and troop orders work is a big improvment as well.
The main problem I had was I started with Britain, which had several colonies dotted around the globe, and with no proper explanation of the campaign map unless you've played independence, it was a little daunting. Also there was the fact that diplomacy and trade take massive roles now, my experience with games with a big importance with diplomacy is you really don't want to **** relationships up in the beginning by going gung-ho with taking over regions like you could in Medieval. I think there's a lot left unexplained really, both the manual and helper don't really explain all the details well enough. Probably the only way to get a good grasp is with the road to independence, which I haven't played through fully yet.
I started up a Grand Campaign using Poland-Lithuania to see what it looked like in the thick of Europe, and then I understood why some people were saying it looked cluttered. There had to be maybe 4-5 other nations all around my borders all with a different shade of red just like my own, making it very hard to differentiate any borders or building ownership. If the colours were differentiated more there it would've helped alot.
Playing the Road in to Independence campaign had no such problems for me, its alot more black and white who your enemies are, who you can ally with. Starting there will ween you into the game mechanics alot better I think then starting elsewhere.
After having spent the time since this game launched doing little else but playing it I've very nearly nailed my first Grand Campaign win as France and I'm in awe of the game as a finished product. I mean sure it needs patching, what game with any ambition doesn't in this day and age, but I think it's great to see an unapologetically mature and deep game appear on the PC from a major developer when so many others seem happy with generic McGames ported from consoles.
Game is amazing, however the performance is odd to say the least. Have a Radeon 4870/512 using CCC 9.1, and with almost all maxxed out, AF at 4x, and AA at OFF, the game would run the Ground Battle tutorial at a measly 40FPS (using FRAPS), yet when I set AA to 2x, the FPS took off to well over 70 frames. I tried this several times off and on, and there is no mistake. That is plain WEIRD.
Ok, turns out that AA enabled turns off SSAO. That said, SSAO is a major resource pig, as it cuts performance by 50%!! With AA off and AF 4x, and not everything at Ultra, I'd get 40 FPS, but with SSAO off, and everything at Ultra, with 4xAA and 16xAF, the same scenes would reach 65FPS. That's ridiculous.
Havning been extensivley playing Empire over the last 2 weeks i have to say Joe's review is spot on. The naval combat is rubbish and the land battles never seem to be that well organised or as tactical affairs as were possible in Medieval 2. You just line your men up facing the enemy, chuck some artillery into the mix, and maybe toss a cavalry charge or two in. There's little of the land battle depth of previous games, and I've taken to auto resolving all but the biggest land battles now.
The campaign map and tactical choices there are still superb though, although there's a lot less emphasis on single general or leader characters. I'm up to 1770 in the long campaign, having completley captured all the Americas as the Brits and I've not even had a duel yet. I have however killed a LOT of Indians (sorry, native americans).
Originally Posted by Baz The naval combat is rubbish and the land battles never seem to be that well organised or as tactical affairs as were possible in Medieval 2.
Welcome to the era of gunpowder and sail. :|
The naval combat is decent after the last patch. Pre-patch the ships got blocked by the AI.
You cant really ask more from the naval battles: form a column and pass it along the enemy fleet till all enemies are sunk. The joy comes from manual commanding one or two ships in the fleet to deliver that winning volley on that precise moment on that precise enemy ship.
As for land battles, once you research the advance firing technics, you only need to line up your Line Infantry (superfulous use of "line" word?), and micromanage the cavalry, grenadiers or, better, the Light Infantry.
Its not the games fault that battles were fought almost on a cerimonial way in that era:
Line up and fire away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baz The campaign map and tactical choices there are still superb though, ...
The campaign map adds some more depth to the game compared to previous releases. Mainly via the extended control zones of the armies and the towns raiding.
Some notes:
- Overall, I still dont like the era the game depicts but the game is enjoyable.
- VH/VH is now a challenge for some more years, till you stabilish a decent economy.
- Dragoons should be used as much as possible in garrisons.
- Taxes play a key role in the growth of the Empire.
I am just hoping the next patch finally corrects naval invasions. I do want to play a GB campaign, but not with the current cheat feeling associated with it.
PS:
Delete old save files!
They average around 100MB each!
Hi guys,
Update 1.3 will be released for Empire: Total War on 22nd June 2009. Ahead of its release, here are the major features coming to the update:
Weve worked on implementing the multi-threading in the game for multi-core processors and made many optimisations that will also help increase performance on single core machines.
Players will see huge benefits through increased frame rates particularly in land and naval battles.
14 Free Units have been included in this patch, adding a large amount of diversity to the playable factions and the armies the player will face. These units replace generic equivalents giving each faction a unique identity on the battlefield. Here is a description of each free unit available in the update:
...
Empire is expanding. With its latest update now available on Steam, Empire: Total War from Sega and The Creative Assembly adds 14 free new units along with numerous updates and game enhancements (complete list below).
Additionally, the first downloadable content for Empire: Total War is now available on Steam. The Elite Units of the West DLC features an *additional* 14 new units from all the major Western factions. Featuring all new infantry and cavalry units, equipped with the best weapons and having undergone the most rigorous of training, this DLC is the perfect addition to your Empire's army. Expand your Empire with even more options on the battlefield as you improve your tactics and defeat your enemies.
Empire: Total War Update 1.3 Updates
This update includes the implementation of multi-threading in the game for multi-core processors and many optimizations that will also help increase performance on single core machines. Players will see huge benefits through increased frame rates particularly in land and naval battles.
Comments 26 to 43 of 43
ReplyOh, well....
Much more complicated than the old total wars, nothing like Hearts of Iron complicatedness, actually, I think it's almost that complicated.
Graphics look a bit **** on my PC, it really is time for an upgrade.
Road to indipendance is quite cool, but only because it's like a tutorial for the grand campaign.
Still waiting the game, ordered retail to avoid the Stam rape.
Game is great so far and the grahphics are much sharper then the demo, using full Ultra settings. Anti-aliasing works fine now so you can see alot more troop detail, at the expense of a big hit to the frame rate of course.
I started playing the Road to Independence Campaign and am enjoying it so far, if I was getting a friend to try the game this is easily where they could start. Reminds me alot of the Rome Campaign in R:TW.
A.I. troop battle is the best it's ever been, exploiting your weaknesses and going after your general when possible. I love the new campaign map too. Contrary to some thoughts of it looking too complicated, I found it felt bright and alive. The way cities, buildings and troop orders work is a big improvment as well.
Surely thats not fair basing it on the sea battles, as surely you still ahve the option to auto resolve sea battles, which puts that part automatically better than medieval 2's as you can either do it the old way, or play them yourself.
The main problem I had was I started with Britain, which had several colonies dotted around the globe, and with no proper explanation of the campaign map unless you've played independence, it was a little daunting. Also there was the fact that diplomacy and trade take massive roles now, my experience with games with a big importance with diplomacy is you really don't want to **** relationships up in the beginning by going gung-ho with taking over regions like you could in Medieval. I think there's a lot left unexplained really, both the manual and helper don't really explain all the details well enough. Probably the only way to get a good grasp is with the road to independence, which I haven't played through fully yet.
Thats why on these games I always start with a small faction.
Playing the Road in to Independence campaign had no such problems for me, its alot more black and white who your enemies are, who you can ally with. Starting there will ween you into the game mechanics alot better I think then starting elsewhere.
The new patch (1.2) really makes the game challenging in VH/VH.
An interesting mod:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=239299
New units from CA to come to ETW:
http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/sreply/744381/t/The-Daily-Update.html
The campaign map and tactical choices there are still superb though, although there's a lot less emphasis on single general or leader characters. I'm up to 1770 in the long campaign, having completley captured all the Americas as the Brits and I've not even had a duel yet. I have however killed a LOT of Indians (sorry, native americans).
The naval combat is decent after the last patch. Pre-patch the ships got blocked by the AI.
You cant really ask more from the naval battles: form a column and pass it along the enemy fleet till all enemies are sunk. The joy comes from manual commanding one or two ships in the fleet to deliver that winning volley on that precise moment on that precise enemy ship.
As for land battles, once you research the advance firing technics, you only need to line up your Line Infantry (superfulous use of "line" word?), and micromanage the cavalry, grenadiers or, better, the Light Infantry.
Its not the games fault that battles were fought almost on a cerimonial way in that era:
Line up and fire away.
Some notes:
- Overall, I still dont like the era the game depicts but the game is enjoyable.
- VH/VH is now a challenge for some more years, till you stabilish a decent economy.
- Dragoons should be used as much as possible in garrisons.
- Taxes play a key role in the growth of the Empire.
I am just hoping the next patch finally corrects naval invasions. I do want to play a GB campaign, but not with the current cheat feeling associated with it.
PS:
Delete old save files!
They average around 100MB each!
Patch is out.
-
« Previous
-
1
-
2
-
Next »
Discuss in the forums