By Jim Rossignol on October 13th, 2008 at 7:46 pm.
Not all empires are built in intergalactic space, you know. Some are built in history, and that’s the subject of this latest interview: matters pertaining to the latest strategic behemoth from the British studio, Creative Assembly. We chart some of the major differences between this and previous games, with particular attention paid to the turn-based campaign map and the radical changes brought about by the new game’s battle engine. Crucially, Empire: Total War drags the Total War series a couple of centuries closer to the modern age. The 18th century setting is one of ranked, musket-heavy land armies, rip-roaring sea battles, complex revolutionary politics, and colonial ambition. It’s these two elements, as well as a desire to reflect some of the social changes (hiring generals rather than relying on hereditary feudal heirs, for example) of the 18th century, that motivate the designs implemented by Creative Assembly’s lead on the project, James Russell. We were lucky enough to be able to put some questions to Russell. You can read his rather detailed responses below.
RPS: How are the political changes of the era (I actually said 17th century, but I meant 18th century. Sigh!) reflected in your gameplay?
Russell: It’s the 18th century: the 1700s. It was a time of tumultuous social change and upheaval, including the American Revolution and the French Revolution. We’ve put a lot of effort into enhancing how public order works, and the game includes unrest due to industrialisation, religious differences and intellectual advances, and different government types which have differing effects on each social class. Each government type has to be played differently if you are to avoid rebellion or revolution and the overthrow of the old order.
RPS: What kind of changes have you made to the campaign map when compared to the previous games?
Russell: The most obvious difference is the sheer scale of the game world. This was the time when Europe was extending its power across the world, and when the first truly global wars were fought. As well as the European theatre, the campaign map stretches west to include the Caribbean and much of North America and east to include the whole of India, as well as special trade areas such as the East Indies and the Ivory Coast.
Another big change is the fact that regions have towns and other resource buildings spread around the landscape, unlike previous Total War titles where all a region’s buildings were contained inside a single settlement. This means you can interact with each region building directly on the map – it also means you can attack enemy towns, farms and other buildings without having to besiege the region capital. Because you can raid and damage a region like this, it becomes more important for defenders to use their armies in defensive manoeuvres rather than just camping inside the city. This also helps improve the variety of battles by reducing the frequency of siege battles.
We’ve also centralised some features at the national rather than regional level, which streamlines management for the player by reducing repetition. This allows us to deepen the gameplay at the same time as reducing the management burden. For example, we’ve added a lot of depth to the trade system, and tax levels can be set separately for the ruling classes or the people, with different consequences – but policy is conducted at a theatre level: the player no longer has to make a decision for every single region.
RPS: What’s so exciting about all this ship-to-ship combat then, eh?
Russell: Naval combat is one of the biggest additions for Empire: Total War. The game is set in the 18th century – the great age of fighting sail, the ideal period in which to introduce naval battles to the series. Battles on the high seas with fleets of ships offers a whole new gameplay experience. Ships play very differently from land units: they have to be manoeuvred with the wind in mind, they fire massive broadsides at right angles to their direction of movement. Ships have hulls, crew, guns, masts and sails, all of which can be damaged separately with different effects, crippling the ship’s ability to move or fire or repel boarders – even sinking the ship, setting it on fire or causing its magazine to explode. We have lots of different types of ships that work in different ways and are suited to different uses. There is a whole set of new tactics to get to grips with to master the naval battles, with lines of battle attempting to ‘cross the T’ and devastate the enemy with raking fire. It all feels very distinct from the land battle gameplay.
RPS: And how has combat on the terrestrial battlefield changed for Empire: Total War?
Russell: The land battles in Empire have moved on a great deal, and they play and feel very different from previous Total War titles. The most obvious development with 18th century warfare is the growing emphasis on ranged gunpowder weapons: cannons and muskets. The player needs to carefully consider fields of fire and cover. Buildings became very tactically significant on the battlefields of the period because of the cover they provide and in Empire, land units can be positioned inside buildings during battle – though you need to take care as these can be destroyed by artillery. Of course, melee remains an important (and visceral!) part of the combat all the same. We have tried to reflect the development of military technology throughout the century, and you will see soldiers improve their firing drills, and artillery able to fire more devastating high-tech ordnance in battle as a result of your research efforts on the campaign map. Units that are dug in on the campaign map will also (if defending against attack) be able to deploy a variety of defensive features that each offer unique tactical advantages.
RPS: When I saw the game in June you mention that the role of generals changed somewhat?
Russell: The most distinct change those familiar with previous Total War titles will notice is the new ability generals have to order recruits to reinforce their armies. Instead of having to build armies at different cities and then manually assemble them, you can now order troops directly at the general and they will automatically be recruited at the optimum nearby city and then sent out to join your army as ordered. Of course, you can still do things manually as well. You can also choose to promote a new general from the ranks.
RPS: It seems like AI was a big issue for players of Medieval II, can you explain how AI changes will improve play Empire: Total War?
Russell: We’ve put a lot of effort into improving how the player’s behaviour impacts diplomatic relations with different AI nations, and into making the AI behave in an intuitive manner. It’s very important for the player’s sense of immersion in a believable world of rival countries that other nations respond in a way that makes sense in terms of how the player has been behaving. For example if you back-stab your allies, the whole world will see you as dishonourable and you will lose friends quickly. Religious and political differences will all impact how the AI views you, as will your alliances and wars with other nations. In addition, different nations will have different personalities with preferences for different kinds of activity – for example a preference for naval power or for research and building up economically.
The battle AI has also been much improved and is aware of the significance of the battle in terms of the campaign map context – is the battle a vital fight to the death? Or might a tactical withdrawal be the best tactic if the battle starts to go the wrong way? Different nations will also use different tactics and strategies, which gives battles more variety and makes the AI less predictable.
RPS: What aspect of Empire: Total War do you think mainstream coverage will miss out on or ignore?
Russell: A lot of coverage is inevitably focused on the graphical advances made by the new engine, and how beautiful the game looks – especially the spectacular naval battles. But in many ways, it’s the multitude of small details that make the game more immersive. Generals developing certain traits as a result of the way you use them. Flag bearers and officers shouting orders on the battlefield. The way your population gets unhappy if you attack a friendly nation but patriotic if you attack a hostile nation. The way a country can become hostile if you’re caught spying, or if you go to war with someone they like; or the way their hostility might soften if you go to war with a country they dislike. These little touches that can really add to the player’s response to playing the game. Even the most cunning player will have lots of interesting new strategies and tactics to explore.
Empire: Total War is set for release in February 2009.
13/10/2008 at 20:01 Rogue says:
I want this game so bad, I can TASTE it.
13/10/2008 at 20:01 Gap Gen says:
An empire? In HISTORY?
13/10/2008 at 20:09 Mark-P says:
Thanks for asking the AI question RPS-gentlemen. The response is encouraging.
13/10/2008 at 20:09 Jim Rossignol says:
I know! But it’s true.
13/10/2008 at 20:22 Therlun says:
AI gets improved and will react in a more believable way… Nice, but they said that for every TW game from Medieval over Rome to Medieval 2 and the AI was always the same brain dead piece of crap, declaring war without reason and being completely unable to do anything remotely effective in tactical battles.
13/10/2008 at 20:34 Fumarole says:
One of my Must Haves in 2009 for sure.
13/10/2008 at 20:42 unique_identifier says:
The consolidated empire management controls and automated reinforcements sound nice. Improvements in dealing with the typical repetitive endgame management hell are pretty much #1 on my list for strategy game wants.
13/10/2008 at 20:50 Dreamhacker says:
I would actually like to see the AI cheat during the endgame. Its much to easy in M2TW, even on higher difficulties.
13/10/2008 at 20:59 darthpugwash says:
I wish they would let you dismount your cavalry in these games. All too often in MTW I would end up losing the walls in sieges becuase you couldn’t get the knights off their horses and onto the walls.
13/10/2008 at 21:13 Fede says:
13/10/2008 at 21:22 dirksauce says:
I can just imagine him rolling his eyes when you said 17th century.
“Idiot.”
/sigh
13/10/2008 at 21:23 Aashammer says:
If they can nail the AI this might just be the game of the year.
13/10/2008 at 21:40 Jim Rossignol says:
Yeah, I do hate making stupid mistakes like that. And it’s not like I don’t know either the game or the history itself! I guess I could have just edited it out, but hey, it seemed funnier to explain.
I actually saw the ship combat demo a few weeks back, and it’s pretty amazing. The detailed damage you can do to the ships, and the interactions of crews etc, is way beyond what I’d expected to be possible. Most looking forward to get my hands on the new campaign map though, I’ve always preferred the grand sweep of Empire building to the battle bits.
13/10/2008 at 21:45 Nezz says:
They can dismount in MTW. M2TW was a step back in so many little ways.
13/10/2008 at 21:52 darthpugwash says:
Yeah, I meant M2TW. MTW had quite afew nice little features that were lost when they moved up to RTW, like faction re-emergences, and the titles you could give to the characters.
13/10/2008 at 22:00 dartt says:
I love them both and the fact they are mixed in to one game is the genius of Total War: The strategy map is very compelling and has that just-one-more-turn effect that games like Civ and, err, Galciv do so well but it breaks up the unblinking turn ticking with a regular cuckoo that pops out with it’s epic tactical battles! cuckoo!
The new strategy map improvements look fantastic, in previous games the diplomacy and trade felt somewhat clunky but it sounds like a lot more subtle wheeling and dealing will be possible. Also, gentlemen!
13/10/2008 at 22:12 Anonymous says:
Mentlegen.
13/10/2008 at 22:15 jarnomiedema says:
Actually, from what has been said in other interviews, it seems that you will actually be able to dismount your dragoons. Regular cavalry will probably not be dismountable, but dragoons (cavalry armed with muskets) can be moved around the battlefield and dismounted..
Anyway, great interview! Looking forward to more news and can’t wait to get this game.. Also, when are we going to finally hear the playable factions!?
13/10/2008 at 22:24 cHeal says:
Why couldn’t they have created a full world map like in EUIII?
I’m a cynic of late so I’m not expecting this to be that great.
13/10/2008 at 22:38 darthpugwash says:
jarnomiedema: That’s cool. Would be nice if *all* cavalry could be dismounted though. It’s just one of those small details that gets annoying after a while.
It was a good interview. I really hope they are serious about improving the AI this time, though. It’s always been such a weak spot in a series that is so good in most other respects. It was always a bit of a mood-killer in M2TW when you started up a battle only to find yourself facing off against an all-catapult army or something silly like that.
13/10/2008 at 22:40 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
I’m still looking forward to it, though not nearly enough of the world is “unlocked” for my liking.
13/10/2008 at 23:05 JonFitt says:
New Total War games are always a treat, despite their flaws.
Every time I then want them to go back and apply to new engine to the old settings. Shogun 2 in the M2TW/ETW engine please!
I haven’t looked into this that closely yet and my dates are sketchy, but where does the game start: New Model Army, or earlier/later?
13/10/2008 at 23:13 Pijama says:
@Dorian – Yeah, wtf. South America had the Libertadores fighting against Spain, there is the colonization of the Cape and South Africa…
Though I can smell “EXPANSION PACK” from here.
13/10/2008 at 23:14 uncleb says:
Ah, a new Total War game. If there’s one thing I look forward to more than waking the neighbours with a prostitute of unknown origin, this is it.
13/10/2008 at 23:20 Nimic says:
Jim, if you really prefer Empire building to the oft tedious battles, you should try out Europa Universalis 3, or any of the other games by Paradox Interactive. Unless you haven’t already, in which case you should either hate it or love it, and the people who hate it are mostly either Total War geeks or Civilization geeks (I’m both, well, all three).
13/10/2008 at 23:27 Andrew says:
I’m a cynic of late so I’m not expecting this to be that great.
‘Of late’? cHeal, you’re a great big ball of drunken Irish game-hate. ;)
This all sounds great. Looking forward to it a lot.
14/10/2008 at 00:51 Pijama says:
Ah, before I forget:
“Come cheer up my lads, ’tis to glory we steer
To add something more to this wonderful year!
To honour we call you as freemen not slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?
Hears of Oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men
We always are ready; Steady, boys, steady
We will fight and we’ll conquer again and again!”
I demand this when I am owning France with Great Britain.
14/10/2008 at 07:58 much2much says:
lol at comments about graphics.
That is what they have spent all their budget on.
The “multitude of small details” are so simple and would be easy to do. No mention of vastly improved battlefield AI (probably because it isn’t a rewrite which would be required).
14/10/2008 at 10:06 Kieron Gillen says:
Randomly, last time I talked to the Empire guys, they talked a bit about the AI to me. They said they were reapproaching it – but equally, they said that they didn’t expect people to completely buy into that sort of promise. But the said that on a pure quantitative level that the last Total War this team did – Rome – had a single guy working on all the AI, and it wasn’t even his sole programming responsibility. This time I think they have 3 full time on it, plus another couple of people in a part time basis.
So while I do understand cynicism, it does appear they are throwing manpower at the problem.
KG
14/10/2008 at 10:36 Quine says:
Sounds great, but I’m hoping the AI will finally be able to break out of those loops of inaction M2TW managed while you dropped mortar shells on their generals at range.
Is it too much to ask for some local -minima-busting *randomness* in AI behaviours at times to shake things up a bit?
14/10/2008 at 11:21 The Hammer says:
This is great!
Man, I can’t wait to get started on Empire: Total War! My enthusiasm about it has just shot up, so thanks! I’m a long-time Total War fan (have had all the PC games, barring Kingdoms), and from the gameplay trailers and this interview, I think this might just be the best yet.
14/10/2008 at 12:22 realmenhuntinpacks says:
eeesh… I say this every time I see an empire thread… I have learnt to stop yearning as there’s no way in hell this’ll run on my mule. M2TW only just creaked out as it is. I remember someone mentioning a possible feature on how to juice up geriatric ordinateurs? Although I think the only answer is reams of cash.
Shame, as TW is probably the closest thing I have to a religious belief.
14/10/2008 at 15:55 osvaldo00 says:
i can’t resist to the 6th of february !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
14/10/2008 at 17:56 sinister agent says:
This does sound more promising than I’d previously thought, I admit – it sounded until now like they were just throwing loads of naval battles in and leaving the rest essentially unchanged. It appears I was being excessively cynical. I hope to find out I was wrong in about eleven years when I have a computer that can run it.
14/10/2008 at 19:44 Charles XII says:
Can’t wait for this. Medieval 2 was alomst the perfect game but this will get even better. Finally we can play as Sweden!! Hopfully the will add the rest of the world in expansion…
14/10/2008 at 20:15 Graeme says:
Jim,
When you say you saw the naval demo was that in anyway a demo that could be released to general public later and do you have any idea of the system spec they were displaying it on?
14/10/2008 at 23:04 cody says:
im so stoked about the release of this game……i wonder if the expansion pack will have the american civil war in it? that would be awesome to beat up on those yankees….
i wish i had a time machine so i can travel to febuary…..buy the game and travel back and play it….then brag about how i got the game and nobody else has it. :o)
15/10/2008 at 02:31 Casey Willison says:
2 things.
first, i hope that they will make it so as you can fight with tens of thousands of troops like General Howe and his 32,000 troops marching to fight in Saratoga, NY.
Finally, I wonder if the total war series might go to modern times (I hope that CoH would go more modern to and go to something like the Iraq war of at least Vietnam)
P.S. Empire may be exactly like Imperial Glory, but with better graphics.
15/10/2008 at 05:18 Kevin Golseen says:
I am getting a new computer just so I can play this game. I can’t wait.
15/10/2008 at 05:20 Kevin Golseen says:
Whoah, is this website from England? I am all the way in California, USA. It is 9:20pm here.
15/10/2008 at 06:12 cody says:
kevin-
i know what you mean…..im pouring money into upgradeing mine in time for the release…
15/10/2008 at 17:48 Jockie says:
Has there been any word on the multiplayer modes yet? I was really hoping for a multiplayer version of the campaign mode, though i realise the difficulties of waiting whilst other players are involved in battles.
15/10/2008 at 19:16 Catraz says:
Okay Everyone is happy a new total war game is comming out 6th of february(well me to, I was jumping around the house as it’s my favorite era of history). But they’re some kind of blank spot in this stuff as now. Okay it’s still details but just idea in head. so we will be only able to conquer North america, europe and India? Is they’re a possibility we hit the chinese, head down south america or go again fight in the holy land and deep in the middle-east? Will they’re be kind of real delay when we’ll send military in our colony? Will we be able to do some genocide on american indian tribes(sorry a bit of sadism)? And, my must wished thing, will we be able to make kind of amphibious assault(I wanna sneak behind my enemy)?My last one is if we could seperate unit to only control one shooter that we could hide in kind of sniper troops? Wonder if i’ll ever got feed back for all this. Would be cool if we could suggest some stuff to creative assembly. By the way great interview and awesome jobs as now for creative assembly. By the way for people that wonder who were gonna play it seems there four nation sure by some of the sea and land battles movies wich are British, French, German and American army. As a guy talked about the russian canon fooder charge so I suspect them to and with the war elephant we may see the Ottoman empire for the rest we can only hope and wish.
15/10/2008 at 19:57 Paolo says:
Catraz: you could aways make amphibious assualts: just put your units into a ship and land them on the coast of wherever
15/10/2008 at 19:58 miguel fadous says:
well i gotta say the total war series is just phenomenal its amazing i just cant wait for February six but i can say the biggest error about all the total war series is the stupidity of the A.I if Total War works that issue out they will be the supreme rulers of all strategy Games
15/10/2008 at 23:00 Reginald says:
MTW2 = Australian Creative Assembly. ETW = British Creative Assembly. The guys who made the original MTW.
To say it will be like Impirial Glory with better graphics is utter balls! Imperial Glory sucked and the Total war series has a phenomenal track record. I am sure there are gonna be niggling issues just as any game, but from what I have seen this looks to be one of the most exciting releases in the near future. Once again shame a lack of MP campaign. But it is understandable since turn times would be epic. Looking forward to it CA.
15/10/2008 at 23:58 Catraz says:
What I was more meaning by an amphibious assault is more like having little rowboat to cross river directly on a battlefield, abit like some panting we get of Georges Washington.
16/10/2008 at 00:33 lostinmacys says:
i havent seen the full interview yet but what i am praying for is a range of native americans to play as. iroquis league etc leading a war party would be fantastic
16/10/2008 at 20:30 anthony says:
i wonder what type of computer requirments it will need someone tel me plz
16/10/2008 at 22:38 General Malaise says:
This gonna be awesome……. If my computer will take it!!! I may have missed something but I can’t find minimum / maximum performance specs. Have these been published?? Someone please advise – I can’t be alone in the angst caused by this – a £30 – £40 game could be alot more expensive – a few months to spread the costs of upgrading would be appreciated…
Will historical regiments be reflected?
Aaahh the smell of gunpowder in the morning
17/10/2008 at 00:04 secfox says:
Really looking forward to the naval battles.
17/10/2008 at 05:21 Curtis says:
I’m extremely sure of six countries that have to be in this game, otherwise its not worth your money because of history loss.
The American Army (yes, I am biased so we have to go first :D), Great Britain (Or England, or Britain), France (French Revolution… Napoleon… Duh…), Prussia (Peace with France at first, then at war when them, causing the loss at Waterloo), Austria (Just kinda chillen’ but still important), and Russia (Napoleon invasion with 600,000 men). Oh, and Spain (Colonies). So seven.
17/10/2008 at 05:23 Curtis says:
But yeah, this is the game I’m looking forward to the most right now.
To bad its so far away from now.
But it seems like this is going to be a good one, specially with all the decisions you have to make.
And, of course, the incorporation of naval battles.
FEBRUARY COME FASTER DAMN IT!
17/10/2008 at 05:25 Curtis says:
Haha, oops. I ment American Colonies, not army.
Sorry for spaming.
17/10/2008 at 05:53 Bolta says:
Its pretty cool, all the graphics of the ship, the water(that looks extremely detailed; but is the fire in ship battles really going to look like it is as that looks really unrealistic.
Going away from the battles to the campaign map. I was wondering whether that details cultural differences like in Britannia:total war would be included, that would be awesome.
Also I found when play M2TW that in Huge Cities when buildings such as roads, farms, walls and mines were upgraded to their fullest that the cultural difference would stay there forever thus causing unrest forever.
In ETW will you be able to change the culture of buildings after a certain amount of time.
17/10/2008 at 16:27 Petey says:
I hope the creater be able to pick different typ of govement, like demoncrate or monarcy: for demoncrate the congress should able some kind of decsion and if the congress or the senate get to strong the player should use force or military migh to over come it.
Now that would be a real game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because in the real world you can’t make the decsion. Now that the AI the creater should put.
There should also be slave in the game too.
18/10/2008 at 11:48 tehe says:
Will Naval Units be able to attack land units on the battle map?
18/10/2008 at 15:37 Walter says:
I’m sooo getting this game.. I can’t wait for the release… Total war series is my fave strategy/tactics game.. none come close.. cinematic, massive and quite realistic in nature.. with the naval battles.. this will sure be a blast!!
18/10/2008 at 20:34 secfox says:
any idea what system requirements ?
18/10/2008 at 23:33 jomag says:
yeah what are the requiremens
19/10/2008 at 01:01 bamabem says:
Yeah I definitely would like the system requirements for this game.
Great game though! Can’t wait for February 6th!
19/10/2008 at 12:16 General Malaise says:
I take it no one knows what the system requirements are gonna be?!?!
All this talk and we don’t know if it’ll work on our machine! -Oh dear…………
19/10/2008 at 14:53 downz says:
the only thing im really botherd about is the , that is the battle ai, after all even on the hardest difficulty medievil total war 2 was a breeze and i dont consider my self “hardcore” it was just too easy, and just about everyone i know who played it agreed, heres hoping
19/10/2008 at 16:31 Luke says:
Along with the dismounting cavalry thoughts, has there been any thought towards a land foray by a naval ship? The British used to raid the coastlines with sailors from her frigates, Horatio Hornblower style, and quite a large portion of the crew could be used as a small army (with cannons!) to raid resource areas. I’m really excited about this game coming out. Though I want it to run on my computer, don’t dumb it down enough so everyone can run it. This is a game people should have to prepare for.
19/10/2008 at 17:11 Gummiand says:
I don’t know if it’s going to be good or bad… but I surely hope it’ll be very good!! :) it’s absolutly a Must Buy, so I hope they made it as brilliant as they say!
19/10/2008 at 20:20 tomtheginger says:
http://blogs.sega.com/totalwar/
I dont know whether you guys have been checking this website much, but theres 5 FAQ’s on Empire total war here, as well as a couple of other articles. I believe the answers to your questions such as playable factions at the start, and cavalry dismounting. Nothing on specs im afraid tho :(, i might by a new comp just to be prepared XD
19/10/2008 at 22:56 Morrits says:
I can’t freaking wait! I instald all total games and played them so many times since I know this one is coming out
But i have a solution for all ‘waiters’, get a job and buy yourself a nice bigass PC because your gonne need it.
20/10/2008 at 04:01 Javier says:
Why didn’t they asked about the Multiplayer section. It’s there but it doesn’t work poeple been complaining for a very long time now and they seem to not care. I hope that the least they can do is at least improve the AI to make game playable without mods great ideas but great game you just need to try to hear you customers demand!
20/10/2008 at 06:00 cody says:
im not really worried about the system requirements because what im putting in my computer could easily play the best of games…..im getting an nividia 9500 graphics card (512mb) and another 2 gigs of DDR2 ram…….i have thought about gettin ATI Radeon’s new graphic’s card the HD 4870…..its 1024mb…..but the cost is way outa my budget.
20/10/2008 at 06:38 bhlaab says:
I would pretty highly advise against a 9500 or any made-for-budget card. You’re probably better off with a “high end when it was made” card thats a couple years old, but don’t quote me on that.
20/10/2008 at 08:41 blabla says:
Blablablabla.
Empire will suck, CA is a guarantee for surprising us with a crappy, buggy game with dumbass AI, inaccurate maps, inaccurate uniforms and overpowered units.
20/10/2008 at 09:06 Dan says:
this is all good, why is everyone flagging a game before its out? even though all of you are complaining youll all still buy the game, as will I, the AI in any game is never gona be amazing because humans are so unpredicatable its impossible to make life like AI, you can just hope they allow us to play the campaign map online, now that would be good because not everyones freinds live close enough for LANs, anyway dont knock it till youve tried it.
and please dont keep saying about the GC, this about the AI, the only fear ill have about the AI is the ship battles, theres gona be so many exploits on this if it only goes slightly wrong, i.e. knocking other ships sails out before they get anywhere from an unrealistic range, OR the ship AI not using the wind correctly.
20/10/2008 at 09:40 Heliocentric says:
Ship ai has potential to be great. No terrain, so the ai can focus on higher level stuff. Homeworld 2 ai was bastard hard at times because the ai need only consider the units. In truth i never expect a fair challenge in any game from ai. Apart from turn based games, there ai can brute force .
21/10/2008 at 21:39 Insurance Salesman says:
If you can play as the Mongolians, this game will be the best one EVER. If not, it’ll still be great, even if the A.I. sucks (it’ll be fixed with mods).
Can you play as the Mongolians, or at least the Chinese?
23/10/2008 at 15:48 matt says:
would the greeks be a rebel army in the Ottoman empire or a playable faction
27/10/2008 at 05:55 weoweo says:
Any1 know if we can play as Prussia? I sure as %$#^ hope so, their sick
14/11/2008 at 14:34 smrda says:
are there going to be crusades in game?????
30/12/2008 at 11:53 Liam says:
can you play as scotland or is it come under the british for the first 7 years
30/12/2008 at 11:55 Liam says:
you cant do crucades because there would be prodisants
03/02/2009 at 22:24 Si says:
ooh come on guys! All the time i hear the same old complaints and questions like the campaign’s too small or thier are’nt enough factions.
From a technological point of view just look at how far we’ve come since shogun, yet they’ve still managed to keep that same spirt in the game we all fell in love with. Someday, there will be a game like this, maybe even from the total war series it’self, that is TOTALLY realisitic so to speak… but from what i’ve seen so far, it’s only getting better.
I look forward to getting this game, although I’m sure a new computer will have to come first *sigh* i also look forward to the games my kids will get (in the distant future hehe) and just compare them to golden eye and zelda that I grew up with. through all the amazing graphics etc. i just hope the designers remeber it’s the soul of the game that really counts ;)
05/03/2009 at 08:36 reece says:
the land battles suck, the camera on the land battles sucks also, they have ruined the whole total war experience.
05/03/2009 at 16:38 Joe says:
Reece how can you say that, the camera on the land battles is thhe same as they have always been!
Also the land battles rule. As does the game! Sooooo good.
05/03/2009 at 16:40 Gap Gen says:
Actually, the camera changed between Medieval and Rome – in Rome, the camera sweep forwards as you pan down.
15/03/2009 at 08:19 gurnoor says:
all said…..but what are the system requirements for this….i think this gamez gonna be demanding as far as system reqs are concerned….