I tried loading the naval battle, it failed to load after five minutes, I quit and uninstalled the demo for fear of another freeze crash like my first and second exits.

On a plus note: the screenshots are very pretty and I lived in the area the first battle took place in (Chad’s Ford, and along the Brandywine river). Muskets are thankfully more effective than they were in medieval times as well. I successfully reenacted a “whitest kids you know” skit, without attempting to do so, where my British soldiers readied their guns and must have been chatting with the enemy about rules as all but one man was killed off by the Americans.

“Who took a shot at the CO? Who TOOK A SHOT AT THE CO!? Reprimand that man, REPRIMAND THAT MAN!” *gets shot and dies*

I am also not buying this game. They have the nerve to release a 2+GB demo and then have me wait five minutes to load…THE MAIN MENU FROM THE OPTIONS SCREEN!?

Maybe, maybe, I could understand terrible load times on maps and such. I’ve waited twenty minutes on past computers for a map to load in some games (we’ll ignore that my current computer is quad core, 8GB, 4870×2), but to expect me to wait so long I am certain the system is frozen on the change from settings to the main menu?! I never even tried to load up the game!

Also, alt-tab is terrible, waiting a full minute for an intro movie is terrible, and getting me excited over the continuation of one of my favorite franchises only to let an idiot do the coding is terrible

Initially I was underwhelmed. It seemed a bit too much like imperial glory. But that was just the first glance, and I blame the tutorials, neither of which were terribly consistent and didn’t cover the full interface, which is the part I may be most excited about.

After a few playthroughs of Brandywine, you begin to realize that the AI isn’t that bad. It may seem like it doesn’t do that much at first, but these are historical battles, and ever so slightly scripted as far as I could tell. I did the same thing with minor alterations each time I played through, and as I learned about the handy drill commands portion of the interface (you can click to right or left wheel) I became more capable of really managing the finer points of tactics.

What was impressive about this was that the AI seemed to match what I gave it. In one battle I had stationed the units making a feint at a frontal assault a bit too far back, and my horse artillery that I had placed on the bluff at the right side of the battlefield (and I thought inaccessible) were comparitively open. The AI used the troops it still had at the crossing brilliantly, and crossed the river under support of their guns, used a pinning force to hold my infantry at bay, and stormed the ridge. The M2 AI never would have been able to handle this, and would have played it safe on their side of the river.

The interface forces you to think like an 18th century general. The AI, though never flawless, was easy enough to give those playing the demo a good time (let them win) without making it easy. Naval combat takes more getting used to, but damn it’s pretty.

The game itself appears on the store page with an unlock countdown and an invitation to pre-order, but as reported the purchase button has been intentionally removed.

Is this game not being released in Asia at all, then? Very bad show if this is the case.

GGRRRRR!!!!

(I’m in Korea right now).”

Japan here. I want to cry.”

China here, no dice either. Hope the demo’s out on other sites soon.

In the demo map, it seemed like the British troops had heaps more infantry,and cavalry, so while head-on charges may not be the best tactic, it’ll most likely still win you the day, as you found out. That’s especially true because of the cramped terrain, making it impossible to line up for proper firefights, and the huge amounts of American artillery pounding down on anyone standing still in the open. That map really encouraged you to get up close as soon as possible.

So I’d still be inclined to chalk it up to a silly demo map more than anything.
But apart from that, the AI in TW games has always been a bit on the iffy side, unfortunately.

My surprise was not so much in the difficulty of the fight, moreso how I just head-on charged in instances where one should never do that, and still won rather easily.

Also, Horsemen need to move AROUND pikes. Because after a battle was done I told a bunch of horsemen to form up, and then wandered through pikes near them, and then fled.

it was funny, but not indicative of a good AI.

About the initial bugs, I’d assume a good deal of it was simply down to not knowing the controls. Getting the hang of formations might take a while :)
And the cannon ball probably bounced off the hill, rather than through it? Might look similar, but from what I’ve seen, it follows the terrain pretty well, and never flies *through* hills.