Empire’s new 1.3 patch is out, and will update via internet fairy dust when you relaunch Steam. The fairly chunky list of changes and fixes can be read here. The patch includes fourteen new units to replace generic unit types for specific factions in the game. There’s also DLC up on Steam, the details of which are here. The micro-expansion unlocks fourteen elite units, including US Marines and Russian Gardes à cheval, whom, it is noted, “were selected not for their soldiering ability but more for their relative attractiveness to Catherine the Great.”
They’re bringing sexy (horse)back.
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And yeah, mods are fantastic. But there are games that have both DLC and mods, the two are not incompatible.
There are also games that have mod tools supposed to be out at release run into problems, and get put out months, even a year later. So I’m not worried on that end.
@TCM
I’d be less worried if the files weren’t deliberately locked off. Total War games have never required mod tools, they’ve always just been constructed in an open way so that people could readily tweak and add as they pleased. That Empire’s core files are encrypted and packed away doesn’t imply that Sega is neglecting modding (like failing to release mod tools would), it implies that they’re actively trying to prevent it.
I’m still hoping they’ll come to their senses and open up the game, since as you say DLC and mods are perfectly capable of coexisting (look at Oblivion, Fallout 3, Sins of a Solar Empire etc). Still, that it’s been ACTIVELY prevented, rather than passively discouraged, makes me worry a bit.
The encrypted files aren’t preventing modding, though. There’ve been plenty stat changes and new skins and new units entirely so far, all that’s been prevented is (possibly) new models for units, though the game allows you mix and match upper and lower and head parts of units as far as I know so that’s not a major problem at the moment.
Gathering dust on my shelf this one. All i can think of when i notice the box is the AI getting confused in cities, the AI doing the opposite of my last click and the AI being obsessed with getting back into formation, even if it kills them. They did after all have about 8 years to fix this since the first game. Others seem to be more able to look beyond this flaw and i have forgiven my favorite reviewers by now for not noticing it.
@Frye:
“AI being obsessed with getting back into formation, even if it kills them”
Welcome to war in the 1700s, enjoy your stay.
@Andrew
Not being able to change the campaign map is a pretty huge inhibition for major modding projects. No custom models is also quite a substantial problem for the kind of historicity mods one looks for from a Total War game. Regardless, this is nowhere close to “the most moddable Total War game ever” as it was advertised.
I went on a prolonged hiatus after the last patch which decided to cause complete economic collapse and half the world to go to war with you (for balance!).
Er. Fixed?
One of my friends still has the whole world declaring war on him for no good reason, though I can’t say I’ve encountered that. He plays India (and has Austria, who is nowhere near him, declare war on him, followed by most of the world), I play Sweden (and enemies declare war upon my as I encroach upon them, and start making clearly hostile moves…Though, more often, I declare war on them)
@ Vinraith – Most of the games where modding began were anything but mod friendly and modders did what they could with what they had. The community has become spoiled by the likes of Bethesda and others that make it extremly easy to mod. I’m not saying that is a bad thing but just because one company does it does not mean they all have to. IF they want to encrypt their files then this is their right. If modders want to make mods then they’re going to have to get around it some how.
Now with them going so far as to promise it will be the most moddable game they’ve ever made then turning around and shutting major parts of it down I can’t comment on and I apologize. I didn’t know about that so I take back any comments I made about them having right to do what they want. If they promised something then went the exact other way then there is no excuse. It isn’t just the fringe gamers they’re offending then but all their customers. So feel free to poke me with a burning pike ;)
@Scundoo I have tried 3 mods over the years for the various total war games. One you mentioned the total realism mod had horrible models and when I tried to uninstall it curropted my game forcing me to reinstall. Not all that bad compared to some things that have happened in the past but still it was extremly poor quality and did not fit in with the units that were already there.
It is true I have not played any of the other mods you mentioned or even heard of them (and I’ve looked for mods for M:TW2 and only found crap) So I can’t say if they’re work is better than the devs work was in those cases.
As far as my comments being brash, I’d so not. Maybe misinformed of a the mods which you claim made better units than those of CA (Which is really an artistic argument ) I still stand by what I said, that you can not buy a game for the mods alone
The reasons should be obvious. Something like this might happen where the mods will be hamstringed by the creators of the game (Which they have a right to do) Ontop of that there may not even be any mods made for the game if there isn’t enough interest or if the modders would rather work with other games they already know. You can never be 100% sure a game is even going to have mods to begin with. Even if there are mods you can’t be sure if they’ll work for you or if they’ll have bugs worse than the game itself ever had since they get even less play testing than the game itself.
The only time I’d say buy a game for the mods is if there are already mods out , say like Half Life which had a ton of mods already out and working perfectly fine. But to buy a brand new game that has just come out just because you want the mods for it is a foolish waste of money. If you know you’re not going to like the game as it is you’re betting there will be a mod that comes along and makes it better. It would be better to wait until that mod is out THEN buy the game. This way you may even be able to get it for a cheeper price. This is what I ended up doing for Battlefield 2, I didn’t buy it until there was a well supported and extreme realism mod for it and ended up only paying 20 bucks for it.
If you’re looking for non-crap M2 mods…
Third Age Total War is pretty okay (moreso if you’re a lotr fan), Bloods Broads and Bastards is awesome (especially when combined with Retrofit), Stainless Steel is okay if you like realism (you might not). In general, the mods hosted on TWcenter are pretty darn good, though slanted a bit towards realism over fun.
Also, DarthMod for empire looks pretty good, I think. Compatible with DLC too.
While ETW has tons of problems, and CA has done yet another dirty on gamers (do you know that CA does not care a jot that if you have the most owned graphic card, the 8000 series, you cannot play Shogun or the first Medieval War?), what always surprises me is how gamers bitch about other gamers, or should I say calling them fanboys, much more than they bitch about publishers or the media. So while gamers complain about TW ‘fanboys’ complaining, nobody here, that I have seen, is wondering why,with all these ETW problems, that every major media site ignored all that and gave 90%+ reviews. Now isn’t THAT worthy of a debate?!