SUBSIM's totally awesome Empire: Total War thread

[HunterICX]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Puckle

HunterICX
I know who invented them and what they are supposed to be, just wondering how well they work in-game

doesn't hurt to try one, just build one and try against a small army.

HunterICX

[stabiz]

I like them, its like canister shot, only faster reload.

[Raptor1]

Just tried, didn't like them very much, if you position them in front of your line they get mowed down too easily, if you position them behind your line then they will mow down your own army, I'll stick with my trusty old 24-pdr Howitzers

One odd thing I noticed just now is that Austrian line infantry caps at 200 men, at least in the custom battle screen, while everyone else's caps at 160 men, is it like that in the campaign too?

[XLjedi]

Wow, I'm trying to hold back on buying this one; at least until I actually play the other 2 total war games that are still in the box on my shelf.

After seeing that screen shot of the sinking ship, I don't know if I'll be able to hold out for too long.

I wonder though, is this going to be the last era for the Total War series? (although, a civil war mod would be very cool) Do you think the rank and file engine could be tweaked enough to allow for modern combat?

[Raptor1]

Wow, I'm trying to hold back on buying this one; at least until I actually play the other 2 total war games that are still in the box on my shelf.

After seeing that screen shot of the sinking ship, I don't know if I'll be able to hold out for too long.

I wonder though, is this going to be the last era for the Total War series? (although, a civil war mod would be very cool) Do you think the rank and file engine could be tweaked enough to allow for modern combat?

Well, the Napoleonic and Victorain eras could definitely work, WWI might also be able to work now that units take cover and are able to garrison structures

[Dowly]

Didnt like the Puckle guns at all. My 1st army was updated with them just in-time for my attack on Austria. I positioned them so that they could fire up to the walls = 1-2 enemy infantry dead. Then, 3 enemy line infantry regiments decided to rush thru the gates towards my 24-pounders, puckle guns peppered them from the side = 3-5 infantry dead. Very very very inaccurate guns. Luckily I had my light infantry (with platoon firing naturally :O:) covering the cannons, so no harm done. But I will be definitely disbanding the guns. :yep:

[Dowly]

Awwwww, I have the most modern navy with all them rocket ships and crap, I got the most modern land armies with Jäger that can shoot almost twice as far as any other infantry, I got rocket troops, I got heavy cavalry, my economy is shining heck Moscow alone is pumping me 15K a turn , I'm almost done researching everything I possibly can. But what I dont have is TIME! It's 1756 now and AFAIK, the game ends in 1799. I havent even taken over the Europe yet! Let alone gone hunting the Pearl named pirateship or the pirate treasures. :-?

[Biggles]

Hm,anyone knows if you can keep playing after 1799? In M:II, you could just keep going, although no new things would pop up. Had a campaign as England going all the way to year 2007!:rotfl: :rotfl:

[Dowly]

Hm,anyone knows if you can keep playing after 1799? In M:II, you could just keep going, although no new things would pop up. Had a campaign as England going all the way to year 2007!:rotfl: :rotfl:
Hmm.. reading the gamespot's forum, ppl are saying that there isnt and time limit. :hmmm: Let's hope it's true. :salute:

EDIT: Not that it matters, both my autosave & quicksave results to an ****ing CTD. Thank you very ****ing much for a working and stable game CA.

[A Very Super Market]

Eh, all the TW games have CTDs at some point. I found Empire to have less than ROme

[Dowly]

I had 0 CTD's on either Shogun Total War nor RTW or MTWII. Out of the box that is, with mods, I had plenty. And this CTD isnt your normal kind, it corrupts every farking save game you have. I even tried the one from my first campaign = CTD.

Now, I wouldnt mind the CTD's if this would be RTW or MTWII, because IMHO those 2 have much more replayability than ETW has. For one, there really isnt nothing to look forward to in ETW like for example the reforms of RTW, you get line infantry since the beginning and they are good all the way to the end of the game. Second, I doubt I will be playing anything else than the Prussia IF someone doesnt mod Finland in it, so I really dont care playing the same darn campaign over and over and over again because of a CTD.

[HunterICX]

some shots of one of my battles:

*sighs* Those Frenchmen again
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6966/uo0001q.jpg

Bon Appétit
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5091/uo0003w.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/2392/uo0004m.jpg

Let's get a bit closer
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3969/uo0005c.jpg

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8677/uo0006c.jpg

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6528/uo0008l.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5291/uo0009h.jpg

HunterICX

[Captain Vlad]

Hey Hunter...I see you and I share favorite 'The Longest Day' characters.:D

[HunterICX]

Hey Hunter...I see you and I share favorite 'The Longest Day' characters.:D

:D yep favorite character too and scene when he sais the quote in that picture and laughs it always puts a smile on my face.

HunterICX

[Zachstar]

Im sorry but NOBODY ought to be expecting to be able to complete a campaign without rampant CTDs and Issues THIS early into the game's shelf life.

2-3 patches than MAYBE Its worth the risk on a game THIS big.

[Raptor1]

Yay, I won the short campaign, ended up with so much money I could buy most of the Spanish colonies in America, Alsace-Lorraine, Flanders and Sardinia too

Now I'll do the long campaign with Austria

[HunterICX]

Now I'll do the long campaign with Austria

Mmm...since I'm currently allied to that Nation I have to watch it closely now for any suspicious movements :stare:

HunterICX

[papa_smurf]

Im loving India at the moment - large open spaces perfect for large set piece battles, oh yes, and absolutely perfect for my East India company cavalry/lancers:D

[Dowly]

If anyone can find good COLORED drawings of 18th century Prussian uniforms for anything that is in ETW, I'd appriciate if you'd PM them to me. :yeah:

[Raptor1]

If anyone can find good COLORED drawings of 18th century Prussian uniforms for anything that is in ETW, I'd appriciate if you'd PM them to me. :yeah:

My sig has Prussian infantry

[Dowly]

If anyone can find good COLORED drawings of 18th century Prussian uniforms for anything that is in ETW, I'd appriciate if you'd PM them to me. :yeah:

My sig has Prussian infantry

Yup. :salute:

[Dowly]

Wohoo! Me thinks Finland IS in the game, propably able to rebel and form a new nation. I found the flag texture for the finnish flag. :yeah:

[Biggles]

One odd thing I noticed just now is that Austrian line infantry caps at 200 men, at least in the custom battle screen, while everyone else's caps at 160 men, is it like that in the campaign too?

It varies, the Swedish troops has 120.

[A Very Super Market]

You didn't know that? Eventually, somone will mod in the emergents, like in Barbarian Invasion.
Major Factions

Austria
France
Great Britain
Maratha Confederacy
Mughal Empire
Spain
Sweden
Ottoman Empire
Poland-Lithuania
Prussia
Russia
United Provinces

Minor Factions

Barbary States
Bavaria
Chrokee Nations
Courland
Crimean Khanate
Dagestan
Denmark
Genoa
Georgia
Hannover
Huron Confederacy
Inuit Nations
Iroquois Confederacy
The Italian States
Knights of St. John
Louisiana
Morocco
Mysore
New Spain
Persia
Portugal
Pueblo Nations
Savoy
Saxony
Thirteen Colonies
Venice
Westphalia
Wurttemberg

Emergent Factions All confirmed!
Afghanistan
Cuba
Hungary
Ireland
Gran Columbia
Guatemala
Greece
Naples and Sicily
Norway
Mamluks
Mexico
Punjab
Quebec
Scotland
United States
Have fun

[A Very Super Market]

Oh, and it depends on troop size, but Austrian Infantry has 25% more men. I think

[Dowly]

As CA sees the Prussian Grenadiers:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/BeforeGrenadiers.jpg


As Dowly sees them from now on:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/GrenadiersAfter.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/reference.jpg

:yeah:

[HunterICX]

Nicely done mate, they look better then the stock ones :up:

HunterICX

[AJ!]

Very impressive. The games only been out about a week and the modding has already started. :up:

Can anyone tell me what russia is like as a nabour? Ive got a plan to take over poland/ lithuania as prussia but i dont want to go upsetting such a large country on my boarders ;)

[Raptor1]

Gah, the Polish declared war on me and after 5 years of very brutal fighting, I managed to completely annex them (Playing hard/hard now)

Now I'm planning on invading and occupying Prussia before they can gain strength, as soon as I take care of Venice which had the nerve to declare war on me

Oh, and the first patch is out

[Dowly]

Oh, and the first patch is out

Yyyyep, and guess if the CTD on my campaign is solved? :nope:

[Zachstar]

The fixes were very early fixes I would give them atleast another month to fix CTD issues.

The days where games come out and they work right are over. The costs are too high... You HAVE to expect problems for the first few months!

That is not aimed at anyone in particular but more towards a group of idiots on the Steam forum that are complaining because they diddn't even bother to test the demo before buying the game and finding issues.

[Arclight]

Fixed Alt-Tab issue which prevents players from switching away from a fullscreen window
Fixed text rendering for certain resolutions
Fixed localized font overrun issues
Fixed a variety of crash and memory leak issues
Fixed a variety of multiplayer client lock
Fixed trade nodes for those nations with resource in home region which caused unprofitable trade theatre routes eg: Sweden and MarathasDid indeed fix alt-tab issue, and trade route from one the trade theaters now actually work. :yeah:

Now if they only fix the not firing of fire by rank enabled infantry when taking cover behind wall, all my issues (thus far) will be fixed. :yep:

*Very nice, Dowly. :salute:
**The uniforms, ofcourse. Not CTD. :D

[HunterICX]

Restarted my Campaign as I really started off badly, economy wasnt going so well
and when I finally managed to have a battle that contained 4 armies of quiet some numbers (me: Full army , against 2 armies 1 french and 1 spanish with about 1/2 - 2/3 each from what I had, me on the defence had an epic battle with at the end managed to create a flood of enemy units fleeing and killing both enemy generals which caused a mayor drop in their morale but for some odd reason (bug i guess) the battle didnt end but all the enemy units where off the battlefield...so I had to quit the battle and therefore lost my costly army...:x

now I restarted a new campaign and keeping it quiet for a while the economy is booming :D

HunterICX

[Raptor1]

You could go for peace and try to improve the economy, or you can start landgrabbing the nearest source of income

If you play as the Dutch, try taking a look at Westphalia, when I took Cologne in my last campaign it brought me well over 7k a turn (Of course, you'll have to get away with war against Austria and Britain...)

[Dowly]

Only real way to make your economy bloom is to go to war and conquer provinces that have lot of towns (Moscow for one). Trade have only been something like 1/4 of my income in my 2 campaigns, Moscow has always been the one that have given me 2-3/4 of my income. And of course, research the industrial stuff early on so you your farms, textile factories, mines get bonus. And if you REALLY like to, you could just go to the Caribbean and start capturing the places with gem etc. mines. :salute:

[stabiz]

I have had some epic battles in this game, just wish there was an easy way to make videos. Nothing beats wheeling your front line around to meet a new threat and see several hundred muskets rise before they disappear in a cloud of smoke, followed by masses of enemy collapsing.:woot:

[Dowly]

BTW, if you want the debug camera (no ground/building restrictions) go to your X:/Documents & Settings/Application data/The Creative Assembly/Empire Total War/Scripts and in the preference file find a line that says something about the default camera type or something like that. Change it to 2 and vóila. :salute:

[A Very Super Market]

Take videos and screenshots with fraps. Much better than built-in screeny takers.

[HunterICX]

Well, things are looking good, the trade from the carribean is giving me a nice income.
Alliance has been broken between Spain and France...hopefull that way the French won't bother me at Flanders since I just took it from the Spaniards at a minor loss :D
attacked from the hill next to brussels giving me a nice range with the arty and advantage as the Spanish troops tried to push me off the hill.

had also a fight with pirates on the sea, 4 galleon against 4 ships of mine a mixture of my flagship and some lighter types.
thought they sunk the 3 lighter ones, they went down fighting as the pirates had many guns destroyed and hull damage was critical on theirs, my Flagship was fairly untouched and finished them off.

Pirates seemed to got stuck there for a moment after they colided
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/632/uo0015w.jpg

only to be sunk afterwards in a different turn by another pirate group of 5 ships....ow yeah brave they are :stare: I will make sure I deal with them pirate scum later on.

now for some shots of my siege:

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4940/uo0016s.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9148/uo0017.jpg

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6615/uo0018.jpg

the good ol' Charge....it still does the job in sweeping the field
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/5495/uo0019g.jpg

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/217/uo0020d.jpg

*Knock Knock* Special Delivery :D
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7748/uo0021u.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3687/uo0022b.jpg

HunterICX

[kenijaru]

can you save your campaing battles as replays? (you couldn't on earlier TW games IIRC)
also... how many turns per year do you get?

[A Very Super Market]

Same as the other TW games, summer and winter.

Just use fraps to take your videos. In-game replays still sometimes randomnly turn into AI battles.

[kenijaru]

Same as the other TW games, summer and winter.

Just use fraps to take your videos. In-game replays still sometimes randomnly turn into AI battles.

any recording software could (potentially) slow down the game... so it's much easier (and to a certain degree, "safer") to record from a replay. Plus i don't like Fraps.

[A Very Super Market]

Well, the replay is less than reliable. It will sometimes turn into an AI vs. AI battle, and turn your victories into crushing defeat.

[HunterICX]

Rome Total War had a replay feature as well, at least I know it had in Multiplayer
but you notice soon stuff you didnt do at all or things that didnt happen.
like said AI vs AI

HunterICX

[papa_smurf]

Seem to be having a problem taking screen shots. I've tried to use Irfanview, but unable to take in-game screen shots. Any ideas?

[stabiz]

Download the free version of fraps, it will do.

[Fincuan]

Supposedly this is also a pretty good recording program: http://www.planetgamecam.com/

I've never tried it myself(FRAPS is pretty simple, and works perfectly for me), but heard others say it's decent enough.

[Thomen]

Supposedly this is also a pretty good recording program: http://www.planetgamecam.com/

I've never tried it myself(FRAPS is pretty simple, and works perfectly for me), but heard others say it's decent enough.

I used game cam a lot. It's been quite awhile since i used it, tho.
It had way more options then FRAPS had, and it was way more resource friendly, especially when it comes to record while playing and not taking a hit on frames or playability.

[Dowly]

Looky looky
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/Pearl.jpg

9 times I've tried to board it and 9 times I've failed. No no no, not because of the enemy, but because of my own darn navy! Just as my men are readying to board it, some jolly old chap comes and gives it a broadside, KA-FARKING-BOOM! Pearl goes tits up. Damn I hate these naval battles. :shifty:

[Raptor1]

Turn off fire at will?

[Dowly]

Turn off fire at will?

Kinda hard when there's other pirate ships I need to take care of.

[Task Force]

My mother says I am probably gonna have to wait till I get my birthday money to get this game.:shifty: (Only 50 days to wait.{Not counting today}):roll:

[HunterICX]

Huzzaah!
I conquered Paris and thereby destroying the French nation.

The economy wasn't doing so well, because my trade stopped as the Prussian navy hid themselfs in my harbour near Amsterdam :stare: so I attacked them with my fleet destroyed them all without a loss of a ship of my own.

Paris is not liking the change of leadership, rioting but that won't last long.

HunterICX

[Arclight]

The Prussians have a navy? :-?

CHAAARGE!!!
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Empire2009-03-1114-42-54-50.jpg

[papa_smurf]

Heres a few shots from my India campaign:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2069/empire2009031121012282.jpg
CHARGE!!!!!!

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7713/empire2009031120515056.jpg
British fire discipline rules the day.



http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1740/empire2009031116020542.jpg

Currently I control 1/2 of India, and have just taken Quebec from the French and I only need 7 more territories to win. and its only 1727, so I think i'm going to halt expansion for a while and get my regions/technology upgraded.

[Dowly]

Poor George never got over the death of his horse. :wah:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/PoorGeorge.jpg

[OneToughHerring]

Lol at Dowly's pic. ETW looks good, and the 'TW-system' seems to suit the era pretty well.

[A Very Super Market]

Do you guys know about the British having the Best line infantry stats, and the Russians the worst?

[Raptor1]

Do you guys know about the British having the Best line infantry stats, and the Russians the worst?
But Austria has more men per regiment, so it doesn't mean the British have the best line infantry

[Dowly]

Whoa! I'll be swearing to the name of the Dragoons for a long long long time. Had abit of a skirmish with the Prussians (me as Brits) over their last city. I had the usual army of General + general bodyguards as reserve cavalry, 6 units of line infantry as the main force and 2 units of Dragoons in the arty killing duty. The Prussians outnumbered me by roughly 500 men.

Shortly after the battle started, the two lines of line infatry units clashed in the middle of the field, while the Dragoons went on to hunt their 2 arty pieces. My lines broke from both flanks and I called the reserve cavalry to help out on the left flank. They got quickly overwhelmed by their cavalry + some infantry and withdrew with very heavy losses. I called my infantry to pull back to a nearby village to have even somekind of changes to defend against their infantry.

At this point, their arty was either routing or killed by the Dragoons, so I weighted the options to either stay in the enemy's rear and pick of the routing units and make sure they wont rejoin the battle or go help the infantry. Not much of a choice after 2 of the 4 infantry units defending the village routed. Now the 2 remaining units faced 4 Prussian line infantry units (luckily, none of them were in full strenght), I ordered the inf to fight melee hoping it'll slow things down enough for my Dragoons to be able to come and help.

After yet another British infantry unit decided to bail, I was sure I had lost the fight, but then the enemy pulled two of it's inf units back abit, away from the battle. My Dragoons didnt even break a sweat as they charged their flanks and routed them with heavy losses. Amazingly, the remaining British inf unit was still holding up, engaged in melee with 2 enemy units. All or nothing, I ordered the Dragoons to charge the rear of the enemy and after a few minutes of fight, they finally gave up and broke off.

In the end, the only men able to fight were:
General - 4 men
General's bodyguard - 8 men
3rd regiment line infantry - 29 men
1st regiment Dragoons - 36 men
2nd regiment Dragoons - 27 men

The enemy lost 1010 men out of their ~1100 and the army was destroyed.

But, as if things would ever go as planned, my army had to endure 2 more attacks defending a quickly built fort against the Prussian militia, but they held and now they are back in Berlin to where I withdrew them via ships to get reinforced with fresh infantry & 2 more units of Dragoons.

:salute:

[mengle]

Dowly you have set the grafics to low i guess :hmmm:

I don't have the game yet, but your guys are showing of with that country have you taken and so many conquerors ....
What about a screenshot of the campaignmap :DL so that the whole world can see how strong or good your really are :03:

[stabiz]

Wow, that sounds like a fun battle!

[Dowly]

Wow, that sounds like a fun battle!

Yeh, it was fun. Tho, abit scary as I have the utmost respect for any military person that comes from Prussia. If it would've been, let's say France, I would've pressed on. But my weakness in games like these is that, if I know the RL history of said nation, I directly except them to act accordingly in-game. Hard to explain, I just have a sort of 'fear' when I fight the Prussians.

@Mengle

Not much to show on the campaign map. I've been very passive. I control England + Ireland, All of the Prussian territory, Finland, some small islands on the Caribbean and few territories in Canada. I take it slowly and I plan my moves so that I can get the maximum financial gain from whatever I choose to conquer. I will conquer Sweden as I'm at war with them atm. But no idea where I will go from there.

[Raptor1]

I'll get a screenie soon, I conquered all of Poland-Lithuania, Venice and the Italian States, my objective now is to conquer Germany and reunite the old empire (Yeah, the one that was never actually an empire and who's name is the very definition of self-contradiction)

[A Very Super Market]

My first campaign as Prussia fell to a CTD.

So I started a new one as... Courland.

It was very hard.

[stabiz]

My British campaign was too easy, I was in 1780 or something and raped everybody. (Medium campaign, hard battles)

I am starting over now as France, very hard campaign and hard battles. Wish me luck. :)

Oh, and choosing "world domination" has saved me from CTD`s, of some obscure reason.

[A Very Super Market]

Oh, what I'm pretty mad about, the fact that the AI doesn't do naval invasions again. Dammit

[stabiz]

Yeah, it sucks, they didnt do that until Medieval 2 was patched up either. It will come, of course.

In other news I am taking a pounding.:rotfl:Damned Germans are all over me, I almost lost Paris in the fourth or fifth turn.:o And to make matters worse I managed to invade the wrong country in India. It was supposed to be a one region small gang, and I landed my units on the shore of the Marathans. Noooo!

[darius359au]

Ive decided I HATE Creative Assembly , Finally got Empire yesterday , installed it and started play the tutorials and the road to independence campaign - wondered what time it was last night after a battle and found out it was 2 in the morning :o

Currently started a long campaign with England at the moment - Not as easy as medieval 2 ,starting out without any provinces in France but ive just grabbed Flanders from Spain so things should start to look up:up:

[HunterICX]

In other news I am taking a pounding.:rotfl:Damned Germans are all over me, I almost lost Paris in the fourth or fifth turn.:o And to make matters worse I managed to invade the wrong country in India. It was supposed to be a one region small gang, and I landed my units on the shore of the Marathans. Noooo!

In my campaign Paris belongs to the united provinces now, taking French out of the campaign :arrgh!:
but the people are not happy with the new leadership and a French rebel army showed up...I pounded them into the ground, still the people of paris aren't happy well we'll see how that lasts.

I was getting worried about Spain, as I havent got Paris stabilized yet I saw a huge army north of Spain about to march into france :o Yikes, I can't afford any big battles at the moment...what to do what to do...

so I opened up the Negotiations with Spain,
So I made Spain sign a declaration of Peace......with threatening:haha:
and it worked :har: Hostile we are still but not at war
Sometimes a bit of a bluff seems to work:D

HunterICX

[papa_smurf]

I too am finding the British campaign at bit easy. Once you have the 13 colonies and a larger potion of India under you control, its plain sailing to victory - as im finding out.
So for a challenge, I think i'll play as Austria next and make it my mission to take out the Ottoman Empire:D.

[Biggles]

Ive decided I HATE Creative Assembly , Finally got Empire yesterday , installed it and started play the tutorials and the road to independence campaign - wondered what time it was last night after a battle and found out it was 2 in the morning :o


Yeah, it's really amazing how the time just flies by when you play a Total War. It's simply impossible to play for less than an hour. I've tried, it just can't be done.

(btw, changed my signature, hope you like it).

[stabiz]

Yup, its amazing how much time you can spend plotting and moving pixels about on a screen.

[darius359au]

Anyone else lost a ship to a magazine hit yet? , I had a battle with the French yesterday and my flagship ,(a 4th Rate),suddenly blew apart on me , she had 2 french ships raking her on either sides when she vapourised , bits of ship and crew everywhere, and what was left went down like a stone :o

[A Very Super Market]

Don't get me started on that. Bloody pirate ships ALWAYS explode, and since they try and board me suicidedly, they can sometimes take down my shiny 4-rates...

[Dowly]

Anyone else lost a ship to a magazine hit yet? , I had a battle with the French yesterday and my flagship ,(a 4th Rate),suddenly blew apart on me , she had 2 french ships raking her on either sides when she vapourised , bits of ship and crew everywhere, and what was left went down like a stone :o

Yup, plenty of times. The darned pirates blew my flagship with one salvo from max firing distance as I was charging them. First I laughed... then I quit the game. :shifty:

[HunterICX]

Plenty of times I caused an gunpowder chamber explosion upon the enemy ships.
once it happen to me but it was a low class ship.

HunterICX

[Biggles]

I always laugh when that happens, although when it happens to them, it's more of a maniacal laugh:haha:

[XabbaRus]

Well I have tried the demo and had to set graphics to low to run it smoothly even though when I selected Autoconfigure it set the settings to ultra.

So it looks like I will have to get myself a new PC in order to get the most out of it.

Even on the lowest graphics settings it looked good though.

[A Very Super Market]

The game is better optimized than the demo, so it will run better. But you don't really want to get it right now, wait a while, and maybe the price will drop, and CA will finish their game-fixing patches

[kenijaru]

i'm loving ETW... first I played a few years as Poland-Lithuania in a normal/normal campaign just to get the "feel".

now I'm 18 years into my Prussian hard/hard campaign. I control Warsaw and just annexed Courland (those guys really put up quite a fight for their home... they litteraly forced me to fight my way into every building, while their line infantry kept me busy, their "mob" just sitted on all the garrisonable buildings... next time, i'll take deployable artillery with me :damn:. still being a 1500(me) vs 1700(them) fight... i only lost 500 men, too bad they almost depleted my beloved "Dresden Devils" * )

* the Dresden Devils are one of my favorite line infantry units, while they defended Dresden from the Poles... this unit sent no less than 300 Polish soldiers to the cementery... I really like them (i know, I have affection for 120 virtual soldiers... i have problems :rotfl:)


Maybe some day i'll post screenies...

fun fact: once during this campaign the first auto-fire salvoe of one of my cannons killed the enemy general along with 5 of his bodyguards.

[papa_smurf]

next time, i'll take deployable artillery with me :damn:

Wait till you get Howitzers with explosive shells - garrisoned troops don't last long against those:D.

[Raptor1]

I'd stay stick with round shot against buildings until you get precussive shells, normal shells always explode at the wrong time without a good experienced crew

[Zachstar]

Well I finally broke down and placed my Steam Order for Empire!

I officially put my new build off by a week to do so but that was for the best due to Issues with newegg :damn:

Looking forward to playing as Merry Old England! :salute:

[A Very Super Market]

No, wait!

...Too late

You should have waited longer....

[Zachstar]

No, wait!

...Too late

You should have waited longer....

I completely agree but after purchasing two games that I diddn't like I needed to get something that would be a sure good to play.

I fully expect that I will have to restart my campaign several times before the game is stable for me. I plan to restart anyway once my new build is online.

The demo showed tho that there is battles to be enjoyed even before the first round of bug fixing.

It was going to happen sooner or later. I wanted to spend more to get my Xbox360 to a state of worth (Right now without a wireless bridge it serves more as a DVD player :wah: ) But the only two games that are worth the price of admission is Call of Duty 4 and 5 so far (Resident Evil 5 is reviewed as too short and Hawx seems like it would be better played with friends on a big screen TV)

Besides it was either this or X3 TC and I did not want to spoil the X3 Reunion story.

[A Very Super Market]

I can't say it isn't fun, but it is quite buggy to say the least, and just seems rather rushed. CA has already made announcements that they are working on patches like crazy, so it'll probably get fixed real quick, but there's nothing like getting a campaign breaking CTD in year 1788... :wah:

[Arclight]

First patch actually fixed my worst issues. Only problem I experienced after it, was a fleet becoming stuck in place with a neutral fleet next to it, upon entering trade theater. Weird thing is the trade ship on a trading spot in that theater was stuck too. :hmmm:

Yes it's buggy, just like every other new release, but not game-breaking; finished my short campaign as Sweden last friday. :yeah:

Isn't that supposed to unlock something, or do you need to complete RTI for unlocks?

Launching final assault on Moscow, summer 1750:
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Empire2009-03-1410-50-59-78.jpg

[Biggles]

RTI will unlock the U.S as a playable state. That's it. I haven't bothered...

[Arclight]

I tried 2x now. Made it to the second "act" where you have to take 2 French forts. My god it's annoying to play trough those events. :mad:

If that's all it does, I'm just gonna start a new campaign. Thanks. :salute:

[LobsterBoy]

Those battles are slow, but I think it's meant to introduce you to the siege battles of this version of the game. After the French are defeated, you go into a mini-campaign against the British (with a single battle, Bunker Hill, in between). I'm in the middle of the mini-campaign and your objective is to hold 15 territories, 8 of which are specified. You start with only one, Boston. So far I've managed to take everything northeast of me and I'm down to a one front war. This is all I've done so far, but it's serving well as a tutorial to highlight some of the differences from other versions of the series (all of which I've played).

[nikimcbee]

Those battles are slow, but I think it's meant to introduce you to the siege battles of this version of the game. After the French are defeated, you go into a mini-campaign against the British (with a single battle, Bunker Hill, in between). I'm in the middle of the mini-campaign and your objective is to hold 15 territories, 8 of which are specified. You start with only one, Boston. So far I've managed to take everything northeast of me and I'm down to a one front war. This is all I've done so far, but it's serving well as a tutorial to highlight some of the differences from other versions of the series (all of which I've played).

I am at the same part you are. Is it just me, or are the Brits harder to beat? I beat the French about 80% of the time.:salute:

[LobsterBoy]

Those battles are slow, but I think it's meant to introduce you to the siege battles of this version of the game. After the French are defeated, you go into a mini-campaign against the British (with a single battle, Bunker Hill, in between). I'm in the middle of the mini-campaign and your objective is to hold 15 territories, 8 of which are specified. You start with only one, Boston. So far I've managed to take everything northeast of me and I'm down to a one front war. This is all I've done so far, but it's serving well as a tutorial to highlight some of the differences from other versions of the series (all of which I've played).
I am at the same part you are. Is it just me, or are the Brits harder to beat? I beat the French about 80% of the time.:salute:
Does art imitate life? :rotfl:

[Dowly]

(i know, I have affection for 120 virtual soldiers... i have problems :rotfl:)

Lol, you're not alone there, mate. I tend to have grown abit of an affection for my Dragoons after the battle they saved my arse in. Hell, I rarely even use them for attack stuff anymore, just get them behind the enemy to pick off the routing units, if they get attacked they run like sissies back to the relative safety of my line infantry. :O:

[Biggles]

120 men? I'm rather fond of my main army, full stack, which I send here and there to take over regions in Europe. Poland will have to get used to be under swedish rule:shucks:

[nikimcbee]

Those battles are slow, but I think it's meant to introduce you to the siege battles of this version of the game. After the French are defeated, you go into a mini-campaign against the British (with a single battle, Bunker Hill, in between). I'm in the middle of the mini-campaign and your objective is to hold 15 territories, 8 of which are specified. You start with only one, Boston. So far I've managed to take everything northeast of me and I'm down to a one front war. This is all I've done so far, but it's serving well as a tutorial to highlight some of the differences from other versions of the series (all of which I've played).
I am at the same part you are. Is it just me, or are the Brits harder to beat? I beat the French about 80% of the time.:salute:
Does art imitate life? :rotfl:
:up: Yeah, a few times, I've defeated (a french) a force twice as large as mine.:yeah: I've also noticed, the Brits are very protective of their artillery. I'll play tonight, when I get off work.

[Arclight]

Well, look what we have here...
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Empire2009-03-1602-26-27-32.jpg
She now makes a fine addition to my fleet. :D :arrgh!:
Would have captured the others too, but they kinda exploded. :rolleyes:

[A Very Super Market]

See you guys, I wasn't lying about it!

[HunterICX]

(i know, I have affection for 120 virtual soldiers... i have problems :rotfl:)
Lol, you're not alone there, mate. I tend to have grown abit of an affection for my Dragoons after the battle they saved my arse in. Hell, I rarely even use them for attack stuff anymore, just get them behind the enemy to pick off the routing units, if they get attacked they run like sissies back to the relative safety of my line infantry. :O:

Same here, 2 Grenadier infantry regiments.
but they are still attacking but not at start...I use them on the spots where things are getting thought for my line infantry I let one of the Grenadier regiments storm into the area throw their grenades and make then finish them off. the other regiment does the same in a different situation on the same battlefield.

they are highly experienced now, and they are somehow my ''if you make me use these men against you, your going to be very sorry'' :O:

In my campaign, ally Austria has fallen by the forces of Prussia and Poland-Lithuania, both nations have a great influence in center europe havent checked if they are allies or not. if they are I might going to enter a hard time with them.

HunterICX

[Zachstar]

The game is quite fun!

I have not made it to the main campaign but took the first french fort in the RTI campaign.

It was quite a hard battle as the Arty was well placed and they routed my arty before it could blow a massive hole in their defences and had to fight at the walls instead.

This is NOT Rome TW and I have alot to get used to. Tho I bet when I can make a full stack of nade units :salute: This will be "quite" easier. In the demo I was able to rout an enemy unit with 2 throws of nades.

[HunterICX]

Portugal is now part of the united provinces :shucks:

marching towards more settlements in south america and taking them from the Spanish colonies, just need to get rid of the pirates luring about which prevent me to do naval invasions on some of the Spanish held islands

HunterICX

[XLjedi]

I noticed a price drop on Empire today at Amazon to: $39.99 (from $46.99)

I think I'm gonna wait for it to hit $30...

[Zachstar]

The fullstack made QUITE a difference.

Also the terrain has so much more of an effect. During the battle of Quebec I found a patch of marsh that slowed down units to 10 percent. I set up a cresent shape formation and let the enemy walk right in.

by the time they managed to rout out (most units diddn't) they had over 1000 dead. I had utterly destroyed the french army.

[Arclight]

Like Agincourt all over again. :up:

Terrain can also be effective to avoid direct fire from batteries. Not that they won't blast you with canister when they get the chance.

I used a unit of cavalry, hidden behind a hill once. AI kept targeting them, allowing my batteries to blast theirs to pieces. :D

[Captain Vlad]

So far, I'm terribly impressed with some minor quibbles.

Game looks...even on the lowest graphic settings, which I play on...very good. The smoke clouds from the muskets, the swinging sabres, the recoiling cannons...yeah. The sound is great as well. In fact, I like it better than the graphics, because the graphics don't tell me my cannons have just let loose against when I'm off doing something besides waiting for the next salvo.

The Total War 'feel' is still there, but gunpowder changes the ebb and flow of the battles in a very distinct way. The fights 'feel right', and the questions you end up asking yourself are perfect...should I fix bayonets and charge, should I risk running cavalry around their flank to try and get at their artillery, should I weaken that flank to reinforce the other, how long should I just sit here and fling cannonballs at them, etc.

Naval battles DO feel a little tacked on, but I still enjoy them, and I love both the tactical mobility the fleets can provide and the fact that I can interdict other people trying to do that to me. Economic warfare, thanks to the ships, seems more effective this time around.

Quibbles? Mostly that the ship-to-ship fights aren't as polished, but I can forgive that given that it's their first try at it. The pathfinding has caused me headaches more than once; I lost about half a cavalry unit because they didn't have the sense to go AROUND one of those little spear obstacles. This shows up attacking towns a lot, as everyone else seems to have noted.

Currently playing a game as the Murathans while I also pick my way through the tutorial. Looking forward to playing the 13 colonies, but the Indian faction is compelling as well. The war against the Mughal Empire is, so far, going well.:DL

Favorite moments so far: Sneaking a group of Iroquois braves through the forest to attack a unit of French line infantry huddled behind a wall. Being careful to 'walk' them kept them from being detected, and by the time the Frenchies noticed them, it was too late, and 80 tomahawk-swinging warriors crashed into their flank. There was also a great moment in a town attack, when a group of Hindu swordsmen -- who'd I'd figured would be useless -- turned out to be instrumental to my success when they scaled the walls rapidly and routed two enemy units in fierce melee combat. This secured the towns northern wall, allowing my musket equipped units to scale the wall and begin suppressing the enemy in the interior. The swordsmen? Kept right on fighting, right until the enemy's white flag went up.

Two battles later they assaulted and routed a unit of Mughal musketeers that'd holed up in a building and were defying all other efforts to root them out.:D They're rapidly becoming my favorite individual unit.

Say...can you name your units?

[A Very Super Market]

Yeah, beneath the official name for the unit, there is a box.

Sometimes, it will say "Regiment of whatever", but most of the time it is empty.

Just type your own name in there. You can do that to ships as well. But you can't rename your generals.

[Captain Vlad]

Ah, good. I'll name my swordsmen something suitable bombastic, like 'The Arms of Kali' or something.

[darius359au]

Ive been re-naming my 2nd and 3rd rates after ships from Hornblower :DL

[nikimcbee]

Well, I just finished ch3 of the road to indepence. The game runs great!:yeah: Only some minor problems; it has crashed twice, and the in-game videos run really choppy, other than that it runs great and looks awesome.:shucks:

[nikimcbee]

oh, and how do you take screen shots? Is there an ingame command or just printscreen?

[HunterICX]

oh, and how do you take screen shots? Is there an ingame command or just printscreen?

Ultima Online Screenshot Utility

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2TMDZOAN

This is a Screenshot utility I use, by default the key is ''Print screen'' and will save the picture as an JPEG to a folder you asign.

HunterICX

[stabiz]

Ive been re-naming my 2nd and 3rd rates after ships from Hornblower :DL

How do you rename stuff?

[Dowly]

How do you rename stuff?

Open the unit's details window and on the top there's a box that, for example infantry, says '1st regiment'. Click on that and give it a new name.

[A Very Super Market]

I've been wondering, what do you guys name your units?

I name them something as soon as they get 4 chevrons of experience, and I sometimes name ships to spite my French enemy...

[Captain Vlad]

I name units that do something cool, or that I've, for some reason, become attached too. So far, I've been trying to keep the names at least nominally related to the country I've playing, so no 'HMS Surprise' in the French Navy or other such.

[Biggles]

so no 'HMS Surprise' in the French Navy or other such.

LoL, that's a pretty good name:haha:

[darius359au]

Just don't call a frigate "Unite" if your the French or the English might try to capture Her :03:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Surprise_(1796) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Surprise_%281796%29)

[Max2147]

You did have some strange ship names back then, since the navies generally didn't rename ships that were captured.

So at Trafalgar, Spartiate and Tonnant were on the British side, while Berwick was on the French side. To make things even more confusing, both sides had a ship called Swiftsure!

[HunterICX]

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2340/empireupe.jpg

White regions are mine

HunterICX

[nikimcbee]

Wow Hunter, everybody hates you. Way to go.:haha:

[HunterICX]

Wow Hunter, everybody hates you. Way to go.:haha:

They are after my cheese! :D

HunterICX

[Biggles]

My own people hated me so much they started a full blown revolution. I picked my side, and nowadays my country will be called "The Democratic Republic of Sweden"!:haha:

My former king got what he deserved...the popularity form the masses was down to 35% when they snapped...:/\\chop

[Zachstar]

I beat the RTI campaign!!

What a difference research makes!

At first I was wondering why the enemy Calvary were able to slaughter my men without much loss. When I discovered they had no bayonets I nearly fell out of my chair!

I research the plug version and went to my fav battle yet! A well defended fort!

Being impatant and thinking I was invincible with my line infantry I set cannon to work and ran then through the return fire to the wall. The enemy reacted by sending in melee units and before I knew it it was time to fix bayonets!

The timing was perfect for the two forces to meet on a bridge connecting two parts of the fort. a SERIOUS fight broke out but an AI blunder caused the enemy to move in a way that allowed a whole group of my men to engage leading to massive losses for them.

Then it happened...

I should have realized the danger of cannon firing at will they were trying to hit a unit that was standing guard near the gate instead the cannonballs were hitting the part of the fort my men were on!

Suddenly I hear collapse noises then I see lots of red as ALL my precious line infanty rout. Actually what was left of them routed as 90 percent of em were lost in the collapse.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! :damn:

It was my fav tho because of the bridge action. Most intense fighting I have seen yet in the game.

With technology I learned to use Line infantry to kill enemy horse If they charge I do take losses but their horse drop like flies. With one line I was able to kill over 500 enemy!

France was no help! As usual :D

[Captain Vlad]

Do ring and socket bayonets equip automatically if you order your troops into a melee attack? I got used to the button with plug bayonets but now I'm wondering where it's gone.

[A Very Super Market]

They do. If you play on medium unit detail, you will see soldiers equip plug bayonets, and see that ring and socket ones are always there.

[Zachstar]

Well this sucks. I am unable to continue.

I am playing as russia and because of tech advances there was a rebellion that I decided to take part of so it diddnt happen in the middle of a war.

I won but when it returns to the screen and starts playing the video it crashes! And it does so each and every time.

I assume it either a problem with this PC or with Empire itself.

No biggie. I had to accept there were going to be issues and I indeed will have to wait for the next patches.

I have pushed this PC to the limit tho and its showing it. 90nm single core is just not worth it anymore...

I can sorta play X3 Reunion with the res turned down. It is the best I can do in this situation. I have to wait to be able to finally order the new PC build stuff from Newegg.

I will take Athens when I return!

[Arclight]

Yeah, that definitely sucks. :(

Don't know if a new system will solve the crash, but playability should at least improve. Hope you're "back in the game" soon, Zachstar. :yep:



And talk about pushing it to the limit; had my first run in with the Spanish. Tried to take a trade-post from them. They only had two ships on it, and I had a 5th rate flagship, 2x 6th rate, 2 brigs and a sloop + 3 indiaman. Clear advantage, right?

Well, that's what I thought. Those 2 ships were galleons. Discription said they where warships, but since they were traders as well, I figured they couldn't be that tough. Boy was I wrong, those things hit hard. Lost two or three ships just to get one to rout, serious damage on the others. Last galleon sank another two or three, and then his mate turned back to help finish what was left of my fleet. All ships lost but one, both galleons still afloat. :damn:

The battle before that I pulled of a nice victory against pirates; both fleets three ships, but they had better ships. Sank all three without losses. :arrgh!:

Guess I was over-confident. I'm steering clear of galleons unless I can deploy some proper warships, instead of some measily frigates. :nope:

[Captain Vlad]

I'm getting my first real taste of naval action as well; I've neglected it up until this point because the biggest problem for the Merathans early on is neutralizing the Mughals who you start out at war with.

By the time I united the peninsula, I had a pretty high level of ground force development, but had done very little research on anything else and I'd been spending so much on the war I didn't have enough left over to develop my towns and such.

Now that I'm pretty much alone in the Indes, though, I've been building everything up and being friendly with everyone except the Portugese.

I really don't know why they didn't let me just buy Goa from them...seriously...they had to know I was just gonna take it anyway...:arrgh!:

[papa_smurf]

Well my British campaign is going really well, as I now control 33 regions and need only 2 more to win, and its only 1741. Only had 2 rebellions - 1 in Bijapur and the other in Egypt, which I promptly crushed. The only real problem I have is the 2 very large pirate fleets running amok in the Caribbean, which will be soon solved once I've built up my fleet in Boston.

So as this is going really well, I've decided to start a new campaign, this time as Sweden. So any pointers on playing as this nation would be appreciated.

(p.s Hunter, I hope your a really good diplomat to get out of that situation:haha:)

[A Very Super Market]

Sweden shouldn't be very hard. After you take Norway from stabiz, you will be at war with Russia and Poland. You only have to defend a single chokepoint from Denmark, and two Armies should be enough to hold Russia and Poland off. Try and ally with the Ottomans, Prussians, or Austrians.


Also, galleons and fluyts are horribly overpowered. Really, a galleon has more guns than a fourth-rate!

[Biggles]

Edited picture from me. Soldiers of the Republic of Sweden fights of the army of St. John's.
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/6632/editedx.jpg

Hope you like it.

[papa_smurf]

Heres a few shots of me defeating the first of 2 pirate fleets in the Caribbean. The majority of my fleet was 3rd rates with a couple of sixth rates and sloops, and even with this it was still a tough battle as the pirates had Galleons and Fluyts.

Here we go!
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6764/empire2009032215280409.jpg
Running rings (literally) around the pirate ships.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5968/empire2009032215345789.jpg

[HunterICX]

(p.s Hunter, I hope your a really good diplomat to get out of that situation:haha:)

:hmmm: Mmmm....talking and petting them eh.....I never understood the point in that :haha:

I just crush their armies, take over the capital and problem solved :D

Me against Poland-Lithuana:
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5903/21179058.jpg

Me against the Prussians:
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/3125/31579865.jpg

HunterICX

[HunterICX]

''Een Volk, een rijk, een kaas!''
:D
(One people, one empire, one cheese!)

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5862/empire2.jpg

HunterICX

[Biggles]

Even your ally dislikes you. Way to go:salute:

[A Very Super Market]

Weirdly enough, it seems that the Ottomans and Marathas will never dislike you for getting too big unless you are right beside them. Also, Go and kill Saxony already!

[mengle]

Heres a few shots of me defeating the first of 2 pirate fleets in the Caribbean. The majority of my fleet was 3rd rates with a couple of sixth rates and sloops, and even with this it was still a tough battle as the pirates had Galleons and Fluyts.

Here we go!

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5968/empire2009032215345789.jpg

great shots, just wondering how do you manege that battle , looks like a big mess to me with al those ships ?

[mengle]

''Een Volk, een rijk, een kaas!''
:D
(One people, one empire, one cheese!)

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5862/empire2.jpg

HunterICX

ja ja die hollanders hebben het weer voor elkaar gebracht en waarschijnlijk weer door weinig in hun portefeuille te moeten scharrelen ook :har:

[HunterICX]

That England isn't expanding himself is not my problem...
(something that needs fixing ''AI Naval invasions'')

I think I share him something of my treasure chest and see if it turns green again :shucks:

Saxony will fall soon, currently all armies are busy fighting the Poles, Prussians and Genova (the nation that blocks me from the south to reach the last Spanish held territories)

@Mengle:

deze oorlog kost me klauwen met geld :O:
ben blij dat ik vlaanderen heb bevrijd van die Spanjaarden in het begin van mijn campagne.

HunterICX

[Arclight]

Om Vlaanderen te bevrijden betekende oorlog verklaren aan Spanje, en dus Frankrijk. Spanje heeft z'n handen vol aan m'n allianties, maar ik sta alleen tegenover de Fransen. Overvallen op m'n routes en blokades waren het gevolg. Maar goed dat Vlaanderen een scheepswerf heeft; 4th rates to the rescue! :arrgh!:

Waren wel een paar momenten dat ik 0 inkomsten had. :shifty:



The AI's way of economic warfare can be so annoying. You know, that "I'm not powefull enough to take you on, so I'll just march a single unit of demi-cannons across your lands burning your towns and farms" attitude, only to have that unit killed to the last man. I've been yelling "bloody French" and "damn Spaniards" at my screen for a couple of days. Raiding is fine, but so obviously just sacrificing units is just wastefull. :nope:

[papa_smurf]

great shots, just wondering how do you manege that battle , looks like a big mess to me with al those ships ?

Err, not sure how I manged that. Just luck I guess, as I was able to surround the Pirate fleet(as you can see) and just pick off the ships one by one.

[Lzs von swe]

Hey boys, just getting in to this. Great game, it will compete for game time with GWX:salute:
Still getting my feet's wet, or dirty, in the RTI campaign.
Some random shots..
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/vonswe/ETW/ETW1.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/vonswe/ETW/ETW2.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/vonswe/ETW/ETW3.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/vonswe/ETW/ETW4.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/vonswe/ETW/ETW5.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/vonswe/ETW/ETW6.jpg
..and yes, I have tried some different resolutions..

[nikimcbee]

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5903/21179058.jpg



That looks like an army of armed smurfs!:haha: (not the UN)



I'm waist deep into my Russia campaign. The only problem is now I have to attack all of my trading partners to win:o. (Sweden, Poland) I beat back the Swedes from the first few turns, but the real thorn in my side is the Ottomans.

I'm still working out a cheese/cracker trade exchange with Hunter though.:haha:

[HunterICX]

That looks like an army of armed smurfs!:haha: (not the UN)



I'm waist deep into my Russia campaign. The only problem is now I have to attack all of my trading partners to win:o. (Sweden, Poland) I beat back the Swedes from the first few turns, but the real thorn in my side is the Ottomans.

I'm still working out a cheese/cracker trade exchange with Hunter though.:haha:

That looks like an army of armed cheese eating smurfs!:haha: (not the UN)

:har:

Out of Moral reasons I will keep the Russians as Friends (conquering it as in history showed it failed by everyone and the last one had a funny mustache)

they are now hostile towards me, probally because Poland-Lithuania declared war on my former ally Austria pulling me and Britain on Austria's side and Russia on the Polish side.

HunterICX

[Raptor1]

Nothing a few simple state gifts and a nasty fullstack on the border can't fix

[Biggles]

Battle of Marocco, summer 1798.
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/3241/strid.jpg

[Captain Vlad]

Latest sublime moment: Having conquered all of India save for Ceylon, I decide that, really, Indians should be in charge of entire theatre. The less odious European influence, the better.

Thing is, Ceylon is owned by France, which is allied with Spain and Prussia. However, those three countries are at war with...lots of people. Surely they have enough enemies...I could have some leverage.

I'd built up an impressive Navy over the last ten years, and, anticipating what would happen if I declared war on the French, I did innocent recon of the trade theaters. Once I'd located all the French and Spanish ships in Indonesia and off the coast of Africa, I pre-positioned fleets in those areas...and sailed a group of fourth rates and galleons to Europe as well.

When all was in position, I invade Ceylon, resulting in immediate declarations of war from Spain (far and away the most powerful of the three), France, and Prussia. My prepositioned ships then sink all the trading vessels I'd located, raid several harbors on the Spanish coast, and send a diplomatic proposal to Spain, offering 5,000 in gold if they accept a peace treaty. They accept.

The war with France lasts all of three turns, long enough to take Ceylon and bribe my way to peace with them, too. The Prussians are still at war with me, but they've been reduced to 'ineffectual' by the Austrians.

I am now Maharajah of the Indes, thanks to a combination of intimidation and bribery.

I love this game.

[papa_smurf]

Things are going well in my Swedish campaign. In my first turn I invaded and captured Norway, invoking the wrath of Poland-Lithuania, but strangely not Russia, which I was glad of, but won't be for long as im eying up Moscow:D.
Having captured Norway, I turned my attention to Poland-Lithuania, and captured Villinus in quick order thus giving me a nice large city from which I build armies from.

Next on the list is Denmark, which is going to be a bit tougher, but I'll see how it goes, then after that it will be the rest of Poland-Lithuania that will feel my wrath.

[mr chris]

Have just installed the game this evening and played both land and sea tutorials and started my first campaign.
I have started out as the Prussians.
Am at war with Poland at the moment.
Am very impressed with the game so far.
Though I have added a great mod from the total war centre forums. That adds more smoke and blood amongst the things to the battles. It makes the battle truly epic in my opinon.
Here is a link to the mod. Should any of you guys wish to check it out.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=237457

[nikimcbee]

...reporting from the front, with haversack and hardtack.:yeah:

I played 10 years worth of my russian campaign (1728~38). I was forced to attack Poland (my #1 trade partner:dead:) I have really kicked the beehive on this:oops: invasion. I wanted to take it all in one shot; 3 armies attack at the same time. I attacked too early, with only 2 ready and the last one on the way:doh:. Now I have pissed of all of my allies and theirs.

I re-declared war on Sweden, and no one cared, as everybody hates Sweden:haha:. Denmark has pretty much taken care of them for me, so I just need to capture the "Sweden" region and I think it's gave over.

Those pesky Poles captured Kiev though, so I gotta re-take that, plus capture Poland. the funny thing was,as soon as I captured Lithuania, Prussia offered me everything under the sun for it, even the kitchen sink and half of Hunter's cheese supply:haha:. So I couldn't pass it up, I'll just re-take that one last, and anger Prussia:doh:. I hope I don't regret taking their offer.:hmmm:

[papa_smurf]

I re-declared war on Sweden, and no one cared, as everybody hates Sweden:haha:

I care as im currently playing as Sweden.

[nikimcbee]

I care as im currently playing as Sweden.

It was just funny, because when i clicked of the map that shows allies and enemies, Sweden was all red!:haha:

[A Very Super Market]

Ugh. Playing as Prussia is hard...

I look at the map, and only the Ottomans (Who seem to have their AI completely turned off for the game) were on halfway good terms with me. All others were hostile, though no wars were declared yet.

[Arclight]

Some news on the next patch (http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/3775/next-empire-total-war-patch-detailed). (source (http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/51295/t/Next-update-details-.html))

Some reasuring words (http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/sreply/690394/t/Next-update-details-.html).

[stabiz]

I liked this one:



So in summary:

i. The next patch is coming shortly, this will fix a number of critical code issues.

ii. Following the next patch a massive gameplay update is being prepared which will address: balancing, naval units, AI behaviour and other issues.

iii. This cycle of 'fix-upgrade' will then continue.


My largest complaint towards this soon-to-be truly epic game is the lack of AI naval landings, and this is supposed to be fixed in the large gameplay patch that will come in a few weeks.

[Arclight]

Yes, I found it very reasuring as well. :)

Good to see CA is indeed listening (probably) and dedicating time to further development. :yeah:

[Arclight]

"Steam is having trouble connecting to the Steam servers"

Fantastic... I'm so glad they decided to use Steam. :shifty:

Steam support seems to be down as well. Anyone else having trouble?

[darius359au]

"Steam is having trouble connecting to the Steam servers"

Fantastic... I'm so glad they decided to use Steam. :shifty:

Steam support seems to be down as well. Anyone else having trouble?

I was having problems but it seems to have cleared up now - I normally play Empire in offline mode but I decided to go online to check for any updates and got caught :cry:

[Arclight]

Yeah, same here. ;)

It's fine now, and 2 updates to boot. :woot:

[Biggles]

Taking a pause from my France campaign, all I can say is:

Not funny being austrian at the moment:O:

[Raptor1]

Taking a pause from my France campaign, all I can say is:

Not funny being austrian at the moment:O:

I'll have your head!

[Biggles]

I'll have your head!

Hahah, actually most of it is thanks to the Prussians, who, somehow, managed to beat back the austrian invasion and now controls a big chunk of central europe. I created an invasionforce which I sailed around Italy with, and invaded Croatia. Now I can't give them the deathblow, neutral ground between me and their last region.:shifty:

[HunterICX]

Hahah, actually most of it is thanks to the Prussians, who, somehow, managed to beat back the austrian invasion and now controls a big chunk of central europe. I created an invasionforce which I sailed around Italy with, and invaded Croatia. Now I can't give them the deathblow, neutral ground between me and their last region.:shifty:

negotiate with them, and gain military acces for a few turns (might invole to give them some kind gifts)

who's the neutral anyway?

HunterICX

[Biggles]

negotiate with them, and gain military acces for a few turns (might invole to give them some kind gifts)

who's the neutral anyway?

HunterICX

No problem anymore. The neutral faction were Poland-Lithuania. (The austrians holds Transylvania as their last outpost). P-L declared war on me, which gave me an excuse to capture Hungary from them, and now my army is marching towards the last austrian stronghold.

[papa_smurf]

Very nearly finished my British campaign, just got Malta to capture. Been saving it for last, so I can use the latest tech/units against them - i.e rockets, puckle gun etc:D.
So to kill time while I'm waiting, I've decided to invade Spain and go for Madrid.

[HunterICX]

the updates from last week:

:up:
Better performance

:down:
Sounds
for some reason they messed it up big time at my end
sometimes I dont hear marching sounds or gunfire and my camera is RIGHT next to them
sometimes nothing is going on and at the sudden a full volley sound is playing off and NO ONE is firing.
also with a full voley it sound that just a few are firing

it was all fine before they updated it

HunterICX

[mr chris]

Same here mate.
I also keep getting Ctd when moving my ships and when moving armies onto a ship. :damn::damn:
It was fine until they updated it.

[Raptor1]

In the hotfix they released after the patch they said something about sound-related crashes, was it before or after that one?

Sadly I have not been able to test it yet

[HunterICX]

In the hotfix they released after the patch they said something about sound-related crashes, was it before or after that one?

Sadly I have not been able to test it yet

sound where all fine, untill the game updated...ok I have better performance...but this sound out of sync or not playing at all is ruining the whole game for me. but reading the forum about post patch experience...its a disaster for most people.

HunterICX

[Raptor1]

Ah, if it's a total disaster a fix should come rather quickly

[papa_smurf]

Same here - keep getting CTd whenever I sink a fleet after a Naval battle. Never did before the patch was installed - it's all gone FUBAR:damn::damn:

[HunterICX]

Same here - keep getting CTd whenever I sink a fleet after a Naval battle. Never did before the patch was installed - it's all gone FUBAR:damn::damn:

Reading that stuff too a lot over at the Total War forums.
I aint touching the game untill its this big patch comes out.

HunterICX

[Biggles]

Haven't noticed anything yet...fingers crossed...

Meanwhile, two pics:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9035/plain.jpg
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/6284/firey.jpg

[Arclight]

I wonder how they managed this one? :hmmm:http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Empire2009-03-2307-34-52-25.jpg
Saw half my fleet go up in smoke after a galleon exploded next to the line.
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Empire2009-03-2514-45-11-21.jpg
Naval might and pride. :smug:
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Empire2009-03-2514-41-22-79.jpg

[papa_smurf]

Well just had a Naval battle toady, against the old enemy -France. A reasonable sized fleet was blockading Portugal, and as they are a ally I decided to help. So I sent in my largest fleet consisting of mainly 3rd rate ships of the Line, Hvy First rates (2!) and ole' HMS Victory. To say it was a whitewash was a bit of an understatement. The French fleet had jsut 6th rates and sloops, and even with them having the wind in their favor once my ships were in amongst them it was pretty conclusive victory. I lost no ships, and sunk the entire fleet.

Have sent my fleet back to Blighty for repair, and will be attacking 2 French fleets currently parked outside Holland:D (will try and get some shots of this battle, and post them here)

[mr chris]

What is the best method of taking screenshots?
Fraps?
Fraps seems to not like my system that much.

[Lzs von swe]

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/vonswe/ETW/ETW8.jpg
He did not leave his fallen brothers side.
The troops on the hill are all that was left of two armies with over 1400 men after an epic fight with three Cherokee armies with some 1900 men.
The battle flowed back and forth with both sides receiving a steady stream of reinforcements, making the outcome of the battle very uncertain.
RTI campaign finished.

[papa_smurf]

My first steamship:woot:

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1462/empire2009033114315907.jpg

Which moments later procedes to blow up:wah::wah::wah:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/271/empire2009033114353121.jpg

[Zachstar]

No big surprise they sucked for the first few decades they were in operation.

Sadly I STILL cant get past the CTD when I win. My new computer is ordered and I will just start a new campaign with it in hopes it has something to do with hardware.

[Franklin Van Valkenburg]

Some of have gathered this from another thread but for those who didn't, I'm a really big history nut... especially when it comes to the Napoleonic Wars and the Age of Fighting Sail.

I'm seriously considering getting this game, but I'd like to ask those who already have the game some questions:

I know this game operates on a world map then takes you down into battle when an engagement occurs. Is there a way to jump into some 'instant action'? I am looking forward to playing this thing the way it is, but what if I get the urge to just jump into a naval battle and square off with the enemy?

I've read that there are only a handful of ship types - first rate, razee, fourth rate, sloop, and steamships. I don't want to believe that's all. Are there brigs, sloops of war, light and heavy frigates, 64 and 74 gunners? I'm hoping there are more ships generally classed into ships having one, two, and three decks.

From the videos I've seen it looks like you click on the map and it designates a point for your ship to reach. Is there a form of manual steering that allows you to point the ship in this direction and just let it sail along, or is that achieved by simply clicking at a point rather far away?

Is there sail management? Such as striking the courses and gallants to enter battle under tops and jibs alone? From the screens I can see that shot types are available and that larboard/starboard batteries can be selected, but what else?

How about multiplayer? Can each player command a single ship to form two teams or does each player have a squadron of their own? (I'm assuming that multiplayer jumps one into instant action, and I am aware of a multiplayer campaign mode)

Is there any sort of scenario/mission editor like there have been in Age of Empires and Empire Earth?

I know this is trivial, but does your nationality change how a ship looks? For example, the Victory is painted in the Royal Navy's classic black and yellow scheme, the Constitution is painted in the official United States Navy's black and white scheme, French ships in black and maroon, etc. I know the flags change, but do the stripes along the gunports change or are there simply areas of the ship that color-coordinate according to the team's color?

I'm an avid player of Akella's Age of Sail II: Privateer's Bounty, and see this game as a newer option for a game that aging and simply won't work on my Vista laptop.

[A Very Super Market]

There is an instant battle function, but first.


The game is not intended to be super-realistic. I don't think you wouldn't find it enjoyable (Extremely bad bugs withstanding), but I suspect you will see a naval battle, and laugh. Yes, it is point-and click, ships have obsenely small turning radii, and wind will only vaguely slow you down.

However, there are many more ships than that. There is one class of generic brigs and sloops, but all the "x"- rates are there as well. There are also unrealistic boats like rocket-armed frigates, bomb ketches (At sea, fighting sailing ships). Unfortunately, while the game keeps on a realistic tone in damage (Well, it tries to), ships go "obsolete" as the game goes on are no longer viable choices once you get out of the beginning, and you won't find yourself building them.

Ships have the same appearance. No special skins as far as I know. They are identified solely by those roundels.

And you can design battles, but not the strategy map.

However, I recommend you wait before buying. Its... buggy. I haven't encountered any problems yet, but who knows. There are plenty of reports right now, and CA is working on dozens of patches.

[Franklin Van Valkenburg]

What caught my attention was that its pretty much the first game set during the period that I've seen in a long time that looked any good (I was hoping Imperial Glory would be good, but the screenshots were enough to disgust me - never bought it), and that the visuals are simply amazing. I really miss AoSII:PB and wish they'd make an AoSIII!
I watched a video and noticed the rocket vessel... ha ha! I told myself that I'd never be using those unless attacking a coastal battery.
You might have read this in the SH5 thread, but I think Ubisoft could make a really good game and make plenty of profit by creating an age of sail simulation using the Silent Hunter platform of gameplay.

I saw a copy of ETW a week ago in Target but refrained from buying it... knew too little about it and thought $50 was a little much for now. I'll wait for the bugs to be ironed out and the price to be dropped.

Oh, what's the timeframe? Of course its 18th century, but what years? Does it go beyond 1800? I've yet to see any screenshots of coatee and shako clad troops led by Napoleon... I was kinda hoping it would go to at least 1820.

[stabiz]

1700-1799. But the expansion is surely going to be Napoleonic Wars.

[Franklin Van Valkenburg]

Good!
I saw a report that the USS Constitution has been added as an American special unit... if I do end up getting this game, I'l enjoy sailing her. :D

[A Very Super Market]

You can play past 1799, but nothing new comes up. I also haven't met anyone who has made it past that far

[Biggles]

You can play past 1799, but nothing new comes up. I also haven't met anyone who has made it past that far

Well now you have!:O:

And the american campaign goes to the year fo 1810 I think.

[Raptor1]

I was kinda hoping that an expansion would be set in the Victorian era, but I don't think I'll have that much luck...

Anyway, I have yet to find game-killing bugs, I guess some people have them and some don't

[Biggles]

Anyway, I have yet to find game-killing bugs, I guess some people have them and some don't

Just my thought. I've had some CTD's, but it was a long time since. One day it happened several times, and I finally gave up and didn't touch the game for a day or so. Since then, it works like a dream.

And what I don't like, I reccon the modders will sort out. This game is great, but with a strong modding community out there, it could be über epic great.

[Captain Birdseye]

I've just ordered Empire from Amazon, can anyone recommend easy factions to start with?

[Arclight]

England; AI doesn't do naval invasions so you're perfectly safe on your island. ;)

[Biggles]

England is indeed easy. Concentrate on the americas and you'll make a pretty penny very soon.

I had it alot harder during my first campaign (Sweden, what else?) I had to start over some times 'cause it went downhill so fast.

[Captain Birdseye]

Perfect! Can't wait to crush my opponents and create a new kingdom :D

I'm looking to employ a "blitzkreig" tactic, I personally think it's the best military tactic ever created. I'll look to create three armies, three shock waves, the first with cannons and heavy armour, getting lighte and lighter, perhaps a fourth occupying army.

I hope it's possible, of course none of you give a damn what tactic I am to use :haha: . Would be interesting to know if anyone else tried this and what happened to them...

[Raptor1]

How would that work? There is no front to break, and any exploitation through a defeat army (If it is really inconvenient to walk around them) wouldn't be able to achieve much if it doesn't have heavy support

Much better to stick with the traditional steamroller in my view, unless you invented some kind of newfangled cannon with an engine that can keep up with cavalry while I wasn't looking

[Captain Birdseye]

Keeping the armies closely grouped in a bttle is what I would do.

The cannons and heavy artillery would soften up the lines of soldiers, then i'd slowly advance forward with the second army, then cleanup with the second and third. The fourth being used to occupy.

Whats steam rolling? I played M2TW and was EXTREMELY unsuccessful. I like to build huge armies and just bankrupted myself. I'm generally unsuccessful at these games but I hope to make a fresh start and really start crushing my opponents :)

[Raptor1]

Oh, thoughts you were referring to using light/fast forces on the campaign map

Either way, reinforcing armies act differently in ETW, instead of the whole army appearing to assist, replacement units would stream into the map as your own units are destroyed/rout to replace losses

[Captain Birdseye]

I see,I might have to rethink my tactics somewhat. I think i'll start with Britain and try and take America.

Do you still recieve orders from superior power? I found that to be a bad part of the previous games.

[Raptor1]

No, not really, the Pope doesn't count anymore (Unless you would like to conquer Rome, in which case the Pope might try to resist), and you don't have any fancy senate/council thing to give you silly missions anymore

[Franklin Van Valkenburg]

I was kinda hoping that an expansion would be set in the Victorian era, but I don't think I'll have that much luck...

Anyway, I have yet to find game-killing bugs, I guess some people have them and some don't

You and I should write the dev team - Start the Expansion in 1800 and continue to 1899! Then the next TW could focus on single-party states, the death of monarchies and empires, and modern warfare.

England; AI doesn't do naval invasions so you're perfectly safe on your island. ;)

Though Ol'Boney was planning an invasion... good thing Nelson came along! :D Its funny, his plan was to drop soldiers behind the British lines with balloons, tunnel under the channel, and land on the beaches... then 140 years later... D-Day!

Perfect! Can't wait to crush my opponents and create a new kingdom :D

I'm looking to employ a "blitzkrieg" tactic, I personally think it's the best military tactic ever created. I'll look to create three armies, three shock waves, the first with cannons and heavy armour, getting lighter and lighter, perhaps a fourth occupying army.

I hope it's possible, of course none of you give a damn what tactic I am to use :haha: . Would be interesting to know if anyone else tried this and what happened to them...

The Blitzkrieg worked because of tanks and aircraft... which is something you obviously don't have at your disposal. You can do two things when advancing:

Move in quick and shock-attack your enemy with cavalry and light infantry, then dig in and pray the rest of your army and artillery get in soon enough to relieve you and finish them off.

Creep in, pound with artillery to soften them up, move in with cavalry and light infantry, establish a front, then move the regulars in. This was essentially the tactic used in the Pacific island hopping campaigns - where the navy softened up the beach and the marines landed then let the armor in behind.

I personally like option two. :)

[Captain Birdseye]

I think that's the best idea. I generally had a habit in M2TW of selecting an individual unit and using them til routing or defeated, which isn't very good as you soon run out of soldiers!

I used to get pounded with missiles alot also, perhaps I could bring the artillery up behind the line of action and pound their missiles with some of the heavy stuff...

I particularly like the idea of being able to name units, that would be excellent in identifying veterans or trusted units...

[Captain Vlad]

I've read that there are only a handful of ship types - first rate, razee, fourth rate, sloop, and steamships. I don't want to believe that's all. Are there brigs, sloops of war, light and heavy frigates, 64 and 74 gunners? I'm hoping there are more ships generally classed into ships having one, two, and three decks.

I've seen brigs, sloops, light galleys, bomb ketches, sixth and fifth rate frigates, fourth, third, second, and first rate ships of the line, Indiamen, Dhows and Galleons. The last three are trading ships, though Galleons are nearly as beefy as a fourth rate.

I have yet to achieve steam or rocket-armed ships, but I've seen screenies and such.

Is there a form of manual steering that allows you to point the ship in this direction and just let it sail along, or is that achieved by simply clicking at a point rather far away?

You can turn the ship manually, I believe.

Is there sail management? Such as striking the courses and gallants to enter battle under tops and jibs alone?

Sail management is there, but it's somewhat simplistic. Full sails or pretty much the layout you described, with one intermediate setting if I remember correctly.

I know this is trivial, but does your nationality change how a ship looks? For example, the Victory is painted in the Royal Navy's classic black and yellow scheme, the Constitution is painted in the official United States Navy's black and white scheme, French ships in black and maroon, etc. I know the flags change, but do the stripes along the gunports change or are there simply areas of the ship that color-coordinate according to the team's color?

Only in my dreams.:DL And hopefully, the dreams of modders...

Just some additional detail on questions that were likely already sufficiently answered. I feel obliged to mention that I'd like a more realistic sailing ship game as much as you would, but I'm still having really great times with E: TW.

[Falkirion]

Need advice on how to lure units. I'm stuck at a point in RTI campaign, still trying to get used to the game but when I'm in combat against the french I can't for the life of me seem to lure them towards my lines. Its driving me nuts, I can't move my army out of the Louiseville area because the French are lurking too close to the city with a monster army and mine is the only one close by.

If only they allowed fire support from Fleets darn it.

[A Very Super Market]

I know you're joking, but just saying. Ships in this era have too little range, and far too little accuracy to make shore bombardments, apart from battles on a beach. Bomb ketches and Rocket Ships (That sounds silly) were made for shore bombardment, but that isn't implemented, and they are simply exotic specimens in ship battles.

Luring them? Fire at them with your artillery, or simply advance your whole army.

[Captain Birdseye]

How would one go about luring an army?

Would you just send a 'rabbit' out in the form of a cavalry or light unit to combat range, then get them back pronto behind your lines?

[Falkirion]

Tried that, they threw line after line of native musketmen at me. My line infantry cut them to ribbons. They tried a calvary charge after that. That didn't work, counter charged them with my own while line inf shot at them.

Just wish I could find the right way to go about murdering this French army. 1800 strong, and most times I fight them I can only cut that number in half with my forces before I'm either forced to retreat due to losses or my units break due to Washington taking a bullet

[stabiz]

Some images from my ongoing H/VH campaign as Britain. I have conquered India, and recently invaded Russia through Dagestan. Those Russians are way better fighters than I have been used to meeting down in India, so my invasion is not going as planned.:damn: I sent 5 full stacks in, and they actually stopped me south of Moscov. I am busy transporting the army that was supposed to attack Spain over to help, as two of the five full stacks have been eliminated while trying to secure Moscov. The good news is that the Spain army is 100% elite.

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww1/stabiz1/Empire2009-03-1822-10-39-98.jpg

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww1/stabiz1/Empire2009-03-2001-50-52-76.jpg

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww1/stabiz1/Empire2009-03-2401-17-14-32.jpg

This image is from the first battle against a Russian full stack. I barely won, loosing some 900 men out of 1700. Really bad numbers. (Oh, and you puckle gun haters, those puckle guns completely destroyed two units of Russian line infantery)
http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww1/stabiz1/Empire2009-04-0223-35-15-64.jpg

[mengle]

[quote=stabiz;1077118]Some images from my ongoing H/VH campaign as Britain. I have conquered India, and recently invaded Russia through Dagestan. Those Russians are way better fighters than I have been used to meeting down in India, so my invasion is not going as planned.:damn: I sent 5 full stacks in, and they actually stopped me south of Moscov. I am busy transporting the army that was supposed to attack Spain over to help, as two of the five full stacks have been eliminated while trying to secure Moscov. The good news is that the Spain army is 100% elite.

great shots Stabiz, did you set everything on ultra?

[stabiz]

Yeah, pretty much. I dont have SSAO enabled, it kills me in towns.

[Captain Vlad]

Any suggestions for a video card around $250 or less? Empire works, but damnit...I want 'more pretty'. And more FPS on Race 07.

[A Very Super Market]

Well, what are you running now? 9800 has a bit of crash problems with ETW, my 9500 can manage with mostly high, and a bit of ultra with extra options turned off.

[Captain Vlad]

A Geforce 8400.

I'm told damned near anything would be an improvement.:cool:

[stabiz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291

I have the 512MB version, but this 1GB version should be a better choice. It eats games.

Edit: Oh, and I have no crash problems with mine in Empire. In my second full campaign, and in 1776, no problems. (After patches)

[HunterICX]

Edit: Oh, and I have no crash problems with mine in Empire. In my second full campaign, and in 1776, no problems. (After patches)

Lucky you then, the updates messed up the sounds at my end :stare:
they are out of sync, not play at all or sometimes they play when not called for...like cannon firing sound when they are reloading :doh:
or a full volley when my armies are just doing nothing at the moment.

also when there is a full volley going on the sound it plays is like there are just a few muskets firing.

also sometimes I completly miss the campaign sounds (save game)
they do play when starting a new one, but sometimes their dont play neither.

:damn:it really ruined the game for me.
and this is the mayor reason I do not like STEAM
I rather have manual updates so I can reinstall the game and update my game by picking the patches before the ones that messed up my game.

HunterICX

[Biggles]

and this is the mayor reason I do not like STEAM
I rather have manual updates so I can reinstall the game and update my game by picking the patches before the ones that messed up my game.

HunterICX


Aye, I've said it before but I say it again: ANYTHING I don't like about this game can be tracked down to Steam.:nope:

Regarding graphic cards, I sit on a 9600GT, and it works like a dream. My settings are up to high/ultra with some of the specials turned on. It runs pretty smoothly most of the time, but I try to stay out of the larger sea battles.

[mr chris]

Well have woked through my dramas with the battle screen hanging up. But now im getting the farking insufficient video memory crash now. Im running with a 4870 x2 which has 2 gb of memory!!! Just as i get this game running well it throws another spanner in the works for me.:damn::damn:

[stabiz]

Chris, thats the reason I have been staying away from dual gpu`s. Everytime a new game is released I read tons of problems from the guys with SLI/Crossfire or dual GPU`s.:damn:

Hunter, no sound probs here.:) (Apart from the sounds in general being one of the weak points of the game)

[mr chris]

Chris, thats the reason I have been staying away from dual gpu`s. Everytime a new game is released I read tons of problems from the guys with SLI/Crossfire or dual GPU`s.:damn:



:rotfl: I might as well laugh as if i dwell on it i might end up crying. Oh well in a week or two i should have another 4870x2 in crossfire with this one. It should be interesting to see how that plays out.

[HunterICX]

Hunter, no sound probs here.:) (Apart from the sounds in general being one of the weak points of the game)

I've heard better sounds yes, but I was fine with them as they all worked properly..now it doesn't :stare: no matter bad or good..if sounds are missing its game ruining

HunterICX

[stabiz]

:cry: Yeah, that must suck. Hopefully it will be adressed in the big patch that is on the way.

[nikimcbee]

I won my Russian campaign.:rock:

I don't think I'm going to win my US campaign though:dead:. It's 1809, and I still have a few places to capture and I'm knee deep in Iriquois and British army. I'm still tring to develop a sound strategy for fighting the American Indians. The Plains tribe has kicked my a$$ twice:dead:. They've attacked my expedionary force with around >1500 men, half of them are cav. All they do, is rush my lines and overwhelm them.

[Raptor1]

1809? When does the American campaign end?

[nikimcbee]

Chapter 4 says 1810. 7 specific regions to conquer and 22 total. I have 6/19. I got off to a slow start and spent too much time fighting the Cherokees:x.

I didn't pick a fight with Europe (spain/france) because I was afraid that they'd invade me and plus they were a great trade partner. If I were to do it all over again, I'd attack Florida and Louisiana right off the bat.:hmmm:

[Captain Birdseye]

Can anyone tell me how combat actually works in this game?

I am unfamiliar with the period...
I have just done the battle tutorial in which I had to clear out a Spanish army from a small hamlet. I did everything fine but would like to know the best ways of doing things.

I kept hearing "Close to range!" What does this mean? Why won't my artillery move? Whats the best way to avoid losing troops when firing?

Thanks.

[Raptor1]

Your standard early artillery is "static", Guns originating from the 16th or 17th century that, while mobile on a strategic scale, are too hard to move around in the field once deployed, and therefore are mostly used as siege guns or for general bombardment

Combat at the era typically consisted of lines of troops standing in front of each other and shooting until ordered to charge in with bayonets mounted, with artillery pounding everything in sight and the occasional cavalry charge

[Captain Birdseye]

I see. Thank you.

So I would be best placing my infantry behind cover if at all possible, to get a good shot on the enemy?

[Raptor1]

Well, I suppose that could help with the minor task of not being shot dead, but cover isn't always the best place to be (Depending on the situation, of course)

[HunterICX]

I got off to a slow start and spent too much time fighting the Cherokees:x.

So far with my Hard/Hard British campaign, I encountered this 1 unit army who intercepted me on my way to their land....they hid themselfs in a house with axes so not able to fire back at me
so that ment....

PRICE SHOOTING!:D the soldier who gets the most will get a teddy bear!

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2508/uo0004dca.jpg

some shots of the current campaign:

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5889/uo0001mra.jpg

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/7918/uo0002p.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8963/uo0003q.jpg

A fight against a spanish fleet in the carribean:
3 galleons and 1 5th rate
the galleons alone outgunned anything I had.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/374/uo0006x.jpg

one of my ships blew up :dead:
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1861/uo0007i.jpg

Side to Side and guns blazing!

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9913/uo0008.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/561/uo0010xaq.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4671/uo0011.jpg

A Spanish galleon on fire..

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/855/uo0012z.jpg

And you could see it comming :cool:

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5715/uo0014s.jpg

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2716/uo0015i.jpg

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/9466/uo0016.jpg

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1016/uo0017f.jpg

and this is how a good naval battle ends...the deathblow to enemy's admiral ship which remained as last.

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6615/uo0018.jpg

HunterICX

[U-104]

you guys are making me cry.:cry:

[Captain Birdseye]

Well i've been trying to get to grips with Empire all night...

It all seems a bit overwhelming.

I tried to start a grand campaign with Britain, only to be overfaced with the amount of towns and cities I have to manage.

Then, when going into battle, I don't really know what i'm doing and I lose anyway!

I tried to start with Prussia and it took me 7 years to conquer Bavaria...

I suck at this game :cry:

[Raptor1]

Prussia starts weak, much as it did historically (In fact, the Kingdom of Prussia only came into being in 1701, a year after the game begins)

Try doing the RTI campaign, should be simple enough for a start

[nikimcbee]

Well i've been trying to get to grips with Empire all night...

It all seems a bit overwhelming.

I tried to start a grand campaign with Britain, only to be overfaced with the amount of towns and cities I have to manage.

Then, when going into battle, I don't really know what i'm doing and I lose anyway!

I tried to start with Prussia and it took me 7 years to conquer Bavaria...

I suck at this game :cry:

I thinks it's all about the linear tactics, concentrated firepower, and out maneuvering your opponent. The weapons were not very accurate back then, so it's all about hurrling as much lead as you can at your enemy. Try your best to turn your enemies flank (but don't let them do it to you).:D

[papa_smurf]

Well i've been trying to get to grips with Empire all night...

It all seems a bit overwhelming.

I tried to start a grand campaign with Britain, only to be overfaced with the amount of towns and cities I have to manage.

Then, when going into battle, I don't really know what i'm doing and I lose anyway!

I tried to start with Prussia and it took me 7 years to conquer Bavaria...

I suck at this game :cry:

If you find a bit overwhelming, try starting with the Road to Independence Campaign.

[Captain Birdseye]

Thanks.

Does anyone know how to rename an army, instead of just a unit?

Thanks.

[Dowly]

Thanks.

Does anyone know how to rename an army, instead of just a unit?

Thanks.

AFAIK, you can only rename units.

[Captain Vlad]

I thinks it's all about the linear tactics, concentrated firepower, and out maneuvering your opponent. The weapons were not very accurate back then, so it's all about hurrling as much lead as you can at your enemy. Try your best to turn your enemies flank (but don't let them do it to you).:D

Yup. You wanna be able to concentrate as much firepower as you can on individual enemy units while trying to minimize the effects of their fire on you.

When you can, make them attack you, and set up field fortifications for the units that benefit from it. Also, be patient during deployment....look for places to set up with good fields of fire, high ground, etc. If they have to come up a long slope to get at you, have to shoot past barricades to hit you, all while you're blasting away at them with impunity...you can pull off some pretty impressive victories.

Proper research helps immensely. Some of the ground combat options don't seem as useful, but stuff like 'fire by rank' or all the bayonets are very handy.

I like artillery, by the way, and bring as much of it, of the mobile flavor, as I can.

[Captain Birdseye]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I found myself in Chapter II of the Road to Independance Campaign trying to take hold of Quebec. The forces were round about equal, I had 100 more men however.

Those who have played it, will know thats the landing zone leads to a very steep hillside, which all units must climb before they can attack. I got two units of rangers to take the lead and melee attack the enemy artillery, I had riflemen to follow them to hold off any heavy infantry that might be knocking about.

To cut a long story short I took the hillside and pressed on. I won the battle reducing his 1514 men to a measly 34.

I then went on to play the Bunker Hill battle but soon found myself in a position where I was about to be annihilated :)

I think I might take another look at the grand campaign tomorrow.

[Lzs von swe]

The Bunker Hill battle seems to be made to loose, that campaign continues even if you lose it.
And as has already been said, mass concentrated fire power on as few enemy groups as possible. If out numbered, use your cavalry to outflank the enemy, luring some of his troops to hunt them, splitting his forces.
Try to attack his generals bodyguards with your cavalry, and his artillery.

[Raptor1]

I won Bunker Hill, at a rather horrible cost, but I won it

You have to remember that the battle was a (rather pyrrhic) British victory historically

[Lzs von swe]

I lost it, at a terrible cost.
Maybe now, with a bit more experience in the game, I would stand a chance.

[Biggles]

I won it, but it was, as we swedes say: "på håret".:O:

But to make the non swedes out there understand....I was as good as dead when the brits decided they'd enough.

[nikimcbee]

Yup. You wanna be able to concentrate as much firepower as you can on individual enemy units while trying to minimize the effects of their fire on you.

When you can, make them attack you, and set up field fortifications for the units that benefit from it. Also, be patient during deployment....look for places to set up with good fields of fire, high ground, etc. If they have to come up a long slope to get at you, have to shoot past barricades to hit you, all while you're blasting away at them with impunity...you can pull off some pretty impressive victories.

Proper research helps immensely. Some of the ground combat options don't seem as useful, but stuff like 'fire by rank' or all the bayonets are very handy.

I like artillery, by the way, and bring as much of it, of the mobile flavor, as I can.
People of the period called artilley "irritating" (not really a threat) until you get into canister range:o. That is the big killer. It's too bad you can micro-manage the guns, ideally you want one gun loaded at all times, it is a great infantry repellent. The artillery AFAIK is very realistic in this game.

[nikimcbee]

Speaking of artillery, I love the case shot in the game. I had a counter battery duel and my shell (case shot) landed right under their gun, then went off.:yeah: End of their battery, they broke and run.:salute:

[Captain Birdseye]

So following this discussion on tactics, what do you guys things of holing a unit up in a building?

I was suprised when I was fanced with an opponent with just about the same numbers as me, who held the town. I felt like I had limitless numbers of troops and decimated him easily. Then again my difficulty is on easy!

I think it would help to understand the period a little better for military tactics. At the moment I do the old Roman strategy of "Make the longest and thickest line you can, and don't let them break through". However, recently I have been making U shapes with my infantry, with the enemy in the middle of the "U".

[Captain Vlad]

People of the period called artilley "irritating" (not really a threat) until you get into canister range:o. That is the big killer. It's too bad you can micro-manage the guns, ideally you want one gun loaded at all times, it is a great infantry repellent. The artillery AFAIK is very realistic in this game.

Canister is one of my favorite ways to deal with cavalry. Flank a battery or two with line infantry, select canister shot for the guns, but don't hit 'fire at will until' the horsemen are just about within shot range...

The cannons will break them up, as as they continue to ride forward at a full gallop, the infantry opens up...

I found that early on artillery was...well, I wasn't too fond of it, and figured it was going to end up like siege equipment on the others games: good under certain circumstances, but usually just a nuisance to haul around. My tune changed dramatically when I researched canister shot and got mobile field pieces. Now my full stacks usually have six batteries or more.

Howitzers are handy. Plop 'em behind your infantry so they're protected and watch them rain ugliness on the enemy. They don't seem to have the 'oompf' of direct fire guns, but I love 'em for counter battery fire and dropping shells on infantry that's hiding behind a wall.

Went through an entire campaign as the Marathans and didn't get them. Now I know what I missed.:DL

[Raptor1]

But the Marathas get those incredibly painful 64pdr siege guns, do they not?

[Biggles]

Mortars are incredible. I won't lead an army without them.

[HunterICX]

I always use dragoons(light dragoons later on) or other types of cavalry when the enemy guns are unprotected to take them out quikly.

My guns are always protected, usually by Militia.

HunterICX

[stabiz]

I still cant get over how cool rank fire is.:) Battalion fire is not as cool, so my next campaign I am not researching it.

[Raptor1]

I still cant get over how cool rank fire is.:) Battalion fire is not as cool, so my next campaign I am not researching it.

I'm sure you mean Platoon fire, which I find more effective for some reason (Maybe because fire by rank doesn't extend more than 3 ranks deep, at least from what I've seen)

[HunterICX]

With this British campaign I play now, I'm fighting on land in America,
in europe at this moment I don't do much then going to aid Austria which has been attacked by Poland-Lithuania, sending my fleet with an army towards it to help.

HunterICX

[Captain Birdseye]

I've just been playing as Britain and managed to secure Denmark, the Netherlands and a part of America but every time I click research now, it brings up a white screen and crashes :cry::cry::cry: