Napoleon Total War. I believe it's out. No excitement here?

[Castout]

After so long unable to access twcenter.net today I found out that the page could load fine and I found out that Napoleon Total War is out!

I wonder why the quietness around here on Napoleon Total War. Is everybody too busy with Mass effect 2?:D. Damn the sex scenes :O:.

Here's IGN Video review
http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/27042/napoleon-total-war/videos/napoltotalwar_vdr_021810.html?show=hi

I haven't taken a look at the video review though, probably tomorrow.

Edit: Seems my relief in regard with twcenter is premature I'm unable to access the site anymore.

[Raptor1]

It's not out yet...

[Lionclaw]

After the problems with ETW, ctd's and such. And the announcment of Napoleon Total War so soon after the release of ETW despite the problems with it... No thanks. :down:

And if they could fix the bloody mouse issues with nVidia 8000 and later graphic cards that plague Shogun Total War and Medieval Total War. Both are still sold in Total War Eras. :nope: :damn:

None of their titles come close to the quality of Medieval (1): Total War!! It's so good it doesn't really need modding either, but mods made it even better! :yeah:

Rome Total War comes in second but MTW is still the best.

[Arclight]

Have had enough of rifles to be honest, much prefer the melee in Rome, Med2 was mostly melee as well.

NTW seems more like an expansion or mod for ETW to me, but we'll see. :hmmm:

[NeonSamurai]

In its day Shogun total war was a top notch game.

[HunterICX]

In its day Shogun total war was a top notch game.

Good times...:DL

NTW, I won't be getting it that soon...learning from ETW patching and gamebreaking bugs it gave me I wait a little while before I purchase.

HunterICX

[stabiz]

Have had enough of rifles to be honest, much prefer the melee in Rome, Med2 was mostly melee as well.

Me too! Bring back swords, axes, spears and above all else: bows. I fear we wont see that though, as they will probably try to develop their new ballistic system.

Rome: Total War 2, its all I need.

[Castout]

It's not out yet...

Hmm then the IGN video title is quite misleading

In its day Shogun total war was a top notch game.

Agree to me Shogun was the best of them all. I look forward to Shogun II Total War in fact. I hope they would decide to make it.





@HunterICX
Well as for empire I never had a CTD with it since the first day it came out but by the time the game was available here there were already several patches so I would not know best.

The only gripe I have is the poor battle AI. Scale wise I think Empire is probably the biggest Total War game there is if you consider that it allows you to play the naval portion of the battle. Of course CA took some shortcuts too so all nations have the same kind of ships with exactly the same stats and more or less the same too with the army.

[Task Force]

Hmm... empire, could have been better... Didnt like that it didnt have the asian theatre, would have made the campaign last Much longer, and actualy made Invadeing russia more difficult... Also other things, every unit looked the same, prussian line infantry, austrian line infantry, ect had the Same model just colored different, Anouther thing... THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME, I am pretty sure out of 100 divisions, some looked different than the rest... I also felt that the naval warfare was a load of bull in stock. Plus the fact some regions were just too damned big, France for example you take over paris, you got the whole thing... I would think france should be in about 5 regions, northern, eastern, center, west, and south... make things abit more difficult...

[Rilder]

Three new episodic campaigns — Take command and lead your armies on land and sea over three campaigns: Italy, Egypt and Mastery of Europe. The seamless mix of objective-based missions and sandbox experience makes this the most complete Total War experience to date.



N:TW looks like crap to me. :nope:

[Task Force]

I look foward to it still... since in not getting SH5 any time soon, gotta get something new. lol

[nikimcbee]

What are the specs on it? I'm debating what to do with my old comp?:hmmm:

[Dowly]

Rome: Total War 2, its all I need.

This.

[iambecomelife]

Hmm then the IGN video title is quite misleading



Agree to me Shogun was the best of them all. I look forward to Shogun II Total War in fact. I hope they would decide to make it.





@HunterICX
Well as for empire I never had a CTD with it since the first day it came out but by the time the game was available here there were already several patches so I would not know best.

The only gripe I have is the poor battle AI. Scale wise I think Empire is probably the biggest Total War game there is if you consider that it allows you to play the naval portion of the battle. Of course CA took some shortcuts too so all nations have the same kind of ships with exactly the same stats and more or less the same too with the army.

I highly recommend DarthMod if you haven't tried it out yet. I downloaded it about a week ago and some of the computer's tactics have been downright crafty. Even if you have over 2:1 superiority you often suffer heavy losses.

[Kresge]

Still deciding if I'm going buy Napoleon Tuesday or wait a bit. I'm seriously involved in Empire right now. I've been enjoying that there are so many different ways to play the game, even in combat you can try totally different strategies.

[Task Force]

I highly recommend DarthMod if you haven't tried it out yet. I downloaded it about a week ago and some of the computer's tactics have been downright crafty. Even if you have over 2:1 superiority you often suffer heavy losses.

Lol, yes, I know that feeling... Definantly more difficult...:yep: Nice haveing larger units too...

[tater]

I'm just not seeing the AI improvement. Of course I'm a stickler for having guns with my troops. At Waterloo, Napoleon had a gun for every ~380 troops.

That's a ETW battery of 4 for every 4 groups of infantry. The AI buys no where NEAR this amount of artillery.

[Task Force]

I dont believe cannons were as extensively used before napoleon... So there probably wouldnt be so many cannons... But yea, they dont use them too ofen.

[Task Force]

Was woundering... Is there any news if best buy will have it on shelf tomorrow?:hmmm:

[Raptor1]

I'm just not seeing the AI improvement. Of course I'm a stickler for having guns with my troops. At Waterloo, Napoleon had a gun for every ~380 troops.

That's a ETW battery of 4 for every 4 groups of infantry. The AI buys no where NEAR this amount of artillery.

Don't forget that the gun units are also scaled down (Okay, not very realistically, but still), much like other units.

Also, gun concentrations in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars were usually much higher than in other parts of the 18th century.

Wiki states that Nappy had 7,000 artillerymen at Waterloo out of an army of 69,000 (I lack better sources at the moment), that would make it slightly over 10% of his army. So, if one uses a full stack in ETW to represent this army, it would have no more than 2-3 artillery units.

[tater]

Assuming the guns scale the same as the inf units, then it's one gun battery for every 3-4 inf units. No less.

As for the gun counts at earlier time periods, the whole ETW timeline is hosed anyway. You start in 1700, and the game is over in 100 years. Takes half the time to work up to technology they had at the beginning, and the top end is well above that (steamships, etc).

Bottom line is that the BAI stinks, but would be far more challenging if the AI used arty.

BTW, I attacked a stupid fort (I liberated Spain from the pesky Spaniards), and the guns on the ramparts actually fired a little. WTF.

[Raptor1]

Assuming the guns scale the same as the inf units, then it's one gun battery for every 3-4 inf units. No less.

As for the gun counts at earlier time periods, the whole ETW timeline is hosed anyway. You start in 1700, and the game is over in 100 years. Takes half the time to work up to technology they had at the beginning, and the top end is well above that (steamships, etc).

Bottom line is that the BAI stinks, but would be far more challenging if the AI used arty.

BTW, I attacked a stupid fort (I liberated Spain from the pesky Spaniards), and the guns on the ramparts actually fired a little. WTF.

The guns don't scale the same.

The ETW tech tree is complete nonsense anyway, most of the earlier technologies fit the post-Thirty Years' War 17th century (Really, plug bayonets?) while others would go into the Victorian era (Yeah, steampships).

Yes, the BAI is horrible, but the use of guns is the least of it's problems...

Like most other TWs, a thorough modding is in order.

The fortress guns fire if you put troops on the walls next to them, they don't do too much damage though.

[Castout]

I highly recommend DarthMod if you haven't tried it out yet. I downloaded it about a week ago and some of the computer's tactics have been downright crafty. Even if you have over 2:1 superiority you often suffer heavy losses.

Well I can't access twcenter to get my hands on any mod there. I believe I'm blocked that is they got my MAC address and they use that to block me. It may not necessarily be twcenter itself but the congent something(ISP).

[tater]

I have darthmod, and again, I'm not seeing it. To be fair, I haven't played vanilla more than maybe 1 hour, so perhaps it's way better than unmodded.

The AI units will advance to a wall, and stand there 20 feet on the wrong side of it, for example. I had armed citizens (1 unit of 500) slowly destroy a couple units of line infantry because I placed my guys behind a wall, and the AI advanced to the middle of the field and just stood there. (was a wall on the other side—had the AI used it their better inf would have won (SLOWLY :) )).

AI pulls guns out by themselves with no infantry support, or cavalry. Send a horse unit to go kill them, check.

BTW, has anyone had any luck getting artillery to reliably hold their fire? Sometimes I've had a unit cross in front of guns and get brutalized by canister. Silly that the guns would not hold their fire. Makes it hard when you have infantry behind guns, and you want them to advance to protect the guns from cavalry.

[Task Force]

Ai is dumb... I have seen a Very large Force or garrison/ armed citizentry just run back and forth behing a town while my cannons bombard them... (even tho the town had to go down. lol)

Also Ive seen them just sit there. like Der, what to do what to do, while I envelope them in a circle and kill em all... ( my new tatic. lol, lure them in, them envelope them, kill them all...)
I guess that means 2 things, 1 the ai forgot about them, 2 there ai borke or 3 I dont know wat im talking about.

[AJ!]

Still deciding if I'm going buy Napoleon Tuesday or wait a bit. I'm seriously involved in Empire right now. I've been enjoying that there are so many different ways to play the game, even in combat you can try totally different strategies.

I am in the same boat. It just seems like such a waist to spend more money on a "new game" when i feel like i have not got all i can out of empire yet.

Now if napoleon was a add on pack for empire and could be combined with the native american pack and the extra unit packs into one complete empire game then i would be in my element :D

[nikimcbee]

I've only played the vanilla version:oops:. what are some cool/good mods? And good mod sites?:06: I don't venture far from subsim's walls.:haha:

[Nickolas]

I've only played the vanilla version:oops:. what are some cool/good mods? And good mod sites?:06: I don't venture far from subsim's walls.:haha:

twcenter.net <- ultimate mod site for TWs

Darth Mod is a nice mod for ETW :yep:

[horsa]

Hi
I just received my copy of Napoleon TW this morning. I installed the game and entered the "Napoleon Total War Game Activation Code" but it gave me this message.

"Sorry but the following items are not available for purchase in this country. Your purchase has been cancelled."

I'm in the UK.

I believe the official release date is Fri 26 Feb, so is this programmed to refuse activation until then ? :hmmm:

[Raptor1]

Hi
I just received my copy of Napoleon TW this morning. I installed the game and entered the "Napoleon Total War Game Activation Code" but it gave me this message.

"Sorry but the following items are not available for purchase in this country. Your purchase has been cancelled."

I'm in the UK.

I believe the official release date is Fri 26 Feb, so is this programmed to refuse activation until then ? :hmmm:

Should be it, the game unlocks at midnight tonight.

[Biggles]

Preordered it. Gonna get my copy in town tomorrow. The lads on TWC are raving about the game, and you won't find a bigger group of nitpickers on the world wide web, so I can only assume that the game is pretty much satisfactory.

[Raptor1]

Seems the general attitude is 'This is what ETW should've been', so that's a good start.

Preordered mine on Steam, because I can't get to a store that sells it anytime soon...

(Yeah, I'm just too lazy)

[Task Force]

Gaa, why dont we have a best buy in this city... gotta go to the city next door... So, guess ill have to wait till saturday...:shifty:

[nikimcbee]

Viva L'McBee! I'm off to get my copy!:woot:

[Castout]

I'm getting it too as soon as it is available in the local stores . Hope won't be long Mass effect was in quite fast I hope the same for NTW :D

[Skybird]

I see it is out. So, since some guys already seem to have bought it, my inevitable and most deciding question:

How is the AI...? How does it compare to earlier versions of the series?

[eddie]

Been following a bit at their forums, and those that preorded it, and it arrives by mail are having a bit of a problem. There appears to be a piece of tape that is going across the code you need to install it. They have taken it off, but its tearing and they can't see the correct numbers or letters, so no install. But those in the UK have dicovered something, that isn't a piece of tape to take off, its one of those you rub with a coin to reveal the code. Why weren't they told that,lol

[horsa]

I'm up and running - installed it straight after midnight. Whole process took about 40 minutes.

Overall graphics quality looks fairly similar to Empire IMHO - some tweaks here and there - the gunfire particle effect is more "visual" - plenty of smoke starts to accumulate - bits floating in the air etc . I'm sure there is a general improvement but it doesn't hit me in the face. - not a complaint BTW - just a quick observation on first outing.

Where's the screen grab button and where are the images stored ?

[Egan]

Does anyone remember that weird DRM that Elite came with way back in the 80's? It was like a strange piece of plastic you had to hold over the code in order to read it before you punched it in. I think I had a couple of games like that.

The way things are going now I fully expect to see a special police unit formed so that armed officers can actually come around your house, make you pass a 'thought purity' test and stand there as you install from a master disk. No permanent internet connection required but you will have to offer a cup of tea once an hour to the flying squad officer who will be chained to your PC.

I'm glad the vibe for N:TW seems to be good. I haven't played a TW game since M:TW which I didn't really like. If this lives up to a bit of the hype I might have to pick it up.

[Arclight]

Seems the general attitude is 'This is what ETW should've been', ...
Would be nice if ETW was by now what it should have been. :roll:

At any rate, curious to hear some impressions/opinions.

[Raptor1]

I wonder what sort of idiocy caused them to remove fire by rank and platoon fire...especially platoon fire...

:damn:

[Dowly]

I wonder what sort of idiocy caused them to remove fire by rank and platoon fire...especially platoon fire...

:damn:

Ouch. :doh:

[HunterICX]

I wonder what sort of idiocy caused them to remove fire by rank and platoon fire...especially platoon fire...

:damn:

BLASMEPHY! :stare:

HunterICX

[Biggles]

Still, the troops reload faster, so for me this hasn't been such a big loss as of yet...

[tater]

The "drop in battles" idea is brilliant!

THAT is what Ubi should have been doing with DRM. Require a connection, but give something useful. Imagine if you were playing SH, and your game (via a setting you make) pauses and prompts you to ask if you'd like to take over an AI sub in a wolfpack convoy attack in someone else's campaign!

Or allowed you to take over an escort that has a submarine contact in someone else's campaign.

AI would never be the same. Anyone who has played a FPS game vs real people knows that even with 99% AI, even one real player in the mix changes everything.

tater

[Raptor1]

Still, the troops reload faster, so for me this hasn't been such a big loss as of yet...

It's a huge loss in the feel and authenticity.

First, it drops any need to keep your units together. Before you couldn't run anywhere you want because it would disorder your units and you would have to wait more before you could unleash the first volley, now once a man is in position it could just fire away.

Second, firing drills were a major sign of army disciplne, which was one of the most deciding factors in warfare at the time (Well, fire by rank won't really be historical, but 2-line massed volleys would be I believe. At least have the second rank fire also, right now it just sits there...). Also, platoon fire was the signature British army tactic at the time, so not having it kinda ruins the effect...

Otherwise I have to say I quite like the game.

[nikimcbee]

I've played throught the Italian camp.:salute: I muffed it the first time (ran out of time:oops:) So I started over. I didn't really realize/ take advantage of the changing building types until it was too late:oops:. I went through 3/4 of the game sans artillery:shifty::oops:. And I'm mr arty!:arrgh!: I liked the fact that you have the option to occupy it peacfully or do it the Genghis Khan way.:o

I'd need to play it more to form an opinion on the ai. I do like the cannonball impact marks from cannonfire. I'd love to play this on a high end system, and turn all the setting to "max":hmmm:. I think it looks great at medium. I love the uniforms.

I've done one sea battle:yawn:. seems pretty much the same as the last, but I'm not really into the age of sail type fighting.

[Biggles]

Oh I love the seabattles. Yes, they're pretty much the same as in Empire, but with bigger ships, meaning more cannons!:arrgh!: Also, the little detail that the camera shakes when near an explosion really makes hte seabattles seem more epic. One broadside really feels like a wall of death.

I love the game. Playing as GB atm. My armies are mostly sent to Italy to divert the french forces from Austria/Prussia, and my fleet mops up any resistance in the English Channel. During July 1809 I had two great seabattles against the french, Nelson did Trafalgar X2, except he survived!:)

[Discosanta]

I like the fact that I don´t have to wait minutes between turns like I had to in Empire. I tried the Italy campaign, but it was i little too staged for my tastes. I HATE time limits in games, it is too much stress. I enjoy the coalition campaign much more.

[Task Force]

JA!!! Just got back from Best Buy.:D

Installing, MOVE FASTER COMPUTER!!!!

Also picked up MTW 2 while I was there.

[tater]

The screenshake on the videos I've seen looked terrible to me, I'd mod it out before even looking at that, lol.

[Nordmann]

It's a fantastic game, everything Empire should have been and a bit more besides. Gone are the cloned rosters, the identical troops; each faction has unique units with authentic uniforms and equipment. The engine has been revamped, with new effects (such as terrain scarring) being just one of the many improvements.

If you haven't bought it yet, I suggest you do so, you won't be disappointed!

[stabiz]

Damn postal service!

[Dimitrius07]

I have a question. As far as i understood thise is a standalone addition to Empire total war, so should i go for the original first and then grab a copy of napoleon or the addon itself have training misions for beginers?

btw. I liked the game preview, looks interesting.:yeah:

[Task Force]

Game is great... BUT... The biggest downfall to me is how small the deployment zone is... around half the size of Empire I guess...

I REALY like the new map, I enjoy how it changes color eatch season, and the new turn system is Great, Instead of half a year like in stock etw, its 2 weeks, so you can stop a enemy army before its too late.

Gotta get use to the interface tho... lol, too use to empire I gess.:rotfl2:

[Raptor1]

Game is great... BUT... The biggest downfall to me is how small the deployment zone is... around half the size of Empire I guess...

I REALY like the new map, I enjoy how it changes color eatch season, and the new turn system is Great, Instead of half a year like in stock etw, its 2 weeks, so you can stop a enemy army before its too late.

Gotta get use to the interface tho... lol, too use to empire I gess.:rotfl2:

The deployment zone is all dependent on whether you're defending or attacking and a few other things, I've seen some which extended to some half the map...

I finished the Italy campaign (Had to use some backstabbing to capture Klagenfurt after rushing my depleted armies from conquering Venice, probably shouldn't have attacked them in the first place), I like the attention to detail in some places (Like the campaign invariably starting with Bonaparte's army attacking a certain mountain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montenotte), with nearly always getting the historical results down to the pursuit of Argenteau's army), but the Austrian AI behaves in a really unhistorical manner overall (Namely not defending Mantua much, which makes that section seem like a Blitzkrieg, while concentrating way too many forces around the Alps and Klagenfurt). That's not such a huge problem though, I quite liked the campaign.

Now off to getting massacred in Egypt!

[elanaiba]

Have you seen the deployment zones when ambushing an enemy army?

[Raptor1]

Though I wonder why the Revolutionary Infantry make it a point to wear tattered pants and no shoes at all times, some kind of political ideology...? :06:

[nikimcbee]

I'm knee deep in the Egypt Campaign. I can't believe they don't have the march "Victory is with us." When I had the Austerlitz game, I modded a bunch of the sound files, and when the french would advance, it would play that march.:arrgh!:
I love the middle-eastern music.

[Raptor1]

the Austerlitz game

The one that was built on Sid Meier's Gettysburg's engine?

[nikimcbee]

The one that was built on Sid Meier's Gettysburg's engine?

That's the one!:up:

[nikimcbee]

Ha! I went to the library at lunch to find a good book on tape while I work. What did I find? "Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East.":haha: So guess what I'm listening to now. only 5 more hour til I get off work and I can continue my campaign.:salute:

[Raptor1]

That's the one!:up:

I have it, awesome game (If slightly hard to manage in the larger scenarios).

I wish CA would release mod tools for Empire and Napoleon soon, the potential for improvements and conversion is immense if only we finally had those...

[Castout]

Come on software boutique haven't seen the came cataloged :nope:. . .

[Nordmann]

Though I wonder why the Revolutionary Infantry make it a point to wear tattered pants and no shoes at all times, some kind of political ideology...? :06:

Believe it or not, this was generally the state of the army after the Revolution, though the game takes it to the extreme somewhat. Quite often, recruits would be issued the jacket, some basic equipment, and of course a musket. The rest of his clothing would be whatever he happened to own.

Don't worry, as the game progresses (next story campaign), the uniforms also change. So by the time you get to the French Grand Campaign, they will be wearing the fancy 1815 variants.

[eddie]

C'mon guys, no screenies!?!:DL

[Biggles]

Ask, and you shall receive:

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7659/napoleon201002281923110.jpg
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/6447/napoleon201002281922560.jpg
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/7514/napoleon201002281929110.jpg
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3002/napoleon201002281941125.jpg

The three first are slightly shopped...

[Dowly]

What the hell is that thing on the 2nd screenshot? :doh:

[Biggles]

Explosion from a howitzer shot. Kinda bad angle from the camera there, but they look really cool in-game. Also, they create big craters on the fields!

[eddie]

Thanks Biggles, I thought when I looked at the 2nd pic, that maybe one of Dowly's "Aliens" had shown up and was feasting on the troops!:D

[Kresge]

I'm drooling after seeing those screenies! I've been consumed by Empire for the past several weeks and have been looking forward to Napoleon. I already picked it up the other day but haven't had any freetime other than for installing the game. Tomorrow night is reserved for starting the campaign though!

[Raptor1]

Believe it or not, this was generally the state of the army after the Revolution, though the game takes it to the extreme somewhat. Quite often, recruits would be issued the jacket, some basic equipment, and of course a musket. The rest of his clothing would be whatever he happened to own.

Don't worry, as the game progresses (next story campaign), the uniforms also change. So by the time you get to the French Grand Campaign, they will be wearing the fancy 1815 variants.

I know what the general state of the French Revolutionary Army was, but I doubt that every single man managed to lose his boots, especially when they seem to be wearing perfectly normal and identical uniforms otherwise...

Well, at least the normal line infantry looks fine (Except the fact that they have single- rather than cross-straps, I wonder if someone in CA hates cross-straps for some reason...)

As for screenshots, this is all I could get so far:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4475/ntw1.jpg

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/456/ntw2.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8394/ntw3.jpg

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7877/ntw4.jpg

[karamazovnew]

Let me first start by saying that I'm a HUGE Rome Total War fan. I've finished that game with all roman factions on the highest difficulty settings, both in vanilla and with Europa Barbarorum.

I got burned with Empire, and I'm not going to try this game, no matter how much they say they've improved it. And here's why:

All you need to win a battle in the campaign is make ONLY line infantry. Then, select your entire army and enable meelee mode. Then charge the first enemy unit. When they start to retreat, charge the next enemy unit. Result? You win every time. It really doesn't matter how well the AI places its units, or how big their army is. You can even defeat armies 3 times bigger than yours, with a full complement of artillery and cavalry, on the highest difficulty setting. Why? Because the weapons SUCK. Cavalry can't even defeat an artillery unit ON HORSES without loosing half of their numbers :haha:

I have a friend who didn't believe me that it was possible to play like this. So we did a MP brawl. He had twice my army with all kinds of special units. I beat him hands down.

1. I charged and split my army in 3 as I was nearing his front line. I sent the flanking units to the sides. At this moment, his rotated his flanks.
2. Right then, I charged straight into the opening. By the time his units sloooowly rotated into formation, I was already hitting his center from 3 sides. Half of his units immediately ran.
3. At this moment, his cavalry which had long since tried to flank me from far away charged my center units from behind. So I switched them to a box formation while the horses were INSIDE :haha:. Cavalry panicked.
4. While my "flanks" were now fighting head on with his flanks, I split my center units in 2 parts and used them to hit him from behind.
5. He cursed me and exited the game session with about 6 artillery pieces left and an intact General unit to pound my victorious army :har:

The more you try to be historically correct, the more chance you have to loose because your units have absolutely no brains. And in a game were orders are given per formation, the slooow reaction time and weak effect of range weapons will turn against you. And I figured out this "clusterf_ck tactic" while trying my best european tactics against indian archers. :har:

[Raptor1]

I fail to see your point, ranged weapons were weak in real life, much more than Empire (Though artillery was much more powerful, but that's another matter), which is why an infantry charge was often delivered after the first few volleys.

"The bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a fine chap."

- Alexander Suvorov

Though I agree that cavalry is much weaker than it was in reality because of this nonsense of being able to form square while in a melee (Among many things, this is the thing I hate the most about Empire).

Your description of the battle contradicts the notion that just charging your entire army at a single would work (It won't against properly deployed units, much to the dismay of the melee bugged AI). If your opponent fails to employ proper tactics to defeat your melee tactics, that is his fault.

[Task Force]

Lol, this is strange haveing only 160 men in a unit, lol. I use to darthmods 350... definantly something that I am going to have to get use to... (plus, there is no rank fire.:shifty: I really miss that. lol

[Castout]

Looks like I will have to wait for some time. The store tells me that they are stocking Mass Effect 2 fast because they count as EA distributor. I will have to wait for Napoleon Total War. As usual....:nope:

[tater]

The more you try to be historically correct, the more chance you have to loose because your units have absolutely no brains. And in a game were orders are given per formation, the slooow reaction time and weak effect of range weapons will turn against you. And I figured out this "clusterf_ck tactic" while trying my best european tactics against indian archers. :har:


What about with mods?

I ask because in stock SH4 (or SH3, apparently), you can use your sub like Nautilus (HG Wells version) and ram everything. Sub undamaged, everything else explodes. Or you could simply fun at flank on the surface kicking the rudder hard a port then hard a starboard while gunning with the deck gun. You can take on any convoy in stock SH4 and almost always win.

Yeah, both games are broken, but mods fixed that in SH. Elements of the TW stuff might not be able to be fixed (real sailing models, etc), but much can be made passable.

[Raptor1]

There's a mod out that gives Line Infantry double-rank massed volleys now.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=337818

Haven't tried it much, but it seems to work fine (Also optionally tones down the rate of fire).

There are a few others that add fire by rank, still no platoon fire though.

[karamazovnew]

Ranged weapons were weak in real life, much more than Empire
By Napoleon's time, rifles were not that bad. Volley fire was still effective at 200 yards. The problem in TW is that unlike in real life, the game puts waaay too much emphasis on formations. If one single unit lags behind, the entire formation will refuse to fire until they are in perfect formation. Changing positions and reversing direction is also very slow. Units are much more effective in meelee.

Though I agree that cavalry is much weaker than it was in reality because of this nonsense of being able to form square while in a melee (Among many things, this is the thing I hate the most about Empire)..
Squares were brilliant. And a superb tactic. It's just that tthey get into squares way too quick in the game. Cavalry is by far the weakest unit in the game, only useful for drawing artillery fire. Cavalry USED to be good for erasing routing units. But again, they take too much time to move and loose a lot of momentum when charging a single lone soldier. And I repeat, attacking a mounted artillery unit (on horses) is just a pain to watch. THey can't even kill all the artillery units. I had the missfortune to leave 3 artillerymen run, Then came back and mounted the gun (the horses were left untouched of course) as if nothing happened. They quietly moved the gun a few hundred yards, got into position and killed my General with one shot at max range.

Your description of the battle contradicts the notion that just charging your entire army at a single would work (It won't against properly deployed units, much to the dismay of the melee bugged AI). If your opponent fails to employ proper tactics to defeat your melee tactics, that is his fault.

My tactic was only to spread him out and make him depend on volley fire. I then used the slow reaction of his units against him. In this game, if you put a line infantry unit to fire at an enemy unit, if that unit charges past them (not into them), your guys will not have the chance to fire again because they all need to rotate slooowly. What's worse, they'll be hit from the side and not have time to react. Your only chance is to meelee charge yourself. The problem is that when you need to do this for 10 units, it gets hard. The AI could handle this better in theory, but the AI almost never charges even on exposed units :haha:. What I usually do is to charge empty space behind the enemy unit. Sounds silly but does wonders :haha:

What about with mods?

I ask because in stock SH4 (or SH3, apparently), you can use your sub like Nautilus (HG Wells version) and ram everything. Sub undamaged, everything else explodes. Or you could simply fun at flank on the surface kicking the rudder hard a port then hard a starboard while gunning with the deck gun. You can take on any convoy in stock SH4 and almost always win.

Yeah, both games are broken, but mods fixed that in SH. Elements of the TW stuff might not be able to be fixed (real sailing models, etc), but much can be made passable.

I only meant historical Tactics. A mixed army with strong formations and flanking maneuvers worked wonders before Empire. Now its just a good way to get your General killed by your own guns. Oh and the guns... My god they're stupid. Once I only wanted to reposition my infantry and they had to pass in front of the guns (VERY VERY close to the guns). Autofire activated itself and half of my infantry died in one shot. I wonder. Who the hell shoots a gun when there's 50 people meters away from the barrel? This is worse than hitting the guy in the back of the neck with an arrow (as in 1.0 Rome TW).:rotfl2:

Don't get me wrong. I actually played Empire a LOT. I conquered the entire world in 60 years on Very Hard. I've played it mostly because I love conquering the World (I miss good old Sindycate) Sure, the Indians (from India) declared war on me because of my conquests in America (as they did in real life :rotfl2:). Actually, I can't remember DECLARING any wars. I was once playing the Brits and enjoyed the alliance with Holland for a very long time. In the end, only Holland remained. As luck had it, they had lost most of their territories to my enemies so they ended up with just 2 isolated regions in a sea of Red land :D. So guess what they did. They broke the alliance, declared war and assaulted a small city in one turn. Smart move... 3 full armies against... 50?

Ok that was Empire... this is Napoleon. But after seeing it at a friend I almost began appreciating Empire more. At least SH tries to get better at things. TW has just gone down... well, at least the youtube movies of battles look nice :yeah:

[tater]

I'm no TW fanboi, I only bought Empire a few weeks ago, and have only played it modded—and it's still not realistic enough for me. :)

Still, so far it's been sort of fun except for the abysmal BAI.

[Raptor1]

By Napoleon's time, rifles were not that bad. Volley fire was still effective at 200 yards. The problem in TW is that unlike in real life, the game puts waaay too much emphasis on formations. If one single unit lags behind, the entire formation will refuse to fire until they are in perfect formation. Changing positions and reversing direction is also very slow. Units are much more effective in meelee.


Rifles ≠ Muskets

By the early 19th century (Which isn't covered by ETW, but that's another point), muskets still couldn't hit the broadside of a barn at 100 yards. The link in the volley fire mod's second reply gives interesting statistics, for example:

Out of 200 shots, they managed to hit a target the size of an infantry company with the following amount of rounds using each weapon:

Prussian 1782 musket:
160 yards - 64 hits (32%)
320 yards - 42 hits (21%)

Prussian 1809 musket:
160 yards - 113 hits (57%)
320 yards - 42 hits (21%)

British musket:
160 yards - 116 hits (58%)
320 yards - 55 hits (28%)

French 1777 musket:
160 yards - 99 hits (50%)
320 yards - 55 hits (28%)

Now, depending on the training the troops had, and modified by the weather conditions and various other factors like battle stress and fatigue, it is quite apparent that muskets weren't very effective at anything beyond point-blank range. So, while you would incur some casualties, charging often caused many more.

Mods make it much more realistic, in fact, but at longer ranges the musketry in ETW stock is too effective.

Rifles, on the other hand, are quite another story (Especially when they are of the breechloading or wind rifle persuasion), both ingame and in reality.


Squares were brilliant. And a superb tactic. It's just that tthey get into squares way too quick in the game. Cavalry is by far the weakest unit in the game, only useful for drawing artillery fire. Cavalry USED to be good for erasing routing units. But again, they take too much time to move and loose a lot of momentum when charging a single lone soldier. And I repeat, attacking a mounted artillery unit (on horses) is just a pain to watch. THey can't even kill all the artillery units. I had the missfortune to leave 3 artillerymen run, Then came back and mounted the gun (the horses were left untouched of course) as if nothing happened. They quietly moved the gun a few hundred yards, got into position and killed my General with one shot at max range.


Except these squares, I haven't had much of this problem. The horses will always leave as soon as the battery gets into a melee (At least, that's what I've seen so far), and I've managed to kill batteries just fine by charging them with cavalry.


My tactic was only to spread him out and make him depend on volley fire. I then used the slow reaction of his units against him. In this game, if you put a line infantry unit to fire at an enemy unit, if that unit charges past them (not into them), your guys will not have the chance to fire again because they all need to rotate slooowly. What's worse, they'll be hit from the side and not have time to react. Your only chance is to meelee charge yourself. The problem is that when you need to do this for 10 units, it gets hard. The AI could handle this better in theory, but the AI almost never charges even on exposed units :haha:. What I usually do is to charge empty space behind the enemy unit. Sounds silly but does wonders :haha:


Telling a line infantry unit to fire at another unit is a failed propsition, always put them into position where they can fire at the enemy rather than telling them to fire at one.

"The AI almost never charges" - Are we playing the same game?


I only meant historical Tactics. A mixed army with strong formations and flanking maneuvers worked wonders before Empire. Now its just a good way to get your General killed by your own guns. Oh and the guns... My god they're stupid. Once I only wanted to reposition my infantry and they had to pass in front of the guns (VERY VERY close to the guns). Autofire activated itself and half of my infantry died in one shot. I wonder. Who the hell shoots a gun when there's 50 people meters away from the barrel? This is worse than hitting the guy in the back of the neck with an arrow (as in 1.0 Rome TW).:rotfl2:


Mixed armies work just fine, it's just cavalry that is wrongly marginalized (Still very useful, though, for it's ability to murder skirmishers). Clearly you've never seen a rifle unit kill off 50 men in a single volley at long range.

The guns are stupid yes, which is why I never leave them on autofire (Mostly because they aim to the right flank of the enemy units, which makes them miss too much). It's not too hard to micromanage the guns yourself.

[tater]

I don't know where those accuracy stats came from, but even 28% hits is devastating. Have to assume the lion's share hits the first rank, and some go in between and hit the 2d rank, the rest presumably hit sky or ground.

Still, that seems to mean the first row casualties should be huge—not 28%, but higher since the stat is that 28% hit, not that 28% of the target frontage was hit. 50 hits means at most ~50 casualties, though there is likely some doubling up. Still, front rank losing 25-50 guys per long range volley is murderous.

[Raptor1]

I don't know where those accuracy stats came from, but even 28% hits is devastating. Have to assume the lion's share hits the first rank, and some go in between and hit the 2d rank, the rest presumably hit sky or ground.

Still, that seems to mean the first row casualties should be huge—not 28%, but higher since the stat is that 28% hit, not that 28% of the target frontage was hit. 50 hits means at most ~50 casualties, though there is likely some doubling up. Still, front rank losing 25-50 guys per long range volley is murderous.

The stats go for hitting a target the size of an infantry company, not a single man. That means that if you have 160 men firing, you have some 44 bullets hitting somewhere in the vicinity of the enemy formation, casualties would likely be less than that.

Like I said, though, in real combat nobody would ever reach such results. The average recruit at the time had very little training (The only real exception was the Grande Armée which had some 2 years of training), so wouldn't be a very good marksman. Then you have weather conditions, effecting accuracy and causing misfires (Which are a problem anyway); smoke, obstructing the enemy; fatigue and battle stress, making aiming properly even more difficult.

I'll try to find stats on accuracy in battle somewhere.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot bad powder and wrong amount of powder used, which would also dramatically effect accuracy.

[tater]

Well, given the range the hits are really a function of surface area (not like the shots are volleyed high enough to rain down at that range).

So if 44 shots hit the front of a company of infantry standing literally shoulder to shoulder, most of those are hitting people, IMO (albeit a decent % perhaps grazing shots).

Dunno about misloads, etc. I'm a decent shot with a muzzle loader, myself, though most I have shot have been rifles.

[Raptor1]

Yeah, most would hit people, some would hit the same person, others would inflict no real damage. In the end, with well trained men and under ideal conditions, the amount of casualties caused by your volley of 160 muskets would be about 15-35 (Not that this would really ever happen). That is already far lower than ETW stock's long range musketry...

Musketry statistics in battle are rather difficult to find, but here's something on the Battle of Vitoria from Sir Richard D. Henegan (Who fought in the Peninsular War):

At Vittoria, each infantry soldier, upon entering the field, had sixty ball cartridges in his cartouch for immediate use, making a total of three million rounds...from the commencement to the close of the engagement, one million, three hundred and fifty thousand rounds of ball cartridge were issued by the field train to the troops. Now allowing one half of these to have been expended at the termination of the battle...therefore it follows that only one musket-shot out of four hundred and fifty-nine took effect!


Even if that estimate is only mildly more accurate than a musket, it still shows how much lead one needed to expend in order to hit a man...

[Nordmann]

I know what the general state of the French Revolutionary Army was, but I doubt that every single man managed to lose his boots, especially when they seem to be wearing perfectly normal and identical uniforms otherwise...

Heh, I did say that they take it to the extreme, it is CA after all! At least most of the units make sense (unlike previous Total War games), and there is diversity amongst factions, which was something Empire didn't do very well (or at all, on release); the clone armies of old are gone, and good riddance.

So far, I've got about three campaigns on the go, one British, one Prussian, and one French. I'm also nearing the end of Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. All I'll say is this, I've clocked up more hours in the past few days, than I did with Empire on release. It's just so much smoother, and contains so many features which Empire should have had.

The factional differences actually make for plenty of replay value, and that's before mods. The Total War community is already hard at work, with their currently limited resources, touching up certain features and expanding on others. Overall, I'd say this game is worth buying, especially given the reputation for longevity this series has long enjoyed.

[Iron Budokan]

In its day Shogun total war was a top notch game.

By far it was my favorite. I wish they would remake it.

[Lionclaw]

By far it was my favorite. I wish they would remake it.

I wish they could release a fix for the mouse issues in battles with Nvidia 8000-series and newer graphics cards. I mean, SEGA are still selling Shogun Total War. And it doesn't say anything about the problems. :shifty:

The same problem plagues Medieval Total War.

Big publishers are bad... :down:


These problems have been known for a few years now, yet no fix! :shifty:

Nvidia doesn't seem to care either.

[nikimcbee]

Rifles ≠ Muskets

By the early 19th century (Which isn't covered by ETW, but that's another point), muskets still couldn't hit the broadside of a barn at 100 yards. The link in the volley fire mod's second reply gives interesting statistics, for example:

Out of 200 shots, they managed to hit a target the size of an infantry company with the following amount of rounds using each weapon:

Prussian 1782 musket:
160 yards - 64 hits (32%)
320 yards - 42 hits (21%)

Prussian 1809 musket:
160 yards - 113 hits (57%)
320 yards - 42 hits (21%)

British musket:
160 yards - 116 hits (58%)
320 yards - 55 hits (28%)

French 1777 musket:
160 yards - 99 hits (50%)
320 yards - 55 hits (28%)

Now, depending on the training the troops had, and modified by the weather conditions and various other factors like battle stress and fatigue, it is quite apparent that muskets weren't very effective at anything beyond point-blank range. So, while you would incur some casualties, charging often caused many more.

Mods make it much more realistic, in fact, but at longer ranges the musketry in ETW stock is too effective.

Rifles, on the other hand, are quite another story (Especially when they are of the breechloading or wind rifle persuasion), both ingame and in reality.



Except these squares, I haven't had much of this problem. The horses will always leave as soon as the battery gets into a melee (At least, that's what I've seen so far), and I've managed to kill batteries just fine by charging them with cavalry.



Telling a line infantry unit to fire at another unit is a failed propsition, always put them into position where they can fire at the enemy rather than telling them to fire at one.

"The AI almost never charges" - Are we playing the same game?



Mixed armies work just fine, it's just cavalry that is wrongly marginalized (Still very useful, though, for it's ability to murder skirmishers). Clearly you've never seen a rifle unit kill off 50 men in a single volley at long range.

The guns are stupid yes, which is why I never leave them on autofire (Mostly because they aim to the right flank of the enemy units, which makes them miss too much). It's not too hard to micromanage the guns yourself.

Great stats:up:. I have some stats from the Austrian Army. They were shooting at a large piece of canvas at 100 paces and they had similar results.:arrgh!:

They had rifled muskets, but they should have them fire slower that a musket, as they are harder to load, especially after firing a few shots.

I believe they could fire around three shot in a minute. I'm not so sure how they aimed the muskets, because your eyes are next to the pan, so when you fire, you look down or close your eyes.

[joegrundman]

The "drop in battles" idea is brilliant!

THAT is what Ubi should have been doing with DRM. Require a connection, but give something useful. Imagine if you were playing SH, and your game (via a setting you make) pauses and prompts you to ask if you'd like to take over an AI sub in a wolfpack convoy attack in someone else's campaign!

Or allowed you to take over an escort that has a submarine contact in someone else's campaign.

AI would never be the same. Anyone who has played a FPS game vs real people knows that even with 99% AI, even one real player in the mix changes everything.

tater

i'd like to say that this is an extraordinary and brilliant idea. It should be heard by people in the position to realise it

[stabiz]

I finally got this thing up and running properly (HD5870 + XP + Napoleon = agony) and I have to say this game "owns" Empire. The fun factor is back! Dammit, NTW is going to steal lots of hours from me.

[Task Force]

I finally got this thing up and running properly (HD5870 + XP + Napoleon = agony) and I have to say this game "owns" Empire. The fun factor is back! Dammit, NTW is going to steal lots of hours from me.

Yep, this game is good, After I complete my Prussian campaign in ETW (World domination still havent managed to capture every region in europe yet) then Ill really start messing with NTW.

[Camaero]

I'm having A LOT of fun terrorizing the filthy, snail eating French and ruling the seas with the Royal Navy. If anyone dares to piss me off I will destroy their merchant shipping and blockade all ports until I'm ready to launch a glorious and unstoppable invasion! Muahahaha. That damn Napoleon just started rolling out the first steam ships though... it made me all the more excited when I sunk one!

Once this campaign is over I'm going to give it a go as the French to teach those English dogs a lesson. Ta mere suce des ours dans la foret!

By the way... I started the game on "medium" difficulty... but I find my land battles a bit too easy. I can attack pretty much anyone (as the Brits) with a much smaller force and get away with it. Anyone else have this problem? I'm worried that if I switch to hard I'll *never* win any battles!

I can't wait for some kind of expansion for this game. I'd love to be able to play as Spain or America... even though America wasn't really in much of a position to do anything at the time (other than defend itself)... how about letting us invade America then? Open the world up damnit! Other than that... game is A++.:salute:

[Raptor1]

I hate playing with battle difficulty over medium, it doesn't make the AI any smarter, just gives them unfair bonuses.

Pushing up the campaign difficulty is sometimes fun because it makes the AI more aggressive, though.

[Camaero]

I hate playing with battle difficulty over medium, it doesn't make the AI any smarter, just gives them unfair bonuses.

Pushing up the campaign difficulty is sometimes fun because it makes the AI more aggressive, though.

Yeah that's what I was afraid of. I hate it when the AI simply gets to cheat with higher difficulty levels instead of playing smarter!

[Nordmann]

Yeah that's what I was afraid of. I hate it when the AI simply gets to cheat with higher difficulty levels instead of playing smarter!

Sadly, this is something which is not new to Total War games. Their previous titles have had just as many problems with AI, as with the latest two.

Many people have chosen to use selective memory though, and claim that both Rome and Medieval 2 had better AI. I don't know what they were playing, but it certainly was not the aforementioned games!

[stabiz]

One thing I like is that if you attack an enemy army that has lots of guns, it will not always rush you, they will happily shell you until you are forced to attack. The Danes gave me a nasty surprise, I only had howitzer support and forgot just how flat that damned country is.:rotfl2: Lost a looot of men in that one, nowhere to hide, and my cavs desperate flanking manouver was cut down like grass.

But yeah, battles are too easy after a while. Still, I reckkon modders will fix this.

[CaptainHaplo]

OK was totally disappointed in Empire - but it looks like N may be worth looking into.

[Task Force]

Hmm, just knoticed, Napoleon has a follower who flys a hot air balloon? does the hot air balloon help with finding enemy stuff in battle?

[Raptor1]

Hmm, just knoticed, Napoleon has a follower who flys a hot air balloon? does the hot air balloon help with finding enemy stuff in battle?

I do believe it does, you can see it floating around in battle.

[Task Force]

Yea, quite a cool addition.:yep:

[Happy Times]

I bought Empire and it was a traumatic experience, the potential was so great but i belive its still a broken game with no patches coming.
Ive understood that even the mods cant fix it, am i right?

This limited campaign and period in Napoleon doesnt excite me as much but is this playable? I might consider buying it.

[Zachstar]

I tried the demo. I like the graphics but frankly I cant see myself buying it for some time.

The engine seems to be close to ready for a serious Civil War Total War but I do hope they remake Shogun first.

[Task Force]

I myself still like Empire after I install mods. (Darthmod, music/sound) Darthmod Really helped the game for me. Nothing like haveing 9,000 men in a battle fighting.

I really hope they do something for Napoleon, It is already a good game that could be better.

[Raptor1]

Empire and Napoleon's realism and historical authenticity problems are minor, all Total War games had those on some level. If we only had decent mod tools, ETW and NTW could become as good as the previous games...

BTW, there is not yet a DarthMod, but this (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=345863) looks interesting for now.

[Feuer Frei!]

Is the stock quiet stable?
What is the level of support like at present? IE. patches.
Looking forward to playing this very soon.
Slightly O T but hear that King Arther The RolePlaying Game is actually very similar to the T W series in relation to gameplay etc. but very buggy, ie the AI, missions are not coherently put together, and the updates are very much needed but lacking at the moment.

[CaptainHaplo]

I just got NTW - and this is what ETW should have been. Still dealing with the whole province thing as compared to a centalized city, but combat is good and I really like it.

Playing the first campaign after the tutorials - and kicking some peidmont butt!

AI is a bit weak - but only because it wants to kill my arty and that means running into fire......

[Feuer Frei!]

AI is a bit weak -
That seems to be inherent of TW games....
apart from that it seems good though?
General gameplay/feel? Campaign play? Other than AI?
Thanks in advance.

[Castout]

I'm still waiting for this game to be stocked :damn:. I waited about 12 weeks for empire the last time . . .

[CaptainHaplo]

The game is solid and has recieved patch support.

Strategic gameplay is different than RTW - very similiar to ETW if you have played that. The campaign feel is thus different because of the choices you have to make. This isn't bad - it just makes you think more in the deployment of your troops - which I considere a good thing.

Battles in NTW actually restored alot of the feel of RTW battles for me. ETW battles just didn't grab me - but NTW does. I think it is more to do with performance - as NTW performs excellently on my machine where ETW was a bear.

My only real beef with the game is the time frames for the campaigns. The limited years make them too short - but I suspect we can work on that just like we did all the other games to make grand campaigns truly grand in scale!

Sea battles are very EIC like - but I enjoy that game so I am ok with it. A bit of motorboating but otherwise decent. Not spectacular - but good enough and a nice change of pace.

Overall - I would advise a person considering it to skip ETW and just get NTW. I suspect mods will be out to make it into a larger scale game in time as well.

[stabiz]

Yeah, I agree with that summary.

[CaptainHaplo]

Ok - having played a bit more - and gotten into modding it a bit, here is what I can say.

This game is great!

I admit - Empire had me convinced that the Total War series could not use gunpowder based weapons as its main focus. Napolean makes it work - because now the units are in fact unique again (as in the other TW games).

Calvary is too weak when hitting in a flank. May have to mod that.

The timescale - limited turn campaings - are thankfully moddable. Otherwise the time given is way to short to do everything. *I have set turn length to be 1 week instead of 2x a month and that has really made the game SO much better.

The real focus of the game is historically accurate - artillery. Get 6 arty's and place em well, and you can win about any battle if you protect them.

On a scale of 1-10 - I have to give it an 7 pre mod - with modding the time scale of turns - it goes to an 8 - and I suspect with some of the other mods out there - it is easily a 9 or 9.x - so definitely get it if your a TW fan!

Edit - if anyone needs help setting the turn scale or minor stuff like that - let me know and I will gladly point you in the right direction.

[Rilder]

BTW, there is not yet a DarthMod,

From what I've heard, unless the devs release modding tools and stop being douchebags there won't be a Darthmod for NTW, not that it matters since I don't play darthmod for Empire and don't want NTW.

[OakGroove]

Not that much of an improvement over E:TW as i had hoped.

There are issues with CAI, BAI, LOS and FF recognition. Cav is still porked, Naval battles arcade. Diplomacy did improve noticeably over ETW though. For some reason visual detail seems to be fixed on medium on my machine, despite explicit high/v.high settings.

R4850 512b Cat. 10.3b
E6750 @3.2Ghz
2 Gb DDR800
Vista 32

[Happy Times]

Not that much of an improvement over E:TW as i had hoped.

There are issues with CAI, BAI, LOS and FF recognition. Cav is still porked, Naval battles arcade. Diplomacy did improve noticeably over ETW though. For some reason visual detail seems to be fixed on medium on my machine, despite explicit high/v.high settings.

R4850 512b Cat. 10.3b
E6750 @3.2Ghz
2 Gb DDR800
Vista 32

Could it be your OS?

Thanks for your estimate. I will pass it then.
ETW has the longer more interesting timeline going for it.
I also found the mods and mod tools for ETW, it could get playble.
With official tools it would be the best game i have ever played.
So frustrating..Arghhh!!!!:damn:

[Happy Times]

Totally OT to Raptor.

Is there some reason you have Battle of Luzen as your sig?
Just wandering.:DL
Its an important day in history with effects to the whole world, but it is usually remembered officially only in Sweden and Finland.

[Raptor1]

I'm mildly obsessed with the Thirty Years' War, despite it's undeserved obscurity, and Lützen was one of it's most important points.

It also happens to be the only kind of 17th century-style etching of this style I could find in any decent resolution...

[Feuer Frei!]

Just installed it, looking great so far.
Frequenting TW Centre for modding possibilities.
Just haven't got the time atm to immerse myself fully.

[Task Force]

Not that much of an improvement over E:TW as i had hoped.

There are issues with CAI, BAI, LOS and FF recognition. Cav is still porked, Naval battles arcade. Diplomacy did improve noticeably over ETW though. For some reason visual detail seems to be fixed on medium on my machine, despite explicit high/v.high settings.

R4850 512b Cat. 10.3b
E6750 @3.2Ghz
2 Gb DDR800
Vista 32

Runs fine here with everything on ultra with the Napoleon mod.
GF8800 640mb
E8400 3.0ghz
4GB
W7 64bit

hmm, could be your ram... I knoticed a large increase when I went to 4 gigs.

[Feuer Frei!]

:hmmm:For some reason visual detail seems to be fixed on medium on my machine, despite explicit high/v.high settings.

R4850 512b Cat. 10.3b
E6750 @3.2Ghz
2 Gb DDR800
Vista 32
Runs maxed on mine, 4870 1gb, 4 gb ram win 7 64-bit, Cat 10.3.
Yours a beta Catalyst? I thought 10.3 was final now?
Hmm, just saw that the beta was released in February this year and the "final" in March....which is what i have.
Could be your drivers not updated?

[OakGroove]

@ Task Force, i was suspecting this also, until going through posts on TWCenter, with some people experiencing similar issues (low res textures/no SSAO/Unit sprites kicking in early) with high end setups. Quite possible the ingame autoadjustment is having difficulty adjusting correctly on certain systems.

Ingame settings im using (preferences.script.txt /set to read only):

x_res 1680; # x_res <int32>, Fixed window width #
y_res 1050; # y_res <int32>, Fixed window height #
x_pos 0; # x_pos <int32>, Window position #
y_pos 0; # y_pos <int32>, Window position #
vfs_log_level 0; # vfs_log_level <int32>, 0 - off, 1 - mod-user, 2 - dev #
unit_test false; # unit_test <bool>, unit test (for daily build) #
campaign_unit_multiplier 1; # campaign_unit_multiplier <float>, Set default unit multiplier for campaign #
gfx_first_run false; # gfx_first_run <bool>, First time application run #
gfx_video_memory 536870912; # gfx_video_memory <int>, Override available video memory (bytes) #
gfx_fullscreen true; # gfx_fullscreen <bool>, Run the application in fullscreen or not #
gfx_vsync true; # gfx_vsync <bool>, vertical synchronization #
gfx_hdr true; # gfx_hdr <bool>, Use high dynamic range rendering pipeline #
gfx_low_quality_shaders false; # gfx_low_quality_shaders <bool>, Use SM2 pixel shader code with SM3 vertex shaders and instancing. #
gfx_shadermodel 1; # gfx_shadermodel <int>, Set shader model, 0-2.0, 1-3.0 #
gfx_aa 0; # gfx_aa <int>, Set antialiasing, 0-no, 3-8x #
gfx_texture_filtering 3; # gfx_texture_filtering <int>, Set texture filtering, 0-bilinear, 5- anisotropic 16x #
gfx_texture_quality 3; # gfx_texture_quality <int>, Set the quality of textures. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_volumetric_effect true; # gfx_volumemtric_effect <bool>, volumetric fog on sea battle #
gfx_ssao false; # gfx_ssao <bool>, Enable Screen Space Ambient Occlusion buffer #
gfx_distortion false; # gfx_distortion <bool>, Enable Distortion Effect buffer #
gfx_depth_of_field true; # gfx_depth_of_field <bool>, Enable Depth of Field effects #
gfx_hardware_shadows true; # gfx_hardware_shadows <bool>, Enable hardware shadow mapping #
gfx_sky_quality 2; # gfx_sky_quality <int>, Set the quality of sky. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_unit_quality 3; # gfx_unit_quality <int>, Set the quality of units. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_ship_quality 3; # gfx_ship_quality <int>, Set the quality of ships. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_building_quality 3; # gfx_building_quality <int>, Set the quality of buildings. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_water_quality 2; # gfx_water_quality <int>, Set the quality of water. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_unit_scale 3; # gfx_unit_scale <int>, Set unit scale. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_shadow_quality 3; # gfx_shadow_quality <int>, Set unit scale. 0 - off, 4 - ultra #
gfx_tree_quality 3; # gfx_tree_quality <int>, Set unit scale. 0 - off, 4 - ultra #
gfx_grass_quality 3; # gfx_grass_quality <int>, Set unit scale. 0 - off, 4 - ultra #
gfx_terrain_quality 1; # gfx_terrain_quality <int>, Set unit scale. 0 - low, 1 - high #
gfx_gamma_setting 1.8; # gfx_gamma_setting <float>, Set gamma correction #
gfx_brightness_setting 1; # gfx_brightness_setting <float>, Set brightness #
gfx_hardware_shadows true; # gfx_hardware_shadows <bool>, Enable hardware shadow mapping #
gfx_disable_terrain_ao_gpu false; # gfx_disable_terrain_ao_gpu <bool>, Disable terrain ambient occlusion term. Supported only on ShaderModel 3.0 #
gfx_screenshot_folder ./screenshots; # gfx_screenshot_folder <folder>, Folder to where save screenshots relative to Empire directory #
gfx_fixed_env_map ; # gfx_fixed_env_map <filename>, cubemap for fixed env.map #
gfx_effects_quality 2; # gfx_effects_quality <int>, Set effects quality. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #
gfx_vignette true; # gfx_vignette <true|false>, Enable vignette #
gfx_picture_in_picture true; # gfx_picture_in_picture <true|false>, Enable picture_in_picture #
gfx_frame_rate 60; # gfx_frame_rate <int>, Set frame rate (fps) #

@ Feuer Frei!

Cat. 10.3b is a preview driver, like 10.3a. I have it primarily for BFBC, ArmA doesn't run to bad with these either.
http://sites.amd.com/us/underground/tips/Pages/catalyst-10-3-preview.aspx
Already tried 10.3 WHQL with NTW, to no avail.

[Task Force]

Hmm, maby its the Game and your GPU haveing issues.

[stabiz]

Using cat 10.2 here, runs sweet on ultra. (HD5870)

[CaptainHaplo]

Edit: Disregard

[CaptainHaplo]

OK - With the new tools - I am very happy with NTW

Modding it is not too bad - though it could have been easier. Still - most everything I need or want to do is easily done. Cav I am still trying to tweak to get the most out of it - but otherwise my own mods are coming along well - giving the game some real value for me personally.

[Task Force]

OK - With the new tools - I am very happy with NTW

Modding it is not too bad - though it could have been easier. Still - most everything I need or want to do is easily done. Cav I am still trying to tweak to get the most out of it - but otherwise my own mods are coming along well - giving the game some real value for me personally.

If you manage to fix the calvary, could you upload a mod/tell us how. I was also quite dissapointed with them.

[CaptainHaplo]

TF - Right now here is where I am at on Cav...

They are very strong in the attack - but exceedingly fragile as well. If you can hit from a flank - they do alot of damage - but they also TAKE alot too - when they shouldn't .

I think I know why - and that is because the charge bonus is being applied to BOTH the charging cavalry - and the unit they are hitting. This so far is the only thing that makes sense given how cav performs.

To fix it, since if that is what really is happening - would take something modders can't do. However, as a workaround what I have done is dropped the charge bonus quite a bit, and instead upped the regular melee attack significantly for Cav. This has its own problems - as it makes them more charge and fight than true hit the line and move to reform and charge again - but it DOES cause an attacked foe to quickly break - which is correct behavior. The other problem is it makes the square formation alot less effective....

So right now I am trying to balance the attack, defence numbers to get a good result - while dropping the charge bonus pretty much altogether. Its definitely not a really good solution - but it seems to be working better than stock...

I am assuming you already are modding your own units? The data.pack is kinda big, and thats where the numbers I am working on are - but if you need I can get you a test version. It may have some other changes in it though - like my experimental howitzer than can fire 650 paces instead of 400.....

[mr chris]

The latest update for NTW is live downloading on my system at the moment. It is about 600mb Odd in size.

[Raptor1]

I have noticed a ninja patch as well, but there's no patch notes or anything...

[mr chris]

It seems as if its no update just DLC.

I also can not find any patch or release notes any where.

Edit: I have finished downloading and the is nothing new at all.

[Jack Davidson]

Yep,

Coalition Battle Pack. Haven't seen anything about an update/patch.

[Task Force]

Hmm, question anyone else have no sound. because I just decided to fire up NTW to find there is no sound, in menu, and in game.

[Jack Davidson]

Hmm, question anyone else have no sound. because I just decided to fire up NTW to find there is no sound, in menu, and in game.


Hmmm :hmmm:...no problems for me.

[eddie]

Sound is working fine here too. I was reading in a forum that a new campaign and map have been added in for Spain. Problem is, it doesn't come up in list of Campaigns to play.

Don't tell me we have to pay for that too!?!:down:

[mr chris]

Sound is working fine here too. I was reading in a forum that a new campaign and map have been added in for Spain. Problem is, it doesn't come up in list of Campaigns to play.

Don't tell me we have to pay for that too!?!:down:

That is what the 600mb download was. It was the peninsular campaign. Now when they release it as a DLC which we all know it will be, you wont have to download it when you buy it, as it will already be installed so when it is activated by steam, it will show up in game.

[Raptor1]

At least a Peninsular War addon is worth paying something for, unlike a couple of extra units like the other DLC packs...

[Jack Davidson]

Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to the Peninsular War expansion/add on/DLC...whatever you want to call it. It was the obvious choice and the signs were there early in the piece when some unit file names had spa_ (Spain/Spanish) prefixes....

I'm a little jaded about units being dribbled out as DLC to rake in the extra bucks (I still buy them though :D), but I'm always happy to buy substantial new content such as new campaigns. e.g. Medieval: Total War Kingdoms.

[nikimcbee]

I haven't played it for a while. so I started the 1805-12 campaign. I wish my allies were more proactive.:shifty:

What are the good mods for the game? I want to add my russian army music to it and Napoleon's "victory is with us" march.

[mr chris]

I haven't played it for a while. so I started the 1805-12 campaign. I wish my allies were more proactive.:shifty:

What are the good mods for the game? I want to add my russian army music to it and Napoleon's "victory is with us" march.



Im using this mod with the three other mods recommended on the OP. At the moment quite impressed with it.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=340125

Three addon mods
Swiss Halberdiers AUM mod
bar07's - Bart07modvanilla.pack (without AOR)
Georiders Add On units

[eddie]

At least a Peninsular War addon is worth paying something for, unlike a couple of extra units like the other DLC packs...

That may be Raptor, but from my perspective, the general map of Spain and the campaign for it should have been in there already, it was part of the War back then. Now, if they design new untis, and a detailed battle map (for a particular major engagement in Spain) I could understand that, with no problem.

Would you have bought HoI2, if it just shipped with Central Europe to play in? And if you wanted to fight in Russia or North Africa, you would have to buy those areas at an extra cost?

This is going to turn into one big cash cow,lol

[Raptor1]

But Spain is already in the Grand Campaign, it's a detailed campaign like the Italian one we have that I'll be willing to pay for. If it has just the area of the map ripped from the Grand Campaign and some specific events/starting conditions I most certainly won't.

[mr chris]

The was plenty of major engagements in the Peninsula war.

Four of the major battles:

The Battle of Salamanca

The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro

The Battle of Vitoria

The Battle of Talavera

Add to that the Sieges of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo.

I hope though that you will be able to play the campaign from either of the main sides, French, British, Spanish or Portuguese.

[raymond6751]

I won't buy any title that has any association with Steam.

That is just my decision. I had all the hassles that I care to with them.

[Jack Davidson]

The was plenty of major engagements in the Peninsula war.

Four of the major battles:

The Battle of Salamanca

The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro

The Battle of Vitoria

The Battle of Talavera

Add to that the Sieges of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo.

I hope though that you will be able to play the campaign from either of the main sides, French, British, Spanish or Portuguese.

Yep, plus some of the earlier battles...

- La Corunna

- Oporto and the crossing of the Douro

- Vimeiro

- Bussaco

- Barrosa

...and of course the ongoing Spanish guerilla war which tied down so many French troops and slowly bled them dry..

It would be great to play as the Portuguese, however, I suspect they will be represented as a contingent of the British Faction, as the British were largely responsible for reconstituting the Portuguese Army...Wellington had a substantial number of Portuguese battalions as part of his Army.

[Raptor1]

It's not so much that the British had Portuguese units in their army, it's that a large part of the Portuguese army was actually led by British officers at the time.

[Jack Davidson]

It's not so much that the British had Portuguese units in their army, it's that a large part of the Portuguese army was actually led by British officers at the time.

:agree:Oh yes, I agree. Beresford and his reforms. I recall reading that the incentives for British officers to transfer to the Portuguese Army were pretty good...i.e. better pay, more opportunities for promotion.

[Oberon]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/ww1tw/news/ww1tw-the-great-update

[Task Force]

YAY! Fixed my sound issue, turns out it was the Script file...:yep:

@ Obi, yep Ive been keeping a eye on that mod. looks cool.

[aviatorhi]

"XX: Total World War" anyone?

Have an all encompassing game that would/could cover 1890-1990, ranging from the conquest of the Pacific by the US (Hawaii, Philippines, Spanish-American War) to WWI, WWII and into the Cold War, have stated objectives of actually "achieving the peace" rather than wiping your opponents nation off the map. Then as you transition into the latter half of the 20th century deterrence and "economic warfare" as well as regional conflicts ie. Korea/Vietnam, which won't result in annihilation, to attempt to dismantle the opposing side, though "Total War" could still result at any point.

If Creative Assembly wanted to invest the time into something like that, it would cover an immense amount of units (naval land and air) and a lot of recent history, plus imagine being able to obliterate the old Spanish fleet with the Grand White Fleet at Manila.

[Raptor1]

The problem is that the TW games just don't have the scale to cover WWI and WWII battles properly, they can't even handle the 18th/early 19th century realistically.

[Castout]

I still haven't gotten my game :damn:.

[aviatorhi]

The problem is that the TW games just don't have the scale to cover WWI and WWII battles properly, they can't even handle the 18th/early 19th century realistically.

Yes and no I think...

The game would generally have to be changed in terms of how it deals with economy/development/construction and manufacturing.

As far as the maps go, I think increasing the scale enough to equate the naval encounters to 30 miles square would provide sufficient room for using the long guns. While land based warfare would need to be redone quite a bit, but the potential for using traditional and asymmetrical warfare would be great, N:TW and E:TW just seem too much like the guys with more attack points wins. I'd like to for once see a game where cunning command of an entire army group (not just a sub) can lead to victory as well.

As far as economy goes, depending on which form of government you are using you get appropriate results. For example, with a Capitalist nation you don't just go to Norfolk on the map and click "Iowa" 4 times... you'd have to provide specifications for what you would like to be built and submit it for bids, after one turn the various shipbuilders would be able to provide you with a price and time to delivery. I could go on and on, but a true "simulation" almost of the 20th century would be an amazing thing to have. Even if Creative Assembly can't do it. I mean... imagine the war if Germany had scrapped the U-Boat idea and used an all surface raider strategy, or the war wasn't started until the Z-Plan was finished.

But I rant.

[Jack Davidson]

Napoleon: Total War - The Peninsular Campaign add on announced...

http://www.totalwar.com/napoleon/add-ons/campaigns.php

[mr chris]

Thanks for the heads up.

[Task Force]

Am I the only one who finds that France never pushes for east. In my current campaign they havent gained but one region. In about a year and a half of playing.

[Biggles]

It varies really. Once they wiped out Austria in real blitz. But another time, they just sat there:88)

[Task Force]

Yea... well my allies have done nothing. So I decided the hell with waiting and let a assult on the french. after two years of armys almost being distroyed (both sides, It seemed I had a large army, and they had a large army colideing once a month. Im glad this game dosent model man power. lol

we got the franch pushed back to Bavaria, where I said the hell with it and went for peace, let the Traitors in Austria, or the prussians do it.

The Traitors, decided they would break there alliance with me. and now are a target for future expansion.

But Now are big issue is Spain. They are starting to come up from spain trying to take back france. More army diversion!

[Raptor1]

Which mods are you people using? Just started playing again.

[Task Force]

Herr Kapitan task force is useing.

AUM for napoleon.
Grand campaign graphics
Napoleon total flags
a mod that makes the grass look better
Ultimate sound mod V3
Napoleon order of war V2
Russian empire retextured
Brigadiers Drum roll cadence V5

Needs more mods!!!

thinking about this mod tho.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=365236

[Raptor1]

Aren't half of these included in NOoW anyway?

[Task Force]

yes, but Ive changed some things... and I am useing a older version for my campaign, but I gave the newer versions name. other mods Ive just added on for s***s and giggles. (and stuff I didnt knotice was in.)

[Task Force]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=365236
Ok, This mod is pretty good, It has now replaced my NOoW mod.

[Jack Davidson]

Ahoy mates!

Napoleon: Total War - The Peninsular Campaign is released. I've just downloaded and am about to fire her up..

Cheers :salute:

[Biggles]

Peninsular campaign is pretty fun actually. Ambushes with guerrilla troops are tons of fun! :D

[Jack Davidson]

Peninsular campaign is pretty fun actually. Ambushes with guerrilla troops are tons of fun! :D

Yeah I'm loving it! The guerrilla hussar regiments are great for hiding in the wilds, in the forests and mountains, and striking out to raid farms, mines and supply bases. And gathering enough guerrillas to form brigades to liberate weakly held areas and destroy scattered or weaker French formations...heaps of fun.

The new features create a different feel for this campaign, something I am enjoying very much. Oh yeah, and we got a big patch with it which fixed a stack of old bugs. :yeah:

[onelifecrisis]

The Creative Assembly are not getting another penny from me. I bought Empire a year ago and I've not yet been able to play it due to a well-known nVidia driver issue that both nVidia and TCA seem happy to ignore indefinitely. I could play it by rolling all the way back to some prehistoric driver which, I gather, did not have the problem... but then I wouldn't be able to play any of the games I've bought in the last two years except for Empire! Screw that.

[Arclight]

I had a similar sentiment towards Napoleon: if Napoleon is what Empire was supposed to be, then why the hell haven't they fixed Empire yet? Not buying Napoleon untill they fix Empire.

Shogun 2 though... can't resist that one. :nope:

[Raptor1]

I had a similar sentiment towards Napoleon: if Napoleon is what Empire was supposed to be, then why the hell haven't they fixed Empire yet? Not buying Napoleon untill they fix Empire.

Shogun 2 though... can't resist that one. :nope:

I've never had any problem with Empire, besides the obvious design problems, even with the original release version. The AI was troublesome, of course, but I heard it got much better since the patch they released after NTW (Though I haven't played that yet).

[Arclight]

Infantry not firing from behind walls after you get the fire-by-rank upgrade, for example.

[Raptor1]

Hmm, alright. I never did notice that one too much as I didn't use walls for cover almost at all.

Maybe I should have said it better; while it had some bugs (And an awful AI), I didn't find it nearly as unplayable as a lot of people did.

[Arclight]

No no, not unplayable. Just feel a little left out in the cold. There was a time the game wouldn't even start 'cause I had anti-aliasing enabled, think I even have a YT clip showing what happened. At least they fixed that.

Another thing is the battlefields: I remember landing in Denmark, southern coast. Next turn, and army aproaches from the N and attacks, bringing some reinforcemets too. In the battle, there was no sea in my back, and their reinforcements aproached me from behind...

That was the drop that made me quit the game, and I haven't looked back yet, though I'll probably give it another chance during the build-up to Shogun 2.

The game just triggered so many "this is bull****" responses during the time I played it, it's hard to still take it serious. Especially with something like Rome being available, with battlefields that reflect the campaign map situation and sieges that are actually fun.

[HunterICX]

ETW with the DM and CA's latest AI fix the game is quite enjoyable...playing on the suggested dificulty (hard - hard) and as Prussia I've gotten into a war with Austria that lasts 8 years and I haven't been able to retake West Prussia from the austrians after I took it from the Poles.

Casualties rate are going throught the roof on both sides.

thing that still piss me of thought in ETW:

1. Interception, whats the point of having your army strategicly deployed on the map while the enemy always can just walk pass you without beeing intercepted by my army and have them striking my Weaver's cottages, farms and schools without resistence or sieging my capital having my army just out of range to reinforce the garrison.
if a enemy army comes in the intercept range of my army it should be intercepted...simple as that (the only times I got the intercept to work is when my army was garrisoned in my province capital)

2.the generic maps, like pointed by Arclight in RTW the battlemap ressembled that of the strategic map, when you fought near the coast...there was a coast...if there's a volcano your fighting with a volcano in the background. in ETW it's generic boring maps that don't make sense.
also the lay out of the map is just random, if you're having a full stack agains full stack fight, things get a bit cramped up as there's no space to manouver as there's random stuff in the way.


3. the battlemap size, now they're to cramped and small to have real strategic manouvers to perform that could be desicive. it renders dragoons and horse cavalry near beeing pointless.
I don't know why they picked that size, but I would say at least minimal 3 - 4 times the size we have now would be acceptable.

4. something that bothered me from the start, the diplomacy and alliances...

-Diplomacy, can't count the pointless times a AI nation wants a province from me in trade for 2 crappy ones...England for example in my last campaign wanted Konigsberg (east prussia) for the Bahamas and another island....WTF?! what kinda trade is that ''Decline!'' the diplomacy comes up again and England declares war on me ''WTF!!!!!'' first of all, is there in history a event that they traded a european province for a island/province in the Americas on Indias? I guess it would make sense to demand a province as war claim after you had a mayor victory over an enemy and the enemy nation has nothing to fight back with.

-Alliances, pointless....dull and they don't do jack sh!t to help you in any way.
the only good thing from a alliance is that they don't attack you.
is it hard to code that a AI nation sends a message that it plans to siege for example Paris in the next season or 2 and asks for your help in the siege? or having them activily help you in a war against another nation, heck even if they ask a price for it (a province after the war is won, or a sum of gold.)

and I can go on nit picking the flaws the TW game has, but it's better to enjoy what it does have to offer.

ETW flaws however did prevent me from buying NTW straight away when it was released, I might purchase it in the future when its to be found in the bargain bin.

HunterICX

[onelifecrisis]

Well, at least you can play it - mine won't even start. :cry: It locks up the PC. And I mean it totally locks up! No mouse movement, no CTRL+ALT+DELETE or ALT+TAB, I have to press the reset button (the physical frickin button on the front of the PC) to force a reboot. I think the last time I saw a PC game lock up a PC like that, it was running Windows 95... :nope:

[Task Force]

Odd, I use Nvidia, and have had no driver issues. Whats yer GPU?

[onelifecrisis]

Odd, I use Nvidia, and have had no driver issues. Whats yer GPU?

GTX 260. The lock-up is actually a recent development (started with the 197.45 drivers). Before that I could play but towns and units disappeared from the campaign map and trees and buildings would vanish from the battle map. Google it and you will find a *lot* of people have had this issue and all of them find it goes away if they revert all the way back to the 180-something drivers that their grandma uses. Here, check this...

http://news.portalit.net/fullnews_nvidia-has-little-love-for-empire-total-war_2128.html

AFAIK it was never fixed.

[Biggles]

Biggest annoyance for me in ETW and NTW is the fact that it almost always rains for me in battles....truly annoying...:shifty:

[CaptainHaplo]

Thats really odd - I have a 260 and it runs NTW great. Never got ETW though - I think I tried a demo (or maybe it was a friends game) and was not happy with it. NTW however I did enjoy.

Really looking forward to STW2 - and the RTW2!

[Castout]

Anyone still playing this game. Kind of funny that even though I made this thread I've only gotten the game today.

The retailer is not stocking this game and I had to buy it online and I bought it because I just couldn't miss ArmA 2 Arrowhead and saw Napoleon and thought this game would be my natural second choice.

[Crécy]

Anyone still playing this game.

Yes, although I haven't played it for a while now.

[Castout]

I bet I know what's causing it: Less than good AI. That actually made me stop playing Empire.

But I am convinced that the only way to play a challenging game is to go BOARDGAMING. Somehow the level of challenge and thus affecting realism in electronic games is so pathetic.

[Raptor1]

I bet I know what's causing it: Less than good AI. That actually made me stop playing Empire.


The AI in NTW is much better than in Empire, though it isn't so good. I play for enjoyment, not for challenge, so it hasn't really been the main thing that's bothering me.

Besides, if someone were to present to me the course of several real battles in the Napoleonic wars, I'd say that the AI of one of the sides most obviously sucks.


But I am convinced that the only way to play a challenging game is to go BOARDGAMING. Somehow the level of challenge and thus affecting realism in electronic games is so pathetic.

You're clearly playing the wrong games.

[Castout]

The AI in NTW is much better than in Empire, though it isn't so good. I play for enjoyment, not for challenge, so it hasn't really been the main thing that's bothering me.

Besides, if someone were to present to me the course of several real battles in the Napoleonic wars, I'd say that the AI of one of the sides most obviously sucks.



Yea I found to my amazement that I lost to AI in some battles. The AI is vastly improved over empire.



You're clearly playing the wrong games.

Nah, AI generally sucks in all game plus there's only little strategy in strategy games in PC.

Playing PC is an ego booster because of it while reality check comes in board gaming.

The overall difficulty in boardgaming makes playing them so much more fun not to mention that it requires the players to think and think hard especially against good or even better players and it's a sort of brain gymnastics compared to electronic gaming in general. I just don't find myself thinking in PC gaming. I just find out thinking the other players in boardgaming instead of out gunning or out clicking them to be much more rewarding.

If only I could find more opponents in boardgaming. Playing boardgaming through the internet makes little sense of buying them in the first place. Table top and no less.

I hope more people would give boardgaming a shot. It's great to bring family together or close friends or spouse.
If I were given a choice between boardgaming or PC gaming I would choose the first over the latter anytime. If I had kids I would introduce them to boardgaming early and I hope they would learn a lot from playing them(Had they played electronic games I would have no expectation of them learning anything important, at most introducing them to a theme or period or exploring interest with the game as an introduction)

I just feel that PC gaming has a feeling of them being numbed and dumbed down much like most of today's Hollywood flick.

[Crécy]

Castout, if you want to play a very good Napoleon era strategy game. I strongly recommend Napoleon's Triumph boardgame. It's one of the best boardgame strategys I've ever played and because it does not contain any dies it contains almost no 'luck' element.

[Castout]

thanks for the tip. I'll look into it though I'm holding on from spending on hobby stuffs as I'm waiting for a particular airsoft gun to be stocked :DL

The current hottest one(Napoleonic era) is this http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22420/battles-of-napoleon-the-eagle-and-the-lion

[Raptor1]

Nah, AI generally sucks in all game plus there's only little strategy in strategy games in PC.

Playing PC is an ego booster because of it while reality check comes in board gaming.

The overall difficulty in boardgaming makes playing them so much more fun not to mention that it requires the players to think and think hard especially against good or even better players and it's a sort of brain gymnastics compared to electronic gaming in general. I just don't find myself thinking in PC gaming. I just find out thinking the other players in boardgaming instead of out gunning or out clicking them to be much more rewarding.

If only I could find more opponents in boardgaming. Playing boardgaming through the internet makes little sense of buying them in the first place. Table top and no less.

I hope more people would give boardgaming a shot. It's great to bring family together or close friends or spouse.
If I were given a choice between boardgaming or PC gaming I would choose the first over the latter anytime. If I had kids I would introduce them to boardgaming early and I hope they would learn a lot from playing them(Had they played electronic games I would have no expectation of them learning anything important, at most introducing them to a theme or period or exploring interest with the game as an introduction)

I just feel that PC gaming has a feeling of them being numbed and dumbed down much like most of today's Hollywood flick.

The AI does not suck in all games, there are several I can think of where the AI is quite clever.

No strategy in PC games? Not thinking? Dumbed down? You're just playing the bloody wrong games.

And there's always multiplayer/PBEM, so that argument that boardgaming is superior because it's against a human doesn't really work.

Not saying that boardgames aren't fun, but a properly done computer game can be quite superior to a properly done boardgame because of the inherent limitation of boardgaming.

[Castout]

Not saying that boardgames aren't fun, but a properly done computer game can be quite superior to a properly done boardgame because of the inherent limitation of boardgaming.

Ummm the inherent limitation of boardgame is also what makes it so strong imo.

while in PC gaming the capability to play in real time though brings with it a lot of fluid entertainment is hampered with the limitation of graphical output(monitor in terms of degree of viewing freedom) and input control:

Let's see yes you have mouse, keyboard or joystick but there are times that you are put into disadvantages because you weren't looking at some spot because you're busy managing another troubled spot thus taking away the 'tactical' control of every situation. Or when so many things happening but the input control is having difficulty of keeping pace thus your units may be arriving late because you 'clicked' late. or the game didn't allow you to inspect the terrain and topography though you were supposed to be defending!!! Or set you outside a town that you're supposed to be defending . . . . .Perhaps they are small things but that cut some strategy out of the game.

Anyway boardgaming is not meant to be like PC gaming and vice versa. Truth is I haven't found a PC game which imo could help the gamers to learn about his opponents and more importantly himself. You just never reflect upon an electronic game maybe because of the pace but mostly because electronic games cut corners thus just can never be taken seriously or even half seriously.
In board gaming you would know why you lost a game or why you won. Or you would know why that certain player win and the others didn't. There's no excuses in board gaming other than bad move or bad decision or wrong tactic or strategy or the wrong attitude even, provided you play the right game.

While electronic games entertain, board games educate plus it's much much more social and even that is part of the education.

That's why I believe it's much better for children and teenagers and even adults and seniors too to spend more time board gaming than playing on console or PC. Of course I'm biased but this is an opinion after all and no opinion which is not biased unless all people have the same experience.

[Arclight]

You're conveniently forgetting about turn-based games, which are the ones you should be playing and comparing against in the first place. :hmmm:

Not to say I don't agree board-gaming can add or teach something. It's especially more social, a good thing considering the move away from face-to-face interactions these days, with everything being handled over the phone and internet.

[Raptor1]

Aye, the only thing boardgames inherently have over computer games is the social thing. But, when it comes to the game itself, a boardgame isn't necessarily superior in any way to a computer game. And you keep using NTW/ETW as an example for all computer games...

Not only are there turn-based games that are far more complex and realistic than a boardgame ever could simply because the computer handles data much better (And real time games which are just as complex or more, but you seem to suppose that real time is evil, so I won't get to those), but there are even direct conversions of boardgames to computer games.