Empire: Total War
DiscoZombie
Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">first impressions?</div>I downloaded the demo, and it seems pretty fun. I usually have little patience for RTS games though, so I'm scared of getting suckered in just to only wind up playing it for like 2 hours or something before getting bored/frustrated. The naval battles are neat, and I like the period better than the Medieval predecessor. Castle sieges were too frustrating =/ muskets and cannons ftw.
Is the single player campaign any good? That's probably all I'd be interested in. I fail at RTS multiplayer.
Is the single player campaign any good? That's probably all I'd be interested in. I fail at RTS multiplayer.
Comments
That being said, Empires tackles some of the major flaws and does so pretty well.
For example, the campaign map is HUGE. To compensate, there are fewer provinces and instead of making "town" cities to generate revenue you upgrade stuff like farms and mines in your territory. Also, the tech is borken. Get enough schools and you can easily out tech everyone.
Battles are also much more about full armies smashing into each other. This is helped by the fact that you can now replenish your army in the field. Plus, the reinforcement region is a bit larger, so a common tactic is have a main force and send small groups out to raid. If you hit the raiding party, the main force is within range to reinforce.
Also, don't worry about bad RTS micro. There's a pause button so you can execute orders during battles.
Overall, it's the best Total War game yet. Plus there's plenty of gameplay time. It's also a healthy blend of RTS and turn-based strategy, so you get to rest between battles. But, if you're not a fan of the style, then it's probably not going to make you a new convert.
It's nice that land battles are given a lot more options like Trenches or Cavalry Spikes, plus you can Entrench your artillery to give them a fixed firing line, defences PLUS another cannon! (At least in the ones I tested)
I'm also nearly 100% sure that high ground gives you moral benefits but I'm not sure about actual charging or shooting benefits. Maybe?
The way they've redone regions is really nice though a bit frustrating until you get the hang of it. The AI really really loves sending one unit of something to go frack up a school or a farm or whatever so it makes it quite vital to establish forts so you can Intercept an enemy unit if they come close enough. I can't stress how much a relief it was to be able to forget about having the stupid 1 unit armies swarm into a region and take all the good money makers!
Aside from that I don't have much to say or think about the game, I've barely even played it so far so I'm going to get back to it right now!
It also gives better line-of-sight and slight advantages for charges and how tired people are (yay walking up and down hills to get to the enemy. It also makes a difference for effective firing range. You have a shorter range shooting uphill versus downhill.
Something I noted though was if you put your men/cannons too far in on a hill, they can't fire on people coming up the ridge. They won't have line-of-sight. This is a huge issue if you screw it up on Bunker Hill.