short Empires Total War impressions

[sharkz]

A suprise to me at the event was Empire: Total War, which to me seems like more of a Sega Europe game. I

[Xard]

The game looked great in motion. The video showed the British Empire versus the United States Navy. The Sega rep said that the British had all the advantages. This is where I would say something really biased against the British, but I won

[Morgoth]

Yeah by enslaving half the world it's not hard to be the biggest force in the world...

[Pidesco]

You make it sound like enslaving half the world is an easy task.

[Morgoth]

And you make it sound like enslaving half the world makes an Empire "great".

[Xard]

The British Empire was biggest Empire known to man.

 

It's not like they were saints but British Empire was far from worst options. Really, there's a lot of positive things about their influence (in addition to bad ones)

 

It should also be noted British Empire didn't had this drive for conquering and conquering unlike many of their rivals. What they cared about snatching the trade for themselves and ruling the seas. Really, british "invade" their areas quite slowly. For long time it was mere merchant posts and like on site before army finally came to take over. For long time their acquisiton of vast lands was half-accidental

 

That and they were cool, especially the navy

Edited May 16, 2008 by Xard

[Pidesco]

And you make it sound like enslaving half the world makes an Empire "great".

 

 

Before the industrial revolution it was the only way to make an Empire great. Ethically speaking, slavery is a terrible thing but, without it, humanity would still be in the stone age.

[Morgoth]

The British Empire was biggest Empire known to man.

 

It's not like they were saints but British Empire was far from worst options. Really, there's a lot of positive things about their influence (in addition to bad ones)

 

It should also be noted British Empire didn't had this drive for conquering and conquering unlike many of their rivals. What they cared about snatching the trade for themselves and ruling the seas. Really, british "invade" their areas quite slowly. For long time it was mere merchant posts and like on site before army finally came to take over. For long time their acquisiton of vast lands was half-accidental

 

That and they were cool, especially the navy

Spare me the brownnosing, we all know about the atrocities they caused in Africa and India. I agree on the Navy though, that was traditionally the best, until they got scared of the Germans competing with them in early 20th century....Ya know how that ended.

Edited May 16, 2008 by Morgoth

[Xard]

The British Empire was biggest Empire known to man.

 

It's not like they were saints but British Empire was far from worst options. Really, there's a lot of positive things about their influence (in addition to bad ones)

 

It should also be noted British Empire didn't had this drive for conquering and conquering unlike many of their rivals. What they cared about snatching the trade for themselves and ruling the seas. Really, british "invade" their areas quite slowly. For long time it was mere merchant posts and like on site before army finally came to take over. For long time their acquisiton of vast lands was half-accidental

 

That and they were cool, especially the navy

Spare me the brownnosing, we all know about the atrocities they caused in Africa and India. I agree on the Navy though, that was traditionally the best, until they got scared of the Germans competing with them in early 20th century....Ya know how that ended.

 

I have no reason to brownnose british empire (duh) as I'm not brittish or anything. And I think overall their influence (like colonisation and imperialism all in all) was strongly in minus, but that doesn't mean there wasn't positive effects too.

 

Germys didn't get best of the Royal Navy in either world wars, even with all that trying

 

But I find it funny you criticize British Empire on basis of them "enslaving half-world" because honestly, that's pretty much what all great empires have done. You should ALSO remember british (and those of other european countries) atrocities in India AND Africa didn't start before Imperialism kicked in around 1850. Heck, Africa was pretty much undivided cake up to that point.

[Morgoth]

All great empires, except Austria (out of principle as it despised colonialism), even though it had a formidable Navy and access to the Adria (but probably blocked by the French to North Africa).

Edited May 16, 2008 by Morgoth

[Musopticon?]

So, is it the 13 Colonies or United States in the game?

[Morgoth]

Screenshots showing landbattles. http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/empire-total-...822164625990074

 

The heck this looks amazing! What I really wonder is what kind of beast you need to run that game with adequate framerates, and how they manage to sell so many copies of the series with such steep hardware requirements.

[Guard Dog]

So, is it the 13 Colonies or United States in the game?

They are in but may or may not be playable.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

The British Empire was biggest Empire known to man.

 

Was it bigger than the Roman and Mongol empires? I don't know the exact sizes of all three, but it seems at a glance that they were at least close.

[Tigranes]

The British is the largest, then the Mongolian. The Roman doesn't even come close.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Ok, thanks.

[Xard]

That is - of course - judging by how much land their rule covered

 

In cultural, militaristic etc. bla bla bla importance Rome is still unrivalled (though British Empire is solely responsible for anglosaxon culture's domination in todays world)

 

Morgoth: I could point out Austria-Hungary was under considerable internal stress all the time with all the oppressed minorities, secessionists etc. so you have to take that into consideration why it never became colonial superpower.

[Musopticon?]

Mongol Empire was hardly permanent as well and consisted largely of pasture. I wouldn't call it much of a conquest, but you have to love how quickly they ran over South-East Asia.

 

I'd like to argue over Persian Empire having a much larger cultural effect than Roman Empire ever, partly because Rome just integrated Hellenistic cultural legacy into their originally Italic one almost seamlessly, almost like in a continuum with Alexander, taking over and not creating much of their own, and mostly because Persian Empire(all three) were so long-lasting. But post-Roman cultural legacy is so massive that I'm maybe treading over dangerous semantic grounds. Not to mention, it's hardly a discussion suited for Computer and Console.

[alanschu]

The British Empire was biggest Empire known to man.

 

It's not like they were saints but British Empire was far from worst options. Really, there's a lot of positive things about their influence (in addition to bad ones)

 

It should also be noted British Empire didn't had this drive for conquering and conquering unlike many of their rivals. What they cared about snatching the trade for themselves and ruling the seas. Really, british "invade" their areas quite slowly. For long time it was mere merchant posts and like on site before army finally came to take over. For long time their acquisiton of vast lands was half-accidental

 

That and they were cool, especially the navy

Spare me the brownnosing, we all know about the atrocities they caused in Africa and India. I agree on the Navy though, that was traditionally the best, until they got scared of the Germans competing with them in early 20th century....Ya know how that ended.

 

 

Jutland?

[alanschu]

The British is the largest, then the Mongolian. The Roman doesn't even come close.

 

Agreed, but certainly still impressive for the time though.

[Morgoth]

The British Empire was biggest Empire known to man.

 

It's not like they were saints but British Empire was far from worst options. Really, there's a lot of positive things about their influence (in addition to bad ones)

 

It should also be noted British Empire didn't had this drive for conquering and conquering unlike many of their rivals. What they cared about snatching the trade for themselves and ruling the seas. Really, british "invade" their areas quite slowly. For long time it was mere merchant posts and like on site before army finally came to take over. For long time their acquisiton of vast lands was half-accidental

 

That and they were cool, especially the navy

Spare me the brownnosing, we all know about the atrocities they caused in Africa and India. I agree on the Navy though, that was traditionally the best, until they got scared of the Germans competing with them in early 20th century....Ya know how that ended.

 

 

Jutland?

What I meant is they got scared of the German Navy, otherwise they wouln't have jumped into WW1, right?

 

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jutland

Just shows again how overrated the British Navy was.

Edited May 20, 2008 by Morgoth

[Xard]

It is more than a bit streching to call British Navy overrated due to one battle

 

Roman Empire was as big as it could be. It covered most of the known world (well, for them known) and definetly all the important areas that were worth having. And as Mus? said Mongolian Empire wasn't much empire at all

[Morgoth]

It is more than a bit streching to call British Navy overrated due to one battle

It took half the British Navy to defeat the Bismarck in WW2. I mean c'mon, a single ship?

 

Roman Empire was as big as it could be. It covered most of the known world (well, for them known) and definetly all the important areas that were worth having. And as Mus? said Mongolian Empire wasn't much empire at all

Mongolians were hordes of saber-rattling warriors, that's hardly an Empire. The Romans at least made important influences in life and culture. The British too, they gave us Americans!

[alanschu]

Well part of the reason for naval awesomeness of Britain was the sheer size of its navy. Even the Germans recognized this as the lead up to Jutland demonstrated, with the Germans trying to cutoff parts of the British Grand Fleet.

 

I would label it a tactical win for the Germans as they sunk more ships and killed more people, but a strategic defeat, since their presence in the North Sea was heavily compromised. It lead to a shift towards submarine warfare.

[Morgoth]

What I never got is why the British were so jealously of the Germans having a bigger fleet, and why that ought to be reason for the British to enter WW1. After all, they weren't threatened by it.