Empire: Total War

[Rosbjerg]

Grrr, won't be out here for another couple of days.

 

Tell me about the AI! I'm getting conflicting reports.

 

So far the AI is pretty much like it's been in the previous games - a bit stupid.. But they do tend to use strategy alot in these games.

 

Like sending cavalry after an isolated unit instead of right in the middle of your forces and the try to flank you. But that's it, they don't really react much beyond that. If you kill their cannons they won't send units back to help them etc etc.

[Niten_Ryu]

Most of players who complain about AI play on normal difficulty. While it's still unclear if the increased difficulty level improve the AI or just make enemies stats higher, it still manages to give good challenge at hard/hard or very hard/very hard settings. Just simple morale increase allows enemy units to complite their manouvers as they are much less likely to rout. Let's say on normal enemy tries to circle behind you - You turn few of your units and shoot 'em. They most likely rout as there's no friendly untis nearby and they are under attack from several different enemy units. But on higher difficulty they complite the move and now you have enemies attacking from both sides.

[Hurlshort]

I'm about 81% done with the download. I wasn't going to get it, but I'm home sick today and I figured I deserved something fun after battling mucus all week.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I just learned that mounting plug bayonettes is permanent. The button says "toggle" but once theyre on, the guns are useless. I wish CA had bothered to send a PDF manual with the Steam version, but they didnt. I still dont know what priests do, but I think they slowly convert people to your religion, which seems useless.

 

 

Grrr, won't be out here for another couple of days.

 

Tell me about the AI! I'm getting conflicting reports.

 

 

Its the best AI thus far, I got my ass handed to me three times in a row just now. They are much better at using the terrain and encircling and flanking your troops, so you cant just use standard row formations anymore

[Monte Carlo]

^ Converting folks to your religion improves public order in that province. It's far from useless. Well, that's how it worked in all the other games.

 

Saw this game in the shops today and it's the first TW title I didn't swoop on and buy. Why? Like I said, the historical period doesn't fire my imagination and (more importantly) I really really resent having to download Steam to install it. If I buy a hard copy of a game from a shop I expect to be able to play it out of the box, period. This creeping online control of digital media by the producers is wrong.

 

Cheers

MC

[Rosbjerg]

I know what you mean MC, I had the same feeling with that Rockstar Social Clud thing..

 

But I think steam is actually one of the most useful programs on my computer.. my games are easy to manage, I can find my friends and play with them online without a fuss - that said, being forced to use it should be out of the question, no matter how good a program is.

[Gorgon]

Well for whatever reason steam did nothing but load for 20 mins after which I killed the process and tried again, same deal.

 

Troubleshooting routers, internet connections, steam versions, etc. it's just too much of a hassle.

[Tigranes]

I am hearing that the AI does indeed use flanking and other maneuvres better, but I am also hearing that it is pretty dreadful at protecting its cannons actively, or adapting to situations later in the battle, past the initial encounter. This appears to match my experiences in the demo.

 

Most of players who complain about AI play on normal difficulty.

 

In RTW & MTW2 the AI was retarded on VH; this was also because they were crap at arranging their forces on the campaign map. I hear reports that in ETW at least they invade with a full stack rather than run around with fifty little squads.

 

I really really resent having to download Steam to install it. If I buy a hard copy of a game from a shop I expect to be able to play it out of the box, period. This creeping online control of digital media by the producers is wrong.

 

I already gave in with the demo, but the Steam idiocy and the AI are putting up a good fight against my TW urges. I might just wait for someone to disable Steam before I buy.

 

On how good it is - it doesn't matter how 'good' a program is, once you throw in a middleman between yourself and the game the only way you can go is down.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I saw there is a hacked version out, which runs without Steam, but I dont know if its stable.

[Tigranes]

It'll probably take a little longer for them to get it working properly. The thing is, ETW will need patching, a lot of patching, as is with this type of game (and esp. to get mods).

 

Combing a number of forums trying to garner some info about the AI, which is really most important for me - it was what stopped me from enjoying RTW and MTW2 for longer than a week or two. It seems to be better than before in the open field, if prone to shooting its own units with cannons; but apparently it doesn't do ANYTHING if it is defending a fort, doesn't even put units up on the walls.

[Rosbjerg]

that's not true - I had a full stack vs full stack siege against a fort where the AI defended it very actively. Like moving melee units to where I was climbing up and musketeers on each arm (it was a star fort) so they could shoot at me at the same time. Actually I was very close to losing because of that.

 

When most of my men were on the walls, they send their cavalry out to kill the guys who'd been waiting for their turn to climb.

 

And that's on medium..

 

Still there were some obvious mistakes, like choosing to hold 2-3 infantry units at the center of the fort instead of reinforcing those that were being killed on the walls, or not really using the cavalry at all inside the walls.

[Morgoth]

I heard Empire doesn't even support multi-cores. That's probably why it runs like crap even on the latest Core i7.

 

Wake up CA, this is 2009! Multi-core support should be common now.

[Tigranes]

There are conflicting reports, but it seems that for the demo the multi-threading was a little... unbalanced (i.e. 80% on the second core).

 

I have a dual-core and the game ran alright, especially after I unpacked the files. Will have to wait and see how the full game fares.

 

Rosbjerg that's raelly good to hear some people have proper sieges. I probably will go out and buy it tomorrow morning, really. Need that fix.

[Kaftan Barlast]

It doesnt run like crap at all, I have a now old C2D 2.4ghz and 4000-unit battles is no problem. But if you want to use the newest eye candy like SSAO and full shadows on Dx10 etc. you're going to need a powerful graphics card.

 

 

 

The bottom line is; if you like Total War and you for some weird reason dont buy ETW, you're an idiot. Its a great game and the "just one more turn"-effect had me up till 4 last night

[Rosbjerg]

Yeah me too.. I sneaked up and played for an hour after my gf fell asleep.

 

It's great fun, sure the AI makes some huge mistakes every now and then - but I've been more suprised by the cool moves it sometimes comes up with.

 

I was attacking a Pirate town and I didn't have any cannons, so they all went into building and it became a shootout in the streets. I then reloaded to see if their strategy would change if I had guns and sure enough they tried to hide behind houses instead going inside.

 

but Tigranes, there will be battles and moments that will frustrate you - the pathfinding is as ridiculous as ever and sometimes your troops will face the wrong way.. It's just that the AI isn't as stupid as in previous games, it's just not entirely great yet either.

[Gorgon]

I got steam to work.

 

Incidentially it costs the same as it would in the shops, which is kinda odd since they don't have any distribution costs. Still it sound like a game I could get some millage out of, even if the AI is dumb as ever.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Since Steam translate $49 into

[Morgoth]

Too expensive.

 

I bought a Steam Account for Empire for 29.99

[Enoch]

The bottom line is; if you like Total War and you for some weird reason dont buy ETW, you're an idiot. Its a great game and the "just one more turn"-effect had me up till 4 last night

That sounds like enough for me. I'm tempted to wait until there's a patch or two out there, but really, if it looks like I'm going to have a solid day of free time this weekend (and, so far, Sunday is looking clear), I'll probably download it.

 

I tired of M2TW relatively quickly-- too many seiges that were rather tedious, repetitive, and that the auto-calc (which makes me feel a little dirty) was consistently better at than any human player could be. But even so, it certainly provided enough fun to be worth my time and expense.

[Zoma]

How's the loading times? It was atrocious in the demo and kinda hoping its been more optimized in the retail version.

[Rosbjerg]

How's the loading times? It was atrocious in the demo and kinda hoping its been more optimized in the retail version.

 

On my system they are about 1/3 of the demo.

 

But if I've been alt-tabbing in and out + I've played a game before I start Empire, the load time gets a little laggy.

[Niten_Ryu]

I was going to buy game from Steam but it's actually more pricey in there then in my local ya olde game shoppe. I bought it bit under 45

[Tigranes]

That's it. Going out to buy it now.

[Kaftan Barlast]

How's the loading times? It was atrocious in the demo and kinda hoping its been more optimized in the retail version.

 

The demo had encrypted files to prevent users from tampering, that why the loading times were so enormous. The full game loading times never bother me.

 

 

 

edit: and if anypone feels like bothering me on steam, my username is "Kaftan" (the one with John Turturro licking the bowling ball)

Edited March 5, 2009 by Kaftan Barlast

[Tigranes]

Got it.

 

Special Forces cost the same as Normal at the moment, though they'v enearly run out of them. So I got it.