Empire: Total War

[Gwadien]

Is this helping anyone else? :|

[PLightstar]

I play as the english and haven't had any problems recently 'touch wood' but with this new patch I noticed the russians putting an army on a fleet and sending out towards the atlantic, first time I have ever seen that but as I own most of the americas I have sent a fleet to shadow them incase they attack but they are my allies and may be helping me finish off the Thirteen Colonies.

[LordjOX]

Oh, the new patch makes the AI actually use ships as part of their strategy? Good thing because it put me off playing.

UK and France at war, amassing large armies on either side of the channel with ships, not intending to invade eachother is kinda silly.

[Coldbeard]

Hey, I haven't played since a week after the release, got bored pretty quickly I guess, worth another go?

[Mabs]

next big patch is out as of today

14 new units -AND- 14 more in a DLC for 2quid

~~~


Units



14 Free Units have been included in this patch, adding a large amount of diversity to the playable factions and the armies the player will face. These units replace 'generic' equivalents giving each faction a unique identity on the battlefield. Here is a description of each free unit available in the update:


Prussian Grenadiers -Wearing a distinctive brass fronted mitre cap, the Prussian Grenadiers are an explosive force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Spanish Guardias de infateria - These elite guard infantry are charged with protecting the monarch and are a potent force on the battlefield.

Swedish lifeguard horse - This cavalry regiment forms part of the monarchs' household guard. Superbly drilled, they act as a shock force on the battlefield.

Holland Horse Guard -Armed with heavy cavalry sabres, these disciplined cavalrymen represent the elite of the army.

Prussian Garde Du Corp- The Prussian Garde Du Corp are a replacement for the Prussian standard Household cavalry. These heavy horse shock troops are best used to break enemy lines and overrun enemy positions. With a strong charge and fearsome attack, these riders make short work of those who would oppose a Prussian monarch.

Prussian Life guard - The Prussian life guards are equipped similarly to line infantrymen. However their uniforms are altogether more splendid, marking them out as a superior force, in arrogance if nothing else. They do a good job as garrison troops and are dedicated to the crown.

Russian Grenadiers - This new Russian unit is great for assaults and their grenades pack a mighty punch!

Spanish Guardias De Corp -The Spanish Guardias De Corp replace household cavalry for Spain. With almost unbreakable morale, on the charge they are almost unstoppable.

Spanish Grenadiers - These are a replacement for the standard Spanish Grenadiers with a distinctive bearskin hat to mark them out as exemplary on the battlefield.

Swedish 'Lifeguards of foot' - These are a highly trained replacement for the standard Swedish guard. They are often used as a force in a system that defends a monarchy and can be relied upon for utter loyalty and deadly accuracy in the field. Their professionalism is reflected in their fearsome battle reputation.

Holland Guard - The Holland Guards from the United Provinces are superior line infantry units. Carrying smoothbore muskets, they were traditionally chosen to protect the royal family and have an incredibly high morale, often making them the last troops to break in a fight.

Scots - The Scots are a Highland ex-patriate infantry used by the United Provinces, renowned for their deadly charge.

Swiss Infantry - Very disciplined infantry of the United Provinces with quick reload and excellent marksmanship.

Mamelukes - Mamelukes are fearless light horsemen, deadly when deployed against a broken or unsupported enemy.


Additionally the Spanish nation has had a new uniform design to better reflect its historical look.



Audio



Sound loading has been made asynchronous, so heavy disc access is reduced to a minimum. This makes loading times faster and reduces any instances of 'stuttering.' Unit group sounds have also been improved, for more realistic group movement. The primary sound library (Miles DLL) has been updated to stop occasional clicking. And we've added more sound variation for unit deaths and musket fire.



Campaign


Several crash bug fixes in saves, movement, agents and logic.

Various optimizations have been made to AI and path systems to reduce the campaign map turn times.

When the pirates are destroyed and re-emerge they now maintain a status of at war with all and are unable to enter into diplomatic negotiations.

Added small ships on domestic trade routes from the trade nodes to home regions moving in the correct direction, i.e. with the flow of trade.

The AI should now no longer repeatedly sign a diplomatic agreement and then break it the next turn. Treaties are more valuable and adhered to.

We've fixed some border trade agreements allowing greater numbers of bordering factions to properly trade with one another.

Movement arrows now reflect the range of the selected units, not the whole army/navy.

AI will no longer counter-offer and ask for more money than the player has available.

Fixed commerce raiding taking money from blockaded trade routes.

Fixed navies getting stuck when forced to retreat from ports (tactical retreat).

Fixed rare inability to attack certain ports.

Fixed middle mouse button camera drag stopping working occasionally.

Made emergent factions be at war with the faction they emerged against if that faction is human.

Fixed various movement extent crashes.

Changed background income for minor factions.

Fixed diplomatic relations with emergent factions.

Tactical withdrawal will now always leave armies on the landmass containing the settlement of a region.

Changed war score system to make the AI more likely to accept peace.

Fixed crash when embarking and disembarking armies at ports.

Fixed trade ships not being correctly registered in trade nodes after splitting forces.

Fixed government change diplomatic effect.

Improved commerce raiding display on trade screen.

Faction specific text is now used in diplomacy.

Prevent players cancelling the movement of fleeing agents.


Balance changes


Units


Charge bonus generally increased across the board for all units and melee defence reduced.

Greater diversification of stats between different unit types designed to emphasise differences and improve balance.

Redone costs for all units for multiplayer to improve game balance which better reflects the actual battlefield worth of each unit.

Mob formation added in for Native American, irregular and some skirmisher units.

Spot distance for light infantry, skirmishers, irregulars, light cavalry and missile cavalry increased allowing them to spot hidden units at longer distances.

Russian line infantry stats have been boosted to allow them to compete more with other faction's line infantry.

Movement speed of all unit types reduced by 10%.

Ammo for light infantry increased to 20, line to 15.


Land battle morale

Charge morale bonus reduced from 10 to 4.

Recent casualties, extended casualties and total casualties morale penalties increased slightly for higher percentages.

Rear and flank exposed morale penalties increased.


Fatigue

Fatigue penalty for melee reduced from 18 per tick to 10.

Running fatigue penalty for heavy and light cavalry reduced from -3/-2 to -2/-1.


Artillery Changes

Calibration area for cannons and howitzers reduced. Accuracy of non-round shot shot types reduced to compensate.

Muzzle velocity of round shot for cannons increased to make them fire lower and bounce more, accuracy also increased.

Lethality of shrapnel pieces reduced to match canister shot, range also reduced to 350.

Load time for special shot types for howitzers increased slightly, and range reduced to 350.

Calibration area for mortars increased, accuracy of round shot increased to compensate. Reload time increased slightly.

Accuracy of 18 lbr horse guard artillery restored to 65.

Hit points of gun trains increased to 50, all guns and caissons to 25.

[Gwadien]

fingers crossed this should help!

[Rulke]

Time to try a long campaign again I guess

[Gwadien]

Good News everyone

Long Campaign is no longer crashes! :]



Tbh - Impressed with the semi-decent speed they fixed that at - considering they had to find the problem first! :]

[PLightstar]

I Have been quite luck I only had problems with the second fix and then they fixed in the following fix. Still playing through the long campaign as England with no problems 'touch wood' this should improve the game even more. I hate the fact that because I am so big, smaller nations keep declaring war on me, hopefully they will listen to my peace treaties.

[Ctuchik]

Originally Posted by Gwadien

Tbh - Impressed with the semi-decent speed they fixed that at - considering they had to find the problem first! :]

dunno about that. the game has been out how long now? 3 - 4 months?

anyway, i went to a currency calculator and checked how expensive the game would be with that weekend deal, and even with 50% off it was still almost as expensive as what the UK ppl pay when its full price.

the game now cost 50 euro, and thats only for the ghetto game wich is £42, and the special forced edition on steam is 60 euro (£50.55)! d2d uk charge £30 for the ghetto game and 34 for the special forces edition.

suffice to say, the only time i'l ever use steam to buy a game anymore is if they have some super duper game exclusive to steam, wich will be never.

[Rulke]

Playing through a Long campaign again and seems fairly stable so far (1727) but we'll see once I get past 1750.

A lot of the major annoyances are unchanged though - the main one I find is that all the battle maps are so dull. With a couple of exceptions they are all pancake flat with a couple of sparse woods and maybe a building or two. Try the battle scenario to see how much more interesting battles are with decent maps.

Such a shame too seeing as MTW2 had great maps that were based on where you were actually fighting; hills, coasts, bridges etc.

Also I really miss the character building on generals in MTW2