Empire: Total War

[Mabs]

-apparently- you shouldnt use the nvidia drivers version 182.08 , it doesnt like ETW

worth trying in case anyone is

 

[Ormorof]

i nearly made a happy wee when i got home to discover brother had bought it

very very fun but the intro campaign does feel slightly Age of Empires 3 esque!

 

[PLightstar]

Since the new patch i am getting CTD every now and then. Still loving it though, Just preparing my forces to take Denmark, Iceland and Norway in one move and finally landed troops in africa to take on the Barbary States who don't like being at peace with anyone. Unfortunatly when I took Spain the colonies turned into Mexico etc so now I got to rethink my North America campaign. Also building up forces for an all out attack against the Mughal Empire guna and try and take all of North India in one go again.

thought I have noticed that when you attack a force on the Campaign map you don't get the same area to fight in like you did in Rome and Medievel 2, the other day I cornered a Spanish force on the tip of Italy thinking I would be fighting on a coast line but no such luck, we fought on a flat plain and in the Libya I expected a Desert but got a lush green forest. Also they still havent fixed the dipolmacy of the AI in these games, once you have absolute power in the world the AI ignores you and hates you automactically even though I have only attacked France and Rebel areas or attacked nations that declared war with me, whats up with that?

 

[Shagrat]

It wouldnt be a Total War game without crap AI though, seems to be an area of the game theyve really dropped the ball on.

Minor nations never accept a peace deal once your at war with them, only way to stop the war is to make them extinct.

If AI nation offers you a trade deal and you counter offer, they wont accept your counter offer, even if its offering more than they asked for in the first place.


ho hum, as ever, its sit and wait for patches/mods. Hopefully the Stainless Steel guys, or the Europa Barbarorum team will put something together, their mods have been very impressive for Rome/Medieval 2

It does frustrate me that it seems to be ok for a company to charge you £40 for a broken game, that the player base is then expected to fix.

 

[Mabs]

on a side note

Shogun TW - good
Medieval TW - good
Rome TW - not bad
SEGA BUY CREATIVE ASSEMBLY
Spartan Total Warrior - shit (console game)
Medieval TW2 - bit shabby, really buggy at release
Empire TW - awful bugs on release
Stormrise - apparently awful

those last 2 came out same time, stormrise is a console RTS thats on PC aswell


anyone see a pattern here ?


/edit

Darths mod is very good hes an old hand at it
Lusted did a really good one for MTW2 , cant recall the name, lands to conquer i think ? - he now works for CA so wont be modding it

 

[Ormorof]

what is very annoying is the only people who seem to be doing any fighting is me, the people im fighting and the two major indian nations

everyone else is just sitting about! also how come money doesnt seem to be an issue for AI states ( i mean how on earth can they maintain huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge armies on those tiny tiny provinces with barely any natural resources? )

 

[Gwadien]

Great game, i'm having a lot of fun on the Great Campaign or what ever its called, but not i'm getting to the era of the crashes :|, i think its because i have built navy's and armies on a mass scale, and when i click on them, it crashes.. but apart from that, I own nearly the whole of Europe, just got Lithuania left, Russia, and Spain, and a couple of smaller nations that i could kill with a army of sharpshooters

Anyone tried to fix this?

 

[Rulke]

Finally managed to finish a campaign, even though it was only a short one. There's deffo something up with the whole channel/france/spain area as selecting armies and navies in that area can hang my client for minutes at a time if it doesnt CTD completely.

Also at one point it was taking 5+ mins thinking time for the mughal empire every turn! Lasted about 20 turns, was fking annoying

 

[Raven]

I had that with Sweden, they only had one country! Finished the campaign and then continued on to take everything on the map.

The problem I found was that even on the harder settings the enemy just don't seem to be able to sustain a decent campaign. Once you kill off their main forces you can just waltz through their territory. I ended up with top tier units vs armed citizenry and basic cavalry units later in the game. I somehow felt robbed that I couldn't use my decent units vs other decent units. It got to the point I was auto resolving battles, most of the time they didn't even get into rifle range, artillery would make them route pretty much instantly.

Quick lime is far to powerful, 5 of them along with a couple of gatling guns and you have won 90% of the time.

The key is getting India and America early, you get to much money to spend then. I didn't bother with Europe at all until France started annoying the hell out of me asking for region swaps every single turn the only way to stop them was to eliminate them.

Still, it is by far the best strategy game so far and I am looking forward to the expansions, they will hopefully add more of Africa and south America and maybe even China!

 

[Gwadien]

Yeah Raven, agree with all you said there, and yeh, I had a war once, where 2 4 cannons we're attacking a star fort covered city, and i had the irregular things inside, and it was like 95% vs 5% ( me the 5% ) so i thought, lol, forget that, so i real timed it, put all my infantry in a line, put them in melle, and rush them, in the end, i lost about 15 troops out of 120 crap soldiers

 

[mooSe_]

My only problem so far is that boat battles sometimes cause CTDs.
Other than that, this game is really fun. I haven't played most of the other TW games; I have Rome but not the others, and imo this is better than Rome.
I agree with taking india early; its not too hard and gets you lots of monies.

 

[Rulke]

The campaign map is the best so far, but I enjoyed the battles in the other games far more. I found I was just autoresolving battles in ETW after after the first dozen or so turns.

Also I've not actually played a naval battle since the first few times they happened - they're just not fun or interesting plus even small fleets battles take forever.

 

[PLightstar]

I will tend to autoresolve most battles unless it looks like they have greater numbers then I will take charge as more often than not it ends in a defeat or a victory with huge losses. I only have to take 4 more areas and I have all the boxes ticked to complete the grand campaign and its only 1735 woot. The trick is to build a fleet of indian ships and take all the trade routes as early on as poss and concentrate on taking the Americas and India, then you have almost unlimited resources to take on the European powers.

 

[Mabs]

finally.. heres hoping. todays patch notes :


~~~


Crash Fixes


Fixed crash when disbanding generals unit

Fix for crash on trying to merge ships from port into ships next to port

Fixed rare crash relating to boarding

Fixed crash to do with reinforcing armies

Fixed crash on revolution video attempting to play

Fixed crash for double clicking on sinking ship on campaign map

Fix for crash on merging units but moving into fort before army arrives

Fixed several crashes related to rakes

Fixed crashes relating to battles when running Czech or German versions of the game

Fixed crash on moving army into region of faction player has military access and then cancelling military access

Fixed crash on trying to exchange ships between 2 fleets

Fixed crash on spamming move orders to puckle guns locked in melee combat

Fixed hard lock on inviting host to their own MP game

Fix to prevent loading of mod causing crash post patch

Various end turn crash bugs fixed

Fixes to crash bugs relating to completion of revolutions

Some fixes relating to merging and disbanding

Fix for several crashes in land battles

Several crashes relating to attacking cities fixed

Several load save game crashes fixed


Campaign

Armies now placed correctly on battlefields in relation to campaign

Fix for nearby ships sometimes not being included as reinforcements for battles

Fix for incorrect numbers sometimes showing on trade routes

Units with limits on how many can be recruited now show how many are available

Various fixes relating to rakes and infiltrating

Fixes relating to problems moving armies/merging into army's right next to settlements

Various trade bug fixes

Fix for moving agent from settlement moving army instead of agent

Fix for several bugs relating to military access and armies being in regions

Fix for tattered flags appearing on fleet/armies even when at full strength/fully repaired

Fix for sallying out armies breaking siege at times even when losing the battle

Fix for bugs relating to capturing ships on returning to campaign map from naval battle


Land Battle

Improvements to path finding have been made

Some fixes to units not garrisoning buildings

Fort gate ownership made clearer with faction flags appearing at the gatehouse

Fix for problem relating to artillery unlimbering after being ordered to limber

Fix for puckle guns moving on their own in some circumstances

Fix for big slowdown in unit movement on some battle maps in the Road to Independence episodes

Fix for missile cavalry not reloading when out of combat

Jaegers now have muskets instead of incorrect rifles, Prussian Jaegers keep rifles

Quebec episodic land battle fixed ground type in deployment area

Fix for unrealistic numbers when ending a land battle by quitting on the battle results screen


Naval Battle

Several fixes for ships clipping into each other

Improvements to boarding have been made. Crew is more fluid in attack and more resolute in defence. Men survive long fall and officers join in the boarding attack

Crew uniforms improved to make identification of the crew type and faction easier

Defending ship is not allowed to fire cannons anymore during boarding procedure

Improved naval grouping UI and group movement made

Improvements made to ship collisions to reduce chance of ships getting stuck

Fix for sail damage not being shown when volumetric effects turned on


Multiplayer

Various fixes for joining games/game lobby issues

Fixes for problems relating to spectators being kicked/locking up on other players joining games in certain instances

Long riflemen and winged hussars removed from early era battles

Fix for insufficient funds always showing on unit cards even when enough money is available

Player name is now displayed on unit tooltips

Team chat is now displayed in a different colour


AI

Basic fix for AI being unable to move army by fleet

Aggression of factions in campaign improved, as well as tweaks to diplomacy

Improvements to campaign AI relating to its waging of wars, recruitment and movement of armies

Improvements made to battle AI to make it more reactive, use buildings better as well as squares and rakes

Siege battle AI improvements made

Improvements to naval AI to make it bunch up less, its use of galleys and long range units such as bomb ketches


Miscellaneous

Delete save game button added to save game list

View replays button added to single player Play Battle menu

Various sound fixes and improvements

Various incorrect text messages fixed

Fixes to various graphical glitches with display of walls

Fixes made for stuttering videos

Fix for several game option settings not being saved correctly, including settings such as floating flags

Fix for unit voices/attack confirmation being heard for all units in an alliance instead of just for the player’s army

Armour and shield values are now added into melee defence value shown on unit cards

Lots of other small and minor bug fixes


Balancing

Land unit recruitment cost in campaign has been increased, with higher cost on higher difficulty level

Ship recruitment and upkeep costs have been increased in campaign

Various balancing and cost adjustments to improve multiplayer land battle balance

Ship costing improvements made for both campaign and multiplayer

Economic tweaks have been made to campaign to reduce amount of money made in later part of campaign


Extra Note

We are aware of an issue with community created maps that results in a crash when someone without the map tries to join the game. This crash will be fixed in the next patch

Further work is being done on improving AI Naval invasion behaviour and this will be included in the next upgrade patch

 

[Gwadien]

Crash didn't help me, Maybe the British Navy is just too pro

Quite annoying now...

 

[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]

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