Napoleon Total War

[belgolas]

Well I just played around for an hour and I got to say WOW!!!!!!! There are a lot of improvements so far that I have seen. First off the graphics on ultra at 2560 x 1600 are just insane and not only that the performance I think is better than empire! The graphics are so incredible. One time I shot at the enemy cavalry and an enemy soldier fell off his horse but his foot was still stuck in the saddle and was being dragged along as the horse ran away. It was hilarious and satisfactory as it was one of the generals body guards. There are also some other improvements like generals not just have a rally button but also an inspire button. Cannons are very deadly and I think grape shot is even more deadlier. There are even ironclads in the game which is basically a giant 80 cannon steam boat. The repair feature for ships is kinda cool. Basically your soldiers put up planks where there are holes it doesn't give your cannons back but just fixes the hull damage. You can't move but the men can still fire. The AI from the 3 battles I have played seemed a bit improved. They at least marched and stayed in formation. The general stayed at the back of the lines. The AI only went to charge me as I was winning in the shoot out. Now there are long lines of skirmishes and the smoke and gun fire just looks incredible. There still are bullet traces but I think they are less noticeable.

I can't comment on the campaign side other than it looks better in visuals and does not stutter when moving around. The tech tree is a lot smaller but there are some new ones there. There are also some new buildings. Different building like mines can make recruiting certain units cheaper.

Oh and now one the loading screen you get to see the battle map so that is cool too.

I can't really judge the whole game yet but so far I am blown away. This looks and feels like what ETW should have been.

[SKYMTL]

With this one can you go back and play the regular grand campaign or do you have to do it all within the Napoleon era?

[belgolas]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

With this one can you go back and play the regular grand campaign or do you have to do it all within the Napoleon era?

All with in the Napoleon era. It's fine for me but some people won't like it. I also don't see a way to this as a benchmark.

Can't wait to get home from work to actually play it so I can judge it better.

[Thund3rball]

Did they ever get co-op working in ETW like they promised or are they going to make me buy this one?

[SKYMTL]

I still don't know why the hell these changes couldn't have been added as a patch to Empire. That game's AI is so broken it isn't even funny, people have been complaining about it and they just release another game that you have to PAY for without even fixing the first one properly. Hello, the battle map AI was dumb as a post in Med II: TW.

[Thund3rball]

Yes this game really should just be an add-on to ETW and the fixes therein should just be a patch for ETW. C'mon CA you're just milking us. So meh, I'll but it next Christmas for $5 on Steam like it's DLC, lol.

[Eldonko]

Agreed, I wont be buying this unless improvements to ETW are made.

[SKYMTL]

My issues with E:TW are many but here are a few:

- Formations and Fire By Rank need to be researched. WTF. Firing by rank was around since the dawn of musketry

- Trade. It is clearly beneficial for your allies to trade with you but often refuse to later on in the game

- World War breaks out against you if you invade the wrong territroy.

- Native Americans. They're somehow superbeings which can launch arrows with pinpoint accuracy and attack in groups of several hundred...in formation. At that point in history, they engaged in hit and run tactics.

- Sieges. Good god. Half your army lines up on the walls and scratches their nuts with their rifles while the enemy waltzes right up to the walls.

- Cavalry goes into 8-bit Nintendo-looking mode when you zoom out

- Naval units can bypass fleets FAR too easily. IMO, fleets need a huge sphere of influence so whenever an enemy comes into sight, a battle ensues. I got fed up with needing to attach massive guard fleets to every trading fleet within a region.

- Diplomacy still sucks nuts

[Eldonko]

Yea the natives are funny, they can clean out an army armed with guns no problem from miles away lol

[Thund3rball]

Natives? Just do like my buddy, they are extinct now. Victims of mass genocide, lol.