Empire Total War, Again

[Tamas]

Not only Austria has separate Hungarian and German fussilier units, the Magyar one is the better

I really like the atmosphere of battles, but of course just killed Massena who did a winter rush to Innsbruck in Early January 1805

[Fate]

It's the Napoleonic Wars and you're dealing with battles at the maximum of 1200 vs 1200. It just feels underwhelming. Perhaps they should allow you to create larger stacks of ~30k on the campaign map and then make an encounter a series of three to four back to back battles with various objectives. Alternatively, they could have implemented some sort of intermediate map mode where you control a more macro battle level of red vs blue fronts and then you zoom in to take control of a specific crucial area with your primary commander once the overall battle lines and plan have been set.

I don't know how realistic it would have been, but for major cities like Vienna, Paris, Moscow, and London they should have more urban maps rather than the generic 5 farm house buildings the AI never garrisons plus a large field. They already have a few well done town landscapes for the stand alone historical battles, but the maps are never utilized in the grand campaign. It seems like Medieval 2 was the last total war game that really captured the epic feeling of an urban siege.

[grumbler]

It seems like Medieval 2 was the last total war game that really captured the epic feeling of an urban siege.

I thought Medieval 2 was the game right before this one. 

[Tamas]

Medieval 2 has the big advantage of the scale fitting much better to the theme.

[grumbler]

Medieval 2 has the big advantage of the scale fitting much better to the theme.

Rome TW worked even though legions were represented by something like 480 figures.

[Tamas]

Ok I will go ahead and say it: I like it.

Sure the battle scale is totally off but when my frenchies shoot it out volley after volley with a bunch of lybians while the gentle wind carries sand in the desert, I just don't care. It looks good.

This was when I restarted the Egyptian campaign. Second turn, the Mameluk faction leader came at my Alexandria from the east and assaulted despite having less troops than my defenders which were boosted by emergency-raised militia.
Of course there was a clear moral advantage to the AI, because I only had one unit of fusiliers and a unit of light cavalry and the AI even had an arty unit (which I dispersed mid-battle with my cav), but this was my first Total War battle since some horse archers vs infantry affairs when I had to work for my victory when having numbers on my side. And my victory came down to a bug I think because my last unit ended up fighting the Mameluks last unit in a building and the fight never got anywhere and time ran out and I won.

On a more negative note, I have been running a coalition campaign as Austria, and despite some recent efforts I dont think the campaign AI can really mirror the miracles of Napoleon.

[Fate]

It seems like Medieval 2 was the last total war game that really captured the epic feeling of an urban siege.

I thought Medieval 2 was the game right before this one. 

I consider Empire Total War to be game right before this one, although I will concede that Napoleon is more like a stand-alone expansion rather than a completely new game. I believe Empire is supposed to cover the late 17th to late 18th centuries, while Napoleon covers just 1806ish-1812.

Empire had the same problem of the largest urban siege being against a single star fort in the middle of a forest.

Medieval 2 had some truly massive urban battles including four ringed citadels and walled metropolises where what you built was reflected in the cityscape map.

[Syt]

Btw, is there a Thirty Years War mod out or in the works for any of the Total War games?

[Fate]

Howitzers seem like they're grossly overpowered. They have nearly the range/firing arc of cannons but have the massive advantage of avoiding any friendly fire due to your line infantry being in line of sight of the barrel. I can see multiplayer strategies consisting of cheesy square line infantry formations surrounding a group of 10 Howitzer units. No infantry or cavalry could approach the battery before their morale breaks.

[Viking]

Btw, is there a Thirty Years War mod out or in the works for any of the Total War games?

There is a ECW mod for MTW2

[Syt]

Btw, is there a Thirty Years War mod out or in the works for any of the Total War games?

There is a ECW mod for MTW2

ECW != TYW

[Viking]

Btw, is there a Thirty Years War mod out or in the works for any of the Total War games?

There is a ECW mod for MTW2

ECW != TYW

it's not the Thirty years war, but there are similarities.

[grumbler]

I consider Empire Total War to be game right before this one, although I will concede that Napoleon is more like a stand-alone expansion rather than a completely new game. I believe Empire is supposed to cover the late 17th to late 18th centuries, while Napoleon covers just 1806ish-1812.

Empire had the same problem of the largest urban siege being against a single star fort in the middle of a forest.

Medieval 2 had some truly massive urban battles including four ringed citadels and walled metropolises where what you built was reflected in the cityscape map.

This is the Empire: Total War thread, so E:TW isn't the "game before this one." 

I understand what you are saying now:  E:TW lacks epic city battles.  I'll take your word for it; I don't have it.

[Tamas]

Had my first drop-in battle against a stranger, let him command the Austrians in a small roughly event battle against my Frenchies. (btw whoever has the game add me as Steam friends, I am "tarsyk")

I think the guy lagged more than I did (only minimal lag for me) because it took him quite a while to load so that probably contributed to his less than stellar performance.

I was the defender but in an awful position with my back to a river. This was the only real advantage over an AI opponent in this battle, because the guy knew he did not have to assault me despite labelled "attacker".

Due to the river setup we were deployed quite close, but midway there was a stone wall. So I rushed two of my three regular inf. units there. The third was sent left of the wall. The middle one was ahead but out of range of the enemy's bulk consisting a fusilier and a grenadier unit. On my left my regular and ligh cavalry faced his flank-guard of skirmishers, my right-side infantry face light units (in range) and arty, and my cav on my right flank faced enemy hussars.

The guy kept the out of range status for our middle infantries, and tried to cannister me away which was good of course except that the stone wall seemed to protect me from most of the damage. While he was busy being passive like that (again, could have been lag), I gobbled up his right, while managed to win the cavalry battle on his left. So basically I wrapped up his line sistematically.  Was not a challenge at all.

[Tamas]

And in the next, much bigger battle, the AI reminded me why the drop-in is a great feature: it was supposed to be a big even battle with me defending, up until the first couple of volleys which killed the enemy general who raced in front of his entire line to mount a lonely charge