Total War: Napoleon vs Empire?

[The Brain]

After playing Shogun 2 I felt like playing some Empire (which I own). But I remember hearing that Napoleon is a lot better than Empire. Is this the case, and if so what makes it better? If I'm gonna play some horse and musket Total War it may as well be the best game.

[PRC]

Empire has the bigger map that includes North America and such.  But Napoleon has a little better gameplay in my opinion.  AI is slightly better i found and the graphics are better.

[viper37]

After playing Shogun 2 I felt like playing some Empire (which I own). But I remember hearing that Napoleon is a lot better than Empire. Is this the case, and if so what makes it better? If I'm gonna play some horse and musket Total War it may as well be the best game.

Napoleon has better AI, though Empire with Darth's mod is very good.
Napoleon is smaller scale, bigger combat maps and as such the campaign is much more detailed with more cities, closer to reality.
When you're in battle, you got some nice drum&fife song, much better than in Empire.  The models are more detailed, artillery is more realistic than vanilla Empire.

What I don't like, is that, (although it's probably realistic) you don't have much time to go on conquest, you're on a very strict deadline.
And your faithful allies aren't that faithful.  You'd think conquering people and replacing their corrupt elites would be enough to have them hang portraits of the glorious leader everywhere, but noooo, no sooner is your liberation army out of their territory that they attack your defenseless cities.  Fucking Italians.  And of course being on a deadline, you can't afford to do it the Empire way: conquering everyone.  You need to march toward the ennemy, crush his armies, avoid attrition (something Empire doesn't have), replenish your armies and besiege the ennemie's city (2-3 big cities per smaller campaigns, more for the grand campaign).

It's a very good game, and there are some interesting mods.  If you liked Empire, you'll like Napoleon for sure.

[The Brain]

Thanks for info.

Hmmm... just played some Empire. Those provinces are huge, coming from Shogun 2. Man, I'd rather have playable Sweden in Nap than Empire (don't ask me why).

Think I'm gonna try Empire some more before I decide.

[Drakken]

If you like gobbling a single-province France when you take Paris, then Empire is for you.

It's too bad, though, it had potential. Plus it has a Swedish powerhouse.

[The Brain]

I tried a siege battle in Empire as defender. Er... I can't deploy my guns on the walls? lolwtf And infantry deployment was laughable (marching columns? on the walls? really?).  I also liked how my howitzers deployed in the courtyard (it was that our outside the fortress) kept smashing my buildings.

I hope I missed a lot of simple things.

[viper37]

I tried a siege battle in Empire as defender. Er... I can't deploy my guns on the walls? lolwtf And infantry deployment was laughable (marching columns? on the walls? really?).  I also liked how my howitzers deployed in the courtyard (it was that our outside the fortress) kept smashing my buildings.

I hope I missed a lot of simple things.

your fortress has guns, you need to man them.

One piece of gun inside can be useful if there's a breech, as you fire point blank with shrapnels through ennemy lines.
Otherwise, it's useless.

If you want a better experience, with AI and infantry deployment, you really need Darthmod Ultimate Commander.  It's nearly a whole new game with this.

[Razgovory]

What annoyed me most about Empire was that Poland would build about 30 bishops and every turn I had to watch these fuckers shuffle around my country.

[The Brain]

I tried a siege battle in Empire as defender. Er... I can't deploy my guns on the walls? lolwtf And infantry deployment was laughable (marching columns? on the walls? really?).  I also liked how my howitzers deployed in the courtyard (it was that our outside the fortress) kept smashing my buildings.

I hope I missed a lot of simple things.

your fortress has guns, you need to man them.

One piece of gun inside can be useful if there's a breech, as you fire point blank with shrapnels through ennemy lines.
Otherwise, it's useless.

If you want a better experience, with AI and infantry deployment, you really need Darthmod Ultimate Commander.  It's nearly a whole new game with this.

Well I've given up on the mess that is Empire.

[viper37]

I tried a siege battle in Empire as defender. Er... I can't deploy my guns on the walls? lolwtf And infantry deployment was laughable (marching columns? on the walls? really?).  I also liked how my howitzers deployed in the courtyard (it was that our outside the fortress) kept smashing my buildings.

I hope I missed a lot of simple things.

your fortress has guns, you need to man them.

One piece of gun inside can be useful if there's a breech, as you fire point blank with shrapnels through ennemy lines.
Otherwise, it's useless.

If you want a better experience, with AI and infantry deployment, you really need Darthmod Ultimate Commander.  It's nearly a whole new game with this.

Well I've given up on the mess that is Empire.

since you paid for it, I would still advise you to try the mod.
I couldn't play vanilla again.

[The Brain]

I tried a siege battle in Empire as defender. Er... I can't deploy my guns on the walls? lolwtf And infantry deployment was laughable (marching columns? on the walls? really?).  I also liked how my howitzers deployed in the courtyard (it was that our outside the fortress) kept smashing my buildings.

I hope I missed a lot of simple things.

your fortress has guns, you need to man them.

One piece of gun inside can be useful if there's a breech, as you fire point blank with shrapnels through ennemy lines.
Otherwise, it's useless.

If you want a better experience, with AI and infantry deployment, you really need Darthmod Ultimate Commander.  It's nearly a whole new game with this.

Well I've given up on the mess that is Empire.

since you paid for it, I would still advise you to try the mod.
I couldn't play vanilla again.

Thanks, maybe I'll try it.

[The Brain]

Tried the Nap demo. Man the tactical battles look and feel 100 times better than in Empire.

[The Brain]

I got Nap.

[Warspite]

I have Nap and Empire. Empire is ok with lots of modding, but Napoleon is a superior product.

Anyone keen on some multiplayer action?