Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

[Solidice]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

they don't have a non-steam demo? I have to DL/install steam just to play a demo.

and somebody stole my username. lol

[mgoblue]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

as one who has never bought one of these games before, would anyone suggest i grab this? what's the learning curve? not trying to sound dumb, but i respect the opinions of people here and would appreciate any helpful advice (especially those of you who play this series)...thanks!

You can simulate battles (if you want), so it only has to be as complex as you want. There's 2 aspects to the gameplay. The "Take over the world" board game type part, and the on the battlefield control the armies part. I think you could pick up the "Empire" part pretty easily over time, and work your way into battle strategy and whatnot. This game can be more simple or very complex if you want.

[mkharsh33]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

Thank you!! I need to start saving up!! Appreciate the help...

[Coug00]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

they don't have a non-steam demo? I have to DL/install steam just to play a demo.

and somebody stole my username. lol

You need Steam installed to play the full version as well. But you don't have to be logged in if you have the disc.

I bought the disc version. Not only do I not like being logged into Steam while playing, but I can't imagine trying to download a 15gb file from them on release day.

[Solidice]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

You need Steam installed to play the full version as well. But you don't have to be logged in if you have the disc.

I bought the disc version. Not only do I not like being logged into Steam while playing, but I can't imagine trying to download a 15gb file from them on release day.

are you sure. I've never had to have steam install for any other game. if this is true, I hope it's not going to be more common.

normally you would only need steam if you downloaded it from there. retail version shouldn't need it.

[Coug00]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

are you sure. I've never had to have steam install for any other game. if this is true, I hope it's not going to be more common.

normally you would only need steam if you downloaded it from there. retail version shouldn't need it.

Yep, positive you need it. Luckily, there's off-line mode.

I guess the one saving grace of it using Steam is that if your disc ever gets damaged you're able to download the Steam version for free. The game is tied to your user account.

[Solidice]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

Yep, positive you need it. Luckily, there's off-line mode.

I guess the one saving grace of it using Steam is that if your disc ever gets damaged you're able to download the Steam version for free. The game is tied to your user account.

that kinda sucks. I hate having unnecessary software on my PC.

I normally make an back-up image of the disc and save it to my Hard drive in case the disc breaks anyway. although I've never actually had to use them as I've never broken a game disc before.

[jaguar8311]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

I loved the TW Series, played an hour of the demo and I had enough... CAN'T WAIT!, I suck at naval battles but land battles are really fun, I barely run Brandywine, I had something like 5 units left, I need to start utilizing my artillery because they did not get any kills

Can't wait for the full version! I am going to try and change history and make Sweden the dominant power in Europe

[b1gwolt]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

Is anyone else having issues with controlling their units in this game? I was trying to do the historical battle at Brandywine and the following are my issues:

When moving the large formation of infantry to the flank crossing all of the troops ran over there except one. One group formed a real long line and it looked like they were slipping on air to move over to the position. Thus it took them about 5 minutes to move over there and practically screwed up the whole controlling of the rest of the units.

When I got there the computer moved a unit of infantry and cavalry over there (not the rest though...).

I directed my unit of infantry to fire on the calvary. No one fired EXCEPT for the men commanding the unit. There was no volley's, there was no sparatic firing, just the lead guys of the unit firing. Since there weren't enough calvary they routed (hopefully the ease of routing units is fixed on higher levels).

I then directed all my infantry to fire on their one unit of infantry. The units would ignore the targeting of the unit of infantry and proceeded to chase down the cavalry. I then told the units to stop and once again clicked on fire against the unit of infantry.

Well in order to do that the infantry all have to move back into formation before firing, but then once again, never did. I had to go to melee in order to get them to attack the infantry unit.

The artillery is also a pain in the *** to control, apparently the United States had longer cannons (i don't know if this is true or not??) and could hit my cavalry from about a mile away, direct hit, took out half the unit. They then routed...I mean is it really going to be that easy to route. Sounds like there will once again be only 5 minute battles (ala Rome and MTW II).

The only bright spot seems to be the enemy AI, however them not moving to catch me at the flank is kind of dumb. I got my *** handed to me trying to proceed against them like it was MTW II.

After this demo, it seems there is going to be the same unit controlling issues that plagued MTW II.

Hopefully this is just the demo build, because I may have to pass on this one (except I am dumb and probably won't).

[fistofrage]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

Great news.....My Athlon 2GHz with 1G Ram and 512Nvidea card runs this demo even with unit textures high without lag. I had to lower the grass and shadowing and other things but its not that big of a deal. The unints look pretty good, the game looks graphically somewhere between a PS2 and a 360. I'm fine with that. Load times are ridiculous long though.

I played Brandywine a few times last night. There is only 1 crossing point on that creek right? Right up the middle by those houses?

Its a meat grinder getting there though. 1st time I tried it, I got massacred. Mind you, I have never played a TW game before. The 2nd time I lost a close battle. But those American cannons on top of that hill are brutal. They took out all my artillery save one crew before I could even set my artillery. I got a foothold on the creek and charged my grenadiers up the hill and made quick work of that American cannon battery. Hundreds of men on both sides died in that creek.

My main grievance with the game so far is that I can't get my soldiers to form line formations facing the right way. I move the mouse around to line them up and they end up in columns and strange formations facing the wrong way. There is also ALOT of sliding of men going on. Kind of scary there.

Otherwise good demo. Glad I don't have to buy a new rig to run it.

[b1gwolt]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

Great news.....My Athlon 2GHz with 1G Ram and 512Nvidea card runs this demo even with unit textures high without lag. I had to lower the grass and shadowing and other things but its not that big of a deal. The unints look pretty good, the game looks graphically somewhere between a PS2 and a 360. I'm fine with that. Load times are ridiculous long though.

I played Brandywine a few times last night. There is only 1 crossing point on that creek right? Right up the middle by those houses?

Its a meat grinder getting there though. 1st time I tried it, I got massacred. Mind you, I have never played a TW game before. The 2nd time I lost a close battle. But those American cannons on top of that hill are brutal. They took out all my artillery save one crew before I could even set my artillery. I got a foothold on the creek and charged my grenadiers up the hill and made quick work of that American cannon battery. Hundreds of men on both sides died in that creek.

My main grievance with the game so far is that I can't get my soldiers to form line formations facing the right way. I move the mouse around to line them up and they end up in columns and strange formations facing the wrong way. There is also ALOT of sliding of men going on. Kind of scary there.

Otherwise good demo. Glad I don't have to buy a new rig to run it.

I believe there are three crossings. At the beginning of the battle, the camera pans to three locations where you can cross.

[Coug00]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

My main grievance with the game so far is that I can't get my soldiers to form line formations facing the right way. I move the mouse around to line them up and they end up in columns and strange formations facing the wrong way. There is also ALOT of sliding of men going on. Kind of scary there.

Hold down Shift, then click (and hold) the mouse where you want your men to be placed. Since you still have your mouse held down drag it in the direction you want your front and you'll be able to control how deep your rank and file will be as well as which direction they'll face. Its impossible to play a TW game well w/o this.

[Coug00]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

Just had a great Brandywine battle. I placed my cannons on the forested plateau (and left a couple units of foot soldiers in case they decide to attack my cannons on foot). The plateau is a great defense and keeps their cannons occupied so they don't attack my flanking units.

My flanking unit eventually met up with the colonial army around the church. They used the church (maybe its a school house) and cliff as a defense to help keep me from flanking. They even garrisoned one of their units. This is what it looked like...



Anyways, the AI is great so far. Every move I make, they try to counter. I tried the old RTW or M2TW trick by running cavalry around from behind to see if they'd do anything and they quickly countered. The only reason I won is because I think the demo is set on easy, so their units route quickly.

The only control problems I'm having is with the guard units (can't remember what they're called). Not the general's horse guard unit, but the foot soldiers who are supposed to protect the general. They don't like to follow commands to get on the front line, but that makes sense since their job is to protect the general.

All in all, this is a blast. I hope this next week flies by.

[mgoblue]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

I have to re-learn the Total War controls and all, but I like the feel.

I played the tutorials last night and then a naval battle today. It was fun, but I'm not quite getting the strategies of a naval battle vs. the land battles. The ships are pretty cumbersome (rightly so) that when you have 6 ships to manage it's just all kinda random. I'm sure that over time I'll learn all the tips/tricks, just a first impression.

[Solidice]

Re: Empire Total War: WOW!!!! Feb, 3 2009

did the demo take forever to load for anyone else? or was it just because i had everything on highest possible setting?

anyway, after the extremely long load times, the game was great. graphics are unbelievable for a game like this with no frame rate issues or anything. can't wait to get the game and see what the modding community can do with this game.