Empire Total War - Catch All

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I didnt see a thread for this yet - just the demo so I am starting a new one :). Oh the power, no wait that's the anticipation setting in. As of 1400 EST there are only 15 hrs until the game unlocks on STEAM. Conveniently enough I have tomorrow off as a study day. Odds of studying - 0%, odds of playing this immediately after download 100%, odds of this being a problem free STEAM download 50-50. Excited... just meh... did you order the Special Forces version or vanilla? Ready - Set - Post....

Insert girlish squeal here -
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Every release I say I'm going to wait for the latest Total War game to get patched before buying it, and every time I've caved. I'm going to try holding out again, but I doubt I will last long after reading GWJ impressions.

I want to be there Day-0 with this, but I just can't justify the cost at the moment. I'm more or less on a spending freeze to save up for a new home this summer. That said, if this pops up on a weekend Steam sale I don't think I'll be able to resist.

If anyone is planning on getting the Special Forces edition, I would advise not getting it through Steam. It appears through Steam all you get are the 6 extra Units. The boxed Special Forces also comes with a fold-out Campaign map, a History channel DVD about the Revolution, and an art book with Concept Art and Behind-The-Scenes stuff. I don't see any of that mentioned on Steam as coming separately in the mail or something, yet you still pay the extra $20.. for just the 6 extra units?

I'm all over this. Reviews have been good and the setting/navel battles seem like they will freshen up the gameplay a bit.

Certis wrote:

navel battles

Battles on mah belly? I'm in!

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Sigh.... (no that isnt me)

It's the Canadian spelling. Really. *cough*

I wish Steam was preloading this. It's going to take freaking forever to download.

Anyone who orders the special forces edition has too much money. Those units will be available 1 day after release as a free download.

I'll wait for some impressions on the AI before I buy it. If it runs like the demo, I'll wait until it is patched a bit more. Medieval II burned me too badly on the craptastic AI for this to be a day 1 purchase.

STEAM has launch trailer up. Also, the PC Gamer I just got in the mail gave it a 94% (for whatever that means to most of us). However, they had some very good details embedded in the article. MetaCritic gives it a 93 so far - again reviews mean only so much. Anyone have the boxed copy yet and played it?

Dezlen wrote:

Anyone who orders the special forces edition has too much money. Those units will be available 1 day after release as a free download.

I mentioned it up above, but the Special Forces edition is essentially a "Collector's Edition". If you buy the retail box you get a fold-out campaign map, History channel DVD, and an art book, and the 6 extra units. But ordering the Special Edition on Steam seems pretty useless as all you'd get are the 6 extra units but you still pay the full extra $20.

Where did you see that the elite units would be available 1 day after release? I can't seem to find anything about that.

SpyNavy's purchase of Special forces Edition on STEAM = EPIC FAIL

I wish they would do like they did with Half-Life 2 - let me download the game and then ship me the "stuff". I would be more then happy to pay shipping. Gabe - do you hear me - I know you troll these boards - the one drawback of STEAM is I dont get CE loot.

I'm in on day one, pre-ordered the vanilla version on Steam. Unfortunately, I'll be at work, and unfortunately Steam will NOT auto-start your download by just leaving Steam running. You have to manually start it (at least this was the case last I checked).

Taking F O R E V E R to download - WTF? Started at a steady 3MB/s and now down to around 200K - must play NOW!!!

Finally - now to play!
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The way I interpret the (p)reviews so far: like every other Total War game since Rome: Total War, but with fancier graphics and a few centuries later. Am I horribly wrong?

Please post performance comparisons between the demo and the full version. Specifically load times and performance on 3-4 year old machines.

Based on the demo, for me this may finally be the game that causes that sad feeling of "The day has come that my old computer can't enjoyably handle new games anymore."

dejanzie wrote:

The way I interpret the (p)reviews so far: like every other Total War game since Rome: Total War, but with fancier graphics and a few centuries later. Am I horribly wrong?

Tweaks, Naval battles, muskets and some graphical upgrades. Sounds about right, yeah. If Rome didn't do it for you or you think you're burned out on the format I wouldn't recommend this.

Big Caveat - like Certis said if you are burnt out on these games or never liked the TW formula - this isnt the game for you. However, if you like the others you will like this one.
Initial impressions
** This game screams for a 10 turn campaign tutorial because of some of the changes and additions to the game.
- Load times slightly faster then demo
- Graphics are awesome
-- Death animations for individual units
-- Units move forward to fill in gaps in the line - nice little detail
-- Natural cover has an effect on the battlefield
- Music is pleasant
- Sound effects are pretty darn good - especially the Naval Battles
- The game is deeper then previous iterations
-- Research of technology leading to new improvements for farms, plantations, logging camps, universities etc.... (Think CIV IV lite with real time battles)
-- Great thinkers a la CIV IV.
-- You can board ships and add them to your fleet
-- Expanded diplomatic options
-- You can aid allies in their battles (naval and ground) if your units are nearby

Now a warning for STEAM users:
- No manual in PDF format - EPIC FAIL
- Appears to be issues getting your Special Forces Units - both download and retail versions, yes I ordered Special Forces version as I seem to have more money than sense
- Many users complaining of download issues in general
- Not sure how mods and enhancements will work, STEAM versions of previous TW games DO NOT seem to work with most of the mods out there

** I may swear off STEAM for day 1 purchases due to the fact that brick and mortar editions cost the same, but in many cases you get some added benefits like a freakin' manual, maps, History DVD's etc... STEAM is a great source for certain games, but for ones that have Collectors Editions, Special Knick Knacks etc... I have to score STEAM a FAIL on this one.

** I may swear off STEAM for day 1 purchases due to the fact that brick and mortar editions cost the same, but in many cases you get some added benefits like a freakin' manual, maps, History DVD's etc... STEAM is a great source for certain games, but for ones that have Collectors Editions, Special Knick Knacks etc... I have to score STEAM a FAIL on this one.

Hey, you're the one who spent the money knowing what you were in for. I'm scoring this one a SPY FAIL.

Recent interview about multiplayer plans post-release:

Blackguard asks: Can you tell us anything about multiplayer campaign mode which we hear is in the works?

Kieran Brigden: The multiplayer campaign mode will be a post release feature of Empire Total War. We are going to release it as a beta shortly after the game's come out. The campaign mode allows two friends (or mortal enemies) to play against one another and the AI through the Grand Campaign mode. Players will be given the option of fighting every battle as the enemy, meaning whoever your friend fights wherever in the world it will always be the two of involved in a deathmatch. It's an awesome new feature and one we've been keen to do for a while. The basic code is there, now we're getting the rest sorted!

Moderating Hero: Quick follow-up to the multiplayer campaign question - Any indication when that will be released? Will there be a public beta or anything like that?

Kieran Brigden: There will be a beta phase for the multi campaign. We're still finalising for logistical reasons whether it will be public or invited, and it will be done when the feature is ready for roll out. Which is, as soon as it's ready.

Also some good questions about load times, A.I improvements and more.

Hey, you're the one who spent the money knowing what you were in for. I'm scoring this one a SPY FAIL.

Very true. Impatience definitely cost me this time. I should have just run into EB this morning. Sigh... lesson learned.

Today is:

-My Birthday
-The NHL trade deadline
-Empire: TW's release

Fantastic! I'm leaving work early and buying this rightaway. I've been replaying Medieval 2 with the Stainless Steel mod the last week to prepare.

Haven't played a Total War game since Shogun, and only because my rigs at the time of each game wouldn't play nice with the massive battles. But my current machine eats Crysis for breakfast so I imagine it should handle this fine. I'll play the demo and see.

It'd be great if I could actually activate it via Steam, even though I've bought the game on disk, but I can't because the servers are busy. Looks like you pesky Americans will have to wait until tomorrow before I undo history...

You should be able to activate retail through STEAM.

Does it have the same hangups as Medieval 2, as in AI and pathfinding issues?

OK, I caved. I have purchased it. I was going to go straight to steam but you need a manual for this game so dropped by BB and picked up the cheapy box. Open it up and installing now.. only 20 mins togo. :\ But as an added bonus got good old Iron Sides for a unique download code for free!

Rat Boy wrote:

Does it have the same hangups as Medieval 2, as in AI and pathfinding issues?

Probably - also - dont expect your calvary to be smart. They will run over your own troops to get to the enemy :).

I'm a ways into the second chapter of the Independence campaign. After the first one I was chaffing at the limitations imposed to teach you the game, but one good look at a real campaign map had me running back. There's enough new things here that the tutorial style is helpful.

So far, I'm enjoying the musket combat. I REALLY like that I can use the UP arrow in the interface to order a line of multiple units to move forward or turn en masse. Really helps when you need to keep battle lines organized. The enemy has also proven to be canny enough not to meet you head-on when they're outnumbered. It remains to be seen if this is a smart sort of maneuvering or a "Oh God, scatter!" sort of thing. Like the last Total War games, I expect to crank the battle difficulty up to expert once I get my head around the new units and mechanics. Ship combat still scares the hell out of me, though. I think that will be coming up shortly.

SpyNavy wrote:

Now a warning for STEAM users:
- No manual in PDF format - EPIC FAIL

Oh really? Well, maybe it wasn't up earlier.

I get a 'this file is damaged and cannot be repaired' error when I try and view the manual, so I'm feeling pretty good about holding off on this one so far. Must... resist...

So how's the AI in this? I've always loved the Total War games, but sooner or later the AI always gets so predictable and lame I'm REALLY REALLY hoping that they finally fixed it in this one, but I'm kinda skeptical considering that it still hasn't been fixed after this long. Grr

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