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Multiplayer update Q&A
» Total War Blog
We have made a number of improvements to multiplayer in Napoleon and The Peninsular Campaign in the latest update, and caught up with the Multiplayer team for the full scoop:
Since the update to Napoleon: Total War, what new units are available in multiplayer?
The whole Spanish faction has been completely revamped for the Peninsula Campaign, and this new Spanish faction is available in multiplayer for everyone, whether or not you buy the DLC. This includes new uniforms, as well as new and revamped units. Spain now gets horse artillery and lancer cavalry, as well as having their heavy cavalry and guard infantry options reworked slightly.
However, the biggest new addition to the Spanish faction is the guerrilla units. These units are experts at ambushing the enemy, and can deploy anywhere on the battlefield, except your enemy’s deployment zone. These units are only available to users who purchase the Peninsula Campaign DLC.
Can you tell us more about the guerrilla units available to owners of The Peninsular Campaign DLC?
The Spanish faction has gained 6 new guerrilla units, which are all capped at one unit each. These can deploy anywhere except your enemy’s deployment zone. This is a totally new concept for Total War, and the possibilities it creates for multiplayer gameplay, and the new strategies that will emerge, are really exciting. We can’t wait to see how players start using these new units and the interesting outcomes that will occur. We’ve been playing a lot with the guerrilla units in multiplayer internally within the studio, and they really are great fun.
What has been done to fix “failed to connect” issues in multiplayer games?
Players hosting games will now host on a fixed port, which is 51914. If this port is unblocked the game will use this first, before trying the old (much larger) port range. Players who are having difficulty connecting to other players should unblock this port and may find their issue fixed.
Previously, players can only do battle against people in the same geographical region. Has anything been done to address or improve this?
We’ve removed the Steam regional division between servers, so now everyone online can see everyone else’s games. This greatly increases the number of games available, and also increases the pool of players in quick battle, drop-in battle etc.
Can you tell us more about the new multiplayer maps that have been added to the update?
We added three new maps: Pyrenees Peak, Galician Ria and Salamanca Province. These are free for everyone, you don’t need to buy the Peninsula Campaign to get them. When making these maps we looked at a lot of the feedback on the forums, and looked at the statistics of which maps people were playing most, as well as what maps we most enjoyed during the making of Napoleon. We tried to make maps that reflected what the community most find fun, and best reflect the emerging gameplay trends. As a result we tried to make them balanced and reasonably symmetrical, to ensure competitive gameplay, but also to give them a strong real-world feel.
What has been done to refine drop-in battle searches?
The drop-in battle UI has been redone so now players can explicitly choose drop-in battles, quick battles or both, and whether they want naval or land battles. You can now search for as many or as few of these options as you want, depending on your preferences. And because of the removal of Steam regions the pool of players you’re searching for will be larger than before, which should make matching faster.
The game is also more generous when allowing you to choose the drop-in battle option during a campaign. Previously it only allowed you to opt for a drop-in battle when the game judged the balance of power to be very even. We’ve relaxed this requirement somewhat (not completely) as we found that, when choosing to enter a drop-in battle, players were more concerned about having fun than having a completely balanced experience (they have ranked games and regular quick battle for that).
Players will also find unit sizes are larger than they were previously in quick battles. Previously it was always choosing small unit sizes, whereas now it will look at each player’s unit size settings and choose the largest size supported by both players.
For all the latest Total War information, stay tuned to www.totalwar.com, and become a fan on Facebook and Twitter.
Thanks,
Mark O’Connell
The Creative Assembly -
Napoleon: Total War – The Peninsular Campaign
» Total War Blog
Hello and welcome to our exclusive Generals guide to Napoleon: Total War – The Peninsular Campaign.
The Peninsular War saw some of the 19th Century’s most formidable powers clash in an almighty fight for supremacy in the Spanish Peninsula. Yet it wasn’t a conflict noted for the dominating power of huge armies, but for the emergence of a new type of warfare.
France’s grip on the Peninsula wore thin under the constant harassment, unrest and ambushes brought on by Spanish guerrilla action in the region.
Set against a backdrop of David and Goliath battles – sometimes of individual men fighting against the machine of war – guerrilla warfare has, for the first time, arrived in a Total War™ title. Take arms!
For full details on Napoleon: Total War – The Peninsular Campaign, plus a trailer and 10 screenshots, please visit www.totalwar.com.
Understanding the differences
Veteran Total War™ players will find more of the same warfare they know and love, but also a new challenge: increased unrest and harassment is par for the course in The Peninsular Campaign.
In order to best maximise your chances of victory, you must first understand and harness this new style of play. This useful guide will help you get to grips with a few of the new features.
Political alignment
War is a battle of minds as well as hearts. Understanding this is the key to victory in this campaign. As the French, you should strive to win the propaganda war by stirring up Pro-French nationalism. As the Spanish or British, you should subvert this by promoting Anti-French sentiment. This can be achieved using The Peninsular Campaign’s new agents and technologies.
Agents
There are three new types of agent in The Peninsular Campaign:
Priests are used by the Spanish and Portuguese nations and are spawned from religious buildings. They are used to convince the population to align themselves with the liberating British armies. This occurs simply by their presence in a region or inside a town or city. Priests can also spy passively when in the immediate proximity of an enemy and detect and reveal the position of foreign spies. Furthermore, placing these agents in a settlement will have a direct impact on the region’s public order. Friendly regions benefit from a boost in happiness; enemy regions suffer a penalty as these agents spread propaganda.
Provocateurs are either Spanish resistance members working for Great Britain in the Peninsula, or pro-Bonaparte Spaniards working for the Emperor. Their role is to persuade the local inhabitants to support either anti- or pro- French sentiment, depending on which faction you are playing. Placing these units in friendly or enemy settlements will also raise or lower happiness respectively.
Guerrilleros are fundamentally Spy agents. Their Harass ability allows them to disrupt an enemy unit with added attrition effects. They can also infiltrate enemy units, assassinate generals, incite unrest and passively spy.
Units
There’s also a new type of military unit in this campaign. Guerrilla units can be obtained by liberating Spanish regions from the French. If you’re playing as France, watch out for them – they more than likely already have you surrounded…
Guerrillas are best used as harassing, mobile forces. The key to their success is their mobility and ability to undermine the best enemy plans. In battles, for instance, they can deploy outside their standard deployment zone in order to subvert the enemy. The element of surprise is yours! They can also hide in trees and scrubland.
Keep a look out for historical guerrilla units, based on legendary bands of guerrillas from the 19th century.
Supply
The British, in their unwavering fight against Napoleon, have committed considerable resources to vanquishing the French presence on the Peninsula, but supplying the front lines of a war on distant shores is no simple logistical task.
The British must ship in troops from overseas. As a result, they require supply ports.
The British can also receive new troops by liberating regions from French rule and handing them back to the Spanish. As a token of thanks and support, British armies will receive additional support from Guerrilla units to prop up their numbers.
Technology
New technologies can be found in The Peninsular Campaign to support you in your goals, enabling you to increase your income, spread propaganda, boost recruitment and more. Embracing technology will help you turn the tide of war against your enemy.
Liberation
When vanquishing a French-held region, British players have the option to “liberate” the region, handing it back to the Spanish. In exchange for this, the player will receive Guerrilla units to help their cause.
Trade
Trade nodes provide a significant source of income to fuel your war efforts. The regions in the Spanish Peninsula have been war-ravaged since 1808 and wealth is low. As a result, shipping in supplies from colonies and protectorates in Europe, the Americas and the Mediterranean is critical to your success.
There are two types of trade node: high value and low value. High value trade nodes bring in more money, but can have fewer ships occupying them (4). Low value trade nodes are less lucrative, but can be crammed with more trade ships (8). It is your choice how you occupy these. Choose wisely!
Military Funding
Once per year, your faction will receive additional funding from allies or the homeland to aid your campaign. A lump-sum of cash can be just the ticket when trying to churn out an offensive force, but beware of spending everything and finding yourself in a position where you no longer have the funds to support your newly-acquired troops.
Multiplayer
In The Peninsular Campaign, two players can play online or over a network, either working co-operatively to eliminate the French or working against each other to win supremacy in the region.
Useful tips
You’re almost ready to mount your charger. But before that, take a look at these useful tips:
- Manage your population and keep a firm eye on unrest. Keep your own nationals happy and try to subvert the happiness of your enemy’s populace as much as you can.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of trade. Money is scarce and an essential component in the machine of war.
- Don’t be disheartened if you lose a region, either due to invasion or unrest – 19th century warfare was a constantly-changing tumult – so if you lose a battle, there’s every chance you’ll still win the war.
For all the latest Total War information, stay tuned to www.totalwar.com, and become a fan on Facebook and Twitter.
Thanks,
Mark O’Connell
The Creative Assembly -
Shogun 2: Total War Q&A
» Total War BlogHere is an exclusive interview Total War’s Lead Designer James Russell regarding the recently announced Shogun 2: Total War.
It has been a decade since Shogun launched the Total War series. What were the reasons for returning to where it all began for Shogun 2: Total War?
In many ways, Empire: TW represented the expansion of Total War to its greatest extent in terms of global, geopolitical scale – and that fitted the reach of the great powers of that era. What we are excited about with Shogun 2 is to taking things back to a more contained, pre-modern environment where we can really focus on characters & immersion – and in a fresh setting, away from the map of Europe. Rather than having to portray many different cultures across the world, we can delve deeply into portraying one culture in beautiful detail. The game will still be epic in scale – but in terms of story and depth rather than by encompassing much of the world in geographic scope.
Feudal Japan is an incredibly evocative setting with so much great content for the game: bushido (the Way of the Warrior), mighty warlords leading vast samurai armies into battle; huge castles and epic sieges in unique landscapes like nothing you’ve seen in Europe.
Chronologically, where does Shogun 2: Total War fit in the timeline of the original game?
As in Shogun: TW, the setting we have is during Japan’s Sengoku Jidai: the warring states period in the 16th century, before the Tokugawa Shogunate asserted its complete control and ended the anarchy.
We have chosen this setting now for the same reasons we chose it a decade ago: it was a time of epic struggle between the feudal lords of rival clans across Japan. With the breakdown of central authority, there was constant warfare and any one of many clans could have ended up winning. It’s the perfect setting for a Total War game where the player can choose one of many factions all competing for the final victory in what was the most turbulent period of Japanese history.
It was the time when a uniquely Japanese samurai culture was forged. It was also a time of great change: for example, first contact with Europeans saw the introduction of Christianity and later the first large-scale use of firearms in Japanese armies. This opens up lots of interesting gameplay choices for the player that are unique to this specific period.
How has the Total War series progressed since the original game and what will this bring to the sequel?
Clearly, PC technology has come on so far in the last ten years, and we can do things that were simply impossible before: the game engines for both campaign and battle have been completely revolutionised (and re-written) several times over since the original game which had sprites in battle and a 2D campaign map. Now we can portray huge samurai armies in all their glory with a new and improved battle graphics engine that looks utterly stunning. On the campaign side, we will depict the unique geography of Japan with the most beautiful map we have ever produced. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the game, and each new project gives us the opportunity to push into new territory.
The Total War team consulted with Professor Stephen Turnbull during the production of Shogun: Total War. Will you also be working with any experts in the field for Shogun 2?
Well we’re actually working with Stephen again this time round, and he’s been involved from very early in the project. He’s been to see us in the studio (his journey down, carrying authentic pieces of samurai armour raised a few eyebrows on the train!); we are talking to him regularly about planned features and game content – he’s been a fantastic help for us: not only making sure we stay on the right path, but also giving us a lot of inspiration (watching all the Kurosawa movies helps a lot too!).
As a studio, we have much lower staff turnover than many in the industry, and there are still a fair few people working on Total War who have been here from the very beginning, not least Mike Simpson.
Empire: Total War introduced naval warfare to the series. Is there a chance that the feature will return to make an impact on feudal Japan?
Of course – Japan is an island nation, and the sea is never far away. One thing to emphasise is that the way naval battles were fought in Japan during this period is very different from the bigger-is-better artillery-fests of the 18th century European contests we represented in Empire. Japanese ships of the era were full of samurai swordsmen and archers, so we’re focusing a lot on boarding systems and stone-scissors-paper interplay between different ship types. Another big addition is the inclusion of land masses at sea: this provides new terrain-based tactical play as well as helping orient the player. We think we can make naval battles in Shogun feel very fresh & new – and be more fun to play than ever before.
What other areas of the game might see major changes with Shogun 2?
When we begin development, as a team we immerse ourselves in the period and the setting that we are trying to bring to life in the game. We develop features that reflect the battles and the military & economic dilemmas of the time (as well as making for great gameplay).
On the campaign map this means we fold in the importance of honour, treachery, clan & family, and many other aspects of being a warlord in feudal Japan. Of course, we need a completely new set of agents and agent abilities too.
On the battle side, special, historically accurate, hero characters can help turn the tide of battle. We’re also giving siege mechanics a complete overhaul: Japanese castles are very different from European castles, and we’re working hard to make the layouts look convincingly Japanese as well as playing well.
We’re also planning some very exciting things for the multiplayer part of the game, so watch this space!
What do you want to achieve overall with Shogun 2: Total War?
We really want to make Shogun 2 a thing of beauty, and the most immersive Total War game ever. We are focusing on pushing gameplay depth and polish rather than raw ‘size’ or scope: doing more with less.
Internally, we are calling these things together (beauty, depth, polish and immersion) the Zen of Total War. We are absolutely committed to making Shogun 2 the most breathtaking Total War experience ever.
Thank you for your time!
Stay tuned to www.TotalWar.com for all the latest Shogun 2: Total War information, and be sure to become a fan on Facebook and Twitter.
Best regards,
Mark O’Connell
The Creative Assembly -
Battle of Waterloo Diary
» Total War BlogHere is a war diary documenting an epic encounter at the alternate Battle of Waterloo. This battle is available in the FREE Imperial Guard DLC for Napoleon: Total War!
Battle of Waterloo
June 18th, 1815
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
When Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, leader of the allied forces, came up against the might of Napoleon’s army, it was with a very real belief that the engagement could be truly decisive. This was to be the battle to end all battles, a red letter day in history, and a moment for heroes to be made. The Napoleonic Wars were coming to an end.
In Napoleon: Total War, gamers had the option to play as France in this key battle and, with it, change the outcome of history. Now, with the release of the Imperial Guard Pack, players have the option of commanding the allied army and condemning the pesky Frenchman to his exile once and for all. It was a challenge I found too hard to resist.
So here I stand, on the Brussels road, south of Waterloo. Most of my army is assembled on the reverse slope. There they will be relatively safe from Napoleon’s deadly artillery. The rest of my army is at Hougoumant on the right, with Jaegers hidden in the orchard. I also have units in the centre and on my left. It’s crucial I hold these armies; they will dictate the flow of battle.
Napoleon’s artillery is truly deadly, so I will do my best to stay out of their reach and neutralise them as quickly as possible. I’m hoping Prussian reinforcements arrive at some point, so if I can win the numbers battle until then I’ll be happy.
“Our men are running, sir!”
I’m not winning the numbers battle.
My rifles are starting to get chewed up by the advancing, deadly French fusiliers of line. They know it’s all or nothing and are advancing with great impetus. I order my rifles to occupy the nearby building, hoping to lure the French to my position. My defences are all set up around the ridge surrounding the house, so if Napoleon’s men are drawn to that location, they’re likely to take a pounding. Sadly, they’re not having any of it.
If this battle is going to be won, and if my men are to stand tall, then I need to take positive action. Sitting back and letting the French artillery have their way is going to be suicide – and I cannot simply rely on Blücher’s tired Prussian soldiers to come to my aid. I expect they’ll join the battle from the other side of the field, so their presence is unlikely to protect my front lines – if they even arrive at all.
I take the initiative. I group some of my cavalry under the leadership of the Earl of Uxbridge and order them to flank the advancing French fusiliers. Preoccupied with their advance, the French barely have time to turn face-on to my cavalry when they are hit hard. Their units immediately suffer a huge morale dent as my experienced troops send fusiliers flying through the air.
Having neutralised the threat of the fusiliers, I turn the Duke’s attention to Napoleon’s 8 and 12lber artillery. Onward they rush, and manage to deal some damage to the cannon. Napoleon responds by sending his lethal Dutch guard lancers to intercept the cavalry. Weakened by canister shot, my good Duke crumbles under the French attack.
The Duke has done well, though. He’s eliminated the fusilier advance and disabled two French artillery units.
Onward come the Dutch guard, and my defences must quickly adapt. I march my finest foot soldiers down the hill to face the oncoming French and form square as they begin their charge. Almost impenetrable to the cavalry, my foot soldiers hold firm. The Dutch lancers begin to rout and opportunity begins to knock.
“CHARGE!!!”
Not before Michel Ney himself starts his charge, however. His powerful cavalry unit makes short work of one of my scuttling line infantry units, which was desperately trying to reform after a heavy artillery bombardment. Bringing a unit of lethal Empress Dragoons alongside him, Ney moves up and turns his attention to my now-advancing foot soldiers.
I form square again, but not quite in time. Ney’s charge deals a great deal of damage to my men and they start looking like they might rout. I respond by bringing the Duke of Wellington himself into the fore. I hover over the inspire and rally buttons, eagerly awaiting the advance of Wellington’s general’s aura. Wellington reaches the front just in time, and my troops receive a huge morale boost, spurred on by the Duke’s presence.
As the rain begins to fall, the Prussians join the battle. It’s suddenly looking grim for the French, and Napoleon himself. Still, however, he comes. Using all of his remaining units, Napoleon charges the Prussians, leading the line personally.
Meanwhile, I recover any units I can to take out the remaining French artillery, which is still raining down terror on my lines.
Blücher prevails, Napoleon falls. As the general falls from his horse, I sense he knows his empire has fallen. What will become of him now is down to the top brass, but I’ve done my job and, after a long and hard battle, consider him defeated.
He was a man after all.
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Napoleon: Total War – Italian Campaign Diary
» Total War BlogThe mountains loom over the terrain.
Grey rocky slopes, newly green with the grass of spring.
The land is always watching.
A massive explosion reverberates around the stone, carrying from valley to valley. Then another. And another.
Huge chunks of rock rain from the slopes as the mountains themselves are shaken by cannon fire.
Dust and smoke drift through the pass carrying with it the screams of the dead and dying.
In the fading light of the day the dust brings with it silhouettes, shadows of men carrying one another, tripping and falling; dragging comrades to the safety of the valley.
The bloody mess of a man emerges from the dust, his face caked in grime. Thick crimson streaks scar his face; some of it is his own blood. A bandage has been haphazardly applied to his forehead; already it is crimson from his wounds.
His uniform is tattered and torn, his feet bare. He wears the blue and white colours of France but there is neither pride nor bravery in his expression. With a great effort he lifts himself and his rifle over a pile of rock and slides down the short, gentle slope the other side.
He comes to a rest and lets his rifle fall by his side. Others soon join him.
He closes his eyes and succumbs to exhaustion. His thoughts lead to home, to his village in the west. Would that he were there, not here. Anywhere but here.
Here is the northernmost tip of Italy, the land that bore the Roman Empire forth to crush the barbarians, the land that saw the armies of Caesar tame the world.
Here is the now forgotten war.
Looking to his left he sees a group of men huddled, trying to start a fire amidst the ash of the ground and the sparse vegetation of the Italian spring.
They can’t get the kindling to light and night is approaching. They look emaciated.
He has been here for too long. Fighting the enemies of the revolution, fighting for the ‘glory’ of France. And nobody in France even notices, nobody even cares. The war in Germany consumes the militaries resources and the nation’s attention. They are the forgotten few. The broken band that is the Armee d’Italie.
Another defeat like today’s at the hands of the joint Austrian-Piedmont force and this campaign will have no men left to fight it.
He hates the Austrians enough to know he will die here. To know he will die fighting them. The old order of France has been swept away and Europe’s kings, emperors and aristocrats fear it. They fear the great revolution that equalises all men and gives title to none other than those who earn it.
He had thought to earn his here.
To fight and win glory for the new world that France will create.
But looking now he is unsure. They have barely any men, and their commanders are no better than the aristocratic generals of old. Leading them into seemingly senseless blunders day after day. They simply hold. They go no further and retreat not a foot. They are content to die here.
Amongst these damned mountains.
There is a spark and he sees the men to his left smile as the first lick of flame begins their small fire.
Today sees the arrival of a new General, yet another erstwhile commander from Paris. A nobody who has nothing of himself, either in personal stature or indeed in renown.
“I heard he stopped the royalist revolts in the south.” Whispers one soldier as he warms his hands over the growing fire.
“Stories. He will arrive, do little, say much and abandon us.” Remarks another, cynically.
His hands are blackened from soot and grit as he extends them, palms out, to the fire.
“He doesn’t look like much of a soldier.” Sighs the first figure.
The fire pops loudly and sends an ember into the sky.
With that he turns from the group and looks to the tents that house the officers. They too are torn and in poor repair.
With effort he pulls himself to his feet, resting on his rifle to do so. He must command his small unit, what remains of it, and he needs information on the supply situation. If they cannot eat, they cannot fight.
He barely registers the pain in his feet as he steps over razor like stones and rocks. Walking in the fading light to the closest tent. Ready for more bad news and ill received words.
He coughs politely, then enters.
Before him is a man, short in stature, with his back to the entrance. He pours over a map of the position, identifying the Austrian cannon positions and asking questions of his officers.
He recognises Massena, much famed for his victory at Loano. He knows also Pierre Augereau. The officer peasant.
He stands straight as Augereau slams his fist onto the table and remarks in characteristically blunt terms that the situation here is dire.
Finally the remaining figure turns to face him.
He is momentarily lost for words. He is struck by some quiet confidence, by some, power.
There is something about him.
He stammers…“General, the men are injured, tired and unfed. We must withdraw to more fertile ground and find provision.”
The General regards him for a moment. A youthful, soft face with piercing eyes. Dark hair swept over his brow.
He feels like the man is looking into him, like he is somehow reading the fear and failure he portends.
“Stand straight.”
“I will see to it you are fed. And I will see to it we crush the Piedmont Austrian alliance on these very slopes.”
This young upstart from Paris looks at him flatly as he delivers the words.
It is at that moment that he realises. This General really believes he can do it. He honestly believes he can drive the mighty Austrian army from the very doorstep of southern France.
He feels something he hasn’t in a long time. Hope.
This man can do it. This man can actually change things here.
“Go and tell your men to be ready to assemble, for I will inspect the army, I will feed it, and then we will engage our enemies and defeat them utterly.”
The General turns back toward the map, ready to move the first of his armies against the first of his nation’s foes.
History is about to be written.
“You will not die here soldier. You will be born here.”
The officer takes a step back, regarding the generals back as he does so.
“I am General Napoleon Bonaparte. And I will lead you.”
The war for Italy has begun.
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Why Napoleon? – By Mike Simpson
» Total War BlogWhen we were making Empire: Total War we wanted the flow of the game to broadly match the flow of history. The idea was that the European powers start off in a relatively stable situation where major warfare in continental Europe is very expensive, very unpopular, and for the major powers generally a bad thing. There is much more fertile ground abroad, and so the major powers export their rivalry and conflict to the new world and India. As the century continues the major powers grow richer and more powerful, and they divide the world up between them. By the end of the century there is nowhere left to go, and the focus return to Europe for a grand denouement. In real life, this began the Napoleonic Wars.
Empire: Total War does try to steer things in this direction with variable success. Even when it all works out perfectly, what we would really like to have happen – something that is recognizably the Napoleonic wars – is just not feasible.
Firstly the timescale is not ideal – the Napoleonic wars were fought over a relatively few years. We could probably have coped with that though.
Secondly, by the time the player has played a couple of hundred turns and got to the starting line for the denouement wars, his game world will have diverged from history so much that anything remotely resembling the Napoleonic wars is very unlikely. But we could probably have worked out a way round that too, maybe even without putting the game in to such a tight straightjacket that it would cease to be a game.
But thirdly and most importantly, the level of detail required to successfully depict the Napoleonic wars is an order of magnitude greater than we were working to with Empire: Total War. The period was documented in great detail, and that detail is readily available and widely consumed. Fans of the period would be disappointed if we failed to delve in to that detail. And I am one of those fans. I started Napoleonic table top war gaming when I was a teenager in the 70’s. I also had the great pleasure of working on Peter Turcan’s “Waterloo” series of games at Mirrorsoft in the late 80’s. It’s taken another 20 years to get back to this era, and I wanted to do it properly.
So that’s what we’re doing. There is more than enough material in the Napoleonic wars to sustain a TW game, and Empire: Total War provides the perfect platform to build it on. With a tight feature set and all the tech working before we start we can focus on making the game as close to perfect as we possibly can on day one.
So what exactly is Napoleon? A full Total War release? An expansion pack?
You don’t need to have Empire to play Napoleon. In comparison, we’ve put about 4 times as much effort in to it as we did for BI. The vast majority of the content is completely new. Some of the battlefield buildings and textures are the same as is some text – no reason to change them – but all the other graphics and data is new.
Code wise all areas of the game have advanced from Empire, there are a fair number of new or changed features, and the game has the same kind of twists to the gameplay that we’ve done to make it play quite differently. The character focus also gives it quite a different feel. And of course by keeping the historical scope reasonably limited we’ve made sure we deliver better quality code on day 1.
Overall, to seasoned Empire players it’s a huge new experience and step up in quality. It should be fresh and different and interesting enough to hold their attention for many, many hours. To anyone who hasn’t played its predecessors, Napoleon is the best TW we’ve made, and a great way to get in to the series. Everyone wins.
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Battle AI – By Mike Simpson
» Total War BlogJust before the end of Empire the lead Battle AI programmer left CA to return to his family up north. Unfortunately, thanks to Mr Wilberforce’s efforts 200 years ago we couldn’t stop him. It left us with a battle AI, which at that stage, struggled to beat good players in a fair fight, and was pretty much at the mercy of great players, even with a level of handicap (I call it cheating) that is all too obvious.
Since then we’ve had our most talented programmers pick up where he left off, but becoming the master of a chunk of code that took almost three years to write is not an instant thing. In the updates so far we’ve got rid of some of the worst behaviours that are close to the surface, and have started to tackle deeper issues like unstable decision loops that cause the AI to mill around rather than hold its line and fire. We’re also starting to add new behaviours, for example taking better advantage of hilly terrain. These improvements take the code further than we’ve been able before and will be there for Napoleon but we’re not sure yet whether we’ll be able to reverse them back in to Empire in a future update – the code has moved on. If we can we will.
Our overall aim with the improvements is first to get rid of any erratic behaviour, second to improve general performance to the point where the obvious handicaps can be removed, and then to add a greater variety of ’smart’ behaviours. None of these have a fixed finish line – it’s a process of continual improvement, and each game will get AI better than the last one. Including Napoleon.
Progress is frustratingly slow but thankfully rewriting the Rome: Total War codebase has left us with a clean codebase that is easier to work on, and an architecture that has way more potential than Rome’s. The main difference is the shift to a goal oriented planning system rather than a static system that has no long term plans. This has yet to fully pay off. But it will. When it does I’ll talk about it again.
Battle AI is not rocket science – its way, way harder than that. It’s so difficult that very few strategy games attempt it. Most use simple scripts of canned behaviour that fire when you bump in to them, and very simple swarming behaviours. They’re limited, and are “gamey” rather than real world. What I mean by that is that the tactics you use to beat them are something that you have to learn for each game or sometimes each scenario/level, and bear no relation to reality. What we strive for is a game where real world tactics actually work. It’s not the easiest path to take, but it is the most rewarding.
If you’re a genius C++ programmer, you understand exactly how difficult this problem is, but still think it’s the most interesting code problem in the world, apply for a job. We’ll find space for you.
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Who is this game for anyway? – By Mike Simpson
» Total War BlogOur guiding principle with design is that we make the game we want to play, and trust that other people will like it. That inevitably means we make the TW games for the hardcore fans rather than for the more casual gamers that are possibly the majority of our customers. We believe that if we succeed in making a game that the fans like it will by definition be a great game, and the because of its quality casual players will like it too, so long as we make it accessible. We need both groups (casual and hardcore) to get enough money in to allow us to keep making the games, so one of the tightropes we walk is the balance between accessibility and depth. Great design manages both, and that’s what we strive for (occasionally successfully!).
We do however also have another customer who we make the game for, and in one particular way they are the most important of all. It’s our publisher, who is driven by the grim necessity of commercial reality. Those necessities tend to be short term compared with the dev time of a game or the lifetime of a series. They are also necessities that we cannot ignore – if we do it’s Game Over. Empire: Total War happened the only way it could – it had to be in a box in Feb 09. Damned stressful for all concerned, but it’s so much a fact of life it’s almost not worth talking about.
I think some people think that when “commercial reality” wins, they lose. If the car parks at Sega or CA were full of Ferraris, I might agree. But they are not. When “commercial reality” wins, we live to make another game.
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Blog the Second – by Mike Simpson
» Total War BlogOne common complaint we get from the community is that so long as there are defects in Empire: Total War, we shouldn’t be working on any new products. If there was just one of us, or all of us could work on any issue that would make sense. As it is, we’ve had Empire: Total War patch work as the top priority for everyone. The campaign AI team has worked on nothing else at all since release. The other programmers have dealt with their patch issues before moving on, and get dragged back to them if they resurface. Most of the content team have not been able to help with patches – artists and designers can’t code and most issues are code issues – and have moved on to new stuff.
Patch 1.5 has just been released. This is the last planned major patch for Empire: Total War, and attempts to sweep up the remaining AI issues that for the hardcore gamer take the shine off of the Empire apple. The previous patches have dealt with the most common crashes and tidied up a lot of bugs, and 1.4 dealt with a lot of the AI issues. What is left at this point are a few minor issues spread around the game, and the last big campaign AI problem – the aggression level.
Battle and campaign AI are completely different systems and teams. I’ll talk about battle AI another time. The Empire campaign AI has been way too passive for me, and the community pretty unanimously shares that view, so it’s not something I need to explain. It is however interesting that a good proportion of the more casual gamers – and they are probably more than half our customers – actually like the AI to be fairly passive. The US casual gamer in particular likes a more sandbox-like experience, where he can make and execute long term plans and not have them constantly disrupted by an aggressive AI. This is a play style thing rather than a level of difficulty thing – they still want a challenge, but they want it to be their game, not the AI’s.
Making a passive AI may have sold us lots more games in the US, but it wasn’t intentional. Maybe we’ll have a play style setting in the future, but for now our intention is to challenge the player with an AI that is as aggressive and varied as human players would be.
So it is campaign AI that was the main focus for 1.4, and that I think we’ve finally got sorted out on 1.5. It’s worth talking a bit about how we ended up with an AI that didn’t have the play style we intended on release, and has taken 6 more months work to get there. The short answer is an excess of ambition.
This AI is not like any other we have written. It’s a beliefs – desires – intentions based planning system, and it’s also by far the most complex code edifice I’ve ever seen in a game. I wrote much of the campaign AI for Shogun and Medieval I (Ah… those were the days…) and I know that even quite simple “static” evaluate-act AI’s with no plans or memory can be complex enough to exhibit chaotic behaviour (we’re talking about mathematical “butterfly effect” style chaos here). It does what it does, and it’s not quite what you intended. This can be a good thing – you cull out the bad behaviours and are left with just what is good, and with a simple system that’s not too predictable.
Well, the Empire AI is way more complicated than any of our previous products, but the team is bigger and has more talent that we had in my day – PhD’s, and coders sharper than a box of razor blades. It’s a V12 supercar compared with Shogun’s 50cc moped. When it’s firing on all cylinders, it will be way, way ahead of anything we’ve seen in any PC strategy game before. It thinks about everything. It thinks of everything, it plots and it plans. As we approached release, bringing more subsystems on line, it was looking amazingly good, but at some point the level of chaos reached a tipping point and we lost control. Our AI did a “HAL” on us and gained the AI equivalent of multiple personality disorder. The net result is an AI that plans furiously and brilliantly and long term, but disagrees with itself chronically and often ends up paralysed by indecision.
We’ve had it on the coder’s couch for 6 months now, and it’s finally feeling better. It’s more aggressive, it uses naval invasions, and it doesn’t dither much more than most humans I know. It should now be well ahead of Rome/Med II’s AI, but it’s still only firing on two or three cylinders and had much untapped potential.
One thing I am sure about – I don’t regret having the ambition that led to this. This AI will I think astound in the long term, but I am gutted that we didn’t get the AI we wanted for the hardcore fans on day 1.
I had 6 copies of Empire: Total War sat on my shelf intended for close gamer friends that I didn’t send out because I was too embarrassed about the flaws. Old friends are the harshest critics. Well they’ve gone out now. I think the game now meets my personal unreasonably high quality threshold – not just good but great. Hopefully my friends will agree.
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Blogging for Quality – by Mike Simpson
» Total War BlogWell, I’ve finally given in and decided to start blogging. It’s something I’ve tried to resist over the years. I’ve also not posted directly on the forums, and it’s mainly because it takes so much time. Many of the issues discussed on the forums are deep and complex, and the arguments well put and compelling. Writing considered and persuasive responses that really deal with the issue is time consuming, and that is time I can’t spend working on the games.
So it’s a choice – fix stuff, or talk about fixing stuff. Seems like a no-brainer, but things have changed. I can now add more quality to the games by talking to the community than I can by fixing issues.
Quite simply, the quality of what we produce depends directly on how much we get to spend on developing them. How much we spend depends directly on how many people buy the games. The user feedback on sites like IGN directly impacts sales, and that impacts how positively our publisher views the future of Total War, which determines how much we get to spend on the games.
Normally it’s a virtuous circle, and that’s allowed us to be very ambitious with what we try to deliver. We were not entirely happy with the state of Empire: Total War when it went out, and are only now getting to a point where we are broadly speaking happy with the game. Our own threshold for how we’d like the game to be is much higher than the commercial threshold required by our publisher. We are, like our community, hardcore fans of our own products, and any imperfections drive us nuts.
With Empire: Total War, the virtuous circle turned a little vicious. The community used user ratings and user comments on sites like IGN and Metacritic to highlight weaknesses in the game, to try to encourage us to fix existing issues before working on anything new.
I’m not saying that we didn’t deserve to have a fair number of verbal bricks thrown our way.
However overdoing the criticism (For example I think a 67% user score on Metacritic is unfair), has the opposite effect to what is intended. Gamers (and reviewers. retailers, marketeers and publishing execs) will be put off Total War. That could mean fewer sales and less money to spend on adding quality to the games.
And so I find myself blogging. The aim is twofold. Firstly, I want to explain why we do the things we do, and also a little more detail about what we’re spending our time (and your money) on. That should give the community a much better starting point for discussing issues. Secondly, I want to prove we listen to the community by directly addressing the big issues. I’ll be as honest as I can be without getting sued or fired.
Anyway, I started this by saying I’d rather be fixing the game than talking about it. That’s true, but talking about it is a pretty good second best. I’ll start with the 1.5 patch and AI on the next update, and then go on to talk about Napoleon – what it is, why it’s the size it is, how that affects the price.
Mike Simpson
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Update 1.4 features list
» Total War BlogHi everyone, please find below the features for the forthcoming 1.4 update to Empire: Total War.
The focus for the update has been AI, both campaign and battle along with improvements to sieges and the naval rebalancing. A lot of work has been put into the campaign and diplomacy AI, focusing on how it wages war, makes alliances and peace as well as use of naval invasions. Battle side improvements have been made to most areas of the AI with the focus on the siege AI which has had major changes made to it. Sieges have also had a lot of work done on them with a lot of bugs fixed, improvements made to pathfinding and how guns and troops on walls work.
Below is a list of some of the fixes that will be in 1.4:
- Fix for auto unlimbering causing the attack order to terminate prematurely resulting in an inability to stop the unit from firing.
- Fix for troops on fort walls not using fort gun range when judging when to fire on enemy troops.
- Fix for fort guns using wrong targeting formula.
- Fixes to fort pathfinding and use of ropes.
- Multiplayer soft lock fixes.
- Fix crash in quotes table.
- Improved AI diplomacy.
- Cumulative updates to improve AI invasion behaviour.
- Added tooltips for alliance button in diplomacy.
- Bug fixes and improvements to AI counter offers.
- Improvements to AI diplomatic valuation of military access and alliances.
- Fix for wind sounds not working in naval battles
- Fixed ship wakes not always working.
- Fixed disembarking subsets of armies and agents from navies.
- Fixed potential crash disembarking agents from navies.
- Fixed armies not being booted out of regions when losing military access gained by joining an ally in war.
- Improved AI diplomacy valuation of technologies.
- Fix for bug where general’s unit for an upper class rebellion was coming from the region owning faction rather than the faction rebelling, even if a suitable unit was available – eg, Cherokee owning a region that rebels to American Rebels, the general’s unit was a Native American chief.
- Fixed reinforcements from unreachable positions.
- Fixed bug preventing disembarking.
- Balance of power fix for attack of opportunity.
- Fixed bug that was causing issues with embarking an army containing multiple characters.
- Minor tweak to stop some ship sails endlessly play furling sound.
- Fixed path blocked bug.
- Diplomacy counter-offer improvements.
- Fix for fast forward not working as intended on some PCs. Will always speed up if camera is still, if camera moves fast forward will be as fast as possible on each PC. -
Update 1.3 Features List
» Total War BlogHi guys,
Update 1.3 will be released for Empire: Total War on 22nd June 2009. Ahead of its release, here are the major features coming to the update:
We’ve worked on implementing the multi-threading in the game for multi-core processors and made many optimisations that will also help increase performance on single core machines.
Players will see huge benefits through increased frame rates particularly in land and naval battles.
14 Free Units have been included in this patch, adding a large amount of diversity to the playable factions and the armies the player will face. These units replace ‘generic’ equivalents giving each faction a unique identity on the battlefield. Here is a description of each free unit available in the update:
Prussian Grenadiers
Wearing a distinctive brass fronted mitre cap, the Prussian Grenadiers are an explosive force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
Spanish Guardias de infateria
These elite guard infantry are charged with protecting the monarch and are a potent force on the battlefield.
Swedish lifeguard horse
This cavalry regiment forms part of the monarchs’ household guard. Superbly drilled, they act as a shock force on the battlefield.
Holland Horse Guard
Armed with heavy cavalry sabres, these disciplined cavalrymen represent the elite of the army.
Prussian Garde Du Corp
The Prussian Garde Du Corp are a replacement for the Prussian standard Household cavalry. These heavy horse shock troops are best used to break enemy lines and overrun enemy positions. With a strong charge and fearsome attack, these riders make short work of those who would oppose a Prussian monarch.
Prussian Life guard
The Prussian life guards are equipped similarly to line infantrymen. However their uniforms are altogether more splendid, marking them out as a superior force, in arrogance if nothing else. They do a good job as garrison troops and are dedicated to the crown.
Russian Grenadiers
This new Russian unit is great for assaults and their grenades pack a mighty punch!
Spanish Guardias De Corp
The Spanish Guardias De Corp replace household cavalry for Spain. With almost unbreakable morale, on the charge they are almost unstoppable.
Spanish Grenadiers
These are a replacement for the standard Spanish Grenadiers with a distinctive bearskin hat to mark them out as exemplary on the battlefield.
Swedish ‘Lifeguards of foot’
These are a highly trained replacement for the standard Swedish guard. They are often used as a force in a system that defends a monarchy and can be relied upon for utter loyalty and deadly accuracy in the field. Their professionalism is reflected in their fearsome battle reputation.
Holland Guard
The Holland Guards from the United Provinces are superior line infantry units. Carrying smoothbore muskets, they were traditionally chosen to protect the royal family and have an incredibly high morale, often making them the last troops to break in a fight.
Scots
The Scots are a Highland ex-patriate infantry used by the United Provinces, renowned for their deadly charge.
Swiss Infantry
Very disciplined infantry of the United Provinces with quick reload and excellent marksmanship.
Mamelukes
Mamelukes are fearless light horsemen, deadly when deployed against a broken or unsupported enemy.
Additionally the Spanish nation has had a new uniform design to better reflect its historical look.
Audio:
Sound loading has been made asynchronous, so heavy disc access is reduced to a minimum. This makes loading times faster and reduces any instances of ’stuttering’. Unit group sounds have also been improved, for more realistic group movement. The primary sound library (Miles DLL) has been updated to stop occasional clicking. And we’ve added more sound variation for unit deaths and musket fire.
Campaign:
- Several crash bug fixes in saves, movement, agents and logic.
- Various optimisations have been made to AI and path systems to reduce the campaign map turn times.
- When the pirates are destroyed and re-emerge they now maintain a status of at war with all and are unable to enter into diplomatic negotiations.
- Added small ships on domestic trade routes from the trade nodes to home regions moving in the correct direction, i.e. with the flow of trade.
- The AI should now no longer repeatedly sign a diplomatic agreement and then break it the next turn. Treaties are more valuable and adhered to.
- We’ve fixed some border trade agreements allowing greater numbers of bordering factions to properly trade with one another.
- Movement arrows now reflect the range of the selected units, not the whole army/navy.
- AI will no longer counter-offer and ask for more money than the player has available.
- Fixed commerce raiding taking money from blockaded trade routes.
- Fixed navies getting stuck when forced to retreat from ports (tactial retreat).
- Fixed rare inability to attack certain ports.
- Fixed middle mouse button camera drag stopping working occasionally.
- Made emergent factions be at war with the faction they emerged against if that faction is human.
- Fixed various movement extent crashes.
- Changed background income for minor factions.
- Fixed diplomatic relations with emergent factions.
- Tactical withdrawal will now always leave armies on the landmass containing the settlement of a region.
- Changed war score system to make the AI more likely to accept peace.
- Fixed crash when embarking and disembarking armies at ports.
- Fixed trade ships not being correctly registered in trade nodes after splitting forces.
- Fixed government change diplomatic effect.
- Improved commerce raiding display on trade screen.
- Faction specific text is now used in diplomacy.
- Prevent players cancelling the movement of fleeing agents.
Balance changes
Units
- Charge bonus generally increased across the board for all units and melee defence reduced.
- Greater diversification of stats between different unit types designed to emphasise differences and improve balance.
- Redone costs for all units for multiplayer to improve game balance which better reflects the actual battlefield worth of each unit.
- Mob formation added in for Native American, irregular and some skirmisher units.
- Spot distance for light infantry, skirmishers, irregulars, light cavalry and missile cavalry increased allowing them to spot hidden units at longer distances.
- Russian line infantry stats have been boosted to allow them to compete more with other faction’s line infantry.
- Movement speed of all unit types reduced by 10%.
- Ammo for light infantry increased to 20, line to 15.
Land battle morale
- Charge morale bonus reduced from 10 to 4.
- Recent casualties, extended casualties and total casualties morale penalties increased slightly for higher percentages.
- Rear and flank exposed morale penalties increased.
Fatigue
- Fatigue penalty for melee reduced from 18 per tick to 10.
- Running fatigue penalty for heavy and light cavalry reduced from -3/-2 to -2/-1.
Artillery Changes
- Calibration area for cannons and howitzers reduced. Accuracy of non-round shot shot types reduced to compensate.
- Muzzle velocity of round shot for cannons increased to make them fire lower and bounce more, accuracy also increased.
- Lethality of shrapnel pieces reduced to match canister shot, range also reduced to 350.
- Load time for special shot types for howitzers increased slightly, and range reduced to 350.
- Calibration area for mortars increased, accuracy of round shot increased to compensate. Reload time increased slightly.
- Accuracy of 18 lbr horse guard artillery restored to 65.
Hit points of gun trains increased to 50, all guns and caissons to 25.
Thanks,
Mark O’Connell
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Empire: Total War Strategy Guide!
» Total War BlogHi guys,
To help you in your quest for world domination, the Empire: Total War team has put together a list of tips to give you the upper hand in battle!
Naval Battles
Maintain station! - Grouped ships will try to maintain relative positions and follow the lead ship around. So, if you group your ships in a line they will then move in a line around the map.
Fire! - The stern is the weakest part of the ship, so concentrating fire on this weak spot will deal the greatest damage to an enemy ship. But conversely, this is the weakest point on your own ship and must be protected at all times.
Chain Shot! - Using Chain shot to take out the sails of the first ship in an enemy line will slow down the whole line as they regroup.
Beware the Broadside! - Try to keep your fleet to the stern or the bow of enemy ships, all their fire power rests in their broadsides.
Boarding! - Don’t board a ship until you are absolutely sure that it is no longer a threat. Also, make sure that you have taken care of any other threats from the enemy before beginning the boarding process.
Concentrate Fire! - By holding down the Alt key and clicking on an enemy ship you can order any ships you currently have selected to concentrate all their fire on that one ship.
Divide and Conquer! - When commanding a large naval force it is advisable to split it into three separate groups; one to approach the enemy fleet’s port side, one to approach from starboard and a third to cover any gaps which may appear.
Stay upwind! - Always try to keep your ships upwind of the enemy. It will give you the upper-hand and allow you to maneuver into position much quicker than your enemy.
A Whiff of Grapeshot! - After dealing some damage to an enemy ship’s hull with regular shot, draw in close and use grapeshot for maximum damage. The holes created in the hull expose the crew to incoming fire.
Lay alongside! - When firing grape shot, line your ship no more than a ship’s width away from the enemy hull. This will allow the shot to spread effectively and dispatch the maximum amount of enemy troops.
Come about! - When using line astern make a conscious effort to turn ships around periodically, in an attempt to distribute hull damage equally. If one side is allowed to take the bulk of the damage, the ship will go down.
Land Battles
As one! - When you group units they remember the relative position of each other so, when you give them a move order, they will reform in the same positions at your chosen destination This, in combination with the new rotate/move buttons on the HUD, allows you to quickly and easily move groups and even to break off parts of a formation into a new group.
At Ease! – Hitting the enter key deselects all the troops you currently have selected.
Flanking Fire! - Forming a horseshoe around enemy units will give your men maximum coverage and increase enemy casualties. Positioning Light infantry in trees to the left and right of your main force will give them the opportunity to get a couple of rounds off before the enemy even knows they’re there.
Form Line! - Drawing your men out into long thin lines will increase the area of battlefield covered by their field of fire. So, no matter where the enemy comes from you will have men covering it (unless they outflank you!)
Deploy defenses! – When defending an area which has limited routes in and out, it is often best to deploy chevaux de frise, followed by a line of earth works. This will protect your army from cavalry and infantry and create an easily defendable position.
Hold it! Hold it! FIRE! - Canister shot is an excellent shot type to use in close range combat. Taking your cannons off fire at will when this shot type is selected will allow you to hold your men until the last minute and release the canister shot just as the enemy reaches you for maximum effect.
To the last man! - When presented with the choice to end the battle or continue, it is often better to continue and wipe out the entire army to prevent them reappearing on the campaign map. Cavalry are particularly effective in this mopping up role.
Skirmishers! - When confronted by a complex enemy formation use Light Infantry to lure enemy units out. Once this is achieved, your light infantry can skirmish away from the attackers, leaving supporting units to deal with them piecemeal.
To me men! - If your men are losing their resolve and routing from the field, send your General and his Bodyguard unit to boast their moral and bring them back to the cause.
Dig in! - Earthworks are particularly effective against an enemy which is heavy on Line Infantry. Your men will be safer from the barrage of bullets.
Dragoons! Flanking Manoeuvre! - Dragoons provide an excellent opportunity to outflank an enemy. Ride your dragoons around the back of the enemy and once there, dismount and begin firing into his rear.
Take Cover! - Deploying your men behind walls will provide essential cover from enemy bullets.
Form Square! - Square formation is particularly effective against Dragoons and other cavalry units.
Cannon fodder - If you’re willing to lose men for the greater good, send your militia or a similar unit down the centre of a battlefield to draw enemy fire. Then bring your better troops around the sides to deal a devastating blow to the enemy front ranks whilst they’re engaged.
The General has fallen! - Killing an enemy general will decrease the moral of any remaining troops, making them more likely to rout.
Up close and personal - Press the Insert key with a unit selected to get a first-person view of the battlefield!
Campaign Map
Raiding trade routes - Raiding an enemies’ trade route will cripple their economy. If a trade route is shared by an enemy and an ally you will only raid enemy ships and never those of your allies or countries you are not at war with.
Foreign policy - If your Rake succeeds in an act of sabotage, the faction you attack will automatically blame their greatest enemy and the relationship between those two nations will suffer as a result.
Clamor for reform - Enlightenment technologies naturally lead to a more enlightened populace. However, an enlightened people often chafe against the bonds of their lot in life, leading to unrest. In order to restore order in regions affected by such dissatisfaction it may be necessary to increase your military presence, or even destroy educational buildings.
A nation of Trenchermen - Not using a character to his full potential will result in them gaining a negative trait. If you have a 9 star general but leave him to fester in some back water province he will gather negative traits and slowly slide into obscurity. Making sure your best generals and agents are in constant use will see them improve and result in a much more effective character.
Money makes the world go round - So, when offering any diplomatic proposals, sweeten the deal with a little cash incentive.
History repeats itself - Saving your campaign before beginning a battle will allow you to replay the battle, should you be displeased by the outcome. It also gives you the opportunity to try out a variety of tactics on the same battlefield to discover what works best for you.
Quick reference – For those wondering what happened to double right-click zoom-to camera functionality, this has now moved to double mouse-wheel-click.
White gold - Trade is an essential aspect of a successful campaign. By sending trade ships to the various trade theaters around the world you will significantly increase your country’s economy. The best strategy to adopt in relation to trade theaters, is monopolization. It is much better to have a single ship in each of the Trade Posts in a theater, rather than having three ships on a single post.
Thanks,
Mark O’Connell
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Update 1.2 Released!
» Total War BlogHi guys,
Update 1.2 for Empire: Total War is available to download now via Steam. Below is a list of all the major fixes included with the release.
CRASH FIXES
- Fixed crash when disbanding generals unit.
- Fix for crash on trying to merge ships from port into ships next to port.
- Fixed rare crash relating to boarding.
- Fixed crash to do with reinforcing armies.
- Fixed crash on revolution video attempting to play.
- Fixed crash for double clicking on sinking ship on campaign map.
- Fix for crash on merging units but moving into fort before army arrives.
- Fixed several crashes related to rakes.
- Fixed crashes relating to battles when running Czech or German versions of the game.
- Fixed crash on moving army into region of faction player has military access and then cancelling military access.
- Fixed crash on trying to exchange ships between 2 fleets.
- Fixed crash on spamming move orders to puckle guns locked in melee combat.
- Fixed hard lock on inviting host to their own MP game.
- Fix to prevent loading of mod causing crash post patch.
- Various end turn crash bugs fixed.
- Fixes to crash bugs relating to completion of revolutions.
- Some fixes relating to merging and disbanding.
- Fix for several crashes in land battles.
- Several crashes relating to attacking cities fixed.
- Several load save game crashes fixed.CAMPAIGN
- Armies now placed correctly on battlefields in relation to campaign.
- Fix for nearby ships sometimes not being included as reinforcements for battles.
- Fix for incorrect numbers sometimes showing on trade routes.
- Units with limits on how many can be recruited now show how many are available.
- Various fixes relating to rakes and infiltrating.
- Fixes relating to problems moving armies/merging into army’s right next to settlements.
- Various trade bug fixes.
- Fix for moving agent from settlement moving army instead of agent.
- Fix for several bugs relating to military access and armies being in regions.
- Fix for tattered flags appearing on fleet/armies even when at full strength/fully repaired.
- Fix for sallying out armies breaking siege at times even when losing the battle.
- Fix for bugs relating to capturing ships on returning to campaign map from naval battle.LAND BATTLE
- Improvements to path finding have been made.
- Some fixes to units not garrisoning buildings.
- Fort gate ownership made clearer with faction flags appearing at the gatehouse.
- Fix for problem relating to artillery unlimbering after being ordered to limber.
- Fix for puckle guns moving on their own in some circumstances.
- Fix for big slowdown in unit movement on some battle maps in the Road to Independence episodes.
- Fix for missile cavalry not reloading when out of combat.
- Jaegers now have muskets instead of incorrect rifles, Prussian Jaegers keep rifles.
- Quebec episodic land battle fixed ground type in deployment area
- Fix for unrealistic numbers when ending a land battle by quitting on the battle results screen.NAVAL BATTLE
- Several fixes for ships clipping into each other.
- Improvements to boarding have been made. Crew is more fluid in attack and more resolute in defence. Men survive long fall and officers join in the boarding attack.
- Crew uniforms improved to make identification of the crew type and faction easier.
- Defending ship is not allowed to fire cannons anymore during boarding procedure.
- Improved naval grouping UI and group movement made.
- Improvements made to ship collisions to reduce chance of ships getting stuck.
- Fix for sail damage not being shown when volumetric effects turned on.MULTIPLAYER
- Various fixes for joining games/game lobby issues.
- Fixes for problems relating to spectators being kicked/locking up on other players joining games in certain instances.
- Long riflemen and winged hussars removed from early era battles.
- Fix for insufficient funds always showing on unit cards even when enough money is available.
- Player name is now displayed on unit tooltips.
- Team chat is now displayed in a different colour.AI
- Basic fix for AI being unable to move army by fleet.
- Aggression of factions in campaign improved, as well as tweaks to diplomacy.
- Improvements to campaign AI relating to its waging of wars, recruitment and movement of armies.
- Improvements made to battle AI to make it more reactive, use buildings better as well as squares and rakes.
- Siege battle AI improvements made.
- Improvements to naval AI to make it bunch up less, its use of galleys and long range units such as bomb ketches.MISCELLANEOUS
- Delete save game button added to save game list.
- View replays button added to single player Play Battle menu.
- Various sound fixes and improvements.
- Various incorrect text messages fixed.
- Fixes to various graphical glitches with display of walls.
- Fixes made for stuttering videos.
- Fix for several game option settings not being saved correctly, including settings such as floating flags.
- Fix for unit voices/attack confirmation being heard for all units in an alliance instead of just for the player’s army.
- Armour and shield values are now added into melee defence value shown on unit cards.
- Lots of other small and minor bug fixes.BALANCING
- Land unit recruitment cost in campaign has been increased, with higher cost on higher difficulty level.
- Ship recruitment and upkeep costs have been increased in campaign.
- Various balancing and cost adjustments to improve multiplayer land battle balance.
- Ship costing improvements made for both campaign and multiplayer.
- Economic tweaks have been made to campaign to reduce amount of money made in later part of campaign.EXTRA NOTE:
- We are aware of an issue with community created maps that results in a crash when someone without the map tries to join the game. This crash will be fixed in the next patch.
- Further work is being done on improving AI Naval invasion behaviour and this will be included in the next upgrade patch.
- Please also note that this update is save game compatible but you should start a new game to see all of the benefits.Many thanks,
Mark O’Connell
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The Music of Empire: Total War
» Total War BlogHi guys,
We recently had the chance to interview Richard Beddow at The Creative Assembly to find out more about the music of Empire: Total War!
Q: When did the composing for Empire start?
Composing stated in the summer of 2008 and was completed towards the end of November in time for us to meet the deadlines to record our score live with the orchestra.
Q: What were the main challenges in the music production for Empire?
We approached the music in a somewhat ‘Hollywood’ fashion, that is, we decided early on to feature orchestra, have an epic cinematic score to really get across the sense of size and scale of a game as large as Empire and to support the battles with the necessary level of might within the music. So, with that in mind the most important thing then lay in getting these qualities in to all the music including those of the other cultures. While this is fine for western sounding music, it can be more tricky to get the right level of fusion when dealing with other cultures, for instance fusing western orchestral music with eastern instruments and scales and still maintaining the overall drive and sound that we’re after from the music. It was important to incorporate as much ethnic material as possible to give the right cultural flavour but while still retaining the orchestral and ‘Hollywood’ feel.
The above approach was applied to each music track and once these were complete the next challenge was to prepare all the music from the MIDI mock-ups in to a format for us to record the music with a live orchestra. Prepared MIDI files were created and then sent to the orchestrator in order to get the printed parts ready for the musicians.
Q: During the composing process do you write to in-game footage, FMV or storyboards?
A combination. The in-game footage helps to give you a sense of the games atmosphere and also allows you to try your music against the visuals to perfect the style. The storyboards were used essentially for the movie sequences in the game, mostly for the Road To Independance missions. The graphics and final renders for these movies were not complete when we needed to start the composing process, so due to the fact that we had internal deadlines and those with the orchestra and I needed to approve the music as soon as possible, get it to our orchestrator and printed before the recording, so we had to use static storyboard movies with placeholder voice over to write the music to. Far from ideal but doable. The shorter movie sequences such as the win and lose movies were almost fully complete visually so these were used to compose to in their case.
Q: What are the main differences between writing music for cutscenes and writing for the in game battles and what are the challenges faced with each?
Well, the cutscenes are miniature movies so we’ll obtain digital videos or storyboards as mentioned above and write to them as if its a film. We’ll contour the tempo, dynamics and melodic shape to fit perfectly to the onscreen drama. With in-game music, you obviously have no ‘locked’ visuals to synchronize the music to as it is constantly changing, so effectively what you end up writing is music that gives a mood for the battle but is not restricted by the visuals. Additionally with in-game music, due to the amount of repetition the music will undergo you have to play it a little safer in terms of how melodic you make it as the more thematic you make the material the more chance it has of grating on the end user over extended play. With the cutscenes, they will be viewed only once in a while or maybe only once so you can be very thematic but you have to keep in mind fitting it to the dialogue if it is present and not overpowering it. Much in-game music also has to be designed to loop, for instance battle music. We have to make sure that the material in the printed score around the looping areas works both musically and in terms of dynamics to get a smooth match when it loops. Other than that, we will actually want to create as much unity as possible with material used in-game with that in the cutscenes so where possible we will re-use or adapt our themes/styles where appropriate.
Q: Where do you being the composing process with a project as large as Empire?
Before we can start the composing process we need to know where music will feature in the game, what styles we’ll require and how and when they will be played in the game. So we simply start by answering those questions.
The basic idea for the campaign music looked back to how music was used in the original Total War game Shogun. In Shogun, campaign music was almost used as a sound effect, providing flourishes of musical colour on various oriental instruments, effectively small melodic music phrases or effects. This approach allowed plenty of breathing space when playing on the campaign map which could literally last days. In those types of circumstances the last thing you want is a looping background track to irritate the player. The Shogun approach allowed music to be used in an almost relaxing and calming manner. So, for Empire we decided to revisit the method used in Shogun and expand upon it a little. Firstly, as Empire is a game which stretches across continents not just Japan we had to look to record instruments which covered all the core cultures featured in the game – in essences instruments to represent Western, Indian, Arabic and Tribal cultures. Secondly we would look to record all of the instruments live to maintain a consistently high listening experience. Thirdly we would develop a playback system in the game that would not only play music from the appropriate culture when you position the camera over the part of the map that the culture originates but would also pick at random phrases of music to play for that culture in order to keep the listening experience interesting. For instance you could position the camera over an Arabic settlement and you could be listening to the haunting melodies of a Duduk, then shortly followed by phrases performed on a Lauto.
Recording all of this material provided us with approx. 70 minutes of material just for the campaign map alone.
The other large area of game play is the in-game battles, which in the case of Empire are featured on both land and sea. This area of the game requires a lot of music too, in the order of 60 mins. Much like in the campaign the music was divided in to the same cultural sets with a slight addition in that naval battles have their own music styles to differentiate them from the other music.
The basic idea with the music system for the battles is that when a battle is initiated on the campaign map, depending where you initiate the battle in the world, the music that will play during the battle will be based on the originating culture for that area i.e. if you start a battle in London you will hear Western battle music. Each actual battle consists of two pieces of music, the deployment (or tension) music and the battle (or attack) music. As you start to deploy your army the tension music will start, it will continue until the game detects that the battle state has been initiated. Once this state is reached the music will slowly crossfade from the tension music in to the battle music which will loop for the duration of the battle.
The final area of music usage in the game is with the in-game movies. Here again as with the rest of the game we have cultural variants of music to match the visual variants of the videos, but in addition Empire features the Road To Independence quest which also required a variety of cinematic sequences and musical accompaniment, this time building an American flavour in the music.
Q: A new feature is that units have musicians on the battlefield, can you tell us a little more about this?
One of the important roles of musicians on the battlefield was to relay orders to their unit. It was this aspect specifically that we chose to focus on. So, I spent some time with one of our designers Jamie Ferguson discussing what types of orders they’d need to relay in the game and once I had the list I quickly notated some ‘musical orders’ together such as Halt, Fire At Will, March for both the snare drummers and the buglers. I then brought in the talents of some live musicians to record the audio for these orders and the outcome was fantastic as once the orders were integrated in to the game it transformed the level of realism in the battles. While we did not stick to authentic musical phrases for the orders, the effect is the same in the game nonetheless. In the game hearing the enemy orders can be an important clue as to what an enemy is doing!
Q: Empire’s score features music performed with a Symphony Orchestra and also digital samples. Can you tell us a little bit about this?
We recorded approx. 60 minutes of the score live and we had about 20+ minutes remain completely as digital. In addition, some tracks were enhanced with additional digital samples, most notably the Indian, Arabic and Tribal battles which featured a lot of sampled ethnic melodic and percussive instruments.
Q: How do you know the tracks will work properly in the game before you record the orchestra?
We simply create electronic MIDI mock-up versions of each track. This is actually a very important process because these tracks are fully orchestrated so it allows us the ability to hear very accurately the music and make any decision on changes before we record any notes live. It also allows us the opportunity to try out concepts in the game and refine the style.
Q: When realizing the score with an orchestra, does this alter the composing process as opposed to just using digital samples for the music?
The composing process itself largely stays the same, what alters is the amount of editing you’ll do to create a realistic MIDI mock-up if using the samples alone in the final mix. Mock-ups can be very big demanding jobs, and often due to the limits of using samples you’ll sometimes find yourself having to layer many articulations, adding lots of volume shaping, tweaking reverb settings to simulate a hall environment or other such procedures in order to make the music sound more realistic when played back with samples.
Q: Where/when did you record the live orchestral score?
We recorded the orchestral music with THE SLOVAK NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA . It was recorded by sound engineer Peter Fuchs at the Slovak Radio Concert Hall, in Bratislava during the first week of December 2008.
Q: Can you tell us a little about the recording process.
The Slovak Radio Concert Hall was huge, it a created a lovely lush sound with the orchestra.
To capture this engineer Peter Fuchs used 46 microphones strategically placed around the hall, between and in front of the players. The close string mics were fed into a Yamaha DM 2000, the remaining microphones were fed into Grace Design 802R, Millennia HV-3D, ASP-008 and Digidesign PRE pre-amps and recorded in to a ProTools HD rig via Apogee converters.
Each piece of music had a click track that would be fed via headphones to each musician and the conductor to ensure accurate timing in the music. This was important because we needed to add a fair amount of digital samples back to some of the tracks later in the mixing. Then one by one we’d work our way through each piece of music until we had recorded everything we needed.
The score was recorded over 2 days after which we began preparation for mixing the music.
Peter then flew back to the UK to join me in our in-house studio to mix the music. We then spent 3 days mixing, again using a ProTools HD rig.
Q: What was the most enjoyable part of the music production?
I always enjoy the collaborative process, working with other musicians, composers and the rest of the orchestral team who helped us put together and record the score. There are so many cogs in the process and each one helps make the finished recording what it is.
Without doubt though, the single most enjoyable aspect is when you hear the music come alive through the orchestra. When you have spent months writing, listening and working with the music in MIDI format, to then go and listen to it live with 80 musicians giving it their all is truly a moving experience.
Q: Are there any plans for a Soundtrack release, a lot of reviews have commented on the strength of the music?
Actually there is, we have been very pleased with the response to the music and I’m sure Total War fans will be happy to hear that we are planning a commercial soundtrack release from the game which should be available in the not too distant future.
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Empire: Total War Team Q&A
» Total War BlogWith Empire: Total War currently flying off shelves around the world, we spoke to several members of the team to get their thoughts on the game and spill the beans on their winning tactics!
Can you please introduce yourself and tell us about your role on Empire: Total War?
Mike Brunton – My name is Mike Brunton and I think my current job title is Head Writer and Senior Designer, but who can say? According to some the words “paranoid” and “curmudgeon” may appear in there as well, but I say in reply: who are these little bastards, and why are they following me around?
I think I’ve written quite a lot of the words on Empire: Total War, or did I? Perhaps some of the historical content, whimsy and the occasional humorous asides in the game would, if dusted for prints CSI-style, lead back to me.Lee Cowen – I’ve been at CA 10 years in May. So I’m a veteran of the company having been on the 2001 Rugby World Cup game, followed by the PS2 version and then onto Rome: Total War where I was the campaign map guy. Following this was Barbarian Invasion and Alexander and now Empire: Total War.
On Empire: Total War I’m part of the battle team responsible for all the naval combat that is the cannon fire, the crew and the ship locomotion. My other main job was the battlefield buildings. Getting them from our 3d modeling app onto the terrain and creating the internal structure logic of the building.
Jerome Grasdyke – Hi all, my name is Jerome Grasdyke and I’m the lead programmer on Empire.
Kevin McDowell: Hi all, I’m Kevin McDowell, Lead Artist on Empire TW. I co-ordinate and manage the art team and supply art direction.
Tom Pickard – Hi, I’m Tom Pickard and I’ve been on the total war team since the summer of 2006. I’ve been working on the campaign map primarily since I arrived and have been involved in most stages of its development over the past 2 and a half years. I am a big Total war fan so as you can imagine landing a job on the TW team and having to not mention a thing about it for 2 years till it was announced to the public was pretty hard…
Pawel Wojs – My name is Pawel Wojs and I’m an artist on Empire.
James Buckle – I’m James Buckle, Senior Tester and Internal Support Lead on Empire. I walk around QA and whip the testers with a cat if they’re bug count gets too low. Sometimes, between whippings, I like to drink a nice cup of tea and play the game.
Mark O’Connell: I’m the PR and Online Manager for Empire: Total War and have been with the Creative Assembly since September 2006. Some of my responsibilities include press and community events around the world, running our websites, speaking to our lovely community and spreading the word about all things Total War. I also did quite a good job on the company Christmas tree last December!
Which part of the game are you most proud of?
Mike Brunton – I’m quite chuffed I managed to use the words “genuphobe”, “tympanitic”, “air loom”, “jugs” and “pie-shop hussar”. Actually, I’d like to see “Pie-Shop Hussar” on promo T-shirts – maybe I should ask… I’m also quite pleased that the original tech tree, buildings and army lists from my early drafts of years ago survived reasonably intact into the published game. Quite a lot of the development process ends up developing stuff out of existence as needs and targets change, but in this case it looks like the first stabs were going in mostly the right direction. They’ve been extended, tweaked and polished since by many hands (some of them under the conscious control of their owners!), but that’s the nature of development.
Lee Cowen – The gameplay involved with making the naval battles fun to play. It’s not everyone cup of tea but the demo seems to have gone down really well in the community
Jerome Grasdyke – Whoa, where to begin? Empire’s such a rich and varied game that it’s really quite hard to pick a favourite feature… I guess I’d have to go for the new campaign map, which I think has worked out really well. It gives the artists a lot more control over the look of the map, and they’ve definitely made great use of it in places like India and the Caribbean.
Kevin McDowell: The new campaign map is a really big step up from what we have had in the past. The ships are wicked too.
Tom Pickard – On a Personal level, I’ve been involved with the campaign map pretty much from the start, when I arrived the concepts we’re done and the project approved so it was a case of getting down to it. It being a massive aspect of the game to work on and have a chance to influence the direction of the campaign map as we move into a non tile based design was a great experience.
The campaign map for at least a year and a half was somewhat of a minefield of new features and experimental tech, a lot of new coders and new ideas mixed with a now un-tiled handmade map, made in 3d Max(…. that one took a while
) this map would drive the path finding and was originally meant to be the graphical side of things too, however with some rather frank admissions that this would be unworkable as both sides of the map, the wonderful graphics programmers worked their butts off to make me a more usable system that would give us (well me and Ben the other artist working on the map) greater control of the graphical side of the map. The campaign programming team on the other hand we’re using my max map to the fullest, as we started to create something that looked so unbelievably complex just so you the player would get a continuous experience across the world. Over the Last 6 months and many late nights we’ve all brought this together and polished it to be the largest TW map and something I hope all the players spend many, many months looking at.Pawel Wojs – Literally every aspect, the game as a whole. I’ve seen it grow for the past 3 years, having played it to death, I still can’t get enough of it, and I’ll be playing it compulsively for a long time to come.
James Buckle – It’s hard to pick out any one feature, it’s just a big pile of awesome. But I think the naval battles really stand out. Few games have tried it and fewer have made it work. We’ve managed to capture the essence of naval warfare and make it fun on our first attempt. Building your first 1st Rate, sending it into battle and seeing it blow the crap out of an enemy ship with a single broadside is a really satisfying moment. Having said ship attempt to board a pirate galleon only to be repelled, set on fire and blown in two by its powder magazine is a little less satisfying. Damn those pirates and their wily pirateness.
Mark O’Connell: I love the entire game and it’s been an honour and a privilege to work with the talented team that created it. That said, I am particularly excited with what has been achieved with naval battles. I still can’t help but be impressed with the level of detail and depth of the new mode, which stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the other modes in the game. It’s also a lot of fun when a well-placed shot causes your opponents ship to blow up!
What is your favourite faction to play as and why?
Mike Brunton – I’m going to be dull and say the British, but that’s only because I know where to find Britain on a map, mostly. My grasp of geography south of Doncaster is a little vague. It’s a wonder that I ever find the CA office some days.
Lee Cowen – I’m currently playing Road to Independence Episode 3, so I have to say America. I’m very much into US history and politics anyway and our game fits perfectly into that. It’s good that we went ahead with RTI as it really helps with learning the mechanics of campaign map. As I was the campaign map coder on Rome and have had little to do with that side of the game this time around, it’s interesting to compare the differences. There is so much more to it now, it’s scope is massive in comparison. Rome’s campaign map was much smaller. Basically it was myself full time, plus 2 or 3 other programmers.
Jerome Grasdyke - Usually I play as the United Provinces. It’s a good challenge since you start with few territories, but you’ve got money, some targets close by and a presence in all three theatres. I like the Ottomans as well as they’ve got quite a few colourful units which are fun to experiment with.
Kevin McDowell: Sweden’s fun, you’re in your own little corner, and there are lots of different ways to break out of it…you play a land or sea game, it’s up to you.
Tom Pickard - Well… I do love playing Prussia as a faction, but when I had a campaign where I allied myself with Austria and invaded Poland and France in swift powerful moves before I was stopped as I marched towards Moscow…. sounded a little too familiar for me… So then I played as Sweden and found them to suit my style of warfare, controlling the Baltic and invading Russia (sorry Russia I seem to pick on you whenever I’m an eastern/Northern European faction) Struggling with my economy until I secured enough trade deals and regions I’d captured became well enough behaved to tax properly. Before sweeping through Denmark into the thick of Europe’s elite armies. I’m going to plug for Sweden with Prussia a close second…
Pawel Wojs – The Ottomans! Out of all the factions I’ve played they are pretty much the toughest on the highest difficulty settings, I challenge anyone to play as the Ottomans, without saving and reloading when everything goes wrong.
James Buckle – That’s a tough one, I’ve had a good run on all of them and each one is a different playing experience. I’ll probably go with the United Provinces. You have a foothold in both the American and Indian theatres right from the start, bringing in lots of trade. Your home region is sat next Westphalia, Bavaria and Hannover, so you have lots of minor factions to stomp on. Of course, it’s not all roses, if you pick on the wrong little guy and he’s allied to one of the heavyweights you’re in trouble. France and the UK are right next to you. Pick a fight with them and they will raid your trade routes, blockade your ports and generally ruin your day.
Mark O’Connell: I have probably spent the most time with the British. Being an island nation they are pretty well protected in the early game and you can work on establishing a foothold in the United States. They also have an excellent navy, which is ideal for suppressing pirates and setting up trade routes abroad. I have also really enjoyed playing as the Marathas because of their unique units and setting as well as the United Provinces when I fancy a challenge!
Have you got any tips or winning tactics that you’d like to share?
Mike Brunton – Don’t spend all your money. Keep up with the Joneses (as it were) with tech research. And never, ever, do what I did (repeatedly) and put your immovable saker cannons in a spot where they can’t hit anything. That’s really stupid, I can tell you. And remember to go fish mining - no, hang on, that’s in one of those MMORPGs, isn’t it?
Lee Cowen – Keep your ship’s in formation or you’ll end up micromanaging every single ship. Cross the enemy’s line if their sails are up and chain shot them.
Jerome Grasdyke – At the risk of stating the obvious I tend to pile in with superior forces – my victories are mostly won on the campaign map before I even get around to fighting the battles. That does mean actually paying attention to diplomacy in this game though.
Kevin McDowell: No. Loose lips sink ships.
Tom Pickard – Strong Allies, Aggression, and knowing when to run away and save your troops. Also one of my weaker aspects is my economy, most of my wars become bloated and once a campaign is completed I have to slash army numbers just to balance books… Not good when you’ve just declared war on France and its allies, and failed to take Paris.
Pawel Wojs – Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of melee, even in this period and especially if you have elephants in your army :p. Play RTI even if you’re a total war vet, you won’t be disappointed! Also build up a strong economy, and protect your trade routes at all cost!
James Buckle – Some of the tactics I used in the previous games don’t work in Empire as it’s a different kind of warfare, but most of them can be adapted. One that still works and is as old as the hills, is to stack units on one flank and then wrap around the enemy line. The cross fire it creates will ripe the enemy units to pieces. Unfortunately, this tactic tends to fall on its face when the enemy has greater infantry numbers.
I leave you to figure out how to get around that problem.
A sneaky tactic I sometimes use is to attack the flanks with galloper artillery. I hide them in the woods to the side and wait for the enemy to line up, once they begin firing, pop up on their flank and fire straight down the line. The effect can be devastating, whole rows of men get wiped out by canon fire. If you can get it in close, hit them with canister shot, it’s brutal. Be aware of their cavalry units, they will often be floating around on their flanks and, if ignored, will quickly obliterate your artillery and with them any chance for victory.
The new naval battles gave me a headache for a while, it’s a new aspect of the game so I couldn’t adapt old tactics in the way I did for the land battles. This took a quiet a while. A great tactic when you’re outnumbered by smaller ships, which happens a lot with all the pirates around the place, is to sail away from them in a zig-zag. As they follow you, turn into them and fire chain shot at their sails, then turn away and reload. With their sails torn to pieces they will fall away. Keep this up and as each ship is immobilized it will be left behind by the chasing pack until you have a whole fleet of strung out and disabled ships. You can now turn around, park out of range of their guns and shred them with round and grape shot until they surrender and leave you with a tidy little prize.
Mark O’Connell: In naval battles, set a couple of your ships up sideways in the deployment phase. Then unleash a devastating assault of chain shot as your enemies move into attack. It’ll leave them sitting ducks in the water as their masts come crashing down into the sea. Then you can maneuver your fleet to catch them in deadly crossfire of round and grapeshot. Here’s another tip – select any unit during land battles and press the ‘Insert’ key. It’s awesome.
Finally, do you have any messages for our community?
Mike Brunton – Thanks for being so informative and enthusiastic/keen/mad for it/vaguely threatening (delete as appropriate) in your posts over the years. Now go and enjoy yourselves playing the game!
Lee Cowen – This is one of the largest games ever written, with massive scope, so bear with us if you have any issues, we always consider your comments. Just enjoy what’s great about the game.
Jerome Grasdyke – Just to remember to take it easy, and enjoy conquering the world (again). And also, that Total War would not have become what it is without their enthusiasm and support.
Kevin McDowell: Have fun! Try playing different nations. There are lots of different play styles available.
Tom Pickard – First, I hope you enjoy, and I hope it’s as much fun for you guys to play it as it has been to make.
I’d also like to take this to address a one of the things I’ve seen repeated on the forums (see we do read them
) The areas we covered (or the areas we left off the map): I understand many people’s frustrations at not seeing their country/faction, or not seeing all of say Siberia or china or Australia to capture, but the map is massive, it is truly giant on so many levels and it took lots of designers and many art/coders/producers months of wrangling to decide which areas should make the first draft of the campaign map, This was based on so many deciding factors, and then it took a year or so after to slim it down to a size that was both manageable and fun, and most importantly the gameplay /style/loading times/so many other things was vastly improved because of the time we we’re able to spend polishing the (vast) areas we ended up focusing on. Also If we gave you the world what would the fantastic TWMod community do Pawel Wojs – Enjoy! We’ll look forward to your feedback, in the forums.
James Buckle – See if you can find the kittens.
Mark O’Connell: I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for your feedback and support throughout the duration of the project. We have a lot more planned in the coming months so stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for the latest information. Oh, and thanks for reading!
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Empire: Total War Modding System
» Total War BlogHi All,
Since the mod community seems to be moving full speed ahead and you’ve already got some basic mods up and running I thought I’d explain the way the Empire modding system is intended to work. This should enable you to work with it, not against it, and hopefully avoid breaking things released by CA in the future.
First of all, the ETW data is meant to stay packed. The pack file system and the virtual file system that it builds internally within the game are central to the patching and modding systems, so please don’t ask users to unpack their data in order to run with your mods.
So how should you mod the game? Well, it works like this. Empire loads files of type .pack in the data directory in a certain order determined by the pack’s type. There are three basic types - release, patch and mod. The fifth byte in the pack file header is an numerical id which tells the game what a pack is, boot packs are 0, release packs are 1, patch packs are 2, mod packs are 3. The game then loads release packs first, then patch packs, then mod packs.
At game startup, the file entries in all of these packs are mounted into a virtual file system, and if the game finds an entry in a later pack which has the same name and location as an already existing entry, the new entry replaces the old. This means that a mod pack can replace any file in the vfs and add new ones as well, without asking the person who downloaded the mod to overwrite files on disk and destroy data.
In order to tell the game to use a mod, you do need to feed the game a script command. Currently the easiest way to do that is to create a user script file. The way to do this is to find your preferences.empire_script.txt file (this will be in Application Data on a Windows XP machine), and create a text file next to it called user.empire_script.txt. Inside that file, for each mod create a line which reads “mod my_pack.pack;” (without the quotes, obviously). The user script gets processed on load, and will tell the game to load your mods in that order. The user script can be used for many other things as well, but we’ll leave those for another day.So basically, a mod is intended to be a single “mod pack” file, and installing a mod is just placing that pack inside the game’s data directory and adding the mod command, and uninstalling it is removing those things.
Now, a note on how to work with the databases. You’ll have noticed that each table in the databases (inside the db folder) is both a folder and a binary file. When the game instantiates the databases, which happens after the virtual file system is built, it scans each directory and parses -all- of the binary files it finds. This means that a mod pack can add a new binary data fragment inside the db/unit_stats_land_table folder which adds several new units, and the game will add them to its land units database. The fragments are processed in the same order as the pack files, and any new database records with the same name as an old record will cause the new to replace the old. This means that you can replace any record within the database without touching the rest of the data or modifying the CA-supplied files on disk.
For example, say the CA packs contain a unit record for ‘french_dragoons’, which is one entry out of hundreds inside the shipped unit_stats_land_table data fragment, which is used to build the unit table that was available at launch. Now say you create a mod pack which places a new data fragment, say called my_mods_unit_stats_land inside db/ unit_stats_land_table, which contains just one data record for ‘french_dragoons’. What will happen is your new record will end up replacing the current record for that unit in the game data, and the rest will stay as it was originally.
So… hopefully you’ll now have a good idea of how the modding system was architected, and how you should build tools to work with it. There’s also another interesting consequence of how the system works, which is that it opens the door for mods built on top of other mods…
One more thing to keep in mind is that we’ve not yet finished testing the mod support fully - that’s part of what’s happening here before the mod dev package gets released. We’re aware that there is currently an upper bound of about 6000 files in a single pack, though it’s very possible to create a mod spanning several packs. But be aware that there is some overhead associated with mounting a pack, and a data directory filled with scores of them will make the game startup time significantly longer.
The other thing I should mention - since you’re going to be experimenting with this - is that the game checks the final database integrity after loading mods. So if you add a pack file which includes a new unit record which doesn’t include a display model or is invalid in some other way, the game will unload that mod pack (though it keeps the rest). This isn’t the main error checking mechanism in the ETW data pipeline, that’s done elsewhere, but as modders you should be aware of it. Unfortunately there currently isn’t any log output on the reasons why the mod failed to load, we’re looking into adding that when the modding dev kit is released.
Armed with this info you’ll at least be able to work with the system as it was intended, without having to wait for the mod dev package. I have to say it’s great seeing you guys making headway so quickly. The pack and database inspection tool was a great start, I think, and really bodes well for the future of the Empire modding scene.
Good luck!
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Special Units Guide
» Total War BlogHi guys,
For those of you that have got your hands on either a pre-order exclusive unit or the Empire: Total War Special Forces edition, here is a guide on how the requirements for getting them in-game.
Pre-Order 1
Deaths Head Hussars: Unique unit for Prussia, recruited from Imperial Palace in Brandenburg region.
Pre-Order 2
USS Constitution: Unique unit for America, recruited from Drydock in North America.
Pre-Order 3
Dahomey Amazons: Recruited from Governor’s Residence building in Morocco, Algiers and Tunis regions.
Special Edition Units
Rogers Rangers: Unique unit for Great Britain, recruited from Army Barracks in North America.
Ghoorkas: Recruited from Governor’s Residence building in Kashmir region.
‘Corso Terrestre’ Guerillas: Recruited by Spain from Magistrate building in Spain region.
HMS Victory: Unique unit for Great Britain, recruited from Steam Drydock in England region.
Organ Gun: Recruitable by Ottoman Empire from Cannon Foundry.
To make things clearer, we have also produced two reference tables for you to download:
Many thanks,
Mark O’Connell
The Creative Assembly
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Empire Total War - Graphics Work Shop
» Total War BlogTuning your Graphics Settings
ETW is built on a brand new rendering engine, internally code-named “Warscape”. The Engine is DirectX9-based, supporting both Shader Model 2 and Shader Model 3 graphics hardware. Supporting Shader Model 2 hardware has proven to be very challenging, requiring scalable content, SM2-optimized alternate shader paths, and a host of careful optimizations to squeeze out the most from SM2 cards. The result is an Engine that scales down to hardware ~4 years old - no mean feat for a game of this complexity.
The focus of this article is on tuning your graphics settings, so I won’t go in-depth on Engine features, unless doing so helps communicate the impact of each setting.
So let’s talk about the Settings UI. Keen players will have already noted that the In-game graphics settings UI (i.e. the UI shown when in a battle or the campaign) is a subset of the Front-end graphics UI, with some options missing from the in-game UI.
Here’s a handy table showing you where these wee beasties live.
Graphics Settings Availability
Option:
Resolution - Front End and In-Game
Windowed - Front End and In-Game
Vertical Sync. - Front End and In-Game
Gamma - Front End and In-Game
Brightness - Front End and In-Game
Shader Model - Front End
Texture Quality - Front End and In-Game
Texture Filtering - Front End and In-Game
Anti-Aliasing - Front End and In-Game
HDR - Front End and In-Game
Shadows - Front End and In-Game
Hardware Shadows - Front End and In-Game
Volumetric Effects - Front End and In-Game
Depth Of Field - Front End and In-Game
SSAO - Front End and In-Game
Distortion Effects - Front End and In-Game
Unit Size - Front End
Unit Detail - Front End
Trees - Front End
Grass - Front End
Water - Front End and In-Game
Sky - Front End and In-Game
Building Detail - Front End
Ship Detail - Front End
Particle Effects - Front End
The reason why some options are missing from the in-game graphics settings UI is due to internal engine limitations - in some cases we don’t retain enough internal data to switch settings on-the-fly in-game e.g. for buildings on low quality settings we discard the highest level-of-detail for buildings at scene load, making it difficult to reload efficiently with high Building Detail setting.
So let’s look at each setting and review how it impacts the game.
Resolution (List)
As you all probably know already, the more pixels you draw per frame, the more GPU-power you need, so as a general rule, pick the lowest screen resolution that you can.
The minimum resolution we support is a humble 800×600, clearly this resolution is of no interest to most gamers, but if you’ve got a SM2 card with barely enough texture memory to meet the min spec (256MB) then you may find that playing in 800×600 rez gives you a much smoother frame rate. For most folks though this low rez is of little interest.
Windowed resolutions are pre-picked, full screen resolutions are determined by your graphics hardware. Out of the Box we’ll run in full screen and default to your desktop resolution. We support all common widescreen formats.
Top Tip: Most monitors have a ‘native resolution’, a resolution at which the screen pixels map 1-to-1 with the elements of the display. At this resolution, running in full screen, your game will look crisp; at other resolutions the display hardware will need to scale pixels to map onto the screen elements, which may impact the crispness of the resulting image - though typically you will only notice this on UI text. So have a dig around for details of your monitor and see if you can see any difference at the monitor’s native resolution.
Windowed (Check Box)
I strongly recommend that you run the game in full screen always, you’ll generally get better performance versus windowed mode, and your graphics card will have exclusive access to the available video memory, not such an issue on Vista, but generally recommended and very significant on XP.
If you do run in Windowed mode, then kill off any other DirectX apps in case they’re stealing precious video memory resources.
Vertical Synchronisation (Check Box)
When you are full-screen, enabling this option limits the frame rate to the monitors refresh rate, avoiding tearing that you may see with this option disabled. My recommendation is to run with this off, as the tearing is usually only occasional and minor, and you should get higher frame rates with this disabled.
Gamma/Brightness (Sliders)
These are standard controls that allow you to balance the game’s colour response to better match your monitor or personal preferences.
Shader Model (Drop-down, Shader Model 2, Shader Model 3 (Low), Shader Model 3 (High))
In short, a card that supports Shader Model 3 is capable of rendering many instances of the same geometry very efficiently, compared to Shader Model 2.
If you have Shader Model 3 support then don’t use Shader Model 2; Shader Model 2 is slower, less efficient, and visually less pleasing. If the two Shader Model 3 options are disabled, you have a relatively old graphics card that doesn’t support SM3 - if you can find spare cash then a wise investment would be an upgrade to a SM3 card - of which there are many options to choose from. I won’t make any recommendations as it’s a matter of budget and personal preference.
We’ve provided two flavours of SM3 for your enjoyment. The Shader Model 3 (Low) setting runs the high performance Shader Model 3 instancing path, but does so with a set of light weight Shader Model 2 shaders, so you benefit from the enhanced performance of instancing, but with less visually complex detail across-the-board, so you win on fame rate - sometimes by as much as 8-10fps, depending on your rig. The Shader Model 3 (High) setting runs with instancing and our high quality shader path, which delivers the most realistic in-game graphics, but uses the most GPU horsepower.
Texture Quality (Drop-down: Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
This is a key setting both in terms of visual fidelity but also for your texture footprint.
By setting this to anything but Ultra you are telling the engine to throw away detail from the texture maps. A Texture is comprised of a set of 2D images, from the highest detail e.g. 256×256 pixels in size down to the lowest detail - 1×1. Each level of detail is known as a “MIP”, and each MIP Level is a power-of-2 smaller in each dimension e.g. a 256×256 texture has 9 MIP Levels: [256x256,128x128,64x64,32x32,16x16,8x8,4x4,2x2,1x1]. The highest resolutions are seen close up, the lowest resolutions far in the distance. Your Texture Filtering setting determines how the hardware interpolates between MIPS.
So, with this in mind, each Texture Quality level corresponds to throwing away one or more MIP Levels. At Ultra you see the best textures, nothing is thrown away. High settings causes the highest Level to be discarded - the [256x256] level in the example above. Medium discards 2 levels e.g. [256x256 ,128x128] Low discards 3 levels.
Discarding Textures in this manner can free up considerable video resources, but comes at a cost of visual richness - as the lower MIPS can look blocky and very SNES-like.
Texture Filtering (Drop-down Bilinear, Trilinear, Anisotropic 2x, Anisotropic 4x, Anisotropic 8x, Anisotropic 16x)
This setting impacts how your graphics card interpolates a texture across the surface of an object in 3D space. In short, the higher the setting, the better the quality of the resulting interpolation. Of course, like chocolate, there’s a price to pay for over-indulgence, as the higher settings can hit your frame rate.
I recommend that you stick with Trilinear unless you can personally see a qualitative difference in the game visuals when you turn on Anisotropic. The positive visual impact of Anisotropic Filtering is most visible on the Terrain, so the way to figure this out is to run a land battle and look at the terrain in Trilinear vs Anisotropic - with Aniso. on you should see visually cleaner terrain textures, if you don’t see a difference, then leave this option on Trilinear, which modern hardware can handle with little performance hit.
Anti-Aliasing (Drop-down, values None,2x,4x,8x,16x)
Anti-aliasing is the first setting that I recommend you should tweak to claw back performance.
Anti-aliasing has a big impact on game visuals as enabling it causes the hardware to smooth out the edges of images on screen, so otherwise jagged lines become softer and less noticeable.
The 2x, 4x notation, for simplicity, can be thought of as the additional size of the texture required to enable the effect. e.g. 2x means a texture twice the size, 4x four times etc.
Depending on your other settings turning on AA can have a major impact on your video memory footprint. At 4x setting any full screen render targets are 4x the size in each dimension, which equates to roughly 16x the video memory required, per anti-aliased surface.
HDR - High Dynamic Range Lighting (CheckBox)
This is a big button to push - by which I mean that turning on HDR has significant impact on the performance of the game, especially if you’ve also chosen to enable Anti-Aliasing.
If your hardware supports HDR, and not all hardware does, then you can benefit from the enhanced lighting that enabling this setting provides. HDR delivers ‘bling’ by simulating the eyes response to bright lights - these areas of over-brightness, e.g. the sun glinting from a raised sword, cause a sudden flash of bright light that bleeds into the surrounding area - much the same way as bright light seen through a window appears to bleed around a window frame. The effect is cool, but subtle.
HDR is very spendy on video memory, especially if you’ve also enabled Anti-Aliasing, so spend some time to get the optimum setting for your PC.
Shadows (Drop-down: Off,Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
Rendering shadows of all objects in the scene requires us to render them from the light’s perspective into a texture, which is then sampled when computing occlusion for any object in the scene.
The Quality setting controls two factors, the size of the shadow-map texture (which on the highest setting is 2048×2048, on lowest is 512×512), and it also impacts the range over which the shadows fade out in the scene: 1000 scalemeters on Ultra, 100 meters on Low ( the playable area is 2Kx2K meters).
Shadow artefacts are very visible on the lowest setting - mitigated somewhat by turning on Hardware Shadows.
Hardware Shadows (CheckBox)
Enabling this option causes the engine to use hardware-accelerated texture sampling to improve the visual quality of shadows - effectively softening the edges, and reducing visible blocky artefacts. This works on most recent ATI & NVIDIA hardware, and should be enabled if it’s not too costly on your frame rate.
Volumetric Effects (CheckBox)
A catchy name for a family of graphical effects in the game, which all require a separate render pass for all screen objects to compute and record their depth in the scene. Yep, that means rendering all the scene objects twice per frame, once to record depth, then again to render the lit scene (and a third time to compute shadows!). Clearly this has a significant impact on performance - though the depth pass is heavily optimized and comparatively light weight.
Why do we do this? Well, once we have the depth information we can do cool things. Think back to most games you’ve played where these cool explosions are spoilt by the hard line the particles make with the ground. With depth information at-hand we can alpha out the edges of particles when they intersect with surfaces - leading to a very soft edge with no VPL (Visible Particle Lines).
Building on this effect are Depth Of Field (DOF) and Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO), both of which require a readable depth buffer to work their magic.
Depth of Field (CheckBox)
This effect simulates the focal range of a camera, objects inside the focal distance are sharp, objects outside are blurred.
You’ll see this in action in the Campaign and also in Battles, where distant objects are out-of-focus. I personally find this very useful, as it helps me focus on the action, and particularly on the campaign map leads to a nice table-top-gaming feel. This is not to everyone’s taste, so take it for a spin.
SSAO (ambient shadow) (CheckBox)
SSAO stands for Screen Space Ambient Occlusion. This is very much a high end feature, it’s the most computationally intensive of the in-game effects, but the results add significant realism to the scene.
Simply put, enabling this option - which is enabled if Volumetric Effects are enabled, and your card is beefy enough - causes the engine to compute local shadowing of objects in the scene.
Imagine you are looking into a white cardboard box in daylight. The inside corners of the box will be slightly darker than the sides, because the sides effectively shadow the corners as light bounces around on its merry photonic journey around the box.
So that’s what SSAO simulates, and the results are instantly noticeable in-game, where subtle shadows appear under objects grounding them to the scene, and shadows appear in the folds of soldier uniforms and in the nooks and crannies of buildings.
In short it’s a big switch that you should throw if you can. The results are a much richer scene, with noticeably more realistic lighting.
Distortion Effects(heat haze) (Checkbox)
This full screen visual effect simulates the effects of drinking 6 pints of Sussex - also creating a hazy distortion affect around heat sources.
It’s relatively cheap to implement too, so you’ll notice the effect on explosions in game, especially the concussion impact of grenadiers doing their stuff - where a shockwave of distortion ripples out from the impact. It’s all very satisfying, and quite cheap to enable.
Unit Size (Drop-down: Small,Medium,Large,Ultra)
This is one of the key settings that you should play with to tweak your performance. Unit Scale is more than just a graphical effect, as it affects the campaign game as well.
Simply put, the lower you put this setting, the fewer soldiers are used to represent your units. As rendering hundreds or thousands of units is one of the trademarks of Total War, and our primary performance bottleneck (closely followed by trees & grass) you should spend some time playing with this setting; and I apologize for this being available only in the Front End (technical limitations), which makes playing with it very time-consuming.
Unit Detail (Drop-down: Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
The close Banjo-playing cousin of Unit Scale, the Unit Detail setting has a huge impact on the game’s performance and visual look.
Units in ETW are hugely improved over Med2, each unit can have variants of each body part modelled- torso, legs, arms, head, hat, cross-belts, hair, cuffs, face hair, and hands. It’s a huge number of variations to render and a challenge to efficient instancing.
The higher your Unit Detail setting the more variation you will see in your units, from coarse level detail such as two chaps with different coloured tunics, to fine detail such as different beard styles close-up.
There are literally hundreds of unique animations for each unit, and Unit Detail setting impacts how we cull out these variations with distance - as units recede into the distance we start sharing their animations, so we have less unique animations to render.
Trees (Drop-down: Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
This setting controls the distance at which those lovely 3D trees turn into billboards. Rendering thousands of 3D trees is very costly, and so arriving at a good setting for Tree quality can have a big impact on you frame rate (and enjoyment).
The lower this setting, the closer those pesky distant billboards become. The sharp-eyed observer will spot that each tree has a number of discrete levels of detail (3 to be precise) that it transitions through on the way to billboards, which helps smooth the transition.
This setting also covers shrubs, which have 3 levels-of-detail, but never render as billboards - you’ll notice that they “fizzle out” as they recede into the distance, disappearing long before the trees billboard.
Lowering the setting also causes as to cull far billboard trees from the outfield (the area outside the playable area) which helps keep frame rates up.
Grass (Drop-down: Off,Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
Grass adds texture and richness to the scene, and the higher you can set this setting, the further away from the camera we draw grass - it’s that simple. Grass clumps are rendered as camera-facing billboards, and pick up the colour of the terrain they sit on.
A note on over-draw as relates to Grass and Trees
When you’re low down to the ground, looking through the grass, or looking through a clump of trees, your frame rate will suffer due to “over draw”, where many screen objects are visually overlapped and the same screen pixel is written to multiple times.
This is going to hurt your frame rate. We do what we can to alleviate this with sorting and culling, but this is only going to go so far. If your rig can handle Volumetric Effects, then enable it because doing so accelerates the process of culling out objects that would otherwise render on top of each-other - I won’t bore you with the details of how/why.
Water (Drop-down: Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
This setting affects the campaign map sea surface rendering as well as rendering of the sea in sea battles, and the river surfaces in land battles.
The 3 features that this setting controls are reflection, refraction and foam effects (sea battles only).
Setting Reflection Refraction Foam
Low Off Off Off
Medium Off On Off
High On On On
Ultra On On On
Note that you only see foam effects on sea battles at high wind settings, so to experiment with the impact of enabling foam, start a custom sea battle with gale-force winds.
Sky (Drop-down:Low ,Medium,High,Ultra)
At Low setting the sky is rendered at scene load to create a classic sky cube rendered at 512×512 resolution. With this setting, clouds are pre-rendered into the sky cube and the sky has a rather grainy old-school look.
At any higher setting than Low the sky is rendered using a high resolution pre-computed sky cube overlaid with high res clouds, the resolution of the sky cube and clouds goes up with quality level, to a max of 1024×1024 per face at the highest resolution.
Building Detail (Drop-down: Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
All that geometry in those Star Fort battles and Town battles can put quite a strain on your graphics card. By dialling down your Building Quality you control the maximum level of detail that we load for each building, and you also control the distance at which buildings lose detail.
Like tress, buildings are created with a number of detail levels (typically 3), the lowest detail level being basically a box with some gross detail. Dialling down this setting causes us to throw away detail levels, and decreases the distance to the lowest detail level - making that boxy-building more noticeable.
This setting is perhaps misnamed, it should read “all non-animated objects quality” - but you can see why we decided to simplify the name. The setting effects farm props such as carts and hay bales, as well as buildings.
Ship Detail (Drop-down: Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
This option is currently not wired in, as of the first release, we will be wiring this in as part of a future patch.
Particle Effects (Drop-down: Low,Medium,High,Ultra)
This setting controls our Particle System, which I mentioned earlier in the context of Volumetric Effects. When we talk about Effects, we’re talking about the smoke, dust and fire effects that add so much atmosphere to a battle.
On low quality settings we limit the total number of particles emitted, and we reduce the emission rate of particles. Put more simply you see less dense smoke. On the lowest setting you will probably notice particles disappearing when they hit the budget, otherwise the culling with quality is not that noticeable. Rendering particles introduces loads of over-draw (which I mentioned earlier in the context of grass & trees). Loads of overlapping particles means lot of overdraw, so play with this setting to fine tune performance.
Appendix: a note on Presets - Automatic, Low, Medium, High, and Ultra
The five preset configurations are selected to give a simple coarse-level performance tuning.
The Automatic Setting sets your graphics to a very conservative configuration, which are the settings selected the first time you run Empire.
The higher presets will only be available if your hardware has sufficient video memory.
Wrap-Up
I hope that you all found the above walk-through useful, and it helps guide your tune-up session. There’s no single right way to approach performance tuning, as different rigs can perform quite differently. I leave it to the enthusiasts on the forums to formulate and share strategies that may work for others.
Regards,
Richard Gardner
Graphics Lead, Empire Total War. The Creative Assembly
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Empire Launch Trailer
» Total War Blog
Check out the Empire launch trailer which went live yesterday, volley and thunder!
Click here to view the embedded video.
I know a lot of you have questions about specs and Steam and things like that, could you please direct them within the Total War Forum for now guys. Many thanks.
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Superior Tactics #2: Defeating Heavy Cavalry
» Total War Blog -
Superior Tactics #1 - Breaking A Square
» Total War BlogIf my watch is right then the Empire demo will be live on Steam in a few minutes, but I have something else to show you for now. I know - two TW blogs in a day, crazy times!
Every budding tactician - or anyone who has seen an episode of Sharpe for that matter, knows that you form square against cavalry as troops in a line might as well be queuing up to be slaughtered. In this first Superior Tactics video the people behind the game will show you how the units in Empire react to attack - and how you get past their defences. Remember, only one side can claim victory and expand their Empire…
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Total War Demo: Prepare for Battle with the Empire!
» Total War BlogHi guys, are you prepared to fight on Land and at Sea in the Official Demo for Empire: Total War?
We’ve just announced a playable demo of Empire: Total War will be available on STEAM today at 16.00 GMT. Capturing just a short glimpse of the kind of epic engagements you’ll be playing from March the 3rd when the game is released, this demo will take you through the basics of land and naval command and then let you loose on two historic scenarios.
Playing as the British Empire, you’ll take on the American Army in the pivotal ‘Battle of Brandywine Creek’ and then the French Navy in the decisive ‘Battle of Lagos’.
You asked for the 18th Century, you’ve got Empire - let the Campaigns begin!
Empire: Total War will be released from the 3rd of March, exclusively for PC.
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Empire: Release Date and Minimum Specs Confirmed
» Total War BlogHello all, the Empire: Total War release date has been officially confirmed - the game will be available in stores around the world from the 4th March. In addition, it will be possible to purchase the game as a digital download from 18:00 GMT on the 3rd March, with the exception of North American and Canadian customers who will be able to purchase a digital download from 09:00 GMT on the 4th March.
You probably know already, but all retail and digital download copies require activation from Steam, so you’ll need to be connected to the Internet in order to get the game installed. For more information on this, visit www.steampowered.com.
You’ve seen the game on this website, other websites and magazines, and it looks great, but will it work on your PC? If you’ve been wondering what the minimum specifications are, we can now tell you:
Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.There you have it. If your PC hasn’t got the power, then it’s probably time for an upgrade before March 4th - it’s going to be too good to miss!
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Empire: Total War FAQ 6
» Total War BlogHi guys,
Welcome to our sixth Empire: Total War FAQ, where this month we tackle even more of your Land Battle questions…
Will guns be distinguishable by their appearance and smoke etc?
You will be able to tell the difference between very large, large, medium and small cannon, carronades, 8 and 10 inch mortars, rifles, carbines and muskets, I’m not sure you will get more granularity than that. We felt that anything more is unlikely to be noticed in the thick of battle.
If artillery gun crew lines are broken, will they flee to safer ground until its safe to return, or will they route from the field?
This question is not easily answered as it depends on the situation. If the artillery is sufficiently spooked, they will flee. If not, they will route to a safer place until they can return to their guns or the situation turns so bad they have to run from the field of battle.
Can we have the option to preview a battlefield before choosing battle?
Generals don’t always get to pick the ground that they fight on and great generals will even take the ground chosen by the enemy and make it their own. Or to put it another way: The current mechanism assumes that the battlefield chosen is the best that could be attained as a result of manoeuvre and counter manoeuvre of opposing forces and the limits of terrain in the area. We give the player time to review the battlefield in the deployment phase and there are a number of cues as to the likely composition of the battlefield obtainable by looking at the campaign map.
Will Empire: Total War generals (not captains) play a lesser role in field combat compared to previous Total War games?
It depends? If the question is: will they be less likely to be able to act like a powerful killing machine the answer is a categorical yes. In the period of this game generals were far less renowned for their individual prowess (although some exceptions are present that prove the rule - e.g. Charles of Sweden) in battle and much more for their ability to swing a battle by being at the right place at the right time and inspiring their troops with both good planning and sensible commands. In the same way, failure to place your general where he is most effective will result in problems keeping your troops from being quickly demoralised.
Will there be a “fire by rank” system for troops in line formation, e.g. British redcoats? And will you be taking into account that some armies may have better skills than others in some areas e.g. British troops could fire and reload their muskets faster then the French could?
The short answer to all that is yes but with some reservations. It will depend on a nation’s research into tactics, the units deployed, their experience, what system is used and how good they are compared to their opponents. The British were not always the best at everything. If they had been they would have beaten the Americans in the War of Independence, Wellington would not have needed the support of Blucher at Waterloo and he would not have said it was “a close run thing”.
Are different countries’ uniforms, colours and changes in uniforms included?
Yes but as much as we would like to include every uniform, every turn back, every button, every badge and every uniform colour represented by every nation, in the game, and reflect all those uniform changes in detail over the 18th century (100 years), the logistics really aren’t viable for a game made in the time we have.
As a result we chose to select a representative sample of uniforms from throughout the period to reflect that change and variety. Every nation has a “national colour” that we use to represent that nation and is featured strongly in their uniforms. On top of that we add variations, where we think its effective, in their uniforms that are appropriate either according to faction or unit type or in some cases both. That isn’t the end of things though.
Will Calvary with swords point their swords at the enemy who they are charging at instead of holding it upright like in “Rome: Total War”?
We completely overhauled the animations system for Empire. Cavalry will now lower their swords or lances in the final approach of a charge.
Can riflemen be ordered to hide in long grass and shoot when enemies are on top of them and then charge with bayonets?
Simple answer: Yes as long as they are trained in field-craft and you have researched the bayonet.
Early guns were very sensitive to damp and damage. Will this be represented in game?
Yes, of course. Rain and snow are both significant contributors to misfires and hang-fires, along with unit fatigue, training and morale states. If it is raining or snowing too much then gunpowder combat becomes next to impossible A particularly inept soldier can end up blinding themselves with a flash in the pan or rupturing a cannon and killing the crew.
Will the battle maps be bigger?
Yes they are. The battlefield playable areas are currently up to 1.4km2.
Will the environment determine movement rate and morale?
Yes both have a noticeable effect on the movement and morale of units, according to their origin and the environmental conditions
At the time of the American Revolution, the standard British six-pounder cannon had a crew of fifteen men working the gun (not just standing around it). Will we see this sort of realism reflected on the battlefield? If not, why?
Sadly, no we won’t have 15 men crews. This is because the choreography required was something we found to actually detrimental to gameplay as well as being incredibly complex to code. In the end we went for a smaller number that carry out a representative set of actions, most importantly those involving loading and firing.
Will it be possible to shot at the horses so they are dead, but the riders stand up and keep on fighting without their horses?
We are looking in to a suitable method of implementing this but we have yet to come up with a solution that works in all cases.
Will our men finally be intelligent enough to load their weapons while the enemy is still out of range, and then FIRE when the enemy gets into range?
That would depend on the player. Have you set your unit to fire at will or to fire when ordered? How well trained are your troops? If they have time, your units will change to their melee option.
Q: Will famous characters such as Wellington make an appearance in the game, and will they have special abilities to reflect their historical importance?
If the conditions are right they will.
What new character traits are there?
This is far too big a question to answer in an FAQ. Traits and ancillaries certainly haven’t been ignored. They have been updated and crafted to fit the period. Per character you can expect to see more meaningful, character building and far less contrary traits and ancillaries. Although this will mean fewer traits per character there will be no less variety than previous games.
That wraps it up for this month. Keep your questions coming on our official forums and stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for the latest updates!
Take care,
Mark O’Connell
Recent items
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Empire: Total War - Swedish Presentation
» Total War BlogHi guys,
I thought you might be interested in this little video that I filmed on my digital camera during a recent press trip to Stockholm, Sweden. Kieran and I flew over to do a series of presentations and interviews with the local press. We arrived at the venue two hours early to set up the equipment and run through the demo. The plan was to show off some naval footage and then give an in-game presentation of a Land battle, showing off many of the exciting new features. Everything was going smoothly until five minutes before the journalists were due to start entering the room, when our television started randomly turning itself off! Here is the video that we made while awaiting a spare:
Miles Jacobson from Sports Interactive then came to the rescue and kindly lent us his television. He was in the next room to promote the forthcoming Football Manager 2009. I’m pleased to report that the rest of the day went very well, and event coverage should start appearing online and in magazines in the coming weeks.
As always, stay tuned to www.totalwar.com/empire for all the latest info on the game!
Thanks,
Mark O’Connell
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Empire: Total War FAQ 5
» Total War BlogHi guys,
Welcome to our fifth Empire: Total War FAQ. This month we are focusing exclusively on your Land Battle questions…
With so much of the warfare in the period being focused on the use of gunpowder, will there still be a role for melee units?
Despite the emergence of gunpowder, melee and dedicated melee units remain important parts of warfare in Empire: Total War. Flintlock, muzzle-loading small arms were unreliable, relatively slow to reload and not always accurate. If you were sensible you carried a sword, or a bayonet, or both, or an axe or almost anything as a backup weapon. Once you’d fired, you had a tactical choice: try to reload before the enemy closed to stabbing range, or charge home before he could fire and reload. Hence the need for melee combat. The comparative short effective range of musketry makes this a ticklish problem for commanders. At the start of the period, players will have to make the choice between shooting at the last moment and not being prepared for melee or fixing bayonets. The land battles are being designed so that there is no single ‘right answer’ to that decision. This ensures that the tactics of timing and manoeuvre are vitally important. The period was full of successful bayonet charges and cavalry attacks. There’s a huge, rich variety in the period and we’re determined to get all that flavour into the game. Empire is definitely not just Rome or Medieval with gunpowder units.With ranged combat being so much more important to the way land battles work, will units be able to use cover and stances to protect themselves?
Absolutely, finding cover on the battlefield for your units introduces a brand new idea to the land battles. Buildings on the battlefield can become a tactical focus of battle because of the cover they provide. Historically, farm and village buildings often saw some of the most ferocious fighting in many famous battles of the period, from Blenheim to Waterloo. Empire allows for this by letting men deploy in buildings for the first time in a Total War game.There is a downside, of course. Concentrating your men in buildings makes them prime targets for enemy artillery. All the buildings on Empires battlefields will be destructible so the walls can come tumbling down!
Buildings aren’t the only cover. There are deployable items such as chevaux de frise (a kind of portable barrier studded with hideous spikes and blades) and earthworks that provide partial protection for units. The walls, trees and the outside of buildings that can be used as cover too. In addition, some units (skirmishers, in particular) are trained to fire from a prone position in order to reduce their vulnerability to incoming fire.
With ranged combat now so crucial, will the land battle engine UI display areas of fire in addition to unit range?
Aside from range, the battle UI will enable the player to view a unit’s line of sight and there are elements that communicate unit movement and fields of fire (the area that can be hit by a unit with its current facing and formation).What effects do the weather and environment have on armies in battle?
Weather and the battlefield environment will have a variety of effects on the armies in battle. Fog and smoke influence line of sight, while rain affects rate of fire (or even whether a unit can fire at all) and the chance of misfires. The environment meanwhile will have a range of effects on troops via fatigue. Troops will tire on the battlefield if they march uphill or through mud and, as result, you’ll see their rate of fire and accuracy diminish. Ground types will also affect the movement rate of all troop types, as will obstacles like walls. This only goes to promote the importance of manoeuvring your units with care. If a unit is slowed and fatigued by mud, or commanded to climb over a wall whilst under fire, they could be cut to ribbons in no time by a well-drilled enemy.Uniforms in that time period were mostly similar, how will you keep armies from becoming clones again?
Not all units are created equal - a number of units are not ‘regular’ army troops, and have plenty of scope for variation. Each unit we are using has a variety of different faces, hair colours, haircuts and facial hair. Unit equipments, such as backpacks and ammo pouches, have a variety of positions and sizes and there is also some variation with unit weaponry.We’re also introducing a system that allows us to alter any part of the unit on a per-unit basis, so for each unit type we can add variety wherever possible and appropriate. Even the most uniform of uniforms can have hats at different angles, some buttons unfastened, shorter or longer coat tails, different shoes and all manner of visual flavour. Of course, with the more exotic unit types the world is our oyster!
Faction colouring is done in a cunning way, and we can have slightly different areas of faction colour on each soldier. Dynamic dirt and wounding will mean that in the heat of battle, every man in the unit will display a different level of grime and injury. All of this is intended to give us as much flexibility in de-cloning the units of men as possible.
Will we have the ability to dismount men pre-battle?
Better than that - dragoon units will be able to dismount and mount during battle. Dismounting is a unit ability that won’t be available to all units and must be selected through the tech tree. This opens up many strategic possibilities - dragoons can for example, ride to buildings or areas of cover on the battlefield, then dismount and fire from the cover they’ve seized. Before battle there will also be a few units that can choose to fight on foot or horseback (but can’t change during battle).. Guns will also be able to limber and unlimber on the battlefield; this means that horse artillery will gallop to where they are most needed.Units could deploy stakes in Medieval 2 - what kind of deployable items will be available on the battlefield?
There are a variety of weapons and defensive structures that can be deployed in battle. Some in real-time, others in the deployment stage of battle. We’ve already mentioned the chevaux de fries. This can be deployed in the pre-battle deployment phase and provide an effective defense against cavalry charges and limited cover. Other examples include the infantry earthworks and gabions (large wicker baskets filled with earth), which can be deployed pre-battle, and provide significant defensive cover form small arms and artillery fire. The latter is a defensive emplacement that offers strong protection for artillery units from small arms fire but fixes your artillery to a set field position - lose the position, and you may have lost your guns! There will also be items such as wooden stakes, depending on other factors.How will fixing bayonets be handled - will it be an order you can issue?
The order to fix bayonets can be given to any, musket armed, infantry unit that carries them in battle (and not everyone did, strangely). At the start of the period, a bayonet plugged into the gun barrel like a cork in a bottle - the musket became a heavy spear, but could no longer fire. As the game progresses, more advanced bayonet technology becomes available, including ring bayonets and eventually socket bayonets. The socket bayonet in particular didn’t interfere with loading or firing. Actually, that’s not quite true - historically the French decided to offset their socket bayonets above the barrel exactly into the firer’s eye line. This made aiming a bit of a tricky exercise.Will there be different types of ammunition available?
Artillery units in Empire can gain access to a variety of ammo types that can be selected by activating a unit ability in battle. Ammo types include explosive shot - these are cannon balls that fly towards their target and then burst and fragment, showering an enemy with shards of metal that can be devastating to a unit of infantry. Canister shot or grape shot works in the similar way but at a shorter range, turning a cannon into a giant sawn-off shotgun. Then there are grenades which are delivered via grenadiers on the battlefield, with their range and effectiveness based on the experience and training of the unit.I hope you have enjoyed our Land Battles FAQ. Keep your questions coming on our official forums and stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for the latest updates!
Take care,
Mark O’Connell
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Empire: Total War AI Diary
» Total War BlogHi, I’m Jack Lusted a Games Tester at the Creative Assembly UK and this blog will detail my part in the Battle AI development process and how the AI testing works. This blog compliments an upcoming video development diary on the Battle AI.
First a bit of background on myself. Now I’m sure many of you from the community will know me (so you can just skip the next bit), but for those who don’t I used to be an admin of Total War Center, one of the biggest Total War fan sites. I’ve been playing the series since Medieval: Total War was released back in 2002. I’ve been working here at the Creative Assembly UK since June last year as a Tester and secondee to the Empire design team.
As a tester, I have a wide range of tools available to me with which I can see exactly what the AI is doing and thinking. This makes it easy to spot problems with the AI, and helps Richard Bull (Battle AI programmer) more quickly fix any problems that are found.
There are a variety of battles that we have set up that we use to test the AI on. Most battles will consist of me trying a variety of tactics against the AI to see how it reacts, and noting what it does and doesn’t do well. Other times we will run the game so the AI controls both sides and fights itself, to see how well it does in that situation. That is also one of the most useful ways of exposing flaws in the AI. As the project goes on, the AI will be tested under a wider variety of situations to make sure it plays well in all battles.
During each battle, we can play with all the AI debug information being shown. This lets us see exactly what each AI unit is doing and what tactics it’s engaging. This allows us to get a very clear picture of the AI’s overall strategy and so makes it easy to see where it could be improved and where it isn’t quite behaving right.
Every fortnight myself, Richard and one of the Designers will meet up and discuss the progress of the AI. We’ll talk about the issues with it, new things that have been added in and other progress that has been made since the last meeting. We’ll also make suggestions for improvements by discussing how the AI should react in certain situations and how it should play. For instance some new code has recently gone in based on an idea to try and improve the organization of the AI during the later stages of battle. After each meeting we’ll generally have a few specific areas of the AI that we’ve been asked to test before the next meeting.
The close link between myself as a tester and the battle AI programmer is new for Empire and this process of regular meetings and constant testing helps ensure that the battle AI is always moving forwards. The process will carry on right up until release, and things are looking very promising already.
Also for Empire, I’ve written a series of design documents on how the AI should deal with certain situations and general things it should do based on how myself and others play the game. These documents are constantly updated as more is added to them, new tactics are included and situations arise which have AI design implications. This ensures that there are always up to date documents detailing how the AI should play both generally in battles, and more specifically for certain situations. This helps give clear goals for how the AI should progress, and means we are aiming towards an AI that plays a lot more like a human and so should provide more of a challenge to both our experienced players and those new to the series.
If you’ve got any questions on this blog, please do send them in.
Jack.
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Empire: Total War Stunt Man Q&A
» Total War BlogAfter our recent Empire: Total War mo-cap shoot at Shepperton Studios, Mark O’Connell from TotalWar.com caught up with one of the stuntmen to learn a bit more about his art…
Totalwar.com: How did you get into being a motion-capture actor?
Chris Freedman: Getting into Motion-Capture isn’t that easy, particularly the area that we specialize in. First off you need to be a competent actor and next you need to get your stage combat qualifications. Above and beyond that being a skilled acrobat, gymnast, fencer or martial artist will be greatly to your advantage. Finally, once you have all the skills you need, it’s time to find and get the work and that means auditions…. lots of them.
Totalwar.com: Have you ever been involved in any film work?
Chris Freedman: Yes, I have had minor acting roles in Batman: Dark Knight, 28 Weeks Later and a variety of TV productions. Ronin has fought and directed fights in a number of film shorts and numerous theater productions.
Totalwar.com: Have you had any combat training or martial arts experience?
Chris Freedman: We both hold stage combat qualifications, as this is an absolute minimum for the job. Ronin teaches stage combat to actors and is currently undergoing further teacher training with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat of which he is an advanced actor combatant. He is a resident fight director at a theatre, an experienced fencer and has some training in Chin Woo Kung Fu. I am also an experienced fencer and hold belts in Akido, Karate and Tae Kwon Do.
Totalwar.com: Do you specialize in historical combat, or is a lot of it translatable to both past and modern settings?
Chris Freedman: A lot of our work revolves around sword-based combat, so that generally places us in a historical setting. Having said that, we are equally skilled in unarmed combat, and that has a very definite place in the modern setting.
The thing that we have to remember is, that with Motion Capture, the characters we play can be in any setting, time or genre. They can also be of different skill levels with characters ranging from a general trained in the field of war, to a press-ganged sailor who is just working out which part of the cutlass is the pointy bit. As a result, we are constantly adapting our style and delivery to match the characters portrayed.
Totalwar.com: Doing motion-capture for fight scenes is undoubtedly dangerous work. Has anything ever gone wrong on a shoot?
Chris Freedman: Nothing major so far, fingers crossed! Quite a few knocks and bruises though, which is pretty normal for this type of work. However, it is worth remembering that we are simulating combat, so the risks are real. We are fighting quickly and in very close proximity to each other, and although the blades we use have dull edges, the points are sharp and more than capable of piercing your rib cage or taking your eye out. The potential for injury means that we train vigorously in adapting real techniques for performance. Choreographing a fight and incorporating safety techniques enables us to fight fast and with intent and then do it all over again if required.
Totalwar.com: Did you have to simulate any actions with imaginary props (cannons etc)?
Chris Freedman: Definitely. During the various shoots that we have been in for this game, we have loaded cannons, fired rockets, been in a riot and even set on fire!
Totalwar.com: Do moves have to be consciously over-exaggerated for mo-cap animation, compared to regular acting?
Chris Freedman: In live theatre, the actor uses his voice, gesture and movement to impart meaning to the audience and therefore the exaggeration is only proportionate to the size of venue. Cinematic performance requires the actor to make the movements larger so that the camera can clearly see them. In Motion Capture sequences, all movement needs to extremely over performed as, not only is the actor deprived of using voice, facial expression and gesture, but it is filmed in 3600 by multiple cameras so that when it is translated to wire frame figures and eventually to the actual characters, the eventual player can rotate the action in any direction. Therefore, as the movement can be seen from any angle, it has to be both accurate and clearly defined in a short space of time.
Totalwar.com: Approximately how many moves did you capture for Empire: Total War during the days shooting?
Chris Freedman: To date, we have performed between 50 and 60 fight sequences, each consisting of between 2 and 5 takes, together with 10 - 20 acting sequences for the game and 5 - 10 cut scenes.
Totalwar.com: Finally, did you wear the mo-cap suit on the train home?
Chris Freedman: Well of course…. wouldn’t you?
I hope you have enjoyed our exclusive talk with one of the Empire: Total War stuntmen. For more information about the mo-cap shoot itself, be sure to check out our accompanying Blog and Video Diary from the day. Stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for all the latest information.
Best regards,
Mark O’Connell
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Empire: Total War Mo-Cap Shoot
» Total War BlogOn Friday 9th May, we set out to Shepperton Studios for a day of motion-capture shooting for Empire: Total War. With two highly trained stuntmen kitted out in the latest technology (and a lot of spandex), we captured a whole host of data which is currently being turned into new animations for the game.
Top of the bill on the day were a selection of the combat moves that you will see individual troops carrying out in the massive land battles featured in the game. We also captured some fierce sabre fighting that you will witness in the duelling scenes of the campaign game. A variety of props to simulate interaction with guns, mortars, cannons and walls were also used, as we put the stuntmen through their paces.
In the morning we set up the cameras, tripods and workstation, and then used specialist software to calibrate the equipment to create a virtual space to work in. Once the stuntmen had been briefed on the day’s plans, they warmed up and donned their motion capture suits. Markers were placed in a specific layout, and the combatants performed test captures in variety of poses.
A film crew then arrived to record the day’s action for use in today’s trailer release. Their equipment was carefully set up outside of the capture area to avoid any interference with the light, cables and tripods. Knocking any one of the 10 tripods mere millimetres would require a total recalibration of the system that typically lasts between 15-30 minutes. Fortunately though, this didn’t happen!
The seamless precision in which the actors choreographed their moves was really impressive to watch. As our lead and cutscene animators directed them, another incrementally checked all of the hardware and software. All of the captured moves were reviewed throughout the day and recaptured if necessary.
We also simultaneously conducted a series of interviews with some of the artists and designers who work on Empire: Total War. Positioned outside of the camera volume, our team spoke about how the data will be used as the battles waged on behind them. The resulting footage is part of a new developer diary entitled “The Art of Dueling”, which is now available to watch here!
Back in The Creative Assembly studio, our team is now busily implementing the motion-capture information, as part of the massive collaborative effort on Empire: Total War.
I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes and accompanying Dev Diary. Stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for more features in the coming months!
Best regards,
Mark O’Connell
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Empire: Total War FAQ 4
» Total War BlogHi guys,
Welcome to our fourth Empire: Total War FAQ. This month we are once again setting sail on the high seas to answer more of your Naval warfare questions.
Q: Is there a deployment stage for naval battles and if so, what exactly can be set during this phase?
A: Yes, there is a deployment phase but what can be done during the phase is still in development. We do know about the formations and tactics of the period and their benefits and drawbacks. It’s just a question of which ones actually make most sense in a gameplay environment. As we develop the game the best formations will be added to the mix. Like everything “in development”, what we have right now and what we’ll have on release may change.Q: Can naval battle formations be set during battle?
A: They can, but it’s not always that useful. In the 18th Century, once a battle commenced, changing formations and tactics was very unlikely unless you had a lot of time and sea-room. Communication was only possible by signal flag and by sending boats. In the swirling smoke of battle both of these became impractical methods of communication. It’s a bit like forming up a “Big Wing” (for those of you familiar with WW2 air tactics) for a dogfight when the battle has already started. Changing formations can leave your ships vulnerable to attack while you try to sort yourself out. There’s nothing stopping you doing it, but you’ll need to be aware that it can all go horribly wrong - just like the real thing, in fact.Q: Will naval battles incorporate a morale system and if so, how will this work?
A: Yes naval battles will have a naval battles morale system. It will be different in a number of ways to the land battles. We will provide more detail nearer release.Q: How dynamic will the weather conditions be during a battle. Will wind speed and direction change regularly?
A: Wind speed and direction will change but not dramatically. You won’t suddenly find yourself in the middle of a storm, for example. You are more likely to get changing conditions from battle to battle in the same area.Q: Will varying weather conditions affect range and accuracy?
A: Yes. The intensity of the weather will determine how much effect. We won’t allow battles in full-on storms as it just wasn’t wise or often even viable to open the gun ports in conditions above sea state 5 on the Beaufort Scale (to be a trifle anachronistic for a moment). That’s waves up to around six feet high. Fighting in a sea rougher than that risks swamping when opening the gun ports.Q: Will the damage model include critical hits?
A: Yes. A ship struck in a particular location, will show those effects at the point of impact. So if you somehow mange to hit or set fire to the ships gunpowder stores the results will be spectacular to say the least.Q: How will ship damage in your fleet be displayed in the user interface?
A: Through our very handy, clear and useful UI, damage will be indicated in a number of ways: per side of the ship’s hull, to the sails and to the guns. Even if you don’t bother with the UI and just look at the ship itself you will have a reasonable idea of how much trouble it is in.Q: How will range be incorporated into the naval battles and how will it be communicated to the player?
A: Range will be indicated using feedback from positioning the cursor over valid targetsQ: Will naval battles include a waypoint system to allow the player to set a series of movement orders?
A: Yes. The player can set waypoints that will be clearly visible.Q: What range of camera controls and views are you looking to include in naval battles?
A: This is an element that is still in development. Lots of people have different ideas about what they want. What we are doing at the moment is looking at how many of these are useful and practical.Q: How much control will the player have over the speed at which naval battles are played out?
A: At present it is planned to allow the player to speed up and slow down time in battles as well as pause the game.Q: Will reinforcements be included in naval battles as they are on land?
A: Yes. Although that may not be what you think it is, as we have changed the campaign map and the methods of reinforcement from Rome and Medieval 2.Q: Can any military ship be used for troop transportation or are there specific transport ships for this purpose?
A: Troop transportation will involve commandeering transport ships as needed, filling them with troops and shipping them with a protecting naval convoy. Transports can’t defend themselves, so you’ll probably want to send a defending naval vessel with them.Q: Can crew be trained to be more efficient and effective via campaign game upgrades?
A: Yes there are items and systems on the campaign map that will effect the quality of your ships and crew.Q: Will there be night battles for naval combat and if so, is this an option presented to player at engagement in the campaign game?
A: Yes. They will normally be more like dusk and dawn battles than true night-time warfare. Finding a ship in the dark at sea isn’t easy unless there is enough moonlight and a clear sky. Even then, it’s hard.Q: How will naval officers be rated and affect crew and ship performance?
A: There will be Admirals, Commodores and Captains. Commodores and Captains have a set of fixed effects and Admirals are of variable quality. Admirals, like generals, will have their own set of character traits and ancillaries that can add to their skills.Q: Can crew from sinking ships be rescued?
A: No. The poor souls drown horribly and the sharks feed with gusto!Q: How are lost crew numbers replenished post-battle?
A: Two ways. Either by pressing captured crew from ships captured in battle or by heading back to friendly ports for more men.Next time we will be dropping anchor to discuss a different area of Empire: Total War, so keep your questions coming on our official forums!
Take care,
Mark O’Connell
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Empire: Total War FAQ 3
» Total War BlogHi guys,
Just in time for Christmas, we are pleased to bring your our third Empire: Total War Q&A, featuring more of your questions from the official forums. This month we are taking the fight to the seas with an indepth look at Naval warfare.
Q: Will naval battles be fun and easy to command?
A: Where possible we have tried to use intuitive and easy to grasp controls.
There are a fair number of elements of control and game play that are shared with the land battles in Empire. Most people who have played Total War or another RTS game will select units, give basic orders and be able to move the camera around without a tutorial.
We have also been working extremely hard at making naval battles fun to play from the first minute, while leaving room for depth in the gameplay. The variety of ships available just adds to that depth and enjoyment.
The user HUD is going in the right direction, but is still undergoing refinement and development. It’s a good sign that the fans over at the Total War Center were able to work out the functionality of a lot of the prototype interface in one of the screenshots, and all with a little guesswork and no help from tooltips.Q: What’s the maximum number of ships we’ll be able to command in battle?
A: The number of ships that will be commanded by the player is still subject to development. There are gameplay issues being resolved. It’s very likely that it will not be more than 20 per player. More than that could make battles too tricky to control, certainly for most “normal” people (or “us”, to use the shorthand term). Experts will, of course, scoff at our uselessness, but then we only have the standard number of fingers having not stitched on extra ones to give us an advantage in WOW.
What has to be remembered is that most ships have two broadsides to fire, as well as boarding actions to fight. When you mix in the effects of wind, waves, shot type selection, timing of broadsides, hull and sail damage, and the crew being killed… Well, the experience is already epic and engaging. With too many ships to control, battles could be overwhelming rather than fun.Q: Will ships gain experience and associated bonuses and, if so will, they be gained by ships sunk or men killed?
A: Ships crews will gain battle experience and this will have gameplay effects. We’ll talk more about this another time.
Q: How are the Physics of naval combat going to work - are there going to be factors to do with the wind/weather?
A: That’s cheeky, more than one question in a question? It’s a taste of the cat, for you! Not easy to answer in a short Q and A either. Where do I start?
In this game we are looking at trying to create the best and most realistic environment and sea battles you will have ever seen, running in real time, in a game. Golly.
Ships have buoyancy models that effect their motion through and across the waves. Get a big hole in your hull and you will sink. All ships have location modelling of hull damage too.
The wind itself is modelled using simplified physics acting upon the ships, the ships sails and the sea. Rain, fog and snow are also weather that will be present in battles.
The projectiles fired from cannon each have their path and velocity tracked individually and so will cause varying amounts of damage to anything (sails, masts, rigging, hull, decks and men) that block that path. Obviously a big first-rate ship of the line is going to be able to take a pounding; a sloop, on the other hand, is going to have to rely on keeping out of the way of the big guns.
As part of creating a realistic sea battle, the sea will be using statistically accurate waveforms found in seas in the real world. These waveforms are animated using a Fast Fourier Transform. The sea surface itself is rendered using the Fresnel equation to blend between reflection and refraction. This sea acts upon the ships that sail on them, causing them to roll and pitch. This roll and pitch then effects the accuracy of the gunnery. Have we baffled you with technical terms yet? Good.
Hope that answers your question.Q: Will ramming be a last ditch tactic that can be employed in naval battles?
A: You can certainly attempt to ram but, as you probably know, ships of this period were not really designed for ramming. The damage that you might do to your ship definitely makes this an act of despair! Ships of the line are not lightweights, and a few thousand tons of wood, steel and men colliding will cause havoc! Having said all that, a sloop should do everything it can to avoid getting in the way of a first-rate: failure is not pretty for the sloop.Q: Will merchant ships be part of your fleet, so that the warships need to guard the merchant ships in a battle?
A: There are two types of merchant activity in Empire: trade routes and trade fleets. These can be guarded by your navies. There is a boatload to say about this so I think we are going to leave that for another time.Q: Will you be able to see men jumping off the ship when it is sinking?
A: Yes. Some will be holding on for dear life as the ship slips beneath the waves and visits Davy Jones’ Locker. As most sailors of the 18th Century weren’t good swimmers, this is a very sad sight to see. The designers are still angling for ambient sharks (but without frickin’ laser beams on their heads).Q: Will we be able to use captured ships in our own naval and merchant fleets?
A: Yes. There is a whole chapter that can be written about this but that’s for another timeQ: Will the ships be very expensive or take some time to build, so that recovering ships or taking ships has a real effect?
A: Yes. Building ships is a large investment of time and money. The bigger they are, the more they cost and the longer they take to build. For example; HMS Victory took 6 years from the laying of her keel, in 1759, to her completion in 1765. They are also a drain on your resources once constructed. Achieving a balanced but effective naval force will be one of the challenges of the game.Q: Will my faction’s navy be able to take on repairs at neutral or allied ports?
A: No. There are a number of issues involved in allowing the player’s warships to enter friendly/neutral ports that don’t really add anything good to gameplay. One of the challenges in Empire will be to maintain a fleet at sea and have sufficient ports around the world to carry out repairs and replacement of lost crew and ships. If you want to do well, you’re going to have to emulate the Royal Navy!Q: Will Pirates/Privateers play any roles in the game? Can we hire them to harass ports of call or go after enemy nations merchant ships to disrupt their trade?
A: Yes. They will raid your trade routes and on occasion attack ports that are poorly defended. If they think they can outgun an isolated naval vessel they will give it a go too. The player can raid the trade routes of enemy factions and also blockade enemy ports with their naval vessels during wartime.Q: How will we get to India? Will you incorporate a ‘warping’ system where you warp around the map or do we sail around the Cape of Good Hope?
A: We have a cunning plan but we can’t give too much away just yet. Keep an eye out as we reveal more in the fullness of time. You will like it.On behalf of the entire Total War team we’d like to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Take care,
Mark O’Connell
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Calendar Competition - November 07
» Total War Blog“Remember, remember the blog of November. Drawings, 3D and screenshots. I see no reason why Calendar entries should ever be forgot.” - Mark O’Connell, yesterday.
The poem is of course a riff on the famous gunpowder plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November 1605. The event is commemorated each year in England and New Zealand with fireworks and bonfires. All Saints Day is celebrated in the Christian calendar on 1st November, a day after Halloween. On the 11th, War veterans are remembered for both Veterans’ Day and Rememberance Day in the US and Europe respectively. Americans dine on a feast of turkey and stuffing for Thanksgiving on the 22nd, and then begin the online holiday shopping season four days later during the lesser-known Cyber Monday. But enough small talk - lets get on with the Calendar Competition!
David Haigh kicks off November’s blog with a bang with a tribute to Guy Fawkes Night:
Demonstrating how much fun you can have with Photoshop and a little time on your hands is Fatih Köymen, who has upgraded his medieval troops with the latest anti-aircraft missiles. Unfortunately they will have to wait around for several hundred years to get any proper use out of them…
Maciej Sprada from Poland won last month’s Calendar Competition and has wasted no time in coming up with another cracking entry for November:
“My main inspiration to do that scene was Teutonic campaign. This campaign is the most bloody and dark of all in kingdoms. The campaign reminds me of autumn because most of all time is dusky, rainy, gloomy and foggy. So of course I included that motif in my art too.
This scene was created in 3ds max. I created all of the models myself. At the end I did some adjustment with brightness in Photoshop. That was very hard for me because I don’t have much time to do things like this (I study) so it took a couple of nights to do the scene. But I think that the last effect of my work is very good.”
Marcus Roberts from Kent, England sent in this image of a Knight stood in front of an intense fire.
“I got the Knight from a photo I had taken at a wedding. It was my uncle posing in his full armour just before the big moment. The knight was mostly made from threshold filter and playing with the contrast and colour of the photo using different layers.
I had been inspired by a number of model paintings and illustrations of Medieval battles depicting the events taking place. A knight and his army are taking revenge upon their victims in the scorched earth of the enemy’s land.
I used Photoshop 7 and Corel Painter 9 on a number of photos I had taken during the year. I combined a number of layers to create depth and colour. At different stages I printed it out and scanned it back in the piece to give a dark distressed feel.
This was an experimental piece I been working for a couple of days. I like to try new techniques and processes in both programs to take my work to the next stage.”
James Young is back for a record breaking fifth consecutive month with another fantastic pencil drawing. Here is James with the full scoop:
“November 1095, Council of Clermont. The call for Holy War. Diplomats wait nervously during a lull in the council as bishops and priests prepare the speech for Pope Urban II that will launch the First Crusade. Christ had told men to love their enemies, while Urban urged extermination. Who knows what discussions took place behind the scenes? Days later, the crowds would cry “God wills it!”"
This is a pencil drawing, with ink and bleach layers, and has been digitally coloured and manipulated in Photoshop. Thanks to all www.totalwarblog.com for two pictures on the last blog!
Inspired by Empire: Total War, November’s winner makes his winning Calendar competition debut with an incredible navel scene. Congratulations go to Tomasz Jedruszek from Poland, whose artwork is currently decorating my desktop.
November 2007’s Create A Calendar wallpaper is available to download in two sizes here.
You have until Friday 30th November to get your entries in for December’s competition, and this month’s prizes include a copy of Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, plus signed Total War artwork, Rome and Medieval II soundtracks. For full entry details, please click here.
As an extra treat, all 2007 Create A Calendar winners are going to have their artwork turned into a limited edition 2008 Calendar, which they will receive in the new year, signed by the Empire: Total War team! If you would like to have your art featured in this must-have collectible, get your entries in by 30th November 2007!
Good luck,
Mark O’Connell
(aka SenseiTW) -
Empire:Total War FAQ 2
» Total War BlogHi guys,
Welcome to our second Empire: Total War Q&A, where we provide more answers to some of your most burning questions!
Q: How many factions will there be in the game? And will [insert name of home country here] be included?
A: These two related questions are two of the most popular, particularly the “Will my country…” bit. People also wondered how we end up with the faction list. Surprisingly, nationalism and irrational prejudice do not drive our choices. If they did, then Yorkshire, Dorking, the Kingdom of Bognor, Chicken Madras and the Democratic Workers’ Republic of Woking would automatically be factions. In every game.Naturally, not all factions are equal. This has always been the case; it is far harder to win as the Western Romans, big though the faction is, than the Saxons in R:TW Barbarian Invasion. We tend to define factions as being potentially playable (or not), by their culture, whether they are major or minor, and whether they might be “emergent” when we look at the candidate list. We then look at getting a good mix in terms of culture, national unit and army lists, and gameplay potential.
We use “culture” as a way of collecting similar factions together and sharing resources: you’ll find Western European nations all share a lot of the same cultural baggage, so it make sense to have a common set of game resources for them. Sometimes this means we can sneak in extra factions because they are similar to something we have already done (hurrah!): it is relatively easy to add Mysore if the material for the Mughals and the Maharattas already exists.
The major/minor split is our take on whether a faction starts the game with more than one region (e.g. France = major; Hanover = minor). When we are considering who to include a minor faction is less likely to make the cut than a major one. Some potential factions end up as rebels early on because the nation in question simply did not go anywhere during Empire’s historical period. Often these were considered for full faction status before they were assigned to the rebel category: it is not sensible, for example, to do a full faction work up on the Republic of Genoa.
Emergent factions (these, you might remember, were in RTWBI) are those nations that did, or might, come into being during a game’s historical period, or could have come into being. The most obvious one in the Empire period is the United States of America. There are no guarantees that the USA will appear, but if there is a rebellion in the right sort of area, at the right sort of time and other factors are appropriate, then rather than seeing rebels, you will see the Continental Army marching off to war.
So, the Empire: Total War factions have yet to be finalised. There will be at least 10 playable factions in the game, but we’re currently engaged in a free and frank exchange of views about the candidates for inclusion on that list. Some, like France and Prussia, have guaranteed places as playable factions because they were significant in the wars and politics of the time. The powers that changed status (waxing and waning) are the ones that cause us problems! The full faction list is much longer, and it includes all the AI-controlled factions that we don’t think are that rewarding for a human to play.
So, we are currently looking at around 50 factions and scratching our heads to decide which ones make the cut as being interesting both historically and in terms of game play. The final point is that what we’d like to do with the factions and what’s practical are not always the same thing. Often we’ll have to exclude a faction for time reasons. If we’re going to have to create a completely new set of buildings, units, animations and on-screen messages for a minor (and therefore relatively obscure) faction, the chances are that it won’t make it into the game. And sometimes more does not automatically equal better. It can mean that the development marmalade is spread too thinly over too many slices of conceptual toast.
Q: Will famous characters such as Wellington make an appearance in the game, and will they have special abilities to reflect their historical importance? What new character traits are there?
A: Famous and some not-so-famous characters are present in the game, yes. However, because the unfolding of a TW game isn’t a fixed path, there is not going to be a guarantee that an Arthur Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington eventually), a Napoleon Bonaparte, a George Washington or anyone else will *always* appear when the game is played. If they did, then camping on their spawn points until the right date would not make for a very interesting game. This, by the way, is all part of the larger counterfactual-historical debate in Total War games: history probably won’t repeat itself exactly as you play.We’re having to be quite disciplined about the famous people that we include as characters and ancillaries, simply because there could be thousands of them, all with their own claim to a place in the game. Should we include Mozart as a famous composer, Thomas Slade, a naval architect of some genius, Lancelot “Capability” Brown, the man who completely reshaped the English countryside, Jethro Tull, the folk rock band and agriculturalist, or Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a right royal pain in the neck? They’re all interesting people, and made their contribution.
The traits system is being revised for Empire: Total War; the Rome/M2TW system could “spam” traits sometimes and we need to address that. We’re not going to give you a list of the new character traits because it (a) would be a bit boring done like that; and (b) the list isn’t finalised, so that if we tell you there’s a trait called “Sausage” might not ever make it into the finished game. There is a trait called Sausage, by the way, but it’s not really the kind of thing you want to talk about in polite company. However, just to whet your appetites there are two interesting traits: “American General” and “Indian General” that have potentially interesting effects. These are gained by Europeans fighting in the relevant parts of the world and represent “going native” in terms of skills and attitudes. If everything goes to plan, the American General trait will even give a general and his unit some stealth ability on the battlefield. It’s also possible for generals to develop a complete dislike of the two continents too - not everyone likes curry or burgers, after all.
When the list has firmed up at beta, we’ll return to the subject of traits and historical characters in another FAQ or as a developer diary.
Q: The bayonet was invented in this period, so how will the various types be used on the battlefield? Will key technological inventions like this be events on the campaign map?
A: The bayonet is quite an interesting technology that directly impacts on battlefield behaviour in units. Before it arrives, musketeers have to reverse their muskets and use them as crude clubs to beat down opponents. The plug bayonet is a big step in the right direction, but once it is fitted (like a cork in a bottle neck) it prevents a man from firing and reloading his gun. It does give a musketeer a short “pike” for hand-to-hand fighting, and that’s useful. Incidentally, the bayonet was seen as a substitute pike and accordingly pike drill was used after its introduction. The ring bayonet allows fire and slow reloading, but isn’t very secure in its fixing to a musket; it’s better in a fight, but not that much better.Finally the socket bayonet slides onto the musket and then locks on a barrel lug. The blade is offset, so that the musket can be loaded and fired easily, and it won’t come loose when thrust into an enemy’s guts. This kind of practical, brutal weapon made it possible to introduce “modern” bayonet fighting as a drill.
And no, we’re not handling technological advances as set historical events. We’re giving you more control over the game than that, but as to how -that’s for another day.
Q: Won’t the rampant expansion of European powers over less developed countries unbalance things in Empire? Won’t players be able to simply sweep aside native populations and establish colonies?
A: No, not necessarily. This is where the art of the game designer comes in, at least in our opinion. It’s our job to make sure that the game isn’t just a predictable rush for colonies. The question also ignores the number of wars that went on across Europe during the 18th Century as well.There was “rampant” European expansion during the Empire period, but the European nations and their trading companies weren’t guaranteed to have things their own way at all. In India, for example, the Europeans fought against each other and used proxies in a series of vicious little wars that could have seen the Europeans driven out on several occasions. That they weren’t is more a tribute to cunning diplomacy, bribes, and the fact that some local princeling was always willing to cut a deal.
Interestingly, native populations weren’t always swept aside. At least part of the sense of grievance felt by the American Colonials towards the British government was fuelled by the agreements that London had struck with the native tribes to restrain their colonisation efforts. In India the Europeans were in no position to sweeo “the natives” aside. Instead, they mounted a “hostile takeover” and left the senior and middle management in place; the poor old peasants at the bottom of the heap probably never realised that they were now farming “colonial” land.
Q: Will the game be totally different from M2TW?
A: Firstly, Medieval 2: Total War was a development of the Rome: Total War engine. For Empire: Total War we’ve started again with new game and graphics engines. Apart from anything else, we needed to do this for the naval combat system. This follows our revolution-evolution pattern of game development at The Creative Assembly: a new game engine, an evolved version of it, rinse and repeat.Secondly, the Empire period requires a different approach to the medieval era. Warfare, politics, and technology have moved on. We have a “palette” of game mechanics that we can use to bring these to life, and we must pick and choose the right ones for the subject matter. Naturally, some aspects of a Total War game are “givens”: a turn based strategy game and real time battles. We won’t - and wouldn’t want to - change that. Within that broad constraint, though, we hope to use mechanics that are appropriate to the period. Papal sanctions are important in the medieval world, but they don’t matter so much during the Enlightenment. Therefore, the Pope doesn’t need to be simulated in detail in Empire. The choreography of musket fire is important, so that gets a lot of attention. And then there’s the naval game: not to blow our own trumpets too much, but some developers would publish that as a separate game in its own right!
And finally, the development team on Empire is not the M2TW group. The Empire people did Rome: Total War, and some of the core team have been on TW games since Shogun: Total War. Chrysler don’t just have one team working on all their different car models, you know!
Keep your questions coming on our official forums, and stay tuned to TotalWar.com for all the latest Empire: Total War news and updates!
Take care,
Mark O’Connell
(aka SenseiTW)
