Empire: Total War

The demo isn't that good. The load times are horrendous, not a good unit selection, etc. but my God, the full game is amazing. Its exactly what I've been hoping for for over two years!
 
Just got a hard copy of the game but can't play till tomorrow since I'm about to upgrade my computer to my sig. Right now i have a 2.0 64X2 and don't want to even try and play it with that. I hope my 8800 runs it good don't feel like buying a 260 yet. I'm sure the games awesome I've played them all since Rome and loved them, I really hope the ai is improved though.
 
Anyone have this game already and tried the Grand Ages: Rome demo? Trying to decide between the two since I'm hearing different things about Empire's release state.
 
The mexican demands pics!

Im gonna be downloading this after a few downloads finish. Hopefully i wont have to turn on my house fire overclocks to get decent frames.
 
kadozer said:
Anyone have this game already and tried the Grand Ages: Rome demo? Trying to decide between the two since I'm hearing different things about Empire's release state.
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I do and I have. :)

IMHO, the emphasis on ETW is on combat and building (if you don't auto-manage). The emphasis on GAR is on building with combat lite. Graphics in GAR are behind but decent.

I love ETW, but merely like GAR. Not even sure I will buy it, but I tend to prefer the ETW type of game.

My 2 cents.
 
The game is indeed a hundred times better than the demo lets on - but I'm still a little cautious about the enemy AI. At times it seems confused as to what to do.

More playtime needed before I judge though.
 
Anyone start testing different tweak settings for the game? I tried a few things yesterday, but haven't really hit a golden point of "Good enough graphics" + "Smooth Feeling".

On automatic, it turns off AA and deselects all the bloom, fog, and shadows checkmarks at the bottom. When I start turning those on, even at 2x AA, I start to get slight pauses that aren't hard pauses or a feeling of slow framerate, but more like hesitation/rubberband lag in an online game.

I'm thinking that I may just go with the highest AA and ignore the fog and some of the shadow
AMD 64 5000+ Brisbane
4 GB Ram
nvidia 8800 GT
 
Donagin said:
Just got a hard copy of the game but can't play till tomorrow since I'm about to upgrade my computer to my sig. Right now i have a 2.0 64X2 and don't want to even try and play it with that. I hope my 8800 runs it good don't feel like buying a 260 yet. I'm sure the games awesome I've played them all since Rome and loved them, I really hope the ai is improved though.
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I'm playing with the same card you have in your sig, and I have most things set to high at 1280x1024, and am running in the high 30s during battles.
 
Is it just me or are units highly unresponsive to commands? Mainly on land. I feel like i have to do a double right click order for them to do ANYTHING. Otherwise they just stand there and look stupid while getting shot at. Anyone else seeing this problem?
 
EnforcerGT said:
Grand Ages looks like its 10 years behind in graphics

and maybe gameplay.
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Are you blind? Grand ages looks gorgeous for an RTS game...

Empire also looks pretty damn good, especially in the details like the naval crews and things.

Speaking of Grand ages, really it's more suited toward the building of a city whereas empire is on combat rather then city building on any large scale.


I got Empires via steam yesterday and I'm having a blast. So far I'm going through the Road to Independence to get back into the swing of gameplay since M:TW2.

Trying to get some good videos to throw up on YT showing it off.

I love how you can recruit and replinish your troops from the army itself now rather then having to go back to a city to do it, saves a lot of micro-managing.

Still a few small things I wish they'd work on though, like the troops interaction in melee combat. You still have guys that sit there doing nothing while enemies are right beside them and other odd things from time to time.

The Artillery is awesome, the balls will bounce around depending on the angle and speed. I saw one hit the front line and bounce into a few lines of troops that were behind it taking out some calvary, wish I was recording it then.

THe battlefields and time of day are great, the way the seasons change, you will fight on snow, day, night, dawn, rainy, etc. The battlefields seem quite large too, especially love seeing ones with small towns and buildings in them.
 
.... son of a bitch.

So I'm playing through the Road To Independence campaign and I'm on episode 2. The Iriqouis love me and we have open trade and military access. I take George Washington and a huge army through the Iriqouis lands to attack the French from the rear. But as I'm within Iriqouis land, they cancel my military access agreement for some reason. Whatever, assholes. But here's the buggy part: I now can't move my army across Iriqouis borders, even though I'm within their borders. So, I can't even get back to my own territories and I'm essentially stuck.

Any help?
 
Are you positive that's it?

Because I thought I was stuck as well at one point, but then realized that you had to go through the fort and couldn't simply go around it.

So if there's a fort nearby or something (usually at the edges of a terrority) try to go to it first and then it should let you out the other terrority.
 
Pretty sure that was it. I actually had to initiate another trade with them, and then pay them money in order to get another military access. Then I could pass through their borders again. If they cancel the agreement while I'm in their territory, it should at least let me travel out of their land. Lame. Once I finish with the French, I may just have to wipe them off the face of the planet for their insolence.
 
[edit]

Sigh @ steam. Why can't it be a normal game... Installing now. Had to go to 2 stores to get it.
 
PoweredBySoy said:
Pretty sure that was it. I actually had to initiate another trade with them, and then pay them money in order to get another military access. Then I could pass through their borders again. If they cancel the agreement while I'm in their territory, it should at least let me travel out of their land. Lame. Once I finish with the French, I may just have to wipe them off the face of the planet for their insolence.
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autosave of the previous turn any help?
 
just bought it off steam, i was a huge player of medieval total war 2 and stainless steel playing on hardest difficulties, looking forward to getting my butt kicked and learning the new ways of the world, these games rock.
 
Donagin said:
Just got a hard copy of the game but can't play till tomorrow since I'm about to upgrade my computer to my sig. Right now i have a 2.0 64X2 and don't want to even try and play it with that. I hope my 8800 runs it good don't feel like buying a 260 yet. I'm sure the games awesome I've played them all since Rome and loved them, I really hope the ai is improved though.
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I think a ton of us have the 8800, its been a year and a few months I am not ready to make the dump of cash (kinda sad going from super high everything in total war to medium here).
 
markt435 said:
Is it just me or are units highly unresponsive to commands? Mainly on land. I feel like i have to do a double right click order for them to do ANYTHING. Otherwise they just stand there and look stupid while getting shot at. Anyone else seeing this problem?
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Seems to be a common problem people are having. I seem to have more success by lining troops so they face the enemy before clicking to fire a volley. If for whatever reason the regiment isn't lined up and facing the enemy perfectly, they can't function sometimes.

The artillery is a whole other mess. Either another issue or I must be doing something wrong because they never seem to be firing consistently at the enemy. I've noticed that they'll fire a shot (and miss of course), then wait a couple of minutes before firing another one.

Fleet battles are the most fun, but any more than a few ships and it's too chaotic to enjoy.

AI for diplomacy is retarded, as usual. In my first campaign, Russia offered to trade with me if I paid 1000g. I said, ok, sweet, my first trade partner. Next turn, Russia cancels trade for no reason. Next turn, Russia offers to trade with me again for some technology. Ok, fine, I guess it was just a glitch or something, but trading will help me in the long run so I'll do it. Next turn, Russia cancels trade again for no reason. Next turn, Russia offers trade again and requests more money. :(

Also, you'll get the usual random war declaration (not that you can really fix that because the diplomacy itself isn't deep at all) and all the other usual nonsense.

The AI for real time battles seems OK. It is on par or better than previous games. However, it can still be exploited easily, so I've read.

Tons of other bugs, crashes, and mediocre graphics even at ultra settings leave me disappointed. Oh, and they only have 3 scenarios to play from, two of which are in the demo :mad:.

Btw, my load times are much improved from the demo. It was 1-2 minutes, now down to 20 seconds at most (gtx285).

I'd give it a 7\10. Probably up to a 9 once modders fix everything.
 
Hunterzyph said:
Why the heck didn't they line up a preload?
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I read over on the Steam forums that they couldnt preload due to SEGA scheduling a staggered release. And since Steam is only the transport mechanism, they pretty much have to do what SEGA and Creative Assembly says
 
Game is great. Yeah there are bugs but what game is free from bugs. Besieging is still fuxored.
 
Is it worth it? I know people have asked. I hated the load times on the demo. I wish there was an extended/better demo.

Would it run well on my laptop?

T5550 1.83/667
8800M GTS 512 @ 600/1500/800
4GB 667 ram.



Reason I ask is the demo felt sluggish.. unless it was just the demo.

Would my Desktop handle it well?

Q6600 @ 3.2/1600
2 GB @ 800 1:1
8800GT XFX


Well stats are in my sig if I left anything out. :p


I just don't want to spend the money and have it sluggish. Empire Total War copied a European Game and I'm forgetting the name... pretty hard... I have it. I really think it's called Imperial Total War, but I'm not sure.


I'll find it if I remember when I get home.
 
Don't have it yet, but friend said his is playing perfectly compared to the garbage sluggish/choppy demo. Load times better too.
 
jbauer2485 said:
Seems to be a common problem people are having. I seem to have more success by lining troops so they face the enemy before clicking to fire a volley. If for whatever reason the regiment isn't lined up and facing the enemy perfectly, they can't function sometimes.

The artillery is a whole other mess. Either another issue or I must be doing something wrong because they never seem to be firing consistently at the enemy. I've noticed that they'll fire a shot (and miss of course), then wait a couple of minutes before firing another one.

Fleet battles are the most fun, but any more than a few ships and it's too chaotic to enjoy.

AI for diplomacy is retarded, as usual. In my first campaign, Russia offered to trade with me if I paid 1000g. I said, ok, sweet, my first trade partner. Next turn, Russia cancels trade for no reason. Next turn, Russia offers to trade with me again for some technology. Ok, fine, I guess it was just a glitch or something, but trading will help me in the long run so I'll do it. Next turn, Russia cancels trade again for no reason. Next turn, Russia offers trade again and requests more money. :(

Also, you'll get the usual random war declaration (not that you can really fix that because the diplomacy itself isn't deep at all) and all the other usual nonsense.

The AI for real time battles seems OK. It is on par or better than previous games. However, it can still be exploited easily, so I've read.

Tons of other bugs, crashes, and mediocre graphics even at ultra settings leave me disappointed. Oh, and they only have 3 scenarios to play from, two of which are in the demo :mad:.

Btw, my load times are much improved from the demo. It was 1-2 minutes, now down to 20 seconds at most (gtx285).

I'd give it a 7\10. Probably up to a 9 once modders fix everything.
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Modders tend to fix a lot of things. But I'm hoping the army bugs that I brought up earlier get fixed with the first patch which is supposed to be out next week or something.

On another note, how is multiplayer? Anyone try it? I still suck horribly so I'm gonna practice some more before I jump into online battles.
 
kinda glad i didnt buy this... seems like this game needs a ton more fixing and polishing before its worth considering....

... and by the time i buy it i should be able to find it cheaper online as well....
 
go gamer has it for 35 bucks w/free shipping, you're likely not going to get it that cheap normally for a few months so no reason not to get it now.

IMO it's definitely worth picking up new, I haven't had any real problems with it at all minus one crash and that's it.

They just need to tweak some things a bit (like the artillery in MP that's way overpowered, the top tier one that has longer range then a cannon and can fire across a whole map.)
 
daveyjwin said:
I'm playing with the same card you have in your sig, and I have most things set to high at 1280x1024, and am running in the high 30s during battles.
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Most people play games at a minimum of 1680x1050 16:10 ratio these days so of course you will get a better frame rate on the same hardware.

After reading all the comments I think I'll just wait it out for the gold version when bugs will be fixed, I will get the add-on for same price as game now and there will be realism mods available too. CA always releases an add-on and their TW series development cycle has become very predictable.
 
Anybody know where I can buy the Special forcs edition and have them ship it to my country??
 
Spoonmaster said:
Steam. :D
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Heh, Steam forced me to piracy(in combo with german law), there is no legal way for me purchase games in my own language as long as I'm living here, without paying shipping costs and duty. Its technically illegal (I asked) for me to ask my father still living in canada to sign into my steam account and purchase the game with my canadian credit card.

Joy. (I'm still going to do the other solution, but I need a time when we're both available which could be a few weeks).

The original answer from steam:
Per the requirements of the German Federal Inspection Bureau for Media, Steam users with German IP addresses or billing addresses may only purchase the German version of this game via Steam.

Please see the website below for more information regarding the regulation of video game content distributed in Germany.

Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
http://www.bundespruefstelle.de/
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Anyone else having a hard time finding a faction you can stick with? I don't like GB, France, and United Provinces because they have colonies, and its a pain in the ass dealing with them. Sweden doesn't have like any unique units, Austria's starting position sucks but they have cool units, Maratha Confederacy and the Ottomans don't get the pickle gun, etc. so I started one with Russia, and I'm loving them. I just wish each faction had more unique units.
 
Ok, my game is officially broken as of 30 minutes ago. My armies are stuck in slow motion in every battle while the enemy is able to move at normal speed. I've tried reloading the game/battle multiple times to no avail: I just can't seem to fix it. The speed issue just happened randomly, and based on google searches, it seems like a few people are also having the same issue.


*edit* this is an issue specific to the American campaign and the Battle for Quebec. It's the last objective for the chapter I'm playing so it was all I tested :-/ Still very annoying though.
 
what are the system requirements for this game? I have been looking around, but have been unable to find them...
 
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