**EMPIRE TOTAL WAR**

Hmmm I assume you do know that you can easily change how many lines there are in each unit right? Just hold down right click and drag. You should be making your lines as long as possible anyway, so that you get maximum coverage (well at least in most situations).
 
Hmmm I assume you do know that you can easily change how many lines there are in each unit right? Just hold down right click and drag


Yea thats no issue, I just wanna know why they only allow 3 rows to fire when I can have such a huge huge army. I mean 1000's of troops and I have to position them in such a way that 3 rows can shoot X targets when really this should not be the case. Ah well have to deal with it I guess :)
 
I don't think men use to stand in a row awaiting the man infront of him to die then move up to a new row and shoot. Thats just not how it use to work.

Hehe, funny you mention this as actually there are many historical accounts of 18th century armies doing exactly this.

I have researced, not sure about fire by rank but even then, only 3 rows? what if I have 8 rows of troops? It just seems pointless stacking up troops then, might as well spead them out into 3 rows only. lame :(

Well to be fair, its probably not the best idea to have men in rows of 8 deep when the enemy are firing cannons.

I know though that a lot of people are having troubles with bugs and glitches in the game, I have just been one of the lucky ones as I havent had any crashes or bugs yet (other than not being able to restrict my camera so that I cant move the camera anywhere I want. I hate being able to move the camera anywhere, but the free roaming camera option wont stay turned off)
 
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I have researced, not sure about fire by rank but even then, only 3 rows? what if I have 8 rows of troops? It just seems pointless stacking up troops then, might as well spead them out into 3 rows only. lame :(

Line infantry typically didn't use more than 3 ranks in the 18th century. The American and British armies only used 2 ranks.

What would be the benefit to using more ranks if the first rank has almost done reloading by the time the 3rd has fired? Longer lines mean a bigger volley is fired each time, which was extremely important, as given how inaccurate they were it was the only way to make them remotely effective. What you want to do would just decrease ranged effectiveness. More ranks are only useful for defending against and making melee charges.

I'm not sure why you have to research the ability to do it though.
 
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Hehe, funny you mention this as actually there are many historical accounts of 18th century armies doing exactly this.
Hehe I also watched a programme called Rome 3 or 4 years ago where Roman soldiers would do exactly that - Wait for the man in front to die or get injured and then go up for his turn :D
 
Yea thats no issue, I just wanna know why they only allow 3 rows to fire when I can have such a huge huge army. I mean 1000's of troops and I have to position them in such a way that 3 rows can shoot X targets when really this should not be the case. Ah well have to deal with it I guess :)

3 ranks of men is historically accurate. A quick google of 18th century battle tactics pointed me to many sites which confirmed this. To quote one;

"Battlefield tactics had to be modified to accommodate this new weapon. Linear tactics were developed. Instead of the large squares of pikemen moving as a block, the musketmen were usually lined up in three ranks, bringing the maximum number of muskets to bear on the enemy. Firing rank-by-rank, the massed musketmen could fire a devastating nine volleys per minute! "

As you pointed out, yes the man behind used to step in a fill the place of his comrade who had just died, to keep the firing constant. - Hence this higher number of men in a unit.

It was basically a battle of morale - who would stand there and get shot the most. The platoon who didnt run off won basically.
 
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Well after finishing the RTI campaign and now half way through taking the whole god damn world in grand campaign these are m thoughts

1. Diplomacy I don't even use it, because the demands made of me never make any sense, and proposals I make are never accepted.

2. AI are not aggressive on the campaign map, they seem to spend LOADS on navy yet never use them and hardy any of armies!

3. I could declare war, take a colony, declare peace, end turn = crap

4. Every army that has come to attack me if out gunned STILL attack me and get wiped out (this happens over and over again)

5. Let me say again - horribly bad AI

6. uniforms!!! there all the flipping same! colours different thats it!

7. Cities, look poor you don't fight in them or near them anymore.

8. CTD's

I'm about done with this one, can't say I was that impressed
 
Well 6 of those 8 are AI related. Which will no doubt be tweaked over time just as it was with previous TWs.

7 is a design choice, so admittedly that one wont change all that much

8 - I havent had a single CTD yet, but I do know that quite a few people have. Again fixable in a patch.

Its a pity its not turned out to be the game for you, but at least you've given it a go and formed your own opinions. For me it will be one of the games I play the most this year I suspect, its already pretty much all I have played since it was released :)
 
Its things like this that really really annoys me

Here is a Screenshot before Empire was released

942966_20080821_screen001.jpg


If ANYONE finds a town/city that looks like this that you can fight in PLEASE show me (well you won't because they dont exist!) Note the Cavary in the middle of thew town,I have done most fights possible in the game (bar a few) and not ONE town looks like that.

That annoys me because its false advertising and the game was hyped so big when really its a dumbed down version of R:TW

I'm playing on everything ultra as well so it aint my GFX card :p anyway the towns look dull compared to that SS
 
I'm thinking these Ai problems are down to serious bugs, i.e. something isn't triggering reactions out of AI regarding the players actions.

I have had Spanish fleets attack me and blockading me, and also Spanish armies attack me though. Not as often as I think they should though.

I agree on the cities, I took flanders from the Spanish, but on the battlefield the city was nowhere to be seen, so i think this is a bug somewhere along the line.
 
I'm thinking these Ai problems are down to serious bugs, i.e. something isn't triggering reactions out of AI regarding the players actions.

Possibly but don't get your hopes up that the AI will be fixed, it wasn't for the other games until some other kind souls modded the game for us.


I agree on the cities, I took flanders from the Spanish, but on the battlefield the city was nowhere to be seen, so i think this is a bug somewhere along the line.


I don't think this is a bug, from what I have read you fight battles on the "out skirts" of cities, if this is the case then they have given us screenshots of "towns" that just don't exist or look as good.
 
Its a nice looking screenshot, but I cant really say it bothers me that a city doesnt look like that. I dont even know if thats an ingame screenshot or a conceptual screenshot, and I can accept that things might have changed since August of 2008 that meant that screenshot was no longer a realistic portrayal of gameplay.
 
Possibly but don't get your hopes up that the AI will be fixed, it wasn't for the other games until some other kind souls modded the game for us.

Again, it doesnt bother me whether they fix the AI or modders do. As long as its fixed, and it will be, by whom doesnt matter to me.
 
Its a nice looking screenshot, but I cant really say it bothers me that a city doesnt look like that. I dont even know if thats an ingame screenshot or a conceptual screenshot, and I can accept that things might have changed since August of 2008 that meant that screenshot was no longer a realistic portrayal of gameplay.

meh your problably right :( I'm just annoyed because ONCE again this game has been over hyped and shown to be better then it actually is and I fell for it which is my fault alone really.

It's ok to play now and again but jeez if its only taken me hmm around 4 days to do RTI and almost grand campaign on hardest something must not be right or I am the best damn general in britain :D
 
meh your problably right :( I'm just annoyed because ONCE again this game has been over hyped and shown to be better then it actually is and I fell for it which is my fault alone really.

It's ok to play now and again but jeez if its only taken me hmm around 4 days to do RTI and almost grand campaign on hardest something must not be right or I am the best damn general in britain :D

Thats one of those trapfalls which sadly we all fall for from time to time, dont worry you arent alone in falling for hype, we've all done it :)

Thankfully for me I have never viewed a Total War game as the end product, I have really only ever seen it as an engine. The best Total Wars I ever played were the Deus Lo Vult and Stainless Steel Mods, those were the ones who took the design and engine and make it what it really should be.

For me in a way, I see the Total War series in the same way some people see first person shooters, its only once the modders start making the multiplayer maps for most first person shooters that they really begin to shine. (at least for me). I see TW games in the same way, E:TW will only truly begin to shine once those DLV and Stainless Steel mod teams start seeing what they can do with Empire.

One tip if you are looking for a bit more of a challenge though, dont play as Britain. Things are pretty easy for them as not only are they an island nation, but also effectively one of the superpowers of the era. Its a bit like winning Football Manager games playing as Man Utd :D

Give Sweden, Denmark, Prussia or Austria a go, much nicer challenge I find.
 
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