I'm not disappointed at all at the price, as I picked up the GOTY edition of this along with Empire, for the princely sum of 47p. On DVD too, to save on bandwidth/time! 
However, having played some of it - it is thoroughly enjoyable, but just doesn't quite seem to have that 'Napoleonic' feel to it.
Whilst the battles seem much better paced than in Empire, and I've had great fun with a few custom naval battles, blasting broadsides down enemy ships sterns to make them cry and surrender, I can't help but feel something is missing.
1) Where's my rifles? Granted, I know the French skirmish troops DID use muskets, but I've played a bit of the peninsular campaign, and I can't recruit any rifle armed troops? Where's the 95th rifles dammit?
Major Sharpe is disappointed.
It's not as though the complexities within troop types wouldnt work, rifles could have much better range and accuracy, as per historical, but a much slower reload time.
2) Why can't troops lie down? They did at Waterloo, yet there isn't an option to do this. It could have been implemented, to reduce casualties caused by cannon fire, yet make it slow for the troops to stand up and be ready to fire - i.e. leaving them vunlerable to cavalry charges.
3) Firing in ranks. What happened to more than just the front men of a group being able to fire?? Surely at least the front rank could kneel and reload, while the 2nd rank reloaded and fired?
As it is, the best way to use infantry appears to be to stretch them out into a long line 1 man deep, so that all can fire, and as an added bonus you take less casualties from artillery. It looks rubbish though - What gives?
4) Far more importantly - WHERE ARE MY FRENCH COLUMNS?????
Ou est ma columns d'infanterie Francais?
I want to see columns on the march, I want to see kettle drums hammering, I want to see a golden eagle shimmering overhead at the centre of the column, I want to hear
"Vive L'empreur, vive L'empreur, vive L'empreur!"
as the column marches relentlessly across the battlefield to the incessant beat of the drums.
The column formation could be given extra speed, and a morale reduction against enemies its' marching towards, to compensate for the inevitable casualties it would take en route.
No columns rather defeats the purpose of playing as the French, and as Napoleon in particular, given that your only option is to handle the infantry in the same way as every other army on the field.
If anyone knows of any decent mods that fix some/any of these issues, do please give details.
I'm thinking of looking around for some mods once I've completed the Italian campaign.
However, having played some of it - it is thoroughly enjoyable, but just doesn't quite seem to have that 'Napoleonic' feel to it.
Whilst the battles seem much better paced than in Empire, and I've had great fun with a few custom naval battles, blasting broadsides down enemy ships sterns to make them cry and surrender, I can't help but feel something is missing.
1) Where's my rifles? Granted, I know the French skirmish troops DID use muskets, but I've played a bit of the peninsular campaign, and I can't recruit any rifle armed troops? Where's the 95th rifles dammit?
Major Sharpe is disappointed.
It's not as though the complexities within troop types wouldnt work, rifles could have much better range and accuracy, as per historical, but a much slower reload time.
2) Why can't troops lie down? They did at Waterloo, yet there isn't an option to do this. It could have been implemented, to reduce casualties caused by cannon fire, yet make it slow for the troops to stand up and be ready to fire - i.e. leaving them vunlerable to cavalry charges.
3) Firing in ranks. What happened to more than just the front men of a group being able to fire?? Surely at least the front rank could kneel and reload, while the 2nd rank reloaded and fired?
As it is, the best way to use infantry appears to be to stretch them out into a long line 1 man deep, so that all can fire, and as an added bonus you take less casualties from artillery. It looks rubbish though - What gives?
4) Far more importantly - WHERE ARE MY FRENCH COLUMNS?????
Ou est ma columns d'infanterie Francais?
I want to see columns on the march, I want to see kettle drums hammering, I want to see a golden eagle shimmering overhead at the centre of the column, I want to hear
"Vive L'empreur, vive L'empreur, vive L'empreur!"
as the column marches relentlessly across the battlefield to the incessant beat of the drums.
The column formation could be given extra speed, and a morale reduction against enemies its' marching towards, to compensate for the inevitable casualties it would take en route.
No columns rather defeats the purpose of playing as the French, and as Napoleon in particular, given that your only option is to handle the infantry in the same way as every other army on the field.
If anyone knows of any decent mods that fix some/any of these issues, do please give details.
I'm thinking of looking around for some mods once I've completed the Italian campaign.
Last edited:
