Empire: Total War

[[SCUM] Leroy]

If anyone has played Rome: Total War they'll love this new one. Its based around 1700s and 1800s. The campaign's scope is much larger - Europe, India and Americas will feature. It combines real-time strategy battles on a massive scale and an equally expansive turn-based campaign map.

It focuses on exploration, diplomacy, economics, the founding of colonies and ultimately conquest. In this new installment of the popular series diplomacy, taxation, and trade have been streamlined with the aim of making micromanagement simpler. The way provinces work has been decentralised; although a central settlement is still used, other locations within a province can deal with trade and military recruitment, allowing factions to disrupt a province's productivity without assaulting the main settlement. The player can produce armies and navies to take and defend provinces by military means, or adopt diplomacy and politics to make advances in the game. In addition, players can use economics and religion to their advantage, as well as clandestine means such as espionage and assassination. The way armies are produced also differs, rather than being produced by settlements and then moved to generals by the player, generals build their armies directly by recruiting from nearby settlements.

In land engagements, players are given access to an 18th century army consisting of a variety of units, such as cavalry, musketeers, riflemen and artillery. Each unit has its own intrinsic advantages, disadvantages and overall level of effectiveness. Units can take cover behind walls or in buildings, allowing increased interactivity with the terrain and making some buildings points of strategic interest. Field defences may be set up in real-time on the battlefield, to adjust for given situations. Infantry units can also scale small obstacles in the field, such as walls and fences. Weapons based on gunpowder are prone to accidents, and can even malfunction and kill their users.



Also for the first time you'll be able to play naval battles in real time. Players can control a fleet of up to twenty ships, varying in class, size, armament and crew. Players can designate which parts of a hostile ship they want a crew to target, making ships prone to sustaining authentic damage during a battle: masts can be toppled, sails and gun ports can be destroyed and various other damage can entirely disable a ship's ability to maneuver or eventually sink it. As battles progress, crews can attempt to board enemy vessels and fight hand-to-hand in an attempt to capture the ship. Lastly, the weather in a naval battle can impact how it is fought; bad weather can result in effects from poor visibility to endangering a ship's safety.

[[SCUM] Speedy]

Coooool. I never liked these types of games due to the fact that they looked a bit 90s. But this looks sweet!