[Tapper]

 Impirion, on Mar 20 2009, 02:03 PM, said:

You can churn out about 7 units once fully levelled up I think. Yes France have maybe a little bit of a problem, but that can easily be solved by taking a couple of territories, which you should be doing anyway. My friend is playing as them in the campaign and he is holding together a war *technically* on 3 fronts. Don't forget the French have Quebec as well which can produce huge numbers of troops too. In addition, since France is allied to Spain, they only have the upper Easter border and lower Eastern border as fronts in addition to America, and that's manageable I think... Haven't looked up some of the other countries, but Prussia seems alright as well as there are plenty of small germanic states for them to take first to get the production cap up...

Aye, once conquering, you're fine and it makes for an interesting campaign. My problem is not so much with playing France as it is playing against France.

When in a war against both the british and the austrians, you do feel the strain, but that's natural. If the AI was more intelligent, they'd serve the fleur de lis BBQed with sauce all over it, especially if Austria marched through the spanish territorities into Savoy as well as going for Alsace, also because Britain, the UP and Austria are allied against you

For a player, it makes for a challenging campaign,, but I do feel that France played by the AI is underpowered and can't make a fist enough because everyone but Spain (and even that is debatable) is outproducing them in land units.

[Impirion]

France does produce quite a bit in America if you let them... I just captured Quebec before they swung it into gear.

The problem with France and Spain, not so much Britain is that because they are colonial powers, to balance it out, they can't produce as much in one place as say Austra and Prussia who are just European superpowers.

With Britain you don't start off with as much production facilities in America (until you get the 13 colonies) so you have edinburgh and Ireland which means you can produce quite well.

[Tapper]

Aye - that means that as Britain, you can afford to ship a few units to America and prepare an attack on either Denmark or some such secondary state, or even sail to India straight away with a full stack. France and Spain (which I haven't played yet) lack that option. Spain seems pretty strong in Europe, albeit spread out, but have good access to Morocco, Barbary States, Malta, the Italian States and Genoa, plus the best trading ship in the game.

Not complaining about France - it is an awesome province with enough building options, but I'd have preferred if they had a slightly better army/naval production for the AI in Europe and be a juggernaut.

[Morgoth]

I thought France was pretty much the power in Europe at the time?

[beru]

nooo it was a rich nation at teh time then napolion came and made it a super power (manly beacuse he made a professional army insted of geting mercenarys AND moblie artillery is always a bonus even tho they are smaller than stadard artilery)

[Aptorian]

Also Napoleon was a genious!

[Morgoth]

 Aptorian, on Mar 20 2009, 03:25 PM, said:

Also Napoleon was a genious!

true.. But the french still were a massive economic power not to mention their population being next t if not the highest in europe. They just don't seem to fit that in this game.

[Impirion]

That he was. Although he was helped by the fact he had some very competent marshals.

I don't know. France are pretty much the strongest to start off with along with spain. Britain are actually pretty weak I feel compared to what my friend had to start with. True they are somewhat blocked off, but they are pretty powerful, maybe not in the hands of a computer, because it doesn't exploit its colonies very well but in the hands of a player they are strong.

This post has been edited by Impirion: 20 March 2009 - 02:31 PM

[Tapper]

@Beru: you're slightly off there, mate.

At the start of the game, the two most powerful countries (historically) were France and Austria. France was without a doubt the most feared country in Europe. Louis XIV wasn't the sun king just because he liked polished mirrors, either.

The war of the Spanish Succession really needed the Duke of Marlborough and Eugene de Savoye to stop the French might, and the sole reason that coalition (catholics + protestants) came to be was because William and Mary had a personal union between Britain and the United Provinces, forging them together and gaving them a staging ground, and the Austrian Habsburg claims on Spain.

Anyway, it doesn't matter for the game, really who was top dog, but I would have preferred to see a stronger France when played by the AI. For a player, they are fine, though.

[Impirion]

Yeah, AI has always been my major gripe with the total war series. If they improved that the game would be like *droooooooool*

On another point, does anyone know if there will be more historical battles from patches or something, just the current list is quite sparse.

[Traveller]

I'd hope that additional material/extension packs would include some of the more famous naval battles, like the nile... trafalgar would be spectacular. But as for additional stuff in between now and then, maybe updates will become available through steam - i think one patch has already been released.

It would be good to have a few more in the initial version though. Maybe they get unlocked?

This post has been edited by Traveller: 23 March 2009 - 08:03 AM

[Impirion]

Yeah, that seems quite obvious. They have kind of done an American Independence campaign already, but a larger expanded version of that wouldn't surprise me either...

On the point of historical battles, it's just that there were a lot more in the original games previously.

[cerveza_fiesta]

DLing Empire t0tal war. Should be a good romp.

What is the best campaign to start with or is there only one?

[beru]

if you are norwegian dont start with sweds (no hard fealings gem and other sweeds) they talk a lot of things you cant understand (wich is funny in the start the best are the gentelmen : ) and the produsers dident get that FAEN is acualy swering... (if you get attacked that might come form you speakers )

try to chose where you want to start (ie erupe or america) then chose a nation that is storng in the continet you chose

[Tapper]

 cerveza_fiesta, on Mar 25 2009, 01:11 PM, said:

DLing Empire t0tal war. Should be a good romp.

What is the best campaign to start with or is there only one?

Road to Independence if you're unfamiliar with the TW series.
You can jump in straightaway if you are - but pay attention to the buildings and science tree.

Britain is a good nation to start with cause it stands some way off from the Euro mainland and its wars, allowing you to concentrate on the colonies and trade, plus sea battles, and only jump into conflicts when you choose you want to.

If you want to experience land combat: go for Russia, Prussia, Austria or France. Each has its own benefits (France the most extensive roster, Russia a unique one plus safe starting position, Prussia the best line infantry and a central position and Austria good numerical strengths and easy conquests nearby).

[beru]

and if you win a campain you might (i hope) be able to play all nations... (i want to try Order of saint jonh for the lolz)

[Traveller]

I'm playing as British, and so far it's been a very different experience to other TW's - it reflects the age, as rather than having to immedietely field armies to defend borders or conquor neighbours, I've been building up alliances and trade routes with those nations that aren't on my 'to conquor' list of goals.

Whereas in Rome and Medieval, a large enemy was bad as you would have to get them at some stage, In Empire you don't have to totally dominate to win.

This is good, as you can choose your battles. Spain is constantly raiding my trade routes, so I'm building a nice army to take out all their caribbean interests - rather than raid their supplies, I'm going to take their major settlements, so they lose income. And what they lose, I gain, and can use to fund an army to send to India, which I haven't touched yet.

[beru]

india might be hard... they got generals on elefants... ELEFANT GENERAL OMG

and if the spainish have traid routs close to you put a ship on it

[Traveller]

Will need plenty of big guns then!

I wish there was a way of having harbour battles - capturing enemy fleets/breaking out of blockades... and fireships!

[beru]

you get rocket ship...