Empire: Total War is a turn-based
strategy and
real-time tactics computer game developed by The Creative Assembly and
published by Sega. The fifth instalment in the Total War series, the
game was released in North America on 3 March 2009, and in the rest of
world the following day. The game, which focuses on the early
modern period of the 18th
century, was
announced at the Leipzig
Games Convention in August 2007.
Following a similar style of interface and play to earlier Total War titles, players choose a contemporary 18th century
faction and set out to ensure that faction's domination over the known
world through military force, politics, diplomacy, espionage and
economics. Although the campaign element of the game is turn-based,
players can direct battles in real-time. Empire: Total War is the first
game in the series to allow naval battles to be conducted in real-time.
In addition to
the standard campaign mode, the
game includes a special campaign that follows the development of the United States from the settlement of Jamestown to
the American War of Independence. Players may also engage in recreations of several historical battles from the early modern era.
Empire: Total War received acclaim from reviewers upon release; several
critics commended it as one of the foremost strategy titles of recent
times. Praise was bestowed upon the extensive strategy breadth, accurate
historical challenges and
visual effects.
The real-time land battles, with a far greater focus on gunpowder
weaponry than earlier Total War titles, were thought to be successfully
implemented. Criticisms focused on shortcomings with the game's
artificial intelligence and on the real-time naval battles, the latter
of which were perceived to be difficult to
control and co-ordinate. The game was a commercial success, topping sales charts within the week of release.
Campaign
The main campaign of Empire: Total War involves a player choosing a faction and moving to forge an empire across the 18th century world. Each faction
controls
various historical provinces, each with a central town, and one or more
ports if they are coastal settlements. 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.[6] The campaign
mode is turn-based, allowing the player to attend to all needs of their
faction before ending their turn and allowing the artificial
intelligence to make all other factions' moves.[9]
The campaign mode has been redesigned from earlier games to reflect early modern politics and economics
The campaign mode features a similar approach to those in Rome: Total
War and Medieval II: Total War, but includes several enhancements. The
game features three main theatres of play: Europe, the Americas and
India, and four minor trade theatres in the East Indies, the Ivory
Coast, the Mozambique Channel and Brazil. 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.[9] Diplomacy, taxation, and
trade have been streamlined with the aim of reducing the need for
micromanagement. Part of this streamlining allows players to appoint
ministers to allow them to better govern aspects of their
nation.[10][11] The wandering scholars, emissaries and assassins used in
previous titles to deal with the diplomatic, trade and espionage
aspects of the game have been replaced with just two units: gentlemen
and rakes. The former handles research and can challenge other
characters to a duel to dispose of them honourably, while the latter
performs clandestine tasks such as spying, assassination, burglary and
sabotage.[12] 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.[9] Players can now research technologies along a technology
tree, leading to advances and new discoveries in areas such as
infrastructure, politics, agriculture or the military.[5]
Changes in government may occur during the campaign as the rise of
republicanism over the traditional rule by monarchy becomes an issue in
the early modern time period.[6] For instance, the United States may
only come into existence if the ruling British Empire is unable to
maintain social order. Another example is that the French Revolution may
occur if the people of France are no longer satisfied with their
sovereign.[5] Factions will also have a varying number of objectives
such as establishing successful colonies, trade routes and dominance in
certain regions as victory conditions.[13] Rebellions and revolutions
will occur, and are influenced by the form of government in place. When a
revolution occurs, the player can opt to side with the rebellious
forces or the loyalist troops. The
type of government
installed by the player in their faction will determine how other
factions view the player and will influence their diplomatic relations.
While religion no longer plays a central role as in Medieval II: Total
War, it is still important in helping bring under control newly captured regions and in defining to some degree diplomatic relations between nations.[5]
Warfare
The
second major area of gameplay is the battle system. Unlike the campaign part of the game, players control
battles in real-time. As with all titles in the series after Shogun:
Total War, battles in Empire: Total War can take place on both land and
water. However, Empire is the first Total War title to allow naval
battles as well as land-based engagements to be fought in real-time;
previously, when a naval battle was fought it would be automatically
resolved by the game's artificial intelligence, taking into account
factors such as number of ships and crew, and armament types to decide
the victor. Automatic resolution of battles during a campaign is an
option for both land and sea battles. Outside of the main campaign mode,
players can participate in recreations of historical battles in the
18th century and early 19th century.[14]
Land based combat features a greater focus on gunpowder weaponry than in previous games
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, cost, and overall level of effectiveness. Players must
use 18th century tactics and formations with the units they have
available to defeat their enemies. The terrain of the battlefield and
the weather also impact on how a battle is fought.[15] Factions can lay
siege to settlements, replacing open land battles with
street fighting
and close-quarters combat. Each unit has morale, which can increase if
the battle goes well for their faction, or decrease in cases such as
heavy casualties, loss of regimental colours or the death of the
general. When a unit's morale is sufficiently depleted, it will rout and
attempt to flee the battlefield. Depending on whether the unit's morale
is merely broken or entirely shattered, the player may be able to rally
the men in the unit and regroup. Victory in battle is achieved by
causing every enemy unit to rout, or by killing or capturing the
opposing army. In addition, siege battles can be won if the attacker
manages to take control of the settlement's central square for a set
amount of time. Empire: Total War also introduces several new
battlefield elements to the Total War series. Units can take cover
behind walls or in buildings, allowing increased interactivity with the
terrain and making some buildings points of strategic interest.[9] 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.
In naval battles, players can control a fleet of up to twenty ships,
varying in class, size, armament and crew. As in land-based conflicts,
players must make use of 18th century tactics to overcome enemy fleets.
As with army units, each ship's crew has a set amount of morale that
changes as a battle progresses; a crew may attempt to withdraw their
vessel from the battle if their morale is broken, or in extreme cases
may surrender without further enemy action. A battle is won when all of
the hostile ships have been sunk or captured or have left the map.[16]
Individual ships can be adjusted to allow for a maximum field of fire
while attempting to maintain a minimalised target, all whilst remaining
within an overall formation with the rest of the fleet. 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.[9] Various types of ammunition can be used during a battle,
such as grapeshot, chain-shot and round shot. As battles progress, crews
can attempt to board enemy vessels and fight hand-to-hand in an attempt
to capture the ship.[16] 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.[16]
Multiplayer
Multiplayer comes in two forms in Empire: Total War. As with previous
Total War titles, players can engage in real-time battles against each
other either by creating the composition of their armies themselves, or
reenacting historical battles. However, following a one-month delay of
Empire: Total War in January 2009, the addition of a full campaign
multiplayer mode was unveiled. The technology to create a multiplayer
campaign game was not available in previous Total War games, and the
extended development time allowed The Creative Assembly to implement the
underlying technology for such a mode in Empire: Total War. The
campaign multiplayer mode will first be tested in a two-player beta
build, before eventually being made available in a post-release
patch.[17] (wikipedia.org)
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