Empire Total War

Empire: Total War is the fifth installment in this award winning franchise. The game now takes place in the 17-18th century: a time with colonies, revolutions, guns, new discoveries, and most of all war. A lot has been improved on the series, from the new naval battles to improved diplomacy and AI and expanded multiplayer. Creative Assembly have been working on the game since the release of Rome: Total War’s expansion, Barbarian Invasion, and with almost 4 years in the making, this is going to be something people have been eagerly waiting for.

Developer: The Creative Assembly (Sega Europe)
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: 3 / 4 March 2008
Official Website

Purchase

The game is available for pre-purchase the game at Steam or at your local game outlet. The game hits the shelves March 3rd for North America and March 4th for the rest of the world. The regular edition of the game will have 9 different box art sets with 8 featuring a major faction. Depending on location, a faction for the game will be featured on the box, ie German units for copies of the game sold in Germany, etc. There will also be a collectors edition featuring special items including 6 exclusive ingame units (with another exclusive unit available when the game is pre-purchased from certain stores), and a cloth map of the campaign map (in some regions, a canteen and compass may be included).

Factions

There are going to be approximately 50 factions in the game. 10 of these will be playable from the start, but the others will likely be unlockable by editing some of the game’s files Apparently there is only supposed to be 10 payable factions from the start, The factions confirmed to be playable so far are

Austria
The Austrian Empire was founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire by the Habsburg monarch's Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (who became Emperor Francis I of Austria). It was centred on what is today's Austria, officially...
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France
France in the 1700s was very interested in gaining colonies in the new areas discovered by Europeans across the globe. They had established colonies in Americas, Caribbean, India, and...
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Great Britain
In 1707, under Queen Anne of England, the two kingdoms of Scotland and England where united as one Kingdom and adopted the name of Great Britain. This union lasted until 1801 when Great Britain and Ireland united to form...
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Ottoman Empire
The Empire lies on a strategic position, controlling lucrative trade routes, and connecting the East with the West, and spanning three continents in the process...
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Poland-Lithuania
The two countries of Poland and Lithuania were combined into one of the largest nations of Europe as a result of the Union of Lublin in 1569, forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
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Russia
At the beginning of the 1700's, Russia was still very confined to Europe. Although they didn’t have to fear the Mongols anymore, they looked to expand and the lands they could conquer were...
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Sweden
Carrying the legacy of the warrior king Gustavus II Adolphus, Sweden is a military power that rules over all of Scandinavia and the Baltic. Being the lead protestant nation of the world, Sweden has...
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The United Provinces
For being a rather small nation, the United Provinces has built up a trade empire spanning all over the globe, wherever there is a profit to be made you can find Dutch traders there...
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Spain
At the beginning of the 1700’s Spain's empire was on the decline, losing their influence and much of their power. The house of Hapsburg had suffered though years of rule by poor monarchs...
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Marathas
The Marathas are Hindu warriors and peasants who created the expansive Maratha Empire that covered a major part of India, in the late 17th and 18th centuries...
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Thirteen Colonies
By 1763 the English-speaking Colonies across the Atlantic had matured to the extent that their interests and goals were distinct from those of the ruling classes in Britain...
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Prussia
Prussia itself has only been “German” since the 13th Century, when the Teutonic Knights carved out a new Christian state on the Baltic coast...
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Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire, descendants of the Mongolians, began their rise to power in 1483 when Babur gained his throne. Unlike their Mongolian ancestors, the Mughals were an Islamic empire, and spread their religion through their conquests...
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Land Areas

Europe
Africa
North America
Indian subcontinent

Multiplayer

Whilst previous Total War titles are not well known for their multiplayer gameplay, Empire: Total War is bound to satisfy both RTS and RTT players with individual battles, and turn-based strategy players with the multiplayer campaign mode.

"We've included a "Quick Match" mode that automatically examines your online ranking and matches you with a similarly rated opponent. Player ranking helps balance opponents; new players can play with other new players, and veterans can stick to fighting vets, leading to a more satisfying multiplayer experience for all." - Creative Assembly Studio Communications Manager Kieran Brigden speaking to IGN.

These Quick Match games on preset battlefields mean that experienced RTS/RTT players will not be disappointed, and will be able to entertain themselves with stand-alone multiplayer real time action without being required to complete any turn-based objectives.

Likewise, if a multiplayer turn-based experience is desired, a multiplayer campaign mode (1v1) will be enabled after release. This campaign mode will involve controlling your entire Empire and either fighting in or automating localised real-time skirmishes. Multiplayer Campaigns can be saved so that players can complete them over a longer period of time required. You can also set the time limit of each turn so that it isn't too short or too long.

These multiplayer modes will be supported by the Steamworks matchmaking service, used for titles such as Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2.

Gameplay

Empire: Total War will feature the same kind of turn based mode as other titles in the franchise, in which the player will control a country and lead them to victory or defeat. Managing cities, controlling the happiness of the empire’s population happiness, managing tax rates, and organising unt recruitment and construction will all be part of a player’s strategy when on the campaign map. When the player enters a battle, however, the game will change and allow for a more familiar RTS-style battle, where unit control, macro, micro and terrain will all need to be manipulated in order to gain victory. The player will have to maintain their empire effectively by whatever means possible, be they diplomatic, economic, or total war. There will also be multiple types of government which can be used to provide benefits to the player in certain areas.

Campaign

The campaign will take place on the campaign map, in the areas previously mentioned. The player will move their units on land and sea to conquer, defend, and bring glory to their empire. The campaign, like most others, will be turn based and will span for several turns, maybe even hundreds of turns, but there will be the option to edit the game length to suit the needs of the player. In this time there will be certain objectives to meet for each faction, and these objectives will vary from faction to faction. Often the objectives may be ones such as holding a certain number of territories, holding specific territories, and possibly eliminating certain faction(s).

Battles

Battles are always in real time. There will be the option to auto-resolve them and let the computer fight them and decide the outcome if the player decides not to fight it out. However, the focus will now be on longer ranged battles, in following with the battles of the game’s time period. In land battles the notion of cover has been added with building, which can also be garrisoned to provide defense bonuses to troops, at the cost of making them more vulnerable to artillery fire.

The addition of true, real time naval battles is something that is Total War fans have wanted since the beginning of the franchise, and they will be present in Empire: Total War. The naval battles will work much like land battles, with different ships having different abilities, and having certain areas of impact, with the ship’s crews functioning in a manner similar to weapon crews. In addition, ships will be able to be boarded

Special Characters

As with other titles in the franchise, the player will be able to train special units.

The Merchants and Princesses from Medieval 2 Total War are gone, but new to the series are Gentlemen – units with a dual function. They will be able to duel other gentlemen and generals as a way to try to kill them. If successful, they will not cause war with their actions, but will themselves be vulnerable to death from the Generals of rival factions.

Rakes (assassins) will be the choice unit for stealth kills, and will be able to kill special characters of rival units, but failure will mean that the targeted faction will become more hostile. Spies will act as the player’s eyes and ears. They will work well with assassins, and will be useful for scouting missions deep behind enemy lines. However, if they are caught and executed, they will, like Rakes, make the faction that killed them more hostile to the player.