|
by Fortinbras 10/12/2009, 11:54am PDT |
|
 |
|
 |
|
The expansion is called Total War: Napoleon and consists of two new scenarios plus one new grand campaign that runs into the mid-1800's with the Napoleonic Wars.
Meanwhile, Empire Total War is now at the stage where it should have been at release. AI is now somewhat competent strategically and I actually had to shift strategies playing France (I tried to seize Germany and the city of Turin, Savoy...turns out the Austrians do not appreciate that). Still, by 1740-ish I've rolled over the UK and America is now mine. Battle-wise there's still no reason to produce anything but line infantry. Standard operating procedure is basically form an inverted wedge on your opponent and sandwich him in between the two ends of your infantry line. The only cannons worth producing are the ones that fire grape shot for close-up shotgun cannon blasts to the FACE.
Some interesting things have managed to occur in my game that surprised me: Poland-Lithuania took over Austria and half of Prussia before I noticed how close it was getting to Paris and I counter-attacked. The Maratha Confederacy (INDIANS!!!) took over Portugal, and the United Kingdom's sole victory against me consisted of a surprise attack on the Windward Isles. Too bad everyone in Boston speaks FRENCH now. >=(
Factions seem like they're actually doing something now, instead of just sitting there while you roll over their territory. They still haven't moved the decimal point on "Faction Diplomacy AI's testicle size" back down to something reasonable. You'll get ballsy little German city-states with sacks the size of dump trucks demanding you hand over Quebec before they'll make peace when you have an entire army of 1800 veteran line infantry on their doorstep. Austria refused to make peace with me until they had been almost completely eaten by Poland, and the UK declared war on me three times before I seized the entirety of its colonies as punishment.
The main thing they seem to have adjusted is unit upkeep costs. Whereas before I built 2-3 armies and had them roll over the map gradually while I upgraded my base industry in my home territories, now having 3-4 fully armed armies is a major drain on your finances and you'll be lucky to reap an income of 2000. Also rioting populations burn down an ENTIRE structure now, whereas they used to simply disable it and incur maybe a 300 coin penalty to repair it. Have fun seizing a major capital only to have its 6000 gold university burn to the ground on the next turn. What the FUCK is the point of conquest if you just inherit a scorched earth?! |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|