Empire Total War/ Turn based strategy games

Einhard

Hey all,
I've played Rome and Medieval TW over the past few years and loved both of them (probably loved them a little too much to be honest!). I'm thinking of getting Empire TW for Christmas but have seen some negative reviews of it. Has anyone played it, and if so, would they recommend it?

Also, while I'm on the topic, can anyone recommend any other turn based strategy games? I've played the real time ones but can't really get into them. It'd be great if there were other games along the lines of the TW series, but I'm not aware of them.

Thanks.

Gaunty

I put 132 hours into Empire total war. It feels so different from the others and it's the most ambitious of the Total war games in it's scale. However to get the best out of it and a lot of bug fixes and fine tuning you need to download Darth Mod for it. Makes the battles more epic with larger troop numbers, increased smoke from musket fire, drummers for your units when they are advancing. For the price you can get it at now i would say go for it, absolutely.

Also, have you tried Hearts of Iron 3? Very steep learning curve but intensely rewarding when you get into it.

ShadowHearth

It's a long shot, but you ever heard about might and magic series?

Might and magic: heroes 6 came out recently and it's a mix of tirnbased strategy and rpg.

Veterans will tell you that heroes are the most unique and most addictive pc game of all times.

Sephiroth_dude

You could probably get both empire and napoleon together real cheap now,both games vanilla are real buggy though :-/

Kernel

I'm a serious fan of the series. I love Empire, and recommend it totally. It was on sale recently on Steam, and I think you can get it from Play.com for around 6.50 delivered.

If you go with Empire, get the Darthmod Ultimate Commander mod (new version released recently), improves AI and gives you a ton of free new units for each faction.

Will take you a little getting used to coming from MTW2 and RTW, since a large part of the strategy for the time frame is different. Eg. effective use and placement of line infantry and artillery - although you can still use effective cavalry charges. The old 'hammer and anvil' (spearman/pikemen holding, while cavalry outflank and smash from the flanks or behind) tactic is not as prevalent though.

I reckon you'll love it tbh.

Game of the year Empire + Napoleon on Play for 16.99, probably worth getting as you get all DLC also.

Einhard

Hey thanks for the replies. Will probably get it now. So instead of humouring my drunken auntie as we watch the Best of Missus Brown on Xmas day, I'll be launching a pre-emptive strike against Spain!

What's the Darth Mod? How do I get it? I'm afraid I'm not much of a techie. Also, I noted recently that Steam had been hacked. Is it still having issues or have they been resolved?

Oh, one last thing- how do I ensure my laptop has the requisite tech requirements?

pawrick

I agree with the others - go for the game it's worth it and I came from playing Rome and TW also.

+ steam has it on sale every now and then so it might be back on offer for xmas.


I'd recommend the Napoleon one also but not a fan of shogun 2 myself.



edit - test out the trial of the game on steam if unsure how your laptop will cope

Zulu

I didn't rate either Empire or Shogun 2. Medieval was the best imo

Corkfeen

Einhard wrote: »

Hey thanks for the replies. Will probably get it now. So instead of humouring my drunken auntie as we watch the Best of Missus Brown on Xmas day, I'll be launching a pre-emptive strike against Spain!

What's the Darth Mod? How do I get it? I'm afraid I'm not much of a techie. Also, I noted recently that Steam had been hacked. Is it still having issues or have they been resolved?

Oh, one last thing- how do I ensure my laptop has the requisite tech requirements?

To find if you can run it. http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/intro.aspx
Only the steam forums got hacked which isn't linked to actual steam accounts so nothing to worry about on that front. And here's the darth mod.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/darthmod-empire/downloads

Kernel

Einhard wrote: »

Hey thanks for the replies. Will probably get it now. So instead of humouring my drunken auntie as we watch the Best of Missus Brown on Xmas day, I'll be launching a pre-emptive strike against Spain!

What's the Darth Mod? How do I get it? I'm afraid I'm not much of a techie. Also, I noted recently that Steam had been hacked. Is it still having issues or have they been resolved?

Oh, one last thing- how do I ensure my laptop has the requisite tech requirements?

http://www.twcenter.net/ is your friend for mods!

Go to http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=341088 for the darthmod Ultimate Commander mod. If you have any trouble installing when you download this, give me a PM and if I can help you I will. I think play.com is your best bet, the price has gone up on steam. If you order from play.com and get the disc, it uses steam activation anyway.

Gaunty

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=246153 is the link for Darthmod Ultimate Commander mate. It's highly recommended for anyone who is getting the game. It has full instructions for installation. It's done very easily using a launcher, basically does it all for you so no messing around with files etc. Hope that helps ya Einhard!

Gaunty

Grrr, just noticed kernel got there a minute before me. :P Damn my slow fingers!

Kernel

Gaunty wrote: »

Grrr, just noticed kernel got there a minute before me. :P Damn my slow fingers!

1 minute is all it takes to make the difference - cannister shot!

Einhard

Well that's sorted then, Empire: TW it is. The only problem is I don't want to wait for Christmas day to play it!! Looks like I'll be loading up Rome tonight and teaching those pesky Carthaginians a lesson in civility!

Thanks for all the advice!

Sephiroth_dude

what did ye make of the shogun 2?anyone that played it?there's an expansion been released next year.

Zulu

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

what did ye make of the shogun 2?anyone that played it?there's an expansion been released next year.

I didn't get into it at all. Might give it another shot

Einhard

Hey,
I'm after signing up to Steam and have downloaded the Empire:TW demo, but every time I try to play it, I get as far as the main credit screen and the whole thing freezes up on me. My computer is well ahead of the recommended spec so shouldn't have any trouble playing it. Anyone have an idea what's happening?

titan18

Not the exact same, but you should Europa Universalis 3. It's a very large strategy game, that can be got cheap enough now. You'll put too much hours into it

Skerries

I bought this in a previous Steam sale and it is supposed to be good but never got round to playing it

King Arthur

Orizio

Rome and Medieval are as good as it gets, but its worth checking out the many brilliant fan made mods for these games,

Don't give up on RTS until you've played Starcraft 2 btw.

Spunge

I really liked the new combat in empire total war. Just the whole concept of firing lines and stuff was new and interesting, while all the others around about spearmen vs cavalry vs swordsmen. However, even with the darthmod ultimate mod i found the AI on the campaign map to be terribad. I was conquering most of europe, the enemy would be sitting beside my undefended city for 2 turns with a crap load of troops and never take it. It was then that i stopped playing.

Sephiroth_dude

Spunge wrote: »

I really liked the new combat in empire total war. Just the whole concept of firing lines and stuff was new and interesting, while all the others around about spearmen vs cavalry vs swordsmen. However, even with the darthmod ultimate mod i found the AI on the campaign map to be terribad. I was conquering most of europe, the enemy would be sitting beside my undefended city for 2 turns with a crap load of troops and never take it. It was then that i stopped playing.

It never seamed to attack by sea either

Spunge

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

It never seamed to attack by sea either

the ottoman empire invaded iceland and took my sh1t, but thats about it.

Sudden Valley

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

It never seamed to attack by sea either

in the early game before it was patched that was the problem. In the most up to date version Britain or France would constantly attack by sea. And ridiculously in the later game the Maratha empire (india) would invade europe.

humanji

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

what did ye make of the shogun 2?anyone that played it?there's an expansion been released next year.

I love it. The political side of things is a big improvement over Empire, I think. And the battles feel more dynamic, though the AI still isn't great.

But I don't think it's a patch on Medieval 2. It lacks the epic feel that that game had.

Einhard wrote: »

Hey,
I'm after signing up to Steam and have downloaded the Empire:TW demo, but every time I try to play it, I get as far as the main credit screen and the whole thing freezes up on me. My computer is well ahead of the recommended spec so shouldn't have any trouble playing it. Anyone have an idea what's happening?

See if this helps: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1637700

There's quite a few people with different problems when it came to starting the game. The only thing you can really to is thrawl the net and try and see if anyone has had the same problem as you.

Spunge

I liked shogun 2 a lot but although historically accurate (i assume) the fact all the factions basically had the exact same units was kinda lame compared to say rome where youd have a crap load of barbarians against small number of highly armour phalanx etc. And it seemed like all the special units were pretty pointless in the end i was just using the basic troops all the way through the game coz they were cheaper

Kernel

Einhard wrote: »

Hey,
I'm after signing up to Steam and have downloaded the Empire:TW demo, but every time I try to play it, I get as far as the main credit screen and the whole thing freezes up on me. My computer is well ahead of the recommended spec so shouldn't have any trouble playing it. Anyone have an idea what's happening?

Update graphics drivers maybe? What version of windows are you running?

Kernel

Spunge wrote: »

I liked shogun 2 a lot but although historically accurate (i assume) the fact all the factions basically had the exact same units was kinda lame compared to say rome where youd have a crap load of barbarians against small number of highly armour phalanx etc. And it seemed like all the special units were pretty pointless in the end i was just using the basic troops all the way through the game coz they were cheaper

Yes, I agree. I also thought the battles felt dumbed down, and the map was too small - basically one big choke point after another. I might give it a go in the future again though.