Archive for October, 2007

Hi guys,

We recently offered our forum community the chance to submit questions about Empire: Total War to the team. Here we’ve tried to address some of the most common themes.

Will the emergence of new governmental systems be reflected in the game? Will we be able to play as a monarchy or republic and will that affect the gameplay?
Revolution is a key theme of the era. In Empire there are three different potential forms of government. Players will have to decide how to contend with social changes as their society “progresses”. This is a really exciting area we’re currently developing at CA. Ruling a monarchy with an iron fist involves different challenges from governing a republic. The three government types have their own advantages and disadvantages and as pressure for reform grows, revolution and civil strife can occur, and players will have to deal with the consequences of that.

Will religion play an important role in Empire: Total War?
It’s clear that the Enlightenment caused a few headaches for some of the clergy of the time. With that in mind, religious issues are still relevant in Empire, but less important than in Med II. The Pope won’t be dropping Lord Nelson a line asking him to retake the Holy Land, but religion does play a part in social order and diplomatic relations.

Will diplomacy be improved?
The 18th century was a little more civilized than some periods we’ve covered in previous Total War games. To reflect this we’re giving our diplomatic AI a complete overhaul. Previously in Total War the diplomacy AI and the campaign map AI were separate entities but in Empire we’ve unified these two aspects so they work more harmoniously. Diplomatic relations are now much more closely linked to your activities on the campaign map. And you probably won’t get your ambassador’s head back in a bag.

Will trade be more important than previous Total War games?
Absolutely. Empire is a game about war AND colonialism. The expansion of trade was a driving force of the European colonial effort. Trade is the both the impetus for and the engine that powers imperial advancement so we’re obviously paying a great deal of attention to this area of the campaign system. Combined with the new naval battles, establishing and protecting your trade routes have become a very exciting new aspect of strategy.

Will you try to improve the computer AI during battles?
Again, the changes in the period require a massive shift in AI. This is as true of warfare as it is of diplomacy. The tactics of the 18th century battlefield require a completely different mindset to the largely simple tasks of running one bunch of men with sharp objects into another bunch of men with sharp objects. Winning the day on an Empire battlefield will require a more intricate tactical awareness than in previous centuries. It was less about pure brawn, more about brains. Our AI routines have had to change radically to reflect this fact.

War in the 18th century? Won’t troops just line up in front of each other and fire away?
Um, no. It’s a bit of a paradox that the “romanticized” idea of the warfare is one that can be interpreted as dull. Men did not line up in orderly queues to be shot while singing their national anthems (apart from anything else, there were no national anthems). Muskets are not modern assault rifles, and once you’d fired your gun you had to close with the enemy and use cold steel. There’s nothing tame about a battlefield of any era, and hand-to-hand fighting was still a major part of any engagement. The bayonet is invented during our period! Melee fighting was as vicious in the 18th century as it had ever been. Cavalry played an important role on the battlefield too, not only in some famous charges but as a vital harassing force, constantly menacing the enemy into formations which were vulnerable to artillery. Formation discipline was crucial to victory so players will have to learn and master these, making more intelligent use of formation and maneuver than before. Add to that the importance of finding cover from enemy fire plus the ability to occupy and defend buildings and you have an environment more diverse and tactically challenging than any previous Total War battlefield.

How are the physics of naval combat going to work? Are there going to be factors to do with the wind/weather etc.
Naval battles are one of the most exciting new things for us in Empire. We’ve wanted to do proper naval warfare for ages but this is the first time that the era and our technology have been up to the standard we’ve demanded. Those high standards had to include factors like wind and weather. The sea battles in Empire are not just lip-service to naval conflict, we’re as serious about them as we are about our land battles and that means, wind, weather and of course water. We’ve had one guy just working on getting the water to behave realistically for two years! We’re doing stuff like modeling every cannonball so we can map accurate damage to masts and sails, things that will make Empire’s naval battles feel truly authentic.

Will the game be moddable?
Of course. We’ve always wanted to encourage our modding community and help them out. There’s been a lot of great work created for previous Total War titles and we’ll be looking to encourage more of the same for Empire.

Will land battles suffer and lose attention, from the incoming sea battles.
Not a chance. As we’ve already mentioned the change in land warfare is so dramatic in this period that if anything we’ve had to concentrate on that aspect of the game more this time around than ever before. All previous Total War games have dealt with a largely similar style of combat. This time around we’re having to work and think extra hard to get authentic land battles that accurately reflect the period.

Will naval battles be fun and easy to command?
We’re working hard to get a balance between ease of use and depth in naval combat. We’re confident that we’re heading in the right direction and it’s already fun to play naval battles in the office, even roping in members of the CA staff who haven’t been working on the naval stuff, so it can’t be that hard to pick up!

Will multiplayer actually be considered when the game is created?
Multiplayer is very important to us this time around. A lot of the team are long-term multiplayer fans and we felt it was time to address their needs more openly. We’re trying some things out in multiplayer that are completely new to Total War which we hope players will find interesting.

Thanks to everyone for your questions, and stay tuned to TotalWar.com for all the latest Empire: Total War news and updates!

Take care,

Mark O’Connell
(aka SenseiTW)

October has clearly captured your collective imaginations, resulting in a plethora of hand drawn images and Halloween-themed spookiness. We had so many calendar entries this month that I considered inventing a new month just to fit them all in! While Halloween is one of the better-known events in October, let us not forget the other key happenings from around the world. Many will discover the joys of reading during Children’s Book Week in England, Canada feasts on turkey during their Thanksgiving (8th), Turkmenistan celebrates its Independence Day on the 27th, and in its 17th year, Apple Day is rejoiced on the 21st!

Before we kick things off, I recently received an urgent email from James Young, who you may recall sent in an image for last month’s competition featuring the battle of Stirling Bridge. Anyway, it turns out he accidentally sent in the wrong version. So for his own piece of mind, here is the one he meant to send in:

Taking the term “Birdseye view” literally, Don Fellini from Australia has sent in this image of an eagle swooping majestically over a battlefield. Just in case the grandiosity of the image is ever called into question, here is Don to set the record straight:

“I’ve no doubt you have 1000′s of “epic” screenshots, but how many look as awesome and fulfilling as this?  I call it “The Eagle watches the troops storm the city outskirts”

Alexander Boros (GreatkingOfall) from Canada sent in this colourful image of the Teutonic Order modelling their autumn range of armoury.

Phil Delves (known to most as Kaiser Invictus on the forums) sent in the following screenshot of a cavalry unit appreciating the unseasonably warm October weather! 

“It’s called “El Nuevo Mundo”, or “The New World”. It’s simply an in-game image, with a bit of very basic image editing. Of course, its a Spanish Conquistador, as he lands in Mexico to start a Spanish Colony and ultimately begin the conquest of El Nuevo Mundo.”

Sarban from Turkey has submitted a wonderful pencil drawing entitled “soldier and horse” featuring a… well, you can probably guess that from the title.

“I drew it and then used PhotoFiltre to give it some yellow tone which gave it an older effect and High Quality Photo Resizer to fit the image to the Competition rules. The idea in that image is the second pitch battle of Kosovo which was between the Ottoman Empire and Hungry.  The war is very important both for Turkish and European History. In the image a tired war horse drinks water and a Turkish soldier caresses the horse’s neck.”

Bill Bockos (aka VasileiosThe2nd) has also called in the cavalry for his latest effort:

“1071 AD. Mazikert. One of the most important and famous battles of Early Medieval history. The Byzantines, after using several clever “hit’n'run” tactics on the enemy, were finally defeated by the Turks, loosing almost complete control of Asia Minor for ever. In the pic I drew 2 Turkish horse archers of a squadron, harassing a Katafraktoi squadron, who are charging against them. I firstly drew the picture with a pencil and paper, and after scanning it, I used Adobe Photoshop to further edit it (colouring, etc).”

In a nifty bit of cross-promotion, Pawel Derejczyk (Pyrrus) of Poland has sent in a dramatic drawing of a Viking, clutching to his faithful weapons as he is seemingly struck in the neck by a powerful blast of lightning.

James Young’s entries keep getting better, and this month’s (his fourth) is no exception. For partygoers, it also offers a variety of great costume ideas for Halloween!

“October 1415, Agincourt. In the approaching dusk, the English king, Henry V, surveys the battlefield.  This zealous, all-competent man had the appearance of a cleric, yet proved to be one of England’s most fearless generals. The image is a pencil drawing with layers of ink/bleach added and manipulated using Photoshop.”

In surely the funniest picture we have received this month, Joe Dodds from Australia is also the very first person to actually get dressed up for their competition entry. 

“It’s probably the worst you’ve seen this month but it was very fun making it. This idea came around when I was watching the Britannia campaign video, and at the end I saw a group of mounted Scottish knights charging a group of English. The picture was of the charging Scots and in the foreground a pair of muddy hands holding a spear. Unfortunately we’re not allowed spears in Australia, so I took the perspective of the Scots.
 
Firstly using QuickTime I froze the movie and took a snapshot of it. I sent that to Photoshop and worked on blotting out the Medieval 2 total war sign in the bottom. I then went outside and my brother took photos of me in a bunch of mum’s tartan material, the bad thing was our neighbours were having a party and I had no top on so I had to be discreet. I then put the masked me on top of the English and adjusted the sizes and everything. Then, after unsuccessful attempts at putting grass over my feet, I shadowed myself to reflect where I think the position of the sun would have been in the picture. And hey presto, I had a picture.”

Making his debut in the competition, Muhammed Ibrahim Kavranoglu (better known as Sipahioftheporte on our forums) has got into the Halloween spirit with this ghoulishly glowing pumpkin picture!

Ian Douglas from Leicester sent in a wonderful illustration entitled “Return October”.

“This picture was quite different for me in that it’s more of a scene way after a battle when the units are returning after war in October. It represents the Knight’s love waiting forlornly for the man she thinks may be dead in some distant land, just as he arrives. The tree is slowly beginning to brown at the onset of Autumn as the leaves begin to fall…
 
It was done with pencil to draft, lightly inked, painted with luminous ink colours and inked over again, but much more carefully so as not to let the black overtake the picture too much.”

We typically only feature one entry from each artist, but as Ian also created this disturbing image just in time for Halloween, I couldn’t resist!

Making his second appearance in the competition, Maciej Sprada from Poland has hit the jackpot with this winning 3D rendered image. Proving that Halloween isn’t the only fear-enducing date on the calendar, here is Maciej to tell us about the October origins of Friday the 13th:

“This is my second encounter with this competition. My main inspiration to do this Templar grave is very important date of 13th October 1307. This Friday morning was unlucky for all Templars because they were captured, arrested and executed. From that time 13th Friday is considered as an unlucky day when anything can happen.   Everyone believes that this day is unlucky but most of all they don’t know why. I wanted to show everyone the origins of why we consider this to be such an unlucky day!

(Alex Ed – I felt compelled to add here that I didn’t know this either so thanks Maciej!).
 
I created all models individually in 3d Studio max 8 (Textured objects I created in CorelDraw, some in Photoshop, the remaining I created in 3d max material editor). I rendered the scene and I adjusted some things in Photoshop (adjusting brightness for example).”

October 2007′s Create A Calendar wallpaper is available to download in two sizes here.

So concludes another productive calendar month of community creativity.  November’s competition has now officially started, and there are plenty of events on the calendar to use as artistic inspiration, including Guy Fawkes Night (UK) and Thanksgiving (USA).  You have until Friday 30th November to get your entries in, and this month’s prizes include a copy of Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, plus signed Total War artwork, Rome and Medieval II soundtracks. For full entry details, please click here.

Take care,

Mark O’Connell
(aka SenseiTW)