Archive for June, 2010

We have made a number of improvements to multiplayer in Napoleon and The Peninsular Campaign in the latest update, and caught up with the Multiplayer team for the full scoop:

Since the update to Napoleon: Total War, what new units are available in multiplayer?

The whole Spanish faction has been completely revamped for the Peninsula Campaign, and this new Spanish faction is available in multiplayer for everyone, whether or not you buy the DLC. This includes new uniforms, as well as new and revamped units. Spain now gets horse artillery and lancer cavalry, as well as having their heavy cavalry and guard infantry options reworked slightly.

However, the biggest new addition to the Spanish faction is the guerrilla units. These units are experts at ambushing the enemy, and can deploy anywhere on the battlefield, except your enemy’s deployment zone. These units are only available to users who purchase the Peninsula Campaign DLC.

Can you tell us more about the guerrilla units available to owners of The Peninsular Campaign DLC?

The Spanish faction has gained 6 new guerrilla units, which are all capped at one unit each. These can deploy anywhere except your enemy’s deployment zone. This is a totally new concept for Total War, and the possibilities it creates for multiplayer gameplay, and the new strategies that will emerge, are really exciting. We can’t wait to see how players start using these new units and the interesting outcomes that will occur. We’ve been playing a lot with the guerrilla units in multiplayer internally within the studio, and they really are great fun.

What has been done to fix “failed to connect” issues in multiplayer games?

Players hosting games will now host on a fixed port, which is 51914. If this port is unblocked the game will use this first, before trying the old (much larger) port range. Players who are having difficulty connecting to other players should unblock this port and may find their issue fixed.

Previously, players can only do battle against people in the same geographical region. Has anything been done to address or improve this?

We’ve removed the Steam regional division between servers, so now everyone online can see everyone else’s games. This greatly increases the number of games available, and also increases the pool of players in quick battle, drop-in battle etc.

Can you tell us more about the new multiplayer maps that have been added to the update?

We added three new maps: Pyrenees Peak, Galician Ria and Salamanca Province. These are free for everyone, you don’t need to buy the Peninsula Campaign to get them. When making these maps we looked at a lot of the feedback on the forums, and looked at the statistics of which maps people were playing most, as well as what maps we most enjoyed during the making of Napoleon. We tried to make maps that reflected what the community most find fun, and best reflect the emerging gameplay trends. As a result we tried to make them balanced and reasonably symmetrical, to ensure competitive gameplay, but also to give them a strong real-world feel.

What has been done to refine drop-in battle searches?

The drop-in battle UI has been redone so now players can explicitly choose drop-in battles, quick battles or both, and whether they want naval or land battles. You can now search for as many or as few of these options as you want, depending on your preferences. And because of the removal of Steam regions the pool of players you’re searching for will be larger than before, which should make matching faster.

The game is also more generous when allowing you to choose the drop-in battle option during a campaign. Previously it only allowed you to opt for a drop-in battle when the game judged the balance of power to be very even. We’ve relaxed this requirement somewhat (not completely) as we found that, when choosing to enter a drop-in battle, players were more concerned about having fun than having a completely balanced experience (they have ranked games and regular quick battle for that).

Players will also find unit sizes are larger than they were previously in quick battles. Previously it was always choosing small unit sizes, whereas now it will look at each player’s unit size settings and choose the largest size supported by both players.

For all the latest Total War information, stay tuned to www.totalwar.com, and become a fan on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks,

Mark O’Connell
The Creative Assembly

Hello and welcome to our exclusive Generals guide to Napoleon: Total War – The Peninsular Campaign.

The Peninsular War saw some of the 19^th Century’s most formidable powers clash in an almighty fight for supremacy in the Spanish Peninsula. Yet it wasn’t a conflict noted for the dominating power of huge armies, but for the emergence of a new type of warfare.

France’s grip on the Peninsula wore thin under the constant harassment, unrest and ambushes brought on by Spanish guerrilla action in the region.

Set against a backdrop of David and Goliath battles – sometimes of individual men fighting against the machine of war – guerrilla warfare has, for the first time, arrived in a Total War™ title. Take arms!

For full details on Napoleon: Total War – The Peninsular Campaign, plus a trailer and 10 screenshots, please visit www.totalwar.com.

Understanding the differences

Veteran Total War™ players will find more of the same warfare they know and love, but also a new challenge: increased unrest and harassment is par for the course in The Peninsular Campaign.

In order to best maximise your chances of victory, you must first understand and harness this new style of play. This useful guide will help you get to grips with a few of the new features.

Political alignment

War is a battle of minds as well as hearts. Understanding this is the key to victory in this campaign. As the French, you should strive to win the propaganda war by stirring up Pro-French nationalism. As the Spanish or British, you should subvert this by promoting Anti-French sentiment. This can be achieved using The Peninsular Campaign’s new agents and technologies.

Agents

There are three new types of agent in The Peninsular Campaign:

Priests are used by the Spanish and Portuguese nations and are spawned from religious buildings. They are used to convince the population to align themselves with the liberating British armies. This occurs simply by their presence in a region or inside a town or city. Priests can also spy passively when in the immediate proximity of an enemy and detect and reveal the position of foreign spies. Furthermore, placing these agents in a settlement will have a direct impact on the region’s public order. Friendly regions benefit from a boost in happiness; enemy regions suffer a penalty as these agents spread propaganda.

Provocateurs are either Spanish resistance members working for Great Britain in the Peninsula, or pro-Bonaparte Spaniards working for the Emperor. Their role is to persuade the local inhabitants to support either anti- or pro- French sentiment, depending on which faction you are playing. Placing these units in friendly or enemy settlements will also raise or lower happiness respectively.

Guerrilleros are fundamentally Spy agents. Their Harass ability allows them to disrupt an enemy unit with added attrition effects. They can also infiltrate enemy units, assassinate generals, incite unrest and passively spy.

Units

There’s also a new type of military unit in this campaign. Guerrilla units can be obtained by liberating Spanish regions from the French. If you’re playing as France, watch out for them – they more than likely already have you surrounded…

Guerrillas are best used as harassing, mobile forces. The key to their success is their mobility and ability to undermine the best enemy plans. In battles, for instance, they can deploy outside their standard deployment zone in order to subvert the enemy. The element of surprise is yours! They can also hide in trees and scrubland.

Keep a look out for historical guerrilla units, based on legendary bands of guerrillas from the 19^th century.

Supply

The British, in their unwavering fight against Napoleon, have committed considerable resources to vanquishing the French presence on the Peninsula, but supplying the front lines of a war on distant shores is no simple logistical task.

The British must ship in troops from overseas. As a result, they require supply ports.

The British can also receive new troops by liberating regions from French rule and handing them back to the Spanish. As a token of thanks and support, British armies will receive additional support from Guerrilla units to prop up their numbers.

Technology

New technologies can be found in The Peninsular Campaign to support you in your goals, enabling you to increase your income, spread propaganda, boost recruitment and more. Embracing technology will help you turn the tide of war against your enemy.

Liberation

When vanquishing a French-held region, British players have the option to “liberate” the region, handing it back to the Spanish. In exchange for this, the player will receive Guerrilla units to help their cause.

Trade

Trade nodes provide a significant source of income to fuel your war efforts. The regions in the Spanish Peninsula have been war-ravaged since 1808 and wealth is low. As a result, shipping in supplies from colonies and protectorates in Europe, the Americas and the Mediterranean is critical to your success.

There are two types of trade node: high value and low value. High value trade nodes bring in more money, but can have fewer ships occupying them (4). Low value trade nodes are less lucrative, but can be crammed with more trade ships (8). It is your choice how you occupy these. Choose wisely!

Military Funding

Once per year, your faction will receive additional funding from allies or the homeland to aid your campaign. A lump-sum of cash can be just the ticket when trying to churn out an offensive force, but beware of spending everything and finding yourself in a position where you no longer have the funds to support your newly-acquired troops.

Multiplayer

In The Peninsular Campaign, two players can play online or over a network, either working co-operatively to eliminate the French or working against each other to win supremacy in the region.

Useful tips

You’re almost ready to mount your charger. But before that, take a look at these useful tips:

• Manage your population and keep a firm eye on unrest. Keep your own nationals happy and try to subvert the happiness of your enemy’s populace as much as you can.

• Don’t underestimate the importance of trade. Money is scarce and an essential component in the machine of war.

• Don’t be disheartened if you lose a region, either due to invasion or unrest – 19^th century warfare was a constantly-changing tumult – so if you lose a battle, there’s every chance you’ll still win the war.

For all the latest Total War information, stay tuned to www.totalwar.com, and become a fan on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks,

Mark O’Connell
The Creative Assembly

Here is an exclusive interview Total War’s Lead Designer James Russell regarding the recently announced Shogun 2: Total War.

It has been a decade since Shogun launched the Total War series. What were the reasons for returning to where it all began for Shogun 2: Total War?

In many ways, Empire: TW represented the expansion of Total War to its greatest extent in terms of global, geopolitical scale – and that fitted the reach of the great powers of that era. What we are excited about with Shogun 2 is to taking things back to a more contained, pre-modern environment where we can really focus on characters & immersion – and in a fresh setting, away from the map of Europe. Rather than having to portray many different cultures across the world, we can delve deeply into portraying one culture in beautiful detail. The game will still be epic in scale – but in terms of story and depth rather than by encompassing much of the world in geographic scope.

Feudal Japan is an incredibly evocative setting with so much great content for the game: bushido (the Way of the Warrior), mighty warlords leading vast samurai armies into battle; huge castles and epic sieges in unique landscapes like nothing you’ve seen in Europe.

Chronologically, where does Shogun 2: Total War fit in the timeline of the original game?

As in Shogun: TW, the setting we have is during Japan’s Sengoku Jidai: the warring states period in the 16^th century, before the Tokugawa Shogunate asserted its complete control and ended the anarchy.

We have chosen this setting now for the same reasons we chose it a decade ago: it was a time of epic struggle between the feudal lords of rival clans across Japan. With the breakdown of central authority, there was constant warfare and any one of many clans could have ended up winning. It’s the perfect setting for a Total War game where the player can choose one of many factions all competing for the final victory in what was the most turbulent period of Japanese history.

It was the time when a uniquely Japanese samurai culture was forged. It was also a time of great change: for example, first contact with Europeans saw the introduction of Christianity and later the first large-scale use of firearms in Japanese armies. This opens up lots of interesting gameplay choices for the player that are unique to this specific period.

How has the Total War series progressed since the original game and what will this bring to the sequel?

Clearly, PC technology has come on so far in the last ten years, and we can do things that were simply impossible before: the game engines for both campaign and battle have been completely revolutionised (and re-written) several times over since the original game which had sprites in battle and a 2D campaign map. Now we can portray huge samurai armies in all their glory with a new and improved battle graphics engine that looks utterly stunning. On the campaign side, we will depict the unique geography of Japan with the most beautiful map we have ever produced. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the game, and each new project gives us the opportunity to push into new territory.

The Total War team consulted with Professor Stephen Turnbull during the production of Shogun: Total War. Will you also be working with any experts in the field for Shogun 2?

Well we’re actually working with Stephen again this time round, and he’s been involved from very early in the project. He’s been to see us in the studio (his journey down, carrying authentic pieces of samurai armour raised a few eyebrows on the train!); we are talking to him regularly about planned features and game content – he’s been a fantastic help for us: not only making sure we stay on the right path, but also giving us a lot of inspiration (watching all the Kurosawa movies helps a lot too!).

As a studio, we have much lower staff turnover than many in the industry, and there are still a fair few people working on Total War who have been here from the very beginning, not least Mike Simpson.

Empire: Total War introduced naval warfare to the series. Is there a chance that the feature will return to make an impact on feudal Japan?

Of course – Japan is an island nation, and the sea is never far away. One thing to emphasise is that the way naval battles were fought in Japan during this period is very different from the bigger-is-better artillery-fests of the 18^th century European contests we represented in Empire. Japanese ships of the era were full of samurai swordsmen and archers, so we’re focusing a lot on boarding systems and stone-scissors-paper interplay between different ship types. Another big addition is the inclusion of land masses at sea: this provides new terrain-based tactical play as well as helping orient the player. We think we can make naval battles in Shogun feel very fresh & new – and be more fun to play than ever before.

What other areas of the game might see major changes with Shogun 2?

When we begin development, as a team we immerse ourselves in the period and the setting that we are trying to bring to life in the game. We develop features that reflect the battles and the military & economic dilemmas of the time (as well as making for great gameplay).

On the campaign map this means we fold in the importance of honour, treachery, clan & family, and many other aspects of being a warlord in feudal Japan. Of course, we need a completely new set of agents and agent abilities too.

On the battle side, special, historically accurate, hero characters can help turn the tide of battle. We’re also giving siege mechanics a complete overhaul: Japanese castles are very different from European castles, and we’re working hard to make the layouts look convincingly Japanese as well as playing well.

We’re also planning some very exciting things for the multiplayer part of the game, so watch this space!

What do you want to achieve overall with Shogun 2: Total War?

We really want to make Shogun 2 a thing of beauty, and the most immersive Total War game ever. We are focusing on pushing gameplay depth and polish rather than raw ‘size’ or scope: doing more with less.

Internally, we are calling these things together (beauty, depth, polish and immersion) the Zen of Total War. We are absolutely committed to making Shogun 2 the most breathtaking Total War experience ever.

Thank you for your time!

Stay tuned to www.TotalWar.com for all the latest Shogun 2: Total War information, and be sure to become a fan on Facebook and Twitter.

Best regards,

Mark O’Connell
The Creative Assembly