Hi guys,

Welcome to our fifth Empire: Total War FAQ. This month we are focusing exclusively on your Land Battle questions…

With so much of the warfare in the period being focused on the use of gunpowder, will there still be a role for melee units?
Despite the emergence of gunpowder, melee and dedicated melee units remain important parts of warfare in Empire: Total War. Flintlock, muzzle-loading small arms were unreliable, relatively slow to reload and not always accurate. If you were sensible you carried a sword, or a bayonet, or both, or an axe or almost anything as a backup weapon. Once you’d fired, you had a tactical choice: try to reload before the enemy closed to stabbing range, or charge home before he could fire and reload. Hence the need for melee combat. The comparative short effective range of musketry makes this a ticklish problem for commanders. At the start of the period, players will have to make the choice between shooting at the last moment and not being prepared for melee or fixing bayonets. The land battles are being designed so that there is no single ‘right answer’ to that decision. This ensures that the tactics of timing and manoeuvre are vitally important. The period was full of successful bayonet charges and cavalry attacks. There’s a huge, rich variety in the period and we’re determined to get all that flavour into the game. Empire is definitely not just Rome or Medieval with gunpowder units.

With ranged combat being so much more important to the way land battles work, will units be able to use cover and stances to protect themselves?
Absolutely, finding cover on the battlefield for your units introduces a brand new idea to the land battles. Buildings on the battlefield can become a tactical focus of battle because of the cover they provide. Historically, farm and village buildings often saw some of the most ferocious fighting in many famous battles of the period, from Blenheim to Waterloo. Empire allows for this by letting men deploy in buildings for the first time in a Total War game.

There is a downside, of course. Concentrating your men in buildings makes them prime targets for enemy artillery. All the buildings on Empires battlefields will be destructible so the walls can come tumbling down!

Buildings aren’t the only cover. There are deployable items such as chevaux de frise (a kind of portable barrier studded with hideous spikes and blades) and earthworks that provide partial protection for units. The walls, trees and the outside of buildings that can be used as cover too. In addition, some units (skirmishers, in particular) are trained to fire from a prone position in order to reduce their vulnerability to incoming fire.

With ranged combat now so crucial, will the land battle engine UI display areas of fire in addition to unit range?
Aside from range, the battle UI will enable the player to view a unit’s line of sight and there are elements that communicate unit movement and fields of fire (the area that can be hit by a unit with its current facing and formation).

What effects do the weather and environment have on armies in battle?
Weather and the battlefield environment will have a variety of effects on the armies in battle. Fog and smoke influence line of sight, while rain affects rate of fire (or even whether a unit can fire at all) and the chance of misfires. The environment meanwhile will have a range of effects on troops via fatigue. Troops will tire on the battlefield if they march uphill or through mud and, as result, you’ll see their rate of fire and accuracy diminish. Ground types will also affect the movement rate of all troop types, as will obstacles like walls. This only goes to promote the importance of manoeuvring your units with care. If a unit is slowed and fatigued by mud, or commanded to climb over a wall whilst under fire, they could be cut to ribbons in no time by a well-drilled enemy.

Uniforms in that time period were mostly similar, how will you keep armies from becoming clones again?
Not all units are created equal - a number of units are not ‘regular’ army troops, and have plenty of scope for variation. Each unit we are using has a variety of different faces, hair colours, haircuts and facial hair. Unit equipments, such as backpacks and ammo pouches, have a variety of positions and sizes and there is also some variation with unit weaponry.

We’re also introducing a system that allows us to alter any part of the unit on a per-unit basis, so for each unit type we can add variety wherever possible and appropriate.  Even the most uniform of uniforms can have hats at different angles, some buttons unfastened, shorter or longer coat tails, different shoes and all manner of visual flavour.  Of course, with the more exotic unit types the world is our oyster!

Faction colouring is done in a cunning way, and we can have slightly different areas of faction colour on each soldier. Dynamic dirt and wounding will mean that in the heat of battle, every man in the unit will display a different level of grime and injury. All of this is intended to give us as much flexibility in de-cloning the units of men as possible.

Will we have the ability to dismount men pre-battle?
Better than that - dragoon units will be able to dismount and mount during battle. Dismounting is a unit ability that won’t be available to all units and must be selected through the tech tree. This opens up many strategic possibilities - dragoons can for example, ride to buildings or areas of cover on the battlefield, then dismount and fire from the cover they’ve seized. Before battle there will also be a few units that can choose to fight on foot or horseback (but can’t change during battle).. Guns will also be able to limber and unlimber on the battlefield; this means that horse artillery will gallop to where they are most needed.

Units could deploy stakes in Medieval 2 - what kind of deployable items will be available on the battlefield?
There are a variety of weapons and defensive structures that can be deployed in battle. Some in real-time, others in the deployment stage of battle. We’ve already mentioned the chevaux de fries. This can be deployed in the pre-battle deployment phase and provide an effective defense against cavalry charges and limited cover. Other examples include the infantry earthworks and gabions (large wicker baskets filled with earth), which can be deployed pre-battle, and provide significant defensive cover form small arms and artillery fire. The latter is a defensive emplacement that offers strong protection for artillery units from small arms fire but fixes your artillery to a set field position - lose the position, and you may have lost your guns! There will also be items such as wooden stakes, depending on other factors.

How will fixing bayonets be handled - will it be an order you can issue?
The order to fix bayonets can be given to any, musket armed, infantry unit that carries them in battle (and not everyone did, strangely). At the start of the period, a bayonet plugged into the gun barrel like a cork in a bottle - the musket became a heavy spear, but could no longer fire. As the game progresses, more advanced bayonet technology becomes available, including ring bayonets and eventually socket bayonets. The socket bayonet in particular didn’t interfere with loading or firing. Actually, that’s not quite true - historically the French decided to offset their socket bayonets above the barrel exactly into the firer’s eye line. This made aiming a bit of a tricky exercise.

Will there be different types of ammunition available?
Artillery units in Empire can gain access to a variety of ammo types that can be selected by activating a unit ability in battle. Ammo types include explosive shot - these are cannon balls that fly towards their target and then burst and fragment, showering an enemy with shards of metal that can be devastating to a unit of infantry. Canister shot or grape shot works in the similar way but at a shorter range, turning a cannon into a giant sawn-off shotgun. Then there are grenades which are delivered via grenadiers on the battlefield, with their range and effectiveness based on the experience and training of the unit.

I hope you have enjoyed our Land Battles FAQ. Keep your questions coming on our official forums and stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for the latest updates!

Take care,

Mark O’Connell

Hi, I’m Jack Lusted a Games Tester at the Creative Assembly UK and this blog will detail my part in the Battle AI development process and how the AI testing works. This blog compliments an upcoming video development diary on the Battle AI.

First a bit of background on myself. Now I’m sure many of you from the community will know me (so you can just skip the next bit), but for those who don’t I used to be an admin of Total War Center, one of the biggest Total War fan sites. I’ve been playing the series since Medieval: Total War was released back in 2002. I’ve been working here at the Creative Assembly UK since June last year as a Tester and secondee to the Empire design team.

As a tester, I have a wide range of tools available to me with which I can see exactly what the AI is doing and thinking. This makes it easy to spot problems with the AI, and helps Richard Bull (Battle AI programmer) more quickly fix any problems that are found.

There are a variety of battles that we have set up that we use to test the AI on. Most battles will consist of me trying a variety of tactics against the AI to see how it reacts, and noting what it does and doesn’t do well. Other times we will run the game so the AI controls both sides and fights itself, to see how well it does in that situation. That is also one of the most useful ways of exposing flaws in the AI. As the project goes on, the AI will be tested under a wider variety of situations to make sure it plays well in all battles.

During each battle, we can play with all the AI debug information being shown. This lets us see exactly what each AI unit is doing and what tactics it’s engaging. This allows us to get a very clear picture of the AI’s overall strategy and so makes it easy to see where it could be improved and where it isn’t quite behaving right.

Every fortnight myself, Richard and one of the Designers will meet up and discuss the progress of the AI. We’ll talk about the issues with it, new things that have been added in and other progress that has been made since the last meeting. We’ll also make suggestions for improvements by discussing how the AI should react in certain situations and how it should play. For instance some new code has recently gone in based on an idea to try and improve the organization of the AI during the later stages of battle. After each meeting we’ll generally have a few specific areas of the AI that we’ve been asked to test before the next meeting.

The close link between myself as a tester and the battle AI programmer is new for Empire and this process of regular meetings and constant testing helps ensure that the battle AI is always moving forwards. The process will carry on right up until release, and things are looking very promising already.

Also for Empire, I’ve written a series of design documents on how the AI should deal with certain situations and general things it should do based on how myself and others play the game. These documents are constantly updated as more is added to them, new tactics are included and situations arise which have AI design implications. This ensures that there are always up to date documents detailing how the AI should play both generally in battles, and more specifically for certain situations. This helps give clear goals for how the AI should progress, and means we are aiming towards an AI that plays a lot more like a human and so should provide more of a challenge to both our experienced players and those new to the series.

If you’ve got any questions on this blog, please do send them in.

Jack.

After our recent Empire: Total War mo-cap shoot at Shepperton Studios, Mark O’Connell from TotalWar.com caught up with one of the stuntmen to learn a bit more about his art…

Totalwar.com: How did you get into being a motion-capture actor?

Chris Freedman: Getting into Motion-Capture isn’t that easy, particularly the area that we specialize in. First off you need to be a competent actor and next you need to get your stage combat qualifications. Above and beyond that being a skilled acrobat, gymnast, fencer or martial artist will be greatly to your advantage. Finally, once you have all the skills you need, it’s time to find and get the work and that means auditions…. lots of them.

Totalwar.com: Have you ever been involved in any film work?

Chris Freedman: Yes, I have had minor acting roles in Batman: Dark Knight, 28 Weeks Later and a variety of TV productions. Ronin has fought and directed fights in a number of film shorts and numerous theater productions.

Totalwar.com: Have you had any combat training or martial arts experience?

Chris Freedman: We both hold stage combat qualifications, as this is an absolute minimum for the job. Ronin teaches stage combat to actors and is currently undergoing further teacher training with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat of which he is an advanced actor combatant. He is a resident fight director at a theatre, an experienced fencer and has some training in Chin Woo Kung Fu. I am also an experienced fencer and hold belts in Akido, Karate and Tae Kwon Do.

Totalwar.com: Do you specialize in historical combat, or is a lot of it translatable to both past and modern settings?

Chris Freedman: A lot of our work revolves around sword-based combat, so that generally places us in a historical setting. Having said that, we are equally skilled in unarmed combat, and that has a very definite place in the modern setting.

The thing that we have to remember is, that with Motion Capture, the characters we play can be in any setting, time or genre. They can also be of different skill levels with characters ranging from a general trained in the field of war, to a press-ganged sailor who is just working out which part of the cutlass is the pointy bit. As a result, we are constantly adapting our style and delivery to match the characters portrayed.

Totalwar.com: Doing motion-capture for fight scenes is undoubtedly dangerous work. Has anything ever gone wrong on a shoot?

Chris Freedman: Nothing major so far, fingers crossed! Quite a few knocks and bruises though, which is pretty normal for this type of work. However, it is worth remembering that we are simulating combat, so the risks are real. We are fighting quickly and in very close proximity to each other, and although the blades we use have dull edges, the points are sharp and more than capable of piercing your rib cage or taking your eye out. The potential for injury means that we train vigorously in adapting real techniques for performance. Choreographing a fight and incorporating safety techniques enables us to fight fast and with intent and then do it all over again if required.

Totalwar.com: Did you have to simulate any actions with imaginary props (cannons etc)?

Chris Freedman: Definitely. During the various shoots that we have been in for this game, we have loaded cannons, fired rockets, been in a riot and even set on fire!

Totalwar.com: Do moves have to be consciously over-exaggerated for mo-cap animation, compared to regular acting?

Chris Freedman: In live theatre, the actor uses his voice, gesture and movement to impart meaning to the audience and therefore the exaggeration is only proportionate to the size of venue. Cinematic performance requires the actor to make the movements larger so that the camera can clearly see them. In Motion Capture sequences, all movement needs to extremely over performed as, not only is the actor deprived of using voice, facial expression and gesture, but it is filmed in 360⁰ by multiple cameras so that when it is translated to wire frame figures and eventually to the actual characters, the eventual player can rotate the action in any direction. Therefore, as the movement can be seen from any angle, it has to be both accurate and clearly defined in a short space of time.

Totalwar.com: Approximately how many moves did you capture for Empire: Total War during the days shooting?

Chris Freedman: To date, we have performed between 50 and 60 fight sequences, each consisting of between 2 and 5 takes, together with 10 - 20 acting sequences for the game and 5 - 10 cut scenes.

Totalwar.com: Finally, did you wear the mo-cap suit on the train home?

Chris Freedman: Well of course…. wouldn’t you?

I hope you have enjoyed our exclusive talk with one of the Empire: Total War stuntmen. For more information about the mo-cap shoot itself, be sure to check out our accompanying Blog and Video Diary from the day. Stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for all the latest information.

Best regards,

Mark O’Connell

On Friday 9^th May, we set out to Shepperton Studios for a day of motion-capture shooting for Empire: Total War. With two highly trained stuntmen kitted out in the latest technology (and a lot of spandex), we captured a whole host of data which is currently being turned into new animations for the game.

Top of the bill on the day were a selection of the combat moves that you will see individual troops carrying out in the massive land battles featured in the game. We also captured some fierce sabre fighting that you will witness in the duelling scenes of the campaign game. A variety of props to simulate interaction with guns, mortars, cannons and walls were also used, as we put the stuntmen through their paces.

In the morning we set up the cameras, tripods and workstation, and then used specialist software to calibrate the equipment to create a virtual space to work in. Once the stuntmen had been briefed on the day’s plans, they warmed up and donned their motion capture suits. Markers were placed in a specific layout, and the combatants performed test captures in variety of poses.

A film crew then arrived to record the day’s action for use in today’s trailer release. Their equipment was carefully set up outside of the capture area to avoid any interference with the light, cables and tripods. Knocking any one of the 10 tripods mere millimetres would require a total recalibration of the system that typically lasts between 15-30 minutes. Fortunately though, this didn’t happen!

The seamless precision in which the actors choreographed their moves was really impressive to watch. As our lead and cutscene animators directed them, another incrementally checked all of the hardware and software. All of the captured moves were reviewed throughout the day and recaptured if necessary.

We also simultaneously conducted a series of interviews with some of the artists and designers who work on Empire: Total War. Positioned outside of the camera volume, our team spoke about how the data will be used as the battles waged on behind them. The resulting footage is part of a new developer diary entitled “The Art of Dueling”, which is now available to watch here!

Back in The Creative Assembly studio, our team is now busily implementing the motion-capture information, as part of the massive collaborative effort on Empire: Total War.

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes and accompanying Dev Diary. Stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for more features in the coming months!

Best regards,

Mark O’Connell

Hi guys,

Welcome to our second Empire: Total War Q&A, where we provide more answers to some of your most burning questions!

Q: How many factions will there be in the game? And will [insert name of home country here] be included?
A: These two related questions are two of the most popular, particularly the “Will my country…” bit. People also wondered how we end up with the faction list. Surprisingly, nationalism and irrational prejudice do not drive our choices. If they did, then Yorkshire, Dorking, the Kingdom of Bognor, Chicken Madras and the Democratic Workers’ Republic of Woking would automatically be factions. In every game.

Naturally, not all factions are equal. This has always been the case; it is far harder to win as the Western Romans, big though the faction is, than the Saxons in R:TW Barbarian Invasion. We tend to define factions as being potentially playable (or not), by their culture, whether they are major or minor, and whether they might be “emergent” when we look at the candidate list. We then look at getting a good mix in terms of culture, national unit and army lists, and gameplay potential.

We use “culture” as a way of collecting similar factions together and sharing resources: you’ll find Western European nations all share a lot of the same cultural baggage, so it make sense to have a common set of game resources for them. Sometimes this means we can sneak in extra factions because they are similar to something we have already done (hurrah!): it is relatively easy to add Mysore if the material for the Mughals and the Maharattas already exists.

The major/minor split is our take on whether a faction starts the game with more than one region (e.g. France = major; Hanover = minor). When we are considering who to include a minor faction is less likely to make the cut than a major one. Some potential factions end up as rebels early on because the nation in question simply did not go anywhere during Empire’s historical period. Often these were considered for full faction status before they were assigned to the rebel category: it is not sensible, for example, to do a full faction work up on the Republic of Genoa.

Emergent factions (these, you might remember, were in RTWBI) are those nations that did, or might, come into being during a game’s historical period, or could have come into being. The most obvious one in the Empire period is the United States of America. There are no guarantees that the USA will appear, but if there is a rebellion in the right sort of area, at the right sort of time and other factors are appropriate, then rather than seeing rebels, you will see the Continental Army marching off to war.

So, the Empire: Total War factions have yet to be finalised. There will be at least 10 playable factions in the game, but we’re currently engaged in a free and frank exchange of views about the candidates for inclusion on that list. Some, like France and Prussia, have guaranteed places as playable factions because they were significant in the wars and politics of the time. The powers that changed status (waxing and waning) are the ones that cause us problems! The full faction list is much longer, and it includes all the AI-controlled factions that we don’t think are that rewarding for a human to play.

So, we are currently looking at around 50 factions and scratching our heads to decide which ones make the cut as being interesting both historically and in terms of game play. The final point is that what we’d like to do with the factions and what’s practical are not always the same thing. Often we’ll have to exclude a faction for time reasons. If we’re going to have to create a completely new set of buildings, units, animations and on-screen messages for a minor (and therefore relatively obscure) faction, the chances are that it won’t make it into the game. And sometimes more does not automatically equal better. It can mean that the development marmalade is spread too thinly over too many slices of conceptual toast.

Q: Will famous characters such as Wellington make an appearance in the game, and will they have special abilities to reflect their historical importance? What new character traits are there?
A: Famous and some not-so-famous characters are present in the game, yes. However, because the unfolding of a TW game isn’t a fixed path, there is not going to be a guarantee that an Arthur Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington eventually), a Napoleon Bonaparte, a George Washington or anyone else will *always* appear when the game is played. If they did, then camping on their spawn points until the right date would not make for a very interesting game. This, by the way, is all part of the larger counterfactual-historical debate in Total War games: history probably won’t repeat itself exactly as you play.

We’re having to be quite disciplined about the famous people that we include as characters and ancillaries, simply because there could be thousands of them, all with their own claim to a place in the game. Should we include Mozart as a famous composer, Thomas Slade, a naval architect of some genius, Lancelot “Capability” Brown, the man who completely reshaped the English countryside, Jethro Tull, the folk rock band and agriculturalist, or Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a right royal pain in the neck? They’re all interesting people, and made their contribution.

The traits system is being revised for Empire: Total War; the Rome/M2TW system could “spam” traits sometimes and we need to address that. We’re not going to give you a list of the new character traits because it (a) would be a bit boring done like that; and (b) the list isn’t finalised, so that if we tell you there’s a trait called “Sausage” might not ever make it into the finished game. There is a trait called Sausage, by the way, but it’s not really the kind of thing you want to talk about in polite company. However, just to whet your appetites there are two interesting traits: “American General” and “Indian General” that have potentially interesting effects. These are gained by Europeans fighting in the relevant parts of the world and represent “going native” in terms of skills and attitudes. If everything goes to plan, the American General trait will even give a general and his unit some stealth ability on the battlefield. It’s also possible for generals to develop a complete dislike of the two continents too - not everyone likes curry or burgers, after all.

When the list has firmed up at beta, we’ll return to the subject of traits and historical characters in another FAQ or as a developer diary.

Q: The bayonet was invented in this period, so how will the various types be used on the battlefield? Will key technological inventions like this be events on the campaign map?
A: The bayonet is quite an interesting technology that directly impacts on battlefield behaviour in units. Before it arrives, musketeers have to reverse their muskets and use them as crude clubs to beat down opponents. The plug bayonet is a big step in the right direction, but once it is fitted (like a cork in a bottle neck) it prevents a man from firing and reloading his gun. It does give a musketeer a short “pike” for hand-to-hand fighting, and that’s useful. Incidentally, the bayonet was seen as a substitute pike and accordingly pike drill was used after its introduction. The ring bayonet allows fire and slow reloading, but isn’t very secure in its fixing to a musket; it’s better in a fight, but not that much better.

Finally the socket bayonet slides onto the musket and then locks on a barrel lug. The blade is offset, so that the musket can be loaded and fired easily, and it won’t come loose when thrust into an enemy’s guts. This kind of practical, brutal weapon made it possible to introduce “modern” bayonet fighting as a drill.

And no, we’re not handling technological advances as set historical events. We’re giving you more control over the game than that, but as to how -that’s for another day.

Q: Won’t the rampant expansion of European powers over less developed countries unbalance things in Empire? Won’t players be able to simply sweep aside native populations and establish colonies?
A: No, not necessarily. This is where the art of the game designer comes in, at least in our opinion. It’s our job to make sure that the game isn’t just a predictable rush for colonies. The question also ignores the number of wars that went on across Europe during the 18th Century as well.

There was “rampant” European expansion during the Empire period, but the European nations and their trading companies weren’t guaranteed to have things their own way at all. In India, for example, the Europeans fought against each other and used proxies in a series of vicious little wars that could have seen the Europeans driven out on several occasions. That they weren’t is more a tribute to cunning diplomacy, bribes, and the fact that some local princeling was always willing to cut a deal.

Interestingly, native populations weren’t always swept aside. At least part of the sense of grievance felt by the American Colonials towards the British government was fuelled by the agreements that London had struck with the native tribes to restrain their colonisation efforts. In India the Europeans were in no position to sweeo “the natives” aside. Instead, they mounted a “hostile takeover” and left the senior and middle management in place; the poor old peasants at the bottom of the heap probably never realised that they were now farming “colonial” land.

Q: Will the game be totally different from M2TW?
A: Firstly, Medieval 2: Total War was a development of the Rome: Total War engine. For Empire: Total War we’ve started again with new game and graphics engines. Apart from anything else, we needed to do this for the naval combat system. This follows our revolution-evolution pattern of game development at The Creative Assembly: a new game engine, an evolved version of it, rinse and repeat.

Secondly, the Empire period requires a different approach to the medieval era. Warfare, politics, and technology have moved on. We have a “palette” of game mechanics that we can use to bring these to life, and we must pick and choose the right ones for the subject matter. Naturally, some aspects of a Total War game are “givens”: a turn based strategy game and real time battles. We won’t - and wouldn’t want to - change that. Within that broad constraint, though, we hope to use mechanics that are appropriate to the period. Papal sanctions are important in the medieval world, but they don’t matter so much during the Enlightenment. Therefore, the Pope doesn’t need to be simulated in detail in Empire. The choreography of musket fire is important, so that gets a lot of attention. And then there’s the naval game: not to blow our own trumpets too much, but some developers would publish that as a separate game in its own right!

And finally, the development team on Empire is not the M2TW group. The Empire people did Rome: Total War, and some of the core team have been on TW games since Shogun: Total War. Chrysler don’t just have one team working on all their different car models, you know!

Keep your questions coming on our official forums, and stay tuned to TotalWar.com for all the latest Empire: Total War news and updates!

Take care,

Mark O’Connell
(aka SenseiTW)

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)

When balancing the battles in Medieval II there are many factors to
keep in mind, not least the way in which our fans play the game. Some
players prefer a realistic simulation; some players want a tactical
balanced game and prefer good sprites over realistic animations; and
the majority want a bit of both.

This makes balancing the battles rather challenging because most of the people we hear from via fan sites and the community are at the two extremes so as a designer, you sometimes need to be prepared to make assumptions about the majority that are unseen or unheard. If you assumed the population of Total War fans was like any other then you could assume that the two extremes would give you an approximation of those that sat in the middle, this is the approach we took when it came to balancing the battles in Kingdoms.

M2TW was an interesting game to balance due to how far it had pushed the simulation, the battles looked amazing. When it came to the way they played out, the initial focus was to get the global feel right in terms of speed of combat, introducing personal space so players couldn’t squeeze 100’s of troops into small spaces for combat advantage, balance morale so that whole armies wouldn’t rout on impact and ensure the basic paper scissor rock balance was evident. Following the release of M2TW, the subsequent updates addressed certain mechanics and tried to find a middle ground on cavalry. KIngdoms was our chance to make another significant step in terms of improving balance on the battle map.

As a fan turned developer, I understood the value of our lead customers in the community. Lead customers are those that work for the game and see it as an experience to share with others rather than a box product that sits on a shelf. They manage fan sites, run tournaments, organize clans, make mods, teach others how to make mods, but most importantly they understand the difficulties faced in games development and wanted to be part of the sollution rather than make demands. I knew that if these people were engaged in the balance design process effectively, amazing things could be done. The question was, how could they get involved.

During the development of M2TW we had made significant moves to establishing stronger relations with the community, in particular the modding and multiplayer community. This ensured that there were lines of communications open and that the fans had the capacity to modify many elements of the game that they previously couldn’t. In addition, at the studio we made a conscious effort to walk in the shoes of the fans. We ran an internal multiplayer ladder and tournament and we had meetings exchanging knowledge about the competitive multiplayer play and some of us even started to make our own M2TW mods. This process revealed exactly “how” we could involve the community in the next stage. By developing our own balance mods we had moved closer to the community which meant the modders could get involved in this work. Together we could create the best balance mods possible and get the community to play and provide constant feedback. We could then use this feedback to quickly make the desired balance changes to the mods and then play some more.

There was never one absolute mod version everyone played early on as the strength in numbers needed to be supplemented with strength in ideas. At the end of the process we still didn’t totally agree but common ground was found. In the last week, the design team looked at all the variations and found that middle ground that could appease the ardent fans but could also provide a suitable balance for all M2TW fans - that version became the Kingdoms battle map balance. I’m personally very happy with the final product and I know Lusted will be providing a blog in the near future that delves deep into what has changed. However as always the proof will be in the word of mouth that spreads throughout the community post release.

There’s no doubt that this process has directly benefited the battlefield balance in Kingdoms. But also, it’s significant that we found an effective means of working with the community that doesn’t require lots of red tape to go through, has a fast and efficient process, utilizes the community’s strengths in a manner they feel comfortable with and most importantly makes significant improvements to game play in quick time.

I would like to pass on a special thanks to the following people who played a part:

The guys at Celtiberos - Special thanks to Carlos “CeltiberoMordred” Sanchez, Luis “CeltiberoLerend” Lasso de la Vega, and Jordi “CeltiberoThrandhuil” Caymel. Celtiberos has always been consistently one of the best clans in TW history. You guys know the ins and outs of the multiplayer game like few others but best of all you keep it fun for all your members all the time. My deepest regret was that I couldn’t speak Spanish so couldn’t effectively be part of your party over there in Spain. For those out there that are considering clan life and can manage their way around the Spanish language look no further than: http://www.celtiberos.net/.

The guys at Devoti Custodes  - Special thanks to Juan Luis “Erigion” Barahona. To visit Clan Devoti Custodes go to: http://www.devoticustodes.com/

Man these Spanish players have cool names; makes Jason “Palamedes” Turnbull seem rather drab!

Jack “Lusted” Lusted -  Your constant dissatisfaction and need to explore further kept the process seeking new avenues and  insights. It’s great news to see you have become  part of the developer team in the UK. Keep the community torch burning ever brightly mate.

Thomadis “Darth Vader” Nick - I don’t know what planet you come from or what “Side of the force” you use but there are few that can contemplate or see what you do. They just have to try and see.

Richard L. Webb - Your insights into engaging and managing the community effectively have been inspirational to the whole process. Thanks again good friend and here’s to doing more innovative things in the future.

Szamado “RTKLional” Szabolcs - As always the rock of reason and a source of deep insight into the core of the Total War experience.

Stefan “Alpaca” Reutter - Just when I thought we were done you turned up to throw something else into the decision making process. Thanks again - it made sure that we all took a breath and reassessed.

All the best gents and I bet you can’t wait to see Kingdoms and check how much of you became part of it.

Regards,

Jason

Hi, my name is Brendan Rogers, AKA ‘Caliban’ to the Total War
community.  I do various jobs here at CA such as artwork, design and
also modding support for the community and I’m currently working on Kingdoms, the expansion pack for Medieval II. You may remember that in the first part of my diary, I focused on the Teutonic Campaign, one of four campaigns featured in the Kingdoms, and in particular the Teutonic Order faction, the Lithuanians, and describing the role that certain alliances and guilds play in the campaign. I’ll also be touching on some of the new units and battlefield weapons that players will have at their disposal.

Like the Teutonic Order, the Lithuanian faction also offers a significant change from the standard Medieval II faction. The Lithuanians utilise a new pagan religion game mechanic based on numerous temple chains that when built, unlock recruitment of elite religious warriors. The Pagan religion can move along one of three temple chains. Each chain provides unique benefits such as increased trade and better farming. Each chain has three levels, with each level providing units of greater strength, culminating with a special pagan unit unique to that temple chain. These elite units will help the Lithuanians withstand the relentless aggression from the Teutonic Order but if Lithuania starts to buckle, they will be given the opportunity to convert to Catholicism. This conversion will unlock opportunities to construct larger cities and new building types. This will come at the cost of losing the benefits associated with pagan temple chains and their unique pagan units so when the player reaches this crossroads in the campaign, they have a significant decision to make.

Alliances and guilds play an important part in the campaign. If you’re playing as Denmark, you will be given the opportunity to form the powerful and permanent alliance with their Norwegian neighbours known as the “Union of Kalmar”. This event will trigger when Denmark occupies certain regions on the campaign map. When the Union is formed, Norwegian cities and armies are turned over to Denmark, and Norway is effectively destroyed. The Danish faction additionally gains access to recruit three of Norway’s most powerful units for themselves.

In terms of guilds, all factions will be provided the opportunity to construct the Hanseatic League Headquarters provided they are not followers of the Pagan religion. The League Headquarters is a unique building, and only one can exist in the campaign game at any one time. To be offered the chance to construct the Hanseatic League Headquarters building, a faction must hold at least one of a number of historically important Hanseatic League cities. The more of these cities a faction can control at the same time, the sooner they will be provided with the construction offer. The Hanseatic League Headquarters building provides a power trade bonus increase to all settlements of the faction whcih controls it. To a faction like the Teutonic Order, who must fund their vast armies through captured cities, this is certainly an attractive proposition.

There are a heap of new units in the Teutonic campaign from the feared Teutonic Ritterbruder to the Lithuanian pagan followers of Perkunas. We have selected a wide range of new units to capture the diversity of the era and to bring these sometimes forgotten warriors to the screen. The campaign also features new weapons such as the fearsome Mangonel with its devastating exploding barrels and burning oil that can be poured through muder holes by siege defenders. Cannons also receive an overhaul, allowing them to shoot a deadly ‘grapeshot’ of mixed shrapnel that is sure to send the infantry running. This campaign certainly has no shortage of spectacular battlefield moments.

That’s all for now. I hope I’ve given you some insight into what you can expect from the Teutonic Wars campaign and the factions, weapons and the gameplay mechanics you’ll be able to explore in this facinating setting in Medieval history.

Hi, my name is Brendan Rogers, AKA ‘Caliban’ to the Total War community.  I do various jobs here at CA such as artwork, design and also modding support for the community. In this diary I’m going to talk a bit about the different ideas, features and history of the Teutonic Wars campaign, one of the four campaigns included in the Kingdoms expansion for Medieval II.

The Teutonic Wars campaign recreates the conflict in Northern Europe between Christendom and Paganism, fuelled by the desires of the dreaded Teutonic Order. The Teutonic Order was very appealing to us for the focus of a campaign because of their controversial and influential impact on Medieval Europe. The Order was formed in Palestine during the Eastern Crusades, which was then later recognized by the papacy as a military order. Their influence on Medieval Europe stretched hundreds of years and played a large part in the conversion of pagans to Christianity. Recreating the Order as a faction in the expansion allowed us to create something completely different to the factions available in Medieval II.

The campaign takes place on a brand new custom map, the boundary of which covers the northern area around the Baltic Sea from Abo down to Kiev and from Hanover through to Novgorod, and Poland with the Holy Roman Empire included as an unlockable faction. As I’ve mentioned, The Teutonic Order is the most unique faction to play, because of their religious foundation; they play quite differently to the other factions in Medieval II. First of all, there is no family tree. The faction leader is the Grandmaster of the Order known as the “Hochmeister”. Faction members can’t marry or have children nor is there a faction ‘heir’. A suitable leader for the faction is selected only when the Hochmeister dies. Secondly, and more significantly when it comes to gameplay in the campaign, the Teutonic Order’s method of unit recruitment is driven by religion; Teutonic Knights will only be available from regions with high levels of Catholic belief. This means that the Order will need to utilize mercenaries if they are to expand quickly, while the use of priests is crucial in order to ensure that any newly taken lands convert to Catholicism as soon as possible.

When it comes to settlements, the Order can only construct castles so they will need to utilise captured cities wisely or alternatively convert them if they are able to. We’ve given The Teutonic Order new Castle architecture and texture sets. This is unique to the Teutonic Order and helps differentiate their castles from other Northern European settlements.

During the campaign the player will experience a host of new missions including the arrival of Adventure Crusaders. These European nobles arrive on the map seeking to fight alongside the Order for papal favour. Large cash rewards will be awarded to the Order if they can show them a good time. On the flipside of this, the Lithuanian Council of Nobles is understandably distressed at their arrival and is eager for the Adventuring Crusaders to suffer a gruesome death, so you get a completely different perspective if you’re playing as the Lithuanian faction.

Hello again and welcome back to the Total War blogs for the next instalment of my Britannia Developer Diary.  In this second part of my diary I’m going to be focusing once again, on the Britannia campaign, one of four new campaigns available in Kingdoms. Specifically, I’m going to be giving you a guide to the factions that are available in the campaign and describing some of the play styles they present.

When the player starts the campaign they can choose to play as one of five factions - England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Norway. Each of these factions has been given their own distinct flavour.

England starts off strong and fields a well-rounded army with heavy infantry and heavy cavalry their key strengths. They begin with the balance of power well in their favour, although their forces are spread thinly across their provinces. This exposes them to attack early on from any rival factions intent on reclaiming territory. There are a good few of those.

Wales starts off comparatively weak to most of the other facitons. However, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, ruler of Wales at the time, has rallied support from almost his entire lands to aid his ambitions to reclaim territory from
the English. The Welsh armies field the best missile troops in the early game; they also field a lot of light infantry and multi-skilled skirmishing units. Wales also has access to a lot of cheap units which will help them in the fight against England. Wales may feel like the “underdog” in their struggle with the English but certainly have the armies to hurt them significantly early on, particularly as the English will be stretched to concentrate their military efforts initially.

Ireland’s mix of units is quite different; they have a fast, lightly armoured army that makes good use of their swift native horses. They also utilise a good mix of missile cavalry units, later being able to build the Mounted Calivermen, a late unit rifleman on horse back. As well as fielding the Deisi Javelinmen who are native tribesmen (who became extinct around the period of our campaign) that wield the traditional shaieelagh. Ireland starts off quite small and must quickly remove England from their  soil if they are to survive and conquer the isles.

Scotland starts off in a decent, consolidated position and expansion, at least at first, will be possible for the Scots and their ferocious Highland warriors, whether they choose to invade England or Ireland. Scotland’s units are more than capable of stopping any force in their track with superior pike technology and vicious Highlanders. However, should Scotland have the unfortunate task or receiving the brunt of the Norwegian invasion force, their expansion efforts will probably need to be withdrawn to concentrate on the defence of their home territory.
 
Norway’s unit make-up focuses on shock tactics and brute force. They should be able to do a lot of damage quickly, however their attack-focused strategy does not favour sustained combat. Norway starts off quite small controlling a number of islands around the mainland. They begin by receiving naval re-enforcements and generally play as a faction that raids and sacks cities as they progress, as funds will be hard to come by.

Norway also has the best fleets on the map at the beginning so they pretty much own the water making them the “Wild Card” in this conflict. They are however, very important to the campaign as a whole, as the timing and location of their invasion troops will have a significant influence on the way the campaign is shaped for all factions involved.

That concludes my diary on the Britannia campaign. I hope this has given you an insight into the factions and units you will get to play and some of the gameplay you’ll get to explore.  Very soon we’ll bring you a detailed look at the 3 remaining campaigns that make up the Kingdoms expansion, so stayed tuned for those diaries.