![]() ![]() We have lots of different types of ships that work in different ways and are suited to different uses. Ships have hulls, crew, guns, masts and sails, all of which can be damaged separately with different effects, crippling the ship's ability to move or fire or repel boarders - even sinking the ship, setting it on fire or causing its magazine to explode. Ships play very differently from land units: they have to be manoeuvred with the wind in mind, they fire massive broadsides at right angles to their direction of movement. Battles on the high seas with fleets of ships offers a whole new gameplay experience. The game is set in the 18th century - the great age of fighting sail, the ideal period in which to introduce naval battles to the series. Russell: Naval combat is one of the biggest additions for Empire: Total War. RPS: What's so exciting about all this ship-to-ship combat then, eh? For example, we've added a lot of depth to the trade system, and tax levels can be set separately for the ruling classes or the people, with different consequences - but policy is conducted at a theatre level: the player no longer has to make a decision for every single region. This allows us to deepen the gameplay at the same time as reducing the management burden. We've also centralised some features at the national rather than regional level, which streamlines management for the player by reducing repetition. This also helps improve the variety of battles by reducing the frequency of siege battles. Because you can raid and damage a region like this, it becomes more important for defenders to use their armies in defensive manoeuvres rather than just camping inside the city. ![]() This means you can interact with each region building directly on the map - it also means you can attack enemy towns, farms and other buildings without having to besiege the region capital. As well as the European theatre, the campaign map stretches west to include the Caribbean and much of North America and east to include the whole of India, as well as special trade areas such as the East Indies and the Ivory Coast.Īnother big change is the fact that regions have towns and other resource buildings spread around the landscape, unlike previous Total War titles where all a region's buildings were contained inside a single settlement. This was the time when Europe was extending its power across the world, and when the first truly global wars were fought. Russell: The most obvious difference is the sheer scale of the game world. RPS: What kind of changes have you made to the campaign map when compared to the previous games? Each government type has to be played differently if you are to avoid rebellion or revolution and the overthrow of the old order. We've put a lot of effort into enhancing how public order works, and the game includes unrest due to industrialisation, religious differences and intellectual advances, and different government types which have differing effects on each social class. It was a time of tumultuous social change and upheaval, including the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Russell: It's the 18th century: the 1700s. RPS: How are the political changes of the era (I actually said 17th century, but I meant 18th century. You can read his rather detailed responses below. We were lucky enough to be able to put some questions to Russell. It's these two elements, as well as a desire to reflect some of the social changes (hiring generals rather than relying on hereditary feudal heirs, for example) of the 18th century, that motivate the designs implemented by Creative Assembly's lead on the project, James Russell. The 18th century setting is one of ranked, musket-heavy land armies, rip-roaring sea battles, complex revolutionary politics, and colonial ambition. Crucially, Empire: Total War drags the Total War series a couple of centuries closer to the modern age. We chart some of the major differences between this and previous games, with particular attention paid to the turn-based campaign map and the radical changes brought about by the new game's battle engine. Some are built in history, and that's the subject of this latest interview: matters pertaining to the latest strategic behemoth from the British studio, Creative Assembly. Not all empires are built in intergalactic space, you know. ![]()
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