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Facts on Empire: Total War:

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Last update: 03/04/2008.

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Title: Empire: Total War.
Developer: The Creative Assembly.
Location: Horsham Studios.
Publisher: Sega.
Release date: USA 02/03/2009 (MM/DD/YY) , Europe 06/02/2009 (DD/MM/YY) !
Studio Director: Mike Simpson.

From Mike Simpson:

We're delighted to introduce true 3D naval combat, something that adds a totally new dimension to Total War™ games." commented Mike Simpson, Studio Director at The Creative Assembly and the father of the Total War™ franchise. "We're genuinely excited about what we're achieving with the naval battles and also by the scale of the improvements being made to the core of the game - the land battles and the campaign. This will undoubtedly be the biggest and best Total War™ game we've ever made."

Team: About 40 people are working on Empire of which a few newbies are introduced. Full work was actually started on the engine once Barbarian Invasion was released, but the development of the 3D engine has been going on for a bit longer then that.

Lead Designer: James Russell.
Designer: Jan van der Crabben (Thamis).
Designer: James Whitston.

Designer/ Head Writer: Mike Brunton (MikeB).
Writer: Kate Watson

Battle Programmer: Ingimar Gudmunsson

QA: Jack Lusted.

Marketing & PR: Mark O'Connell (SenseiTW)
Studio Communications Manager: Kieran Brigden (TWRehab)

Time Period: The game is set in the years 1700 to the early 1800's, a turbulent age of gunpowder, revolution, discovery and Empire Building.

Victory conditions: the player's aim is to create the greatest Republic or Empire the world has known, spanning not just a continent but the world! Can you hold on to lands in the New World, or establish a rich trading empire in the Indies?

AI:
- Empire: Total War will boast a full re-write of the AI with a wider range of strategies and tactics, providing a formidable opponent on land, sea and on the campaign map.
- One of the quirks of the old engine was that the diplomacy and military AI were two separate routines, developed separately by two different programmers. Those systems fought each other. The military side would say 'we need to invade' while the diplomatic side will say 'well, I just made a treaty with them.' Getting them to work together was difficult. It meant the behaviour wasn't always consistent.' Throwing out those systems should fix the quirks, while allowing for new game mechanics.
- The campaign AI will now advise the tactical AI about how important a battle is. So if an enemy is fighting while retreating on the strategic map, they might tell the tactical AI to fight a delaying action, preserving as many of their troops as possible. If the battle takes place just adjacent to the enemy capital, the campaign AI will tell the tactical AI to go all out and fight to the very last man.

Campaign map:
- An all-new fully animated campaign map with all buildings and upgrades visible, upgrades are done by clicking on them on the Strategic Map.
- New improved systems for Trade, Diplomacy, Missions and Espionage in that Diplomats, Spies and Assassins will no longer be represented on the map.
- Instead of spies and assassins, we now have the 'rake', a presumably caddish bounder who'll ingratiate himself into your enemies' corridors of power. His abilities have yet to be confirmed, but we're guessing that it'll be something more deadly than guzzling all the Prussians' sherry and seducing a duchess. Spies have not definitely been cut, but the new campaign map is freer with its information: you won't have to physically have a man on the spot to know whether France has invaded Spain, for example."
- A refined and streamlined UI.
- Improved Advisors and tutorials.
- Queens are portrayed: According to Mike Brunton "But given that there's Queen Anne and Catherine the Great and Empress Marie-Therese, we'd be a bit remiss not to include proper queen-type queens, now wouldn't we?"
- New agents and diplomacy traits functions are also planned, but no details are known about that yet.
- Revolutions can happen, leading to the separation of countries. (As an example, a rebellion of the Scotts was given).
- Enhanced auto management.
- The big change for the fans is the reinvention of army movement. "It's fair to say that the campaign map in Rome and Medieval was divided into army-sized tiles, "Each tile could hold one army. In Empire, there's no tiling system. The player will never see any type of tiling artefact - it's entirely freeform. It's like taking the squares off the chessboard."
- Slavery appears, but it's not something you can actively get involved in.
- You will be able to build colonies. It will make a difference, whether you settle in the wilderness of the Americas, or whether you can use preexisting infrastructure in India.
- Each nation will still have a capital.
- You can change the form of government between: absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, and Republic. This will directly influence how you can deal with revolts and how fast you develop new technologies. Other factions will treat you according to your form of government.
- Taxes can be set seperately for Nobles, Burghers, and Peasants.
- The event movies will be in aswell, as there are already some screenshots from them too.
- We are working hard to ensure that naval battles assume a greater significance on the campaign map as well and that fleets really project power rather than just being transport containers for armies.
- For the first time, we are actually having a technology tree that lets player's research pure technologies as well as construct and upgrade buildings. We have a host of different technologies that the player can choose to focus on. Some will give units new abilities on the battlefield, or allow your artillery to develop new types of ordnance. Some will improve ships' sailing and fighting performance, others will develop your economy and enable new buildings and infrastructure, and others will advance the educational level of your nation and speed up future research.
- Religion plays a role in the game, but it doesn't play such as central part as in the medieval era. Religion does have an impact on happiness levels, and conversion can still help bring a newly conquered region under your control.
- We've really beefed up the diplomacy side of the game, and tried hard to make the AI factions behave in a more human way and respond to the player's treatment of them. Religion does play a role in terms of factions' attitudes towards each other, and it can be harder to maintain a close friendship with a faction with a different religion.
- Become a founding father. Control the fate of the United States of America, from its revolution against the British to overcoming the challenges of a young independent nation. First, in addition to the grand campaign, the game will include a Road to Independence campaign that lets players take charge of America from the founding of Jamestown to the victory at Yorktown.

Continents:
- North America:
Spanish settlements in the Caribbean.
British Colonists/Americans in the west.
Native Americans.

Regions in the Americas tend to start the game with low populations, and we do model the migration of people from Europe to the Americas as a result of dissatisfaction with their lives in the Old World. Therefore, American regions can see extremely fast development, with population and hence new towns growing much faster than is possible in Europe.

- South America

- Europe

- North Africa
French colonies in North Africa.
Native Africans.
- Central Asia
English trading posts in India.
Mughals in India.

Cn Iulius Flamininus wrote:

---

We have Marathas and Mughals. Cant remember which atm but one of them I think is playable.

Indonesia.

Historical figures:
- Peter The Great
- Malborough
- Charles XII of Sweden.
- Wellington.
- Napoleon (according to PC Gameplay).
- According to Mike Simpson, there's even a possibility to have Napoleon himself in your own ranks when around the end of the century you recruit an artillery unit in Corsica.

Nations:
Playable: between 9 - 12.
-Britain
-Prussia
-France
-Spain
-America
-Ottoman Empire
-Austria
-Holland

Confirmed:
- Sweden
- Russia
- Venice
- Spain
- Poland-Lithuania.

Non-playable: approximatly 40.

Land Battles:
- Maximum of twenty regiments (according to James Russell in PC Gameplay).
- Real time battles will pose new challenges with the addition of cannon and musket, challenging players to master new formations and tactics as a result of the increasing role of gunpowder within warfare.
- Capturing and occupying key buildings around the map. They will automatically take up defensive positions and fire out of windows/doors. You'll need to be careful however, because artillery can destroy buildings.
- Using cover, such as behind walls.
- Earth walls can be constructed, units entrenched and the battlefield is fully destructible.
- One can only besiege star shaped forts...
- Sound will be adjusted and improved so that the battlefields will become much more alive!
- On the battle map (both land and sea), the increase in visual quality and the number of men on the battlefield is incredible. The new engine has allowed huge improvements in graphics, terrain & vegetation, destructible buildings, as well as more advanced unit behaviour and abilities

Artillery:
- Heavy artillery in the form of cannons, mortar and early rocket launchers, with bouncing cannonballs who bounce differently depending on the surface they hit slicing through drifting gunsmoke to tear up lines of infantry.
- Cannons will seize up and explode.
- Well-organized batteries of cannons.
- We have artillery units, some of which can be limbered up and moved around the field at speed by teams of horses. You can develop all kinds of exotic ammo for them to fire.
- Artillery plays a much, much more significant role this time around, so you can expect to see lots of different cannons being fired from atop distant hills, or being limbered up and dragged across the battlefield by horse teams. The cannons can benefit from many new technologies and techniques, using canister shot to wither an enemy cavalry charge, or explosive shells to break holes in an enemy infantry square. You can even order artillery to fire on a fixed point on the map to discourage enemies from crossing a specific chokepoint or approaching a key objective. Artillery is also useful for taking out the new buildings that you're going to find on many of the battlefields.

Infantry:
- Bagpipes, drummers, flautists and trumpeters will fill the air with play out over the crack of musket fire, the boom of artillery and the thunderous charge of cavalry.

Explanation on flags by Cn Iulius Flamininus on 06/06/2008:
Not giving much away here. The answer is flags.
Interestingly that caused us a few problems though.

Like which flag do you use? As many of you know, flags changed over time (a lot sometimes) and some nations used more than one flag depending on who was in charge of the force and what part of the military it was being used for. We decided to go with, where possible, the most recognised flag for a nation at that that period of time in history.

Thus the French have a Bourbon flag at the start of the game and the British have a Union flag that is a little different to the modern flag. There were some issues with flags for nations that might change goverment type in the game, but didnt historicaly during the period. For example we know what the French republican/revolutionary flag was, but what about if the Ottoman empire should become a republic or have a revolution and as a result become a republic? In some cases we decided that the change would primarily involve just removing any "royal" symbology from the flag or no change. In other cases a new flag was created and in yet other instances we used a flag from a later period when a nation actualy did change government type.

- Generals will bark out orders to their regiments as the player orchestrates the battle utilizing formations, unit abilities and drills.
- Formations: Line to mass their fire, Square to defend against cavalry charges or spread out in loose formation to minimize damage from cannon fire are all excellent tactics that the player will have to keep in mind.
- There will be a fire button. It's a sort of override tool so you can time your shot when you want to. And timing is critical. Let off muskets too early, and you won't do enough damage. Let off your muskets too late in the face of a cavalry charge, and you've got every chance of being crushed by a flying dead horse."
- There's more of an emphasis on fire in Empire, but that doesn't mean that shock isn't also a vital component of battle. (Most of your fire units will have a shock attack as well.)

Cavalry:
- We have dragoon units -- mounted men that you can order to dismount and fire and attack the enemy as infantry. Then you can order them to mount up again and chase across the field on horseback.

General:
- Weapons will jam and misfire.
- The field of conflict will become strewn with the bodies of wounded and dying men, lacerated and dismembered by pike, bayonet and shot.
- Draw armies out of the cities, removing the dominance of sieges. That's being done by making region improvements - structures such as barracks, mines and palaces - exist outside of the city, vulnerable to attack. Generals can no longer afford to hide behind their city walls in the event of an invasion. They must sally forth and chase the aggressor away.
- As in previous games weather will effect guns and bows (for those that might have them). It will also effect fatigue and movement.

Sea Battles:
- 3D naval combat
- Intuitively command vast fleets or single ships
- After pummelling your enemy with cannon fire, close in to grapple their ship and prepare to board taking control of your men as they fight hand to hand on the decks.
- Once a ship is conquered by bordering it, you add it to your navy, but, this doesn't mean you can deploy it straight away, you'll have to return to a harbor, recruit a crue, repair damage to the ship before you're able to put it into service.
- Movement of ships is identical to the way land armies are moved, you have several harbors in which you can construct ships and these are then one at a time moved on the campaign map.
- Realistic sailing model. (Different wind conditions, different light conditions, different weather conditions).
Example: A gust of wind is caused by a whirlpool of wind moving vertically; they actually move quite slowly and cover quite large areas - you see it because it makes the surface of the water rough, and the rest shiny. It means you can build gameplay into entering and chasing gusts of wind, and using them to overtake an enemy fleet."
- There will be rigging. Stays, shrouds etc. (Exactly how detailed they will be will depend on performance).
- Cannon and musket fire.
- Boarding actions.
- A full and very detailed damage model . The cannonballs can knock down masts, damage the sails , riggings and hulls and they'll kill individual men. That obviously affects the manouvrability of your ships.
- Full range of weather effects to influence battles. These will play out on stunning, ultra-realistic seascapes, as cannons and muskets blaze away, cutting through the smoke and fog to splinter, pierce and shatter hulls, sails and masts, laying waste to crew members and sending them to Davy Jones' Locker.
- Ship-specific formations and admiral traits.
- Each ship takes up a single unit space.
- There will be reinforcements. (Cn Iulius Flamininus, 03/07/2008).
- You can capture ships, and that will be important. (Cn Iulius Flamininus, 03/07/2008).
- It will take a lot of money and time to build 1st rate ships of the line. (Cn Iulius Flamininus, 03/07/2008).
- Players can field fleets of up to 20 ships with each of about 100 men on board who will make sure there is utter chaos and explosions on board.
- Pirates are included.
- You'll have a variety of choices to make when engaging in naval combat. Your cannons can be directed to aim for the hull to sink an enemy, for the decks to clear the way for boarding action by your marines, or for the masts to reduce the enemy's speed and maneuverability.
- There are only enough crew members to man one side of a ship, so if you attack a ship from two sides you have an advantage.
- There will be various classes of vessel, which will essentially vary by maneuverability, speed, and firepower.
- Command your ships whether you want to aim at the sails or at the hull, or at the men on the decks. You can choose what ammunition to load (Three types).
- You'll see and feel it all: the wind in the sails, the choking atmosphere of the gun-deck as the crew frantically reload the cannons, the fights on deck... the man at the steering wheel, driving the boat. (we definatly need to read up on those nautical terms ).
- Seablockades can be performed to cripple the economy of other nations.
- Screenshot: Sinking ship.(PC Gameplay).

Graphical:
- Brand new graphics engine and technology which will include:
- Seascapes rich with extraordinary water and weather effects that play a huge role in your eventual glorious success or ignominious defeat.
- New advanced landscape and flora systems, dynamic weather and new battle choreography and occupy-able and destructible battlefield buildings.
- New ballistics and physics model.
- There's also a global weather system and climate types.

Gameplay:
- The game won't start full tilt with access to every single feature. Players will have the chance to wade around in the shallow end of the pool for a while before having to contend with all the options the game has to offer.
- Even when the other options start opening up, the team has reduced many of the management hassles that are present in the series. Recruiting big armies in Medieval II or in Rome require you to issue individual production orders in a number of different provinces. Empire will allow you to build large armies simply by recruiting units at your general. He'll then translate that request into production orders in nearby provinces.
- Similarly, players of previous Total War games have had to balance each of their provinces individually to maximize tax output and minimize unrest. Now, the game makes use of a more comprehensive tool to manage things across your entire empire.
- Given the time period, managing unrest is going to be a relatively important concern. As your society advances, your citizens will demand more and more freedom, which can definitely put a crimp in your own policies. You can choose to liberate them and become a modern enlightened state, or you could hold on to your power a little longer by crushing your people under an oppressive regime. Where previous games saw peoples aligned by religious affiliation, Empire will tend to focus more on this concept of political freedom as a component of happiness.
- Colonial regions also tend to produce exotic commodities such as sugar and tobacco.

Multiplayer:
- A brand new multiplayer component will include player rankings, leagues and ladders and completely new gameplay modes.

Modding:
- Modding: we want to give the modders a push in the back by releasing some tools we also work with, with these tools you can as a designer make adjustments without having to harass the programmers, this make these tools ideal for modders. We're not certain yet whether will release these tools with the game itself or put them online after the release of the game.

Minimum and recommended specs: To Be Announced.

LINKS:
- Q&A Part 1
- Q&A Part 2
- Q&A Part 3
- Q&A Part 4
- Q&A Part 5
- Empire: Total War Announcement
- Empire: Mo-Cap Video Developer Diary
- Empire: Total War Podcast 01 - Writing for Empire: Kate Watson
- Empire: Total War Podcast 02 - The Morale System: Ingimar Gudmunsson, James Russel and Jack Lusted
- Empire: Total War Podcast 03 - E3 Edition: Kieran Brigdan
- Empire: Teaser Trailer (Short Version)
- Empire: Total War Battle Dev AI Diary
- Empire: Total War Stunt Man Q&A
- GameSpot: GC '07: Empire: Total War First Look
- GameSpot: E3 2008: Total War Impressions
- IGN: GC 2007: Empire: Total War
- IGN: Screenshots and Artwork
- IGN: Empire: Total War Interview (Lead Designer: James Russell)
- IGN: Empire: Total War Pre-E3 Preview
- IGN: Empire: Total War. More details on Creative Assembly's greatest game yet
- C&V: Exclusive: It's time to master and command the world.
- C&V: The Creative Assembly takes us back to the 18th century.
- C&V: Empire: Total War developer diary #1
- VideoGamer.com: Empire: Total War developer diary #2
- VideoGamer.com: Empire: Total War developer diary #3
- VideoGamer.com: Empire: Total War developer diary #4
- Games Radar: Empire: Total War, Declaring War on our RTS expectations
- Total War - Zone: Large collection of high resolution screenshots
- Gamasutra Interview: Creative Assembly's Sutherns Talks Total War Franchise