The Creative Assembly have started to put up unit previews for ‘Napoleon: Total War’ on their official website. The first two units posted are the Artillerie à Pied, an elite unit of artillery, and the 106 Gun Ship of the Line, one of the most powerful ships on the seas possessing more artillery than most armies on land.
Dain Ironfoot from ‘The Peninsular War’ has posted a new batch of screenshots from the mod. Most people know about the guerrillas who hounded the French troops, but these screens are all of the Spanish regulars. March over to the mod’s thread to have a look at them.
Mallorca Regiment Line Company Privates
‘The Peninsular War’ is a modification for ‘Mount & Blade’.
The folks over at GamesRadar have published a “first look” article on ‘Napoleon: Total War’. The most interesting things they reveal is that there will be 322 unique units in the game, more soldiers will be visible on the battlefield than in previous installments in the series, new abilities will be available for generals (and there is a finite pool of them), and supplying your armies as they expand your empire will be a major factor. You will also be able to play as different factions than France and certain features will be transferable to ‘Empire: Total War’ if you own both games. Check it all out here.
New screenshots have surfaced from ‘The Peninsular War’, a Napoleonic Era mod for ‘Mount & Blade’. Mod developer Dain Ironfoot posted masses of them here, so head on over there and gawk.
The purpose of this treatise is to consolidate many of the community feature request and feature improvements that have been proposed on the various forums and boards. Most requests stem from the desire to want more or if the game design falls short in certain areas. We as a community and fans get excited when we hear things from Kieran Brigden such as “We listen to what the fans have to say” but also have to be realistic about our requests. Hopefully we can see some of the current features improved and maybe a few new features added. This treatise is more about refining what has already been done by the Creative Assembly and making it all come together in what could be the grandest and most polished Total War game to date.
Contents
Sieges I
Diplomacy II
Campaign and Battle Maps III
Characters IV
Music V
Multiplayer VI
Units VII
Formations VIII
Miscellaneous Features IX
Conclusion X
I Sieges
Sieges in Empire: Total War is probably one of the game design areas that needs an overhaul the most out of all the features listed above. Sieges should be a fairly simple affair, make a breach in the wall and kill everything inside. The siege AI on the other hand has a hard time managing to make a breach in the walls with its artillery. Grappling hooks are another thing that seems to be an issue with most players. If I could list priorities for how sieges should be fought I would add a couple of new elements such as pioneers and ladders. The pioneers would use axes to destroy the gates of forts or bust down doors of houses were troops would be hiding in a siege battle. I would also replace the ropes with ladders if it can be programmed properly and function better then what they did in M2TW. Here is the list of priorities for the AI when conducting sieges. Also the objective of a siege should not be a little circle with a flag pole, maybe you could introduce a new element to sieges such as taking the building in the center of the fort or a governmental/palace building in the center of a city. I think this would make sieges and city battles so much interesting since you actually have to defend something that is more defensible. You could also make sieges with multiple layers, for example if you attack a city that has a ring of forts as a defense, you would have to take the fort first before you could assault the city. This is something that could be added to increase the difficultly of capturing a city.
‘Napoleon: Total War’ is the Creative Assembly’s latest game in the Total War series and, unlike the recently announced‘The Warpath Campaign’ expansion pack for ‘Empire: Total War’, it will be a standalone release. The campaign in NTW will, of course, focus on the life and deeds of l’Empereur Napoléon Bonaparte, and it will be split into three story-driven chapters dealing with his Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Egyptian Campaign, and culminate in the Battle of Waterloo. Whether you play the Emperor himself, or as one of his opponents, will be up to you.
CA have opened a Facebook page for the game and promises that «the first 1000 fans will be entered into a draw to win a signed piece of Napoleon: Total War artwork!» As I write this there are 120 fans, so if you’re on Facebook and like the art shown below, you might want to sign up!
More information about the game can be found at the official website.
A litte over a week ago I posted about a new crouching animation that the ‘1866: Western Mod’ had implemented, and now Dain from ‘The Peninsular War’ – who gave it to the guys at 1866 – has posted another screenshot of the animation. This screen shows a Rifleman of the 95th Rifles crouching and taking aim with his Baker rifle:
Rifleman of the 95th Rifles
If you want to find out more about this Napoleonic modification for ‘Mount & Blade’ go here.
Check out this new video from ‘The Peninsular War’ modification for ‘Mount & Blade’. It chronicles the way a young man rises through the ranks of the Imperial army, and is called «Bayonets of the Empire»:
The Lordz Modding Collective, the team behind the famous ‘Napoleonic: Total War’ and ‘Napoleonic: Total War II’ modifications, are announcing that they are working on – what else? – ‘Napoleonic: Total War III’ for ‘Empire: Total War’. In addition to this announcement they are releasing a map pack for ETW, featuring six new battle maps for single- and multiplayer fun! They are also releasing tools and a tutorial so that you can make your own maps. Download the map pack here, the tools here and peruse the tutorial to learn the inner secrets of mapmaking.
For more information about the Lordz and the mods that they have created head over to their website and forum.
