Gameplay Hints and Tips

**Jack Lusted** · February 23, 2009, 08:45 AM

A few hints and tips for those playing the demo.

Groups

Grouping ships or units is very useful in Empire, and groups work different in naval and land battles.

Naval battles - at sea when you group units they will try to maintain relative positions an also follow the lead ship around. So if you group your ships in a line they will then move in a line around the map enabling you to more easily control large number of ships. Also using alt + giving attack orders will have your ships in a group prioritise firing on the target ship and not break out of the group formation like a normal attack order.

Land battles - when you group units the group remembers the relative position of each unit so when you give a move order to a group they will end up in the same relative positions as when you grouped them. This, in combination with the new rotate/move buttons on the HUD allow you to quickly and easily move groups around, and even to break off parts of a formation into a new group.

Timing Volleys

You can time when your infantry fires in land battles. Simply turn fire at will off, units will reload even with it off as long as enemies are not too close, and then click fire at will back on and your unit will fire at any enemies in front of them.

Camera Changes

I've seen several people asking what happened to double right click zoom-to camera functionality, this has now moved to double mouse wheel click.

I hope these tips help with your enjoyment of the demo.

**D.B. Cooper** · February 23, 2009, 08:46 AM

Thanks.

**Nimthill** · February 23, 2009, 08:48 AM

Thumbs up! Very nice to see the formations in Naval battles!

**Darth_Revan** · February 23, 2009, 08:49 AM

thanks for the info, i really needed it for the naval battles

**aeoleron9** · February 23, 2009, 09:01 AM

Timing Volleys

You can time when your infantry fires in land battles. Simply turn fire at will off, units will reload even with it off as long as enemies are not too close, and then click fire at will back on and your unit will fire at any enemies in front of them.

lol, so THAT was the fire volley button. Well, makes sense now that I think of it

I wonder if this could deal extra damage? For example timing broadsides doesn't seem to have much advantage over fire at will, beside the fun factor. Would volley firing on land have better effects?

**Garnier** · February 23, 2009, 09:09 AM

I wonder if this could deal extra damage?

For example timing broadsides doesn't seem to have much advantage over fire at will, beside the fun factor. Would volley firing on land have better effects?

In real life, the purpose of volleys and broadsides were for morale, discipline and visibility.

If on a ship all the guns fired randomly all the time, you'd never be able to hear, and there'd always be smoke clouding your view so you couldn't see. It's the same on land, having been in reenactments of this era you can't see through the cloud of smoke for a bit right after the guy next to or behind you has fired his musket, so if everyone fired as they wanted you'd end up with much worse accuracy (as if it isn't already pitiful). And of course with hearing, if there's a musket going off right around you ever couple seconds, you won't hear the sergeant's orders, so it was much more effective for the troops to fire single volleys and then have their "reload time" to wait for the smoke to clear and be free to hear commands.

Neither of these factors appear to be taken into account by the game as far as I can tell, I would think we'd have heard about it if they were.

The other factor is morale, which probably is mirrored in game by the fact that units lose morale suddenly when a lot of guys die suddenly or a ton of damage is taken suddenly. They don't have time to recover from this as it's not spread over time, so they are more likely to rout right then, I think.

**Panchito** · February 23, 2009, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by Garnier

It's the same on land, having been in reenactments of this era you can't see through the cloud of smoke for a bit right after the guy next to or behind you has fired his musket, so if everyone fired as they wanted you'd end up with much worse accuracy (as if it isn't already pitiful). And of course with hearing, if there's a musket going off right around you ever couple seconds, you won't hear the sergeant's orders, so it was much more effective for the troops to fire single volleys and then have their "reload time" to wait for the smoke to clear and be free to hear commands.

But volley fire cannot be sustained for a long amount of time by most units. After the third volley it tends to go to fire as quick as you can, especially as men from the back rows step in, with their loaded rifles who can fire instantly.

**Mikelus Trento** · February 23, 2009, 09:28 AM

I would like to add that grouping your ships is the most important action you can take to achieve victory. Again, highlight all your ships, and hit the GROUP icon. Then when you turn the ships they will all follow the lead.

I've tried a hard right turn at the beginning, and a slight left turn, and in both cases scored a total victory with no losses. The key is to have as many of your ships firing with as few of the enemies as possible. Simply a matter of throw weight.

**Hun Birodalom** · February 23, 2009, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

Camera Changes

I've seen several people asking what happened to double right click zoom-to camera functionality, this has now moved to double mouse wheel click.

I was wondering about that. never really looked into the controls just started playing because I was so eager to try it out. Thanks, will try it tonight.

**Sharpz214** · February 23, 2009, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

I've seen several people asking what happened to double right click zoom-to camera functionality, this has now moved to double mouse wheel click

I was wondering what happened to that. Thanks.

**upsettingshorts** · February 23, 2009, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

Also using alt + giving attack orders will have your ships in a group prioritise firing on the target ship and not break out of the group formation like a normal attack order.

Nice! Didn't know this, thanks.

**Istari6** · February 23, 2009, 11:09 AM

Jack -

Thanks for participating in these discussions!

Quick question - will we be able to get the camera lower in the actual game, down below head level or the top deck of the ships down closer to the waves?

Or is the demo camera representative of the full range of movement in the final game?

Chris

**ISG01** · February 23, 2009, 11:37 AM

Thanks for that info, I suppose the big advantage of the volleys is the huge effect it has on enemy morale. If you steadily shoot down 30 out of 90 advancing troops in a minute or if you shoot 30 down in a volley it looks way more epic and the effect must be much more scary.

**Tubruk** · February 23, 2009, 11:43 AM

Awsome tips - thanks Jack. I accidently discovered the double mousewheel click, but the info on ship movement in groups was most valuable indeed. I'll go try it out.

**ashbery76** · February 23, 2009, 11:53 AM

This has really helped with naval fleet control,no more chaos in my testgame.

**Cooler King** · February 23, 2009, 01:08 PM

Also if you wait till their close, your gonna hit more of 'em!

**Temeraire** · February 23, 2009, 01:09 PM

Thanks Jack,
I really like the Alt + right click to focus your gunnery on a single unfortunate victim.

One question, though... How do you DE-SELECT your victim?

I've tried backspacing, toggling fire at will on/off and searching through the list of controls - Nothing.

Any clues?

**Frederf** · May 22, 2009, 04:29 AM

To cancel an alt+right click fire priority order I've found you can order a simple right click attack order then cancel that with backspace stop order. Also any naval unit with a fire priority target has fire at will on as well no matter if the fire at will button is illuminated or not. Selecting a short range shot when there are no ships in grape range is a good way to prevent ships from firing at a long range target with round shot or chain shot without the hassle of having to give them the attack, stop, move orders that cancel their alt+right click order.

**Reiver** · May 22, 2009, 05:03 AM

Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

A few hints and tips for those playing the demo.

Groups

Grouping ships or units is very useful in Empire, and groups work different in naval and land battles.

Naval battles - at sea when you group units they will try to maintain relative positions an also follow the lead ship around. So if you group your ships in a line they will then move in a line around the map enabling you to more easily control large number of ships. Also using alt + giving attack orders will have your ships in a group prioritise firing on the target ship and not break out of the group formation like a normal attack order.

The improvements in the patch were a positive step forward but am i right in saying there's still no way to adjust group speed?
I do find groups useful, infact they're the only way to do large naval battles without pausing every second, but having them haring about at top speed does decrease their effectiveness somewhat. Instead of maintaining the line and the battle plan i have to break the formation up once i engage and return to the tedious micromanaging.