+rep for advice I am thinking about buying this but.....

[knight of virtue and valor]

...I am reading WAY too many horror story's! so, do you think I should get it now, or wait till they put out the fire that is talked about throughout the web?

[Shadow8]

that is a really tough call. apparently there are the lucky few (of which i am fortunate to be included) for whom the game seems to work with very few CTD's and buggy manifestations. on the flipside of that, however, there are (what seems to be a majority, but perhaps deceptively so (they make the most noise)) a seperate group of people for whom the game seems to be non-functional past the main menu and manifests bugs in almost every feature of the game.

really, it depends on whether you want to buy the game now, or later. it IS a good game (providing you can deal with the quirks or if your truley unlucky, really bad reliability), but if you want to wait it WILL eventually be patched and quite functional.

[SirVulf]

The next patch should be out soon. I'd hold off and see what the reception of that patch is like. If you see a surge of bad posts, then I would seriously hold off longer. If the patch has good reviews, then by all means get it. The game IS fun... IF it works.

[BlackPirate]

Personally i find battles to be excellent ecpecially when there are many soldiers on the battlefield.Campaign map is vast although the absence of rebels i think limits early action and makes it difficult to expand peacefully.As far as my taste is concerned this is a drawback. There are some bags but generally i thing people exagerate.If you like these type of games you are going to like this game also

edit.I am one of the few who dont have crashes

[l33tl4m3r]

I don't know about other forums, but there about 60 thousand users here.

Even if a majority of the users here have trouble, it's only a TINY fraction of the people who bought and play this game.

I say buy it and download my mod!

[Timefool]

The reason it sounds bad is because the people who have it bad complain, but the people who are content with it do not brag about it. Get the game now, start it, get used to the new functions, and when the game gets fixed, then you can start your campaign. The only thing I have trouble with is the naval landings and the diplomacy system.

If you have a good system, as in mostly new, like a GTX 200 series and a Q6xxx or 9xxx Intel processor, along with three or so gigabytes of RAM for Vista, you will be fine. The slightly more outdated systems seem to be the ones having trouble, as I have yet to see anyone complain with any of the above components, which is what I have, and I am doing fine. My only CTD really is a memory leak, but I fixed that and the solution can be found in one of the stickies.

[Mister Sir]

Download steam and wait for one of their special sale offers... or even buy someone's Steam account for $27 http://product.half.ebay.com/Empire-...88277QQtgZinfo . Physical copies of the game should show up on retail shelves for $29.99-39.99 soon enough.

I was gullible, I went and bought the game the moment Best Buy received their first shipment... and honestly, I like the game somewhat but have spent more time playing MTWII: Stainless Steel 6.2. The horror stories are unfortunately true, and if you've heard otherwise then people are lying to you or lying to themselves.

Wait and see if CA offers solid support for the game in the form of patches and such... so far, support has been lackadaisical or has caused even more problems.

[Ikarash]

The slightly more outdated systems seem to be the ones having trouble, as I have yet to see anyone complain with any of the above components, which is what I have

I am very sorry but that is pure bs, Its up to lord luck himself wether it works or not.

For your info,
Got an i7 920 6gig ram and 2 9800gtx (sli doesnt work so actually 1). And I do have a lot of ctd's last time I tried to start a prussian campaign it took an army about 20 seconds between clicking and being able to move it. FROM TURN 1!!!

Every game can say it has a lot replayability when doing just 1 movement takes that long. More total waiting than war to me, even tough the specs say differently and almost any other game works like a charm.

[igotballsofsteel]

I say wait dont trow your 50$box in garbage in this financiary crisis , if u havent played any TW game yet i suggest you to go buy m2tw gold 20box whit the xpac or Rome gold 10box whit xpac and mod them and have some fun .

[knight of virtue and valor]

I say wait dont trow your 50$box in garbage in this financiary crisis , if u havent played any TW game yet i suggest you to go buy m2tw gold 20box whit the xpac or Rome gold 10box whit xpac and mod them and have some fun .

I have been playing M2TW for 2 years, and RTW for three. thanks though.

[Erunion Telcontar]

I am very sorry but that is pure bs, Its up to lord luck himself wether it works or not.

For your info,
Got an i7 920 6gig ram and 2 9800gtx (sli doesnt work so actually 1). And I do have a lot of ctd's last time I tried to start a prussian campaign it took an army about 20 seconds between clicking and being able to move it. FROM TURN 1!!!

Every game can say it has a lot replayability when doing just 1 movement takes that long. More total waiting than war to me, even tough the specs say differently and almost any other game works like a charm.

Ikarash, I had the same problem with a similar system. Was better on turn 2, even better on turn 3 and by turn 5 it was entirely gone.
The game is a lot of fun, I'm personally experiencing a few ctds (One of which in the middle of a battle I was losing horribly... ) and some sound issues, but am still really enjoying the game even with it's plethora of bugs. + It's already got some really good mods out that make the game even better, so if you're a history nazi, just wait! You're Hussars will have mustaches soon!

I'd buy now, and have fun.
Note: You're rig should handle it fine with all settings on mid-high. I have a Phenom II 940 x4 and a ATI 4870, and I'm playing it Ultra no problem. (The only time I've had lag is when I sped up gameplay in two-full stack army battles, and even that was fairly minimal. You should have no problem on High settings.)
You're processor will make a big difference though, what is it?

[Darth_Revan]

wait it out until the next patch and see the outcome..

[akinkhoo]

wait for it to be in the cheap bin. it is worth a buy but why buy now, might as well wait for price to drop abit.

[Iron Juggernaut]

I stopped playing it after several weeks. It just got very boring. The units were all clones, the maps were repetitive, the naval battles were overly simplistic and quite easy for me (strangely, quite a few people were complaining about them being difficult), there's still a load of bugs to be fixed (you'll be waiting a year at least for this to be in decent condition), and... well- I think these guys can sum up its problems for you better and quicker than I can:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1103

All sorts of nice threads to pick through in there about issues with the game. Here's a long one about Grand Campaign CTDs (which have yet to be fixed):

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=236611

But for an even longer and more interesting read, I suggest you head over to the bug reporting sticky:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=231433

If you're going to buy it, wait until it's $10. Because, right now, it's basically just a beta version of what could have been a great game. They're just tacking on additions to the game with the patches to try and get it up to an alpha. And look at the rant and praise stickies at the top of the main page here in our general discussion section. Notice how different the ratios between the two are?

There's talk of how great it will be once more patches are released or once more mods come out, but that's the same jazz we heard before it was released. "It will be great! You'll see!" Yeah, right...

Buy it if you want to. It's not my money. I already gave $50 away to them, and I came out bored after several weeks. Look at the Amazon.com reviews for more in-depth looks into the game.

[Varaaki]

If you're going to buy it, wait until it's $10. Because, right now, it's basically just a beta version of what could have been a great game. They're just tacking on additions to the game with the patches to try and get it up to an alpha.

Emphasis is mine.

I love how kids today label any piece of software that exceeds their own personal threshold for bugs as a "beta", even though it's clear (see above) that they don't know what the they are talking about.

Alpha is first, kids. Beta is after alpha. If you're going to throw around your little buzzwords, at least get it right.

[Frost, colonel]

Emphasis is mine.

I love how kids today label any piece of software that exceeds their own personal threshold for bugs as a "beta", even though it's clear (see above) that they don't know what the they are talking about.

Alpha is first, kids. Beta is after alpha. If you're going to throw around your little buzzwords, at least get it right.

Even though some get the terminology incorrect, we still can understand the post, and try not be to critical by calling people kids(even if they might be) as it comes across a bit hard, (no real need to put people down, or is there?).

As for exactly what level of bugs in a released game constitute the label of Beta, well that's a mute point. Personally I think it's either a shoddy release, or a Beta, but perphaps I'm splitting hairs?

I think if the OP is willing to be patient and doesn't care if he pays full price, then give the game a go. Although I am quite enjoying it, the bugs and buggy patches(sound is now a bit screwed) have killed quite alot of the fun, and I would say I have been fairly lucky regarding CTD's and multiple corrupted saved game files.

I have a high end system and play on maxed settings, but reading the forums, some people with high end systems have had their share of grief, and I have to say this is the first game in 10 yrs of PC gaming where I have had varied and random CTD's and corrupted saved game files. I have told my friends to wait until it's reasonably well patched as neither are avid TW fans.

[Von Kickyourass]

some good advice: buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you might like it or you may not, just try it

[Iron Juggernaut]

some good advice: buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you might like it or you may not, just try it

And possibly throw $50 away! Hooray!

Try the demo. DO NOT BUY THE FULL VERSION BEFORE YOU PLAY THE FRICKIN' DEMO.

[Von Kickyourass]

And possibly throw $50 away! Hooray!

Try the demo. DO NOT BUY THE FULL VERSION BEFORE YOU PLAY THE FRICKIN' DEMO.

Does the demo crash like the full game? If so then you are right but if not it might mislead you, so playing the demo might be a bad idea!

[Erunion Telcontar]

I personally only have had 3 or so CTDs, with pretty solid stability/gameplay. I am really, really enjoying the game and 100% glad I bought it. Mind you, there are many annoying bugs, but this game is tons of fun + has huge modding potential.
It's not perfect, and it's edges are rough (cerrated and sharpened for some unlucky ones) but it's well worth it.