Conquerable Artillery

One thing that I always found odd in Empire was the chance to conquer,and keep,enemies vessels,while you couldn't steal the enemy artillery.This was at least as common as ship stealing,and since the game already has this kind of option,it shouldn't be too hard to extend.
This would add to the tactical experience,as loosing your cannons will mean to see them against you the next time,or viceversa.

Regards

Yep, you're right. I also hope POWs will be reincluded.

POWs?

Prisoners of war... in Empire they were automatically murdered, but it would be nice to have the option to hold them for ransom, free them, kill them or try to integrate them.

While I agree with cannons, the fact that most factions can build most cannon types foils a lot of the potential appeal. It would certainly have been nice in warpath though and for those with organ gun dlc.

Originally Posted by General_Meevious

Prisoners of war... in Empire they were automatically murdered, but it would be nice to have the option to hold them for ransom, free them, kill them or try to integrate them.

While I agree with cannons, the fact that most factions can build most cannon types foils a lot of the potential appeal. It would certainly have been nice in warpath though and for those with organ gun dlc.

Somewhat unreal that POWS are not in ETW, they were in every TW except the original Shogun and that one is understandable. ETW even says that the POWS may be returned later, although I haven`t seen that notice in 1.4 or 1.5, I wonder if they deleted it?

How can you have a strategy\tactical game based on 18th century warfare and not have prisoners? Obviously another CA screw up. Probably ran out of time.

Hell yeah, give us back prisoners, and while we're at it: Why not make it so, that if I decide not to shoot or ransom them, but to save up an x amount of prisoners I can create a free penal regiment... on par with, say, conscripts/militia. And I love the idea of capturing artillery. Expected it would be in as well. Those small things make the gameplay...

Originally Posted by Gezoes

Those small things make the gameplay...

Agreed.

While I agree that these little touches would be interesting, I can't get too worked up over their inclusion when there are problems with the core systems.

Having the option to capture artillery would be brilliant. If you don't want them after the battle you should have the option to sell them for gold.

As for prisoners of war, this would be a nice addition for a future total war (I believe it might be too late for Napoleon). I think the reason it's always implemented into the Medieval engines (both I and II) is because capturing prisoners was a fundamental part of chivalric combat during the High and Late Middle Ages.

Knights would often go into combat with the intention of capturing a high ranking enemy for ransom at the forefront of their minds. This is reflected in the Medieval II's Chivalry bar (kill enemies and it lowers - ransom or release them and it increases). In Early Modern Warfare the capturing of prisoners was very common place, but it wasn't an integral part of waging war as it had been during the Middle Ages. Instead it was simply something you did because you were a gentleman, and because it was the decent thing to do. An Early Modern General didn't ransom prisoners for prestige and wealth like a Medieval knight, so I assume that's the reason why the option wasn't included in Empire (or Rome, Shogun for that matter).

Prisoners of war

And every faction can build almost every ship, but this doesn't mean capturing ships is useless. You get units for free, or money, and that's good

Capturing cannons is a great idea.

I'd love this feature. Especially if your enemy could build bigger guns than you, having the option to capture them would be the equivalent of rubbing salt into their wounds, or gunpowder and grapeshot!

It would make the sentence "He never lost a gun" mean something again.

"Wellington? Oh, yes, splendid chap. Quite handy in a scrap, eh what?" is not the same as "Wellington? Well, HE NEVER LOST A GUN".

Let's capture regimental colours (and eagle) while we're at it!

This is a great idea.

Capturing enemy arty was common practice as well as enemy pow's. The player should have the option to salvage arty to use in their armies or scrap them for money.

Well you CAN capture artillery. If the crew's been wiped out and the cannon has already been stationed, you can send your crew over there to commandeer it by ordering them to abandon their own guns. Though of course you need a crew to man it to begin with which is probably why. Sure you grab the gun but you need to train the crew.

This happened to me during a battle when the AI's artillery crews were routed, reorganized and then ran around my men and stole my own cannons to tear my regiments to pieces from behind.

but manning opposition art in a battle doesnt enable u to steal the art for later

Not sure about being able to re-use captured guns. I know the French did it once, but it wasn't common practice as the calibres were different.

I'd rather have POW's than to be able to capture enemy artillery.

In Rome I found it weird to just kill the enemy routers instead of taking them prisoner. In Medieval 2 this was improved, you could choose what to do with captured enemy troops but this was not reflected on the battlefield because you were just killing them instead of taking prisoner. And in Empire it was worse than in Medieval 2 because you couldn't choose what to do with captured enemies anymore. What about troops that are surrendering on the battlefield?? Is it really that hard to make some kind of animation where they raise a white flag when they are surrounded?

No sense complaining about the AI until CA hires a new programmer so let's stick with the smaller things.