My trip to Sega/CA, and my Talk with Kieran

A busy friday morning it was for me today, going deep into SF going past all the homeless and entering the boonies i finally got off my stop and traveled to SEGA which was secretly camouflaged as a culinary academy as well! Slippery Blokes!



At first i was lost, confused as to why there were culinary people here, after awhile i just decided to enter in and waited for the elevator, and then finally asked a person who also happened to be waiting at the elevator as to where SEGA/CA is, to my surprise, HE WORKS HERE! Pat on the back for me.


Shook his hands, had a nice talk and entered the entrance area at the 4th floor? Met a nice receptionist, and there were two people as well in the waiting room, who were both from the Total Wars website forums. An additional 3 blokes entered as well, hailing from the total war heaven forums. I was the only TWC


Finally the time was 11, and we were all funneled into a nice cozy area by (nice guy forgot his name ) with 5 computers and a big screened tv smacked in the wall. Finally Kieran, nice fellow i must say entered in as well.

He introduced us to the game, as well as explain the different campaigns as followed, from the Italian campaigns and the Egyptian campaigns. Attrition will be a total biotch apparently especially in Egypt, and France has some crappy starting positions, which also means the game will be harder and of course fun.

MP battle

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

After giving us a brief intro he let us loose on Multiplayer lan, we played on medium scale troops if i remember correctly,

3v2, Me(Sweden), Total War Heaven Dude(Austria) and TotalWar Forums dude(British)
vs
Another Total war Heaven dude (France), and Total war forums dude #2 (Dutch)



We played on a map in which both sides were separated up and down, and in the middle lay a sort of hill or sorts, a tempting area to rush in, but you'll be in range of the enemies artillery as well. The desert looked much more spectacular then what I've been used to in Empires. Explosion affects and such are much more detailed and seeing potholes from cannon shots is always cool to see, i think that can be used as a terrain advantage i don't remember.


Anyways, as my allies engaged there respective opponents, i was in the middle, i had free reign and choosing to decide which ally to help, i decided to relieve pressure from Britains left flank which was being assaulted by newly arrived Dutch Line infantry and an unlimbered artillery unit. My Jaegars (Sweden has Jaegars lol?) assaulted there troops while i used militia to attack first and soak up the damage. The Dutch managed to get on the hill first but my British ally managed to keep them in a precarious position

On the other side of the battlefield my other ally, (Austria) managed to line up on the hill and charged down and engaged the French, his right flank heavily engaged i decided to send 3 line infantry to prevent his flank from being overlapped by French reserve cavalry who manged to get shot up just in time by my men. I'm glad there's a little health bar morale system thingy, makes it much easier to make decisions and such.


As the battle raged, i got to view some cool and interesting kill mechanics, troops fought more methodically, and seeing horses running away from the battle without there horses was just cool. The new Howitzer effects were deafening with beauty, raining shrapnel shot over the head of your enemy was worth it!

Eventually the Dutch right began to falter as my British ally charged in, my reserve cavalry units which i posted on the extreme right of my ally to be used as reserve finally came in handy as the enemy was already tired, i charged them at the Dutch light troops and they gave way. Minutes later the Dutch Left finally collapsed as my Grenadier unit and 2 line infantries moved in to attack from the rear, and then the entire dutch army routed.

Back to the Austrian side of the battlefield it became more of a stalemate, my ally grouped his units to possibly prevent them being easily routed, and was using the large mob as a gigantic battering ram of sorts which was breaking through parts of the French center. The 3 line infantry i posted to protect his flank i now ordered to attack. Eventually the French were defeated with the routing of there general.


Overall the battle i had was impressive, it lasted long, no one cheapened to using mortars, the battles were fought well, fighting mechanics and graphic revamps made this a superior game over Empires. Lush desert environment, detailed crisp uniforms, musket smoke blocking your view, howitzer shells exploding, cannonballs becoming random deadly projectiles. Unpredictable.

I won 2 achievements on Kierans profile Do i get a cookie?

MP campaign

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

After that he let us play the multi-player campaign, the Italian campaign

1v1


I played against my previous ally whose from the Total war Heavens forums, nice guy, France started in a nice position, next to the sea and in the corner unlike me, I was Austria surrounded by alot of untrustworthy AI factions

Anyways, the mechanics worked well, as it was his turn, he could move his troops and manage the economy as such, while I can manage my economy as well but i can't move troops until my turn begins. For the first 10-15 turns my opponent built up economically, while i strive to gather my armies, which were seperated quite far from the French, the Italian map is Frakkkin HUGE! I decided to go with defeating my opponent in 1 decisive engagement, while that happened i managed to secure an alliance with Venice whom i willingly gave them a settlement near the Franco-Austrian border, in return they would go to war, and that they did much to my happiness.


Finally after 2 turns later my army composed of 4 units of cavalry, 3 militia, 2 line infantry, 3 German line infantry, 2 jaegars, and 4 units of cannons and 1 howitzer. I crossed into France, luckily however my opponent didn't notice or he forgot, either way my army laid unmolested as he ended his turn, and to my joy, i saw a stack named. Napoleon

I attacked, his army of course retreated, it composed of 1 unit of cavalry and 2 militia, 3 Line infantry, and maybe a revolutionary guard unit as well. His army retreated to a city in northern italy which he recently conquered, and i decided to attack now because i was unsure it this was a trap if i waited longer.


The siege battle, i have to say was quite slow. Not the game wise, but due to my own faults, i was unsure if he had an army close by so i wanted to finish the battle with as limited casualties possible on my side. I spent "literally" 15-20 minutes bombarding my foe in the city as the garrisoned buildings began to crumble. His cavalry made a desperate but heroic attempt to assault my cannons but were soon decimated by my superior cavalry numbers. My generals rally ability was quite useful quickly inspiring hope to my men who routed from gunfire.

During those 15-20 minutes of time, i spent it doing a Q&A with kieran and his PR, the nice dude. Got alot of questions answered. Most of it is probably known by you guys or such but it was nice to hear it from a person instead of listening or reading from the web

Q&A

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Will there be new artillery units?

Yes, for example i forgot who it was given to, but either the Russians or French get an artillery unit that fires like the puckle or organ gun, except instead of firing tiny or small rounds it fires the normal rounds of cannons so you can have the power of 2-3 artillery units into 1 unit, the only con is of course reload ability and upkeep.

AI has been improved. Its still based upon the ETW AI but given a nice makeover and i saw that in my MP campaign against my opponent.

An example was during my campaign, when i allied with Venice and gave them a settlement, a french army neared one of my settlements in the middle, the Venetians would send units down to my settlement to protect it, apart from that however i can't say much though, but the AI was much more logical and willing, and no outrageous demands yet during my campaigning. AI is much more aggressive in terms of naval invasions and such as Kieran told me, expect a good fight. I surely did.


Are the campaigns Bigger?

Its so big it makes me cry, not overly big but its big enough to make a game session last quite awhile in my opinion, coupled with the beautiful environment, both on the battle map and campaign map makes it an eye candy to watch


Naval combat improvements?

Naval warships can repair itself during battle, but they have to leave the battlefield for a short while, and once the ship has been quickly repaired it will be at half health or strength, but its a nice feature to have. Damage effects and cannon trajectories as well have been improved as with of course the explosions.

Mod Tools, WHARZ MAH MOD TOOLZ

Lengthy talk, lets see if i remember, basically they will release it, i am sure they will anyways, its just, unlike Rome or medieval which burrowed on the same stuff, Empires is of course new and requires lots of nut cracking and people able to understand the codes and such before they release it (i'll expand more on this later)

Diplomacy? FIXED?


Going by the MP campaign i recently fought the AI is much more logical and willing to do things, Venice being a shining example, i didn't get the chance to explore it fully however so bleh

Negative Diplomacy, for example I want you to break relations with Britain, if not I will come over and beat you to death is a new feature. At least thats how i rememeber it when i asked about Diplomacy i may be wrong -_-

HORSIES, DRAG? RIDERS? WHAR?

As Kieran said, it will be in the game, i didn't see it however, maybe in the final release perhaps i don't know, the only thing i saw was unhorsed horsies running about, i was paying too much attention to winning the battles. (sorry) Kieran said the rag doll physics isn't fully ragdoll, more like half, i understand that as well considering Empires isn't supposed to be made as a fully ragdoll friendly kind of game (what am i saying?)

UNIT EDITOR WHAR IZ IT?

It WILL be released shortly after the release of Napoleon, im quite sure of that as well considering how simple the program is when he explained it, so im hopeful/sure that it would be released in about a couple weeks.


EMPIRE BATTLE MAPS LOOKED BLAND, NOT ENOUGH VARIETY! YOU SUCK CA =<


Kieran explained to me quite well that there will be more of a variety, more lush forests, shrubs, valleys, rivers and cliffs are just some of the improvements that you will see in Napoleon.

Other improvements such as cool little Easter eggs of sorts and other features when your fighting a battle, say your fighting in Russia you will encounter dead frozen soldiers across the battlefield, or your fighting somewhere in Europe you will encounter dead soldiers etc. And of course much much more.

Cannon rounds will make impacts on the ground, yes you will see impact marks.



V'AT IS DIZ ATTRITION SYSTEM?

It works good and bad when Kieran explained to me about it, depending on the experience of your soldiers as well as the research technologies and buildings you build which all help in to reduce the amount of troops you lose during a campaign in Egypt or Russia for example.


THEY ABANDONED EMPIRES NO PATCHES, DAMN YOU CA

Kieran explained its a yes/no possibly we will, possibly we won't, i won't say anything more.


Units of the EAST?

Probably but most likely yes

Mod Tools for Napoleon?

It will be like empires, but you can tinker with the triggers, scripts, behaviors, but they also said they'll let us, the community tinker and fiddle with the game, though there will be cut off points onto which stuff you can alter and such. Unsure about all of this though.

Weather?

Weather plays a role, windage can affect your troops and the trajectories of your guns. Smoke drifts depending on the wind, accuracy as well


ATTACK OF THE CLONES?


No, there will be more of a variety of units as far as i can tell when i was fighting though i didn't pay much attention to there faces. Units however still wont reflect on natural effects such as mud, but there will be much more of a unit variation so yay


Special lands

Resource specific regions will add bonuses to your faction, thats all kieran said

After finishing the Q&A, the entire city properly leveled, engaged my opponent and KILLED incapacitated Napoleon! He got stabbed by the cold steel of an Austrian bayonet And the battle was won.


The MP campaign experience was quite interesting, it was tedious yes, BUT GOD DAMN EVERY TURN felt like if you screw this up, you've screwed yourself in the long run, lots of apprehension on both sides. None the less, logical AI, waiting time is unlimited which is good, and a good campaign ground for you to battle makes the MP surperior to probably Empires MP which i havent tried yet. Anyways I noticed little to no lag, we weren't on LAN i think


Then we ran out of time, and we had another Q&A session to wrap it up. Most of the questions were repeat of what i said. After that we shook hands, and Kieran graciously volunteered to clean up all our food that we just laid on the table. WHAT A NICE GUY!




I may have left some parts or didn't say things correctly, i'm going by memory since i apparently misplaced my notebook somewhere in my house when i jotted everything being told to me...-_-

If so quickly remind me so i can edit some things and fix it.

Glad we finally got an unbiased review of the demo. I'm starting to feel very confident about N:TW.

Originally Posted by RuleBritannia

Glad we finally got an unbiased review of the demo. I'm starting to feel very confident about N:TW.

Unbiased? You mean besides the part about being indoctrinated by PR reps and trying the game in a controlled and limited setting?

Originally Posted by RuleBritannia

Glad we finally got an unbiased review of the demo. I'm starting to feel very confident about N:TW.

Ever noticed how a review is only unbiased if it supports your views?

As for accusing Spacewolves of being bribed you will not see me going down the "L4D2" route.He played the game and enjoyed it and is free to say so...Now if only CA supporters showed us the the same courtesy in regards to disliking the game and CAs ways of operating.

The only thing I will say is to take Kierans `sincere` words and promises with a pinch of salt since he isn't in the position to promise anything.

So multiplayer work fine, so what if you never play mutliplayer?

and still only "promises" of better BAI

and still no sale here yet...

hip63

Now lets wait and see how long it takes someone to accuse you of being bribed by CA....

Originally Posted by JerichoOnlyFan

Now lets wait and see how long it takes someone to accuse you of being bribed by CA....

I don't honestly care if anyone says i got bribed, i didn't get anything nor do i care, im just glad i got my hands on napoleon. I even made it clear to Kieran there were people on TWC that wanted to crucify everyone on CA, we chuckled

Originally Posted by Space Wolves

I don't honestly care if anyone says i got bribed, i didn't get anything nor do i care, im just glad i got my hands on napoleon. I even made it clear to Kieran there were people on TWC that wanted to crucify everyone on CA, we chuckled

I have a picture of you accepting 50 pence from Keiran. You *******. How could you sell your soul?

It WILL be released shortly after the release of Napoleon, im quite sure of that as well considering how simple the program is when he explained it, so im hopeful/sure that it would be released in about a couple weeks.

You mind sharing this "Simple explanation" with us?

Is it like Dawn of War 2 where you customize your armies? Or in this case can we use it to integrate into the single player? Cause that would make things a whole lot easier with the texuring and such.

Excuse me.

But may I ask why?

Aside from the obvious fact the soldiers use ropes he and many other previewers already stated that the italian campaign has only one fort worth sieging so obviously they couldn't get most of the experience.

Originally Posted by nameless

I have a picture of you accepting 50 pence from Keiran. You *******. How could you sell your soul?



You mind sharing this "Simple explanation" with us?

Is it like Dawn of War 2 where you customize your armies? Or in this case can we use it to integrate into the single player? Cause that would make things a whole lot easier with the texuring and such.

A) I have no soul

B) The uniform editor we didn't go into much detail other then when will it be released.

Originally Posted by nameless

Aside from the obvious fact the soldiers use ropes he and many other previewers already stated that the italian campaign has only one fort worth sieging so obviously they couldn't get most of the experience.

I was unaware that your name was now Space wolves.

Originally Posted by Humble Warrior

I was unaware that your name was now Space wolves.

Whoa down boy.

I was merely pointing out the obvious fact that you should've already been aware of the answer and was just trying to get something out of space wolves to boost your ego or did I touch a nerve there?

The uniform editor we didn't go into much detail other then when will it be released.

A pity. I was curious about it.

Though the supply, how exactly do the depots work? Is there a limit and range on how these depots work or do you have to have your army settle into the depot to resupply?

Originally Posted by nameless

I have a picture of you accepting 50 pence from Keiran. You *******. How could you sell your soul?



You mind sharing this "Simple explanation" with us?

Is it like Dawn of War 2 where you customize your armies? Or in this case can we use it to integrate into the single player? Cause that would make things a whole lot easier with the texuring and such.



Aside from the obvious fact the soldiers use ropes he and many other previewers already stated that the italian campaign has only one fort worth sieging so obviously they couldn't get most of the experience.

Dawn of War 1 Army customization was better IMO, Except the nazi marines

No wonder why you were the only TWC guy in there!

Originally Posted by JerichoOnlyFan

No wonder why you were the only TWC guy in there!

Quite so.

Though the guy from total war heaven brought 2 of this friends along, if i knew you can do that in the first place, i would've asked on the forums for some volunteers to go with me. I was so alone

thx, was the battlefield you played on any better than those of ETW?

Originally Posted by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

thx, was the battlefield you played on any better than those of ETW?

Better, graphically speaking it looked lush, not plain like some of the fields on Empires, cannonballs making an impact on terrain, smoke billowing from , and everyone fighting over the hill to get to the best spot made the map look like it was in a lengthy battle which it was. Terrain features such as rocks were present, palm trees, dunes, you name it, i just dont recall seeing foot prints though..*shrug*


Bodies strewn over the battlefield, horses running randomly out of the battlefield (funny as it was) as well as the melee mechanics revamped to an extent that it was worth it.

Napoleon has its Cons and bugs, Kieran agreed as well and so do i, but from my view I'd get this instead of Empires if i hadn't bought Empires first.....

Thanks Space Wolves very informative. Excellent job

By chance did you get to see the "grand campaign" map? And if so - roughly how many provinces are we looking at here?
I presume the ability to rename troops is still there as in ETW, could you confirm this please?

With regards to sieges, do you feel there was enough variation/"life" in it then in ETW as all the sieges regularly played out the same. Also, are sieges still as common or are field battles more likely with the improved AI?

By the way, many MANY thanks for your preview, certainly an enlightening read - you lucky lucky git
+Rep!!!!
V

Originally Posted by Valantine

By chance did you get to see the "grand campaign" map? And if so - roughly how many provinces are we looking at here?
I presume the ability to rename troops is still there as in ETW, could you confirm this please?

With regards to sieges, do you feel there was enough variation/"life" in it then in ETW as all the sieges regularly played out the same. Also, are sieges still as common or are field battles more likely with the improved AI?

By the way, many MANY thanks for your preview, certainly an enlightening read - you lucky lucky git
+Rep!!!!
V

I has, the map is much more expanded in terms of settlements, and whoever plays France is going to have one hell of a nut to crack. Prussia will be a wild card, historically they go against you, but CA let it possible for you to ally them and even make them attack your enemies.

You can still rename troops and regiments so no worries.


For the sieges, i wont say much though i only played it once and sadly it was the kind of street to street fighting, however being all the new eye candy being played out coupled with much more destructible environment and fight mechanics i'm quite sure you'll overlook the generic siege stuff for awhile at least.


Also, are sieges still as common or are field battles more likely with the improved AI?

Unknown, during my MP campaign map on the Italian front, cities were separated quite far so i can assure you it wont become a siege fest, open battles are to be expected considering factions such as Genoa had armies and stacks out in force.

Also Kieran mentioned that they've fixed, or almost fixed the problems of small stacked armies that plagued us over the years

Originally Posted by EmperorBatman999

Did you hear marching music? Please answer! Everyone has been straying away from answering that, I want to know.

I has, but i didn't get a chance to hear alot of it due to the cannonballs whizzing, but i heard it, and Kieran said there would be more of a variation so.

Originally Posted by Space Wolves

Also Kieran mentioned that they've fixed, or almost fixed the problems of small stacked armies that plagued us over the years

Oh thank god!