New review from NYC TW event!

Here from TW Forums, is by silencer, who went to TWHQ!

So when i got to the hotel i met up with Julian and some other ppl who we're there for the event. (one of them is a moderator from the TWC and the other i forgot sry buddy! xD) After Kieren was finished setting up the stuff downstairs we all went down from the lounge and we met up with kieren who was setting up the 5 alienware comps. they we're if i remember correctly either dual nvidia 250's or single with the I7 processors. Kieren set us up for a 3v2 match to get the feel of the game. now to my experience at first it was alittle bit confusing cause of all the new controls and stuff. the action bars are in a way, all over the place xD i had some trouble finding the fire at will button and the diffrent cannon shots for my 5lb howitzer and 5lb artillery. but when the battle began, it was pretty amazing. i sent three of my light foots to take this hill while my buddy sitting to the right sent his entire army to meet my three light foots, things became chaotic! the smoke effects from the musket fire can really cause confusion during the battle cause you have this gigantic smoke cloud looming over your troops while they fire and with the howitzer cannon's explosive shots blowing up all over the place. . .yeah. . .alot of stuff happening lol but after our little battle, Kieren showed us all three of the campaigns. me and the other dude played a multiplayer grand campaign (the italian campaign) while the moderator from TWC played a couple of 1v1 battles with the AI. i was able to get a glimpse of the AI in action when my buddy was taking his turn playing as Austria and i must say, it is a MAJOR improvement from E:TW. now as Kieren said, IT IS NOT PERFECT but i saw the AI charge the moderators most lightly defended flanks (they we're line infantry seperated from the rest of his men) with calvalry, send the line infantry running away, and then pull them back to his lines. now that. . .is something lol. during my italian campaign the enemy AI would combine all his troops together and send them to me or follow my buddy to take my town! (they succeeded too) before our time was up, me and my buddy we're able to play a naval engagement. there are all kinds of new ships for those of you who love naval battles. i played as GB and my buddy played as the Ottomans. i had 2 first rates and a ironclad ship! he had 4 third rates (yeah i know it was unfair). whenever i fired a full broadside, the ship would get hit and it would look as if that ship would tip over. pretty impressive! i also used the repair ship ability and all the crew members got off of the cannons and began to work! rofl. they would board the ship up with wooden planks and some steel planks and when done all those holes that your ship had are now planked up and ready to take some more hits! when my buddy had one ship left i decided to board his ship to see if there had been any major changed to the boardings. Kieren told me that there wasn't much that changed but the little guys are more smarter when there boarding an enemy vessel. after the naval engagement was over we had a Q&A session with Kieren and well, there weren't that many questions asked since most of them we're already asked and answered during the SF event. now i tryed to get some info on the expansion pack but all i got was a no comment from kieren lol but he did say that there will be the unit add on packs like the ones in E:TW. overall it was amazing for me and i can not wait to get my hands on N:TW in three weeks. the game is amazing and it is not like as if they released a beta for us to play such as E:TW. this is the final build of the game and even though there will be some unit adjustments and all, the gameplay itself is extrodinary! now as you all know though CA cant satisfy everyone and there will always be those with some types of problems with the game, but if you do play it though it will be confusing at first but you will love it once you get the hang of the controls and such

Its good to hear that BAI is a massive improvemnet on ETW's!
Thats my favourite part!

I don't think you can tell much about the AI just yet, he only got a glimpse at it. I want to hear from the guy playing against it!

The AI was probably SCRIPTED! It's all a conspiracy!

No but seriously that sounds promising, thanks for posting.

Thanks for the post. Anyway what I would like is a campaign and a battle against the AI. I see a lot of reviews with multiplayer campaign/battles, so I'm still not sure about the improvements.

Where is the old review from NYC event?

Great news on the AI! A shame it'll probably not be ported over to ETW..

Seems like grneyeddvl was able to test the AI.

We have ironclads in Napoleon?? That would be awesome
I hope he dont mean the steam ships from empire.

Originally Posted by Hinkel

We have ironclads in Napoleon?? That would be awesome
I hope he dont mean the steam ships from empire.

The first Ironclads I know of were in the US Civil War, apparantly they couldn't sink each other, I wonder if CA will make them immune to damage? But the one's from the Civil War, 'Monitor' was one I think, weren't Ocean going I don't think.

I really hope the ai is really that good I think even humble warrior etc. wouldn't complain if it is that good

Just having them stand and fire instead of charging blindly into disorganized brawl at the speed of olympic runners would make me happy enough. I'm yet to see a single BAI-drive E:TW battle in which I can fire more than one volley at the buggers, except when they just decide to stand there doing nothing as I give them a rain of lead.

But if they actually choose the weaker flanks of their foe and shatter them, man, God bless CA for getting it right.

Now all I wish for is ships of the line that don't sail directly into the wind and turn on a dime while in irons.

Originally Posted by Frost, colonel

The first Ironclads I know of were in the US Civil War, apparantly they couldn't sink each other, I wonder if CA will make them immune to damage? But the one's from the Civil War, 'Monitor' was one I think, weren't Ocean going I don't think.

Actually, American engineer Robert Fulton had approached Consul Bonaparte in 1801 and proposed to build a fleet of steam-powered ironclads to safely cross the English Channel and invade Britain when there was no wind and thus the Royal Navy could do nothing to stop the invasion. Napoleons answer: "What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense."

Talk about bad decisionmaking.

Originally Posted by Korporal

Actually, American engineer Robert Fulton had approached Consul Bonaparte in 1801 and proposed to build a fleet of steam-powered ironclads to safely cross the English Channel and invade Britain when there was no wind and thus the Royal Navy could do nothing to stop the invasion. Napoleons answer: "What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense."

Talk about bad decisionmaking.

Lol, I can see it in my head. A fleet of ironclads against British first rates. Seeing smoke come from the ironclads. To British sailors it would have looked like the demons from Hel.

Originally Posted by Korporal

Actually, American engineer Robert Fulton had approached Consul Bonaparte in 1801 and proposed to build a fleet of steam-powered ironclads to safely cross the English Channel and invade Britain when there was no wind and thus the Royal Navy could do nothing to stop the invasion. Napoleons answer: "What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense."

Talk about bad decisionmaking.

I'm not sure it was bad decision making, the boilers were more likely to blow up in the early days, not that Nappy knew that.

Originally Posted by Leoben

Seems like grneyeddvl was able to test the AI.

hey all its Silencer from the Yuku forums. if anyone sees grneyeddvl tell him i said hey!! hehe and yeah when i had the chance i was looking at his comp and how he was doing against the BAI

Originally Posted by Graphic

Because it's a possibility that it was, it most likely was? Care to explain your logic there?

I will absolutely positively gaurantee you that my battles against the AI were not scripted. It simply is not possible that anyone could anticipate how I acted in the battles. I didnt play to win, I played to confuse the AI.

Originally Posted by ASL Veteran

Hmmm, well I was the 'other' guy at the NYC event and the TWC administrator was Green Eyed Dragon (I think that's his name) and I don't remember everything playing out like what that person posted.

The explanation for that is simple, I attended both sessions in NY. He was at the first, you were at the second. I spent about 8 hours total in the company of Julian and Kieran. From 11:30 AM until 7:30 or 8 PM. About 3 hours of gameplay for each session and I spent a ton of time talking with Julian away from everyone else. Thats one of the reasons I havent written a detailed post yet, its a lot to compile.

Originally Posted by silencer124

hey all its Silencer from the Yuku forums. if anyone sees grneyeddvl tell him i said hey!! hehe and yeah when i had the chance i was looking at his comp and how he was doing against the BAI

I am watching you...

Originally Posted by GrnEyedDvl

I didnt play to win, I played to confuse the AI.

That is what I like to hear, I would have tried all kinds of things to see how the engine ran, no sense in trying to beat the game in a test drive (no offence to other testers). I can't wait to hear all about it later, a word to the wise don't try to sell GrnEyedDvl a used car

I am watching you...

Uh oh! cant wait to read your review man

Originally Posted by GrnEyedDvl

I will absolutely positively gaurantee you that my battles against the AI were not scripted. It simply is not possible that anyone could anticipate how I acted in the battles. I didnt play to win, I played to confuse the AI.

Awesome.

As long as this thread is still on the first page, I'll relay a few more things that I remember. In the desert battle when I was the Mamelukes there was a 'heat haze' effect when you were looking upon the battle map - ie, the air was slightly blurred and shimmering.

Playing as the Austrian in the multiplayer battle I had both German and Hungarian regiments and yes, the Hungarian regiments had blue 'trousers'.

Playing as the Piedmontese army in the campaign I noticed that it seemed the Piedmontese were speaking French.

Artillery seemed more effective in Napoleon for some reason, although it's hard to quantify something like that. It seemed like each round shot that impacted a formation took out a noticeable swath of men.

Oh yeah, and as the Piedmontese army I was trying to withdraw my artillery battery from a battle that we didn't really want to fight because I was ridiculously outnumbered. As my battery was retreating (slowly I might add) one gun's limber was taken out but the gun crew continued to move the gun by pushing it. So, apparently you can adjust your gun positions slightly without limbering back up (such as changing your facing or making a slight adjustment to get to a crest line).

It also seemed like when troops were firing 'independently' troops deeper in the formation fired as opposed to just the front line of troops firing. I didn't notice any troops using any of the recognized firing methods of the day, but Kieran said that Platoon firing and Rank firing was in the game. Technically though rank firing was obsolete by the 1750s, but I'm willing to roll with it I guess. It would have been better to have Platoon fire, Fire by Divisions, and maybe Fire by File but I'll take what I can get.