Grittier Combat

I just finished watching that awesome movie that is Waterloo and something struck me.

As awesome as NTW is (and I do bloody love the game) it just feels too... fake... or lacking. I'm not sure.

Anyways, by the time the French Old Guard are broken and the entire French force is cornered into that infantry square, the battlefield is thick with black/grey smoke, there's dead people everywhere, blood, torn up muddy ground, clothes are torn up and worn down and not a single person looks clean. Its so gritty.

Whereas if the same happened in Napoleon you would find a beautiful green vista remaining with nothing but fresh, clean bodies. What I really would love to see is smoke that properly lingers after large battles. Ground that gets torn up and muddy as its fought over. Soldiers who's uniforms turn bloody and muddy with combat (it happened in Medieval 2). Wounded soldiers who count as being dead but groan and crawl around on the battlefield. Horses doing the same. They managed to make stray horses run away dragging riders which was a great addition but I just wish it was more grittier.

And please don't discard this as a rant against NTW, I love the game. Its the best TW game I personally have ever played (aside from RTW). This is more a post looking towards the future of TW.

Do you think it would be possible in future TW games for them to become anything near as gritty as this? Because right now its all too plain, clean and refined. And if they move onto WW1 as many people think (even though I don't) it is surely something they must do...

Anyways, just wanted to share that and see your opinions.

This sounds great, I like the sound of ground getting torn up and muddy, this could make units move slower over it. Units definitely need to get dirtier and bloodier in combat. It would be great to see units getting blacker with the powder the more they are shooting and reloading!

Yes MTW2 mods were great with Crimson Tide and armour covered in blood and dirt by the end of the battle.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. War is a dirty business and if the troops could appear more battle weary, dirty and bloody, this would add a whole new level or realism. The moaning/crawling soldiers would be a really nice touch. The smoke lingering over the battlefield with small fires burning trees, bushes and homes would be truly epic.

It would have to be a scene of utter and total destruction as battlefields often were.

All for it

I like the wounded thought, I've often wondered if that would be possible. And WWI would be great, after all, we've already seen Rome. But Rome 2 is fine as well

Originally Posted by Jihada

Yes MTW2 mods were great with Crimson Tide and armour covered in blood and dirt by the end of the battle.

I would love to see a version of this for NTW. It really adds so much to the atmosphere.

Yes, Whit something in napoleon total war, like this Effects,you going to need a Nasa pc to make it run

Agreed.

I can only wish we could have trees getting knocked down, forest fires sparking up, literally have ground torn up (even the effects of artillery in this game, a much welcomed feature, seems to be still only 'scratch the surface')...

The immersion only feels 'right' when you have a town burning up and billows of smoke rising up from numerous buildings...

Also, wouldn't it be cool to have artillery caissons exploding (massing artillery would be dangerous in this case as a chain reaction of explosions would threaten all of them). I know that in real life artillery caissons/wagon trains were distanced quite far away from the guns, but since this game tries to 'condense' entire armies into small quarters in small representations, this feature could have been included imho.

Agree 100%


At the very least dirty, bloody uniforms for the troops.

CA claims it can't go there because it may jeopardize sales of the game to the kiddies, but honestly, how many copies does every Grand Theft Auto game sell; a gazillion? And that's despite the best efforts of some professional protest groups constantly trying to ban it...


They don't have to show arms and legs flying off - but fences and trees destroyed, the ground rutted and muddy, tattered uniforms, etc... bring it on!

After a large scale battle, a section of land isn't going to look pristine, and the soldiers certainly aren't...especially not wearing those snow-white trousers/leggings.

(I'd like to see hats, gear, drums, and discarded rifles on the ground too...maybe even soldiers slumped over their canon as we see in so many paintings of this period)

yes it would be great to have this. What could be done also is a more realistic blood mod. For the moment, all the blood mods show only blood with gun shots. But there is no blood on the ground, no blood on the bodies. No sabers scars for example.

All needed, as well as naked lady photos for the mistress trait...

Originally Posted by DoomBunny666

All needed, as well as naked lady photos for the mistress trait...

Greatest suggestion ever. Why should my finance minister be the only one who gets to benefit from her existence?

Who would have thought that the TW series would have the potential for a "Hot Coffee"-style scandal?

Couldn't have said it better myself Sir!.

ca does what it wants, are you kidding me? don't waste your time suggesting this and that. how many things suggested post etw were implemented in ntw? i honestly don't know of any. maybe there's 1 or 2, but seriouly, ca does what it wants. no offense, but you're really just wasting your time asking this, especially since they came out and said no.

I've long visited these forums - downloading mods, viewing the various threads and whatnot for a long time...

This thread was so spot-on with my personal feelings, I had to register just to post my agreement.

Well said, mate!

Let's hope either the Assembly or the magnificent modding community take notice...

It might be too gory, but it would be nice if cannon balls actually "ripped" bodies apart, instead of making each person "gently" fall down and go to sleep.

Originally Posted by JayMac

It might be too gory, but it would be nice if cannon balls actually "ripped" bodies apart, instead of making each person "gently" fall down and go to sleep.

Speaking of which, has anyone noticed that the game is only rated PG? (in Australia)