Should I get Napoleon after I just got Empire?

I have been reading the opinions on this forum, and decided to get Empire because Napoleon has some gameplay flaws that I don't like. They are:

Apparently the firearms are too "arcade" like in this game, and I read that we can use only sharpshooters to dominate the game. Gernadiers and such are useless.

There is only one oriental nation, and they are using only guns as well. I like having a combination of legacy troops from the medieval era (archers, heavy cavalry etc...) and modern units.

The game balance seems weird. For some reason France doesn't get rifles, but the Ottomans do. And I read that the Russians are underpowered. Which from the Fusil guide it looks like it to me.

No volley fire.

However, I do like the game's Naval mode. The navies are distinct from each other, whereas in Empire even the Ottomans and Indians have ships of the line.

And also I hear that this game has a better AI and is more technically polished than Empire.

Can I get some input from you guys on this matter?

Historically speaking, did the French even have rifles?

Empire was very buggy for me. Kept crashing with each AI turn and the AI in battle just sucks.

Napoleon is far more stable

Originally Posted by DarkLiberator

Historically speaking, did the French even have rifles?

I'm not sure if they used them to any large extent, but I don't think any nation in Europe lacked the technology to produce rifles. Especially at a time as late as the Napoleonic wars. Also, in Empire total war the French has rifles. However, I'm curious if the Ottomans used rifles to any extent.

What does the Napoleon Empire Realism mode do anyways? It says something about complete rebalancing.

Originally Posted by Yconrel

I'm not sure if they used them to any large extent, but I don't think any nation in Europe lacked the technology to produce rifles. Especially at a time as late as the Napoleonic wars. Also, in Empire total war the French has rifles. However, I'm curious if the Ottomans used rifles to any extent.

What does the Napoleon Empire Realism mode do anyways? It says something about complete rebalancing.

The most noticeable change is the combat system, which is a lot more realistic.
Units fire in volley fire, not just the first rank, and they also fire slower than in vanilla. they are also less accurate at long ranges, but more accurate at closer ones, which is historically accurate.
Along with a few other changes, the combat basically amounts to longer battles, with more realistic casualty numbers from infantry, cavalry, and arty.
I thought it was going to be boring at first, but i actually found it extremely fun to play.
The BAI is also MUCH more intelligent, and can actually defeat a human player, or at least cause them some serious grief.

It is not strange that France has no rifles; this is fact. Napoleon favored faster reload speed to range/accuracy because French light troops usually outnumber the opposition. Not a big crutch at all considering most people use musket-armed light troops anyway.

All in all the positives for NTW far outweigh the negatives. The way they did NTW it looks and feels a lot more realistic than ETW. The smoke, fire, unit details, terrain, everything just looks better and smoother. So far I have not had the game crash once thru 350+ hours of play; ETW crashed like every 5 minutes.

Just think of it like this: ETW is a bad beta, and NTW is the finished product.

Originally Posted by Chewie

It is not strange that France has no rifles; this is fact. Napoleon favored faster reload speed to range/accuracy because French light troops usually outnumber the opposition. Not a big crutch at all considering most people use musket-armed light troops anyway.

It is not just the rifles, but I read that in the Napoleon campaign for example, the Ottoman units were more elite than the French units. This was because CA wanted to make the game challenging, thus resulting in an arcade style. They depict the ottomans as some kind of tough boss. But in reality I do not think that the French troops were inferior in quality compared to the Ottomans.

Basically it comes down to one question, does the game revolve completely around sharpshootersÉ I read that line infantry and gernadiers are useless, and light infantry and artillery dominates the map.

Originally Posted by Yconrel

Basically it comes down to one question, does the game revolve completely around sharpshootersÉ I read that line infantry and gernadiers are useless, and light infantry and artillery dominates the map.

I only got NTW today and I'm blown away by how much better it is than Empire. Everyone else has already replied with the main reasons, I just wanted to reply to this quote about rifles. In Empire (multiplayer at least) rifles were easily the strongest unit - with people normally taking at least 5, if you didn't have at least as many long range (rifles) as your opponent, it was very hard to win. I'm not saying NTW is any better because I haven't played it much yet, but the overpowered light inf. was definitely a problem in Empire.

I like Napoleon alot better. Empire seemed to boring to me. I won with 6 units of line and 2 units of cannons against a full stack, still won. In Napoleon, ive actually lost some battles I should have.

Yes, Napoleon is a large improvement upon ETW; at least in my opinion.

No that is not true. The game feels balanced and have no such instance where the Ottomans were stronger than my "Grande Armee".

Also on the rifles, The Baker Rifle was one of if not the best Rifle of that era. It was used by the British 95th Rifles and a few others, although that doesen't matter I thought I would throw that in.

Hmm... Should I return Empire then and get Napoleon instead?

Originally Posted by Yconrel

Hmm... Should I return Empire then and get Napoleon instead?

Keep empire and get Napoleon and dont listen to moanings, after all patches Empire is stable and interesting enough. You need to have your pc full of trash and junkware and whatever not, maybe some dead mouse inside to have Empire crash every 5 minutes.
Even unpatched worked "stable".

Actually the Ottomans were underpowered in this game, especially in campaigns where you can steam-rolled their Peasant Levies by auto-resolving. Btw, if you love the Napoleonic Era like me, you will NEVER go back to Empire. But if you love Napoleon as much as Frederick the Great or the Duke of Marlborough or simply love elephants and sexy native Americans with underpants, ETW is a better choice to play first.
But eventually you will find NTW a much better game.
Btw, the Russians were overpowered with their unicorns, while their melee is deadly combine with the dead-cheap Cossacks.

NTW is by far the better game.
ETW I like as well. ETW is a little more global with a tad more variety and character and NTW a little less adventure and a little more wargame.

In terms of features NTW is amazing compared to ETW
Varied battlefields - their are actually hillocks and cover for the infantry!!!
ok AI
Runs smoothly at 30 frames on a medium rig
does not crash
has horse artillery
diplomacy has many more options
generally better presented and more polished
has coop campaign and drop in battles - this means a friend can play your AI enemies against you. This really makes the campaign interesting and gives an option for some change even while you play the single player campaign.

Get it! ETW is bigger, but NTw much better.

DarthVader didn't seem to like Napoleon that much, and he called it "arcade like". I'm mostly buying total war games (since shogun) for the battles. I don't really care that much about the campaigns. Since everyone here says it's that much better I'll probably go and pick it up.

Originally Posted by Yconrel

DarthVader didn't seem to like Napoleon that much, and he called it "arcade like". I'm mostly buying total war games (since shogun) for the battles. I don't really care that much about the campaigns. Since everyone here says it's that much better I'll probably go and pick it up.

As long as you've got the money to get it you will not regret the decision. Plus with all the AI Mods for NTW the battles will be much more enjoyable and challenging.

Napoleon is far better.

Better graphics, better gameplay, semi-decent AI (it's not by any means perfect, but it's a gigantic improvement over Empire's AI).

Ok I just came back from the store. I'm installing it now.

Go to the Mods and get The Tyrant Mod. It's the AI mod I use. You will love NTW even more if you have that mod.