Is this game worth it?

$29.99 on Steam with 10 free units. My question is: After many months since I downloaded, played, hated, and uninstalled Empire: Total War. I am checking in to see whether Napoleon Total War is worth it? Is the Grand Campaign better? Is the AI better? Is the engine better? Do Sieges work?

I just got through the battle of Leipzig On Histwar: Les Grognards. While an amazing game, it lacks the "strategic" campaign of the Total War series. Please let me know if I should invest or not?

I've just bought this retail for £12.99! Not bad for a game released this year. But seriously if you hated Empire (which I loved with Darthmod) I think you maybe disappointed. Plus you'll need some sexy hardware to get the best out of it.

I was in the same position as you - I gave up on ETW as it was so buggy. I didn't buy NTW when it came out after my terrible experience with ETW. I bought NTW a few weeks ago for fifteen quid as that was an amount I was willing to write off if the game was a fail.
I'd say it is worth buying if you have enjoyed previous Total War titles. The game as it comes out of the box is not great. You are likely to need to sort out CTD's and tweak your system to get it to run properly (I almost gave up on NTW until I found MadBoris' workaround). The AI is poor both in the campaign and on the battlefield. Even an inexperienced player will be able to easily beat the AI on the battlefield most of the time. An experienced player will probably find battles against the AI get a bit tedious fairly quickly (but they do look good)

Overall NTW is great game which is deeply flawed by terrible stability and poor AI - my impression is of a rushed job. ETW was a better campaign game but had even worse stability.

Wth? If you hate ETW, you're gonna finally feel good after NTW. NTW is a big improvement, I do reccomend you Napoleon!

If you get it you will enjoy the leapfrog bug of the AI in battles, suffer from connection issues on multiplayer, but will enjoy better graphics and a smoother performance.

Originally Posted by Venset

If you get it you will enjoy the leapfrog bug of the AI in battles, suffer from connection issues on multiplayer, but will enjoy better graphics and a smoother performance.

The use of various AI mods coupled with the extended battle map mod will remove the leap frog effect (with more room to move the AI behaves much better) the multiplayer connection is a little hit and miss but if you play with a regular group the use of hamachi resolves the connection issues.

The game is graphicaly better some great improved features but at the end of the day only you can decide if its worth it ( i personally didnt like ETW much but enjoy NTW but thats just one more persons opinion everyone is different

In my opinion we shouldn't need a bloody mod to fix something like this, I don't know how they can release a game with so many problems that need fixing.

And Hamachi isn't an ideal solution to play multiplayer, especially when you also get problems connecting to people through it for some strange reason. ( I managed to connect to one person when I played ETW multiplayer but then after that It wouldn't even let me join the same person again)

I see NTW more focused towards multiplayer than ETW however the netcode isn't optimized.


Anyway stupiddk what were your reasons for hating ETW? If you tell us then we can inform you better If you will enjoy or hate NTW.

EDIT:Removed some info that I no longer needed to mention.

It's not worth £29.99 with or without the free units.

If your into Histwar, you are problably going to want to use an NTW mod anyway as the vanilla game with drive you crazy with its inaccuracies, so paying extra for extra units is a waste of money.

I got my copy for under £4 which I considered to be a bargain. but its currently £14.99 on Play, and £12.99 on Amazon for the Imperial Edition.

Originally Posted by Venset

But I heard in those mods if you add cavalry (or lights?) It completely screws up the mods effect of fixing the leapfrog bug, anyway in my opinion we shouldn't need a bloody mod to fix something like this, I don't know how they can release a game with so many problems that need fixing.

Could you show me where this mod is btw, I hope this one doesn't screw up when you add cavalry (or lights?)

And Hamachi isn't an ideal solution to play multiplayer, especially when you also get problems connecting to people through it for some strange reason. ( I managed to connect to one person when I played ETW multiplayer but then after that It wouldn't even let me join the same person again)

I see NTW more focused towards multiplayer than ETW however the netcode isn't optimized.


Anyway stupiddk what were your reasons for hating ETW? If you tell us then we can inform you better If you will enjoy or hate NTW.

Siege battles in ETW were miserable and very inaccurate. The AI in ETW turning it's lines backwards, sending them piecemeal, bad firing drills, inaccurate battlefield numbers (lets be honest, napoleanic battles weren't 3,000 men affairs, they were 300,000-500,000 men affairs). However, I understand I trade realism for graphics and "immersion". Mods in ETW were amazing considering how duped we all were about mod tools.

The grand campaign in ETW was worse. Confusing technologies, revolutions, backstabbing alliances all the way. I hate naval battles, pisses me off they spent so much time developing them when we need better land battles.

The engine in ETW is what did it for me. Stuttering , Freezes, CTD's, and every other sort of bug that is supposed to be quashed in Alpha stage made it through retail and patches. Number one hate right there. If anything, a game should at least be playable or its not a game at all, just trash. I trashed my copy of ETW, trash, trash trash.

Out of those things, does NTW fix any of them, specifically the engine?

Originally Posted by stupiddk

Siege battles in ETW were miserable and very inaccurate. The AI in ETW turning it's lines backwards, sending them piecemeal, bad firing drills, inaccurate battlefield numbers

(lets be honest, napoleanic battles weren't 3,000 men affairs, they were 300,000-500,000 men affairs).

However, I understand I trade realism for graphics and "immersion". Mods in ETW were amazing considering how duped we all were about mod tools.

slight over estimate in numbers there, maybe 30,000 vs 50,000. I don't think induvidual armies went over 100,000 men.
Besides TW is never going to be able to accuratley show numbers otherwise peoples computers ould explode or burn a hole through the desk and the floor below


But Ia gree with you totally about the AI etc

After a lot of experimentation with mods and a little bit of direct tweaking of the unit database to get rid of all the fantasy units I actually managed to get ETW to deliver something close to a playable 18th century strategy game. So, it is possible to to get it to work if you put the effort in, and at the moment I am spending something like 10 hours on ETW, for every hour I spend on NTW.

Seiges continue to be a problem, mainly because of the lag which manifests itself as soon as you breach the walls of a fort. I think this is somehow tied into the AI being unable to compute what to do with its units in the fort. But my only reason for believing this is that I've discovered that if I move my own army close to the opposite side of a breach and trigger the AI to launch a sally by its defenders then the lag suddenly dissapears and the game runs normally again.

I still get studders in the in campaign videos but not everyone does. Fort battles are still crap but you hardly ever have to fight any. The technologies isn't as plentiful and are simple to follow. Campaign AI is improved alot from ETW, you can actually keep alliances now and even ask nations to join your wars or end their trade with other nations.

Theres only one firing drill which is fire and advance (which is better than ETW's fire and advance but is only useful in certain moments) otherwise the normal way of firing is from the front rank only, therefore to get more firepower you spread out your line more. Light Infantry and Skirmishes (Mostly Riflemen) mass fire and can go in skirmish formation, but light infantry also form a line like line infantry but cant form square (however even in line If they are on a hill slope all ranks will fire unlike normal line infantry or elites)

Speaking of squares, I love NTW's square formation. Any cav unit that charges a square will halt their charge and send some riders rearing off their horses killing them, while also being shot and stabbed. Squares are very useful now.

Artillery is more effective now and there's no stupid shrapnel shot. Cannons have Round shot and Cannister, Howisters get Explosive shot and Cannister, Experimental howitzers get Quicklime and that other exploding type of shell (can't remember what It is called), but normal howitzers are better than Experimental usually. Rockets are abit better, and Mortars are solely used for against forts as their shells explode high in the air (top of wall height) so they are useless in land battles and only the Ottomans can get them.

There are 3 separate theaters in NTW, Egypt, Italy and Europe. Can only be France in Italy and Egypt without mods, and for Europe there is one where you are France and theres one where you are either Britain, Austria, Prussia or Russia without mods. Turns go alot faster, and compared to ETW It runs alot better performance wise and looks nicer too.
Theres also a Peninsular Campaign (DLC you can buy) which you can play as Spain, Britain or France. Spain get Gurellia units (units that can hide anywhere on campaign map, and can be deployed outside your deployment zone) these Gurellia units can be used in multiplayer too.

Naval battles are pretty similar, just a few tweaks and better looking ships (I guess) Still kinda clunky interface but It's playable.

Multiplayer also has a Multiplayer Campaign which is apparently pretty good but I haven't yet been able to play a game because of my connection problems.
I think the Quick Battles is improved too, but I haven't done one of those either.
Also If your playing single player when a battle is about to start( and depending on the balance of power meter) It can be possible to invite someone take control of the AI forces and fight you. (which I haven't been able to do yet)

Theres alot more I could go on about but I am tired -_-

Pretty much NTW is faster paced and feels a little more arcade like because of It. However fatigue is very heavy since last patch so you can't run everywhere without getting your units exhausted. Also the battles while Napoleonic themed, It doesn't really help to use Napoleonic tactics, well at least some of them eg Napoleons column attacks - just asking your units to be surrounded and shot/counter charged by cav/inf although the AI probably can't even pull that off.

I can't go through every little detail so It's best to watch some videos, read some reviews (If they are honest ones) and then decide is It worth your money? Depending on your wealth It may or may not be.

Thanks Venset for the quick reply and wall o text. Plus rep.

On a side note, it seems to me that NTW is no more than a rehash of ETW. I am afraid to ask, is the melee bug still there?

Again the use of an AI mod and the extended battle map mod removes the melee bug( its far better than etw for this bug of the bat and is improved in most areas just smaller in scale)

The Ai will perform reasonable well when given room to move its men without them cross over units which force the leap frog effect all the way to melee , with the room they will form straight lines and march to firing range with some flanking by cav and lights but it is no genious.

Yes I tend to type quite a bit but not too much in my opinion but I always must force myself to stop typing, otherwise I'll never finish my posts.

As I've said the AI's units are scripted so that instead of shooting their own units in the back they move infront of that unit to fire which makes the unit they just passed do the same thing, and this continues on until they run into your deadly fire and then into melee. CA tried avoiding this by putting light infantry on the flanks since they have longer range which contributed heavily to the "leapfrog bug" however they didn't change much else like avoiding units going through each other.

Though It is possible to mod It so the AI's units will avoid colliding with It's own units and will send them around instead, apparently having different types of units start to make the AI go a bit crazy. In saying this though I have recently installed the mod LME with a UAI and BAI submod and to be honest I'm not exactly sure what the changes are but this seems to help reduce the "leap frog bug" a lot because the AI is more careful with It's units. With these mods the AI will even retreat off the battlefield!

However If the AI has no room to place It's units like in choke points then that's when they start doing the leapfrogging. Fortunately in the campaigns the battle areas are quite open so you don't get this problem, just more so on the custom land battle maps because they are designed more for multiplayer. I haven't got an extended deployment zone mod but perhaps I should because It would then even further decrease the chances of the bug occurring. Im sure there are other mods out there that probably do similar things I just haven't tried them.

So yes there is a melee bug of sorts but It can be avoided in ways.

I would also suggest getting a sound mod of sorts and If your rig can handle It, some graphic ones (like smoke and blood effects, flags etc)
My computer is pretty crap so I can't get those awesome smoke mods, increased unit sizes and stuff but I do have the UltimateSoundModv2 and a mod that improves the flags and to make them more historically correct.

I hope I have answered your question?
I also hope Soul Firez answered your question too? because he beat me to It.

I think NTW is indeed recommendable. I really like the game and much can be done with it
But then again I liked ETW also.

I have been playing for over 40 hours and I have only had 2 CTDs, which I think is pretty damm good ^-^. So I think it is a very stable game

Originally Posted by gaunty14

I have been playing for over 40 hours and I have only had 2 CTDs, which I think is pretty damm good ^-^. So I think it is a very stable game

People seem to have different experiences with NTW. I found that until I used MadBoris' workaround NTW crashed almost every time I had a large/long battle. Now I find it crashes about every third or fourth session of play. I can live with that, but most PC games I play almost never crash.

If you have a decent computer and you enjoy the Napoleonic era, you will enjoy this game. It's a huge improvement over ETW. I've played 200+ hours and never had the game crash. Not once. It looks better, feels better, and plays better than ETW. Stop reading and go buy it now.

It depends of your economic level