IAMA NTW hater...heres why...

Grand strategy historical games are the love of my life! I have no idea why I love them so much but Im sure its a vicious cycle: I learn about history from games so I enjoy them even more, so I play them more so I learn more. I haven't really enjoyed a total war game since MTW2 because after a lot of searching I found Europa Universalis, which to me, its the grandest strategy game i've ever played. Im going to put a list of criteria I like from strategy games and see how NTW fairs.

Bigger the Campaign Map the better: This is where NTW fails for me, just a diddly map of a small part of central europe.

A sandbox type Campaign: NTW fails here the most, the campaigns are scripted, no scope, nothing grand about it.

I tried to enjoy NTW I really did, im still trying, im trying to convince myself to like it but I can't. I love Napoleonic history, and this does not quench my thirst. So I booted up EU3, set the date to 1810, chose France and boom, THIS is grand strategy, I was fighting a war on every continent.

NTW is a decent game if you haven't played any of its rival developers games

Originally Posted by ghost13

the campaigns are scripted, no scope, nothing grand about it.

No, they aren't. There's no scripting whatsoever to influence the AI's behaviour in the grand campaign.

I agree with you. The best strategy game ever would be to have Europa Universalis as the campaign map amd AI and Total War in the battles,
because Europa Universalis' battles are a little boring. Two men sitting in fron of eachother just shooting eachother in the face just doesnt satisfy me.....

I too was a bit disappointed with the 'scope' of Napoleon. I like it's greater focus on Europe, but even so, they could have certainly done more factions, more of asia minor and north africa. But I did like the new some of the new polish features, bug fixes and general AI improvements (though still lacking).

I would expect the level of detail Napoleon has to be for an expansion not a stand alone release, which is what it should have been, an expansion, like they originally had planned. So all those engine improvements would get stacked ontop of mods like DarthMod Ultimate Commander, which would be epic.

That said, I was disappointed with Empire's scope as well. I would have much preferred all the territories and factions in the New World, and India, to have been put into Europe/North Africa and Asia Minor, and the 'New World' just being simulated with trade routes and events.

I think Total War games are best in the eras where the 'known world' does not extend very far. Epic World Scope is something the Creative Assembly fails at, they aim for grandeur, but do so with simplicity.

Originally Posted by Emilersej

Europa Universalis' battles are a little boring. Two men sitting in fron of eachother just shooting eachother in the face just doesnt satisfy me.....

They are actually much more complicated than most people realize. Especially in mods, like Magna Mundi.

On the battle display, (having your army clicked to see the fight), if you look, you can see pips that show how yours and the enemy's army is arrayed. You can mouse-over each pip to see the regiment's morale, manpower, unit type and which opposing regiment they are fighting, their morale, manpower and unit type. Each have different statistics and perform differently based on the terrain of the province, what kind of unit they are fighting and the skill level of their commanders, among other things.

Not visually pleasing, of-course, but a lot more going on under the hood.

Magna Mundi the Game (essentially EU4) will blow all that out of the water (with even more things under the hood), come it's release.

Originally Posted by T.C.

No, they aren't. There's no scripting whatsoever to influence the AI's behaviour in the grand campaign.

What I meant was that some AI actions are coded into the game, buts it deep in the game engine, so it is scripted but its not changeable. The campaigns like Egypt are an obvious example.

Combine Eu3's campaign map, with total wars battles.

Originally Posted by RangerGxi

Combine Eu3's campaign map, with total wars battles.

+1
Port battles to EU3 and it would be awesome

Originally Posted by RangerGxi

Combine Eu3's campaign map, with total wars battles.

And play a game until you die.

Originally Posted by Sir Nicholas Altman

And play a game until you die.

I would LOve to