How is this as compared to other Total War games

I am thinking of purchasing Napoleon TW. I currently own Rome TW, Medieval 2 TW Kingdoms, Empire TW, and Shogun 2 TW. Have played Kingdoms quite a bit, and I am currently playing Shogun 2. I am very interested in the Napoleon era, Calvary charges, muskets, and cannons. Sounds great to me. However I have Empire ( same era ) and actually could not get into it. Maybe it was the cowboys and indians kind of flavor it had. Have not played it a lot. In fact it is currently not installed on my computer. I am just wondering if this game is better than Empire.

Although to be fair I really did not play Empire TW a whole lot and only in the Americas which is basically the pilgrims against the indian tribes for the most part. I understand the scope of the game is much broader so maybe I should give it another chance. And at the time I was playing it a I did not have a very good graphics card. So it did not run very well. I have since upgraded my graphics card.

Still interested in Napoleon TW though....Probably would like to play the British in that Campaign. Since historically they probably had the largest part in defeating Napoleon.

I find Napoleon Total war to be much better than ETW. The graphics are better (though sparingly), cannons are much better and many more unit types. The campaigns are also VERY different from ETW. I prefer NTW over ETW any day

Originally Posted by Wilfried

I find Napoleon Total war to be much better than ETW. The graphics are better (though sparingly), cannons are much better and many more unit types. The campaigns are also VERY different from ETW. I prefer NTW over ETW any day

Same Here. The Campaign AI is also better.

Also, the Peninsular campaign DLC is a thousant times better then warpath

Originally Posted by eXistenZ

Same Here. The Campaign AI is also better.

Also, the Peninsular campaign DLC is a thousant times better then warpath

Indeed. I also hate the years it took for your turn to start, after hitting "end turn"

DarthMod ETW is pretty good, but i still prefer NTW

Originally Posted by Wilfried

Indeed. I also hate the years it took for your turn to start, after hitting "end turn"

If I turn off cpu moves it takes about 30 seconds max for me.
But I can understand why a lot of people prefer NTW, it's a lot more polished

I didn't really like ETW either until I installed the DarthMod for it....then it became really enjoyable, especially the battles.
The issues with fort battle slowdown bug and turns taking a long time still there but can get round that by disabling forts (in darth) and not watching cpu turns.

Anyway since you do have ETW I will give a short comparison with NTW which may help you decide (obviously some of this is subjective).

Campaigns - ETW better for me as I prefer large epic open-ended campaigns, NTW is more intense and focused/restrictive
Graphics - not really much difference although NTW has some optimisation which can make your units go all low blurry textures to retain overall performance so you usually have to mess with gfx settings
BAI - a bit better and more aggressive in NTW e.g. armed citizenry will actually charge you without hesitation instead of standing there to be shot to pieces and rout
CAI - more diplomacy options in NTW but really not that different
Tech - smaller tech trees in NTW and no fire by rank so if you like watching your line infantry fire a volley then kneel and let the row behind fire while humming the Zulu soundtrack then you will be disappointed (although if you install darth he adds fire by rank when you research fire and advance)
Armies in campaign map - attrition in NTW (some units reduce in numbers if have a turn in hostile terrain), replenishment automatic in friendly areas speed depends on supply lines whereas in ETW it took 2 turns to fully replenish units
Presentation - personally I hate NTW in this respect.....I hate the blueiness, I hate the crappy low res unit cards and it makes my gfx card fans go mental
Feel - NTW feels slicker and smoother and more 'arcade' like in both the campaign and the battles

So for me.....
NTW = ETW (pros and cons cancel out)
DarthMod ETW >>>> NTW
DarthMod ETW >> DarthMod NTW

Originally Posted by menawati

I didn't really like ETW either until I installed the DarthMod for it....then it became really enjoyable, especially the battles.
The issues with fort battle slowdown bug and turns taking a long time still there but can get round that by disabling forts (in darth) and not watching cpu turns.

Anyway since you do have ETW I will give a short comparison with NTW which may help you decide (obviously some of this is subjective).

Campaigns - ETW better for me as I prefer large epic open-ended campaigns, NTW is more intense and focused/restrictive
Graphics - not really much difference although NTW has some optimisation which can make your units go all low blurry textures to retain overall performance so you usually have to mess with gfx settings
BAI - a bit better and more aggressive in NTW e.g. armed citizenry will actually charge you without hesitation instead of standing there to be shot to pieces and rout
CAI - more diplomacy options in NTW but really not that different
Tech - smaller tech trees in NTW and no fire by rank so if you like watching your line infantry fire a volley then kneel and let the row behind fire while humming the Zulu soundtrack then you will be disappointed (although if you install darth he adds fire by rank when you research fire and advance)
Armies in campaign map - attrition in NTW (some units reduce in numbers if have a turn in hostile terrain), replenishment automatic in friendly areas speed depends on supply lines whereas in ETW it took 2 turns to fully replenish units
Presentation - personally I hate NTW in this respect.....I hate the blueiness, I hate the crappy low res unit cards and it makes my gfx card fans go mental
Feel - NTW feels slicker and smoother and more 'arcade' like in both the campaign and the battles

So for me.....
NTW = ETW (pros and cons cancel out)
DarthMod ETW >>>> NTW
DarthMod ETW >> DarthMod NTW

This.

Indeed

Thanks for the advice everybody. I am thinking I will probably get the Total War Game of the Year Edition for 29.99 on Steam. Even though I already have Empire for $10 more you get all the expansion packs for Empire, and Napoleon. Was the Warpath Campaign for Empire, and the Pennisular Campaign for Napoleon any good.

Warpath I didn't think all that much of, but it's a fun distraction. Peninsular was very enjoyable, imo.

ETW for me, the Darthmod version anyway. I didn't really like STW2 much at first but with the mods now and playing all the factions available , it's now my favourite of all TW games. Can't wait for FoTS to lead the samurai in their last struggle.

You don't get all the DLC for NTW with the Game of the year edition. There are some of the elite units missing but this only matters in multiplayer. You get enough of Great Britain and France elites but not of other Nations such as Russia and Austria I noticed. So if you are keen on multiplayer (what little there is left) then get Imperial Edition NTW instead (unless you only want to play GB, France, prussia and minors). Otherwise GOTY edition is a very good deal.

I prefer the narrowed focus of STW2 and NTW. I hate vastly out-teching my AI opponents in the vast campaigns as it starts to seem silly. Although you do start to feel that the whole game revolves around fighting as or against France (funny that!). The victory conditions are a little historically constraining eg I am currently playing as France and have kept Russia out of the war and could conceivably even ally with them; but eventually I will have to take moscow to win, not to mention having to take out my very reliable ally Spain.

STW2 is an improvement on NTW in most ways including the AI. If you are still playing ETW after STW2 then you will probably like NTW but otherwise it may feel like a step backwards. I am still going back to NTW but I play it modded which is much more satisfying than vanilla. NER mod is a good start and as a big bonus is compatible with the extra DLC campaigns. EiC adds an extra layer of complexity and is pretty cool.

For the price you might as well finish your Total War collection to get the Napoleon experience. I find the multiplayer campaigns and scenarios worth the cost if you can find some forum members or friends to play with. It is not my favorite of the series, but I am still very new to Napoleon and have enjoyed every moment of it.