Is empire total war worth it?

[Eirikr Bjorn]

I have been watching some reviews and gameplays and people seem to like empire tw because it has a map expanding throughout a big portion of the world and because of its empire management system.
The closest game I've ever played is Napoleon and while I do enjoy it, I have to say that sometimes maps seem repetitive and the AI is bad and hardly ever forms a line to fire at my troops.
I don't know much about the TW franchise so maybe this happens in every other total war but I just wanted to mention it, though, it is not game breaking for me but i wanted to mention it as people say that the AI is even worse than in Napoleon.
So in conclusion, is it worth it or not?
Thanks in advance.

[HazardHawk]

Napoleon is the next gen expansion of Empire. Most people playing for the campaign play one or the other and not usually both either having the preference of the hallway wars of Napoleon or the open world omni directional wars of Empire

[Empire_TW]

Playing on very hard can remedy the bad battle AI in regards to firing lines but you will have to learn the game before just jumping into very hard. The campaign is much better than NTW.

If you are really unsure you can always get it on sale.

[SpiffyGonzales]

I'd say its worth it. Theres a lot of ways where its better than napoleon for sure. even with battle stuff.

Id say the 2 issues are glitches and bad A.I. other than that > napoleon

[pgeerkens]

The big difference in favour of Empire: replay value. I bought Napoleon a year before buying Empire; but now have 4,000 more hours on Empire than Napoleon.

[Eirikr Bjorn]

Thanks for all the answers, though there is another thing I wanna know and that is the AI.
Because you and the people in general say that the AI is bad but I wanna know (if possible) specifically what does the AI do in battles to be tagged as bad. I ask this because I wanna know if the problem is game breaking or tolerable. I think AI normally behaves bad in Total War titles (speccially in older ones) but if I'm not mistaken I think lowering the unit size improves slightly the AI as it will have less pathfinding issues. But I could be wrong.
For me it won't be too bad is the AI is bad but I still wanna know.

[Eirikr Bjorn]

Originally posted by Empire_TW:

Playing on very hard can remedy the bad battle AI in regards to firing lines but you will have to learn the game before just jumping into very hard. The campaign is much better than NTW.

If you are really unsure you can always get it on sale.

yes I am not really good at total war games but I can be patient.

[Eirikr Bjorn]

Originally posted by pgeerkens:

The big difference in favour of Empire: replay value. I bought Napoleon a year before buying Empire; but now have 4,000 more hours on Empire than Napoleon.

Yes, I really like the big scope and replayibility of empire.

[SpiffyGonzales]

Originally posted by Aeric Björn:

Thanks for all the answers, though there is another thing I wanna know and that is the AI.
Because you and the people in general say that the AI is bad but I wanna know (if possible) specifically what does the AI do in battles to be tagged as bad. I ask this because I wanna know if the problem is game breaking or tolerable. I think AI normally behaves bad in Total War titles (speccially in older ones) but if I'm not mistaken I think lowering the unit size improves slightly the AI as it will have less pathfinding issues. But I could be wrong.
For me it won't be too bad is the AI is bad but I still wanna know.

most of the time its just dumb combat decisions. Having a unit face a little bit more to the left while your guy is firing straight at them, charging cav head on into your men, sending the general to a pointless death.
Occasionally it will be worse stuff like trying to spread its army accross the map before it advances on you, attacking you on the campaign map then when the battle loads it treats itself as the defender...

I wont say its game breaking though. Like if you look at the angry joe review of it, its not NEARLY as bad as it was back then. often times the enemy will be given different economy buffs meaning they can field more men than you as well. Id honestly say the average battle will feel like you're outnumbered but as long as you dont do dumb stuff you can pull off a victory.

One thing I will say though is that you better make sure you have a timer on. Because if you're in a siege and its unlimited time the A.I will arty you into oblivion.

[Eirikr Bjorn]

Originally posted by SpiffyGonzales:

Originally posted by Aeric Björn:

Thanks for all the answers, though there is another thing I wanna know and that is the AI.
Because you and the people in general say that the AI is bad but I wanna know (if possible) specifically what does the AI do in battles to be tagged as bad. I ask this because I wanna know if the problem is game breaking or tolerable. I think AI normally behaves bad in Total War titles (speccially in older ones) but if I'm not mistaken I think lowering the unit size improves slightly the AI as it will have less pathfinding issues. But I could be wrong.
For me it won't be too bad is the AI is bad but I still wanna know.

most of the time its just dumb combat decisions. Having a unit face a little bit more to the left while your guy is firing straight at them, charging cav head on into your men, sending the general to a pointless death.
Occasionally it will be worse stuff like trying to spread its army accross the map before it advances on you, attacking you on the campaign map then when the battle loads it treats itself as the defender...

I wont say its game breaking though. Like if you look at the angry joe review of it, its not NEARLY as bad as it was back then. often times the enemy will be given different economy buffs meaning they can field more men than you as well. Id honestly say the average battle will feel like you're outnumbered but as long as you dont do dumb stuff you can pull off a victory.

One thing I will say though is that you better make sure you have a timer on. Because if you're in a siege and its unlimited time the A.I will arty you into oblivion.

Thanks for the answer!

[pgeerkens]

Originally posted by SpiffyGonzales:

Originally posted by Aeric Björn:

....

...
One thing I will say though is that you better make sure you have a timer on. Because if you're in a siege and its unlimited time the A.I will arty you into oblivion.

LOL I recommend just the opposite - nuke the timer and keep it nuked. Battles of the day were slow-moving, chess-like, affairs; and I play them that way even though the AI doesn't always oblige. But in siege battles specifically: I will artillery the AI to oblivion - not the other way around.

Further, if the AI decides to camp, I can deal with that without worrying about a time limit. I know how to paralyse it by bending my line into an L, so my light infantry can roll it up by the flank like Stonewall at Chancellorsville; or pick off its units one-at-a-time with artillery at maximum range.

[SpiffyGonzales]

Originally posted by pgeerkens:

Originally posted by SpiffyGonzales:

...
One thing I will say though is that you better make sure you have a timer on. Because if you're in a siege and its unlimited time the A.I will arty you into oblivion.

LOL I recommend just the opposite - nuke the timer and keep it nuked. Battles of the day were slow-moving, chess-like, affairs; and I play them that way even though the AI doesn't always oblige. But in siege battles specifically: I will artillery the AI to oblivion - not the other way around.

Further, if the AI decides to camp, I can deal with that without worrying about a time limit. I know how to paralyse it by bending my line into an L, so my light infantry can roll it up by the flank like Stonewall at Chancellorsville; or pick off its units one-at-a-time with artillery at maximum range.

I'm more referring to sieges where You're outnumbered and really cant afford to attack.

[Eirikr Bjorn]

Does the ai ever attack you on the field? Or move armies out of settlements? Because I like siege battles but I think I prefer field battles adn I am a little worried that the AI might be too reserved and hardly ever makes aggressive or bold moves.

[Empire_TW]

Originally posted by Aeric Björn:

Originally posted by Empire_TW:

Playing on very hard can remedy the bad battle AI in regards to firing lines but you will have to learn the game before just jumping into very hard. The campaign is much better than NTW.

If you are really unsure you can always get it on sale.

yes I am not really good at total war games but I can be patient.

The main reason i say this is because on lower difficulties the AI usually routs before they get off a shot, very hard is where i get the tough firefights with the AI.

[Eirikr Bjorn]

Originally posted by Empire_TW:

Originally posted by Aeric Björn:

yes I am not really good at total war games but I can be patient.

The main reason i say this is because on lower difficulties the AI usually routs before they get off a shot, very hard is where i get the tough firefights with the AI.

So should I play on VH/VH? or H/H? And I wanna make this question in general as I can never decide which difficulty to play or which is better. As far as I'm aware, difficulty level only change AI bonuses so in higher difficulties battle AI will have more morale and campaign wise the AI will have bigger and more professional armies. But I still want a difficulty reccomendation, I know this depends on opinion but, as I've said, I can never decide.

[HazardHawk]

Originally posted by Aeric Björn:

Does the ai ever attack you on the field? Or move armies out of settlements? Because I like siege battles but I think I prefer field battles adn I am a little worried that the AI might be too reserved and hardly ever makes aggressive or bold moves.

It is all situational. If you play any later TW games, this is literally the first generation for this level of the Warscape game engine. The player influence on the AI engine matters as to how these play out.

It does not work yet in Empire at the level I can explain, but Empire was the first effort in this direction. At most there are twenty units in a battle on your side and 20 on the enemy side. Then you have reserves which come in as a unit dies or leaves. So basically each side starts with four extra chess pieces on the board and sometimes reserves to replenish with. At MOST 40 + 40. Well, the number of permutations is limited. The Warscape Engine balances and plays the AI to win the battle according to victory conditions in the most expedient way possible. If sitting on their tails inside until the timer runs out is the most expedient, then that is what they will do. If sitting inside protected is the most effective path to the best possible outcome, then that is what it will do all the way until the moment a detail changes what action different leads to the now best outcome at the next moment.

In other words, the game reads how you set up, plots its path according to how you set up and modifies each turn to what is then the best next course of action. Remember though, the AI is not playing live action. To the AI, each second, each frame, is a turn and part of the AI turn cycle is recalculation.