Tips and Tricks for Empire: Total War

Nuff said. Let's get down to it!

List of little secrets.

If anyone asks, M'aiq the Liar did NOT write this, but instead made small edits to where he looked like he wrote this.


1. Mortars are more accurate with round shot

2. Skirmishers left in Light Infantry Behaviour mode when firing at will continously fire at the enemy when left idle, even when the enemy is off the map.

3. The Knights of Saint John is the only faction that does not have any land-based towns, yet still sustains a powerful army and navy

4. Galleys and Light Galleys are actually very good for sinking ships early on, with 200 Firepower per shot.

5. Ships with high firepower for CERTAIN WEAPONS really increases the firepower for ALL WEAPONS. That is to say, if you had a Bomb Ketch firing a broadside at a Sixth Rate, it would badly damage it.

6. Dragoons have a cavalry charge bonus when mounted. That being said, a bug in the game allows them to charge on foot and do equal damage.

7. In the Warpath Campaign, some units can fire whilst hidden.

8. Grenadiers themselves are good units when it comes to bombardment, but usually they will take heavy casualties and rout before they throw grenades in late game.

9. Ottomans and Russians can use the Hand Mortar, which is like a grenade launcher. It has the same range as a Line Infantry regiment, so they can be used quite effectively.

10. The Ottoman Empire has the most diverse army in terms of irregularity. This only intensifies with the Elite Units DLCS

11. After a counter-revolution, your king may become an infant, yet still has the traits that aren't normally recognizable in early childhood.

12. Wars of Succession have a chance of happening, but they aren't any different than regular wars.

13. Elat is the only town in the game that produces Pottery.

14. All playable European nations have access to Ghoorkas in the early time period on multiplayer. Ghoorkas can have up to 200 men in their ranks.

15. The Austrians have 150 men per Line Infantry unit, but they suffer in terms of skill.

16. Sweden has a cavalry bonus, where a Light Dragoon squad of 60 would be in Britain, 75 Light Dragoons may be found in Sweden.

17. Holding the Dutch main port near their capital, Amsterdam, is key to forcing a surrender and actually adds tactical importance, as that port controls the way from Flanders to the Netherlands.

18. Some generals live until 98-99 years old, yet they still are in fighting shape.

19. The Indian War Elephants are extremely tough to take down in melee, but once even one elephant goes down, they get cold feet.

20. Abolition of Slavery is a technology that may not even affect happiness, depending on your government type.

21. Despite the game's obvious urges against using pikemen, they are good for defence and for plugging up holes while defending a fort.

22. Native American Tribes fight and behave very differently in tactics than their European counterparts. Same can be said for the Indians.

23. The Ottomans can expand their territory and not even anger other nations. (May be a different case now, but I heard this and events proved me right.)

24. The Machine Rifling technology and Light Infantry Tactics are useless to the Mughals and Marathas, as they have no formalised light infantry, often choosing large amounts of Line Infantry

25. It is possible, (if your ship has already retreated from a battle it cannot win AND has been engaged again) to retreat your inferior navy infinite times. Just go into the battle and as soon as it starts, click the "Withdraw" button on ALL of your fleet.

26. The Marathas cannot use Fire By Rank with Hindu or Sikh musketeers. Bargir Infantry can use them, however.

27: When cavalry are charging, at times your Line Infantry won't use Fire by Rank. This will prove useful to know if you're facing a frontal charge.

28: Lower caliber guns can still be used effectively. 3-lber Horse Artillery is mobile, and it's shrapnel shot is very effective.

29: Protectorates will ALWAYS ally with you when asked, but only when it's just the alliance. Anything else and it will be treated as a normal diplomatic deal. Alliances are ensured, though. So when you play as any nation, no matter if you're not even in the same theatre as te protectorate of another nation, you will always succeed in allying with them. Of course, this means you can get dragged into an overseas war.

30: A War of Succession is nothing to be worried about. It's just like any other war, with pizzazz added to it.

31: Units on fort walls have a small range increase due to height above the enemy. This is useful for riflemen.

32: Pikemen are useful even when in normal combat against cavalry. They do not have to be in formation to be effective, but it is preferred to lessen casualties and increase the enemy casualties.

33: The Mughal Empire can sometimes win the war against the Maratha Confederacy.

34: The Ottoman Empire will almost never expand in Europe besides Morea and Georgia. They will attack Persia, however, often aiming for Azerbaijan.

35. It does no good to capture single regions as trading outposts unless you are establishing them in America or India. If you captured Crimea as the Germans and it connected to a territory that had furs as a resource, you wouldn't be able to gain profit from trade there due to your capital's distance from those regions.

36: The Ottomans can get from Anatolia to Rumelia just fine without entering Istanbul. Nations with military access or enemy nations need to conquer Rumelia first, making that city the only gateway for land expansion further into the Ottoman domain. This is no bad thing, but it will be expensive to deal with the rebellions thereafter.

37: It is possible (At least on the Mac version) to get the "Master of the Americas" achievement just from finishing the first chapter in the Road to Independence campaign. I believe this is a bug, but it saves trouble with diplomacy on Grand Campaign, and is by far easier.

Some neat tactics that you won't likely see the point in.

1. WW1 Advance: Where you have 4 or so mortars keeping up a steady barrage (No pause in firing.) of percussion shells at the enemy or at the ground near the enemy, while your men slowly walk to the destination, to save their energy.
This works to an extent, but your army better be comprised of nothing but 1 general, 4 or more mortars, and the rest is Line Infantry or Militia. Militia I don't recommend. They are cheap, and effective, but morale is key here.

The sight of a huge, sprawling tide of men (Hopefully combined forces if you're with a multiplayer partner.) normally was thought to send huge fear to the enemy's ranks in WW1.

Nope.

2. Cavalry Charge: Where huge, vast amounts of nothing but cavalry descend upon the enemy. Normally, I'd reccommend Sweden for the faction if you want more cavalrymen, but you can do anything you want.
I reccomend using Dragoons or Light Dragoons, as they can dismount and be infantry if you wish it. Sweden would have extra men in this account. An army with nothing but them should suffice for a total of 2000 men.

Then, call your ally over to see what the hell is going on.

Then, charge and lag the game. Your charge will meet skirmishers, line infantry, and probly never break the line, but it's magnificent.

3. Organ Barrage: This tactic is only work-able with DLCs. The Ottoman Organ gun is very useful in seiges and against cavalry. I smashed a force of dragoons only to get smashed by dragoons, but who cares. It scared the player who did not have the dlc.

This is simple. Spam as many Organ Guns as you can (There's a limit of 4 I believe), and place them all on the front lines, spread out to cover more ground. If you REALLY want to be useless to your team in a land battle, bring Heavy Artillery as well for support. This won't yield any good results in a land battle, but on a seige battle they will easily tear down the walls and cause major casualties, allowing for a great charge... of the cannon crews.

[adam.kelsey101010]

if you mean matched rifling it is useful because of rifled cannons in naval tech.

[SticcestBoi]

I got the Master OF Americas Acheivment from the first chapter while not using a mac.

[Admiral ivan]

Hmmmmm,i learned never to trust a possibly immortal cat,but okay

[Wack99]

Edited to correct M'aiq's claiming of the material in this guide.

[Admiral ivan]

Wait a minute,if maiq te liar wrote this,then.......HOW IS THIS NOT A LIE?!

[Wack99]

Updated to add numbers 32-36 in the "List of little secrets list"

[Admiral ivan]

THANK YOU MA'AIQ THE LIARRRRRRR

[tomasz.magierowski]

Spain has no dragoons, only light dragoons

[tomasz.magierowski]

I clicked on the description of a unit on walls and it said range 80

[Wack99]

I always thought that was the case, with height and stuff. Good find!

How'd you figure that out, btw? it could affect all units...