posted 30 January 2010 06:33 PM EDT (US)
I posted this in the news thread but I might as well make a thread for it:
So, Unfortunately we couldn't take screens, pictures, or video of gameplay footage.
We were however allowed to take them during the Q & A session afterwards with Kieran.
I'll be posting that to youtube soon.
Meanwhile while that is working, let me tell you how the event went and answer your questions...
There at Sega (which happened to also share a building with a culinary academy!) we met Julian and Kieran Brigden. You might have seen Kieran, the communication manager, from the Napoleon interviews.
There were 4 other guys in this nice glass room with 5 computer stations. We had the 11am appointment, which is the first event in the SF event, and the first in the US.
He gave us a little intro on game mechanics, and let us loose on Napoleon with a little 2 vs 3 field battle.
(I played as the Dutch on the 2 man team. So we we're really out numbered, but I held as long as I could on high ground. I lost first as 2 of the 3 man team decided to gang on me...)
The battles looked pretty epic as there were camera shake when you zoomed to the ground near a cannonball explosion which happened to also cause a big dent in the ground.
Then they set up a little 1 vs 1 multiplayer campaign which was really fun.
Campaigns:
So this is how it works: There are the 3 campaigns which you play the French and get certain "missions" (like in RomeTW). You usually start with a few settlements in a small but detailed map.
The maps (for the campaign) are very small, geographically wise, but have a lot of regions. (Similar to Medieval 2)
For example, the Italy campaign, geographic wise, was from the South East of France, to around Austria, down to about midway of Italy. A very small bit of land compared to the Grand Campaign, but more focus on the regions.
The Mastery of Europe campaign would be just like the "Grand Campaign" in the other Total War series.
You can play as France or one of the other coalition nations.
The map is quite extensive in this one. It starts from Britain on the left and ends quite a way past India. About midway or so through China.
As far as army movement, and how accessible the map is and the factions involved, I do not know as we didn't get a chance to dig much into that. I do know there will be alot of minor factions.
The terrain on the map has a larger impact of the travel and safety of your men. For example, your men would be exhausted going across Egypt. Marching near the Nile river would be more ideal.
Multiplayer:
You can start these campaigns off in 1 vs 1 multiplayer.
How that works is, as in the Italian campaign, you would have one playing France (like I did), and one playing as Austria. You both start on opposite sides of the map, and your goals would be to capture each others capital while maintaining your own.
You would have about 20 settlements in between you where your ally or enemy nations would be located. The number of settlements is perfect if you don't want to play someone for a month yet want a good bit of the campaign game.
It is all turned based just as if you would play a grand campaign. You start deploying, building, so on. You may also set up a time limit if you are hosting the game. But if you don't, it doesn't mean you will be waiting aimlessly for the other to make his turn. During his deployment stage, you can still manage your taxes, and settlements. You just can't do diplomacy with other nations or move units during your opponent's turn.
If you attack an AI nation, you cannot assault in a real-time battle. Your only option is to either retreat, or auto-resolve.
If you attack your human opponent, then you gain the option to begin a real-time battle.
Kieran did say they are trying to improve the multiplayer features such as add more players, and make the campaigns more real-time.
You also do have that feature where you can drop in your friend's single-player campaign, and take over the AI's battles.
It is a great feature if you want a real challenge.
Other questions you had:
It's not perfect however as I was playing a battle, which had a minor glitch... Kieran reported it right away to the production team!
2. Kieran said they are working on that and would love to see that.
There are new features such as harshly demanding your allies join your fight and so on.
They literally can half your forces in a minute. He gets mortally wounded and get sent back to France. He may be gone for a while before you see him again. He is the best general so it's best to keep him in your campaign.
Summation:
In my opinion, it's an epic game that may exceed your expectations. But don't get overly excited like the previous titles as Napoleon is still a time period similar to Empire. So the warfare and tactics won't change entirely, but it adds so many new features such as new units, and multiplayer that you just can't resist not buying. A MUST BUY for Total War fans and new players as well.
So whats new in a nutshell?
-New Units
-New Campaigns
-New Maps
-Updated Graphics
-Revised Graphics and coding
-Multiplayer
Other Notes:
Is the game moddable? Yes it will be.
But there are no plans at all in making a tool for modding besides the unit editor.
The AI in Empire patch 1.5 is the baseline for Napoleon. They started working from there and alled a little something like a "Director" AI. (something you might have heard from L4D)
It will make the game a little more challenging if you seem to be doing "good" and go a bit easy if you are "failing".
Kieran said something like add mini-goals of some sort.
During gameplay, there are a few "eyecandy" bodies if you will, lying around which make the game look more realistic.
Sometimes you will see dead soldiers lying around from previous battles or who died during a cold winter.
Also some of you may know, a rider can be shot off his horse causing his foot to be caught in the stirrup. And as the horse runs away, his body is being dragged aside it.
It was pretty epic as I witnessed that myself when playing a battle.
I also noticed generals have a AoE thing where you can see the radius area where I suppose he effects his troops.
Gentlemen would be able to go into an enemy nation with a different government and be able to slowly "write books" and promote your government's ideas.
Spies would also find a hard time blending in with different cultures, like Egypt. But he will get more experienced after a few tries.
During Naval Battles, you can "patch up" your ship during battle which may add a bit of health to your ship and try another shot at the enemy.
Well, that wraps up my report of my experience and knowledge of the game so far.
If you have any more questions or want me to elaborate on a certain topic, let me know!
I will edit and upload the Q&A video and post it as soon as possible.
Thanks to Gaius Colinius and Zen for making this possible!
So, Unfortunately we couldn't take screens, pictures, or video of gameplay footage.
We were however allowed to take them during the Q & A session afterwards with Kieran.
I'll be posting that to youtube soon.
Meanwhile while that is working, let me tell you how the event went and answer your questions...
There at Sega (which happened to also share a building with a culinary academy!) we met Julian and Kieran Brigden. You might have seen Kieran, the communication manager, from the Napoleon interviews.
There were 4 other guys in this nice glass room with 5 computer stations. We had the 11am appointment, which is the first event in the SF event, and the first in the US.
He gave us a little intro on game mechanics, and let us loose on Napoleon with a little 2 vs 3 field battle.
(I played as the Dutch on the 2 man team. So we we're really out numbered, but I held as long as I could on high ground. I lost first as 2 of the 3 man team decided to gang on me...)
The battles looked pretty epic as there were camera shake when you zoomed to the ground near a cannonball explosion which happened to also cause a big dent in the ground.
Then they set up a little 1 vs 1 multiplayer campaign which was really fun.
So this is how it works: There are the 3 campaigns which you play the French and get certain "missions" (like in RomeTW). You usually start with a few settlements in a small but detailed map.
The maps (for the campaign) are very small, geographically wise, but have a lot of regions. (Similar to Medieval 2)
For example, the Italy campaign, geographic wise, was from the South East of France, to around Austria, down to about midway of Italy. A very small bit of land compared to the Grand Campaign, but more focus on the regions.
The Mastery of Europe campaign would be just like the "Grand Campaign" in the other Total War series.
You can play as France or one of the other coalition nations.
The map is quite extensive in this one. It starts from Britain on the left and ends quite a way past India. About midway or so through China.
As far as army movement, and how accessible the map is and the factions involved, I do not know as we didn't get a chance to dig much into that. I do know there will be alot of minor factions.
The terrain on the map has a larger impact of the travel and safety of your men. For example, your men would be exhausted going across Egypt. Marching near the Nile river would be more ideal.
You can start these campaigns off in 1 vs 1 multiplayer.
How that works is, as in the Italian campaign, you would have one playing France (like I did), and one playing as Austria. You both start on opposite sides of the map, and your goals would be to capture each others capital while maintaining your own.
You would have about 20 settlements in between you where your ally or enemy nations would be located. The number of settlements is perfect if you don't want to play someone for a month yet want a good bit of the campaign game.
It is all turned based just as if you would play a grand campaign. You start deploying, building, so on. You may also set up a time limit if you are hosting the game. But if you don't, it doesn't mean you will be waiting aimlessly for the other to make his turn. During his deployment stage, you can still manage your taxes, and settlements. You just can't do diplomacy with other nations or move units during your opponent's turn.
If you attack an AI nation, you cannot assault in a real-time battle. Your only option is to either retreat, or auto-resolve.
If you attack your human opponent, then you gain the option to begin a real-time battle.
Kieran did say they are trying to improve the multiplayer features such as add more players, and make the campaigns more real-time.
You also do have that feature where you can drop in your friend's single-player campaign, and take over the AI's battles.
It is a great feature if you want a real challenge.
Yes, there are better camera dynamics, and better smoke effects and so on... interestingly, fog, smoke, and different types of weather stack up to change the accuracy of your men's shots.Quoted from Daelon:
2) Are there any new graphic improvements for NTW?
Yes. That is one of their main goal of releasing this game.Quoted from Eicho:
Will NTW be a finished game on release, and not a beta full of bugs like ETW?
It's not perfect however as I was playing a battle, which had a minor glitch... Kieran reported it right away to the production team!
1. Well, it would be the same as Empire. However, due to their "clean-up" of the code, lower-end systems would be able to play Napoleon more smoothly than Empire.Quoted from KBUNZY:
1) Since there are graphical improvements will that change the minimum system specs?
2) Will they ever include/patch a FULL multiplayer campaign, I'm talking every faction here not 1v1
2. Kieran said they are working on that and would love to see that.
There are several more options in the diplomacy tab. Kieran made it sound like your set enemies are your enemies and your allies the only ones you got. There is still an option to gift someone in the diplomacy options. And relationships with allies would still have to be maintained.Quoted from Hussarknight:
How strong are the historical relationships between countries reflected in the game? e.g. will it be impossible for France and Great Britain to join forces or can it happen if you sweeten the deal enough?
There are new features such as harshly demanding your allies join your fight and so on.
To answer all those I'd say, it is the same as Empire.Quoted from Hussarknight:
Will the relationships between the different royal families be portrayed? Can you arrange marriages and start wars of succession?
With generals playing a bigger role, can armies still be used without being led by a general?
Will you be able to take prisoners during battle?
As for the future of total war, Kieran answered that while I was playing. He made it clear that it was TOP SECRET, but they ARE working on it already. They think we will really enjoy it.Quoted from EnemyofJupitor:
Are we going backwards or forwards in time from here?
I'm not best strategist, but I can say artillery is really annoying.Quoted from Hunterufus:
On a different note my question would be, will battles now be dominated by artillery and how will infantry deal with this new problem?
They literally can half your forces in a minute.He actually can't!Quoted from Hussarknight:
What happens if you get Napoleon killed?
He gets mortally wounded and get sent back to France. He may be gone for a while before you see him again. He is the best general so it's best to keep him in your campaign.Oh and fail, he wasn't the cameraman as we got Josh (DeeZy, Robot13) to do it.Quoted from Cubeplayer:
Haha, I'm the camera man...
In my opinion, it's an epic game that may exceed your expectations. But don't get overly excited like the previous titles as Napoleon is still a time period similar to Empire. So the warfare and tactics won't change entirely, but it adds so many new features such as new units, and multiplayer that you just can't resist not buying. A MUST BUY for Total War fans and new players as well.
So whats new in a nutshell?
-New Units
-New Campaigns
-New Maps
-Updated Graphics
-Revised Graphics and coding
-Multiplayer
Is the game moddable? Yes it will be.
But there are no plans at all in making a tool for modding besides the unit editor.
The AI in Empire patch 1.5 is the baseline for Napoleon. They started working from there and alled a little something like a "Director" AI. (something you might have heard from L4D)
It will make the game a little more challenging if you seem to be doing "good" and go a bit easy if you are "failing".
Kieran said something like add mini-goals of some sort.
During gameplay, there are a few "eyecandy" bodies if you will, lying around which make the game look more realistic.
Sometimes you will see dead soldiers lying around from previous battles or who died during a cold winter.
Also some of you may know, a rider can be shot off his horse causing his foot to be caught in the stirrup. And as the horse runs away, his body is being dragged aside it.
It was pretty epic as I witnessed that myself when playing a battle.
I also noticed generals have a AoE thing where you can see the radius area where I suppose he effects his troops.
Gentlemen would be able to go into an enemy nation with a different government and be able to slowly "write books" and promote your government's ideas.
Spies would also find a hard time blending in with different cultures, like Egypt. But he will get more experienced after a few tries.
During Naval Battles, you can "patch up" your ship during battle which may add a bit of health to your ship and try another shot at the enemy.
Well, that wraps up my report of my experience and knowledge of the game so far.
If you have any more questions or want me to elaborate on a certain topic, let me know!
I will edit and upload the Q&A video and post it as soon as possible.
Thanks to Gaius Colinius and Zen for making this possible!