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Just got the Demo and it was amazing! The fleet battle is so much fun. To think that I'll even be able to build up my fleet just by attacking another is just cool. The Demo Fleet Battle is a 6 ship (400 gun) British fleet vs a 7 ship (500 gun) french fleet. You play as the British fleet with the goal of sinking or capturing the french fleet. While in modern terms you could do this with an unsharpened pencil, this game takes place just as the french start their 200 year losing streak in war. So, they still have some damn good ships. Where the french start off with a better overall fleet, they are divided at the start of the battle. Only four ships are within closing range. The other three will need several minutes to reach maximum firing range. The British fleet starts with a First Rate ship of the line in its lead and the whole force is in line formation.

The ground battle reminds me much of ME2-TW's late game (turn 200 and beyond) battles. Only now the basic troop is able to stop a calvary charge. The cannons are much more fun and you can use buildings as part of the battle plan. The Demo ground battle is Britain vs Colonials. As the player you are in control of the Colonials. It is a pitched battle that could go either way if you wait for to long. To the factions... Britain starts with far far better infantry but very weak cannon. Plus, the player must take the field. You cannot wait for the enemy. The Colonials however are only fair in infantry but very powerful in cannon! The player must either risk the losses of a frontal attack or quickly flank the Colonials. Becareful of ambushes as the Colonials won't just let you circle them.

Sounds like the second battle is Bunker Hill. I need to break away from Rome maybe after the German campaign and play ME II total war. Its been sitting on my shelf for months. And I loved it when I played it at my brother's.

I'm downloading it now. I'm on the brink of orgasming anyway, This is the only game that I have ever pre-ordered in my life...

Just played the naval battle like ten times. It was great! Only lost once but not sure how. Half my ships just quit randomly and my admiral's flag ship just caught fire inside the first few salvos. My greatest victory was when I managed to get my whole fleet to line up on the far side of the french. Only the near four french ships could fire. The other three had to move in a long circle to get into position to fire. In that time my six ships ate the four ship squadron alive. I cut my speed to 1/3 for stable fire and watched the french ships just fall apart.

I think i just jizzed myself playing that game

My pre-order was justified.

Yeah, it's just that outstanding. Now Reliant can join the Total War community. He has a game with both perfect graphics and game play.

Deepcrush wrote:Yeah, it's just that outstanding. Now Reliant can join the Total War community. He has a game with both perfect graphics and game play.

But imo Reliant you should download the demo of Rome Total War to see if you can stand those graphics. Its like 5 years old sure but they hold up well enough that you might still like it

Given that most of the action takes place on the World Map rather than the Battle Map, it doesn't date too badly.
And even in the battles, you only realy notice the poor graphics if you zoom up close to your units, which you'll never be doing in a battle.

Medieval TW2 has some damn fine graphics in its own. Plus you can have that good old clash style battle.

Deepcrush wrote:Medieval TW2 has some damn fine graphics in its own. Plus you can have that good old clash style battle.

Thats why I love that game.

Rochey wrote:Given that most of the action takes place on the World Map rather than the Battle Map, it doesn't date too badly.
And even in the battles, you only realy notice the poor graphics if you zoom up close to your units, which you'll never be doing in a battle.

I actually do fairly often. I like to follow the path of my fire onager shots to their destinations

That or those massive walls of arrows. Just to see droves of my enemies drop. Modern warfare just lacks something next to that old chaos driven battle style.

Deepcrush wrote:That or those massive walls of arrows. Just to see droves of my enemies drop. Modern warfare just lacks something next to that old chaos driven battle style.

Or heavy cavalry charging into the ranks of swordsmen or even better- peasants and sending them flying. Or a siege tower opening and hordes of troops charging into ranks of the defenders. Or troops trying to cross a bridge while defending tight phalanxes on the opposite sides and arrow cover.

Eventually I suppose graphics in explosions will reach a point that then yes they can show the chaos of modern battle fields. But until then only the battles of yesteryear will be worth really zooming in.

I just got the game today. And I am already in love with it.

Well, then why don't you marry it?