.At GC in Leipzig, we had an hour with Empire Total War. While the E3 presentation was about the Sea Battles (which are a nice addon in our opinion, but not what the Total War experience is. about), Land Battles were the focus at GC -- and we also learned a lot about the campaign mode. First of all, the release date is now set for February 6, 2009. And, in case you're wondering, this is PC only.

Land Battles: We were shown how a battle between a Prussian attacker and a British defender (for a town labeled "Leipzig"...) evolved. As always with such presentations, we can't be sure what was scripted and what was not, but Creative Assembly's Kieran Bridgen assured us that what we saw was real AI. The battle started out with the British coming at us from the town, with a cavalry squadron riding right into a Fougasse. We've never heard the term before, but apparently even in the 18/19th century, there has been the equivalent of a minefield, with cannon balls and black powder forming a defensive field in front of one of our Prussian regiments (it is a special capability which comes late in the technology tree). We can see the field, of course, the enemy cannot. Let's keep this short by saying that after the initial explosions in that minefield arc and the following secondary explosion, the proud British cavalry changed their flag color to white and routed. After some firefights between regiments huddled behind trees or walls (Empire's tracing each single bullet, so that cover has a real, simulated effect instead of just providing a general defense bonus), the British forces retreated into the town. By the way, we didn't like how the cannon balls looked, because they have a white "tail" so that you can see their flying arc even when zoomed out -- but we were reminded of proton torpedoes or something. Kieran Bridgen said that perhaps they'll make the tails optional.

Town fights: With the British retreating to the settlement, we learned that fighting for towns is different from earlier games of the series. In Empire Total War, the holding of the "town square" for 3 minutes only works when attacking forts. In towns and cities, you need to drive the opponent out completely. That can be difficult because troops can now enter buildings for better firing positions and defense (the excess troops forming a stockade around the building, if necessary). As the attacker, you are faced by not only a moral dilemma: Yes, we can (TM) level the whole town, taking away all cover from the defenders. But then this town will be near worthless for us in the campaign, and also the inhabitants will hate us. So if we retake a town or plan to slowly extend our empire, it's a better idea to get into house-to-house fighting with your infantry (cavalry will be not very effective in city battles). Finally, the British withdrew from the battlefield -- demonstrating, Creative Assembly claimed, the new, improved AI.

Battle AI linked to Campaign AI: Kieran Bridgen told us that the withdrawing of the British Forces may be what the AI had planned from the beginning: The new strategic AI is linked to the battle AI, and it could be that the battle we've witnessed was not about holding the town (for the AI general), but about inflicting losses on our troops. Think about "losing a battle, but winning the war". If this really works out in the game, it might be the single most important improvement for all dedicated fans of the Total War series: How often have we given battle in a "bridge region", only to withdraw once the ammo of our ranged units was depleted? If the AI finally understands and uses such tactics, too, the overall gaming experience will profit.

Battle AI: The Battle AI will be improved in another way: So far, the Total War AI was "stage based": There were certain steps the AI general would follow, for example, to take a city: First stage, approach the gate and destroy it. Second stage, enter the town, and so on. If one of those stage goals was interrupted by the human player, the enemy AI would stall, which lead to heavy losses (e.g. in Medieval 2, when cavalry would remain in range of defenders' ranged weapons). Now, we learned, the AI will be goal oriented (for example: "inflict losses on the enemy", or "get into the city somehow"), which should make it act more flexibly.

Nation AI and Generals' AI: Creative Assembly will not use "Special Abilities" like in the Crusader part of the Medieval 2 Kingdoms addon: "They felt like magic spells", Bridgen told us. Instead, there will be personality traits to nations and generals, but they will be more about what kinds of troops they muster. A general named Napoleon Bonaparte, for example, might be expected to be very keen on using artillery. Battle tactics could vary, too, some generals preferring flanking attacks, other choosing frontal assaults more often.

As an introductory campaign, you can conquer the New World, finally fighting against your British motherland.

Beginner's Campaign: Besides the main, free for all, grab the world campaign, there will be a smaller war for beginners: You start out as the British founding Jamestown, and begin the conquest of the New World. In this mini campaign, you'll be guided by goals, for example "befriend those natives" or "take that town", but how and when you do that is still up to you. If we got it right, you'll be later turn into the "rebels", with the game ending with the Americans throwing out their former mother country and found the United States. There will be missions in the main campaign, too -- as usual, your king or Parliament will reward you for fulfilling their wishes. But there will not be a major "neutral" power like the Papal States or the Roman Senate, Religion playing a much smaller role than before. (it's basically influencing how much a city likes you after being conquered by you).

Less micro management: One of the hassles of the Total War series since Rome (which introduced the concept of tile-by-tile moving units on the campaign map instead of the province-to-province, Risc style of Shogun and Medieval 1) was the many single-unit armies you were commanding: In order to get reinforcements to the front, you had to send them there. And although you could just tell them their target spot and wait until they reached it, they still cluttered the map. Empire Total War will have a different approach: Here, generals are calling for reinforcements, and they will be sent to them automatically from their home cities. You'll be able to see that reinforcements on the map, but in a way which makes clear that they are no active units, yet. In order to get reinforcements to your field armies, they need to be "land linked" to at least one of your cities. So after a naval landing, without securing a town on the same isle or continent, you won't get those reinforcements. By this new system, Creative Assembly wants to ensure that there are less playing pieces (Armies) on the campaign map, but each being meaningful. It will be still possible to split your armies, though.

The new Campaign map system: Movement on the Campaign map will work differently than before. Instead of tile-by-tile, it will be pixel-by-pixel (but still turn based), with each army, town and fort having a zone of influence around it. When two zones meet, a battle occurs. This also help with hindering movement. Because you will be able to place forts anywhere you want, it should now be possible to actually have a "Limes" or a "Great Wall" along your border, with the enemy having to fight at least once in order to enter your country. Also, there won't be any merchant running around, you will now have merchant fleets. These are vital for securing trade lines, because a large portion of your nation's income will be generated by them. So expect heavy fighting for tobacco or other resources of worth. Also, important buildings will be now outside of the cities. "Our goal is to move the battles away from the cities", Bridgen told us. So a viable strategy can be to move around a strong defender in his stronghold, destroying mines and so on, weakening his ability to improve his army.

Diplomacy 201: If you played Rome or Medieval 2 at the highest campaign difficulty mode (and if you're not a real Napoleon), you probably will have used the same trick we did: Sending around diplomats for the sole purpose of getting more money, mostly by selling your map information. Depending on the wealth of your AI partners, you could outrageously high sums by that -- which you needed, on the other hand, because money was so hard to come by in the early stages. No more of this, Creative Assembly says. First because of the new trade system, see above, second because there will be no more diplomats running around! Diplomacy in Empire Total War will be much more detailed and "authentic", Creative Assembly promises. For example, there will be more kind of treaties and requests, and there will be different ways to "ask for" or "demand" something. You can also protest against foreign actions, instead of just be able to declare war. The decline in a relationship will be slow and noticeable, for example, there might be more and more duels between the other nation's gentlemen and your own, hinting at their home nation getting belligerent. Diplomatic notes and requests will show where a nation is headed in a relationship, so there will be advance warnings, and an escalation of conflicts instead of having a former ally turn into enemy within just one turn. Also, it will be much less likely for long time allies to turn on you. You will be able to see the relationships between other nations, at well, and to act on them. For example, if Russia is hostile towards our Prussia, and France and Russia hate each other, too: Why not ask Russia if she would like to go to war with us against France? By the way, in the case of you being attacked, your allies most probably will help you. But in the case of you being the attacker, your allies will think twice of joining you in the aggression.

Battlefields and Technology: Supporting the pixel-based Campaign movement, battlefields are now supposed to be an exact replica of the Campaign space the two hostile armies are standing in. Also, they will be bigger than before. The new space is needed because of the higher range of the units, also ranged combat is much more important than before. That's not saying that there's no melee fighting any more: Many cavalry types of that era fought mainly with sword or lance (because they were mainly used to follow routing infantry), and also, bayonet charges still are important. While early bayonets will be plugged into the musket, making it impossible to shoot with it, more modern ring bayonets will let your troops fire "at the whites in their eyes" and then make a devastating close-combat charge. Technology is also important for cannons: While your nice little Six pounders might be enough to bring down the wooden palisades in a New World town attack, there cannon balls will not make a dent into the heavy stone wall of a "modern" European fortress. So depending on where you plan to fight in the world, you should plan accordingly how to climb the technology tree.

Weather: So far in the Total War series, weather was influencing line of sight and the effectiveness of ranged units. Now, it will do much more. First, there can be many more weather conditions (examples given were light rain, heavy rain, monsoon torrents, light and heavy snow, ice storms, dust and sand storms). Second, the weather condition will influence many aspects of a battle. For example, a 12 pounder cannon ball might simply dig itself into muddy terrain, inflicting much less damage and also not bouncing off to hit secondary targets -- while a 6 pound cannon ball might still do the bouncing, thereby being more effective in rainy weather. Cavalry might be slowed down in rain, muskets might not fire at all in icy conditions (that's why you would even think about using a plug-in bayonet, by the way). Even cannons can jam at very low temperatures, and don't expect the morale of your troops be high when they're just freezing.

Interface: The basic interface, at GC, still looked very familiar, and all the things we like about the Total War series like "painting your troops across the landscape" is still in there. For example, if you approach an enemy battle line, column formation might be a good idea (you're not presenting as wide a target as in line formation). Kieran Bridgen mentioned that the way troops are placed within cities has been optimized (it could be a pain to "draw a troop into a certain formation, before). Also, there are two new buttons to manually increase or decrease the rank and file of a unit.

In Sea Battles, the ship's crew and marines are simulated, although they are no unit on their own (which you could use in land battles).

Sea Battles: In Sea Battles (which were only shown in a trailer at GC), the interface will show you not only where the wind is coming from, but where your ships are headed and at what speed. As with bullets, each cannon ball's flying path is simulated, so you can hit your own ships, or you (or rather: some of the balls being fired) can miss the ship you targeted and hit the ship behind it. Broadsides at close range are devastating, and ships can catch fire and burn down, or their ammunition depot can suddenly explode. When one of your ships is close to an enemy's, you can try to board it. Your marines (which you can see standing or running around on every ship during battle), will board the other vessel and try to capture it. The marines are "part of the ship": So you're not adding them as single units to a ship, they come in the package, so to speak. That means that your land troops will never participate in sea battles when they're transported by a fleet. Take care of your transport ships! Actually, it's not clear to us whether there will be transport ships, our if the land troops will be (internally) divided among the warships for transport purposes -- but Creative Assembly mentioned at E3 that you *can* attack merchant fleets, so maybe (but not: "probably") you'll be able to attack an invasion fleet with the sole purpose of getting to the troop transports. But this may very well be wishful thinking on our side.

We're looking forward to Empire Total War, because a) we love the series since Shogun, despite its shortcomings, and because b) many of those shortcomings (AI, micromanagement, Diplomacy) seem to be taken care of in this newest installment.