Do you have any burning questions you'd like to ask Napoleon: Total War creators, Creative Assembly? Well thanks to the kindness of Sega - and because we love making you do our jobs for us - (don't you mean User Generated Content is the future? - Ed) we're giving you lot the opportunity to quiz the UK strategy heads.
Napoleon is the latest instalment in the respected strategy series and lands in February, 2010.
Napoleon: Total War
Official trailer
1:50Reveal trailer
Napoleon: Total War
Official trailer
1:50Reveal trailer
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It's described (by Sega, admittedly) as "the first in an all-new story driven branch of The Creative Assembly's multi award winning Total War RTS franchise." Read more details on the game's home page here.
Post your questions for the Creative Assembly boys and girls below and will send off as many as we can and get them answered. Sharpish.
Will you please hire the guys who developed the Europa Barbarorum mod (http://www.europabarbarorum.com/) for Rome Total War? They did an excellent job of improving an already stellar game.
They are currently working on Europa Barbarorum II for Medieval II: Kingdoms. Their RTW mod is so good that many of us continue to play it far more than any other Total War game, and the trend will continue when they release the second version for Kingdoms.
I hope to hear back from you soon, keep working on your brilliant games!
Please, please, plesea can you pose them my question CVG:
Dear Creative Assembly,
I liked Empire: Total War but for me, the Total War series has always been about swords and shields battles, not guns and cannons. Can you please give any indication of where the TW series will go next (after the Napoleon expansion of course)? What era will be visited next, can you possibly give us any hints? Myself, and a lot of the fans, would love a Rome II or a TW set in ancient Greece as the Alexander expansion could not do justice to such a fascinating and rich period in ancient warfare.
Another question, or a similar one in a slightly different way:
Dear CA,
After you are finished with Empire: TW, will you look to revisit one of the earlier games in the series?
The next logical step after Empire: TW would surely be Shogun II: TW or even a sequel to ROME (although that is wishful thinking on my part), so can you say whether the next in the series will be a sequel (to Shogun, Rome) or set in an entirely new era?
1. Will N:TW have any impact whatsoever on E:TW. There have been every mixed reports about this, can we please hear something official, even if it's 'we're not yet sure.'
2. Can we expect any new patches/fixes for E:TW (especially to fix the new interface bugs introduced with 1.4 and 1.5).
3. Any more DLC or expansions for Empire coming?
4. In N:TW - Will the ship's ranges be more realistic? The changes made to E:TW with patch 1.4 IMO sadly renders the large SoLs pretty useless in the single player Grand Campaign. Please do not give the small ships longer range cannon in N:TW too.
5. How long will N:TW's Grand Campaign last in terms of game play time? I understand it will be roughly 200 turns, but with them only lasting two weeks/turn (which I think is great btw) will they zip by much faster then Empire's 6 month turns? As far as I'm concerned it's all about the GC rather than scripted mini campaigns + the longer + more in depth the better.
Thanks + keep up the great work making these truly fantastic games.
(on a personal note, could you *please* fix the main menu for 2560x1600 res (30 inch monitors), if not for E:TW than *please* for N:TW. I love the game but seeing the main menu broken every time is frustrating. Also I prefer the time period of Empire/Napoleon to the previous games )
I waited on "Total War: Empire" with bated breath after having followed the "Total War" franchise since its inception and I would like to ask the following two questions of you. The answers to both of them will determine whether I return as a customer or not.
First question: I was very much put off by what I perceived as an underhanded move when it turned out that I still had to wait many hours for a Steam download of the two DVD retail version of "Total War: Empire". I didn't pre-order to get a digital download. Do you intend to keep robbing legitimate customers of their consumer rights with poorly thought out anti-piracy efforts that do little to benefit the paying customers yet do much to inconvenience them?
Second question: Since the "Total War" series has now moved away from swords and such as the prime means of combat, can we expect a more contemporary setting the next time? You might as well skip straight to WWII or further if you're to recapture my interest in the franchise. I never thought I'd type those words but "Total War: Empire", while not bad, was not as satisfying for me as "Total War: Medieval II".
I wouldn't buy the next TW game if it was set during WWII or any period in the 20th century.
No way.
I'm slightly worried because the game has been moving slowly forward in eras from ancient Japan to Medieval times to the ages of empire.
The series is about ancient warfare. There was nothing cooler than putting a Roman Legionnary cohort into a tetsudo formation as it advanced on a band of Baleric slingers atop a hill; stones pinging off their shields.
I would be satisfied with either of these directions for the next in the series:
1. Shogun II 2. ROME II 3. Spartan: Total War or something along those lines.
Imagine re-enacting the battle of Thermopylae or the Persian Expedition by Xenophon as he is trapped in hostile lands and tries to lead the Greek army back to the homeland as they are surrounded on all sides by hostile forces (the book is excellent).
1) The Total War series has enjoyed a very lively modding community. With Empire Total War, CA stated that they would be providing modding tools. These tools were never released. Furthermore, many things that were easily modded in previous titles were difficult or impossible to mod in ETW. One of the biggest examples is the unmoddability of the campaign map. In addition, CA no longer communicates with the modding community as they have in the past.
What happened to the ETW modding tools? Does CA have any plans on regularly communicating with the modding community? Other than the uniform editor included with NTW, is CA making any efforts to address the concerns of modding fans by making NTW easier to mod than ETW? Will NTW's campaign map be easily moddable? Will CA consider releasing documentation or help on things like script editing?
2) Some companies clearly see modding as a worthy investment with a genuine monetary return and have released toolsets that reflect this (e.g. as Bioware has done for Dragon Age). Mods keep people playing, and people who play are people who pay for things such as DLC. Also, some people buy games only to play certain mods. The latter is certainly the case with TW (I am one of those people).
From a business perspective, how does modding fit into CA's plan for NTW? Does CA see official toolsets as competition for DLC? Is there any way to quantify the revenue generated by modding?
I wouldn't buy the next TW game if it was set during WWII or any period in the 20th century.
No way.
I'm slightly worried because the game has been moving slowly forward in eras from ancient Japan to Medieval times to the ages of empire.
The series is about ancient warfare. There was nothing cooler than putting a Roman Legionnary cohort into a tetsudo formation as it advanced on a band of Baleric slingers atop a hill; stones pinging off their shields.
I would be satisfied with either of these directions for the next in the series:
1. Shogun II 2. ROME II 3. Spartan: Total War or something along those lines.
Imagine re-enacting the battle of Thermopylae or the Persian Expedition by Xenophon as he is trapped in hostile lands and tries to lead the Greek army back to the homeland as they are surrounded on all sides by hostile forces (the book is excellent).
I agree that one of the things that made the "TW" series so special, for me at least, were the ancient and medieval settings. Now that they have well and truly taken a full third step in to the world of gunpowder and firearms I'd much rather they skip straight to WWII (the thought of building and ordering around Allied or Axis armoured divisions and battalions of rifle infantry covered by dog fighting in the skies appeals to my senses,) or modern day mechanized infantry, tactical nukes, etc.
It may not capture the magic of the old games yet it might reinvent itself and bring something new and refreshing to the table. I suppose they could do a 180 degree turn and return to a much older setting once more but frankly my fondness for, and interest in, this franchise took a noticeable hit after "TW: Empire" which I eagerly awaited. It wasn't bad and I was ecstatic at first, then furious about the Steam DRM, and then got back to enjoying the game yet it never quite had the "TW" feeling of old.
1. When do you fellows plan to release the Napoleon gameplay/campaign videos?
2. Will you fellows release a demo for Napoleon?
3. Is the Imperial Edition packaging the same for US and EU customers? I bought the US edition of the Special Forces package, and its packaging/contents is slightly different from the EU version.
4. Will you fellows release a cine-ed tool for Empire?
5. In regards to older Total War titles, specifically Rome:Total War. There are certain hardcoded files that prevents modders from modding the AI and other features. Will you fellows ever 'unlock' the hardcoded files? The modding community would appreciate it very much : )
6. Will you fellows ever release modding tools for Empire?
7. If Napoleon does poorly in sales, will CA close down?
8. Will STEAM users be able to preload Napoleon?
9. Will you fellows make the exclusive units available for purchase in a DLC pack in the near future?
10. How's development on Empire's MP campaign going so far?
11. If your company truly appreciates the Total War community, will you ever release an official statement to apologise for:
- Not releasing mod tools - STEAM users being unable to preload Empire:Total War on release day - Lying about Empire:Total War having a dynamic and revolutionary AI
12. Is SEGA ruining the Total War franchise? Will you fellows ever consider going back to Activision?
13. Why isn't Jeff Van Dyck composing the music score for Napoleon? Why didn't he compose music for Empire as well.
14. Empire lacked features from the older Total War titles, where the player could view the family tree, and choose the faction heir. Will Napoleon have such features? Will you fellows ever consider implementing it into a patch for Empire.
15. Family members in Rome:Total War can have a wide variety of traits and retinues that makes them more dynamic and interesting. Unfortunately, that isn't the case in Empire, and many characters are rather bland and dull. Why did you constrain the traits/retinues feature?
Thanks for agreeing to a Q&A session, Creative Assembly. Please don't leave the Total War community in the dark, and just try to answer these questions.
Hey CA, i would like to say that i love your games. But i find that you focus too much on campaign improvements and not enough on battles. Afterall, the battles are the part which distinguish you from other strategy games. I would like to see battles made better to reflect the Napoleonic wars. It seems that apart from some improvements battles still look like it were a modification from Medieval 2. I therefore urge you to investigate the Napoleonic warfare and realize the enormous difference in formations, tactics, etc. So my question is:
Will N:TW represent Napoleonic warfare much better?
Not much of a question, more of an echo of the others asking about Rome II and Shogun II. Any fool can fire a gun. Blades, arrows, and shields are what take a bit more skill. Are then any plans to revisit or go back in time (so to speak) for the next in the TW series. I won't be buying N:TW, and if the series carries on going forward in time periods, neither will I be buying any other Total Wars. A shame really.
1) Will NTW integrate with any components of Empire?
2) Some parts of Empire are editable without tools, but for the most part it is the most difficult to mod of all TW games. Will CA help community with mod tools other than uniform editor? TW has had some of the best mods of any game ever, but right now we will never see such great works again.
3) How much freedom is there in Grand Campaign? Can Alliance members switch sides and fight each other?
4) One big complaint about Empire is the siege battles and the lack of proper siege weapons and equipment. Will sieges work differently in NTW? Will the grappling hooks be replaced with ladders? Will the forts more accurately reflect the period?
5) Any chance of naval port battles in NTW?
6) Some of the immersive elements that defined older TW games were missing from ETW, such as royal family trees, random missions, marriages, etc. Will these return or see a comparable replacement in NTW?
7) Mike Simpson, creative director at CA, recently blogged that until the most recent patch, he was embarrassed to share Empire with his friends. What kind of pressure did Empire's problems put on the staff at CA and how did that impact the development of NTW?
Is NTW aimed at the traditional Total War fans or is CA trying to reach a new audience?
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Is NTW aimed at the traditional Total War fans or is CA trying to reach a new audience?
