Game: Empire: Total War 

Condition: Pre-Owned 

Included: 2 Game Discs, Manual, Resource and Planner Poster & Case 

License: Product License Key & Elite Downloadable Unit Key Included 

Year: 2009 

Empire: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. The fifth installment in the Total War series, the game was released in 2009. The game, which focuses on the early modern period of the 18th century, was announced at the Leipzig Games Convention in August 2007. The Mac OS X version of the game was released by Feral Interactive on 10 June 2014. The Linux version was released, also by Feral Interactive, on 8 December 2014.

Players choose an 18th-century faction and set out to achieve domination over the known world through military force, diplomacy, espionage and economics. The interface and play are similar to earlier Total War titles: although the campaign element of the game is turn-based, players can direct battles in real-time. Empire: Total War is the first game in the series to allow naval battles to be conducted in real-time. In addition to the standard campaign mode, a special campaign follows the development of the United States from the settlement of Jamestown to the American War of Independence. Players may also recreate several historical battles from the early modern era, such as the Battle of Fontenoy, Battle of Rossbach, Battle of Brandywine Creek and Battle of Lagos.

Empire: Total War was met with universal acclaim; several critics commended it as one of the foremost strategy titles of recent times. Praise was bestowed upon the extensive strategic breadth, accurate historical challenges and visual effects. The real-time land battles, with a far greater focus on gunpowder weaponry than earlier Total War titles, were considered successful. Criticisms focused on shortcomings with the game's artificial intelligence and on the real-time naval battles being difficult to control and co-ordinate. The game was a commercial success, topping sales charts within a week of release; nevertheless, several Creative Assembly employees later commented on various issues caused by a perceived early release.

On November 18, 2018, Empire: Total War (along with Medieval II and Napoleon) was rebranded as Total War: Empire – Definitive Edition, making all downloadable content free alongside the core game, and thus giving access to players who already owned a copy.

Gameplay

Empire: Total War is focused on exploration, economics, politics, religion, the founding of colonies and, ultimately, conquest. The game is set in the early modern period from 1700 until the end of the 18th century, allowing players to lead various nations and attempt to dominate Europe, the Middle East, India, North America and the Caribbean, along with the maritime trade theatres of the South American coast, Gulf of Guinea, Mozambique Channel and the East Indies. As with previous Total War games, Empire: Total War consists of two separate areas of gameplay: a turn-based geopolitical campaign that allows the user to deploy complex strategies by moving armies and navies across the globe, conducting diplomacy, trade, espionage, and managing the internal politics of their nation, as well as a real-time battle mode that enables players to command military forces in battle both on land and at sea.

The game features about fifty 18th-century factions; however, only eleven of the most powerful and influential are playable. In western Europe, these are Great Britain, France, the United Dutch Provinces, Spain and Sweden, and in central and eastern Europe, Prussia, Austria, Russia and Poland–Lithuania. In the Balkans and Middle East, the Ottoman Empire is the principal faction, while the Maratha Confederacy and Mughal Empire are the major powers on the Indian subcontinent. The New World colonies of the major powers are represented as protectorates of their home nation. The establishment of new nations during the era, such as Revolutionary France and the United States, and the fall of native states to the larger empires, is reflected in the game, although these major events may be averted by player actions. Smaller factions, such as the German and Italian states, Native American tribes, and North African countries, are also represented.

A story-driven campaign entitled "Road to Independence" is also included, allowing the player to guide the British colonisation of America in three structured chapters. The first sees the player establish and develop the English colony of Jamestown, the second focuses on the British fighting both the French and their allied Native American nations in the French and Indian War, whilst the third has the player directing the American Continental Army against the British in the War of Independence. This campaign is goal-oriented and strictly historical, and also functions as a tutorial for the gameplay, both military, economic and political. Completion of "Road to Independence" unlocks the newly formed United States to use in a shorter, later version of the full campaign.

Campaign

The main campaign of Empire: Total War involves a player choosing a faction and moving to forge a global empire during the 18th century. Each faction controls various historical provinces, each with a regional capital, and a number of other settlements ranging from minor villages to prosperous sea ports (as long as they are coastal territories). The player can recruit armies and navies to take and defend provinces by military means, or adopt diplomacy and politics to make advances in the game. In addition, players can use economics and religion to their advantage, as well as clandestine means such as espionage and assassination. The campaign mode is turn-based, with each turn representing six months starting in summer or winter, allowing the player to attend to all needs of their faction before ending their turn and allowing the artificial intelligence to make all other factions' moves.

The campaign mode has been redesigned from earlier games to reflect early modern politics and economics

The campaign mode is similar to those in Rome: Total War and Medieval II: Total War, but with several enhancements. It features three main theatres of play: Europe (which also includes North Africa and the Middle East), the Americas, and the Indian subcontinent, as well as four minor trade theatres: the East Indies, the Ivory Coast, the Straits of Madagascar and Brazil. The way provinces work has been decentralised: although a central settlement is still used, other locations within a province can generate trade and technology, allowing factions to disrupt a province's productivity without assaulting the main settlement. Diplomacy, taxation, and trade have been streamlined to reduce the need for micromanagement, including allowing the player to appoint ministers to govern the nation. Previous Total War games required the player to promote a governor for each major city, whereas in Empire ministers' qualifications affect the government of all cities, modified in each case by the size of the metropolitan administration, reflecting the shift from premodern city-statehood to modern nation-statehood. The wandering scholars, spies, emissaries and assassins used in previous titles to deal with diplomacy, trade and espionage have been replaced with just three units: gentlemen, rakes, and missionaries. The former handle research and can challenge other characters to a duel (thus eliminating the diplomatic risk of being implicated in an assassination plot), while rakes perform clandestine tasks such as spying, assassination, and sabotage. Missionaries serve to convert the populace to the state religion, which reduces religious unrest and softens cultural unrest. Isomorphic units also exist for the Ottomans, Persians, and other near eastern nations, replacing rakes with Hashashin, while Indian nations use Thugees for the same purposes, and all nations south and east of the Ottoman Empire use Eastern Scholars instead of gentlemen (although these cannot duel). The isomorphic religious leaders are Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant missionaries, Imams, and Brahmin. The way armies are produced also differs: in addition to being produced at settlements, generals can now build their armies in the field by recruiting from nearby settlements. Players can now research technologies along a technology tree, advancing in areas such as infrastructure, politics, agriculture and the military.

Changes in government may occur during the campaign, for example as a consequence of a rise in republicanism. The United States may only come into existence if the ruling British Empire is unable to maintain social order. In addition, nations with highly unpopular governments and a history of workers' unrest may experience revolutions similar to the French Revolution. When the middle or upper classes become disenchanted with a current government, a civil war or revolt may occur. Upon revolution, the player can choose to side with the rebels or with the loyalists. The type of government selected by the player will determine how other factions view the player and influence their diplomatic relations. While religion no longer plays a central role (as in Medieval II: Total War), it is still important in helping bring under control newly captured regions and in influencing diplomatic relations between nations.

Factions will have varying objectives as their victory conditions, such as establishing successful colonies and trade routes, and controlling specified regions.

In January 2009, after the delay of the release of Empire Total war, the addition of a full campaign multiplayer mode was unveiled. The technology to create a multiplayer campaign game was not available in previous Total War games, and the extended development, due to the delayed release, allowed the Creative Assembly to implement the underlying technology for such a mode in Empire: Total War. On 7 December 2009 Sega released keys for a beta multiplayer campaign where two players could play online together as separate nations. Eventually, due to the incomplete and buggy nature of the beta alongside other development focuses, it was cancelled, never being fully patched into the game. In 2013, CA's community team released some additional keys for fans of the game, so they could play the incomplete multiplayer beta. Even after the closing date at the end of 2013, beta keys for the campaign was still available from Sega customer support.

Warfare

The second major area of gameplay is the battle system. Unlike the campaign game, here players control battles in real-time. As with all titles in the series after Shogun: Total War, battles can take place on both land and at sea. However, Empire is the first to allow naval battles to be fought in real-time; in previous titles they were automatically resolved by the game's artificial intelligence. Automatic resolution of battles remains an option for both land and sea battles. Separately from the main campaign game, players can recreate individual historical battles in the 18th century and early 19th century.

Land-based combat features a greater focus on gunpowder weaponry than in previous games

In land engagements, players have an 18th-century army consisting of units such as cavalry, musketeers, riflemen and artillery. Each has its own intrinsic advantages, disadvantages, cost, and overall effectiveness. Players must use 18th-century tactics and formations to defeat their enemies. The battlefield terrain and the weather are also important. Factions can lay siege to settlements, replacing open land battles with street fighting and close-quarter combat. Each unit has morale, which increases if the battle goes well, or decrease after heavy casualties, army losses, coming under artillery bombardment, or with the death of the general. Tactical situations such as attacking from a flank or the rear, or depriving a unit of allied reinforcements, also hit morale. When a unit's morale is sufficiently depleted, it will be routed and flee the battlefield. Depending on whether morale is merely broken or entirely shattered, the player may be able to rally the unit and regroup. Victory is achieved by causing every enemy unit to rout, or be annihilated. In addition, sieges can be won if the attacker manages to take control of the settlement's central square for a set amount of time. Empire: Total War also introduces several new battlefield elements to the Total War series. Units can take cover behind walls or in buildings, allowing increased interactivity with the terrain and making some buildings points of tactical importance. Field defences may be constructed on the battlefield. Infantry units can also scale small obstacles such as walls and fences. Each unit has different capabilities such as Square Formation, Wedge, Diamond, Equip bayonets, or Fire at will.

In naval battles, players control a fleet of up to twenty varied ships, and use 18th-century tactics to overcome enemy fleets. As with army units, each ship's crew has a set amount of morale that changes as a battle progresses; a crew may attempt to withdraw their vessel from the battle if their morale is broken, or in extreme cases may surrender. A battle is won when all hostile ships have been sunk, captured, or have left the map. Individual ships can be maneuvered, or remain in formation with other ships from the fleet. Players can designate which parts of a hostile ship they want a crew to target, making ships prone to sustaining authentic damage during a battle: masts can be toppled, sails and gun ports can be destroyed and damage can entirely disable a ship's ability to manoeuvre or eventually sink it. The types of ammunition can be used during a battle are grapeshot, chain-shot and round shot, which have different uses, from killing enemy crew to disabling enemy movement. As battles progress, crews can try to board enemy vessels and fight hand-to-hand in an attempt to capture the ship. The weather in a naval battle is also important; bad weather can create poor visibility. Ships cannot be repaired in mid-battle unlike its successor, Napoleon: Total War, but fires on board ships can be put out automatically.