14 DAY TRIAL // Empire: Total War is a great title. The reasons are well explained in our review of the game. The same review mentions the fact that many players experience a lot of bugs, most of them related to Crash To Desktops, which happen when clicking on some units or structures. Until now, Creative Assembly and SEGA have put out some patches, via Steam, but most of the issues have not gone away and some players even say that they are experiencing new problems after having gotten the most recent patch.
Now, after a period of silence, a representative of the development team has posted info on the official forums, showing off some of the fixes that would be coming in the next patch for Empire: Total War. The following list is by no means exhaustive and more stuff might be included when the patch goes live.
One of the main reasons for CTDs, the pathfinding related ones that are important for trade routes, will be eliminated from the game, while a problem with spectators leaving unranked matches has also been fixed, dropping a CTD source for multiplayer matches.
The developers have stated that “several code issues causing crash to desktop” are also now fixed, including one regarding the way agents like Gentlemen and Rakes behaved on the campaign map. The problem of corrupt save games should also be alleviated so that players can complete a long Grand Campaign without too many restarts.
Sound issues have also been addressed by Creative Assembly, including some related to the apparent lack of sounds in tactical battles and to an animation glitch that has been causing repetitive sounds.
Unfortunately, SEGA and Creative Assembly have not mentioned the period they plan to release the new patch and it seems that, although stability issues are addressed, there are no signs that the patch will fix problems with naval invasions, Artificial Intelligence or diplomacy.