14 DAY TRIAL // One of the biggest changes that Empire: Total War made to the gameplay experience was for me the complete and utter disappearance of the rebel-controlled territories. I hardly noticed this when I first looked at the game map in the nation selection screen. It only made an impact in my mind when I took control of Austria and I saw that, all around me, there were fully formed nations, with national armies and the possibility of forming alliances. And then I asked myself “Where am I to expand?” The simple answer is: you have to declare war on someone rather quickly, before a complex web of alliances is formed and any war declaration means taking on half of the powers in Europe.
In Medieval 2, Rome, the first Medieval and, if I remember correctly, in Shogun (which basically means all the Total War games until now), all the nations had one or two rebel provinces that were easily accessible and had manageable armies right at the beginning of the game. Even those factions in the middle of Europe, like France, could expand a little in the first couple of turns at the expanse of the rebels, meaning that there were no big wars going on before you could consolidate your economy and your armies for a little while. The Total War series allowed players to set up, develop a bit, pick and choose an enemy faction and then go.
Now, with Empire: Total War, you're forced to make some rather tough decisions early on. You can't spend all the initial funds on development, while getting a few provinces with your initial army. As Austria, I know I don't want to go against the Germanic minor nations, which quickly make alliances with one another. So, I basically have two avenues of attack: to the South East, against the behemoth of the Ottoman Empire, or to the North East, against Polish-Lithuanian and Russian hordes. I feel a bit like playing the first few minutes of a game of Europa Universalis III, where the choice of alliances and enemies is crucial.
I am sufficiently change averse to see this as a detrimental modification to the series at the moment but the decision to take out initial rebel provinces might be a very interesting one for Empire: Total War. It could be one of those game modifications overlooked by most reviewers that end up changing the release in a very significant way.