14 DAY TRIAL // Not much of Empire: Total War has been showed until now. Creative Assembly was more keen on talking about its new project Stormrise at E3, but some people got to see the next Total War in action. In an interesting twist, the developers have so far refused to show any footage detailing the ground combat in the game, deciding to promote the naval battle aspect, which is something new for a Total War title.
Shogun, Medieval, Rome and Medieval 2 have abstracted naval combat by only offering the player an option to simulate the actual engagement and providing them with results. Now, Empire is going to allow you to plan and take part in tactical naval combat and influence the result directly.
The developers showed a battle at sea between Great Britain and the United States, set at the end of the XVII century or the beginning of the XVIII century. The most important elements to take notice of during combat are the direction of the wind, the morale of the crews, the condition of the ships and bringing more guns to bear than the enemy.
The combat is smooth in Empire and the level of details is incredible. If you zoom down, you can see the individual members of the crew trying to re-loading the cannon or manning the sails, while cannon balls are flying around and destroying the ships. Explosion and fires will actually cripple ships and make them unusable, while crew members are jumping into the water.
The naval combat will be more than a simple artillery duel, with grappling coming into play as the ships are getting closer. Ships will be locked together and crews will go hand to hand. Thus, they can be captured and later used by the conqueror.
An interesting piece of info regarding the grand campaign game is that historical figures in the period, from monarchs to generals, from Napoleon Bonaparte to Wellington, will make an appearance in the release if the events are similar to those in real history.