its Queen Elizabeth not Bert...

Units: Buildings
Trading Port

Shipping goods of any kind by land is difficult and expensive. Any item that has to travel more than a few miles goes by ship wherever possible.

Most roads are simply terrible, and bulk cargoes (such as coal) must go by ship anyway: it is the only way of moving goods cheaply and relatively quickly. It also makes the whole world a marketplace, even if the customers are not sure what to make of the goods they are being sent (British merchants insisted on exporting heavy woollen cloth to India for years, even though there was no obvious market for it).

Coastal trade can also be very profitable. For example, a “cheese fleet” did nothing but shuttle back and forth between London and the northwest of England, bringing Cheshire cheeses to the London market. By a happy accident of geology, Cheshire had rock salt mines that provided a preservative for the local cheese to make the sea journey to London. Although salty, this was undoubtedly healthier than most food on a gentleman’s table in the 18th Century!


Faction Feature
The Ottoman Empire

The history of Europe over the last centuries can be seen as the history of the Ottoman Empire and a few annoying, small nations that thwarted Ottoman ambitions. Ottoman power is unmatched in its extent and grandeur, straddling the traditional trade route between Europe and Asia. The Ottomans also have power over the whole of the Mediterranean coast of North Africa.

This Turkish, Islamic empire supplanted the Orthodox Byzantine Empire in the 15th Century and since then it has had a continuing, if not always whole-hearted, ambition to expand further westwards into the heart of Europe. In living memory Turkish armies have reached the gates of Vienna, Austria, only to be turned back by the steadfast defenders. Turkish expansionism has always been a part of palace politics: when a Sultan has felt secure at home he has attacked Europe; when a Sultan has felt threatened by his Janissary military commanders, he has sent them to attack.

The Ottomans face challenges but within these are great opportunities. The army and navy look old fashioned compared to those of some states, but the soldiers of the Sultan are numerous indeed. Strategically, the Empire is in a potentially strong position: the Balkans are a natural bastion to defend Istanbul, and a possible springboard for conquest into central Europe. There may even be valuable allies to be found among Austria’s rivals: the authority of the Pope to stop his European flock making treaties with infidels is all but gone. Control of the Mediterranean would allow a Sultan to do as he please with the smaller European powers. And to the east, the route to India offers the chance of riches.



This post has been edited by frags: Nov 13 2008, 07:12 PM

we need more gameplay trailers, especially land battles..

imma preorder collecters edition! although i hope im not broke by then

another total war... ok i'm definitely trying this..

hell yea.. this is a must have for all strategy fans out there.. one thing i love about this series is that the depth of micromanagement skill needed.. really need some brain power to win each battle..

yup.. u got that right. really need brain power to strategize. how to attack and create routs, siege etc..

i remembered rome where i can win with only 1000+ army against a combined 6000+ army.

I just cant wait to play the empire with biggest naval power and land mass across the planet in human history, but I guess keeping them in check and not giving them independence is another matter. Maybe I should keep the tax low and keep everyone happy while I invade the world.

RTW was a cheat arrows and ammunition never runs out.

This Total war most important is Money only....2nd important also Money....3rd important also Money.

So must build very stong Market and boost Income first then only go Military~~~

The British and the Spaniards got their ass kicked by the Dutch numerous times, one of the smallest countries in the world. The first faction I'm going to play with are the Dutch. Ever heard about the Spanish Treasure Fleet and Piet Hein or how Michiel de Ruyter whiped out most of the British fleet on the Thames?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Pieterszoon_Hein


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_the_Medway

First i'm going to play the Vietnamese because they kicked French ass in Dien Bien Phu-..... oh wait... that was in 1954. Wrong century.

That will be an option in the next of the TOTAL WAR series Then I definitly will not play with the dutch, it took the Germans 3 days to occupy the Netherlands but then again the dutch didn't had a choice, the city of Rotterdam was bombarded to the ground (a lot of civilian casualties) and the Nazis threatened to do the same with other major cites (eg Amsterdam) in the Netherlands. I probably would go for the Partizans

Now now which time frame is empire total war in you guys seem to be out of the 1700 to the early 1800s.

Units: Technology


Square Formation

A defensive posture for musket-armed infantry units, creating an impassable wall of steel to fend off cavalry attacks.

As the name suggests, this is four two- or three-rank lines of infantry arranged as a hollow square, with everyone facing outwards. It is a version of the obsolete pike “hedgehog”, making any cavalry charge a suicidal exercise. Bayonets are fixed to muskets when appropriate and possible.

Forming a square requires good order in the ranks. The outer companies of an infantry unit in line have to “fold back” to form the sides and back of the square, without losing cohesion in the process. The unit colours take up station in the centre, a final rallying point should the square be broken. It is also possible to form larger squares with more than one unit.

The square is, of course, a tempting target for enemy artillery. Whether it is better to form square in the face of cavalry and risk an artillery barrage, or stay in line to mitigate artillery fire and risk a cavalry charge can be a tactical conundrum!

Theoreticians argued infantry could defeat a cavalry charge by firepower alone. Brigadier General Richard Kane (later Military Governor of Gibraltar) remarked, “If a body of Foot have but Resolution and keep their Order, there is no Body of Horse dare venture within their Fire…” but for him that fire was to be delivered from a square, not a line. He was arguing for discipline as the key to success.





Platoon Firing

This firing plan for musketry ensures an infantry unit keeps up a continual barrage of shots against an enemy.

Nearly all line infantry carry smoothbore, muzzle-loading muskets. These take considerable time to reload after firing: anything up to a minute for poorly trained or nervous troops. During that time, the enemy can close or return fire unmolested. In the time it takes to reload, a unit can be cut down, its half-loaded weapons useless in the face of an aggressive foe. It is sensible to make sure that not everyone in an infantry unit is reloading at the same moment; this, in turn, means that not everyone should be firing at the same time.

Platoon fire is a way of dividing a unit into smaller groups that each fire, reload and fire again in turn. The result is a “rippling fire” down a line formation and, as the last platoon fires its muskets, the first is ready to fire again. A unit can always give some fire to the enemy at all times, even if this is less than a complete volley. When more than one unit is involved all the troops in every first platoon fire, followed by all the second platoons, and so on, creating several rippling barrages down the battle line.

The word “platoon” in this context does not have the modern meaning of being a sub-unit of a military company. Platoon assignment to what was a “fire group” was made on an ad hoc or informal basis, and could mean a whole regiment being assigned to a “platoon”.

The means of 'one of the smallest countries in the world' is for current time. Back then, they're colonizing south east asia, africa and also south america.

Yes, correct. In 1641 the dutch assaulted and wrestled Melakka from the Portugese with the help from the Johor Sultanate. And they stayed there for 183 years. In the 17th Century the Dutch East Indian Company (VoC) was the largest trading company in the world. The dutch were also responsible for most of the slave trade in those days. At one point in time the dutch traded New Amsterdam (now better known as New York) with the English for Suriname (South America), if it wasn't for that, there was a good chance that Dutch would have been one of the main languages in the world

looks like someone loves malaysian history

Faction Feature


Great Britain

Great Britain is not a natural creation, but the marriage of separate kingdoms and peoples. The new nation has been through a century of unparalleled turbulence: an unwelcome joining of Scotland and England; religious strife; civil wars; an executed king; military dictatorship; a populist monarch restored; and the overthrow of a second king. Less than 15 years ago, the hated Catholic James II was forced into exile in the Glorious Revolution and a Protestant monarchy restored. A short, vicious war in Ireland put paid to any chance of a Catholic Stuart restoration. Nonetheless, the exiled James Stuart has sympathisers, the Jacobites, throughout Britain. Despite – or perhaps because of – this turbulent history, Britain is an engine driving the scientific and cultural advancement of northern Europe: turmoil fuels creativity.

As an island nation, Britons have always looked to, as Shakespeare puts it:

“…the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, as a moat defensive to a house…”

Britain’s strength lies at sea, but in trade and colonisation as much as naval power. Trade taxes pay for the navy; the navy allows unhindered trade. The English Channel keeps the French at bay and, to a lesser extent, the Dutch. With Dutchman William III on the British throne, there is ambivalence in the traditional rivalry with the Netherlands!

The English and Scots like to think that they can sleep safe, that no foreign invader or tyranny need worry them. They are partly right, but only as long as there is no centralised Continental power. A nation that can unite the resources of Europe will surely crush the dream of Albion. This, then, is the fundamental aim of Britain: to side with the weak in Europe against the strong – and steal as many overseas possessions as possible while doing it!

Guess what? I'd an idea for something like nusantara total war. There were lots of kingdoms like malacca, johor-riau, sriwijaya, mataram, demak, aceh, khmer, thai, vietnam, brunei, sulu, moluccas, etc. and each have their own religions (islam, buddhism, hinduism, pagans) plus uniqueness (like archery was from chinese technology so malay kingdoms didn't really have them). just consider portuguese as mongols and dutch as timurids in m2tw and both brought christianity (catholics). While British brought Protestanism.

This is just my personal idea for making project to develop local games as well as ideas for my master degree. tho i have more other different ideas.

I want admiral Cheng Ho's imba fleet I want it I want it I want my fleet.