Related Sections: Patches
Empire: Total War gets a little smarter, but still can't figure out how to invade overseas
There's a huge patch now available for Empire: Total War, the epic strategy game from Creative Assembly. The conventional wisdom for the Total War games is that you should wait until they're patched. Well, consider this one patched. For those of us who were dismayed at the pathetic state of the AI when the game was released, it's moderately encouraging to read the AI section of the patch notes. Peruse away here.
However, keep in mind that Creative Assembly still seems flummoxed by the historical reality of armies being carried overseas by ships, something that was kind of a big deal in the 18th century. If I'm not mistaken, the British were quite fond of that particular tactic. I'm astonished that it flat-out didn't work when the game was released. And I'm still surprised that they're claiming it's too hard to do right. "The technology...is actually really rather heavy," is the precise wording. From an April 24th update by Creative Assembly community manager Kieran Brigden, commenting on this latest patch:I'd also like to take this opportunity to talk about Naval invasions if I may. The technology behind naval invasions is actually really rather heavy and is still causing some issues. The gameplay upgrade will make naval invasions possible but they will be rare. The AI now has a proper mechanism for the planning involved and can execute that mechanism when required, however increasing its frequency is a balance issue we haven't been able to get fixed in time for this upgrade. So in short, naval invasions are now possible and may occur, but they will not be frequent, which means we have to up that likelihood.
By Jonathan at 8:51 AM ON 04/30/09
Are they saying it's too difficult to get the AI to do invasions?
By Aeon221 at 9:00 AM ON 04/30/09
Naval invasions are hard enough that I've yet to see a game handle them right.
I play a fair number of strategy games, and I've yet to see one really nail naval invasions. So if that's the line they want to take, I believe 'em.
It _is_ kind of shocking that they didn't even have the infrastructure in place for naval invasions prior to the patch though.
By Shazbotian at 10:02 AM ON 04/30/09
Whats so hard about a naval invasion?? Put a bunch of guys on a bunch of boats, ship 'em across the sea, and viola! A successful invasion.
And what is this about the "infastructure not being in place"? Are they suggesting it was literally impossible for the AI?
By Miramon at 11:03 AM ON 04/30/09
Yeah, any kind of strategic offense, especially including transport, is hard to code well. But not being able to code it at all.... !
Well you know, you have to have some notion of tasks and planning and intentionality in the AI, because you are coordinating two whole units at a time, and locking the transport unit down to wait for the army to board, and make sure it and enough other laden transports wind up at the destination at the same time, appropriately protected, and and....
The hell with it. Even Civ-series AI can transport units by sea, and Civ AI is some of the worst in any strategy game. I can't explain it, the devs are just dumb.
By Joshua at 1:40 PM ON 04/30/09
It's very strange they build a game set in an age of navies and naval power yet fail to build an "infrastructure" for the AI which supports navies and naval power. I mean, why bother if you can't even fake it properly? And they outright admit their fix isn't actually a fix - but hopefully there will be at some point. If there is something that better sums up modern game development and publishing I don't know about it.
By Ginger Yellow at 2:52 PM ON 05/01/09
The really weird thing is that they were claiming that it was a bug that was preventing the AI from transporting armies. It's not like it was a feature that they didn't have time to include - at least not officially. How on earth did that get through playtesting? Did they never wonder why Britain could sit there undefended and not have to worry about a thing?
By Mvallicella at 3:37 PM ON 05/07/09
What about all the Heroes of Might and Magic games. The AI handled naval invasions just fine and that was in the 90's. So there saying they could accomplish something then that they can't code now.
Mvallicella:
What about all the Heroes of Might and Magic games. The AI handled naval invasions just fine and that was in the 9...More »