Empire: Total War trailer

[Raziaar]

Napoleonic Linear Tactics and the American Civil War


American Civil War battles were fought using the same tactics that were used during the Revolutionary War nearly a century before. The primary infantry formation was the line of battle and was used primarily in the attack. TO form into the line of battle, the men stood shoulder to shoulder in two lines called ranks. The two ranks were 13" apart, or the distance from the back of the front-rank man to the chest of the near rank man.The front-rank man and the man standing directly behind him formed a file.

The line of battle would advance, with bayonets fixed, to about 50 - 100 yards from the enemy and would fire a volley (each man firing at the same time) into the enemy's ranks. This way, the attacker was able to compensate for the smoothbore musket's short range and poor accuracy by concentrating the maximum amount of lead into the enemy to ensure that some of the bullets would hit. Without reloading, the attackers would then rush towards the enemy's lines and fight them with the "cold steel" of the bayonet.

http://thomaslegion.net/napoleonictactics.html



You see guys reenacting this style of warfare all the time, and it was the style that Napoleon used heavily, which is why it is always referenced with his name.

 

[Mr Stabby]

Are you kidding me? That's exactly how they fought.

They marched in battle formations and exchanged volleys at each other before using the bayonets to charge the enemy.

No, if they all fought like that, the side with more men would always win, yet Napoleon and Frederick II, generally won battles with less men than the enemy.

Flanking was just as important then as it always was. Artillery could wipe out infantry, Cavalry could wipe out Artillery and infantry could wipe out cavalry.

 

[Raziaar]

Ugh, Dude. I'm not saying that's the ONLY way they fought. I'm saying that was the major way. And Napoleon ****ing did it, or else it wouldn't be named after him.

That's the style of warfare that dominated the centuries.

 

[Mr Stabby]

http://thomaslegion.net/napoleonictactics.html



You see guys reenacting this style of warfare all the time, and it was the style that Napoleon used heavily, which is why it is always referenced with his name.

So what infantry fought in columns, infantry fought in columns up until the 1870s. Why is Medieval or Roman warfare somehow more interesting, they fought in columns too.

 

[Mr Stabby]

Ugh, Dude. I'm not saying that's the ONLY way they fought. I'm saying that was the major way. And Napoleon ****ing did it, or else it wouldn't be named after him.

That's the style of warfare that dominated the centuries.

No, Napoleon did not just order his army to walk forward and fire volleys. It's called Napoleonic due to the infantry formations, not because they just walked forward and fired volleys.

 

[Raziaar]

So what infantry fought in columns, infantry fought in columns up until the 1870s. Why is Medieval or Roman warfare somehow more interesting, they fought in columns too.

Yes, but the centric form of combat was the bloody melee, just as it was the thousands of years before that. In that sense, the napoleonic style of warfare does share a lot of elements with past history, but there's also many other reasons I really hate the era of warfare.

And many of those elements aren't even on the warfare themselves, but rather the military attire.

The disintegration of value of armor such as plate armor. The horrible(in my opinion) outfits. Outfits are an especially sore point for me, because I completely hate the style of dress that extends beyond the middle and high medieval periods. Military uniforms included.


The only reason the World Wars appealed to me so much, is that I felt there was a rekindling of ancient era style, even if it was in the most superficial way, with the reappearance of heavy armors, though now in the form of mobile vehicles like tanks.

This style of uniform is supremely ridiculous to me.


And here's Frederick's ridiculous solider uniforms as well.

 

[Mr Stabby]

I agree the 18th centuries fashion sense was kinda gay, but so was medieval fashion. But 18th century warfare was more complex and more professional than the previous types. Main thing I don't like about medieval warfare, is that it's a step backward from Roman warfare.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

The only reason the World Wars appealed to me so much, is that I felt there was a rekindling of ancient era style, even if it was in the most superficial way, with the reappearance of heavy armors, though now in the form of mobile vehicles like tanks.

It was the rekindling of ancient era style warfare at a period in time when technological progress made such tactics as ineffective as they have ever been. The backwards-thinking tacticians of the time ensured blood baths on an unprecedented scale took place for four years during world war one. World War two was in no way a rekindling of the old style of warfare, quite the opposite.

Also: **** off- those uniforms are fan-****ing-tastic.

 

[Raziaar]

I agree the 18th centuries fashion sense was kinda gay, but so was medieval fashion. But 18th century warfare was more complex and more professional than the previous types. Main thing I don't like about medieval warfare, is that it's a step backward from Roman warfare.

Yes, medieval era fashion was also pretty retarded when you got into the circles of nobility.

But the uniforms weren't retarded at all. Some were, but for the most part I think they all look awesome.

And the military uniforms going back in the past to the classical eras were also damn awesome.


I absolutely love the cannon warfare between ships though firing broadsides.

The Age of Piracy is one of my favorites, especially since most of the battles and tactics are entirely separate from those on land.

It was the rekindling of ancient era style warfare at a period in time when technological progress made such tactics as ineffective as they have ever been. The backwards-thinking tacticians of the time ensured blood baths on an unprecedented scale took place for four years during world war one. World War two was in no way a rekindling of the old style of warfare, quite the opposite.

Also: **** off- those uniforms are fan-****ing-tastic.

You misunderstand what I say. I say that the idea of armor on the battlefield reminds me of the return(in spirit) of the heavy cavalry of medieval periods with plate-clad knights cutting swaths through the infantry ranks. Whereas in the centuries prior, armor was all but eliminated due to the ability for ammunition to easily penetrate heavy plate and mail.

Not literally reverting to the old ways. lol.


And no I'm sorry, those uniforms are really, really retarded. To each his own though, I guess.

 

[Mr Stabby]

Crossbows could penetrate chain mail, the dominant form of amour for most of the middle ages. The arms race was generally at a fast enough pace that the way to kill a well armoured opponent was never far behind the latest form of armour. The decline of cavalry was more due to better discipline of professional armies, if the infantry didn't panic and could maintain formation and make a wall of pointy metal spears or bayonets then cavalry was useless.

 

[Raziaar]

Crossbows could penetrate chain mail, the dominant form of amour for most of the middle ages. The arms race was generally at a fast enough pace that the way to kill a well armoured opponent was never far behind the latest form of armour. The decline of cavalry was more due to better discipline of professional armies, if the infantry didn't panic and could maintain formation and make a wall of pointy metal spears or bayonets then cavalry was useless.

Yes, of course there were weapons that could penetrate the heaviest of armors. But they weren't enough to stop them as effectively as the later arquebus and muskets. That's why knights and other armored opponents continued to be on the battlefield and dominating their opponents. It wasn't until the aforementioned weapons were standard issue among most troops that armor completely became obsolete.

And yes of course a wall of spears will make a head on cavalry charge useless. But that's why there were flanking maneuvers and such that tried to mitigate it as much as possible, forcing the troops to chaotically displace their original formation and direction of defense.

 

[Mr Stabby]

Gunpowder was the nail in the coffin for heavy knights and cavalry in general rather than the cause of their demise. Muskets volleys were never able to stop a cavalry charge dead. The more professional an army became the less effective cavalry was against them.

 

[Jimmeh]

New gameplay video out - shows off the naval combat. Looks pretty immense:

http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/958390/empire-total-war/videos/ETW_081208.html

 

[Shakermaker]

New gameplay video out - shows off the naval combat. Looks pretty immense

It looks wtf awesome. Sea battles aren't just firing broadsides but also entering and taking over other ships. I just got so much more hyped for this game.

 

[Mr Stabby]

Awesome.

 

[Jimmeh]

It looks wtf awesome. Sea battles aren't just firing broadsides but also entering and taking over other ships. I just got so much more hyped for this game.

Agreed. Although my computer hasn't got a chance in hell of playing it. I'll get around to upgrading one of these days...

 

[Shift]

Those sea battles look immense.

 

[Krynn72]

Holy ****, naval battles look amazing. **** my prior hesitations, I am definitely getting this.

 

[redruM]

**** yes 18th century warfare. I love games from this era: the crackling of musket fire, the deep BOOM of cannons, a battlefield covered with gunpowder smoke, just awesome.

 

[Eejit]

At least cannonballs don't all explode on impact like in Hollywood. I sure hope the ship being boarded ceasing fire was just a retarded player rather than something coded though.

 

[French Ninja]

OOHHHH
MMMMAAAAHHH
GAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWD

:imu::imu::imu::imu::imu::imu::imu::imu:

 

[Gargantou]

Still not interested.

 

[Stormy]

Awesome-0

 

[Lucid]

Holy ****.
Looks incredible!

I'll totally invest the money to upgrade for this.

 

[Gargantou]

It looks good graphicswise but AI will probably be just as bad as M2TWs..

 

[French Ninja]

And no I'm sorry, those uniforms are really, really retarded. To each his own though, I guess.

 

[Eejit]

One does not simply sail into Calais.

 

[Mr Stabby]

I just recently bought MTW2: Kingdoms. I think the separate smaller campaigns are much better than the grand campaigns of the normal TW games, which are a chore to complete after the first 20-30 settlements.

This one will take for ever to complete now they have included most of the planet.

 

[Raziaar]

Man. That video did look ****ing great.

But I'm still going to withhold any anticipation feelings. Still a ways off, I don't have a computer that can run it, and there's still time for them to **** it up and ruin shit.