Tom Chick and I agree on many things. We both think Civilization IV is the pinnacle of modern strategy design. We both think Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 was an abomination. We both believe that a good strategy game should reward study and continually give you new challenges to overcome. And, we both believe that Empire: Total War has problems with its artificial intelligence and documentation.

A massive Cherokee invasion force on the way

We disagree over how important this is to our enjoyment of the game, though. I was not surprised that his recent review was a "Fry It" -- Tom has never been afraid to give a popular AAA franchise a booting it may deserve. I was surprised, however, that he let Empire's failings override its acknowledged strengths to the extent that he won't even recommend people give the game a look. I will never push him into the Buy camp; but here is a modest case for why he should not keep people away entirely.


The strategic AI is not, in my opinion, weak as much as it is overly cautious. It feels safer behind walls than it does facing down your massed armies. (This is generally a miscalculation on its part, since the battle AI is much stronger than the siege AI.) It often avoids battles in the same way that I do as a player, evading an open-field encounter when it is uncertain of the outcome. When it has a moderate advantage, the computer opponent will certainly press for conquest, knocking out weakened major powers or minor powers altogether, provided that doesn't mean a continental war. I have seen AI-controlled Austria, Prussia and Venice crumble to the ambitions of other AI powers. Having fought off invasions from Poland, Mysore, Sweden and Georgia, I can attest to the AI's willingness to push forward.


The AI-controlled nations can seem like little more than a speed bump to victory, especially given the AI's refusal to move troops over oceans -- a major bug that many reviewers missed. (Even here Empire is hardly alone in being completely at sea, as it were, in getting a computer to recognize the importance of projecting power over water.) But in many ways, your enemies in Total War are not your enemy. The real peril to your survival is the usual entropy that sets in when you play a Total War game. In Rome: Total War it was overpopulation and squalor; in Empire it is demand for freedom and your trade income being snapped like a twig.

Gotta love cannon

Managing your empire is made easier by the cabinet ministers who can turn an economy around, given the time. They never really become characters like your generals in the last two games in the series, but they play a much more important structural role. Empire is less about mastering the system -- something easily done in spite of the sparse documentation -- than it is about playing with the system.


There is no denying that the strategic layer is the most fully realized world that we have yet seen in a Total War game. With limited town developments tied to taxation and available space, you can never do and build everything, an issue in earlier games in the series. Since some technological research is tied to specific buildings, you may need to build an iron mine at one moment, though it won't really pay off until later. You have to juggle food supply and trade to keep your nation advancing and afloat.


Tom and I agree wholeheartedly on the manual, though this has been a problem with all of Creative Assembly's recent games. But one shouldn't exaggerate the importance of the missing information, especially regarding the effects of technology. Would knowing that a bayonet added +2 attack to a melee charge by infantry make much difference in how you fight your battles? Probably not, since your enemy is likely to have bayonets, too. So many variables go into every battle that it's not clear how helpful a chart or table would be. What is the terrain? Is it raining? Where is the general? How much experience do the units have? The battles in the series are best understood through feel and experimentation. I know that using a plug bayonet means that any musketeers that use it are stuck in melee for the rest of the battle. How do I know? I used it.

Florida falls to Louisiana while I deal with someone else

Even trade, Tom's J'accuse moment, is clear enough to understand for most gamers' purposes. Goods have a fixed price, you acquire the goods, and then you trade them to nations you have deals with. The more ports you each have, the more goods can be exchanged and the more trade deals you can make. Is all the information you could possibly want in that summary? No (and I'm still iffy on how the game's trade theater mechanic works) but the vast majority of gamers only need to know that little bit.


Tom's comparisons with Europa Universalis III are interesting, but it's worth noting that Paradox's masterpiece had many of the same problems as Empire on release. The AI was flimsy, basic information was unclear, the manual was useless, and the economy seemed to involve a lot of hidden math. The EU series, however, constantly gives you busywork to distract you until the developers fix everything -- and they have; since the In Nomine expansion, EU3 now stands with the best strategy games ever made. Europa Universalis III is the historical nerd game to trump all historical nerd games.

And Gibraltar falls.

Empire, however, is made for a different audience. Like the historic revolutions it describes, Empire aims to please the masses. In the past, Creative Assembly has done this with the glamour and spectacle of battle, and that is still there. But here they have added a deep strategic system that, if not full of especially gifted opponents, challenges you to explore and experiment and expand. The series still shows you things you've never seen before, and the package is tighter, with more long-term planning and less unit-wrangling.


The funny thing, of course, is that Tom is right about all of his complaints; we mostly differ on how integral they are to enjoying was this game is all about. Empire has many faults -- but it is still a very good game that should please most strategy gamers.