Seite 5: Empire: Total War im Test - Review: The best episode of the Total War: series so far.

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New loyal alliances

Trade agreements can be signed using the improved diplomacy menu, which also details why a rival likes or dislikes you. Religious differences or assassination attempts can strain the relationship. Diplomacy is therefore more comprehensible than in Medieval 2, especially as allies finally adhere to alliances.
But the AI is not completely bug-free. During war, opponents may sometimes act too passively. One time, while playing the British, we didn't defend London during a war against Sweden, but the Swedes didn't manage to land an army there. Later on, they even refused a peace treaty even though they were militarily inferior. All in all, however, the opponents made a good impression. For example, they block our ports or stop approaching armies on open fields.

By the way: the leaders of armies and fleets have individual talents and are hired for a fee. Reinforcements are ordered using the leader of an army. The new troops are recruited in the next province and automatically march to join the army, saving you some micro-management.

Spectacles on land

During land battles, the enemies act quite clever, for example by charging aggressively whilst under artillery bombardment. Every now and then though, they seem to have blackouts, like leading their cavalry blindly into disaster. Mounted dragoons can dismount and be used as musketeers on a battlefield, but the AI never uses that option. Basically, this unit is unnecessary anyway, because regular infantry is more effective in battle - one symptom for the good, but not perfect balance of units.

Be that as it may, the spectacular battles are huge fun, especially since the formation of the army is very important again. Firing lines face each other and exchange salvo after salvo - at least until cavalry attacks their vulnerable backs. Inferior troops will run away often, because morale is important, too. Once they run out of ammunition, the Musketeers will plunge themselves into well-animated hand-to-hand combat. Infantry can hide in houses and erect fences to stop cavalry. During sieges, soldiers climb the walls using ropes to thrash the defenders. This is where the path-finding fails and usually the fighters just wander about on the ramparts forever.

Therefore, it's more effective to blow up the ramparts using artillery. While artillery fire is imprecise, its reach covers almost the whole battlefield. Additionally, many guns may use special ammunition like shrapnel, taking down several soldiers at once. But it's illogical that cannons consume no ammo. Hostile howitzers can be finished off by running them over with cavalry or with the war elephants of the Maratha Confederacy. Each nation has its own individual units, as usual.

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