ANNUNCIATO EMPIRE TOTAL WAR

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All hail the power of mystic Will Porter! Back in time, PC ZONE's less-than-ancient sage declared that if the logical next step for the Total War series was implementing naval combat, then "it would be a good opportunity to bring it into the Napoleonic era".

Nine months on and here we are with the announcement of Empire: Total War, the brand new game from The Creative Assembly, and a true revolution for a series that, like a sailor knocked overboard at the start of a sea battle, has been treading water for too long.

Empire: Total War takes place during the period from the 1700s to the early 1800s, a turbulent era in history when technology was being fuelled by a new industrial age, and for the first time various powers were fighting for control of the Old and New Worlds on a global scale.

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This is the age of the French Revolution, Voltaire, the American War of Independence, Mozart, Wellington, the British Empire and, of course, Guybrush Threepwood, Captain Jack Sparrow and Blackadder The Third.

As you can see from these decidedly gorgeous screenshots, Empire's big-ticket attraction - its unique, ahem, sailing point - is the introduction of proper naval combat to the Total War series.

As with the complex land battles, the sea warfare will involve real-time 3D action, but instead of troops, you'll command single ships or fleets of up to 20 craft, which vary in size, speed and manoeuvrability, ranging from small brigs to powerful ships of the line.

Vessels will be able to let fly with chain shot, grapeshot, musket fire and cannonballs, which you can aim at your foes' destructible sails, decks and/or hulls so they sink faster than Robert Maxwell.

You can also opt to grapple and board enemy ships for exciting fights on-deck with muskets and sabres, any captured ships becoming part of your fleet, and thus available for use in subsequent battles.

Also boasting real-time weather effects such as fog and ever-changing sea conditions, Empire: Total War promises to deliver some of the most realistic and visceral sea battles ever seen in a PC game - with everything except the smell of salt, gangrene and fish in your nostrils.

As well as taking part in the all-new offshore encounters, you will of course be commanding your armies over land, in a campaign that spans Europe, North America, the Caribbean and India, and features revamped trade, diplomacy, mission and espionage systems.

New tactics have evolved on the battlefield, so you'll be able to destroy buildings and walls and use them as cover, deploy defences and employ a variety of new unit firing drills and formations - such as the classic hollow square that's effective against a single target but very vulnerable to cannon fire.

The campaign itself includes historical figures such as French dictator and pint-sized comedy staple Napoleon, and ten playable factions vying for economic and political supremacy, including Great Britain, America, France and Prussia.

The Creative Assembly promise plenty of variety in the different factions and their units, with abilities and tech trees evolving throughout the period - so playing as a naval power such as Britain will be very different to playing as an emerging continental power such as Prussia, for example.

Empire: Total War will also feature a new fully animated, non-grid-based campaign map for planning your empire-building, allowing for tighter control of army movement as well as a closer relationship between the terrain you see at this strategic level and the terrain you start with on the battlefield.

Also, buildings will now be visible on the map without you having to click on the settlements that they're in, so you'll be able to click on them and upgrade directly from the map. Apart from the added convenience, this means you'll now be able to see at a glance how developed a region is without trawling through a menu to investigate, and in addition use your armies to attack and destroy individual buildings.

Medieval II: Total War was a superb game, but more evolution than revolution - Empire: Total War is definitely the latter, a complete re-imagining of the famous RTS series, retaining its turn-based map and real-time battles, but introducing a whole raft of new features such as naval warfare and wrapping the whole package in stunning next-gen graphics.

Apparently the team have had one programmer working solely on the real-time seascapes for a whole year, and the title will also feature new landscape and flora systems, dynamic weather that'll affect gameplay (rain dampens musket powder, for example) and destructible buildings.

It's still very early days for Empire: Total War, but it looks as if this game about conquering the known world could well see The Creative Assembly achieving a massive expansion of their own strategy empire

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for example, we have dragoon units -- mounted men that you can order to dismount and fire and attack the enemy as infantry. Then you can order them to mount up again and chase across the field on horseback.

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Per esempio, abbiamo una unità di dragoni a cavallo, li puoi ordinare di scendere da cavllo e di spararare e attacare la fanteria nemica. dopo puoi ordirali di rimontare sul cavallo e di attraversare il campo di battaglia a cavello

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Playing as Prussia, you might feel you have a lot of issues to deal with before you want to go charging into the Americas.

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giocando con la russia, avrai un sacco di problemi prima di decidere di andare a conquistare l'america.

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For the first time, we are actually having a technology tree that lets player's research pure technologies as well as construct and upgrade buildings.

We have a host of different technologies that the player can choose to focus on. Some will give units new abilities on the battlefield, or allow your artillery to develop new types of ordnance.

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per la prima volta, avremo un albero tecnologico dove i giocatori potranno ricercare alcune tecnoligie che è meglio dell'upgrade degli edifici

Abbiamo un sacco di differenti tecnlogie. Così potrete insegnare (li sarebbe scritto potretete dare, ma rintengo più corretto tradurlo con isegnare) alle vostre unità nuove abilità di insegnare in battaglia, oppure sviluppare nuovi proiettili per la vostra artiglieria.

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In principle they are analogous to land battles, with ships as 'units', and your aim to sink, cripple, rout or capture the enemy fleet.

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principalmente la guerra navale sarà anologa a quella terrestre. con la navi come "unità", sarai in grado di affondare le navi, mandrle in rotta o catturarle.

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However, a ship can be damaged in a number of different ways -- you can focus on the hull, or on the crew, or on the sails and masts to cripple it. Using different ammo types (such as chainshot) targets different parts of enemy ships. Ships are constantly moving platforms, unlike land units, and they fire in a different direction from their facing -- sideways. Therefore, admirals tended to line ships up one behind the other to create a 'line of battle' that created a wall of guns facing the enemy. Manoeuvring the ships skilfully is the key to tactical success; weak but fast ships, or paralyzed but powerful ships all add interesting gameplay dimensions.

We've got a very sophisticated and realistic damage model for ships, which is key to making the destruction look and feel authentic and ensuring it's fun to try to destroy your enemy. Cannon balls can kill men, destroy guns, smash through different parts of a ship's hull and sink it. Sails and masts can also be destroyed, and the gunpowder magazine can be hit, wiping out the ship in a massive explosion. Every bullet and cannon ball is modelled.

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potrete dannegiare le diversa parte della nave. quindi se abbatete la chiglia cade il tutto pure se il sopra è intatto. potrete usare diversi tipi di proiettili per fare ciò. l'ammiraglio cercherà di creare un "linea di battaglia" per creare un muro "le nnavi messe di lato che si ammazno a vicenda". abbiamo un realistico e veramente sofisticato sistema di danni per le navi. sarà molto divertente cercare di distruggere le navi nemiche (gia sento le bestemmie del topo "ma porca zozza lo mancata n'altra volta!!!). i proiettili potranno ucccidere i marinai e i soldati nemici sul ponte, distruggere i cannoni o dannegiare la nave (e anche qui sento "mannaia a tia! mi piddiau i cannuni").

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The campaign map for example is treated in a completely different way, and is no longer based on Rome's grid system -- it's completely freeform. We've also taken buildings out of the region capitals and placed them on the map itself, so they are visible at a glance, easily upgradeable straight from the map -- and they are individually attackable.

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la mappa di campagna per esempio per esempio è completamente diversa. si vedranno gli edifici pure al di fuori della città che rappresenta la ragione perciò sarà visibile subito, facilente upgrabile e attacabile individualemnte (oodio questo è un sogno e non ci redo finchè non lo faccio)

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On the battle map (both land and sea), the increase in visual quality and the number of men on the battlefield is incredible. The new engine has allowed huge improvements in graphics, terrain & vegetation, destructible buildings, as well as more advanced unit behaviour and abilities -- and ships of course. We've had a programmer working for almost a year just on making the sea look fantastic (and move beautifully).

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nella mappa strategica (sia terrestre che navale), l'incremento della qualità visiva e il numero di uomini in battaglia è incredibile. il nuovo engine ci ha permesso un grande miglioramento della grafica, del terreno e della vegetazione, edifici distruttibili, così come il comportamento e labilità delle unità... e delle navi ovviamente. abbiamo un programmatore che a lavorato quasi un anno per creare il mare e si muove magnigicamente (povero programmatore )

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