Some basic info about Empire Total War straight from the wiki.
Empire: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics computer game developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Sega. The fifth instalment in the Total War series, the game was released in North America on 3 March 2009, and in the rest of the world the following day. The game, which focuses on the early modern period of the 18th century, was announced at the Leipzig Games Convention in August 2007.
Following a similar style of interface and play to earlier Total War titles, players choose a contemporary 18th century faction and set out to ensure that faction’s domination over the known world through military force, politics, diplomacy, espionage and economics. Although the campaign element of the game is turn-based, players can direct battles in real-time. Empire: Total War is the first game in the series to allow naval battles to be conducted in real-time. In addition to the standard campaign mode, the game includes a special campaign that follows the development of the United States from the settlement of Jamestown to the American War of Independence. Players may also engage in recreations of several historical battles from the early modern era.
Reviewers gave Empire: Total War a positive response upon release; several critics commended it as one of the foremost strategy titles of recent times. Praise was bestowed upon the extensive strategy breadth, accurate historical challenges and visual effects. The real-time land battles, with a far greater focus on gunpowder weaponry than earlier Total War titles, were thought to be successfully implemented. Criticisms focused on shortcomings with the game’s artificial intelligence and on the real-time naval battles, the latter of which were perceived to be difficult to control and co-ordinate. The game was a commercial success, topping sales charts within the week of release; nevertheless, several Creative Assembly employees later commented on issues caused by a perceived early release.
I have often been asked, Zach. How have you gotten so good at Empire. And I say plainly Im not that good at all. I just know the strategies required and the patience. When you first boot up the game leave your action oriented antics behind. This is not Starcraft this is total war. At times you may need to stare down your enemy before thinking up a plan or before one of you forces your hand. But these are the best games, the long ones where either party has to think. This has a another tactic aswell. Annoying the enemy. If they get pissed at your tactic they will make a rash decision likely and will allow for you to sweep in more easily. Confuse the opponent when possible. Move units that are standing still and make units still that you intend to move soon but dont sabotage your self by running your men until they are tired only march them as running should be reserved for maneuvers that are urgent. If they have to watch their units and yours they are sure to make a mistake, yet never stoop to the level of a jerk unless the scenario requires it. A jerk is a someone who camps with many cannon in a fortified position making few movements and even less tactics. The RTT version of an FPS camper. It takes time to win so dont rush the process or you will lose often. Keep calm and carry on as they say. This is very important. You need to keep track of everyone of your units at all times. The loss of one skirmisher unit isnt so bad is it? Now you just forgot a line infantry unit and your lost your general in the woods when he decided to go camping mid battle. Now your in hell because the mismanagement of your resources, have fun trying to claw your way back after that. Lets delve into Empire Total War Tactics.
PROTIP: France is the coolest nation to play, not jking. France is akin to caps lock, a cruise control for cool.
Lets go over the basic unit types and get an idea of their best use!
But first I need to say something that I to often see new players doing with one of the most powerfull but fair weapons.
Do not use a howitzer to lob an iron ball at the enemy. Use that only for cannons. As soon as the battle begins set your howitzers to explosive or incendiary rounds. I am partial to explosive personally as it seems to be of more use and looks cooler. Some howitzers can fire canister, only use this for when the enemy is about a quarter of an inch in your field of fire for the most effect. Cannon munitions are iron balls that have the highest range over shrapnel and canister. They are most useful against other cannons especially when trying to destroy the enemy cannons or hit the enemy withtout being in the enemy’s cannon field of fire. Shrapnel should be switched to as soon as the enemy is close enough to hit with it. It fires a projectile that explodes mid air and sends shrapnel flying into the target. And cannister like that of howitzers fire shrapnel right out of the barrel destroying a large amount of enemies if they are within the very small range cone.
Also don’t bunch up line infantry into crowded rectangles or squares. Like in this image.
You should stretch your units into horizontal lines that meet or exceed that of the enemies and are usually parrallel unless you are flanking. See how much better everything looks and more organized? Now you can bring more guns to bear and less likely to get blown away by one cannon round.
I will not be covering sea battles as I dislike sea battles ( I am not an Admiral! ) and I much prefer land. Sea is fun now and then but land is where it matters most to me.
The Units
General Unit
In this image there are two General units but only one of them actually has the general in it, do you know which one that is? Its the one on the right that is higlighted. You can tell becuase that unit is highlighted and you can see he is the first unit in the unit box from the top left and has a star beside his number of living men in that unit.
The general unit in Empire Total War is the first unit chosen on the screen where you choose (buy) your army he will be the first from the left on the top row that shows what units you have bought (chosen). I recomend using a Generals Unit that is cavalry and is called such. This is usually a cheap unit that allows your General to move across the battlefield with ease and its easily noticeable by friend and foe. But if you choose to put your general in a infantry regiment than I would recomend you change your tactic. When a general is near his troops become inspired and will route less. The general unit that is choosable on the buy menu is weak and cheap but the main reason for having it is to quickly scurry the general to where moral is low so that he can boost it before your units route. When he dies your entire armies morale drops so even keeping him safe in a thicket of woods is a good idea if you dont need a morale boost anywhere along your lines, Just don’t forget about him when you do need him. If you don’t want a weak General Specific unit then throw him in any other Cav unit that is most usefull to you but make sure you don’t send him in the fight first.
In the case you lose your General dousnt mean you lost the battle. You just have to play more liberally now and keep morale in check.
The amount of men in this unit is 32 when the options are set to the max.
Line Infantry
A unit of standard, normal, nothing special French Line Infantry just standing around in the desert!
Line infantry are the back bone, the bread and butter, they are the wheels on your military machine. This game revolves around line battles so making lines is integral, this is where these guys come in. These units have good melee and good range and accuracy but arnt excellant at any of them unless they are well experienced or an Elite type of unit. Line infantry are all around good units with the capability when used correctly to kill everything they come across. There is little if any difference between most line infantry so its best to rely on tactics. If your enemy has more men in one area flank them to get fire on the sides or if lucky enough the rear of the line regiment. This will more quickly kill and demoralize them. And only bayonet charge when you have a chance at winning. If both sides have equal morale and units its best to use musket fire to lessen the amount of men and then to charge rather than risk everything in a ballsy charge. The biggest worries for line infantry are skirmishers picking your men off at a distance (line inf can easily defeat skirmishers in melee), Cavalry charges from flanks or even front ( in this event use the square formation as soon as possible to counter Cav), and Artillery (in this event hide your men behind a wooded area, hill, or even out of range a good bit of the enemy Arty.) Reverse this if facing Line Infantry.The amount of men in this unit is 160 when the options are set to the max amount of men in a unit. For Austria this number is about 200 which is a good boost.
Make sure to spread your units out so that they are about 3 men in depth and long enough to get alot of your men to be able to fire at once. One of the noobiest mistakes is they take a bunch of men and only have 6 or so men that can fire because from the front is the only place they can fire from. You must spread your line out to get the most out of them. It may look cool but its a terrible idea because one arty shell could take out 10 or so of your men. But if you spread them out that arty shell may only take out 2 or 3 men or maybe even miss completely.
Grenadiers
You can tell these guys are badass grenadiers from those silly hats. That shits silly badass.
Grenadiers were historically big strong burly men so that they could throw the grenades farthest. They are also good melee and can stand a chance against a diminished line infantry unit. But the grenades (unlike in NTW) do a huge toll of damage to both morale and troop numbers when used against an enemy regiment unit. They are essentially a stronger but smaller force of line infantry that can use grenades. But the reload time can be sketchy and other time their AI can be glitchy so use at your own risk but the reward much outweighs the risk in most cases. I do not recomend facing these types of units against the front line of your enemy, what I often do is put them as a reserve force behind my main force and take them out and rush them to throw grenades in between a musket volley so as to have the most effect and least causality rate for your mighty grenadiers. If you are against Grenadiers that are about to toss nades into your men one thing you can do is run your men back but only do that if they are not already going to be under fire while retreating less they be fired on from the rear and route or be destroyed. But don’t target grenadiers with cannon or mortars specifically as they are small thus its a harder to hit target. Grenadiers tend to have only about 80 men in a unit so they are not meant to stand directly toe to toe to normal line infantry which is why they have grenades to lob.
Light Infantry/Skirmishers
Several groups of skirmishers/light infantry the ones in the foreground are French Tiralliurs.
The ability to attack my enemy from ranges he does not have has been the dream of designers and generals since the dawn of war and thusly the dawn of man. So that very ability is like a godsend to your army. Light Infantry or Skirmishers are essentially the same thing. Such as Grenzers, Tiralliurs, and Long rifle men but these light units are technically elite units and are only available for their respective countries.. For these mens respective nations (Austria, France, and America) these are the best line infantry thanks to their range, accuracy and basically shooting skills. As they have the most range for their nations besides that of artillery. Dont fool these units with the normal light infantry units you find that are cheaper they also have lower range. Though they are still very useful when put to use properly the best use for any skirmisher unit is to be far enough from line units to not get shot at but still be able to shoot at other skirmishers or the main body of the enemies army. What I like to do is put all my light inf/skirmishers into light infantry mode so they duck so I can put them in front of my line infantry without my men shooting each other. This is a double edged sword as when your skirmishers are shot at its possible the shots may miss and go on to hit your line infantry men which really sucks but usually isn’t a huge deal. Amount of men per regiment can range from 80 to 60 or so.
Cavalry
A unit of french Cuirassiers await the battle. They are slower but can put up a good fight once they get there.
Cavalry are your fast attack tanks essentially. Some cav units have guns,lances, or just swords. Lets start with cavalry that is armed. Dragoons are a type of cavalry that for the most part cannot use their guns while mounted but must dismount and for a line to fire at the enemy but they may still charge the enemy as they have swords to fight on horseback but are not as effective as other types but they are. Missile Cavalry are cavalry that can fire guns or bows while mounted. They are effective for fast attack guerrilla war tactics for hit and run. Run up, shoot, then run away and reload. Lancers are units with spears so are best against other cavalry as a counter. But they are hardly effective against infantry. Hussars or other fast moving but lightly armed cav are the lightest and fastest form of cavalry so are best for getting on an enemies flank to charge or getting at the enemies artillery before they can react or even their general if that chance is open but arnt as good as the heavier cavalry at putting up a fight and so should only be used for charging flanks and diminished units or artillery units.
Artillery
24lb Foot Artillery with an 18lb Horse Drawn Arty in the back.
Artillery that you should use is mortars and cannons. Dont use fixed artillery such as rockets because you will be stuck guarding them and will be labeled a camper and highly hindered. These are also very cheap and should only be used when playing with bros for the fun of it. What you should use is either foot artillery that you can move if need be or my favorite horse artillery whether it be howitzers or cannons becuase they unlike most of the fixed artillery are well balanced and allow the game to be fun. Also most games in public no one allows fixed arty anyway just to reinforce it.Cannons fire in a horizontal direction. If they on top of the arch of a hill it is best if they are a little bit forward of the arch so that they can shoot down the hill because cannons can only shoot horizontal and cannot aim down into valleys and hills so well. What I mean is angle the guns on the hill so that they can fire down the hill if its a big hill so that you wont be so easily overrun. howitzers are kind of cheap but very effective. They are out ranged by cannon though so don’t try to go against cannon on a flat map with howitzers. Howitzers lob a shell up and over things like walls and hills to hit enemy units. When you have them on a hilly map they are very effective. Unlike cannons but a well placed cannon can be very usefull.
The munitions used by cannons and howitzers also differ. Dont ever use a normal iron ball ammo in a howitzer as its useless, instead you explosive or incendiary ammo, explosive I am partial to as it looks cool and is always effective against groups. Cannons get iron ball and shrapnel ammo as the two main long range munitions. Ball is just an iron ball and is usefull against enemy cannons and has the best range they also can bounce and hit units while doing so. Shrapnel is a munition that is fire and explodes mid air to throw shrapnel into the enemy units. Is very effective against everything especially closely bundled infantry and cavalry. Use this when the enemy is in range only if they are not use iron ball because of its ability to bounce and hit targets out of the range cone.
Also there is some foot artillery ( can be moved but only by the men pushing it with and following behind ) and horse artillery where the men hope on horses with the cannons being towed behind
Militia, Elite Units and Experience
In this Image is a unit of Royal Ecossias an elite unit for the French.
Elite units are special units that are more expensive then normal unit but have higher stats and are very usefull for securing flanks and keeping areas where normal infantry will not do well. But come at a very high price point a few of these units can help your cause greatly but depending on them as a backbone is problematic. Lets say you can afford 10 normal units of line inf for your setup. But you decide you want to have 5 or 6 or so units of elite units instead. The thing is now you dont have as many men or rifles to bear down upon the enemy and even less reserve units. Just because a unit is elite doesn’t mean a howitzer round cant take our a handfull of them with a good shot. And less regiment units mean that you have less manuevurs possible and to do possibly making it easier for the enemy to flank and wrap around your army.
Poorly trained and even worse equipped Militia are not to be taking seriously.
Militia are kmart units. They are terrible and should never be used. They tend to be terrible at shooting and even worse at melee and route easily. Only when playing in early time period or campaign should milia ever be brought into the field. And even then I only recommend units like pikemen that are pretty much the only defense to cav in the early period multiplayer which is why I much prefer late where there are many more tactics available. If you have money left over after buying all the units you want/need then just put it to experience which boosts stats for each unit that has it.
Experience is given to men through battle at least in the campaign. You get experience for your men in multiplayer by purchasing it ( I dont usually do this unless I have extra money or want specific units to be fierce ). What experience does is it adds a boost to a units stats such as reload time, accuracy, morale or melee as some examples. Sometimes I will give Exp to a good bit of my army depending on how Im building it. There is no specific way to build an army correctly just what works for you. But if you have all your units purchased but still have money left over add some experience to units that would use it most. If you like cannons give it to them but I recomend giving exp to the units that will do the most fighting such as infantry or cavalry units.
Superior Line Infantry are more like elite units than normal line infantry. They fire by platoon instead of by rank which Line Infantry use. They also have higher stats than normal line infantry, so they are a good half way point for nations that posses them. But as stated before should not be the only line infantry in your army. There should be a good mix of elite and normal units, but not to much of a mix so to facilitate management of the army. Only a few countries have this unit but they are a good unit to use as a supplementary force.
In the next section I will cover minor scenarios and tactics to use.