In comparison to Civilization VI, I found my first playthrough of Empires: Total War to be disappointing. Overall, the game is extremely confusing, even after playing the tutorial and looking up playthroughs. That was one of the many reasons as to why this blog post took so long to write, I wanted to get to a point where I could make progress in the game instead of just clicking through and waiting to be wiped off the map. Additionally, sorry if the photos are substandard quality, I had to take pictures with my phone because my laptop’s screenshot mechanic requires holding down the ‘s’ key which was overridden by the game’s controls to move the screen. I prefer the simpler game mechanics of Civ VI compared to the multiple complex tabs of Empires that one can get lost in. There are too many steps to find a simple bit of information. In addition to there being too much text, the size is incredibly tiny and as someone with dyslexia, it was not fun combing through it to figure out how to play or figure out which building are which. I understand that they want to incorporate history into the game, which they do a respectable job through captivating quotes and established alliances/enemies, however, massive walls of text are not appealing. Another criticism I have is that the loading screens are too long. I might just be incredibly impatient, but I did not like that you had to watch every other empire take its turn because the game still tells you the notable events that occurred which affected your empire. I also prefer that in Civ VI you start from nothing and get to build your empire. There are also multiple ways to attain victory that do not involve conflict which I always do because I do not like conflict. Plus, you feel obligated to defend every time you have rightly earned. An element I thought was true to life was the sheer side of the map and the number of other empires because it really makes it seem like your empire is so insignificant and powerless. I also really liked the graphics and the snow for season changes. For classroom instruction, I would prefer using Civ VI or Tropico over Empires because they are less complicated and are more aesthetically pleasing, especially for younger students. However, Empires is more historically accurate than the other two games that have futuristic elements.
My first playthrough was in class with Leah, Caitlin, and Teddy in which we were assigned to play as The Martha Confederacy. It was a terrible introduction to the game for all of us because we made no progress. I got so disorientated by the mechanic to control your screen’s perspective because I was using a trackpad. Using a mouse and later finding out you can use the standard key binds (w,a,s,d as well as q and w) to move it were lifesavers. In this playthrough, our empire was rising to power because of religious tensions, The Martha Confederacy wanting to preserve Hinduism against growing support for Islam. This is all happening while European powers were rapidly gaining influence through research and trading networks. The main threat was The Mughal Empire which we were supposed to fight on the Indian peninsula. Geography proposed an issue because we were not given naval ships to participate in the area’s booming trade networks or defend against pirates and advanced navy of the Mughals. Our goal was to take over fifteen regions to expand the empire by 1750. That seemed like an impossible task not only because we were unfamiliar with the game, but because we only knew how to compare our military to that of the other empires. Additionally, we could not find the college, so we could not even advance our empire passed a certain point. I believe Teddy got as far as picking a fight with a neighboring region, but that was all we had time for in that class. We all decided that was the last time we would play as The Martha Confederacy.
The second class, we were assigned to play as Prussia and declare war on France and Austria in the year 1702, which gave no time to prepare. Again, us being extremely confused, we barely got to 1702 by the end of class. I somehow ended up in a battle with my neighboring region and then spent almost the entirety of class stuck in that mode. I could not for the life of me figure out how to command the soldiers to move forward and attack. Instead, they kept doing the “hokey pokey” turning themselves around in all different directions. When Leah and I finally figured out how to move the soldiers, we moved them in the opposite direction of the enemy army. We managed to turn them around again and fight the opponent. However, it was my two weak units against an entire army. Obviously, my units were demolished and all that work was for nothing. In between classes, I tried to find some tutorials to help me understand the game, but they were mostly unhelpful. I decided to play the military tutorial to try and figure out the controls. That defiantly helped because it was guided step by step and there were no confusing menus. I learned how to fire cannons, control foot soldiers, and guide the commander. However, when it came to fighting the enemy, things did not go as planned. My army was defeated and surrendered to the opponent. I managed to lose the baby mode tutorial!
Now that I understood the controls better, I began messing around in a new Prussian world (I liked the geographic location and wanted the least number of deadly enemies) to try and progress past 1702 while still declaring war on France and Austria. The empires on my good side were Britain, Sweden, Denmark, and the United Provinces. With the help of the game’s guidance, I managed to figure out how to move around the people, build, negotiate with other empires, and use the skill tree. The military aspect was not going to happen, but luckily, there is a mechanic that autocompletes the battle for you. I would much rather lose a battle (and a general) in two seconds than waste an hour trying myself! I made an alliance with my neighbor Poland and somehow manages to establish “peace” with the barbaric states. I liked the spy mechanic in which your agents can steal information from opponents' colleges. I played until the year 1724 and then quit because I could not stand just clicking and having to wait a minute between every turn. I like to speed run things and this just seems like a game you throw on in the background while doing other stuff. I thought it was super funny that my enemies (France and Austria) ended up declaring war on each other. I tried to get Britain as my ally, but they rejected me. Other than that, I managed to complete the first level of improvements for all the buildings in the capital. An element I was so confused about, why I ended up with so much money and not enough stuff to spend it on, and that was after my trade routes were pillages multiple times. It seems like I had too much money and too little time (I guess that is a good problem to have). I also built up a full basic army that I did not know how to use, so that was fun. Overall, Empire’s: Total War is an interesting background game, but I would not play it for fun in my free time.
