Like a 18th century sailor signing up for voyage, I know nothing about what lies ahead, I’m not sure what I’m getting myself into, but I trust the captain to provide entertaining catastrophes over the next many months.
While I love this time period and would love a sequel to this game... what kills it for me is the ridiculously huge provinces. France is a single province. Spain is a single province. It just feels wrong conquering such major regions with 2000 troops.
I saw a theory that the reason France is a single province was a reference to the fact that France was going through a period of MASSIVE centralization at this time.
I agree, though I thought France had two, Paris and Alsace Lorraine? There was an exploit you could do as Britain, putting two armies outside Dublin and Paris, swapping Dublin for Alsace and then immediately sieging both. You could take out France in one turn that way. Would love to see an Empire 2!
As an Englishman playing this game I simply do what we did irl but slightly better, make a giant fleet including trade, absorb France or Spain depending who starts first, then make a rush on India starting on the lost powerful of the two, if the colonies ever try and rebel they don't stand a chance by then 😁
I get that he means largest total war in terms of geography, but I can't help but feel like the scale was a detriment to how I perceived the size of the campaign. Taking all of France or all of Spain's Iberian holdings in a single battle made the game feel small, no matter the total amount of land. Maybe a campaign this size could be handled now if an Empire 2 was made.
The map and number of regions etc. is small compared to the mortal empires campaign of Warhammer 1 & 2 and 3 will probably be added to it. I really hope that they are going to build another historical game and that it will be Empire 2, with everything they have learned and can craft now I believe they have the tools to make an Empire 2 truely amazing.
Yeah, I've long since been an advocate of an Empire 2. Properly representing the whole world would be fantastic. And Warhammer's scale shows it can be done.
I understand that this is mostly bias on my part(I've played very little Total War overall; but a decent amount of CK2 and, recently, 3); but the lack of a fairly punishing attrition mechanic felt very noticeable. I realize that the start date is ~800 years later, so in CK terms the province development level of all but the most godforsaken corners of Europe is probably 20+; but after my own recent attempt to take Norway, where I lost ~10 times as many soldiers to attrition as Jon sent to do the entire job, it felt pretty weird to see someone just raise a flag over Christiana and call Norway good.
One of the problems with early total war games was the limited number of territories, a function of the capabilities of AI and hardware at the time. Some total war youtuber (I think Melkor) made a break down of how you could do an empire 2 that included the entire world (Asia, Australia, Africa, etc included) and based on the number of territories in recent total war games you could have a region density in Europe equivalent to or greater than Napoleon total war. For context I believe France is 7-8 provinces in that one
Hey Jon, you can select the "Keep to Line Formation" button in naval battles and your ships will attempt to stay in a single continual line so that they don't cross lines of fire or get jumbled up due to differing speeds. It's INCREDIBLY useful.
29:57 you need to remember whenever you reposition your ships the sails automatically go back to half, or third whatever. Everytime you move them you need to reselect full sale if you want them going fast. Hope you see this!
Yep and selecting the "Keep to line of sail" keeps them in a line formation despite differing speeds and locations. Very useful especially in larger battles.
yep, also that white line above the ships flags, that's not morale that's another health bar, that's the sails health bar, that's why that bar value plumits when you distroy the mast, it's the sails/mast health bar, now ofc the crew likes there sails and mast above the water, because otherwhise they are no longer on a ship but on a massive coffin so that's why they are routeing so fast when it's mast is destroyed, however just wanted to make sure people do not mistake that bar as the morale bar
@@skie6282 I've learned how intricate naval was in Napoleon doing online. ~ (or whattever that key would be in an American keyboard) sets the ship to move in a straight line in whatever speed you're at. The keys around also control speed, so you don't need to constantly press them on the Hud. They're all around Enter, not hard to find.
I love that you are playing the Dutch. They absolutely have incredible opportunities in every region, but they have so many strong enemies that it always stays interesting, at least on the strategy map.
I love playing the Dutch, not just because I am one but you can influence so much. First time I played I focused on Europe itself, next time on India and the time after on the Americas.. So much difference in outcomes; I am very interested in how Jon will take the world :)
the united provinces are very much a ˝˝campaign˝ map faction , getting all those resources and removing pirates while mostly ignoring any land war against other powers for as long as possible , i genuinely enjoy the trading in this game
Fun fact: hitting an enemy’s bow with a broadside is called crossing a T. It was a top tier naval tactic up until the introduction of aircraft carriers, famously being used in battleship-era battles such as Tsushima strait and Jutland.
The maneuver is called "crossing the T" when it comes to formation maneuvering, but the concept of firing on a bow or stern is a "rake". Such as raking the bow. Higher chances of casualties when the cannonball travels through the longer length of the ship. Also more likely to damage critical gear such as the rudder when raking the stern.
@@NefariousKoel Combine it with a grapeshot broadside, and raking the stern can kill everybody sticking their head out from above deck. Chainshot meanwhile tends to rip into the full sail spread.
As a Dutch historian Jon waging war for control of Norway made me flash back to that time one of my professors spend an entire hour lecturing about the Nordic war and how whale blubber was an essential good in keeping Dutch light on. Also, love this pronunciation of fluyt/fluit and will strive to incorporate it into my daily life (fluit also means whistle/woodwind instrument)
Also, Jon mentioned the ship being 'skinny'. That was by design. The Danish issued a tax for ships moving through the Sont (the strip of sea between Denmark and Norway), and ships that wanted to reach the Baltic Sea needed to pay up. The Dutch needed a lot of timber and grain from the region, and therefore needed to pay up a lot. That payment was calculated using the width of the deck to get more money from bigger ships. In response, the Dutch thought: 'Well, we need to pay for deck width, but who says the deck needs to be as big as the keel?' The Fluyt was a direct result from that. The Dutch made the deck as small as possible, while simultaneously expanding the keel width and depth, creating a lovely pear-shape. It meant they got as many goods as possible in their trade ship while paying almost no taxes.
Have you tried Imperial Destroyer...very good. I've enjoyed Darth, Rights of Man, Empire realism, and Imperial Splendour amongst others, but Imperial Destroyer is the one I usually have installed.
When this came up during Democracy Week, I swore that this wouldn't happen. I was and am SO happy to see that it made it. Thank you, Jon, for throwing this in the mix and thank you to the community for voting for it.
I feel the same way. This was the only one I was really excited about. I know a lot of people were vocal about not wanting it, but I'm really happy it won.
I'm awful at grand strategy games (I just find them massively overwhelming), but I love watching people who are really good at them play. Looking forward to many more episodes of this series!
I also just dreadful in them, specially Total War games, but Crusader Kings have been impressively smooth thus far, far smoother than Total War or even Civilization (the one have the most experience with). Maybe you just need the find the right type of grand strategy game.
@@alexalbuquerquerodriguesal108 that is funny I have the reverse, every time I am on a winning streak in Crusader kings everybody suddenly rebels and tears my land apart.
Yay! An old favorite of mine! Helpful tip, the white bar at the top of your unit marker in naval combat is actually the health bar for your ship's sails, not the crew's morale. Best of luck!
I admit, when Jon said that taking down the sails really makes morale drop, I wondered if the white bar on the top might actually be the health of the white things on top of the ship.
@@Mankorra_Gomorrah When voting was done, Jon threw in a surprise vote at the end that hadn't been well received. It was X-Com 2 v. ETW. I assume that's the 'drama alluded to
"To the XCOM 2 lovers, sorry for giving you hope and then stamping on your hearts, but you have my word that XCOM 2 will be back later this year - just not before the actual winners of Democracy Week."
Empire is on my list to get because the period is such as fascinating one. I am really looking forward to this series and seeing how the Dutch Empire expands across Europe, Asia and the Americas
I've been waiting for someone to make this video, napoleon was overrated, the empire campaign with the darth mod was ridiculously good and broke my pc. Changing the names of the units into regiments and creating armies and attaching different units from different theatres to take part in campaigns... Im grabbing another pc...
Yes I'm glad we're finally seeing Empire: Total War, also when you picked the United provinces I figured that the first target was Norway. Also a tip regarding melee infantry. They are at their best when placed in between or on the flanks of your gunlines. From the flanks they can charge and disrupt the flanks of the enemy gunline or protect your own flanks. When placed in-between gunlines they can effectively counter an enemy charge without disrupting the fire of your gunline or break the center of the enemy gunline, disrupting their entire formation.
Empire TW is very underrated, my second all-time favorite after Medieval 2. The time period is brilliant, line warfare is so epic. I recently played a Darthmod campaign to test whether Carolean tactics would work, and by golly they did.
you've inspired me to reinstall this game! I had so much fun taking the Maratha Confederacy all the way from India to the Mediterranean, wiping out the Ottomans in the process!
I love the Maratha campaign. What I like is how the campaign begins with a mostly symmetrical peer war against one single enemy as opposed to the mess of alliances and wars that Europe immediately becomes.
@Gary Baldi That's an interesting claim, just curious who in particular left or if you have a source going into detail? I know the founder left after SEGA bought them, but that was well before Empire.
@Gary Baldi Warhammer/Attila have quite a few games between them and Empire :P Just seems like conjecture without further proof. Sure, devs may have changed, and I do think the new games are a bit frustrating with some features like unlocked troop movement they haven't maintained, but making an assertion that 'all the ambitious ones left' is something that begs a credible source beyond that.
@Gary Baldi I'm just saying you keep saying these things, but I can't take you on just your word about it and it's all circumstantial in the end. You've gotta be able to demonstrate a definite cause and effect. Especially as after ETW they continued to make games well-loved by pretty much all fans (Shogun II especially) and it wasn't until Rome II that things turned extremely bumpy. Heck, you haven't even said what they've gone on to make, so it's like... sorry, but I'm not able to see the full picture if it's not being painted??? lol
Really excited to see Empire on the channel. I have some great memories of a PLC campaign back when it released. Btw in naval battles, I think the white bar above the faction flag represents the "health" of the sails/mast rather than the units morale.
Kinda funny how Jon played as Denmark in Medieval 2 and his first war in this game is against them. Kinda interesting story wise as if to close the door on that chapter of history
I need more of this when most other people play Empire it's all about the land battles and they don't pay attention to most other aspects of the game. They hardly care about trade and almost everyone dosent have the patience to actually fight a naval battle which is my favorite part of the game so I'm glad you pay attention to all the small details it will keep this series interesting if you conquer the world like I hope you will.
I'm very sad they never bought naval combat back. I was such a cool system and could have been expanded a lot with crazy ship types in the Warhammer franchise. Now a days both armies look for a nice little island close by and set up on the island before attacking each other.
@@SRosenberg203 jank aside I think ETW did naval battles far better; the shorter range on guns together with the wind mechanics means movement and positioning are far more important; ships also last far longer under fire in ETW (in FotS smaller ships especially are exploding left and right with some of the ammo types) which means any player can just grab a couple 5th rates, demast all the enemies from outside their max range and then just eliminate the now immobile capital ships at their leasure; that and the way ships had 0 ability to pathfind around each other and would instead choose to just stop moving if a ship was in front of them (which sure did not work out well in combination with the AI using lines of battle) beyond that I only ever played Shogun 2 naval battles (FotS and vanilla) and I found both to be enjoyable; Vanilla probably moreso than FotS; FotS is fun for show but I think the effective engagement ranges are just far too long, which makes the actual gameplay really boring; you just kite the AI, picking off weaker ships then overwhelm the big ships; Vanilla naval combat is fun; just a shame Bow Kobaya got fire arrows and not the big ships. (I used a mod that gives all bow-armed ships access to fire arows and that does a lot to balance everything; now big bow ships are viable and not completely outclassed by kobayas and siege tower bunes)
@@captainnyet9855 Oh I agree, Empire is by far the best. I just meant that FotS and vanilla Shogun 2 are fun if not as great, especially compared to the naval combat in pretty much ever other TW game that's featured it. It was such a joke in Rome II, and I remember they seemed like they were so proud of it in the promo materials lol
24:42 - 24:45 “Canister shot is hellacious” Perhaps one of the most gruesome ways to die back then at lest on the battlefield, I see evil John is showing up a bit earlier then expected
One important game detail on ship rates. Shooting out sails is devastating. second There is a range drop when you move from fifth to fourth rates. Because of the 5th rate range advantage over all bigger ships and a gun advantage over anything smaller, they are arguably the best ships in the game.
Oh my god, I've been waiting for this for so long. I first got into this channel from binge-watching the Rome Total War and Barbarian Invasion playthroughs, and later the Medieval II playthrough. I was hoping a little for more Danish action, but I'm sure the Netherlands will prove to be just as fun. Just want to add that I still kinda wanna see a barbarian playthrough of Barbarian Invasion. :P
29:00 hey John! if you group your ships and then give them a move order they will all follow the lead ship, letting you move them along a line in the kinda historical way the AI does. This is pretty useful as it stops your ships from getting in each other’s way and maintains formation.
Last night being Monday, I was tired and excited to see this video. I was waiting on the RUclips homepage at 10pm and refreshing it regularly for about 37 minutes before realising Jon doesn't upload on mondays anymore.
Empire was the first ever game I played on Steam, although it wasn't my first Total War game. Funnily enough the first European faction I completed the game with was the United Provinces. The first faction I actually played and completed on the other hand was the Marathas in India.
29:20 That's not morale, Jon, it's the health of the masts and sails. Basically, what percentage of the ship's top speed it can manage with the given wind conditions.
I will never forget the fact that the game seemed to actively hate you for choosing to play as the ottomans, I haven't played in at least 5 years but I still remember that singular campaign being harder on normal than any of the others I did on very hard
I found playing as Spain was the easiest, when I chose them I did a Risk strategy which was to start out in a corner. This keeps you from being assaulted on multiple fronts. You can just push all the way through Europe in one direction. Playing as Prussia for example was much harder since its centrally located. I wanted to try and unify all the Germanic states but you'll soon be in a War with half the continent (or so it feels) and soon be overwhelmed. When I played as Spain it was the first time I played extensively as one country and controlled probably 2/3 Europe but my computer crashed and had to be reset to factory default RIP.
@@aerialmacaroon6312 The game is set roughly two decades away from the absolute height of ottoman power. They wouldn't be "the sick man of Europe" for two centuries
Jon, I'm pretty sure the white bar above the ships' circle icons is the health of their sails, not their morale. If you look at those bars when the enemies surrendered, they were way fuller than the enemies' morale had any right to be.
Yea you are 100% correct! I do hope he reads your comment and considers this going forward. Also chain-ball damage is effective only if the sails are deployed in the target ship… maybe we will gat an “let’s talk about the thing Jon got wrong” opening
@@delfinenteddyson9865 I think they're both hull health, one for each side. I don't think there is a morale bar, you just have to watch the circle for when it blinks.
Naval combat might be a pain in Empire. In previous installments, when it was auto resolved, it was impossible. You just lost automatically unless you had a massive fleet.
I check your channel every single day hoping you will do another Total War episode. Your Rome: Total War 57 part series is legendary (I only wish it was a lot longer). I really love the way you combine entertainment with actual history. Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!
Yes! Empire: Total War is something I've always wanted to see from Jon. I am very happy. Edit: It makes up for him not immediately playing dragon age 2.
So I may be wrong here, but isn't that white bar at the top of the naval UI the health of the ship's sails and masts? Either way, looking forward to this one, Jon. It's already given me the itch to fire up Empire again.
Yes, you are right. Although I can see how Jon would think that it's morale, since losing a mast inflicts such a massive morale penalty and also depletes the white bar.
A game i still play from time to time ever since 2007 and i think it's because, firstly, gunpowder line battles is just some you don't see often and secondly, because the campaign is kinda more strategic. You can really dwell stretched out, required to choose where to commit armies and resources. Empire 2 would be amazing if they would just reworked the map (never though the big regions as a good idea) and added better diplomacy.
With everything they learned and are able to do now since Empire and seeing how huge the mortal empires campaign is, I believe they could make Empire 2 with a real world map and make it a masterpiece of a game. If...
Oh yes thank you for Empire TW Jon! Also as a side note a new roguelike called Dome Romantik came out as a demo on steam, I think it would be great on the channel!
This game is definitely a top tier game for me personally and with a mod like darth mod intalled I think its just generally top tier. Basically I'd love to watch a modded series of this! ...please
Netherlands were also my favourite, especially after I figured out that - if you were lucky - you could conquer France in about 3 turns ^^ I doubt there'll ever be an Empire 2 though, CA staff would have a better survival chance walking through a literally minefield
So, naval terms. In Jon's first naval battle, he had the weather gauge, enabling him to cross the enemy's T and rake their bows. Instead, he gave up the weather gauge, tacked out of the wind then intercepted the enemy battle line in a Nelsonian charge, blasting them with both broadsides en passant. After taking the pirate ships as prizes, he decided against paying them off or laying them in ordinary, instead commissioning them into the Dutch navy.
32:00 I think what you're doing is called "Crossing the T" which was the tactic that Nelson used to win at Trafalgar; instead of just lining up parallel and exchanging broadsides, he cut through the enemy's lines perpendicularly and was able to use both sides of his fleet's cannons to devastating effect. It was apparently very difficult to pull off without being shredded by enemy fire, but once you got into the midst of their line they were virtually helpless because your broadsides would be firing on the bow and stern of the ships on either side of you.
"A mere generation ago, the Dutch navy sailed up the Thames and burned the English fleet at anchor." Not a history person so I never knew this happened. That sounds insane.
It was! The story is legendary here in the Netherlands and all young children learn about it. It's still one if the most humiliating defeats the British navy ever suffered. Our small nation has ever since that time stood toe to toe with the big boys of Europe and it's what the Dutch most times refer to when feeling patriotic.
It was the invention of the marines. A small group of sailors sailing right into enemy territory, burning the English ships and making off with the coat of arms of the English flagship, under the command of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, one of the greatest naval commanders to ever live
Surprised you’re starting with war in Europe and not in the colonies. I thought you’d be all in on having European wars outside of Europe (which was the style at the time!)
Agreed, I never thought of this tactic. I think it's a good one though. That said I would probably do some things differently, but I will definitely install the game again now and see what to do with the inspiration.
YEEEEESSSSS!!!! I’ve wanted to see a let’s play for Empire from you since forever! I played empire back in 2011 and enjoyed it but it never quite clicked with me the way ME2 and RTW did and it never really brought me back. I think it was just that added level of complexity compared to previous titles that I wasn’t familiar with caused a lot of empires intricacies to go right over my head meaning I couldn’t truly appreciate them. I tried watching other let’s plays hoping it would inspire me to go back but it’s just not the same. John is the only person that can explain all the smaller details of a total war game while still being entertaining and making you actually want to play the game. I’m hoping this is the one that inspires me to finally get back into it. ALL HAIL KING JOHN!!!!
The Dutch campaign is my favorite too. Such an interesting starting position and their unique troops are pretty cool as well. 50:54 It's a stone hedge. :P
There is a opening credit to the Naval Museums that were used as source material for the ships. Absolutely amazing to visit in person if you get a chance.
I have more than a thousand hours on this game, broken in some ways but beautifull in so many others ! I'm happy you picked the United Provinces, one of my favorite campaigns. Some people might have already pointed it out but during naval combat, the White healthbar on the ships represents the sails status. Of course demasting your opponent remains a powerfull way to lower it's morale on top of the tactical advantage in manoeuvrability it gives you. Also, if i'm not mistaken some other things decided by a territory's population is the size of it's militia garrison, scaling of public order bonuses and maluses, (like garrisons and public order) and size of the rebelling army if it comes to that point. Looking forward to the rest of the series, I was surprised by your opening attack in Norway and look forward to see were you'll expand next !
Waited for you to play this total war for years, so great to see it happen, and with the UP campaign even! :) some advice at the halfway point of the video: Naval Battles: CTRL Group your ships in line, they will keep formation and pace better. Ungroup from the back once the lines are engaged. GARRISON YOUR PORTS!!! especially Rotterdam (home province), put in a ship, a militia and the Rake into that port because if ANYTHING happens to that port, you're hosed: you will lose 2/3ds of your income. It will be especially disastrous if it happens after you have spend your entire treasury in the turn before. In addition, if France loads an army into a fleet in Normandy, they can walk straight into Amsterdam with an amphibious landing at Rotterdam, unless it is garrisoned. Really take this to heart, if Rotterdam gets damaged or blocked you will be losing the campaign. You should have sold the Carribean pirate ships, rather than taking them on. baffled by your choice to take Norway, not allying with Sweden first may have been a mistake. Also, you should have allied with Westphalia and Hannover on turn 1 when it was "free". from now on it will cost you money. Any faction you're not allied with will attack at some point and among your neighbours (other than Spain and France), Sweden and Westphalia are very likely to attack you.
Good to see the old lady getting some love. I totally agree on every aspect you've mentioned which makes this game great as well as its flaws. -Sea battles and thus controlling the trade knots is key to the game when playing The 7P, GB, Spain or France. -The sugar plantation in Dutch Guyana can be replaced by a spice plantation which generates more cash. -Colonial/oversea trade ports can only handle 30 units of goods, meaning you have to upgrade the ports when you upgrade the plantation(s) and fur traders or you waste money. -For a start, it's not a bad idea to build more universities, preferably in poor villages. Trade will more than compensate for the loss of some industrial income. -Tax income is not a game changer except for rich provinces. Apart from a few exceptions, the American provinces barely generate any tax income at all at the start due to very low population. You increase population growth by lowering taxes for the lower class (or excempt a region from taxes) and by upgrading farms. At some point in the game - depending on your economical performance - even poor villages become growing or even wealthy.
Very excited for this series! On one hand it would have been fun to see you go with Sweden (very biased as a swede who's bachelor is focusing on the same time period in Sweden) but on the other hand it's interesting to see what you can do with the underdog Netherlands!
Firstly, thank you for making this video, this will always be my favourite game and i hardly ever see it appreciated so much, often the community seems to point directly at empire when we talk about flawed TW games. Secondly, the white bar above the ship icons is actually the health of the sails. I've demasted many ships and totally depleted the bar and sometimes still the ship remains dangerous and can keep fighting under the right circumstances (Galleons can be a real pain). It does usually have a huge effect on morale though. I've often heard how hard people find naval combat in empire and frankly i think its more that players rarely take the time to master it because the pace is far slower.
Fantastic beginning, love the history as well. Hope you give more, and start of a WW1 beta soon enough. Speaking of historical terms, I think when your ship line crossed the enemy's ship line, it's called crossing the "T". I don't know what you'd call it when sailing through the enemy's line though. Didn't you need to put a "gentleman" into a school for research or in some way use that agent? What about your government, are there not some minister positions that can be moved around? I guess you might do that next episode to not make it too front heavy with game mechanics...
another cool thing in this game they did away with in later titles was general-less armies. one of my favorite strategies was sending out single units of cheap cavalry, who had more campaign movement points due to their speed, and raiding enemy churches/schools/farms etc. doing significant economic damage to them. however this also is the reason for a major game breaking bug in the late game where the ottoman empire will spam single unit armies and shuffle them around, crippling the end turn timer. so you may need to send a crusade their way at some point to keep that from happening. looking forward to future episodes!
Finally someone that agrees that Darth Mod ruins some of Empire's "Charm". The fact that they make all ships trade ships means that there is no reason not to just spam the most expensive and powerful ships. And then there's the fact that Darth Mod removed the grenades from the grenadiers. WHY would you do that? Grenades are the whole flipping point of grenadiers. I don't give a crap about how much you buffed their stats to compensate. Grenadiers aren't supposed to be just some "Elite Rifleman", they're supposed to be dudes with grenades. And don't give me crap about how historically between the years 1701 and 1939 all grenadiers voluntarily gave up their grenades. That just makes them bad grenadiers for not having any grenades.
Love this series so far. This is making me want to play Empire again. You should consider checking out Three Kingdoms again, the Cao Cao mechanics for instance are so darn fun and unless I missed it (totally possible) I don't think you've done a campaign with him yet.
I bought this game on sale a long time ago and never got around to playing it. Watching Jon play any game makes me want to play them. Stellaris and Crusader Kings 2 became some of my favorite games.
I’ve been waiting for this for sooo long. Great intro to the game, and I’m very interested to see how the Dutch campaign progresses. One question - did you forget to use your Gentleman and Rake in the first turn, or just not show us what they did? I always use my first Gentleman to tour other schools and colleges to steal technology. You usually have a better than 50% chance of stealing first-tier tech, allowing you to move on to researching second-tier tech very quickly.
Time for FFF - Fun Facts about Fluits! While entering the Baltic sea for Polish grain, Dutch fluits had to cross the Danish Straits. Toll for crossing was calculated based deck size in square feet, hence skinny deck and fat belly.
remember first playthrough. dropped a full stack pretty well experienced army off in spain and was immediately hit by 4 full spanish armies. formed up on hill. lost but only after running out of ammo and multiple bayonet charges.
Some small corrections: 1. on the ships, the white bar on top isn't morale, it's actually sail condition - however, as sail condition has significant morale impact, it can look like that's what you're seeing. 2. there is actually formations for ships, and if Jon had used that option, his ships WOULD have stayed in formation, that works really well in this game and makes the potentially messy naval combat much more manageable 3. The ships being so spectacularly detailed is easily explained by a disclaimer in the game's loading screen: the devs went ahead and got the actual plans for most ships from museum archives to make them as accurately detailed as possible. 4. sending units into buildings can be very situational; The AI could have put it's armed citizens into the buildings where they will last pretty long in a firefight instead of immediately collapsing, forcing you to storm in (at which point they will all die immediately); larger units like line infantry however might fare better in the melee when assaulted, but their ranged efficiency is severely restricted by the lack of formations and limited windows to fire from. it's really worth close consideration which option you can use to the best effect. Other than that, let me say this: I never played with the Netherlands because I avoided small nations like the plague, always picked either Sweden or Prussia and I expected Jon to go British Empire or maybe Spain. This is an interesting pick...
You did well pronouncing Fluyt Jon, as a Dutch myself I can see why the sound 'ui' is quite hard. Dutch 'ui' is identical to the 'ou' in 'out' just with a heavy scottish accent.
@@onchristieroad try and say out with a extremely heavy scottish accent. And then add Fl in front. Modern Dutch spelling its Fluit. Back then many words were spelled with y instead of i. But Jon did pronounce the word correctly when he said Flute, because the literal translation of Fluyt = Fluit = Flute = whistle. Get it?
Actually Jon, i can confirm that the upping the battle difficulty gives the land troops more then just "more moral" on VH enemy line infantry become RIFLEMEN with how deadly they are, EVERY SINGLE VOLLEY will kill 30 of your men, meanwhile your mean cant kill more then 10 if that. They DEFINATELY get more then just Moral im certain of that.
Jon becomes Jan. 17:55 That ship called Honslaarsdijk. That's a town (named after a castle/palace there) very close to where I live, here in the NL. Never knew it was a name for a 18th century sailing ship.
Like a 18th century sailor signing up for voyage, I know nothing about what lies ahead, I’m not sure what I’m getting myself into, but I trust the captain to provide entertaining catastrophes over the next many months.
And mispronouncing Dutch words. Don't forget the mispronouncing Dutch words.
@@ManyATrueNerd We wouldn't have it any other way, captain!
@@ManyATrueNerd I loved your pronounciation of Paramaribo! Keep ‘em coming!
@@ManyATrueNerd As a Belgian, i can't wait for that!
Aye Aye kapitein!
spreek weg!
While I love this time period and would love a sequel to this game... what kills it for me is the ridiculously huge provinces. France is a single province. Spain is a single province. It just feels wrong conquering such major regions with 2000 troops.
France could definitely have benefited from a southern province for a bit of extra security - capital of Lyons, perhaps.
I concur.
I saw a theory that the reason France is a single province was a reference to the fact that France was going through a period of MASSIVE centralization at this time.
I agree, though I thought France had two, Paris and Alsace Lorraine? There was an exploit you could do as Britain, putting two armies outside Dublin and Paris, swapping Dublin for Alsace and then immediately sieging both. You could take out France in one turn that way.
Would love to see an Empire 2!
They probably did it as a hardware concession to the fact that the world map is so large.
"Tax is a very, very sexy thing"
Do you ever wonder if Jon realizes just how English he sounds at times, perhaps it's a genetic instinct for him.
He has an instinctual desire to create an empire.
@@twilitlloyd7167 and to wage war on the French.
As an Englishman playing this game I simply do what we did irl but slightly better, make a giant fleet including trade, absorb France or Spain depending who starts first, then make a rush on India starting on the lost powerful of the two, if the colonies ever try and rebel they don't stand a chance by then 😁
We're Englishmen, it's just how we are.
I get that he means largest total war in terms of geography, but I can't help but feel like the scale was a detriment to how I perceived the size of the campaign. Taking all of France or all of Spain's Iberian holdings in a single battle made the game feel small, no matter the total amount of land. Maybe a campaign this size could be handled now if an Empire 2 was made.
The map and number of regions etc. is small compared to the mortal empires campaign of Warhammer 1 & 2 and 3 will probably be added to it. I really hope that they are going to build another historical game and that it will be Empire 2, with everything they have learned and can craft now I believe they have the tools to make an Empire 2 truely amazing.
Yeah, I've long since been an advocate of an Empire 2. Properly representing the whole world would be fantastic. And Warhammer's scale shows it can be done.
I understand that this is mostly bias on my part(I've played very little Total War overall; but a decent amount of CK2 and, recently, 3); but the lack of a fairly punishing attrition mechanic felt very noticeable. I realize that the start date is ~800 years later, so in CK terms the province development level of all but the most godforsaken corners of Europe is probably 20+; but after my own recent attempt to take Norway, where I lost ~10 times as many soldiers to attrition as Jon sent to do the entire job, it felt pretty weird to see someone just raise a flag over Christiana and call Norway good.
One of the problems with early total war games was the limited number of territories, a function of the capabilities of AI and hardware at the time. Some total war youtuber (I think Melkor) made a break down of how you could do an empire 2 that included the entire world (Asia, Australia, Africa, etc included) and based on the number of territories in recent total war games you could have a region density in Europe equivalent to or greater than Napoleon total war. For context I believe France is 7-8 provinces in that one
@@Lucifer_26 have you ever seen gunpowder units in warhammer? its gonna be real bad if they look and play like that in a new empire
Hey Jon, you can select the "Keep to Line Formation" button in naval battles and your ships will attempt to stay in a single continual line so that they don't cross lines of fire or get jumbled up due to differing speeds. It's INCREDIBLY useful.
So he will finally use it in the last episode then
Also the white bar is sail health not morale. Just in case people are wondering
Not it's not. Group formations never work outside of simple things.
You're better off doing it yourself.
@@JonatasAdoM Quite simply not true for naval battles! For land battles I fully agree though.
god, Jon doing naval battles is painful to watch
29:57 you need to remember whenever you reposition your ships the sails automatically go back to half, or third whatever. Everytime you move them you need to reselect full sale if you want them going fast. Hope you see this!
Yes, it's the same as the walk/run mechanic with land units. Single click to sail slow, double to sail fast.
@@Lucifer_26 and i never knew this!!!
Yep and selecting the "Keep to line of sail" keeps them in a line formation despite differing speeds and locations. Very useful especially in larger battles.
yep, also that white line above the ships flags, that's not morale that's another health bar, that's the sails health bar, that's why that bar value plumits when you distroy the mast, it's the sails/mast health bar, now ofc the crew likes there sails and mast above the water, because otherwhise they are no longer on a ship but on a massive coffin so that's why they are routeing so fast when it's mast is destroyed, however just wanted to make sure people do not mistake that bar as the morale bar
@@skie6282 I've learned how intricate naval was in Napoleon doing online.
~ (or whattever that key would be in an American keyboard) sets the ship to move in a straight line in whatever speed you're at. The keys around also control speed, so you don't need to constantly press them on the Hud.
They're all around Enter, not hard to find.
I love that you are playing the Dutch. They absolutely have incredible opportunities in every region, but they have so many strong enemies that it always stays interesting, at least on the strategy map.
I love playing the Dutch, not just because I am one but you can influence so much. First time I played I focused on Europe itself, next time on India and the time after on the Americas.. So much difference in outcomes; I am very interested in how Jon will take the world :)
the united provinces are very much a ˝˝campaign˝ map faction , getting all those resources and removing pirates while mostly ignoring any land war against other powers for as long as possible , i genuinely enjoy the trading in this game
Just here for algorithm boosting. I'll watch tomorrow. Can't wait to see how you'll do. Empire was my first TW games. Keep up the quality Jon.
Fun fact: hitting an enemy’s bow with a broadside is called crossing a T. It was a top tier naval tactic up until the introduction of aircraft carriers, famously being used in battleship-era battles such as Tsushima strait and Jutland.
The maneuver is called "crossing the T" when it comes to formation maneuvering, but the concept of firing on a bow or stern is a "rake". Such as raking the bow.
Higher chances of casualties when the cannonball travels through the longer length of the ship. Also more likely to damage critical gear such as the rudder when raking the stern.
@@NefariousKoel ah so crossing the T is the maneuver part and raking the fire part, gotcha
@@LazerWolf21 - Yeah. It even sounds cool. "Rake the stern!" Like you're doing some gardening, but for kills.
@@NefariousKoel Combine it with a grapeshot broadside, and raking the stern can kill everybody sticking their head out from above deck. Chainshot meanwhile tends to rip into the full sail spread.
As a Dutch historian Jon waging war for control of Norway made me flash back to that time one of my professors spend an entire hour lecturing about the Nordic war and how whale blubber was an essential good in keeping Dutch light on.
Also, love this pronunciation of fluyt/fluit and will strive to incorporate it into my daily life (fluit also means whistle/woodwind instrument)
The fluyt is also called a "flute" in English, derived from the French translation of "fluyt"
Also, Jon mentioned the ship being 'skinny'. That was by design.
The Danish issued a tax for ships moving through the Sont (the strip of sea between Denmark and Norway), and ships that wanted to reach the Baltic Sea needed to pay up.
The Dutch needed a lot of timber and grain from the region, and therefore needed to pay up a lot. That payment was calculated using the width of the deck to get more money from bigger ships.
In response, the Dutch thought: 'Well, we need to pay for deck width, but who says the deck needs to be as big as the keel?'
The Fluyt was a direct result from that. The Dutch made the deck as small as possible, while simultaneously expanding the keel width and depth, creating a lovely pear-shape. It meant they got as many goods as possible in their trade ship while paying almost no taxes.
@@the_tactician9858 I can almost see that captain's shit eating grin as he passed through the Sont.
Rights of man mod is a must. Keeps it vanilla, fixes loads of bugs, adds cool musket sound effects, makes Ai diplomacy more rational, adds AOR system.
DARTH MOD is mine
Have you tried Imperial Destroyer...very good. I've enjoyed Darth, Rights of Man, Empire realism, and Imperial Splendour amongst others, but Imperial Destroyer is the one I usually have installed.
@@martynhulland6252 No, its been a wile. im try it now thx.
@@martynhulland6252 yeah but had to tweak so much in there to make it fun for me and it slowed the campaign down way too much imo.
When this came up during Democracy Week, I swore that this wouldn't happen. I was and am SO happy to see that it made it. Thank you, Jon, for throwing this in the mix and thank you to the community for voting for it.
I feel the same way. This was the only one I was really excited about. I know a lot of people were vocal about not wanting it, but I'm really happy it won.
I'm awful at grand strategy games (I just find them massively overwhelming), but I love watching people who are really good at them play. Looking forward to many more episodes of this series!
Thats why i love the pause button, take as long as you want to look over the map and plan
I also just dreadful in them, specially Total War games, but Crusader Kings have been impressively smooth thus far, far smoother than Total War or even Civilization (the one have the most experience with). Maybe you just need the find the right type of grand strategy game.
Empire is a bit easier (in my opinion) than other Total War games and grand strategy games.
you can always play them on easy
@@alexalbuquerquerodriguesal108 that is funny I have the reverse, every time I am on a winning streak in Crusader kings everybody suddenly rebels and tears my land apart.
Jon tries to "cross the 'T'", fails miserably, then stumbles into easy victory, love it
Jon playing total war has got me through some bad times. And it's gonna do it once more
God it feels good to be here again.
A different Total War playthrough with a Jon history lesson? Perfection.
I see you, Magneto meme!
@@onchristieroad What?
Damn fine to see someone else who loved Empire and wants a sequel.
Yay! An old favorite of mine! Helpful tip, the white bar at the top of your unit marker in naval combat is actually the health bar for your ship's sails, not the crew's morale. Best of luck!
I admit, when Jon said that taking down the sails really makes morale drop, I wondered if the white bar on the top might actually be the health of the white things on top of the ship.
@@paulclarke8505 It definitely does a lot of morale damage just that the bar is definitely a sail health bar haha
I didn’t vote for this, but this has caused so much drama in the community I’ve got to see this now
I voted for this and i support community drama
Wait what?
@@Mankorra_Gomorrah When voting was done, Jon threw in a surprise vote at the end that hadn't been well received. It was X-Com 2 v. ETW. I assume that's the 'drama alluded to
@@monsieurlaguillotine3481 he'll do both.
"To the XCOM 2 lovers, sorry for giving you hope and then stamping on your hearts, but you have my word that XCOM 2 will be back later this year - just not before the actual winners of Democracy Week."
Empire is on my list to get because the period is such as fascinating one. I am really looking forward to this series and seeing how the Dutch Empire expands across Europe, Asia and the Americas
I've been waiting for someone to make this video, napoleon was overrated, the empire campaign with the darth mod was ridiculously good and broke my pc. Changing the names of the units into regiments and creating armies and attaching different units from different theatres to take part in campaigns... Im grabbing another pc...
I like how the flags after a battle are a bit frayed to reflect how damaged the units are, but the flag corners are perfect if at full health
Yes I'm glad we're finally seeing Empire: Total War, also when you picked the United provinces I figured that the first target was Norway.
Also a tip regarding melee infantry. They are at their best when placed in between or on the flanks of your gunlines. From the flanks they can charge and disrupt the flanks of the enemy gunline or protect your own flanks. When placed in-between gunlines they can effectively counter an enemy charge without disrupting the fire of your gunline or break the center of the enemy gunline, disrupting their entire formation.
Empire TW is very underrated, my second all-time favorite after Medieval 2. The time period is brilliant, line warfare is so epic. I recently played a Darthmod campaign to test whether Carolean tactics would work, and by golly they did.
What do you mean by Carolean? Small armies with minimal losses?
30:16 Fun fact, Crossing the enemy’s “T” and firing down them long wise is called “Raking”
you've inspired me to reinstall this game! I had so much fun taking the Maratha Confederacy all the way from India to the Mediterranean, wiping out the Ottomans in the process!
I love the Maratha campaign. What I like is how the campaign begins with a mostly symmetrical peer war against one single enemy as opposed to the mess of alliances and wars that Europe immediately becomes.
Utterly agree with Jon's intro.
What a travesty this has never received a sequel.
If we can't get a sequel, I'd be happy for a remastered version that is fully moddable.
@Gary Baldi That's an interesting claim, just curious who in particular left or if you have a source going into detail? I know the founder left after SEGA bought them, but that was well before Empire.
I disagree *BUT* if a sequel fixes the issues of this game all for it. Have it be a reverse Rome 2
@Gary Baldi Warhammer/Attila have quite a few games between them and Empire :P
Just seems like conjecture without further proof. Sure, devs may have changed, and I do think the new games are a bit frustrating with some features like unlocked troop movement they haven't maintained, but making an assertion that 'all the ambitious ones left' is something that begs a credible source beyond that.
@Gary Baldi I'm just saying you keep saying these things, but I can't take you on just your word about it and it's all circumstantial in the end. You've gotta be able to demonstrate a definite cause and effect. Especially as after ETW they continued to make games well-loved by pretty much all fans (Shogun II especially) and it wasn't until Rome II that things turned extremely bumpy.
Heck, you haven't even said what they've gone on to make, so it's like... sorry, but I'm not able to see the full picture if it's not being painted??? lol
Really excited to see Empire on the channel. I have some great memories of a PLC campaign back when it released. Btw in naval battles, I think the white bar above the faction flag represents the "health" of the sails/mast rather than the units morale.
Kinda funny how Jon played as Denmark in Medieval 2 and his first war in this game is against them. Kinda interesting story wise as if to close the door on that chapter of history
I need more of this when most other people play Empire it's all about the land battles and they don't pay attention to most other aspects of the game. They hardly care about trade and almost everyone dosent have the patience to actually fight a naval battle which is my favorite part of the game so I'm glad you pay attention to all the small details it will keep this series interesting if you conquer the world like I hope you will.
"You're gonna get educated whether you like it or not!"
Joke's on you, the teacher Jon bits are my favourite part!
I'm very sad they never bought naval combat back. I was such a cool system and could have been expanded a lot with crazy ship types in the Warhammer franchise. Now a days both armies look for a nice little island close by and set up on the island before attacking each other.
They could resurrect Man o war fully in a total war game!!
Naval warfare was pretty fun in Fall of the Samurai, the Shogun 2 expansion. But it's kind of sucked in every game since.
@@SRosenberg203 jank aside I think ETW did naval battles far better; the shorter range on guns together with the wind mechanics means movement and positioning are far more important; ships also last far longer under fire in ETW (in FotS smaller ships especially are exploding left and right with some of the ammo types) which means any player can just grab a couple 5th rates, demast all the enemies from outside their max range and then just eliminate the now immobile capital ships at their leasure; that and the way ships had 0 ability to pathfind around each other and would instead choose to just stop moving if a ship was in front of them (which sure did not work out well in combination with the AI using lines of battle)
beyond that I only ever played Shogun 2 naval battles (FotS and vanilla) and I found both to be enjoyable; Vanilla probably moreso than FotS; FotS is fun for show but I think the effective engagement ranges are just far too long, which makes the actual gameplay really boring; you just kite the AI, picking off weaker ships then overwhelm the big ships; Vanilla naval combat is fun; just a shame Bow Kobaya got fire arrows and not the big ships. (I used a mod that gives all bow-armed ships access to fire arows and that does a lot to balance everything; now big bow ships are viable and not completely outclassed by kobayas and siege tower bunes)
@@captainnyet9855 Oh I agree, Empire is by far the best. I just meant that FotS and vanilla Shogun 2 are fun if not as great, especially compared to the naval combat in pretty much ever other TW game that's featured it. It was such a joke in Rome II, and I remember they seemed like they were so proud of it in the promo materials lol
24:42 - 24:45 “Canister shot is hellacious” Perhaps one of the most gruesome ways to die back then at lest on the battlefield, I see evil John is showing up a bit earlier then expected
In the battle of Antitem one of the bloodiest in American History Canister definantly killed a lot of men.
Lime shot sounds horrifying as well, plus you had incendiary and shrapnel. Bring back variable ammo types.
@@Nomisdoowtsae Lime shot is the bomb, one good volley can kill 100+ troops from one battery
This is by far my favourite total war game. The only downside is that the defensive siege ai can tank the game to a slide show.
Words cannot describe just how *excited* I am for this series! I'm genuinely going to hate having to wait for new episodes!
I agree with your entire opening sentiment, Jon. I've wanted a sequel to Empire for so, so long.
One important game detail on ship rates. Shooting out sails is devastating. second There is a range drop when you move from fifth to fourth rates. Because of the 5th rate range advantage over all bigger ships and a gun advantage over anything smaller, they are arguably the best ships in the game.
Oh my god, I've been waiting for this for so long. I first got into this channel from binge-watching the Rome Total War and Barbarian Invasion playthroughs, and later the Medieval II playthrough. I was hoping a little for more Danish action, but I'm sure the Netherlands will prove to be just as fun.
Just want to add that I still kinda wanna see a barbarian playthrough of Barbarian Invasion. :P
29:00 hey John! if you group your ships and then give them a move order they will all follow the lead ship, letting you move them along a line in the kinda historical way the AI does. This is pretty useful as it stops your ships from getting in each other’s way and maintains formation.
Last night being Monday, I was tired and excited to see this video. I was waiting on the RUclips homepage at 10pm and refreshing it regularly for about 37 minutes before realising Jon doesn't upload on mondays anymore.
Empire was the first ever game I played on Steam, although it wasn't my first Total War game. Funnily enough the first European faction I completed the game with was the United Provinces. The first faction I actually played and completed on the other hand was the Marathas in India.
29:20 That's not morale, Jon, it's the health of the masts and sails. Basically, what percentage of the ship's top speed it can manage with the given wind conditions.
I will never forget the fact that the game seemed to actively hate you for choosing to play as the ottomans, I haven't played in at least 5 years but I still remember that singular campaign being harder on normal than any of the others I did on very hard
It’s annoying yeah but it is accurate
The sick man of europe
I found playing as Spain was the easiest, when I chose them I did a Risk strategy which was to start out in a corner. This keeps you from being assaulted on multiple fronts. You can just push all the way through Europe in one direction. Playing as Prussia for example was much harder since its centrally located. I wanted to try and unify all the Germanic states but you'll soon be in a War with half the continent (or so it feels) and soon be overwhelmed.
When I played as Spain it was the first time I played extensively as one country and controlled probably 2/3 Europe but my computer crashed and had to be reset to factory default RIP.
@@aerialmacaroon6312 The game is set roughly two decades away from the absolute height of ottoman power. They wouldn't be "the sick man of Europe" for two centuries
@@SeraSmiles fair
So many fun sound bytes this episode.... 'Floot', 'Sloop', and my personal favorite: 'Limited Utility Artillery'
Jon, I'm pretty sure the white bar above the ships' circle icons is the health of their sails, not their morale. If you look at those bars when the enemies surrendered, they were way fuller than the enemies' morale had any right to be.
Yea you are 100% correct! I do hope he reads your comment and considers this going forward.
Also chain-ball damage is effective only if the sails are deployed in the target ship… maybe we will gat an “let’s talk about the thing Jon got wrong” opening
I think one of the green bar below is for hull health and the other is for moral
@@delfinenteddyson9865 I think they're both hull health, one for each side. I don't think there is a morale bar, you just have to watch the circle for when it blinks.
Really hoping this is a new series! The previous series got me through a lot of bad and difficult times
It is! It was one of the community voted series in Democracy Week!
@@Redassassin53 YES THANK YOU
Glad to see someone else also gets good help from watching Jon, helps to not feel alone lol. Hope things are looking brighter now!
I am so so so excited to see Jon play this! I adore Empire; hoping for a full series.
It will be, it’s the new Tuesday Friday series
So glad to start watching this new series, Jon!
I've played this game so much. Really wish they continued this series.
Naval combat might be a pain in Empire.
In previous installments, when it was auto resolved, it was impossible. You just lost automatically unless you had a massive fleet.
This game has held up so well I genuinely thought Jon had a graphics mod on for the naval battles. Super impressive stuff.
I check your channel every single day hoping you will do another Total War episode. Your Rome: Total War 57 part series is legendary (I only wish it was a lot longer). I really love the way you combine entertainment with actual history. Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!
Yes! Empire: Total War is something I've always wanted to see from Jon. I am very happy.
Edit: It makes up for him not immediately playing dragon age 2.
Would love to see a series on this game, love all the total wars and the knowledge you have on them too!
So I may be wrong here, but isn't that white bar at the top of the naval UI the health of the ship's sails and masts? Either way, looking forward to this one, Jon. It's already given me the itch to fire up Empire again.
Yes, you are right. Although I can see how Jon would think that it's morale, since losing a mast inflicts such a massive morale penalty and also depletes the white bar.
Hello Jon!
You are a major reason why I started my channel and this series in particular is EXACTLY what I needed. Much love and appreciation!
Good luck!
A game i still play from time to time ever since 2007 and i think it's because, firstly, gunpowder line battles is just some you don't see often and secondly, because the campaign is kinda more strategic. You can really dwell stretched out, required to choose where to commit armies and resources. Empire 2 would be amazing if they would just reworked the map (never though the big regions as a good idea) and added better diplomacy.
With everything they learned and are able to do now since Empire and seeing how huge the mortal empires campaign is, I believe they could make Empire 2 with a real world map and make it a masterpiece of a game. If...
Oh yes thank you for Empire TW Jon!
Also as a side note a new roguelike called Dome Romantik came out as a demo on steam, I think it would be great on the channel!
This game can be dizzying at the start when there’s SO much you can do, but so little money to do it with and massive consequences for everything
29:16 That's not Morale, that's Sails,
Low Morale was indicated by the flag flashing white,
the faster the flashing the lower the morale.
Yay another total war series, I look forward to watching this.
It's been a long time since I've kept up with regular RUclips LPs, but John's Total War series are always able to suck me back in.
This game is definitely a top tier game for me personally and with a mod like darth mod intalled I think its just generally top tier. Basically I'd love to watch a modded series of this! ...please
"Say hello... to ma' ships."
That accent nails that line.
That SHIP OF THE LINE!
I realize Empire is flawed, but it's still one of my favorite Total War games. The scale of the campaign is amazing!
You've reinvigorated my interest in the game, absolutely going to start a new campaign.
Stellaris was my pick but Jon does great at all these types of games, very entertaining
Netherlands were also my favourite, especially after I figured out that - if you were lucky - you could conquer France in about 3 turns ^^
I doubt there'll ever be an Empire 2 though, CA staff would have a better survival chance walking through a literally minefield
So, naval terms. In Jon's first naval battle, he had the weather gauge, enabling him to cross the enemy's T and rake their bows. Instead, he gave up the weather gauge, tacked out of the wind then intercepted the enemy battle line in a Nelsonian charge, blasting them with both broadsides en passant. After taking the pirate ships as prizes, he decided against paying them off or laying them in ordinary, instead commissioning them into the Dutch navy.
I want you to know the effort you put into writing that was appreciated. I hope you do it got future naval battles. Thank you.
32:00 I think what you're doing is called "Crossing the T" which was the tactic that Nelson used to win at Trafalgar; instead of just lining up parallel and exchanging broadsides, he cut through the enemy's lines perpendicularly and was able to use both sides of his fleet's cannons to devastating effect. It was apparently very difficult to pull off without being shredded by enemy fire, but once you got into the midst of their line they were virtually helpless because your broadsides would be firing on the bow and stern of the ships on either side of you.
"A mere generation ago, the Dutch navy sailed up the Thames and burned the English fleet at anchor."
Not a history person so I never knew this happened. That sounds insane.
It was! The story is legendary here in the Netherlands and all young children learn about it. It's still one if the most humiliating defeats the British navy ever suffered. Our small nation has ever since that time stood toe to toe with the big boys of Europe and it's what the Dutch most times refer to when feeling patriotic.
It was the invention of the marines. A small group of sailors sailing right into enemy territory, burning the English ships and making off with the coat of arms of the English flagship, under the command of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, one of the greatest naval commanders to ever live
O'er the hills and o'er the Main
To Flanders, Portugal and Spain
Queen Anne commands and we obey
Over the hills and far away
Surprised you’re starting with war in Europe and not in the colonies. I thought you’d be all in on having European wars outside of Europe (which was the style at the time!)
Agreed, I never thought of this tactic. I think it's a good one though. That said I would probably do some things differently, but I will definitely install the game again now and see what to do with the inspiration.
I thought tying onions to your belt was the style at the time?
19 minutes. It was 19 minutes of wonderful detailing of the setting and challenges before I heard it. Those dread words.
"I've got a plan"
The game has alot of problems but I had a really good time with it.
Man you still alive and kicking? How's Space Rome doin?
@@Lo-tf6qt Eternal, as Rome ever was.
Always love a MATN Total War series. Can’t wait to see all the people in the comments role playing as people from the campaign!
Also, my favourite total war game glad I found this channel and particular playlist have subbed and pressed the bell hello from Scottish Borders :D
YEEEEESSSSS!!!! I’ve wanted to see a let’s play for Empire from you since forever! I played empire back in 2011 and enjoyed it but it never quite clicked with me the way ME2 and RTW did and it never really brought me back. I think it was just that added level of complexity compared to previous titles that I wasn’t familiar with caused a lot of empires intricacies to go right over my head meaning I couldn’t truly appreciate them. I tried watching other let’s plays hoping it would inspire me to go back but it’s just not the same. John is the only person that can explain all the smaller details of a total war game while still being entertaining and making you actually want to play the game. I’m hoping this is the one that inspires me to finally get back into it. ALL HAIL KING JOHN!!!!
PLEASE make this a series i would love to see you play empire total war
The Dutch campaign is my favorite too. Such an interesting starting position and their unique troops are pretty cool as well.
50:54 It's a stone hedge. :P
There is a opening credit to the Naval Museums that were used as source material for the ships. Absolutely amazing to visit in person if you get a chance.
I have more than a thousand hours on this game, broken in some ways but beautifull in so many others !
I'm happy you picked the United Provinces, one of my favorite campaigns.
Some people might have already pointed it out but during naval combat, the White healthbar on the ships represents the sails status. Of course demasting your opponent remains a powerfull way to lower it's morale on top of the tactical advantage in manoeuvrability it gives you.
Also, if i'm not mistaken some other things decided by a territory's population is the size of it's militia garrison, scaling of public order bonuses and maluses, (like garrisons and public order) and size of the rebelling army if it comes to that point.
Looking forward to the rest of the series, I was surprised by your opening attack in Norway and look forward to see were you'll expand next !
Waited for you to play this total war for years, so great to see it happen, and with the UP campaign even! :)
some advice at the halfway point of the video:
Naval Battles: CTRL Group your ships in line, they will keep formation and pace better. Ungroup from the back once the lines are engaged.
GARRISON YOUR PORTS!!!
especially Rotterdam (home province), put in a ship, a militia and the Rake into that port because if ANYTHING happens to that port, you're hosed: you will lose 2/3ds of your income. It will be especially disastrous if it happens after you have spend your entire treasury in the turn before.
In addition, if France loads an army into a fleet in Normandy, they can walk straight into Amsterdam with an amphibious landing at Rotterdam, unless it is garrisoned. Really take this to heart, if Rotterdam gets damaged or blocked you will be losing the campaign.
You should have sold the Carribean pirate ships, rather than taking them on.
baffled by your choice to take Norway, not allying with Sweden first may have been a mistake.
Also, you should have allied with Westphalia and Hannover on turn 1 when it was "free". from now on it will cost you money.
Any faction you're not allied with will attack at some point and among your neighbours (other than Spain and France), Sweden and Westphalia are very likely to attack you.
Norway is a good province though
I live for the Total War series on the channel. I've rewatched Rome: Total War a good three times. I'm so excited!
Good to see the old lady getting some love. I totally agree on every aspect you've mentioned which makes this game great as well as its flaws.
-Sea battles and thus controlling the trade knots is key to the game when playing The 7P, GB, Spain or France.
-The sugar plantation in Dutch Guyana can be replaced by a spice plantation which generates more cash.
-Colonial/oversea trade ports can only handle 30 units of goods, meaning you have to upgrade the ports when you upgrade the plantation(s) and fur traders or you waste money.
-For a start, it's not a bad idea to build more universities, preferably in poor villages. Trade will more than compensate for the loss of some industrial income.
-Tax income is not a game changer except for rich provinces. Apart from a few exceptions, the American provinces barely generate any tax income at all at the start due to very low population. You increase population growth by lowering taxes for the lower class (or excempt a region from taxes) and by upgrading farms. At some point in the game - depending on your economical performance - even poor villages become growing or even wealthy.
Very excited for this series! On one hand it would have been fun to see you go with Sweden (very biased as a swede who's bachelor is focusing on the same time period in Sweden) but on the other hand it's interesting to see what you can do with the underdog Netherlands!
Firstly, thank you for making this video, this will always be my favourite game and i hardly ever see it appreciated so much, often the community seems to point directly at empire when we talk about flawed TW games. Secondly, the white bar above the ship icons is actually the health of the sails. I've demasted many ships and totally depleted the bar and sometimes still the ship remains dangerous and can keep fighting under the right circumstances (Galleons can be a real pain). It does usually have a huge effect on morale though. I've often heard how hard people find naval combat in empire and frankly i think its more that players rarely take the time to master it because the pace is far slower.
Opening the video off right with a history lesson. Love it already! Looking forward to the series Jon!
Fantastic beginning, love the history as well. Hope you give more, and start of a WW1 beta soon enough. Speaking of historical terms, I think when your ship line crossed the enemy's ship line, it's called crossing the "T". I don't know what you'd call it when sailing through the enemy's line though. Didn't you need to put a "gentleman" into a school for research or in some way use that agent? What about your government, are there not some minister positions that can be moved around? I guess you might do that next episode to not make it too front heavy with game mechanics...
another cool thing in this game they did away with in later titles was general-less armies. one of my favorite strategies was sending out single units of cheap cavalry, who had more campaign movement points due to their speed, and raiding enemy churches/schools/farms etc. doing significant economic damage to them.
however this also is the reason for a major game breaking bug in the late game where the ottoman empire will spam single unit armies and shuffle them around, crippling the end turn timer. so you may need to send a crusade their way at some point to keep that from happening.
looking forward to future episodes!
Finally someone that agrees that Darth Mod ruins some of Empire's "Charm". The fact that they make all ships trade ships means that there is no reason not to just spam the most expensive and powerful ships.
And then there's the fact that Darth Mod removed the grenades from the grenadiers. WHY would you do that? Grenades are the whole flipping point of grenadiers. I don't give a crap about how much you buffed their stats to compensate. Grenadiers aren't supposed to be just some "Elite Rifleman", they're supposed to be dudes with grenades.
And don't give me crap about how historically between the years 1701 and 1939 all grenadiers voluntarily gave up their grenades. That just makes them bad grenadiers for not having any grenades.
Love this series so far. This is making me want to play Empire again.
You should consider checking out Three Kingdoms again, the Cao Cao mechanics for instance are so darn fun and unless I missed it (totally possible) I don't think you've done a campaign with him yet.
I bought this game on sale a long time ago and never got around to playing it. Watching Jon play any game makes me want to play them. Stellaris and Crusader Kings 2 became some of my favorite games.
I’ve been waiting for this for sooo long. Great intro to the game, and I’m very interested to see how the Dutch campaign progresses. One question - did you forget to use your Gentleman and Rake in the first turn, or just not show us what they did? I always use my first Gentleman to tour other schools and colleges to steal technology. You usually have a better than 50% chance of stealing first-tier tech, allowing you to move on to researching second-tier tech very quickly.
Time for FFF - Fun Facts about Fluits! While entering the Baltic sea for Polish grain, Dutch fluits had to cross the Danish Straits. Toll for crossing was calculated based deck size in square feet, hence skinny deck and fat belly.
remember first playthrough. dropped a full stack pretty well experienced army off in spain and was immediately hit by 4 full spanish armies. formed up on hill. lost but only after running out of ammo and multiple bayonet charges.
Sounds like fun though
@@Lucifer_26 very
Some small corrections:
1. on the ships, the white bar on top isn't morale, it's actually sail condition - however, as sail condition has significant morale impact, it can look like that's what you're seeing.
2. there is actually formations for ships, and if Jon had used that option, his ships WOULD have stayed in formation, that works really well in this game and makes the potentially messy naval combat much more manageable
3. The ships being so spectacularly detailed is easily explained by a disclaimer in the game's loading screen: the devs went ahead and got the actual plans for most ships from museum archives to make them as accurately detailed as possible.
4. sending units into buildings can be very situational; The AI could have put it's armed citizens into the buildings where they will last pretty long in a firefight instead of immediately collapsing, forcing you to storm in (at which point they will all die immediately); larger units like line infantry however might fare better in the melee when assaulted, but their ranged efficiency is severely restricted by the lack of formations and limited windows to fire from. it's really worth close consideration which option you can use to the best effect.
Other than that, let me say this: I never played with the Netherlands because I avoided small nations like the plague, always picked either Sweden or Prussia and I expected Jon to go British Empire or maybe Spain. This is an interesting pick...
You did well pronouncing Fluyt Jon, as a Dutch myself I can see why the sound 'ui' is quite hard. Dutch 'ui' is identical to the 'ou' in 'out' just with a heavy scottish accent.
So, it's like "flout"?
@@onchristieroad try and say out with a extremely heavy scottish accent. And then add Fl in front. Modern Dutch spelling its Fluit. Back then many words were spelled with y instead of i. But Jon did pronounce the word correctly when he said Flute, because the literal translation of Fluyt = Fluit = Flute = whistle. Get it?
Actually Jon, i can confirm that the upping the battle difficulty gives the land troops more then just "more moral" on VH enemy line infantry become RIFLEMEN with how deadly they are, EVERY SINGLE VOLLEY will kill 30 of your men, meanwhile your mean cant kill more then 10 if that. They DEFINATELY get more then just Moral im certain of that.
Jon becomes Jan.
17:55 That ship called Honslaarsdijk. That's a town (named after a castle/palace there) very close to where I live, here in the NL. Never knew it was a name for a 18th century sailing ship.