Coping at the Start of Very Hard Empire Total War Campaigns

The Very Hard difficulty setting is a pretty hard standard in Empire Total War. I found that for Medieval II I could cope pretty well once I learned how to play the game, with the highest difficulty setting - in fact the campaign was quite easy and the AI didn't offer too much of a challenge, it was usually the battles that required more thought.

But in Empire your enemies don't allow you a moments rest or slackness. I must admit that I haven't had a successful Very Hard campaign in Empire yet. My observations though are that to succeed you need to:

1. Be paranoid about any neighbouring countries who are less than friendly - they are likely to invade quite soon!
2. Manage expenditure very tightly.
3. Be very sure of what strategy you are going to adopt - you probably need to play and fail a number of times before you can get this right.
4. Be brave when accepting battle and make sure you win.
5. Over-estimate your enemy, but don't be too cautious - probably the hardest ask of all.

Good luck, you'll need it!

How to Attack Buildings in Empire Total War

Taking Buildings during Empire Total War battles is really a fairly brutal and simple task, but can be dangerous and cause you high casualties.
There are really only two options:
1. Bombardment: Use artillery to destroy buildings at long-range. At some point the building will catch fire and the enemy troops inside will have to get out. You can then deal with them in the most appropriate way.
2. Frontal Assault: If you don't have artillery on hand, or if you really need to take a building quickly. then assault by decent infantry is the best option. This will mean high casualties and probably requires at least a 2:1 advantage to succeed.
What you really don't want to do is try to shoot it out with muskets. You will find that you cause few casualties to the enemy and no damage to the building.

The Importance of Combined Arms

In Empire Total War, as in historical reality, it is vital to make the most of each element of your

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army in battle - i.e. to co-ordinate the use of infantry, cavalry and artillery as much as possible.

Why is this the case? Well the main reason is that each element has different characteristics and even the strongest units can be defeated if left isolated from adequate support.

What are the different characteristics?

Infantry

Common strengths are their fire-power, their defensive qualities against frontal attack - even most cavalry suffer if they attack an infantry unit frontally - even if the infantry unit hasn't formed a square.

Weaknesses are their lack of speed - difficult to use them to quickly outflank an enemy, and also they can be picked off by enemy artillery or well-used rifle-armed skirmishers.

Cavalry

Strong in melee in a charge situation and if attacking from flank or rear. The best use of cavalry is either to target artillery if not defended by infantry. However, they tend to die quickly during extended melees and need to withdrawn quickly if their shock effect does not have a rapid impact.

Will suffer in a defensive situation and should be held behind the line in order to keep them out of harm's way until required. A common difference in Empire Total War to earlier periods, is that you might often employ cavalry as wings to your army, this type of deployment is less useful now and can lead to attrition from enemy artillery.

Artillery

Although average casualties caused by round shot at long-range is not high, if your enemy does not possess decent artillery you have a distinct advantage. Artillery allows you to erode your enemies strength and force him to attack you where you want him to be. At close range, if well protected from quick cavalry charges in flank or rear, artillery can be devastating, with grapeshot defeating most frontal attacks. However, a good position and field defences helps a lot! My advice is to keep units compact and to place each infantry support unit carefully to prevent any enemies getting close enough to melee your artillery.

Combined Arms

It's like a game of paper, scissors, stone. You need all three elements in your army to be able to counter your enemies attacks and to be able to give yourself the best chance of overcoming his defence when you attack.

I'll aim to provide some specific examples in later posts.