Empire: Total War
The 18th-Century Global Colonial Era and Full 3D Real-Time Naval Broadside Combat
Debuting in 2009 by Creative Assembly on the Warscape Engine, Empire: Total War covered the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment across Europe, India, and the Americas, introducing the franchise's first real-time 3D naval sailing fleet battles.
Tri-Continental Hegemony and Line Infantry Formations
Empire: Total War radically expanded grand strategy by modeling three interconnected theaters: Europe, the Americas, and the Indian subcontinent. Commanding powers like the British Empire, Ottoman Empire, and Maratha Confederacy, players researched Enlightenment technologies and deployed musket-armed line infantry executing synchronized rank-fire volleys amidst billowing smoke.
The Warscape Engine and Age of Sail Naval Warfare
The game's technological triumph was its full real-time Age of Sail naval combat. Calculating wind vectors and ocean currents, admirals maneuvered 100-gun First Rate Ships of the Line, shredding enemy masts with chain-shot, demolishing hulls with thunderous broadsides, and dispatching boarding parties to capture prized flagships.