Let's Play: Empire Total War! - Knights of St. John run

[Parrhesia]

If anyone's wondering why there hasn't been an update in awhile it's because school has started for me and I'm a little busy. (understatement)

Hmm, I'm wondering if I should actually refer to the officers in the First of Foot, Crimson Blade, and the Profiteers as Furetchen, Cocytus, and Integrity, respectively.

The officer of Vimes' First of Foot should be...well, Vimes. Furetchen can take the Bitchslappers.

[IGdood]

Okay, so once again I decide to uh.... play a battle.

For some reason the fucking game froze. I'm not sure what more can I do now....something's wrong with my computer and I don't like that very much.

Edit: So I decide to uninstall fucking Steam. ETW requires a connection to Steam if I have to play it, and Steam can also be a cause of the crashing with its new updates and shit.

Edited October 3, 2010 by skitarii

[IGdood]

It seems like reinstalling Steam has done something about it. I'm not sure if I want to turn the graphical settings up again, but if you find that the screenshots are looking too ugly please tell me. Anyways, no freezing. Many apologies for taking so long to update this.

So, if I recall correctly, last time I said I was going to take Moscow. I decide to siege it because well....it's pretty well defended. And even though I have unit superiority, They have a few scattered reinforcement armies who, while can be easily crushed, might land a lucky hit on small units such as the Whores and the artillery. I can't risk that.

Except they sally forth anyways. Well at least this makes the situation a bit different. Usually if I'm the one being attacked the AI will be stupid enough to put all their forces together instead of attacking me from multiple directions. I'm a bit worried as to who exactly initiated the attack. If its the small army to the top, that means the reinforcing garrison will come into the battlefield from the left. That's not very good, and I'll have to keep that in mind when I deploy my troops.

I realized I never took a picture of a loading screen, and this is the only time Japan is mentioned in this game. Random quotes from history are generated while the game transits to battle mode. I'm guessing this is a ShoutOut to Shogun Total War, Creative Assembly's first game. By the way, did I mention that from Medieval 2 Total War and onwards, Sega publishes this game? I'll laugh if I see a Sonic reference somewhere.

I deploy with a somewhat heavily reinforced left flank. There really isn't a way to determine exactly the angle to which the enemy reinforcements will come in.

Except...what the fuck? What was going to be a possibly dangerous battle has turned into an exciting SPAWN-CAMPING experience. For those who don't know what spawn-camping means, it means to place your units in a manner such that enemies will be shot to death as soon as they "spawn"/appear on the map. The Tallarn Desert Foxes and Life Guards open up with a volley of whupass. Those assholes are Royal Cuirassier Guards, quite possibly some of the best heavy cavalry in the game. They're fucking bitches to defeat in melee since their stats are good enough that they CAN hold off enemy infantry.

Breech loaders also add salt to the fire...or however that saying goes. Except with rapid-fire rifles + extremely high accuracy + close range like this? These poor cuirassiers don't stand a fucking chance.

Oh yeah did I mention the Other Kinda Indians are also shooting arrows from the back?

But all great defenses must come to an end, as the Russian cavalry keep pouring in. Even with high reloading skill, you can't reload a musket in less than 20 seconds. This is time for the square formation. No, these are not the Roundhouse Boys. They're life guards, despite having a similar hat.

A few of the Other Kinda Indians get caught in the cavalry charges. I order them to gtfo of there, and remain behind the squares. There's better meatshields to be had. Note that the whole battle seems to be concentrated on this left flank. I don't feel like folding back my whole battle line since there are a few guys (see the red units on the minimap) heading our way.

And to ease the pressure on the squares I send in our favorite meatshields who take disproportionately high retribution from every enemy: The Prinnies. Also note the white-clothed Garrison Asshole Guards in the distance.

And for some reason the enemy artillery crew decided to plow through my forces. Fuck 'em. Also pictured: Both types of Indians.

Epic shot of an artillery crew thoroughly pwning up some unlucky rifleman scout. Units in Light Infantry behavior suffer from melee, as they're spaced out and unable to provide "suurounding bonuses".

ETW's melee system is based on 1-on-1 duels, unlike past total war games where 3 men can bang up on 1 man repeatedly until he dies. So the company came up with surrounding bonuses; basically if a man was surrounded by 2+ enemies, that man would receive a stat decrease to "account" for being hit around by multiple men even though the animation only showed a 1-on-1 duel. However, it was still unrealistic and has been whined about by many fans. I don't really mind though; earlier games would show units dying far quicker if they were hit on all sides.

Meanwhile, on the right flank the peeps seem to be doing pretty well.

MOAR enemies on the left flank. KILL 'EM ALL!

And on the right flank, some people getting pwned by women.

It's entering clusterfuck status on the left flank. I'm a bit worried about those Cuirassier Guards.

Prinnies getting winded....

I send in the Bitchslappers, led by Furetchen. (Can you spot him in the pic?)

Meanwhile teh Riflemen pour it on and spawn-camp to their hearts' content. I heard they jizzed in their pants at such a Russian turkey shoot.

They just keep on coming!

I just realized the camels somehow got here. And they got in front of the Bitchslappers. Who cares, the Bohemians + Furetchen proceed to bitchslap the artillery behind the camels, the camels, and a unit of Guard Grenadiers. I wish I could've taken a picture of Furetchen firing his pistol personally.

The Life Guards decide that this shit is too much and decide to rout, much like the drinking game in Integrity's X-COM LP. And look at ALL those fucking Russians! Oh yeah, Profiteers are in this picture. Damn the graphics, I'm turning it up on my next playthrough, provided that the game doesn't crash.

Pictured: Integrity in a classy wig and hat kneeling down while his Cloaks fire on the advancing Russians.

And then suddenly a new artillery reinforcement walks in, deploys, and fire off CANISTER at the Bitchslappers. I retreat them as fast as I can. Furetchen's probably shredded to bits by now, but he'll be back in the next battle.

And promptly rotate in the Roundhouse Boys.

They still ain't giving up? Fuckers.

I move in the Bitchslappers to provide fire support.

Nevermind, I changed my mind and decide to charge those Armed Citizenry.

Potsdam Grenadiers vs. Guard Grenadiers. Kill ratio: 2:1.

Well it looks like we held them off.

Stats and victory. Yes.

Overall pretty good, considering only about 6-8 units (That's about 900 men or less) participated in combat at most and held off 2400 Russians at the left flank. This just goes to show how badass the men are. Congratulations.

LP MINIGAME! Alright, guess who's being shown in this video. C'mon, you should recognize these guys. Especially you, Furetchen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XabuKdwNlTY&feature=player_embedded

Edited October 3, 2010 by skitarii

[Integrity]

Lame private video is lame. :(

However, yay welcome back! :D

[IGdood]

Wait, you can't watch it or what? Edit: Made into public. Lol it's just a 9 second video, heh.

And thanks.

Edited October 4, 2010 by skitarii

[IGdood]

Gents....be prepared....for those who are still following this LP. Be very prepared.....Because...because....oh whatever you'll see.

So, while Kiev was being besieged, I've been amassing quite a few full-stack armies of pure generic line infantry. No elites, just line infantry, and I've been sending them at the remaining Russian provinces. Here, I've taken some place called Karclia.

Meanwhile, Kiev's garrison decides to sally forth. Let's finish them off. They're not gonna do much now.

So, standard defense deployment + trenches. Its a "Let them come, we shall prevail" situation.

So whatever pitiful remains of their cavalry are currently running out the gates...

Meanwhile Jake's Load bombards them with Percussion Shells. Pretty pretty.

Meanwhile camels in a forest doesn't look wrong at all. Don't you think that's pretty badass?

The First of Foot are hidden.....despite wearing bright red uniforms....

You see here, these guys are wearing Ghilli(sp?) Suits. You know, those suits that make you look like a walking bush.

Meanwhile the Breech Loaders tend to start things off with a bang instead of stealthy pew-pews.

Profiteers and Dahomeys open up with long-range fire!

Never, ever, assault trenches head on.

And they RUN!

SURPRISE! CAMEL ATTACK!

They should abandon all hope.

Not even the Magnificent 7 cuirassiers could beat the ICBAMFs.

I send the camels forth to get some sweet revenge.

That....is a badass officer.

Camel ribs...?

Surrender now, assholes

One step closer to victory!

Kiev falls, Ukraine is ours!

And its off to Cherkaask next. Expect zero resistance.

Oh yeah, I give Poland-Lithuania the middle finger and offer them one last chance of survival. They accept.

And with the massive generic armies I've raised, I send them East to steamroll the remaining shit out of Russia.

And give the goodies to various nations.

I thought Cherhaask couldn't get any easier. Siege time.

They're sallying. You gotta be kidding me, right?

10 bucks the artillery will kick all their asses before everyone else needs to lift a finger.

Whoosh! Boom!

Okay I owe you 10 bucks. The other guys opened fire.

But they're runnin'

WIN

More conquerin'.

Let's move on to Crimea again. Seems like the Russians took it from the French.

[Parrhesia]

It's back! Woooooo

HOLY SHIT EPHRAIM

[IGdood]

And so, the last great army of Russia stands in my way. This one actually has a very elite troop composition. Still...it's probably not going to do much, I believe.

They could use some organization though...

Sir Vimes looks proud and ready to do battle with the incoming enemy.

Meanwhile, Cocytus looks for enemy weak spots with his nifty telescope.

I'm sure he sees better than I can.

Protect teh Amazons! They can't fight for shit in melee!

And on the other side of the field, the infantry are going after the left flank.

They're OPENING FIRE! MAKE THEM PAY FOR THIS ASSAULT!

Meanwhile, the Bitchslappers get charged.

Give 'em hell!

FOR MOTHER PRUSSIA!

FUCK they got the 24-pounder Horse Guard artillery!

Generic line! Move up and shoot those bastards!

Swiss Pikes! You're gonna have to hold off those other assholes.

They're retreating! Shoot them in the back!

Marines! Show these fuckers what you're made of!

Meanwhile, I send the Tallarn Cairo Guards to help out the Swiss Pikes.

Hey, look which asshole popped up. GO ROUGH RIDERS!

Shishkabob'd!

It's been a long time since I've sent the Whores to kill some guys. Here you go, with infantry support!

GO. GO. GO.

It's a WIN!

I gift a few regions to the nations that need it.

I siege Crimea.

Ha! This makes Crimea the last region remaining.

And so they sally out...

I don't bother to deploy formations. All I did was switch melee mode on for EVERYONE, and send them forth.

Their cavalry routs.

Let's go, people, let's go.

It's a clash!

Approximately 3 seconds later, all of them rout.

GOOOOOOO!!!!

LANCE. THEM. DOWN.

MAIM. KILL. BURN.

Hey look at that small cavalryman.

Camels are super effective vs. horses.

VICTTOOOOOORRRRY

Good game, fucker.

So, a page or two back, we decided that ever beating the shit out of Russia, then this particular campaign will have ended. I'm guessing this is it; let's move on to the USA in a few days or so.

247 turns.

Well....congratulations. Thanks for participating. I'll be accepting names for new regiments in the future. I hope to see more than just Integrity, Furetchen, and Cocytus participating. C'mon, there's gotta be more than 3 forumites following this LP. Balcerzak, I'm looking at you. And you too, Iced. And....Iunno...I guess X-Com is better for naming? BAH.

[Parrhesia]

VICTORY IS OURS! WOOO

[IGdood]

HOLY SHIT EPHRAIM

holy fuck, I didn't even notice that!

Anyways, here's the link to the EXCEL files detailing the exploits of all the named regiments in this LP.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ID8HKS0Z

I look forward to the USA one. It should be.....interesting. And I'll be using different units.

[Parrhesia]

Good to see you'll be making another one -- I have a plan to place in Arrowroot's personal guard, handpicked from the streets of his home city...the feared 3rd East Gruen Foot Guards shall make an appearance, and all shall tremble before their might.

[Integrity]

I CONTINUE TO BE HERE. Reincarnate the Other Kinda Indians if you're going USA, and let me think on more.

[IGdood]

Good to see you'll be making another one -- I have a plan to place in Arrowroot's personal guard, handpicked from the streets of his home city...the feared 3rd East Gruen Foot Guards shall make an appearance, and all shall tremble before their might.

I'll probably continue on this thread; Plus, I recently purchased DLC for the USA so you might be seeing some interesting-looking units.

I CONTINUE TO BE HERE. Reincarnate the Other Kinda Indians if you're going USA, and let me think on more.

I might reincarnate them not as Bowmen Auxiliary though, but rather as either the Musket Auxiliaries or Mounted Tribal Auxiliaries. I'm trying to use completely different units (well MAYBE except for that unit of artillery, hmm.....)

[Fayt Zelpher]

And so it ends. Anyway, time for the Americans to go fight... well, who knows what.

[IGdood]

Since I have to do some stats analysis for an upcoming Physics Lab class. I thought well what the hell, let's do an analysis of the ICBAMFs.

Most kills ever throughout playthrough:

1st Place: 2615 Sir Vimes' First of Foot - Swiss Guards - Furetchen

2nd Place: 2088 Crimson Blade - Marines (Late) - Cocytus

Runner Up: 1885 Anna's Prinnies - Swiss Pikemen - Anna

Most losses ever throughout playthrough

1st Place: 1060 Anna's Prinnies - Swiss Pikemen - Anna

2nd Place: 425 Sir Vimes' First of Foot - Swiss Guards - Furetchen

Runner Up : 286 Crimson Blade - Marines (Late) - Cocytus

Longest-Running Named Regiment

32 Battles : Furetchen's 398th Whores of War- Death's Head Hussars

Best Kill Ratio PER BATTLE

114.8 Kills per battle: 75th Chuck's Roundhouse Boys - Potsdam Giants - Furetchen

Best Lost Ratio PER BATTLE

0.1 Loss per battle: Team Rocket - Rocket Troop (improved) - Anna

non artillery: 3.63 losses per battle: The Other Kinda Indians - Native Bowmen Auxiliary - Integrity

Best Kill:Loss Ratio

152 kills per loss - Team Rocket - Rocket Troop (improved) - Anna

8.28 kills per loss - Furetchen's 398th Whores of War- Death's Head Hussars

Worst Kill Ratio PER BATTLE

24.63 kills per battle - The Other Kinda Indians - Native Bowmen Auxiliary - Integrity

Worst Lost Ratio PER BATTLE

39.26 losses per battle - Anna's Prinnies - Swiss Pikemen - Anna

Worst Kill:Loss Ratio

1.78 kills per man lost - Anna's Prinnies - Swiss Pikemen - Anna

[IGdood]

Hello lads. Here's the 2nd campaign of the Empire Total War Let's Play. Here we shall begin with the 13 Colonies, or USA, if you're so inclined.

So, the USA gets its own series called the Road to Independence. The first three episodes are just advanced tutorials to get you started with ETW. The actual campaign begins with episode 4. I have difficulty adjusted to normal, as anything above gives AI cheating bonuses and basically makes the game unfair.

So the 13 colonies starts off on the East Coast. To the left are the various Indian tribes. To my South are the Spanish colonies, and maybe a French colony or two. To the North are British colonies. I don't want to piss them off. Militarily, I'm very weak. My income is moderate. As of now, the focus is to build up a strong economy rather than a military power. The US starts with very low-tech buildings and farms, and I'll need to invest in those.

I'm at peace with everyone except the Barbary States. Anyways, I don't want to get in a war in the next 20 years or so; I've gotta build up my tech and sign many, many trade agreements for money.

My government's a Republic. The advantages are as follows: The people are happier, and research is faster than that of other nations. That's good because I can then build some more factories without pissing off the lower classes and catch up in tech level with that of other nations. However, being a republic also makes you disliked by monarchies. Also, leaders + cabinet (ministers) change every 4 years, so even if I get a really really good national leader he'll only last for 4 years. Republic leaders are also more incompetent compared to their monarchical counterparts.

So-so President. However, the starting ministers are godly.

Most nations are either indifferent or friendly to me. Great Britain doesn't like me very much, however. no shit. We just kicked their asses in the Revolution.

WHAT'S UP PRUSSIA!?

Okay, I take back what I said about the military tech level. I've at least got fire by rank and ring bayonets. However, my navy tech is utter shit. In the other branches, they're bad. Very bad.

Alright people. I'm gonna need names for these future units. I'm limiting to 2 names per user, maybe 3 if nobody else volunteers. So. Choose wisely. I won't recruit them until I get names for them.

Average line infantry(?),maybe above average on the shooty side. Melee stats are inferior to Great Britain's generics but on par with most other nation's, except Prussia, who have superior stats. Yeah, Historically accurate. US Infantry sucked balls in the Revolution.

Practically the signature light infantry of US troops. Godly shooting stats, not-so-good melee. However, they can walk while hidden.

Above average dragoons on the shooty side; melee stats are a bit of shit. I'm not sure if they're regular dragoons (need to dismount before being able to shoot) or light dragoons (able to shoot while mounted). However, they do come in a unit of 80 instead of 60. Plus, they have awesome uniforms.

US Marines. While not as elite as the Crimson Blade in the Prussia campaig, they're still pretty good guard infantry. High defense and pretty good shooting skills. However, the bad thing is that they come in a group of 120 instead of 160.....

These guys are possibly a jack-of-all trades unit. They have the melee stats of generic line infantry, the ability to use Light Infantry Doctrine later game, come in a unit of 120 which is huge for light infantry, but below the average size of line infantry.

Europe's going into war...

For every nation destroyed, please drink alcohol.

I build a trading port in my capital. The more I have, the more trade routes I can establish with other nations I'm not at war with. This leads to more money.

Integrity, I'll let you decide between these two reincarnations of the Other Kinda Indians. You might know their abilities and stats already, but I'll type them for others to read.

Mounted Tribal Auxiliaries are sort of like cheap light dragoons. Fire while mounted, average shooting, average unit size, shitty melee stats. They're really cheap though.

Native Musketmen Auxiliary. Stats are similar to those of the Pandours from the previous campaign, but no cloaks. Same abilities, almost identical shooting stats I believe, except these guys have better reloading skill and melee? Can employ Light Infantry doctrine in the future.

Because I need more goods to export to the Old World I build some plantations. Yes, that means slaves.

=( I have sadness.

I sign Trade Agreements with 3 nations. Including The Brits.

This shows the sea trade route. Trade routes can be raided by a nation that doesn't like me....or if my trade partner is being raided by another nation that is at war with them, my finances will suffer.

Here's the trade screen. it shows what goods are on the market and their prices. it also tells me how much my trade agreements are making on a nation-by-nation basis. I didn't really need to pay attention to this as Prussia, but since the USA is a trading nation this screen becomes important. I can also see whose trade routes are being raided.

A short update, but educational nonetheless.

GET YOUR FELLOW FORUMITES TO PARTICIPATE DAMMIT.

[Iced]

So, the USA gets its own series called the Road to Independence. The first three episodes are just advanced tutorials to get you started with ETW. The actual campaign begins with episode 4. I have difficulty adjusted to normal, as anything above gives AI cheating bonuses and basically makes the game unfair.

to be fair the AI is incredibly stupid though, I always felt Hard was the best difficulty.

[Parrhesia]

Arright, I'mma bust out a rename on those light infantry you mentioned. Call 'em the 18th New Charcatra Foot. I'm savin' Arrowroot's 53EGFG for later.

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, this finally caught my attention, so let's see...

I take the Dragoon regiment. Call them... Acacia Dragoons. lol

This should be interesting...

[IGdood]

to be fair the AI is incredibly stupid though, I always felt Hard was the best difficulty.

True...but I've always heard bad stories that turning the AI up to hard just makes them overly aggressive with declaring war. Apparently on normal they act rather.....normal.....

Arright, I'mma bust out a rename on those light infantry you mentioned. Call 'em the 18th New Charcatra Foot. I'm savin' Arrowroot's 53EGFG for later.

You're talking about the Longriflemen or the Legion of the US?

Okay, this finally caught my attention, so let's see...

I take the Dragoon regiment. Call them... Acacia Dragoons. lol

This should be interesting...

Okay, name reserved. I take back my comment about their melee stats. They actually have decent melee stats for dragoons, only falling one point in Attack and Defense below the standard "Regiment of Horse" unit. However, they actually have a huge charge bonus of 12 and come in a group of 80 as opposed to standard 60-horse cavalry units. Good choice, Acacia.

[Parrhesia]

The 18th are the long rifles, yeah. Shoulda specified better.

[IGdood]

Ah yes, I'll go into more detail regarding the campaign map instead of the battle map.

So, I have a Protestant Missionary hanging around my regions. I send him off to Native territory to spread the Good News. Now, what role does religion play in this game? Well, loyalty is affected quite a bit by religion. The main religion of the USA is Protestant Christianity. Regions where the populace is NOT Protestant will have negative factors affecting loyalty, so its good to convert the populace before you conquer them so you'll have less unrest to deal with. This can also be used to incite religious unrest in enemy regions, provided that they share a different religion.

And so a new election yields....godly ministers. Good.

I now have two research buildings in New England. Gotta keep up with the tech research; not to mention, educational facilities can increase overall town wealth in the long run, so taxes will yield more profit later on.

Britain's Navy is pretty damn advanced. I don't even have a fucking ship.

More industrial buildings. I need that cash rolling fast!

Reminder: Drink a bottle for every nation destroyed.

Britain, stop showing off.

Drink, drink, drink.

Holy shit, Britain's going colonial?! Mughal Empire is in the Indian theater.

Feeling drunk? Drink.

Alright, I think I've doubled my income since the start of this campaign.

The only crucial area to build trade ports is in your CAPITAL region. That's the only way to increase the amount of trade routes you have with other nations. Building trade ports in other regions merely increases that area's income, but it doesn't allow you to establish more sea trading routes.

I pick a nation to trade with, preferably one I won't be going to war with anytime in the long run. So, Ottoman Empire it is. By the way, that diplomat sure is a Deadpan Snarker.

DRINK, DRINK.

Urgh....DRINK

This is all in the span of 2-3 turns. Bottoms up, bottoms up, let me see your cup....tell security we 'bout to tear this club up....!

This here is a Rake. He does all the dirty work for you. He assassinates (and always fails), sabotages enemy buildings (and fails half the time), and can spy on enemy towns and armies to give you some pretty good info on troop composition, enemy population loyalty, and whatnot. He also does counterspying when placed in your own territories. They automatically join your faction in an amount proportionate to the amount of hotels/inns/whorehouses in your country.

Since I've got some money I decide to go about buying tech from other nations. I pick France since they're friendly to me, and will offer better deals.

They accept, although reluctantly. Tech is expensive, and the AI knows how much I need them. I'd like to buy some of the better military techs, but then those might cost about 60000 + a region.

Great, I've unlocked another tier of military buildings. Besides unlocking new units, upgrading your buildings will also allow you to train lower-tier infantry at level 1 or level 2 as opposed to having to train them with 0 experience.

Building this thing will let me research some very good things.

Here you go, Furetchen. At your request. I've yet to be able to train the other special dragoons just yet; apparently they require the Shortened Carbines technology. By the way, check out that long list of abilities.

Another 8 turns/4 years have passed, and the new elections give me a shitty turnout....

The 1st Maryland are like elite line infantry. Their shooting stats are equivalent to guard regiments', and their defense stat is also very high. Who's laying claim to them? There's also the 1st Delaware, but they're just equivalent to generic line infantry with fancier hats and 5 more in reloading skill.

I lay claim to these guys. Yes, they're inferior to the Bosniaks/Rough RIders by about a point in defense and 2 points in charge bonus. But what the hell, I like their uniforms. I'll think of a name.

[Parrhesia]

Wait wait wait; George Washington is only Secretary of State? I thought he was your first President, unless he stepped down after the War of Independence or something...I dunno, the only early US history I actually know about is the Civil War. And mainly because I read Team of Rivals. _{Damn, Seward's a cool guy.}

Arright, 1st Maryland eh? Consider the 53rd East Gruen Foot Guard ... existant.

YES NEW CHARCATRA

Edited October 6, 2010 by Furetchen

[Integrity]

INDIAN MUSKET RIDERS AUXILIARY. Their actual name escapes me. Mounted Tribal Auxiliary?

[IGdood]

Wait wait wait; George Washington is only Secretary of State? I thought he was your first President, unless he stepped down after the War of Independence or something...I dunno, the only early US history I actually know about is the Civil War. And mainly because I read Team of Rivals. _{Damn, Seward's a cool guy.}

Arright, 1st Maryland eh? Consider the 53rd East Gruen Foot Guard ... existant.

YES NEW CHARCATRA

Apparently in ETW if a character gets an actual historical name his abilities will be above average, aka a good dice roll. If not, then...good luck, and since I'm a Republic......ugh.

Alright, reserved. You have hit your 2-regiment limit.....for now.

LOL. I find it funny that the game classifies the Long Rifles as Irregulars, although with their stats, special abilities, and equipment (they have FUCKING rifles BEFORE I need to research Machined Rifling) they could easily be top-tier light infantry, if not even better. I'm guessing that means they won't be able to use Fougasses.

This is probably one reason why people tend to fill their armies with Longriflemen instead of Arty/Cav/Everything Else. 125 range, survivable melee stats, average/above average morale, Light Infantry Doctrine, HIDDEN WHILE WALKING, high accuracy........ Then again, Britain's light infantry are pretty dangerous also.....hm...

INDIAN MUSKET RIDERS AUXILIARY. Their actual name escapes me. Mounted Tribal Auxiliary?

Yeah, that's it. Okay, will do then. =) They're gonna be a bit hard to level, but hell, cavalry are just hard to level in general.

I'm starting to get a picture of what the main USA army will look like. Whereas in the Prussia playthrough we had the ICBAMFs, who consisted of mostly highly-trained line + guard infantry to hold the line, 3 units of heavy artillery, 3 units of light cavalry, and 3 units of light infantry + misc. joke units like the Amazons and Swiss Pikes, who actually had their uses.

I'm thinking the USA army will be mainly about mobility and range. Really, they don't have much variation in the way of line infantry, and even if they do their line infantry do not excel much. Their melee cavalry also suck. However, they have some pretty good dragoons (such as Acacia Sgt's unit) and some of the better, if not the best, variety of light infantry in the game. There's also that jack-of-all-trades Legion of the US unit and the US Marine Corps, who will most likely serve as a morale booster for everyone else; they're not very good as a main combat unit because they have a smaller unit size of 120 vs. 160 of the regular guard units. They also have slightly lower stats compared to the guard units of other nations, but damn, they have NICE HATS.

So....battle tactics should be more of a surgical strike feeling instead of overwhelming firepower.....although I like to play defense, I'm going to have to think of some tactics.. I've seen pure light infantry armies where everyone's deployed in Light INfantry Doctrine. So the player divides the guys into several groups, perhaps groups of 3 units. They give each other overlapping fire, and hide when possible.....hmmm... Bah I'm thinking too much.