Empire Total War 2017-01-08

I've had enough of the Maratha confederacy and I started my invasion of India yesterday. This region will be the hardest to conquer.

Empire Total War 2017-01-07 possible glitch

One of my favourite artillery weapons is the howitzer.  Unlike a cannon it fires a projectile up into the air which then falls down on the enemy, particularly useful is the carcass shot option where the projectile explodes over the enemy and rains burning shrapnel and quicklime over them.  This is particularly useful when besieging fortifications, where it is possible to kill the defenders of the walls without destroy the walls.  However therein lies the problem, if it was me defending I would move my troops off the walls to a position out of range of the howitzer.  However when the computer unit is defending it refuses to move its troops off the walls and if an unit is destroyed it moves another one in to replace it.  So after I have destroyed enough defending units I will move my infantry to scale the walls and take the citadel with minimal loss of life.  I wonder if other players have come across this.

Empire Total War 2016-12-30

The Maratha Confederacy unit has this annoying habit of appearing from nowhere to invade your regions, and this happened again when it decided to attack my Spanish region.  Luckily I had my army stationed in the fortress in Madrid.  After losing my first siege battle to them, I reloaded the save file and took them on again but this time using different tactics.  My failed tactic involved placing my troops on the walls which does not work well when the enemy has artillery of any sort even light cannons.  The destruction of the walls led to the destruction of army units and once the artillery was done the Indian infantry moved in to destroy my remaining troops.

On my second attempt, I placed my army on the ground inside the walls and placed my cannons at the points where the cannons were likely to breach the walls.  My infantry would be placed behind my cannons.  Sure enough the Indian artillery created breaches but failed to kill any of my soldiers.  However, when the Maratha infantry attacked the fortifications they were mown down by cannon and gunfire. Although I won, my army still suffered a 35% casualty rate, this was victory Stalingrad style.

George Michael and Carrie Fisher

Right up to the end, 2016 is taking its toll on the famous and in particular my childhood heroes.  The last few days has seen the passing of first George Michael and later Carrie Fisher.  As a primary school pupil I remember Wham bursting on the scene and even then I saw great talent and personality in him.  As expected George went on to bigger and better things.  This is how I remember him best.

As for Carrie Fisher, like most people I remember her best for being Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise.

These two legends are at one with the force and will not wake up before I go go.

Rick Parfitt

I woke to hear the sad news that Rick Parfitt of Status Quo passed away at the age of 68. In a year which saw the passing of many of my childhood heroes Bowie, Prince and Ronnie Corbett in particular, God seems to be assembling an entertainment troupe upstairs.  Merry Christmas to everyone and Rick, rest in peace and thanks for the memories.

Empire Total War 2016-12-14

My Grand Campaign has now reached year 1782, it is still a challenge and I still enjoy the game despite work and home priorities have often kept me away from playing it.  Conquering more regions does not translate into greater tax revenue.  In fact it brings in more costs such as construction projects, replenishment of armies, and also the cost of putting done rebellions that always occur early on.  The trick is find the right balance without over-stretching resources, on that note the Total War franchise has mapped historical realities very well.  The only immediate gain from capturing regions is that you can have a quick technological advance by capturing universities.

Simon Singh: the Code book

I have just bought Simon Singh's "the code book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking".  This was recommended to me on a Youtube video about Alan Turing and the breaking of the Nazi Enigma codes.