Check below for the full patch notes: New Content

• Two (2) new historical battles: Battle of Rossbach and Battle of Fontenoy. Both available in single player and multi player
• Missile cavalry can now fire and reload whilst on the move

• Overhaul of naval balancing
• Dragoons are available from higher building levels and now have fire by rank
• Light Dragoons have gained longer range guns to allow them to skirmish better
• Reworked cavalry costs to better reflect their value on the battlefield
• Increase in cost to Windbusche Jaegers and Ferguson Rifles
• Some improvements to projectile balancing
• Balance improvements made to Road to Independence Episode 3

• Fix for auto unlimbering causing the attack order to terminate prematurely resulting in an inability to stop the unit from firing
• Fix for troops on fort walls not using fort gun range when judging when to fire on enemy troops
• Fix for fort guns using wrong targeting formula
• Fixes to fort pathfinding and use of ropes
• Multiplayer soft lock fixes
• Fix crash in quotes table
• Improved AI diplomacy
• Cumulative updates to improve AI invasion behaviour
• Added tooltips for alliance button in diplomacy
• Bug fixes and improvements to AI counter offers
• Improvements to AI diplomatic valuation of military access and alliances
• Fix for wind sounds not working in naval battles
• Fixed ship wakes not always working
• Fixed disembarking subsets of armies and agents from navies
• Fixed potential crash disembarking agents from navies
• Fixed armies not being booted out of regions when losing military access gained by joining an ally in war
• Improved AI diplomacy valuation of technologies
• Fix for bug where general's unit for an upper class rebellion was coming from the region owning faction rather than the faction rebelling
• Fixed reinforcements from unreachable positions
• Fixed bug preventing disembarking
• Balance of power fix for attack of opportunity
• Fixed bug that was causing issues with embarking an army containing multiple characters
• Minor tweak to stop some ship sails endlessly play furling sound
• Fixed path blocked bug
• Diplomacy counter-offer improvements
• Fix for fast forward not working as intended on some PCs. Will always speed up if camera is still, if camera moves fast forward will be as fast as possible on each PC

Empire: Total War is set in the 18th century, a turbulent era that is the most requested by Total War's loyal fan base and a period alive with global conflict, revolutionary fervour and technological advances. With themes such as the Industrial Revolution, America's struggle for independence, the race to control Eastern trade routes and the globalisation of war on land and sea, Empire: Total War promises to be amongst the richest and most dynamic PC RTS games of all time.

The game is set in the years 1700 to the early 1800's, a turbulent age of gunpowder, revolution, discovery and Empire Building. This period has all the ingredients for a great Total War title: fascinating changes in warfare and its technology, a large number of competing factions hungry for power, and gloriously exciting and colourful battles. This is a time when an old world is being swept away at a tremendous rate by the juggernaut of the industrial age. Revolutionary ideas are in the air, and at least one monarch meets a bloody end!

Empire: Total War contains a revolutionised Total War campaign spanning 3 continents and featuring new, enhanced systems for Trade, Diplomacy, Missions and Espionage. There will be an all-new fully animated campaign map with all buildings and upgrades visible. The campaign will also feature a huge cast of historical figures including Peter The Great, Malborough and Charles XII of Sweden. The game will include 10 playable factions including Britain, Prussia, France, Spain, America and the massive Ottoman Empire.

Enhanced auto management, revolutionized UI, improved advice system and tutorials all combine to introduce new players to the concepts of Total War, quickly and easily. Empire: Total War will boast a full re-write of the AI with a wider range of strategies and tactics, providing a formidable opponent on land, sea and on the campaign map.

New Real-Time 3D Naval Warfare takes Total War's unparalleled battle action to the high seas with players commanding single ships or vast fleets. These will be the most exciting and realistic sea battles ever seen in a PC game. They will feature a realistic sailing model, cannon and musket fire, boarding actions, fully destructible sails, rigging and hulls and a full range of weather effects to influence battles. These will play out on stunning, ultra-realistic seascapes, as cannons and muskets blaze away, cutting through the smoke and fog to splinter, pierce and shatter hulls, sails and masts, laying waste to crew members and sending them to Davy Jones' Locker.

Empire: Total War's revolutionised graphics engine will be put to work on land battles that will feature heavy artillery in the form of cannons, mortar and early rocket launchers, with bouncing cannonballs slicing through drifting gunsmoke to tear up lines of infantry. Bagpipes, drummers, flautists and trumpeters will fill the air with play out over the crack of musket fire, the boom of artillery and the thunderous charge of cavalry. Generals will bark out orders to their regiments as the player orchestrates the battle utilizing formations, unit abilities and drills. Weapons will jam and misfire, cannons will seize up and explode as the field of conflict becomes strewn with the bodies of wounded and dying men, lacerated and dismembered by pike, bayonet and shot.

The minimum system specifications are:

• Operating System: Windows XP 32(SP2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
• Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
• System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
• Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
• Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
• Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
• 15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.