Napoleon: Total War GAME MOD Napoleon Empire Remastered v.1.1 - download

Napoleon Empire Remastered is a mod for Napoleon: Total War, created by JaM1977.

Description:

Napoleon Empire Remastered (NER) is a comprehensive gameplay overhaul for Napoleon: Total War, designed to transform the game into a historically grounded, strategically rich, and tactically immersive Napoleonic experience. Every major system—from economy and naval warfare to unit scale and battlefield mechanics—has been reworked to reflect the realities of the Napoleonic era while preserving engaging gameplay.

DETAILS:

Napoleon Empire Remastered is a direct successor to Napoleon Empire Realism mod. Some might ask why name change? Realism suffix is dropped mostly due to fact this is mod for a game, not a simulation, therefore achieving total realism in just not possible within the scope of the game. NTW engine has quite a lot of features completely hardcoded. At the other side, last release of Napoleon Empire Realism mod was version 7, but this version is not just some update to version 7, but more like a complete overhaul, with main focus on proper balance. My goal was to make a mod for vanilla game, that would just play as Napoleonic game.

Napoleon Total War game had one glaring issue almost all similar games have - issue of scale. Similarly to Empire, unit scale was way off for the campaign scope it tried to portray. Units were modeled based on company size, which combined with 20-unit army limitations meant, that at most, player could have a Brigade sized army (6-10 companies per regiment, plus some attached artillery). This just doesn't fit the campaign, where you, as Napoleon, are leading your armies across the European continent. Therefore, main thing that NER changes is the unit scale. Units no longer represent a company, but Regiment. This way, 20-unit restriction per battle is no longer as limiting, and you can field entire Army Corps in battle.

FEATURES:

Formations:

Because of new unit scale, NER uses special formation for all infantry units, that better fit the scale. Instead of classic three rank formation of Napoleon Total War, Infantry is formed in standard Open Column (three lines). Unit can be dragged into single line for maximum firepower or can be dragged into deep column to improve maneuverability on the battlefield which makes deeper formation more suitable for charges. Formation depth also plays role in how unit combat fatigue applies, as deeper formation means combat fatigue applies a lot slower, while infantry formed into single line will have combat fatigue increase a lot faster.

Cavalry is similarly adjusted, and its formation is adjusted to represent Cavalry Regiment. Heavy Cavalry uses 3 distinct lines of three squadrons deployed behind each other, while Light Cavalry uses 4 lines for better combat maneuverability.

On larger level, NER also introduces improved battle formations. Instead of units being deployed close to each other, new battle formation is more spaced out. Regiments have proper spacing; units no longer are "touching" each other. Entire formation is no longer organized as single long line, but has several separate blocks, with skirmishers/light cavalry providing screen for main force, Grenadiers and Elite units forming a combat reserve line around General. Overall battle formation will make AI slightly more responsive, and less likely focused on switching units from left to right in front of player guns (might still happen sometimes, but not on such huge level as in vanilla)

Battlefield Obscurity

Battlefield in NER is now a lot less observable. Skirmishers can stay undetected in broken terrain; Light cavalry can stay unnoticed as it moves through wooded areas. Light Infantry can lay ambushes. Artillery is hard to spot through all the smoke. Obscurity creates opportunity for type of units that would have hard time surviving in vanilla game, while giving them additional historical purpose. Having Light cavalry placed in forested area on top of the hill means you can see enemy units positions properly. It also allows player to ambush or chase down enemy skirmishers that try to do the same thing to you.

Broken terrain like forest or scrub affects unit mobility, which gives additional advantage for light units in this terrain. Heavy cavalry requires proper screening as it is unable to detect hidden units on its own, which gives opportunity for Light cavalry for flank charges, while they would stand no chance in direct charge in open field. Skirmishers could snipe Heavy cavalry moving through forest and still be able to avoid the chase once they get discovered.

Morale

This is one thing that all armies are standing on. It is single more important stat for every unit. Morale setup in NER was developed to properly simulate Napoleonic combat. Casualties are primary source of loss of morale, anyway in NER, there are certain caveats. Units can absorb large casualties, but they can break from certain situations. Losing lots of men quickly, like for example during melee combat, results in very fast morale drop, therefore melee and charge is single most effective way how to break enemy morale. Exchanging musket fire and taking casualties is less significant, anyway if number of casualties taken is particularly high (let say from multiple units firing or being shot by artillery using canister) units might break.

But there are also positional and situational bonuses that can influence the morale significantly. Units with flanks secured, being positioned on the hill, or nearby general will hold in situations which would result in instant rout without. Therefore, using terrain, covering unit's flanks with reserves and actively using General presence can have significant impact when you face bad odds.

Morale is particularly important for cavalry combat. All Cavalry units have slightly lower base morale; therefore, they rely on situational buffs a lot more than infantry. So, while Heavy Cuirassiers might be unstoppable when faced frontally, you can defeat them even with light Hussars if they countercharge their flank, or launch surprise charge against their rear, while they are engaged in combat with different unit.

As in vanilla NTW, good generals can increase morale of their units, therefore even ordinary line infantry can get quite resilient when lead by good general. Facing such generals in battle will provide a challenge, as their units will provide fierce resistance. Unit experience is another attribute that predominantly boosts the unit morale.

Experience:

Unit experience in NER doesn't represent unit training level or skill level. It represents unit actual combat experience. As such, it it's not as much based on ability to kill lots of enemies (but enemy kills still matter), but its more focused on combat survival, as unit takes losses, surviving men gain "survival" experience and therefore become more resilient. Combat Experience in default boosts unit morale (each chevron boosts it by 1 point), but it also increases the melee attack and melee defense stats up to level 4 (so +4 to both at level 4, then no further gains) and also slight boost to unit Reload skill (+10 at level 3). Even more important, at level 3, unit also receives "tough resolve" ability, which allows it to slowly dissipate combat fatigue. Ability gets slight boost at level 5.

Combat Design:

Main goal was to create easy to understand combat system, which is tough to master, yet fun to play. New formation main purpose was to give player formation that makes sense from gameplay and historical reasons, so player plays the game the way actual Napoleonic combat looked like. Infantry formation firing from first line means player can actively influence the firepower of the unit, the way it was done in real life. I wanted to avoid the situation other (more famous) Napoleon mods are dealing with, where they enable all ranks to fire, which results in situation where deep "column" formation has as much firepower as long line, which gives advantage to players who bunches up all infantry units into deep formations, to occupy as little frontage as possible, which is exactly opposite to what Napoleonic combat was actually about.

Campaigns:

On strategic level, i tried to make game as challenging. Overall, economy is more streamlined, economy output is decent and based on building synergies that reward proper planning. Player can specialize his provinces towards economic production or military output, and the choice is up to player what he prefers. Certain buildings now have alternatives beneficial for both (Arsenal factory reducing recruitment cost of units, while normal factory increases the GDP of the region, Stables reducing cost of cavalry, farms boosting GDP), while influencing public order for another layer of complexity to handle.

Mod no longer places limits on number of standard type units available to player, only where it was appropriate due to historical reasons. Player (and AI) will be able to recruit as many units and armies as can his economy sustain. Difficulty settings will only increase unit costs for player compared to AI for more challenging gameplay. AI won't get any additional bonuses, which means that at Easy difficulty, both Player and AI start at the same level, while Very Hard will punish player ability to field units, therefore he will have to compensate other way, yet it will be nowhere near typical Total War AI bonus that completely overwhelms the player at VH.

Campaign mobility is adjusted for all units based on their historical mobility. Heavy artillery will slow your army down, while light units can outpace others, allowing player to create specialized "Light Divisions" that he can use for chasing down defeated enemy stacks that retreated from battle. Building up road network will further boost the mobility, making certain road junctions extremely important strategic points worth controlling.

Every Campaign in NTW was tweaked to properly work in new design. Certain campaigns might present a challenge even for experienced player. Austrian campaign is probably one of the most challenging, following by Peninsular campaign for French. AI starting positions were tweaked to provide more challenge at the start, as AI was previously suffering from undeveloped regions, which resulted in slower AI buildup.

Technology research now plays important role, as it provides significant bonuses in specific areas, allowing to further increase economy output, or reduce unit costs or upkeep. Bonuses are significant, but not overwhelming on its own, so they provide gradual improvement and unlock new units. For example, French Imperial Guard is gradually unlocked through technology instead of dropping all units at once from top tier Barracks.

For installation instructions consult the included readme file.