This game is far from perfect.

The worst thing is that you cannot save during battles, or during the opponents' turn. If various computer opponents attack you ten times between your turns, you never get to save, and unless you auto-resolve the battles, each battle may run 1-2 hours and you might have 10-20 hours of fighting before you can next save the game. For me, the game was very stable, but leaving it dominating my gaming computer for a week or more without being able to save did not feel good. Once you start to dominate, you rarely have to fear attack, and this type of long, drawn-out slug fest turn disappears, but until then, expect to leave the game running all the time... And you never get to save in mid-battle.

Saved games are huge on your HDD. Big enough that I stopped keeping my saves from the beginning and end of each turn, but started to recycle a group of 10 saves instead. Beginning and end of turn, and beginning and end of every battle. In a hundred turn game, they add up unless you recycle.

Ships. Nice to see ships, but the battle system felt really contrived. For example, the sailing ship fights give small ships a longer range than larger ships. That's the opposite of reality. Secondly, ships can only run away once per turn - again, that doesn't reflect reality, where small ships could run away from the big battlewagons each and every time they saw them, and only had to fear frigates. Then there's the whole: spin your ship like a top strategy. It just didn't work with big ships in reality. But it works in Empire. Spin one direction, fire. Spin the other direction, fire. And yet...it's fun to watch your ships batter the other side's ships to pieces.

Seiges. Are handled terribly. The computer just doesn't know how to attack a fort very well, or defend a fort very well. If you wait a couple of turns, a more sensibly managed battle takes place just outside the fort, but tying up your army for two turns anywhere is frustrating.

Setup. Even outside forts, the computer can give itself some utterly terrible opening setups - most terribly when it entrenches its artillery.

Armies. Armies start out tiny. Not simply poorly armed and trained: tiny and poorly armed and trained. Why?

Stacks. Are limited to 20 units. Battles are limited to 20 units PER COUNTRY. So if you have three stacks of twenty units, you only get to deploy 20 units at a time. Toughest and most satisfying battle I fought was against a stack of 20 French units, reinforced by 20 Spanish units and several French units. None of my units routed, despite fighting against 40 enemy units at once, and having one opponent's units (the French) getting reinforced by a fresh unit whenever a unit of theirs routed. Oh, normal difficulty - you're the best!

Government leaders. Are random and can have HUGE effects on your ability to wage war. It'd be nice to be able to disable that wildcard, 'cause mostly I enjoy the battles. And for that matter: it'd be nice to have a summary of the effects of all your government leaders.

All that bad, and still...watching my little men kill the little enemy men is fun. And so is taking over the world. I don't know why. About 100 hours at the keyboard for a grand campaign? I think I played three of 'em. Russia, Britain, Britain. Britain is by far the easiest.

This game is far from perfect. The worst thing is that you cannot save during battles, or during the opponents' turn. If various computer opponents attack you ten times between your turns, you never get to save, and unless you auto-resolve the battles, each battle may run 1-2 hours and you might have 10-20 hours of fighting before you can next save the game. For me, the game was very stable, but leaving it dominating my gaming computer for a week or more without being able to save did not feel good. Once you start to dominate, you rarely have to fear attack, and this type of long, drawn-out slug fest turn disappears, but until then, expect to leave the game running all the time... And you never get to save in mid-battle. Saved games are huge on your HDD. Big enough that I stopped keeping my saves from the beginning and end of each turn, but started to recycle a group of 10 saves instead. Beginning and end of turn, and beginning and end of every battle. In a hundred turn game, they add up unless you recycle. Ships. Nice to see ships, but the battle system felt really contrived. For example, the sailing ship fights give small ships a longer range than larger ships. That's the opposite of reality. Secondly, ships can only run away once per turn - again, that doesn't reflect reality, where small ships could run away from the big battlewagons each and every time they saw them, and only had to fear frigates. Then there's the whole: spin your ship like a top strategy. It just didn't work with big ships in reality. But it works in Empire. Spin one direction, fire. Spin the other direction, fire. And yet...it's fun to watch your ships batter the other side's ships to pieces. Seiges. Are handled terribly. The computer just doesn't know how to attack a fort very well, or defend a fort very well. If you wait a couple of turns, a more sensibly managed battle takes place just outside the fort, but tying up your army for two turns anywhere is frustrating. Setup. Even outside forts, the computer can give itself some utterly terrible opening setups - most terribly when it entrenches its artillery. Armies. Armies start out tiny. Not simply poorly armed and trained: tiny and poorly armed and trained. Why? Stacks. Are limited to 20 units. Battles are limited to 20 units PER COUNTRY. So if you have three stacks of twenty units, you only get to deploy 20 units at a time. Toughest and most satisfying battle I fought was against a stack of 20 French units, reinforced by 20 Spanish units and several French units. None of my units routed, despite fighting against 40 enemy units at once, and having one opponent's units (the French) getting reinforced by a fresh unit whenever a unit of theirs routed. Oh, normal difficulty - you're the best! Government leaders. Are random and can have HUGE effects on your ability to wage war. It'd be nice to be able to disable that wildcard, 'cause mostly I enjoy the battles. And for that matter: it'd be nice to have a summary of the effects of all your government leaders. All that bad, and still...watching my little men kill the little enemy men is fun. And so is taking over the world. I don't know why. About 100 hours at the keyboard for a grand campaign? I think I played three of 'em. Russia, Britain, Britain. Britain is by far the easiest.