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奥菲莉娅回忆中的修女
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原文地址：http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/napoleon-total-war/preview/napoleon-total-war-hands-on/a-20091223165932344093/g-2009081915535505078
Napoleon: Total War - hands on
Just how real is this historical war simulator?
Words: David Brown, PC Zone UK
Everyone knows all about the Total War series and its globe-spanning campaigns and battles, but one of the things lacking has been a real focus on the actual historical conflicts that took place. Often, a disappointing handful of token battles were cobbled together quickly to be played maybe once or twice and then discarded in favour of create-your-own scenarios.
The Alexander add-on for Rome: Total War bucked that trend, giving us a superb-yet-short set of narrative-linked battles plucked directly from history. From Issus through Gaugamela to Hydaspes, we were placed in Alexander’s sandals and given the task of succeeding where he had, er, succeeded. This is the expansion that Napoleon: Total War most closely resembles, except bigger and, hopefully, better.
The proof of a battle’s pudding is in the playing, of course. At Creative Assembly’s Horsham studios we got the chance to envelop ourselves in historical battle loveliness. The battles on display were Lodi and the Pyramids, the former played against the AI and the latter a head-to-head against the deputy editor of a games mag who shall remain nameless.
Map 1: Battle of Lodi
With Napoleon’s forces chasing the Austrian defenders up along the south bank of Po River, the time came to make a stand. When the battle was joined, as you can see, the French units are tightly bunched, while the Austrians are scattered about the place.
Each side have their own advantages: the French have the ability to move and fire as one big unit, concentrating fire on a smaller front and having strength in numbers, while the Austrians will be less vulnerable to cannon fire while they remain spread out.
The Austrian AI immediately set about strengthening its position in the centre of the town, moving units in from the west and reinforcing the eastern bank of the Po, over the Lodi Bridge itself. The objective for the French, other than killing a load of Austrians, is to prevent Feldzeugmeister Johann Beaulieu (the enemy general) from retiring from the battlefield. No mean task, as he’s safely tucked away on the other side of the bridge with, naturally, the bulk of his army protecting him. The French, as in me, need to move quickly and decisively in order to prevent this from happening. French cannons unlimber and begin to fire on the Austrian positions, while we make the decision to detach a small chunk of our army to intercept some of the Austrians moving to reinforce the town. Battle is joined on the western road and two Austrian cavalry units are driven from the field. The rest of the French force moves inexorably towards the town.
The detachment that saw off the two Austrian cavalry units remains poised on the western side of the battlefield. The AI reacts to the danger and moves a substantial clump of men towards them. As the main bulk of the French army is now approaching the town, it is easy to reinforce the western position and battle is properly joined in the field outside of town. The French fight defensively, holding their positions while the two cavalry units harass the flanks of the Austrian infantry, causing them to panic. Sure enough, the Austrians have had it, dropping arms and pegging it back across the field. Half of the Austrian army is now running for the hills and we wheel our left flank around, partially encircling the town. Vicious street fighting begins and both armies whittle away at each other.
The Austrian commander decides it’s time to leave, but we won’t let the swine get away. As he meanders along the eastern path to safety, the cavalry, that have already secured our victory for me, ford the river to the north and intercept him. Mere seconds before he leaves the scene, they catch him, slaughtering his unit and claiming victory for the French.
The rest of the Austrian forces, stranded in the centre of town, fight on until a handful remain, their morale broken and, eventually, their bodies strewn around the town streets. A sound ‘defensive attack’ strategy won the day here, with the Australians unable to break Napoleon’s advance.
Map 2: Battle of the Pyramids
One of Napoleon’s most famous victories was earned against a combined Ottoman and Mamluk force, which entered the field a few miles from the Pyramids. Again, both armies had advantages over the other: the French had superior troops and cannon, while the Mamluks were used to fighting in deserts. They also had units of fearsome cavalry, which they’d have to use effectively to win.
This time it would be a human opponent that faced off against us. His cocky swagger didn’t put us off our game and our men steeled themselves for his brash onslaught. As you can see on the map, our initial movements were minor at best, mainly straightening out the line and allowing ourselves to bring more men forward to fire when necessary. My thin lines would be easily broken if engaged by cavalry, but the plan was to make sure the enemy horses didn’t get anywhere near them.
Sitting in our defensive position, we watched as the Mamluks advanced, noticing that our small collection of units defending the nearby village was being approached by Mamluk cavalry. Two infantry units lined along an impassable slope, meaning the enemy had to funnel through a narrow gap if they wanted to engage. A volley of musket fire took out a surprising number and the charge faltered. The unit defending the gap swiftly reordered itself into a square formation and the reckless Mamluk charge was easily seen off. This was the key moment in the battle.
With his left flank broken, we seized the opportunity, sending a lone cavalry unit around behind the enemy lines. My opponent was too busy focusing on the joining of battle between our main lines to notice, and our cavalry came smashing into his limbered cannons, moving swiftly between each unit and destroying them with minimal casualties suffered.
Amazingly, we were able to take out every one of our opponent’s cannons before he noticed. Without their support, our front line, backed up sufficiently by their own cannons, stood firm. The battle looked to be going our way for a crushing victory, but the Ottoman’s and Mamluk’s advantage in terms of troop numbers proved important on our left flank. Sheer weight of numbers finally destroyed it and some swift reorganisation was necessary to prevent a disaster.
Anticipating the collapse, we had begun to wheel the rest of our line around, reorganising them into a smaller, more compact fighting force. No longer worried about cannon fire, we could reduce the length of the line and not worry about cannonballs thudding into our packed ranks.
Fierce fighting on our left flank had weakened his advancing infantry, who were further disadvantaged by having a number of melee-only units in their ranks. My muskets whittled their numbers down, before a final flanking cavalry charge burst through their line from the side and sent them packing.
In the end, a dominant victory had been prevented by the vast numbers of the opposing force, but our opponent’s failure to protect his cannons meant his men were just too beleaguered by the time final battle was joined to see us off. It just shows: failing to pay attention to aspects of a battle is a fatal mistake.
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发表于 2009-12-25 16:42:56
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