Has anyone played this game, and is it any good? Total war games have always looked cool but I never bought them, now I'm thinking about it. What do you do in them? Is it like Warcraft where you build a base, get an army, then go attack enemies?

I would love to say try Empires first, but Napoleon is great. Coach will probably go on a huge rant about how badass it is here within the next few hours. It's a really great fusion of turn based and realtime. Also the ability to come back when everything looks bleak is nice unlike some RTS's where you are pretty much SOL

I've played em all...Napoleon is just okay compared to the rest. I like to do the wars with swords, shields, bows and arrows. That one starts out with guns from the get go. I just didn't get as much enjoyment out of it as I did the rest. I only played that game for 42 hours before I called it quits...Shogun: Can't even count - Medieval II: Can't even count - Rome: Can't even count - Empire II: 378 and Shogun 2: 216 (so far). I'd say to start out with something like Medieval II ($9.99 on steam right now) just to get a feel of the game.

As far as the play goes...You manage your cities and taxes, build up your buildings while trying to keep your troop count up (without going broke) so your neighbors don't attack your province and take you over. It's tough to keep that balance you need just to keep your provinces. If you keep your taxes too high, your cities won't grow, too low and you won't have the income needed to improve buildings and get your armies up. It's not like WOW, it's turn based strategy instead of real time strategy. I've had turns in some of my games that have taken me an hour to complete, that's how intensive it can get. Keeping yourself organized and knowing where all of your armies and agents are gets tedious, heh.

Lol judging by the time Rage plays Shogun II it must be godly