Empire: Total War Road to Independence Guide

 The single player story campaign in Empire: Total War centers on the birth of America as a nation and doubles neatly as a tutorial. It is entitled the Road to Independence and consists of four chapters which introduce you to the main concepts at play in the game. The challenge starts you off gently as you lead the early settlers to their first couple of victories over the natives. It then pitches you into the British war against the French. With the French driven out the battle for independence begins in Boston. Finally you are faced with the challenge of guiding an emerging American nation to world dominance.

The game starts out very gently and this first chapter is extremely easy to complete. Build three extra troops in your city while you construct the fishing village and the farm and then press north fast. Take Maryland, you won’t find much opposition. Now immediately take all of your men and head north to Pennsylvania. In the battles the Native Americans will rout very easily so don’t worry about being outnumbered just line your men up and fire away. If they get in close then switch to melee for hand-to-hand combat. With the basic mechanics introduced and your first couple of land battles out of the way you can press on to a more exciting challenge.

 The French and the British are at each other’s throats once again and this time you are tasked with booting the French off the North American mainland. They have a spine of forts which they have constructed and you’ll need to march north and claim them for yourself. The first target is Algonquin territory but access to Fort Niagara is blocked by another fort. The advisor suggests brokering an alliance with the Iroquois and cutting through their land round the fort to reach your target. To be honest Fort Duquesne is not hard to take. Combine your armies and march straight for it. Build the farm and the shipyard in Virginia and make an alliance and trade agreement with the Iroquois. (Getting the alliance and going through Iroquois territory to take Duquesne works, but it takes a couple extra turns getting your army through the forest).

Once you have Fort Duquesne, assuming you took it with minimal losses, press straight on and grab Fort Niagara. If you need to you can replenish your force here retraining as necessary. Once you have taken the settlement you’ll need to build some ships and take Louisbourg. With the shipyard built start on a dockyard and build a couple of extra units in Virginia.