Indeed. And the best part is, the game mechanics encourage you to force revolutions - if you've got an Absolute Monarchy, the only way to switch to a Republic is to goad the peasants into revolting, then take control of the revolutionaries and win. (And then promptly stage another revolution if you really just wanted a Constitutional Monarchy.)
Is that what happened in mid-17 century England?
Hey, if you want a
realistic revolution, I can name a few politically-unstable countries that you could probably topple. For science, of course.
The whole "AM --> Republic --> CM --> AM" loop is pretty unrealistic, but the idea of major governmental change generally only happening with some kind of serious motivation is completely realistic. Very few revolutions happened because people said, "Hey, we could probably do this better, right, guys? Let's just ask the ruling classes to give up their power, status, and money! That'll work!" Even non-violent revolutions generally occurred when the populace was
seriously ticked off. And, well, the famous French Revolution certainly didn't happen because the lower class was 'mildly annoyed'...
Empire Total War can have revolutions... It is incredably tough to play as the revolutionary though as it gives you a huge disadvantage (you lose all previous territory)
Indeed. And the best part is, the game mechanics encourage you to force revolutions - if you've got an Absolute Monarchy, the only way to switch to a Republic is to goad the peasants into revolting, then take control of the revolutionaries and win. (And then promptly stage another revolution if you really just wanted a Constitutional Monarchy.)
This makes me want this game even more...
The combat AI of Empire is frankly too poor to make the game as enjoyable as it's predecessors. Something in the switch to focusing on ranged combat has just caused something to get lost in translation. My first siege of a French Fortress was won quickly because by the time I got to the walls, the French already blew a hole through them with the cannons they had inside the fortress attempting to fire at me straight through the walls.
It's certainly not great (and a heads-up - higher difficulty levels don't improve the AI, they give ridiculous bonuses to AI units. Watch your trained line infantry break while exchanging fire with peasant militias!). But I haven't seen massive AI failings, especially during field battles. The AI really doesn't handle walls well, it's true - they'll garrison forts with cavalry, and deploy cannons inside their walls (though, contrary to your example, I usually witness cannons not firing at all, rather just sitting there until I breach their defenses). On an open field, they're remarkably more skilled, and provide at least a tangible opponent. And remember, unlike previous games, there's actually an
incentive to not sitting in your secure castles - pillaging the countryside is effective.
Of course, the reason I suggested it was because it portrayed user-initiated revolutions, not necessarily because it was a dominant example of professional AI coding.