I know I made a thread about this sort of topic some years ago, but I thought that not only has it been long enough and I'm a bit wiser and such since then and it's still a topic that's worth discussing.*

And I will preface and ask that you guys please slow down and take the time to really read what I'm saying and not try to rush through reading the OP just because it might get a bit long, and end up misunderstanding something. Because I'm trying to explain a fairly big topic, so please bear with me when reading the OP.

And I will also want to ask that everyone who reads this OP not be afraid to actually talk about this sort of topic just because I'm being a little forward or blunt with it.

*I was going to make a separate thread about how CA should design DLCs for an Empire 2 differently from other TW games, and I still might, but I just decided to put it as the first comment in this thread.

Medieval 3 Cons

Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate the medieval era or the idea of "Medieval 3" trilogy of games, but I do feel that an Empire 2 whose campaign spans from 1684 to 1820 does has some advantages over trying to cram too much into a single Medieval 3 game. And in some ways, I would say that we almost need CA to make an Empire 2 over a Medieval 3, 3 games or not.

And I'll just come out and say it. 

It's pretty obvious that too many TW fans are putting most if not all of their hopes in a single Medieval 3 game without truly stopping to ever think about the logistics of how incredibly hard it will be for CA to try to cram everything from the medieval era into a single game, let alone trying to have the game's main campaign span about 500 or 600 years or so or having it span a good chunk of the world as well.

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I'm just trying to be more realistic about this sort of thing. And if you really stop and think about it's not all that easy to do that sort of thing without it taking several more years at least, which I'm sure many people will complain about despite saying they'd were ok with waiting for it.

But that's exactly why I say that if CA does make some TW games set in the medieval era, they should just make 3 separate TW games, with each one being about the early, high, and late sub periods within the medieval era as a whole. That way, each period of the era could be allowed to shine on its own without players having to worry about things like retraining whole veteran armies and all when the time comes to progress your armies and all.

Empire 2 Pros

As for an Empire 2. 

From what I've seen and learned over the years, there's truly a LOT more to the 136 year period between 1684 and 1820 than most people think or know about. 

I really think that CA could probably do things like taking the size of Warhammer 3's IE campaign map and use its size as the basis for building an Empire 2, but they could make the complete map a bit bigger due to not having to worry about adding in tons of crazy fantasy races and such for the game. But they could have the starting campaign map be roughly about the same size and location as Attila's map (you know, the Mediterranean basin and all)  and then they could expand out from there with larger expansion pack DLCs.

I mean, you could start an Empire 2 in 1684 Europe and the Mediterranean area with many well known factions of the time, such as Great Britain/England, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a fairly young Prussia, and the still pretty powerful Ottoman Empire, among others. 

But CA could allow these starting factions to advance the tactics and technology from the tail end of pike and shot to line infantry and such of the 1700s and have that be the nice foundation for all the DLCs that could expand the campaign map along with a good number of new playable factions.

And if CA is allowed to properly control things as well as market the game right, they could absolutely make all the eventual playable factions as viable  and fun to play as the starting ones, because they could grant different types of playstyles from the mostly European based ones from earlier on, at least when it comes to armies. 

Because be it the various Native American tribes in North America, the Kingdoms of Burma and Siam in SE Asia, the Safavids in Persia, or the Mughal Empire in India, I'd say that that'd be a great way to add some real variety to a TW game without trying to just cram everything into a single game right from the start.

But I think that that's a least a good start as to why an Empire 2 could work more effectively than a Medieval 3.

But I look forward to discussing with with people I know are wanting an Empire 2 as much as I am.

I'm only making this small comment because I wanted to clarify something really quickly.

Now, I will quickly note that I said most and not all of the world because I don't think that CA should add in places like New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia into an Empire 2, not because I don't think the people from those lands aren't cool and/or couldn't work in a TW game, but mainly because of just how much of a disadvantage they'd be compared to the other factions in Asia, let alone the European ones with their more "modern" 1700s firearms and artillery.

Now, I'm not saying that there isn't flavor to be had from those lands and their peoples, but the Native Americans at least have the guerilla tactics they were known for and land mass to fall back and actually use it, but the peoples from the three lands I mentioned would literally be starting with no such advantages to speak of from the start, or at least not to the same degree and all.

I just feel like those peoples would just end up being kind of joke factions that are little more than just punching bags for all the more powerful factions, which I think would make them all objectively less fun factions to play. And I wouldn't want something like that to happen to them. So I just think it'd be safer if they left out of an Empire 2, at least until the CA devs could really figure something out for them.

They should back to big and great expansions like Kingdoms , Barbarian Invasion or Alexander.